Beware: ABearFromSpace (Unluckydinobear)

I am writing today to talk about a fursuit commission I got from Unluckydinobear, who goes by ABearFromSpace now, back in January 2018. Since the transaction is so many years old, I do not have the paypal payment sent screenshots, however, I can show the Telegram chat messages to show that I indeed paid $800 for the commission, and he still has not completed the work, but he's been avoiding making the suit and compiling excuses to this day.

I was looking to get a fursuit commission, so I asked any friends to see if they knew any good makers or ideas to find one. A friend of mine, recently got a partial piece done from ABearFromSpace, so he told me his contact and I messaged him to see if he had any openings.

I ended up messaging him, and by luck, he said he had room for one more in the queue. I felt extremely lucky, and knowing fursuits take time to create, I would have expected at most this taking a year or two, as long as I was getting updates I was fine with this.

After sending character refs and other information, he gave me a quote of about $750. I was a little surprised since my friend got his suit from him for $400, but since he was one of his first commissions I understood the raise of price.

With an additional $50 for taxes and shipping, I ended up paying $800 for the partial fursuit. 

Here I sent a partial payment for the fursuit, and ABearFromSpace tried to make conversation with me the next day which looks like he wanted to get me to pay the rest as soon as possible.

After 10 days, he asked me again for the rest of the payment. While I was able to pay the rest of the suit by the end of the month, it was understandable here how he just wanted to make sure the rest of the payment was going through soon. He also offered to make a chat for his commissioners, to my knowledge I don't think he ever did, or at least he never included me.

At the beginning of February, I was able to rest the payment, a total of $800.

After 2 months and discussions of character information, I was updated with a photo of some base heads Bear would be working on, and I was going to give him measurements to follow up with.

Another 2 months went by, and I popped in to see if there were any updates. He was in the process of moving and going to a con, so I told him it was understandable and thanks for updating me. This was about half a year since I paid for my suit and thought maybe I wouldn't have to wait TOO much longer.

Some time passed, and we barely talked in August about fursuit adjustments for my character, then in October I asked to see if there was anymore updates, and asked if my suit could be done before Further Confusion (FurCon) 2019 which was held on January 17, 2019.  Here he said he thinks he was able to get it done, I held hope but part of me was ready to accept if I couldn't get it by then.

November rolls out and I talked with Bear to make sure that the suit would be done before FC, seems like he was confident in getting it done.

At the end of December, he drew up another WIP, and we discussed some suit adjustments.

Bear told me that he'll do his best to get my suit done by then, and if it's not all done he'd send what was completed. It seemed too good to be true since the con was less than a month away, but I was prepared to see what he'd have done.

Come January, he didn't have any part of the suit ready, and apologized saying he had the flu. Him getting it all done asap and rushed seemed to good to be true, so it was understandable he wasn't done, and I told him no rush hoping I'd get some progress soon at least. Bear said after he plans to finish no later than February and will have WIP pictures soon.

At the beginning of February, he sent me a very early build, but it was an exciting WIP nonetheless. It seemed like this was the start of great progress, even though it has been over a year since I first commissioned him, but this would be the only WIP photo I'd ever see.

While he promised to get my suit done at the end of February, nothing happened. I asked again in March if there was any progress, where he said he was depressed and going through something. Then in April I messaged him if he had any idea of when it would be complete, which he gave me a May-June window.

In May he was completely silent, and in June he said he was busy and would have my suit done before the upcoming FurCon 2020 (which would start on January 16, 2020). 

Here again he said what progress he made and what he had to do, and that he should definitely get the suit done before FC 2020.

Come October, I wanted to see if there were any updates, since FC was slowly coming around the corner. He asked when I'd like my suit done before again, then never messaged me until the beginning of next year.

Instead of giving me a personal explanation for not getting the suit done again, he just drops this link and quickly scurries out which was the beginning point of me realizing that I wasn't the only one who was waiting for a commission to be done from him. This was the start of me losing my empathy and patience with this guy as things progressively got worse over the next two years.

After a bit over a week he responds seeming reluctant to get the suit done "soon". 

In March I sent him for character tweaks, which was late on my part admittedly, but afterwards in April-June he was completely silent. At the end of July I asked him for another update which resulted in nothing again, and afterwards he did not respond until the beginning of 2021.

He finally responds at the beginning of January of 2021, after not messaging me since July 2020. He talks about how he's depressed again, and how he lost his Grandpa. As someone who has lost their grandparents as well, I've been in his position of being in a rut and losing motivation to get things done, however, given his list of excuses given out so many times, I can only feel so much empathy/sympathy from him and let him take LONGER and LONGER to get my suit done. At this point I told him if I could just get a refund if he had too much on his plate at the moment. He said he was willing to do my suit still and how it's "a cutie" which doesn't sound very professional at this point since he's been avoiding me and not getting work done.

I told him if he could get it done by June then I'd be okay with it, otherwise I wanted to talk with him about getting a refund. No updates pass by as usual and in March he gives me more excuses and "plans" to get it done in the Summer. Here I tell him I'll be okay with it if the suit can be done by the end of the year.

I start to show frustration with Bear as well and tell him I'd like a refund if he doesn't get the work done before the promised time. He ends up ghosting/not communicating with me as usual, so I tell him I'll contest PayPal if he doesn't get my work done. I've seen most people immediately try and contest payments and try to get their money back, but I wanted to talk with him about it instead of doing that. 

September rolls out and still nothing to show.

Here he gives more lists of reasons why he hasn't started and promises to get WIPs soon.

I start to get more frustrated with him for his lack of effort and care communicating back with me. I leave two messages to him about how he still hasn't gotten my work done, then he read the messages and never responded, leaving me to tell him again I would contest PayPal. He says at the end to give him this month to try and make progress, if nothing happens he'll start the refunding process.

I tell him about how he needs to get his responsibilities in order. I sympathize with him with all the things he's been through but I try and tell him it's no excuse to leave me in the dust when I try and support him ordering a fursuit paying with my hard-earned money. We talk about how if nothing is done for November, then I'd want a refund.

He never got the suit done, and says he will work on getting the refund process started by the end of this year or beginning of next.

No updates still, we are now in the year 2022, over FOUR years since I first commissioned and sent the payment over to Bear.

No updates for another two months until I continually ask him, if I don't message him he'll legit forget about me and continue ignoring getting the fursuit done. I plea with him here, asking if he'll actually get it done, because I've waited so long for basically nothing. Only a few quick sketches and an early base from a few years ago. I just wanted my refund at this point, I didn't even want a fursuit anymore. 

I felt like enough was enough. He wasn't responding to me, treating me respectfully, or getting any work done. I had come across the Artist's Beware site a few months ago and even noticed someone posted about Bear here (under his old username Unluckydinobear). I figured if he won't give me my money back for a fursuit he promised to get done several times over the past couple of years, this was my best bet to post. My friend, who originally got his suit from Bear, told me it was only partially completed and how Bear still needed to make adjustments, and also left him in the dust. 

I wrote all of this here today not to "callout" or want any threats toward Bear, but I hope that if people end up showing interest in commissioning this man, please be aware of what you are getting yourself into. It has been 4+ years since I first commissioned Bear for a fursuit, and I still have gotten nothing. As of June 11, 2022, he still has not messaged me back, and looking at his Twitter account it seems like he's too distracted with other affairs to even care