To protect our precious sculptor : Regarding TLJ sculpt matter

Rainman, one of my favor and respectful sculptor and figure maker, he is so kind to anylysis the case :

I totally agree Kato and Rainman, it's a recast with slight alterations.

So Headplay got a hold of Viva's Sculpt?

I've been following along and it seems that HP is only gonna get worse and in my honest opinion I think it's time something's done about that. We cannot allow someone to show off their recasts, it bad market.

I have to admit to being a bit confused as well, is there a backstory to help explain this?

Xenophilius said:

I've been following along and it seems that HP is only gonna get worse and in my honest opinion I think it's time something's done about that. We cannot allow someone to show off their recasts, it bad market.

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Same will have to go for all the customizers here that offer "tweaked" recasts here then.

EVILFACE said:

Same will have to go for all the customizers here that offer "tweaked" recasts here then.

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HP has 3 sculpts that weren't tweaked, they were clearly just recasts with ____ty paint and ____ty molding.

EVILFACE said:

Same will have to go for all the customizers here that offer "tweaked" recasts here then.

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Never undestood why this was allowed in the first place. Using another's sculpt for reference is one thing, put molding and casting it and tweaking the sculpt is different. Unfortunatly it's all a matter of perspectve. If it happens to a sculptor you know or respect it becomes more personal, and more offensive. If Headplay got a hold of a Trevor Grove sculpt and did this , the forum would be screaming for blood. The people who don't care as long as they get what THEY want are the fuel that drives this practice to continue.

I couldn't agree more with yruh8n. You can use it as reference as it's a 3D model, so to speak, to go along with picture reference, but copying and/or tweaking it is what shouldn't be allowed. If you make a sculpt and someone like HP sees it and thinks "Wow, it looks great but could use some tweaks" would you allow them to ____ with your sculpt and have them sell it for their own profit while you sit there watching?

Unless it's officially licensed, stealing is stealing. I really don't see the difference. An artist steals a license with the intent to produce unauthorized sculpts for self profit. Someone steals their sculpt, and recasts it to do the same. One isn't worse than the other here as they're both stealing and in neither case do the rightful owners of the license get compensated for their property.

thenammagazine said:

Unless it's officially licensed, stealing is stealing. I really don't see the difference. An artist steals a license with the intent to produce unauthorized sculpts for self profit. Someone steals their sculpt, and recasts it to do the same. One isn't worse than the other here as they're both stealing and in neither case do the rightful owners of the license get compensated for their property.

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thenammagazine said:

Unless it's officially licensed, stealing is stealing. I really don't see the difference. An artist steals a license with the intent to produce unauthorized sculpts for self profit. Someone steals their sculpt, and recasts it to do the same. One isn't worse than the other here as they're both stealing and in neither case do the rightful owners of the license get compensated for their property.

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Thx for yr opinion!

You make me just notice that nearly all the artist ( Sunohc, Trevolver, Imarasqd1, Velvet Morning, Rainman, Xenoviper......) in this forum are all stealer!

And I am sorry that you are visiting the forum of stealer!

Kato.E said:

Thx for yr opinion!

You make me just notice that nearly all the artist ( Sunohc, Trevolver, Imarasqd1, Velvet Morning, Rainman, Xenoviper......) in this forum are all stealer!

And I am sorry that you are visiting the forum of stealer!

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Nobody's debating that recasting is shady, but as the old saying goes, "live by the sword, die by the sword." You can't steal from someone by selling an unauthorized sculpt bearing their likeness for your own profit and then cry foul when someone steals from you to do the same. I mean you can, but it makes you a hypocrite.

thenammagazine said:

Unless it's officially licensed, stealing is stealing. I really don't see the difference. An artist steals a license with the intent to produce unauthorized sculpts for self profit. Someone steals their sculpt, and recasts it to do the same. One isn't worse than the other here as they're both stealing and in neither case do the rightful owners of the license get compensated for their property.

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I hadn't thought of it that way but technically yeah thats right. Not to say I wouldn't still be pi$$ed off I was the 1st illegal sculptor in this scenario -

Xenophilius said:

If you make a sculpt and someone like HP sees it and thinks "Wow, it looks great but could use some tweaks" would you allow them to ____ with your sculpt and have them sell it for their own profit while you sit there watching?

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But true enough, theres no moral high-ground on which to stand without being told off myself.

Kato.E said:

Thx for yr opinion!

You make me just notice that nearly all the artist ( Sunohc, Trevolver, Imarasqd1, Velvet Morning, Rainman, Xenoviper......) in this forum are all stealer!

And I am sorry that you are visiting the forum of stealer!

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This is exactly my point. It's absurd how you guys grow morals suddenly when artists you favor are having their work recast, but said morals are completely nonexistent when you're profiting off of licenses you don't own and haven't even bothered obtaining the rights to, much less even looking into it.

thenammagazine said:

This is exactly my point. It's absurd how you guys grow morals suddenly when artists you favor are having their work recast, but said morals are completely nonexistent when you're profiting off of licenses you don't own and haven't even bothered obtaining the rights to, much less even looking into it.

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Quick questions...do any of the artists/members on here who offer custom sculpts like Marty McFly, etc., have the rights to do so? Aren't they cutting out the copyright holders?

That doesn't entirely work in the case of TLJ as he's registered and patented by the USPTO which put his likeness out as public domain on certain products. It's like Boris Karloff, he's been made public domain. Same as the movie White Zombie and a few others, so technically they can make sculpts, but the copyright of the sculpt lies with the sculptor, so it's still against the rules to make recasts.

CollectorNC said:

Quick questions...do any of the artists/members on here who offer custom sculpts like Marty McFly, etc., have the rights to do so? Aren't they cutting out the copyright holders?

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Yes, exactly. This whole hobby is stealing. I don't know why some people have such a hard time coming to grips with that. We're all thieves in one way or another.

TheObsoleteMan said:

Yes, exactly. This whole hobby is stealing. I don't know why some people have such a hard time coming to grips with that. We're all thieves in one way or another.

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Actually, not all. I've never bought a custom anything. I've followed a bunch of the threads and admire their work, but something always seemed fishy to me about it.

CollectorNC said:

Actually, not all. I've never bought a custom anything. I've followed a bunch of the threads and admire their work, but something always seemed fishy to me about it.

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I've bought plenty of custom sculpts, and I imagine I'll buy plenty more in the future. I just don't kid myself about the fact that I'm buying unlicensed bootleg material.