Well I guess I can see where Disney are coming from with the usual horrible feeling of other people scamming money off your hard work but seriously -_-
Nice save with rearranging your ice sculptures into a completely different story XD
And given that I would be genuinely surprised that the company you did it for couldn't pay you on time never mind give you a nice bonus for the save but if they were fighting with Disney they might have been busy and running low on resources.
I see change coming that the fan community is going to want to have some more ownership of the success of the creativity and I believe that could create a better feedback loop if it was nurtured.
I surprised myself with this one, that I was able to turn it around in such a limited time, I had thought I deserved some sort of medal or somethings. Then when the payment wasn't so easily forthcoming I was quite annoyed
Like with everything else, "it depends" XD Fanworks are great (usually, I can count on one hand the amount I've gotten, all super flattering ^_^ sibling dearest has gotten more and some of it is adorable some of it we're both like well it's the thought that counts right?) til you have that number one fan that absolutely HAS to have you condone/canonise their head canon (as far as I can tell from some of the questions sibling has gotten about her characters). And letting fans contribute ideas for characters and events can lead to all kinds of great ideas and fun.
And then on the flipside you have upgrades of the aforementioned who get really angry if you don't write/draw things "correctly" (ie how they've decided it has to be regardless of where you want to take your story, and fanworks to "fix" it isn't enough, it HAS to be THEIR canon). And if you keep on doing your thing, the threats and tantrums and how you "owe" it to them to pander to exactly what they want because if not for them you would never have "succeeded" (which I guess is technically true if your entire purpose for doing something was to appeal to the masses but still they presumably liked your thing as you made it to be fans?).
Can you tell I've watched this happen before with some contempt for the entitled gits XD
You absolutely did deserve some kind of medal or something! Yeh don't blame you for being annoyed about the slow payment especially after going above and beyond when you would have been well within your rights to just walk away and demand payment for the work that you'd already completed (wasn't really your problem that they got in trouble for not checking first).
I've had a few of my ideas copied over the years. It can be the greatest form of flattery. As long as they give some sort of nod to the original creation I am Ok with it. I do welcome suggestion but only after it is too late to change anything;)
For Disney of course I understand the protectiveness of their IP. I just have seen them come down like a tonne of bricks of people that just want to be part of their success. For me personally, I prefer to just avoid getting to close to their work snd if I am forced to make something from their world do it so bad I will never be asked again.
Is your Sibling on Hive?