@MakoEyesX How does fair use have nothing to do with it? Steve made a piece of fanart for his fans and Wizards stepped in and now the image and others are taken down. Your example isn't even related at all to what Steve did. He didn't draw Chandra or Liliana naked. It might not have been the smartest business decision for him to make the image but this is about his rights as an artist and censorship.
Well, steve has already cleared it up, but my point was that it was very unlikely that WOTC was taking any kind of legal action, so whether or not it fell under fair use was of little to no consequence. As i stated from page 1, it was likely just a request that steve complied with. Everyone got all up in arms assuming it was some kind of legal action, when the legality of the picture didn't matter to anyone with a head on their shoulders. I thought this was kind of obvious.
Oh my. Who the hell cares, Wizards isn't breaking any law, and the artist is using material he doesn't own to depict something Wizards, who does own the material, didn't like.
Yeah, it's censorship, duh. But this isn't totalitarian big brother censorship, this is reasonable as the characters are from a pg-13 game artwise.
As a parent, I am firmly on the side of WotC on this one because it is logical. If I have to screen a game for sexual content, my children aren't going to play it. Argyle showed extremely bad judgment by using M:tG branding characters in this way.
I am also concerned about how people are thinking this gets a pass BECAUSE it is a homosexual depiction; ignoring the question about whether or not it is OK, but are there seriously people that believe that it is MORE OK than heterosexual sensual depictions, especially on a product marketed to minors?
If you aren't screening MTG for sexual content, then you must be missing all the T&A hanging out all over the place.
Secondly: this is simply not the case. If your concern is homosexual depictions, be honest about it. You may not have the most popular opinion, but you are still entitled to it, and personally I'd rather you express yourself truthfully, then make an attempt to appear "FOR THE CHILDREN!"
ALSO: Good to hear from Steve on this one, and I totally see where Wizards is coming from, though I find the idea highly intriguing.
"The difference between MTG and science is that one has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while the other has people dressed up in silly clothes, using words you can't understand and doing potentially quite dangerous stuff while playing cards."
My Decks: WAnglesW WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW WUGAllymillGUW
Whoa, whoa. It's not nearly as big of a deal as all that. I wasn't ordered to take anything down.
I chatted with some folks at Wizards, (just bouncing ideas around about my upcoming assignments, there was no fire and brimstone,) it came up that they'd noticed it, and they were a little nervous about the impact stuff like this may have on their future plans for the storyline.
Basically, if a current Magic artist starts putting out unofficial stuff that has a narrative, it's potentially seen as quasi-canon. And I'd just put forth a fairly dramatic statement about two of their biggest characters.
You're right, I should have known better.
So, since it hadn't been up all that long in the first place, I just thought I'd quietly retract it. I don't want to make somebody else's job harder.
I'm surprised, and more than a little flattered, that people even noticed or cared that it disappeared.
You guys rock.
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Now, the card alterations coming down is completely separate. It happened at the same time, but that's just because I was already cleaning house. I'd been meaning to tidy up there for a bit.
Here's the thing. As acrylic paint on a piece of card-stock, they're original works, and protected under free speech. Doesn't even need to be satire. So the card itself can depict Mickey Mouse eating babies, and while it might piss people off, it's legal.
But, as posted images, not so much. Any copy, printed or digital, is subject to copyright law. They've been getting enough attention that, even though I've been posting them purely for the enjoyment of the players, they could potentially be seen as a form of guerrilla marketing. Those same pieces, as an advertising ploy for my site, services, or artwork, would be infringing on copyright.
(You'll notice that it wasn't Magic stuff that came down, it was Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, etc. that I took down.)
While "fan-art" legality is mostly ignored, as a working artist, I've got to be a bit more careful.
So I'm just covering my own fuzzy buttocks there.
Again, thank you all for supporting my art. It means the world to me that I'm more than a tiny bit of print at the bottom left of your cards.
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Well, steve has already cleared it up, but my point was that it was very unlikely that WOTC was taking any kind of legal action, so whether or not it fell under fair use was of little to no consequence. As i stated from page 1, it was likely just a request that steve complied with. Everyone got all up in arms assuming it was some kind of legal action, when the legality of the picture didn't matter to anyone with a head on their shoulders. I thought this was kind of obvious.
Yeah, it's censorship, duh. But this isn't totalitarian big brother censorship, this is reasonable as the characters are from a pg-13 game artwise.
If you aren't screening MTG for sexual content, then you must be missing all the T&A hanging out all over the place.
Secondly: this is simply not the case. If your concern is homosexual depictions, be honest about it. You may not have the most popular opinion, but you are still entitled to it, and personally I'd rather you express yourself truthfully, then make an attempt to appear "FOR THE CHILDREN!"
ALSO: Good to hear from Steve on this one, and I totally see where Wizards is coming from, though I find the idea highly intriguing.
To the fan-fiction mobile!
WAnglesW
WUBRGThe BroodGRBUW
WUGAllymillGUW