(UPDATE: Not what I was expecting at all) Onai-Wolfwind

[chewsee.livejournal.com]

UPDATE 10/27/2010: I called her about 2 weeks before Halloween asking her if she had received her final check of $50 (bringing the total to $250 for a fursuit head) so that she could send out my head in time for Halloween. She explains to me that her and her mate are having some issues in which I will not go into detail with. She explained to me she would be staying at her mother's place for a while and would be shipping out my head this week around Wednesday or so (phone call was on Saturday or Sunday) once she returned to go pick it up. Wednesday passed... so did Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My check had still not been cashed and her phone was off. Great. After calling her several more times on Monday she finally picks up. She explains to me she is at UPS with her mom shipping out my head. Great! She continues to explain that when she got back to the house almost all of her fursuit stuff was gone. No one knew what happened to it, and that she had to do my head all over again. She continued to explain that she had to send it only partially finished. She said the face was done, but that she put extra fur in the box so I could finish the back of the head, ears and neck.

WOW.

She's sending me a last second, slapped together head (which I am almost POSITIVE she didn't work on for the EIGHT months she was "doing it") that is only about half finished. I am getting it (supposedly) on Friday so that I have BARELY enough time to finish it myself, which I had paid her to do. She said she still needs my check to send it out and hopefully she wouldn't overdraw money from her account to do it. She also explained that she would later try to work out a partial refund when she was in a better situation. Well jeez, sounds like she is all kinds of screwed up right now and can't keep much straight. Needless to say I canceled her check. Maybe if she had been more honest with me I might have let her cash it. She doesn't deserve it at this point. I'm still paying $200 for a half finished head. I was charged a 20 dollar fee for canceling the check. I'd rather lose 20 bucks than 50. I would never do business with her again, even though she has explained to me that she is out of the business now, so to speak. IF I get the head (I was given no tracking number, as was promised) I will take pictures of me opening the box and show exactly how it looks when it arrives.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS PERSON. SHE IS UNORGANIZED AND COULD NOT COMPLETE THIS SIMPLE TASK. 

She did well in the past, but her new "work ethics" are just lazy. That is the only thing that her fursuit company lived up to. LAZY.

 

 UPDATE: Restored contact and resolution at last. Computer malfunction kept her from contacting me and now we are making our exchanges :3

UPDATE: Has been a week since last having contact with her. Email reads as follows:

"Sounds good to me then. I'll take current pictures when Cessna brings the camera back home tomorrow then. No big deal"

so much for tomorrow. It is a week later and I haven't gotten so much as an email or a picture of my head. Not even a " I'll have pictures soon". The deal is she seems to think it was supposed to be ready in 8 months when it was originally 5. She also claims she was only given $200 and not $250, I didn't pay her so I can't say for sure. She is supposed to send me the unfinished head after she shows me the pictures of it and I send her 50 more dollars. I STILL don't have an address and STILL don't have pictures. Until I see photos of this head I am only to assume there is none. I just want it ready in time for halloween since I have already missed 3 events I could have worn this costume to. If I don't have it the week before halloween (to finish it so it is ready for use) then I don't want it at all. Still very unsatisfied with the lack of contact.

UPDATE: Onai has contacted me and we are working things out :3

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let me explain. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) commissioned a friend of ours (Onai Wolfwind) to make a partial costume for me. She had always come through for us in the past, and even when we doubted that she would get something done on time, she did. She made a full costume for my husband (and on time). My husband was leaving for basic training and wouldn't be back until the end of July/ beginning of August. He paid her $250 cash (half the price of the partial) and told her to keep in contact with me about when I would like it completed. When I spoke with her about it I asked her to have it ready for Elliott's Spring Gathering, about a month and a half away. She told me she would be there as well and would be able to deliver it to me there. 

Onai moved about 2 or 3 hours away from where she used to live, and so I was patient. I understood she was in the middle of moving her stuff and that it would take time... I get that, life happens. The week before Elliott's Spring Gathering arrives and I call her, asking of the progress. She tells me it will be done and so I leave her alone. I get a phone call from her as I am driving up to Elliott's. She tells me that since she hasn't had internet since she moved, she was misinformed of which weekend Elliott's was. She explained to me she thought it would be the NEXT weekend, and that she can't come up, or deliver my head. I was very disappointed, but sometimes things like that happen.I told her that I decided I didn't want a partial but a head, and  she told me she would need 50 dollars more (bringing the total to $300) which is what the price of a head from her was. I explained to her that I would then wish to have the head at Megaplex (which she said she would be attending) and that I would have $50 for her. This gave her about another month to complete it (if it wasn't already).

Megaplex comes and I realize that I don't have enough money to go. I arranged to have a friend of mine give her the $50 and to receive the head for me, I just asked Onai to have her phone on her so I could tell my friend when he could pick it up. I called her... and I called her.... and... well, you get the idea. I called her (and she will agree with this) 42 times. After Megaplex, we are both angry. She tells me she left her phone in her boyfriend's car. She tells me he could have just come in the hotel to pick it up and that she had it. Afterward she tells me that the head was ready, but just needed the eyes glued on. She told me she had made two sets of eyes and wanted me to pick one out. But what its funny is, I still haven't seen ONE progress picture in what is now a 7 month long ordeal. I asked her time and time again (patiently) to send pictures of the progress. My husband has sent her notes to her furaffinity, which she hasn't responded. She has not responded to the phone calls I have left her (which she claims is not working, though still rings). I have messaged her here on Live Journal and she asked me for my email address. I gave her my email address 4 days ago, and I still hear nothing. Her fursuit making account (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lazywolfcreations) has not been updated since APRIL.

I really hate having to do this to get her attention. I hate it. I like Onai, and she has been a really cool person in the past. She has done great things for me and my friends. Like any person who posts here, I just want what was paid for. That's all. I am still trying to send her 50 more dollars so she is paid in full, and can send it to me. Onai, if you are reading this, please email me right away at chew_fox@bellsouth.net ... as soon as this is resolved I will take this down and speak well of you again.

 

Copyrighting Characters

[duster.livejournal.com]

This is just for curiousity's sake, not really a situation I am in. I have been wondering this for a while and I figured this would be the best place to ask! :3

Go on any given character reference sheet on Deviantart and you'll probably find the disclaimer "Character/Fursona (c) ME ME ME ME ME ME DONT STEAL!!!!!11!!1!!!!1111!" Most not as extreme but you get the idea. What are the facts behind character copyrights? Here are the questions I have.

1) Can you even copyright a character to begin with? (I heard you can't, that you can only trademark a character)

2) What process would you go through to claim copyright/trademark of a character?

3) Fact or fiction? Once you put something on the internet (Deviantart, for example) it is automatically copyrighted to you without filing a copyright claim with the US Copyright Office (and paying the 35 dollars to do it.) I've seen many people make this claim.

4) What can you copyright/trademark on a character? Can you copyright/trademark design elements (ex. hair styles, markings, etc) or does it cover the whole thing?

Let me know if my wording is a little confusing, I can try to clarify it more. Feel free to ask your ownquestions about character copyrights or just toss in some vital facts if I missed anything important enough to cover.

I look forward to hearing some answers! Thanks!