Just an odd question... since they have bought the license... whose intellectual property rights are you talking about?I'll be interested to see if they come up with brand new molds of their own, or if they just adapt something that's already out there. The company's based in India, and that region doesn't have the greatest reputation for respecting intellectual property rights.:confused
Museum Replicas is based in india? did you mean that they have their headquarters there or just a factory?
I think the referral is similar to what AA was accused of doing and what the slime at Star Fortress do.Just an odd question... since they have bought the license... whose intellectual property rights are you talking about?
I am not in any way condoning or advocating recasting here... but they have the rights... other than LFL, who they bought the rights from... who else has any rights?
Wasn't Master Replicas supposed to have been offering the soft costumes at one time during the Ep III push?
That's kinda what I meant, yep. India is rife with smaller manufacturers who cheerfully copy from each other and anyone else they can. I made a fairly distinctive skull faced helmet once, and put a picture up on my website. I've since identified at least three versions of it that were produced in India; at least one of them seems to have been a copy of a copy, but still identifiable as my design.I think the referral is similar to what AA was accused of doing and what the slime at Star Fortress do.
Yes, they purchased the rights and what a great short cut and money saver to just take something that is already out there and use as their masters. Genius and crappy in one fell swoop. Plus given the tightly knit group that this merchandise targets, an excellent path to alienating the very group you want to appeal to.
DarkHeart Armoury;519704Windlass might not go for [I said:that[/I] sort of thing, but the Museum Reps catalog in years past has featured lookalike clothing "inspired" by "The Matrix" and "Star Wars" costumes, which certainly skirts the issue.
I had the chance to work with the guys who did the GREAT 300 gear for D*con (Seeker, Got Maul, SWFreak, Dart Goat, ect.) About the only thing they chose to buy was the sandals, everything else they made from scratch. They had a chance to look at some of the stuff being made by Museum Replecas , and decided that it wasn't accurate enough to even consider to use for parts of their costume. One thing they looked at was the cod.... or the leather nut shell cup buldge thing :lol what a joke!
My point, swfreak and his lovely wife :love were able to make a MUCH MUCH BETTER more screen accurate version of the leather spardos just by looking at pictures, than a large company could, with all their access and resources.
I'm sure there will be costume parts that will suffice, but nothing that will be totally accurate.
This feedback on Mus Rep and Windlass does not fill me with much enthusiasm!
Manufacturing "quality" stormtrooper armour (a conflict in terms) on a large scale is always a tough ask - not least when you consider all the other baggage that goes with fully-licensed production - providing customer service for 40 odd parts and personal injury liability being a couple of potential stumbling blocks.
This is going to be an interesting few months!
Cheers
Jez
Based on that interview it sounds as if they're expecting their armor to be off-the-shelf, 501st-worthy.
I have a bad feeling about this.