It's more like GZ *made* some nice figures. Their in-house sculptor left, and all GZ has been doing is recasting their metal miniatures into their resin / plastic.
http://www.bugmansbrewery.com/topic/35844-whatever-happened-to-gamezone-miniatures/Also, during the campaign, the original sculptor, MK Ultra Studios, left, and had to rebut the GZ post of how he was leaving.
Here's what he said on BGG:
http://boardgamegeek.com/article/14372928#14372928"I'd asked TWO times to Dioni if GZM had the full rights to make this game. First one, during our first meeting call. Second one, after Verkami's cancellation. This second time he made me the commentary about the laughs. Both times by phone.
Why I asked it to him? First, because I want to keep Questron's name clean. The sculpting branch of Questron (Mkultra Studios) is working right now for many companies (majors in the miniature industry, as far as I know, like Mantic Miniatures, or Sodapop Miniatures, among others) and I didn't want, I repeat, to mix our name in any "illegal/anormal/whatever" release of anything...
Secondly, because our deal was to charge all our work AFTER the resolution of the crowdfunding (by the time we started to work for GZM, KS was still on) So, I'd must to be sure that my workers will charge for their work, but the word of one man is enough for me...
Yes, by that time, I was sure that Dioni has the rights to release the game, and the KS and Verkami's cancellation were only a "chain of fatalities and misunderstoods"...
Now... Well, I don't know if that phone call between Dioni and Hasbro was real or not (he admitted that something ISN'T REAL, but I don't know if he meant that my word had not any fundament, or if what he told me isn't real...)
The thing is that I decided to retire my studio from the project, and not get Questron's name involved in this release. Why? I'll save it for my own smile.gif BUT I must to say that after the first 4 hours on "Lanzanos", I sent a message to Dioni, giving my congratulations to him for the fast-success...
What I want to say with this post is that I didn't imagine/make up any declaration from Dioni. It's true that he told me that by phone. And also it's true that I say that in a Facebook's commentary-thread without his permission. BUT I didn't, I repeat, make up those words.
My only intention now it's to keep Questron's name clear. I can be a big mouth when I'm defending things, that's true, but always if I think the subject is clear.
The purpose of this or any of my future messages is not to defend or attack or criticize the HQ 25th's release. That isn't of my bussiness (nunca mejor dicho) anymore. "
And this is what he said on Dakka Dakka:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/569616.page"And we prefer to don't say anymore about all that subject beyond this post. We aren't against GZM... but in Spain, if you are not at the side of something, you are against... Even if you say over and over that you aren't, and if you explain your true motives of quitting from one job, it doesn't matter.
My message in BGG had only one purpose. To keep my word and my company's name clear after seeing lies and strange movements.
The words from GZM explaining what I WRONGLY (I accept that) comment in one FB's post were that what I've said in that comment wasn't real, and that was a setback for my word (I wasn't making up anything, they told me that they talked with Hasbro, and the laughs were loud) and my company (so, no Hasbro laughs? no agreement wtih them? more crowdfunding cancellations and no payment for the studio? No thanks, sir) This message is in the net since 13th December.
By that time I didn't say a word, I didn't (and I don't) care what the "spanish miniature-market" thinks about my word or my company. I didn't have, and we WON'T have any more bussiness there...
Simply, I sent a mail to GZM telling that the name of MKUltra Studio retires from the HQ project. We accepted the work in the name of the studio, we didn't put in contact anybody with anybody, the fact that our sculpter and GZM are from the same city (Seville) is a (lucky) coincidence for them, because they were in a real hurry for a sculpter... (Why? you can wonder... I also know facts that nobody knows, but I keep my mouth shut, as I said We don't want to put more gasoline in the fire, that's not our goal, as I said) And so, we retired from the project.
We didn't have a response from them to this message. We didn't care. There was work (WIPs) made by that time... The payment and the use of that work is not our bussiness anymore, and quoting a famous TV-host from the 80s spanish television "Hasta aquí puedo leer". There is people that didn't say a word in this drama and don't deserve to get involved.
But by the time that these words appears in an international forum as BGG, that's a totally different thing. I have very important orders from many foreign (for me, USA is foreign hehehe) companies, and I want that ANYBODY that could read or investigate the "Heroquest-gate" drama could have my interpretation of all this subject. Again, my company and my word is clean of anything strange, obscure or harmful for the industry.
The result of all this is more lies about us... (we AREN'T commission-agents, that's was offensive for us, with all our respect to commission agents) Enough is enough. We make a final statement in our FB, in spanish, that will be deleted tomorrow, and that's all.
At this moment, we shut up the mouth about all this drama ... We have A LOT of work to do, and our time is gold."
Here's what GZ said posted, which MK said was untrue (about the commission):
http://www.lanzanos.com/proyectos/heroquest-25-aniversario/actualizaciones/"To answer your question straight away: no, it will not Affect the miniature creation process in any way, as here at GameZone info we have always sculpted our own models. And it is the same for HQ25. Contacted MKULTRA was to not have an additional backup for our sculptor, and They Got in Touch with us another modeller from our same city so we Could not work with him in a direct and individual way. In This Issue Involvement MKULTRA is just to get commission for this business Their management as a middleman, nothing else.
Thank you for your good will to the project. Truth is, That all this "controversy bubble" around it is really unnecessary."
19 July 2008, 11:47:32 AM