I need help big-time! But this could help our group...

Hey all,
It's you're friendly neighborhood designer coming back for yet another round. This time there is a more business-like purpose. (Don't stop reading!) I know that we have a couple guys who are into costuming, and probably a few guys who are into Rouge and Wraith Squadrons. So I wanted to run some stuff past EVERYONE, not just those few guys.

Anyways, I've done some looking around online to try and find some good canonic references for the Rogue and Wraith Squadron patches so I can get some made. There used to be a lot out there. Now, I've got it down to about four original files that match the book excerpts.

West End Games was once the original licensee of the Star Wars RPG. I would think that these guys have the most clout canonically because of all their SW RPG sourcebooks. So I based my design off of their illustration.
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/orig_rogue.jpg]

However, their illustration is not in color and that is a problem. Here are the color schemes Rogue #1 and Rogue #2. The Rogue Squadron book excerpt is under the images. Bear with me folks, there is a point here.
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/rogue_1.jpg]
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/rogue_2.jpg]

Excerpt:
"The insignia of the Rogues was centered on the blue shield of the Alliance. Surrounding it were the images of twelve X-Wing starfighters with engines burning, flying outward from the shield. Four 12-pointed red stars surround the fighters, signifying the far-reaching strength of the squadron. The number twelve is significant, of course, because it represented the twelve positions of the squadron."
Michael A. Stackpole, Can't remember which book

Now Wraith Squadron turned out much easier. Aaron Allston's website had an illustration that he said matched his basic mental image.
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/orig_wraith.gif]

My Wraith design closly followed this image.

Anyways, here are my two designs. The lettering around the outside of the patch is the Aurek-Besh font and just says "Rogue Squadron" on one and "Wraith Squadron: N.R. Intelligence" on the other.
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/rogue_final.gif]
[image=http://www.unipixonline.com/sw_images/wraith_final.gif]
So anyways, now that that is out of the way, everyone should have an idea on question one. How do they look??? Question two: What can we do with them if we have them made? Well, here's what popped into my head. We were trying to brainstorm some ideas to fundraise for a charitable organization. If we could fund a small run of these patches to find a place with good quality, I think that there may be a market that we could target in order to raise money.

Here's what I know from an online embroidery shop, your mileage may vary:
For a run of ten patches: Set-up is $30, patches are $3.25 per for the first ten, shipping is $5.50. Total $68.00. After this initial order, I'm sure there would be price breaks, for larger orders, but if we could buy patches for about $3-4 and turn them around for $7-8 maybe even $10, that's quite a bit of profit to be giving away as well as help our fellow Star Wars costumers.

So let me know what everybody thinks...

-b-

 

They look good. I like the bottom two. But you need to be careful selling stuff like that. Uncle George might not like it.

 

Agreed, caution with copy-right stuff is required; but I think I like where you're going on this.

Instead of copying a Rogue or Wraith squadron button, why not add something to the squadron icon (I like the last 3) and have the recognizable "Rogue Squadron" or "Wraith Squadron" at the top...and "The Jedi Knights of Cleveland" on the bottom.

OR...rather then the squadron ensignia, use our icon for "The Jedi Knights of Cleveland" (the multiple lightsabers) and have any future website on the bottom?

It would help promote us, and be less threatening to the copy-right police!

 

The thing to deal with when selling stuff like this is the copyright factor. But that's when everybody says they had their things custom made. Keeps everyone out of trouble.

 

Yeah, the copyright issue is a big problem and here are some thoughts...

Was Galaxy Trading a licensed seller? They used to sell the old TIE Fighter shoulder patch. Of course, they're no longer with us, wonder why...

How do some of the small prop studios get away with it? Larbel (which i don't think is selling sabers anymore) was a perfect example. Almost exact replicas. But he sold successfully for a good long while. No one I've seen who did high quality robes called them Jedi robes or Star Wars costumes.

What if we left the text off the outer ring on the patch? Would that make a difference? And even so, none of them are an exact copy of anything that has been published. The Rogue patch might be the biggest problem because of the West End Games publication.

Oh well, I really do think this could lead to some good charity work as well as give the cosutming community a new object of conversation and target to nitpick.

I suppose we really just need to think about the legal aspects. Anyone know a copyright attourney? ? If not, I can talk to my old KSU Law of Mass Communication professor.

My question is should we follow up on this? If not, any one want to go in on a small batch of them for our own personal gratification?

 

No, don't change it. Anyone who actually buys it from you has to say they had it custom made, and everything should be fine.

Galaxy Trading, as far as I know, was not licensed.

Some studioes are just lucky I guess. Some, went underground, and the only way to get their stuff is through people who already had dealings with 'em before they went underground, etc... basically knowing someone who knows someone.

Don't worry about copyright stuff. If anyone asks, it was custom made.

It would make for great charity stuff and community nitpicking.

 

Well, I will make some various sized print outs of these for the next meeting and we can discuss them then if no one has any objections.

 

"Don't worry about copyright stuff. If anyone asks, it was custom made."

I disagree, let's keep this "on the up and up." I don't want to have to go sneaking around the law "for a good cause." Depending on word of mouth by saying "it was custom made" is a risky option...I'd rather have all the bases covered.

That's why if we hit a roadblock on the Rogue/Wraith icons, I say we use our JKOC icon.

 

I'll talk with my law prof. Although, to tell the truth, I'm actually leaning towards skirting the copyright issue, and probably would if it were by my own means and for my own profits. However, I have no justification for this, just levels of wrong.

Wrong in my opinion is violating copyright on something and selling it for any kind of profit, even if it is not-for-profit.

However, wrong is also making a replica (lightsaber, blaster, armor, etc.) and turning it around to generate extraneous profit for yourself.

Many forms the dark side has. But are we destroying a planet or kicking an ewok? One will get a lightsaber shoved where Coruscant don't shine, the other wouldn't even make Yoda's lip twitch. Still wrong. Different ramifications.

For the sake of the group and whoever our charity will be, we should follow the letter and spirit of the law. If this mynock won't fly, maybe some of us can go in together and have some made for our own personal gratification.

-b-

 

True, true. Agreed then. I'll throw in.

 

I do believe we reached some form of agreement on what terms we could be making these under.

Krash, can we get this on the agenda for the next meeting?

-b-