This is serious: Max face image illegaly used in snack promotion?

edited February 2008 in Sam & Max
I am a huge fan of the Sam & Max games. Ever since Hit the Road (not from telltale games but still).

And this is worrying me: I opened up a pack of snacks here in Brazil, only to find some promotional stickers inside, and guess what, one of them is an exact copy of Max, but there's no mention of Sam & Max licensing anywhere! It only says "by faustin bros". This can be found inside Elma Chips snacks (an international brand).

I want to know if this is licensed or not. Because I get pretty pissed off by scam and people that take advantage of other people's ideas and creativity. And if this is not authorized by whoever holds the rights of the Max figure, I will be even more ashamed of being a Brazilian citizen than I already am...

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I myself have a starting, indie game development studio, and I know how much a stolen idea or character is bad.

Well, that's it. Just to let you know. Keep releasing good stuff!

:D:);):D:confused:
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Comments

  • edited January 2008
    Most rabbit (or rabbity thing) heads tend to look alike. :)
  • edited January 2008
    Let's call it a "homage" and simply be amazed at the cultural impact that Max has, hm? :)
  • edited January 2008
    It certaintly looks like Max, but the picture size is stretching the forum!
    Udvarnoky wrote: »
    Most rabbit (or rabbity thing) heads tend to look alike. :)
    And how many have THAT grin?
  • edited January 2008
    It certaintly looks like Max, but the picture size is stretching the forum!

    Sorry, I wanted the image to be REAL clear and leave no room for doubt, I know it is WAY too oversized...
  • edited January 2008
    gamekill wrote: »
    Sorry, I wanted the image to be REAL clear and leave no room for doubt, I know it is WAY too oversized...
    A bit blurry too if I might add. :p
  • edited January 2008
    My god - look at that pair of GIANT FINGERS!
  • edited January 2008
    jp-30 wrote: »
    My god - look at that pair of GIANT FINGERS!

    Let's kill it! :D

    It certainly does look like Max. Which is why I want one :p
  • edited January 2008
    This is serious guys. lol
  • edited January 2008
    It might well be meant to resemble Max. Look what a chewing gum company from Argentina once did with Murray: here and here
  • edited January 2008
    Oh my! It's a picture of a bunny with a grin, which, if one squints (really hard), looks like Max... well, in a way that wouldn't be supported in any court of law anyway, but still! On with the pitchforks!
  • jmmjmm
    edited January 2008
    Nope, that isn't Max. Maybe its some long lost relative but

    a) Max ears are a bit more separated
    b) The eyes are too large
    c) The head is too round to be Max
    d) Max is cute and marketable, not a cheap item included in a set of cheap items

    Still, like Kedri said: Let's call it a "homage" .... and at least its not a bootleg copy of the season 1 dvd or something like that.
  • edited January 2008
    There is still the matter of the grin, though. Also, Max's body dimensions were slightly different in the cartoon.
  • edited January 2008
    There is still the matter of the grin, though.
    Exactly. Who has ever seen a rabbit with a grin like that? Stereotypically, bunnies are depicted with two protruding front teeth. Not with a grin like that, complete with zigzag pattern. My guess is that the 'artist' who created the bunny head was looking for a reference picture, and found one of Max.
  • edited January 2008
    I can't really tell can you post some bigger images please?
  • edited January 2008
    i read it as

    "Max face image illegaly used in smack promotion?"

    Hence i was a bit confused at the enourmous pictures of some blurry metal thing
  • edited January 2008
    I bet the metallic paint they used has lead in it.....maybe it is Max!
  • edited January 2008
    The way the mouth was drawn is pretty suspicious. I'm fairly certain they used Max's likeness as the basis for this design.

    But is some obscure Brazilian candy manufacturer worth an international lawsuit or a decline in patriotism? Probably not. So I'll just be glad Max's head is being recognized as a universal symbol of something-or-other.

    Oh, and by the way: I appreciate the large images, but simply give us the ADDRESSES of the photos so the Graphic Design majors don't get a heart attack.
  • edited January 2008
    One rabbit, one law! World domination!
  • EmilyEmily Telltale Alumni
    edited January 2008
    It does look like Max.

    We sent this to Steve.
  • edited January 2008
    yea wow seriously a small pic woulda done. At first id say this was a hello kitty char but after digging into the Faustin bros.. id say steve has some grounds to sue the chip company the company will sue the artist
    Seems there are a bunch of these guys
    http://www.punkypow.com/main.html

    found a few art galleries too. mostly anthropomorphic creatures (IE human cats and such).. kinda like sam n max :P(minus the cat part)

    someone must have liked that flame design seems a subtle tribute to that. :P doh!
  • edited January 2008
    Emily wrote: »
    It does look like Max.

    We sent this to Steve.

    How good are Mr Purcell's lawyers? :P
  • edited January 2008
    jmm wrote: »
    Nope, that isn't Max. Maybe its some long lost relative but

    a) Max ears are a bit more separated
    b) The eyes are too large
    c) The head is too round to be Max
    d) Max is cute and marketable, not a cheap item included in a set of cheap items

    Still, like Kedri said: Let's call it a "homage" .... and at least its not a bootleg copy of the season 1 dvd or something like that.
    I kinda agree its probubly a long lost relative like Max's brother! (yes Max has a brother i saw it on You-Tube though its now gone *sobs*)
  • edited January 2008
    Emily wrote: »
    It does look like Max.

    We sent this to Steve.

    I could read this in two ways.
    "We sent this to Steve" for him to look at and appreciate that someone took inspiration (or to take a better word from Kedri, a "homage") from his work.
    OR
    "We sent this to Steve" for him to get his lawyers on for infringing his copyright and so the sticker can be removed, as Steve created the character and the image.

    Either way: *sits back and puts feet up and watches the plot unravel* :D
  • edited January 2008
    Steve will probably take it as a compliment. And then hopefully contact the lawyer.
  • edited January 2008
    mish wrote: »
    Steve will probably take it as a compliment. And then hopefully contact the lawyer.

    The best of both worlds.
  • edited January 2008
    Hi guys. I found by a coincidence this thread searching for "Faustin Bros" products.

    This chip company is not the only one who uses concept A BIT similar with Sam & Max. Those characters are used by a cookie company also in several ways as keyhangers, stickers, notebooks, etc.

    Im a graphic designer, drawer and character designer and i found very disturbing comments in here..

    I´ve watched some images of the supposedly ripped "Sam & MaX" by this chip company ( Sabritas). In my opinion, i just found that THE ONLY FEATURE SIMILAR IS THE MOUTH., and that could be a merely coincidence by the same "cartoon Style" those characters share. As a character designer and drawer, i think its a little simple to hang a signature of "ripped" without noticing some ( but specific and important) details.

    First of all, Sam and Max are 2 characters that exhibit very different concept in their anthopometric features: height, proportions of arms, legs and head; facial expression and so on.

    Above all i think only the creators of SAM & MAX could tell if there´s something cheese here: at Sabrita´s usage of those anthro characters... But, seriously guys, i think its not good stuff you raise your hands and point at that company saying " HEY LOOK AT THIS. THEY ARE STEALING A CHARACTER"

    I dont believe that Sabritas stool Sam & Max characters AT ALL. Lets analize some other examples of "ripping":

    A british company (Media Molecule) is about to release a game , for the PS3console, called "Little big Planet" in which main character we find a plushie little guy (Sackboy) and his friends. Someone here remember that cover of the "KORN" band that has a weird plushie on the cover? Well, to me they both are the same...

    Why? i dont think the creators of this PS3 game ripped the KORN plushie, because the design of that fella its quite simple and predictable:A vodoo plushie/doll ; we all can figure out this kind of character.

    You can create your own simplified creature by following these simple steps:

    1.-Choose you favorite animal/creature

    2.- Do exagerate the most expresive features of it (which feature give more depth of expression? The face... so, the head)

    3.- Proportion: Define the character`s head first, then; make sure the whole body of it can fit on a space with the same dimention of the head. The tail, horns can go beyond that invisible"box", but try to dont exagerate it too much.

    4.- If not needed, other parts of the body can be left behind. ( legs and arms will not make dramatic or complicated moves, so thay can be simplified as this: rounded sticks or cone-like softed shapes.

    5.- To make my creature more "kind" or easy to accept by most of ppl and add it with a high "marketing" flexibility/posibility... make it cute... Exagerated... puffy... POKEMON XD ( you add curved lines to it so the desing be less agresive to the eye... just puffy it)


    After all... i found the Funki-Punkies ( name of this fellas) not even close to Sam & MAX characters but Pokemon like. I think Pokemon uses the same "method" of CHIBIZATION i described above... which is sooo simple to do.

    CHIBI: also called SD or superdeformed character. A japanese word that means "tiny" . Its a type of deformation that lots of japanese characters suffer to put them in to comic/cute situations along the stories where they apply.


    I put you some links here so you guys can make your own opinion, i made mine already :)

    Do analize the characters on these links and find coincidences... And i dont think these characters were STOOLEN from one owner to the other. Then why they have similar features? Again... because what their creators wanted to represent here is a humanoid form: head, legs and arms, and its easy to simplify, dont need details so it can look like a potato sack. Want it cute? Do exagerate head and facial expressions... VOILÁ

    *****************
    Character: Moonito
    http://jorgito.deviantart.com/art/parche-moonito-43554754

    Characters: Dinosaurs
    http://justflyakite.deviantart.com/art/DinoSaurs-SuperEgos-61648069

    Characters: ?
    http://nocheprimigenia.deviantart.com/art/1683-40149868

    Character: SAMWOO
    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=P6mIdTbmelQ

    Character: Puka
    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=gz_bRY0WKbw&feature=related

    Character:? Minipato anime OAV ( Pattlabor)
    http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZ_XZ5zAUc
  • edited January 2008
    That's why I said call it a homage, because we could debate whether they look alike to the end of time.
  • edited January 2008
    Agree Kedri, but some other users here have the idea of a "sue"? involving words as "lawyers"? Those things are going too far in my opinion. All i see its a proposal of certain characters in a NOTHIN NEW cartoonish style.
  • edited January 2008
    SUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE this is america! SUE SUE SUE...
    did it have a sign on it saying this is NOT sam n max? no? SUEEE!!!

    lol I loooove america :P
  • edited January 2008
    I say asking our beloved President what he has to say. This IS about him, after all!
  • edited January 2008
    Kaldire wrote: »
    SUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE this is america! SUE SUE SUE...
    did it have a sign on it saying this is NOT sam n max? no? SUEEE!!!

    lol I loooove america :P

    America? you mean... NORTH america :)

    It doesnt have a sign saying " I cannot design my own characters" neither
    .What a depressing comment =/

    Hope not all ppl in NORTH america think this way...
  • edited January 2008
    i guess it's more of a cliché...btw, who is this sue? is she hot or what?:D
  • edited January 2008
    Raider, I think the problem here is really that cartoon rabbits with shark teeth aren't exactly a common design choice.
    It'd probably be a bit OTT to sue over it, but the similarities seem more than just coincidence.
  • MelMel
    edited January 2008
    Raider wrote: »
    America? you mean... NORTH america :)

    It doesnt have a sign saying " I cannot design my own characters" neither
    .What a depressing comment =/

    Hope not all ppl in NORTH america think this way...

    Having seen other posts by Kaldire, I think he was being very sarcastic. :rolleyes:
  • edited January 2008
    Badwolf wrote: »
    Raider, I think the problem here is really that cartoon rabbits with shark teeth aren't exactly a common design choice.
    It'd probably be a bit OTT to sue over it, but the similarities seem more than just coincidence.

    Well perhaps you have a point. I´ve seen these characters around the TV, print media,etc and was the first time i saw this RABBIT actually, never find any image of it.

    About the shark teeth, well i dont know how dificult could be figure out things. Several years before i designed a own story in which main characters we could find 2 mechs: Otora y Turok. That was back in 1995 -1996, was my first personal story... Some years after i saw a video game named TUROK, about a barbarian in a RPG-action world.
    Can you imagine my reaction at that time? I think some kind of situations are coincidences like this example.... From that point i notice that is just a matter of time that some things we think are original can be figured out by someone else... because we can be influenced by the same things...visually in my case.

    The sharp teeth its a resource that once i considered but was too much cinycal for my characters. Actually im working on a comic strip of orginal characters and getting comments like: HEY THOSE GUYS ACT LIKE CALVIN AND HOBBES... thats not nice, neither comfort thing. Imagine what would happend if i used the shark-teeth? proly i wa sin the line of fire here, and not the Faustin Bros. lol

    Thats why i got my nose here guys, because i,ve been ( and maybe i will) in the other side of what you are talking about. When you design soemthing its true, you can be influenced by some other artist. but, in my case and for self experience; you realize that your work can be very close to someone else´s... then you change it... and when you are satisfied whit it... some other person point at it and say IT LOOKS TO SOME OTHER WORK I SAW SOMEWHERE ELSE. you were trying to change it enough so it doesnt look like a particular character, but ended looking like another you dont event though or consider.... that could happend.


    I remember, early january of 2007, when i saw the promotion of this characters, the first sticker that came out from a cookie pack was a laminated panda with that sarcastic smile ( the very same panda that appeared in the image posted here). Honestly, never saw the rabbit before. I remember ated a lot of cookies to get several stickers from these dudes ( wont do it again for sure XD) and the bunny never came out. I just bought a keychain of them this past Monday, a blue cat with sarcastic shark-smile now the main characters are the blue cat and a red lyl devil dude. You can check out both "waves" or promotions here:

    Funkie Punkies in Mexico
    This is the link for the actual promotion of the characters we are talking about, at Mexico.

    I got confused here... Because you can find this characters now in Mexico too and i thought the company "Sabritas" ( chip company in Mexico) was using them at the same time, which surprised me.

    The link that Kaldire provide (http://www.punkypow.com/main.html) its a chip company named "Frito Lay" from puerto Rico. So, we have these characters at Puerto Rico, Brazil and all latin america? lol. Never expect that.
  • edited January 2008
    Sabritas is owned by Frito-Lay you know :)
  • edited January 2008
    tabacco wrote: »
    Sabritas is owned by Frito-Lay you know :)

    Nope, didnt know. And seem like Frito Lay consider the success of these lyl monsters by Gamesa and use them under his signature in other countries. Dont know who use them first...if Gamesa or Frito Lay lolz.


    oh well
  • edited January 2008
    wisp wrote: »
    btw, who is this sue? is she hot or what?:D

    Sue? Si.
  • edited January 2008
    MrSneeze wrote: »
    How good are Mr Purcell's lawyers? :P

    He's a member of the Disney family since he works for Pixar and those two companies are one now.

    'Nuff said.
  • EsnEsn
    edited February 2008
    Raider wrote: »
    America? you mean... NORTH america :)

    Actually, the acceptable meaning of America in the English language is as a contraction of "the United States of America". Hence, an "American" is a citizen of the United States (what else would you call him? A "U.S.er"?). The landmass is seen as two different continents called "North America" and "South America".

    This is NOT the case in other languages, particularly Spanish, where "America" means what in English would be called "North and South America".
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