From Dreams to Disillusionment: The Downfall of Dreenicorn

By Jasmine Sanchez

Adreena Coleman is a name that not many in the enamel pin community would recognize on its own. Coleman started off as an entrepreneur, but evolved during the two and a half years running minor internet scams, eventually scamming many of her supporters. She meticulously carved a place for herself within the tightly-knit community using the name Dreenicorn and gained the trust of many including her moderators or mods. However, beneath the seemingly well-intentioned yet ill-stricken business owner lay a scheme that preyed on the very people who supported her—exploiting their loyalty and trust for financial gain, while masking her deception behind claims of personal hardship and illness.

Adreena Coleman was a freelance illustrator who dreamt of starting her own business. She blended their love of comics, anime, and Disney-esque into a unique style and began to make a name for herself posting her work on various Facebook groups to connect with fellow fans, showcase her designs, and build a following within the fandom communities.

In 2018, Coleman’s dreams became a reality. She launched an Etsy shop selling accessories such as acrylic charms and holographic buttons. The Etsy shop flourished with reviews that were nothing short of spectacular. After the successful launch of her business, she turned her attention to planning her first project on Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is a funding website that helps creators bring their projects to life by allowing them to raise funds from backers. Backers that support a project often get an inside look at the creative process and are sometimes given a promise of rewards for doing so if the campaign is successful. However, Kickstarter operates on a system of trust, and the project creator is not legally liable if the promise is not met.

Coleman’s first kickstarter, An OTP (Original True Pairings) Pride Enamel Pin Series Vol. 1, spawned from her love of shipping—creating a romantic pairing between two characters who are not otherwise romantically linked. In the campaign, she expressed she “really wanted to create something new and a bit more special than what [she’s] come out with thus far…” and did so through enamel pins.

The kickstarter was immensely successful as 149 backers pledged over $4,500, blowing away the measly goal of $300. Despite being successful, the kickstarter had several complications that appear to have been dealt with as quickly as possible. The backers, from the comments available to non backers, come across as satisfied. This feat garnered Coleman to create a second kickstarter in June 2020.

The OTP Pride Enamel Pin Series Vol. 2 was even more prosperous, although it was not nearly as smooth sailing as the first. There were a number of setbacks such as the COVID pandemic, five designs needing to be changed, apparent harassment pertaining to enamel color being darker than expected, and Pirate Ship, a company that partners with the Postal service to sell deeply discounted USPS and UPS postage, not sending tracking emails to backers.

At the end of the thirteenth update on kickstarter, Coleman brings up the numerous negative comments she’s gotten pertaining to the Utenthy, a popular ship regarding Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, pin. She included that due to the harassment she’s received had made her feel unmotivated to work on anything related to the kickstarter. She even admitted she stopped working on the postcards, but reassures backers that she will finish them as she made a commitment and is obligated to complete it.

Mid to late December was the estimated time frame when the enamel pins were supposed to be shipped out. Coleman admitted there had been issues with shipping, but hadn’t answered or reassured backers who were concerned over those issues for almost an entire month. Coincidentally, the month of silence happened to be the same month when Coleman first started her patreon.

Her first post on Patreon described the subscription to be more like a pre-order. It detailed each big pin design could roughly take between 5 to 6 months while small pin designs could take 2 to 3 months time before completion. It also included the estimated time of the shipping duration: 3 to 15 business days for US packages, 3 to 15 business days for Canada packages, and 7 to 30 business days for international packages.

It wouldn’t be until February of 2021 that Coleman commented under one of the updates where she claimed, “All parcels [had] been sent and [Pirate Ship had] been updating statuses…Those that have yet to receive theirs yet sadly will have to be a bit patient as all orders are out of [her] hands and there’s not much else [she] can do on [her] end regarding their statuses.”

Her claim would be refuted when multiple backers, who’ve predominately backed only a single pin, commented that the tracking number showed the packages were stuck in pre-shipment for a lengthy period of time. Meaning the label was created and the packages had not been dropped off at the post office or all the packages for a single pin were not properly scanned and updated. Coleman later blamed the backlog that the USPS supposingly had on the holidays as well as COVID.

Coleman’s schemes follow a repetitive pattern of disappearing for weeks at a time, long enough for customers to express their frustrations, and come back with a report of health issues that disallowed her to continue her responsibilities. She would keep her supposed health issues vague, never giving too much details, but enough for the community to give her grace only for the cycle to continue all over again.

This is a fairly common con tactic used by scammers. Coleman’s behavior mimics what is often referred to as a “sympathy scam.” The “sympathy scam” pertains to three key components: exploiting sympathy, buying time, and resetting the cycle.

“Exploiting sympathy” deflects blame from the scammer to an external force that is out of their control. This external force can take the shape of a family emergency, health issues, or a tragic event. This component leverages empathy as individuals are naturally empathetic and reluctant to push someone who claims to be going through a difficult time.

“Buying time” is used to prolong the cycle. Disappearing for weeks or months disrupts the momentum victims might have had in holding them accountable. Without regular communication, victims are left waiting for the scammer to resurface. Their disappearances also gives them time to think of new excuses to mitigate the growing dissatisfaction. The disappearing and resurfacing act is also a way to keep their reputation intact. With every new excuse, it halts any major damage to their reputation and instead of being met with immediate backlash, it is kept in limbo.

“Resetting the cycle” pertains to providing minimal fulfillment of what was promised. It is just enough to satisfy a portion of the victims while also renewing trust to the victims who haven’t received their orders. It provides a false sense of security. If they just wait for a little while longer, surely their orders will be fulfilled. It encourages the victims to continue to be strung along as they’ve already spent this long, they might as well give them one more chance and as more cycles continue, it lowers the victims’ expectations to become complacent in accepting their delays, excuses, and vague updates.

A former patreon member detailed their experience with Coleman’s Patreon. They joined in February 2021 to the tier called ‘Steam Team’ because they were interested in the large Revolutionary Girl Utena pin and allowed their Patreon tier to roll over to the next month for another fandom that they were interested in. They also purchased several pins from Coleman’s webstore on two separate occasions.

In early March, customers on Coleman’s discord server excitedly began showcasing their Inuyasha OTP profile while they had not received any kind of tracking. On the 9th, they sent an email which went unanswered leaving the member to send a follow-up email on the 17th that ended with the same result. In a final attempt to reach out they sent another email and it yet again unanswered.

Around this time, Coleman announced extras would be on sale in her online shop despite several customers having yet to receive tracking numbers. They posted their concerns in the discord where Coleman begins to provide a reason why it was missed. Coleman claimed they ordered them in March therefore they were not “part of the initial [pre-order] time frame,” but reassures them that they’ll get their pins soon.

What Coleman didn’t realize was that the patreon member had purchased them in February therefore should’ve “qualified” to be part of the initial time frame. They made a follow up post of the situation about their orders and were immediately reprimanded by mods within the server. Afterwards, the mods created a post about members being rude and that questions about orders were no longer permitted.

An ex-mod gave a bit of insight of what was being told behind the scenes during this time. They claimed Coleman had reported that she was hospitalized and mentioned that a customer was so rude that it impacted their health. The belief of her being hospitalized only added to the layer of protectiveness the mods felt towards Coleman and they tried to diminish any external forces that may affect her health.

They as well as the other ex-mods have come to terms that Coleman had manipulated them to become her shield whenever customers would demand for accountability. They have since now apologized for their part of the scheme and yearn to correct it. They have kept screenshots of deleted posts of customer’s complaints, inquiries, and emails.

On the 12th of August, Coleman addressed multiple paypal disputes while she was ‘hospitalized.’ She calculatingly discusses her previous history on Etsy to diminish buyer concerns and reinforce her credibility while also publicly denouncing those who question it.

She wrote, “…Six of these disputes have happened within this year and five of them happened when my health didn’t permit me to deal with anything, so last month. I have JUST received the seventh dispute TODAY even AFTER addressing the delays and explaining my health and everything here within Discord.”

She later sympathizes with their frustrations and tries to place blame onto individuals who have emailed her as it has stripped her of time that could’ve been used to fulfilling orders. Coleman had even given herself a deadline to catch up with all past due orders.

The promise of a deadline only reinforces that Coleman knew the end was in sight. Her tactics could only lead her so far and the end of her business was near. The patience of individuals can only be spread so thin until it is ultimately nonexistent. This last ditch effort to satisfy the minds of customers would only buy her more time to come up with another excuse.

Unfortunately, her scam would continue for another three years before her final disappearing act in February of 2024. Since then, she claimed to have never received any updates for four pins from the manufacturer and wanted to refund customers. No one had confirmed or denied that they received any refund at this time. She still owes many customers pins that date back all the way to 2021. She has completely abandoned all of her social media that had any ties with Dreenicorn.

For many of Coleman’s victims, it is too late to demand a chargeback. Banks, Paypal and Patreon all have a specific time-frame for disputes and for many of them the time has since passed. Victims of Coleman had created a discord server to act as a sanctuary for those who’ve been screwed by her.

However, this has not stopped Coleman from vending at cons. She was found vending at San Jose’s GalaxyCon and most likely tried to liquidate all in-hand items that are currently owed to pre-sale buyers. This behavior not only shows that she has no remorse over what she had done, but is still looking for ways to make a profit.

Coleman’s scam isn’t just an isolated incident. It serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities that exist within the enamel pin community, where trust and shared passion can be manipulated by bad individuals. While it is easy to empathize with creators facing personal struggles, it is important to remain vigilant and ask questions when promises are unfulfilled.