#recasters

before we go any further, let me be clear: this isn’t meant to be a “callout” post or anything like that. I’m not exposing anyone, they’re all pretty obvious if you’ve been around bjds for a while (though some of them do have little tricks to get people to buy). so don’t go harassing these sellers. this is just a warning for those who don’t want to buy counterfeits or from recasters.

- SophieToyParadise

- wholecolor

- EXBUSHI

- TSscrapbook

- highRICH (only has one recast doll)

- StrangeOccurences (this shop renames sculpts)

Yikes, but she has to have that doll, even if she can’t afford it.

Let me walk you back to the late 80’s when China first opened its doors to the world. At that time, because of Chairman Deng’s policy of “letting a small group of people get rich sooner”, the Eastern seaboard opened itself up to foreign investment. However, one should never forget that China is a totalitarian, Communist state. It meant that “the law” is prone to changing, the government owns most large industries and through the ways of loans, the government also has a backdoor to most businesses. I still remember the blatant accusations of what we used to call the “Chinese honeypot” scheme. The government (or some government-funded businesses) entice foreign investors to set up factories along the Eastern seaboard.

Part of the agreement to receive government subsidized benefits was to hire more than 50% local labour, and this included the managerial staff as well. In the beginning, a lot of the early investors reported that they were earning hand over fist because of the cheap labour. But after the first wave, investors were being expelled out of the country one way or another, after being stripped of their assets and their trade secrets. I still remember multiple family members (and business friends of these said family members) recounting stories of foreign bosses catching their Chinese managers stealing trade secrets and deliberately sabotaging equipment when their aims have been fulfilled. In some cases, actual honeypot traps were set up so the bosses would be set up with adultery (which was a severely punishable crime at the time) or saddled up with a Chinese wife. To cut the horror story down, China found itself where it is today through alleged systematic and government-sanctioned intellectual theft. It is no wonder that the Chinese boomers are not known as big sticklers to copyright law. In many ways, they are still the ones in charge. Folks like Luo, for example.

However, just as a coin has two sides, the closed-in totalitarian state also fostered an “ever-inward” culture. Children born to these boomers were taught on a steady diet of nationalism and extreme self-centredness. These are considered to be virtues. Their children, the Gen Z, have even more of the same cultural upbringing, bolstered by being the “only child” of “only child” parents. As a consequence, there is a lot of internal cohesion based off of nationalism, which translated into a specific type of cronyism that is hard to fathom. Most of us have heard of the term “rabid fans” – for an old fogey like me, I think of Deadheads caravanning across the country to catch the next concert. Folks these days are probably more familiar with the fans of famous singers such as BTS and BlackPink and the hijinks they were up to from time to time. In today’s China, on the other hand, pretty much every fandom can boast their own “rabid fans” – from Apple Fanatics to a self-professed fan groups for an actor/singer/artist to… well, BJDs. When I say “rabid fans”, it’s because I cannot come up with any other word for this behaviour. If you can think of a better descriptor, please let me know.

They only do 'customer care' because they know it will get dumb people to think "ooh they wanna offer affordable dolls for people with less money :)" Quick question for people who think that, do you also think Santa is real? It was so evident that recasters would eventually up the price. Their strategy is basically being competition for real artists until they eventually go out of business and then they can up the price. Why else was that Ery doll way more expensive than the other recast dolls right from the start? They do not give a f about customers. They are not artists who put care into each doll and even the packaging. They are just scammers and I am tired of people trying to defend them. 

If you willingly buy recast that is entirely your choice and I don't judge but don't pretend like "It is just as good as legit". Imagine a Sneaker convention or something and someone just comes in with fake adidas shoes where the logo is upside down. That dude would make a fool outta himself trying to pass them off as real and saying the quality is just as good as the real brand. That's what y'all recast people sound like.

How do you expect people to learn from their mistakes and grow as a person if you’re going to bring up those past mistakes at every opportunity even when she doesn’t mess up, especially when a majority of those mistakes happened when she was as young as a teenager (like Culor was in her early 20s when she sold Ery, that’s very young to host a preorder without prior experience). And yes, how she handled and went about her final doll order was terrible, however, she still tried to make it right by offering her own dolls to make up for the shortage caused by her and stopped selling dolls altogether when you know she could’ve just disappeared compared to past ACTUAL scammers in this community, but yet was accused of being one when there wasn’t proof of this (and no, taking two years to ship a doll doesn’t count as being a scammer). And now that she decided to make dolls for herself and move on from what happened (which was three years ago this month btw), it bothers you people that everyone else has moved on when you can’t.

Honestly, I’m just surprised that she still has it in her to remain in this hobby and continue making dolls despite everything, even more that people pushed those the recasters to steal her dolls out of spite. I wouldn’t be surprised she has anxiety because people who keep seeing her as the person she was 10 years ago when it’s clear she isn’t making those same mistakes again.

Seriously man, let her grow as a person and do better because the real “problematic” person right now are people who don’t know how to let go. Like come on man, it’s unhealthy to be this obsessed.