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[Toy Ranch]

http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=3984.msg61170

[SRJ823]

Well I'm a new member but I was a member on the old Yahoo board years ago.  I have known Terry for a long time and I PMed him my concerns regarding certain "recasters" that are trying to peddle their wares here.   If you guys want to ban me for this then please feel free but I'll try and be as polite about it as possilbe.    Hammerfan and Iceman are Larry Burbridge and Rick Muncy.  No doubt about it.   Larry won't join a modeling community board because of his many dealings in recasting.  You want facts I can provide them.   Yes some of us came here when we heard he was here.  Do we have an "agenda" .....yes I guess you can say we do.  It's "outing" this guy for what he is.    The best thing we as kit producers can do to deter recasting is to educate the public.  That is really all anyone is trying to do is educate people here that might not be aware of what certain individuals are up to.   You'll notice Larry and Rick will not admit who they are.  I have no problem telling you who I am.  Scott Johansen.   I like your board and don't want to disrupt it or make waves however if recasters think they have a "safe haven" here then this is where they will go.   All I ask is don't make this a "safe haven" for them.   I'm sure many of you here have enjoyed building some great garage kits over the years.   Every time you build one remember that someone's blood and sweat went into making it for you and that no one is getting rich doing so.  We do it because we love the hobby.  Recasters don't care about the hobby or the blood and sweat that someone puts into something.  They are parasites in every sense of the word.   What do you do with parasites?  You exterminate them.   Don't let the parasites reside here........send them packing somewhere else.  Otherwise when the kit producers see they have no support they'll stop making those great kits you all enjoy.   No one's asking you guys to get in the middle of the fight.........just let us educate people for the good of the hobby.  Thanks for listening.

Scott Johansen

[Spock]

Well I'm a new member but I was a member on the old Yahoo board years ago.  I have known Terry for a long time and I PMed him my concerns regarding certain "recasters" that are trying to peddle their wares here.   If you guys want to ban me for this then please feel free but I'll try and be as polite about it as possilbe.    Hammerfan and Iceman are Larry Burbridge and Rick Muncy.  No doubt about it.   Larry won't join a modeling community board because of his many dealings in recasting.  You want facts I can provide them.   Yes some of us came here when we heard he was here.  Do we have an "agenda" .....yes I guess you can say we do.  It's "outing" this guy for what he is.    The best thing we as kit producers can do to deter recasting is to educate the public.  That is really all anyone is trying to do is educate people here that might not be aware of what certain individuals are up to.   You'll notice Larry and Rick will not admit who they are.  I have no problem telling you who I am.  Scott Johansen.   I like your board and don't want to disrupt it or make waves however if recasters think they have a "safe haven" here then this is where they will go.   All I ask is don't make this a "safe haven" for them.   I'm sure many of you here have enjoyed building some great garage kits over the years.   Every time you build one remember that someone's blood and sweat went into making it for you and that no one is getting rich doing so.  We do it because we love the hobby.  Recasters don't care about the hobby or the blood and sweat that someone puts into something.  They are parasites in every sense of the word.   What do you do with parasites?  You exterminate them.   Don't let the parasites reside here........send them packing somewhere else.  Otherwise when the kit producers see they have no support they'll stop making those great kits you all enjoy.   No one's asking you guys to get in the middle of the fight.........just let us educate people for the good of the hobby.  Thanks for listening.

Scott Johansen

Yawn, boring.

[fmofmpls]

While the UMA does not condone recasting of any kind, the UMA will not become a public whipping post for recasters. It's not what were about and it's not what we do here. All of this dissension leads to a toxic environment, and I will not allow that to happen at UMA. Recasting is wrong, and so are flame wars at this forum. It simply won't be tolerated. Discussing recasting brings about the same results as discussing politics and religion. It's toxic. Take it somewhere else.

Why not start up your own forum where you can enlighten folks and expose the bad guys all on your own terms? It's against our terms of service here at UMA and NOT because we condone recasting of any kind! Piracy is bad whether it's from Somalia or middle town America. Please refer to our handbook to review our terms - http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?page=11

I would also point out that this thread is on very thin ice. The mods have my full support to pull the rug out the minute this thread starts to turn south.

BTW, this post was not directed at Scott in particular. It's directed at the subject matter and its many players.

[Toy Ranch]

I understand this is a controversy in the garage kit community, but here at the UMA we deal in all sorts of different types of collectible, and the recasting of some of those is a different matter.  MPC made Pop Top Monsters in the 60's, and the molds are in Mexico now, where they are being made.  A hobbyist casted them in metal.  Are the Mexican repops "recasts".  Are the metal ones violating something?  How about masks...  where there have been illicit pulls from original molds made over the years, and many others have been recasted.  OK, you can say "old stuff" vs "new stuff" but what's the cutoff?  Some of the garage kits are 30 years old now.  One legitimately produced garage kit is a recast of a vintage blow mold plastic Frankenstein Head Speaker.  Is it a legit garage kit or a repo that's hurting the toy collectible field or what?  We've had this debate many times.

So we can't say "no recasts on the UMA" because there are 1000 different ways to look at it.  We're also not going to allow the blatant ripping off of artists making cool stuff for monster fans to take place on the UMA.  We can't police what people do elsewhere, but if you see something for sale at the UMA that you have a problem with, send a private message to a moderator and we'll look into it.  We're not going to tolerate name calling or harassment of someone's listings here.  We're also not going to be played for fools by people trying to take advantage of our welcoming nature or our membership, and our patience for this discussion is wearing extremely thin.  I think every side of this has been heard.  We've been "educated" to the point our heads are ready to fall off.  Max's already did. 

[mike c]

Scott wrote:

"No one's asking you guys to get in the middle of the fight.........just let us educate people for the good of the hobby."

Becoming a member of this otherwise peaceful forum for the purpose of being on one side or another of the recasting issue (or any other single issue) puts the entire UMA in the middle of the fight whether anyone asks for it or not.
Don't bring the fight here.
It's entirely unnecessary... any member of our forum who is  into modeling already has an informed opinion about that issue which neither you nor anyone else is apt to change no matter how much you wish to educate us all 'for the good of the hobby'.
It's needless, it's noise, and it breaks the peace.
And since modeling is only one aspect of the entirety of the UMA's interests, it's presumptious to assume that we'll all step aside, let people hop in to stir up a pot that needed no stirring, and happily accept it because you're ''educating us for the good of the modeling hobby''.
Please don't do us any favors; you can already see what this sudden influx of 'educators' has caused in the course of 48 hours.
ALL monster lovers are welcome here.
But not troublemakers, even if I agree with why they fight.

Mike C.

[Toy Ranch]

This discussion topic is over.  Again, if anyone has a problem with something posted for sale on the UMA, please contact a moderator and we will look into it and take action we deem appropriate.