Thoughts

Culture is just inherently supposed to be so referential. This is fanart by Shepscapades. They obviously have copyright on their art. It’s fanart of the Hermitcraft SMP. You could avoid using the HermitCraft trademark when referring to the piece and so that’s probably not a problem. More specifically, it’s fanart of Shepscape’s HermitCraft x Detroit: Become Human crossover AU. Again, I don’t think there’s anything in the image itself that would be a problem but you would have to avoid using the trademark when describing it. HermitCraft is of course a Minecraft SMP. The only evidence of this in the image is that X is wearing an axolotl skin, which had recently been added to the game. I don’t think Microsoft would have a case that this was their axolotl design. However, X has only mixed this axolotl design into his normal skin, which is based on the protagonist of Doom, “Doom Guy,” who is copyright id Software. Etho’s skin is similarly from a pre-existing media, namely, Naruto. I believe all three of the creators pictured, Etho, Xisuma, and Cubfan (the metal arm is throwing me off since I don’t follow the AU but I believe this is Cub; Edit March 2025: it's Doc I'm dumb), have copyright on their own depiction. Now, this particular comic (of which this image is just the first two panels) is themed around Joywave’s song “Destruction,” which is copyright Cultco music/Hollywood Records. However, the lyric in the first panel, “will the soundtrack kindly produce a sound” is a sample from Disney’s *Fantasia* (1940). I think that covers it. I’m assuming Cub’s skin is original to him and I’m assuming the BWOMP is original to Joywave (at least for practical purposes as it’s transcribed here).