You got your full $10k refunded to you by Deeproot?
QSS
Quoted from taz:It's been a heck of a ride for those of us who pre-ordered.
As one of those riding the roller coaster a long time I think you nailed it! Interesting to hear about the bankruptcy letter, and I'd like to think that maybe he'll finally feel some repercussions for all the shenanigans he pulled as so far everything seems to have worked out just fine for him. Curious to hear what transpires in January...
Quoted from taz:It's been a heck of a ride for those of us who pre-ordered. I first committed to a RAZA pin in May 2012, so I spent 7 long years riding that RAZA theme park roller coaster.
- There was initial excitement in possibilities (remember this pre-dated TWD, so there was no zombie theme alternative at the time), then
- Frustration due to no progress on RAZA and the release of TWD which was a zombie themed pin which really existed, then
- Shock at Expo 2014 when JPoP brought an empty cabinet to show progress at a seminar I attended, then
- Anger at the financial standing of Zidware, with none of the games even close to being produced, then
- Hope thanks to a few lifelines that came and went before fading away, then
- Depression due to my obvious $10K financial loss, then
- Anger every time I walked past my ToTAN pinball machine which I wouldn't even play anymore, then
- Shame all throughout the timeline for being stupid enough to pre-pay and defend JPoP previously, then
- Vengeance in a call to arms by a group of buyers on a private site to discuss legal action, which some eventually brought, and then
- Bewildered when JPoP was hired by other companies, despite the devastation he brought to the pinball community, then
- Hope yet again thanks to most recent lifeline that worked from deeproot
Fortunately, I was able to get a full refund from deeproot, so it all ended well for me, thanks to deeproot, but boy was it a many year drama and there are probably others out there still riding the roller coaster.
Thanks. I guess I was thinking that about 5 years ago things went off the rails, and basically nothing has changed much since then.
Quoted from QuickSilverShelby:You got your full $10k refunded to you by Deeproot?
Yes indeed, the exact number was $9,995. I'm not the only one either. Because of that I'm really rooting for deeproot to succeed.
Quoted from Strohz:and I'd like to think that maybe he'll finally feel some repercussions for all the shenanigans he pulled as so far everything seems to have worked out just fine for him. Curious to hear what transpires in January...
Alas, this bankruptcy of Zidware is unlikely to have much in the way of negative personal results for JPop. He long ago made it past the lookback period where the trustee or court would claw back any preferential transfers or over compensation to executives or things along those lines (at least based on the information that is out there...granted I did not follow the lawsuit nor read the bankruptcy filing...).
My memory of the lawsuit is that they DID pierce the corporate veil for that. Not sure the current state of that, last mentioned was his counter suit. Nothing has been posted about it recently.
I'm out my $6500, I don't expect anything to come to me from this bankruptcy, but this whole thing was over a long time ago.
Glad to hear "some" people got some free deeproot money, but in the end most of the zid customers lost their money and jpop will always have to carry that with him and how he chose to handle it.
Quoted from rommy:Hey Hilton! Could you help me out with something? I would like to see how much F#$%^ng money we pinheads have collectively WASTED, or thrown away to these sheisters. Is there some way you could produce an estimate of how much the (four?) big failures have cost us? I can't come up with reliable estimated sales for the latest failures. Anyway....
We were in court in Cook County yesterday. Me and the rest of the claimants were there to have an actual trial FINALLY. There were 6 of us representing the entire class. Jpop was there as well. He brought a whiteboard? I think it was magic girl but I did not see it actually used, just sat there. Still no shooter lane...
My testimony was very straightforward and took 5 minutes. I paid, he did not produce, give me money back. In the end that is what the judge agreed to for me. I get all my money back. I am not going to discuss the other claimants settlements, although I will say no one got less than me. Defendant attempted to squeal about more than one issue. For example at the outset he attempted to split the claims into 26 separate small claims (side note - in a VERY BUSY courthouse like Cook County suggesting that increasing the workload by a factor of 26X to a judge does not seem like a smart tactic). In my opinion defense did not present any defense at all. Just procedural shenanigans.
Also personal liability was found, corporate veil pierced. Told ya JPop. If you don't run it like a business you can't use it to hide behind. That is what the Court found.
Just to make sure everyone knows the kind of person we were dealing with. Zidware sued us. Last week I think, or week before. Two separate lawsuits each for $50,001. Demanding full payment. He paid over $1,000 to file those lawsuits. He actually demanded that we f&^%$ng pay up for machines that are never going to be made. Dismissed I think. But still, the nerve to demand that I pay more money at this point.
tldr - we won, judgement against jpop. time to collect. does anyone remember me saying that collecting was my FAVORITE part? Gonna be a fun ride , get ready ! I think I may know a guy...
The above was posted by rommy May 1st, 2018.
Quoted from taz:- Vengeance in a call to arms by a group of buyers on a private site to discuss legal action, which some eventually brought,
Fortunately, I was able to get a full refund from deeproot, so it all ended well for me, thanks to deeproot,
Congratulations on your long-awaited refund. While Deeproot deserves your gratitude, your overview omits the fact that Deeproot's motivation to pay your refund was not the product of pure altruism.
Rather, your refund was a business decision fueled by an effort to avert more litigation. Absent the lawsuit against Zidware/Jpop, Deeproot's impetus to issue any refund would have been virtually nonexistent.
To that end, the members of the lawsuit, who have dedicated their time and funds, are the silent partners in your refund outcome. They did not seek "vengeance" at any time. Rather, they sought "vindication" for themselves. You and several others just happened to be a beneficiary of their efforts.
Quoted from ZNET:Congratulations on your long-awaited refund. While Deeproot deserves your gratitude, your overview omits the fact that Deeproot's motivation to pay your refund was not the product of pure altruism.
Rather, your refund was a business decision fueled by an effort to avert more litigation. Absent the lawsuit against Zidware/Jpop, Deeproot's impetus to issue any refund would have been virtually nonexistent.
To that end, the members of the lawsuit, who have dedicated their time and funds, are the silent partners in your refund outcome. They did not seek "vengeance" at any time. Rather, they sought "vindication" for themselves. You and several others just happened to be a beneficiary of their efforts.
So true!
Quoted from frolic:The above was posted by rommy May 1st, 2018.
Good! I had forgotten they had pierced the corporate veil. Thanks for the reminder. I hope they have pursued and succeeded in a garnishment of his income from Deep Root.
Speaking of Deep Root, I did have the chance to play the prototype RAZA at HAAG. I thought it was a good game with some decent ideas and shot well. Had RAZA come out when scheduled it would have been a head turner and really collectible. Pinball has just moved forward too much since those days. When you look at what has Deep Root has put together with the prototype RAZA next to a Jurassic Park or JJPOTC the difference is readily apparent, in my personal opinion.
Quoted from TigerLaw:...Had RAZA come out when scheduled it would have been a head turner and really collectible. Pinball has just moved forward too much since those days. When you look at what has Deep Root has put together with the prototype RAZA next to a Jurassic Park or JJPOTC the difference is readily apparent, in my personal opinion.
That's quite a disappointment, given the hyperbole offered by DR about revolutionizing pinball, et al.
Quoted from ZNET:Congratulations on your long-awaited refund. While Deeproot deserves your gratitude, your overview omits the fact that Deeproot's motivation to pay your refund was not the product of pure altruism.
Rather, your refund was a business decision fueled by an effort to avert more litigation. Absent the lawsuit against Zidware/Jpop, Deeproot's impetus to issue any refund would have been virtually nonexistent.
To that end, the members of the lawsuit, who have dedicated their time and funds, are the silent partners in your refund outcome. They did not seek "vengeance" at any time. Rather, they sought "vindication" for themselves. You and several others just happened to be a beneficiary of their efforts.
I disagree. I didn't omit a damn thing. Zidware left a wide swath of damage, to buyers, subcontractors, and maybe even others, more than I suspect deeproot was able to take care of. As for lawsuits, I don't owe anyone anything. I lost out on two pre-payed pins around the same time and had to make a hard decision. I chose to enter a lawsuit against a distributor of a different company because there were a smaller number of plaintiffs in that one, figuring that there were more than enough Zidware plantiffs to attack that one. We won the other case but received nothing, so I threw good money after bad, much like I fear happened in the Zidware case. deeproot didn't owe me anything, so I'm thankful to receive something.
Quoted from taz:I disagree. I didn't omit a damn thing. Zidware left a wide swath of damage, to buyers, subcontractors, and maybe even others, more than I suspect deeproot was able to take care of. As for lawsuits, I don't owe anyone anything. I lost out on two pre-payed pins around the same time and had to make a hard decision. I chose to enter a lawsuit against a distributor of a different company because there were a smaller number of plaintiffs in that one, figuring that there were more than enough Zidware plantiffs to attack that one. We won the other case but received nothing, so I threw good money after bad, much like I fear happened in the Zidware case. deeproot didn't owe me anything, so I'm thankful to receive something.
I am not suggesting that you send gift baskets to those who carried (and continue to carry) the water in their suit against Zidware/Jpop.
I found your post to be quite accurate, until you described the litigants as seeking vengeance. The suit was always about remuneration, not revenge.
I am glad that some customers received refunds and game vouchers from Deeproot. Nevertheless, there's something askew in celebrating Deeproot's decision to refund your purchase without at least recognizing that the lawsuit plaintiffs each sacrificed for your benefit.
I don't fault you for refraining from joining the suit, especially in light of your bad outcome in another preorder suit. It's important to remember that a dozen preorder customers continue to seek judicial relief and that it was their suit which made Deeproot do what businesses never do voluntarily, i.e. give away money.
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:That's quite a disappointment, given the hyperbole offered by DR about revolutionizing pinball, et al.
Deeproot made a good game, I enjoyed their RAZA...but looking at it next to a Jurassic Park Premium... Of course, the RAZA was a prototype so we will see what happens in the production model.
The thing that got me with RAZA was it had a regular wood playfield; with all the discussion on their playfield I figured it would be ceramic or hard plastic or something like that. Doesn’t seem like it would be fundamentally more durable than anyone else’s playfield but perhaps it has a better coating. Dunno.
Quoted from TigerLaw:The thing that got me with RAZA was it had a regular wood playfield; with all the discussion on their playfield I figured it would be ceramic or hard plastic or something like that. Doesn’t seem like it would be fundamentally more durable than anyone else’s playfield but perhaps it has a better coating. Dunno.
Those were placeholder playfields made of wood by Mirco for Deeproot. The proposed playfield you've heard about is yet to be revealed.
Looks like the zidware website changed.. just a teaser picture, in the html source is the name: Zidware Games : The Forever Land
One of DR's projects ?
Quoted from aeneas:Looks like the zidware website changed.. just a teaser picture, in the html source is the name: Zidware Games : The Forever Land
One of DR's projects ?
Or a mean joke.
Quoted from aeneas:Looks like the zidware website changed.. just a teaser picture, in the html source is the name: Zidware Games : The Forever Land
One of DR's projects ?
Does JPop still control the Zidware website?
Quoted from frolic:It's the tell-tale antiquated hand coded html from John. So this is his.[quoted image]
I bet he still uses myspace...
Quoted from frolic:It's the tell-tale antiquated hand coded html from John. So this is his.[quoted image]
That hurts.
When this five year old thread popped up the other day, with its nearly 25,000 comments, I was somewhat surprised as this thread has been limping along and so many things have changed.
A little trivia from this thread that I'm reminded of: Jeremy Packer AKA Zombie Yeti found and joined this thread after realizing John Popadiuk/Zidware was not paying him for his artwork on Magic Girl. Long story short, I believe this thread is what brought Zombie Yeti out from the shadows into the pinball world. Stern recognised his talent and wisely hired him to do Ghostbusters.
Pretty cool Pinside history I think.
Quoted from Mr68:When this five year old thread popped up the other day, with its nearly 25,000 comments, I was somewhat surprised as this thread has been limping along and so many things have changed.
A little trivia from this thread that I'm reminded of: Jeremy Packer AKA Zombie Yeti found and joined this thread after realizing John Popadiuk/Zidware was not paying him for his artwork on Magic Girl. Long story short, I believe this thread is what brought Zombie Yeti out from the shadows into the pinball world. Stern recognised his talent and wisely hired him to do Ghostbusters. Pretty cool Pinside history I think.
I believe it was the online adobe magazine that the first educated us that Jeremy, was doing most of the Magic Girl Art, where most thought it was John's work that he had been showing. What was funny was John was surprised when it came out, but part of it was filmed at his place. Not sure how long after that Jeremy showed up here to share what he could.
Quoted from rosh:I believe it was the online adobe magazine that the first educated us that Jeremy, was doing most of the Magic Girl Art, where most thought it was John's work that he had been showing. What was funny was John was surprised when it came out, but part of it was filmed at his place. Not sure how long after that Jeremy showed up here to share what he could.
Sort of indicates what kind of brilliant mind is at work here...
Quoted from Mr68:Here's a link Zombieyeti's first Pinside post.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jpop-update-thread%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6mg-raza-and-aiw%e2%80%a6/page/145#post-2399884
His art even from back then is STILL totally unbelievably good. I am so glad Stern picked him up, what a score. And hopefully he's finally getting paid! (all global pandemics notwithstanding)
Quoted from Mr68:Here's a link Zombieyeti's first Pinside post.
A link to the adobe article was posted 12-18-2014, so about four months earlier and it was probably in-between there that things really went south with Zidware, given Jeremy's comments in his first post about Jpop going silent.
Quoted from Pinballfantexas:Wanna see some MG and AIW head ove there and check it out.
http://inspire.adobe.com/2014/12/18/zombies_yetis_pinball.html
Of all the people who tried to "save" Zidware Stern did it the right way - by hiring Jeremy.
If John fails up much further he'll be getting a bailout from the federal government. The PURPLE Act. "People Unboxing Really Purple Limited Editions"
Quoted from benheck:Of all the people who tried to "save" Zidware Stern did it the right way - by ...."
... not hiring John Popadiuk.
I wonder if John is still drawing a paycheck from Deeproot. Surely he was contract labor as opposed to an employee and he is not drawing a salary at this moment. Who can say though, the guy seems to land on his feet no matter what he does. He must be magical when giving a presentation one on one.
Quoted from TigerLaw:I wonder if John is still drawing a paycheck from Deeproot. Surely he was contract labor as opposed to an employee and he is not drawing a salary at this moment. Who can say though, the guy seems to land on his feet no matter what he does. He must be magical when giving a presentation one on one.
Energy, passion, and exuberance are critically important to giving an investor presentation, and while I wouldn’t have John up there trying to convince investors to put in for my autonomous trucking company, he does have “it” for pinball. It’s the follow-up...
Search for the image on the Zidware page and you get this:
I wonder if he paid the artist for using it.
Quoted from RCA1:Search for the image on the Zidware page and you get this:
https://www.123rf.com/photo_77079355_stock-illustration-scene-of-the-man-walking-out-from-ruined-planes-at-sunset-with-digital-art-style-illustration-painti.html
I wonder if he paid the artist for using it.
Since the watermark is gone, he likely did. Or, he found someone else that paid for it, and stole it from them.
Quoted from Fulltilt:I'd be there wearing it proud.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
hand delivered too. Oh man so sorry
Quoted from doughslingers:hand delivered too. Oh man so sorry
If not for you, I'd have absolutely zero.
Quoted from iceman44:6 yrs and 24k plus posts
The legacy of John lives on
True, but I can't imagine it's the legacy he was hoping for.
Quoted from iceman44:6 yrs and 24k plus posts
The legacy of John lives on
Quoted from gweempose:True, but I can't imagine it's the legacy he was hoping for.
Yep the JPOP & Kevin K legacy lives on in the pinball hobby, much like the Bernie Madoff & Kenneth Lay legacy will live on in the financial market forever.
Quoted from Fulltilt:If not for you, I'd have absolutely zero.</blockquot
True, but I can't imagine it's the legacy he was hoping for.
It was great meeting you and seeing your collection. Ok be of my favorite traveling up to Expos in person trips. I just wished we had never seen that post on old newsgroups so Don and I could have saved money. Sorry for your loss too. Somewhere my 5k might still be doing someone some good. Sure wish I had it now for to Covid killing the cinema business. Oh well. Atleast we have the memories.
Quoted from gweempose:True, but I can't imagine it's the legacy he was hoping for.
Ô the irony...
I discovered that post 4 months later, but it only gets better with time!
Quoted from pinballrockstar:Man..it takes a while for JPOP to deliver my Alice in Wonderland.
I bought it in 2012?!
Another company, Deeproot Pinball, has announced it is helping John fulfill his contractual obligations and that they will be the ones releasing AIW. More info here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twip-is-deeproot-the-next-misadventure-or-a-pinball-revolution
Update: Zidware products still available for purchase
https://www.cafepress.com/zidwareboutique
https://www.cafepress.com/profile/19394640
screencapture-cafepress-mf-36662528-cafepresswizard1designolwhitepng-womens-cla-tshirt-2022-04-09-16_10_19 (resized).pngscreencapture-cafepress-mf-37031726-cafepresswizard2pinkdesignolwhite-mugs-2022-04-09-16_09_48 (resized).pngscreencapture-cafepress-pinballdecal1-tote-bag-1065830589-2022-04-09-16_11_08 (resized).pngscreencapture-cafepress-profile-19394640-2022-04-09-16_11_28 (resized).pngscreencapture-cafepress-zidwareboutique-2022-04-09-16_11_58 (resized).pngQuoted from blueberryjohnson:Update: Zidware products still available for purchase
Go over to Pinball Life for some real deals.
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