Oh that's Shinji. Oh that's Inoue. Wtf that's literally Kenpachi!! His father literally gave him a free comic book career, he had all the time and resources in the world to create a unique original story and all he did was trace Bleach. Fucking nepotism bro.
He also traced Hellsing. It wasn’t just Bleach. Haha. Sad because he does have drawing talent, he just needed to develop his skills more, publish his comic a later date where he doesn’t trace at all.
I mean idk if that's nepotism. He's just a spoiled kid who was so out of touch he thought he was the only one who found out bleach existed, I don't think his dad hired him. it's a weird Reddit trend that people act like using success and wealth that you fairly earned to make your family have the best easiest lives they possibly can is wrong to do. I think most parents dream of the ability to give their kids a life that grand. It's on Nick for taking it for granted
@@Detective_Bonghits Buddy, he is a LITERAL nepo baby, doesn't matter what his dad's intentions were, he was GIVEN a career BECAUSE of his dad, that's the definition of nepotism. Is it a bad thing to help your children out? Not really, is it nepotism? Yes.
@Eeveeening your definition of being given a career clearly differs from mine. He didn't hire his son to work at his company, he literally didn't give him a job because he didn't hire him as an employee. Poor people use social connections to improve their career or land ones they usually wouldn't be able to all the time. He wasn't on family payroll he was working for his dad's friend and not doing a good job, and I assume he no longer is because he did a bad job. Maybe if he was still doing it and could coast on his name id agree
@@Detective_Bonghits The company literally just allowed him to work for them so they could get gene to sign their contracts, without his dad's name he wouldn't have been given a job. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but let's call a spade a spade, without his dad's influence he wouldn't have been able to publish it, it's his fault for not banking hard on it too, tons of nepo babies shed that title due to showcasing their immense talent, he's not one of them
The irony is rich in this story, since Nick's dad, Gene is notorious for filing lawsuits against any individual or company that he believes is stealing anything from Kiss. 😅
That’s interesting because gene simmons himself said in US weekly once “I copy everything from everyone. There’s not an ounce of originality to me.” He must of been sarcastic though.
Gene is why kiss fans also hate kiss. Like dude it's been ages since Ace left and he has been sober for a long time. But instead of being happy for your former band mate you do what you always do and say slanderours things about him to prop up the KISS brand. It stopped being a rock icon and turned into corporate brand. While the grunge scene wasn't always right about every 70s and 80s mainstream rock group it was definitely right that there were shills. Gene and Paul being two of the biggest.
@@KoolCatMEOW Watch some tutorials online, trace the picture in pencil and start inking. The paper you use doesn’t really matter so long as your pen doesn’t tear through it.
The funniest thing I've heard from this story and still remembered well to this day was, When Kubo heard of this plagiarism, he was more surprised at the fact that Gene Simmons son drawing comics, more than him tracing his work.
yea but what does that mean? is he implying that he should be set for life and dont do anything or be musician or being comic artist is not a desirable job i dont get it
@tomaszproblem3669 He was just being surprised that a son of a highly famous musician is making comics, that's all. It's like finding out for the first time that Barrack Obama's middle name is Hussein. It's just interesting, no more, no less. 🙂
@@RichterBelmont2235Thank you for explaining this, because I too was confused. I know that words and intent can be lost in translation, so I was trying to discern his meaning. Like, did he mean for his words to be an insult? (I personally wouldn't blame him if that were the case as I myself am a sequential artist and writer so I'd be frustrated if someone basically stole my character designs and portions of my plot) or was he just genuinely expressing surprise that the son of such a famous person would choose comics as a career path.
@@Rose_Bride that was not a good explanation. It’s explained right there in the video at 7:35. Being a comic artist is considered hard and serious work. Lots of hours practiced over the years. Lots of stress to meet deadlines. The idea that you could potentially fall off and lose everything over a few misses or declining health. Nepo babies never develop the character from having to overcome all of these things. Nepo babies don’t work hard and shouldn’t be taken seriously. I’m “training” a nepo baby at his dad’s company right now. Trust me.
@@Treasus It was what I said it was. Do not interject what Kubo actually said over a decade ago with with what you currently think. -Even at that time, Kubo is already an equivalent of a rockstar. Nick and his little project is absolutely of no threat to him. -Tite Kubo is a Japanese. And like all Japanese, he went for a subtle, non-aggressive sounding response. -Kubo's work worth at least one hundred millions. His publisher will go after Nick like a rabid dog without his input anyway.
The art from the inside ain't bad either. I think the publication wanted a specific type of artstyle for their brand, which is unfortunate. The art for the cover is a bit misleading though. The plagiarism is just unacceptable.
@@FlameForgedSoul no wonder, there are two names in the cover....the other name must be the illustrator for the cover lol, i've seen mangaka that bad at manga but is a good illustrator, but this kid is just straight up sh1t (bro can publish this sh1t just cuz of his father's connection, even worst webtoon manhua i've read still better T_T)
Its actually the corrrect way to pronounce his name, taito(the japanese pronounciation of "tight") kubo. Also, tite kubo is just a pen name, his real name is noriaki kubo.
@@ionicman2908 it's pronounced Taito.... that's exactly how he's pronounced it himself. That's not how any of this works....if you wanna use such flawed logic you might as well xall him Tight Cube. Just stick to the source...there's no tight coming in from anywhere.
They're referring to Diesel by Joe Weltjens, if anyone's curious. In that case, the art seems to be original. But the plot is just lifted from Stardust Crusaders nearly beat-for-beat.
@@Dreamcaster111Jeez. Thats like looking at the prime example of how to respect and build on your influences and then saying I'll also respect my influences before straight up plagiarizing it instead. We all know Araki had influences and loved portraying them but at least he was original and creative doing so. A great example is Star Platinum. It may be a clone of Kenshiro from fist of the north star but its also it's own thing. It represents the highest levels of potential and how it can either grow higher than anything or be held back. Which makes it probably one of the best homages to Kenshiro too.
@@parrisxsummers As someone who sub'd to Josh Peck years ago and learned some history as time went on... fairly accurate ma boy! Edit: Kinda feel more sorry for Drake then him sometimes, I mean shit at least Drake kinda had a reason for his fuck ups ya know?
This is usually what beginners do. Copy and swipe art from their favorite works. It’s part of the learning process and there is no shame in that. But to swipe work and publish and sell it as your own is a crime. But Nick has a name and comes from celebrity, they get handled with soft gloves. Meanwhile, people with no name that do fan animation for free in support of regular series get copyright struck. Maybe Nick should have just done a Bleach Doujinshi until he honed the craft and drawing skills necessary to produce his own book.
Exactly, no shame in tracing a few things that you love, but trying to publish it using your name as the creative mind... that is scummy. And the fact that a lot of true talent gets stomped for just trying to be inspired or do fanwork is a terrible reality.
Maybe I missed it, but you forgot to mention how he straight stole a piece from a Deviant ART creator and placed it into his comic. Prick was shameless.
Honestly, Nick's art looked fine for what it was. It wasn't mind-blowing, but I've seen worse art coming from "pros", like A LOT of panels in the Sonic the Hedgehog runs from Archie Comics. The problem is that Nick just wanted to be "B!g D!ck Comic Book Man" without putting in the effort.
no way. everyone had a sonic art phase just like a dbz phase as a kid. if u were into comics. those sonic comics were fire ! honestly nicks art sucked. lbs very under developed. kinda like when attack on titan first started. had he kept at it maybe another year or 2 he would he good to go.
The Simmons kid does have some artistic chops & having inspirations is great, but you cant be tracing whole pages man c'mon, Great vid btw, keep it up !
9 дней назад+12
If h can draw, why trace anyway.. skills wasted on dumb people
I thought about this recently but had to watch videos from so long ago! Thanks for bringing it back to the surface, also THANK YOU for pronouncing Tite's name correctly!!!
I will say as an aspiring writer, who specifically wants to create animated series inspired by anime, that I don't just want to recreate the art styles of other series. Don't get me wrong, I certainly take inspiration for things like general character designs, but I don't want it to just be a blatant 1 for 1 copy. For example, some of my characters, primarily personality, but appearance wise, do take inspiration from Hiro Mashima's works. If the profile picture and name, didn't make that clear, however I don't want my characters to look like they're from Fairy Tail, Edens Zero, Rave Master or other works of his. There's a difference between having an art style that is both fresh, yet familiar, and copying exactly how someone else draws. The biggest issue is the covers for these comics look genuinely fantastic and if they content of the story looked more like the cover art, perhaps we'd be having a different discussion
Lol I remember this. Plagiarism aside, as a writer and enjoyer of story I want to know was the story and writing at least good? Like subjectivity and personal feelings aside was the writing objectively good. And if it was that makes it wayyy worse because then it’s a man with a genuine gift throwing it away to quickly try to make it to the top
How can someone decide if a story is "objectively good"? Like.. Art is one of the most subjective things there is. Coming from an artist of multiple mediums myself. Now, I personally could see an argument for there being, debatably, "objectively bad" writing or storytelling, I don't think everyone would agree with that however. But in a weird way, I think this also comes down to a matter of subjectivity and opinion.. I personally would say you could determine if the writing or story of something is bad if: the writer can't seem to focus on a subject. Multiple subjects or plot lines is completely fine, but I mean, they could definitely be mishandled. If there's no character progression. Although some people don't mind that. Not every story has to have someone experience growth or learn something. If the characters themselves are dull and one dimensional. Which I'd argue some people may even argue against that, and say what I consider to be dull is subjective and matter of personal opinion, not objective. Even if I kinda disagree with that, but just playing devils advocate to further express what I mean. Maybe there's actually little or no plot. But I mean, some really "arty" indie films that have cult followings are exactly that. Isn't Slacker(s) like that, if I recall? I'm admittedly not certain, it's been forever since I watched it and wasn't particularly a fan. Oh, a personal sort of pet peeve of mine are writers being really contrived. Like trying painfully hard to either come across as deeply philosophical and introspective, or use their art moreso as a soapbox to preach their political ideals, usually in a very condescending way. I don't mind political themes, but that's not at all what I'm talking about. Sometimes it's maybe the author trying to act or pretend to be a lot smarter than they actually are. But the problem with that is, it's kinda apparent when you're writing a character that's supposed to be more intelligent than the writer themselves are, and that isn't exactly something that could be faked on their own. Completely takes me out of a story, and I don't consider myself to be that harsh of a critic. But even still, the examples/instances I just gave above are, once again, my own personal opinion and preference, and thus, subjective. Not objective. Sincere apologies for this getting a bit lengthy. But yeah, my point being, I at least don't think there is such a thing as objectively determining something is good. In what measurement, or by who's standards is that determined..?
I believe Weekly Manga Recap covered this at one point and they thought the story at least had some potential. They didn’t think Nick Simmons had any bad intentions and was just a dumb kid who didn’t know any better (he was 20 at the time). Unfortunately, being Gene Simmons’ son worked against him in this case for if he wasn’t a celebrity’s kid, he would’ve been rejected at first, but encouraged to try again and to keep working at it.
@@darkness988 I’d argue there are things that objectively make a good story. And maybe these things come from my subjective standpoint as a student of story but for the sake of this conversation I’m going to deem these objective while typing them. Good story can come from good Dialogue, good characters, good character arcs, pacing, organic conflict, organic growth in conflict, Art(like you said), rewatch-ability(though this isn’t a deal breaker for me), or a purposefully clear message being portrayed to the audience by the end, or a purposefully “left to interpretation” message by the end. There’s more but I want to go deeper into the “objectivity” of the ones I mentioned. Even if it’s not his art(which I’m not excusing the plagiarism) how well do his characters bounce off each other? Is the dialogue organic of the character or is the author forcing his own speech on them? Is pacing done well or does it jump around too much without meaning? Do chapters keep you interested in the next chapter? And as a visual medium like graphic novels does each page make you want to find out what happens on the next? And since it’s comics how well is the paneling organized because even if you trace the art is he tracing the entire panel layout of each page too? Probably not because to steal from manga and different manga as explained in the video a portion of the panel page of one piece most likely isn’t the same as the other panel he stole from bleach that same page right? I do believe there’s an objectivity to a good story. Maybe there are genres we don’t like or character arcs that don’t click with us but we don’t always see them as bad but just don’t relate to them.
@@DragonTrainer201 the fact that the story had some potential is sad then. Because not all stories do. That just means all bro had to do is use more effort to draw his own sht and he would be famous today with almost 20 years in the industry by now.
I think I remember hearinor reading about this when I was on DeviantArt long ago. I couldn't believe the son of Gene Simmons would do such a thing. Can't remember what Kubo Sensei said after a lot of Bleach fans told him about it...
The way Nick got published is more or less the same way that JJ Abrams son ended up writing for Spider-man. Both had little to no experience in their areas, but got high profile jobs due to their dad's connections.
@@Bask3tChase One of the most famous rockstars too. I ain’t a fan and even I know how to pronounce it. The Japanese names and providences also hurt the ears.
I think it's hilarious that he was so out of touch he thought "I'm the only one who knows about Japanese shit" and just stole someone's work. It's almost rad lmfao
I remember seeing this stuff when it broke out on DeviantArt. The dude was so blatant that the plagiarized trace work was on the suggestions and at the top of Bleach search results! It was crazy!😂
You glossed over the fact: He cried to his daddy. His daddy threatened everyone who accused his son of plagarism with legal action. Forcing small time youtube channels to seek legal counsel. At no small cost. But that caused the "Striesand effect" blowing up the story beyond the comics community. Gene dropped the lawsuits. Gave the typical celebrity non-pology. I'm sorry you thought we were wrong or something along the lines. Never admitting to stealing.
I remember hearing something about this year's ago, but I never looked that much into it cuz, admittedly, I was never much of a Bleach fan, having only watched through the initial Soul Society invasion before quitting.
Ah yes that one time a huge rock star's kid was so lacking in talent and lame that he decided to trace the pages of a comic book and call it his own original work...
I'm curious, did this situation inspire an arc in the manga Bakuman, where a rock star decided to create his own manga and used his fame and fans to vote for it every week so that it would reach the top of the rankings?
I think I remember around this same time there was another plagiarism/tracing scandal in the manga RUclips space with a guy who was reading and reviewing Naruto for the first time and in between he would show off his "artwork" that very quickly got exposed for being traces of other people's work. He tried to make a few apology and excuse videos but ultimately he ghosted. I remember at the time thinking it was a bit of a shame as I was actually enjoying his Naruto reviews. I wonder what he's up to these days
dang , I'm old I remember this drama when it came out. I read the comic and found it endearing if he was an indie creator putting their comic online with little to no money earned but he's Gene Simmons' son.
Tfw one of the panels is straight up ripped off of not just bleach but Deadman's Wonderland, which isn't as popular as the other cited works, but still shows the amount of comics he """took inspiration"""" from Tbh if he wouldn't not traced, made something most likely worse than what he produced originally, and continued forth, no one would've really batted an eye about it, would've there been some oh look how bad this is, yeah but it would've been forgotten in time, in fact a lot of early mangakas' work is very scuffed, granted mangaka's early work isn't an indication of their starting point as they work and submitted multiple times before it gets picked up. TBH I'm more pissed he didn't just continue drawing and become a better artist, than from what I can find, quit entirely. Do I like nepotism when it comes down to it, no, but could've he continued drawing, honing his craft and perhaps one day outdo his mistakes with hard work an actual skill, yeah. Then again he boasted about being a nepo hire so in a way its not that surprising he quit
Great video, Covas Lookout. Always loved Bleach and have fond memories till this day. To see this part of history for the first time not knowing a comic artist ripping off not only multiple series, but Bleach as well, really disappoints me. Though I am curious, what happened to his career? Again, great video.
Thank you for watching, I believe Nick never truly cared about making comics to begin with. I believe he wanted to make a comic that was popular enough to become a movie or TV show. Once get got called out for his plagiarism he just stop making comics. Nick didn’t love comics he just loved the idea of what he could gain out of it or at least that’s what it seems.
It seems like he just wasnt ready to be making a comic book, but wanted to make them alot more than he wanted to make them RIGHT. So instead of taking his time and getting good he pounced on any opportunity to break into the business that he could find. and probably did mean it as homage but didnt have the skills to make an actual homage. I think this is a case of genuine inspiration getting out of hand and becoming something else due to lack of skills to properly impliment that inspiration. I honestly dont think this was malicious plagiarism at all. Still wrong no matter how you slice it but i believe him when he says it was meant as inspiration and homage i just think he wasnt good enough yet to do it properly.
Bruh, that's not paying homage, he straight up drew Kenpachi with a few more scars, blue hair, and replaced the sword with a scythe. Also, the fact that he straight up gave the character a scythe just basically proves where he plagiarized it from. He literally gave Kenpachi who is a Shinigami (Death God) or Soul Reaper in the English Dub a f**king scythe. Paying homage is like how other shows use the Akira motorcycle slide scene. They don't straight up trace over the scene, character, and bike with just a few minor differences and calling it homage. They use a completely different character that rides a different bike or vehicle, and it's only for like 2 seconds.
He's a smart kid, has talent. I'd prefer a raw (no matter how rough) original Nick Simmons work as he evolves as a writer and artist. That's a trip I want to take.
Thanks for telling a more detailed description of this. 👍 I remember this controversy over 10 years ago now when I was an animation student in College. I remember my friends showing those side by side comparison images and saying it was Nick Simmons plagiarizing. I wasn't sure if it was real or not coming from him. I was watching a few episodes of Gene Simmons reality show here and there so I knew Nick Simmons was an artist in art school on the show. I thought it could be likely possible but I never followed up on it.
@@Gxmwp I'm honestly not sure if he was still in art school or graduated when he made the comic. Reality show episodes are usually months to a year behind when released on tv. My guess would be he would've been close to graduation or closely after.
I gotta say, those covers and knowing the quality of Kubo’s works made me severely overestimate the quality of Simmon’s art. I thought, surely if he’s doing a carbon copy of some of the best, his is at least decent, right? Oh no. It looks beyond amateurish.
Some cultural understanding about not being worried about plagiarism. In Japan it’s not normal to go after people, specifically in anime\manga, for copyright or plagiarism. By Japanese law companies can’t sue unless the creators instigate it. There are huge cons in Japan where fan works based off popular series are celebrated and officially sold. Before anyone mentions Palworld vs Pokémon just remember Nintendo owns majority shares therefore they are the creators and can sue.
Personally, my first attempt on drawing also by tracing my favorite artist, in my case it was Kishimoto, Naruto's author. I also made comic on my student notebooks, and I also copy the poses from various comics/mangas. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with the act of tracing or referencing if it's purely for learning/training, every artists does that, we gotta start somewhere, after all. However it becomes a problem when you use it for monetary purposes, so just make sure that when you decide to publish your work, keep "tracing from other artist" out of it, and keep "referencing" to a minimum.
Check out my comics:
www.avoccomics.com
It's pronounced "tee-tay" 🤬
Nice
Oh that's Shinji. Oh that's Inoue. Wtf that's literally Kenpachi!! His father literally gave him a free comic book career, he had all the time and resources in the world to create a unique original story and all he did was trace Bleach. Fucking nepotism bro.
He also traced Hellsing. It wasn’t just Bleach. Haha. Sad because he does have drawing talent, he just needed to develop his skills more, publish his comic a later date where he doesn’t trace at all.
I mean idk if that's nepotism. He's just a spoiled kid who was so out of touch he thought he was the only one who found out bleach existed, I don't think his dad hired him. it's a weird Reddit trend that people act like using success and wealth that you fairly earned to make your family have the best easiest lives they possibly can is wrong to do. I think most parents dream of the ability to give their kids a life that grand. It's on Nick for taking it for granted
@@Detective_Bonghits Buddy, he is a LITERAL nepo baby, doesn't matter what his dad's intentions were, he was GIVEN a career BECAUSE of his dad, that's the definition of nepotism. Is it a bad thing to help your children out? Not really, is it nepotism? Yes.
@Eeveeening your definition of being given a career clearly differs from mine. He didn't hire his son to work at his company, he literally didn't give him a job because he didn't hire him as an employee. Poor people use social connections to improve their career or land ones they usually wouldn't be able to all the time. He wasn't on family payroll he was working for his dad's friend and not doing a good job, and I assume he no longer is because he did a bad job. Maybe if he was still doing it and could coast on his name id agree
@@Detective_Bonghits The company literally just allowed him to work for them so they could get gene to sign their contracts, without his dad's name he wouldn't have been given a job. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but let's call a spade a spade, without his dad's influence he wouldn't have been able to publish it, it's his fault for not banking hard on it too, tons of nepo babies shed that title due to showcasing their immense talent, he's not one of them
The irony is rich in this story, since Nick's dad, Gene is notorious for filing lawsuits against any individual or company that he believes is stealing anything from Kiss. 😅
That’s interesting because gene simmons himself said in US weekly once “I copy everything from everyone. There’s not an ounce of originality to me.” He must of been sarcastic though.
@@bluetwinkiesaregoodhe wasn’t being sarcastic sadly
WAIT HE'S GENE SIMMONS SON??!!
@@KhayJayArt I forget this isn't common knowledge 😂
Most people found out through gene simmons family jewels if they were old enough haha
Gene is why kiss fans also hate kiss. Like dude it's been ages since Ace left and he has been sober for a long time. But instead of being happy for your former band mate you do what you always do and say slanderours things about him to prop up the KISS brand. It stopped being a rock icon and turned into corporate brand. While the grunge scene wasn't always right about every 70s and 80s mainstream rock group it was definitely right that there were shills. Gene and Paul being two of the biggest.
I trace Bleach for inking practice but I would never have the balls to use Kubo's art and sell it as my own. Madness.
Can you tell me how you practice? I wanna learn inking too
Yeah. I did a lot of Dragon Ball fan made art, but I never made it for profit and passed it as my own.
@@KoolCatMEOW Watch some tutorials online, trace the picture in pencil and start inking. The paper you use doesn’t really matter so long as your pen doesn’t tear through it.
now try telling that to artists who make thousands selling fanarts
Bruh that kid straight up traced Bleach
Not traced. Just borrowed the line-art temporarily
W theft
@@canadianturtle7240 nah man he uh.....he copied everything
He's an overly privileged, overly pampered, overly delusional child of a washed-up rockstar who thinks he can get away with anything...
This is so random for no reason and I adore it@@canadianturtle7240
This ain’t BLEACH. It’s BLEEGH.
😂😅
Thats both funny and true
😂😂
Its clorox
It's Lysol 😂😂😂
The funniest thing I've heard from this story and still remembered well to this day was, When Kubo heard of this plagiarism, he was more surprised at the fact that Gene Simmons son drawing comics, more than him tracing his work.
yea but what does that mean? is he implying that he should be set for life and dont do anything or be musician or being comic artist is not a desirable job i dont get it
@tomaszproblem3669 He was just being surprised that a son of a highly famous musician is making comics, that's all. It's like finding out for the first time that Barrack Obama's middle name is Hussein. It's just interesting, no more, no less. 🙂
@@RichterBelmont2235Thank you for explaining this, because I too was confused. I know that words and intent can be lost in translation, so I was trying to discern his meaning. Like, did he mean for his words to be an insult? (I personally wouldn't blame him if that were the case as I myself am a sequential artist and writer so I'd be frustrated if someone basically stole my character designs and portions of my plot) or was he just genuinely expressing surprise that the son of such a famous person would choose comics as a career path.
@@Rose_Bride that was not a good explanation. It’s explained right there in the video at 7:35.
Being a comic artist is considered hard and serious work. Lots of hours practiced over the years. Lots of stress to meet deadlines. The idea that you could potentially fall off and lose everything over a few misses or declining health. Nepo babies never develop the character from having to overcome all of these things.
Nepo babies don’t work hard and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
I’m “training” a nepo baby at his dad’s company right now. Trust me.
@@Treasus It was what I said it was. Do not interject what Kubo actually said over a decade ago with with what you currently think.
-Even at that time, Kubo is already an equivalent of a rockstar. Nick and his little project is absolutely of no threat to him.
-Tite Kubo is a Japanese. And like all Japanese, he went for a subtle, non-aggressive sounding response.
-Kubo's work worth at least one hundred millions. His publisher will go after Nick like a rabid dog without his input anyway.
That cover art is solid though, I wish the book kept that energy
Different artist on the covers as We recall.
The art from the inside ain't bad either. I think the publication wanted a specific type of artstyle for their brand, which is unfortunate. The art for the cover is a bit misleading though. The plagiarism is just unacceptable.
@@FlameForgedSoul no wonder, there are two names in the cover....the other name must be the illustrator for the cover lol, i've seen mangaka that bad at manga but is a good illustrator, but this kid is just straight up sh1t (bro can publish this sh1t just cuz of his father's connection, even worst webtoon manhua i've read still better T_T)
@@kacangajaib1563It's normal for Western comics to have a cover illustrator that's different from the actual comic artist
@@Manganization the art from the inside is on a level of Deviantart teenage artists'...
I recognized the blonde guy from Bleach on sight as plagiarism, and I don't even watch Bleach.
lol dude did not even try.
Like bro he really thought he could copy Shinji exactly and get away with it 😭😭😭
That’s because Bleach, like a lot of other great manga, is iconic.
You can see drawings from some mangaka and immediately know who drew it
You should.
A lot of mediocre people get to pretty high places due to connections
Fr, meritocracy is fantasy.
Tight Kubo is wild
Its actually the corrrect way to pronounce his name, taito(the japanese pronounciation of "tight") kubo. Also, tite kubo is just a pen name, his real name is noriaki kubo.
@@ionicman2908 ahhhhh, didn't realise the romanisation.
@@ionicman2908 it's pronounced Taito.... that's exactly how he's pronounced it himself.
That's not how any of this works....if you wanna use such flawed logic you might as well xall him Tight Cube.
Just stick to the source...there's no tight coming in from anywhere.
is Kubo tight?
@@ionicman2908 I've never in all my days heard that actual pronunciation, I've always thought it was pronounced kinda like "Tiete"
Do you think the guy who ripped off Bleach and the guy who ripped off Jojo's Bizarre Adventure are friends?
Who's the JoJo ripoff guy?
Who’s the other guy
They're referring to Diesel by Joe Weltjens, if anyone's curious.
In that case, the art seems to be original. But the plot is just lifted from Stardust Crusaders nearly beat-for-beat.
@@Dreamcaster111I tried to forget about about that.
@@Dreamcaster111Jeez. Thats like looking at the prime example of how to respect and build on your influences and then saying I'll also respect my influences before straight up plagiarizing it instead. We all know Araki had influences and loved portraying them but at least he was original and creative doing so. A great example is Star Platinum. It may be a clone of Kenshiro from fist of the north star but its also it's own thing. It represents the highest levels of potential and how it can either grow higher than anything or be held back. Which makes it probably one of the best homages to Kenshiro too.
Nah bro that dude looked exactly like Kenpachi 😭 I recognise my GOAT
Bar for bar! Word for word!
Nick Simmons looks like “We got Josh Peck at home.”
How?
If anything Josh peck is the Josh peck at home 😂
@@parrisxsummersLol.
@@parrisxsummers As someone who sub'd to Josh Peck years ago and learned some history as time went on... fairly accurate ma boy!
Edit: Kinda feel more sorry for Drake then him sometimes, I mean shit at least Drake kinda had a reason for his fuck ups ya know?
@@miraigaijinwarrior4699tell us the scandals and gossip about drake and josh 😂😂😂
I get being influenced by someone. But he needs to put in way more work with that anatomy.
macross
Good to see you still alive
True. I think he just dosnt have alot of confidence in his anatomy in general.
4:39 god damn, discount Shinji looking rough
I've seen this Plagiarism art come up a few times but I didn't know the full story
It's wild how far it got
It’s even more douchebag.
This is usually what beginners do. Copy and swipe art from their favorite works. It’s part of the learning process and there is no shame in that.
But to swipe work and publish and sell it as your own is a crime.
But Nick has a name and comes from celebrity, they get handled with soft gloves.
Meanwhile, people with no name that do fan animation for free in support of regular series get copyright struck.
Maybe Nick should have just done a Bleach Doujinshi until he honed the craft and drawing skills necessary to produce his own book.
Exactly, no shame in tracing a few things that you love, but trying to publish it using your name as the creative mind... that is scummy.
And the fact that a lot of true talent gets stomped for just trying to be inspired or do fanwork is a terrible reality.
"But to swipe work and publish and sell it as your own is a crime"... or as Greg Land calls it, a regular Tuesday
Maybe I missed it, but you forgot to mention how he straight stole a piece from a Deviant ART creator and placed it into his comic. Prick was shameless.
Kubo the Chad was disappointed that Nick did not make Music like his father did, completely understandable
Honestly, Nick's art looked fine for what it was. It wasn't mind-blowing, but I've seen worse art coming from "pros", like A LOT of panels in the Sonic the Hedgehog runs from Archie Comics.
The problem is that Nick just wanted to be "B!g D!ck Comic Book Man" without putting in the effort.
no way. everyone had a sonic art phase just like a dbz phase as a kid. if u were into comics. those sonic comics were fire ! honestly nicks art sucked. lbs very under developed. kinda like when attack on titan first started. had he kept at it maybe another year or 2 he would he good to go.
The Simmons kid does have some artistic chops & having inspirations is great,
but you cant be tracing whole pages man c'mon,
Great vid btw, keep it up !
If h can draw, why trace anyway.. skills wasted on dumb people
lol 3:58 bro got the face of Josh Peck but the voice and cadence of Seth McFarland
The guy has money, he just had to pay someone to CREATE something.
Haven't heard of this before, thanks for shedding light on this. Thank you
This guy DARED to plagiarized my two favourites,Bleach and Hellsing? 💀💀💀
Sophisticated taste 🧐👌🏻
Saint seiya is peak bro
Fr! I love it, especially the anime... the manga is... like a Mexican TV show
based
Honestly the plotline is incredibly repetitive
Athena gets kidnapped like it's breathing air
Honestly the plotline is incredibly repetitive
Athena gets kidnapped like it's breathing air
no
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
I thought about this recently but had to watch videos from so long ago! Thanks for bringing it back to the surface, also THANK YOU for pronouncing Tite's name correctly!!!
I will say as an aspiring writer, who specifically wants to create animated series inspired by anime, that I don't just want to recreate the art styles of other series. Don't get me wrong, I certainly take inspiration for things like general character designs, but I don't want it to just be a blatant 1 for 1 copy.
For example, some of my characters, primarily personality, but appearance wise, do take inspiration from Hiro Mashima's works. If the profile picture and name, didn't make that clear, however I don't want my characters to look like they're from Fairy Tail, Edens Zero, Rave Master or other works of his.
There's a difference between having an art style that is both fresh, yet familiar, and copying exactly how someone else draws. The biggest issue is the covers for these comics look genuinely fantastic and if they content of the story looked more like the cover art, perhaps we'd be having a different discussion
Lol I remember this. Plagiarism aside, as a writer and enjoyer of story I want to know was the story and writing at least good? Like subjectivity and personal feelings aside was the writing objectively good. And if it was that makes it wayyy worse because then it’s a man with a genuine gift throwing it away to quickly try to make it to the top
How can someone decide if a story is "objectively good"? Like.. Art is one of the most subjective things there is. Coming from an artist of multiple mediums myself.
Now, I personally could see an argument for there being, debatably, "objectively bad" writing or storytelling, I don't think everyone would agree with that however. But in a weird way, I think this also comes down to a matter of subjectivity and opinion.. I personally would say you could determine if the writing or story of something is bad if: the writer can't seem to focus on a subject. Multiple subjects or plot lines is completely fine, but I mean, they could definitely be mishandled.
If there's no character progression. Although some people don't mind that. Not every story has to have someone experience growth or learn something.
If the characters themselves are dull and one dimensional. Which I'd argue some people may even argue against that, and say what I consider to be dull is subjective and matter of personal opinion, not objective. Even if I kinda disagree with that, but just playing devils advocate to further express what I mean.
Maybe there's actually little or no plot. But I mean, some really "arty" indie films that have cult followings are exactly that. Isn't Slacker(s) like that, if I recall? I'm admittedly not certain, it's been forever since I watched it and wasn't particularly a fan.
Oh, a personal sort of pet peeve of mine are writers being really contrived. Like trying painfully hard to either come across as deeply philosophical and introspective, or use their art moreso as a soapbox to preach their political ideals, usually in a very condescending way. I don't mind political themes, but that's not at all what I'm talking about.
Sometimes it's maybe the author trying to act or pretend to be a lot smarter than they actually are. But the problem with that is, it's kinda apparent when you're writing a character that's supposed to be more intelligent than the writer themselves are, and that isn't exactly something that could be faked on their own. Completely takes me out of a story, and I don't consider myself to be that harsh of a critic.
But even still, the examples/instances I just gave above are, once again, my own personal opinion and preference, and thus, subjective. Not objective.
Sincere apologies for this getting a bit lengthy. But yeah, my point being, I at least don't think there is such a thing as objectively determining something is good. In what measurement, or by who's standards is that determined..?
@@darkness988nobody reading all that
I believe Weekly Manga Recap covered this at one point and they thought the story at least had some potential. They didn’t think Nick Simmons had any bad intentions and was just a dumb kid who didn’t know any better (he was 20 at the time). Unfortunately, being Gene Simmons’ son worked against him in this case for if he wasn’t a celebrity’s kid, he would’ve been rejected at first, but encouraged to try again and to keep working at it.
@@darkness988 I’d argue there are things that objectively make a good story. And maybe these things come from my subjective standpoint as a student of story but for the sake of this conversation I’m going to deem these objective while typing them.
Good story can come from good Dialogue, good characters, good character arcs, pacing, organic conflict, organic growth in conflict, Art(like you said), rewatch-ability(though this isn’t a deal breaker for me), or a purposefully clear message being portrayed to the audience by the end, or a purposefully “left to interpretation” message by the end. There’s more but I want to go deeper into the “objectivity” of the ones I mentioned.
Even if it’s not his art(which I’m not excusing the plagiarism) how well do his characters bounce off each other? Is the dialogue organic of the character or is the author forcing his own speech on them? Is pacing done well or does it jump around too much without meaning? Do chapters keep you interested in the next chapter? And as a visual medium like graphic novels does each page make you want to find out what happens on the next? And since it’s comics how well is the paneling organized because even if you trace the art is he tracing the entire panel layout of each page too? Probably not because to steal from manga and different manga as explained in the video a portion of the panel page of one piece most likely isn’t the same as the other panel he stole from bleach that same page right?
I do believe there’s an objectivity to a good story. Maybe there are genres we don’t like or character arcs that don’t click with us but we don’t always see them as bad but just don’t relate to them.
@@DragonTrainer201 the fact that the story had some potential is sad then. Because not all stories do. That just means all bro had to do is use more effort to draw his own sht and he would be famous today with almost 20 years in the industry by now.
Nga directly traced the pages 💀
While I'm working my ass of tryna get better and make a one-shot
I think I remember hearinor reading about this when I was on DeviantArt long ago. I couldn't believe the son of Gene Simmons would do such a thing. Can't remember what Kubo Sensei said after a lot of Bleach fans told him about it...
If I remember right he was like "Wait the son of Gene Simmons?"
0:09 Kubo looks like season 1 Ichigo lol
His look with the glasses looks like aizen.
LMFAO I didn't catch that the first time 😂
Bros good asf at reading Wikipedia 😮💨😮💨
He had a lightboard, and went to tracing...Kubo's response though....priceless
Actually first heard of this on DeviantArt when this story blew up. Can't believe it has been that long ago.
The way Nick got published is more or less the same way that JJ Abrams son ended up writing for Spider-man.
Both had little to no experience in their areas, but got high profile jobs due to their dad's connections.
Why do some American creators think the rest of the world is blind? 😅
Because stealing others hard work for cash is much easier than starting from scratch.
The same reason you see a lot of English RUclips videos get straight up stolen and just translated in the Spanish and Brazilian sides of RUclips.
@@GxmwpA lot of Indian channels also do that too.
He could have wrote a story and hired an artist to help. Literally has resources and connections.
It’s pronounced Ace “Freely”.
All it took was one Google search.
@@Bask3tChase One of the most famous rockstars too. I ain’t a fan and even I know how to pronounce it. The Japanese names and providences also hurt the ears.
skullduggery's cover looked cool
looked like Ywach
I think it's hilarious that he was so out of touch he thought "I'm the only one who knows about Japanese shit" and just stole someone's work. It's almost rad lmfao
Yoooo thats just crazy appreciate it
Makes me angry trash like this gets published but we hard working illustrators get overlooked.😢
If he really cared about comics like he claimed he would have kept on trying to break into the industry
I remember seeing this stuff when it broke out on DeviantArt. The dude was so blatant that the plagiarized trace work was on the suggestions and at the top of Bleach search results! It was crazy!😂
Hopefully he didn’t see inflation.
You glossed over the fact: He cried to his daddy. His daddy threatened everyone who accused his son of plagarism with legal action. Forcing small time youtube channels to seek legal counsel. At no small cost. But that caused the "Striesand effect" blowing up the story beyond the comics community. Gene dropped the lawsuits. Gave the typical celebrity non-pology. I'm sorry you thought we were wrong or something along the lines. Never admitting to stealing.
I remember hearing something about this year's ago, but I never looked that much into it cuz, admittedly, I was never much of a Bleach fan, having only watched through the initial Soul Society invasion before quitting.
Ah yes that one time a huge rock star's kid was so lacking in talent and lame that he decided to trace the pages of a comic book and call it his own original work...
4:03 I caught it when you said “revenants”.
I have no idea this happened, great video!
Omg, ive never geard of this before. Very interesting
Very informative man! Keep the good Work!
😂I remember this scandal from years ago.
I remember when tekking talked about it. 😂
The dude has a fast track into comic industry/ promotions that many would had killed or dream for and he squander it!!
I remember it wasn't just Bleach, he straight up copied/traced scenes from One Piece as well.
I'm curious, did this situation inspire an arc in the manga Bakuman, where a rock star decided to create his own manga and used his fame and fans to vote for it every week so that it would reach the top of the rankings?
Lmao, I remember when this comic came out! I think I have this first issue buried somewhere
Crazy that this story is hitting my feed almost 2 decades later. Fair enough, just another tale of what not to do I guess.
I think I remember around this same time there was another plagiarism/tracing scandal in the manga RUclips space with a guy who was reading and reviewing Naruto for the first time and in between he would show off his "artwork" that very quickly got exposed for being traces of other people's work. He tried to make a few apology and excuse videos but ultimately he ghosted. I remember at the time thinking it was a bit of a shame as I was actually enjoying his Naruto reviews. I wonder what he's up to these days
He seems to have learned ethics perfectly from his dad
Ok, but why did the skulldugery cover straight up predict Ywach.
lowkey
dang , I'm old I remember this drama when it came out. I read the comic and found it endearing if he was an indie creator putting their comic online with little to no money earned but he's Gene Simmons' son.
“I don’t know if you know this Gene Simmons son, BUT BLEACH IS PRETTY POPULAR!!!”
-Matt McMuscles, Two Best Friends Play Silent Hill Downpour 2012
Tfw one of the panels is straight up ripped off of not just bleach but Deadman's Wonderland, which isn't as popular as the other cited works, but still shows the amount of comics he """took inspiration"""" from
Tbh if he wouldn't not traced, made something most likely worse than what he produced originally, and continued forth, no one would've really batted an eye about it, would've there been some oh look how bad this is, yeah but it would've been forgotten in time, in fact a lot of early mangakas' work is very scuffed, granted mangaka's early work isn't an indication of their starting point as they work and submitted multiple times before it gets picked up. TBH I'm more pissed he didn't just continue drawing and become a better artist, than from what I can find, quit entirely. Do I like nepotism when it comes down to it, no, but could've he continued drawing, honing his craft and perhaps one day outdo his mistakes with hard work an actual skill, yeah.
Then again he boasted about being a nepo hire so in a way its not that surprising he quit
Love when my fellow furs spit facts.
Great video, Covas Lookout. Always loved Bleach and have fond memories till this day. To see this part of history for the first time not knowing a comic artist ripping off not only multiple series, but Bleach as well, really disappoints me.
Though I am curious, what happened to his career? Again, great video.
Thank you for watching, I believe Nick never truly cared about making comics to begin with. I believe he wanted to make a comic that was popular enough to become a movie or TV show. Once get got called out for his plagiarism he just stop making comics.
Nick didn’t love comics he just loved the idea of what he could gain out of it or at least that’s what it seems.
You know the smash hit anime, that was cancelled
It seems like he just wasnt ready to be making a comic book, but wanted to make them alot more than he wanted to make them RIGHT. So instead of taking his time and getting good he pounced on any opportunity to break into the business that he could find. and probably did mean it as homage but didnt have the skills to make an actual homage. I think this is a case of genuine inspiration getting out of hand and becoming something else due to lack of skills to properly impliment that inspiration. I honestly dont think this was malicious plagiarism at all. Still wrong no matter how you slice it but i believe him when he says it was meant as inspiration and homage i just think he wasnt good enough yet to do it properly.
Good telling. Just subscribed. Keep up the good work.
Inspiration is when you are inspired by something, but you have your own style. Plagiarism is when you blatantly copy something in every aspect.
why does gene simons look like the guy who acted and directed "the room"? lol
I remember being on twitter when this was happening and watching it all go down.
No way, I share the same birthday with Kubo!!
I am bad at drawing but plagiarising other works is not my thing
👏👏👏👏 great video Cova!
Bruh, that's not paying homage, he straight up drew Kenpachi with a few more scars, blue hair, and replaced the sword with a scythe. Also, the fact that he straight up gave the character a scythe just basically proves where he plagiarized it from. He literally gave Kenpachi who is a Shinigami (Death God) or Soul Reaper in the English Dub a f**king scythe.
Paying homage is like how other shows use the Akira motorcycle slide scene. They don't straight up trace over the scene, character, and bike with just a few minor differences and calling it homage. They use a completely different character that rides a different bike or vehicle, and it's only for like 2 seconds.
He's a smart kid, has talent. I'd prefer a raw (no matter how rough) original Nick Simmons work as he evolves as a writer and artist. That's a trip I want to take.
Thanks for telling a more detailed description of this. 👍
I remember this controversy over 10 years ago now when I was an animation student in College.
I remember my friends showing those side by side comparison images and saying it was Nick Simmons plagiarizing. I wasn't sure if it was real or not coming from him. I was watching a few episodes of Gene Simmons reality show here and there so I knew Nick Simmons was an artist in art school on the show. I thought it could be likely possible but I never followed up on it.
Was he in art school before or after the comic? Because it's gonna be really sad if the comic looks the way it does after art school.
@@Gxmwp I'm honestly not sure if he was still in art school or graduated when he made the comic. Reality show episodes are usually months to a year behind when released on tv. My guess would be he would've been close to graduation or closely after.
I gotta say, those covers and knowing the quality of Kubo’s works made me severely overestimate the quality of Simmon’s art. I thought, surely if he’s doing a carbon copy of some of the best, his is at least decent, right? Oh no. It looks beyond amateurish.
it s disgusting how people sometimes feel entitled enough to do this, just because of their parents. that s how I see it.
I didn't know/forgot that Bleach didn't end until 2016
I hate that the cover so good, but the inside is so bad
Makes me wonder if it's by the same guy
Well he didn't draw the cover so that's why it looks sick lmao, it was someone else.
❤🧡💛 2:50 - VINCENT'S TRANSFORMATION FROM "YUYU HAKUSHO", A.K.A. GHOST FIGHTER. 💚💙💜
Hideous artstyle but i wont blame him for being unique. Will blame him for tracing if he really did though.
We will watch your career with great interest.
bleach artsyle is my favourite in anime/manga
I have huge respect for kubo
If i had even half of his artistic talent i would be so famous lol
Great work Cova!!!
I remembered this controversy on Deviantart back in the day.
All that family money and he couldn't spend it to get traditionally trained.
Broo it's call "tee te Kubo" not "tite" like kite.. bruuhh
It won't surpise me if his editors had no idea about him trancing. Manga was still a niche back then.
Tight Kubo😂😂
I'm only 10 seconds in the video. Pronouncing prefecture as "prefix-ture" and "Tite" as "tight" was definitely a choice
Some cultural understanding about not being worried about plagiarism. In Japan it’s not normal to go after people, specifically in anime\manga, for copyright or plagiarism. By Japanese law companies can’t sue unless the creators instigate it. There are huge cons in Japan where fan works based off popular series are celebrated and officially sold.
Before anyone mentions Palworld vs Pokémon just remember Nintendo owns majority shares therefore they are the creators and can sue.
He should have just payed the cover artist to draw the comic.
Mom can we get bleach
No honey we already have bleach at home
Bleach at home
Personally, my first attempt on drawing also by tracing my favorite artist, in my case it was Kishimoto, Naruto's author.
I also made comic on my student notebooks, and I also copy the poses from various comics/mangas.
Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with the act of tracing or referencing if it's purely for learning/training, every artists does that, we gotta start somewhere, after all.
However it becomes a problem when you use it for monetary purposes, so just make sure that when you decide to publish your work, keep "tracing from other artist" out of it, and keep "referencing" to a minimum.
God promissed him Kubo's artstyle. (Gene was born inla haifa, by Hungarian immigrants in Israel)