Well said. This is why I avoid franchises when doing commissions. Not entirely sure if it's legal or not, but better safe than sorry.
It's something I see a lot, unfortunately, particularly with art and crafts for sale on etsy. You can make fan created things and most companies tolerate it as long as you don't try to make money off it. I've even seen people complain when things they are selling have been 'stolen' by others to sell. It's really sad to see.
I do not know of any myself however if you find any like that please share it here!
We're very lucky down here in the fact that the bee apocalypse seems to be a little slower, at least with the introduced bees...our native bees are suffering terribly, though. It's heartbreaking.
I have noticed the exact same thing over on our side of the pond as well. Call me nuts, but I've been feeling like we're entering the end times for at least the past ten years, and it's been feeling more and more accurate with every year.
As a kid in the 80's, I remember watching a bush with flowers on it (it was at my great aunt's and uncle's), getting swarmed by bees. They would literally be all over it. Around this time of year back then, you'd see swallows and similar birds flying around and gathering for their migrations which I don't see now. Hedgehogs seem to be the only 'endangered' creature that are thriving, but that's kept up artificially
people feed them. I'm not sure if they'd be as abundant without that. It's not been as bad this year with the heat as we only had one week in July which was really bad, but in 2018 it lasted for most of the summer. I'm not sure if it's the 'end times' but there has definitely been a shift that's been going on for at least the past 20 years which now even people who aren't environmentally conscious are starting to
notice. I first started noticing climate change in the early-mid 2000's - we seemed to be getting less snow in winter, but you dismissed it because there is variation of it from year to year. Now, it takes longer to cool down in the autumn, you don't really seem to get frosts, or fog any more. I found it was more noticeable in the winter than summer because the temperatures don't seem to be right. In 2019, I noticed
one afternoon in the summer it was like a hot house - if you've ever been to a zoo that has tropical creatures in it, especially reptiles and amphibians, the air is very warm and saturated with moisture and that's what it was like. I've even seen wild flowers growing in months that they really shouldn't, and it also confuses animals which normally hibernate as they are woken up too early when there's a warm day.