TSR TSR3 Throws In Towel, Rebrands Wonderfilled

In the news story that never ends, after reversing its position earlier and admitting that it was NOT the original TSR reincarnated, the new TSR company, embroiled in acrimony for the last two weeks, and having blamed the widespread criticism it has received on Wizards of the Coast, has deleted its own Twitter account and rebranded its website, misspelling it’s own name in the process.

In just a week a much-loved trademark, which was associated with the creation of our entire hobby, and which generally attracted nostalgic affection as recently as a fortnight ago, has been utterly trashed in an astonishing display of self-destructive publicity and incompetence. Two companies (one of which was directly responsible for the damage) have now divested themselves of it, and most major conventions have banned the company behind it, due to the actions and statements of three people: Justin LaNasa, Stephen Dinehart, and Ernie Gygax. "TSR" is no longer a brand which anybody wants to be associated with — not even the company which ‘relaunched’ it two weeks ago, let alone the company they sniped it from. It has been a spectacular masterclass in how not to manage a brand.

This followed an astonishing day of activity where one of the three TSR3 founders, Stephen Dinehart announced - publicly! - that he had blocked WotC and Hasbro on Twitter. After everybody thought things couldn't get any more ridiculous, they did.

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As TSR2 rebranded to Solarian this week (after TSR3 sniped their name and trademark due to a missed filing), we've now gone from two TSRs to zero TSRs in the space of a few days.

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Most people assume that WotC (or Hasbro) has been in contact with TSR3 regarding its use of copyrighted imagery.

Meanwhile, search teams have been sent out for Michael, the mysterious PR officer announced last week who made two posts and then was never heard from again. In the meantime, somebody has set up a parody Twitter account for him.

 

[Abstruse]

Okay, caught up. Time to speculate!

So if this was caused by legal action from Wizards of the Coast and/or Hasbro, we're not likely to know for sure because that's how this legal stuff tends to go.

I agree with Morrus that if WotC Legal sent a standard C&D to LaNasa/Dinehart, they'd be crowing about it, spinning it as proof of how big of a threat they are to the establishment and how they're being relentlessly "bullied" by a company trying to "silence" them. Then they'd set up a GoFundMe for a "Legal Defense Fund" even though there's not a lawsuit because that's where these things typically go.

I do think (again, this is pure speculation on my part) that a C&D was involved, but it wasn't just the normal form letter one you typically get. I think they got a Cease & Desist order that clearly and plainly laid out exactly how screwed they are if WotC/Hasbro takes them to court, laying out exactly where they've violated the law and in how many ways. Basically saying "Listen, here is what we're filing with the court on Monday if you don't take these steps immediately."

Either way, unless a lawsuit is actually filed, we're not likely to ever know because none of this has to be made public, Wizards of the Coast isn't likely to say, and if LaNasa and/or Dinehart didn't immediately start shouting it from the rooftops, they're not likely to say anything either. Of course, I've also given up on trying to predict what those two will do next because yeesh.

 

[an_idol_mind]

Oh, and then things take an even bigger turn on the Giantlands website:

"Our team at has collectively been making games for over 200 years! From classic games like 'Dungeons & Dragons' and 'Laser Tag', video games like 'F.E.A.R.', 'Prey', and theme parks like 'Super Nintendo World' and 'Evermore Park'."

 

[cbwjm]

Oh, I didn't mean the current group of clowns at TSR3 should do things. But even if it's brought up whoever has the license in 2023 should be able to point out they aren't those guys.

Yeah, I understood that. I should have further clarified. I'm thinking that even though whoever has TSR in a couple years time should be able to point out that they aren't them, the animosity from the current group will likely still be directed at them. There will likely be a lot of effort expended telling people that you're unrelated to TSR3.

 

[Faolyn]

I think that, whether or not they got a C&D or something similar, they are still hoping to make back any money they've lost through this whole debacle, and the only way they can do that is by selling their books. I would guess that their customer base has shrunk quite a bit by now (especially if they're being booted out of cons where they were likely hoping to sell a bunch of copies), and if they publish Giantlands under TSR, they wouldn't sell enough to make it worthwhile. So if they change their company name to W[o/u]nderfil[l]ed, they might sell copies to people who don't realize what they used to be TSR. Heck, for all we know they have the bright idea of getting back into conventions under this new name (even though it's likely as good a disguise as a false mustache). Was it TSR that got banned, or was it actually Ernie and LaNasa personally?

(I am very likely to be completely wrong here.)

 

[Undrave]

I would subscribe to this newsletter.

Hahaha, I worked for... less than a year? In the adminstration of a circus company. I don't think I'd have that much to tell...

I learned that there's actually a lot of those small circus performing troupes that tour theatres all over the world (There was like three of us in town alone, though we do have a circus school too). A lot of shared creative spaces with modern dance troupes as well. A bunch of them are classified as non-profit. They usually invest in setting up their next show to lower their profit.

I learned a few random terms, like German wheel, Korrean board, etc.

I learned that almost ALL circus performers are actually self-employed who basically sub-contract to the various producers (Four of our performers were founding members of the company and were bonafide employees for taxes purposes). When it came to our production, the artists were paid a set sum to help with set-up and take down of the set.

I learned that a circus performer can actually make a living out of it and that the 'big money', so to speak, actually comes from private/corporate event. One of our founding member told me story of being brought to like... Macao or Singapour for some rich dude's birthday party with like half the cast of a Cirque du Soleil show, only for the massive crowd of party goers to barely pay attention to them... but they totally got paid a lot for it so it didn't matter (I think it was like a six figure pay cheque for ONE PERFORMANCE! Insane!).

I learned some rules about the Shengen zone in Europe, that a lot of theatres in France are funded by the various municipalities and that getting money from ANY sort of French beaurocracy is kinda a long winded process.

I also learned that worker comp in the state of New York has, STUPIDLY, no special form or tip page or anything at all for the live stage performance industry, despite being the state with friggin' BROADWAY in it.

I learned that there's a TON of brand spanking new theatre being built all over the place in China with state of the art equipment... but there's rarely anybody who actually knows how to USE that equipment there so you often have to bring along extra tech guys.

I learn that you really can't just use a bog standard accounting program if you want to juggle FOUR different currencies because it's a nightmare. Acoomba was NOT set up for that! I can't believe they can work like that...

I learned that if you want to store an RV size piece of equipment INDOOR for winter, you better make a reservation in Spring and that some places have the gall to call a parking lot "storage" which makes looking up such places a pain in the ass.

Churches are good building to convert for circus activities.

I also learned you can get some sweet deal on AirBnB in Spain during the off season.

And finally, I learned about Gimli, Manitoba, that it was founded by Icelandic immigrant and that they have both a Viking statue AND a Viking festival! (I actually spent a WHOLE month in summer just researching festivals all over Canada because I had very little job with everybody else on holidays).

 

[Abstruse]

Oh, and then things take an even bigger turn on the Giantlands website:

"Our team at has collectively been making games for over 200 years! From classic games like 'Dungeons & Dragons' and 'Laser Tag', video games like 'F.E.A.R.', 'Prey', and theme parks like 'Super Nintendo World' and 'Evermore Park'."

James Ward explains D&D and Laser Tag (TSR was involved with writing the lore for Laser Tag). As far as FEAR and Prey, I can't find any specific crossover between any of the credited designers and anyone on the Giantlands page, but it's not unlikely that somebody did uncredited work on one of the games just due to how the video game industry handles credits or they've hired someone else to work on the game "from the old days" who worked on Prey (either the 2006 or 2017 versions) and one of the FEAR games but haven't updated their credits yet. So this one doesn't seem nearly as odd to me as pretty much any other claim they've made over the past couple of weeks.

 

[jeffh]

A C&D letter is unsecuring your pistol in its holster with your hand at the ready. The lawsuit is the real gunfight.*

Anything that would be SO damaging in discovery you can’t respond to it would likely be fatal in a trial.



* Screwing up the metaphor, though, is that discovery is when you give each other ammunition. And possibly even other weapons.

"Discovery is when you give each other ammunition" - love it!

 

[Parmandur]

So I haven't read the entire thread yet, I just wanted to point out that in addition to the apparent typo in their own name, they list the company as "Wonderfiled, Inc."

Unless they completely restructured the entire company and made new filings with the state and got them approved in record time, they're still an LLC.

They're not legally allowed to call themselves "Inc."

Just a cherry on top of this whole thing.

Wow, there really is no bottom to this hole.

 

[Parmandur]

Oh, and then things take an even bigger turn on the Giantlands website:

"Our team at has collectively been making games for over 200 years! From classic games like 'Dungeons & Dragons' and 'Laser Tag', video games like 'F.E.A.R.', 'Prey', and theme parks like 'Super Nintendo World' and 'Evermore Park'."

To be fair, James Ward did write the rules for Laser Tag (no joke), and Dinehart did work on F.E.AR. and I think Prey.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Oh, and then things take an even bigger turn on the Giantlands website:

"Our team at has collectively been making games for over 200 years! From classic games like 'Dungeons & Dragons' and 'Laser Tag', video games like 'F.E.A.R.', 'Prey', and theme parks like 'Super Nintendo World' and 'Evermore Park'."

That was already part of the marketing on the KS at the end of 2019. Though I believe it was a total of 150 years at that point.

Because it’s been fifty years since this all started. Or at least that’s what it feels like