Lit Highway robbery of Warhammer 40k

If it's Regula I but flipped upside down, then it's the orbital office complex from Star Trek: The Motion Picture flipped right side up.

 

There was a Destiny sparrow in a Star Wars comic recently.



But considering how much sparrows owe to SW speeder bikes in general the comic lifting one design from Destiny for a little easter egg seems more than fair.

 

Wait til everyone gets a look at the art in those Jedi Prince books.

 

The artist traced other material? That's crazy, considering the Moffship is supposed to be a Strike-class medium cruiser.

 

There was traced art in them? Last time I read it, I couldn't find any.

 

Not traced art, since that's not what the OP is about. There's LOTS of other IP in there. That droid market in the first book alone was full of other movies'/shows' robutts.

 

Nah, it's a bit of both in this thread. Turns out it's not quite traced, but it is a stolen design, down to using the colour scheme. We have a bit of everything in here. My big question is, how can people stand for such unoriginality as copying another franchises design and using it as a story element?

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Because it's done all the time, and it's a very minor quibble, especially as we don't know the reasons behind it. Besides, if there's any franchise that's been fine with taking "inspiration" from previous stories, it's Star Wars.

 

Turns out actually "blue and gray" is not a copywritable anything, nor is the "pod" concept, which, y'know, exists in real life.

How can we stand for Star Wars using a square pod instead of a round one? I dunno, we might never survive this.

 

I am wondering what the legal frame of "borrowing" designs like this is? Is it simple a case of noone actually wanting to take it to court, or would it actually have a case?

 

Hmm let's see. The pod is the same shape as a 40k one. Four prongs poking from the top, connected to bars that protrude from the side. Between the bars, leaf shaped doors.
The blue is relevant as it is the colour drop pods are almost always depicted as in 40k. The random hazard stripes on the side are also a staple of 40k.

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The Tag & Bink series (and some Star Wars Tales ones) also has a lot of other show characters - but this is more for "Easter egg" purposes than anything serious.

40K drop pods have five prongs.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Drop_Pod

 

You got me there, it's just from most angles it looks like four. Always thought it was four, huh. I may be thinking of a funky 30k version...although looking at the designs I feel my point still stands in general.

 

Does it, though? Because it looks like every time you bring up an element of the pod that's the same, it turns out they're actually different and you just don't know what a 40k pod looks like.

I can get why you might look at the two and "feel" like it's being ripped off. But good arguments aren't built on feelings, and so far the facts have not moved in your favor. Especially when you continue to ascribe motives to people you don't know in a series that is, in itself, adapting from dozens of other sources you haven't decided to make threads for.

 

If you seriously think that this fella who I don't know came up with a blue-and hazard striped drop pod that tapers at the top with prongs(however many, I don't own a drop pod myself so I've only seen them looking at other players tables from the Lord of the Rings corner)on his lonesome, despite another company using that idea constantly... I dunno you must have greater faith in the honour of people then I do. Especially considering we've had artists who literally traced a scene from lord of the rings and others who've simply lifted fan art off the internet.

I find lifting fundamental aspects of another persons design and adding cut outs, to be lazy. Maybe that's just me. If I had the money and I'd designed it, I'd sue someone who did this, maybe that's just me.

 

And you'd lose. I can understand if it's a direct copy or trace, but that isn't even what this is. We've established quite clearly that it's a unique design that shares some elements with the 40K drop pod. The hazard markings and blue paint job you mention don't even line up, since the shade of blue is lighter and the hazard stripes are in completely different locations. It would be like if HR Geiger sued someone for creating a black alien with a tail, which he'd have to be very careful with in case someone made a black alien with a tail at some point before him. And even then, if you theoretically had made this and was planning on suing, you wouldn't be able to, as it now belongs to Games Workshop as you made it for them under contract as part of the 40k license which they are the owners of.

 

Dreadnaught Drop Pods, in some paintjobs, kind of resemble this thing - but they're three-pronged, with a lot of empty space:

 

I'd say it looks even less like the SW pod because of the way the 'pedals' look, the lack of a central pillar, and the width/design of the structural supports.

 

Indeed. I could see somebody being slightly inspired by 40K drop pods when drawing, but taking inspiration is far from actually tracing art.

 

There are many variants of drop pod. The four pronged version that I had stuck in my head was the dreadnought version, which is 2nd in results on google images and has hazard stripes in a much closer location to the art.

I feel like I need some clarification here. Do you feel that the artist came up with this design: this pronged, blue, hazard striped, tapered pod that falls from the sky to spread leaf shaped doors, on his own, or do you recognise that on the balance of things, he took it from 40k?
That's six major design elements all in commonality with the 40k drop pod.
How about "spacefigher with wings that form an X, red markings, long cockpit, laser gun at end of each wing?" If someone came up with that all on their lonesome I'd be suprised.
Of course I'd lose, it's Disney. I was referring to the hypothetical scenario in which this was my own design on my own: it would be up to GW to sue in this instance like you said. They'd lose as it's Disney, but I firmly believe right would be on their side.
But when we start seeing dreadnoughts stompting through a comic and bright green aliens with cockney accents who loot things to build ramshackle vehicles and weapons, I just want to be able to say I called it out early.

 

Would you be willing to stake your name on the claim that Legends didn't have any tracing/copying in it? Or did you just feel the need to drop in and throw some shade at the new stuff like usual?

I think it took inspiration from the 40k pod. Given the similarities, i'd say that it's a deliberate homage to the 40k pods. But it's a unique design.

What you seem to fail to grasp is that it's not a solid line between "completely original" and "stolen", which i've pointed out before and you haven't responded to. 40k in itself is riding off the back of Lord of the Rings. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of my favorite movies, Dredd, takes direct inspiration from Die Hard and The Raid.

So, again, if you think that this is "Highway Robbery", i'd suggest looking at literally anything else you like.

This is just ridiculous fearmongering speculation built on the phalacy of a slippery slope.

 

Dp

 

So you believe it took no less then six key design elements from the 40k design and is just a homage? How close does it have to be to make the jump from homage to stealing in your eyes?
I showed the Aphra pictures to my friends who know 40k. All of them, all of them, identified it as an ultramarines drop pod.
Where on earth is the line? If someone included an X-wing but with a cut out on the wings and the red markings vertical would that be far enough to avoid being a copy to you?
Blue
Hazard striped
Leafe shaped doors
Prongs
Tapered
Falls from the sky
How many more similarities does it need?!

Ah. I see I was mistaken about the dreadnought pod's prongs. Well that's a tad awkward...

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Considering you've been consistently wrong about what Space Marine Drop Pods actually look like, it's not surprising.

Yup. I mean, it's not an homage if it doesn't have a resemblance. But it's clearly a different design.

As for your ridiculous "6 DESIGN ELEMENTS!!" point, one of those is a staple of drop pods, two of those are just how it's painted, and tapered is a trait shared among most sci-fi drop pod concepts. That leaves you with two similar and somewhat distinct elements, and even then you're not counting the elements that are different such as the visible engines beneath the structural prongs. But it wouldn't really suit your argument if you acknowledged those, would it?

 

Man, if you’re going to sue over this, then Robert Heinlein, 2000AD, Blizzard, whomever owns Alien, etc are going to be really litigious. Warhammer doesn’t exactly have ground to stand on here.

 

What the hell have I just read?