Dino Hazard: New for 2021

[Abobo]

[hugocafasso]

Hello guys! I'm Hugo Cafasso, designer and owner of Yvy Figures.

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. It is really important for us that the international community is considerate of our brand.

I would like to update the circumstances involving the production and international sales of "Dino Hazard™️ collection - Irritator challengeri" figure. I hope everyone is informed about the situation and no unfair accusations is made.

The production of our first figure was complex. We had limited assets and a very short deadline to finish production. Many decisions had to be changed and rushed throughout the entire process. Language barrier was also an issue that troubled communication ( I'm from Brazil and right now I'm resorting to Google Translate to write this text ). The manufacturer was always proactive and guided us with fast solutions. I have absolutely no complaints about the production service. It was excelent indeed.

We ordered a low production of 1000 units (700 STANDARD + 240 BASIC + 60 DELUXE). Later, the factory owner asked to produce 100 more units of the *STANDARD* version to sell on TaoBao platform. The final total production reported was 1100 units.

A couple of months passed and we received part of the shipment in Brazil. The import operation was a success.
We started domestic sales in Brazil and one month later we started international sales.

A week after our international sales begin, I found our *BASIC* version of the product being marketed in different stores internationally. Since all *BASIC* versions of the product was already kept in our stock in Brazil, we immediately raised a red flag. I was very worried because also in the same week we lost an international sale deal with a store. We had little to no information about how the retailer adquired the product. I was afraid that we was undergoing through a pirating situation.

We immediately started an investigation and messaged the factory manager. At first he was evasive and did not cooperated much. I then messaged my good friend Cheung Chung Tat in Hong Kong. Chung promptly phone called the factory and pressed the owner for answers.

We have now unraveled that our supplier had an unreported surplus production of the *BASIC* version of the product. We have gathered evidence that it is not the case of an expressive mass production. It was a surplus of approximately 100 extra units of BASIC figures that the factory owner sold underpriced to a local agent reseller in China.

I have enough reasons to believe that the factory owner did not expect this batch to be resold on international market, nor that his action would hurt us financially. But since we are a beggining small company from Brazil, and our currency has devalued dramatically over the past year, the impact of this unreported stock marketed internationally has damaged us financially.

I want to make clear that the situation is already being resolved. The factory owner is contacting the agent in China and will recall his stock. As a reparation measure, the factory will hand us the stock and bear with the expenses. We are satisfied with this agreement.

I did not wish to destroy reputations and get involved with personal conflict of manufacturers. I also want to express my full support for VITAE. The attacks that this brand has been receiving are totally unfair and unfounded. We support VITAE.

Best regards,
Hugo Cafasso

[ITdactyl]

Thank you for reaching out and providing clarification.

[Flaffy]

Thanks for the information and clarification! @hugocafasso Hopefully this situation won't be a big setback for the company, best of luck to Dino Hazard's future!

Since the factory owner produced 100 approved units of the *STANDARD* version to sell on TaoBao; which TaoBao sellers are authorised to sell the *STANDARD* Irritator?


On another note; Now we only have Rebor's side of the story left in regards to this whole Vitae fiasco, assuming they do in fact respond.

[Halichoeres]

@hugocafasso thanks for this measured and professional explanation, a master class in how to represent one's business online. I wish you, the Dino Hazard line, and Vitae every success.

[Thialfi]

Thank you very much for your elaborate and professional response @hugocafasso. All my dealings with Yvy have been great ans extremely friendly and cooperative. I wish you all the best with this situation and can't wait to see what the future holds for your brand. Good luck!

[Faelrin]

@ITdactyl Thank you for the clarification about the cost. I still would like to get my hands on this but it will have to wait. Hopefully I can get it before they sell out with how few were made however.

@hugocafasso Thank you for input on the situation. I really do hope your business can be successful.

[Ikessauro]

Looking at the official Yvy figures site, am I correct in thinking R$350,00 is nearly $70 USD (prior to shipping)? This was for the Standard addition. It's certainly one of the most beautiful spinosaurid figures out there, and one of a particularly neglected genera, but I may have to push it back far later in the year if it is going for that much currently, and again that isn't even taking into account international shipping. Heck I've even had to push back plans for getting the PNSO Yutyrannus I super wanted for now.

Hey, consider yourself lucky. Most of my collecting life is like that. I live in Brazil, with a currency worth 5 times less than the US Dollar. All dinosaur toy companies are foreign and do not have suppliers/official distributors here in Brazil. Almost everything I collect is imported and ends up costing me at least 3 times the original price in dollars, if not more after shipping and import taxes.

[ceratopsian]

@hugocafasso - thank you for a clear and sensible explanation of what has happened.  I wish you every success (Vitae too, I like their models that I've bought).

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

Thank you very much, @hugocafasso.


I have no interest in a witch hunt, but it is hard to feel neutral about this.. Vitae Situation, that was communicated here before. I wish this Thread would be bigger, but then again, a witch hunt helps nobody.

[Psittacoraptor]

@hugocafasso Thank you for the explanations, and I'm glad the issue got resolved quickly. I just checked Jurassic Zoo Store and the figure seems to have been removed from their shop already. Don't know about the other stores.

I'd also like to know more about the Vitae story. They have my support, while I will never purchase a figure from a certain other company. I'm glad I read this thread!

[Faelrin]

@Ikessauro On one hand I can sympathize, having had to resort to the help of international friends to get and ship things to me, which costed quite a lot due to shipping and exchange rates. But on the other hand I get what you are saying, and I am certainly lucky I have access to, and can afford most of the figures that interests me. I know that my friend in Guatemala for example, that I help out regularly to get things does not have it so easy, and the exchange rate can make things really expensive for him, while they are normally pretty cheap for me.

[Fembrogon]

Welcome, @hugocafasso, and thanks for sharing the details of this situation (also, apologies from those of us who bought from the "extra" stock unwittingly  ). It's good to hear that this seems to be resolving amicably, and I hope Yvy has smooth sailing from here. The Irritator looks gorgeous, and it's great to see more (quality!) variety for dino models on the market.
Besides your direct store and Everything Dinosaur, are there particular stores you would encourage customers to buy from, instead of less secure sites like AliExpress?

[Fembrogon]

Well, my - *ahem* - copy of Irritator arrived today. Acknowledging the source of this copy (and that I bought it unboxed), here are my initial thoughts:

The detailing and texture is exquisite on the dinosaur, the lungfish, and the base; the base also has a slightly sandy finish to it, and the dino's claws are nicely glossed.
The base came somewhat warped, so it doesn't rest level. Irritator's feet don't quite fit the footprints, and the figure basically can't stand on its own; however the lungfish makes a good third support both on and off the base.
There's a little paint scuffing on the nose and tail tip. I'm assuming this is due to the absence of a box for shipping.
The jaw quite close, and the hinge seems a bit stiff; there's not much range here.
The figure has nice weight to it, and the material feels durable. The tail is actually a little bendy due to how thin it gets.
The lungfish has to be worked into place between Irritator's hands, but once it's in it looks great. Yvy really nailed the look of a big, fleshy, limp fish. 

Overall, my copy has its quirks, but it's definitely still a very nice figure; hopefully the proper releases from retailers will lack many of these quirks. I'm looking forward to the next release in the pipeline.

[REBOR_STUDIO]

Hello guys! I'm Hugo Cafasso, designer and owner of Yvy Figures.

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. It is really important for us that the international community is considerate of our brand.

I would like to update the circumstances involving the production and international sales of "Dino Hazard™️ collection - Irritator challengeri" figure. I hope everyone is informed about the situation and no unfair accusations is made.

The production of our first figure was complex. We had limited assets and a very short deadline to finish production. Many decisions had to be changed and rushed throughout the entire process. Language barrier was also an issue that troubled communication ( I'm from Brazil and right now I'm resorting to Google Translate to write this text ). The manufacturer was always proactive and guided us with fast solutions. I have absolutely no complaints about the production service. It was excelent indeed.

We ordered a low production of 1000 units (700 STANDARD + 240 BASIC + 60 DELUXE). Later, the factory owner asked to produce 100 more units of the *STANDARD* version to sell on TaoBao platform. The final total production reported was 1100 units.

A couple of months passed and we received part of the shipment in Brazil. The import operation was a success.
We started domestic sales in Brazil and one month later we started international sales.

A week after our international sales begin, I found our *BASIC* version of the product being marketed in different stores internationally. Since all *BASIC* versions of the product was already kept in our stock in Brazil, we immediately raised a red flag. I was very worried because also in the same week we lost an international sale deal with a store. We had little to no information about how the retailer adquired the product. I was afraid that we was undergoing through a pirating situation.

We immediately started an investigation and messaged the factory manager. At first he was evasive and did not cooperated much. I then messaged my good friend Cheung Chung Tat in Hong Kong. Chung promptly phone called the factory and pressed the owner for answers.

We have now unraveled that our supplier had an unreported surplus production of the *BASIC* version of the product. We have gathered evidence that it is not the case of an expressive mass production. It was a surplus of approximately 100 extra units of BASIC figures that the factory owner sold underpriced to a local agent reseller in China.

I have enough reasons to believe that the factory owner did not expect this batch to be resold on international market, nor that his action would hurt us financially. But since we are a beggining small company from Brazil, and our currency has devalued dramatically over the past year, the impact of this unreported stock marketed internationally has damaged us financially.

I want to make clear that the situation is already being resolved. The factory owner is contacting the agent in China and will recall his stock. As a reparation measure, the factory will hand us the stock and bear with the expenses. We are satisfied with this agreement.

I did not wish to destroy reputations and get involved with personal conflict of manufacturers. I also want to express my full support for VITAE. The attacks that this brand has been receiving are totally unfair and unfounded. We support VITAE.

Best regards,
Hugo Cafasso

You'll need to double check with them cus your Irritator figures are still being listed on 1688.com, Aliexpress and eBay.com at this very moment and clearly they have sold much more than 100 copies, last time we checked the 1688.com one even had a few options to choose from such as "new with box", "new with bag", "dinosaur with/without fish".

Not sure if you have any sellers or distributors in China but you can see that all these copies are shipped from China to worldwide:
https://www.aliexpress.com/af/-Irritator-.html?d=y&origin=n&SearchText=+Irritator+&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210626030017
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=Irritator+&_sacat=0

He's also selling knockoff figures on his 1688.com store such as this Papo tiger:
https://detail.1688.com/offer/598981191212.html?spm=a2615.7691456.autotrace-offerGeneral.19.56956e0eDLHMNr

Please bear in mind that this factory called Shi Hu and its owner Xiaoquan Zheng can never be trusted as he is still acting the same and doing dodgy things even after he blackmailed enough money from us and PNSO to cover his initial gambling debts and start anew. He's been given too many second chances yet nothing has changed as Zheng still loves to gamble with his clients' funds and owes lots of money, our mould maker told us that Zheng owes them around £22000 since a few years ago and never intend to pay them off. Think about why he was being "evasive and did not cooperate much"- a dispare gambler will do anything for money and lying is just the easiest and quickest tool to get around at his disposal.

[Concavenator]

@hugocafasso Thank you for stopping by and informing us on the situation. It's a pity all of this has happened, but I hope Everything Dinosaur will finally get to stock the Irritator, so it will be more accessible to us European customers.

It's also a real shame Vitae is being boycotted... Such a fine company, it would be very bad news if they disappeared.

[thedeadlymoose]

Hello guys! I'm Hugo Cafasso, designer and owner of Yvy Figures.

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. It is really important for us that the international community is considerate of our brand.

I would like to update the circumstances involving the production and international sales of "Dino Hazard™️ collection - Irritator challengeri" figure. I hope everyone is informed about the situation and no unfair accusations is made.

The production of our first figure was complex. We had limited assets and a very short deadline to finish production. Many decisions had to be changed and rushed throughout the entire process. Language barrier was also an issue that troubled communication ( I'm from Brazil and right now I'm resorting to Google Translate to write this text ). The manufacturer was always proactive and guided us with fast solutions. I have absolutely no complaints about the production service. It was excelent indeed.

We ordered a low production of 1000 units (700 STANDARD + 240 BASIC + 60 DELUXE). Later, the factory owner asked to produce 100 more units of the *STANDARD* version to sell on TaoBao platform. The final total production reported was 1100 units.

A couple of months passed and we received part of the shipment in Brazil. The import operation was a success.
We started domestic sales in Brazil and one month later we started international sales.

A week after our international sales begin, I found our *BASIC* version of the product being marketed in different stores internationally. Since all *BASIC* versions of the product was already kept in our stock in Brazil, we immediately raised a red flag. I was very worried because also in the same week we lost an international sale deal with a store. We had little to no information about how the retailer adquired the product. I was afraid that we was undergoing through a pirating situation.

We immediately started an investigation and messaged the factory manager. At first he was evasive and did not cooperated much. I then messaged my good friend Cheung Chung Tat in Hong Kong. Chung promptly phone called the factory and pressed the owner for answers.

We have now unraveled that our supplier had an unreported surplus production of the *BASIC* version of the product. We have gathered evidence that it is not the case of an expressive mass production. It was a surplus of approximately 100 extra units of BASIC figures that the factory owner sold underpriced to a local agent reseller in China.

I have enough reasons to believe that the factory owner did not expect this batch to be resold on international market, nor that his action would hurt us financially. But since we are a beggining small company from Brazil, and our currency has devalued dramatically over the past year, the impact of this unreported stock marketed internationally has damaged us financially.

I want to make clear that the situation is already being resolved. The factory owner is contacting the agent in China and will recall his stock. As a reparation measure, the factory will hand us the stock and bear with the expenses. We are satisfied with this agreement.

I did not wish to destroy reputations and get involved with personal conflict of manufacturers. I also want to express my full support for VITAE. The attacks that this brand has been receiving are totally unfair and unfounded. We support VITAE.

Best regards,
Hugo Cafasso

You'll need to double check with them cus your Irritator figures are still being listed on 1688.com, Aliexpress and eBay.com at this very moment and clearly they have sold much more than 100 copies, last time we checked the 1688.com one even had a few options to choose from such as "new with box", "new with bag", "dinosaur with/without fish".

Not sure if you have any sellers or distributors in China but you can see that all these copies are shipped from China to worldwide:
https://www.aliexpress.com/af/-Irritator-.html?d=y&origin=n&SearchText=+Irritator+&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210626030017
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=Irritator+&_sacat=0

He's also selling knockoff figures on his 1688.com store such as this Papo tiger:
https://detail.1688.com/offer/598981191212.html?spm=a2615.7691456.autotrace-offerGeneral.19.56956e0eDLHMNr

Please bear in mind that this factory called Shi Hu and its owner Xiaoquan Zheng can never be trusted as he is still acting the same and doing dodgy things even after he blackmailed enough money from us and PNSO to cover his initial gambling debts and start anew. He's been given too many second chances yet nothing has changed as Zheng still loves to gamble with his clients' funds and owes lots of money, our mould maker told us that Zheng owes them around £22000 since a few years ago and never intend to pay them off. Think about why he was being "evasive and did not cooperate much"- a dispare gambler will do anything for money and lying is just the easiest and quickest tool to get around at his disposal.

Your response does make sense, if there is not a misunderstanding. (I too wondered about the thousands of figures listed on Aliexpress.)

I think we all hope that Hugo Cafasso will not be hurt further in this situation. I also think everyone appreciates your interest in sharing this information, even if they do not agree with you or your actions.

Please understand I am coming from the perspective of budgeting to buy my first Rebor figure. You have created wonderful figures, which are absolutely beautiful to look at. Even for your figures that don't speak to me, your artistry is excellent.

But, if it is true that you have been preventing Vitae figures from being distributed, then you are doing the same harm as Xiaoquan Zheng from our POV as collectors.

According to what you are saying, Xiaoquan Zheng's actions are hurting the artist Hugo Cafasso in a way that might lead to him no longer producing his beautiful, unique figures. Or if his figures are produced, perhaps we can no longer ever acquire them.

According to what you are saying, your actions are hurting Vitae's artist in a way that might lead to them no longer producing their  beautiful, unique (and relatively affordable) figures. Or if their figures are produced, perhaps we can no longer ever acquire them.

So if this is true, you are still hurting collectors in the same way.

We don't know how Vitae backstabbed you, but it is hard to imagine how it would be worse for your audience than your actions in retaliation.

Is this wrong? Have I misunderstood?

[ITdactyl]

Maybe it's because my work relates to these conflicts, but I somehow understand the point of view of Rebor and why Hugo used positive messaging. 'Not my place to elaborate though.

Anyway, back on topic. Here's the list of official outlets for the Irritator.

Yvy store: https://www.yvyfigures.com/us/products/irritator-challengeri-dino-hazard-international-sales/
Dino Hazard store: https://www.dinohazard.com/product-page/irritator-yvy-figures-1
NA resale Dinosaur Shop: https://www.instagram.com/tienda_de_dinosaurios/

Given the interest in that figure, hopefully they get more store partners in the future.

[REBOR_STUDIO]

Hello guys! I'm Hugo Cafasso, designer and owner of Yvy Figures.

First of all, thank you so much for all your support. It is really important for us that the international community is considerate of our brand.

I would like to update the circumstances involving the production and international sales of "Dino Hazard™️ collection - Irritator challengeri" figure. I hope everyone is informed about the situation and no unfair accusations is made.

The production of our first figure was complex. We had limited assets and a very short deadline to finish production. Many decisions had to be changed and rushed throughout the entire process. Language barrier was also an issue that troubled communication ( I'm from Brazil and right now I'm resorting to Google Translate to write this text ). The manufacturer was always proactive and guided us with fast solutions. I have absolutely no complaints about the production service. It was excelent indeed.

We ordered a low production of 1000 units (700 STANDARD + 240 BASIC + 60 DELUXE). Later, the factory owner asked to produce 100 more units of the *STANDARD* version to sell on TaoBao platform. The final total production reported was 1100 units.

A couple of months passed and we received part of the shipment in Brazil. The import operation was a success.
We started domestic sales in Brazil and one month later we started international sales.

A week after our international sales begin, I found our *BASIC* version of the product being marketed in different stores internationally. Since all *BASIC* versions of the product was already kept in our stock in Brazil, we immediately raised a red flag. I was very worried because also in the same week we lost an international sale deal with a store. We had little to no information about how the retailer adquired the product. I was afraid that we was undergoing through a pirating situation.

We immediately started an investigation and messaged the factory manager. At first he was evasive and did not cooperated much. I then messaged my good friend Cheung Chung Tat in Hong Kong. Chung promptly phone called the factory and pressed the owner for answers.

We have now unraveled that our supplier had an unreported surplus production of the *BASIC* version of the product. We have gathered evidence that it is not the case of an expressive mass production. It was a surplus of approximately 100 extra units of BASIC figures that the factory owner sold underpriced to a local agent reseller in China.

I have enough reasons to believe that the factory owner did not expect this batch to be resold on international market, nor that his action would hurt us financially. But since we are a beggining small company from Brazil, and our currency has devalued dramatically over the past year, the impact of this unreported stock marketed internationally has damaged us financially.

I want to make clear that the situation is already being resolved. The factory owner is contacting the agent in China and will recall his stock. As a reparation measure, the factory will hand us the stock and bear with the expenses. We are satisfied with this agreement.

I did not wish to destroy reputations and get involved with personal conflict of manufacturers. I also want to express my full support for VITAE. The attacks that this brand has been receiving are totally unfair and unfounded. We support VITAE.

Best regards,
Hugo Cafasso

You'll need to double check with them cus your Irritator figures are still being listed on 1688.com, Aliexpress and eBay.com at this very moment and clearly they have sold much more than 100 copies, last time we checked the 1688.com one even had a few options to choose from such as "new with box", "new with bag", "dinosaur with/without fish".

Not sure if you have any sellers or distributors in China but you can see that all these copies are shipped from China to worldwide:
https://www.aliexpress.com/af/-Irritator-.html?d=y&origin=n&SearchText=+Irritator+&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210626030017
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=Irritator+&_sacat=0

He's also selling knockoff figures on his 1688.com store such as this Papo tiger:
https://detail.1688.com/offer/598981191212.html?spm=a2615.7691456.autotrace-offerGeneral.19.56956e0eDLHMNr

Please bear in mind that this factory called Shi Hu and its owner Xiaoquan Zheng can never be trusted as he is still acting the same and doing dodgy things even after he blackmailed enough money from us and PNSO to cover his initial gambling debts and start anew. He's been given too many second chances yet nothing has changed as Zheng still loves to gamble with his clients' funds and owes lots of money, our mould maker told us that Zheng owes them around £22000 since a few years ago and never intend to pay them off. Think about why he was being "evasive and did not cooperate much"- a dispare gambler will do anything for money and lying is just the easiest and quickest tool to get around at his disposal.

Your response does make sense, if there is not a misunderstanding. (I too wondered about the thousands of figures listed on Aliexpress.)

I think we all hope that Hugo Cafasso will not be hurt further in this situation. I also think everyone appreciates your interest in sharing this information, even if they do not agree with you or your actions.

Please understand I am coming from the perspective of budgeting to buy my first Rebor figure. You have created wonderful figures, which are absolutely beautiful to look at. Even for your figures that don't speak to me, your artistry is excellent.

But, if it is true that you have been preventing Vitae figures from being distributed, then you are doing the same harm as Xiaoquan Zheng from our POV as collectors.

According to what you are saying, Xiaoquan Zheng's actions are hurting the artist Hugo Cafasso in a way that might lead to him no longer producing his beautiful, unique figures. Or if his figures are produced, perhaps we can no longer ever acquire them.

According to what you are saying, your actions are hurting Vitae's artist in a way that might lead to them no longer producing their  beautiful, unique (and relatively affordable) figures. Or if their figures are produced, perhaps we can no longer ever acquire them.

So if this is true, you are still hurting collectors in the same way.

We don't know how Vitae backstabbed you, but it is hard to imagine how it would be worse for your audience than your actions in retaliation.

Is this wrong? Have I misunderstood?

Simple, Zheng is living on borrowed time and the only way to bring him to justice is to cut his funds completely, as long as he can still receive orders i.e. cashflow from others then he'll be able to pretend that he still have some sort of social credit thus can keep borrowing money from others, he's the kind of person who can sweet talk others into believing that he cares about the environment, charities and benefiting the society while the truth is he often don't pay his labours for up to 6 months and rather use the money to gamble.

The last thing we want is letting Zheng get on his feet or more brands like Dino Hazard will fall victim to his uncontrollable gambling addiction, do you understand the logic now? Vitae can always choose another factory and we'll fully support them as soon as they left Zheng. Now we can only assume that Vitae either don't know what Zheng have done or didn't believe it, or already in too deep to move on which is even worse cus they should not introduce a criminal who got them into this to Dino Hazard.

About the backstabbing part-we heard that Vitae've been telling others that their products are far superior to ours so we chose to boycott them because we either jealous or afraid of them which doesn't make any sense, we've been saying the same thing on this forum from the very beginning that we don't see other brands as competitors because it will take the collective effort of all manufacturers to make the dinosaur collectables market thrive.

You can still purchase Vitae products directly from them at reasonable prices so we don't see why this is hurting collectors.

[Mattyonyx]

Simple, Zheng is living on borrowed time and the only way to bring him to justice is to cut his funds completely, as long as he can still receive orders i.e. cashflow from others then he'll be able to pretend that he still have some sort of social credit thus can keep borrowing money from others, he's the kind of person who can sweet talk others into believing that he cares about the environment, charities and benefiting the society while the truth is he often don't pay his labours for up to 6 months and rather use the money to gamble.

The last thing we want is letting Zheng get on his feet or more brands like Dino Hazard will fall victim to his uncontrollable gambling addiction, do you understand the logic now? Vitae can always choose another factory and we'll fully support them as soon as they left Zheng. Now we can only assume that Vitae either don't know what Zheng have done or didn't believe it, or already in too deep to move on which is even worse cus they should not introduce a criminal who got them into this to Dino Hazard.

About the backstabbing part-we heard that Vitae've been telling others that their products are far superior to ours so we chose to boycott them because we either jealous or afraid of them which doesn't make any sense, we've been saying the same thing on this forum from the very beginning that we don't see other brands as competitors because it will take the collective effort of all manufacturers to make the dinosaur collectables market thrive.

You can still purchase Vitae products directly from them at reasonable prices so we don't see why this is hurting collectors.

The more I read, the less I understand your idea of justice.