Regarding Homestuck Art/Products

[Shenanagan]

Do artists want to leech off of *insert any creators name here*'s work? Of course not. But it's what sales, and what people want.

Look at it this way: would people still be interested in Artist Alley if most people sold original art? Highly doubt it. And if people only sold stuff like jewelry and mustaches, would it be relevant enough to Japanese culture for it to make the cut? Probably not. Then you would have no variety in the alley, and artist sales would probably plummet.

So, whether people like it or not, fan art keeps Artist Alley afloat. Sorry. If you personally do not condone fan art as a legitimate sales item, then either don't sell it or don't buy it. Everybody walks away with a clear conscience.

[BobGuy]

We are waiting for the next sr. staff meeting to bring up the Homestuck concerns (primarily the dealer's room). (no rush, right? we have 350+ days til the next AA)

I for one didn't even know this Homestuck thing existed until Saturday of AZ 2012 when I finally asked "what are all these grey demon thingies with orange horns?" The same goes for my partner, so the creator's requests is news to both of us. I'm not confident I would even recognize stolen HS art, and we would rely heavily on fans of the series to bring any of this to our attention (during the con, not after when it's too late to deal with it).

I can also tell you, I don't know if the majority of staff dislikes the series, and I don't care. If this artist has asked for sales of his stuff to be banned, we'll take his wishes into consideration and see what our best options are to respecting those wishes.

[MissCookie]

How can you sell costume props without identifying them as Homestuck? "See these glasses? coool, huh???" Unless you knew, you would just see a table of stuff everywhere, and only the "cool kids" would know that this + that = Homestuck costumes stuff. It just boggles my mind how that works, honestly.

What I meant by "glasses", I was referring to the 6 or 7 characters that wear a certain kind of eyewear, such as: sunglasses, regular glasses, goggles, etc. Most of them look normal enough that you could wear them for some other reason than cosplaying that character. For example, Dave Strider wears sunglasses (specifically, aviator shades), those can be worn out in public and such.

Right before Animazement, I shipped out my Terezi cosplay glasses to the person on Coscom that bought them from me. That isn't breaking the copyright rules because they are not official Homestuck merch and can be identified in a way unrelated to Homestuck.

Thank you, Bob. I'm glad that this issue is finally being taken seriously, as I'm sure others are too.

[double00beaver]

Right before Animazement, I shipped out my Terezi cosplay glasses to the person on Coscom that bought them from me. That isn't breaking the copyright rules because they are not official Homestuck merch and can be identified in a way unrelated to Homestuck.

Except if you outright label them Homestuck or Terezi glasses or even say that "Yes, these are glasses for Terezi". Just saying, loopholes are a tricky thing and can be used for anything. If you're selling something that you know to be Homestuck merchandise, it doesn't really matter how unrelated it looks to other people because you and the buyer know it's Homestuck. I think it's a bit... can't even think of a word.. to go "Oh, you can't sell this, it's against the creators wishes!" but then turn around and go "Oh well I sold stuff too but I have an explanation as to why it's okay so you can't judge me."

[BobGuy]

Thank you, Bob. I'm glad that this issue is finally being taken seriously, as I'm sure others are too.

No problem. When it was first brought to our attention in an email, we took it seriously, just had nothing new to report until we talked about it at the next staff meeting. We didn't see this thread until today, unawares there was any further concerns going on.

[MissCookie]

Thank you, Bob. I'm glad that this issue is finally being taken seriously, as I'm sure others are too.

No problem. When it was first brought to our attention in an email, we took it seriously, just had nothing new to report until we talked about it at the next staff meeting. We didn't see this thread until today, unawares there was any further concerns going on.

I know of at least 3 people who went to con ops 3 seperate times during the con and complained about the issue. After explaining the whole situation, con ops just kind of brushed it off as a "don't worry about it. it'll be fine." which wasn't really received well in our eyes.

[Tavex]

Set them all on fire.


Done deal.

[BobGuy]

I know of at least 3 people who went to con ops 3 seperate times during the con and complained about the issue. After explaining the whole situation, con ops just kind of brushed it off as a "don't worry about it. it'll be fine." which wasn't really received well in our eyes.

For future reference, in regards of Artist Alley stuff, find me. In general, other staff doesn't know what goes on in AA, we're sort of an entity of our own. Likewise, there are specific people who would deal with the dealer's room, most wouldn't know the first thing about it. I'm sorry some staff wasn't as helpful, that does happen. Sometimes it's an inexperienced staff member or one that is too busy with "more important stuff" at the time (not an excuse, just saying it happens).

This is also not a normal situation, so not all staff is prepared for something like this. Again, not an excuse, just saying they may not have been intentionally unhelpful.

[Sondossa]

Thank you, Bob for handling the situation! We just don't want anyone in legal trouble -- staff, artists or dealers!

[Macross-Junkie]

O.K., I think everyones made their point. This thread is getting to heated and doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so I am implementing the LOCK DOWN...