Stupid Question

[Koopaul]

Another topic from me already?

Well today I was talking to my friend who works at a skating rink. And he said today he got to dress up as Sonic and another guy dressed up as Mario.

I asked him was anything special going on, and he said "No"

So what I'm wondering is: was Nintendo or SEGA responsible for renting out these costumes and the use of these characters? Or are they just using a forged bootleg costumes that has no consent from their companies?

[Johans Nidorino]

Countless people cosplay their favorite characters.

So they were forged bootleg costumes with no necessary consent from their companies unless he told you he worked for Sega in the past.

What I'm wondering is why don't you ask him instead of asking here (though I guess there's a good reason... like you wanting to make sure of things before continuing a conversation with him).

[Koopaul]

His guess is as good as mine.

The difference between cosplay and this is that they are using those costumes to make money. The rink had signs that said "Mario and Sonic are Here Today!" They're using those characters to get people to the rink. Cosplay is just free fandom.

[Shrikeswind]

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, this question is moot anyways. In-person advertisements don't have to be run by the owners. It's actually a pretty basic concept: If Mario makes the rink look good, more people will come to the rink. If my employee acts like a jerk to customers, that hurts our reputation and I can fire him. If I have Mario come to the rink, he can't be hurt without harming the rink's reputation (since that would be against safety code.) So Mario is safe PR in face-time, because the rink can't cause Mario's reputation to go negative without something having Mario fired or taking it to court, so it must attempt positive, which benefits the company no matter what and acts as free advertising for Nintendo. (Replace Mario and Nintendo with Sonic and Sega if you wish.)

[Deleted]

Remember, Koopaul - as Mr. Garrison once said, there's no such thing as stupid questions, only stupid people.

Naw, I'm just kidding.

As for your question, I'm not entirely sure where you're coming from...no offense, but you tend to leap to conclusions and get self-righteous about this sort of thing. The way you've phrased it leads me to believe the same thing will happen, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but ultimately...does it matter? Unless Nintendo or Sega comes marching through the skating rink doors, there's no harm in it. It's as Shrikeswind says: it's just good for local business.

[Koopaul]

Its not a question if its right or wrong or if they'll be in trouble. Its a question if Nintendo actually let people rent Mario suits.

[Shrikeswind]

Directly? I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure they sell Mario costumes to non-affiliates for rental, but directly renting them out I'm not sure. Again a moot point, because even if they didn't non-licensed costumes are common and there's no reason for Nintendo to admonish the practice since they don't have to pay advertising for some guy to hawk ice rinks in a Mario costume unless it derides the series. And the only reason a company would deride the series is for competition. Being PREEETY sure Nintendo doesn't own a competing ice rink, it doesn't make much difference whether Mario, Master Chief, Ratchet, or even all three were to advertise the rink, though you'd have to question why any rational person would use Master Chief to advertise an ice rink, since Master Chief would PROBABLY not appeal to the right audience.

[Deleted]

Feb 22, 2010 0:16:14 GMT -5 Shrikeswind said:

Directly? I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure they sell Mario costumes to non-affiliates for rental, but directly renting them out I'm not sure. Again a moot point, because even if they didn't non-licensed costumes are common and there's no reason for Nintendo to admonish the practice since they don't have to pay advertising for some guy to hawk ice rinks in a Mario costume unless it derides the series. And the only reason a company would deride the series is for competition. Being PREEETY sure Nintendo doesn't own a competing ice rink, it doesn't make much difference whether Mario, Master Chief, Ratchet, or even all three were to advertise the rink, though you'd have to question why any rational person would use Master Chief to advertise an ice rink, since Master Chief would PROBABLY not appeal to the right audience.

You've seen Halo, and Halo Wars, and Halo ODST; Bungie has recently announced the upcoming installment of the Halo series, Halo On Ice! ;D

I'd go see it.

[Fryguy64]

This does sound like a promotional effort for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the whole shebang was set up for that purpose by a local Nintendo rep, and your friend just wasn't kept in the loop.

Using licensed characters in this way is usually illegal, however, and companies tend to crack down quite heavily on it.

[Johans Nidorino]

Feb 22, 2010 3:51:48 GMT -5 Fryguy64 said:

This does sound like a promotional effort for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

Clever! The dots were just waiting to be connected ;D

[Fryguy64]

I was a little baffled as to how nobody else picked up on that link

[Shrikeswind]

I thought of it at first, but I considered for a second whether it legally mattered anyways. As I said, I may have been mistaken (and according to you, I was, but I'm not arguing the point since it doesn't matter too much to me.) I do point out the humor in owning Mario's design, though. When you think about it, any guy can look like Mario, since the only particularly defining feature about him (well, aside from his generally cartoony look) is the M on his hat. Otherwise, anyone with the right outfit can potentially look like the guy. Hell, if I shaved right and took off my glasses, I could honestly go a day looking like Mario (with only one minor detail, I don't have the hat) and while it would probably register with alot of people, only the most severe douche-bags would mock me because Mario looks like an ordinary guy. Mario's just an ordinary guy in an extraordinary world where turtles talk, mushrooms walk, and even the clouds have eyes.

[Fryguy64]

It would be nigh on impossible for Nintendo to crack down on costumes that look a bit like Mario, for that very reason. And it's already happened. Have a look at fancy dress costume websites, many of which have videogame character sections. You can see which are licensed and which are not by the use of trademarked names...

"Video game plumber" or "mascot dungarees" are not trademarked, and there's no trademark on blue dungarees, a red shirt and hat, and a moustache, even when sold in combination.

Sonic is slightly different, although I'm sure I've seen unlicensed costumes for him as well, with similarly vague names (mascot hedgehog, for example).

It's the same with characters from movies and TV as well. Indiana Jones becomes "movie explorer". Captain Jack Sparrow becomes "drunk pirate". Davyth, the only gay in the village from Little Britain, becomes "comedy gay".

There's always a way around it. If Nintendo don't like it, they can always license their characters to costume companies for mass production... like Capcom seems to.

[Manspeed]

Last Halloween Nintendo actually did start licensing official Mario and Luigi costumes, so maybe they're a step ahead of us. ;D

[Fryguy64]

Bah! Not in my town they didn't! I would have totally gone as Mario instead of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar!