Identifying a Recast: Migidoll

***Disclaimer: I do not own recasts of this company, but I would appreciate any useful tips from anyone who currently owns one. Pictures for identification/comparison purposes are welcomed as well. If you have a recast MD boy, you can message me on anon on tumblr, via email, or here in the comments. If you choose to help me, you can be left anon or credited. Your choice!***

I don't own a recast Migidoll, but I thought this might be helpful since I own legits.

Website: http://www.migidoll.com/info.html

Sculpts available recast: Cho, Miho, Ryu

If you're buying one of the sculpts available as recast secondhand, here are some things to ask about or watch for.

Packaging:

Legit Migidoll come in plastic tube thingies, like this. On the outside of the tube you'll find a printed label with the company's logo, the name of the sculpt, and the resin color. These might be handwritten.

Why YOU should purchase legit

Note: I've avoided posting this because I didn't want to offend some friends, but it's come to a point where I can't not post it. This was before I'd done a lot of thinking about recasts, so it doesn't express my full current understanding/view point. I'll do a more in depth, updated one soon ish.

Let's face it, recasts are pretty great. They give you access to expensive, high-end toys at a fraction of the cost, in colors your otherwise could never get, and often molds that are long-since sold out. I was pro-recast, but have since changed to recast-neutral. My intention is to get you to consider the importance of supporting the companies you love.

This is only my opinion, so take this for what it is worth.

There are so many discussions about whether BJD companies are small-time artists, companies, factories, etc. To me, this is irrelevant. I think of it in only one term: shrinkage.

A company, whether it be Walmart or the mom-and-pop quilt store down the street, measures the loss of product as shrinkage. Loss of product can be translated as loss of profit: e.g. loss of a sale or opportunity to make money off a product. When a shoplifter takes the sneakers, that's shrinkage. When the worker accidentally drops a crate of milk and the gallons burst, that loss of product is also shrinkage. When a person purchases the recast doll, the company sees that as a potential lost sale as shrinkage.

Recasts are shrinkage, and eventually they will take their toll on the larger company. The more people steal sneakers and shopping carts, the higher prices will rise to compensate for this lost sales potential and excess expenditure. They will also cease producing new product if the sales potential is not there.

Many argue that they would have never purchased from the company in the first place, so that by purchasing a recast they are not in this category. The company will not see it that way.

Prices rise and employee pay, hours, and benefits plummet to compensate for shrinkage.

I'm not an economist, so my understanding here could be a bit flawed, and I'm totally up for entertaining more opinions and ideas. Many see recasts as a way to put pressure on the doll market. We are not the doll market's primary customers. People in their respective countries are. We Westerners are an after thought, an extra market. In our home markets we have ways of putting pressure on businesses to indicate the need for higher or lower prices and more or less of a product. We don't have the ability to do that in foreign markets. DoA is the only way I personally can think of to affect these foreign markets, other than purchasing recasts.

I do believe that companies do not see it as, "Oh, they bought a recast because our basic is too expensive! Maybe we should reconsider our prices!" Instead they get offended and sometimes aggressive (like my personal encounter with Souldoll). It is my hope they will eventually understand why recasts are purchased when basics are available. It seems to be cultural differences regarding finances and economics that get in the way. Methods that work in one country just offend those in the other. I think this is improving as time passes and think that it will continue to do so, maybe even to the point where we have mutual understanding.

So when you can, when it is an option, try to save and purchase from legitimate companies. This means if you love Fairyland, buy from Fairyland. You will help keep prices in check and your favorite companies producing new dolls to love.

Don't worry: I'm no hypocrite. I had the funds and the opportunity to purchase from my favorite company. I did. I could have purchased an army of recasts, but I supported my favorite company to show them I do appreciate their work…even if I do own a couple knock-offs too. 

This post was originally written last year, before most of the drama regarding recasts happened. It seems even then I understood the risk of recasts. Since then, I've been selling off most of my recasts (at this time I have four recast anthros). If I hadn't modded these guys and made them so special, I'd be replacing all of them with legits too. I can't do that, so I'll be buying only legits from here on out. 

My next post will dive deeper into this.

And if this article doesn't have an impact on you, read this article here.

http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/

I really hope this hasn't offended anyone...

Thank you for reading, and happy collecting.

Note

With more drama on the horizon, let me just restate a few things:

• I do not recast or bootleg dolls or any other product.
• I do not send dolls to recasters.
• I do not distribute bootleg dolls.
• I have no ties to recasters. I don't talk to them, I don't know what dolls they're getting. I don't know how they get them or when they get them. 
• The purpose of this blog is not to provide a venue for bootleg sales, but rather to provide information on bootlegs and how to tell the difference between bootleg and legitimate dolls.
• I do not benefit financially from running this blog, especially concerning bootleg products.
• I do not tell people how to contact recasters.
• I do not contact recasters on behalf of others.
• I do not buy recast dolls on behalf of others.

No matter what your stance, remember bullying is never the answer.

Peace,
Amaranth

Recast DC Alberta Identifiers

Here is a comparison post between recast and legit DC Albertas. I hope this comparison is useful and helps ease some worries.

Recast Albertas have a different stringing system. S/L drilled these two big holes here so they didn't have to go through the pain in the ass process of using the tiny holes in the legit body. These two big holes are clear indicators of recast status.

Aileen Doll Ashes Recast Identifiers [revised]

New information about recent Ashes dragons at the end of this post. (As of Jan 2014).

On Scammers, and why it's not your crusade

Here's the thing- for as long as there have been replica dolls there have been a few assholes selling them as legitimate dolls.

Recasters often provide fake paperwork and fake headplates. Scammers may have used these to sell recasts as legit.

Why this isn't your crusade: A scammer can use a legitimate set of papers or plates to sell a recast as legitimate. Are you going to tell a company to stop producing these things? In my opinion, the reason FL is one of the top recast companies is because they have no papers, no plates, no logos on the dolls.

Some recasters are now offering boxes. Scammers will use these to sell recasts as legits…because scammers are scammers and that's why they will do.

The Big Mnf vs JID Comparison

I see this question happen so often, I decided to do a post on it. This is just my opinion, so feel free to take it for what it's worth. Some people won't be bothered by the proportions, so I'll leave it to you to make up your own mind!

The cast:

Poe, a Legit JID Girl (based on my JID legit/recast comparison thread there is little shrinkage between legits and recasts). She has a pretty bad tattoo from when I first got into the hobby as well as a broken elbow. Poor neglected thing really needs some love. She also has the old style large bust, not the new glamour bust (the body S/L have). She desperately wants that new body….

Snow, a recast mnf Rheia: she is a bit smaller than a legit body but not by much. The size comparisons should still be accurate. She has her heeled feet on, so I had to support her in a few pics.

Conclusion:

• The Mnf is obviously the better poser for the dancer-ish poses, but the JID is more sturdy.
• The JID has a more useful mobility joint, and she can almost hug her knees.
• The Mnf body is better sculpted. The new JID body, the one L/S have, is much better, imo. This body is supposed to have additional posing modifications, but JID still can't compare to Mnf.
• If you're going with this hybrid, you will need to mod the mnf neck shorter to accommodate the JID.

I had some serious formatting issues, and I don't know why. Something was up with Blogger I think, so I could not rearrange pictures, nor could I add text between them. Weird!  In any case, I hope this post is useful. Let me know if you need more pictures.

Thank you for reading, and happy collecting!

Feeple 60 vs Feeple 65 Comparison!

Hi all! I had a request via Flikr to do a Feeple 65 vs Feeple 60 vs Minifee comparison! I didn't have a Feeple 65, so the 10thsdirtylittlesecret and Cpmasse helped me out. I have put some comments on the pictures themselves. I have tried to match up the dolls pose for pose, and if I have left any out or you'd like to see more, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. Due to space issues, I've put the Feeple 60 vs Minifee comparison into it's own post, and I will link to that as soon as it's up.

Please pardon my crappy photos. I have a baby, and while that's no excuse, I do have to take advantage of any quiet moments I have to take pictures. In this case, it's midnight. With crap lighting.

Dolls in the photos not to scale- Since I could not put the F60 right next to the F65, pictures where they are next to each other are not accurate for height. 

Recast girl belongs to the10thsdirtylittlesecret: http://the10thsdirtylittlesecret.tumblr.com/ and http://instagram.com/desu_kirakishou

I'm legit! I'm a Soom Topaz on an F65 body.

Legit girl belongs to Cpmasse. Check out her photos here !

I'm a recast, and I'm adorable.

The recast F65 girl belongs to the10thdirtylittlesecret.

This F60 girl is legit, and belongs to me.

SDgr vs Feeple 60 Comparison Part 2

I was able to do this sooner than I expected, since I had someone to help with the baby. I've got another pose-off in mind for later (Part 3, I guess) with trickier poses once I can find someone to be my dollie-catcher. For some of the poses the girls are standing on game boxes. This is just because I was having issues on the carpet for some poses and not for others. If you are posing your dolls and they seem finicky, try either switching to carpet or to something solid, like linoleum. When posing your dolls make sure they won't fall and break or have someone nearby to catch them.

Lorina has a really useful double-jointed knee that, when used right, makes her able to do a lot. Her mobility jint isn't useful in the way the Iplehouse mobility joint is; all Lorina's is good for is to twist the leg. You can't pop it out to make her hug her knees like with an Iple.

Note on standing with one leg: Both bodies can do this, but I couldn't snap a picture and play doll catcher at the same time. I'll try to get pics soon.

Note on crazy pics on the FL site: Obviously, Lorina couldn't pull all of these off, but neither could Chloe on some of them. With some sueding I'm sure Chloe could do all or most of the ones on the site.

Without further ado-

Let's begin!

On the Importance of Confidence

A quick post inspired by some discussions on Recast BJD Haven....

Just like in the animal kingdom, predators tend to prey on the weak. They see an easy target, and they go after that target. They tend to avoid the stronger, more confident people because they don't really want a challenge. As an ex-bully, I can attest to that. It is much easier to pick on someone you perceive as less intelligent, less pretty, less strong than you. A person with little confidence is not likely to stand up for themselves, and if they try will back down pretty quickly; you come away the "victor".

Yes, yes they are.

Recasts and Fake Certificates or Headplates

Recasts sometimes come with fake certificates or headplates. The recasts that do, that I know of offhand, are Iplehouse, Soom, and Volks dolls. This is not a legal discussion, but just a helpful guide.

*new info added at the bottom of the post*

Volks are probably the number one recast doll, perhaps possibly tied with Soom. The recasters often include fake plates with Volks dolls. The metal plates can be determined as forgeries fairly easily (though I don't have access to a legit Volks for further detail this should help):

Plate reads: 1012/DP24

• Plate is ill-fitting
• Plate is of low quality
• Plate lists a Dollpa that never happened or won't happen until a future date
• Plate lists a Dollpa that does not correlate with the Volks doll (a year when the doll wasn't produced)

Here is a pic of my fake Volks' plate (I did not make this plate, nor do I even know how to find them).

Thoughst on two recent bjd confessions...plus, NO MORE HATE

There is a confession about pro-recast hypocrisy here .This confession is worth discussing.

Firstly, as Resinmuse noted, simply wishing for the existence of a certain recast is NOT the same as buying it for the intention of recast. No one in the thread discussed buying the doll to send it to be recast.

Secondly, as Resinmuse also noted, not all people who buy recasts have the same code of ethics. People have different morals and ethics no matter what groups they are a part of. Just because you disagree with those ethics doesn't necessarily make them wrong.

Things will always be at risk for bootlegging, theft, piracy, and copying when they are subject to limited availability and high prices. It's just the way things are. We are allowed to voice sadness at this and get excited about the possibility of attaining things, even if there is no way we could or even would (I think the Kinoko Juice doll is just darling, but I would not personally purchase a recast of one).

Then there is this confession.

To compare recast buying with such hot button issues shows a lack of common sense and is nothing but extremism, no matter what side of the debate you are on. Do not bully people for their views and beliefs or else you become exactly the things you hate. (I believe Nietzsche said something to that effect….and I apparently can't spell his name sooo...)

There are pro-recast people who are pro-life, just like there are anti-recast people that are racists. Having one belief does not preclude another. This is like the antiquated atheist vs Christian debate, as in just because you don't believe in a god all the sudden you're a child-sacrificing cannibal who kicks puppies and wants to murder everyone. Or alternatively… being a Christian automatically makes you an uneducated moron who wants to return to the Dark Ages and burn people at the stake. Or you're all Westborough Baptist Church. Seriously? Assuming does make an ass out of U and ME, so let's avoid it, okay?

I'm a pagan, I'm privately pro-life, politically pro-choice. I don't steal (even though some of you might disagree), but I have done so to survive. I don't lie. I don't cheat; I cheated once in 3rd grade, got caught, and had to go to confession so I never did it again. I did, and still do, stack the Candyland deck to make sure I make it to the Lollipop Princess first just because I think she's cute. I also happen to be very anal about Scrabble rules. I'm not racist. I have no opinion on the sex trade (when it is choice not forced). I've never attempted to summon the devil by sacrificing a black cat (though I had a black cat who recently died due to coyote attack), though I do tell fortunes via tarot cards and use Ouija boards. I try to be the best person I can be, though I know I have flaws. I've had a parking ticket, but I never speed. I also purchased bootleg dolls once upon a time. Yeah. I'm a real monster.While I no longer own the bootlegs and have since ceased buying them, the point of this remains the same:

Everyone has a story, a reason for their morals, a reason they are who they are. The fact that they are pro-recast or anti-recast doesn't mean a fucking thing. Both sides need to grow up and remember this.

Please, let's just stop the hate. 

I apologize for the rant.

Thanks for reading, and happy collecting!

Iplehouse JID legit vs recast comparison

I wanted to do a comparison between recast and legitimate JID girls from Iplehouse. For those who don't know, JID are the 42cm-sized range from Iplehouse. The sculpts currently available as recast in the JID line that I am aware of are: Asa, Tatiana, Benny, Daniel, Jerome. (Don't contact me about buying them, and I don't own recast JIDs.)

Since I don't own my own recast JID, a friend over at AtticFlowers has graciously taken some photos of her recast girl, Kourin, a JID Asa.

Our Guests:


(legit)

And Kourin:


(recast)

Here are some pictures of the recast girl. Where applicable I will provide pics of the legitimate girl or give my commentary.


AtticFlowers says her recast girl has a tendency to fall out of joint a lot. This does happen with my legitimate girl, but only when she is strung loosely. Once she's strung super tight (which is hard to by yourself) and with thicker elastic (I use a thickness best suited for SDs because she is so heavy), my legitimate girl doesn't have this issue.



Here the body overview of both dolls. The recast is on the left of the screen, the legitimate on the right. As you can see, both dolls' joints are very flush.


(recast)


(legit)

AtticFlowers says she, "sanded out most of her [the recast girl's] seam lines. They were BAD, and the sanding done by the recaster was sub par. You can see where the aggressive sanding by the recaster left a gap in the shoulder, the drill hole was also partly to blame."




(both pics are of the recast girl)

The legitimate girl does have some obvious seam lines, mostly on the back of her legs, but nothing too major.


The head cap seems to fit very well on the recast. Note that it does not have an Iplehouse plate in the back, where the legitimate does. Note the sticker on the Legit girl's head. It is thick, blue, and slightly domed rather than a flat, matte sticker.


(recast)


(legit)

Here is the inside of the headcaps. Both headcaps have the JID mark inside, but where the legit girl has a serial number (I assume this is for the sculpt, not the specific doll), the recast just has the doll name.




(legit, placeholder pic until I can get a better one)

Important note: If someone knows if other legit JID sculpts contain names rather than serial numbers, please let me know. I could not find any information on this. It is possible that some legits just have names as well, rather than serial numbers like the Tania sculpt has.


(recast)

In this recast, the string channels are actually drilled really well.




(both pics recast)

Yet, the insides of the recast remain messy. Legit insides generally do not like look this, and do not look like this in my legitimate girl.


(recast)

AtticFlowers says, "The C shaped pieces on the wrists are very fragile. This one was miscast slightly and broke when I tried to fix it. It's actually in two pieces, but stays in place well. Gluing didn't help, as its a high stress area."




(both pics recast)


(legit)

The legit girl lost her wrist pieces long ago. >.<

Well I hope this helps!  As always, don't judge a second hand doll as a recast too quickly, do your homework and shop safe!

Oh and be sure to check out my friend's tumblr, Flowers in the Attic, here!

Happy collecting!