Andrew Barlow's page

Well, it is a very nice sculpt! Julie Guthrie has been sculpting Forever, so I don't feel bad at all that you like it better. In fact, if I had known it existed, I never would have bothered sculpting my 'Guath', because clearly, to me, that's a Gauth!

Is it 8-feet across? No, it's more like 5, just like a Gauth.

Is there really seven eyestalks on top, or is it 6 and Sean's just miscounting? A gauth has 6.

Tentacles underneath it's body? A gauth has those. 4 of 'em.
So she did mix up the number of those, thus making it alright in Sean's book.

But does it have additional small eyes embedded in its orb? Why, a 2e Gauth has those!

I would call the other little eyestalks a nice touch, or extra bit of flavor. Another tiny detail, perhaps, but they sure wouldn't stop me from putting this on my table as the Gauth it was clearly meant to be.

The point is, the details Sean is pointing out are OBJECTIVE, but the line he is drawing, the one that makes those sculpts okay in his book, that's SUBJECTIVE. In all my pieces, I note differences in poses, skin textures, treatment of details such as tentacle and mouth design, etc. Those differences seem pretty severe to me, and I think set the level of them not being copies.

Now, I spent about 4 seconds this morning browsing Reaper's site, and found just as many other sculpts that were clearly D&D monsters, but Sean has consistently brushed off such comparisons as not being germane to the discussion. It makes me kind of think that where he is drawing HIS line has a bit to do with not wanting to insult famous sculptors or big companies he is doing business with.

I am really sorry Sean doesn't like my Kickstarter, and that my choices for sculpts offended his sense of propriety. My intent was to fill a need, and do some cool sculpts that could be used for monsters that had no viable 3d representation before this point. I like to think I pretty much succeeded.

Sean and all,
I will definitely take your advice and concerns to heart for future projects. I know that you are giving it with the best of intentions, and I do take that to heart. I honestly never meant to stir up any controversy or upset anybody. I certainly never meant to be taken as or portrayed as a villain when all I'm trying to do is make some things gamers want, and make my way in the world. And you can rest assured that my next Kickstarter will be all original creations.

Most of these sculpts were done as one-offs, something you clearly feel is ok, and it was only after I became convinced it was alright (and yes, by observing the world around me...if it's ok for some, why does it have to be not ok for me? And yes, you can find 'not' miniatures of most of the characters you mentioned out there, but not by me.) that I decided to do the Kickstarter.

I can see we have a difference of opinions on what is right and wrong here, and I can see and appreciate where you are coming from. From my perspective, I already had these sculpts done, people wanted them, and it seems to me that I can legally provide them. I'm sorry if I've given offense, and if I was not well-informed enough at the outset of the project (I thought Beholders were in the ogl, for one). If I'm on the wrong side of the Law, that's what matters, and I don't think that I am.

For what it's worth, everyone who pledges to my Kickstarter will either get their minis, or in the event someone (in authority) does tell me I can't make them, they will get a full refund, or they will get the minis I can produce, and a refund for the minis that are disallowed, at their discretion.

Hi Guys,

I put up a blog post on my website which explains my reasoning in thinking that I am not violating any copyrights with these figures.

Hope it helps!

-Andy

http://www.dark-platypus.com/blog/copyright-concerns

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806737090/tentacles-and-eyeballs-an-rpg -horror-miniatures-se