Speaking of Reddit, I reached out to the Reddit community of wood workers to get some feedback. So far everyone agrees that the pieces are laser etched, not hand carved. See for yourself.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Woodcarving/comments/2tendk/is_this_guy_scamming_the_community_with_laser/I think this one is the most damning post
I scrolled down more on the posts and you can go ahead and tell that guy that his
Harbor Freight lathe is not a $10,000 lathe. You may also want to mention that the
Harbor Freight gouge he pictures is absolutely not going to carve the thumbnails in the video he linked to.
If anyone else here is aware of any other, larger community of wood workers, I would suggest doing something similar, but I really don't see the point. I think the matter is settled.