13 Supposed Rip-offs That Were Actually the OG Brand

By:
13 Supposed Rip-offs That Were Actually the OG Brand

Even respectable art “borrows” from its predecessors, because in one way or another, we all stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before us. It’s just so hard, nearly impossible even, to respect blatant rip-offs. What makes these unapologetically lazy cash-grabs worse is that they became so much more successful than the original that the original could now be mistaken as the rip-off! Is there no justice?

Well, sometimes there is justice. But even if these David vs. Goliath legal battles rule in favor of the little original that could, they’re usually settled out of court for a fraction of what millions (or billions) of dollars that the rip-off raked in. There’s your crumb, you original-thought having creative genius! That is however a much better outcome than getting absolutely nothing because some Hakuna Matata-spouting lion waited until you died to begin “development.” So the next time you see a Japanese lion cub named Kimba, just know that he was indeed the O.G. Here’s Kimba and 12 other supposed rip-offs that were actually the originals. 

The highest grossing animated films of all time are rip-offs!

DISNEY'S FROZEN RIPPED OFF A SHORT FILM. CRACKED Kelly Wilson's short The Snowman was almost entirely copied for the Frozen trailer. She submitted it to Disney as a job application, and sued them for ripping off the plot, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, and characters. They settled out of court.

SMH / Angel Matos 

The character’s name was a dead giveaway.

D.C'S DEATHSTROKE IS THE ORIGINAL DEADPOOL. CRACKED Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld was a lifelong Deathstroke fan, and ripped off his look. Deathstroke's real name is Slade Wilson, and Deadpool's is Wade Wilson. D.C even ripped off Deadpool and dared Marvel to sue them.

Screenrant / Ranker 

To be fair, Monopoly is a much better title than “The Landlord Game.”

MONOPOLY IS PRETTY MUCH A LANDLORD GAME. of .. a IS 150 18= S it 575 18 S OF .. per BOWERY BE $75 32 E CHANCE - 11 MAGUIRE FLATS GEE WHI R R FAIRHOPEANEME user SUMBANGTROLLEY JOHNSON ORCLE LANDLORDS GAME BROAD : ER OIL FIELDS S.S SANIM COAL THE Tues I II RED $100 510 SIO CITYTHING DISON SQUARE $100 = O.E $20 FTH AVENUE CAC ... DE SUB $100 S20 ساعد R.D O R.R 200 - AND BOULEVARD PUBLIC TREAS IN HOUSE $100 LESS $22 MONEY DENOMINAT CHANCE is $5 SIO $50 $100 FREE WALL - OLLEGE f 5222 $100 $22

The Guardian

If you see Kimba the White Lion, it is not a rip-off.

KIMBA THE WHITE LION PRECEDED THE LION KING BY 25 YEARS. GRACKED Kimba was created by Japan's God of manga Osamu Tezuka and aired from 1965 - 1967. The story and even some stills are direct rip-offs, and coincidentally, Disney waited until his death in 1989 to begin work on The Lion King.

Mashable / Goat 

If Pong was the first, how could it be a rip-off?!

TENNIS PRECEDED PONG. CRACKED Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell played Tennis at a 1972 demonstration, and asked Alan Alcorn to duplicate it as an exercise. A few tweaks later, he gave the world Pong later that year.

What Culture / The Week 

From Russia with love.

SHARIKI IS NOT A CANDY CRUSH RIP-OFF. счет CRACKED If you happen to play a very basic version of Candy Crush called Shariki, just know that it's actually the original. The Russian game created by Eugene Alemzhin is the pioneer of all the Match 3 games to follow.

Medium

One of these things is just like the other.

WHICH CAME FIRST, THE SHATNER MASK OR THE HOCKEY MASK? CRACKED 1978's Halloween is often credited with kicking off the slasher in a mask genre, and only 2 years later, we got Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th. Another slow-moving, seemingly unstoppable masked killer with a tragic past.

Screen Rant / Parade 

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

MUST READ

Forgot Password?