Fun fact : when I have -20% inspiration, first I draw the hands in different poses even if I suck at this but we’re not talking about this now then the facial expressions and the body
There’s something that I fundamentally don’t understand about Article 13.
It doesn’t simply protect copyrighted content, it will also absolutely impact the bottom line of these big businesses too. This is how I see it.
Here’s my current fandom:
How did I get into Kingsman? Was it because I saw a trailer for it on TV and thought, “Hey, I should see that.”
Nope. It was via online fandom content almost two years after Kingsman: The Secret Service was released. I never would’ve given it the time of day if not for gifsets and fanfic that I saw and read before I’d even seen the movie. But I saw those things first, so the movie then caught my interest, and I watched it. Legally. I ended up purchasing movie tickets for the sequel, I bought the movies on Blu-ray, I bought some official Kingsman merchandise (don’t judge me), and I even spent a little money on one of the official Kingsman mobile games (like 20 dolla, and I’m not proud of it).
I spend a significant part of my online time interacting in the orbit of the Kingsman fandom. I look forward to the third movie (the actual third movie, not this weird prequel thing…ugh). I will actively spend money on the movie and probably some official merchandise when it’s released too. I also have an interest in the actors from the movie and legally seek out their other work (even Robin Hood, haaaa). Meaning I intend to SPEND MONEY on things related to Kingsman because fandom content keeps my interest going long beyond its official release. Fandom content is often what will catch my interest in the first place.
My fandom before Kingsman?
When I got into Marvel/Captain America, how do you think that happened?
Did I see trailers before other movies? TV commercials? Was it because of people I knew in real life who enjoyed it? Nope. I rarely see any promotional material for things because I don’t normally take in content in the traditional way (the same as most other Millennials and Gen Z, I’d wager). I knew of them, obviously, because they’re insanely popular. But I didn’t give a shit.
I didn’t give a lick about Marvel and it wasn’t until I saw some fan commentary and gifsets on Tumblr/in fan spaces of Captain America: The Winter Soldier that I was like, “Oooh, this sounds interesting. I need to watch this.”
And I watched it. Legally. And I bought it. Legally. And I went out and legally watched everything else Marvel. I bought legal/licensed Marvel merchandise. I bought Marvel comics, ffs. Do you think I cared about comics before that? At this point, I’ve probably spent a good few hundred dollars on Marvel related content. Probably closer to $1000 than $100. And that’s mild compared to some people!
Do you think I would’ve done any of that if I hadn’t first seen fan created content that technically uses copyrighted material?
I sure the fuck would not. I would’ve gone on not caring about it at all.
My point is, Article 13 is so fucking short-sighted. Fandom and creative content made by people not associated with these businesses often makes or breaks that content. How many people do you think got into Marvel the same way I did? How many millions of dollars have people spent on Marvel related merchandise because fandom content fostered their interest way beyond “See it in the movie theatre, then go home and forget about it?”
Here’s another example for the other end of the spectrum:
Avatar. The James Cameron movie. It made $2.7 billion at the box office worldwide. That’s nice. But does anyone really give a shit about it? I’ve never seen it. Don’t have any desire to see it or the supposed upcoming sequels. The only online content I see about it? Mocks it. There is no fandom.
To compare fandoms on Ao3:
No one gives a shit. No one is looking for Avatar. Maybe the sequels will do well, I’m not a psychic. I have no idea. But my point is, there is no longevity there. No one is looking for official Avatar merchandise. No one is creating works about it that keeps interest going years after it was released. And continued interest means continued profit.
So Avatar did really, really well at the box office. Exceptionally well. And then?
Are people buying Avatar clothing? Books? Mugs, tchotchkes, spending thousands of dollars to meet the cast and creators at conventions? Special editions of the movies? Collector’s items?
Google “Avatar pop” and what do you think comes up? Pop! figures for the Avatar movie? Nope. There aren’t any. Are there Pop! figures for Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has a healthy online fandom presence? Yep.
Supernatural is an excellent example as well. A small show on a struggling network. Isn’t it on season 247 at this point? What do you think helped it last as long as it has? All that sweet network promo? The A-List status of its stars (hahahaha)?
HAAAAA! NO! It’s the fucking fan content! All the fanvids, fanfic, artwork, gifsets, commentary, discussions, meta, and beyond. All those creations get seen by hundreds, thousands of people who may have never heard of it before. But it’s that kind of content that sparks an interest. If you’re in that fandom, think of the coolest piece of art (or the best fanfic), that’s what inspires people to seek something out. That’s what cultivates an interest for years, including purchasing god knows what for god knows how much money. Terribly photoshopped ~official~ promo pictures and a couple commercials ain’t gonna do it.
Does the below image make me go “LOL WHAT? wats happening? wats going on? wat is this????”
Ya. Dark, morbid, funny. Sounds interesting…
Does the below official image make me go, “Oooh, gotta watch whatever that is!”
It sure the fuck does not. Sorry Jensen Ackles, you’re good looking and all, but nah. Can’t say I have any interest in whatever that is. WHY ARE YOU IN A CAGE? WHAT IS THAT CHAIN FOR? help me i’m scared
ANYWAY. Which content style above is going to inspire and cultivate enough of a longterm interest that people are willing to buy board games, clothing, jewelry, DVD sets, magazines, go to conventions, buy god knows what else, and spread the word about the show? For over a decade? It ain’t the second picture, I can tell you that much.
Fan content creates new fans and cultivates longterm interest which earns big businesses more money.
That is one of many reasons why Article 13 is shit. For fan content creators and for big business. It’s not a threat to the big business bottom line, it’s free promotion.
I BEG YOU. DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS.
Need the EU’s Directive on Copyright
Article 13 explained to you or a friend in a different way you might get? READ OP’s post now and pass it on!
I mean… what keeps a fandom like Supernatural alive constantly throughout 14 seasons?
Fic, art, gifs, meta, and a thriving fandom that creates this community. This is the community that drives people to buy all the official merch, to support the charity events run by the actors, to spent big bucks on official conventions, and keeps people engaged with the show. Would a fandom like this have any hope of surviving without the fan-created content? If we were forbidden from creating this family online?
Yeah, this is important. Article 13 MUST NOT happen.
so I was going through the loss.jpg tag and people are getting angry because of how miscarriage isn’t a funny thing. And that’s true! Miscarriage is a sad thing and not at all something okay to laugh at!
But the thing that makes loss.jpg funny is because of how it’s bad storytelling. When you want a funny comic, you often have simplistic, similarly arranged panels to deliver the punchline. It’s funny because of either something being said or something changing! (Buckley could work on the funny though.)
See, Garfield is a good example of this:
Almost all of those panels have the same two figures in roughly the same spot. This helps accentuate how the last panel (the punchline panel, if you will) is different!
Ctrl+Alt+Del is a comic series that kept to this pattern:
Here, again, we have panels arranged simply, and the figures in the same arrangement (height and placement, if you will) so that people pay attention to the text. The text is the funny part here, so there is no reason for the figures to change much.
But loss.jpg is a serious piece. I mean, I’ve never experienced this, but I’m willing to bet that if I or my spouse or my friend experienced a miscarriage or something, I’d be devastated! However, it kept to the silly, simplistic format.
“Well, okay.” you say. “How do you convey serious emotions in comics?”
And that depends on the emotion! The regular squares of the above comics enforce a sense of regularity. Meanwhile, with, like, an action comic, the panels will often be misshapen and crooked to give the idea that woah! something is happening.
Woah!! that guy almost go eaten by a dino thingy. It’s chaotic and confusing- meanwhile if you had put that into our “loss” format, the action would seem to have been much less important. In fact, you could almost say that it looked funny! See what I’m getting at?
“Okay. But whateverhisnameis from CAD isn’t fighting dinosaurs. Would he need those wacky panels?”
Well, sort of! You might want a misaligned panel for the panel when he opens the door, because I’m pretty sure he’s slamming it open, not gently pushing the door aside. But for the other panels, it would seem DragonBall Z levels of overdramatic to have WOAHH ACTION panels. You’d want something that isn’t too repetitive, thought. Something like this!
Here, the panels are pretty regular. But the placement of the figures is different according to each panel, creating that difference that we need to keep the actions from seeming funny. Sure, nobody is throwing punches, but there is something serious going on!! This isn’t perceived as funny because the figures are different per each panel.
Compare to loss.jpg and what do we have?
we have figures all positioned about knee height, with our protagonist always on the left, and always facing right. The last panel is almost always the punchline panel- that’s why people think that loss.jpg is people laughing at miscarriage. It’s not.
So what would make loss.jpg look like the serious story it’s trying to convey?
I scribbled this in 5 minutes in paint, but here’s my idea of what a better “loss” would look like:
He bursts through the doors and rushes to the receptionist, who directs him to the doctor. As he steps into the hospital room, he sees his wife crying and approaches to comfort her.
Is this perfect? Probably not! I’m honestly just learning comic theory right now. But does it convey the serious and honestly sad story of loss.jpg? Yes! You can’t tell a serious story in a silly manner. It’s like trying to tell a WWII survivor’s story with wingdings font. Using the wrong tools and techniques will get the wrong story across.
TL;DR loss.jpg’s punchline is that Tim Buckley needs to learn how to tell a story, not that miscarriage is in any way funny
loss.jpg inspires a quality little art lesson.
Of course the original comic isn’t only funny because of its awkward execution, but that it came out of nowhere as a sudden injection of cheap “drama” into a joke-a-day gaming comic written by a big old creep.
If you don’t know what this means, it’s basically then end of how the internet currently is in Europe. Memes? Nope. Youtubers? Bye!
You’d need a license for everything!!!!
And my fellow Americans my be all like, well, what’s the big deal for us? It’s a Europe deal.
No, because the Youtubers there that you love so much? This effects them too! I’m freaking out because Jack, the person who helps my depression go away, may no longer be able to do what he does!
Guys, we need to stop this somehow. Please.
Call your MEPs. Sign petitions. Protest (Peacefully please. Don’t get hurt).
I’m sorry for tagging you guys if you don’t want to be or already know, I just want as many people to know as possible!
I can’t tag everyone, but if you see this, please reblog it. Spread the news. Sign the petition. Call your MEPs. Do what you can to help stop this from passing in January.
Skorpio's Art 