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TL:DR I do not want to cancel the show, I don't want it to cancel me.
So I have been forced, basically, to make this statement as I am being asked about this character or 'introduced' to it (and the incoming new show) against my desires. I have deleted all previous posts about my encounters with this problem long ago for personal reasons that will be apparent, but people don't know about my situation and do deserve an explanation. I will keep this post short for my own mental health. This is the first time I have disclosed any of this information to the public, and it is hopefully the last. My silence has been a part of my uncomfortable situation, but it's clear the world won't let me try to just ignore it any longer, so it's full disclosure time.
1, Yes. I know about Mr Puzzles and his uncanny resemblance to RGB, my character from the on going comic The Property of Hate, who pre-exists Mr Puzzles by approximately ten years.
I did not, as a consequence, base RGB off Mr Puzzles...
2, I have received very violent and manipulative hate mail from fans of that character over the past few years due to this similarity, many threatening to slander me via cancel culture to discredit my own creations. The worst of these messages almost caused me to commit suicide which close friends can attest to (this period coincided with the death of my father which they used against me to full effect).
Since then the hatemail has been less frequent, but continues, and I am afraid it will pick up again with the advent of this new show.
3, I have contacted the smg4 management about these issues, to no avail. My first email was a request to tell their followers to cease sending me hatemail, which they did not attempt in any way. They have never responded to the large overlaps in terms of RGB's design, and when I finally sent them an email via a lawyer as a last resort (which cost me £4000) they did not respond. Please note that I did not ask for a cease and desist, I only wanted the hatemail to stop, and perhaps for them to alter Mr Puzzle's design very slightly to be a little less like RGB's. I even made this simple suggestion as an example:
Despite going out of my way (against the lawyer's wishes) to phrase the letter in a none-hostile manner, and offer them an alternative, they did not reply to this email at all.
I am a disabled indie cartoonist; I do not have the money to take further legal action, and in any case I do not want to. I hate conflict, and the emotional toll of sending that email alone was enough to make me miserable and exhausted for months. All I want is to be left alone, and for people to know that RGB was invented first. I cannot afford to do anything to protect myself or make anyone listen legally; this post is the most I can do, and it is the only post I intend to make about it.
that's it. that's the whole situation. please do not message me about the show, or the character, as both are very distressing to me: if you do I will either delete the message, or block you, depending on the angle. I have blocked all related tags, and I will unfollow if I see posts, so I am doing everything I can to take care of myself in a non-aggressive fashion. I have only made this statement so that people understand.
a small example of some of the hatemail (which was preserved only to be sent to the makers as evidence which, again, they did not respond to) below the readmore. read at your own discretion, it is unpleasant.
Thank you to everyone who has been sending such kind messages, I promise I really do read them all, even if I can't reply, but while these messages are wonderful (and really. I mean it. just the nicest and most heartfelt things I've ever seen) the sad fact is they don't change my situation. But you can change it. You can help me.
If you know my situation, if you want to help me, please write to Glitch Productions. They are the only people who can, and I believe, might, be able and willing to save me. SMG4 has ignored me, even through a legal letter. I have no hope that they will do otherwise, but Glitch are a different case and I think they just genuinely don't know I exist. I have sent them a message, to no reply, but more messages means more of a chance they will notice. IF you are on twitter please message that way, I closed my account there years ago, and please be polite: I am not asking for hate, even if I've received it.
Even a short message will help. I need numbers, I need voices. My own voice is being drowned out, but you can speak for me as well.
For some points on the plagiarism under the read more (what I collected/organized while building up an email to send):
1) TIMELINE
RGB was created long before, over a decade before Mr. Puzzles first debuted.
(*RGB's first appearance may have been 2011, was a little iffy on that)
2) UNDENIABLY UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE
The number of traits, some uniquely specific to and representative of RGB's design, that are copied in Mr. Puzzles design are too many to be chalked up to 'just a coincidence'
Especially when you look at the designs of all of the other TV head characters out there - I collected as many as I could find (though I'm sure there's more) and none of them come even close to sharing the number of similarities that these two do.
3) TV MODEL AND DESIGN CHOICES
While looking up references for older TVs, I found that for the exact TV they're based on (small retro box TV with knobs in the upper right of the TV and an antenna) most of the references didn't have a vent on the side of them like RGB and Mr. Puzzles do.
I looked up 4 different reference terms, and still had to scroll a while before I found one that matched exactly (above collection just a general sample/example of types of TVs I found). Unless my browsers are wigging out, either the pictures that would come up for these kinds of TVs were different in 2023, or this exact combination of features are just not very common for this style of TV. If that's the case, it may be a bit strange to design a character with those features together.
Here's where that distinction is important: Mr. Puzzles as a character doesn't have much of a reason to go with this design over other styles of similar TVs. But RGB does. The vents on the sides of RGB's head aren't just an aesthetic choice - they're included as a legitimately integral part of the story-line (Negative RGB). The same can be said for a number of other choices Modmad has made, down to individual items of clothing, that show just how much thought and intention and consideration went into every aspect of RGB's design.
Which makes it that much more frustrating to see him get plagiarized in such a careless manner by people who don't even seem to put much care into their own character (common criticism I've read that SMG4 fans have had about Mr. Puzzles and his 'arc').
4) OTHER PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE WHO HADN'T HEARD ABOUT THE SITUATION FROM MOD, NOTICED
This has been noted by fans of both series since Mr. Puzzles first came out.
Some people may have found more points than this, but these are what I stumbled upon. Hopefully helps bring a little more context to the situation.
This is why we need computer labs again. Looking at the fake Captcha, it asks you first to click "Win+R." Win+R opens the Run program, pictured here:
It has a lot of uses, as described in its own window, but the average layperson will most often use it when following troubleshooting advice found on the internet.
The fake Captcha then asks you to press "Ctrl+V." Ctrl+V is a shortcut to paste a series of characters that you've copied or cut from somewhere. Undoubtedly before this Captcha, it has asked you to use "Ctrl+C" (copy) or "Ctrl+X" (cut) on another series of characters, which temporarily saves that series of characters onto a Clipboard. By pressing Win+V, you can access your Clipboard and turn on the ability to see its history.
By asking you to paste into this box, they are getting you to run a program on your computer in a way that appears unfamiliar to you, so you will be less aware that that's what's happening. Because double-clicking a program is something you may know better than to do, but using Run and copy+paste shortcuts is something you may not be familiar with.
Please be aware of the buttons that you can press and what they do. These scams rely on you being ignorant, but ignorance is easily fought back against.
Hey, I'm a long time reader of Wolftube, I just wanted to say that I LOVE the series, and I'm really excited to see where the story goes. (I'm especially curious to see if Jack is a werewolf, that would make my day!)
I'm glad there are people who still enjoy the series!!!
gummygunk
romaincrisis
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
pixelskylines
stormborns
