Letter of Apologies to Mr Shane Foulkes and appeal for recast boycott

[acro-man]

Mr Shane Foulkes' Apatosaurs has been illegally recast in China and sold by the recaster yesterday.


Mr Foulkes' FB post


It is I, Jerry Geng, aka Acro-man, who bought the original model kit for my friend "Yin Bo" and vouched for him. He then sold it to a strange buyer and it turned out to be a recaster.

This is the utmost disrespect for the original sculptor, a despicable deed, and we are ashamed.

As of now, me and my friends are after the recaster. My friend pretended to be a buyer and made contact with him. We found out he is a notorious recaster in Guangzhou, who has done illegal recast several times on human figures and animals. This time he targeted on Mr Foulkes' Apatosaurs and said he made 'a few' of them. We will need a bit more time to reveal his true identity. When we do, we will hand in his personal info to Mr Foulkes.

My deepest and most genuine apologies to Mr Foulkes. It's my fault to trust an untrustworthy 'friend'. Even he's not the recaster, he did sell it to someone else which he claimed won't happen. Words are often pale and useless at moments like this, and I won't expect your forgiveness with them. All I can do is to track the recaster down ASAP. We couldn't put him in jail, but we will make sure he has tough days if he dares to show up again.



Hereby, I am calling every dinosaur collectors to boycott illegal recast, every artist to reject suspicious commissions on painting, everyone who wants to sell their models, sell it to someone reliable.

Supporting illegal recast may not make a difference to a single buyer, but it's like a tumour to the entire collectors' community. When it grows, it becomes deadly.

Fund and repect sculptors by buying genuine models, and help make a better place.

[Lanthanotus]

My respect for your honesty and public apology, Jerry.

Even if it may be a "fight against windmills" (as we say in Germany) I agree that it is important that every collector considers his/her purchases and as you recommend.

[tyrantqueen]

Very good of you to apologise. I don't buy fakes (whether they're toys or model kits, they're not worth the money).

[RobinGoodfellow]

We know you, Jerry, and also we are sure that it wasn't your intention to damage Shane Foulkes' work.
Recasters also damage original and truly talented artists from China with the idea that doing business with China is totally unsafe.
And it's a shame...

[Simon]

Well-said Acro-man.  Recasters should be shunned and boycotted.

[PhilSauria]

I agree with all of the above comments. Being a relative newcomer to serious collecting I have seen enough knock offs of figures all over the Asian sites to appreciate that you really do get what you don't pay for (so to speak) with some of the Papo, Schleich and Safari bootlegs being complete travesties of the originals. Why would you buy those? As an illustrator / cartoonist for a promotional company I have seen the odd piece of my artwork reappropriated by a 'back yarder' or two (but it is up to the company I work for to send their lawyers after these guys) and it is not pleasant seeing someone else attempt profit from your creations. Not that this can compare with Mr. Foulkes' experience, I'm just saying that as a creator of sorts I can see it more from his perspective than the consumer. It is a sad fact of human nature, or the nature of some humans, that we are not all policed to the same degree with the set of ethical standards that govern our actions.

[acro-man]

Thanks everyone.

This is a war that never ends.
Not every recaster will be brought to justice but at least we can straighten up our own act as a consumer.
They will lose some "windmills" if we don't support them.

Good luck to PhilSauria and Mr Foulkes and all creative workers.
Tragedies like this should be stopped.