Regarding the Removing of my Older Videos

There’s been some confusion regarding a decision I recently made, to remove 26 of my old 2013-2014 era videos (And then subsequently replace them with basically the same videos but completely reanimated). It’s something I’ve purposefully been very vague about, so that’s definitely very much my fault, but here I’d like to clear up and explain why it is something I not only did, but then proceeded to dodge questions and not be clear with my intentions and actions.



Over three years ago now, I decided I wanted to do my little pony animations for my channel. I was a fan of the show, I knew how to use Flash, and I had a growing YouTube channel which would be a perfect platform to try this new thing out. So I made a couple, “Applejack and Fluttershy Have Prosthetic Legs”, and the original upload of “The Pink Aisle”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHFCspEDUJU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3UKX49ULvA

You may notice that the former looks almost exactly like the show, and the latter uses an art style the show adopted for the BBBFF song in the show. That’s because I used what are known as Flash Puppets. Basically they’re bits of pony all put together to be used for animation, unlike traditionally where animation is drawn frame-by-frame.

I did not make these puppets, I only edited them to suit my needs. This is because I was very much no artist, and had no artistic skill or knowledge to know how to make something look good all on my own. I dove head-first into animation with only basic knowledge on movement and cinematography, none on asset-making myself… Likewise, I latched onto any puppets I could get ahold of. Ones made by other people. No intent on stealing or claiming them as my own, but to use to make goofy silly short videos to entertain people on my channel.

…One day, I came across a gold-mine of puppets. Really really well-made ones. Looked exactly like the show. I don’t even remember where I downloaded them, but they were great, and I started using them for animations on my channel. The first video I used them for was “A Spectacular Performance”, and it grew from there. More silly shorts, more goofy videos, and people loved them so I kept going. Eventually I got popular enough to get partnered on YouTube, and started making money off my videos. So this is great, now I’m getting money off what was originally a silly hobby. I was initially worried about how I used licensed music in some of my videos, but I was reassured that I was fine, especially because music gets auto-claimed by YouTube anyways.

…Eventually I found out that the puppets I’d been using weren’t any normal old puppets. I found out I believe early-to-mid 2014 that these were leaked DHX assets. As in, from the actual company that animates MLP: FiM. This was… An interesting revelation, I don’t remember if I thought much of it back then, but I definitely did when a certain video came out…

“Let’s Go and Meet John de Lancie” is a tribute-piece to the voice actor of Discord, uploaded by ILoveKimPossibleAlot mid-2014. The first few minutes of the video was an animated music video animated show-style, and I clearly recall a certain controversy surrounding said-video… It was animated using DHX assets. This was discovered very shortly after the video was uploaded (I believe it was found out before the video was even released), and there were many drumming up how damaging this was. Very soon after that video was released (As in within the next week I believe) I uploaded “Twilight’s Dilemma”, another silly short, and there were people in the comments of that one noting how I used DHX assets, as the ILKPAlot was so fresh in everyone’s memories… And I also got sent a rather stern Skype message from a Hasbro affiliate, stating that I probably stop making animations using those puppets.

…The next animation I uploaded was “my little hfishing”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALAARPYsDAc

I stopped animating show-style altogether. This was for two main reasons, the first one (The one I was far more public with) was that I wanted for my animations to be recognizable by art-style, and not to so easily blend in with all the other show-style animations popping up on the internet… And the second reason was that I wanted to distance myself from the DHX asset debacle. This whole situation was not something I was proud of… But I didn’t want to remove those videos, they left such a legacy for me. They built me up as a creator, and without them there’s no way I’d have an audience anywhere near as big as the one I have right now… So they just sat there. Dormant. Like a grey cloud constantly hovering over me. I didn’t know if they meant anything, I don’t know whether I was allowed to even have them up, but the bigger and more popular I became, the bigger that grey cloud grew. That culminated throughout the past two years, until…

…Just a couple of weeks ago, ILoveKimPossibleAlot uploaded “A Different Dispective”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6U_EDyW_6w

… And history repeated itself, and in magnitudes. Controversy was suddenly rampant in the community, and a witch-hunt against ILKPAlot was initiated. This time it wasn’t about the assets used, but about the “Assets” used. The team members of ILKPAlot’s projects. Past members of her team all stood up to talk about her apparently horrible work-ethic, and how she ruled everything with an iron-fist… And in reaction, there was an uprising, spear-headed by a Twitter account known as @AnonKPLeaks. Said-Twitter account was gathering up all possible dirt to make ILKPAlot look as horrible as possible, from all locations, and guess what was brought up again? The controversy surrounding a certain “Let’s Go and Meet John de Lancie”.

…ILKPAlot then proceeded to turn that video private, affirming people’s suspicions regarding it. In response, instead of congratulating her, the @AnonKPLeaks Twitter pushed for more saying that it wasn’t enough, that the video should be completely deleted off her channel… And citing legal articles as to how animating with “Stolen assets” is very illegal.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbicwgsbzkq7p30/A%20Letter%20to%20Rachael%20%28ILoveKimPossibleAlot%29.pdf?dl=0

…So all this humdrum was building up on that side of the internet… But what about me? What was happening regarding myself? Well, nothing, actually. Nothing was happening on my side. Absolutely nothing. Nobody said a word. No comments, no C&D, no stern messages, no copyright takedown notices, nothing.

…And then I suddenly took 26 of my old videos off my channel without warning.

…Why?

Because I’m fucking terrified.

I was watching on the sidelines. I read everything. I knew what was going on with ILKPAlot’s witch-hunt, I knew why she took that video down, and people were berating her for not going further, citing how what she’s done is fully illegal… And that was for a non-monetized video. Most of mine were monetized, and if anything that means I’m in a far far more legally damaging state. It would’ve been incredibly hypocritical to have not touched any of my stuff after watching ILKPAlot’s situation unfold.

I have no C&D. I have no witch-hunt after my ass… But if what was stated is true and what I’ve done is very illegal, then that may irreparably damage me and my future. What started as a dumb side-hobby has turned into what may be a professional job for the rest of my life, and these stains will last forever.

And the worst part is… I don’t even know if what I did was even illegal. I’ve already had a couple of conversations related to this and apparently the above cited legal articles may not even prove anything, being completely irrelevant, meaning that the only thing proving if this situation is legal or not is if it goes to court and is ruled by a judge. This is the reason I’ve been so vague about this situation, I don’t want to talk about it out of fear that I’m in the wrong and I’ll be outed for it.

…And all this because I wanted to make some stupid shit and entertain some people. Fuck me.