I think your right and completely agree there needs to be a balancing act. My point was that so long as the content is monetized the actual owner of the IP should be free to strike it down regardless of country.

 

Stjepan Šejić, of "Sunstone" fame (the BDSM comic you referenced). That was a good success story, I like to think his random MOTU fan-art pieces helped DC to get him on those MOTU titles from a handful of years ago.

 

Gentlemen, gentlemen, come on, let's all get along. You're making Kevin Smith cry.

 

I get that, but there should be some restraint and the fans should be given a chance to fight the strikes without being stressed out and possibly losing everything especially if their doing things the IP holder will never do and release it for free.

 

Toei can do whatever it wants with what they own but maybe don't be such a ball hog when people aren't uploading full episodes/movies which is the case with the last three Dragon Ball movies, all of which are on Youtube in their entirety. Why are those okay but mostly audioless clips aren't? Reviews are free promotion for their product which plenty of out of touch companies don't understand. And the worst part is Toei felt Totally Not Mark was worth reaching out to when they wanted him to promote a concert but when it comes to his livelihood, basically silence.

Youtube needs to actually do something for the people who make their site worth going to when they need help. But they're in too big to fail mode so they won't. The timeframe for fighting these strikes and not acting as a mediator/middleman on the final decisions is garbage. Toei strikes multiple videos and if a Youtuber wants to fight them they can only do one at a time. Then Toei gets the final say? What?

Be consistent with what should be taken down or change the rules so people can adjust accordingly. I'm not diminishing his work but Totally Not Mark is just some guy. I don't see videos from entities like IGN or large series like Death Battle getting taken down for using Dragon Ball footage. I sarcastically wonder why...?

 

Pretty sure he clarified later that that wasn't Toei but a third party on Toei's behalf.

 

That's hardly the same thing. Hiring an incredibly talent freelancer for a specific issue or run is arguably one of the most normal things that can happen in that industry. The fact that Stjepan Šejić is also self-publishing his own creative works speaks even higher of his professionalism. They know based on that the he's not a feckless pencil jockey but a seriously skilled, dedicated and reliable creative. Fuck I think that man should be head of art direction or character design (assuming such positions exist) at DC or Marvel because frankly he draws most of their various characters the best they've ever been.

 

I was just using Stjepan Šejić as a example of a company being willing to work with someone who does NSFW material and even fanart of existing characters who they decided to hire instead of giving him a cease-and-desist order.

 

i don't think the issue is NSFW material in original creations, its the attempted monetisation of existing intellectual property. To my knowledge Sejic has never done that with any of his fan works, merely sharing them freely on his deviantart accounts or using them as portfolio items for relevant to the job he's applying for.

I mean Christ, Greg Land legendarily traces from porn. Sejic at least has the decency to draw his own. And makes it look good.

 

I've heard of them way more than I want to.

 

“Trigger Happy Bots” sounds like a fun idea for a new series. Haha. An army of AI-controlled bots scour the internet and the countryside eliminating all perceived threats to the corporation’s intellectual property…with extreme prejudice…regardless of guilt. Madness ensues. Chaos reigns. Then, one day, years later, a boy and his robot dog (which has a Super Famicom for a brain and can change personality and skills/powers/weapons based on the cartridge inserted) seek vengeance against the Bots and the corporation in retaliation for murdering his family. The boy and his dog are ultimately victorious following a final fight with the Apex Predator Bot and the CEO of the corporation during which they employ a series of Mega Man, Street Fighter and Kirby - derived tactics and attacks to finally restore peace to the world.

 

On the topic of Team Four Star, in their earlier years their disclaimer did say their parody was non-profit, however down the line they stopped saying it was a non-profit parody. So at some point they realized they were making money out of their parodies or because they went for Patreon for financial support?

 

Toho does the same with Godzilla content, to the point I see Brandon Tenold reuploading his Godzilla and Mothra reviewes every other week.

 

*sigh* What an absolute mess. I'm not entirely sure this is a copyright thing. I'm sure there's some of that in their argument, I'm sure they want to protect their IP and all, but it also sounds a tad like sour grapes akin to "he didn't like this episode, how dare he say that stuff about our stuff!" (and companies have gotten their cankles rankled over such silly things). I could be wrong, but what if it isn't random like he's thinking? What if he just has a target on his back in their eyes? You piss off someone bad enough and they'll be relentless even if it's over something stupid.

Honestly after hearing all of this, if the rumors would be true that Hasbro was getting rid of their license with Toei I'm kind of okay with that.

 

Oh no, Toei has been like this for years. They were constantly trying to get Team Four Star's channel taken down. I chalk a lot of it down to old fashioned execs, stuck in their ways. Older Japanese execs are notoriously rigid and traditional.

 

On top of that, they couldn't care less about PR fallout unless it happens to affect their reputation in Japan, which is highly unlikely.

 

To summarize:
While not all of his videos are back up, the majority have returned and it was thanks to someone at Youtube stepping up to help Mark. Toei was absolutely abusing Youtube's functions, randomly picking videos to be blocked instead of having any sort of consistency or pattern which was a Youtube rulebreaker. Youtube made a judgment in Mark's favor due to Toei being unable to substantiate their claims. Mark's content has been locked out of Japan which is an audience he doesn't care about.

I'm glad things worked out this way. And good on Youtube for taking action even if it was belated. I don't know how often they do something like this but I have to give them credit this time. Love to hear about that one person who legitimately wanted to help Mark all the way to the end. Glad to see this got enough attention and I hope some form of change will keep this from happening again.

Toei was absolutely being stubborn and petty. I don't want to tell people what to do but stop being archaic and out of touch. Work with these guys instead of being a ball hog drunk on power. You have more to gain from doing so and more to lose by not. Take down what should be taken down instead of picking on people who actually support your product.

 

Therein lies the rub. If you're not in Japan, Japanese execs aren't going to lift a single finger.