ANH Darth Ugly: A Total Transformation of an Inferior Vader Mask

So to address your concerns that you are the creator of the original ugly and therefore from that authority say I'm not entitled to my own sculpt, and your supposed evidence is NoHumorMan's photo of your "JediJeffrey" mask, then let's examine the discrepancies.

Left: Your JediJeffrey vacformed mask, and Right: Armormask (the basis of Darth Ugly's faceplate).



Given that your product is a vacform, it would be slightly larger than whatever your original buck was. Moreover, given that NoHumorman already proceeded with his own modifications (I have had no time to dig up what mods he had done over time), I will do my best to them from this comparison.

The point is, if you are going to promote the fact that you're the maker of Darth Ugly's father, then your claim has to survive this comparison. Even if the comparison fails here or there, the majority of the observations here still hold strong:

1. Head shape of the JJ is different. It's more pronounced, fuller, and more rounded. In proportion to the face, it's quite large compared with the AM. The JJ's mask's rear opening is more generous and has a subtle hint to proportions of a Fyberdyne or GH ANH.

2. Neck shape. The JJ's neck corners are far more flared than the Armormask. Flaring is reminescent of a Fyberdyne or GH ANH.

3. Nose Shape. This is discrepancy may be due to fan rework or the thickness of the vacform plastic, but the mouthwalls look thicker.

4. Chin triangle shape - the AM has rounded corners. Yours are sharp.

5. Right (as you view it) whisker shape is shallow. The AM's right whisker is far more pronounced.

6. The JJ's left cheek's upper ridge is straighter than the more curved line of the AM.

7. Nose bridge of the JJ is much, much wider than the AM.

8. Upper inner eyelid of the JJ is shallower than the AM. The AM has the CORRECT shape as inherited from the Don Post Classic Action.

But notice this:



Again, your mask bears some similarity with a GH ANH. Why are your inner eyelids a dead-ringer to a GH ANH's instead of a DPCA?

9. Both cheek corner of JJ is sharp, even for vacformed plastic. Conversely, both cheek corners of the AM are very blunt (don't know if this due to NHM's mods).

10. Your upper tubes curve in. The AM are a bit more straight.

11. The upper surface cheeks side edges are noteworthy. Yours are much more straight compared with the DPCA.

12. The JJ's crown is smooth and rounded. The AM has a ridiculous ash tray.

13. The frown bump on the JJ is sanded down in the same fashion as a GH ANH. And it's longer. The surviving frown bump of the AM is due to where it ends on the DPCA - and where the DPCA's "T" shaped mount began. Whoever worked on the AM ground the T-mount off and made the forehead plain but did not rework the frown bump to original length like I had.

So based on the above, I find it quite difficult to believe that you are the owner or sculptor of the original Armormask. The JediJeffrey does not have the same tells as the Don Post Classic Action on which the Armormask is based. And, quite frankly, the JediJeffrey actually has various surviving tells of its connection to the Ghost Host ANH.

Thus my question, did you obtain permission before you vacformed his helmet?

You've had enough time using the Darth Ugly threads on the RPF and Den as your soapbox. Live well, sir. And if you still somehow feel within all your logic that you're the daddy of Darth Ugly, then please take comfort in the fact that Ugly is making a difference in the life of that disabled fan we are trying to help, and she has written us expressing how much she's been blown away that a community would rise up to support her in her hour of need.

Double post removed.

The Ugly did not come from the Vacuumformed one. I have made many helmets over the years, which are either my own sculpt or from masks with direct linage to an original. You have done neither. If my original one was so bad then why didn't you make your own, because you can't. Quit trying to justify your actions. It's either ok to rework someone elses itemswork and call it your own or it's not. It seems like recasters are given the death penalty, which they should, so what does that make you. You admit it's not yours and it's still ok to make and sell them? Why don't you make your own helmet from scratch if your so good at it?

jedijeffrey said:

The Ugly did not come from the Vacuumformed one. I have made many helmets over the years, which are either my own sculpt or from masks with direct linage to an original. You have done neither. If my original one was so bad then why didn't you make your own, because you can't. Quit trying to justify your actions. It's either ok to rework someone elses itemswork and call it your own or it's not. It seems like recasters are given the death penalty, which they should, so what does that make you? You admit it's not yours and it's still ok to make and sell them? Why don't you make your own helmet from scratch if your so good at it?

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I sense quite a bit of deflecting on your part. You mentioned being called a recaster before. And your comment about being given the death penalty sounds like your personal past experience. Your vacformed one looks like a recast to me. Did you get permission from Ghost Host before you copied his mask?

And this was someone's work? Rubbish. I'd like you to prove it. I've put up with umpteen photos and what have you put up? I removed all "work". And, BTW, I do have a DP CA in my possession. I don't suppose you want me to mold off of that and start all over again or if you want a copy....

"If your original" was bad? You have NOT proven you have anything to do with my project.

I can't sculpt my own? Well, here's proof I can:



At this rate, I think you were deeply hurt at some point by being accused of recasting yourself, and now you're trying to take it out on someone else. Go bother someone else. But thanks for the Monday amusement. This brightened my day. :thumbsup

Why don't you answer the question, is it ok to rework someone else's stuff and call it your own. I see the post you put up on March 12th 2012 about recasting and yet you think what u did was ok?

I see that your sculpting on top of another dome, who's is that?

CSMacLaren said:

I sense quite a bit of deflecting on your part. You mentioned being called a recaster before. And your comment about being given the death penalty sounds like your personal past experience. Your vacformed one looks like a recast to me. Did you get permission from Ghost Host before you copied his mask?

And this was someone's work? Rubbish. I'd like you to prove it. I've put up with umpteen photos and what have you put up? I removed all "work". And, BTW, I do have a DP CA in my possession. I don't suppose you want me to mold off of that and start all over again or if you want a copy....

"If your original" was bad? You have NOT proven you have anything to do with my project.

I can't sculpt my own? Well, here's proof I can:

At this rate, I think you were deeply hurt at some point by being accused of recasting yourself, and now you're trying to take it out on someone else. Go bother someone else. But thanks for the Monday amusement. This brightened my day. :thumbsup

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I have no doubt you wonT quit making them. Thats what a crook like you would do. You admit to taking someone else's work and reworking it then selling it for profit but you think it's ok because you have a sob story about giving the profits to someone else, yeah right.

Your claims of ownership are laughable. The two threads you have linked to as 'proof' show one helmet that looks almost totally different to the Armormask original that you are claiming as yours, and the other is a rebuttal of the suggestion that you may have recast the Wolf Morgan Reveal parts.

The link to the Ugly conversion is tenuous, at best. Let me put this out there: A statement is not proof. You have claimed that the original helmet, sold to Mac by Armormask, is your own sculpt. You have offered nothing in the way of proof of this, only reiterating the same claim. It's yours. Well, prove it, or shut up.

And before you claim I'm deflecting, I'll answer your question, so maybe you will give me the proof I'm waiting for.

If I had been so unprofessional as to let a cast leave my shop in the state that the Armormask original was, and someone spent years cleaning it up, improving/resculpting it, and generally polishing the turd that I had given them to the degree that it was almost unrecognisable as the same piece, then no, I would not complain if they decided they wanted to sell copies of it. And yes, I've had my stuff recast before. Without any alteration at all.

So there you go, there's your answer. Are we going to see a little more deflection from you now, or are you going to prove once and for all, beyond a doubt, that the Armormask original was your original sculpt?

Whether you believe me or not doesn't matter YOU ADMITTED IT WASN'T YOURS!!
here's what you wrote on March 12th, 2012

"Years back, people might have thought differently as the definition and semantics of recasting was difficult to pinpoint. It was once discussed that someone's "work" should not be recast and would legalistically apply that to say a direct (unmodified) recast of a Don Post Deluxe. I prefer to think that a person's "work" should be defined as what work was done *to* a prop as opposed to simply pulling a recast from a mold. Personally, I would not use, say, SPFX's work as a base, even though he in turn had pirated and modified other helmets to produce his products. If I owned one and wanted to beef up the face, if it didn't require a lot of rework, I would still consider it an SPFX, and were I ever to unload it, I'd describe it as a one-off modified SPFX and inform the new owner to not allow it to be recast.
After all, I'm a sculptor. I feel strongly against illicit recasting. I want to protect my own work and I'm sensitive to protecting other sculptors, having seen their pain whenever their work is pirated and cheap casts are sold on fleaBay."


how do you defend that?
In essence your doing exactly what you say others shouldn't, If there was ever a question of your "integrity" we now know the answer. this part of your thread kills me
"I want to protect my own work and I'm sensitive to protecting other sculptors, having seen their pain whenever their work is pirated and cheap casts are sold on fleaBay."
Your full of it, your no different than any other recaster. The picture of "your" new helmet clearly shows you sculpting on top of a different dome, more of your "rework" ?
A REAL artist would not be "reworking" any one elses work. Your no artist.

aschultz, what is going on here? Your initial argument was that CSMacLaren had reworked your helmet. To date, you have not shown that to be the case. Now, you seem to be changing the subject from your original complaint that CSMacLaren had reworked your helmet to a question of CSMacLaren's talent and skillset.

Recasting has always been a slippery slope and its specific definition often varies from member to member.

Per our Community Guidelines:

If anyone believes their item has been recast by a member, they are encouraged to provide proof to our staff, with the understanding that the burden of proof lies solely with the accuser and that members will be considered innocent unless clearly proven otherwise by the aggrieved party.

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So far, you have not proved that CSMacLaren has reworked your helmet, so your last few posts are coming across as little more than trolling and personal attacks. Either show some evidence to back up your claim that CSMacLaren has reworked your helmet or move along.

Gimmi a break like I videotaped me sculpting my work back then. You can see from the threads on here that i was making vader items long before he was, Even if you don't believe me he still took someone else's work and is now profiting off it.
Why is it ok for him to do this?

You are answering the question with another question, which essentially is avoidance or misdirection. Move along.

aschultz has been verified to be JediJeffrey, a member of TDH (and SL847 of the 501st Alpine Garrison) who previously was shown to be a recaster and who subsequently made legal threats against the site. As we oversee both sites, we are extending his previous ban on TDH to his account on the RPF.

Now that this problem has been resolved, let's get this thread back on track.

Thanks, Art!

Ah well, I thought it extremely amusing that FINALLY someone claimed they were the very one behind this:



"Gimme a kiss!"



Eek. It was the most awful Christmas present to myself ever....

Oh well, turns out he wasn't Armormask. I was hoping to give him a piece of my mind....

Anyways, although horribly disfigured as the helmet was, it's Don Post Classic Action (DPCA) connection really struck me. A bunch of you may recall that I had that Golden Armor kit (itself a DPCA recast) on the same old workbench.





(The old workbench. Man I miss it.... I could make FG dust go anywhere and everywhere!)

And despite it being FUBAR, Ugly most definitely had some telltale features of its Don Post Classic Action origins.

So fast-forward to today....

Here's a new comparison shot.



Same faceplate but different dome (GH ANH dome reworked - permission courtesy of GH):



Enjoy!

Geez Mac, all that m makes me appreciate my Ugly even more!

Glad you didn't let that a$$hat get to you; I felt my blood press urine going up as I read his posts ...

Thanks for your support. It was an eye-opener to see how fiercely and how far one would go to fight me for control over the destiny of Darth Ugly. It's flattering that someone would expend such energy to bait, troll, manipulate public opinion, cast character assassination and instigate a campaign to control something I've worked on.

He actually wrote to me his intentions of recasting Ugly. I imagine when I have time I'll write to his Garrison CO and find what their stance is on recasting.

As you guys know I've been watching this project since June of last year.

Regardless of what the odd jealous pleb thinks, what you have created is a masterpiece, that anyone who is a true fan would want to own.
The work that has gone into this project is phenomenal, whether or not it started as another's creation, the pictures and evidence for all to see clearly shows a totally different lid, both in shape, lines, features and quality.
What you guys have done in my mind is created something very special, not only for the cause, but for fans like myself to own, wear, and treasure.
I would be proud to say I own an Ugly.
Keep up the good work guys, and don't let the haters get you down!!!
I must admit, it is however most entertaining seeing what some people post to take credit for it.

Agreed... been out of the RPF loop for quite some time, and it is in an odd way refreshing to see how Vader still is the centerpiece for a great deal of drama. Some things never change. Not that I enjoy seeing Mac being subjected to accusations like this, but in the world of Vader helmet replicas, it seems to be a higher form of compliment...

Also, I was blown away when I saw this helmet. A masterpiece indeed, fine example of what the very skilled people on this board can achieve. The Darth Ugly is indeed a must have. Sweet craftmanship, great cause. Kudos!

Guys those were very encouraging words to me. I was having a crummy day at work and those posts picked up my spirits.

JediJeffrey had a change of heart. While I would still like some photo documentation to show he fathered the original Ugly, he has now given me his blessing to continue offering Ugly and to help the gal for which we launched this project. Someone altered me that he posted this on The Prop Den:

jedijeffrey said:

If the helmets really are for charity then that's great and I wouldn't care if you made a hundred!!!!

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I feel it worth mentioning that although he started off as a total jerk, he could have stayed bitter. Instead, he went out of his way to give this project a nod!

Well that shows he is man enough to admit he was wrong to give you the stick he did.
Hats off to him for seeing sense and being reasonable.