How would you feel if your doll was bootlegged?

Volks has been informed -- thanks, guys.

Lolidoll is a banned company on DoA, and a well-known bootlegger, primarily of Luts dolls so far, although I see they're branching out. Feh!

-- A

 

Well, as much as I'd love ta have a Yo-SD I wouldn't feel right buying a copy, it would just be out-right wrong! Volks puts allot of work into making beautiful molds for dolls, stealing, and or copying, one would be like taking a famous painting and calling it your own!

I would never try to sell it, I'd prolly give it to my 4yr old neice, she's really good at understanding the value of something

 

If someone made a copy of one of my dolls, or a doll I wanted, I simply wouldn't buy it. These things unfortuantely happen, and I'm not going to flip out and lose sleep over it (there's not much anyone can do about it but not give companies like Lolidoll their money), but I wouldn't support the company making the direct copies. Plus, the orginals are going to be much better quality.

If I bought a copy unknowingly, I would undoubtedly still come to love it, since it isn't the doll's fault, but I would be pretty ticked off at the company who made it.

 

For me, quality of these dolls exceeds price, otherwise I'd never have spent so much on my first two dolls!
I'm the type of person who if she watches a movie and likes it, will go out and buy a copy of the dvd. Of course, it doesn't look quite as good as on the big screen, but it's my way of saying "MAKE MORE!"
If we all bought from bootleggers, the original companies would make no money ;(
Then there would be nothing to bootleg from!
Pouring my money into faraway countries..

If my doll was bootlegged, I'd probably throw a hissy fit because I paid full price, but I love them so I'd probably have nothing I could do D:

 

Sure bootlegging is bad, and i wouldnt out rightly buy a boot legged doll if i knew it was one....but if i bought one without knowing, and then later found out, i wouldnt sell it or burn it (thats just mean. >_< ) i would love it anyways. It would probably make me preach about people should do research and not support bootleggers...but thats just me. but i mean everything is bootlegged...purses, wallets, movies, dolls...just know what your buying thats all.

 

It would be a fantastic resource for newcomers, especially if you could expand that page to all bootleggers from legit companies, since copies of other companies' dolls exist and are damaging, too.

 

We used to have to deal with trying to figure out if resin garage kits are bootlegs, it was really hard to tell because of the odd way those kits are licensed. You couldn't tell from the quality (or lack thereof) because the Japanese company would make a run of say 500 kits and then license another company in China or Korea to make 1000 kits with the same molds. Those molds degrade from use so the kits would be of lower quality. Then they'd relicense it AGAIN to a bargain bin type company to make 5000 kits and by then the kits are coming out full of bubbles, pockmarks, horrble seam lines and made out of gawdawful brittle yellow resin. They'd do this so they could cover all price ranges in the market, the same way Sony will make a high quality TV then make a cheaper version through a smaller company that has the same design but isn't made as well to sell to people with lower income.

You couldn't tell if it was a horrible licensed remake or a horrible bootleg remake. We'd have to go round and round with the people who run anime conventions trying to explain that we really had no way of knowing if the kits we assembled and painted were bootlegged or not. We'd check out the company but how can you know for sure?

But I digress, in the case of dolls they don't relicense so they are obviously bootlegs. Aside from the fact that ripping off another company is WRONG, I would avoid them simply because you'll get a lower quality product made from lower quality resin with flaws in the casting. You'd get dolls with craglike seams where the mold halves hadn't been lined up properly that no amount of sanding will fix. To cut costs, some will add bone meal to the resin that will make it very hard, slimy feeling and brittle. The joints will powder from grinding and rubbing together, the resin will not be a uniform color, the joints WILL crack and no amount of glue will fix it. After a short period of time, perhaps no more than 12 months with a doll that gets a normal amount of use, you're going to end up with a very large resin model with glued joints that you can only stand on your shelf and not touch or it'll come to pieces.

Its just not worth it.

 

I think we ought to be careful when creating a blacklist of company's. It would be to easy to throw names onto a list without researching the company properly. Company's like Dollmore and Dollzone have been accused of and/or found guilty of copying but that does not mean that they should be blacklisted, both are very reliable and produce wonderful original dolls. More than just harming the company you would actually be harming the owners of the dolls.

 

Concerning some companies listed, I'll mention that they copied dolls not just from Volks, but I won't be detailing events where Volks was never copied. As much as I believe a lot of dolls were copied, the only ones I can truly be sure of are Volks ones as I know their posing mechanisms, the minute details of their sculpts, etc. If a fan who owns another company's doll that got copied wants to write something, but has no website to host it on, we could possibly work something out.

 

If some company came with bootlegs of my doll I would be unhappy. It's very important to support the real creator.

Before reading this topic I didn't know that there were bootlegs of doll! it's rather sad!
how to locate bootlegs dolls? There are indications or marks on the dolls? Does the real creator sign the dolls?

I wouldnt buy a boot legged doll if i knew it was one but if i bought one without knowing and found out later , i think i would keep her.

 

I'd like to know as well. when looking at a pic of a doll for adoption how would you tell if it is a bootlag? I would both want to support the real creator of the doll and I want my dolls to be the best possible not a knock off.

 

Thanks for clarifying just why I need to make this list soon

Doll companies don't sign the dolls, but most (if not all, by now) have an identification system. Some have headplates glued onto doll headcaps, some have the company's logo molded onto the headcap, and most will usually have a numbering system and carve a code number onto the inside of the doll head. And although actual companies don't sign with a pen or paint, well-known doll face up artists will sometimes sign their names on the inside of a doll head.

The way we're able to identify bootlegs is because we've studied our dolls' faces, bodies, or have spent hours gazing at others' dolls. Forever Doll, the most infamous doll copying company to date, directly copied Volks doll molds and used very inferior materials. Once the doll photos surfaced, owners immediately identified Maggie/Myu/Sakura's face on the imposter doll, as well as their body completely copied as well. The fact that the dolls were made of cheap, brittle materials and often broke apart before the owners even received them also tipped off people that no self-respecting doll company would ever make such trash, they had to be bootlegs.

Every doll copy is found in a somewhat different way, but the best way to prepare yourself to not be taken advantage of is to research, research, research. Don't jump at the first doll with a decent price tag, look around here on Den of Angels, as we as collective members own nearly every ABJD ever made, or at least a similar one by the same company. If you can't find the info you want with a search, either PM an owner with the same doll, or create a thread asking for information on it and people will usually oblige.

 

Thank you this information helps greatly I have been researching and I am going to do alot more as well. Their are so mnay pictures and so much to learn about but I am loving every moment of it.

 

Hmm. Well. Personally, I have always felt strongly that so called 'inanimate objects' have feelings - just one of my quirks - and so it just makes me sad to think about these dolls. People can't show them, the dolls are pariahs...they were bought in good faith and are stll beautiful (and as full of personality as any other doll) in their own right.

I think companies *have* to be stopped from producing more dolls from work they have stolen, and I don't think, even feeling sorry for the poor doll, you ought to buy a copy when it's nature is revealed, as it will only encourage the copiers. But it's not originally the dolls fault or the fault of the people who initially bought them and I don't think dolls bought before any discoveries were made should be 'banned dolls. It's too sad for them.

 

Yes but how would the Administration tell if the person knew before or after the fact. It would be impossible and some people would buy copies just because they can't afford the real ones. i say that the banning is a good way to discourage the copy makers. Not as many people would want a darling that they can't show. If you feel so strong then why don't you start a form seperate from DoA that is for thes dolls a place for their own. I am not critising just suggesting and ideal if you have the means. I know that I don't. I have seen how much work a Administater on one of these things has to do. a real labour of love.

 

I would say you'd have to have the doll in hand to be able to tell if it was a bootleg. Even if the resin is inferior you can make it look nice enough to pass for real in a photo. I'd say if you're buying one secondhand ask for pictures of the company logo/identifying marks on the doll in question, although it wouldn't be foolproof since they would have to have an original on hand in order to copy it.

This is assuming that someone's trying to pass it off as a "real" CP El or whatever. In the case of another company trying to sell a doll as their own design, it makes it a little easier to tell. I'd still think that a doll at that price would be inferior in construction and avoid it.

 

The moderators have banned Lolidoll without having to see the dolls in person. It's not a requirement to hold the dolls in person for most people with a trained eye.

 

I agree with Kittywolf13
Bootlegging happens all the time, if you download music illegally you bootlegged it, even if you don't intent to burn em and sell cd's. That's the same thing without the expensive price tag. And burning a doll just because of the way it was made is stupid. It really isn't the dolls fault for the way it was made so punishing it for that is plain wrong. You shouldn't take your misstakes out on innocent objects. I would love my bootlegged dollie anyway. You can't sell it and no one would want it as a gift, so loving it is all that's left, because you loved it when you bought it right? Why not hold onto that love? And I wouldn't be mad if someone bootlegged my doll because it is not my doll, it's just a fake copy. And since I didn't buy that copy what does it matter and if I did it still wouldn't matter. That's like being mad if someone has an EL and you have an EL. It's an original copy of the same mold of your doll but it is not your doll. And honestly getting all bent out of shape out about it is pointless unless you can physically do something about it. I would let the original company know and be done with the matter. I'm not saying bootlegging is right but all you can do is look out for you and for those you know so they don't get scammed.

 

In the case of Lolidoll they're trying to pass them off as original sculpts but you can tell in the pictures that they're copies of CP and Volks, so yeah you don't have to see it in person. I was referring specifically to a doll wherein someone had copied and was trying to pass it off as made by Volks or CP and selling it secondhand.