RWBY plagiarizing from MMD models(?)

[Lonesome wolf]

So Whatever happened to that RWBY was Plagiarising?

http://i.4cdn.org/3/1493398672459.png

A general consensus from the RWBY Reddit is that whoever made this was wrong was wrong, because "RWBY was modeled in a different modeling program" and "it's anime," Whatever that means.

I also Stumbled Upon a thread on 4chan /3/ who are certain that RWBY models are in fact plagiarized

After much contemplating, I sided with the 4chan side. I found Reddit's argument, to be frank, is rather bullshit from my perspective, having studied 3D animation myself and finding a tutorial on how to convert an MMD model to a format compatible with Maya and 3DSMax within seconds of typing the terms into a search engine. I can perfectly envision Monty doing this as part of his efficient work philosophy. People have compared Adam and Grimmjow a lot (not to mention everybody practically saying RWBY looked like it was an MMD animation works) so I find claims that they look nothing alike bullshit as well.

At the very least, that incident reflects very poorly on the creators of RWBY and RWBY fanbase in my opinion in how its members subsequently treated the uploader. What I want to know is your thoughts, however.

-What is the legality of using parts from MMD models for *profit*? The former is allowed, but "for profit" has never been clarified.

-Which parts are from Poser and which are from MMD?

-What of the fan models cited?

-Could this be claimed as "transformative" work?

-Did RT get the necessary copyrights? Is this legally grey area, outright ethically wrong, or was everything checked out?

-What did the uploader get wrong, and what did the fanbase get wrong?

-Due to the Unfortunate accident of Monty Oum passing, was this allowed to swept under the rug?

-Put your own question here

 

[FalloutJack]

I was just thinking "Didn't somebody mention this, and then it turned out to be nothing and went nowhere?". Frankly, I don't care. I like to watch it.

 

[Gizen]

The only thing there that looks even remotely close to theft would be the back of Velvet's hair, and even then, I'd attribute it more to copying a hairstyle than an entire model. RoosterTeeth and Monty have always worn their inspirations on their sleeve afterall. Everything else in that image besides Velvet's hair looks like a lot of desperate reaching, especially the faces. 'What what what? Stereotypical generic young girl anime faces? But clearly I was the first and only person in the entire world to ever make stereotypical generic young girl anime faces! Theft, THEFT!' Yeah, whatever.

Also, the ease of converting these things to Maya is utterly insignificant since RWBY didn't even start using Maya til season 4 and prior to that they worked with Poser.

 

[Erttheking]

I was just thinking "Didn't somebody mention this, and then it turned out to be nothing and went nowhere?". Frankly, I don't care. I like to watch it.

My thoughts exactly. Did anyone really manage to actually get any major proof for this?

 

[Elvis Starburst]

The only thing there that looks even remotely close to theft would be the back of Velvet's hair, and even then, I'd attribute it more to copying a hairstyle than an entire model. RoosterTeeth and Monty have always worn their inspirations on their sleeve afterall. Everything else in that image besides Velvet's hair looks like a lot of desperate reaching, especially the faces. 'What what what? Stereotypical generic young girl anime faces? But clearly I was the first and only person in the entire world to ever make stereotypical generic young girl anime faces! Theft, THEFT!' Yeah, whatever.

Also, the ease of converting these things to Maya is utterly insignificant since RWBY didn't even start using Maya til season 4 and prior to that they worked with Poser.

Pretty much had the same thought myself. So many of them are reaching extremely far that I don't buy it for a second. The back of the person's hair is actually fairly accurate though

 

[Paragon Fury]

Yeah, 4chan and the people thinking this is stealing are full of shit. For several reasons;

1: Every single one of those except for the hair one is EXTREME reaching on the part whomever is coming up with it. All of them fall into the "generic style" or "similar design" zones. Even Velvet's hair is streching it, because Velvet's hairstyle is fucking everywhere in anime and gaming. I'm pretty sure you can find that hairstyle in Oblivion Mods which from well before Touhou and MMD existed or anyone gave a shit about them. Hell, one of my teachers in high school had that hairstyle (though she only usually worn it like that for fancy events).

2: To quote Arcade Ganon: "There is nothing new under the sun." Or more directly here - there is not much new to be had in gaming and art as far as character designs go. We've had literally millions of humans for as many years creating art, and these last couple of decades have probably outpaced those previous millions of years put together. At this point, no matter how hard you try, you're invariably copying someone or some group.

 

[DoPo]

If anyone is interested in whatever little history we have on this topic on this website, here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.935615-RWBY-plagiarizing-from-MMD-models].

 

[Gizen]

If anyone is interested in whatever little history we have on this topic on this website, here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.935615-RWBY-plagiarizing-from-MMD-models].

...Why is the original post in that other thread identical to this one? Like, the wording is slightly different but the questions asked at the end are identical. The OP's post also got utterly dismantled in that other thread, so what's the point of making a new thread a year later just to ask the exact same questions?

Honestly, seeing that link just makes it feel like this thread solely exists as an attempt to slander RWBY as a whole, and in which case... why here of all places? The Escapist forums seems such an utterly bizarre, random, and meaningless place to try and do that. Afterall, I've never gotten the impression that the RWBY/RoosterTeeth fandom is particularly large here.

 

[residentout1]

If anyone is interested in whatever little history we have on this topic on this website, here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.935615-RWBY-plagiarizing-from-MMD-models].

...Why is the original post in that other thread identical to this one? Like, the wording is slightly different but the questions asked at the end are identical. The OP's post also got utterly dismantled in that other thread, so what's the point of making a new thread a year later just to ask the exact same questions?

Honestly, seeing that link just makes it feel like this thread solely exists as an attempt to slander RWBY as a whole, and in which case... why here of all places? The Escapist forums seems such an utterly bizarre, random, and meaningless place to try and do that. Afterall, I've never gotten the impression that the RWBY/RoosterTeeth fandom is particularly large here.

I think this might be true the op join yester day just to make the post does no link the Reddit post so we can get two opinion on this and being a RWBY fan every couple of mouths someone brings this up.

 

[Kolby Jack]

2: To quote Arcade Ganon: "There is nothing new under the sun."

That's a quote from the Bible.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%201:9