DoA Witch Hunts are back!

Yesterday to my great shock, I learned that Mirodoll had been banned from Den of Angels. That's how they chose to word it. In fact, a couple of Mirodoll bodies have been banned, not all of their dolls at all. The DoA witch hunters banned Mirodoll from the forum, for releasing modified copies of Iplehouse bodies in 1/4 and 1/6 scales and Dollstown in the 70cm female. They admit there are some differences, but deem them too similar and there for these three bodies are banned. Mirodoll has opted to pull the bodies back from the market and they have removed them from their sales pages.

Mirodoll had been posting progress captures of their 3D designed dolls on their Facebook pages:https://www.facebook.com/Mirodoll-378158618953696/ . They were asking for people's opinions and suggestions. These photos are from their FB pages. So they do have some proof of the design process.

Yes, the designs are similar to Iplehouse with these two bodies. Their designer has clearly been inspired by them, but too much? It's in the eye of the beholder.

WHAT IS TOO SIMILAR?

However, now that Mirodoll is banned and judged like this, then in all fairness, so must be A LOT of other companies too. Let's take a little review! Dollstown 70 and Miro 70 difference listed, but according to DoA, they are too similar. This should show the scope in which dolls can't be similar. (picture from Facebook Mirodoll Discussion group)

They're not identical, but yes, similar.

All of these 1/6 bodies... Are they all different enough then from each other, based on the "new rules"? (picture from Facebook Mirodoll Discussion group)

How about Dollzone and Doll Leaves?

Dollzone and Doll Leaves comparisons in 1/3 and 1/4. Not similar at all? No?

Little Monica Harmony body and Dreaming Doll Elva body, same sized. Are these two more or less similar to each other than the Miro 70cm and the Dollstown 70cm? To my eyes, they are more similar.

Here's a GREAT quote from one of the member on DoA discussing this topic:

[QUOTE="dollsoflace, post: 12450205, member: 55813"]If pictures will suffice as evidence for something like this then why aren’t other doll companies in similar situations checked at this time too?

And what is going to be the criteria from here on out on this matter? Where does “inspired by” cross the line into “copy/paste/modify?” Will the databases be updated and all suspicious bodies and molds be considered? There are many other companies that border this same problem too.[/QUOTE]

Yes, thank you. Excellent point! This ban has now set a precedent and in all fairness, it should be equally be applied to every BJD company, every BJD doll, head and body sculpt ever made. I'd wish to know when the full scale inspections of companies and artists of all dolls and companies will start? Raccoon Dolls and Iplehouse FIDs need to be put under the magnifying glass immediately. I regularly mistake one for the other. Whereas never did I mistake the Miro 70cm girl body for the Dollstown 70cm girl body. I think there are other companies bodies that look a heck of a lot more alike. Dollstown and Iple bodies were just the first of their particular style of body, so the first similar ones to come out from other companies would stand out. But if you look at the standard female 58-60cm body for example, there are dozens of almost identical ones around. Look at those newest DZ and DL. Very similar with slight differences, just like Dollstown and Miro here.

All 1/6 baby bodies should be lined up and inspected, measured and judged, if DoA is going down this lane. They are all so dubiously similar.

The traditional style head sculpts by Luts, Fairyland, Little Monica, Dreaming Doll, Dream of Doll, Crobi (the list is endless) should now the put under extreme scrutiny and it must be determined which ones are too similar to each other.

Should DoA make an official list of every even remotely similar doll parts too.

Have some hands been copied? Are there too similar feet or horns or head caps?

How many companies could DoA intimidate/threaten into pulling back dolls and doll parts with their bans? Is this really how people want to go about this hobby?

THE FUTURE of THE STANDARD BJD:

Have all the songs been written?

Looking at all these 1/6 bodies up there, I'm just having to wonder where is there room for any more new design? How would one go about designing an original and different looking baby body when all this has been done already, yet keeping it approximately same sized and shaped to allow the clothes to fit? How to make a body in this scale anymore that would be different enough from the existing ones? I can't see much wiggle room there at all at this point. What I'm getting at is: when there are so many BJD companies these days and they all need to re-new and re-fresh their dolls periodically, then how are they going to avoid getting "too similar" products to something else in the future? The differences are bound to get more and more minute by the year. It's inevitable. Too similar is the future of standard sized BJDs. I don't see any way of escaping that. Do you?

I'm a songwriter and the problem of similarity is the same in music as it is in BJD design. They say all the songs have basically been written! It really is starting to be super hard to come up with melodies within that singable range within pleasent harmonies, chord progressions and beats, so that the new song won't sound like something that's been written somewhere in history before.

You publish the good song and it starts living it's own life. You don't own the notes, beats and chords. The song you wrote gets sung by every other Jill and Joe. Trends are formed. More and more similar songs are written by others. Music styles are formed until the market is cluttered with similar style songs and they all drown in the mass of similar songs. A songwriter can't 100% control who sings/plays their songs and how. Songwriters don't get compensated 99,9% of the time when musicians/advertisers/event organizers/buskers/filmmakers all over the world are covering, modifying and even recording their songs and making profit off of their hard work. It can't be fully controlled. You want to be a songwriter, then this is something you just need to accept.

We're starting to face this dilemma in BJD design now that it's not just Volks and Cerberus project out there producing BJDs. It's not small artist doll business with the BJDs anymore. It's entered the mass market. There are hundreds of BJD companies now. Each of them has to re-new and re-fresh their doll bodies and sculpts periodically to keep customers interested. How can we logically expect them to re-invent the human body shape every time?

The doll market also functions the way it functions in anything to do with sales, just like in music. You make a fine doll and put it out there for sale. If it's a success, trends are formed, more similar dolls will enter the market. Others will start profiting from your original ideas. You can't stop them. No one artist/company can claim ownership over any given body shape or style. Dolls copy, mimic humans for the most part. The BJD business is saturated with companies now competing within the same 1/6, 1/4 and 1/3 doll scales. We're going to have to loosen the standards for originality of we're to allow all these BJD companies to produce dolls at all!

THE NEED FOR A BJD POLICE?

I don't understand as well why customers/hobbyists don't let the artists and bjd companies take care of themselves. It's the BJD companies own business, and it should be their own decision whether or how to initiate action to protect their rights or not. I don't understand why doll/toy hobbyists would need to get so involved and emotionally invested in other people's businesses, to the degree that it's becoming scary. I would personally find it insulting as a professional, if my customers thought me so inept that I could not take care of my own business, no matter how well intended on my behalf they might be.

I also don't understand what is in it for the DoA mods to do this witch hunting? Are the just bored or power hungry over there? Are they wanting to again get rid of those dolls on the forum that they deem ugly, like they did pre-2010 with Western BJD companies/artists like Goodreau, Kimberly Lasher, Berdine Creedy etc.

Are the DoA mods trying to protect the re-sale value of their own overpriced dolls by eliminating the budget options from potential buyers? I doubt this would work. If people don't have the funds to buy high priced dolls, then they will not go out of their way to try and do it. Eliminating legit budget options will only lead to hobbyists turning more and more to recasts. Isn't that something DoA was supposedly trying to do? To stop that from happening? Well, this is not helping. They should consider long and hard the ramifications of bans on legit budget brands. Maybe, just maybe, forum mods should leave the doll manifacturers alone too and let them make some BJDs for us, huh?