in the u.s, as long as you aren’t using it commercially, at least
No, this is still wrong, a species cannot be copyrighted no ifs, ands, or buts. Copyright can only apply to specific characters. A species is way too nebulous of an idea to copyright. They can be trademarked but that is expensive and many of these artists don’t do it and won’t fight to retain it. You are allowed to create characters of closed species and sell them just as you would any other piece of intellectual property, and the only thing the creators of the species can do is whine, scream, and make petty meaningless threats. Which is what they have done.
If you do wish to sell them though you should disclose that said Character isn’t official, so people are aware before buying it, and don’t think you are trying to scam them.
(I mean besides that I’m for the abolition of copyright, but just purely talking about what’s allowed in law as of current)
I agree with you. I’m all for copyright abolition. But you are a bit wrong about what is currently allowed. The reality is much looser than you might think it is.
By the way, shameless plug. I have a community called !protogen@pawb.social, and we do allow unofficial Protogens, and Primagens there (Yes Synths too), if that seems interesting to you or you have related art (or memes) you’d like to share there, I encourage people to check it out.
Yeah it’s because names can be Trademarked, and in the case of Hobbits, that is Trademarked, and the holders are currently paying and fighting to retain their Trademark.