THEY STOLE MY IDEA!

[waddlegam]

I came up with half of the villain list for Mega Man 3.

Including Gemini Man.

oh man, thats crazy... same thing happened to me, but it was napalm man from megaman 5 or 6, which both sucked... and they totally ruined my concept. ohhhh, all the painful memories flooding back... can't believe they never ripped samurai man though! thought that would have been obvious

and i still cant figure out why capcom had spies in freaking barbados of all places!!

[Kelly Tindall]

Yamato Man. That's samurai man, right there.

[waddlegam]

d'oh, i feel so violated

but im glad this support group exists

[Kelly Tindall]

When I was working in animation, there were a couple of guys who were desperate to protect their ideas from people they were sure would 'steal' them.

Most involved a man from the future/ future past with a sword who materialized in an alley and saved a girl from muggers who then took him home and became his plucky sidekick/love interest.

If you've got ONE idea, you may be creatively out of luck.

K.

[waddlegam]

i must be creatively bankrupt, as i don't think i've come up with one time traveling idea... too complicated for the rotten pear sitting in a soggy mess in the centre of my skull i guess.

this is a really great thread, something that i've been silently brooding about for a while now.

here's a recent idea of mine that has be "robbed": the idea for this thread...ha, ok, seriously, heres another: i was watching this cool documentary on the possible causes for the demise of mars. one theory suggested mars used to have a core of molten iron, much like our own, but some disaster in the distant past caused it to shut down. this, in turn caused the magnetic fields to die off, which lead to the atmosphere being eroded. HOLY CRAP thats an awesome premise for some epic sci-fi story! whoopee! and then "the core" came out. im not really bitter about these kind of things. i realize that on a planet of 6 trillion zillion + people, the chances of one having a truly original thought are nonexistent. and then of course there the whole collective unconsciousness idea... what i think it comes down to is who gets the idea out first. originality is nothing, timing is everything. ha! i bet im the first to think up THAT stupid catch-phrase though i mean, i doubt i was the only nerd who got ideas from that documentary, even if the core hadn't come out, some inspired person would have figured out a way to tie it in with time travel and still get it out before me... the story i had come up with was nothing like the core (just a similar premise) but im not sure i could bear the stigma of "oh, that reminds me of that cheesy movie from the early 2000's, what was it? the centre? the middle?" not that im saying i could have done any better

i feel somewhat vindicated now.. thanks donster, for stealing my idea, i'd probably never have posted it anyhow

[yancyst]

Well...
I had this idea for a sci fi story I was gonna do as a graphic novel.
It starts out in this idyllic future land...all very bright, colorful and shiney...with flying cars and wonderful architecture...and beautifully sculpted shrubbery.
We focus in on a group of people playing some sort of recreational group sport...(think futuristic volleyball of sorts)
Just absolutely beautiful men and women in their swim/lounge wear...at the time I was conceiving this (which was early 80's) I was thinking heavily muscled Arnold types, etc....
So there is fun and frolic...and we establish a couple...and they are in love and enjoying this paradise of the future where everything is beautiful and so are they.

Then, the next morning the hero wakes up...feeling a little...funny.
He looks around and finds that he's in a small white padded room...somewhat dingy...but formerly white...with flickering florescent lighting...
There's a toilet type device in a corner...he is laying on a pad...with several cords extending from the ceiling to his head, arms and fingers, etc...
He looks around and there are a couple of conveyer belt/running track type of devices...
When he looks down to see his body...it's not the tan glistening rock of the day before...but a very pale...soft and saggy one now......

After he shakily gathers himself ... , he finds a seam/door that he is able to pull open...and enters a long hallway seemingly populated with like apartments...and eventually stumbles into an "outside" world that is a
nuclear winter sky...there are "apt. buildings" that are policed by robot sentries to keep the tenants "safe and sound"...amid rubble, etc.. of a bombed out/ruined city...
Shuffling through the streets, alley's and tunnels of this very different world, avoiding the "police" and meeting the odd escapee, his main goal now is to find his love and to tell her "the truth"...

I hadn't quite worked out the "whys?" way back then... so, no living batteries or human savior for "all" against the system. No super heroics or kung fu either.
But I did know, that he was going to find his girlfriend by eventually infiltrating a mainframe type HQ...accessing her data/address...
When he finally goes to her apt...and unplugs her, she was going to be horrified by his appearance etc...and want to stay in the virtual world.

A real feel-good huh?

The only "moral" I have to this or any of my other ideers is...get off yer duff boy, and get them ideas out there!

Paul

[Kelly Tindall]

It's got a Philip K. Dick vibe.

K.

[JR, Monsterboy]

I had an idea for a newspaper funded superhero, like in the recent Manhatten Guardian mini. Only he was more of a Reed Richards/Tom Strong type that wasn't pulling in the headlines anymore so the editors decided to replace him with monkeys who are mistakenly thought to be super-intelligent and a robot girl. Cause everybody loves monkeys.

[HAMILTOONS]

Here's one for you...

A few years back I was at a convention in Marlboro, MA. Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti were there.

Stupid me brought my art for a book I was developing. The story was about an EMT/Firefighter who was given powers by God to help man. He could fly, had gauntlets, one with a shield and one with a glowing baton type thing. He also wore a stylized fireman's jacket and boots. I told the two of them all about it, showed them the first page and also a couple of character sketches.. They said it was a decent idea and they hadn't seen anyone do that before

Yeah, until they ripped my idea, changed it a little to differ from my characters look and thus Ash was born.

I wasn't happy.

[digitaldreammachine]

Hamiltoons: That sucks. I didn't think Quesada was that kind of guy. I've met him twice and he was nothing but absolutely first-class. Of course, that doesn't mean much for having only met him a total of 20 minutes.

I loved Ash. I thought the character was great and the art top-notch. Sorry to hear that it was your idea. If it's any consolation, Ash has been stuck in limbo since Quesada's move to Marvel.

I guess if you had some proof of your meeting and development date and was able to convince a judge of the project, I'm sure you could get some profits, but it's tough to do I guess.

[HAMILTOONS]

Yeah I thought the art was great too but the publishing schedule of the book was sporadic.

I've got the original dated sketches and the first page of artwork which was similar to Quesada's first page. I've put it behind me. It just taught me to keep my good ideas to myself.

I'm developing a book now as well as a comic idea that I think will be great. I'll post more once the materials have been copyrighted and legalized.

[Kelly Tindall]

When I was working in Saskatoon, a creator (I've forgotten who) once told me, "If you've only got one idea, what are you going to put in your second issue?"

It's a tough story, though. I haven't read one like that in years and years.

K.

[digitaldreammachine]

Good idea Hamiltoons! Looking forward to it!

[ben c]

i almost forgot!

i, too, came up with stargate -- even the name.
a bunch of humans and aliens hunted down
villains through a series of gateways connecting
various worlds, the gates being the remains of
an ancient civilization that influence many huiman
and alien societies, including egypt.
of course, the main motive for this story
was to explain why all the toys/action figures
i played with were completely different scales
and styles..

and even though i haven't seen howl's castle,
i came up with another story (again for toys)
about these mysterious wandering abbeys,
chapels etc. in a weird fantasy france. it's
probably nothing like howl's, but i bet if i
ever do it all i'll hear is how i'm copying it.

people are dumb.

[Captain Genius]

Back in like 93 maybe, when Valliant Comics was still running I was at a comic book show talking to an artist friend of mine behind a table.
Well sitting 2 guys down from him was another comic 'Professional' who hadn't done a whole lot of note yet. To this day, not a lot either.

Regardless, I'm telling this artist friend about this script I'd written and this one scene in specific that I was proud of. Right down to dialog and the little details.

Well, a few months later Vallient comics comes out with a comic who's hero has the same powers as mine. Pissed.
What's more is, the guy who was siting down a few seats from the artist I was talking to was writing the book.
Pissed.

Well in like the 3rd or 4th issue, the beginning of the book was a version of the story I'd told my friend at the show the writer had been at.

Super Pissed.

So, now I try not to tell anyone anything.