Hobbes Stuffed AnimalFans of the Sunday comic strips are all familiar with the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip written by Bill Watterson. In the comic strip a young boy named Calvin and his stuffed Tiger named Hobbes have adventures. Calvin and his Hobbes stuffed animal continued their adventures for five years, greatly entertaining all their readers. Many fans of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip looked out for Hobbes stuffed animals they could buy, or other products with Calvin and Hobbes on them. However, although he could have made a fortune licensing his creations, Bill Watterson was firmly against licensing and never agreed to the merchandising of his creations. This means that there are no licensed Hobbes stuffed animals for sale, nor any other Calvin and Hobbes items other than compilations of the original comic strips, two calendars, Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes, and an art show t-shirt. If you happen to find a Hobbes stuffed animal for sale, or a Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt or other product, it is not licensed and is therefore being sold illegally. Bill Watterson believed that merchandising cheapened the characters and the comic strip, and seeing a lot of the unlicensed material that is being sold using Calvin and his Hobbes stuffed animal, there is definitely a case for this. Buying this illegal merchandise is very disrespectful to the creator of Calvin & Hobbes, and it allows people to profit from a criminal action, which definitely shouldn't be encouraged. Bill Watterson resisted pressure from his syndicate to merchandise his creations and create Hobbes stuffed animals, Calvin & Hobbes mugs, t-shirts, and other products. The syndicate contract actually allowed them to merchandise the product without his consent, and they tried to get him to agree to limited merchandising but Bill Watterson stuck to his beliefs and the syndicate finally gave him back the rights to his creations, in the end not deciding to do this against his wishes. Thankfully I have been unable to find any Calvin or Hobbes stuffed animals for sale, though I have found a website where a women shows photos of the Calvin & Hobbes stuffed animals she made for her husband and talks about having sold a Hobbes stuffed animal on eBay that her husband did not like. This seems to be an isolated incidence. Now that I know that Calvin and Hobbes merchandise (other than the books) is not licensed and is being sold illegally I will be respecting the wishes of Bill Watterson and not buying any of it. I will be happy with buying and reading the books and enjoying the adventures of Calvin and his Hobbes stuffed animal. |