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View Full Version : The Mindflayer in #32



Grinner
2013-03-06, 07:17 PM
I've been behind on OOTS updates for a while, so I decided to just go ahead and reread the entire series. I got to comic #32, in which Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodriguez haul a Mind Flayer off, citing trademark infringement or something of that nature, and a filler comic follows.

Did Rich actually get a Cease and Desist order from the wizard who lives by the coast?

SavageWombat
2013-03-06, 07:21 PM
To quote Zz'dtri, "parody is protected speech". If it were a recurring character, he might have gotten a complaint, but it's not likely.

NerdyKris
2013-03-06, 07:21 PM
No. It's just a joke. Just like Zdtri.

Grinner
2013-03-06, 07:24 PM
No. It's just a joke. Just like Zdtri.


To quote Zz'dtri, "parody is protected speech". If it were a recurring character, he might have gotten a complaint, but it's not likely.

Okay. Thanks. :smallsmile: I was having trouble figuring out whether they were being serious or not.

titan_monarch
2013-03-06, 08:11 PM
Still, in the print compilation, "Mind Flayer" becomes "Brain eater" when Elan's wondering what it is, and "brain-eating aberration" when we get to see what it's thinking. I guess the copyright/parody rules are slightly different if the work is one you actually pay for, as opposed to the free web version.

But yeah, in the comic it's just a joke.

Koo Rehtorb
2013-03-06, 08:38 PM
Brain Eater fits Elan better anyway.

NerdyKris
2013-03-06, 09:45 PM
Still, in the print compilation, "Mind Flayer" becomes "Brain eater" when Elan's wondering what it is, and "brain-eating aberration" when we get to see what it's thinking. I guess the copyright/parody rules are slightly different if the work is one you actually pay for, as opposed to the free web version.

But yeah, in the comic it's just a joke.

More like it wasn't worth the risk. The rules don't really change between free and for pay, but changing a single image file on a server to say "Brain eater" if Hasbro complained is infinitely easier and far less expensive than having to recall and destroy an entire print run of books. One costs you nothing. The other costs all the thousands of dollars you spent printing those books.

Ron Miel
2013-03-07, 06:44 AM
He's making fun of WOTC.

Note the title of the strip "Biting the Hand that Feeds Me"

Rich was working for WOTC at the time, writing sourcebooks. Very unlikely that they would have sued him.

DC isn't going to complain about the one panel Batman cameo either.

The Succubus
2013-03-07, 06:50 AM
I've been behind on OOTS updates for a while, so I decided to just go ahead and reread the entire series. I got to comic #32, in which Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodriguez haul a Mind Flayer off, citing trademark infringement or something of that nature, and a filler comic follows.

Did Rich actually get a Cease and Desist order from the wizard who lives by the coast?

What Mindflayer? There was specifically no Mindflayers in #32. There was a squidy thing that ate people's brains and was very intelligent but it most definitely wasn't a Mindflayer at all. Nossir.

TheYell
2013-03-07, 10:26 AM
I've been behind on OOTS updates for a while, so I decided to just go ahead and reread the entire series. I got to comic #32, in which Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodriguez haul a Mind Flayer off, citing trademark infringement or something of that nature, and a filler comic follows.

Did Rich actually get a Cease and Desist order from the wizard who lives by the coast?

No. The fact it's still up there is proof he was not ordered to not use it.

Caex
2013-03-08, 12:24 AM
Still, in the print compilation, "Mind Flayer" becomes "Brain eater" when Elan's wondering what it is, and "brain-eating aberration" when we get to see what it's thinking. I guess the copyright/parody rules are slightly different if the work is one you actually pay for, as opposed to the free web version.

But yeah, in the comic it's just a joke.

Huh, I hadn't noticed the difference between the two. "Illithid" also became "Illithiod."

Nimrod's Son
2013-03-08, 12:47 AM
The photos of the Band Aid packet (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0006.html) and Diet Coke can (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0031.html) are replaced in the book with drawings featuring generic brand names too.

An Enemy Spy
2013-03-08, 01:06 AM
Is it just me, or is it weird that the mind flayer thinks Haley's brain is "too sweet"? Imagine if this scene was written several hundred strips later when the characters had been developed more.

Grinner
2013-03-08, 01:30 AM
Is it just me, or is it weird that the mind flayer thinks Haley's brain is "too sweet"?

I was too busy trying to figure out how a brain can taste sweet.


Imagine if this scene was written several hundred strips later when the characters had been developed more.

Elaborate, please.

Domino Quartz
2013-03-08, 01:34 AM
The perceived "flavours" of their brains/minds were probably based on their mental stats.