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MATT now pestering Andrew A on his FB page..


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Hi Brian I was spotting at the Harlow centre event when your were talking to the plasterer - was his name Arthur?

 

I overheard the whole conversation between you two and it was very interesting :)

 

 

 

Yes his name is Arthur or Mr Whippy - a name you don't forget :)

 

It was a shame he had to rush off as it was great to see him after 34 years - perhaps he'll pop into Harlow again when I'm signing in May.

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It does indeed. Having you here to provide direct, honest, and accurate information is a true blessing for us.

Well said boss!

And that's the truth 100 x over!

 

 

Now then... I'm not usually one to get into these things — and this isn't getting into it really anyway — but, I did just see this on facebook and had to comment on it...

 

This is his finished armor?

 

Look at the tops of the legs.

And the way the forearms or the shins are assembled.

They're all just overlapped... no finishing strips.

Not to mention the "ammo knee plate." Aren't those really small??

 

I've seen photos of his armor before, but never really took time to LOOK at it... because I don't care.

 

a-ainsworth-armor.jpg

 

This is just a little more accurate than AM armor.

I'm not dissing AM, I think AM is beautiful, idealized armor and a GREAT kit... but AM doesn't claim what AA is claiming either.

 

Again... I'm not getting into this... just had to share this picture. :P

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Thanks for posting the link - you beat me to it :D

 

The Darkside of SDS aka www.originalstormtrooper.com on Facebook is administrated by Lindsay (my wife :) ) and it's to show the true facts and is a source for reference.

 

There are also relevant parts from the judgement cut and pasted that Ainsworth continues to lie about as there is so much to wade through in the judgement Ainsworth relies on fans not reading it.

 

Ainsworth now seems to have written his mission statement(original stormtrooper Facebook discussion page -Fans with hidden agenda):-

"I am trying to encourage fans to have a go at prop building, as an Industrial Designer and someone who makes things every day for a living,

I see the desperate lack of 3 dimensional talent and dexterity in our kids. Yet I`m sure it is there and just need nuturing.

This interest in fantasy costumes etc is a fasinating bridge that encourage the making of things and hence the progression into design and manufacturing.

 

I do hope that fans are not intimidated and ask whatever they wish...the simplest things are often quite difficult to achieve."

:engel:

 

Needless to say Matt's rebuttal to that was deleted ;)

Edited by vadersculptor
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I wanted to tell other FISD members why I'm so glad to have Brian here.

 

Unlike AA, Brian is an artist with an incredible, undisputed talent.

Unlike AA, Brian was part of the cast of Star Wars, so he has first-hand knowledge of what happened during production at the studios.

Unlike AA, Brian's got a reputation, gained over years of superb work.

 

I read a thread over at the RPF where Brian produced evidence to refute all of AA's (wrong) claims.

It was truly clarifying, a joy to read indeed. And it's a pleasure to have him hear to share his knowledge and hindsight of the behind the scenes of Star Wars.

 

While I'm not expert at film production, I have a brother and a cousin who work for the film industry in Spain. I also worked for a film or two, making graphic design, and printed material props.

 

My cousin is an assistant director (regidor) and my brother went from video assist to camera operator, before leaving the industry to build electric guitars. My brother not only worked in big production crews (he worked in films by Pedro Almodovar or Bigas Luna, for example), but also worked with people from UK and France. He had told me several times how hard working British and French crews are compared to Spanish crews. We have lots of respect for people of this industry from those countries. In fact, the only times my brother works for movies or TV nowadays is when British or French crews come to Spain and call him to join them. :)

 

So, it's really an insult to me when someone who has nothing to do with the film industry not only attributes himself the work of others, but also discredits the work made by people who really know their craft, and are great artisans or artists dedicated to this industry for so long.

 

In the case of the stromtrooper, George Lucas devised the character, Ralph McQuarrie created the concept and put in paper what George hand in his mind, and Brian Muir and Liz Moore sculpted the armor and helmet respectively, giving it its final appearance, period. I don't know if John Mollo had direct input on it, but he probably supervised all the process (Brian might clarify that). That's the end of the creative process. After that, a series of people (including AA) worked to create the final product that actors would wear in the movie. But their contribution to the creative process is negligible.

 

There's enough evidence out there to prove it, so anybody claiming something in the contrary is just plain ignorant or outright lying.

 

You just need to see recent documentaries about how George Lucas works to see that he's a control freak. He's always been a control freak. He won't give an unknown, untalented canoe maker the right to create an artistic interpretation of a character that he had in mind, and that he have worked to make a reality for months with the conceptual designer, the costume designer and the sculptors. Lucas always works with people he knows, who he knows have enough talent to bring to reality what he has in mind.

 

So the untalented canoe maker can say whatever he wants, but most of what he says is a lie, or a distortion of reality. I think he's believing in his own lies, but that's his problem.

 

Brian, thank you for all you share with us. It's a honor to have someone with your talent and knowledge at our community. I always enjoy reading you, and I'm pretty sure others do too. You'll always have our respect and admiration.

:salute:

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I wanted to tell other FISD members why I'm so glad to have Brian here.

 

Unlike AA, Brian is an artist with an incredible, undisputed talent.

Unlike AA, Brian was part of the cast of Star Wars, so he has first-hand knowledge of what happened during production at the studios.

Unlike AA, Brian's got a reputation, gained over years of superb work.

 

I read a thread over at the RPF where Brian produced evidence to refute all of AA's (wrong) claims.

It was truly clarifying, a joy to read indeed. And it's a pleasure to have him hear to share his knowledge and hindsight of the behind the scenes of Star Wars.

 

While I'm not expert at film production, I have a brother and a cousin who work for the film industry in Spain. I also worked for a film or two, making graphic design, and printed material props.

 

My cousin is an assistant director (regidor) and my brother went from video assist to camera operator, before leaving the industry to build electric guitars. My brother not only worked in big production crews (he worked in films by Pedro Almodovar or Bigas Luna, for example), but also worked with people from UK and France. He had told me several times how hard working British and French crews are compared to Spanish crews. We have lots of respect for people of this industry from those countries. In fact, the only times my brother works for movies or TV nowadays is when British or French crews come to Spain and call him to join them. :)

 

So, it's really an insult to me when someone who has nothing to do with the film industry not only attributes himself the work of others, but also discredits the work made by people who really know their craft, and are great artisans or artists dedicated to this industry for so long.

 

In the case of the stromtrooper, George Lucas devised the character, Ralph McQuarrie created the concept and put in paper what George hand in his mind, and Brian Muir and Liz Moore sculpted the armor and helmet respectively, giving it its final appearance, period. I don't know if John Mollo had direct input on it, but he probably supervised all the process (Brian might clarify that). That's the end of the creative process. After that, a series of people (including AA) worked to create the final product that actors would wear in the movie. But their contribution to the creative process is negligible.

 

There's enough evidence out there to prove it, so anybody claiming something in the contrary is just plain ignorant or outright lying.

 

You just need to see recent documentaries about how George Lucas works to see that he's a control freak. He's always been a control freak. He won't give an unknown, untalented canoe maker the right to create an artistic interpretation of a character that he had in mind, and that he have worked to make a reality for months with the conceptual designer, the costume designer and the sculptors. Lucas always works with people he knows, who he knows have enough talent to bring to reality what he has in mind.

 

So the untalented canoe maker can say whatever he wants, but most of what he says is a lie, or a distortion of reality. I think he's believing in his own lies, but that's his problem.

 

Brian, thank you for all you share with us. It's a honor to have someone with your talent and knowledge at our community. I always enjoy reading you, and I'm pretty sure others do too. You'll always have our respect and admiration.

:salute:

 

 

Quoted in the abscence of a " Like" button. B):duim::salute:

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I wanted to tell other FISD members why I'm so glad to have Brian here.

 

Unlike AA, Brian is an artist with an incredible, undisputed talent.

Unlike AA, Brian was part of the cast of Star Wars, so he has first-hand knowledge of what happened during production at the studios.

Unlike AA, Brian's got a reputation, gained over years of superb work.

 

I read a thread over at the RPF where Brian produced evidence to refute all of AA's (wrong) claims.

It was truly clarifying, a joy to read indeed. And it's a pleasure to have him hear to share his knowledge and hindsight of the behind the scenes of Star Wars.

 

While I'm not expert at film production, I have a brother and a cousin who work for the film industry in Spain. I also worked for a film or two, making graphic design, and printed material props.

 

My cousin is an assistant director (regidor) and my brother went from video assist to camera operator, before leaving the industry to build electric guitars. My brother not only worked in big production crews (he worked in films by Pedro Almodovar or Bigas Luna, for example), but also worked with people from UK and France. He had told me several times how hard working British and French crews are compared to Spanish crews. We have lots of respect for people of this industry from those countries. In fact, the only times my brother works for movies or TV nowadays is when British or French crews come to Spain and call him to join them. :)

 

So, it's really an insult to me when someone who has nothing to do with the film industry not only attributes himself the work of others, but also discredits the work made by people who really know their craft, and are great artisans or artists dedicated to this industry for so long.

 

In the case of the stromtrooper, George Lucas devised the character, Ralph McQuarrie created the concept and put in paper what George hand in his mind, and Brian Muir and Liz Moore sculpted the armor and helmet respectively, giving it its final appearance, period. I don't know if John Mollo had direct input on it, but he probably supervised all the process (Brian might clarify that). That's the end of the creative process. After that, a series of people (including AA) worked to create the final product that actors would wear in the movie. But their contribution to the creative process is negligible.

 

There's enough evidence out there to prove it, so anybody claiming something in the contrary is just plain ignorant or outright lying.

 

You just need to see recent documentaries about how George Lucas works to see that he's a control freak. He's always been a control freak. He won't give an unknown, untalented canoe maker the right to create an artistic interpretation of a character that he had in mind, and that he have worked to make a reality for months with the conceptual designer, the costume designer and the sculptors. Lucas always works with people he knows, who he knows have enough talent to bring to reality what he has in mind.

 

So the untalented canoe maker can say whatever he wants, but most of what he says is a lie, or a distortion of reality. I think he's believing in his own lies, but that's his problem.

 

Brian, thank you for all you share with us. It's a honor to have someone with your talent and knowledge at our community. I always enjoy reading you, and I'm pretty sure others do too. You'll always have our respect and admiration.

:salute:

 

Well after finishing a tiring week at work on a particularly exacting piece of sculpture, it's really uplifting to read this post - thank you Damian :blush: and so many of the other supportive members of this forum.

I think at last that most true fans who have followed this seemingly endless saga are now seeing the true side of events rather than fabrications.

One person who very often is forgotten in the team of artists is the late John Barry, Production Designer. He was the person who had most input in my sculpting of the main characters and was always a pleasure to work with.

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I wanted to tell other FISD members why I'm so glad to have Brian here.

 

Unlike AA, Brian is an artist with an incredible, undisputed talent.

Unlike AA, Brian was part of the cast of Star Wars, so he has first-hand knowledge of what happened during production at the studios.

Unlike AA, Brian's got a reputation, gained over years of superb work.

 

I read a thread over at the RPF where Brian produced evidence to refute all of AA's (wrong) claims.

It was truly clarifying, a joy to read indeed. And it's a pleasure to have him hear to share his knowledge and hindsight of the behind the scenes of Star Wars.

 

While I'm not expert at film production, I have a brother and a cousin who work for the film industry in Spain. I also worked for a film or two, making graphic design, and printed material props.

 

My cousin is an assistant director (regidor) and my brother went from video assist to camera operator, before leaving the industry to build electric guitars. My brother not only worked in big production crews (he worked in films by Pedro Almodovar or Bigas Luna, for example), but also worked with people from UK and France. He had told me several times how hard working British and French crews are compared to Spanish crews. We have lots of respect for people of this industry from those countries. In fact, the only times my brother works for movies or TV nowadays is when British or French crews come to Spain and call him to join them. :)

 

So, it's really an insult to me when someone who has nothing to do with the film industry not only attributes himself the work of others, but also discredits the work made by people who really know their craft, and are great artisans or artists dedicated to this industry for so long.

 

In the case of the stromtrooper, George Lucas devised the character, Ralph McQuarrie created the concept and put in paper what George hand in his mind, and Brian Muir and Liz Moore sculpted the armor and helmet respectively, giving it its final appearance, period. I don't know if John Mollo had direct input on it, but he probably supervised all the process (Brian might clarify that). That's the end of the creative process. After that, a series of people (including AA) worked to create the final product that actors would wear in the movie. But their contribution to the creative process is negligible.

 

There's enough evidence out there to prove it, so anybody claiming something in the contrary is just plain ignorant or outright lying.

 

You just need to see recent documentaries about how George Lucas works to see that he's a control freak. He's always been a control freak. He won't give an unknown, untalented canoe maker the right to create an artistic interpretation of a character that he had in mind, and that he have worked to make a reality for months with the conceptual designer, the costume designer and the sculptors. Lucas always works with people he knows, who he knows have enough talent to bring to reality what he has in mind.

 

So the untalented canoe maker can say whatever he wants, but most of what he says is a lie, or a distortion of reality. I think he's believing in his own lies, but that's his problem.

 

Brian, thank you for all you share with us. It's a honor to have someone with your talent and knowledge at our community. I always enjoy reading you, and I'm pretty sure others do too. You'll always have our respect and admiration.

:salute:

 

So Dmian, tell us what u really think....... :D:lol:

 

Amen!!!!!!

Edited by TK-2126_MD
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With regards to AAs "tutorial" videos of how he "made" the moulds. May I come with a suggestion, why don't people in this community team up together with Mr.Muir and make a video themselves?

 

For instance, showing the real sculpting techniques by using clay, cast this in plaster and final detailing on the clay mold(together with Mr.Muir's assistance and narration). Covering all the aspect that AA failed to show in his video.

 

With a proper camera in a decent environment, I am sure this will have an effect. This video could easily be put on youtube or on the facebook page. Too bad I don't live in UK, I would have volunteer to do a this kind of project :rolleyes:

Edited by littledragon88
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I still laugh at the cheese grater and angle grinder.

 

Hehe, I actually bought AAs "Making of DVDs" when they were released a few years back, imagined I could get a glimpse of any original parts or rare-photos, but they were not to be seen.

 

I find the angle grinder part pretty hilarious - as a matter of fact, I find his whole chapter with "sculpting" the helmet hilarious. I can't see how on earth he can try to make people believe that one make such sculpts by starting from a basic shape of aluminium dust, resin and fiberglass, for then to use power tools to "sculpt" in the details. That is beyond the principle of the principle of sculpting, which has been an art perfected through centuries. And the way he explains how he created the vocoder part on the helmet, that is hilarious.

Edited by littledragon88
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With regards to AAs "tutorial" videos of how he "made" the moulds. May I come with a suggestion, why don't people in this community team up together with Mr.Muir and make a video themselves?

 

For instance, showing the real sculpting techniques by using clay, cast this in plaster and final detailing on the clay mold(together with Mr.Muir's assistance and narration). Covering all the aspect that AA failed to show in his video.

 

With a proper camera in a decent environment, I am sure this will have an effect. This video could easily be put on youtube or on the facebook page. Too bad I don't live in UK, I would have volunteer to do a this kind of project :rolleyes:

 

I don't think a video would matter to AA's blind followers. They see what they want to see regardless of the truth. Sad!

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I have explained the full process of sculpting, moulding and casting both Vader and the Stormtrooper armour previously but I think whatever was shown it would make no difference to the fans who chose to believe Ainsworth. If his dvd is not damning enough then there's nothing I could do to persuade anyone.

 

That said there's always someone who is unaware of the events over the last few years and as I'd posted this on another forum for the benefit of a 'newbie' I thought I may as well document it here :-

 

 

 

 

 

The creation of the Armour 

 

1. I was employed in January 1976 and my initial project was to sculpt the Stormtrooper armour (in clay)– it took me approximately 4 weeks and it was under the supervision of John Barry, production designer with George Lucas’s ultimate approval.

2. The armour was moulded and cast in plaster – details sharpened by me – moulded and cast in fibreglass for the tools to use for vacuum forming.

3. There was a vacuum forming machine at Elstree Studios and suits were pulled – I saw them and it has been confirmed by 2 other plasterers on the production.

4. There appears to have been a problem with the machine and it was outsourced to Shepperton Design Studios (Ainsworth)

 

The creation of the Helmet

 

1. About mid February 1976 I saw a clay helmet outside the Art Department and was unaware at the time who had sculpted it but as Ainsworth had laid claim to sculpting it in recent years and I knew nothing about him I had no reason to doubt his word.

2. After being made aware of the court case (and Ainsworth’s dubious version of events) I talked to people involved in the production and then found out that Liz Moore had sculpted the clay Stormtrooper helmet – but not in the Studios. She was a very talented sculptress and John Barry had worked with her on previous productions and trusted her work.

3. Again the helmet would have been moulded and cast in fibreglass to make the tools for vacuum forming by the Studio plasterers.

 

Ainsworth’s version of events for the Court Case

 

1. Ainsworth produced 5 revised statements for the court case and was even changing his ‘story’ during the court case.

2. There was never any mention of a clay helmet by him until I notified Lucas’s lawyer of its existence and then photographic evidence was found.

3. The reason he made no mention of it was because he NEVER saw it – he was given the fibreglass tools to pull on.

4. Pemberton (a firm friend of Ainsworth's) then stated he sculpted the clay helmet – he has no sculpting portfolio and with the details he gave of adding a Morris Minor ashtray his contribution (or that of his ex partner Ms Nicola Howard-Jones) was the grey/blue painted ‘Stormtrooper’ made up of a canoe helmet and component parts.

5. Pemberton’s very sketchy diary, written by his PA, was used for a timeline. Ainsworth still tried to change the timeline to suit his story.

6. To make his ‘story’ at all credible, Ainsworth had to discredit Liz, John Mollo, the plasterers, John Richardson and myself.

7. He says he discarded the helmet and armour that had taken weeks of work and been approved by John Barry and George Lucas, as they were of no use to him.

8. He then says he made up his own design with no consultation with John Barry or Lucas and it was accepted. His method was to ‘sculpt’ the moulds directly – with only the Ralph McQuarrie paintings to go by – if you look at his dvd on Youtube where he had a year to produce a believable ‘sculpt’ of the Stormtrooper faceplate for a multi million pound court case I would hope you would realise he is lying.

 

Ainsworth’s version of events for his new website www.originalstormtrooper.com

 

His new ‘story’ is that he consulted John Barry over time regarding the ‘sculpting’ of the armour ( he is using information I gave in my statements to make his ‘story’ viable as it was proven in court that he was lying and the judge said his sequence of events were ‘faintly absurd’).

 

What he is producing now as ‘original’ helmet and armour from the original moulds is another saga. If you look on his Facebook page Original Stormtrooper you will see that he will not answer direct questions regarding very obvious differences in the armour to the original.

When asked about the difference in the line of the chest plate ( his has an arc and the original has an ogee) he tries to fudge the issue and will not answer the question.

 

 

I hope this helps to give you an idea of what has happened over the past few years.

 

These are Ainsworth's ever changing versions of events appearing in magazines, Rebelscum, his SDS site and court statement :-

 

Version 1.

2005 Article featured in Model and Collectors Mart – February 2005 (linked on SDS website)

 

 

I used to give friends of mine a hand to paint scenery and one of them was a friend of John Mollo (costume designer on Star Wars). John asked him if he could make something 3 dimensional which he didn’t know how to do , but he knew a man who could…. and I’m the man who could!

He brought over some images and colour plates from John Mollo and said ‘Can you make this?’. So I knocked him up something very quickly. I thought it was for his kids or something…………………

 

 

I think what happened next was that George Lucas took them back to America. Got the film funded. :laugh1:

 

(the film had been in production several months before Ainsworth's involvement!! It was the script and Ralph McQuarries incredible paintings that got the film the green light in 1975)

 

Version 2.

Feature – Collectible Stormtrooper Helmets Rebelscum.com: Rebelscum Home Page (linked on SDS website)

 

At the beginning of January in 1976 Mollo approached Shepperton Design Studios with a vague brief – to produce a plastic helmet – and a copy of one of McQuarrie’s final proofs. Working from scratch Ainsworth built a clay sculpt of the helmet, broke it up into castable parts and pulled sheets of heated acrrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic using a vacuum pump

Version 3

2007 Ainsworth’s final statement for court case

 

 

52. Nick said that a customer of his had asked him to produce a helmet as a prop for an actor to wear. Nick said that his customer had given him 2 pictures to guide him and he showed me the helmet made out of clay which he said he had produced.

69. My recollection is that I had an accident with Nick’s helmet early on in which the helmet was destroyed. It was the result of the rush involved in producing the helmets. Nick’s helmet was impossible to cast from because it had collapsed.

(The clay helmet was solid clay over an armature - how could it collapse? - but then he has no understanding of the sculpting, moulding and casting processes)

 

Version 4.

 

Ainsworth's Interview with ‘Street Carnage’

STREET CARNAGE: That’s insane that you designed the Stormtrooper helmet. How did you come up with the design?

ANDREW AINSWORTH: I was given a small painting by Ralph McQuarrie, which had a sort of a trooper depicted in it, about two inches high. That was enough for me. I made my interpretation of it to help a mate out. I didn’t know that it was for a movie.

When George Lucas saw it, he ordered 50 helmets and asked me if I could make armour to go with it. I said no problem. I knocked together 50 sets of armour in about four weeks. After that, I continued working and made about 200 characters. It was fun! They took anything I threw at them and just wrote them into the script.

 

So what’s up these days? They are now trying to enforce a US default judgement for the $20 million on me. (U.K. law makes this void.) The case is going well; I am on my home-ground with all the evidence I saved from 1976. Chapter and Verse, as far as I can see. They know jack **** about the subject.

Edited by vadersculptor
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Next UP: "Hear the incredible story of AA, how he helped save Star Wars from its certain death and shaped the look of the film we all know and love!"

 

AA: "Yes, the friend of a friend of a cousin of an ex-girlfriend told me Lucas was desperate looking for a way to get the money for his film, a western-in-space movie, but he had no idea where to begin. So, this person told him he had the perfect person to help you get the funding and the movie going, and this person was ME!. After the arrangements were made, he sent me an original script (I had filming experience from using a Super-8 camera to film canoe races) and read it. I thought it was decent, but needed corrections, so I made annotations all over it (I had writing skills from writing poeams for girls during my high-school years) and sent it back to Lucas. He loved it! He said it had the focus he was looking for. But now he needed the correct visual treatment to sell the script to big studios. I thought about it, and that night I had a dream about the movie, and the following day I had like thousands of images and characters in my head! So, I painted as much of those images as I could (I had painting skills from painting the doors at my studio) and got a ticket for the Concord to the States. I took the paintings with me, and convinced 20th Century Fox that the movie was going to be a blockbuster. So they gave it green light! George was so happy that he promised he'll allow me to have perpetual right to the characters. He only asked to keep the rights for merchandise to make toys and t-shirts and such. This was all verbal, no papers, you see? I trusted the guy. If only I knew! Then production started in London, as George wanted to have me near, but Mollo was clueless about how to create the costumes for the film, so I created the molds of the stormtrooper in a day (stopping for tea) and they were so impressed that kept asking for more and more characters, which I ketp producing at a faster and faster pace. I even grew and extra arm to make molds faster! (I lost this arm during a fire at my studio several weeks later). So, if it wasn't because of me, there probably woudn't be a Star Wars at all..."

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

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All of my posts were deleted on AA's Facebook page. :rolleyes:

 

 

Join the club guys.

 

Had to step away from his page for a few days as he is frakking me off so much with his BS.

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