As a black person im actually excited Bosko is public domain! Im aware of his history but i think he could be repurposed into a fun ink-species cartoon character. I know its a bit morbid but its cool in a way to think one of the first cartoon characters was black. Id rather turn it into something positive than stay upset and focus on the negatives. I honestly had no idea Bosko was slavery based first time around untill people pointed it out.
Bosko had a few redesigns, including in an episode of Tiny Toons in which he and Honey were given dog-like features, so that's another potential route to take. Other rubber hose furry characters like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse were also blackface characters, but their animal features make this fact less noticeable. If you take those animal features away, they end up looking like Bosko. Anyway, have fun with the character 🫡
@@itsfreeip im mostly worried trolls could get ahold of him and "moonman" him like they did with mac tonight, ruining any goodwill he could have. If you could, do you mind comtacting someone who could do something with the characters ink design in good faith? Maybe another black cartoonist just to be safe.
I’m curious of what people could do with him. I worry for people to make an honest attempt of the character, only for someone to be like “hey don’t you know when that character was made and how he was used?!” Like for people just to gatekeep the usage of him even if peeps have a good idea for him that doesn’t have anything to do with uhh racial themes.
@@hiddenflare6169 im pretty sure if its aimed at an open audience (who arent bad faith preformative activist) and given a live speech/disclaimer recognizing the bad history it'll go over fine. Especially if its made by black cartoonist (who, again, isnt toxic activist) Like i said before, the biggest concern is him getting "moonman"ed.
The curious thing with Bosko is that even the artists making the cartoons seemed to forget about his caricatured origins after a point. They gradually phased out his stereotypical voice in favor of a more generic mickey mousey falsetto, and there's a particularly offensive joke in one of his later cartoons that is predicated on the audiences seeing him as white. Friz Freleng later said in interviews that he always saw Bosko as a "living inkblot character" with no clearly defined race. Meanwhile, Bosko's original creators later redesigned him as a more realistic black child, so they clearly didn't share Friz's view of the character.
In Tiny Toons, they redesigned both him and Honey to look dog-like; akin to the Animaniacs. I guess they wanted to pay tribute to them (the episode would have been released on the 70th anniversary of Sinkin' in the Bathtub), but knew they needed to spruce them up.
@redmage87 Yeah, Fields of Honey. I always admired how the Spielberg crew paid homage to the entire Looney Tunes body of work, rather than just the big hitters. Most 90's era Looney Tunes media was laser-focused on the Chuck Jones classics, so it was always refreshing seeing the less iconic characters get some lipservice in Tiny Toons and the like. Their treatment of Buddy in Animaniacs was absolutely delightful, though obviously much less loving than their Bosko tribute (and rightfully so. Buddy is wretched.)
I want to say something to all the artist out there that want to create comics, manga, and graphic novels. You can take books that are in the public domain, and make comic book visions of them to sell.
@@Dragonrider1227 The ironic thing is that they'll only be able to use old bug's design for a while if i recall, since he went rhough several iterations over the course of multiple shorts.
@@omegamac10Ever seen "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers" with fake clone Bugs Bunny holding an axe ready to attack his real original self? Now imagine THAT in a public domain HORROR movie!
Bosko's been public domain for decades. He's one of the dozens of Looney Tunes that have been for years now. For whatever reason Schleisinger failed to renew the copyright on a bunch of 20's and 30's shorts. Bosko, Piggy, Foxy, and Goopy Geer are the most noteworthy rubberhose looney tunes we can already use. But some later shorts having also lapsed means you can use the likes of Babbit and Catstello, Dan Backslide, The Dover Boys, aswell as some one shot characters like the gremlin from "falling hare" among some other examples. Im just going to put this out there too. Even though Lola Bunny is off limits there's nothing stoppong anybody from repurposing Oswald's old flame "Fanny Cottontail" into a similar character.
Just because a cartoon is in the public domain, it doesn't mean all the characters in it are also in the public domain. I have found a lot of information confirming that the cartoons I listed are in the public domain, but I have yet to find solid confirmation that the characters themselves are no longer copyrighted. If that changes, I'll address it in a video
@@itsfreeip I'm aware of that much but far as I know Bosko's first appearance was one of many early Looney Tunes to lapse. I look forward to your future uploads in anycase.
Honestly while 30s Rubberhose era Looney Tunes may not be my favorite era of Looney Tunes (or of Animation admittedly due to some fears of certain antagonists and surreal moments in those Rubberhose shorts [ironically this was why Cuphead was effective for me]) ya can't deny the quality of these shorts!
Great video right here. Also yeah half of these public domain looney tunes cartoons were featured in those weird public domain VHS were they have poorly drawn cover art of bugs bunny and the other looney tunes characters.
A recommendation for a vid is def the Sam Singer cartoons and how they're in the public domain besides a few like Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. Also I'm certain some of those cartoons are lost media besides Paddy the Pelican.
Why is your name Felix Chaplin? Where did you get the inspiration for that and your cat OC? Do you feel comfortable with doing a Q&A video in the future about this and other things?
It's interesting that the classic B&W Looney Tunes characters like Bosko and Buddy got to come back in shows like Tiny Toons and Animaniacs. With Bosko and Honney in Tiny Toons coming back as dogs than their human selves.
While one is not looney tunes I'm most excited for the ducks (Donald and daffy) to enter the public domain mainly Donald due to going earlier and trust me, I know exactly what I'm going to do when Donald's in the PD (no it's not horror movies, I actually have dignity)
Erm, every Bosko cartoon up to Bosko The Lumberjack entered the public domain ages ago. The cartoons following, like Ride Him, Bosko!, or Bosko’s Picture Show, are still under copyright protection, as they were renewed. So, technically, Bosko could have been used for ages. Edit: Now I want a horror game featuring Foxy from Looney Tunes.
Could you talk about some of the early muppet/jim Henson characters that are public domain there actually quite a few of his early works that is considered public domain
I hope you can make a video discussing super heroes in the public domain, cause there are a lot that many people would be surprised by, such as Captain marvel(now known as Shazam) Plastic man Peacemaker Blue beetle(the 1st and 2nd) The question And most shocking of all, supermans father jor-l who recently was found to be public domain due to his first appearance(as well as krypton and Lora) in newspaper strips not having a copyright to protect it.
I'm pretty sure Captain Marvel/Shazam is still copyrighted, but I know his film serial from 1941 is in the public domain. I do plan to talk about public domain superheroes/superhero movies at some point, but there's a certain RUclipsr I wanna colab with for those videos, and I have yet to hear back from him 😭 The public domain is a very broad topic with a well of topics that never runs dry
@itsfreeip shocking marvel is public domain due to fawcett not renewing the copyright. Mary marvel is public domain too and there are books that use her.
I think my favorite (for stupid reasons) public domain super hero is Lev Gleason's The Ghost. Mainly because he LITERALLY looks like the undertale skeleton Papyrus. Like striaght up near copy of him, even if he's nothing like him character wise. its WEIRD how similar he looks, I genuinely believe toby probably took inspiration from him. There's no way he got that close on coincidence, its absolutely funny.
So if a cartoon is in the public domain but the characters are still copyrighted, does that mean the cartoon is free to use but you can't make any adaptations of it?
Granted its a merry melodies short so not quite related to this video, but one thing I wish more people knew is that the dover boys short with Dan Backslide is a public short. If i recall the short never had its copyright renweed so its fair game, its one of the few looney tunes/merry melodies shorts with that honor in fact I wanna say. Its especially ironic given how ground breaking the short was for its animation principles. Techincally people can use Dan Backslide in any of their works. They can STEAL HIM, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW! Also its really weird to think about how basko is actually a really really important character, given how nonexistant he is even compared to contemporaries like koko the clown or oswald or felix. Its especially tragic that his racial connotations are why, given he has a lot of interesting and even fun aspects and bits to his character if you scrubbed the DEEPLY embedded blatently racist parts from him. He'd probably make for a really fun character if someone were to do that, but its just SO engrained into him. There's just something sorta sad about one of the first big stars of cartoons being represented by a black character, but also being a blatently racist characature.
hey, thats me!
Nice to meet you
We'll all be dead by the time Lola is public domain.
As a black person im actually excited Bosko is public domain! Im aware of his history but i think he could be repurposed into a fun ink-species cartoon character.
I know its a bit morbid but its cool in a way to think one of the first cartoon characters was black.
Id rather turn it into something positive than stay upset and focus on the negatives.
I honestly had no idea Bosko was slavery based first time around untill people pointed it out.
Bosko had a few redesigns, including in an episode of Tiny Toons in which he and Honey were given dog-like features, so that's another potential route to take.
Other rubber hose furry characters like Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse were also blackface characters, but their animal features make this fact less noticeable. If you take those animal features away, they end up looking like Bosko.
Anyway, have fun with the character 🫡
@@itsfreeip im mostly worried trolls could get ahold of him and "moonman" him like they did with mac tonight, ruining any goodwill he could have. If you could, do you mind comtacting someone who could do something with the characters ink design in good faith? Maybe another black cartoonist just to be safe.
@@Brabbs I don't even think a majority of them don't know who Bosko even is.
I’m curious of what people could do with him. I worry for people to make an honest attempt of the character, only for someone to be like “hey don’t you know when that character was made and how he was used?!” Like for people just to gatekeep the usage of him even if peeps have a good idea for him that doesn’t have anything to do with uhh racial themes.
@@hiddenflare6169 im pretty sure if its aimed at an open audience (who arent bad faith preformative activist) and given a live speech/disclaimer recognizing the bad history it'll go over fine. Especially if its made by black cartoonist (who, again, isnt toxic activist)
Like i said before, the biggest concern is him getting "moonman"ed.
1:27 I just heard a grown man scream from outside, and I live in a pretty isolated place.
*My reaction to Bosko*
"Oh hey, he seems interesting... Why did they give him that voice?"
The curious thing with Bosko is that even the artists making the cartoons seemed to forget about his caricatured origins after a point. They gradually phased out his stereotypical voice in favor of a more generic mickey mousey falsetto, and there's a particularly offensive joke in one of his later cartoons that is predicated on the audiences seeing him as white.
Friz Freleng later said in interviews that he always saw Bosko as a "living inkblot character" with no clearly defined race. Meanwhile, Bosko's original creators later redesigned him as a more realistic black child, so they clearly didn't share Friz's view of the character.
In Tiny Toons, they redesigned both him and Honey to look dog-like; akin to the Animaniacs. I guess they wanted to pay tribute to them (the episode would have been released on the 70th anniversary of Sinkin' in the Bathtub), but knew they needed to spruce them up.
@redmage87 Yeah, Fields of Honey. I always admired how the Spielberg crew paid homage to the entire Looney Tunes body of work, rather than just the big hitters. Most 90's era Looney Tunes media was laser-focused on the Chuck Jones classics, so it was always refreshing seeing the less iconic characters get some lipservice in Tiny Toons and the like.
Their treatment of Buddy in Animaniacs was absolutely delightful, though obviously much less loving than their Bosko tribute (and rightfully so. Buddy is wretched.)
I want to say something to all the artist out there that want to create comics, manga, and graphic novels.
You can take books that are in the public domain, and make comic book visions of them to sell.
I'm scared for the day that bugs Bunny hits public domain
I do not look forward to that horror movie
@@Dragonrider1227 The ironic thing is that they'll only be able to use old bug's design for a while if i recall, since he went rhough several iterations over the course of multiple shorts.
Why?
@@Dragonrider1227nothing could be worse than anything meat canyon has produced
@@omegamac10Ever seen "Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers" with fake clone Bugs Bunny holding an axe ready to attack his real original self? Now imagine THAT in a public domain HORROR movie!
Oh boy, can't wait for the inevitable public domain entering of bugs bunny
A bugs Bunny horror movie 😁
Don’t forget that Dan Backslide is public domain!
That was a Merrie Melodies cartoon, which I'll get to in the future
@Foxy, Goopy Geer, Orson, and the Gremlin are public domain from what I’ve heard.
"I'll use it! No one will ever know!"
Bosko's been public domain for decades. He's one of the dozens of Looney Tunes that have been for years now. For whatever reason Schleisinger failed to renew the copyright on a bunch of 20's and 30's shorts. Bosko, Piggy, Foxy, and Goopy Geer are the most noteworthy rubberhose looney tunes we can already use. But some later shorts having also lapsed means you can use the likes of Babbit and Catstello, Dan Backslide, The Dover Boys, aswell as some one shot characters like the gremlin from "falling hare" among some other examples.
Im just going to put this out there too. Even though Lola Bunny is off limits there's nothing stoppong anybody from repurposing Oswald's old flame "Fanny Cottontail" into a similar character.
Coal Black is not in the Public Domain.
Just because a cartoon is in the public domain, it doesn't mean all the characters in it are also in the public domain. I have found a lot of information confirming that the cartoons I listed are in the public domain, but I have yet to find solid confirmation that the characters themselves are no longer copyrighted.
If that changes, I'll address it in a video
@walkerphillips2818 apologies I wrongfully assumed all censored eleven had lapsed.
@@itsfreeip I'm aware of that much but far as I know Bosko's first appearance was one of many early Looney Tunes to lapse. I look forward to your future uploads in anycase.
But that's the point, if they appeared in a work first they are public domain@@itsfreeip
Honestly while 30s Rubberhose era Looney Tunes may not be my favorite era of Looney Tunes (or of Animation admittedly due to some fears of certain antagonists and surreal moments in those Rubberhose shorts [ironically this was why Cuphead was effective for me]) ya can't deny the quality of these shorts!
I always preferred the characters of Looney Tunes over the Disney ones. They just had more variation to them.
Honey is currently Public Domain. Sinkin' in the Bathtub currently has no copyright.
It wasn't renewed
That's the point.@@stephenholloway6893
Great video right here. Also yeah half of these public domain looney tunes cartoons were featured in those weird public domain VHS were they have poorly drawn cover art of bugs bunny and the other looney tunes characters.
I mean this in the absolute best way possible you sound like the voice of the duck song. (I love the duck song)
A recommendation for a vid is def the Sam Singer cartoons and how they're in the public domain besides a few like Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse. Also I'm certain some of those cartoons are lost media besides Paddy the Pelican.
Honestly im so excited for Bosko. Im aware of origin history but as black guy, he's my underrated favorite of mines. I love his vibe.
Tokio Jokio is in the public domain good lord
Why is your name Felix Chaplin? Where did you get the inspiration for that and your cat OC? Do you feel comfortable with doing a Q&A video in the future about this and other things?
This channel is about free IP, not about me
Also I answered this question in my video "Why I Love the Public Domain"
Bosko has been public domain from the beginning, his first appearance doesn’t have a copyright indicator.
I'm gonna address this in the Merrie Melodies video
It's interesting that the classic B&W Looney Tunes characters like Bosko and Buddy got to come back in shows like Tiny Toons and Animaniacs. With Bosko and Honney in Tiny Toons coming back as dogs than their human selves.
I'm glad to see this
After watching wicked, I wonder what characters from it as well as the wizard of oz (movies and books) are in the public domain
Maybe not Free IP, but could you make a video about what recorded music is and isn’t safe to use?
While one is not looney tunes I'm most excited for the ducks (Donald and daffy) to enter the public domain mainly Donald due to going earlier and trust me, I know exactly what I'm going to do when Donald's in the PD (no it's not horror movies, I actually have dignity)
Looking forward to what you make in 2030!
Actually sinkin in the bathtub is public domain
Who said it wasn't?
Erm, every Bosko cartoon up to Bosko The Lumberjack entered the public domain ages ago. The cartoons following, like Ride Him, Bosko!, or Bosko’s Picture Show, are still under copyright protection, as they were renewed. So, technically, Bosko could have been used for ages.
Edit: Now I want a horror game featuring Foxy from Looney Tunes.
You have it rework your own advertise characters, that cool, it look more modern.
And Thx for the information.
Could you talk about some of the early muppet/jim Henson characters that are public domain there actually quite a few of his early works that is considered public domain
Really?
Any thoughts on Buck Rogers?
0:28
Ducktators is public domain
Ideas:
How to use Winnie the Pooh legally
How to use Bambi legally
How to use Peter Pan legally
How to use Pinocchio legally
What year can I use Foxy? (Bootleg Mickey Mouse)
I'll address that in the upcoming Free Merrie Melodies IP video
@@itsfreeip ok cool, I wanna make a cartoon with Mickey Mouse and Popeye, and I wanted Foxy to be a rival to Mickey
I hope you can make a video discussing super heroes in the public domain, cause there are a lot that many people would be surprised by, such as
Captain marvel(now known as Shazam)
Plastic man
Peacemaker
Blue beetle(the 1st and 2nd)
The question
And most shocking of all, supermans father jor-l who recently was found to be public domain due to his first appearance(as well as krypton and Lora) in newspaper strips not having a copyright to protect it.
I'm pretty sure Captain Marvel/Shazam is still copyrighted, but I know his film serial from 1941 is in the public domain.
I do plan to talk about public domain superheroes/superhero movies at some point, but there's a certain RUclipsr I wanna colab with for those videos, and I have yet to hear back from him 😭
The public domain is a very broad topic with a well of topics that never runs dry
@itsfreeip shocking marvel is public domain due to fawcett not renewing the copyright. Mary marvel is public domain too and there are books that use her.
I think my favorite (for stupid reasons) public domain super hero is Lev Gleason's The Ghost. Mainly because he LITERALLY looks like the undertale skeleton Papyrus. Like striaght up near copy of him, even if he's nothing like him character wise. its WEIRD how similar he looks, I genuinely believe toby probably took inspiration from him. There's no way he got that close on coincidence, its absolutely funny.
Good and well-made video
Tweety bird is also PD aka Orson and agreed although I’ll still use copyrighted for fair use cause Lola Is.. well ya know
Keep up the good work btw
Is your oc ip free?
So if a cartoon is in the public domain but the characters are still copyrighted, does that mean the cartoon is free to use but you can't make any adaptations of it?
You can distribute/exhibit the public domain cartoons, but you can't make new works using the copyrighted characters in them
@itsfreeip That cleared things up, thanks!
@@itsfreeip dang these copyright laws are very BS
What About Buddy That Generic Boring Looney Tunes characters that sucked so bad that Warner Bros. Buried him forever
Bosko mentioned!!
Yo the Ducktator is free! Hail Ducktator 🫡
What about Buddy?
I'm pretty sure he's still copyrighted. He was made a few years into the Looney Tunes series
You forgot one: DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR (1939).
That's a Merrie Melodies cartoon, and this video is specifically about Looney Tunes
@@itsfreeip Oops. Sorry. My fault. 😊
USTEK
Granted its a merry melodies short so not quite related to this video, but one thing I wish more people knew is that the dover boys short with Dan Backslide is a public short. If i recall the short never had its copyright renweed so its fair game, its one of the few looney tunes/merry melodies shorts with that honor in fact I wanna say. Its especially ironic given how ground breaking the short was for its animation principles. Techincally people can use Dan Backslide in any of their works. They can STEAL HIM, NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!
Also its really weird to think about how basko is actually a really really important character, given how nonexistant he is even compared to contemporaries like koko the clown or oswald or felix. Its especially tragic that his racial connotations are why, given he has a lot of interesting and even fun aspects and bits to his character if you scrubbed the DEEPLY embedded blatently racist parts from him. He'd probably make for a really fun character if someone were to do that, but its just SO engrained into him. There's just something sorta sad about one of the first big stars of cartoons being represented by a black character, but also being a blatently racist characature.