Why Being Anti-recast Has Nothing To Do With Being Pro-artist?

Why being anti-recast has nothing to do with being pro-artist?

Today I'm going to tell you about thing that annoys me the most. You see, I often hear I am a hipocryte. Why? Well, there are many reasons and they change quite often but for example because I have only legit dolls (so I am pro-artist) but I don't fight with people who own recasts (so I'm anti-artist, too). As I explained many times before, anti-recast people enjoy judging others. They love to be seen as collectsors with high moral standards. They are the pillars of this hobby and thanks to their money artists can continue producing and inventing dolls, so why anyone would think otherwise?

The problem is, their statements have nothing to do with being pro-artist. Of course, they buy legit dolls and are happy about their purchases but in reality they treat artists the same way they treat other collectors and decide who - as an artist - deserve their money and who doesn't (and it has nothing to with a product quality or customer service). You can easily see people who love to fling bucket of mud on someone for owning a recast and five minutes later writes a post like "Hi guys, where can I download God of War on PC for free? Thanks <3". And when you point it out they always say that "This is not the same" or "My situation is special". They like to add that companies like EA are very rich anyway so it doesn't matter if they purchased the game from a legal source or by using torrents - the company will have a lot of money anyway. So in their opinion stealing from artists is bad in general but if an artist is rich enough it's perfectly fine. So if one day BJDs become really popular and Fairyland or Volks will earn the same amount of money as Mattel, recasts will magically change into something acceptable. Sounds ridiculous but for many anti-recast people it's the same with every art: downloading music is okay, pirating movies or games is okay, buying unofficial gadgets with your favourite waifu or husbando is okay. Everything is okay as long you like it and you want to have it. But because you can afford BJDs and they give you a status of the chosen one and make you feel special among others, you will aggressively fight with everyone who owns a BJD and didn't buy their "status" the same way you did. You paid your price for being accepted in the hobby so you have to chase them out to feel better. You do everything to make someone feel like shit for owning a bootleg and after a long fight you come back to your desk, listen to pirated music and enjoy your evening, playing a cracked game. Because the artists who composed the music or created the game, crunching at nights, already got their money so you don't have to care, right? At least this is what I heard from a very vocal anti-recast person a few days ago.

You know what? There are no words that describe how much I despise this kind of people. You are anti-recast but you are not a pro-artist person. I have nothing against people who don't accept buying recasts in general. But I do have a lot against people who call someone a thief and judge their morals while they happily "steal" from other artists. To show you how ridiculous it is, I made the sentences by using their own arguments related to BJDs:

You want to play a game? Buy it from a legal source. No piracy, no "I just want to see if I like it or if I'm able to run it". Playing games is not a neccessity. It's luxury. Play free to play games if you cannot afford God of War.

You want to watch a movie? Buy a DVD. The movie is old and the DVD isn't produced anymore so it costs 300$? Aww, what a shame, it looks like the movie isn't for you. Maybe try to find a DVD of a movie you can afford?

You want to listen to music? The artist you really like doesn't have an official YT channel? Buy a CD - even if you want to listen to the song only once. The artist made it and they deserve money for their hard work. Downloading music on your phone? Forget about it, listen to Spotify. The song you really like isn't on Spotify? Well, yeah, yeah, very sad, but anyway - you are a pro-artist so you know you don't have to listen to music only because you want to.

You love AMVs? Well, I have a bad message: no AMVs anymore because their makers usually do not own rights for used resources. Immediately unfollow everyone who makes AMVs and has a Patreon. They earn money by stealing someone's hard work. You are not going to support it, right?

You have your favourite artist and you really want to print their new artwork and use it as a poster? Are you crazy? Buy an official print. The shipping costs are a lot higher than the print's price? Nobody said that being pro-artist isn't painful.

If you want to know my opinion, I am perfectly fine with being neutral. Being neutral means you look at the problem of piracy or counterfeits in a realistic way.

I always buy games legally and use Netflix and Amazon to watch movies but if there is a film I want to watch and it's not available anymore (so the original creator won't get any money anyway), I download it. I don't earn enough to buy CDs of EVERY artist I like but I always prefer to have a physical copy of something so I collect as much as I can. And I remember the first thing I purchased for my first income was a bundle of my favourite artist's prints - I admired her artworks for years and printed them because I couldn't afford the real thing.

And it's the same with recasts. Even though I do not own any, I'm not going to judge enyone who does.

So before you start to judge and lecture someone about their morals, please give it a think and do it only if you really are a pro-artist person.