help me define "Re-Casting" AHEAD of time:

[CrimsonGhost]

^^^ I don't see that as a problem with other casters, its if he bought a preshrunk General Zod head from head store A and then copied that head for resale, that's where the problem would start. At that point he's not doing his own work on the shrink. Especially if the owner of head store A noticed it, and spoke up that he/she sold him that head in the past.

I think the MAIN main problem here is that he bought the pre-shrunk heads. If he had simply bought vintage Mego heads and shrunk and cast and sold them, no one would have cared at all! But, because he bought from Store A (to borrow your example) the owner of Store A is keeping an eye out for what he's selling, so even if he buys the original heads and does all the work to shrink them, he's going to be accused by Store Owner A of recasting....in fact, it's such an issue now, that he has decided to resculpt the heads completely, defeating the purpose of selling shrunken 12" heads in the first place.

Geez! Why did you announce it?!?

[TrueDave]

"Geez! Why did you announce it?!? "

Because I'm TrueDave.


I asked ahead of time ( MEGO MEET) and now I got the idea you can cant redo another Customisers efforts. In any way . ( includes Box/card guys)
And stick to vintage.

[ddgaff1132]

This is an interesting morale dilemma. This might get me on the HATE list, but I'm very curious. In my case, I bought a Batman head from BLiet at Mego Meet afew years back (2009). This last year I wanted to make a Space Ghost. I was gonna use an old Mego Batman. But I liked BLiet's Batman head better even though I made a Batman with it. I casted it in alginate and made a plaster copy. I ground off the ears and painted and sealed it.

Aside from the fact that I'am not marketing this to others. Ignoring that I altered the end product to not resemble the original. Is this unethical. Even though I dont know if BLiet was the originator of that perticular sculpt?

[thunderbolt]

^^ I don't see that as bad as if you repro-ed Brian's work and then sold it as your own for profit. That would be the sticking point with what Dave is asking about.

[The Bat]

Alright, my turn to add my 2 Cents. The biggest NO, NO is to buy a Head from another Customizer who has taken the time to either shrink or enlarge the Head, and spent Money on the Materials...then "re-casting" his hard work will make you unwelcome in the Customizing circle.

Now if you do your own shrinking or enlarging...that's a different story. Then you have done the same thing he has, because neither of you really own the Sculpt of a copy righted Character. But my question is...why would you even want to bother, if you could just buy the Head from said Customizer and save yourself a lot of time and Money? Why not do a Character that hasn't been done yet? It will increase your sales, because most of us will have probably bought the other Head from the Guy who shrunk it first.

And of course the other problem you might face is...how will we know if it's " a Re-Cast"...or your own work? Unless there are some differences(maybe the scale is slightly different or the Neckplug, or something?).

[thunderbolt]

the guy that sold it to him will know its a recast. Someone did that to Austin a few years ago, even boosted his pics.

[TrueDave]

^^ I don't see that as bad as if you repro-ed Brian's work and then sold it as your own for profit. That would be the sticking point with what Dave is asking about.

Some on the thread ( if I understand correctly) have suggested a signifigant scuklpture change makes it a new guy.
So what counts as a signifigant change? I would say his does as would a different mask or hairdo .

[TrueDave]

Alright, my turn to add my 2 Cents. The biggest NO, NO is to buy a Head from another Customizer who has taken the time to either shrink or enlarge the Head, and spent Money on the Materials...then "re-casting" his hard work will make you unwelcome in the Customizing circle.

Now if you do your own shrinking or enlarging...that's a different story. Then you have done the same thing he has, because neither of you really own the Sculpt of a copy righted Character. But my question is...why would you even want to bother, if you could just buy the Head from said Customizer and save yourself a lot of time and Money? Why not do a Character that hasn't been done yet? It will increase your sales, because most of us will have probably bought the other Head from the Guy who shrunk it first.

And of course the other problem you might face is...how will we know if it's " a Re-Cast"...or your own work? Unless there are some differences(maybe the scale is slightly different or the Neckplug, or something?).

You'll know if it's a recast because I'll say so. :-)

I didnt realize someone else had shrunk these heads. I wish they had been originals. Thats what I advertised for. It would have been cheaper for me.

I'm new to this. I spent the last 15 years in GI Joe / Aurora world. My biggest customizing wants are the same as any body else. If I can think of it someone else probably already has too in this hobby.
Seriously WHAT hasnt already been done ????

For me its Sherlock Holmes,The Fugitive and Swamp Thing.
No original Brett, Jansson, or Durock sculpts.

[thunderbolt]

Some on the thread ( if I understand correctly) have suggested a signifigant scuklpture change makes it a new guy.
So what counts as a signifigant change? I would say his does as would a different mask or hairdo .

Just do what you want Dave, if you step on toes you will be called on the carpet about it. It seems to me from your posts that you are planning to do whatever you want to anyway, despite the advice given here.

[TrueDave]

Just do what you want Dave, if you step on toes you will be called on the carpet about it. It seems to me from your posts that you are planning to do whatever you want to anyway, despite the advice given here.

Sorry you might possibly misread me.
Casting only vintage mass produced items and doing all resculpts, recasts, remolds myself is the lesson I got here.

[thunderbolt]

Right, that is what you should do to not tread on others work. If you do buy a preshrunk head then turn up selling the same preshrunk guy, someone is going to cry foul.

[TrueDave]

Got it Thanks!