Rainman's Fight Club sculpts recasted...

[EVILFACE]

It might be worth taking note that these aren't up for sale yet and HP have posted pictures from other companies on their facebook page and not gone on to sell them. HP seem to work in mysterious ways but I think it may be a little too early to start calling them scumbags for this. Maybe we should wait to see if they actually sell these sculpts before we pass judgement on them.
I know they have done this before and they took a lot of stick for it.

You must be new here.

This is Sideshow Freaks where everyone has one of these:

 

[hehateme23]

I bet Ed and Brad are saying the same to the people who made sculpts of them!

That is very true.

 

[viezure]

Even though headplay occasionally sculpt their own work it's obvious to me they're in this 100% for the money and have no passion whatsoever for this hobby if they can just blatantly sell someone else's work as their own.

Be serious, most of their sculpts are their own, because they do many characters other companies/people won't. Ichi the killer? Stephen Chow?

 

[uscmhicks]

Be serious, most of their sculpts are their own, because they do many characters other companies/people won't. Ichi the killer? Stephen Chow?

That doesn't really mean anything does it ?. They've probably sold barely any of those sculpts but if they're apparently recasting hot toys heads and now possibly these also they're not doing it because it's fun.

 

[SwedishHeat]

I don't get it. When Kaustic Plastic, Hit Figure and Alpha Toys recast Hot Toys bodies, everybody gets excited, and "F Hot Toys, they deserve it, they're gouging us on bodies" but when someone Headplay recasts Rainman heads it's "Grrr, argh, down with Headplay".

 

[intothevoid]

I don't get it. When Kaustic Plastic, Hit Figure and Alpha Toys recast Hot Toys bodies, everybody gets excited, and "F Hot Toys, they deserve it, they're gouging us on bodies" but when someone Headplay recasts Rainman heads it's "Grrr, argh, down with Headplay".

Didn't know they were recasting HT bodies, if so, poor show from them too

Right or wrong, there will always be a different reaction though to a recast of something that originally cost $40 and is being recast and sold for $25, versus something that originally cost $100+ and is being recast and sold for $25

 

[uscmhicks]

I think what I find leaves me with a bad taste with this is the fact that Headplay post and advertise their sculpts and possible recasts here along with threads from Rainman and other artists who respect and help each others work to deliver us the figures we're usually requesting.

There has been a guy on ebay for years who has sold recasts but at least he doesn't come along posting them here.
As mentioned though they might not even be selling these sculpts so for now it would just be the hot toys Bale head so far wouldn't it ?.
Was there speculation of any other recasts from Headplay ?.

 

[Agent47]

It might be worth taking note that these aren't up for sale yet and HP have posted pictures from other companies on their facebook page and not gone on to sell them. HP seem to work in mysterious ways but I think it may be a little too early to start calling them scumbags for this. Maybe we should wait to see if they actually sell these sculpts before we pass judgement on them.
I know they have done this before and they took a lot of stick for it.

But why would they post pics if they had no intention of selling them? Doesn't seem that far of a leap to conclude as much.

 

[ryanbayliss]

I don't get it. When Kaustic Plastic recast Hot Toys bodies, everybody gets excited....

I don't think this is a fair comment to make. Kaustic Plastik has NOT recast any HT body. Fabio is a really cool guy and a collector himself. I will stick up for KP here.

But why would they post pics if they had no intention of selling them? Doesn't seem that far of a leap to conclude as much.

I don't know why they would post pictures on Facebook but they have picture of the HT ttm19 and loading toys head sculpts on there too and they haven't sold them.
I admit Headplay work in mysterious ways and they did recast the HT Bruce Wayne sculpt but as far as I know that's the only one they have sold. All I'm saying is we shouldn't jump the gun and start making accusations when they haven't done anything wrong (in this case) YET!

As far as I'm concerned all they have done is painted some heads and posted pictures of them on their facebook page. We've all posted pictures of custom work somewhere or another.

They may very well have intentions of selling these and when they do we can all shout and b$&ch about it.

 

[Agent47]

I don't get it. When Kaustic Plastic, Hit Figure and Alpha Toys recast Hot Toys bodies, everybody gets excited, and "F Hot Toys, they deserve it, they're gouging us on bodies" but when someone Headplay recasts Rainman heads it's "Grrr, argh, down with Headplay".

Well, yeah, but people are often more likely to empathize with the little guy. And if you look at it from a collectors' standpoint, these guys paid big bucks for what they thought was going to be a limited release that you couldn't get anywhere else. If anything this thread is a nice way to show support for Rainman, who's doing some really impressive work lately. Just got my Doc sculpt the other day and it is awesome!

That said, something with a general use like bodies doesn't disturb me as much to see knock offs of. Esp. when you start seeing the numbers taper off. And Kaustic at least sculpted and constructed an entirely new body. They didn't recast the parts, even though they might have gotten the idea elsewhere. There is a company out there making recasts of the HT narrow shoulder, but again, HT ones are getting rarer and harder to find. And HT already made their money off them so now it's the vendors who bought them who I guess you could argue are getting hurt by it.

I guess I just don't see the same level of collectibility between a head and body. And I personally see plenty of differences between the HT ones and Kaustic ones. But that's just me.

 

[Agent47]

As far as I'm concerned all they have done is painted some heads and posted pictures of them on their facebook page. We've all posted pictures of custom work somewhere or another.

Good point. A possibility I hadn't considered. I don't know if I'm convinced by it, but I guess it is possible.

 

[meth head]

SCUM

..

..

 

[karamazov80]

HP hasn't really denied doing this in the past, have they? Seems like their argument was--"well, if we can take someone else's unlicensed sculpt, make slight mods to improve it, then re-release it, then why shouldn't we?" And of course, there are various responses to that question. This is a tricky situation, as discussed previously ad nauseum, because the original sculpt wasn't licensed. But it is bad form in the custom artist community, and Headplay will probably lose the support of some the more they do this sort of thing.

Didn't know they were recasting HT bodies, if so, poor show from them too

Right or wrong, there will always be a different reaction though to a recast of something that originally cost $40 and is being recast and sold for $25, versus something that originally cost $100+ and is being recast and sold for $25

Well. . .more like they were originally $50 or so unpainted, but still. . .

 

[Remy]

Its up for sale on ebay now.

Tyler:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item1e6dadba38#ht_1422wt_1059

Norton:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item3f16ff9146#ht_1353wt_1158

 

[karamazov80]

Paintwork actually looks pretty good on these.

 

[Cheungkinmen]

Its up for sale on ebay now.

Tyler:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item1e6dadba38#ht_1422wt_1059

Norton:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item3f16ff9146#ht_1353wt_1158

It was a matter of time :S

 

[Remy]

Yup, unfortunately. Really sucks.

 

[die]

While I do understand why people hate to see products getting bootlegged, the most disturbing trend lately has been so many "trusted artists" just completely ripping people off.

At least with the bootleggers you know you're getting an inferior product and they copied somebodies work, but at least you actually wind up getting something.

It all goes back to the "to each his own" approach. It just depends on how important quality is to you, how important supporting individual artist/companies/etc. is to you and the how important securing an actual license to an intellectual property is. Everybody wants to get paid.

 

[toylion]

Its up for sale on ebay now.

Tyler:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item1e6dadba38#ht_1422wt_1059

Norton:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Pai...ltDomain_0&hash=item3f16ff9146#ht_1353wt_1158

They're resin and neckless.

 

[sithlordmacgyver]

What a great topic...In the past year or two I have become more and more familiar with how easy it is to recast and how common of a practice it really is.

Do you want to recast a head and sell it...easy to do(no licensing)you just have to contact an overseas company and give them a head to remold. Yes, you do lose some detail the more it is recast but never the less..it is possible to do. Do the companies care that they are recasting..NO. They are in business to make money and so is the recaster.

I don't think it is right that companies can do this because it shows the lack of creativity and really cheapens the end product. I feel sorry for the artist in these cases.

So where do you draw the line?

Here are my thoughts, if you commission an artist to do a sculpt then you should make it clear of your intentions. I am currently working with a VERY talented artist on a female sculpt for a mass production project. Him and I have made it very clear of the intent and use of the sculpt. Once he is done, the sculpt, copies and molds are released to me and the client who is purchasing them. The artist is getting paid to do a job and if you are dealing with a high caliber of artist, then you will definitley pay them for that quality.
I trust the person I am dealing with 110% and have his word that no other copies will be released by him.

Now once it is put into production overseas...there really is never a guarantee that someone will copy it down the line. I do think that the origination of the sculpt may make a difference. Even though it is sculpted here, the client is doing the production in their locality where this practice is common. So the chances of a bootleg recast may be less.
Just my opinion.

To the artists: Keep up the great work and make the money that you deserve for your time and effort.

To those who purchase these pieces of art: ENJOY them....YOU HAVE THE ORIGINAL ART FROM THE ARTIST AND NOT A "PRINT"

To those who purchase a legitimate bootleg: Just remember it is a fake and you may be contributing to the loss of future works from these talented "original" artists. I'd be frustratedand I am sure it will sometime to me down the line.

Thanks for reading..

SMcG