But isn’t it the strict control of brand and image that make those characters so enjoyed. If you let anyone do anything they can change/misrepresent the brand in an irreversible way... just like Pepe...
I don't think so. Pepe is still quite hilarious for meme material. I can ignore bad actors with an open IP and still enjoy the good stuff.
And meanwhile, I think stuff like fan art, fan fiction, spin offs, etc could maybe create an even more vibrant ecosystem than a Disney or Nintendo ever could.
I mean, look at the ancient Greek and Roman mythology. That was an open source ecosystem of stories and legends that different people contributed to and built on over long periods of time. It could easily happen today.
Open Source Disney, Open Source Marvel, Open Source Nintendo
I think the time is right for such a thing to happen.
The interesting thing there is that Disney made their money by reselling public domain content:
- The Little Mermaid
- The Jungle Book
- Tarzan
- Cinderella
- A Christmas Carol
- Fantasia
- Pinocchio
- Alice in Wonderland
- Beauty and the Beast
- Aladin
- Heracles
etc
All folk tails or public domain stories. Even Tangled and Frozen have taken heavily from other stories. And I'm certain there's more I've forgotten.
Likewise Marvel has borrowed a lot from Norse mythology with Thor's story arcs.
I've never really followed comic book fandom that closely so I can't comment on what pre-Disney Marvel were like to their fans. But with regards to Disney, it always left a bad taste in my mouth just how aggressively Disney were to protect their IP from harmless fans when Disney themselves owe their millions to ripping off other peoples stories.
Did you know Superhero is a trademaked term held by the duo Marvel (now Disney) and DC.
That said they have never tried to test that trademark in the courts.
I thought about putting another term into the public domain, something like uberheros/ultraheros and then allowing artists, writers, and other creatives to define their characters as such, and while also in the public domain, allow remixing and reinterpretation of the archetypes and stories.
I think the easiest way to start this would be to setup a git repo to describe how it works and what it means to place one of your characters or stories into the public domain. Then build a community and tools to help people and teams do so.
I have no issue with companies shutting down content that could be seen as harming their image. But the vast majority of fan content is complimentary. For example, do you think a Twitch stream of a retro game is somehow harming or misrepresenting Nintendo's brand?
Nintendo is historically HUGE on being family-friendly and controlling their image.
Streamers telling raunchy jokes, dressing sexily and/or swearing while playing a Mario game probably does hurt Nintendo's brand, at least in their eyes.
There's a reason Smash Brothers Ultimate's online mode only has voice chat in private rooms through a smartphone app.
Those characters are enjoyed because of the strength of the games that feature them. Nintendo's recent abuse of DMCA is only hurting that legacy. As the grandparent pointed out, Sega are nowhere near this litigious.
I think that's more true in America than it is the world over. Even in Europe where Mario is still iconic, it's not as pronounced as in America. Furthermore it wasn't always that way. Particularly in the 90s and 00s when games were really mascot heavy.
Sega is actually having a resurgence on the back of Yakuza games, although I don't know how many people know any of their other IPs. They did totally disappear for a long time.
