Laughing Through Tears - by Twifight Homicide Testament Coffee. · 6:28am Oct 28th, 2016
I am having a crisis. I may have unwittingly committed an act of "conceptual perjury", and it is UPSETTING ME TO NO END!
I decided to post a picture of mine on derpibooru.org, only to discover that one of the many Background Pony members had beaten me to it! They'd put three of my pieces up! I WAS SO FLATTERED! ... then I read the comments regarding my new avatar, and... well, now I don't know what to think.
I need your help, my friends. After FINALLY making the avatar I've ALWAYS WANTED, I might need some help in designing a completely different image. I just... I don't know what to do! I envisioned myself as a nerdy monster-mother dictator bent on some unspecific revolution, committed DAYS of work to relearning an old art program and scrutinizing pony captures (I know my work is off from the actual show, but I can't help but add my preferences - deal with it) to create the PERFECT TWIFIGHT, and... maybe it was all for naught.
I've been emotionally involved with ponies for a long while. Before I was ever a contributor here, I slinked about the filthy opinionated bowels of Equestria Daily's comment sections, posting banalities alongside the thousands of others that figured there was nothing better to do. That was fun, even though I didn't feel like anything I'd offered amounted to much. I was purposefully confrontational twice during that time, and after being crushed for forming an opinion contrary to the majority, well... I got along with everyone, eventually. Good times.
The first three episodes of MLP:FiM changed my life, not to be too dramatic. The internet had LITERALLY exploded with opinions and memes and love for this little horse show, and I had to figure out why - three episodes, and I was completely hooked! Just like nicotine and alcohol, I knew full well that pony was habit-forming, but I didn't listen to the warnings! I WAS STRONGER AND HEARTIER THAN OTHERS! I COULD KICK THIS CARTOON WHENEVER I WANTED! ... yeah right. I almost quit drinking, though, come to think. I only smoke one ciggie a day... eh. Pony is worse than booze and smokes in my world, apparently! For the last ... well, almost six years, I have been involved in everything I could find that was pony: fanfictions, OCs, memes, ships and alternative universes... I thought I knew them all, at least the popular ones.
... right, I am getting off the topic: I have ALWAYS been Twifight Sparkill - never changed the name, and only the avatar some four times in four years... for reasons. After falling in love with the purple book-smart unicorn in the show, and eventually creating an IntenseDebate (or whatever the heck came before it) account so as to actually CONVERSE with others on EqD, I have been exactly the opposite of the real me - loud, crazy, and nnonsensical (the latter is not so much an opposite as an exaggeration) . Do ponies fight and/or kill? Not as such, but the name struck me as immediately funny. I've had so many compliments on my silly pseudonym! THEY MAKE ME SMILE!
So, yes. Where were we? Right, right. I meander so much! Sorry for that.
Once upon a time, back in March of 2013, a Deviantart member named Smashfan666 created this character:
Tiara Ultima (commissioned art by ClamStacker)
... what? WHAT!? What is this?? Apparently, she was created for a birthday game put up on derpibooru. She's received enough fanfare that my poor Twifight has been recognized as a potential copycat! ARRGH!
... sigh.
So like, search Tiara Ultima for me? Have a look. Decide if I'm making mountains out of molehills, or suggest I look elsewhere for ideas for my beloved avatar, mm? SERIOUSLY! If you know me, like... if you read my blogs, and you have some abstract image of how I SHOULD be in your tortured mind, LET ME KNOW! PLEASE!
I CAN'T LIVE KNOWING I MIGHT BE A BLOODY FRAUD! WAH!
... oh, I shall post a new chapter of Awards of the Heart next week. In the meanwhile, I CRY!
You are about to enter the court room of Judge Navieka E. DeRyu. The ponies are real, the cases are real, the rulings are final. This is his courtroom. This, is Judge Navieka.
Twifight Sparkill v. The Internet
User Twifight Sparkill is accused by Mr. The Internet of committing fan-created conceptual purgery against User smashfan666 by making an OC that has similar elements to smashfan's own. Twifight claims that their OC is not a copycat at all, but the internet refuses to back down.
{After much pointless arguing and mainly to keep this post short}
Navieka: Alright after reviewing the evidence, I have determined that although OC Tiara Ultimate was conceived before OC Twifight, and that Twifight has enough elements to look like a copycat, there is no proof that Twifight copied Tiara Ultimate. In the end, User Twifight is not a fraud and Mr. Internet needs to calm down. Let's be honest, this shouldn't of even needed to happen anyways, but Mr. the Internet is stubborn.
Holding: Twifight is in the right* with their OC, and Mr. The Internet is overreacting as usual.
*As right as fanart can get
(Seriously, your fine. yours looks better than Tiara Ultimate anyways. Tiara U. is an eyesore, Twifight is well balanced)
... I don't feel that laughing right now is best for my case, but I can't help it.
... so just another ordinary day? All right, I suppose I can manage to endure that much.
I COMPLETELY AGREE! I just... the matter isn't about the owner of said conceptual property, so you know - Smashfan666 has no idea that I exist, and likely doesn't care if I do. The problem is mine for being made aware of the EXISTENCE of Tiara Ultima, and if my personal concerns are enough to warrant redesigning my avatar, I guess?
Mmkay. So the evidence is as is - Tiara Ultima is from 2013, and I am just another pony vector artist who thinks they're edgy & dark enough to create something COMPLETELY ORIGINAL, and I will DO THE WHOLE LIE DETECTOR THING to prove that I never copied anyone for thinking I had a SHRED of creative integrity, but ... is that okay? Is it enough that by law I wasn't purposefully copying an idea, when the entire endeavour was to create something that was solely MINE ALONE? WHICH I THOUGHT I HAD!?
... fuck. I want to follow the law, but... damn. DAMN!
wtf is 'conceptual pergery'? I think you mean 'perjury' questionmark?
Anyway Twifight, I think you're overthinking this. It's not like... you know, out of MILLIONS of people using the same medium (horses), two of them would create something vaguely similar to each other's work? It was bound to happen. It's not a copycat anyway, your avatar is uniquely you, and you know it. You made every detail of it for a reason, your reason, a good reason. If it wasn't one hell of a reason, you wouldn't have this, this... self-doubt, this crisis. If you'd just thrown up any old interesting picture, you wouldn't be in this scenario. So you had a reason. Don't second guess yourself. That's always a rule I live by. (Mostly because I can't remember why I did anything, so I just assume I knew what I was doing at the time lol)
What are you worried about anyway? Some neckbearded whiners on the internets? Fuck 'em.
4274630
... Grammarly said it was fine, and I was in a hurry AND drunk. This is my life, Red! Also, I love you because you've fixed SO MUCH of my work for caring enough to be right, and and and... whatever.
I get you, I do. However, you can see why I had issues to begin with, right? It's pretty obvious that there are strong similarities going on between our two images, and that perhaps I may have followed too close?
Look, if everyone agrees that I am a harmless copy, I won't sweat it anymore. If there's argument to the contrary, I will need guidance.
For now, I just... love. I LOVE! I DO!
4274619 Ok, So i admit that i misinterpreted it a little, but I agree with what theredbrony. And you are harmless.
(Also I agree Rarity, Screw Tirek)
img04.deviantart.net/6633/i/2016/302/f/8/untitled_by_meekapuppy1-damkz9p.png
4274630
... okay. This is a prime example of my life, and how applied philosophies eventually work into what moves me - motivations, hesitations, and whatever else. I guess initially I was trying to respect the work of ANOTHER PERSON WHO INTENTIONALLY COPIED THE ART STYLE AND PROPERTY OF AN ANIMATION STUDIO HIRED TO MAKE CARTOONS FOR A GIANT CORPORATION, and forgot what was going on.
As long as I am making pony art that (almost) mimics the show designs, I am a plagiarist. I've used a couple of backgrounds from the show as placemarks, so... well. I really am worrying over nothing.
Should I still tell Smashfan666 about me?
... ugh, why do I think so much about dumb shit when I should be in bed!? ARRGH!
4274648
LOVE THAT PICTURE!
4274646
What I was trying to say is that you are uniquely you. That other person has made the harmless copy, regardless if it was done prior.
Less than three.
4274652 The power of quick editing. Original Picture Source. Now then. Goodnight. *Passes out*
4274653
... you have a way with words, Red. Even given a recognized cast that doesn't require expounding or vindication to work with, you know very well what you make and invent some wonderful stories. I appreciate what you do and for such feel A TON BETTER about my issue for your making time for my ... whining? That was awkward. I honestly felt like I had done something wrong, was basically it. I was SO upset, I posted... well, yeah. Thanks again. NOW I'M EMBARRASSED!
4274660
PICTURE SAVED! Gunnight, Navieka! Love that image.
You're more than fine. I've never heard of this other character, neither had you, and there's enough dissimilarity.
Sides, yours is better.
4274666
Yet there was attention enough to make mention of her, you know? I mean, MY GOODNESS! I thought I'd stuck my nose into ALL THE DIRTY CRACKS and nooks of pony, yet here comes a character that has had memes made of it! GAWD! WHAT IS MY LIFE!?
... maybe I'm intimidated by the memes, eh.
I hope so. I really do.
4274668 the booru removers all things, no matter how insignificant.
The Booru remembers.
4274615
As Twifight Sparkill's legal counsel, I move that the charges against my client be dropped this instant!
And where's your law degree, Assistant District Attorney Trixie?
Thank you, your honor. Now I move that the charges against my client be dropped on the grounds that Ms. Sparkill has been mischarged. She has been charged with perjury, which is lying under oath. Her actual alleged crime is plagiarism. Furthermore, I move that my client not be charged with plagiarism under double jeopardy.
Honestly, any accusations of plagiarism/copying/unoriginality are pretty flimsy anyway. They both look pretty distinct from one another. And even trying to stake a claim to a general concept (which I don't think either the artist or recipient of Tiara Ultima have even done) just sounds right up there with what real-life patent trolls do.
I way prefer your avvie of twifight, theirs just looks like they mashed everything together with no sense of balance or appeal. Yours actually looks good. you clearly put some work and thought into it. So everyone claiming copycat can sod off.
4274917
Exactly so. And besides, what are the chances that two ponies with dissimilar origins might somewhat resemble each other? Anyone who's worked on a farm with draft animals already knows the answer. (Of course, they know how to tell 'em apart, too.)
4274917
... I approve of this.
4274863
That it does, as I have found. DAMN IT ALL.
4275030
You are my favourite dead ferret. Which means I apparently have other dead ferrets, and you're the favourite of the bunch. Huh, no wonder I'm single.
4275901
... I have never worked on a farm, and I kinda wanna know the answer. I MUST KNOW!
Anyway. Thank you, everyone, for your opinions on this subject. I admit that I tend to rely upon those that I respect to give me options when it comes to a matter in which I've no experience, and I hope you don't mind offering a poor lost
fucking insanesoul decide how she should react. You're all dear to me, and uh... well, that's it! You mean a lot to me, and I respect your opinions.... don't get cocky.
4276053
You'll be sent a bill for my legal services. I accept cash, check, and fanart. Oh, and I think you forgot to reply Dusty.
You got to admit though, they make great Halloween decs. Just remember to take them down after Halloween and store them in your closet next to all your other skeletons. Unless of course one of them starts regenerating flesh and reanimating, then you should probably let her go.
4276053 pshaw, this just means people are too biased.
4276158 Clearly it means you should adopt it. XD
4274615 , 4274630 , 4274666, 4274917, 4275030 & 4275901:
OKAY, so here's the update on my recent over-reaction - which is solely mine, because I am a total spastic mess at the best of times when it comes to ... whatever challenges my sensibilities and morals:
I contacted Smashfan666 through Deviantart about our "situation". I HAD TO, despite all the suggestions you lot offered to the contrary. I know full well that I tend to let little issues eat at me, and apparently ALL OF YOU know this better than I do, but... well, this wouldn't let go. Maybe in a couple of days the compulsive need to make amends would have faded, but... eh.
Here's Smashfan666's response to my apology and explanation:
... so there you go. Had to let you all know that you were right about this, though I maintain that my heart was in the right place, yeah?
... stop looking at me like that.
Smashfan was a very considerate and decent person about all this, and although I feel a bit stupid for letting myself get so upset about this in the first place, he inadvertently reaffirmed my faith in basic human decency! So I guess I learned a valuable lesson, and everything turned out great! GREAT!
... OKAY, I'M STILL A MESS BUT STILL.
4277114
Write a letter to the princess!
4277127
You're so right though! THAT'LL HAVE TO BE MY NEXT BLOG POST! Hum, I wonder what a Twifight Sparkill friendship report would read like?
... maybe I don't wanna know.
4277137 Nothing but Headache Voice? lel
4277141
You know me too well, my friend!
4277114 You're not a mess, you're our favourite mad dictator with a heart. Go you for talking to them!
4276053
If you're the new farmhand (or hoof), they all look alike, whether they look alike or not. Eventually you learn who's who.
4277748
It worked out so well! WHEW! ... also, I am a hot mess. I don't hide the fact - I just roll with it. YOU'RE MY FAVOURITE DEAD FERRET! I GOT GOOD TASTE! I'll keep you in my closet, and feed you peanut butter cups. WE"LL BE SO HAPPY!
Oh. I thought there'd be some cool trick or... well. If it just comes down to simple observation, there is NO WAY I'd ever be able to tell the difference! I AM TEH SUCK!
Anyway! HAPPY HALLOWEEN YOU LOT! MUCH LOVE!
4278499
4277748
... Fuck it, I'm going to ask. Am I the only one who actually looked up ferret diets? Because unless the internet has been lying to me (and it usually does
), ferrets are strictly carnivores. In fact, it's really not a good idea to feed them peanut butter, nuts, or anything sugary...
...
... oh, fuck it. Worst case scenario is diarrhea and cancer, and I'm sure that's not an issue if you're already dead.
4278541 Exactly!
4278744
Well shit. You're not dead anymore.
Can we still feed you peanut butter cups?