I am afraid someone or other will try to report me on every platform that I’ve written PSAs on. This seems ludicrous, but if you’ve read the PSA and read about her behavior warning secondary PSA, you’ll realize there’s not too much you can put past that type of person. Since LiveJournal is notorious for being incredibly unhelpful and awful when it comes to support, I don’t think my account there will ever be reinstated, especially not after they suspended it without any warning or explanation. (For the record, I made exactly three posts on LJ, all vetted and approved by Artists Beware mods who made sure I was posting according to their guidelines and LJ guidelines.)
ARTISTS BEWARE LINK + TWITTER LINK:
Link to Dropbox post: Artists Beware: ToasterKiwi
LiveJournal AB (not working): https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/997512.html
Twitter AB (the tweet exists, but the link to the journal post is not working): https://twitter.com/Artists_Beware/status/1002389429795860481
The official Beware omits the disturbing information regarding her personal behavior mentioned at the bottom of this PSA. After messaging the moderators, they've agreed that the secondary PSA from Pereden handles information slightly too personal to be posted on a strictly transaction issues/trade issues community like Artists Beware, so it will only be noted here.
It seems to be a recurring trend that supposedly trustworthy artists of decent popularity really drop the ball on big orders and yet continue on as if there isn't a customer who has been waiting for an awfully long time, and boy is this one a doozy. I really pick some winners.
WHERE:
Twitter:https://twitter.com/ToasterKiwi
DeviantArt:https://toasterkiwi.deviantart.com/
Tumblr:http://toasterkiwi.tumblr.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/toasterkiwi/?hl=en
FurAffinity:http://www.furaffinity.net/user/toasterkiwi
Twitch:http://www.twitch.tv/kiwikuru
YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/KiwiFlipnote/videos
Website:http://toastershop.tictail.com/
Toyhouse: https://toyhou.se/ToasterKiwi
WHAT: Digital art piece — x1 custom adopt worth 200 USD.
WHEN: October 2017 — present (May 2018)
EXPLAIN: I ordered a custom character commission from ToasterKiwi's auction back in October 2017. I didn't receive a rough sketch WIP until December 2017 and no further visual updates since then. Meanwhile, the artist has output tons of artwork and merchandise for conventions and shop orders and is plenty active on Twitter throughout this duration, yet has no progress update for me about the order. The last communication I had was in March 2018 where she claims to still be working on the order, but provides zero visual updates.
I am Tythius on DeviantArt. (I have a Gyazo Pro account so all screenshots saved there are permanent.)
General timeline of notes from the artist, sorted in the DA search function which removes any indicator of read or unread status. (Proof 0.)
TIMELINE:
18 October 2017: Purchased a custom adopt commission from an auction for 200 USD. Paid, artist confirms commission, and details are exchanged. (Proof 1. Proof 2. Proof 3. Proof 4. Proof 5. Proof 6.)
No further communication from artist until December 2017.
6 December 2017: Artist provides a rough sketch of the design plan. I request some changes and the artist agrees. (Proof 7. Proof 8.)
No further communication from artist until March 2018.
17 March 2018: After not hearing from the artist for roughly three months now, I request an update. The artist responds and claims she is still working on it, but shows no visual WIP. (Proof 9.)
No further communication from artist since. Posts an adoptable on 1 May 2018.
21 May 2018: The artist is incredibly active on Twitter throughout this duration from March to May, responding to tweets, tweeting, retweeting, producing and sending out merchandise, etc. I send a note on 21 May 2018 requesting an update with a visual WIP. Unread. (Proof 10. Proof 11.)
After 21 May 2018: The artist tweets very often on Twitter and continues to be extremely active there. No response on DeviantArt. I've sent a Twitter DM on 25 May 2018 and it has yet to be read/responded to despite the artist logging on and retweeting something on the 26th. (Proof 12. Proof 13. Proof 14.)
Examples of very frequent Twitter activity including more adoptables on 1 May 2018: (Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex. 3) Please check the Twitter account for many more posts during the 7-month period of minimal communication with me. Also took Valentine's Day commissions and finished those: Ex. 4. In short, very, very high levels of activity and art without a single update on my commission that didn't have to be initiated by me.
PERSONAL NOTE:
The other custom adopt that was purchased from the same auction were finished within two months. I am still waiting on mine with extremely poor and irresponsible communication from this artist and I am so incredibly disappointed with her. She is clearly very active on the internet and extremely active attending cons and yet she can't be bothered notifying me of delays or progress when the wait has now hit 7 months. Even a simple acknowledgement of my messages on DeviantArt or Twitter while she was clearly capable of accessing a computer with ample time to browse and tweet would have been acceptable. This is insulting for someone of her caliber and popularity and overwhelmingly unprofessional considering the amount of money at stake. Outrageous.
It might seem like I'm jumping the gun a bit, but if you simply look at her insanely packed schedule of conventions for the rest of 2018 and consider flight times and merchandise prep time, you'll have the same worry I do that she may never complete the order.
Additionally, I was much more severe in my Twitter messages regarding the absurd wait on this order in relation to the rate at which she produces art and merchandise and general activity levels on the internet overall, but after confiding in a friend about this problem, my friend was very worried and sent me this public warning about her behavior (this is her previous username), My friend advised very careful approach with ToasterKiwi so I deleted several messages out of worry. If anyone else is waiting on an order from her, please please please proceed with caution when contacting her. Please.
I'll add as a sidenote that I did put out some feelers and asked friends of friends who were attending Fanime in San Jose, CA this year to see if they could ask her about my commission on my behalf, but they all apologized and turned me down because they were afraid of her due to the aforementioned warning regarding her behavior. (Figure 1. Figure 2. [I'm "Slug."]) After some more digging, it seems this incident was mostly swept under the rug by Kiwi's white knights who are willing to dismiss even death threats in their unhealthy and frankly disturbing devotion, but many in the artist community still remember this event and loosely ties back to me in that Fanime/several of the conventions were my best bet at reaching her through someone who could attend, but no one I know is willing to directly speak with her for fear of something bad happening. And I can't fault them. I just find this a series of very unfortunate circumstances that have forced my hand here.
I have received almost no updates past a rough WIP sketch and personal contact attempts have been met with failure. Attempts to contact her indirectly at a convention have failed because she's left behind such a frightening impression that entire groups of attendees and artists are unwilling to compromise their safety to remind her that she still owes commissions from 2017.
RESOLUTION:
An incredible section to finally write. Copying and pasting the final post here:
At last, good news!
The artist has finally contacted me to send the current work done and we worked out a partial refund of $100 based on the progress and the fact that it was a custom design commission (which ups the work value more than a standard commission).
Compiling screenshots here as a record:
1. https://gyazo.com/bf250b8e15b7c78dc0804643715ce591
2. https://gyazo.com/fca67cf11fcbedd145734053f8805592
3. https://gyazo.com/4126c0a82224de2d495af679598f3590
4. https://gyazo.com/523f73bbcc6dc20fc8f0f10f653f40e1
She's offered to send me the completed version if it's ever done, but I'm not holding my breath for that. Still, if she ever does, then I am more than happy to send her back the money she deserves for the work.
Proof of .psd file sent to my e-mail:
https://gyazo.com/b57b7f6ed5fd7690a6ffd3e75571b337
Proof of payment sent:
https://gyazo.com/90d76483cda1f9fd0e52b4b69f994cc8 https://gyazo.com/78bd660312d1fd43c362be313a2212b2
I am disappointed that it took 7 months and a PSA to finally get this resolved, but I'll be happy that it was resolved at all and very pleased that it was resolved peacefully. Thank you very much to everyone who expressed their sympathies and helped share the PSA--I'm 100% certain that having a problem made public was the deciding factor in how swiftly a resolution came about, as is often the case.
As with BabushkaVatman, I am sure adopts/premade designs/merchandise are safe to purchase from ToasterKiwi, but this is another artist to be very, very wary of purchasing a full, customized order from.