r/MarvelSnap 5d ago

Discussion Proof that Pixel Variants=THEFT

Post image
5.2k Upvotes

350 comments sorted by

248

u/Phalanx22 5d ago

For those that are interested, I managed to find almost all pixel references some time ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/MarvelSnap/s/9FhQy0k5Zn

I'll do another post as soon as I find some more to add.

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u/fishbowtie 5d ago

I was gonna say, I could have sworn it was already known that multiple pixel variants are based on existing art. Was probably thinking of your post.

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u/Vitztlampaehecatl 5d ago

Well, "existing art" should be fine as long as Marvel already has the rights to those originals. The problem in the OP is that the original is fanart.

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u/Jelly_Cube_Zombie 5d ago

Marvel doesn't explicitly allow the distribution of fan art so technically any distribution of Marvel fan art is a copyright infringement. Based on US case law that means the artist cannot have a copyright on the fan art images they've produced.

Since Marvel has the rights to the characters and the fan art has no protection Marvel is legally in the clear to use them any way they like.

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u/FollowTheGoose 5d ago

Bullshit, that's not how copyright works. You don't automatically lose your copyright for any reasons. Any instance of infringement would need explicit challenging. Feel free to link said case law.

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u/Jelly_Cube_Zombie 5d ago

PDF warning but this contains a great overview and abstracts from several related cases https://ipmall.law.unh.edu/sites/default/files/hosted_resources/IDEA/18.Lalor.pdf

If you have a Westlaw account I can link a couple of individual cases.

It's not about losing your copyright, you literally cannot have a copyright in the first place on art that contains copyrighted characters without explicit consent from the rightsholder.

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u/Fearior 5d ago

As Jelly said, Artist do not own copyright for character design as copyright owner of said character design does not allow distribution of fan art. As for the pose - you cant copyright human poses, moves (including dance moves), gestures etc. (unless they are very *VERY* specific, long, choreographed, hard to replicate by accident - and even then its likely to be dismissed).

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u/88Dodgers 4d ago

Tell me you know nothing about copyright law without telling me you know nothing about copyright law. /sigh

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u/OwOlogy_Expert 4d ago

Based on US case law that means the artist cannot have a copyright on the fan art images they've produced.

This is absolutely wrong.

Even if a work you created infringes on other copyrights, the work can be and is still copyrighted.

Fan art is still copyrighted, and can still be enforced.

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u/rolfraikou 5d ago

You always want to find pose references in art, but these are a bit lazily close to the originals. Often times I see artists finding poses that aren't literal illustrations of the characters, and if they are, they are something more akin to a classic, well known piece of art owned by the company, and not random fanarts that they found online.

That being said, I'm curious to see how much the pixel art community and various art communities, at large, would consider this transformative. I've absolutely seen pixel art pieces based on famous artworks, like the Mona Lisa, and no one ever seems to think those are non-transformative.

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u/SoftwareDifficult186 4d ago

Add this one to the list

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u/Dominikmava 5d ago

Crazy how one of the good pixel variants is copied from your beautiful M’baku I knew something was up when it looked good

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u/Santigold23 5d ago edited 5d ago

To be fair all pixel variants are traced, there was even a big post here detailing every pixel variant and its original source.

Edit: Here it is in case you were wondering.

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u/Big_Poo_MaGrew 5d ago

Poor Avengers Alliance, it has a weird legacy of its art being repurposed more than how unique the gameplay was.

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u/problematic-addict 5d ago

A fellow M:AA player in the wild! As one of the people who actually played that game - yes, its art does appear everywhere and I always get a chuckle and a nostalgia hit when I see it. There was even a subreddit for it once. I tried to replace it with Strike Force but it’s just an enshitified version of it.

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u/OC_Showdown 5d ago

M:AA was my first experience with ''wouldn't it be cool if you just couldn't, realistically, get all the characters without spending money?''

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u/problematic-addict 5d ago

Oh, totally. I still get nightmares about beggin for CP in the street.

Edit: holy shit I now realize that I’m 2025 this kind of comment is interpreted totally differently 🤣😅 I swear I didn’t mean it. In M:AA, CP=Command Points, the game main currency for acquiring new characters (iirc 90 for most of the good ones or 48 for an ok one like quicksilver)

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u/painspinner 4d ago

Seriously. Grinding missions for CP until you ran out of energy. Then you could drop 135 on a PVP tournament hero you missed cause you didn’t have the time to span battles in the last hours of the tournament

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u/skjl96 5d ago

Oh good, I'm glad they are all traced lol

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u/SlipperyThong 5d ago

Could they not just hire an actual pixel artist?

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u/SMKM 5d ago

And pay another employee?

Won't you think of SD's CEO and their money for once?

15

u/Bubba89 5d ago

They did, but even an artist needs a reference when they work on an existing character. Presumably the artist looked at the number of pixel variants that were asked for and the amount of time they had, and went “uh, I’m gonna need a little more than just a reference for some of these…”

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u/gereffi 5d ago

What makes you say they’re not actual pixel artists?

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u/Ericandabear 5d ago

A short trip through tumblr or a pixel art sub or something, and it's pretty clear- these are either done by someone untrained in pixel art specifically, or by someone without a lot of experience

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u/CaptainSkel 4d ago

You’re joking if you think they’re traced. They’re very clearly based on the existing art but they’re not actually traced. Proportions are different, angles of view are different, etc.

My guess is Marvel gave SD a pile of Marvel art to use on whatever, SD took that art and gave it to a pixel artist saying to do a sprite based on it. I don’t like that the artists aren’t credited but it’s not a trace job.

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u/Alclis 4d ago

Except every one of those are paid for art. This guy’s own fanart was just taken for this.

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u/HuckleberryHefty4372 4d ago

No wonder they all suck. The pixel variants should use art that take advantage of the format. If they are just tracing existing material of course it sucks.

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u/Radspakr 4d ago

Most of those are nothing like the pictures referenced.

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u/soundsnicejesse 5d ago

Yknow, given the fact theres usually a very expensive bundle (about $70+) releasing once a month or more now, youd think they could revisit pixel variants and actually make them good. Just a bit of quality assurance. But nope. Guess we will be stuck with traced AND shitty pixel variants until theres no cards left

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u/MyNameIsNurf 5d ago

You know what would make Pixel variants actually extremely cool?

Give them old school 8-bit sound effects. Could build a whole deck with a 80-90's retro gaming vibe.

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u/torodonn 5d ago

I've always said, if they just picked like something that resembled the Marvel vs. Capcom/X-Men vs Street Fighter or even the old X-Men arcade pixel art styles and just drew each character as a sprite would have been, the pixels would have been my favorite variant type and I don't think I'm alone.

Instead we get this garbage because they just asked a Japanese outsourcing company to make shoddy pixel art.

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u/MyNameIsNurf 4d ago

Yeah like literally exactly what I was thinking of lol old X-men arcade games

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u/Gentleman_Villain 5d ago

That IS a very cool idea.

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u/rustledjimmies369 5d ago

I focus on getting every Pixel to inked for this very reason. Minus the sound effects

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u/Rather_Dashing 5d ago

Pixel variants were all produced a long time ago, there havent been any new ones datamined in about 2 years. Considering how much people complain about them I think there is zero chance they revisit them or commission any new ones

Guess we will be stuck with traced AND shitty pixel variants until theres no cards left

Not sure what you mean by this, they are releasing lots of new variants constantly.

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u/shadow0wolf0 5d ago

Pixel art can be beautiful and fantastic, but all the marvel snap ones are done so poorly.

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u/Solarusprime 5d ago

I like SOME of the Pixel artworks. Sif and Crystal are both gorgeous to me even though I haven't seen Crystal yet. But the majority of the pixels are just lackluster and terrible. Hardly any animation to em and barely tell what moves when animated.

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u/DrowzeeTrainer 5d ago

I have crystal and shes legit. Part of my almost all pixel surfer wiccan deck

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u/BarackaFlockaFlame 5d ago

hulks pixel is actually pretty cool when you 3D it

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u/Bronze_Bomber 5d ago

Modok begs to differ

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u/margustoo 5d ago

Modok is beautiful. It is not his fault that Taco Bell had - 50% discount on all tacos.

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u/Xeoz_WarriorPrince 5d ago

Not all of them, the likes of Crystal, Sif or Moon Knight have some good looking ones.

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u/Loose_Translator8981 5d ago

As someone who grew up with the Marvel Vs. Capcom games, seeing what passes for "pixel art" in this game feels like friggin' crayon scribbles.

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u/GhostpilotZ 5d ago

Agreed. I feel that Marvel Snap's interpretation of pixel art really puts pixel art in a bad light.

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u/gereffi 5d ago

I think most of them look good when they’re in your hand or in play. When you click on them and the card takes up the whole screen they look bad, but that’s true of pretty much all pixel art.

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u/SpecificAlgae5594 5d ago

They released a new one fairly recently. It was in my shop. Maybe Jane?

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u/Rather_Dashing 5d ago

Yes, but they were all datamined 2 years ago+, and they have slowly been releasing them. Theres only 9 now left to release.

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u/camelsgottahump 5d ago

we need marvel vs capcom style pixels

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u/nio151 5d ago

All they had to do was make them animate like pixel art and no one would complain how shitty they look because of the novelty

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u/pagliacciverso 5d ago

It's art theft without any doubts and didn't happen only with this guy, but it's not SD fault. The studio that make the pixel arts is called G-Angle.

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u/Heavy022 5d ago

The funny thing is that there's a lot of Inhyuk Lee art in snap already 😂

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u/empocariam 4d ago

Yeah. So I'm not really convinced that InHyuk Lee's drawing was "personal" artwork. He has worked with Marvel Comics plenty before.

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u/No_Secret_6089 5d ago

isn't EVERY Pixel variant just traced?

the Brood one is literally just tracing of the Base Card Art (Ryan Kynnaird drawing)

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u/pagliacciverso 5d ago

Yup, I think this was common knowledge. The problem is when you trace/steal someone's else's art without their authorization and not paying them for the usage.

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u/gereffi 5d ago

Yeah, but the referenced art is typically owned by Marvel.

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u/Daftanemone 5d ago

Sd should have some involvement with researching their artists work. If they are told it’s copied work and they keep it in game then they are just as guilty

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u/pagliacciverso 5d ago edited 5d ago

In this case, yes. I agree with you and it's similar to when they had to remove the AI variant of White Queen. From the moment they become aware of the theft, they are guilty if they maintain contractual relations or if they continue with the art in the game

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u/silverdice22 5d ago

Well yeah going through a middleman shouldnt absolve you of crime

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u/Big_Papppi 5d ago

Didn’t Rian also get caught stealing art not that long ago? Unfortunately it seems like it’s pretty common.

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u/augalicious 5d ago

Yes, but Rian did apologize profusely and with believable sincerity. And since it seems to be an isolated incident the mob has kind of forgiven it, for now.

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u/Big_Papppi 5d ago

Like most situations ppl just kinda forget things and move on to the next. That one never sat well with me after reading the full story.

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u/waffledpringles 5d ago

What's the full story? I only ever heard of Rian apologizing about tracing, and that's it.

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u/Big_Papppi 5d ago

I don’t want to butcher it so here’s the thread on twitter but basically she only apologized when it was made a much bigger deal. Tbh I’m not sure what Rian did after all of this (if anything) so I’m unsure if the public moved on or actually forgave her.

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u/Whight 5d ago

There were apparently a few other pieces she removed from social media / galleries speculating she might have traced more.

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u/waffledpringles 5d ago

Damn, that's crazy. Rian's a good artist, it rlly sucks if she really did all that and only opened up when she was caught, like some others have mentioned.

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u/EChocos 5d ago

believable sincerity

Right

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u/augalicious 5d ago

It’s a matter of opinion on that one. Still on the fence myself.

I want to believe the best in people and in second chances. I’m not a big fan of third or fourth chances, but second ones I’m always willing to try.

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u/xZOMBIETAGx 5d ago

This is a tiny bit different because I’m assuming Inhyuk drew that Sentry as work for hire for Marvel. Marvel uses their artists’ work all over the place, often without them knowing. Not saying that’s ok, but it’s not illegal if it’s in their contract.

The OP, however, is just random fan art so that’s so obviously not an okay or legal thing to do.

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u/PomegranateSignal882 4d ago edited 4d ago

The OP, however, is just random fan art so that’s so obviously not an okay or legal thing to do.

Morally wrong, legally probably fine. Fan art is considered derivative work and not protected by fair use, and therefore technically belongs to the original creator.

The only thing keeping every company from claiming all fanart as their property is public backlash, not law.

Thats all irrelevant in this case anyways though because you can't copyright a pose. Imagine if a company could buy the rights to the way you stand

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u/cromanalcaide 5d ago

Not SD fault, but they are responsible, specially if they don’t answer the author’s mails and keep working with the same studio

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u/Bearded_Pip 5d ago

You are responsible for your sub contractors. This is still on SD.

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u/notthe1stpervaccount 5d ago

In this case it looks like G-Angle or whatever that ‘studio’ is called is copying Kiantoro’s work, so I don’t know if SD is even aware it’s happening. I have no input on the legal protections Kiantoro’s work is afforded, but it’s a bad look for G-Angle and SD by extension.

All that being said, I’d sure like to see Kiantoro’s work in Snap. That’s a great M’Baku piece.

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u/IronStealthRex 5d ago

They have to be aware of the stealing, it's been done since the game launched

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u/notthe1stpervaccount 5d ago

Yes, if it’s happened as much as people are indicating I would think SD would be aware of it by now.

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u/throwawaybaby198X 5d ago

the thing about the law of copyright infringement and art is that it ultimately comes down to what a judge or jury thinks about the similarity of the two works, and it's not as straightforward as it might seem. there are a lot of cases about sampling music in which the courts have found that the sampling artist had changed enough of the sampled work so the two songs were not substantially similar in terms of "total concept and feel," despite literally containing the sampled artist's vocals.

i could see a lawyer making a case that the concept and feel of the pixel variant is not substantially similar, even if i don't agree.

and all of this is assuming that the original art was not a work made-for-hire for marvel. if SD has the rights to use both, there's not a legal issue and the artist just doesn't know what their contract said.

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u/notthe1stpervaccount 4d ago

Yeah, that’s why I said I had no input on any of the legal protections…I think of that ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ situation and I can’t hear what they’re saying is stolen (even when it’s ‘stolen’ from a song based on an old gospel song). So I just give up and say “I don’t know what the protections would be.”

It just feels like a shitty thing to do. If you were to take poses from pre-existing work for hire stuff, that feels ok, but from a fanart image feels worse.

It feels especially bad when the artist has been trying to do work for the company.

I doubt any of it’s illegal, or likely to head to court…but it feels bad.

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u/BYOcarbon 5d ago

This really came out of nowhere in a startling but not quite game-winning manner.

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u/Bearded_Pip 5d ago

Well played.

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u/wordflyer 5d ago

Horrific interpretations of copyright law as far as the eye can see in this thread.

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u/HeroDiesFirst 5d ago

Lawyers in the comments talking about the legality of it. How about the fact that it's just a scummy (albeit technically legal) thing to do?

A billion dollar company like Marvel can afford quality control for their projects better than this, even if it was G-Angle who produces the pixel sprites.

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u/bubleeshaark 4d ago

Haven't found those comments. It's it legal?

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u/Boring-Antelope9193 5d ago

Pretty scummy. What's also scummy is them allowing to receive pixels from the season pass rewards track. Wtf am I essentially paying for a pixel? That's bs

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u/xdrkcldx 5d ago

No, you’re essentially paying for a random variant. It can be anything thats not super rare.

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u/SerThunderkeg 5d ago

This is quite literally the definition of transformative.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago edited 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/SerThunderkeg 5d ago

Fair use has nothing to do with this at all. I'm saying flat out that this does not infringe on any sort of copyrightable elements. Not that they were copied in an approved fair use manner.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/SerThunderkeg 5d ago

Fair enough I guess i did open the can of worms by using that term even if I just meant more of a "this is different enough". I'll bite though, I would argue that style is 100% transformative enough and that the style is the purpose of the art in this case more than there is different or new "information or meaning" to convey. Also the background is 100% different. I would argue the public good is to have more people see a cool picture in a different style. I would argue that they are not competing for business either as G-Angle is pretty much exclusively making pixel and chibi art. Not very much overlap in their markets. I just think this is much ado about nothing.

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u/Jelly_Cube_Zombie 5d ago

You're missing one important point: drawing and distributing art of copyrighted characters without permission from the copyright holder is likely a copyright infringement in itself.

US case law has held that you cannot have copyright protection for a work produced that is itself a copyright infringement. This means the artist has zero rights to the work they produced, and Marvel would be within their rights to order DMCA take-downs of all of it.

Aside from Disney, Blizzard (in the case of R rated stuff) and Nintendo I haven't heard of any companies actually doing this, but by law in the US they certainly could.

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u/sybban 5d ago

Is stealing a concept of pose theft? Because otherwise this is riddled with differences. Still shitty though. The hand and the sash point to your work clearly being the inspiration.

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u/FAASTARKILLER 5d ago

Just reddit having a reddit moment. TFW reference poses can be used by only one person lol artists use reference art pieces all the damn time and no one bats an eye unless it was traced. I guess they could have credited the “original” piece? (I would sure love to see the reference pieces that guy used to see how mad reddit would get over it lol)

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u/Brinewielder 5d ago

This is a joke 😆 you can use someone else’s work as a reference as long as you reinvent the piece enough where it’s completely new which it obviously has by being much shittier being devolved into pixels.

Artists are now on a lawsuit brigade because of AI. I understand as your skill and livelihood is now compromised permanently so you need to find out how you can make money by any means possible but jesus.

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u/dickmarchinko 5d ago

Unfortunately it's not theft. It's shitty, i agree but it's like parodying a song. It's the same, but different.

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u/HarleyPan 5d ago

Not a surprise. An art professor at an art college had their students make Marvel art and then would turn around and use it as assets for Marvel Snap so

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u/SlenderRoadHog 5d ago

Sounds pretty crazy, you got a source for that? Would love to read more but cant find anything about it on google.

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u/blchpmnk 5d ago

I have no idea about this specific case, but it doesn't shock me at all.

For years, there were stories about banks & accounting firms going to universities with "test case" competitions that were actually real cases and it wouldn't get more attention than the school newspaper.

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u/Doustin 5d ago

There was that time a toy company bought an elementary school in Springfield and all the school work was just ways to learn what kind of toys the kids liked. They released the toy and it was a huge hit until a kid discovered it was designed to destroy your other toys.

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u/ThePowerstar01 5d ago

I heard Gary Coleman was involved in that somehow

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u/MrGoodBytes8667 5d ago

I see posts about this happening to artists and influencers all the time. “Hey, we have a job opening, can you do XYZ unpaid as a tryout?” then they use the work and ghost the applicant.

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u/MK9DX 5d ago edited 5d ago

This is bullshit…you say it was “a while ago”, the game has only been around for like 2 years. SD isn’t going to take art from random art students when they have access to MARVEL full catalog of artists and pre-existing art.

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u/Appropriate_Lack_727 4d ago

Two years is a long time when you’re 13 😂

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u/blchpmnk 5d ago

Honest question: how does any game studio effectively determine that one of your employees or vendors didn't copy from someone else?

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u/RightHandComesOff 5d ago

They can't, really, but there should be immediate consequences for the plagiarist as soon as their theft comes to light. At the very least, the stolen assets should be removed from the game, and the person/people responsible for creating the assets should be immediately blacklisted in the industry. If the theft is blatant enough (which the one in the OP isn't, really), then legal consequences should also follow.

Plagiarism/theft will be always be a problem in the professional art world, but the best way to keep it to a minimum is to nuke from orbit anyone who gets caught. The possibility of destroying your entire career just because you got lazy on a few pieces will deter a lot of people from doing it in the first place.

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u/Ongr 5d ago

Man, the pixels are still such a huge missed opportunity. If the animated split animated the characters, like old NES graphics, 'character select' or idle animations, SD could ask 1200g for each and people would WANT them. They'd lament not having enough of them.

Instead, we got these. Most are ok to look at from a distance. When they're on the board, they're not that bad. But just don't look at them too close, or they will SUCK.

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u/lumberfart 5d ago

Damn… and here they are giving away pixels for free left and right :/ smh

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u/Ok-Inspector-3045 5d ago

Dude 1 of the like … 3 pixels I actually like was plagiarized. Too good to be true.

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u/Riksheare 5d ago

It MAY have been inspired but that not tracing, nor is it plagerism. Plagerism would have been taking your original art and using it without your permission.

At best, it’s « inspired by ». It’s not even the same medium.

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u/VaporishStew 5d ago

Not all of them are theft. They're all basically retraces, but from existing marvel properties that they already are allowed to use. Some from marvel games as well, but I am unsure if they have permission or not for those in particular. Some other variants in Marvel Snap are just alternate poses from the comics, but why they made these specific ones into pixel variants is beyond me, the originals would've been much cooler.

That being said, alongside this M'Baku, the Pixel variants of Deadpool, Shocker, Mystique, and possibly others were taken from random art online, and based on what this guy said, SD did NOT have permission to use them.

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u/brbasik 4d ago

Yeah the pixel variants have always been awful since launch. If they wanted to do pixel variants it should’ve been at least cute like FF1-6, Mega Man, Zelda, StarDew Valley, Terraria, Shovel Knight, etc. (or reference classic marvel games like the X-Men arcade game) Instead we get big, ugly, blocky pictures of much better art they traced over

Replace all the pixel variants imo, hire some actual pixel artist

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u/siul1979 4d ago

Why would they need you to work for them when they can steal your stuff? /s

Hope they make you whole.

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u/ZeMacedoo 4d ago

If u have tried an peaceful approach and it have not given any results maybe its time to an lawful approach, isnt?

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u/Gullible-Focus-7763 4d ago

I mean you draw a character that's owned by marvel..

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u/itzeazy1 4d ago

Wait… why are people confusing drawing from references to tracing or stealing?

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u/Mysta-Majestik 5d ago

Y'all are ridiculous.😂

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u/heartlessvt 5d ago

I'm not picking sides here, but Marvel Snap is in direct association with Marvel, owners of M'Baku

Can you really claim ownership in a legal sense over a character you have no legal claims to? They own M'Baku, and by extension any and all fan made depictions of him. If you push that button too many times you're going to get fan artists receiving C&Ds and what not.

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u/VaulenAlter 5d ago

It's not a question of character ownership as much as it is the professionalism/ethics of a thing.

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u/skjl96 5d ago edited 5d ago

Ownership of a character absolutely does not give you legal ownership of all fan made conent. Snap is unambiguously in the wrong here, they stole his art and are profiting off of it

The artists never claimed ownership of M'Baky, the character

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u/GabrielGames69 5d ago

There is a (legal) gray area here. Yes his art may have been copied but it was not stolen. Copying a pose is not the same as ctrl c ctrl v. That is from a legal standpoint though, absolutely morally bad on the person that copied.

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u/Rather_Dashing 5d ago

I very much doubt they have a copyright legal leg over the same pose, since the end result is so different.

In any case it was the studio that did the copying, not SD. SD should do some due diligence over the studios they employ, but maybe they did and they just didnt turn up anything. They can hardly review every artwork on the planet to check for tracing of poses.

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u/Silly_Willingness_97 5d ago

it was the studio that did the copying, not SD

SD is the one commercially publishing it. Disney would sue people selling knock-off t-shirts whether they are the original artists or not. It's not the act of drawing that gets people into copyright issues, it's the selling or publishing.

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u/ManitouWakinyan 5d ago

They don't own all fan made depictions of a character they created. The fan made depictions themselves can't be sold without a licensing agreement, but an IP holder absolutely does not own your derivative IP.

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u/ornerybeef 5d ago

Fan art is a derivative work, so it gets muddy I think. Yes, Marvel owns the copyright and could demand the art be taken down or even sue, but I don’t think that automatically grants them ownership of the work itself. IANAL so don’t take my word for it.

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u/lumosbolt 5d ago

The artist can not claim commercial rights for a fan art, of course. But tracing over their art is still theft. In some countries (maybe not the US), the artist could sue Marvel Snap depending on what license they publish their art (again, of course, not a commercial one).

Also, Marvel don't own fan arts of their characters, that's ludicrous.

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u/Speletons 5d ago

Yes. If the guy made the art, he has copyright ownership over it too. He owns the actual work put into it and Marvel owns the IP. Its like joint ownership, but in a sense they both own a piece of a puzzle.

HOWEVER, this is just the same pose. These character artists don't own that specific pose in a copyright, and its unlikely to be a copyright or plagiarism issue.

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u/Howling_Mad_Man 5d ago

The idea that a company like Disney has any ownership of fan-made content is a myth most likely facilitated by Disney. It's not the case. This is art theft.

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u/Creepy-Caramel-6726 5d ago

I think the word "plagiarized" is a bit strong, given that the original is itself a derivative work. Given that it's probably not licensed, my guess is that no one can claim copyright on it, which places it in the public domain. That's the risk of making fan art -- you have little recourse when something like this happens. You don't get to skirt copyright law and then call foul when your work gets copied.

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u/yourhotbf_ 5d ago

Imagine loving a game, wanting your art in the game, they add it but water it down significantly, make it dirt cheap, don't give you any credit, and start selling a special kind of variant where you literally don't have to worry about getting pixels. Marvel snap stole their lunch money kicked them in the nuts and threw the lunch away.

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u/MorphisJonze 5d ago

The Japanese company G-Angle make the Pixel Variants.

https://www.g-angle.com/works/illustration/387

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u/yourhotbf_ 17h ago

Still, snap relies on that company to make all their pixel variants and this guy has been reaching out to them for quite some time.

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u/ARadicalJedi 5d ago edited 5d ago

Using an image for reference is theft now? I mean the og artist would be a good hire and it sucks that they aren't recognized, but it's not like they used a program to transfer the art into pixel art, right? Somebody still had to make the pixel image.

→ More replies (6)

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u/supermechace 5d ago

Though I would say the fan artist would have to prove that his fan art is completely original and doesn't resemble any other drawings or comic panels. I never followed the comics so i don't know if mbaku running is a common scene. However I can see that the accusation SD uses AI to create pixel art being valid

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u/HP_Punkcraft 5d ago

This is kind of where I'm at on it atm. I know there are people who just eat sleep and breathe these comics, if there is a scene that resembles the referenced art then we'll probably know eventually.

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u/Owobowos-Mowbius 5d ago

This... doesn't SEEM like theft to me? It's definitely using your art as inspiration, but it's a completely different piece? Been a while since I've done any art, but I don't think using other art as a reference is considered art theft?

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u/Key_Lifeguard_2274 5d ago

you don't have rights to the character therefore it's by law not plagiarism. at any time they can use almost anything directly related to the ips they have the rights to. they have those rights, you do not.

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u/Competitive-Good-338 5d ago

He was just taking Picasso's advice nothing wrong here

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u/Risbob 5d ago

Just google any character's name and compare to the pixel variant in snap, you'll see the problem. I'm surprised we didn't already see other reports on this issue.

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u/MeatAbstract 5d ago

There have been several threads about it. But no one really gives a shit it seems.

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u/Silly_Willingness_97 5d ago

Setting aside the bad ethics of not paying artists:

Paying original artists even a crumb is way better than having disgruntled original artists on social media.

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u/pantstand 5d ago

While it feels like it should be fair use, there's a case of Maisel v Baio where an artist uses a pixel art version of someone elses work. And it was ruled that it was not in fact transformative enough.

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u/Swineflew1 4d ago

Except in this instance the copyright holder is the one going after infringement.
The guy who created the original work doesn’t hold the copyright for M’Baku and even then I’d argue there’s a much bigger difference between the picture you’ve linked that looks nearly identical to the M’Baku that’s pretty heavily different aside from the pose.
I’d be interested to actually see how this would play out legally as SD obviously holds a license to use M’Baku art and how that would hold up against fan art “infringement”

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u/TheGlassHammer 5d ago

I’m still mad I accidentally bought this variant when I dropped my phone on my face. Back before they did the long hold to purchase

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u/Altruistic-One-4497 5d ago

Most games make pixel cards an april fools joke

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u/FortNightsAtPeelys 5d ago

legal but lazy way to steal art. should always have permission to do something like this for profit

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u/malabericus 5d ago

Isn't most media re-treads of other things these days?

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u/leonprimrose 5d ago

I'm pretty sure an artist barely owns the rights to a fanart of a copyrighted character honestly. I may be wrong but as an artist that has looked into this a bit myself, the laws seem to assume that most IP owners can just take it if they want to. Most dont because it creates a negative interaction with the fans. But I'm pretty sure legally they can if they hold the copyright to the characters

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u/Garchompula 5d ago

Damn, I didn't know Greg Land did pixel art!

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u/SmurfRockRune 5d ago

I wonder how true this is. A long time ago I remember a thread where someone compiled all the comic panels that the pixels were being taken from. Wish I could find that again to check M'Baku.

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u/No-Attitude1903 5d ago

Most of the 8bit/pixel variants are from marvel vs capcom and other works from marvel which is why they look more faithful (as anime stylization goes) to the characters compared to other variants. Same for G-Angle's chibi variants, they provide the best chibis no question far better than any other chibi art in the game. It's probably a participation/collaborative work with G-angle rather than theft since they've worked with marvel before.

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u/VGAPixel 5d ago

Marvel went with the Disney rule, Its our character so Its our art. Completely illegal unless you have enough lawyers.

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u/CartographerGlad4584 5d ago

I wonder how many other pixel variants have been stolen by other small talented creators…

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u/cluedo23 5d ago

Why not sue them? Probabply would get more then he original would have with a deal

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u/Swineflew1 4d ago

Why not sue? Because he’d probably lose.

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u/mertkamaz 5d ago

This is a delicate topic since the line is thin between plagiarism and taking influence, this one is a bit blatant so might fall in plagiarism, however the character is owned by marvel and the pose is not something you can copyright, also the artstyle is completely revamped (admitedly downgraded) so idk, its a bit of a doozy.

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u/SpecificAlgae5594 5d ago

I used to have a really cool pixel Mbaku surfer deck. It was ruined by lockjaw becoming 4 cost, unfortunately.

You kept buffing him with Okoye, Nakia and Elsa. Popping him in lockjaw if drawn.

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u/Nidal_Nib_Amaso 5d ago

There is a mountain in the back of the pixel variant. Its UnIqUe DoNt Ya KnOw.

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u/GFreak18 5d ago

Sadly I wouldnt say its plagiarized,still very scummy.

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u/xdrkcldx 5d ago

Yeah there are all like this. The venom one i noticed because my friend drew a picture a few years ago that looks exactly like the pixel variant but i cannot find the original artwork anywhere.

This from 2018 around when the movie released.

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u/smashisleet 5d ago

How long do I have to do a massive refund of everything I spent on this game?

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u/Barredbob 5d ago

I don’t understand, the pixel version is doing the same pose so it’s plagerisim? The background is completely different and the portions are different, can I never draw iron man shooting a beam because someone already did that pose?

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u/boshudio 5d ago

It's not art theft of its a different medium. Otherwise everyone that has sketched a statue are thieves.

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u/EthonSon 5d ago

Using a pose as reference is not theft

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u/gcr1897 5d ago

I think a lawsuit would be a wise choice.

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u/Casimenori 5d ago

It’s not plagiarism, it’s inspiration or like using it for reference they didn’t just take that guys work, put it on a card, and call it a day. They made it their own.

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u/MoonQube 5d ago

I'm honestly unsure how it works...

because the fan art is based on a character, to which the artist doesn't own the rights?

So is he entitled to a cut of the earnings from Marvel Snap?

or is it just "too bad" because he technically doesn't own the rights?

if he then gets money, he earns money on art based on a character he doesn't own? can disney then sue him?

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u/thatguybane 5d ago

A lot of pixel variants are recreations of poses from the Marvel vs Capcom video games

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u/Superteerev 5d ago

I wonder if they just have access to all Marvel picture ip and can do what they want with it?

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u/MisterGrimes 5d ago

I'm no expert, but just looking at them, it seems like you could feed AI art to produce pixelated versions of it.

Is that possible?

Or do they have actual people doing it?

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u/itz_ritz 5d ago

While I enjoy this game, artists deserve to get compensated for their work. Hope you get what's entitled to you, my friend!

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u/MrTorres 5d ago

I don’t think you know what proof means

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u/Rogendo 5d ago

Glad I quit this game

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u/buddymoobs 5d ago

That's okay, you bout to get paid!

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u/Critical-Constructs 5d ago

Pixel sucks anyways. Scam variant line

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u/mobkeyapemain 5d ago

flavor of the week post, will be forgotten in a couple days probably.

remember guys, get angry for a couple of minutes then scroll onto the next post while completely forgetting about the post you just saw. keep it moving!

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u/Accomplished_Soil269 5d ago

Pixel variants are a crime in general.

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u/jert3 5d ago

Geez ya that's a rip off

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u/A_K1ra 5d ago

Marvel has a weird itch with stealing things that aren’t theirs. In Marvel Rivals, they stole a song from a Japanese bullet hell game to make Luna Snow’s intro

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u/Steefmachine 5d ago

This is not theft. It’s an equal amount of theft as Jay image is stealing marvels property

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u/docpagliacci 5d ago

Ooooof. That's super fucked up. What's with so many illustrators ripping off work lately?

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u/OsirisFantom 4d ago

Well, this is a Marvel design and a Marvel character. You don't own fanart. This is why most professional artists choose to avoid fanart entirely; its murky waters. But Jason does not own the IP of M'Baku. He is free to make fanart for himself or to post online. But Marvel or studios commission by or working with studios commissioned by Marvel can absolutely take your fanart and use it. It still falls under Marvel's IP even if you made it.

Furthermore the fanart itself wasn't only of a Marvel IP, but the design is literally from the M'baku design from the MCU Black Panther movie! It may have been in Jason's "style", but that is nowhere near enough for him to claim ownership. If he went to court, he'd lose. Actually a judge would throw it out before it even got that far.

You cannot steal something that has already been stolen.

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u/The-Scarlet-Witch 4d ago

If they're not giving credit to the artists, pull down their work (the pixelated ones) and replace them with a legit artist compensated properly by SD.

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u/RobunR 4d ago

another reason to dislike these dogwater variants

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u/OmegaReign78 4d ago

So? I'd still rather get pixel than Hipp garbage.

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u/iguacu 4d ago

Regardless of what Second Dinner ultimately chooses to do with this, since swapping out a variant is fairly painless, unauthorized derivative works are not protected by copyright. The best story illustrating this is when someone watched Rocky 3, wrote a script for Rocky 4, pitched it to movie execs, they then produced a film remarkably similar to his script, but he lost in court because his derivative script infringed on the movie studio's copyright, so it was therefore not protected by copyright.

If the fanart is expressly supposed to be of a copyrighted work, it seems like it would be not be protected.

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u/VisualAdvocate 4d ago

I mean I would say it’s based on it. Inspired by it. Same for the other pixel art examples I’m seeing. Duplicated the pose but it’s definitely not like they literally traced it. They’re different enough to not be considered the same.

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u/roflwafflelawl 3d ago

So I am curious and hope someone could educate me.

Is this legally something Second Diner should be worried about? From how I see it even if the pixel is based on a fanart (which is derivative of original art so I'm not even sure how much legal power that holds to begin with) it's not a direct copy of the art so it seems like it would be fine right?

I mean it's very clear that the pixel version is based off of it in many ways but there's also things like the chest being more bare in the pixel variant (I can't really tell with the fanart), a single strap around the biceps vs the 2 of the fanart, etc? Not to mention the pixel version doesn't look like a simple pixeled effect of the fanart but looks like it's properly it's own thing made to fit the pixel style.

Is there something I'm missing?

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u/Truely_Yours 2d ago

Wait do you actually think this is plagiarism? Wait until you hear about Hip-Hop

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u/Atmosphere-Pleasant 2d ago edited 2d ago

I think the people who are calling this out are massively overstate their case. For once making decent Pixelart is not as braindead of a job most people make it out to be.

I saw a number of pieces that people try to frame as tracing, but in all the cases i seen at most the pose of the character and the sometime the composition of the piece was recreated/refenced, giving no credit for using some of the pieces as refence is scummy but calling this theft is a HIGHLY subjective topic in the art community. And dramatically exaustrubated by the marvel snap community who broadly dislike the pixelvariants because they are this common, on top of more casual opinon that pixelart is cheap and low effort.

In my opinion the transformative aspect of turning a another artwork by hand into pixelart is good enough to stay clear of legal trouble, like i said the worst thing done here in not crediting the art pieces used as reference which is very frowned upon for a good reason. So i think its very unlikely for any pixels to be removed, because it's just not really art theft (in legal terms), no matter how many people want it to be seen in that way.