This is serious: Max face image illegaly used in snack promotion?
I am a huge fan of the Sam & Max games. Ever since Hit the Road (not from telltale games but still).
And this is worrying me: I opened up a pack of snacks here in Brazil, only to find some promotional stickers inside, and guess what, one of them is an exact copy of Max, but there's no mention of Sam & Max licensing anywhere! It only says "by faustin bros". This can be found inside Elma Chips snacks (an international brand).
I want to know if this is licensed or not. Because I get pretty pissed off by scam and people that take advantage of other people's ideas and creativity. And if this is not authorized by whoever holds the rights of the Max figure, I will be even more ashamed of being a Brazilian citizen than I already am...
I myself have a starting, indie game development studio, and I know how much a stolen idea or character is bad.
Well, that's it. Just to let you know. Keep releasing good stuff!
:);):D
And this is worrying me: I opened up a pack of snacks here in Brazil, only to find some promotional stickers inside, and guess what, one of them is an exact copy of Max, but there's no mention of Sam & Max licensing anywhere! It only says "by faustin bros". This can be found inside Elma Chips snacks (an international brand).
I want to know if this is licensed or not. Because I get pretty pissed off by scam and people that take advantage of other people's ideas and creativity. And if this is not authorized by whoever holds the rights of the Max figure, I will be even more ashamed of being a Brazilian citizen than I already am...
I myself have a starting, indie game development studio, and I know how much a stolen idea or character is bad.
Well, that's it. Just to let you know. Keep releasing good stuff!
:);):D Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
And how many have THAT grin?
Sorry, I wanted the image to be REAL clear and leave no room for doubt, I know it is WAY too oversized...
Let's kill it!
It certainly does look like Max. Which is why I want one
a) Max ears are a bit more separated
b) The eyes are too large
c) The head is too round to be Max
d) Max is cute and marketable, not a cheap item included in a set of cheap items
Still, like Kedri said: Let's call it a "homage" .... and at least its not a bootleg copy of the season 1 dvd or something like that.
"Max face image illegaly used in smack promotion?"
Hence i was a bit confused at the enourmous pictures of some blurry metal thing
But is some obscure Brazilian candy manufacturer worth an international lawsuit or a decline in patriotism? Probably not. So I'll just be glad Max's head is being recognized as a universal symbol of something-or-other.
Oh, and by the way: I appreciate the large images, but simply give us the ADDRESSES of the photos so the Graphic Design majors don't get a heart attack.
We sent this to Steve.
Seems there are a bunch of these guys
http://www.punkypow.com/main.html
found a few art galleries too. mostly anthropomorphic creatures (IE human cats and such).. kinda like sam n max :P(minus the cat part)
someone must have liked that flame design seems a subtle tribute to that. :P doh!
How good are Mr Purcell's lawyers? :P
I could read this in two ways.
"We sent this to Steve" for him to look at and appreciate that someone took inspiration (or to take a better word from Kedri, a "homage") from his work.
OR
"We sent this to Steve" for him to get his lawyers on for infringing his copyright and so the sticker can be removed, as Steve created the character and the image.
Either way: *sits back and puts feet up and watches the plot unravel*
The best of both worlds.
This chip company is not the only one who uses concept A BIT similar with Sam & Max. Those characters are used by a cookie company also in several ways as keyhangers, stickers, notebooks, etc.
Im a graphic designer, drawer and character designer and i found very disturbing comments in here..
I´ve watched some images of the supposedly ripped "Sam & MaX" by this chip company ( Sabritas). In my opinion, i just found that THE ONLY FEATURE SIMILAR IS THE MOUTH., and that could be a merely coincidence by the same "cartoon Style" those characters share. As a character designer and drawer, i think its a little simple to hang a signature of "ripped" without noticing some ( but specific and important) details.
First of all, Sam and Max are 2 characters that exhibit very different concept in their anthopometric features: height, proportions of arms, legs and head; facial expression and so on.
Above all i think only the creators of SAM & MAX could tell if there´s something cheese here: at Sabrita´s usage of those anthro characters... But, seriously guys, i think its not good stuff you raise your hands and point at that company saying " HEY LOOK AT THIS. THEY ARE STEALING A CHARACTER"
I dont believe that Sabritas stool Sam & Max characters AT ALL. Lets analize some other examples of "ripping":
A british company (Media Molecule) is about to release a game , for the PS3console, called "Little big Planet" in which main character we find a plushie little guy (Sackboy) and his friends. Someone here remember that cover of the "KORN" band that has a weird plushie on the cover? Well, to me they both are the same...
Why? i dont think the creators of this PS3 game ripped the KORN plushie, because the design of that fella its quite simple and predictable:A vodoo plushie/doll ; we all can figure out this kind of character.
You can create your own simplified creature by following these simple steps:
1.-Choose you favorite animal/creature
2.- Do exagerate the most expresive features of it (which feature give more depth of expression? The face... so, the head)
3.- Proportion: Define the character`s head first, then; make sure the whole body of it can fit on a space with the same dimention of the head. The tail, horns can go beyond that invisible"box", but try to dont exagerate it too much.
4.- If not needed, other parts of the body can be left behind. ( legs and arms will not make dramatic or complicated moves, so thay can be simplified as this: rounded sticks or cone-like softed shapes.
5.- To make my creature more "kind" or easy to accept by most of ppl and add it with a high "marketing" flexibility/posibility... make it cute... Exagerated... puffy... POKEMON XD ( you add curved lines to it so the desing be less agresive to the eye... just puffy it)
After all... i found the Funki-Punkies ( name of this fellas) not even close to Sam & MAX characters but Pokemon like. I think Pokemon uses the same "method" of CHIBIZATION i described above... which is sooo simple to do.
CHIBI: also called SD or superdeformed character. A japanese word that means "tiny" . Its a type of deformation that lots of japanese characters suffer to put them in to comic/cute situations along the stories where they apply.
I put you some links here so you guys can make your own opinion, i made mine already
Do analize the characters on these links and find coincidences... And i dont think these characters were STOOLEN from one owner to the other. Then why they have similar features? Again... because what their creators wanted to represent here is a humanoid form: head, legs and arms, and its easy to simplify, dont need details so it can look like a potato sack. Want it cute? Do exagerate head and facial expressions... VOILÁ
*****************
Character: Moonito
http://jorgito.deviantart.com/art/parche-moonito-43554754
Characters: Dinosaurs
http://justflyakite.deviantart.com/art/DinoSaurs-SuperEgos-61648069
Characters: ?
http://nocheprimigenia.deviantart.com/art/1683-40149868
Character: SAMWOO
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=P6mIdTbmelQ
Character: Puka
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=gz_bRY0WKbw&feature=related
Character:? Minipato anime OAV ( Pattlabor)
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZ_XZ5zAUc
did it have a sign on it saying this is NOT sam n max? no? SUEEE!!!
lol I loooove america :P
America? you mean... NORTH america
It doesnt have a sign saying " I cannot design my own characters" neither
.What a depressing comment =/
Hope not all ppl in NORTH america think this way...
It'd probably be a bit OTT to sue over it, but the similarities seem more than just coincidence.
Having seen other posts by Kaldire, I think he was being very sarcastic. :rolleyes:
Well perhaps you have a point. I´ve seen these characters around the TV, print media,etc and was the first time i saw this RABBIT actually, never find any image of it.
About the shark teeth, well i dont know how dificult could be figure out things. Several years before i designed a own story in which main characters we could find 2 mechs: Otora y Turok. That was back in 1995 -1996, was my first personal story... Some years after i saw a video game named TUROK, about a barbarian in a RPG-action world.
Can you imagine my reaction at that time? I think some kind of situations are coincidences like this example.... From that point i notice that is just a matter of time that some things we think are original can be figured out by someone else... because we can be influenced by the same things...visually in my case.
The sharp teeth its a resource that once i considered but was too much cinycal for my characters. Actually im working on a comic strip of orginal characters and getting comments like: HEY THOSE GUYS ACT LIKE CALVIN AND HOBBES... thats not nice, neither comfort thing. Imagine what would happend if i used the shark-teeth? proly i wa sin the line of fire here, and not the Faustin Bros. lol
Thats why i got my nose here guys, because i,ve been ( and maybe i will) in the other side of what you are talking about. When you design soemthing its true, you can be influenced by some other artist. but, in my case and for self experience; you realize that your work can be very close to someone else´s... then you change it... and when you are satisfied whit it... some other person point at it and say IT LOOKS TO SOME OTHER WORK I SAW SOMEWHERE ELSE. you were trying to change it enough so it doesnt look like a particular character, but ended looking like another you dont event though or consider.... that could happend.
I remember, early january of 2007, when i saw the promotion of this characters, the first sticker that came out from a cookie pack was a laminated panda with that sarcastic smile ( the very same panda that appeared in the image posted here). Honestly, never saw the rabbit before. I remember ated a lot of cookies to get several stickers from these dudes ( wont do it again for sure XD) and the bunny never came out. I just bought a keychain of them this past Monday, a blue cat with sarcastic shark-smile now the main characters are the blue cat and a red lyl devil dude. You can check out both "waves" or promotions here:
Funkie Punkies in Mexico
This is the link for the actual promotion of the characters we are talking about, at Mexico.
I got confused here... Because you can find this characters now in Mexico too and i thought the company "Sabritas" ( chip company in Mexico) was using them at the same time, which surprised me.
The link that Kaldire provide (http://www.punkypow.com/main.html) its a chip company named "Frito Lay" from puerto Rico. So, we have these characters at Puerto Rico, Brazil and all latin america? lol. Never expect that.
Nope, didnt know. And seem like Frito Lay consider the success of these lyl monsters by Gamesa and use them under his signature in other countries. Dont know who use them first...if Gamesa or Frito Lay lolz.
oh well
Sue? Si.
He's a member of the Disney family since he works for Pixar and those two companies are one now.
'Nuff said.
Actually, the acceptable meaning of America in the English language is as a contraction of "the United States of America". Hence, an "American" is a citizen of the United States (what else would you call him? A "U.S.er"?). The landmass is seen as two different continents called "North America" and "South America".
This is NOT the case in other languages, particularly Spanish, where "America" means what in English would be called "North and South America".