"Well, what would you like them called, "The angry green man formerly known as the Hulk"? ;)" :-) I know what you mean, but imagine getting a "cease and desist" letter from Stan Lee's or Marvel's lawyers, refusing on the grounds that the character is too well known in the popular imagination to be protected, and then losing in court to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Yikes! Perhaps I worded my opinion too strongly by saying "over the line." The keywords are "caution," "common sense," and "consult an attorney if you're unsure." :-) Asking permission of copyright owners never hurts, and sometimes a "go ahead" is granted. I just think that especially when you're copying living celebrities or intellectual properties like Star Wars, Harry Potter, the famous comics characters, etc. it's always prudent to err on the side of caution. I have mixed feelings about copyright in some areas, but at the end of the day, the law is the law, and the party with the more expensive lawyers does tend to have the law on their side, whether that's fair or not. blondie9999, you make an excellent point: Financial exchange is the better part of "commercial useage," even if the product is sold at a financial loss to the artist or modeller. On the other hand, I don't think that fair use provisions under the parody/satire aegeis apply to the sale of character meshes or textures. You could, for example, create a character from Michael 2 to render a satire of a politician, but if you tried to market a "Trent Lott virtual clone," you could be in hot water. People tend to interpret fair use provisions to justify their intentions, but unless they'd actually hold up under legal scrutiny, such justifications could be meaningless as a defense in court.