Actually been pondering the "are these rip-offs" question today. Is this company creating troops to be compatible with sob unit types? Sure.
But then as a hypothetical: give a traditional rendering of joan of arc to a sample of artists who have no familiarity with gw and ask for a sketch of a regiment of nun-warriors in a sci-fi setting with the Joan archetype in mind. I imagine you would end up with a lot of interpretations that bear a striking resemblance to SoB as we know them.
Ditto for the dark elves stuff. My non-gamer friends look at DE stuff and immediately say Hellraiser. So you are looking at a basic concept of S&M/horror in an industrial context taken to its extremes. Add pointy ears.
Plus, there are plenty of these figs that have no direct corollary to GW stuff, so they really do seem to be working to create their own rationale for these models as well.
And anyway, there is a void in the marketplace obviously, so economic principle would dictate that it should be filled. If GW refuses to do so, then that is their loss. I am not overly familiar with the arguments in the various lawsuits, but I surmise that is the crux of determining what was deemed acceptable vs infringement - i.e. one can't stake out a territory in IP and then never populate it, as taken to its hypothetical end, that precedent harms consumers and potentially society.
Last edited by morella888; 03-26-2015 at 04:10 AM.
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