Miss Piggy as Princess Leia

[jediX]

This has become quite an interesting debate...

Anyway though, I dont see why it's illegal to sell a custom. Maybe it could be seen as deceiving if it's in the Palisades package, but obviously everyone w/ half a brain will know it's not an "official" figure put out by Palisades. Palisades owns the MUPPET license, not the STAR WARS one.

Palisades has made their money from the sale, and I see it as no different than a comic shop-type situation where they mark the price up nearly double or triple (which isn't illegal, so why wouldn't this be).

I've seen TONS of Star Wars 3 3/4 figure and 12" customs on ebay before. If THOSE were as illegal as people are making customs out to sound, I doubt they would still be as common as they are. It's not like you're stealing Palisades' molds and making your OWN figures with them, thus cutting Palisades out of the loop. It's like selling used merchandise, per-say. You have damaged the original figure and are simply reselling it. If you can find hard evidence of illegality, let me know.

 

[LeiaPiggy]

Oddly enough, JediX, I am sure there IS some sort of legality with regards to the selling of an item/image/figure/toy etc. that has a copyright/trademark. It's illegal to do alot of things in this world, but like I said in my PS to a previous post:

PS Also, last time I checked, I was not some sort of economic terrorist trying to cripple the economy by making two custom toys to sell on eBay!

When I was younger, I sculpted little clay figures of Sesame Street and Far Side characters and gave some to my nieces and nephew and sold some at a local flea market. Funny, the FBI did not break down my door Luke. There are more important battles worth fighting in this world.

 

[ResidentLilly]

As far as I know, there is no real legal precedent for things like this.

I mean, yeah companies will often contact someone and ask them to remove an item or threaten a legal action of some kind, but with eBay being as new as it is I don't yet know of any major cases that have gone through the system to establish any precendent.

Customs have got to be difficult to manage I would think...because legally one could argue a strong case either way.

I have no problem with it being sold...but I don't think it is particularly worth bidding on either. Now, you sculpt some actual clothes on there, repaint the hair and put it on a Star Wars card with an Artoo and a blaster or an interrogation droid and then you'd hook me!

 

[LeiaPiggy]

Thanks Palisades and Ken

Thanks Palisades and Ken

Wait a minute......I'm a rank amateur customizer.....you have access to get the "real thing" created! I would buy 2 of your suggested figure!!!! (hint hint)

 

[jediX]

Well, that is if they wanna fork over the ridiculous amount of money the Star Wars license probably costs--and since Hasbro has that I don't know if it would even be available.

 

[Luke]

It's Palisades call obviously, but I don't buy any of the 'making it for the enjoyment of other people' crap. If you put something on Ebay you are hoping to make money from it. To then re-seal it in Palisades package and alter their sticker is pretty cheeky to me, i guess they try to be nice about it now but they have asked for things to be removed in the past. If it was really all about you doing this for the enjoyment of it you could just offer them to people at retail price on the forums, going the Ebay route IMO is cheap and tacky. I think there is a difference in how people (like Quinn or Artie) are seen here when they post about their customs as artwork, as opposed to people who are really trying to say "Hey come bid on my ripped off auction stuff". It's not some major crime but I do think it's pretty disrespectful.

 

[jtatooine]

Now, you sculpt some actual clothes on there, repaint the hair and put it on a Star Wars card with an Artoo and a blaster or an interrogation droid and then you'd hook me!

Which Star Wars card are you fitting all that onto? I guess you could rip apart any of the crummy deluxe figures. Except maybe that new Wampa.

 

[Cap Backfire]

If you can do it, DO IT.

On the one hand, I have to say that selling customs on ebay is a tried and true method of making some dough. I have made a ton of dough on repaints of figures in the past (I am a Heroclix enthusiast; Read: ADDICT). I fully support this seller on his ebay bidding.

On the other hand, I will most certainly NOT be bidding on any of your customs. I do NOT agree with posting on a message board which you joined only to pimp your figures. Yes, it makes sense, but if you were a true fan, you would have joined awhile ago for the sole purpose of discussing muppet stuff.

I am with Jedi though and can't even consider selling one of my customs. They are far too precious to me.

Oh yeah, and dude, if I spent 20 hours doing a 4 hour job, I certainly wouldn't expect to be paid 35 bucks an hour to do it!!! I have an employee who takes like, 3 hours to mop the floors and then cries that he don't get paid so much... I gotta tell him what I tell you... Speed it up!!! If you did something within normal time lines, then MAYBE it would be worth that much an hour!!! 20 hours to sculpt some muffins over Piggy's ears... Sheesh. Ken can certainly agree that that's quite a bit of time... 20 hours...

 

[jediX]

Which Star Wars card are you fitting all that onto? I guess you could rip apart any of the crummy deluxe figures. Except maybe that new Wampa.

He put it on the series 1 Muppet card.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

going the Ebay route IMO is cheap and tacky. I think there is a difference in how people are seen here when they post about their customs as artwork, as opposed to people who are really trying to say "Hey come bid on my ripped off auction stuff". It's not some major crime but I do think it's pretty disrespectful.

Aw, geez! I have this second Mahna puppet I made, too! I was gonna list it as "Mahna Muppet -Fan Art Cloth Sculpture," and even reseal it in a Palisades' box!

Just kidding about the box.

Luke, what would you say to me for that?

And what about the Penguin fan art cloth sculpture I was going to do??