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why don't action figures have sculptor credits?

Extrocomp

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Films, video games, novels and comics all have credits, telling you who was involved in the creation of the product, and in what way. With the exception of some NECA and DC Direct figures, most action figures don't have any sculptor or painter credits. I would like to know who the sculptors, designers and painters are, so that I know who makes the good figures and who to blame for the bad figures (the same as any other creative product). So why don't action figures have sculptor credits? Don't these people want to be credited for their work?
 
Possibilities:
-The sculptor is simply considered an employee of the toy manufacturer.

-The sculptor is a member of a larger studio that is already credited on the toy (like Art Asylum, for example).

-Merely a personal choice on the toy company's part.
 
Also, a lot of these things are done by committee and the final product might end up being the result of 14 different people's work.

They are all employees of the Toy company, so their work belongs to the company. Therefore, no one is credited as "the artist." It's a piece of merchandise the company, as a whole, produces.
 
It's a piece of merchandise the company, as a whole, produces.

This.

It's also because large toy companies really want their brand or license to be the thing you want to buy, rather than you wanting to buy the work or a particular technician for hire, like say, you buy anything sculpted by Digger, because he has a cool tattoo and freaky contact lenses, and that's just how you roll.
 
This entirely depends on the company. For instance, the high end collectible companies like Sideshow or Hot Toys always give their sculptors credit.
 
I saw sculptor credits on the back of Art Asylum action figure boxes. I e-mailed them a message sending my compliments to the sculptor for doing a great job on my favourite one.
 
It would be nice if we knew who or what 'team' did certain figures. I know among the Star Wars figures there are some that are almost completely different animals when it comes to how they're made even though they are all made by the same company. Joint patterns are different, heads are different, even paint apps can be vastly different. So yeah it would be kinda cool to know which teams or which sculptors did the work. And so what if I want to collect only so and so's work? I'd say it almost helps, since then it encourages said artist to really step it up a notch or two if they know people are really watching him/her/them and hey... on every other piece of art I see, the artist or artists are always mentioned. Hell I remember for a while there, if you even used someone else's 3D mesh in a render you had to credit them ON THE PICTURE ITSELF! Not just somewhere else. So, if some independent fan can request that of something that's based on a copyrighted/trademarked work... why not the toy industry?
 
They often do. You just have to look hard for them sometimes. (Often they're in smallish print.)

DC Direct routinely credits its sculptors.
 
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