Whistleblowers Urge UN To Strengthen Protection For Those Revealing Abuses

MMA Fighter Upset Over Possible Homage In Mortal Kombat

from the FIGHT! dept

Thu, Apr 16th 2015 9:11pm — Timothy Geigner

Publicity rights have managed to intersect with the video game world more frequently recently. Typically, what appear to be loose general characterizations and/or homages within games have, for a variety of reasons, ruffled the feathers of the celebrity elite. One needs only look back at the disputes raised by Lindsay Lohan over a character in the Grand Theft Auto series which she, wrongly, declared to be based solely upon her. The question I always have in these cases is one of motive. Are these celebrities unhappy about the portrayal they think they see in a character, is there some competing interest, or is it all just a mindless money-grab?

In the latest case we'll cover, I'm at a loss if this isn't a money grab. The whole thing centers on the latest iteration of Mortal Kombat and one character's likeness, perhaps, to a mixed marshal arts fighter name Felice Herrig, who thinks the Cassie Cage character is based off of her likeness.

Herrig, who fights on this weekend’s UFC on FOX 15 card, was first made aware of Cassie Cage a few months ago. Back then, she found the resemblance to be a bit odd, but she didn’t have a whole lot to go on. In recent days, however, more footage and promo materials have surfaced, and Herrig doesn’t like what she sees.

Her complaints, posted to her social media account, center on the Cassie Cage character notably chewing bubblegum and taking selfies. If you go hunting for side-by-side comparisons, they can be somewhat striking.

Except we need to keep a couple of things in mind here. Both women, one real and one fictional, portray combat fighters and there are only so many ways those folks are going to be portrayed. Flexing with clasped fists is a common posed shot in this world. As for chewing bubble gum and taking selfies, both of those are so common that entire industries are built around them, so that is about as unique as having blonde hair.

Is there an homage here? I don't know, maybe. If there is, it's a subtle one, and built off a real-life person who isn't exactly a household name outside of the MMA scene. But what's the point of getting upset over a maybe-possibly-kinda-sorta nod in your direction? I mean, it is an option to be flattered or to use it to promote yourself, whether the whole thing is an homage or not. What's to be upset about?

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: felic herrig, mortal kombat, publicity rights, video games

18 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

James Burkhardt (profile), 16 Apr 2015 @ 10:10pm

Ok, i used to look at ids for a living, and one thing you learned (if you were good) is how to identify if the person in the picture is the person in front of you. You look at nasal structure, cheekbones, jawline, and cranial ridge. One of the reasons a beard is so effective is it can hide the jawline and cheek bones, while distracting from the nasal structure and cranial lines. You look at these things because absent surgery (or a severe broken nose), these things dont change, unlike hairstyle, eyebrows, facial hair, ect.

Now to these images. Cage has a long, medium width, consistent width nose. Herrig has a shorter nose which flares from skinny to medium width. Cages nose has a fairly horizontal base, where as herrigs turns up at the sides. Herrigs jaw line is noticeably more prominent, with more distance from lip to the chin. Herrigs Cheek bones are also noticeably more prominent.

I personally would not accept these images as being the same person. I don't see the 'likeness'. Sure they have a similar build (with cage being noticeably more cut), but so do many MMA fighters. As for the bubblegum...Not exactly an uncommon trait there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
PaulT (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 12:15am

"Her complaints... center on the Cassie Cage character notably chewing bubblegum and taking selfies"

Because NO OTHER FEMALE ever does this, especially in modern pop culture!

There's other aspects of the images that definitely seem to suggest a deliberate resemblance, it just stuck me as funny that these are the ones focussed on. It's not as outright silly as the Lohan case, but I have to ask - so what if it is a deliberate homage? They're not trading on the name, it doesn't affect the fighter's ability to licence her likeness to an official UFC or other MMA game and the MK series regularly homages real life characters and other properties without any problems (Raiden was a homage to Big Trouble In little China, Johnny Cage was essentially Van Damme, Liu Kang was Bruce Lee, etc).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
retrogamer (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 3:42am

These notions of vague homage being IP theft are just getting crazy. I've heard the wrestler Big Van Vader (Leon White) talk about the Big Bear/Raiden character in Fatal Fury being based on him, and he just said something like "Oh yeah, that was really cool, it helped get me over." not "What! Where is my lawyer!".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 17 Apr 2015 @ 5:25am

Her complaints, posted to her social media account, center on the Cassie Cage character notably chewing bubblegum and taking selfies

I think she stole these from Kim Kardashian to begin with.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

Reality bites, 17 Apr 2015 @ 6:30am

Change the character, turn it into a fat whore
Then the dumb bitch can really have something to whine about.
The stupid ones should be teased in parody.

Guess the idiot got hit in the head to many times.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Just Another Anonymous Troll, 17 Apr 2015 @ 7:44am

mixed marshal arts
So she fights ranking officers in the military? Typo alert.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Apr 2015 @ 8:08am

Even with the blonde hair and bubblegum, in the pictures shown Cage doesn't really look much like Herrig. Just looking at the face, there seem to be differences in facial features. Features, one would assume would, if a likeness were actually intended, bear at least some match to the person it's based on and not merely just being a blonde, fit female.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Lord_Unseen (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 8:12am

"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum." -Felice Herrig, apparently.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Padpaw (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 8:19am

to stupid and greedy people everything is a copyright infringement
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 8:28am

Re:
At least Felice is a lot better looking than Roddy Piper!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dreddsnik, 17 Apr 2015 @ 11:14am

Re: Change the character, turn it into a fat whore
"Guess the idiot got hit in the head to many times."

I watched her on last seasons 'The Ultimate Fighter' competition, and yes, she did ;) . It's why she lost :P
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Daemon Blak (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 11:59am

Likeness?
Seems to be a money grab to me.

I never heard of this lady before reading this article and considering that she's got a UFC Bout coming up, her timing of this complaint is rather suspect. After all, she needs as much publicity as she can get. If this character is her likeness (more importantly, if anyone playing the game thinks it's her likeness), wouldn't that draw attention to her? Not unless she complained about it prior to her UFC bout, which would naturally increase attention on her and her bout. CHA-CHING. Money grab.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
michael, 17 Apr 2015 @ 1:50pm

It looks more like Ronda Rousey
I think it looks more like Ronda Rousey, an MMA fighter that people have actually heard of.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Atkray (profile), 17 Apr 2015 @ 7:04pm

Re: It looks more like Ronda Rousey
Wait, I though Ronda Rousey was an actress.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dreddsnik, 19 Apr 2015 @ 6:01am

Re: Likeness?
"she's got a UFC Bout coming up"

Yup, and she was really po'd about the person she is fighting getting a Reebok sponsorship. I thoroughly enjoyed watching that little girl beat the living crap out of 'ToughTalk' Herrig last night.

Pretty sure I know where the next sponsorship WON'T be going.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pragmatic, 20 Apr 2015 @ 5:57am

Re:
So I've noticed. :(
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2015 @ 11:36am

Aargh! "...off of..." is such a hideous thing to say!

Just drop the "of" Timothy, it isn't needed...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 20 Apr 2015 @ 11:38am

Re:
You'd usually base something "on" something else anyway.
[ link to this | view in thread ]