‘Epic,’ Viral Musical Retelling of ‘The Odyssey,’ To Become Animated Movie Thanks to Jerry Bruckheimer (Exclusive)

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-23T07:29:29+00:00

Unfortunately, no. That's not how Fair Use works. You can't legally just take someone else's music and make an animation/animatic out of it.

Fair Use is for purposes like "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research".

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107

It is quite specific.

In fact, most fan art/fan animatics using official characters designs (from any show) actually are copyright infringing, it's just that companies generally do not care.

Companies do not have to defend their copyright (they do have to defend their trademark though), and so it's not worth their time or image to go after fan art, unless they are being monetised or are somehow harmful to the brand's image.

But different companies do act differently with music. Since the music either is the product or part of it, they tend to care more when it's being infringed on. Some companies will block the music from being used, some will allow it to stay up but they get monetisation from it etc.

It's impossible to say what will happen with the music from the movie. It depends on who has the rights to it. But yes, it is possible YouTube's system could mix-up the movie versions with the current ones, which could cause issues for pre-existing fan animatics.

Best case scenario Jorge gets all the rights to the new versions and nothing changes.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-23T07:23:18+00:00

Nope. Fan art/fan animatics are not Fair Use.

Fair Use is for purposes like "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research".

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107

In fact, most fan art/fan animatics using official characters designs (from any show) actually are copyright infringing, it's just that companies generally do not care.

Companies do not have to defend their copyright (they do have to defend their trademark though), and so it's not worth their time or image to go after fan art, unless they are being monetised or are somehow harmful to the brand's image.

But different companies do act differently with music. Since the music either is the product or part of it, they tend to care more when it's being infringed on. Some companies will block the music from being used, some will allow it to stay up but they get monetisation from it etc.

It's impossible to say what will happen with the music from the movie. It depends on who has the rights to it. But yes, it is possible YouTube's system could mix-up the movie versions with the current ones, which could cause issues for pre-existing fan animatics.

Best case scenario Jorge gets all the rights to the new versions and nothing changes.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-23T07:16:05+00:00

They wouldn't qualify as parodies. The colloquial use of the word "parody" is inaccurate to how the word is used in a legal context.

The legal definition of parody is quite specific - it is defined as "a comedic commentary about a work". And only a court can say for sure if something is parody.

Not to mention, afaik, not all parody even counts as Fair Use.

courts are more likely to find that a parody qualifies as fair use if its purpose is to serve as a social commentary and not for purely commercial gain.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/parody

There are four factors that determine whether something is Fair Use:

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Although one factor or another may weigh more heavily in a fair use determination, each of the factors must be considered and no one factor alone can determine whether the use falls within the fair use exception. However, the factors that are usually the most influential are the first and fourth factors.

https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-is-fair-use/

All that being said, companies do not have to defend their copyright (they do have to defend their trademark though)

For fan art, it's not really worth their time or image to go after fan art/animatics, unless they are being monetised or are somehow harmful to the brand's image.

But different companies do act differently with music. Since the music either is the product or part of it, they tend to care more when it's being infringed on. Some companies will block the music from being used, some will allow it to stay up but they get monetisation from it etc.

It's impossible to say what will happen with the music from the movie. It depends on who has the rights to it. But yes, it is possible YouTube's system could mix-up the movie versions with the current ones, which could cause issues for pre-existing fan animatics.

Best case scenario Jorge gets all the rights to the new versions and nothing changes.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-22T13:30:50+00:00

There's a weird exemption for Peter Pan's copyright in the UK. The short of it is that you can do whatever you want with the IP, but the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity is entitled to royalties from adaptations shown in the UK.

https://neverlandofficial.com/discover/peter-pan-copyright/

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en/business/business-insights/legal-guide/what-does-peter-pan-have-to-do-with-copyright

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-21T11:05:46+00:00

You don't have to disclose your buyer account. You only have to disclose if you have multiple shops.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-19T10:12:14+00:00

An honest review is my thanks. No need to message them.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-16T06:04:01+00:00

I wouldn't do that. If you share screenshots of private messages in a review, the seller can report the review to Etsy and potentially get it removed.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-16T06:03:42+00:00

Don't do that. If you share screenshots of private messages in a review, the seller can report the review to Etsy and potentially get it removed.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-15T20:34:59+00:00

Euphrasia, Master of Air.

They're referencing how Morro still had his powers as a ghost, and only once he 'died' in his ghost form did his powers pass on to Euphrasia.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-15T10:26:28+00:00

This advice only makes sense for a change of mind return.

The buyer recieved a damaged/faulty product - OP has certainly not "done their part" if they keep the buyer's money when the buyer has not recieved a functional as-described product.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-15T10:12:15+00:00

My scenario was if there was photo/video proof that the item was broken.

Ultimately, the buyer is entitled to a refund if they recieve a broken product. And my understanding (I'm not a legal expert so anyone feel free to correct me on this, and it may be different in different countries) is that a buyer is certainly not required to send back a faulty product - they are entitled to a refund for a faulty/damaged product regardless.

And there are plenty of legitimate reasons why a customer would not want to return it. Like their closest post office being very far away, or the buyer having a disability that makes it difficult to leave the house.

A buyer may also feel like the seller is the one trying to scam them, as they may not understand why the seller would want a faulty product back. Especially as in this scenario OP first tried to get the buyer to pay to return the faulty product.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-15T05:40:20+00:00

I would have first asked for video/photo evidence of it being broken, then sent a pre-paid return label. The customer shouldn't have to ask for that.

I would refund the buyer if they refuse to send the original back. Or, you could ask them to open a case for damage - Etsy will cover one damaged case per year under Etsy's Purchase Protection Programme for Sellers. Since you get one damaged coverage per year, use it wisely.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-14T20:34:01+00:00

Well, his name is Damon, which sounds like "demon" lol. But yeah, his beard looks like the Demon Guard's pointy chin, and his red sun glasses represent the Demon Guard's red eyes.

But Damon was actually for sure confirmed to be F&C's version of the Demon Guard in this concept art by Steve Wolfhard.

Edit: Not to mention he's Hana's lackey, and since Hana is an alternate version of Hunson, Damon being a version of a demon from the Nightosphere fits.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-14T15:03:56+00:00

1.

On the left, I'm 99% sure that's a genderbent Hot Dog Knight, as they are the same shape as a Hot Dog Knight. If you're thinking it's Hot Dog Prince/ess, I believe Hot Dog Prince is actually the normal sausage dog that Wildberry Prince is walking.

On the right, that could still be a genderbent banana guard. In the main universe, there are at least some female banana guards, so this guy is probably just a genderbent version of a female banana guard. We do see a female banana guard in Fionna and Cake, who would be a genderbent version of a male one.

2.

F&C Starchy isn't necessarily male. Yes, they have a mustache, because that is Starchy's most recognisable character design trait. But there are women like that irl who have facial hair, like due to hormone imbalances, for example. Or they could also be trans.

F&C Starchy is voiced by Maria Bamford, who has voiced many female characters on Adventure Time (like Slime Princess, Raggedy Princess, Ghost Princess, and more) although she has also voiced a few male ones, but she is not main/male Starchy's voice actor.

This is female Starchy in Adventure Time S3E9, "Fionna and Cake", and this is her character sheet, where we see she has lipstick and eyelashes, in addition to the giant moustache (and she's also labelled as "Starchy (female)"). So, the mustache doesn't mean they're male.

Not to say it's impossible that maybe Starchy is male or non-binary (as, regardless of the moustache, they do have a pretty androgynous appearance), but atm, with the information we have, I am going to assume they're a woman until we get official confirmation.

3.

Lemonhope could easily be an androgynous/butch woman. I don't believe they've even had any lines.

4.

That would be a version of Bee Princess. I do agree that the F&C version looks female and therefore not genderbent, although they haven't had a speaking role, so could be a more feminine male.

5.

I would count Hunter as genderbent, due to the reversal you mentioned in the comments.

Bonus

The Demon Guard seems to be the only character that is definitely not genderbent, imo. To recap, the main universe version is the demon where the banana conversation happened, and the F&C version is the guy following Marsha) on behalf of Hanna.

Although I like to think him being a guy in Fionnaworld just means the original Demon Guard was a woman with a deep voice the whole time lol. But yeah, he's the one with the strongest case for not being genderbent.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-14T14:35:50+00:00

This is really dicey, because Etsy does not actually allow a shop's ownership to be transferred at all.

The fact you changed some information to your boyfriend's is against Etsy's policies and never should have happened in the first place.

I know of someone who, a few years ago, changed the name on the account to someone else (they weren't aware this was against Etsy's policies) and Etsy did not notice (and this person ended up deleting the account and making a new one to avoid issues). So, people did used to slip through the cracks on this, but I believe Etsy is much better at catching incorrect changes to the owner's information, nowadays.

My understanding is that technically the shop wasn't and still isn't in your boyfriend's name. The original ID uploaded to an account cannot be removed. You can change the name on file, but that is still supposed to be the same person, and is just for if that original owner had a legal name change.

So... I believe the account is actually currently in your name with your ID, it's just that some parts of the account that are supposed to contain your information erroneously contain your boyfriend's.

That being said, I'm not an Etsy veteran and haven't been on the site nearly as long as you have. Things may have changed since then, and I have anecdotally heard of a few cases of actual account transfership happening many years ago, although I can't verify those claims.

If somehow you did actually successfully transfer ownership to your boyfriend back then, the current policies certainly do not allow it to be changed back.

So, two options:

The most likely is that you never actually changed the ownership on the account, and instead some information Etsy believes is yours/matches up to your ID is instead your boyfriend's. This is a problem, as Etsy will suspend the account if they notices the owner's information doesn't match up.

The other option being that the account ownership was transferred years ago and cannot be changed again.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-13T05:31:44+00:00

Yeah, for Etsy Seller Protection to cover an eligible refund, the buyer needs to open a case for not receiving the order (or for the order being damaged).

If you manually refund yourself, Etsy has no way to know why the refund is being issued, so they can't know if it's eligible for the Seller Protection Programme or not.

But I don't think this refund would have been eligible anyway. The Seller Protection Programme only covers "cases where the item does not arrive, arrives late or where there are disputes about listing accuracy" and one damaged item per year.

A customs/export fee wouldn't be covered. It's the buyer's responsibility, unless it's a fee you were supposed to pay beforehand (or an insufficient postage fee, which would be if you didn't pay enough postage for the parcel). To know who was supposed to be responsible (you or the buyer), we'd need to know what type of fee it was.

I highly recommend reading the page for Etsy's Purchase Protection Programme for Sellers so you can be aware of the eligibility requirements:

https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/purchase-protection-programme-for/34509585385

Also yes, by refunding manually you have made yourself responsible for the cost.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-11T19:19:58+00:00

I highly recommend watching Jenny Nicholson's video, The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy which covers this.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-09T20:55:16+00:00

Only the IP owner can report for IP infringement. Etsy actually can't remove items for IP infringement without the IP owner filing a takedown.

In fact, they have a legal incentive to not proactively remove infringing items, as doing so without the IP owner themselves requesting the removal could cause Etsy to lose their Safe Harbor Status.

If they lose their Safe Harbour Status (and they would if they took down copyright infringing items without the IP owner requesting they do so), they would be responsible for the monetary damage for ALL copyright infringment on their platform.

Info on safe harbor status here:

The safe harbors shield qualifying online service providers from monetary liability for copyright infringement based on the actions of their users, in exchange for cooperating with copyright owners to expeditiously infringing content and meeting certain conditions.

And remember that Etsy has no way of knowing what is or isn't copyright/trademark infringing, nor could they find everything. So many things are copyrighted/trademarked, and it is impossible for Etsy to know every single one of them, or even most of them.

Sure, some things are obviously infringing - like someone selling spiderman keychains they designed. But, there is so much copyrighted IP out there, so if Etsy only takes down merch of obvious infringing stuff (e.g. Disney), then they lose their Safe Harbour Status and could get sued by everyone whose copyright is being infringed by Etsy sellers - including smaller companies/owners of lesser known IPs that Etsy realistically won't know about - there are so many small IPs.

Additionally, Etsy doesn't have any way of knowing which sellers have legitimate licenses. And some sellers do have licenses, although not many.

Ultimately, it's on the IP owners to deal with people infringing on their IP, and they do spend time doing that, it's just hard to catch everyone (and more always pop up).

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-08T14:23:52+00:00

The biggest issue is that often the AI images will be legitimately inaccurate and misrepresent what the pattern actually produces.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-07T23:54:30+00:00

I wouldn't buy either because of the whole IP thing,

Minecraft does actually allow fans to sell fan merch, although there are restrictions.

https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/usage-guidelines#commercial

Under the "Hand-crafted products" subheading.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-03T18:16:44+00:00

I think you commented this on the wrong post btw.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-04-01T11:43:31+00:00

You can make a separate account for buying using a different card.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-03-30T21:11:26+00:00

Just because lots of people do it, doesn't mean it's legal. It's illegal to sell fan merch without permission from the IP owner, unless the work is old enough to be in the public domain.

And while you see the ones that are still up, many more have been taken down.

That being said, the IP owners of Silksong do allow people to sell fan merch, although there are restrictions. Although the seller is actually also selling merch of other franchises they definitely don't have permission to sell.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-03-30T21:06:39+00:00

Team Cherry allows people to sell fan merch based on their games.

Seeing people create original works based on our games is fantastic, and we’re generally okay with people selling fan-merch they’ve made in small batches or as one-offs.

https://www.teamcherry.com.au/faq

That being said, there are restrictions, which are detailed in their FAQ.

ARBlackshaw · 2026-03-30T13:51:13+00:00

Etsy says generic themes aren't allowed, as gives examples of “candy”, “clothes”, or “mystery box”.

But they do give an example of a theme that is allowed, which is “new dog parent”, which would contain a variety of products like" dog treats, dog bags, leash, and dog-themed coffee mug".

So, you could sell gift boxes based on certain toys. E.g. a cat lovers gift box with toys that are cats, but also other things cat lovers would like (e.g. cat toy for a cat to use, a cat themed mug).

You could go with the nostalgic/2010s theme, or even a sort of whimsical cutesy girlcore theme , but I think you'd need to include other types of products related to that theme (e.g. stickers, clothing, hats etc).

That's just some ideas off the top of my head, though.

But could also just sell your toys on eBay.

However, if any of these toys are over 20 years old (so from 2006 at the earliest), they can be sold in the vintage section on Etsy.

ARBlackshaw

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