After School Akihabara Girls DD Ruri Release!

Edit: 7/16/17: It seems that Volks has decided to release her after all, but with a new outfit.

 

There's no official announcement online yet, but there is an official flyer.

 

 

Due to the controversy surrounding Ruri's dress design, she has been cancelled by Volks.

 

Volks official response can be found here:

http://www.volks.co.jp/page.jsp?id=238085

 

TL;DR of the situation.

The dress that was designed for Ruri was apparently stolen from a Chinese designer named Lost Tree. There was speculation that it may have been a collab between Lost Tree and Volks but this was confirmed false. The design was not from Volks but was apparently from a design contest winner. Volks has decided to cancel the sales of the doll completely due to the stolen designs. There is no word yet that she will be released in the future with a legitimately designed outfit, but it is unknown to this day until Volks releases more information.

 

 

Here's the source tweet.

https://twitter.com/volks_dd/status/873090707791069186

 

Newest addition to the After School Akihabara series. Ruri.

It seems that more information will be coming up in Volks news #74 .

 

What do you guys think of her? I think she's cute, but she sorta reminds me of a DD standard head, I can't put my finger on it.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Guest

She's kinda cute, I'd need to see more pics though ^×^

 

Also, she looks like an 09 head?

NGL when I saw her on twitter I at first thought she -was- just a DDH09 modelling a new outfit;;

 

The outfit is super cute though. Nice to see there's still life in the Akiba Girls line.

She's pretty cute to me actually. I get the resemblance with the 09 but her cheeks are a lot more chubby, and the eyes are shorter and wider. I want more pics though. lol

Yeah her eyes are definitely bigger than DDh09 when I look closer at her.

 

How have the Akihabara Girls been sold in the past, by the way? Were they also lottery?

She's really cute~ She actually reminds me of the 2d doll I wanted a while ago, http://www.acbjd.com/xiao-ai-p-7049.html?cPath=394_395

She reminds me a lot of a DDH-10 honestly, just as a little older version.

I want want waaaant that outfit so if the gal tickles your fancy but not the clothes - seriously hit me up.

I agree, she totally looks like an 09. But that default outfiiiiiiiiiiit. Seriously adorable. Don't care for that alternate maid outfit in the slightest though....even though I do have a good guess who on this forum will want that maid outfit.

Ya very 09ish Volks seems to be kinda bland on the newer sculpts lately.

Especially this line most of those girls are unique looking. While she's cute she's very standard.

How have the Akihabara Girls been sold in the past, by the way? Were they also lottery?

 

From what I remember, they've all been lottery dolls with varying degrees of popularity. I think a couple may have ended up as clickwar dolls after cancellations, though.

 

It's really good to see them continue this line. I'm not quite sure how I feel about Ruri in particular, but she is rather cute.

I actually really like Ruri. She does remind me of the 09, but she also reminds me of Aoko! I'm looking forward to seeing more photos of her.

So... I looked at the tweet that has the photo in it and people have pointed out something interesting about the blue dress.

 

 

And by interesting I mean it's a clear ripoff of a dress by the Chinese brand Lost Tree in 2016.

 

Which is not good.

For a company like Volks that is so strongly anti-recast to essentially "recast" an outfit design is absolutely awful. I expect a lot more from Volks. I hope they fix this!

a) Ruri looks adorable & I want her clothes!! If anyone states-side is gonna be trying for her and aren't interested in the clothes - hit me up!

 

b) as a gothic lolita who's tired of explaining this: Volks isn't exactly "ripping off" an outfit. Certain designs show up across all brands (there's always a school uniform, a plaid, a sailor dress...) it's only bad when a chinese reseller outright copies a unique brand-specific print

Dress on Ruri could just as easily have come from BtSSB. Hell, that pinstripe fabric is reminding me of a really old Angelic Pretty release more than anything!

But it's not a generic sailor dress. It's a nigh-identical sailor dress, down to small details (like the double-ribbon at the hem of the skirt + what appear to be the two bows at the front, in the same colors and positions). If you can show me another sailor dress from another brand that matches as exactly, I'll take it all back and say it's not a ripoff.

 

Until that point, I'm saying it's a ripoff.

Volks by Shoujo Magic, on Flickr

 

Side by side.

 

The overall look is similar, with small details here or there that have been changed.

 

And im not trying to defend volks if they ARE stealing designs, but has anyone thought that maybe volks has a contract or asked permission to use the design, hense the similarities? Just a thought though :/

People who aren't really that into Lolita fashion probably don't realize this, but designs being similar are nothing new, and they aren't copying. Sure, the dress is really similar, but

 

Angelic Pretty's

- Marine story stripe JSK and OP

- Polka Dot Sailor JSk

Baby's

- Marine sailor's JSK set

- Wonder Marine treasure jsk

Meta's Tailor's bear collared JSK

 

Most of these look similar enough in cut and design, ignoring the prints, to say the same thing.

 

Especially on something as generic as a navy pinstripe print, of course there's going to be a similar existing dress. If there wasn't, I'd question the clothing designers at Volks. I mean, it really looks quite a bit like the Lost Trees dress, and it may have inspired elements of the dress, but there are also quite a few differences as well.

I like her. I'd definitely get the outfit if it were separate.

The overall look is similar, with small details here or there that have been changed.

 

And those small details make all the difference!! A typical lolita dress just needs the shape (full skirt, usually fitted top, lacey blouse) all the rest of details that are not brand-print or brand-logo or even some kinda brand trademark are a free for all!!

You look at this stuff long enuff, and honestly... half the brands blur after a while as many designers are looking for inspiration in all the same sources

 

The chinese brand JSK has straps that are partially hidden by the collar and the tie attaches to the blouse collar.

Volks dress appears to be strapless bustier top with much more contrasted fold-over decorative things (cannot remember the word for this, it's actually been rare in lolita dresses lately) and tie is part of dress

 

whoever designed Ruri's clothes at Volks isn't outright ripping off an outfit, they're pulling lolita inspirations & changing details just like everyone else in that business.

She reminds me of Rin Tohsaka more than 09 (but maybe a Rin owner would feel differently )

She's cute but not must-have for me, but I do love the dress and the maid outfit too!

 

As other folks mentioned the lolita design pool is pretty shallow so I'm not surprised they'd end up with a similar design based on the limited library of themes and cuts. There's no copyright for fashion items (besides unique graphic elements like patterns designed for printing on fabric, logos, etc) which is actually good for lolita and fashion in general, but does allow for same-ish and fast-follow copies of popular outfits.

 

I was hoping next Akiba girl would be MDD, DDP or maybe tan skin, maybe I'm a sucker for gimmicks but without anything special to set her apart she could just be a D'coord doll.

Like others have said there's so much overlap with lolita style dresses that you probably can't find a dress that isn't at least reasonably similar to another one somewhere out there. Wasn't there another lolita style dress volks came out with that people freaked out about for a while too? I remember seeing like 2-3 lolita dresses that were remarkably similar to that one as well. I doubt it was intentional copying but there's no way to know for sure. Maybe they did. But it's pretty much just as likely that this was coincidental.

I agree that a coincidence is likely, although we still dont know who designed the dress. I imagine it will say in Volks News (or it will just say 'volks planning department') because I believe they often contract lolita companies to design lolita style dresses and do collaborations with, but usually its a japanese one like BtSSB.

 

However, I do think it'd be nice for Volks to address this. Even if its just to say its a coincidence, it's a better look for the company than not saying anything at all.

I do adore this pinstripe dress, and this discussion has given me a few names and options to look at so I pick the perfect one.

 

Also, is the satchel part of the outfit or do you think it will be sold separately?

I would have originally thought that it was coincidence too--after all, clothing designs aren't subject to the same copyright laws as things like character designs, logos, etc.--if it weren't for that damn near identical anchor on the tie.

 

Even if it is coincidence, that could very well fall under the idea of a "logo" or other graphic, and that puts Volks in a sticky situation legally. Basically, that anchor graphic could give Lost Tree grounds for lawsuit, unless it was actually just clip art both companies decided to shove into an embroidery machine. . . but then, what are the odds they'd pick the same exact clip art, honestly?

 

I am kind of hoping this turns out to be a collab, not only because this has the makings of a train wreck otherwise, but because a new collaboration partner would be cool. I'm. . . not really counting on it at this point, though.