• iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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    11 days ago

    I am not usually in favour of big companies bullying smaller companies with the law, but it’s pretty egregious how much they were ripping off Pokémon.

    Edited to add, apparently this was a really hot take. I am not saying that the gameplay between the games was similar, but I saw a comparison of several of the designs of the creatures for the first time when this whole kinda started kicking off a bit ago and it was the first time I realized how blatant the designs were lifted right from popular Pokémon. Combined specifically with the pokeball-alikes and like… I don’t know how people can defend it. There’s homage and then there’s IP theft.

      • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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        11 days ago

        For one, I didn’t say you could patent an art style. But distinguishable character can be IP. You’re like the fifth person to mention Dragon Quest and I’ve never heard of that comparison before, do you have any examples?

    • Noxy@yiffit.net
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      11 days ago

      I disagree with your premise but even if I agreed that any IP theft has occurred, why do you care? surely you’re aware that nintendo aggressively invests in IP lawyers and lawsuits?

      • iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works
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        11 days ago

        Well, yes, that’s why the lawsuit was happening. I’m not sure what your point was. I care because I think that IP theft is wrong.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      9 days ago

      They’re both based on the same source material - various mythological creatures and real animals with a twist

      I used to think Pokemon was super original - but a lot of it just seems they way because we don’t learn much about Japanese or asian folklore overseas.

      Like take Magikarp. There’s a Chinese proverb about a carp leaping through the dragons gate (an actual waterfall) turning into a dragon (meant to describe how with diligence a common person could become powerful through the civil official exams)… The weak magic carp, if diligently leveled, can become a Chinese dragon that looks exactly like the ones they use in parades.

      Meouth - a wealth giving cat, many asian shops have a cat figure with a gold coin for luck. And Persian is just a lioness (a bigger cat) with the same design.

      Vulpix/Ninetails - nine tailed fox

      Ekans - snakE. Arbok - kobrA. Pidgey - pigeon. Pigiotto, pigeot? Reminds me of fire, fira, firaga, firaja naming scheme from final fantasy

      Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan - Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan

      Noticably, most of these puns and references to actual people are not copied, instead it is things like wolves and mythological creatures

      If anything, it’s the style of the art that makes them so similar - but copying aesthetics is how art grows and develops. It’s not like they were the first or only ones to copy the style either