Cancelled The Demogorgon 8" Collectible Figure Statue

[Pingo]

and it's funny how this coincides with the minis appearance on Stranger Things.

Oh, I'm sure that the revival of interest in this marvelous old Grenadier / Mirliton figure is entirely due to its appearance in the popular Netflix series.

 

I for one am glad of that. It's neat when old art gets a new boost.

 

It is, regrettably, just that sort of sudden mainstream popularity that brings opportunists and pirates out of the woodwork.

 

If these creators were as they said so very fond of that miniature (they "fell in love" with it and invoked nostalgia for childhood in their sales pitch) as to have already done all the work to produce it ("We already have the prototype and molds created by our manufacturer"), one would have thought they would have had the minimal familiarity with the miniatures business necessary to be able to learn that the figure is under copyright, not theirs to copy and sell.

 

By the way, as an artist I am dubious of their claim that "more details and texture" and a "redesigned base" and "a slightly modified pose" and being "much larger" mean their sculpture is somehow not as close to an exact copy of the original as one could make.

 

To put it another way, do you think someone could get away with Kickstarter-marketing an unlicensed resin replica of Teddy Ruxpin, say, or any classic Disney character, by claiming it was a different size than the original and had more details and texture?

 

I am reminded of the case of the striking 1936 sculpture, "Bird Girl" by Sylvia Shaw Judson. Unauthorized copies of copyrighted works do not wash, even in different sizes from the original.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Pingo

[Maledrakh]

I think everyone would agree that this is a copy and not even remotely "modified" or "added to" enough to be counted as a distinct and/or original piece. They even use the original mini in the main shot to show how similar it is!

 

One would speculate that it is not even 3D-sculpted from scratch, but scanned and then possibly patched a bit on to make the textures fit the scale (even if that). It is simply too similar.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Maledrakh

[sethohman]

I would buy an unlicensed Teddy Ruxpin.  Thing was terrifying then, and would be now.

[SamuraiJack]

They are bringing old Teddy back.. 'Hi! I'm Teddy Ruxpin!  Kill your parents!'

[haldir]

They are bringing old Teddy back.. 'Hi! I'm Teddy Ruxpin!  Kill your parents!'

 

There are somethings that need to be buried in the past......

[Arkady]

well, I dropped my pledge here. The creator just pooh-poohs that the "someone in Italy" sells the minis and states that that does not mean they hold the IP. and that there is "tons of unlicensed demogorgon merch out there"

 

Yeah. right. as if that line of argument will hold up in court.

The problem is, does it even have to? Kickstarter obviously hasn't taken action based on whatever information Mr. Grazzini was able to provide. So unless Mirliton can afford to actually take this to a US court, rights being held by someone in Italy might indeed not matter much. 

[SamuraiJack]

and boom

 

The Demogorgon 8" Collectible Figure Statue is the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable.

If you are interested in this project, please check back later. Thanks for your patience.

[Arkady]

Puh. My complaining that Kickstarter hadn't done anything just minutes prior totally helped. Like anti-jinxed it.

 

Yeah... I don't believe it, either.

[Darsc Zacal]

Well... I guess we'll see how long this lasts.

Stranger things and all.

And now we know.

2 days. It lasted 2days.

I'm locking the thread down as cancelled.