I found this guy through unlisted leaf (think that’s his name) on youtube, the guy everyone is raging about in another thread and i liked the look of some of the cards.
I thought id ask how much they cost out of curiosity and theyre an absolute ripoff. I understand his labour goes into it, he has to draw and print them but sheesh. £7 for one card, really…
People have to make a living. If you think that is a ripoff, why don’t you go into that custom card space and start selling for cheaper? Time is money and with artists in particular, it takes years to perfect a design style.
Sorry I get frustrated when people start bashing artists and commission work price ranges.
Here’s our conversation:
I’m not bashing, I like the look of the cards. I understand though that they are considered counterfeit or fake by alot of people on here which damages the pokemon card industry. So when I see the price being so high, way above a standard booster pack it raises an eyebrow a bit.
Custom cards don’t damage the pokemon card industry.
There are tons of players who use custom cards as markers.
Yeah, how do custom cards that are clearly distinguishable (obviously very different) from real cards “damage” the market?
Is this one of the people that turns regular cards gold & black? Or is this something like this? If its the latter, then Michael is right, most usually charge at least $20 for their time, supplies, etc, which I think is fair. If it is someone reprinting base zards gold/black, they always look printed, not hand painted. At least the gold/black individual who contacted me when I made my video on customs explained their printing process.
Oh sm, anything you say cuz, your chilled outness just makes my rage drift away lol
I think he makes his own cards, i prob overreacted a little. His cards look great, i think i was just salty i couldnt afford them lol
It looks like the guy Ray talked to just changes the colors of cards already being made. Here are some examples on his page.
Yea most of them look like official cards just repainted but he makes his own too. Here’s some random cards i found:
I think i know the re-printer your talking about… makes crap gold cards, everyone loses there mind when they see vids on youtube… T.T
I think re-printing secondary pokemon merchandise, or using the brand itself for your own monetary benefit is illegal.
Terrariums, lavalights, custom pokeball lights… reprinted cards… fake cards… all this is using the pokemon name and creating a product from somewhere in china usually, and redistributing the merchandise illegally; without having a license to do so. People should not be allow to sell and make a profit on items they are producing which are not licensed directly under pokemon company limited.
If it is art, which has been appropriated… and painted or something, i feel maybe this is more legal, but i am not 100% certain on the law behind it all. But obviously the card reprints, lights, terrariums, and custom plush being manufactured from secondary chinese creators for monetary benefit is illegal.
By using up a person’s budget. If I devote $100 per month to my poke hobby and I spend $20 of it on that trash then I am only spending $80 on legitimate product. It hurts collectors, it hurts TPCI and it hurts the overall market. That is why they have made it illegal. Plain and simple.
Is it illegal to make and sell custom cards that are obviously very different from authentic cards? (Those Ancient Mew-style cards above are a good example of something that seems would not be illegal, and they actually look quite cool.) Please feel free to provide legal analysis on this point.
The other part of your argument is, I’m sorry to say, apparently ridiculous. Other than the proposition that it is illegal simply to buy or sell any custom cards–which is dubious, and I hope you’ll clarify–there is no independent reason to criticize a consumer for spending his money in a way that happens not to be convenient to you. By your logic, Yu-Gi-Oh cards “hurt” the Pokemon card market (right?)
Also, SMPratte, in another thread, went so far as to assert that opining on how collectors should spend their money could be grounds for a ban. His position was substantively unreasonable, I believe (because discussing special obligations that the wealthy and powerful might have toward the less fortunate is philosophically valuable, especially when both share in the same enterprise/hobby and confront a common problem, such as possibly fake stamps). But I bring up that assertion to highlight how apparently ridiculous that part of your argument is.
As always, please feel free to criticize or correct anything I’ve said!
My original intention wasnt to start an argument, seems this is a topic which people feel quite strongly about lol
Feel free to lock this thread if it gets out of hand
@lexleo it is copyright/trademark infringement. Profiting off of someone else’s copyrighted intellectual property is illegal. I don’t know how you can’t see that really. It’s extremely cut and dry.
The only reason anyone would want to buy the “custom cards” is because they have pokemon characters on them. It would be very legal to create his own “monsters” or mythical characters. But if he directly copies the names and/or illustrations created and trademarked by pokemon then he is in violation. You can’t just stamp out ny Yankees shirts and sell them under what the mlb does. You can’t just market your cheap purses as coach. This is all one in the same.
I like your distinction by paragraph.
Your first paragraph here receives a “restates conclusion; no legal analysis” stamp. You have provided no argument as to why selling custom cards–such as the Ancient Mew-style ones above–violates any law. You’d do well to explain (1) why fashioning one’s own interpretation of a Pokemon into the form of a card is use of copyrighted material at all, as opposed to a transformative work; and (2) why, even if such cards use copyrighted material, they are not permissible by virtue of fair use.
Your second paragraph seems to muddy the waters unnecessarily by discussing counterfeit items. Remember, we have limited our discussion to custom cards, i.e., cards that are “obviously very different from authentic cards.” You’ve provided no reason to believe that custom cards are “competing within the pokemon card market” with authentic cards. That proposition is implausible, given that particular aesthetics and nostalgia are generally the sine qua non as to why people buy cards. Yet custom cards tend to lack both.
Your third paragraph agreeing with my third paragraph states a sensible principle, with which I agree. But I do believe that SMPratte did assert that opining on how collectors ought to spend their money could be grounds for a ban in a different thread. (The example there, if I recall correctly, was that the wealthiest and most influential collector(s) on the forum–some, for example, with “million dollar collections”–ought to pay a meager few hundred dollars to buy a card with an unusual stamp in order to probe and settle the important question as to whether the stamp was actually fake. [PSA twice concluded it was not.]) Feel free to provide finality on this issue and tell me I’m incorrect (I hope you will)!
Because many people react with negative emotions when their beliefs are challenged, and they become aware of the possibility that they could be mistaken, “arguments” get a bad rap. But, ironically, arguments are actually great by virtue of those very reasons that people tend not to like them!
@lexleo … I am going to throw some terms at you. Please do some research and look up the definitions on these because clearly you don’t know what they mean. If after doing that you still think it isn’t illegal then it is a lost cause to try and continue this conversation. I have plainly laid out why and how it is illegal as has @reinasierpe . Brush up on these terms then re-read what we have said.
Google “copyright infringement”, “trademark”, “intellectual property”, “counterfeit”.
E.G.
“Mew” is a trademarked character. As is Pikachu which can be seen here. (Mew was a much more muddled search as would be any 3 letter word so I used “Pikachu” for demonstration.)
Using any representation of Mew the character or using it’s name to sell product is infringing on the copyright/trademark that Pokemon has on that intellectual property that they created.
The word “custom” has nothing to do with anything. The people who misuse it are counterfeiters. Living in NY I can’t buy fireworks in PA then transport them into NY legally by just calling them something different from what they are. "Oh no officer! These aren’t fireworks! These are “sparkly bang bangs Iz OK bby”. Yeah. Good luck with that.