1/6 Ghostbusters Custom Headsculpts

[yruh8n]

The Bill Murray head I got was a recast of the "infamous" Andgor head sculpt.

Not to change the subject, but thanks alot for supporting recasters. I have spoken with at least three different sculptors who wont accept commissions for 1/6th scale heads because they have been ripped off by recasters, specifically the scumbag you probably brought that head from.

 

[JediMike71]

How did you know who I bought it from is a "scumbag"? That is your opinion, not mine. Hey, I just finally found a Bill Murray head that I wanted on eBay after looking and looking for one without any success. I don't intend to support any scumbag recasters. But when Andgor has taken people's money and never delivered on their goods to those paying customers I was not about to lose money to them! This was the only way at the time that I knew of to find a custom Bill Murray head that I needed for my custom Peter Venkman. Andgor should have kept thier word and kept their end of the bargain when people ordered from them. I have heard nothing but ONLY bad things about their horrible "customer service" and lack of responding to repeated e-mails from many upset customers. So, "yruh8n" I do not appreciate what you have said to me about my supporting "scumbag recasters". Gee...thanks a lot. Now you've made me feel so much better...

 

[thundergod]

That proton pack looks pretty straightforward to anyone with basic modelling skills , all the components are straightforward geometric shapes and the need for "sculpting" as such seems minimal . I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with! On the subject of the Ghostbusters license , I think you'll find the major hindrance is Bill Murray himself . He owns a large percentage of the rights and is notoriously difficult when it comes to the subject of licenses ,merchandise and the like . The rest of the performers, producers etc , have been keen on re-starting the franchise but he refuses to play ball . ( Miserable ******* !)

 

[yruh8n]

How did you know who I bought it from is a "scumbag"? That is your opinion, not mine. Hey, I just finally found a Bill Murray head that I wanted on eBay after looking and looking for one without any success. I don't intend to support any scumbag recasters. But when Andgor has taken people's money and never delivered on their goods to those paying customers I was not about to lose money to them! This was the only way at the time that I knew of to find a custom Bill Murray head that I needed for my custom Peter Venkman. Andgor should have kept thier word and kept their end of the bargain when people ordered from them.

You admitted that you bought a recast. By their nature those who mold and recast other peoples work without their permission are scumbags. The reason they can operate and grow is by people supporting their unsavory actions. I understand your frustration as I have looked high and low for certain heads with little to no success. Andgor had their problems and maybe you feel justified by that, but Andgor is not the only one getting hurt by this. There is a recaster that has an ebay store that runs auctions every week for recast heads. It's not just Andgor he is ripping off. Other companies and artist are injuried by recasting as well.

I have heard nothing but ONLY bad things about their horrible "customer service" and lack of responding to repeated e-mails from many upset customers. So, "yruh8n" I do not appreciate what you have said to me about my supporting "scumbag recasters". Gee...thanks a lot. Now you've made me feel so much better...

I imagine they didn't take your money because they were trying to fix their problems. I'm not trying to defend their business practices or customer service, just pointing out that it's no excuse for buying copies of their product from a lowlife. The intention of my post wasn't to make you feel bad, but to point out the damage that supporting recasters in any way shape or form can cause. I've meet a few of the artist who freelanced with Andgor. They do great work, but they want nothing to do with the 1/6th customizing community as long as recasters are supported by the hobby.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

Not to change the subject back to Ghostbusters but... I'm loving the custom GB thread here. Can't wait to see some teaser photos of your sculpt Tinister! And rockin' reference photos JediMike! If the sculpts become avilable I'd be all in for throwing together a custom team of Ghostbusters myself.

 

[JediMike71]

I am fairly new to the 1/6 scale customizing hobby. I guess my inexperience knowing which people were they original casters, and which were recasters was my downfall. Now that I know of original casters, especially ones I've met on this board, I will do better with deciding to buy from the original casters, okay?

But, I'll keep buying from original casters on eBay such as Lonnie Hale. I hope to get some castings from guys on this board too like Andy's Daniel Craig James Bond head he's working on now.

Now back to Ghostbusters. Yeah, I have heard that Bill Murray is notoriously difficult about licensing his likeness. Dan Aykroyd in a recent radio interview mentioned he was going to start on a Ghostbusters 3 CGI movie, and that Murray had agreed to lend his voice to the movie. I hope this really happens! If we don't get a live-action Ghostbusters 3, at least we'd get a CGI one with the 4 actors voicing their characters! I mean, man, if Murray can do the voice of Garfield in two movies, he can at least do Peter Venkman in one movie!

I will touch up the paint job on my Murray and Aykroyd heads I have now. I still have some detailing work to do on them. But, I will still buy a set of heads and proton packs from tinister too!

I think we all want to support fellow casters and fans of the 1/6 scale hobby. That's all I want to do. It's such a great feeling to meet others that have the same interests and passion I do for this hobby.

 

[customizerwannabe]

Not to change the subject, but thanks alot for supporting recasters. I have spoken with at least three different sculptors who wont accept commissions for 1/6th scale heads because they have been ripped off by recasters, specifically the scumbag you probably brought that head from.

That's just stupid on their part. Won't create it as someone might copy it. Fine. Get a job at McDonalds then.

 

[die]

JediMike71- No need to defend yourself. We all must come up with our own set of morals about how we make custom figures & what we feel is fair. For a while now there's been too much criticism going around in my opinion. I understand why people want to support the original artists, but it's almost become a witch hunt.

There is always the issue of supply & demand. Some "trusted" sellers do equally shady tactics when compared to the "despised" recasters. The most confusing thing to me is that "that one seller who lists the same recasts over & over" is always mentioned in these debates. We is he always mentioned? We all know exactly who he is and he rarely sells any heads because they are crappy, low quality, outdated sculpts and nobody even bids on them. The guy is pretty much a non-issue as he has shot himself in the foot. Meanwhile, there are sellers who get support from the community even though they have similar shady tactics & they are raking in thousands more than that despised recaster on ebay.

Let's face it, according to the law itself, any of them could be considered infringing on intellectual copyrights. I 100% agree that we should support the artists in this hobby, but it should be on a "live & let live" basis.

Sorry, that's just my 2 cents.

tinister- I support you 100% on this one, can't wait to see what you come up with!!!! I've always wanted a set of Ghostbusters myself.

 

[JediMike71]

Thanks "die" for your comments. I am trying to set my own morals when it comes to collecting and customizing 1/6 scale figures. Yeah, I have a very good idea of the one recaster on eBay that you are talking about. If it is the person I am thinking of, they have always delivered excellent custom celebrity heads to me. The recastings were always top-notch and I have bought many from the same seller on eBay due to those facts. I really have only met a handful of original casters, some very recently through this message board.

Yeah, the copyright laws and permission from celebrities to use their likenesses sometimes take lots of money and time to achieve. Some actors, like Tom Cruise, and Bill Murray I know of, are very difficult releasing their likenesses for anything at all! I guess those facts taken in, the casting and recasting of our favorite celebrities we want to see in 1/6 scale form, is in some ways....illegel? I don't know for sure. I know there's always that phrase "no rights given or implied" or something to that effect. I know that all of us fans and collector and customizers of this hobby try to help each other out and use the "live and let live" policy in our shared brotherhood of this hobby.

I just want to get the best possible likenesses and figures of my favorite actors and actresses in my favorite roles that they've played in films. That's why I'm going to so much trouble and expense "tricking" out my HT marines to get them to look as close to how they did in ALIENS, and hopefully get a set of screen-accurate Ghostbusters someday soon.

Thanks guys...and as Sideshow Toys says....."Collect For Life"!

 

[galactiboy]

Don't take one person's *****y comments too seriously.

And can't wait to see what comes out of this thread

 

[JediMike71]

Thanks, I won't. I'm trying to take it easy....and just go with the flow.

 

[yruh8n]

Yes, unlicensed heads is a copyright infringment. However two wrongs don't make a right. But hey, don't take my word for it. Ask some of the sculptors who post their work for sale here how they feel about someone taking their hard work and recasting it. Recasters have no moral barometer. They will rip off anyone and everyone they can. Their ability to exist is wholey and completly depended upon collectors who's "moral code" is based on getting what they want regardless of who it benefits or hurts. The offending recaster in question continues to advertise on ebay because he is making money. If people stopped supporting his efforts he would concentrate on the other items he sells. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but it's that plain and simple. The sculptors I mentioned not wanting to do heads don't need to work at McDonalds. They make far more $ working for companies like Sideshow and Macfarlane, then they have or ever will make doing custom head sculpts. Please ask some of the sculptors here if this isn't true. I'm venting my frustration here because I can't get the work I want, and artist I want to hire wont take my money.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

I'm venting my frustration here because I can't get the work I want, and artist I want to hire wont take my money.

It's fine if you vent dude, just don't make an individual customizer on the board your target and don't vent in this thread. There are plenty of threads that discuss this elsewhere.

 

[yruh8n]

Again I'm not looking to insult anyone. I felt it was relevant to say something in this thread, as it directly applied to the topic at hand. The sculptor who did the head of Bill Murray for Andgor was planning to do the other Ghostbusters and offer them for sale. After losing hundreds of dollars in sales to recasters, both through Andgor and other clients, the sculptor decided to no longer offer their services for custom heads. By supporting recasters the same thing will happen to other sculptors. Maybe nobody cares in this situation because they hate Andgor. What would happen if the same ebay seller gets a hold of Tinister's Ghostbusters sculpts and starts recasting them? Or Andy's Daniel Craig? I'm just saying.

 

[yruh8n]

It's fine if you vent dude, just don't make an individual customizer on the board your target and don't vent in this thread. There are plenty of threads that discuss this elsewhere.

Okay, let me say that my comments are directed at anyone who would support recasting in general, not specific individuals. Since I'm not getting what I want I'm taking it out on someone else. That's not cool. My apologies.

 

[customizerwannabe]

Again I'm not looking to insult anyone. I felt it was relevant to say something in this thread, as it directly applied to the topic at hand. The sculptor who did the head of Bill Murray for Andgor was planning to do the other Ghostbusters and offer them for sale. After losing hundreds of dollars in sales to recasters, both through Andgor and other clients, the sculptor decided to no longer offer their services for custom heads. By supporting recasters the same thing will happen to other sculptors. Maybe nobody cares in this situation because they hate Andgor. What would happen if the same ebay seller gets a hold of Tinister's Ghostbusters sculpts and starts recasting them? Or Andy's Daniel Craig? I'm just saying.

I'd bet 10:1 someone will eventually recast Andy's Craig head. He's being smart. Getting a bunch of orders up front to get what he needs out of it. If I had any talent, that's what I'd do. Get upfront what I feel my work on it deserves. If people recast after I made that money, I don't like it but that's the world we live in. If I were the sculptor I surely wouldn't stop sculpting for that fear, but I might charge more. The recasting is only going to get worse. Thailand is a hotbed for recasting resin and vinyl model kits. Pretty soon you may not be able to tell the difference.

 

[JediMike71]

I am just tired of talking about all this. So I am just going to start talking about the Ghostbusters figures and proton packs. How is the work going on the Aykroyd head tinister? Got an update for us?

 

[yruh8n]

I'd bet 10:1 someone will eventually recast Andy's Craig head. He's being smart. Getting a bunch of orders up front to get what he needs out of it. If I had any talent, that's what I'd do. Get upfront what I feel my work on it deserves. If people recast after I made that money, I don't like it but that's the world we live in. If I were the sculptor I surely wouldn't stop sculpting for that fear, but I might charge more. The recasting is only going to get worse. Thailand is a hotbed for recasting resin and vinyl model kits. Pretty soon you may not be able to tell the difference.

I never said the individuals I have spoken to stopped sculpting period, they just stopped doing custom heads. Charging more isn't the answer because cheap skates will just wait until someone recast it, and buy it for a better price. And it's not just heads and garage kits that are getting knocked off. Back in Feb. there was a listing on ebay for a knock off of a 1/4th scale pf style statue of a porno star, complete with removable clothes and printed box. The original statues are licensed, this was a production run of bootlegs. Maybe people will take recasting more seriously when the market gets flooded with Dr Doom PF recast and the resale value goes down the toilet. There are already many knock offs of Bowen statues and bust as well as other companies showing up on ebay all the time. I'm done beating this dead horse.

 

[JediMike71]

Hi tinister! Any new update or pictures of your custom Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz head yet? I am still VERY interested in a set of all 4 Ghostbusters guys, and that bonus Louis Tulley, and their proton packs. Ever think of doing a Dana Barrett head too? Hot Toys did a pretty good likeness of Sigourney Weaver with their ALIENS Ripley figure. Once you paint over the red hair. Let me know. Thanks!

 

[JediMike71]

I'm giving this thread a ***BUMP*** !

Tinister....any new update for us on your Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz 1/6 head sculpt, or any of the other Ghostbusters or proton packs? Please let me know here. Thanks again!