"Miniac and GamesWorkshop" Topic

So nobody has posted about Miniac, problably one of the most watched Mini painters on Youtube here yet? and His troubles with Games Workshop? Since I don't play or buy GamesWorkshop product ( other than a couple of their washes, I admit, I do use AgraxEarthShade) I will let others lead of the discussion of the @#$%-ty way they treated him, and how people will learn more about the company so many people undeservedly give so much of their money.

Come on people, there are so many other companys in the realm of miniatures and miniature games.

Never heard of him.
A youtube link might be helpful.
Or at least a little more about the situation.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

YouTube link

I own around 40 GW Lizardmen figures I purchased more than 20 years ago, and they were already out of date, out of production, when I bought them. The seller was upgrading his army to the latest, game-legal, version of Lizardmen figures. I also purchased a set of around 20 GW Human Zombie figures, I assume the seller was dumping for the same reasons. Aside from those two figure sets, I own nothing from GW. Not interested in their niche of the market. They had some great fantasy figures, back in the day.

To be honest, I could not care less about them, or their YouTube minions. I've heard of their contractual agreements with YouTube channel owners who produce "reviews" of their products for their channels, and the rules they must abide by, per their contract with GW. If someone gets into trouble with GW over a contract the YouTube channel owner willingly agreed to, then violated, I have no interest in their plight. Sorry.
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OK, I watched the video (skipping ahead, frequently, to see what happened. Miniac violated the terms of his Non-Disclosure Agreement, and GW cut him off, terminating his contract with them, immediately. That is what businesses do: they expect their business partners to abide by their contracts. It is business. Miniac failed to follow the terms of his contract, GW ended their business relationship with him as a result. Welcome to the world of business…

+1 Sgt.

Miniac found out how fast GW will react when their terms are violated. He doesn't sound like this was any surprise just disappointment how thorough they were. GW's handling of infractions shouldn't be news to anyone, and if it is you shouldn't be dealing with them.

I think this is an attempt to either (i) stir up trouble where there is none or (ii) increase the number of views of that video.

The guy says he messed up and spoilt GW's advertising campaign release of "teaser information". And they said "one strike and you are out." And to be fair to the chap he says he completely understands why they did that.

GW must have spent a fortune on this advertising campaign which also appears to have had a timeline for information release – so I can see why they didn't have time to adopt a more nuanced approach. They did nothing that, say, a car manufacturer would do to a journalist who breached an embargo on information release. Whether he intended to or not this bloke "scooped" all his fellow painters and youtube gamer influencers and if GW let it slide then it's open season and they no longer control their expensive advertising campaign.

How do I know it was expensive? Well (i) duh and (ii) they flew in figure painters from around the world and (iii) this guy was getting enough out of it that it was worth paying $1,000 USD for someone else to do the painting that GW paid him to do. There might be an ethical question to answer there – did GW know he paid someone else to paint figures when they asked him to paint figures? And did he tell everyone who saw the figures who really deserved the credit for the figures that he put on display? I'm hoping for the chap's credibility that the answer to both of those is "yes".

expensive advertising campaign.

Actually, I think this was the cheapest advertising spend possible: free labor painting models that cost almost nothing to produce and hours of free video content.

This is a good dissection of the issue:
youtu.be/Vyl696os5dY

I don't think that video says that at all.

These "influencers" are acting in part as self-employed journalists. And the first video states that the influencer paid someone $1,000 USD to do the painting job for him. No-one would lay out $1,000 USD if they were not being paid a lot more than $1,000 USD, that's just obvious.

The second video – basically a rant – does not address honestly questions like: Who paid the air fares? Who paid the hotel bills? Who paid for the time? I don't mind that people can make money – or try and make money – in this way. I just don't want to pretend that they don't pick up a paycheck in some form or other. Because if they don't I am being asked to believe that they are stupid – and I don't think that they are stupid.

The second video also asks me to believe that someone who makes their living from Youtube/Instagram/Facebook does not understand how the tools of their trade work. And that doesn't really fly.

This second video is just manufactured anger for clickbait. You may not agree, but that's all I see.

I hate to be that guy, but I have to say, if you're going to put up with an NDA as a business, you have to enforce it somehow, because it's not always that easy in the courts.
The exaggerated furor from him and his fan base over this miniature painter/Youtube influencer business is maybe even to GW's advantage, because they're clearly signaling that you shouldn't with them.
Not even accidentally, as claimed in this case.
They probably won't lose a single customer, because… well, because the main buyer group give a

Of course, the products on display could have been labeled separately and Miniac could have asked before taking pictures.
After all he is a business, agreed to a NDA and violated a business contract.

he signed the contact. He broke the contract. he's not being sued… Sounds like GW took it easy on him….

I've only seen the video about him getting kicked out of Warhammer World. I've never seen him paint.

To be upfront – neither have I. Or maybe not a whole video as I have skimmed a number of painting youtube channels.

I quite enjoy Ninjon's painting videos, even though we have very different styles. He paints really quickly to a genuinely "eye candy" standard whilst I paint really slowly to a "I'll buy those off you but I'll have to paint strip them and start again" standard.

Maybe I should try out some of his techniques……that sounds like a sort of a plan.

Miniac has some good info but I haven't watched him lately and since I don't use GW those videos are only useful for techniques not painting guides. I've just been giving up on youtubers who do the "Crazy TV Lenny" style of presentation. You know the "You are a total moron if you paint these minis!!!" and "The only 3 steps you need to ever use!!!"

He admitted that he accidentally stuffed up and accepted the consequences – and made the vid to give his side of the story.

I like his channel – he is a good presenter and clearly an expert painter.