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Why not? It's your work. You can't really be competing with Nintendo, because they can't create that same picture, because they don't employ you. Also you are extremely unlikely to be making a material impact on the bottom line of a multi-billion-dollar international media company.

Also, this is a thing many people already do, so I'm really advocating that it's fine for them to continue doing it.

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I don't think the fact they are a multi-billion dollar company has any bearing. If it does - where do you draw the line? Is it always okay regardless of the income of the original creator?

It gets stickier when you dive into other types of derivative work. Let's say you write a book and I translate it to Spanish. It's my translation of your story. Based on your framework, is it okay to sell at conferences in paperback form? If not, how is it any different than drawing a character I created and selling it on buttons?

Perhaps a translation would need permission, but a total retelling would be allowed. Can you find any problems with that idea?

I look at a translation as like a tracing of someone else's artwork. Not an original drawing of the same character.

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