Put yourself in Lonnie's place.
Yes, it's wrong, because before Lonnie sells those heads, Jim Maddox spends his time and talent sculpting them for Lonnie. The recaster invests only resin and rubber, and steals the work of Jim and Lonnie, who aren't exactly reaping a huge profit to begin with.
I think we all realize that selling unlicensed sculpts is a form of theft -- very petty theft considering the tiny volume -- and that such works are produced at personal risk, and usually for the sake of personal growth rather than enrichment. Those who cloud the issue of recasting with the issue of licensing rights are apparently of the belief that one wrong justifies another. The responses to this thread have been surprising and disappointing. It's clear that there are several people on this board to whom neither Tinister nor anyone else should sell their work, because they take the work for granted and think the fact that the work is unauthorized makes it fair game. Perhaps some of you should try sculpting something, and then getting it molded and cast, and then consider how you'd feel seeing it auctioned by a stranger on eBay. Perhaps you think sculptors just appear with their talents in full bloom and gainfully employed by large companies. Perhaps you don't know where Sideshow finds its sculptors, or how many of them have unauthorized or "spec" works in their portfolios.
It will be interesting to see whether any more original sculpts are offered on this board. If anyone wanders in here with a sculpt, they should be directed to this thread as fair warning of who they're getting mixed up with.
