The Bricks & Minifigs–Reckless Ben controversy has reached a temporary climax, as the YouTuber has claimed he is currently unable to publish videos about the company.
Reckless Ben, whose real name is Ben Schneider, has been documenting his feud with the company on YouTube, but now claims he can no longer mention BAM without risking legal consequences.
Schneider became involved in a viral dispute surrounding an alleged $200,000 LEGO Star Wars consignment deal tied to the Salem-Keizer, Oregon branch of Bricks & Minifigs.
In his latest video, a 1-minute and 42-second update titled ‘My final message’, the YouTuber claimed he had been officially served by the company, stating he can no longer mention BAM in his content or release the final part of his investigation.
“Normally I would be like, screw the big guy telling me what to do. I'm going to do what's morally right,” Schneider said. “But in this situation, if I do that, then all my friends get screwed with this lawsuit and we lose all the GoFundMe money we raised immediately.”
Schneider had been raising money to cover the cost of Bryan Mansell’s missing collection and legal fees. Mansell has claimed that when the franchise changed ownership, the new operators refused to return unsold inventory or honour the consignment contract he says he had with the former owners.
BAM corporate has stated that its standard franchise agreements do not offer consignment. After a public back-and-forth, the company stated to Mansell that ‘whatever Star Wars LEGO was or remains in the Salem store, whether you identify as yours or not, you can have it’.
BAM has since parted ways with the Salem franchise operators and the location has reportedly been permanently closed.
Schneider’s videos and tactics in the wider controversy were not well received by the company. His content included setting up parody businesses, picketing, and confronting owners at their homes, which resulted in Schneider facing local misdemeanor criminal charges for stalking and trespass.
Furthermore, BAM corporate filed a civil lawsuit against Schneider, Mansell, and others, alleging defamation, harassment, and racketeering under Utah's state RICO statute.
The backlash also reportedly affected neighbouring police departments and other BAM franchises across the USA, with some locations temporarily impacted by alleged harassment and abusive calls from viewers. Schneider himself spoke out against this, saying that ‘no one should be getting harassed at all. Not even the bad guys’.
Schneider added in his latest video: “My personal opinion is that this is unfair because this order was put on me because this company was telling the court that I was making bomb threats, that I was planning on murdering the manager and employees, which obviously I didn't and you can see that in the footage.”
BAM has not publicly confirmed the accuracy of those statements in those terms.
Schneider continued: “The only problem is I was not given a chance to share my side. The court just heard their perspective, not mine. Because I wasn't able to share my side, I am now no longer allowed to talk about them. And it looks like this might be it.”
At present the legal situation remains ongoing and fluid.
Featured image: Bricks & Minifigs / Reckless Ben
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