Etsy & 40k, The Good, The Ugly & The Uglier

NO.

 Let's just get this out of the way now. I hate Etsy.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

Now let me clarify. I love the idea of Etsy. A marketplace for hand made goods. What could be cooler? I wish they would facilitate more global initiatives...I would love to see handmade instruments from other countries, for example, but I imagine that export laws and other issues are daunting.

And I also love about half of the people on Etsy, especially the ones that are truly talented or clever. I admire grassroots entrepreneurs who understand marketing and customer service. The Etsy merchants who follow through and care about what they are selling are aces in my book.

But the institution? Fuck them. They are not big enough to have Ebay-like problems with fraud, especially when the members try to self-police and are rebuked by amateur moderators. If you want to see the ridiculous side of Etsy, try going to Regretsy or Google "Etsy complaints".
[read more]
So why am I talking about Etsy in a 40k blog? Well, recently, I found a treasure trove of 40k related items on Etsy. I guess it's a natural relation if you think about it. They range from very nice but copyright infringement-ish to really bad by almost anyone's standards. Here are a few that run the gamut:

Cosplay: Eldar Harlequin

This one is actually not bad, and 420 bucks is a pretty decent price for this type of construction. I am not a LARP or Cosplay kind of guy, but I'm certainly not against seeing conceited nerd chicks (really, ladies?) hanging around a con dressed as a slutty comiissar or slutty sororitas or slutty Army Transport bag. Sara Bertola creates these in Italy.

Workstation Organizers

Paint Trays and Brush Holders

Kelly Crittenden creates these nice laser cut organizers for your paint table. There are models for GW jars, dropper bottles, and paintbrushes. They are sturdy MDF and they are only $20.00.

Vaguely Infringing

Embroidery Pattern

Dark Mechanicus?

There are a slew of vendors that use GW ip for jewelry, embroidery, and other stuff that push the boundaries of "fair use". I pretty sure the Aquila is protected.  The two examples above are particularly problematic because the upper one is a template being sold to make your own infringing items, and the lower pendant uses an image whose components may or not be from a codex or Deviant Art (I have no idea if that particular piece constitutes a copyright violation). Link and link.

Explicit Infringement

This is probably the most egregious. I'm not linking to it since the url is right in the image.

Wacky Miscellaneous

Well, there's this store that sells cross-stitch patterns like this gem:

And these little dice bags in your favorite chapter or race:

And this Salamander...er...whatever this is (plush?):

Some more cosplay:

And some jewelry (made by casting bitz):

Of course, there are painted models, terrain, objectives, more dice bags, more shirts, more jewelry, etc. Give it a go...or don't. I just thought it was interesting. :)