After School Akihabara Girls DD Ruri Release!

The anchor isn't exactly the same. The one on Ruri's outfit looks like it has a G to the one side, the other definitely doesn't.

Anchors are a pretty common choice for ties and accents in lolita dresses - its reached the point where they're almost as common as crucifixes. I saw a few dresses at Dolpa with ties that had the same kind of anchor 'logo' on them. The anchor on its own doesnt mean anything to me, but all the elements together kind of do.

I would like to know Lost Tree's opinion - if they arent working with Volks that is.

I see I'm not the only one that wants the dress only xD

 

I really hope it can be purchased separately, but I doubt it T^T

Looks like there are more comments on the tweet about it now. Someone has also confirmed that it is not a collab with LostTree.

 

Has anything like this happened before? Did Volks address it at all? I don't want them to just ignore it whether its coincidence or not. :c

I don't want them to just ignore it whether its coincidence or not. :c

 

I agree. Ignoring it is honestly just gonna make it worse.

OH MY GOD! That outfit s just Reminds me of Innocent World. While the sculpt is cute, it's not as unique as the other Akiba girls. Kind of want her just for the outfit, she could match with me when I wear Innocent World.

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!

 

It's not a "recast" of a dress. This design has been recycled across many brands, much like how clothing from regular stores all have similar designs. It's only a problem if they steal prints by artists and put them on their own clothing; that's illegal. They're not exactly the same either.

 

If any of you have a personal issue with how the dress looks similar to another, I have no idea how you deal with your beliefs about regular clothes. Many cheaper brands copy designs from other, more expensive brands. Anyone from the lolita community would probably not share the same sentiments as you. I don't mean to be harsh...but that's honestly as ridiculous as saying a company copied Ray Ban sunglasses when they've become such a common design.

Honestly I just want the clothes LOL but she is pretty cute!

Whether it's stolen or not this tweet is interesting.

https://twitter.com/hisa6325/status/873991015274749952

'Apparently this is the winning design from a dress contest. Volks wouldn't have known that the winner copied it.'

If that's true then Volks aren't at fault either way.

So, I don't really care enough either way, but I decided to do a Google image search for 'gothic lolita navy sailor dress.' After looking at a bunch of those I took a look at Oni-chan's comparison again and, eh, ok it's obviously inspired (especially the tie/thing with the anchor design and the flaps on the sides) but it's also different enough. After scrolling through so many variations you get kind of bleary eyed (･･') It's easier to see these two as separate designs.

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

 

 

Ruri is being pulled from release.

 

:/

Wow, that's definitely taking responsibility.

Kinda awkward though considering she was meant to be one of the new Dolpa dolls, so now it's only Emilia. Hopefully she returns with a new dress. They'd only need to change a few elements but it's more likely they'll change it completely.

Regardless of what people in this thread are saying I would assume 'people in the lolita community', in Japan and China at least, actually did find this to be a big deal if they recognized the dress to begin with, and given that the original maker seemed kind of upset (and I assume she either contacted Volks or was contacted by them, hence the cancellation), and you cant really get much more 'in the lolita community' than 'person who designs lolita dresses', it's not something to make light of.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Guest

Wow that's not the move I was expecting... Hopefully they still put her sculpt out at some point. I was actually wanting her cause she looks like Aria and Melody's mom. I could have taken or left the outfit though...

It's a shame but the design was too similar. I assumed the designer was going to be fired over this but not sure what they can do if from a design contest. Hopefully they'll be more careful in future or they might not even do another design contest again.

 

The doll might not have gone into production yet but no idea if they'll release her again in new dress given the negative news around her. While I'm disappointed I think it was the right thing to do.

I'm so sorry to see Ruri pulled from production (hopefully only temporary and she will be back with a legitimately designed dress), but I'm glad to see Volks is doing the right thing. This makes me feel so much better about Volks as a company. I'm so happy they put ethics before profits.

Maybe they'll license the design. I'd guess they're at least opening up talks on the subject.

Man, so much happened over the weekend while I was gone. A cute girl pops up with fabulous outfits, then is gone. I wanted both the lolita dress and maid outfit.

The maid outfit should be fine. If they aren't scrapping the character, she's meant to work in a maid cafe after all.

 

I've never seen something like this happen before so I really don't know what to expect in terms of what happens next. They didn't even really go into any detail, just said that she's cancelled due to cirbleepstances and apologized to everyone looking forward to her. Maybe there will be a more detailed statement at a later time.

That desing was too beautiful to be from Volks...

 

I've always found their lolita-like desing really outdated, I though they were pulling through, the whole contest idea was a great way to do that, but, is so sad that it was a copy... I hope they can sort this out, its a really lovely outfit >.<

Wow, that's definitely taking responsibility.

Kinda awkward though considering she was meant to be one of the new Dolpa dolls, so now it's only Emilia. Hopefully she returns with a new dress. They'd only need to change a few elements but it's more likely they'll change it completely.

Regardless of what people in this thread are saying I would assume 'people in the lolita community', in Japan and China at least, actually did find this to be a big deal if they recognized the dress to begin with, and given that the original maker seemed kind of upset (and I assume she either contacted Volks or was contacted by them, hence the cancellation), and you cant really get much more 'in the lolita community' than 'person who designs lolita dresses', it's not something to make light of.

 

My bad, it's something established amongst at least English speakers that prints (artwork) are illegal to steal, not designs. Maybe in Japan and China, they feel otherwise (kind of dubious about the latter considering they make knockoffs quite often). I wouldn't doubt the possibility that someone not into J-fashion made it into a problem. Designs are constantly recycled across Japanese brands with maybe a few alterations. e.g.smaller bow, lower waistline, different colours, etc. There's probably a similar, human-sized equivalent of most, if not every, lolita styled dress by Tenshi no Koromo and other Volks product lines. What about maid outfits that look like another dress from a cosplay shop? Are we going to make each one an issue on art stealing?

 

Volks is taking responsibility, good for them, but I really don't think we should give them crap over this.

I don't think it's a debate about whether or not it's legal.

 

It's totally, 100% legal. Volks had full legal right to use that design for their doll.

 

Is it ethical? That's a more nuanced question and there's no one "right" answer -- it'll vary from person to person. For me, no, it's not ethical. Apparently for Volks, it wasn't ethical either.

 

And I totally, 100% applaud Volks for that decision. It really seems they did not copy the design on purpose and they were totally unaware that it was a copy. My next purchase from Volks will be all the more enthusiastic because of this decision (although I'm still not entering their awful pre-pay lotteries).

 

I know there were a lot of people who will be disappointed because it was a really, REALLY cute design. It totally was adorable. I get the disappointment. But the decision is done and debating who is at "fault" (the doll designer for making a too-close copy? Volks for not noticing it was a copy? fans who felt the copy it was too close and complained? the Lost Tree designer who may/may not have contacted Volks about the copy? Volks for "giving in" to fan demands? the list could go on!) won't change anything.

 

Here's crossing all my fingers and toes that a future Ruri release has an outfit that's just as cute and totally original.

I feel like Volks could still recoup a lot of their investment in making these dolls by putting Ruri into the maid dress and selling her that way. They'd have to print up new boxes/paperwork so they'd match the different outfit, but paper products can be mass produced relatively quickly. Since the Ruri dolls are either done (or near done) production by this point, that would be a way they could still sell them without having to deal with any potential copyright issues.

Wow, that's definitely taking responsibility.

Kinda awkward though considering she was meant to be one of the new Dolpa dolls, so now it's only Emilia. Hopefully she returns with a new dress. They'd only need to change a few elements but it's more likely they'll change it completely.

Regardless of what people in this thread are saying I would assume 'people in the lolita community', in Japan and China at least, actually did find this to be a big deal if they recognized the dress to begin with, and given that the original maker seemed kind of upset (and I assume she either contacted Volks or was contacted by them, hence the cancellation), and you cant really get much more 'in the lolita community' than 'person who designs lolita dresses', it's not something to make light of.

 

My bad, it's something established amongst at least English speakers that prints (artwork) are illegal to steal, not designs. Maybe in Japan and China, they feel otherwise (kind of dubious about the latter considering they make knockoffs quite often). I wouldn't doubt the possibility that someone not into J-fashion made it into a problem. Designs are constantly recycled across Japanese brands with maybe a few alterations. e.g.smaller bow, lower waistline, different colours, etc. There's probably a similar, human-sized equivalent of most, if not every, lolita styled dress by Tenshi no Koromo and other Volks product lines. What about maid outfits that look like another dress from a cosplay shop? Are we going to make each one an issue on art stealing?

 

Volks is taking responsibility, good for them, but I really don't think we should give them crap over this.

 

Art stealing is a big deal in the doll community period and Volks is a company that prides themselves on being creative and original, having pulled the controversial doll from planned release proves that, and it's also won my respect for the company.

 

Some Chinese companies do make knockoffs, it's very wrong but that shouldn't be why it's ok for overseas brands to copy from Chinese brands, in my opinion, the Chinese community has every right to voice their concerns and good on them for doing that! It means that more and more people are becoming aware and it's a sign for improvement.

 

Also, I don't see anyone giving Volks crap over this on this forum

Most regular "people" clothing designs cannot be copyrighted due to its utilitarian nature.

http://www.newmediarights.org/business_models/artist/can_you_copyright_clothing_designs

How this affects doll clothing I don't know, but I would suspect it's not the same.

Well crap.... this was a really cute outfit. I can see the similarities from the original dress... I just hope Volks still sells the dang purse. It's a really cute doll version of a BTSSB book bag.