Over the years, I've seen fellow fans go through pain whenever they've been recast. Given that so much has gone into Darth Ugly, needless to say I have my concerns as well. Some makers might put in little tells and inform a select circle of trusted fellow fans to guard that knowledge and to keep a lookout. Others might recognize a casting as not being made using the same materials.
Given the favorable reception of Darth Ugly among costumers, I am naturally cautious. Back when I first started in the hobby in 2006, the costuming community were notorious for recasting the work of fan propmakers. It didn't matter how much original work was put into a prop beyond mere duplication. They'd look at you and say, "You don't own Vader. Lucas does. And we're not making money off of it. We're trooping for charity." So they, in essence, "rape" a fan propmaker of his own sculpt and force it into the costume community's public domain. I've then watched the reaction of prop makers.
Nowadays, people are much more well informed about the ins and outs of recasting. There is greater desire to know a prop's origins and what a fan sculptor or propmaker might have done to bolster the prop.
It may very well be thanks to sites like the Den and RPF for promoting a culture of "Work in Progress" threads that show a kind of diary of the evolution of a prop. This is especially true for me, as part of a new generation of fans inheriting the previous' generations junk and refuse props, to create a story arc of garbage to gold.
Unfortunately, when you're told your helmet's recast, you can only analyze photos after the fact. By then, the damage is already done.
When bookface and I conferred on the subject, we decided to make it known from the very start that this is a humanitarian effort. And so, on the mounting system, per my request, the following words have been written into the mounting system interior. With the dome on, these words would never be seen by the public:
My hope is to basically show new owners of Ugly how important their contribution towards collecting this helmet is to us, as well as put it right in the faces of recasters that even if they have lied and stolen from fellow fans to grain profit or prestige, the removal of this "tell" we have put would really indicate what low level their self worth actually is. And recasting this even with the tell intact would be a shameful act. I've put out word in the past that if there's a recaster salivating over my work, I would work with them provided that they guarantee shipping and product fulfillment, a certain level of quality, and that the gal we're trying to help has money sent to her reliably and directly.
None of the recasters took up my challenge.
