Message from Tortuga Bay

[Petitioner's City]

 

Alas GW seem to be chasing down Tortuga Bay. Very depressing. 

 

If you do want to order from them, now might be the time!

[Doobles57]

It's a shame to see. Some of their newest releases have sailed a bit close to some recent official releases which might have been the straw that the broke the IP infringements back. 

 

I'd been hoping they'd do more of their not-Thunder Warriors. Might try and grab a few more in case I ever get to that project. 

[lansalt]

I don't think GW cared much about them doing upscaled/alternative versions of OOP bits just like many other 3rd party companies. But they've released more and more blatant copies of 40k/30k minis, so GW is probably legally obligated to sue them. 

 

A shame, because Torguga clearly covers a demand about products that GW is not willing to address.

 

 

[Lord_Ikka]

It might be due to the individual character models they're selling, rather than the upscaled sets of SM armor mks. Just looking at their New Releases you've got pretty spot on versions of Titus, Lemartes, and a Primaris-sized BA Captain w/all the weapon options the new one has. I can see GW getting a little testy about that, and unlike Artel W, Tortuga is based out of Ukraine, which means that they can be hit a lot easier with IP infringement issues than Artel's Russian location.

[Grotsmasha]

This is a shame to hear, and it is almost certainly the "counts as" Characters that have done them in.

[Vassakov]

Yeah, I've just had a look and their "Space Vampires Guard Captain" is fairly blatant copyright infringement. It's one thing producing add-ons and alternative designs, but those are far too close to a replacement product that just infringes on GW's product so I don't have a lot of sympathy here.

[Joe]

This was inevitable with how close Tortuga were flying to the sun. It's unfortunate, but incredibly self-inflicted.

[Stitch5000]

I note that it says "page" rather than "business", but then it also says "colleagues" rather than "IP donors", so maybe it is a translation quirk?

[Wormwoods]

Yeah I've never looked at them before, that's alarmingly blatant. I mean, that's one way to avoid the 'knock-off space marine looks uncanny' problem. 

[Orion]

30 minutes ago, Wormwoods said:

Yeah I've never looked at them before, that's alarmingly blatant. I mean, that's one way to avoid the 'knock-off space marine looks uncanny' problem. 

They've mainly served the community for upscale bodies, for use in conjunction with GW kits.

At one point in time they even sold cleaned up plague marine body recasts. 

[HeadlessCross]

Damn, if I weren't going to school right now I'd 100% buy some of the Mk3 stuff ASAP. 

[Emperor Ming]

The Empire comes for all pirates in the end

 

Avast

[Evil Eye]

Man, that's a shame. They were always a bit too THICC for my tastes but I'm still sad to see them whacked.

[Indy Techwisp]

I think it literally just got taken down

 

EDIT: Nevermind, it's back

Edited November 18 by Indy Techwisp

[lansalt]

Depending on where it's hosted, their site is probably an easy target. But they're still in a non-EU country and life finds a way. I just hope they restrain themselves but keep selling most of their least IP infringing catalogue.

[ThaneOfTas]

Well both the website and Instagram page is still up at least, i definitely agree that the counts as characters aree probably whats causing the issues, as much as I like them

[Redcomet]

Honestly surprised it took them so long. Tortuga has been making direct copies for a long time

[Karhedron]

I actually prefer their Lemartes to the official Primaris version. 

[MoriyaSchism]

I hope they stick with out of production replica items. It's the only place these days where I can get Mars pattern jump packs without 3D printing.

[Aspecti]

Somehow I've never noticed they make 30k weapon bits as well. Anyone know if for example the M4 energy claws they make are also "true scale" or would they fit normal sized MK4 plastic models?

[Gamiel]

6 hours ago, Karhedron said:

I actually prefer their Lemartes to the official Primaris version. 

To each their own 

[Halandaar]

Yeah honestly I thought their run of Blood Angel characters this year was risky. They've done pretty much 1:1 versions of Corbulo and Tycho, and a stand-in for Lemartes with components that mirror both his older incarnations. Then they came out with old-style Sanguinary Guard bodies almost immediately after the Primaris ones were revealed. I feel like it's this run of products that has finally compelled GW to act (even though every one of the designs Tortuga is mimicking is now OOP) - GW seemed to prepared to look the other way when it was just Badab stuff and upscaled heresy/firstborn armour bodies, but direct competitors to new 40k models which are straight copies of OOP GW designs seems to have been a step too far. 

 

Interestingly a lot of the product listings have had their images changed in the last couple of days to show alternate character builds, and a few details have been obscured. See their Levko Stas model, old image advertised it clearly as a Lemartes proxy, new one shows it assembled with dual pistols and has the winged blood drop detail blurred out. That's the case across a lot of their characters, presumably to try and address whatever specific complaint GW has made. 

 

Anyway, I hope they manage to ride the storm and keep going with at least some products because with their Badab stuff they are serving a niche that GW has willingly abandoned, and at a quality that defies belief when you consider they are living and working under constant threat of bombardment and power outages. 

 

[WAR]

I have some of their bodies I use for my HH Dark Furies and I love them compared to the FW skinny ones,  But like many we have said "flying close to the GW IP Sun"...yeah

 

Sad news

Edited November 29 by WAR

[skylerboodie]

On 11/27/2024 at 9:06 AM, Halandaar said:

<...> See their Levko Stas model, old image advertised it clearly as a Lemartes proxy, new one shows it assembled with dual pistols and has the winged blood drop detail blurred out.  <...>

 

 

I like that the reflection is still the old build, with 'Lemartes' helmet and crozius showing

[Dr_Ruminahui]

On 11/27/2024 at 2:06 AM, Halandaar said:

Interestingly a lot of the product listings have had their images changed in the last couple of days to show alternate character builds, and a few details have been obscured. See their Levko Stas model, old image advertised it clearly as a Lemartes proxy, new one shows it assembled with dual pistols and has the winged blood drop detail blurred out. That's the case across a lot of their characters, presumably to try and address whatever specific complaint GW has made. 

 

If that's what's occurring, its probably "too little, too late" from a legal perspective - so if there is an actual lawsuit.  Whether its enough to prevent GW from filing a law suit (as there are many non-legal considerations that go into even a legal decision such as starting litigation by filing a law suit) remains to be seen.

Edited November 29 by Dr_Ruminahui