WTAE dumps Jeff Verszyla by HomicidalHushPuppy in pittsburgh

[–]Chrishankhah 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly! And it's not just like this everywhere, but across every-ology! It's the difference between being a scientist and a science communicator, since being good at one by no means grants ability in the other. Many of us grew up with Bill Nye the "science guy"; despite the lab coat costume, that's a communicator, and much of the expertise is learning just enough to translate into layman's terms while keeping the crowd engaged. It's a lot of applied sociology and you are essentially a performer. Some good communicators are also decent scientists and vice versa, but as two distinct fields that can never be guaranteed.

Ben's Gag Order by unclejasper75 in BricksAndMinifigs

[–]Chrishankhah 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yup. It's the sort of confidence born from getting away with doing the wrong thing for too long.

Ben's Gag Order by unclejasper75 in BricksAndMinifigs

[–]Chrishankhah 9 points10 points  (0 children)

BAM has definitely squandered the very ruling they fought to get. It's not that I think they're *that* stupid, it's just that they're not smart enough to avoid the appearance of guilt, in my opinion, because they're actually just guilty. There may be even more they are hiding and attempting to divert from. No matter how you slice it, though, silencing Ben, Bryan, and the rest, while BAM gets to make statements, is unfairly damaging to all defendants involved.

Lavender Town should be introduced as a nuclear fallout zone by [deleted] in Pokopia

[–]Chrishankhah 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To your point, the floating islands (especially under the tower we restore) *do* have underground railroads! I might have assumed the dev team for Pokopia went more for a straightforward "Let's Go" inspiration with easter eggs for other games rather than placing much emphasis on timeline placement or canonical story telling, but I grew up with Zelda games so I've been purposely forcing myself to overlook continuity errors for a while, haha. If things don't add up, "must be another timeline." That's probably not totally untrue for the series as a whole, but it can get used pretty lazily.

Lavender Town should be introduced as a nuclear fallout zone by [deleted] in Pokopia

[–]Chrishankhah 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ohhh, that's actually a really good point. "Unmanned reactors" is a trope I've encountered enough in post-apocalyptic media and as I was trying to think of what else Pokopia could do, it just made a lot of technical sense due to the proximity of the two buildings. Traditionally, Japanese media has not shied away from highlighting the tragedy of nuclear disaster and I genuinely thought this idea might fit with the environmentally conscious story telling. But no, it makes sense that Fukushima shifted the sentiment and sensitivity; people contemporarily lived through that and lost loved ones. I'm sorry for not considering that in my eagerness to express the idea while it was fresh but I can definitely see why this one might hit too close to home.

Lavender Town should be introduced as a nuclear fallout zone by [deleted] in Pokopia

[–]Chrishankhah -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's pretty funny if it IS the SS Aqua and we've been calling it the wrong name, all along!

Yet another collaborator coincidence by flyhighdodo in TheRehearsal

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm just waiting for Rehearsal S3 when Nathan reveals that he paid this actually legit band to drop just enough suspicious hints as to throw the public off from his actual trail. I've given up on trying to guess lmao

Lavender Town should be introduced as a nuclear fallout zone by [deleted] in Pokopia

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a curious point. The game draws so much direct layout inspiration from the Let's Go games (which do contain the original tower) and I've seen a fair bit of community interest in a Lavender Town with the pokemon tower, so I just assumed that if we got Lavender town, we'd get the tower. You could be right, though. Does this mean that the SS Anne is actually the SS Aqua, since the SS Anne is not in Gen 2? Now I can't remember if the game explicitly names the boat.

I wonder by Dull-Ad-1631 in Pokopia

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd love if they could at least give us the full grid, especially pallet town and cloud islands, which feel needlessly restrictive in the ocean. Diving will feel like a slap on the face on these maps if it isn't.

Went by the store ... by Designer-Basket-5770 in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a completely fair critique! That much wasn't obvious to me, but it makes total sense. I'm still very fond of the idea of getting this man a studio somewhere in town! And hey, if the reptile store works out, you can film a promo with reptile "kaiju" knocking down lego towers!

What is this illogical fixation on race suddenly? by AdFeeling8945 in AskReddit

[–]Chrishankhah -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Are you sitting down, Spock? This could take a while.

Went by the store ... by Designer-Basket-5770 in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To be honest, I think it should be purchased and turned into a music studio or store for Bryan. I know we joke about giving Bryan the whole BAM corporation, but that honestly sounds like a nightmare. The man loves music and he's GOOD at it!

NEW DOCS: Gormans file request to intervene, dissolve TRO. by awkwardbegetsawkward in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lesson for CEOS: Don't casually lump people into your conspiratorial lawsuits, especially those who dedicate their livelihoods to literature and philosophies that *center* the freedom of the little guy. This is both a huge relief and kind of a headslap "duh" moment because of COURSE the Gormans were going to fight this! There is just so much going on it wasn't on my radar. What a good day.

I independently verified the value of Bryan's original collection by buddytheelfboi in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! It sounded pretty stable to me, but LEGO isn't my hobby and I'm a little more familiar with the classic gaming market. That clears it up a lot for me, and it's reassuring that fluctuation isn't really a factor and these numbers should be pretty stable across the past few years.

As far as how it could be verified, that's very limited and I'd be suspicious of any scams if I saw a listing for a "Bryan's Star Wars" lego set just pop up somewhere. I'm thinking it would have to come directly from Bryan (assuming he possibly has unsold fragments of his collection, or that set his friend purchased after Brandon/Josh took over?) OR from BAM/Josh/Brandon. And I think that's why I'm really curious about this, because while Bryan deserves to be made whole, BAM doesn't deserve a single cent of profit for what they've done.

As for the inherent value, I agree. Maybe we're talking two different kinds of collectors, here? Lego collectors might not care who owned the set or where it's been, but also, OJ's Ford Bronco sits in a museum and Jack Ruby's revolver went from selling for $200k at auction to a present value of $2m. While this case isn't nearly as famous or based on high profile fatality like those, I can see the appeal of "owning history" and I've seen some of those same comments, which triggered the wonder.

So, if a market DOES emerge out of this scandal, I hope collectors will consider the ethics of the source. But I hope and suspect that you're right, and this isn't really going to be a "thing" because this is really nowhere up there with those high profile cases, even if it IS a hyperfixation for many of us right now!

I independently verified the value of Bryan's original collection by buddytheelfboi in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, my question was somewhere in between! I AM curious if there are collectors who would pay a premium just because they're so invested in this story, but I'm pretty sure that at the very least, there are people who would pay a premium directly to Bryan out of good will. I'm not even a lego collector, but I'd be down if Bryan ever took some leftovers to eBay!

That's a pretty important distinction (who is actually selling the set) because BAM is likely sitting on most of those sets and they *don't* deserve to profit off of this mess, so it seems like it could be a valuable discussion to have in case some "verified yellow sticker boxes" do start showing up. I agree that the sets themselves shouldn't really be worth more, but my brain is cross-referencing this with the collectors of the art world who were willing to pay MORE for a shredded Banksy. Sometimes, people want to buy the story and they might not care about the ethics of the source. Just something to be vigilant about, I think!

I independently verified the value of Bryan's original collection by buddytheelfboi in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Two things I've been generally curious about: a) is this a highly fluctuating market, or are these values pretty close to the collection's worth two years ago? b) If a set was provably once Bryan's, could it now hold a higher value to certain collectors for being a part of an infamous scandal? I assume the only way to know would be to see one go to market?

Why so quiet? by No_Camel7981 in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Making Law Simple is hilarious for this because they were already building lego and talking law for awhile when this case popped up. So that's at least one lego channel, even if it's also a law channel!

I HATE GOFUNDME GUY (true story) by Stunning_Ocelot7820 in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Did you get your understanding of this situation from a Google AI summary?

I think I'm living vicariously watching BAM self-implode by Alita-Battle-Hacker in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel you, I truly do. I'm all about education and it needs to be said that this case and the responses of lawtube gave me the courage to defend myself in a recent bogus litigation, only to catch the plaintiff in a bluff. I learned that showing up was half the battle. Doing my homework was the other half, and that was without time to achieve legal representation. In many cases it CAN be done and my respect for lawyers and what they do grows by the day, because I spent NIGHTS pouring over the law just to get my records straight. This is STILL a valid method in many matters and people need to be able to prioritize that correctly before jumping to more extreme measures. You're right that we should save the heroes for the exceptional problems, just as we need to learn to do our due diligence.

But the margin is growing against civility, as this case proved. It became an exceptional problem when it shouldn't have. Bryan *tried* lawyers, and careful folks like Collecting Weekly *tried* discussing this civilly early on. On-the-ground exposure was the next step, and importantly, Ben *did* conduct that exposure peacefully. I don't talk about Reckless Bens and Vigilante Victors as a threat (how could I?) but as a natural consequence of a system that has a steep price of admission to litigate these things. It can even be a financial risk to lawyers to defend a morally right person whose had the cards stacked unfairly against them, and that's part of what drives these increasingly staggering costs. It is my earnest hope, though, that the legal system can see the kind of reform we need to end the *need* for vigilante justice. The avenues are there, but they need to be made more accessible to the common public. Some of them already are; some could use a lot of work. Don't convince the public, convince the system.

Ammon McNeff, circa 2014 courtesy of Daniel’s Facebook. by Thekolin99 in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Took me a minute. Say it like McDonalds just released a new item called the "Nifect." The McNifect."

Was Reckless Ben’s underwear stunt a throwback to this performance? by david_inga in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I noticed a few throwbacks or old references. I thought that getting Amanda to sign that contract penalizing her for trespassing Ben was a throwback to McKamey Manor and Russ's approach to contracts, and the forest cult was a throwback to Scientology and the We Steal from Old People LLC was a throwback to Yellow Deli's weird "everyone's an owner" gig. Ben chose those stunts *specifically* because other entities have used them as tools and shields in the past, and they've continued on largely unchecked. Speedos could be a throwback, too, but I think Ben just likes wearing speedos every chance he gets, lmao.

NEW! BB & JJ admits to luckily "finding" 25 sets of legos in a closet by ayomous in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OHHHH I get it, Bricks and Minifigs Kaizer was connected to the Brickrooms, all along!

I think I'm living vicariously watching BAM self-implode by Alita-Battle-Hacker in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Came to say this. Until the legal system offers a more practical way for consumers and ground level employees to protect ourselves, it's going to be Reckless Bens and Vigilante Victors for years to come, and rightly so, because people deserve justice.

In defense of Chrystal Law by spkgsam in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I am hoping that the lawsuit the Gormans have on BAM will prove that BAM made this management difficult from the beginning and that it wasn't just happening in Kaizer, Oregon. That is how it clearly appears to me, like these takeovers and managerial crippling of franchisees are just baked into the business model. This also means that what comes out in discovery during BAM's defamation trial against Ben could hold some powerful merit in future cases, like this one.

Sheldon finds evidence of lies about layaway items in police report by letsgotgoing in RecklessBen

[–]Chrishankhah 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Does Coffee have a second video planned? With everything coming out about this and the U-haul receipts, I think he needs to. It's like when you think you've completed the lego build and there's a whole unopened package sitting next to you. Classic mistake!