1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
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  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
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Rule Update Mirodoll banned from DoA | updates in post #2 for September 2018

May 26, 2018

    1. I have to agree with this. That statement about Mirodoll’s pricing was unnecessary and rather inflammatory, so no wonder people are upset with the mods about that. Bringing up the actions of a completely different person was also irrelevant--why mention the trademarks at all? What does that have to do with Mirodoll? I mean, am I correct in interpreting that part of the mods' statement to mean, "We didn't really care before, but now suddenly we do"? (Or worse, "Modding copies of other companies' dolls is fine by us, as long as Luo hasn't done anything recently"?) I know that's obviously not what they meant, but that could definitely have been worded much better, or left out of the post entirely.

      I'm also kind of worried about the unintended chilling effect this is now having on the artist community, as I've seen a few artists off-site say that they're worried their dolls could be accused of being modded copies because they haven't posted a lot of WIP photos of their sculpting process. Even though I haven't done any doll sculpting since I first joined the hobby, I know I'd be pretty nervous about working on my 1/6 skeleton again after owning an Angel Battle doll--if you overlayed photos of them you'd probably see a lot of similarities, because they're, well, y'know, skeletons...
       
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    2. Regarding some of the issues mentioned by members:

      Members of the Den of Angels moderation team made contact with Dollstown in 2014 and Iplehouse in 2018 regarding the Mirodoll bodies. Neither Dollstown nor Iplehouse chose to make public official announcements regarding the copies at the time, but they did respond to our inquiries.

      From Dollstown:
      From Iplehouse:
      In this most recent case, it was clear to us that Mirodoll was selling a modified copy of the Iplehouse JID body. Mirodoll's sculptors were not simply 'inspired' by Iplehouse, or using it as a visual reference. The identical details and measurements indicate that Mirodoll made a physical cast or 3D model of an actual legitimate Iplehouse doll, modified parts of it, and recast it as their own creation. Regardless of the technology or method used, copying an existing doll and stating that it is an original work because of minor changes to the sculpt is still recasting.

      Dollstown was the first BJD artist to confirm our suspicions of Mirodoll's copying, and it was the first clear instance of this kind of behavior on Mirodoll's part. Dollstown did not plan to confront Mirodoll and so regretfully Den of Angels did not take any action either. Now that the Iplehouse JID body has also been copied, we believed that this is a habit of Mirodoll's that would continue if we did not take action at this time. It is would be deeply unfair to Dollstown if we do did not include the copy of the 18yr girl body in the ban now that we are taking action and making a statement.

      Mirodoll was banned for modifying and recasting the work of other artists. The bodies that were illegitimate copies of the works of other artists are banned. All other creations by Mirodoll are currently permitted on Den of Angels until further notice. If any other artists come forward with concerns about other bodies or heads, we will reevaluate those sculpts at that time. Other BJD makers have recovered from similar scandals. Members of the Den of Angels staff own Mirodoll dolls and have nothing personal against the company.

      Regarding other similarities in dolls:

      There are many ways to sculpt the human form and many of those sculpts will look similar. But much like actual human bodies they have different musculature and different measurements. Joints and jointing mechanisms will vary and display different levels of sculpting skill. Mirodoll's JID copy and 18yr girl copy bear no stylistic similarity to one another, but obviously correspond to individual works by other artists. As we have said before, if you think a sculpt is suspiciously similar to an existing doll, do some research, make some photo overlays and comparisons to show us, and the Den of Angels staff will review your provided evidence. Some sculptors leave a company to form their own, some sculptors take classes from others, some do contract work for many BJD companies. Sometimes a member will bring similarities to our attention, thinking there is a problem when it is actually legitimate, and that's okay. Members are welcome to ask any kind of question in private using our Ask the Moderators private subforum.

      Regarding the Soom horns:
      We do not ban items from DoA based on accusations of art theft from non-bjd-related forms of art; we only ban counterfeit copies of ball-jointed dolls. The horns in question seem to have been copied from a 2D piece of fantasy art. We did request confirmation from the original artist but we did not receive any reply. We cannot address an unresolved situation without more information.

      Finally:
      Any harassment of DoA members who do own Mirodoll dolls will not be tolerated.
      Public critique of forum policy or moderator action on the forum are not permitted and the staff decision in this case is not up for debate.
       
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