Beware the Recaster(s)

[LipSmack]

What was Q's nickname here guys??

Q.........

Haha

I see that ebay list never made it back up, is it acceptable if instead of a screen cap we just type it out and post it?

 

[karamazov80]

That makes sense
Never heard of him before though.....

His store is called "Q's Toys and Collectibles" He had a website, and sold through the boards for the longest time until the recasting issue came up and he was booted off.

 

[pixletwin]

Literally the end of the day here as it's 11:58pm and somehow we failed to stop all recasting and convince everyone a single opinion was correct.

That's it. You're all fired!

 

[galactiboy]

GB, I don't think this one is part of the unwritten rules (yes I know )

There have been artists like Spencer who keep producing to a certain time until they deem fit to move on. I don't think anybody but the customizer can have a say in that.

Yeah, the 10 I think maybe just applies if it's a license Sideshow also holds... but really even on larger commissions of figures the run is generally not over 30 or 40. Now with individual pieces there really is no limit, just whatever the artist can sell or where they decide to set the cap.

Q/Trevor related threads been taken down for good a while back. As far as I know, Q has been scaming people FOREVER. He appeared to be a nice guy at first, and I thought he was a fellow Freak. He came to us (me and SilentSurfer) in 2009 or 2010 to help him with something, and it was a re-cast project. We turned down his requests. We explained to him that casting others' work and re-selling was wrong (we thought, it was his ignorance that lead to ask us to do such thing), but he never recognized the rights of others (or our rights to turn down his request) and acted as if his self-serving behaviors as permissible and totally normal. He treated us like we were the ones who were crossing the line!!! That really scared me. Ever since, he has been holding grudge against us, and has spread lies about us here on the board and to the people who have connections to the people we do work for professionally. I believe he is a very dangerous and disturbed person. It's too late for us since we've become his target. If I could go back in time, I would have done anything to avoid this guy!

Ugh, what a piece of work. I've heard similar stories attached to him... he's one of the black marks on the hobby.

 

[csi]

The point was that people have tried to license likeness rights from celebrities before. Custom figures end up happening because it isn't practical for a legitiment company to produce figures when they can't turn a profit. Stealing a likeness isn't an accurate term. Custom artist are borrowing a likeness for sculpture reference. Stealing implies that the person's actual likeness has been removed from thier head. I get what you are saying though. Even c list celebrities probably carry around more folding money than they would ever make from royalties on a custom head. When you get into bootleg companies that are creating 40 - 50+ figures and selling them for $300 to $800 each is where the financial reeming begins to be felt by those losing out on royalties. In the garage kit world there was a famous case of a guy who was selling unlicensed "66 Batman kits. He was claiming that the actors sign off on okaying the kits. Warner Brothers was going to prosecute him until they figured out the guy didn't have enough money to cover court cost or attorney fees.

simply a justification for wanting to produce something that the rights owner won't let you. You are taking what you want and rationalizing it to make it seem ok. Which is funny because I read some posts from people who buy recasts justifying it in basically the say way.

 

[LipSmack]

simply a justification for wanting to produce something that the rights owner won't let you. You are taking what you want and rationalizing it to make it seem ok. Which is funny because I read some posts from people who buy recasts justifying it in basically the say way.

exactly, as I said before the sculptors are them selves stealing others art work when they make sculpts and sell them..

 

[galactiboy]

 

[LipSmack]

its actually just a fact... most would view a movie as a form of artwork... and a sculptor is profiting off of that artwork just as a recaster is profiting off of a sculptors artwork... not justifying recasters but im sure as hell not justifying sculptors either. swings both ways

 

[galactiboy]

 

[LipSmack]

Oh you posted twice, you win!

 

[galactiboy]

 

[LipSmack]

So thats how you got 45000 + posts

 

[galactiboy]

Sadly very little of my posts are spam Just a lax work environment

 

[pixletwin]

exactly, as I said before the sculptors are them selves stealing others art work when they make sculpts and sell them..

I think you've already mentioned that once or twice.. or forty-something times already.

 

[LipSmack]

I think you've already mentioned that once or twice.. or forty-something times already.

yeah around that, and i'll keep going the more its brought up

 

[csi]

well if its only an opinion and not a fact then you have an answer to your problem with recasters. Simply sue them if they are stealing your property rights. Heck, you can contact ebay right now as the rights owner and have all his recasts removed.

 

[LipSmack]

well if its only an opinion and not a fact then you have an answer to your problem with recasters. Simply sue them if they are stealing your property rights. Heck, you can contact ebay right now as the rights owner and have all his recasts removed.

No you cant... because the sculptors dont have any rights to them as the dont pay royalties or licensing fees

 

[csi]

No you cant... because the sculptors dont have any rights to them as the dont pay royalties or licensing fees

but thats only your opinion

 

[LipSmack]

but thats only your opinion

actually fact I'm afraid

 

[thainer]

I've been following this thread for what seems like a week and I don't know why I'm finally chipping in because everyone's mind is already made up about what they believe or don't believe. .

I am all for owning cool replicas of my favourite TV and movie characters and there is some awesome talent on this board so I am not coming down as anti-sculptor in any way.

But to those who believe that a sculptor has a right to sculpt a copy of anyone or anything he wants and sell an infinite number of copies only has to remember the massive number of threads that got yanked in the last month when the actual owner of a property steps in and says, "You can't sell that. It's mine."

I think we can all agree that letting someone else do all the work-research, sculpt, market a property-and then reproducing that work with no connection to the original sculptor to line your own pockets is bad, very bad.

But the sculptors are in a morally grey area themselves. This isn't a TV western where you can tell if a guy is a good guy or bad by the colour of his hat.

The internet and advances in technology has brought the world together in a way unheard of even 20 years ago. It has made sharing things (movies, music, art, literature, head sculpts) with someone across the globe faster and easier than ever before.

It has also brought with it more ethical dilemmas than ever before. We have to make the decision that works for us, that allows us to sleep at night.

I'm marketing and selling a product right now that would be relatively easy to recast and remarket. Don't think I haven't thought about some scumbag getting ahold of one and making money off my, and my partner's, hard work.

But at the end of the day, that's the risk you take if you want to make something cool and desirable.