I received a bootleg(?) mermaid tail

[Marinus Mortimer]

What can I say I'm just a dumb Fox.


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[Khaleesi Daenerys]

And... this thread made to the hottest threads this week list. I knew I picked a good one to sit on. lol
Anyway, about the tail in question what has the author of the thread decided to do? Make a vid as suggested by Wes? Keep it, dump it, donate it, mount it to a wall? Just wondering, also trying to steer the convo back to the tail.

[Marinus Mortimer]

She should make a video like Wes suggested earlier.


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[SeaGlass Siren]

The owner of the original tail also suggests the same.

[JadeSparrow]

Sorry for the late response!! I was reading the replies earlier and didn't know when to jump in because it was getting a little heated. But I appreciate each and every one of your reponses. Thank you Khaleesi, Meilyn and Mermaid Wesley and many others for the video suggestion. I will make a video about this very soon. I promise


Wow. So the logo says Chucky Mermaid..I had no idea and I was way off on guessing the name haha.


Meilyn, I'm so sorry that someone stole your design and selling it. Your tail design is absolutely beautiful and I can see why so many people would want it. But that's still no excuse of stealing someone's hard work. I am truly sorry that this happened.


And for the tail, if it's at least swimmable I'll use it as a practice tail and see if I can get used to swimming with a drag until I get a real silicone tail.

Once again, thank you everyone for replying and giving suggestions. I truly appreciate it!

[OtsanaBlackwolf]

This same issue with the people bootlegging finfolk tails is all over the group I'm in as well!! It's crazy even I would send them hand drawn patterns if I new they would use them in their prints of tails so that they can make ppl happy without the buyer getting yelled at for art theft or for the creators you know. It hard to find a big tail like that for cheap now a days .... Even if it does fall apart.... But anyway yeah it's all over FB too

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[Mermaid Clarity]

Just popping in some 2 cents as someone who worked in the fashion industry and still does design(graphic and costume) work today:

Yes, a lot of companies steal other people's designs and knockoffs are a good way to get fake designer brands without paying for the quality or the label. Designers like Gucci and Versace get knocked off all the time but what people forget is those companies send cease and desists all the time. Companies get sued for theft of intellectual property all the time as well. We just don't see it because it's so common it's not news. And just because it happens all the time and people buy those products, it doesn't make it right and really it's up to the rest of us to decide whether saving a couple bucks means it's okay to cheat other designers. Clearly, Mortimer thinks that's fine. A lot of us do not. (I too have been known to buy knock off makeup/brushes when I'm penny pinching) Just because it happens all the time doesn't mean people who are okay with it get to be smug about it, it's still illegal to steal other's IP and design work often counts under that title. If you want to get into the nitty gritty of copyright law and IP theft, I'm sure you can look it up but no one looks like a good guy when they're a smarmy *sshole about it. It just makes us happier when you get in trouble later.


Jade, sharing your thoughts on the quality of your tail is EXACTLY the best way to combat the bootlegging. Finfolk can then send a cease and desist if they think it'll help, and people will be warned about the quality of the product. Will it guarantee to stop the bootlegging? No but it's pretty much the most you can do without seeming SUPER ungrateful to your family who were kind enough to think of you and get you a present. The beauty of a small-ish community like Mermaids is that we can get more done quickly because word spreads FAST.

edited for repetitiveness.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Whew! I go to work and all this happens. Ok. In summary: Marinus Mortimer, your response after my warning warrants a 2-3 day ban. Since you apologized and you all worked things out, I'll leave this as a warning. I don't like having to chastise you all, I get enough of that as a middle school teacher. So please don't make me put on my mod hat again or there will be consequences! I'm glad everything is worked out now, though.

JadeSpearrow: Thanks for coming onto the forum and sharing this! Sorry this thread kindof exploded at you!!

[Marinus Mortimer]

Gotcha! I'm glad is dropped two but if anything I was kind of bombarded in the bigining so i was defensive and i was not the only one to comment after the warning so i shouldn't be the only one tha was or is going to get a 2-3day ban or am i wrong again?


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[Mermaid Wesley]

You're correct. My mistake! I meant to go back and check other usernames before submitting my post. I would have gone over all posts after mine, determined if any were considered provocation, and move forwards from there. (I am working right now so forgive me for being in-and-out.)

Gotcha! I'm glad is dropped two but if anything I was kind of bombarded in the bigining so i was defensive and i was not the only one to comment after the warning so i shouldn't be the only one tha was or is going to get a 2-3day ban or am i wrong again?

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[Marinus Mortimer]

You're correct. My mistake! I meant to go back and check other usernames before submitting my post. I would have gone over all posts after mine, determined if any were considered provocation, and move forwards from there. (I am working right now so forgive me for being in-and-out.)

No worries i understand where ur coming from. And being a teacher must be hard especially if you had students like i was! Phew poor teachers i had lol


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[LeeniusUnicorn]

Jade you could always try to dye the tail if you want to make it a little different. Because it's synthetic material you'll want a heavy duty dye and you'll want to dye it in hot water and for a very long time.
Just an idea. I'm glad you decided to make the video.


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[Mermaid Alea]

Thanks so much JadeSparrow for showing all of these detailed photos! I have been curious about how the quality would be since I figured it couldn't be that great when you are taking a tail from a photo that originally wasn't intended for scaling up so much.

The funny thing is they could have avoided the fuzzy issue even with the poor image quality. If you put this image in Photoshop you can zoom in and paint over it to clean it up and 'customize' it some more. They could have easily changed the color scheme - even drastically - using just a few sliders. They kind of threw this together rather lazily...

As others have suggested though, I would much rather see them make up their own designs - and then they wouldn't have issues with image quality (as long as they made their image the right size).

[JadeSparrow]

Thank you, Selkish I originally thought bringing bootlegged items to light might increase the chance of other people actually buying it because it's giving them exposure but I think you are right. Hopefully people will see the quality and decide not to get it.


LeeniusUnicorn, That's a great idea but I'm afraid that's going to be a little tricky because I'll have to cut open and sew back the end of the fluke to take the fabric out. I might do it when I have time Thanks for the suggestion!


Mermaid Alea, You are welcome and I agree! they could have made a better tail but I guess they are all about making a quick buck..

[LeeniusUnicorn]

That is so true, well if you ever do feel like getting into it, it would be a great time to reinforce the monofin if needed. If so I hope you make a post and share it with us.


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[Meilyn]

I sold the tail to fund my daily coffee business and so it is no longer my tail. Property of Wands and wishes mermaids now.

And since I've gotten fat and am no longer the 90 lb model that had a 23 inch waist when i gave measurements for that tail, I've decided to buy a new one. Waiting on base camp info for over a year but they said june-ish and I'm still fat so it's all good LOL. Watch out for another epic tall design frm Finfolk and the mind of this crazy bitch coming soon. Maybe.

[Khaleesi Daenerys]

You're correct. My mistake! I meant to go back and check other usernames before submitting my post. I would have gone over all posts after mine, determined if any were considered provocation, and move forwards from there. (I am working right now so forgive me for being in-and-out.)

Are you coming back to this?

@ Meilyn I'm sorry that you had to sell your tail I'm happy to hear you are getting a new one and I can't wait to see the design. Also I hope your business is doing well.

[JadeSparrow]

Oh nose D: I'm sorry to hear that you had to sell it, Meilyn! But you just gotta do what you gotta do for what's best :'( I'm super happy that you are getting a new tail from FinFolk though! I can't wait to see it when it's done

[Mermaid Clarity]

So I've seen a couple threads about these bootlegged tails now. Do we know what Finfolk had said about them? I've seen a bit of invocation of their name and ideas of what they *might* be thinking but nothing official from them.


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[Mermaid_Izzy]

I haven't heard FinFolks side, but I talked to one of the people who made them. She said she didn't know she was doing anything wrong and that other people asked her for those images to be placed on tails, but whether that is true, no one knows...


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