Hasbro... What we should do

[Phoenix237 353]

Okay it's been a crazy week.

I ment to do this post earlier, but things held me back.

 

Okay with the recent events of Habro takin down "Fighting is Magic" the fandom has gone crazy. Not just about the game, but about everything in general. Websites, videos, etc. there is talk about more restrictions and everything.

 

Okay first of let's all calm down a bit.

 

For the record.

This isn't going to be a rant

it's more of an advice.

Normally I try to add humor in anything I post, but I will avoid that for this.

 

First of all

We should stop with the hate threats. First of all Hasbro is going to ignore them. Second they will do more harm than good.

Say they receive 25 hate mail from us, but they receive 10 reasonable mail that could help our case. After reading the hate messages and other stuff like that they may look and say "Oh more annoying hate mail" and ignore the reasonable messages we give them.

So ya

Give them hate mail and they will ignore us who are trying to reason with them.

My dad once said "You are more likly to be ignored if your voice is filled with hatred and aggression".

 

 

Okay now that that is established, what to do?

Well the best we can do is contact Hasbro.

I don't mean the writers or other lower divisions, I mean the top dogs in the company.

We can explaine our reasons for more freedom

 

Look the people Hasbro is run by old-school managers, lawyers, etc. They view it as their property. They believed that their property was getting out of their control and started to make restrictions to take back control.

 

Look they are ignorant, Don't call them that in your messages though. They don't realize that it was the loose control and freedom they gave the show that is what made it more popular. there are thousands if not millions of grown adults or adolecance that have jobs that are willing and able to purchase their merchandise. The reason for this is for their love of the show because of all the freedom we had that helped us get into this show.

 

They believe "Oh this show is making a lot of money, so we need more control". What they don't realize is that it was the loose control that they had that made the fandom what it is today.

 

The only advice I can give is that we all try to reach to them and they'll them that the controls that they are putting are actually going to go against them. If thousands or millions of us do this then Hasbor will see that this is a problem. Alone we are weak, but together we are strong.

 

That's what I believ we should do.

Communicate with the top people at Hasbro and try to reason with them, as calmly as possible, and with as many people as possible.

 

I don't know

I wanted to give some advice and felt that this was the best I could do. I'm not a lawyer or anything so can't give legal advice. I felt it was best to try to reason with the fandom first before we try to reason with the company.

 

In any case "Mane6" will not be forgotten by me. I even downloaded their themes so I have that. I signed the petitions and hope for the best.

 

And I hope good luck to you all.

[hakaru-x 13]

I feel really bad for the death of Fighting Is Magic, but Mane6 were responsible for this actually. They made this too public, and Hasbro could have trouble with the parents from the little girls that watch the show. Every father and mother would be angry because of a violent game based in this show and Hasbro would take the blame for doing nothing to stop this game. There is nothing else they could have done about this.

[Phoenix237 353]

I feel really bad for the death of Fighting Is Magic, but Mane6 were responsible for this actually. They made this too public, and Hasbro could have trouble with the parents from the little girls that watch the show. Every father and mother would be angry because of a violent game based in this show and Hasbro would take the blame for doing nothing to stop this game. There is nothing else they could have done about this.

Ya I know.

But I felt I needed to put something up to help calm down the crowd and maybe give them a course of action if they wanted to try to do something.

If it wasn't me then who would put this up.

 

I put this because no one else would

(at least I havn't found anything like this).

[XxSAINExX 29]

I did not know about this until... well just now 

 

 

I feel really bad for the death of Fighting Is Magic, but Mane6 were responsible for this actually. They made this too public, and Hasbro could have trouble with the parents from the little girls that watch the show. Every father and mother would be angry because of a violent game based in this show and Hasbro would take the blame for doing nothing to stop this game. There is nothing else they could have done about this.

 

they did indeed have this coming to them. I fear, however, that this will open up a door where Hasbro cracks down on everything the fanbase has created. I am more scared of what Hasbro will do next (hopefully nothing)

[Rainbow Dash 1,472]

yo bring up a lot of good points. The one thing i have to say is the the Top dogs do not care about the brony fandom. asking them to take time for the fans is like asking a big named celebrity to go to your birthday party. I was taught in sociology that big companies like hasbro wont take any time out for their fans unless it threatens their stock or gross income in a big way.

[Zygen 6,066]

Theres really a whole lot of complicated problems about things like Fighting is magic really. And in alot of stuff in general. I agree everythings been quite crazy this past week or so.

 

I also agree that if we do anything about this it should be in a calm message, hate mail is totally pointless, its basically like sending spam. Straight to the spam folder. It just won't be read really.

 

This week has been confusing though, kinda stressful in a way to, alot of things to think about with the show and hasbro. Not to mention i've had other things to think about in my personal life and I've been sick recently which I just now am getting over.

 

Totally agree with ya though, I think its about time to calm things down a bit.

[SørenWolf 227]

Control is not necessarily the problem here. Business's can flourish with a lot of control or minimum control

Case in point: Apple Inc. has control over both the hardware and software in its computers. Microsoft is open in that you can buy a dell, HP, Sony, whatever and still run windows, not to mention you can get multiple programs from multiple companies to run with windows. Both companies are insanely successful, yet both have widely varied business strategies. 

 

But the point stands: no one will ever listen to hate mail or the like. A single respectful message has way more pull then any number of spam-like hate messages

[Pixel Stick 927]

I do think there are people at Hasbro who genuinely care about the brony fans. Heck, the creative team is regularly inserting inside jokes and references that could only reasonably expect us adults to get. They're aware of us and all indications are that they love us. For the most part.

 

But people have to remember that MLP:FiM is Hasbro's intellectual property. We are in no position to tell them what to do with it. They so far have been extraordinarily lenient wirh us, but like with ANY fandom based on a commercial product, the fact is that they can stop being lenient with us at any time. And they would be well within their rights to do so.

 

The way I see it, if we want to remain in Hasbro's good graces as a community, we need to cool it, respect their decision and their rights, and stop raising such a big stink about it. Animosity in this matter is only going to paint a bad picture of the community and encourage the company to come down harder on us.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,306]

The key part in the OP's post that I wanted to address is this line: 

 

Hasbro is run by old-school managers, lawyers, etc. They view it as their property. They believed that their property was getting out of their control and started to make restrictions to take back control.

 

They don't view it as their property. By United States law...IT IS THEIR PROPERTY! They didn't just believe that it was getting out of their control...IT WAS! Legally, Hasbro has the right to sue anyone who even writes a fanfic about the characters that Hasbro holds the copyrights to. They don't though. Hasbro is showing a tolerance to fan created work that is practically unheard of in the entertainment industry. Look at Fox. I don't know if they still do it, but for years they actively hunted down X Files fanfics and sent cease and desist orders to the authors any time they tracked down a new one. Paramount sent many C-D orders themselves, over quite a few Star Trek projects. Hasbro isn't doing that.

 

The videos taken down on Youtube were removed because they triggered Youtube's ID software. Hasbro actually had nothing to do with that at all.  

 

As for fighting is Magic, there are two reasons for them sending the cease and desist.

 

The first, is financial. Even if the game was distributed free, it would still undermine the licensed games being worked on. I know they awarded a license to at least one game company. If people could get a good looking professional quality game for free, they wouldn't spend money on one when the licensed goods hit the market.

 

The second reason is in protecting their image. Fighting is Magic is by it's very intent, a VIOLENT game. Hasbro drew the line at the misuse of the characters that THEY OWN copyright to, being used in this way. It would only hurt their corporate image if such a game was released. 

 

Copyright laws exist for a reason. If Hasbro let Fighting is Magic slide, next year people would be openly selling all manner of Pony products. People would be banking on Hasbro's weakened legal position caused by them letting things get out of Hasbro's control.

Edited February 12, 2013 by cuteycindyhoney

[Agent505 661]

-Prepare yourselves bronies, here comes opinions- 

 

While personally I don't care for Fighting is Magic and I never have done. Fighting games aren't my thing, and to me making a fighting game out of something based on a kids show is just the evolutionary dead end we are at right now - that being - 'if it's not violent, make it.'

 

Anyway...

I do worry that while Hasbro have seemed to be fairly reasonable in the past, their recent -forced- action against Mane 6 might start them cracking down on the rest of the fandoms work. I don't see sites like this being affected, and I don't see the little things like the 8,476,984,724th fanfic to hit the community taking a blow, but it's things like DeviantArt and YouTube. Being from the UK myself, I can only watch the show on YouTube whenever I want, if it gets taken down then i'm screwed, really. Also DeviantArt, while I don't visit that site - ever - I do know that it has a LOT of pony artwork on there, and if Hasbro decides they don't want the bronies to continue making pony artwork, that's going to be a huge creative blow for the community.

 

I don't see why they would do that, but you know...they're not exactly the most level headed people at times. 

[Argumedies 1,748]

I agree this whole deal with fighting is magic being told to cease is being blown way out of proportion

 

I think we should be grateful that we get away with as much as we do. While Hasbro does welcome our fandom it must be at arms length because who and what we are.

 

Theres a lot of companys who compleatly shut down fandoms altogeather.

 

So while personally im a little *sigh*. Im not loosing any sleep over it

[Phoenix237 353]

Okay I need to clear the air about something.

 

The reason I made this post is to calm people down and give them an alternative course of action.

 

Look people are on the edge right now. It's not just about the game, but about the whole fandom together.

 

Now first of I wanted to calm people down.

People are freaking out left and right and you cannot deny that it is happening.

 

Now I put a course of action people may take. Why?

Because if I tell someone to calm down and do nothing. Well that easyish. But tell a whole community to calm down. Well.... I have better chance teaching my birds to fly through a ring of fire.

Look people are mad, upset, etc. I'm just giving an option that they could do to calm their nerves. If people do this they may feel better. It's always best to do something when your angry or upset to try to calm you down.

Why I picked this option? Because that's what's been goin on right now. People are afraid that Hasbro is going to be more restrictive and thus they don't know what to do. They may wire angry letters so I picked the option of telling ten to write calm collective letters instead.

 

Now do I believe this will work?

 

Honestly

I don't know.

 

Sorry but I'm not going to be the negative one to tell people to shut up and do nothing and that you can't do anything.

I'm also not the one that will lie to you and tell you that yes this will work guaranteed.

 

I'm trying to be neutral about this situation and am trying to calm things down.

 

Look I'm sad that the game got cancelled but like @Argumedies said I'm not going to lose sleep about this. I have been disappointed about games being cancelled before so I'm used to this.

 

I'm just trying to give a helping hand out there.

 

 

Okay just wanted to put this up and clear somethings out.

Anyway I hope that all this panicking and drama ends soon and hopefully things end up alright.

[Shanks 10,816]

I think what we should do is try to change the outdated and unnecessarily punitive nature of copyright and trademark laws which favor big corporations and punish the average person. The sad thing is Hasbro didn't have much of a choice in the matter with the messed up way trademarks work if they would have ignored it than they would have lost the trademark on MLP games, all of this could have been prevented if the team at Fighting is Magic got the proper licensing to do this. Granted they shouldn't have to but that is unfortunately the way the law works these days. I am not saying Hasbro are saints as their leniency I think is more of a business decision than an expression of their appreciation for us.Now if we are talking about the staff that works directely on the show on the other hand, they actually do love us and love what they do and that passion is the main reason why this show is actually good.

[Argumedies 1,748]

People are taking this way too personally. There are those who need to remember that this is a business and we as fans are just along for the ride. And in that respects there isn't much we can do. They are only enforcing the laws where it needs in order to protect its business nothing more.

 

Hasbro has stated many times that it welcomes the fans and has gone out its was to show it even if only in subtle ways.

 

Everyone just needs to put one hoof back in reality and stop getting there tails in a knot over this

Edited February 12, 2013 by Argumedies

[Unique Pinkie Pie 173]

if they take away everything that stops me from becoming depressed (i am bullied for who i am even before i became a brony)

 

i will become upset and continue to be upset ALOT

 

this show has made me happy and this fandom is amazing i dont want it all to disappear    

[Pixel Stick 927]

if they take away everything that stops me from becoming depressed (i am bullied for who i am even before i became a brony)

 

i will become upset and continue to be upset ALOT

 

this show has made me happy and this fandom is amazing i dont want it all to disappear    

 

The show will end eventually.  How and when it ends is anyone's guess, but I sincerely hope the lessons and joy you've experienced from it will carry on once it's gone.  Likewise, I have faith that the community that grew out of the show will carry on.

 

But most of all, I have faith that you can continue to be happy as a result of the great memories you've made having watched the show and met fellow fans.  Even if we all go away, that doesn't prevent you from leading a more enriched life.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well, since we will never know when the show will end this show has really taught a lot of lessons. Plus, it is a really good help in curing depression and other things that people have a problem with.

[Pixel Stick 927]

Well, since we will never know when the show will end this show has really taught a lot of lessons. Plus, it is a really good help in curing depression and other things that people have a problem with.

 

Indeed.  But even better: Let's apply those lessons and become better people, and better friends to one another.  Let's turn this fantasy world into a reality, one brony at a time.

[Unique Pinkie Pie 173]

Indeed.  But even better: Let's apply those lessons and become better people, and better friends to one another.  Let's turn this fantasy world into a reality, one brony at a time.

there is only one problem 

 

people don't really except me in the real world and all they do is harass me and emotionally hurt me ALOT

[Prismatic 49]

To be blunt there is nothing I can and will do about it.  It's not ruining my enjoyment of the show, the products I buy (mostly shirts) and more importantly I've always entrusted Hasbro to do with their property as they saw fit.  I highly doubt they're going to do much harm seeing that their demographic has been the same target for the last 29 years.

[Pixel Stick 927]

there is only one problem 

 

people don't really except me in the real world and all they do is harass me and emotionally hurt me ALOT

 

At the risk of sounding like I'm belittling your trouble, I think discussing this might be more appropriate in another topic.  Or, I'd be happy to chat with you via private message if you prefer.  Please feel free to private-message me if you'd like someone to talk to.

[Argumedies 1,748]

Unfortunately i am in a bad moment tonight in order to reply to this properly because it would take way too long to finger tap this out on my phone

But gimmy 24/48 hours and ill have a better response for you once i get back to a real computer

But as it stands i agree with what has been said already and ill explain in greater detail