When I first joined Action-figure.com, I was told we would be creating something great.  At the time, the site was called Adrian Faulkner's Action-Figure.com.  As I settled in and began to contribute to news, reviews and event coverage, the Adrian Faulkner part was dropped and we became a team.  Later, a partnership.  At the height of A-F's popularity, we topped 3 million hits in a day, pushed through 40k in affiliate sales for Sideshow Toys and I took something in the neighborhood of 14 thousand pictures at San Diego Comic Con in one year.  Along with Matt Booker, Catherine and some excellent readers who pitched in their own news and reviews, we made that site something to call home for 7 years.  Not everything was flowers and sunshine though, and as my relationship with Adrian began to deteriorate, he stopped flying in for events all together.  This meant that coverage of Toyfair and San Diego Comic Con was left to me and my friends. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Heather Buckley for two years of thankless Toyfair coverage and Debbie McKim who shot up NY Comic Con for us without a second though, alongside Cara, Morgan, Dean and Dan who were an integral part of the NYCC team.  None of these people were on the payroll and didn't whine once about money. 

In the past two years, I endeavored to shift the focus of the site to encompass most geek topics, as it was clear we couldn't count on funding from toy retailers alone.  I took on most of the news posting duties while Adrian persued a writing career, took care of his family and seemed to have less and less interest in being the editor of a website.  I took on this extra work because I felt this was my website too, and even though most of it was broken and I couldn't get Adrian to fix it, I couldn't bear to see it wilt and die.  After a time, Adrian told me he was considering stepping down all together and handing it over to me.  I began planning to swap out the old software and give the whole site a much needed face lift, as well as turning the webmastering over to the experts at Fear Werx, which would have kept costs very low and jump started the advertising again. 

For the first time in a long time, I was looking forward to taking thousands of pictures, as the new software meant people whould actually see them pop up on google!  Imagine shooting 50 thousand pictures that google can't even reference.  Such was my life.  I'd introduced Adrian to my new partner and was just waiting for him to turn over the codes needed to begin the overhaul.  First, I was told that Adrian didn't trust my partner and that he wouldn't be talking to him further.  In that same email, I was told to talk to a man named Fabien who he described as "a bit of an idiot, but he has money."  I told Adrian I was promised ownership of the website and I'd like to take control and fix outstanding problems before SDCC.  After being ignored, I told him to sign the site over to me or I'd be leaving.  I didn't see a reason to continue killing myself for something I could never fix to run properly.  No one has been able to sign up for a username for months!  Over the next few days, my Admin privledges were switched off, blamed on mysterious hacking which only effected me deleting news and effectively accessing any part of the site that had a control with the word "delete" in it, including the image bank.  I could post the news just fine, so long as I didn't need to add pictures to it.  I was told the hack came from my section of the FTP.  I was also told it was not thought it was my fault, as I was the sole person running the website...why would I mess up my own permissions?! 

4 days later, with no further access to the site granted and assurances that it would soon be fixed, I get an email from Fabien (form an action-figure email account), saying that this is a crappy way to meet, but he'll be taking control of the website he just bought from Adrian and wanted to give me the heads up that there will be a police investigation into my suspected hacking of the website and as part of this, my email would be locked as well as access to the site.  After the investigation ends, he'll gladly restore my access to the email to clean it out and consider bringing me on board, if there is still room..and thanks for 7 years of "volunteer work".  What a deal.  4 hours later, Adrian emails to inform me he's sold the site to Fabien and he's heading out of town for the rest of the week for family business.  No goodbye.  No thanks.  Not the slightest attempt at an explanation.  Just a sharp little knife in the gut and a see you later, as if he was asking me what I wanted for lunch as he stepped out. 

Since then, he's changed his story 3 times to save face in the A-F forums, pitching out classics like telling friends he's not selling the site at all and suggesting I hacked the site to devalue it.  For his last trick, Adrian posts a heartfelt appology to the readers of A-F for the current "internet dramaz" (yes he spelled it with a z), pouring out his heart about his current list of problems (and I've stated countless times he should take care of his family first, so I'm not mocking that)  and his lack of action on the site, but now he's brought in a new team who will be fixing everything and after down time, the future is bright.  No thanks yous to even one person who dedicated time to keeping Action-figure alive all these years.  Not to be selfish in my own blog, but obviously, no mention of me what so ever.  The whole post comes off as if he's appologizing for shabby work in the past and promises to do better.  Meanwhile, every story for months going back has my name on it.  Can't change the facts and karma is a bitch, buddy.

As not to dwell on one underhanded, miserable person, i'm going to say thank you.

Thank you to the readers of A-F who kept me laughing as everything from the geektastic to the utterly ridiculous rolled out before them.  Thank you to the toy companies who worked with me to feul the site with pretty plastic pictures and promises of new art coming soon.  Thank you to the companies who gave me advance looks at DVD's, TV shows and movies I loved watching, making "work" a joy and the video game companies that spoiled me rotten with updates nearly every other day of the week, ensuring there was no such thing as a slow news day. 

Thanks to Heather, Matt, Catherine, Adam, Ben, Chris, Jerry, Damien, Dan, Joe, Scott, Pete, Mez, Donna, Digger, The 4 Horsemen, Matt, Chuck, Chris, Travis, Kim, Ken, Mike, Mez, Dev, Amanda, Genna, Randy, Nicole, Sam, Frank, Shin, Mostman, Steve, Todd, Zach, Justic, Dave, Pete, Wilson, Billy, Sid, Rob, Bill, Sherry, Amber, Gris, Creepy, Deb, Jon, Jermey, Georg, Alex, Jammy, Anne-Marie, Seth, Julie, Raymond, MadL, Toki Doki, Lev, Jun, Norman, Stephane, Brock, Brant, Kevin, Douglas, Magnus, Scroggy, Scott, JP, Ny Asian Film Fest, Ny Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, Wizard World and most likely 200 other people who touched my life in some way, gave me inspiration and made this a fantastic experience.  If I left you out, you know I have a sort attention span and I'm sorry!  Special thanks to my mom and Becky...just because. 

And that's that.  Paul Nomad...still writing for Dread Central and any magazine that throws me a little change, finishing up my toy business at Cool Toy Review, still maintaining toy freaks myspace because I'll never get it out of my system...and coming soon to a theater near you.

One final thought.  No matter who you are dealing with...get it in writing or learn the hard way!  Nuff said.