Hi everyone,
It is with great sadness that I have to bring this to your attention.
Troopermaster has recast my Cast From Original Return Of The Jedi JoeR Stormtrooper helmet.
I know this will be a hard one for some people to accept as Paul has always maintained his excellence in sculpting.
Well Paul, I’m sorry to say your sculpting skills don’t really live up to what you proclaim.
What I’m about to show you are a series of photos of the JoeR faceplate next to the TM ROTJ faceplate I received in a kit from Paul, that a friend of mine purchased.
Whilst Paul has sharpened a few details, notably the tears have been sharpened along the edges and the middle bulge has been sanded down. The bridge of the nose has also been sharpened as has the eyes, more so along the underside. Other than that all the asymmetry is identical as are the lumps, bumps, dents and kinks. The way the light cast shadows across the two faceplates is a massive tell. There is no way you could create that similarity to that level through sculpting. I don’t care what you say. I’ve been doing this too long.
All helmets I have had the privilege to offer have their own unique asymmetry. That’s something that does not carry from helmet to helmet. A lot has to do with how it was assembled and then taken apart for moulding. The way the parts are supported when moulding and the way the helmet has been glued together effect the memory of the plastic and it’s asymmetry.
Moving on to the video I show just how close TMs <abbr ROTJ back n cap is when compared to the CFO JoeR.
It fits inside the JoeR back n cap perfectly in asymmetry and size, yet the CFO JoeR does not fit inside the TM due to the fact that the helmet was cast from mine therefor shrinkage on a minuscule scale prevents this.
The trim lines are identical to the CFO JoeR.
[URL/]https://www.youtube.com/embed/tq8aHHZreGE?[/url]
Now the most damning evidence I can show you is the TM ears.
When I saw these ear vacuum pulls from Paul I immediately saw a resemblance to my old production ear moulds I personally made, moulded and cast. Even down to my tooling and moulding marks and defects. This to me is the fingerprint of recasting. If you are going to blatantly recast and rip off a fellow vendor then at least have a bit of self respect and change the moulds. They pop on my moulds with an almost satisfying click. I say almost satisfying as they are a recast.
I have lived with the JoeR and made these helmets, offering them to the community for over 10 years. I know this helmet inside and out better than anyone else on this planet.
As we all know, all the original helmets have their own unique asymmetry, details and character. That is also true for each replica.
I have many moulds of different original stormtrooper helmets and they all have very distinct tells to them. I also own an original screen used ROTJ stormtrooper helmet. The only way to accurately capture those unique features is by making a carbon copy. And they are obvious to someone with a trained eye, which I dare say I have, as I have not just been studying these, but been making them as well for a good decade now.
I have studied these helmets for over a quarter of my life. This is what I do.
What really gets me is that I have always shared my company in full transparency, honesty and a good customer service. I go to great lengths, time and financial expenditure to bring you, the community helmets and armour cast from original sources available nowhere else.
When I purchased my original screen used Stormtrooper helmet I immediately shared it with Paul, sending him many close up photos and sharing information on the mic tips and internal suspension system and materials. Paul engaged with me knowing all this time he was ripping off me, my company and my products.
To top it all off and to show just how confident he is, Paul sent me a message through Facebook to ask if I could help him out as he couldn’t get and decals for a couple of kits he was sending out. Turns out one of those kits was for my friend. The kit arrived without decals or mic tips.
So Paul, I would also be interested to see just what your mic tips are cast from. I would also like to invite you to show off all your amazing sculpting skills to this community in a bid to clear your name. Because as it stands if you are happy to recast my ROTJ helmet what else are you happy to recast?
I know a good number of very talented sculptors and all, yes all are proud of their work and constantly show pictures of their sculpts. You for some reason do exactly the opposite? This alone tells me something fishy is going on. It’s not normal. You are however happy to show finished products off telling everyone just how good you are at sculpting and how accurate you can get them. Strange that.
Shame on you mate. I honestly respected you for your fantastic work. But now all I see is a individual that just can’t stand to see another vendor producing accurate products that are not available to you..
I was thinking about contacting you privately and giving you the chance to explain yourself and remove this recast and any others from your product list. But as you did not pay me the same courtesy when you decided it would be a good idea to try and diminish my business and recast my products I see no reason why I should pay you that respect.
This will rock the costuming world and upset a good many people that have trusted you and spent their money on your recasts. For that I’m sorry.
Paul, this is inexcusable.
To think that you accuse me of being a recaster and criticise the accuracy of my helmets. How ironic. They seem to be accurate enough for you to recast!
This also brings into contention everything else you make. If you are happy to recast CFO then I’m pretty sure you are happy to Recast anyone and anything.
Nows the time to show us all those amazing sculpting skills you have from the beginning lump of clay to the finished product.
I’m giving you every opportunity to show us your sculpting skills. And by that I don’t mean tipping a slurry of body filler and resin into a vac pull. Because let’s face it we can all do that. But to sculpt a stormtrooper helmet from scratch, ground up and get every little bit of asymmetry, exact sizing and detail correct takes some skill. A skill you have so far eluded to demonstrate.
So after presenting my evidence and findings I invite Paul to explain himself.
Not only is the most frowned upon action in this community it is also a kick in the face to me as a trusted fellow vendor and all his customers and loyal fan base.
In a world that is tough enough selling props as it is, to have a fellow trusted vendor whom I share information and photos with do this to me is just soul destroying.
Thanks for looking.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
