The RPF That WasIf you're at all interested in collecting props and/or prop replicas, then you're familiar with The RPF. It's been around since 1997 and has become the largest and most well-known forum about movie/TV props and costumes. I first found them around 2000 while researching how to make proton packs and other items for a Ghostbusters fan film a friend and I were writing at the time. It was like a nerdy wonderland with the most amazing info and helpful people you could imagine. But that was 14 years ago now. And things have changed. In a big way. Back then, membership was limited. Anyone could browse the site, but you could only register during certain open periods of enrollment. I was a neophyte and still a decade away from actually replicating anything myself, so I had nothing to contribute anyway. I was happy enough just to lurk. Because, in those days, lurking at the RPF was a very rewarding experience! Here's how it would work: You have an interest in a certain prop. So you go to the site and you do a search. You're then presented with some threads. You select essentially any one of them, and you get a series of talented craftsmen and artisans with an eye for detail discussing how they replicate an item to the highest possible quality and accuracy and responding to questions from those interested in undertaking their own project. You read through the threads, see the different techniques used by different builders, see tips from others on alternate ways to achieve a particular aspect of the build. If you read that and said "Uh... yeah. That's how forums work," then you haven't been to the RPF lately. I hate to have three blog posts in a row on the same topic, but things need to be said. I've just gotten off the phone with eBay, concerning yet another takedown of my Mr. Kite poster. Despite providing documentation from the Intellectual Property Office of the UK, despite posting a video detailing how my poster is based on the original and not Peter Dean's, eBay's legal teams in the US and UK have apparently had several long and detailed discussions about this situation and decided "The posters bear a strong resemblance to one-another, so we're going to let Peter Dean pull his poster and they'll just need to work it out between themselves." Yes, the posters bear a strong resemblance, they're both fucking copies of the same image!! I don't know what kind of empty-headed morons they have in their legal department, but this is a clear-cut case of anti-competitive behavior. Any moron can see that. Further, I don't know why eBay can't adhere to the typical counter-notification process in this case. They claim it's because Dean is in the UK, but Etsy had no issue with that. For those who don't know, here's how a counter-notification usually works:
I went through this process with Etsy, who essentially told me "Don't worry, that slimy cunt had his chance to prove his claim, but now we know that he's just a douchebag with loose morals and we'll ignore him in the future." eBay, though? "Oh, he's in a different country so uh... you'll have to get his permission." Fuck you, eBay. AND FUCK YOU, PETER DEAN. You're a vile piece of rotting cock-flesh, clinging to the underbelly of a bloated and decaying whore-corpse. And a gutless, guileless coward to boot, without the common decency to have a conversation with someone you accuse of stealing from you. TO EVERYONE WHO IS NOT PETER DEAN: The most accurate Mr. Kite poster on Earth is still available on this very website: RIGHT HERE. ...And on Etsy: HERE. |
About the AuthorMy name is Shawn McBee and I am a replica prop fabricator and collector located in Atlanta, GA. The name "The Propsmith" is more of an aspiration than a declaration at this point, but I am a perfectionist and apply my keen eye for detail to recreating props to an exacting degree. Categories
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