general media Bootleg Companies

[FirePuppy 735]

Do bootleg companies drive you crazy? They do to me... sometimes. But not all bootleg companies are the same. Few have good purposes over things, while others just have no purpose whatsoever. 

Like for example, MNV from South Korea has the purpose of educating kids the English language, so they "bootleg" shows (some of them that never got even licensed to any distributor of South Korean television) such as Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, Stella and Sam, and of course, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- to DVD and Audio CD format.

But bootlegged video games, including remakes and ripoffs, are much more of a problem. I mean, the video graphics, the sound, the gameplay -- everything is just not right with them! Games like the Super Boy series, Super Mario World (for the NES), Donkey Kong Country 4 -- most of these games just aren't fun to play as we thought they would.

What are your thoughts about these bootleg companies?

[Dreambiscuit 10,170]

In some ways bootleg companies do the world a service when the companies who own the copyrights refuse to release their product to people who want it. If bootleggers want to illegally distribute genuine titles without the limitations of the companies who authored them, I have no problem with it. 

But there are the bad bootleggers who create absolute trash and market it as 'the real thing.' Ripoff titles have no place in the world if they're going to be cheap, shoddy knockoffs that nobody wants.

There are many companies that make incredibly good copies of genuine materials; so good that it often takes an expert to recognize the difference. In these cases, I wonder why these companies, who obviously possess competent craftsmen and extensive resources, don't spend any of those assets on making their own legitimate product and establishing their own place in honest business. 

In short, I don't mind illegal distribution of official titles, but I don't like ripoffs that are made to look or sound like the real thing but have no further similarity than that. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Dreambiscuit

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

I love to watch bootleg videos on Youtube.

[FirePuppy 735]

2 hours ago, Buttonmash1973 said:

I love to watch bootleg videos on Youtube.

So do I, but on rare occasions (in the past, they were a lot more frequent), they get taken down by their rightful owners.

Almost like as if the media was actually banned in your country!

13 hours ago, Dreambiscuit said:

In some ways bootleg companies do the world a service when the companies who own the copyrights refuse to release their product to people who want it. If bootleggers want to illegally distribute genuine titles without the limitations of the companies who authored them, I have no problem with it. 

But there are the bad bootleggers who create absolute trash and market it as 'the real thing.' Ripoff titles have no place in the world if they're going to be cheap, shoddy knockoffs that nobody wants.

There are many companies that make incredibly good copies of genuine materials; so good that it often takes an expert to recognize the difference. In these cases, I wonder why these companies, who obviously possess competent craftsmen and extensive resources, don't spend any of those assets on making their own legitimate product and establishing their own place in honest business. 

In short, I don't mind illegal distribution of official titles, but I don't like ripoffs that are made to look or sound like the real thing but have no further similarity than that. 

Just like the time when Song of the South was refused release to the US by Disney itself. I do remember seeing it once in Japan a long time ago, but never in this country.

Despite that, SOTS was never banned in the US, although many people believe it was. But to me, it was kind of in the same state as if it were banned nonetheless.

And don't forget about the G1 My Little Pony toys. Japan's version of them were ripoffs, like Korea's Super Boy series to the Mario games.

Edited September 27, 2018 by FirePuppy