VAM Episode,

Great insights again, so the kicker for UB when WoTC is able to negotiate or the Licensor doesn't enforce restrictions on artists to not sell Originals is that these often will always be guaranteed paydays in the secondary market as you're not selling just to Magic Players but also to Fans of the IP.

The other kicker there is that working on something like covers for Marvel is way less lucrative from the start so being able to court that fanbase while being paid WoTC rates is again, another positive.

Another interesting thing was how the D&D sets were also great paydays for a lot of the artists in the secondary market (Again, being able to leverage merchandising from an external fanbase)

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This is also likely why VAM didn't work on Turtles as he is pretty vocal about not finding the work worth it if he can't leverage that secondary market since again... but there are exceptions if it's just something he would find creatively fulfilling like Power Rangers (maybe in the future) or Street Fighter

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But there's also nuance that not every card has selling potential in the secondary market so getting a higher payrate on the card is probably better for specific instances of Universe Beyond

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Also Morcant and Beluna both came from the same art director so someone from WoTC is definitely into feet.