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Local Warhammer fan Simon Williams has to make a last-minute costume change after receiving a legal letter informing him that the Commissar uniform he’d been planning to wear tonight breaches Trademark and Copyright law.
Simon, who spent months making his costume from materials sourced from old militaria shops and hardened foam, said he got the letter in the post yesterday just when he was deciding if he’d rather be Caiaphas Cain or Ibrahim Gaunt.
“I thought the Gaunt’s power claw might be taking it too far, especially if I meet a girl dressed as a sexy Nurgling,” he said.
“I can’t carry more than one drink when I’m wearing it, you see, but the uniform and braids always gets a lot of attention.
“Girls always ask me who I’m dressed as but they always seem to go away after I get to maybe the third or fourth page of lore – usually when I start talking about Ghazghkull Thaka – but hope springs eternal.
“I suppose now I’ll just have to go as a ghost in a sheet, or wrap myself in toilet paper and say I’m a mummy – but it won’t be the same.”
Games Workshop justified the move, saying it had to protect its IP, but if Simon accepts a work for hire contract he’ll be able to dress as the character with minimal restrictions, like only when he’s told he can do so.
“We’re planning to add the word ‘Commissar’ to our list of trademarks,” a spokesman told us.
“Yeah, I know that revolutionary Communists use the word too, but the worst they do is put you in a camp or shoot you in the face if you get on the wrong side of them. They’ve got nothing on us.”
