I really gotta read that one of these days.

I wonder if they could get away with changing it slightly and claiming it as Parody?

Well there is a whole bunch of positive hype up in flames, and just as things were beginning to calm on the other front too.

Dear sweet molasses in Cantassis, this is a lot of news to digest!

And by that, I mean my thoughts will stay at apathy until a later date such that the news is shedded upon with a much needed light.

Yeah, my question is why they waited like a year and a half into a very well-known and high profile project and gave them the C&D when they were in, like, beta. I mean, Jesus, the main game was almost done. It was in the works and halfway playable since before I joined this fandom.

The lesson here, of course, is to not publicize fangames until they're complete. Which is a really, really sad reflection of US trademark law.

Well yeah, they can't now.

edited 8th Feb '13 6:18:25 PM by Pykrete

I actually hope they don't release what they have now. I'm pretty sure that leaking it after they received the C&D would land them in some real hot legal trouble.

I'm guessing what happened is that whoever it was at Hasbro initially thought they could get away with letting the game under the radar. Yeah, it's been in production for a while, but it hasn't been until the past few months that it really started getting serious press. Basically once it got big enough that it was nearly featured at EVO and has serious gaming news sites reporting on it, it was too big for Hasbro to pretend that they didn't know about it.

In short, Hasbro was turning a blind eye on it, but it basically got too popular to the point where Hasbro couldn't get away with it anymore.

edited 8th Feb '13 6:21:09 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Random post.

Cutie Mark Darklord Vanquishers, yay!

The other thing that confuses me is that they pick out this, and MLP Online (to date the only good RPG I've seen), and a couple of the most promising ones, but don't just C&D everything on Equestria Gaming. I mean, they break trademark just as badly and also make no profit.

You know, I've been thinking on what Hasbro wants to accomplish with this "new IP" that's suppose to appeal to teenage girls and up.

Some action shows, which are normally targeted at teenage boys, suffer because they don't sell enough toys (or just Screwed by the Network, but that's a different thread). I know I stopped being interested in Star Wars, Batman, and Transformers toys by the time I hit High School, but I still watched action shows at the time and am still interested in those franchises. I don't know how many teens, particularly young teen girls (that's probably what Hasbro is aiming for), are interested in buying toys unless they're on the path to becoming avid collectors. Surely a big toy company like Hasbro knows how hard it is to make a Merchandise Driven "teen" show.

Consider this from the investor announcement.

Hasbro is looking for new ways for people to experience ponies, and they've apparently been doing research. What are they not doing now that they could do in the future to make money?

I was thinking what Hasbro could do with My Little Pony that would still fit the franchise while appealing to teenagers, and then there I was waiting for my order at Dairy Queen when it hit me.

MUSIC!

Imagine this: The TV Movie stars an In-Universe all mare pop-rock band called Equestria Girls, the Mane Six may make Continuity Cameos. The potential spin-off series would follow their various misadventures as traveling musicians. Sapphire Shores is The Mentor. Lyra, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch may or may not have minor roles (I don't see Hasbro giving background ponies their own spin-off...then again...). Maybe they fight villains with The Power of Rock, and the first season finale is a Battle of the Bands with Discord. But wait, there's more!

You can buy their actual music CD's! Fake band with real music, think Gorillaz with ponies! They'll have music videos, instruments, and some token toys cause its Hasbro. The Equestria Girls toyline could even be music themed! Singing dolls & playsets, pony themed music players. And concerts! They'll go on tour coming to a city near YOU! Maybe they'll even open for other fake bands like Gorillaz!

Imagine it! An entire music-themed sub-franchise for My Little Pony! Friendship is Magic already has Awesome Music, why not take it a step further?

Why do those people started to do this game in the first place?

Sweet Celestia, I hope not. It's exactly what I'm afraid of. That stuff was terrible in the 70's, and in recent years Disney ran it into the ground deep enough to strike lava — I'd rather not see something that was actually good to begin with go that route.

edited 8th Feb '13 6:27:34 PM by Pykrete

@ Calnos

If that's the case, then I would be very happy.

@Pykrete: That's because all the smaller games aren't popular enough to justify a C&D. The reason FIM and MLP Online got hammered is specifically due to the quality: the high quality means they got a lot of attention, which in turn resulted in a the C&D. The crap games don't get hit because they don't threaten the trademark.

@Calnos: That's an interesting idea, but there's one enormous flaw: Teenage girls are not renowned for having good taste in music. The odds of them going to the trouble of actually making good music is incredibly slim. If they do go that route it'll almost certainly be tween pop stuff. You know, the variety of music that pretty much everyone who isn't a girl in the 8-13 age group avoids like the plague. If they got some legit musicians together for a real artistic endeavor it could be good, but the chance of that happening is almost nil.

Anyway, let's distract everyone from the drama with this.

edited 8th Feb '13 6:28:29 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Megasweet is already doing something a bit like this.

@ Calnos: That would be awesome, so long as the music was good.

edited 8th Feb '13 6:27:22 PM by CDRW

IP Protection Laws need a serious overhaul. We need a dojinshi law like in Japan ._.

@JT: In other words, if you've got a pony project, don't freaking hype it so much until its done. Try and slip it under the radar.

@Calnos - Eh.

Luna :3

Delicious flat chest was a tag......?

Just think... Justin Bieber ponies!

We already have enough mad beavers in this show. Seriously, unless someone destory all of them, we have no room for any more at the moment!

@Calnos: So. . .a reboot of Jem and the Holograms, but with ponies? Well, I can say that there are worse ideas then that.

I have never heard a single song of Justin Bieber's. No, really.