Juan Hidalgo, JH Miniatures, and more on the potential Vallejo content creator conflict of interest controversy surrounding Army Painter Speedpaint.
Editor’s Note:
You can view our latest article on this topic by clicking here
This post shows the first article, along with the responses from both Juan Hidalgo as well as @RWJP Ross Patrick, mod of r/Warhammer40k.
I felt like it was necessary to clarify the point of our article, as some commenters seem to be getting stuck on the part about “reactivation,” per Juan Hidalago’s out-of-context screenshots of our article with no link back to the actual content, in his Twitter post here.
We’re not disputing that reactivation is real, as even The Army Painter has addressed it.
The point we made was that Juan Hidalgo was the first major YouTube Content Creator to reveal the issue (although Stahly wrote a post and made a video shortly before Juan) while at the same time potentially failing to disclose a possible conflict of interest.
If he was indeed (seemingly by his own admission) working for Vallejo and developing a competing product, we feel that he should have notified Army Painter and his viewers of any potential conflict of interest (adhering to any NDAs with Vallejo, etc.) before moving forward with that content.
By accepting copies of Speedpaint early, before they hit the market, he not only could affect the opinion of potential Speedpaint customers and its pending release but could also provide material assistance to Vallejo by providing them with the actual paints themselves; giving that company potentially an unfair competitive advantage in developing a competing product.
Not to mention that if you pan the product you’re reviewing while working for the competition to develop your own version of it, that may also look suspicious.
The original article, which has been updated with Juan Hidalgo’s responses, is copied below.
Our @spikeybits account was initially blocked by @JhMiniatures; however, he continued to tag us in his posts, which, at the time, we could not comment on.
It looks like Vallejo may have put out a hit on the Army Painter Speedpaint line to hurt the brand using creator Juan Hidalgo directly.
So if you’re not tracking, reactivation is an “invented” issue with the Army Painter Speedpaint that actually created a ton of backlash throughout the online community. This got hobbyists all up in arms right at the very launch of their new paint line.
Now it is looking like the “reactivation issue” was purposely exaggerated by someone who was, in fact, working for Vallejo at the time to launch a Speed Paint/ Contrast alternative.
Vallejo Puts Out a Hit on the Army Painter
Content Creator Juan Hidalgo from JH Miniatures sort of invented the “reactivation issue” about how the supposedly speedpaint is “defective” and even went on to say that they stay in a reactivation phase for days on end, which is just untrue.
Speedpaint is meant to be put on in a single color and for you to move on, not to perform complex paint schemes and techniques. As you can even see from these comments, people reviewing the paints at the time (including Spikey Bits) were using them as intended in just one coat. When used correctly, they let you paint up miniatures in no time…
However, if you don’t like one coat, you can always varnish in between. Or, as many commenters pointed out, all they have to do is wait, and it will dry.. no big deal.
At first, this doesn’t seem too bad and could have easily just been his take on the paints. But it seems like Juan may have had an alternative motive to slam the Army Painter Speedpaint, as we are about to see.
I Smell A Rat
His JH Miniatures video slamming Speedpaint for “reactivation” was put out roughly eight months (ago at the time of this writing), one month before the official launch of Speedpaint. The date is clearly visible when he published that video, and that is where things may have taken a turn for the worse…
Several months later, Juan released a debut video for Vallejo’s new Xpress paint. The problem is in his latest video from October 2022, if you look at the description, he says he worked on the Vallejo product for more than a year, and guess what that means?
It seems to mean he was working for a competitor to Army Painter when he did the video saying that they were “defective.” Not only that, but he did another video in September of 2022, where he ramped up the bashing of not only Speedpaint but other companies’ alternatives to Contrast and basically told viewers they are trash while also promoting Vallejo’s new product line.
When you have a bad actor basically inventing a problem with Speedpaint, it goes from feeling like an opinion to what looks like a hit by Vallejo on Army Painter. Not to mention pushing your own channel for exposure and profit.
Sure the first video bashing Speedpaint could be 100% Juan’s opinion. However, when he now seems to have been working on a similar product for a competitor and then purposefully used Speedpaint incorrectly to turn people off of to them, that is about as scummy as you can get.
Was it on Purpose?
While there is no way to know the reasons anyone does anything, we are all innocent until proven guilty. However, you can always glean clues to someone’s motives by their actions, which may be crystal clear once you start looking at all the comments on Juan’s recent videos:
As you can see, not only is he going after Army Painter in the comments, but he is also saying that no one should use Green Stuff Worlds products either…
Then here, you get someone saying it works for them; at first, he’s nice, but then immediately calls it a defective product while constantly using it in the wrong way! It’s not defective in any way; Speedpaint is meant actually to be a one-coat solution.
Lastly, Juan Hidalgo was using the post to hype up the new Vallejo line, so overall, it is starting to seem like a very shady way to promote a competing product by bashing another company. In reality, Contrast, Speedpaint, and all the alternatives work just fine when used the way they were intended.
Most of the time, it seems like people who have problems with Speedpaint are hobbyists simply trying not to pay the $8 a bottle for Contrast and expecting a different paint to work the same.
Twitter Questions Juan Hidalgos Character:
Commenters seemed really fired up over Juan’s own Tweet (that we included in the article) as if we were the ones questioning his painting skill, which we were not.
This Tweet has since been deleted by Juan and is the basis for his “F— Rob” note on the back of the miniature in another since-deleted video on Twitter.
This is Juan’s since-deleted Tweet showing a picture of a painted bust.
First time I’ve been questioned about the authenticity of my work!
I honestly take it as compliment and think it’s hilarious mainly because I CANNOT paint in 2D to save my life but just because I can here is an unedited jpg straight from the camera.#WarhammerCommunity pic.twitter.com/wUnU7J96OZ
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) October 26, 2022
Deleted Responses From Juan Hidalgo
Juan Hidalgo had some choice words for us after reading the original post (which, again, you can read here)
Of all the sh*t takes I’ve ever read in my life this has to take the crown. Not only is ill-intended but it’s the most disgusting piece of “news” I’ve ver layed my eyes on
Apparently the reactivation issue is something I’ve created, and pointing it out makes me the bad guy.
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
Not only was I not the first one to point that out, that was @stahly_top BTW, how am I to blame for a property of a paint most people find undesirable@thearmypainter designed their paints with certain properties in mind, those properties caused paint to reactivate
2/
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
The issue I had is that wasn’t DISCLOSED when they were released, I just informed people about it so they know what they were buying
In fact I was EXTREMELY MILD and fair in my review, I could have gone the Spike Bits route and make a fuss about it, I didn’t.
3/
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
How am I responsible for what Army Painter did? The truth is most people don’t like paints that reactivate, I’m so tired of a handful of idiots saying it’s just that I don’t know how to use them…
I will admit I don’t know everything about painting, not even close
4/
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
But I know a thing or two, and I know what I want and what I don’t want my paints to do.
That also brings me to this which is the most stupid take of the whole article
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
TWO PEOPLE, questioned my paintjob and AS A JOKE I posted it on Twitter
The fact that people like Marc Masclans, to me the best bust painter in the world, praised it is of course omitted
Don’t worry @spikeybits I will make a video just for you when I get home, also
FUCK YOU pic.twitter.com/iPrgiR49Tz
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
Just because I’m a man of my word, here is the rotating video, specially dedicated to Rob Bauer#WarhammerCommunity pic.twitter.com/qaly8gRc6G
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
We would assume this is in response to this statement from our original article:
We won’t get too much into this, but it is interesting to note that people have questioned his painting skills. This whole issue could have been resolved by tweeting a quick 10-second video of the bust in your hand spinning around.
Stick it to the ABSOLUTE WORST of the hobby community with this elegant and LUSH merch collection and help me out in the process
Available in women tank top, child, baby and mugs for your cup of tea with style https://t.co/oMRfYn9C8K
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 3, 2022
Also, a couple people pointed out I should look for a solicitor. Sadly I don’t have the resources to hire one but if you are a solicitor, think I have chance here and want to help me, please send me a PM or an email to:
Thanks 😘
— JH Miniatures (@JhMiniatures) November 2, 2022
After banning our profile from commenting on the posts he tagged us in, Juan made the following comment:
Undeleted Responses From Juan Hidalgo @JhMiniatures
After posturing that he was deleting all the negativity, Juan posted this:
And Then Somehow Reddit Got Involved…
Our Tweets explaining how Juan posted out-of-context screenshots of our 2000-word original article with no links back to the actual content for his audience to read, received quite a few distasteful messages. Most we hid, and some we banned the user from commenting again, such as this one below that belongs to the mod of a 40k Reddit.
We then received the following message from@RWJP Ross Patrick
Then he posted the following PSA on his subreddit r/Warhammer40k
To be clear, we dont really use Reddit, and generally, only post to defend our company against baseless attacks when the mods do not step in to coral the hate. After seeing this post and receiving the above message, that seems to explain now the lack of mod help in the first place, to be fair.
More Videos!
From there, other Content Creators have jumped on the controversy bandwagon and posted reaction videos and reactions to said reaction videos as well.
I really like the Discourse Miniatures one, where they do a great job of explaining the point we were trying to make about a potential conflict of interest by Juan Hidalgo and JH Miniatures in regard to Vallejo and the Army Painter.
She also calls out some of the better and less emotional writing we could have done in the article, which we agree with.
She followed up with the following video as well.
This may be a perfect example of what not to do when working with a brand or making a new product in the hobby space.
Let your product stand on its own merits instead of going and attacking other companies. If you have a good product, people will buy it. There is no need for power plays like this whatsoever, unimplied or unintended.
What are your thoughts on the situation with what looks to be Vallejo putting a hit out on The Army Painter using Juan Hidalgo?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
