Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So it looks like the concept of Mycetic Spores is one and done in the span of one codex, along with several other models getting the axe (Parasite another).

Does it seem to me that GW did this strictly to remove any competition from other modeling companies that have done what GW refused to do and make a model for a unit that never had a model to begin with?

In what could of been something that generated more money, GW decided to pull the plug on the model and any information about it, removing what could be a significant option for many Tyranid players.

Thoughts?

 WarOne wrote:

Thoughts?

Thank you Chapterhouse Studios...

The very definition of; "cutting off the nose to spite the face".

No more 'Nid drop pods.

Steelmage99 wrote:
The very definition of; "cutting off the nose to spite the face".

By stopping another company from loosing you sales? It sucks yes and they could have handled the whole thing better but I don't thing GW are to blame here, its not personal......just business.

bad business. They could of made a tonne.

EyeOfDC wrote:
bad business. They could of made a tonne.

Maybe. But there's no hurry (now). If they have a model in a few years time, they add it again, either in a new Codex or in a Dataslate / Codex-Supplement / Whatever. They are in control of their own "schedule" again, so to speak, and no longer have to race other companies for their own future products.

That said, the Mycetic Spore as such probably "couldn't" have been done (at least with that name) because other companies did it before and, as we've learned, you can't copyright fluff/names to "cover" miniatures.

or maybe it'll be in another wave?

Daston wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:
The very definition of; "cutting off the nose to spite the face".

By stopping another company from loosing you sales? It sucks yes and they could have handled the whole thing better but I don't thing GW are to blame here, its not personal......just business.

Considering that GW DID NOT sell a Mycetic Spore model themselves, what sales were they losing?

Steelmage99 wrote:

Daston wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:
The very definition of; "cutting off the nose to spite the face".

By stopping another company from loosing you sales? It sucks yes and they could have handled the whole thing better but I don't thing GW are to blame here, its not personal......just business.

Considering that GW DID NOT sell a Mycetic Spore model themselves, what sales were they losing?

They are losing the "right" to sell a "Mycetic Spore" in the future, because the first company to make a miniature called "Mycetic Spore" will have tabs on that (and, as the CH-case showed, having "fluff"/"background" for it doesn't cover your IP for having a "miniature" for it).

GW could end up being sued for plagiarism for making a miniature from their own background.

Infact, they might've well run precisely that risk with the "Mycetic Spore" already. So they purge their products of that name, let time pass, and in a few years, we'll get a "biomorph insertion shell" or something like that.

Won't that be funny. an IC suing GW for copyright infringement

 Zweischneid wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:


Considering that GW DID NOT sell a Mycetic Spore model themselves, what sales were they losing?

They are losing the "right" to sell a "Mycetic Spore" in the future, because the first company to make a miniature called "Mycetic Spore" will have tabs on that (and, as the CH-case showed, having "fluff"/"background" for it doesn't cover your IP for having a "miniature" for it).

As far as I know none of the third-party companies called their model "Mycetic Spore". At the time the Chapterhouse v. GW trial hadn't remotely come to that point, and everybody was naming their models something else to be on the safe side.

GW could end up being sued for plagiarism for making a miniature from their own background.

Yes, they could. And they still can.
This isn't a change in the state of affairs. Should GW choose to plagiarize somebody they always run the risk of legal consequences.

Steelmage99 wrote:

This isn't a change in the state of affairs. Should GW choose to plagiarize somebody they always run the risk of legal consequences.

So you agree that it is a smart business move by GW to not run the risk of "plagiarizing" somebody out there who possibly has claim to a "Mycetic Spore miniature"...

 Zweischneid wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:

This isn't a change in the state of affairs. Should GW choose to plagiarize somebody they always run the risk of legal consequences.

So you agree that it is a smart business move by GW to not run the risk of "plagiarizing" somebody out there who possibly has claim to a "Mycetic Spore miniature"...

No, because that would assume that GW isn't a one dimensional vaudeville villain who stands around twirling his mustache thinking aloud about "how can I screw over my customers today? Ha ha ha!"

 Zweischneid wrote:
Thank you Chapterhouse Studios...

Exactly. Thank you for forcing GW to remove an utterly useless model from the codex.

 Zweischneid wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:

This isn't a change in the state of affairs. Should GW choose to plagiarize somebody they always run the risk of legal consequences.

So you agree that it is a smart business move by GW to not run the risk of "plagiarizing" somebody out there who possibly has claim to a "Mycetic Spore miniature"...

1. What was the point of putting plagiarizing in citation-marks?

2. We were discussing the implications of the name "Mycetic Spore". Have you changed the subject?

3. GW has a long and distinguished track-record of plagiarizing left and right. They just call it "tongue-in-cheek-homage".

 Zweischneid wrote:
They are losing the "right" to sell a "Mycetic Spore" in the future, because the first company to make a miniature called "Mycetic Spore" will have tabs on that (and, as the CH-case showed, having "fluff"/"background" for it doesn't cover your IP for having a "miniature" for it).

Wasn't it the exact opposite, and the parts CH lost were the ones where they used a specific GW name to sell their models instead of generic "grimdardark power armor shoulder pads" descriptions of their function? IIRC they were forced to change the name on all of their products that were being sold under a specific GW name and were only allowed to use the functional ones like "fits on GW 28mm space marine figures".

GW could end up being sued for plagiarism for making a miniature from their own background.

Err, no. GW had the first use of the term "mycetic spore" in this context. CH could possibly make a case for trademark violation because GW is marketing a competing product under the same name as theirs, but that's not at all the same as plagiarism. The only way they'd run into plagiarism trouble is if they made a direct copy of the CH model.

So they purge their products of that name, let time pass, and in a few years, we'll get a "biomorph insertion shell" or something like that.

Why wait a few years? Release a "biomorph insertion shell" in the new codex and all of the IP issues are gone. You can't copyright the general concept of "alien bio-pod that drops from orbit to deliver units", so a new name would completely avoid any IP issues (remember, this is the same argument CH used to defend their "space elf psychic master" models). The only reason GW would be forced to eliminate the model entirely is if they're so paranoid about some other company getting sales off a similar model that they'd rather remove the model entirely, throw away all potential sales for the GW version, and hope that all of the Tyranid players buy the new MC kit with the money they would have spent on spore models.

Steelmage99 wrote:

Daston wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:
The very definition of; "cutting off the nose to spite the face".

By stopping another company from loosing you sales? It sucks yes and they could have handled the whole thing better but I don't thing GW are to blame here, its not personal......just business.

Considering that GW DID NOT sell a Mycetic Spore model themselves, what sales were they losing?

GW consider every dollar spent on a hobby related purchase that doesn't go directly into their pockets to be a dollar stolen by another company.

Yes that's stupid but it seems to be legitimately how they go about business. No cooperation with anyone, calling online stores that buy GW stock to sell on moochers, calming they are the entirety of the hobby. It's... bad.

Lol, first scout/infiltrate and now deep strike getting the axe.

Truely a game of gunlines and first turn. Just a matter of time before they remove that pesky movement phase entirely

Steelmage99 wrote:


1. What was the point of putting plagiarizing in citation-marks?

Because trademarks can be registered in "bad faith" with the main-intent to extort profit from a larger company that would likely/predictably want to use said name in the future. Trademark-squatting, IP-squatting, etc.. are rather real problems for companies out there, not just in miniature-wargaming.

 Dakkamite wrote:
Truely a game of gunlines and first turn. Just a matter of time before they remove that pesky movement phase entirely

Never going to happen. They may, however, release a Movement expansion which contains lots of special rules for moving your models forward 6" a turn, all for a mere $100 (digital) or $500 (limited super special edition).

 Zweischneid wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:


1. What was the point of putting plagiarizing in citation-marks?

Because trademarks can be registered in "bad faith" with the main-intent to extort profit from a larger company that would likely/predictably want to use said name in the future. Trademark-squatting, IP-squatting, etc.. are rather real problems for companies out there, not just in miniature-wargaming.

But nobody has, to my knowledge, attempted to do that in the case of "Mycetic Spore".

wait..... The parasite of Mortrex is gone from the new Codex?!?!?!

That was the only reason I was going to buy the Nid Codex... I wanted a Ripper army with the Parasite :/

all named characters without official models are gone.

EyeOfDC wrote:
all named characters without official models are gone.

GG GW. If you had simply made a Parasite plastic model, I would have bought the codex, the parasite and some rippers.
Now I'm not buying nids :/ Shame

It is a pain in the ass, but Chapterhouse were only a part of the problem.

The last codex was a mess, let's face it, so this is more about rationalising. How the new codex looks and plays overall is more important than the loss of one single model - which I will miss, I've made three spores and we enjoyed terrorising people with them.

It's not a single model... Spore, Parasite, Doom of Malantai. Lots of people use the Doom, and Deepstrike Spores...

They've killed Nid Deepstrikes, screwed people with the Doom of Malantai and any Ripper armies.

Otto Weston wrote:

EyeOfDC wrote:
all named characters without official models are gone.

GG GW. If you had simply made a Parasite plastic model, I would have bought the codex, the parasite and some rippers.
Now I'm not buying nids :/ Shame

Well, Parasite/Doom might be in there the same way the Solitaire is "in" the Eldar Codex. Use a Zoanthrope or a Harpy/Crone/Flyrant(?) and stick it with a unique "alpha biomorphs" (or whatever they call the "Chapter Relics" for Nids) that replicates the effect.

This has been going on for a while, even All units that lack models are being removed in subsequent updates. The AS codex lost Kyrinov, the Inquisition codex lost that Ordo Xenos Inquisitior.

 MWHistorian wrote:

 Zweischneid wrote:
So you agree that it is a smart business move by GW to not run the risk of "plagiarizing" somebody out there who possibly has claim to a "Mycetic Spore miniature"...

No, because that would assume that GW isn't a one dimensional vaudeville villain who stands around twirling his mustache thinking aloud about "how can I screw over my customers today? Ha ha ha!"

I chuckled.

Making a plastic Mycetic Spore just doesn't make any economic sense. I explained this in the Tyranid rumours thread, so I'll just copy/paste what I wrote there:

The loss of the Mycetic Spore won't be driven by some sort of need to swipe at the 3rd party market (as much as some people might want it to be). Instead it'll simply be down to economics.

The Drop Pod is a risky kit because it only exists in two forms - off the table, yet to arrive, or on the table, doing nothing. It has one role, and once it does that one thing it really doesn't do much for the rest of the game other than sit there. What mitigates the risk is that it's a unit for the most popular and best-selling army and multiple other armies (Wolves, BA's, DA's, etc.) can use them as well. The Spore though? Tyranids. That's it. They're the only one who use it meaning it's an expensive plastic kit that either sits off the table doing nothing or on the table doing nothing (unlike other Tyranid units which play an active role in the game), so it's just not commercially viable. And that's before you factor in the Rule of Cool. Who wants a nice big bladed snake thing, or a giant four armed monster... or a flesh egg/pod thingy that sits around doing nothing?

 Zweischneid wrote:
That said, the Mycetic Spore as such probably "couldn't" have been done (at least with that name) because other companies did it before and, as we've learned, you can't copyright fluff/names to "cover" miniatures.

I guess that's why the Tervigon model has been such a poor seller even though it has an official model now, and how the Drop Pod never really sold much after those companies made their own versions. Oh wait. They both sell fine. An official Mycetic Spore would have sold like hot cakes (even if creating one makes little sense). Everyone would have clamoured for the model. The reasons for the lack of Mycetic Spore are far more economic.