Really, Dollmore? Blatant Kuroshitsuji rip-off

Eh, I think about it and really...it not matter. Because it all one big rip-off. Though I not care, I just wish it was in SD!

 

Thank you JennyNemesis, couldnt have said it more prefect.

Dont think people would have bothered posting this if Kuoshitsuji wasnt the hype of the month. I love the manga but ugh the anime gets worse towards the end...But then again most great mangas were ruined making animes out of them and filling it with random stuff... *sigh*

 

a pm probably would be better but if honesty is now totally flaming then...ok. i think ill just go edit my post

ive never heard of this kusho thing

also most anime end badly because theyre made while the manga is still being made, but then run too quickly and they have to sort of make up the ending. dont know about this one because obviously ive not seen it

 

JennyNemesis, I think I love you. And you said exactly what I wanted to say, so nothing further to add.

 

Snip-quoted question that bothered me:

To the owner of the intellectual property, it might be. Look at it this way...if it were your character/idea that you had spent a certain amount of time developing, and someone started making money by selling copies of something so obviously your work with not even a credit to the fact it was yours, representing it as their own, would you honestly be thrilled about it? I know I wouldn't be. Put yourself on the "being stolen from" end of that situation.

However, it's up to the owner of the property to enforce the copyright. The most we can do is alert them to it's use, and "vote our conscience with our wallets", as someone else mentioned. They have to take it from there.

 

It might be an issue for the author of the manga...but then again it might not. Cosplayers and cosplaying dolls are free advertising for that manga/anime. People who see other people and their dolls running around dressed as characters from different shows become interested in the characters and eventually the show, by seeing those designs. Perhaps the case will turn out to be win-win for Dollmore and the mangaka since Dollmore makes a profit from the dress and the dress piques interest in the manga. I'd never heard of Kuroshitsuji before this blew up...but now I know about it, I'm checking it out!

Vote with your wallets for sure, but also vote with full knowledge of what you're voting for. We've batted this 'have Dollmore asked permission or haven't they?' issue back and forth and no one who has been outraged by this has yet asked either Dollmore or contacted the publishers of the manga to ask!

 

I don't care either way, but for fun I emailed them yesterday and have yet to receive a reply. Merely asked if they got their inspiration from Kuroshitsuji or not. :3

 

There are at least two other BJD clothing makers who have Kuroshitsuji outfits where their dolls are clearly posed to be Sebastien and Ciel. I've yet to see anyone flip out on Raphael or Fishcure. There are several lolita brand that make Kuroshitsuji clothes and the manga itself has taken designs from lolita brands as sources.

Buddydoll makes a girl's school uniform that is clearly the Ashford Academy uniform from Code Geass but in blue. I was annoyed they went through the trouble of making the pattern but then made it in the wrong colour which makes it useless for cosplay.

Cosplay falls into the same grey area as doujinshi. As long as there are no official sources of doll sized cosplay outfits, or Dollmore isn't stealing patterns from someone else's already made doll sized cosplay outfits, I don't see the big deal.

 

This thread amuses me

 

I was amused by the confusion of Edwardian and Victorian design, but hey, when I "steal" design elements I make sure I know where I "steal" them from.

 

I don't really see the difference in this and having Minimees made of manga characters or celebrities...

 

Specifically, Volks worked directly with Peach-Pit in order to produce the Rozen Maiden dolls. So the Rozen Maiden dolls are, all things considered, 'official merchandise'.

 

Nor do I - hence why I am so amused

 

Yep, they totally copied the design on New Rock Boots(someone did and you can't tell me that no one on this board knows what New Rocks are)! I thought it was cute when I saw it. Too bad it was sold out.

 

Nor do I - but then, I'm quite against Minimees for that very reason. The company shouldn't profit from copyrighted stuff without paying the copyright owner, period.

I think the point is that Dollmore doesn't really 'raise interest' in this manga, since they don't quote the actual source of this dress.

 

Well not directly but like I said earlier, I saw the dress and found out about anime after from someone who explained to me where the dress was from. As soon as I knew I went and watched some of it. I want to get a tshirt or some figurines now XD . Thats mostly the reason why the cosplay shops in Japan haven't all been shut down. Like I said before, the anime companies see it as free advertising. Even if they don't label the costumes it's still pretty easy to find out where it's from (asking someone is a good way to start). It's not like anyone is making recasts of their figurines or copying their DVDs

 

Really? Since Dollmore posted that dress for sale and the OP started this thread I wonder exactly how many people who had previously never heard of Kuroshitsuji have looked it up? And of those people, how many thought it was pretty cool? And of those people, how many will now follow that manga and anime? And of those poeple, how many will go out and purchase the books, the DVDs, and cosplay their dolls?

I'm not saying free-for-all copying and wholesale intellectual theft is a good thing, I'm definitely not saying that, but I can see why a mangaka/anime producer might waive their copyright when the viral interest (such as this) can take off so fast. The main thing is...has anyone who is bothered by this asked the producers of Kuroshitsuji whether they a) know about this and b) will do anything to stop it? KohakuTenshi has asked Dollmore where they got their inspiration from, but has anyone actually asked the Japanese publishers, the Western publishers...anyone who has a vested interest in the financial aspects of this manga/anime? If the answer to that is still no, I have to wonder why people are still discussing this issue and disapproving of it when the company has yet to be told and we still don't know what their position is!

 

To put this into some kind of perspective:

For 50-60 years that *I* know of, science fiction conventions have had art shows and costume contests that are full of costumes, paintings and drawings, sculpture, and "art objects" that are either directly inspired by books/comics/movies/television or actual copies of costumes etc from the movies/book covers and so on.

Not only has no one ever complained or sued over this, but some of the people who are the most virulent protectors of their copyright and trademarked material (like LucasFilms) have sponsored contests and given prizes for costumes.

This sort of thing is known to be good publicity, and far outweighs the minuscule profit to be obtained by licensing a design for what--a hundred doll dresses? The amount of exposure the manga and anime has gotten from just this thread alone....this is publicity you simply cannot buy.

 

This is true. I hadn't heard about Kuroshitsuji until this thread, but now I've at least looked it up. Whatever gets people talking is usually a good thing.

 

I find this mildly irritating...I understand taking inspiration from the things around you, I really do, but when it's this close it does bother me. Yes, there are slight visible differences. But it is still recognizable as being Ciel's dress when it's not being marketed as such. In my mind, that's too far. That's my ethics though, and obviously Dollmore is operating on theirs and not my own.