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Messages - SpaceV
31
« on: May 24, 2014, 11:57:02 AM »
Not to ruin the fun of everyone but this whole thing makes me really sad. The same company makes fake Pokémon plush which pretty much all of them are direct copies of custom plush, In the Pokémon fandom most people are against bootlegs but in the pony fandom all I see is people praising the company and putting down Hasbro for "not making good enough plush". Plush like these can contain poisonous fabric and have needles in them for all we know! :-(
If you buy the plush and like them I am not going to argue you about it, If you are happy then that is great! Just that I would never support someone that mass produces plush of another company's characters like this. Plush artists making fanart is another thing, there is a fine line between mass producing something and creating a OOAK plush.
Its not just you, as I am sure people can tell from previous posts, I am not a fan of them either. I think unfortunately the manufacturers have just cottoned on to a product - i.e. plush - that fans want in as much variety and as inexpensively as possible.
For me its not even worth the risk of buying them; if any country's customs knew what these were - fake products - they would be seized before they could even enter the country and the person buying them, if they knew what they were, would be in for as much grief as the seller. :/
But its to each their own and even though customs plush are technically in as much of a grey area as these. I do believe there is a massive moral [if not legal] difference in a person making the odd plush as a company mass producing items.
Yeah, I have mixed feelings about them. I think they're cute and pretty well made as far as mass produced plushes go. I enjoy seeing the new characters they put out. And I can't really be mad at them for making unlicensed plushes since I'm a plushmaker myself. But you're right in that there is a big difference in one person making a few plushes to get by, and a company mass producing them like crazy just to cash in on something that's trending. And on the other hand, the company itself has already been proven shady. They're stealing art and printing them onto pillows. Plushes aside, that's a huge issue for me and I won't be supporting that.
32
« on: May 24, 2014, 10:57:16 AM »
Hi there! I'm always happy to hear when people want to get into plush making. It's so fun! Since you're just starting out I suggest using free premade patterns first just to get the feel of how a plush goes together. Start with a simple pattern and continually work your way up to more complex patterns. Your first attempts aren't going to be great, but that's where practice comes in! My first plushes looked horrible, but if you keep at it you'll learn from your mistakes and gradually improve. Fleece is a good starter fabric. It's cheaper than minky and behaves in a similar way. Work with that until you're comfortable enough to move on to minky and better quality materials. Do you have an embroidery machine? If not, the Brother SE400 is a good starter machine. A lot of plush makers use one, but it only has a 4x4 embroidery area. That should be fine for eyes and cutie marks on a pony around 12-14 inches tall. If you feel like you need a bigger embroidery area, the Brother PE770 embroiders up to 5x7. But it honestly depends on what you're looking for in a machine and what your price range is. I do recommend starting small at first. Another thing you have to consider is your digitizing program. Those can cost just as much as an embroidery machine so you'll need to look around a bit. I personally use Stitch Era Universal, which costs me $100 per year for the subscription. There are other programs that you can buy at a flat rate but expect to spend $400-$2000 on those. Stitch Era is great but it can be intimidating. But once you figure it out it's easy to use. Always try a trial version first of whatever software you intend to use. There are other methods to make eyes for plushes too. You could try iron ons or appliqued eyes. The latter can look just as nice as embroidery. I hope this helps! I'm going to link you to a few tutorials and material resource journals I've made. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask! Pony Patterns - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-make-a-pony-298476820Where to buy minky - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-buy-minky-297806791Simple Digitizing - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/So-you-want-to-digitize-299103299How to hide knots - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-hide-knots-428957389How to machine stitch heads onto bodies - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-machine-stitch-heads-onto-bodies-438635047How to machine stitch Unicorn horns onto heads - http://spacevoyager.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-How-to-machine-stitch-horns-onto-heads-439355558
33
« on: May 24, 2014, 08:45:07 AM »
Do you think I should wait for the price to come sown a bit, or am I risking them being sold out?
I saw some for $10-$15 on ebay. I doubt he'll be much lower than that. Plus, I'm sure they have plenty in stock.
34
« on: May 24, 2014, 08:34:52 AM »
This was kind of random, but she's beautiful.
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Oh my I must have her did you find her on the site or eBay?
Awww, she's so pretty! It's neat that they're doing ponies that aren't really well known. I hope they make Sapphire Shores.
35
« on: May 21, 2014, 08:18:52 PM »
I have a Babylock Spirit now. It's an amazing machine with tons of features and big embroidery area. It is expensive though. Before I got my Babylock I used a Brother SE400 which is a really nice starter machine. I use it as my regular sewing machine now.
It's hard to say who makes the best. There are plenty of good brands. I think it all depends on what you're looking for and what capabilities you want the machine to have.
36
« on: May 21, 2014, 09:20:29 AM »
I saw all three today at my local Family Dollar store for $12! I really hope they make the other characters. I'd love an Applejackzilla!
37
« on: May 20, 2014, 07:11:12 AM »
For anyone wanting that Chryssy bootleg, she is now for sale at 123cosplay.com for $31.90. http://www.123cosplay.com/collections/all/products/my-little-pony-queen-chrysalis-plush-doll-popl9015
Overpriced, imo. She may eventually come down in price on ebay. I feel silly for not realizing earlier but 123cosplay and that ebay seller are Frontwinner.
I'm sure she will drop another $10 eventually- but not a bad price with free shipping- thanks for the link!
Oh nice! I didn't realize she had free shipping. Definitely more reasonable.
39
« on: May 19, 2014, 12:32:22 PM »
SpaceV I don't know you but I think I love you.  I agree with you completely. (And I have the worst desire to count the stitches in my eyes now!)
Aw, thanks!! Luckily, the program I use does the counting for me. 
40
« on: May 19, 2014, 12:20:12 PM »
I think a lot of it stems from the lack of knowledge of the plush making process, and probably a sense of thinking they're entitled to everything.
A high quality plush takes more than minky and stuffing to make. Most people don't consider the drafting process, prototyping, edits. Other materials can include interfacing, batting, poly pellets, chenille wire, digitizing and embroidery. Most professional digitizing businesses charge a certain amount for every 1000 stitches in the design. My pony eyes range between 8000-16,000 stitches and that's just for one eye. At $2 per 1000 stitches (which I consider to be the bare minimum) two 8000 stitch pony eyes would be $32. Plus, you have to consider the cutie mark and other embroidered features as well.
Materials definitely add up and labor isn't free. I think art as a whole is really underappreciated. It's usually seen as more of a hobby than a career or job.
41
« on: May 19, 2014, 10:35:38 AM »
Are they insane?
[live link removed ~ many thanks ~ hathorcat]
It's very silly to spend that much on an unlicensed mass produced product. She is cute but she's not worth near that much. Like I said in a previous post, I contacted that seller and they said they have plenty of Chrysalis plush that will be for sale on their website soon. Makes me wonder if they'll jack the price up since they've gotten over $100 on both Chrysalis auctions they've had. In my opinion, no one should spend more than $25 on that plush. She's cute and appears to be well made, but the pattern is simple. Her wings are just single pieces of cut felt that's likely glued or tacked on with a couple of stitches. The holes in her mane and tail are just top stitched and cut out in the middle while the 'holes' in her legs are just embroidered. The crown looks like a single piece of felt with stickers. There's no line detailing to her mane and tail either. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying one. Just be smart about it.
42
« on: May 18, 2014, 12:46:10 PM »
Plush creators are just mad/causing a storm because there is finally someone out there making plushies that are affordable to all. That's exactly what I think. The other day there weren't any plushies that were affordable and good looking at the same time. Then, 4d have made Twi and Pinkie and about to make much more. Now frontwinner have increased a quality of their plushies.
If will be much harder for the plushies creators to sell their overpriced stuff.
I feel like this may be part of the reason too, for some. Personally, I only have a problem with bootlegs when it's clear they ripped off an artist's original character or design. I'm glad there are affordable show accurate plushes out there. Plush artists shouldn't be labelled as the bad guys though. It's way too easy to throw blame in our direction.
43
« on: May 18, 2014, 12:32:55 PM »
1. Chinese Mac and that Mac from DA look different. The guy from DA sees what he wants to see.
2. If they are stealing designs, where are the rest of their mlp plushies were stolen from?
3. Plushies from DA were submitted by the visitors. None of them were produced. Actually, uploading plushies designes had another propose. People just got it wrong and spammed it with the existing plushies from DA.
Currently, I don't see any proofs that they steal someone's plushie design.
To an extent I agree with you. The Frontwinner pattern looks original to me, but they are likely looking at fanplushes for reference. There's nothing inherently wrong with that though, since plenty of fan artists look at other artists' work for inspiration. There have been other bootlegs that have completely ripped off an artist's original character and design, but I don't think Frontwinner was the manufacturer of those. The userbase shouldn't have uploaded pictures of artist's plushes in the first place though. I think that's really the main issue here because the artists in question didn't give their consent. Frontwinner is stealing artwork from dA artist's though, and printing them onto pillows. It can't be said that they're stealing plush patterns because in order to do that they'd need to buy one from the artist and take it apart. They likely are using the plush images as reference and attempting the reverse engineer some aspects. But they are completely stealing artwork and selling it on different items. So the Frontwinner business is sketchy and nobody can deny that.
44
« on: May 18, 2014, 10:40:54 AM »
A news updated appeared on the FrontWinner website:
2014-05-18 Please don't upload deviantArt pictures when you submit custom plush. Thank you
Things got pretty heated on dA when a few plush artists discovered their pictures were uploaded to Frontwinner. Long story short, Frontwinner responded (using their dA account) by saying: "Sorry. We are frontwinner.com. We are just one plush factory, just one producer. We accept the custom plush orders from our customers. Our customers upload the pictures on our website to collect enough vote. Then let us do the producing. So we don't know where the pictures are from. Very sorry for the problem. In future we will publish the customers ID and also let you report the pictures. Then we will delete it." and "If any pictures from yours, you can send message to us on our website. We will delete it. We are small plush factory. We don't enough power to keep eyes on Internet. That is producing wish list from our customers. They upload the pictures on our website. If you find any problem items, please send message with the link on our website. Thank you"
45
« on: May 18, 2014, 07:35:38 AM »
So the first Chrysalis on ebay sold for $102.50... I can't believe someone was willing to pay that much for a bootleg plush.
I have alerts for when more get listed, so I'm just going to wait until I can grab her at the BIN price.
Yeah, it completely defeats the purpose of having a cheap, mass produced show accurate plush that's available to the public. I'm willing to bet that the seller has plenty Chrysalis plushes in stock and just put the one on ebay to make it seem limited.
Yep, Chrysalis should be just like all the rest of the plush have been. The seller will list a new one every day or so. It's a horrible idea to bid on her in particular rather than pay the BIN (which I'm going to guess is between $20 and $30, like their other pony plush) since she's clearly going to go for ridiculous prices.
I contacted the ebay seller last night and asked if they have more Chrysalis in stock. Here's what they said: Dear spaceytimes, "Hi Yes. We have more. But now eBay give many limit on the selling quantity. So you can also buy it directly on our site 123cosplayCom Thank you" She's not uploaded to the site yet but she probably will be soon. Might be easier to buy one there than ebay.
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