What's The Deal With Rebor?

[IrritatorRaji]

I haven't been a member of the forum for a long time and I haven't followed any major news. But I've noticed that the DTF seems to really dislike Rebor? I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't like them much either but that just because I don't care for their models and I don't like how they look. But I've seen people get really rowdy about Rebor. On one DTB review I saw a comment saying "Seriously, that review is way too positive considering how off this figure is. And the rating is probably manipulated" and on another "all the Rebor models are not worthy of my money". I've seen some not-so-friendly discussions made about Rebor on this forum too, one mentioning something about customer service. Nearly all of the Rebor models on the DTB have pretty low ratings as well.

So... what's... the deal with Rebor? It can't be just the fact that their models are inaccurate, right? I've seen loads of models from other brands that are inaccurate but still get a lot of love. Can anyone fill me in?

[Takama]

Once apon a Time,  Rebor was a member of this forum. and they acted like babys when there products were criticized.

Not to mention sicking there fans on the blog to down vote models that got better star rateings then they did.

Here is the proof of that

[tyrantqueen]

It can't be just the fact that their models are inaccurate, right?

No, it is not. It's a long story, but they have behaved badly on Facebook and when they were members here.

Things they've done:
-Trying to rile up their FB followers to manipulate the ratings system on the DTB
-Threatening to sue people for expressing certain opinions
-Possibly creating sock accounts (although this is hard to prove) to attack and troll DTF members
-Flipping out and cussing individuals on FB (I haven't seen it myself but I have heard it happened)

I don't pay them much mind these days, though. Their figures just don't interest me.

[stargatedalek]

It seems like a long story because it took place over a matter of months and years, but it isn't really that long.

When REBOR first started they tried to have a large presence here, but despite that they clearly didn't even take a few minutes to look around at what people said about the other brands or what people wanted. The first thing they did was show off their first model with about as many boldface lies as one can count. Their Yutyrannus was paraded about with a smancy topic dedicated just to it and a few paragraphs and infographs talking about how it was the epitome of years of scientific research and based on all the latest information. You can look at their Yutyrannus and see just how pathetic these claims were for yourself.

It's not like companies making inaccurate figures or marketing inaccurate figures as accurate is a new thing, but REBOR made it personal when they showed up and slapped it dead in everyone's faces, and people's reactions were justifiably equally personal. Some people admittedly flew off the handle a bit, but there was a lot of genuine and constructive criticism which REBOR responded to by insulting people personally, attacking other brands, and being an all-around negative presence.

After raging out several times too many they left in a big huff and attempted to draw several members here into arguing with them on Facebook whereafter REBOR would sic their fans upon the other party so that they could feel like they won something. They clearly hold some sort of grudge because they several times directed their fans to the Dinosaur Toy Blog instructing them to upvote REBOR products or downvote competing products (on that note, did anyone look into resetting some of those blog entry polls?). There few a few troll accounts over the past couple of years that people suspected might have been REBOR accounts trying to either exact revenge or simply attack competitors products, but these could have just been general trolls or children from their Facebook following who didn't know any better.

Speaking of children, REBOR can't take criticism at all, and have gone so far in the past as to insult and instigate fights with actual children on their Facebook.

[IrritatorRaji]

Wow, that's.... appalling actually. I had no idea Rebor was that bad. I used to kinda pitty them seeing all this hate they got but yeah, they deserve it. Tbh even though their models aren't accurate if they were just nice, friendly and humble about it they'd probably have a huge following.

[suspsy]

As others have already noted, REBOR made a point of attacking other companies like CollectA and Safari and then getting defensive when people reacted with disgust. For example, they posted closeup images of the Safari Elasmosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus and questioned how anyone could possibly consider them quality sculpting jobs. I think that was what got them kicked out of here the first time.

It's way worse on Facebook. I used to have a screen cap of REBOR screaming "SHUT UP AND F___ OFF!!!" in response to criticism on their page, but I deleted it because I felt that it was petty and pointless to keep such an image.

[DinoToyForum]

They did the time for their crime, but they still have a forum account, even if they are inactive these days.

[tanystropheus]

I like REBOR, they are amusing and often caricatures themselves with self-deprecating humor.

As a consumer, I don't understand the concept of anthropomorphizing companies because of said representative. I mean really, it's all about the products, which in REBOR's case are generally positive. I also think that 'buying with one's dollars' (i.e purchasing power/voting with dollars) is a ridiculous and asinine ideal that doesn't really translate into anything in practice. But, that's my personal opinion!

[tanystropheus]

For example, they posted closeup images of the Safari Elasmosaurus and Acrocanthosaurus and questioned how anyone could possibly consider them quality sculpting jobs. I think that was what got them kicked out of here the first time.

Forum members have done far more harsh criticism of products than that. Closeup images of Safari Ltd. Elasmosaurus are unflattering, and since Elasmo looked pretty monstrous in real life, REBOR could probably do a better job.

As far as Acro is concerned, there are better Acros in the market, even though the Safari version is solid. IMO, WS should revisit the Acro and make a deluxe version with a bit more presence. I actually own the WS Acro...

[Jose S.M.]

While I agree that the quality of their products is not directly related to their customer service, they handle themselves pretty badly on social media, not just here but in Facebook. I understand why people choose to not support them. And customers criticize products all the time but it's not the same as a company making direct offenses to another company's product. That happens too but companies often are more subtle, I haven't seen McDonald's Facebook page saying that some burger King hamburger tastes like sand or something.

[Patrx]

Forum members have done far more harsh criticism of products than that.

As Jose points out, the expectations regarding conduct are substantially different when a person is representing an organization, rather than representing themselves alone. A representative must be calm, measured, polite, and so on. Thus far, many posts attributed to REBOR's account have been emotionally charged, and some have been unacceptably rude.

However! That was some time ago, and while I am not personally interested in supporting their business, anyone from REBOR is absolutely welcome to use the existing REBOR account to reconnect with our community; in fact I'd be glad to see them return with an improved attitude.

[Takama]

There was ONE Repersenitive who did return to the forum for a brief time who identified herself as a Ms. Rebor, and was getting along with people a lot better. However that was the last time the company posted anything on the Forum.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

For myself, I was a bit shocked at the attempts made to use terminology like museum accurate and what not, but the end run for me was when they chose to personnally attack Doug Watson, as the Sculpter for Safari, for which there was later some form of apology of sorts offered. The Ms.Rebor character that emerged soon after seemed much more user friendly and sadly only stuck around for a bit before also fading out. Coupled with the complaints about standing and falling issues I have seen regarding their models has left me rather uninterersted in anything they might throw out now.

[Reptilia]

I'm not questioning Rebor's bad behaviour on this forum or on social media, it's just that at the end of the day they act extremely childish and people in reaction do pretty much the same, putting themselves on Rebor's very same level. Rebor now got the provocative attitude as their default mode, cause they know there will be a certain type of reaction, so the best thing people who dislike them could do is either ignore them or criticize their products as neutrally as possible. Otherwise this feud will keep going forever, and I'm afraid the only ones to take fun from this will be Rebor themselves. How they teased their latest T-Rex model is quite explicative in that sense.

[tanystropheus]

While I agree that the quality of their products is not directly related to their customer service, they handle themselves pretty badly on social media, not just here but in Facebook. I understand why people choose to not support them. And customers criticize products all the time but it's not the same as a company making direct offenses to another company's product. That happens too but companies often are more subtle, I haven't seen McDonald's Facebook page saying that some burger King hamburger tastes like sand or something.

I'm not defending REBOR. I just find their antics amusing (more akin to Wrestlemania) but then again I have a warped sense of humor; I get bored easily so this type of nonsense generally piques my interest on some level or another.

However, having said this, the type of ultra-competitive spirit was very common in the 1990's. SEGA really trashed SONY in their earlier commercials, even resorting to dropping a Playstation out from a building (bitter much!). Check out:

"Fly Play Thing Fly"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOWGnI0tmM

[tanystropheus]

For myself, I was a bit shocked at the attempts made to use terminology like museum accurate and what not, but the end run for me was when they chose to personally attack Doug Watson, as the Sculpter for Safari, for which there was later some form of apology of sorts offered.

I might not recollect the incident in detail, but I was under the impression that REBOR was previously unaware that the Acro was made by Safari so it didn't necessarily come across as a personal insult.

[Jose S.M.]

I think they knew it was by Safari, but not that the sculptor (Doug) was a member  of the forum.

Edit: I just saw the video  I must confess that I've never seen something that extreme regarding trashing competition.

[Reptilia]

Honestly I don't recall what kind of vocabulary they used, I read through the Rebor's affaire quite some time ago, but if they didn't use offensive words and simply put the comparison images to claim their products were superior, even with sarcastic tones, I don't see anything outrageous in it, it's called competition. People here is rather oversensitive at times, it should be said.

[suspsy]

Honestly I don't recall what kind of vocabulary they used, I read through the Rebor's affaire quite some time ago, but if they didn't use offensive words and simply put the comparison images to claim their products were superior, even with sarcastic tones, I don't see anything outrageous in it, it's called competition. People here is rather oversensitive at times, it should be said.

But since they did use offensive language to describe their competitors, as well as in their responses to constructive criticism, regardless of how polite the people giving it were, your argument is moot. This isn't a case of oversensitivity; this is a case of REBOR's representative not behaving like a reasonable adult.

[Reptilia]

As I said I don't recall which words they used, if they've been offensive then fair enough. By the way I think is kind of oversensitivity to persist with the same hard feelings for so long, it'd be probably better to have a detached approach towards them. That would actually show them how to act like adults, in contrast with their hopeless childish behaviour.