Concern over some UC practices...

1
So...I was going around UC's site today and I came upon this and this.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I like these pieces and am actually considering picking them both up, as I'm a huge Marvel fan.

However, this is slightly disturbing to me. While I can't seem to find them now, about a month ago UC has "Serenity" blades in their catalog as well. If you look at the description you'll see no mention to the source material at all, there's no official branding, there's no discernible credit. That being said, they're obviously unlicensed replicas.

As I said above, I do in fact like these pieces, and may end up purchasing them. However, I always thought of UC as being one of the -good- companies that didn't jerk customers around at all. Not to mention the fact that they formerly (and might still...) have a way to contact them over stores selling "bootleg" products. It seems kind of hypocritical.

For me, it's bothersome. Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just being foolish?

Re: Concern over some UC practices...

3
Well, I do remember the old UC creating some knives inspired by the Riddick movie (and I know the COR did use some of UC's pieces in the movie, I'm not talking about those), so this isn't the first time. Frankly, I'm not to bothered by these "inspired" by knives if the movie hasn't issued out any licenses for official reproductions. Sometimes an unlicensed replica or "inspired by piece", is the only option a collector has.

On the other hand, I see eye to eye with you on the Serenity set, although, they seemed to have removed them from their site (though you can still find the links in this post). Perhaps they were not aware Museum replicas had the licensed versions and decided to pull out?
Do you have the maniacs, or the schizophrenics, or the astrophysicists in your family?

Re: Concern over some UC practices...

4
You do bring up a good point Grima. As far as the obviously Spider-man inspired pieces go, Marvel hasn't licensed such things (as far as I can find) to anyone. Museum Replicas has the licenses to make replicas, but not original pieces.

The Serenity pieces, as you said, can't be found on their site. So it's possible someone came down on them about it, or they decided to pull out.

Chances are I'll pick up both of the Spider-man inspired pieces, since they're so ine xp ensive anyway.

Luckily, so far as we can tell, UC is simply making 'inspired by' pieces, and not blatant 'rip-offs'. Still, it's a gray area.

Re: Concern over some UC practices...

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Well one thing i'm liking about UC, is at least they tell you right off the bat if a product is official...after that, it's really upto the consumer. And i agree, if no other companies are producing a particular lineup, i think it's great for the collector.

SpiderMan Knives - well, they do look pretty cool. My only concern is that they are made by "Tomahawk USA" and not United. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with Tomahawk, but back when i used to sell swords - the lesser quality was pretty evident when compared to a similar UC product - i sure hope that's changed with the "new UC". I've seen these inspired knives a few times over the past 5yrs, and was thinking about picking them up for my brother...being relatively ine xp ensive.

Serenity - Please correct me if i'm wrong (i did a quick check), but i could not find any products on the MRL website...does that might suggest them being discontinued? And if that's true - then the license would be up for sale again...?
"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum!"

Re: Concern over some UC practices...

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I never saw the Serenity stuff on UC's site, but if it was branded Tomahawk, I undertsand. That is UC's generic brand. It is just community product developed by the factories for the most part. UC does not design that stuff. It's the same generic stuff all those China importers get.

Regarding Riddick, most of those knives in the film (other than the claw things Riddick used) are knockoffs of Kit Rae or UC blades. A few may have been the originals, but most looked like the china knockoffs of the originals. They probably just bought them off the shelf and modded them for the film. If UC has some stuff now that looks like it's from the films, well they had them first, before the films!

The Spider Man dagger that Harry Osbourne has in two of the films is a China knockoff of Kit Rae's Knights Dagger from the old UC Legends ion Steel line, but it is almost a dead on replica.
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