AA case begins

Karma is more effective than the legal system; give it time.

Personally, I intend to proffer the facts of Liz and Brian's great contributions wherever possible. Their talented works are part of film history; a history which will not be revised by opportunistic, shameless, and talentless scum like Andrew Ainsworth. Don't sweat it. And Brian: thank you, a thousand times over.

_Mike

Brian,

From someone who has enjoyed the "Stormtrooper" since I was six, nice to meet you (sort of).

You probably can't comment, but from what I understand the original molds to the stormtrooper armor pieces are long gone.

With so much interest in this character 30 years later, has there ever been talk of you using your talents to sculpt the ANH armor again for sale to the public with Lucas permission?

Or, perhaps the better question is, would you have any interest?

I think most of us are happy with the armor that is available, but at least to me, it never looks as cool as what was on screen in 1977.

Qui-Gonzalez said:

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And that is that, kids! The guy is a thieving piece of scum.

Would have saved a lot of trouble had people listened to that opinion a couple of YEARS ago.

And not listened to someone that tried to publicly dismiss Brian's contribution for sales purposes.

I believe the phrase was, "So now you're trying to say AA didn't sculpt the suits because SOME GUY said he did?"
A moment of applause for the AA promotion team.

Mr. No Stripes said:

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Brian? You sculpted it? seriously? Swwweet... can I have your autograph?

So really Andrew was just the guy that Vacuum Formed them?

Did John Mollo really assemble them? Or is that all a lie too?

Ainsworth would have made the metal filled resin forms and worked out the breakdown of parts for the helmets so he has got some skills and talent in the area but he was producing these from clay sculpts that were done by others.

The main problem is that he somewhat overstates his contribution to the process.In his own mind I'm sure he feels that,since his were the last hands to modify the look of the moulds that produced the helmets,he was the sculptor of the form seen on film.

Reactor drone said:

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Ainsworth would have made the metal filled resin forms and worked out the breakdown of parts for the helmets so he has got some skills and talent in the area but he was producing these from clay sculpts that were done by others.

The main problem is that he somewhat overstates his contribution to the process.In his own mind I'm sure he feels that,since his were the last hands to modify the look of the moulds that produced the helmets,he was the sculptor of the form seen on film.

Ainsworth did not make moulds for the armour - they were made by the mould makers at Elstree and given to him. The moulds were only passed to AA because there was a problem with the vacuum forming machine at Elstree(which was confirmed by Pemberton in court). There were several suits made at Elstree before the moulds were sent off to Ainsworth.

At the time I saw the finished suits that were made at Elstree and the suits that came back from Ainsworth and they were exactly the same and exactly the same as my sculpt. Any sculptor will appreciate that you know your own work.

Pemberton was given the clay sculpt for the helmet.No evidence was produced to clear up the mystery of who made the moulds but Pemberton did say in his witness statement that he knew a good fibreglass guy. It was not AA as he did not have the skills or knowledge to make moulds. AA would have you believe that he discarded the clay as it was of 'no use' and 'sculpted' the mould. He shows this process on his dvd on sale for £12. The process and end result are extraordinarly bad considering this was done to prove his skills. Also the filming is cut so much that it gives no indication of the length of time it took to come to a finish that could never have been used.

He brought a few moulds to court and showed them to me intimating that they were the original moulds but I told the judge that it was pointless commenting on them as they are obviously new moulds.

Also AA had gone to great lengths to state that the 'tools' that were made in fibreglass by Elstree would have been no good as he stated you cannot pull from fibreglass. Strange that his moulds in court were made from fibreglass which the judge made a point of commenting on.

AA's sole contribution was the vac forming process.

Brian

mverta said:

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Karma is more effective than the legal system; give it time.

Personally, I intend to proffer the facts of Liz and Brian's great contributions wherever possible. Their talented works are part of film history; a history which will not be revised by opportunistic, shameless, and talentless scum like Andrew Ainsworth. Don't sweat it. And Brian: thank you, a thousand times over.

_Mike

Thanks Mike - I've enjoyed your very insightful posts

There are sites that still endorse Ainsworth's lies and need to be updated so that newcomers know the truth from the start.

I believe in Karma but sometimes it needs a little help

Brian

Stormy320 said:

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Brian,

From someone who has enjoyed the "Stormtrooper" since I was six, nice to meet you (sort of).

You probably can't comment, but from what I understand the original molds to the stormtrooper armor pieces are long gone.

With so much interest in this character 30 years later, has there ever been talk of you using your talents to sculpt the ANH armor again for sale to the public with Lucas permission?

Or, perhaps the better question is, would you have any interest?

I think most of us are happy with the armor that is available, but at least to me, it never looks as cool as what was on screen in 1977.

Looking at the armour and moulds that Ainsworth showed me in court the original moulds are gone as they do not resemble the suit I sculpted that is seen on film.

I would be willing to be involved in sculpting any of the characters that I originally sculpted ( including Vader and the droids) but it is whether permission would be granted by Lucas (as yet I have not been approached).

Brian

There is no doubt in my mind that AA wasn't anything other than a vac-former, now trying to steal credit from real artisans. That's about as much as I need to know about him.

This is the first of a series of 'screen caps' of the AA dvd

1.You take one canoe helmet and add plasticine

2. Full tool kit on display



3. Can you see what it is yet?



4. Cheesegrater comes in handy

5. Apply gunge



6. Apply more gunge ( secret recipe)



7. Fine sculpting



8. Close up of wonderful finish




9. Nearly done to perfection

I hear he makes really wonderful ponds.

you know, you mentioned all the cut-offs on the DVD... it makes you wonder... what happened when they cut tape... maybe he paid some college studant (or 5 year old) to do it all for him, and the DVD is made to look like he did it...

BTW brian, do you have some pics. of your artwork. I'd love to see some other stuff you've done.

..........................wow.

My take is that AA won and Lucas didn't. Thats a result in my book.

nailuj said:

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My take is that AA won and Lucas didn't. Thats a result in my book.

Then I suggest you read the court documents. The guy was shown to be a liar, a thief and as the above videos show, a fraud. LFL will still bury this guy with appeals to where he won't even be able to buy a gallon of milk. Many of us are pulling for "big brother" in this court case.

Mr. No Stripes said:

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BTW brian, do you have some pics. of your artwork. I'd love to see some other stuff you've done.

I certainly do - I'll sort some out soon

Brian

Qui-Gonzalez said:

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Then I suggest you read the court documents. The guy was shown to be a liar, a thief and as the above videos show, a fraud. LFL will still bury this guy with appeals to where he won't even be able to buy a gallon of milk. Many of us are pulling for "big brother" in this court case.

I did read them and he won. Think you guys need to learn to live with that

nailuj said:

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My take is that AA won and Lucas didn't. Thats a result in my book.

It's one thing making money on the back of Lucas - it's another thing to claim the credit for the work done by artists on the film

1. Ralph McQuarrie (designs)
2. Liz Moore ( sculptor - helmet)
3. Myself ( sculptor - armour)
4.John Mollo (wardrobe designer - and he tried to call John Mollo a liar in court)
5. Film mould makers and plasterers ( made moulds for the armour)

Ultimately his ripped off all the fans that bought his helmets and armour that were priced so highly because of the false claims of coming from original moulds.



Brian

Well that's the thing, Brian -

Independent of feelings about Big Guy/Little Guy, AA's behavior is totally indefensible; morally, ethically, and professionally. And yes, he defrauded plenty of people who fell for his out-and-out misrepresentation. People taking credit for others' work is truly despicable.

_Mike

Brian, I'd just like to take the opportunity, as others have, to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your contributions to these films, the creation of their characters, and the absolutely intoxicating stranglehold they held on my imagination as a child. These designs, these characters were my childhood...countless hours hunched over storybooks, and bubblegum cards with a magnifying glass, and sitting in front of fuzzy, taped from cable VHS copies of the films, trying to discern the most minute details and unique characteristics from one set of armour to the next, and obsessing over those very subtle changes from one film to the next...all the time wondering who in the world had what had to be the coolest job in the world in getting to make that stuff. Thank You. I can't say it enough.