'Stylistic Similarity' vs 'Copy'

a) It's impossible for a BJD company to be completely original. Overlaps are acceptable since there are so many companies nowadays. Agree or Disagree? Why?
I think it's both. I look at it like this: If person A makes a design for a car, there will always be a person B who has a similar design. So, the bjd company can be so original and make a breakthrough (like a triple joint, i guess?), but at the same time the doll design can be similar to another. overlaps will happen, humans think alike, it's just how our brains are wired.
b) 'Stylistic similarity' is another way to say copycat. Agree or Disagree? Why?
Stylistic similarity implies they are similar looking in styles, but copying implies that they just took whatever they saw and made an almost exactly alike replica-with no visible differences unless you look real hard. The stylistic similarity will have notable differences, able to be caught by the eye.
c) Once a copycat, always a copycat. They should never make dolls again. Agree or Disagree? Why?
I dissagree. I think that if a doll company copies one thing, it may mean that they just messed up, and maybe hired a sculptor who didn't know the basics of dolly world rules. Or, it may mean they ran out of ideas. But if the doll company has many other original sculpts, good history, and good products, i don;t think it shouldn't ever make dolls again and get banhamered. But, that's just my optimistic opinion...

 

a) It's impossible for a BJD company to be completely original. Overlaps are acceptable since there are so many companies nowadays. Agree or Disagree? Why?

I don't agree that it's impossible for a BJD company to be completely original, I think there are still new ideas to be had, but I do think with the dozens upon dozens of BJD companies existing and the dozens that are popping up all the time, I do believe it's getting harder and harder. I agree that overlaps are acceptable.

b) 'Stylistic similarity' is another way to say copycat. Agree or Disagree? Why?

I disagree with this. Unless you have taken another company's doll and cast it to make money for yourself, you have put work into sculpting your own even if it does look similar to another's in some aspects. At this point, there are so many sculpts out there that one could make one up without looking at any mold for inspiration and still have it come out looking like a sculpt or a couple sculpts mixed together. I've seen lots of sculpts that look similar to others, but none of them are exactly the same and it's up to the buyer to decide which one has the quirks in it that they want. I always thought Crobidoll Lance and Volks F16 look extremely similar, juggled them both back and forth for awhile, but in the end I got an F16 just because I liked it a little better than Lance. I feel when people accuse companies of being "copycats", they're not really thinking about all the other things in the BJD world that are the same: double jointed elbows and knees and hoofed dolls to name a couple. There are quite a few companies out there that make these things now, but there must have been one that started it all, and the others probably drew their inspiration from them.

c) Once a copycat, always a copycat. They should never make dolls again. Agree or Disagree? Why?

Again, I disagree because I don't feel that a company using inspiration for their sculpting is "copying". People are allowed to have different definitions of the term "copy", but to me copying is really using someone else's work to make money and not doing any, or at least the bulk of, the work on your own to deserve that. If a company's doll looks exactly like another's, then they've probably recast it or in some way used the actual physical doll to make their own, and that's copying. I don't think borrowing ideas is copying. And even if a company does recast other companys' dolls, I don't think they should never make dolls again. They should never make COPIES again and should never have done so in the first place, but I don't think this makes them completely irredeemable to the doll world. Dollzone did recasts long ago, but after years of making their own sculpts they've regained everyone's trust and respect for the most part.