For those who missed it, TonK's scam of the century

[Skykid]

Yes, that Tonk, the one who spent all his time in the Trading Station telling people how much lucrative PCB's had exploded in price and managed to ramp up the values for several key titles, all the while flipping the shit out of them.

His scam, perhaps the largest in gamedom, passed me by earlier this year, and seemingly others too. Some folk in the UK might remember an article regarding newly found US versions of Aero Fighters 3 for Neo Geo AES appearing in Retro Gamer magazine, featuring all the clandestine details and an interview with the holder of said gems, Tonk.

Long story short, they were fake, and sold for $30k. Here's the roundup, enjoy:

http://cardinalperception.com/mb/showth ... -Cartridge

[Ed Oscuro]

Any new details? I've been over at Neo Geo Forums last week (LOL when he showed up to Tony's remembrance thread...what a classy move) and somebody was saying that Tonk might have just been a middleman. Yes, that's contained in the first post of that thread, but there is (or was) lot of uncertainty all told - even though it probably boils down exactly like was written there.

It's also not clear Tonk takes a huge share of the blame here, if he was pulled in himself. It doesn't speak well to his Neo player skillz and his "legendary" scammer call-outs look downright hypocritical now, but either "DavidG" would have to be Tonk or Tonk would have to be a willing accomplice before I'd say that people were right to pull him in. The only other thing I see as a problem is if Tonk is covering in some way for "DavidG."

But yeah, fools and their money.

[njiska]

somebody was saying that Tonk might have just been a middleman.

But yeah, fools and their money.

That was Tonk's story. He also said that he disappeared because his family was receiving death threats. I think his original post was preserved in a quote a few posts down. Frankly I don't really care what really happened, but the drama surrounding this whole affair has just been ridiculous.

[Ed Oscuro]

One other thing - Neo Geo Freaks did make their glorious return with that "original" (maybe? Believe us this time?) dog tag store display sign for eBay. What did they want for it? Something ridiculous...maybe $30,000? It's been posted here before but I feel the need to both expound upon, and hermetically contain, the neogeoness.

Frankly I don't really care what really happened, but the drama surrounding this whole affair has just been ridiculous.

The main problem is all we've seen is that stories of Tonk's nefariousness get amped up to no end while the truth remains unknown and the actual perpetrator(s) go unpunished. Obviously, we aren't in much position to help one way or the other, but I'd take some drama if it would help.

I've tried my best to follow the arguments (well, for a half hour at a time) in this mess over at N-G.com, and the drama certainly has its unintended casualties. One innocent bystander, for example, is NG:DEV, who was very pointedly questioned by some member who wanted NGDEV to prove who they had gotten their game shells from (some connection to Tonk, I think) and that those hadn't come from some other source. The saddest thing is that, without knowledge of who said what and when, a lot of the arguments being made seem plausible to me. It is a sign that community is being eaten up by paranoia.

Also that nezumiiro guy is wrong - Neo Geo community members were probably first outta the gate with the impressive scams. Waaaay before MLP or whatever the fuck he's talking about. (Do any Bronies even scam anybody? How would that possibly work?! That's totally contrary to what that's all about. Pokemaans, well shit yeah, that's also about putting your opponent facedown in the mud, same as any SNK fighters, booyah)

[EmperorIng]

what is it with neo geo people and massive amounts of e-drama?
Aero Fighters 3 isn't worth $50, let alone $30,000 lol.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hey, Aero Fighters 3 is $50 worth of fanservice, easy.

[njiska]

It is a sign that community is being eaten up by paranoia.

And this is the part of the drama I have issues with. I don't mind people being pissed of, but the witch hunting is just out of hand.

Also that nezumiiro guy is wrong - Neo Geo community members were probably first outta the gate with the impressive scams. Waaaay before MLP or whatever the fuck he's talking about. (Do any Bronies even scam anybody? How would that possibly work?! That's totally contrary to what that's all about. Pokemaans, well shit yeah, that's also about putting your opponent facedown in the mud, same as any SNK fighters, booyah)

I don't know what this is about and frankly I don't think I want to know.

[drauch]

Yeah, I've been following this pretty much the entire time but got lost kinda in the middle, only to see Tonk's gallant return once Nightmare Tony passed. Still, has anything officially been proved? I only saw that one guy come forward and accuse Tonk of it being fake, but did any of them actually come forward and demand a refund rather than proof? I easily could have missed it, but I still don't recall anything of the sort.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yes, that's been a sticking point (all this is secondhand because fuck those threads are long): Tonk supposedly says he never got asked for a refund. Of course, if there was just one buyer - I was under the impression this was a batch of games - or even if there were a number, they might have gone straight for "DavidG." (I feel the need to go back and put quotes around that.) Plausible deniability for Tonk seems to have been achieved...maybe. Next time I need to sell some fancy games fast I will ask my friend Roosevelt Franklin for help.

[BIL]

I've been following this classic soap opera most of the year, and was very disappointed to see the latest season get cut short with a thread lock.

Moral: buy good games, they're cheaper!

[Skykid]

It is a sign that community is being eaten up by paranoia.

And this is the part of the drama I have issues with. I don't mind people being pissed of, but the witch hunting is just out of hand.

Wat? I don't think you're a bad guy, so I'm unsure why again with the pacifism, you have nothing to prove. But in this case, a guy is responsible for scamming a member of his own community out of 30 freakin grand, I'd say a witchhunt was entirely appropriate. Some people would call in a hit.

I agree with fools and money stance, but in such a hobby, especially NG where completism is rife, we've all spent stupid cash on something we really wanted. It's certainly not right for folk to take advantage of collector's weaknesses for shiny things.

[Specineff]

I always wondered if the manual and other minute differences being in English was worth 30K (even if genuine). The ROMS are the the same for each cart, the BIOS being the factor determining what version boots up, right?

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Also that nezumiiro guy is wrong - Neo Geo community members were probably first outta the gate with the impressive scams. Waaaay before MLP or whatever the fuck he's talking about. (Do any Bronies even scam anybody? How would that possibly work?! That's totally contrary to what that's all about. Pokemaans, well shit yeah, that's also about putting your opponent facedown in the mud, same as any SNK fighters, booyah)

I don't know what this is about and frankly I don't think I want to know.

Price of gems

[KAI]

lol Collectors.

[Kollision]

retarded [rich] people will always be retarded

[SuperPang]

*sound of TonK furiously masturbating with a palm full of $100's whilst reading this thread*

[moh]

*sound of TonK furiously masturbating with a palm full of $100's whilst reading this thread*

haha! that image was a great way to start my morning.

[Ruldra]

Who the fuck pays $30000 for a game? Jesus Christ.

[chempop]

Just to be clear, the AF3 and PowerSpikes games weren't all sold for $30,000/ea, undisclosed amounts between $15-30K were suggested... so multiply that by maybe 10 units and you only have somewhere between $150,000-250,000... of which, TonK was supposedly making a commission of $5,000 per game... it has also been suggested that his house was up for foreclosure...

...who here wouldn't take the opportunity, be honest

[jugemscloud]

from what i picked up - tonk got somewhere between 5-10k commission for each sale, i think it was a case of davidg saying - i want x amount per cart and you can ask for what you want and keep the excess, hence the fluctuation in price i think they af3s went from 15/18-30k. tonk also had his own copies of af3 and ps2 (both versions) as part of the agreement between him and david g which he sold.

the ng:dev thing was that the cart shells (and possibly pcbs) they are now using are new and had been fabricated along with the gold warning stickers and the source was beilieved to be (is?) davidg due to his production of converters and the multicarts that are now on the neo store using the same shells and stickers, and used the money from the sale of the fake carts to produce the shells, stickers and also new pcbs?. the converters and multi carts are on sale in the store to refund charmane the guy that kicked up about his af3 and supposedly whose friends in the us were making the threats to tonk and his family.

there was also a bit in the whole reveal thing where tonk was aksing for a kof2k us to check for discrepancies, which in fact turned out to be for a comparative check against kof2ks that davidg was planning on producing as the next run of undiscovered carts which i think was going to be somewhere between 12-24 carts.

[Vyxx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf4IRFXR7LA

[Udderdude]

The only good thing about all this is that TonK doesn't post here anymore. Seriously that guy was so full of himself, always jumping down people's throats over the most minor shit. And then it turns out he's quite shady himself. Ugh.

And TonK, if you're reading this and planning your glorious return, don't. Just go away. Please. :p

[Hagane]

I always wondered if the manual and other minute differences being in English was worth 30K (even if genuine). The ROMS are the the same for each cart, the BIOS being the factor determining what version boots up, right?

Well, these guys are collectors, so they most likely don't care about the product's actual worth at all. They are just interested in its rarity.

[njiska]

It is a sign that community is being eaten up by paranoia.

And this is the part of the drama I have issues with. I don't mind people being pissed of, but the witch hunting is just out of hand.

Wat? I don't think you're a bad guy, so I'm unsure why again with the pacifism, you have nothing to prove. But in this case, a guy is responsible for scamming a member of his own community out of 30 freakin grand, I'd say a witchhunt was entirely appropriate. Some people would call in a hit.

It's not about pacifism, but maturity. Is Tonk guilty of scamming the community? Probably, but there's a lot of unknowns and rather than trying to legitimately get to the bottom of it, the community is getting lost in the accusations (See NG:DEV BS). This is now flooding over to other people, not just Tonk. Your statement about some people calling in a hit is rather appropriate as according to Tonk that's what people have been threatening and that's just not cool.

So yeah, call it pacifism, call it being a pussy, but I'd rather be right any day than be vengeful.

Also that nezumiiro guy is wrong - Neo Geo community members were probably first outta the gate with the impressive scams. Waaaay before MLP or whatever the fuck he's talking about. (Do any Bronies even scam anybody? How would that possibly work?! That's totally contrary to what that's all about. Pokemaans, well shit yeah, that's also about putting your opponent facedown in the mud, same as any SNK fighters, booyah)

I don't know what this is about and frankly I don't think I want to know.

Price of gems

Oh god, the Gameloft extortion. AKA Not a scam, but a rip off.

For Ed's Benefit http://www.cnet.com.au/gameloft-my-litt ... 342493.htm

[Ed Oscuro]

the ng:dev thing was that the cart shells (and possibly pcbs) they are now using are new and had been fabricated along with the gold warning stickers and the source was beilieved to be (is?) davidg due to his production of converters and the multicarts that are now on the neo store using the same shells and stickers, and used the money from the sale of the fake carts to produce the shells, stickers and also new pcbs?. these are items are on sale in the store to refund charmane the guy that kicked up about his af3 and supposedly whose friends in the us were making the threats to tonk and his family.

Thanks for explaining this all more clearly than I could.

My problem with the NG:DEV accusations is that clearly they aren't bad guys and shouldn't be dragged into this mess. Even if DavidG was using other people's money to fund that deal, NG:DEV has no obligation whatsoever to pay out to people. They should find a different supplier if this is the case, though.

Also very imprecise to say "believed to be" because nobody, as far as I know, even can know such a thing.

Actually, there is one thing that is unclear - the Neo Geo Forums store is selling whose shells, stickers, and pcbs? DavidG's? How did that happen?

For Ed's Benefit http://www.cnet.com.au/gameloft-my-litt ... 342493.htm

Okay.

For those who were wondering "what is Ed talking about?" I am just saying that there is a long history of bootlegs ("conversions") and such being passed off as the real thing, as well as that business of the Freaked games.

ALSO ROFLOL

[njiska]

ALSO ROFLOL

This is the best first response ever:

What is it about the Neo Geo that brings out the drama and the inflated egos? It's like you guys can't just play videogames and talk about them, it has to be some kind of self-aggrandising ego trip lifestyle choice. Being on the outside looking in, let me tell you, it's pretty fucking weird.

[Udderdude]

" The Arcade God " so humble.

[jugemscloud]

i changed the wording to avoid confusion over the items for sale, to clarify -

its the converters and multi carts that are on sale not the component parts.

the link between davidg's products and ng:dev was through the stickers being the same for each, and an announcement from ng:dev around the same time of changing from reconditioned cases and converted pcbs, to entirely new component stock iirc as they had a source for these and it wasn't a manufactured run funded by themselveves. and due to these factors this has led to the belief of some that ng:dev sourced these parts are from davidg.

ed oscuro - none of this was implicity proven hence the use of "believed to be" which is applicable and appropriate in this situation. example - i believe your pedantry over the use of the english language and incorrect assumptions therein indicative of your lack of things to do with your time. this is my belief it may not be fact

[BeefJerky]

Seriously that guy was so full of himself, always jumping down people's throats over the most minor shit.

Oh you should've seen his drama over at NG.com back around 7-10 years ago. Used to tell everyone he was a gangsta black dude (I don't know why), threaten people with plane tickets to come meet up with him (intimidation) and try to incite other forum members against the owner of the site. Once even told everyone he pistol-whipped a Walmart shopper. The guy is the epitome of "bullshit e-thug".

And yes, the AF3/Tonk/DavidG drama is ridiculous, but that is the nature of our little NeoGeo community over there, wouldn't change it for the world.

[RGC]

Great price, these normally go for twice that on YAJ. Someone here is getting a great deal.

Edit: Sorry, wrong subforum. Mods, please move this post to any Cave sales thread in Trading. R.I.P tonK.