Regarding Recasts

[Stormlight]

Wow. Good thing she bought it back from you. Me, I'd have reported her to DOA and had her banned from the MP, just for knowingly trying to sell a recast doll, even if she might've unknowingly bought it to begin with.

It's funny. I find that the people who are actually guilty of committing a crime (even in supporting others that do) are usually the ones who protest the hardest about taking a stand against it, and get the most affronted and insulted over other's strongly-worded opinions. That pesky conscience nagging at you about something, perhaps?

I think the term mental rape is a good one. Strong, but good. I've had stories and poetry I wrote and posted online stolen in the past. Several times. And every single time, finding out about it was like getting kicked hard in the gut. Or in the head. Even more, when confronting the thief about it, they ALWAYS had an excuse about why they stole my work, and it was ALWAYS an "It's not my fault!" excuse. Really? REALLY? It pisses me off even now remembering some of the lame-ass excuses I was given. And oh, boy, some of the stories those people concocted...

And yes, the stories were mostly fanfiction, and fanfiction falls into the gray area of copyright laws, but even if the characters I wrote about weren't mine (and I ALWAYS put disclaimers in the work, saying so!), the words were. The stories were 100% mine, created in my own head, hours spent typing and editing and perfecting. Oh, and the poem that got stolen, THAT was completely original and I'd spent YEARS perfecting it. And the little jackass not only stole it, she BUTCHERED it. Rewrote and rearranged lines I guess in an attempt to hide the fact it was stolen? I don't know, but let me tell you she was NO poet, and to see my work being sodomized like that...? I wasn't warned by anyone about it, either. I happened to stumble across it all by myself, and let me tell you "getting kicked in the head" didn't even BEGIN to cover how I felt when I figured out what I was reading. I could hardly type my inquiry to the thief, my hands were shaking THAT badly. I don't think I'd ever been so furious in my life. And the excuses SHE had? I'd have throttled her if I could've reached through my screen to do so. UGH.

Anyway, yes. That is what it feels like to an artist when something as simple as fanfiction gets stolen, and I'm not even trying to make a livelihood off that. It's just a hobby, purely for fun. I can't even begin to imagine how the artists feel when they discover that their hard work (that they DO make a livelihood on) is stolen and is now being sold on the black market to unsuspecting (and suspecting) buyers. I just ... feel horribly for them. The whole situation is getting out of control. And I still maintain that people who knowingly buy recasts - for WHATEVER purpose - are just as much assholes as the people who make them. The people who unknowingly buy them are just as much victims. The end.

[Siead]

i agree that recasts are horrid and abhorrent, and am hoping that there will be a constructive thread about how to avoid buying one for dolts like me that don't know how to tell if a doll is authentic on the secondhand market.

however... i do have to agree with sparks that rape is a harsh word. and while i do understand that intellectual property theft can fall under some of the dictionary-definition terms of rape, it's still a word that is very socially volatile. it's like how we don't use the word "retarded" even when we are mean it as the correct dictionary term of "something that is hindered".
i understand fully that having someone steal intellectual property can be very very hurtful. but there are other terms that can be used other than rape, which can be a very triggering word to some that have been sexually abused.

i know, i've gone on a tangent, and i apologize for that. however, i was also triggered by the word, and sparks just beat me to the response.

[OkamiKodomo]

This thread is a few weeks old, but I hope nobody minds me bringing this here, as it seems like the best place for it. It's a bit of a grey area in the recast topic, and I hope nobody judges me for it.

Let me preface this by saying that once upon a time, I was indifferent to the recast debate. I think I even said that I would be ok with buying recasts of doll parts that were no longer available for purchase, and were so jacked in price on the secondhand market that I felt more disgusted by giving that kind of money to a scalper. My logic at the time was that the company wasn't going to see the money anyway, so why should someone that is clearly taking advantage of the economics of supply and demand be allowed to rake in a profit. I was thinking specifically of things like Soom Fantasy parts, that I wanted to hybrid onto bodies I liked better. Scalpers make me just as angry as recasters make others angry. I'm still torn on this logic from time to time, but as I'm now learning to make my own sculpts and learning how to modify existing pieces into something I like better, I'm not so put out by the unavailability of those coveted fantasy pieces (and with other inexpensive companies *coughcoughResinSoul* slowly building up their repertoire of fantasy dolls). On top of that, I have started sculpting dolls from scratch. My little darling Luka is being refined even now. It would kill me inside if I discovered he was snatched up and recast. So, I will not, nor have I ever, given my money to a recaster, and I will not have the need to give money to a scalper, either.

That brings me to my actual point. Some of the mods I've done are extremely extensive, mainly to my AoD Qing head, that I rescued from the marketplace in trade for a lovely little dress, and will be posting a thread for in the near future. I tinted the epoxy sculpt I used (FYI, the Martha Stewart brand of jewelry supplies sold at Michael's Craft Stores has a true pure white two-part epoxy that I will give some detail about in the thread) but even so, the tint was not perfect, as the head was severely yellowed, and combined with the subtractive mods, the poor thing looks like a Frankenstein patchwork. I even modified the interior, as the head was so old, it still used the loop in the headcap with the neck hook to hold it on. I added magnets, and I'm removing the hook. I want to learn to make molds, I want to be able to cast Luka myself when the time comes. And I want poor Vincente to be uniform in color, texture, density... I want him to be entirely made of resin. I have access to the supplies. I want to make a casting of him. Just one. I know from watching my girlfriend cast her custom sculpt that it can take a few attempts to get a good casting (fyi, those of you that are saying 'if recast companies can make cheap dolls, so can legit companies', part of the cost of a legit doll is quality control. Recasters have no issue sending you a doll that has surface air bubbles, or places that the resin didn't completely fill the mold. Legit companies will typically not send out severely flawed dolls, so there is a lot of wasted product) so there may be a few faulty pours before I get one good casting of Vincent. I would NEVER sell these, nor would I sell the original that I modified. It would be packed in a box and put away, in case I ever wanted to modify it further. I wanted to give away any bad castings to friends that wanted to practice mods, or just liked him, with the condition that they wouldn't sell it either.

I guess I just wanted thoughts on this. On making my own casting of an extensively modified head, using it to learn how to make molds and pour castings, and giving away any defective items I end up with, before I get one good cast, to friends. It's a grey area. I've been told there are laws somewhere that if you change something enough to be unrecognizable from the original form, you can claim it as your own. I don't care about that. I'm not looking to claim the sculpt as my original work, I'm not looking to make a profit on him, I just want him to be what I envision in my head. I've seen people recommend learning to cast by making molds of household items. But I don't want to be fingered as a 'recaster', especially when I step up to making dolls of my own. I don't want to steal another artist's work and I definitely don't want to make a profit from it (I don't know how I can stress this enough). That sort of stain on one's record can break a new dollmaker before they can even get their business off the ground.

And now I'm going to go hide in a corner until the anxiety from admitting all of this passes. I don't know how thieves sleep at night. I haven't even done anything yet, and I'm breaking out in cold sweats.

[Kirahfaye]

O.K., I don't think you have anything to worry about from the group here, so come out of your corner and have some cookies!

[OkamiKodomo]

Ok I will stop hiding, and have cookies but I will still nervously glance over my shoulder. XD

I really do want to sculpt my own fantasy doll parts, and I'm already plotting on making some really big dragon feet designed to fit the RS hoofed body. Kinda like the Peapod doll parts that fit the Volks bodies. I really want me some of those little deer feets for a tiny.

[K2!]

I don't know...
You openly admitted to using Martha Stewart products...

[Alopecia No Hime]

Come now K2 Martha Stewart is awesome...I mean I'd be shaking my head if Alton Brown had stuff like that and she used Martha but Alton doesn't so...Yeah. I accept.

WE WELCOME YOU'RE CUSTOMS.

[OkamiKodomo]

I don't know...
You openly admitted to using Martha Stewart products...

In my defense, it was 70% off, and I needed it RIGHT NAO because artistic inspiration had struck, and it had a longer work time than the hardware stuff... I didn't have any Apoxie Sculpt available, and couldn't wait for it to ship to me.

But in all seriousness... what is the general view on this? I'm not selling it, but it is a form of recasting. I doubt the DoA mods will let me post him there, but... yanno?

[SillyLilPuppet]

I don't know...
You openly admitted to using Martha Stewart products...

In my defense, it was 70% off, and I needed it RIGHT NAO because artistic inspiration had struck, and it had a longer work time than the hardware stuff... I didn't have any Apoxie Sculpt available, and couldn't wait for it to ship to me.

But in all seriousness... what is the general view on this? I'm not selling it, but it is a form of recasting. I doubt the DoA mods will let me post him there, but... yanno?

You're not selling it, and you're only making one, correct? I highly doubt anyone would ever be offended by that. The reason recasts are so villified is because they are taking someone elses work and reselling it for profit. I think DoA might have issue with it simply because of the zero tolerance policy (if they let you bend the rule, others will continue to bend it until its broken). I do vaguely remember a heavily modded Joker doll though that I vaguely remember being home-casted once it was done? That was all chronicled on DOA in the workshop.

[K2!]

In my defense, it was 70% off, and I needed it RIGHT NAO

70%...?


Okay, we let you live.