First off let me say that I don’t care for a lot of the drama surrounding homestuck at cons. I like portal, you like homestuck, that girl over there likes naruto, that guy over there is a brony, and that guy running tech is a furry. I don’t care. A fandom is a fandom is a fandom. We’re all here to show our love in a safe place. Cosplay however you like (within reason). Show your love. Run your panels. Wear your horns. Whatever. Please just try to keep the gray off of everything you touch. I don’t want to be charged by the GSR for cleaning gray off of the carpet.

My problem comes with homestuck at artist alley and the “official” stance of homestuck not allowing prints or 3d media to be sold.

So before I go further, let me say that what I’m about to say is my personal opinion and not the official opinion of the con or anyone else in the con who isn’t me. The official stance of the convention (apparently) is that there was a complaint, and the ban notice is public, so therefore we are disallowing homestuck fan art prints to be sold in artist alley to essentially force you to comply with the artist’s wishes. This is how Artist Alley wants to handle it. This is how our completely-unofficial-and-we-aren’t-actually-taking-his-advice legal person wants to handle it. I don’t really want to bother the lawyer for an official legal opinion, so . . . whatever.

My opinion: fan art is fan art is fan art. The fact is, we allow fan art and IMO we should allow ALL fan art. You sell fan art at your own risk. There are people who go to conventions to look for fan art and then sue the artists. It’s unlikely with how small we are, but we are a rising star con – we have been picking up notice quickly.

But whatever. We can’t really police everything.

Since my opinion and that of the con’s is different, there’s not much I can do beyond saying this –
Don’t sell homestuck in artist alley. Don’t sell anything which says “homestuck” on it. Don’t have any signs or labels which say “homestuck” on them.
Do sell “candy corn horns.” Do sell “shirt with random zodiac symbol on it.”
Catch my drift? Look up the drama surrounding the Jayne Cobb Hat and you’ll see why I’m already bitter about this topic and suggesting ways around it. Sell whatever crafts you’ve got, but for the love of Cthulhu (or something) just don’t call it “homestuck!!!”

Seriously. No one owns horns, no matter what color you make them. I’m pretty sure you can even call them ‘colored troll horns’ because trolls have been around for a really long time, and they have horns. No one can stop you. But the MOMENT you even BREATHE the dreaded “homestuck” word, you’re done. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Prints are trickier, but doable if you’re determined. You would need to figure out how what you’re selling falls under parody or fair use (and “fair use” is much harder to qualify for than one would think). It’s tricky but anybody can do it. Keep in mind that you would have to make the image with the precise purpose of parody or fair use.

The best example of a parody print I’ve ever seen in an artist alley is an image of the girl from the Ring crawling out the TV, and falling down a tall dresser or something similar. She’s sprawled down the dresser with her foot caught on the ledge of the TV, with a voice bubble in kana – “kuso!” So, that’s a solid example of parody. It’s not the artist’s character and it’s completely legal and untouchable. =D

Yes, I bought that print. xD

The more drama that I see because of that homestuck artist, the more I want to start my own comic which is a solid parody of homestuck and then go sell prints of that parody which people will try to tell me I can’t because homestuck, and I can say no, it’s not homestuck, it’s this other thing which totally makes fun of homestuck. So stuff it.

But I’m passive aggressive, bitter, vindictive, etc . . . I’d never actually do it because I spend my time doing other things . . . like con . . . and Minecraft.

And I swear, if anyone who reads this tries to say that I said it was okay to sell fan art of homestuck at AA, so help me, I will pull your badge! I am not saying it’s okay to sell homestuck fan art. The rules are the rules. What I’m saying is IF you have a legal leg to stand on through either not calling your generic props homestuck, or your prints are very obviously parody or fair use that no one can argue with, then you’re gold.

BTW – also just my opinion, here . . . The way to handle someone selling something in artist alley that you don’t like, is to talk to the artist. If the fan(s) (IDK who, it’s all hearsay at this point) had just said “hey, did you know the artist doesn’t want you selling that? Here’s a link to it on my smartphone,” the artist probably would have said “oh really, no I didn’t know that, I’ll stop.” I’m about 90% sure that’s what would have happened in 2012 if the fans had just talked to the artist alley artist instead of the art director and I wouldn’t even be annoyed right now.

But – in the words of Dennis Miller – that’s just my opinion; I could be wrong.

(Comments will be turned off on this post because this isn’t a debate. I don’t care what you or anyone else thinks about it. What matters is what Nuriko and Llama think. I just wanted to bitch share. Do not get yourself in trouble over my rant, and do not cause them any grief. Or me.)