Policy on Fan Created Merch

Last Updated January 1, 2021

The foundation of the Toadhouse is creativity and self care. “Toads Support Toads” is our motto because we believe that expressing yourself is one of life’s greatest joys. However, as a business we also want to ensure that our gamers have the best experience possible and that the trust we have built isn’t harmed. We noticed other communities, such as Supergiant Games, writing a policy to clearly outline what is okay when it comes to selling your creations and thought it was a fantastic and smart idea. So, if you are interested in creating and selling fan merchandise, we have a few guidelines we are asking you to follow:

• Making and selling limited, hand-made fan merchandise inspired by our games ("items") is generally fine, and does not require getting express written permission from us. However, you are not permitted to mass-produce or mass-distribute items.

• You must make it clear that your items are unofficial, and not related to or authorized by Toadhouse Games or Team Toadhouse. Specifically, do not use the Toadhouse Games or Team Toadhouse LLC trademarks and logos. Do not use official art or assets from our games.

• Do not make items that are significantly similar to official items offered by Toadhouse Games or any of Team Toadhouse’s authorized licensees.

• You can only sell items directly to consumers. Do not sell them on large stores such as Redbubble, Displate, Society6, or Amazon.

• Do not associate Toadhouse Games or any of our games or brands with content that runs counter to the spirit of our games, i.e. content that is offensive, inappropriate, or otherwise in poor taste.

• We reserve the right to ask you to remove any works at any time at our sole discretion for any reason. We likewise reserve the right to update this policy at any time and for any reason.

We appreciate your compliance with this policy. If you have further questions, please consider the following examples to help illustrate our policy in practice:

🐸 Example 1: Maya is selling a set of four GG teacups inspired by GG’s Adventures on her Etsy page. She has made 10 sets in total. Is this permitted by our policy?

✅ YES! Maya is selling a limited quantity of hand-made items inspired by our games and content. Via Etsy, she is responsible for her relationship with her customers and is personally shipping out her items.

🐸 Example 2: Billie has created a well-loved image of the Tsundoku Cafe staff from Call Me Cera hanging out and decided to silk-screen it on a T-shirt, ordering a quantity of 50 to sell locally or at cons. Is this permitted by our policy?

✅ YES! Billie is making a small run of shirts based on their original design, and plans to sell them directly to customers.

🐸 Example 3: Jeffrey has gained a good-sized social media following for his digital artwork, and his latest piece is one of his most popular, depicting Sofia and Wei from CMC playing air hockey together. Jeffrey has announced a limited run of 100 prints to be sold at his Artist Alley booth at AnimeNEXT. Is this permitted by our policy?

✅ YES! Jeffrey is directly selling a limited quantity of prints of a piece he created. (Limited quantity is considered 200 units or less.)

🐸 Example 4: Casey is a huge fan of Team Toadhouse, so much so that almost all their artwork is Team Toadhouse or Call Me Cera related. They want to run a Toadhouse themed booth at artist alley. Is this permitted by our policy?

🚫 NO. Although the art is original, by having only Toadhouse merch, customers might confuse Casey’s booth as an official Toadhouse merch booth. It would be better if Casey had a mix of their fandom art showcasing their talents instead of focusing on Toadhouse alone.

🐸 Example 5: Tabby loves everything cottagecore and thinks the Toadhouse logo is adorable. She knows her followers would love the tea sipping Toad emote, too. She thinks they would be perfect as enamel pins, and a lot of her customers agree. Knowing demand is high, she has ordered a batch of 750. Is this permitted by our policy?

🚫 NO. Tabby is using official artwork as the basis for her merchandise. Furthermore, she has ordered a substantially large run of these items, i.e. is mass-producing the items. This violates our policy and we ask that such items not be created or sold.

Thank you for reading. Please understand that our small team generally is not available to evaluate or approve ideas for fan merchandise, or answer specific questions about fan merchandise, which is part of the reason for this policy. We hope this policy enables many creators to keep creating with confidence. (And thank you to Supergiant Games for their clear and informative policy, which heavily influenced ours.)