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Post by tarkintino on Mar 10, 2022 9:02:57 GMT -5
Famously, Lucas owned the licensing rights, in exchange for profit points from ticket sales... but came out the big winner, making Gagillions from the toys, etc. He neglected, however, to get the rights to the actors' likenesses. That's why the action figures never really looked like the actors. Not exactly true. Kenner's 12-inch line of Star Wars figures (1979-80) were clearly based on the actors--not the level of accuracy one would see decades later with companies such as Hot Toys, but they were capturing the actor's likeness, as seen below: In a few cases, manufacturers did have likeness rights to some actors not in ape make-up, such as Ron Harper and James Naughton (astronauts Virdon and Burke from the 1974 TV series). In the case of Star Trek, companies did not have likeness rights to actors such as William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy (the cause of a lawsuit brought by the actors against Paramount in the 1970s), but their likeness were captured on innumerable products, from action figures, to board game and drinking cup art, posters, etc., which is one of the reasons Star Trek's licensing was phenomenally successful from the 70s-forward, as buyers gravitated toward items that actually looked like the actors, instead of being a cheap item from a series in name only (see LJN's terrible line based on the Emergency! TV series).
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Post by impulse on Mar 10, 2022 9:27:43 GMT -5
That's interesting. Any time lawyers get involved it becomes a mess, but I can't imagine there are many people that even know who Bela Lugosi is. Isn't she the girl from Twilight? Played by Kristen what's-her-name? (I'm kidding, please don't slap me)
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Post by tartanphantom on Mar 10, 2022 9:45:32 GMT -5
Famously, Lucas owned the licensing rights, in exchange for profit points from ticket sales... but came out the big winner, making Gagillions from the toys, etc. He neglected, however, to get the rights to the actors' likenesses. That's why the action figures never really looked like the actors. Not exactly true. Kenner's 12-inch line of Star Wars figures (1979-80) were clearly based on the actors--not the level of accuracy one would see decades later with companies such as Hot Toys, but they were capturing the actor's likeness, as seen below: In a few cases, manufacturers did have likeness rights to some actors not in ape make-up, such as Ron Harper and James Naughton (astronauts Virdon and Burke from the 1974 TV series). In the case of Star Trek, companies did not have likeness rights to actors such as William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy (the cause of a lawsuit brought by the actors against Paramount in the 1970s), but their likeness were captured on innumerable products, from action figures, to board game and drinking cup art, posters, etc., which is one of the reasons Star Trek's licensing was phenomenally successful from the 70s-forward, as buyers gravitated toward items that actually looked like the actors, instead of being a cheap item from a series in name only (see LJN's terrible line based on the Emergency! TV series).
I really wish they had used Rick Moranis as the Darth Vader likeness model though...
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,737
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Post by shaxper on Mar 10, 2022 10:28:45 GMT -5
One would hope so, but who knows, she might have had to sign a contract beforehand that gave all those rights to whomevr Mrvels owners happen to be. Likeness rights are a nightmare maze to figure out, especially on older properties. Most modern contracts include likeness rights of the actors as part of the contract but also include a percentage of merchandising revenue paid to the actors as part of their residuals for the project, especially in properties that have strong toy tie ins like Star Wars, Marvel Studios, etc. So yes, they sign away the likeness rights but yes they get paid for it. Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager) alleges that, during the show's production in the 1990s, people from Playmates Toys arrived on set to take photographs and measurements of the actors for their action figures, including photos and measurements of her butt.
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Post by MDG on Mar 10, 2022 11:03:08 GMT -5
Likeness rights are a nightmare maze to figure out, especially on older properties. Most modern contracts include likeness rights of the actors as part of the contract but also include a percentage of merchandising revenue paid to the actors as part of their residuals for the project, especially in properties that have strong toy tie ins like Star Wars, Marvel Studios, etc. So yes, they sign away the likeness rights but yes they get paid for it. Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager) alleges that, during the show's production in the 1990s, people from Playmates Toys arrived on set to take photographs and measurements of the actors for their action figures, including photos and measurements of her butt. ...later she called Playmates Toys and they had no idea what she was talking about
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 10, 2022 14:01:12 GMT -5
Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager) alleges that, during the show's production in the 1990s, people from Playmates Toys arrived on set to take photographs and measurements of the actors for their action figures, including photos and measurements of her butt. Reminds of an interview with Lindsay Wagner I watched about 10 or so years ago in which she talked about how whatever toy company had the license for Bionic Woman figures sent a bunch of people over to take photos and measurements - they apparently even used calipers to take intricate measurements of her nose, chin, etc. Then she laughed and said when the doll was released it looked like Farah Fawcett.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 14, 2022 6:17:48 GMT -5
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 16, 2022 15:43:03 GMT -5
I never liked that Marvel Made Thors hammer something that could break. The Magic should have given it some sort of toughness.
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 16, 2022 18:27:02 GMT -5
I never liked that Marvel Made Thors hammer something that could break. The Magic should have given it some sort of toughness. Question (which I'm sure has been answered somewhere else): Is Mjolnir stronger than Adamantium or Vibranium?
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 16, 2022 21:28:43 GMT -5
I never liked that Marvel Made Thors hammer something that could break. The Magic should have given it some sort of toughness. Question (which I'm sure has been answered somewhere else): Is Mjolnir stronger than Adamantium or Vibranium? The Hammer has been split in an early story involving the Destroyer. I have never seen Adamantium broken.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2022 22:06:20 GMT -5
'Virgin' covers look great sometimes, but with so many variants around it's sometimes impossible for someone to readily recognise (1) the series and (2) issue number. No one I showed this to could immediately identify it....but I definitely flipped 6 copies....essentially paying for the 2 I kept for myself.
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 17, 2022 5:43:22 GMT -5
'Virgin' covers look great sometimes, but with so many variants around it's sometimes impossible for someone to readily recognise (1) the series and (2) issue number. No one I showed this to could immediately identify it....but I definitely flipped 6 copies....essentially paying for the 2 I kept for myself.
Nice cover. I have the Marvel Greatest comics reprints , and I used to place the actual FF issue number on the bag to identify what corresponding FF issue it was.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Mar 17, 2022 15:31:34 GMT -5
Question (which I'm sure has been answered somewhere else): Is Mjolnir stronger than Adamantium or Vibranium? The Hammer has been split in an early story involving the Destroyer. I have never seen Adamantium broken. Adamantium has been broken. In Uncanny X-Men #160 the demon S'ym casually rips off one of Wolverine's claws and uses it as a toothpick.
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Post by kirby101 on Mar 19, 2022 10:59:43 GMT -5
Stan never wrote anything and just transcribed what the artist did.
Stan constantly wrote a story and dialog that changed what the artist did.
Oh, that Stan!
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Post by badwolf on Mar 19, 2022 17:24:30 GMT -5
Quantum Stan.
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