This was obviously done with traces of “Luna Eclipsed” and other episodes. Seriously, doesn’t anyone remember Luna in those poses?

@Background Pony #250B
 
On the plushies, I’d like to again point to my comparison to 3rd Party Transformers). No one’s going to argue they don’t infringe on copyright and stuff, but the reason a lot of Transformers fans are okay with them is because for a long time it was the only way to get:
 
a) characters Hasbro wasn’t producing for whatever reason (e.g. the original Insecticons, the Reflector trio),
 
b) a separate component that improves a Hasbro/ Takara-produced figure (e.g. additional or show accurate weapons, new heads or parts like Transformers Prime’s Star Saber),
 
or c) a character in the fan perferred form (e.g. a Springer who actually has 3 modes instead of a Springer who becomes a helicopter and a separate Springer who becomes a land vehicle).
 
The character designs might not be their own, but they still engineered and produced something their own way. The 3rd Party Stunticons, for example, don’t transform the same way the recently released Hasbro Stunticons do.
 
The first would be akin to people producing plushies of characters that get almost no (official) love like, say, Gilda. The second would be someone producing hats for Applejack toys (because, seriously, Hasbro, WTH?). The third would be someone producing a Rainbow Dash plushie whose wings can fold and spread out almost like on the show itself.
 
The designs might not be their own, but the engineering was. They might be able to do things Hasbro itself can’t due to budgetary reasons and the like.

@SlaveDeMorto You would think none of the people in these threads had ever been to DA.

@WM-R  
These are arbitrary standards though. All anyone is saying is that once some imaginary threshold of “enough” effort has been reached, then suddenly it’s okay to use someone else’s stuff. It’s like arguing whether 100 grains of sand constitutes a pile, a heap, or a mound. Plushie makers are copying trademarked characters, and the good ones are made to look as much like their counterparts in the show itself as possible. So no, they didn’t come up with the overall designs.
 
I think one of the big pieces many people are missing here is that Drawponies didn’t go out of his way to hide the fact that traces were used. More thorough disclaimers could have been employed, but overall, it just wasn’t any big secret.
 
You know, I’ve personally never even liked his stuff all that much. I would never spend any money on it myself, but I don’t begrudge its existence or the fact that some people buy it. If that’s what they want to spend their money on, more power to ‘em. Hasbro has a right to put a stop to it if they like, but maybe they don’t care enough about one cheap little fanartist. We’ll see.

@Background Pony #250B
 
Plushie makers use their own pattern to make the plushie… so yea

@Background Pony #250B  
Nope. Because they actually make their own plushies instead of selling Hasbro’s plushies as their own.

@Background Pony #250B
 
I think the argument they’re making is that this guy’s basically been making money off of a comparatively basic thing like tracing. He’s essentially reproducing offical art almost exactly and charging for it as though it was his own work.
 
In comparison, as far as I know plushie makers generally make their MLP plushies themselves (as in the poses, material, colours, etc) rather than duplicating official merchandise.
 
It’s kind of like how Transformers fans are often okay with Third Party Transformers despite the outrageous prices. Before Hasbro released the Combiner Wars series, Third Party was pretty much the only way to get decently designed combiners like Menasor and Superion. Those are completely engineered by the Third Party companies, rather than simply duplicating Hasbro’s designs.

@Xidphel  
Plushie makers make tons of money selling off trademarked characters. You have a problem with that too?

@Background Pony #250B  
A crime is a crime weather you’re the victim or not. From what I hear, he’s making money off of traced art which is a form of plagiarism. If that’s true, then they have the right to be pissed. Personally, I think it’s dumb they chose to act now instead of the other times he’s done this.

@Keith Mowz  
You sound like you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. You’re just espousing double standards and acting like you have a right to be outraged and slam some random cheap “artist” over something silly. If that stands, I have just as much right to call you a crybaby. What any of that has to do with SJWs, I can’t imagine, but I suspect you’re merely uncreative with pejorative terms. If anything, SJWs are the type to get constantly excited about stuff unrelated to them.
 
@SlaveDeMorto  
So, you admit you’re not his customer, but you think you still have some basis for being upset. Sure. If copying is stealing, then we’re all party to thieves, because nearly all of us watch illicit downloads of the show.
 
Some fanartists are perfectly okay with transformative versions of their work. Some are not. When it comes to art from the show, who can say? The vast majority of pony vectors are traces, and no one cares. You want to say it’s different because money is being made, but you can’t provide any basis for a reason why that should make a difference.

@Background Pony #250B  
Bad news for you. I do have my reasons to care about that matter.
 
Lets imagine that I am artist and I spent countless hours doing things, that I might have become popular, that I am making a living selling original art. And everything is cool right?  
Now lets imagine that there is a person who sold traced stuff, became one of the most recognized and popular artists in the whole fandom, person who have a dozen of people to walk around the cons selling his traced prints, person who is selling traces all over the country, person who traces screenshots to sell them to their fans as commissions, person who had his own freaking show panels on cons to teach bronies about art(How to Draw Ponies).  
How should I, as an artist feel about it? Of course my blood is boiling!
 
We are having a stolen artwork (traces from the show) praised and welcomed in the fandom. People are throwing money at person who is stealing art. People protect and white knight a popular thief. Is word thief too strong for you? Well, news flash - tracing is an art theft. When some popular artist is being traced/recolored by somebody unknown everyone start shouting “IT’S A TRACE!!! THIEF!!!!” and so on. But when it turns out that one of the most popular artists is in fact tracing screenshots from the cartoon and selling these said traces? “Cray cray drama bandwagon, it does not affect you in any way!”
 
It affects me just as much as any trace or art theft. Stealing is bad. Art is a hard work and stealing that said art from other artists (fans or show itself) is like spitting on everything that artists do. And in addition to stealing one dares to sell stolen things? Well excuse me, but I don’t like this at all.

@Background Pony #250B  
It didn’t change the meaning of your sentance whatsoever.
 
It just broadens how much stuff you feel like people shouldn’t give a shit about if it doesn’t personally, materially affect them.
 
You sound like the reason why SJWs exist.

@Xidphel  
Actually, that comment is for this very comic; I expect he’s been tracing for about as long as he’s been doing comics. (Two years? Three?)
 
@Background Pony #250B  
Still looks like it basically boils down to, “If it doesn’t affect you, don’t worry about it.”
 
I’m guessing it would also be OK if he had traced art by other fandom artists (e.g., Tsitra 360 or Egophiliac) for Patreon comics/commissions and/or for Redbubble merchandise?

@Blissey1  
Don’t chop up my sentences to change their meaning, thank you very much. If you’re going to argue for ethics, at least try to be ethical yourself. I said, “Does that affect you in any way more profoundly than any other cheap thing that is sold out there?” As in, if you don’t care about the nigh-infinite number of other silly little knockoffs in the world that you are not buying, why do you bother getting your undies in a twist about these? The way I see it, as long as Drawponies discloses the fact that his work is often based on traces, (and I have yet to hear a single customer come forward and say “What! Drawponies lied to me?!”), it’s nothing to get excited about. You people oughta chill out.

@Background Pony #250B  

 
I love this “it doesn’t effect you, why should you care” argument.
 
Yep, just block out everything that happens in the world except your immediate surroundings. That’s bound to end well!

@SlaveDeMorto  
>now I feel pissed off about the fact that he made a living by tracing and selling traces for years
 
Does that affect you in any way more profoundly than any other cheap thing that is sold out there? Hasbro itself is infamous for cutting corners on quality. It’s not artistically worthy of much prestige in the eyes of many people, but it’s also hardly a good cause for your ire. That is unless, of course, you were ever his customer, and were under the impression that his art was more original. But it doesn’t sound like you were, and neither are most of the drama band-wagoners.

@Niggoslav_Krawczyk  
I also heard the Rupert Murdoch comparison. So I guess that explains why people chose to complain now.

@Xidphel They’re basically the ‘green berets’ of /mlp/, elite of the elite…so technically 4chan?

@Blissey1  
Heard of it, went there once, saw the comments section of the James Tempest suicide. I could probably see them start shit like that.

@Xidphel  
Horse news

@Background Pony #B240  
Thanks for the answer to my question. Earliest known trace was 9.5 months ago and he may have traced for longer than that.
 
Next question: where did the whole Drawgate originate? 4chan? Reddit? Tumblr? Here?

Comment from 7 July 2014, 9.5 months before “Drawgate”:  
@Background Pony #3089  

@Blissey1  
I prefer the original art to the traces; @Vree hit the nail on the freakin’ head talking about how his traced art looks like a cut-and-paste job with poses that don’t quite look right when put together.
 
@Joshua  
I get that you respect Drawponies, maybe even consider him/them (a) friend(s), but responses like that aren’t helping matters either.

I suggest we put a “drawma in the comments” tag for all Traceponies related discussion

I’m curious. When was his earliest trace?

@SlaveDeMorto  

 
I may or may not save this comment reference and use it in further discussion of this topic because it sums it up nicely.