Cod Eye

Is there anywhere you can buy these bootleg WWE belts that is at least semi-secure with regards to payments? My eldest kid has wanted a real(as in leather and metal, rather than the plastic toy ones), and I'm thinking about getting him one as a bit of a joke/out of left field gift for his birthday, as he did the same with a hand made Freddy glove for me last year. Don't fancy sending a good chunk of money to a randomer in Packistan though, especially if there are people selling on something like Etsy or the like?

Looking at it slightly differently, but there was only one way The Giant could go in WCW after beating the biggest star wrestling had ever seen and winning the world title on his debut.

1 hour ago, Rule One said:

Cheers, not an expert but I do love my belts.

@mim731 Cheers for linking the thread.

 

 

Real collectors belts are an expensive hobbies, even for low tier bootlegged belts it's still going to cost a fair bit of money. Quality will always cost money regardless of what sector you're in and if you can get real licensed belts from the makers you're are looking at thousands of pounds easily. 

ORM belts and ZEE belts are bootleggers pure and simple. They source their belts from Pakistan (ORM are based in Pakistan.) Most bootlegs come from Sialkot in Pakistan and there is about 10 different operations pumping out plates/belts to varying degrees. Some have been in business for years and have steadily improved but none from Pakistan stand up to the quality of the original makers. 

Most of the leather is outsourced to other people, mostly in Europe and the United States. I can state that I have never seen a decent leather job/production out of the Sialkot producers.

The problems with these belts is that copies of these are in abundance due to supply/demand and cost circumstances. Go on ebay and there will be vary degrees of belts, some will look as intended, others will be way off the mark. I'd explain further about how this all came to be but that's for another day. 

The belts made in Pakistan are usually made from pot metal, a mixture of scrap or a less solid product compared to Europe or the US. Brass and Zinc are what most belt plates are made from they are the foundation layer plate and are etched via acid bathing. Zinc is most common and etches the best, brass is cheaper but heavier and if the process is not done right leads to problems down the line. Bolts that hold everything together (Plates and leather.) are applied mainly by welding before bronze, copper, silver, nickel, gold/etc plating is applied. This happens after the plates are etched by various means. 

Leather is all about quality, cheap leather is very stiff and fatty/spotty, it cracks very easily when handled often. Floppy leather is too soft and and won't hold the weight of the plates. A decent leatherer will have sunk time and money to get to a standard of mid range quality. There's a million and one things in between that they have to do before a strap is ready to have the plates put on. Pakistani/low quality bootleggers miss most of these steps out which leads to an inferior product which is susceptible to damage easier.

Unfortunately for the belts most people want, bootleggers are the only option they have whether it's due to cost, makers unable to produce them due to trademarks or the makers don't exist anymore/have an extensive blacklist that most collectors who have ordered will be lucky to see.

When dealing with ORM or the likes of, their promotional pictures will always be eye catching but the product you receive may not be as good.

Things to look out for:

Location, if they're from Pakistan, China or around that area. They are most likely to be bootleggers. 

Payment methods: A few makers will ask for payment via PayPal in the form of a gift to avoid paying taxes but be wary it would be hard to claim anything back via this method. PayPal is the safest route but not listed as a gift payment unless they are 100% legitimate, have a traceable address and have been going for years with mostly positive customer comments. 

Bootleggers from Pakistan will usually ask for a Western Union transfer. You are at a major risk of losing your money and receiving no product from this. Its a gamble a lot of people have taken. Read up on customer comments about payments etc if you can. Some people get stuff, others don't.

Customer comments: Most negative comments will usually be deleted but search Google, forums, and posts from a good while back to get an overall picture of how a maker operates. Ask around if can/want to put the effort in. 

Customers belts compared to the ones marketed: This is a big giveaway to what sort of quality you may receive compared to the one advertised. 

If you have a mid range bootleg, most people won't see/notice the difference but a good percentage of hardcore collectors will be able to tell in an instant. 

I myself don't have a massive problem with people owning bootlegs but  has destroyed an already crumbling industry. A big problem is that people are getting bootlegs are trying to pass them off as original maker made or flipping them on ebay for profit. That's pretty much killed a legitimate and small market turning it into a massive sinkhole where unsuspecting people are getting low quality belts.

I hope this helps in some way. 

As always, that's a really interesting post from you on the subject! I hope you will expand on how the Pakistan bootleg situation came to be!

1 hour ago, johnnyboy said:

#socialdistancing

I saw a similar thing on Facebook at Barnsley hospital yesterday. They had a band playing outside the hospital during the "clap", so the local paper decided to film it. It soon cut away though when it caught about 100 people(including nurses and hospital porters) all hugging each ther and dancing together during the performance.

I know that "I can't wait to see them in AEW" is the new "TNA", but I can imagine someone like Maverick could thrive there if he is given a little creative freedom. And there is the obvious Bullet Club link with Gallows & Anderson that they can exploit in storyline terms too.

I suppose it's all irrevelent if AEW can't afford them in the current climate though..

An old mate who I knew from football away days years ago has died from complications after getting the virus earlier in the week, and now I've just had a message that the landlord at one of my locals is in intensive care, on a ventilator and is heavily sedated thanks to it too. This fucking virus can well and truelly get fucked....

I think it spoke volumes that the one that seemed to care most about their animals welfare was the Tony Montana-esque former drug baron(now he's stopped stuffing snakes full of Coke that is)....

Can anyone reccomend me a film(on Disney+ or wherever) that is similar to Disney's "Zombies" please? My youngest is absolutley in love with both Zombies and the sequel and is watching them on an almost continuous repeat and it's driving me mad!!!!! Is there anything similar(with monsters and the like) that I could put her on just to brake things up?

Can anyone recomend somewhere that sells decent quality movie posters please? I'm wanting to buy some to put in frames, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg if possible...

2 minutes ago, Loki said:

Besides the rumours about her first husband (and frankly there are much more plausible explanations for his disappearance) I thought Carole Baskin came out looking like a slightly crazy cat lady who actually does good by rescuing big cats.  She alone seemed to have experienced growth during her life.

Different order from Joe Exotic, who may or may not have been framed but was an animal abuser, criminal, drug addict and general shit.

I think we can all agree though that by far the most worrying character is Doc Antle - classic cult leader, intelligent, charismatic and dangerous.

For me, it was the fact that she "rescues" them, then keeps them and charges people to see them. Along with the fact she seems to take advantage of vaulenteer labour to look after them, she just came across as hypocritical to me(although she was definatly the lesser of the three evils).

Totally agree on the "Doc". He came across as a genuine cult leader, and needs investigating!

Just seen a post that they are talking about keeping the lockdown in place until the vaccine is widelly available(which could take a year by all accounts). If true(and the it linked to the Daily Mail, so take that into consideration), it's going to take decades until all the fallout from this has cleared...

I thought everyone involved came accross as pricks in that Tiger King series. Baskin was just as bad as the egotistical,, gun obsessed redneck that is Joe Exotic and the dodgy polygomist cult leader fake doctor bloke(was it his comune thing that Undertaker and his Mrs had the photos taken with the Liger and other big cats?).

44 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Drug dealers letting off FIREWORKS to alert of new drugs. Do some of you live in the 1800s? 

I live in Barnsley, so 1800's isn't far off the mark!

1 minute ago, Sphinx said:

That sounds like an urban myth to me. They'd have to spend money on fireworks to let people know when they could do what everyone else does and send WhatsApp messages or texts.

Even if they were concerned about those messages being traced, checking out where the firework came from is surely a giveaway.

Sorry for the double post.

It's 100% true. It was started about 10 years ago by a local "gangster" who was married to my mum's best friend. He used to sell dodgy fags and alcohol that he smuggled in using his trucking company and set the fireworks off to let people know a truckload had been delivered. After he was sent down, the dealers cottoned on and started it themselves.

My takeon the footballers thing, is that we can't just have a blanket opinion on them. Some will hae looked after their money and easily afford to give up/defer their wages to allow the non-playing staff to be paid, but there will be a big chunk that have pissed it up the wall and will still live payday to payday(dispite the eye watering wages).

I've mentioned before that my (now ex) brother-in-law is a player that as played over 400 games, mainly in the Championship, but a few in League 1 too. His highest wage was in the £6k a week range, so good money, but certainly not retire at 35 and do fuck all after money. He's been tight with his money, so could probably afford to defer a wage or two to help out, but thats it. His previous club was one where they had a number of players on Premier League wages(£30k-£45k per week), and none of them had any savings of note by all accounts. They owed so much on car loans/leases(taking an expensive 3 year lease out, getting bored of the car after 6 months, so giving it back and swapping for another and wrapping the outstanding 2.5 year lease into the payment. And they did this over and over), spend thousands per week on expensive clothes, holidays and basically spunking money on shit incestmants that a month without any money would financially ruin them(I've said it would save them right for being dickheads and blowing their priveledged position). 

48 minutes ago, Sphinx said:

That actually happens? Don't most dealers drop off? I was thinking there could be confusion over which dealer has stuff in unless it's just one person.

I don't know the in's and out's of it. You normally get about 3 or 4 per month, and each sounds like it comes from different parts of tows so either it;s the same dealers moving around to throw off the rozzers, or each delaer set's their own off as and when...

9 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

I agree with this. 

 

People aree already letting fireworks off here. It started on the first one and looks like the same poeple will keep doing it as long as we all have a "clap" night.

I assume that is what the fireworks are for anyway. the local drug dealers use fireworks to let their customers know they have taken a new supply so they can start to make their way to them. So it may just be a coincidence that the pricks are "opening their doors" just as we all do the clap thing!

Have they announced how the TNT title will work? Is it just a standard midcard title, or are they going dow the traditional, defended on every T.V. show 15 minute time limit route?

16 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Daft question. I’m on a MacBook and I’ve enjoyed the free play of Football Manager and will buy it. I don’t have to buy it from their site do I? Or can I get it via Steam for cheaper? Also is it a case of I can get a game from Steam if it has the Apple logo? Ain’t got a clue about specs but my Mac is running the latest os. 

You can buy a key from elsewhere. Try the fan sites like sortitoutsi.net(and a quick google will bring loads up). They often have the game cheaper then actual game sites.

edit:

Just had a quick look at these have it for £27.

https://www.footballmanagerblog.org/p/football-manager-2020-discount-steam-key.html

I've been going through things that passed me by over the years, so started The Shield. I'm about three quarters of the way through season 1, and I'm pretty undecided on it. Does it get better?

I don't think I'll ever forget that summer. I was 14, drinking heavily(i.e. a 2l bottle of White Lightening a night! Hardcore) and playing Thee Lions on what felt like a perpetual repeat. The tournament had averthing you could want, and I also STILL think Gazza is going to get his toe on that cross in the semi against Germany. I only put the Gazza goal vs Scotland on the other day for my kids to watch and it hasn't aged a bit...

I thought it was great, personally. With how split the country has been over that past few years, it it was brilliant to see everyone united in something, even if it was only for a few minutes.

My eldest lad has just used his daily excercise to nip up and see me(through the window!), and fetched me a few essentials. He's said that all the shops and chemists he's past have queues out side(all spaced out to be fair) and are operating a one in, one out system, or in the case of the chemists, they have a desk set up at the door with a pharmasist in mask and gloves serving one at a time. 

Looks like people are FINALLY starting to realise how bad this is and take it seriously...

Has anyone here signed up as a vaulenteer for the NHS? I'd be there like a shot if I could..

39 minutes ago, neil said:

Sadly this happened. My girlfriends father passed away over the weekend. To put all this in a horrible context for those who think "fuck social distancing I ain't scared of it", none of their family was able to see their Dad before he passed, none of them have been able to be with their Mum during this whole time. It will be TWO WHOLE WEEKS before she's able to see anyone and has had to deal with her husband dying completely by herself.

So do stay isolated, because if one of your family gets it this is may be what you have to go through.

Really sorry to hear that news, neil.

This fucking virus, and the dickheads who tare still actively ignoring the social distancing rules can fuck off now.