I offer today a two part preamble. First, we will see the resurgence of modelling related posts in the near future. I am away for two weeks of training for work and somehow doubt the hotel staff would be too impressed with my converting their room into a make-shift hobby area.
Second, I recognize the legal challenges of this subject. To be quite blunt, it is illegal and just as downloading music, video games and films, it degrades the artistic and intellectual value of what is taken. It also takes money out of the pockets of those that supply us with what we crave; biting the hand that feeds so to speak. I know there are people who knowingly purchase recasts and those who are indifferent as to whether it is valid or not if the quality is present. To you I offer no judgement. Do as you wish with the contents of your wallet.
With that stated and out of the way I wanted to delve deeper into a periphery industry that surrounds all areas of Games Workshop but is particularly prevalent when it comes to Forge World products. Forge World to me represents the very best creativity, quality and fluff present under any of Games Workshop’s product lines. At the same time that I am an adamant supporter of the product, that is almost countered by the lack of access. Periodic orders I offer them are typically late (in some cases by years!) and I have had some dubious customer service (and some fantastic customer service). In spite of that, what I have received and what I plan to buy in the future is in the good faith that their quality compensates for the lack of convenience.
I would never knowingly purchase recasts of any Forge World, Games Workshop or similar product. As such I am very reserved about purchasing anything off of eBay labelled as Forge World. There are certainly obvious recasts wherein the price is too good to be true, or the quantity being sold is enough to cover a distribution network, but there are many more that are simply too difficult to be certain. A sealed clam-shell is reasonably safe, but in most non sealed cases there is no way to be absolutely sure that it is a 100% valid and genuine product that someone simply does not need or want.
Recently while exploring eBay for deals I came across a unique scenario I had not previously thought of and it certainly tugged on the tiny black heart strings of sentimentality and thoughts of “I should have bought that when I had the chance”.
From what I understand of the manufacturing process, the resin molds created by Forge World are not typically remade. Meaning that once a mold breaks and the remaining product is sold, it is simply gone, never again to return on their site. There is not normally any advance notice. One day it is there. The next it is gone.
The discoveries on eBay, that were clearly recasts based upon the fact that Forge World had not produced them in years, the seller’s geographic location, the quantity available and the reasonable price, led me to the logical conclusion that the items must be recasts.
That is what led to the question I have been wrestling with. My two-part preamble still standing, what happens when the item in question is fully discontinued with no intention of ever coming back? Does the black lose a shade of black? Does it become grey?
Certainly the items in question from a copyright and intellectual property standpoint belong to Games Workshop. In fact they are in Imperial Armour books that have not been invalidated or replaced during the seventh edition. It is also likely that they exist on other areas of the GW canon; Black Library and FFG Roleplaying Games. Yet no model is available anymore and has not been for several years.
I know I have the answer with regards to legality, but for the collector/painter/hobby enthusiast inside me who values the concept, art and final product it becomes more murky.
Regards,
Mr. Kalidor
I find that with the long out of production stuff there is no downside to the recasts if its indeed for just for your personal collection, especially as the item is not affecting Gw/fw sales in any way at all if its no longer produced by them. a lot of fw’s better imperial stuff is no longer produced or been replaced by inferior looking gw plastic kits… ( yes im looking at you hydra and manticore). so buy away!
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Thanks for joining in and sorry for the delay in response. Unfortunate technical problems have limited me of late. I have to agree there are certain models I find myself longing for (including that wonderful enclosed Hydra), and all the wonderful scenery that used to be available. I for one hated that the only scenery available for the longest time were ruins, and yet Forge World had all sorts of wonderful options (and cooler ruins!). I am starting to think there is validity in the non production/sales component of this subject. I find myself looking at re-casts of Battlefleet Gothic models and thinking a series of “what ifs”. Especially since like many GW products at the time I thought, “no problem, I can get it some other time or some other year”.
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Good post, cutting to the heart of a philosophical issue I’ve considered myself on several occasions. As well as being heavily involved in painting, modelling and collecting miniatures I’m also a huge music fan so this is an issue that comes up for me from several angles. Of course if you download the latest album then there is a moral argument that you are taking money from the pockets of the people who worked to produce it. What about early demos, limited releases, collectors editions and so on however? One could argue that by buying them up simply for the music one is depriving the collectors who really want that vinyl first pressing in its original format, whilst the artist themselves is not affected at all one way or the other.
Books are another issue. I know several people, including good friends, who want to have a full collection of books on their shelf, covering an entire series, and – for preference – first editions/collectors editions, etc. I just want to read the damn thing. In this respect I find Black Library somewhat annoying, in that they regularly release books solely as limited editions, which may – or may not – be re-released at some unspecified point in the future. This leaves the fan with a conundrum; buy it at an inflated price (due to its rareness) or not read it. Or of course pirate it – the forbidden fruit is always there, waiting to be picked with remarkable ease. To think that people won’t is at best wilfully ignorant, at worst it deliberately criminalises a portion of their fan-base.
Returning to your original point the moral (note not legal) issue seems to be about depriving income to the product’s creator, and providing it instead to another. If the product’s creator does not still sell it however the first point is moot, the option to buy from them is simply not available. Then there is only the question of whether one is willing to gives one’s money to the ‘pirate’, whether one trusts the legality/morality of them and the methods they use to produce the product and how safe one feels the materials used are. It’s worth noting as well that the morality, behaviour as a company, environmental impact, treatment of staff, etc of the product’s creator is almost never discussed – their creativity seems to put them above reproach, whereas the ‘pirate’ is always bad if for no other reason than their lack of originality.
Anyway, good blog and an interesting post, made me think anyway!
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Thank you so very much.
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