# Adoptables - Your Opinion



## Moss (Sep 19, 2012)

What is everyone's opinion on adoptables? 
(If you don't know, adoptables are character designs that are up for sale. Usually someone pre-makes a few designs and puts them up for sale.)

I personally don't like them. I've seen numerous people not using their adoptables, and I've even seen some re-sell their adoptables. I think it is just way easier (and cheaper) to make the characters you want. Why by someone that someone else made? It's not even like they are selling you a unique drawing, most of the designs are used on the same base as a number of others (like cookie cutters pretty much) so I don't see why people would like to buy them.

Now, with that said, I'd like to mention that I approve of reselling character designs when you have art of them, because it's like you're selling the art you have of them rather than selling a premade cut out. 

What's your guy's opinion?


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## HipsterCoyote (Sep 19, 2012)

Honestly, and this is going to be "crass" but I don't intend to step on any toes, I largely see adoptables as a way to get adult commissions without having to faff about with commissioning for a ref sheet.  Cheaper, easier.  Most of the adoptables I see are re-drawn in NSFW pieces, which is why I think this.  That being said, I HAVE seen people who think "Oh my gosh this character design is adorable" and use what they purchase for not-porn, but they're the exception.


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## Heliophobic (Sep 19, 2012)

The brutal death of creativity.


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## Smelge (Sep 19, 2012)

Adoptables can fuck off. It's a way of putting minimal effort into something and selling it over and over.


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## Ley (Sep 19, 2012)

I've seen a lot of examples and things for adobts, which are usually really general dog thing or cat thing.. things, with the same pose, just recolored. 

I had an idea of doing adoptable eggs for my adoptable loving watchers, and draw each one differently, using and researching some really exotic animals, and having fun with each one and making them as unique as possible. That personally, is what I want to do, so I don't see a problem with adopts. Some people just aren't creative.

Besides, I'd do like what, 8 a pop? Bid on the fun colored egg, get one full size pic flats colored pic of them and their colors. Thats it.


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## Arshes Nei (Sep 19, 2012)

Whee...rehash...

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/117494-Your-opinion-on-adoptables

http://forums.furaffinity.net/threads/122512-Am-I-charging-too-much-for-my-adoptables - Post 4 has a use for Adoptables


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## Greg (Sep 19, 2012)

inb4 thread lock :V

I'd get an adoptable if it meant that I could develop it into a unique character. Maim does beautiful adoptables occasionally but for the most part they're all recolours of the same damn thing.


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## mapdark (Sep 20, 2012)

I honestly think adoptables are the WORST thing ever.
That and character auctions. 

I mean how lazy do you have to be to BUY a fursonna?!


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## Greg (Sep 20, 2012)

mapdark said:


> I honestly think adoptables are the WORST thing ever.
> That and character auctions.
> 
> I mean how lazy do you have to be to BUY a fursonna?!


Adoptables aren't necessarily fursonas, they can be characters. Plus, I'd take a seaslug gryphon over anyone else's "totally original" wolf/fox/husky/gshep/dragon x wolf/husky/gshep/dragon ANY DAY.


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## Smelge (Sep 20, 2012)

I liked that one guy who bought adoptables and then drew them getting killed horribly, and the resulting bitchfits from the original artist.

Joyous.


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## mapdark (Sep 21, 2012)

Greg said:


> Adoptables aren't necessarily fursonas, they can be characters. Plus, I'd take a seaslug gryphon over anyone else's "totally original" wolf/fox/husky/gshep/dragon x wolf/husky/gshep/dragon ANY DAY.



At least the horribly deformed anomalies that are these characters have the merit of having minimal work put into them. I dunno . I personally LOVE to create characters and flesh them out. Buying one from an auction simply sounds absurd in my case. I can't understand the interest in buying a pre-made off-the-shelf generic character that you had no hand in creating.

To me this is worse than .. I dunno , painting by numbers.

Heck , whatsherface who wrote "My immortal" had more creativity than what can be found in adoptables.


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## mapdark (Sep 21, 2012)

Smelge said:


> I liked that one guy who bought adoptables and then drew them getting killed horribly, and the resulting bitchfits from the original artist.
> 
> Joyous.



Pffhahahahaha , this is awesome XD

Yeah, there's that too. The downside with adoptables for the artist , is that you have to completely detach yourself from the characters you create. That's probably why people who are GOOD at making them go for the most generic things. Putting a lot of work into a character and then seeing it being used at a whore or being abused in various ways is not too pleasant.

That said , the artist should have known better than throwing a bitchfest at the adopting party for not using the character in a way they thought they would. I mean , you sell characters , you sell away the right to how its used as well.


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## CrazyJude (Sep 25, 2012)

I too experienced same characters with a little deviation being sold over and over. It is fair to resell if there is a significant change. Other people modifying my work and selling is a painful sight for me as a concept artist. But I have every right to do so, because it is my creativity that I am using to earn a penny.


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## Mayonnaise (Sep 25, 2012)

Smelge said:


> I liked that one guy who bought adoptables and then drew them getting killed horribly, and the resulting bitchfits from the original artist.
> 
> Joyous.


Who is this guy? I'm curious now.


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## Greycoat (Sep 27, 2012)

I honestly had no idea what an Adoptable was for the longest time.
I kept thinking "Huh. From what I can gather, Adoptables are characters someone made up and being sold to people who didn't even ask for it to be made. But that surely can't be it, because that's just stupid. I must be missing something important."

Seriously that's what they are? I'm disappointed. Who would buy someone else's character when they could make their own or pay someone to make theirs? Its more personal and unique that way, right? Isn't that the point? I'm confused. I need to walk around in circles a bit and then lie down.


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## MistressSparkles (Sep 27, 2012)

I don't like them. But I don't care that they exist. Especially in the fur community, because it's not necessarily an art community or a creative community.
I also realize some people are not designers and for your non-creative furry it might be a good way for them to realize an identity.

I'd much rather have them go to an artist and ask to have them design someone _-for-_ them specifically. But we don't all get what we want. No skin off my nose.


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## Fuzzle (Sep 29, 2012)

Considering the large part of this "furry" thing is a unique identity emphasized and simplified by creativity and interpretation via animal traits and design, adoptables appear to go against that. Adoptable representation is more like choosing your favorite personality out of a selection someone else has laid out for you. I understand not everyone is an artist nor might they have a clear idea how they want to appear, but that's the fun of it, finding your unique identity. The least you should do is think of your design and character traits and relay that information to the artist and then he can interpret your imagination into a visual product. Simply browsing a premade template is little else than a character select in Final Fight. Are you this hot chick, this burly guy or the cool dude everyone picks? Hell, even I haven't set on an image for myself largely because I my artistic skill and tastes are always evolving, so like my avatar is how I imagine myself right now, I mean I was blue at one point. But that's the journey, it's not to impress other people with the stand out design of your character but to take what you have and what you are and make the most of it. You don't need glowing eyes, transformation abilities, glowing stripes, 17 different hair colors at one time, that will NEVER set you apart from the rest. It's the identity you give the image from the unique perspective that is yourself.


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## Kuro-Arashi-Ame (Oct 10, 2012)

I don't find what's so appealing about adoptables.  It's more fun creating your own characters than having to buy someone else's design.


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## Dragoniss (Oct 10, 2012)

I don't really mind adoptables but I like how people are picking on one little aspect of it and not looking at adoptables as a whole

There are people out there who spend hours on adoptables and really take time and effort into all of them. And there are people who buy adoptables and turn them into something lovely. Its not all cookie cutter sheets. Most people do that but give some credit to the men and women that spend time on adoptables and thats how they make a living. 

try to look at the big picture guys and not just what you've seen to be more common and take a deeper look, your bound to find some really amazing adoptable makers that do not like being lumped into the same group as the others.

Also take a look at someone who say can't draw but has a character design in mind. Then they look to aboptables for their character.


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## mapdark (Oct 16, 2012)

Dragoniss said:


> I don't really mind adoptables but I like how people are picking on one little aspect of it and not looking at adoptables as a whole
> 
> There are people out there who spend hours on adoptables and really take time and effort into all of them. And there are people who buy adoptables and turn them into something lovely. Its not all cookie cutter sheets. Most people do that but give some credit to the men and women that spend time on adoptables and thats how they make a living.
> 
> ...




Again , most people here are not criticising the people who MAKE them. We just don't see the point of it for those who BUY them.

I mean , one of the main things I've always liked about the furry fandom was the creative and truly artisanal side of it where the object of people's admiration and fanboyism is almost never Big-Corp related.

I love the fact that people design a fursonna based on themselves or what their ideal of themselves would be.

When it comes down to picking up a character on a rack , it's really defying the whole POINT of having a fursona or an original character.


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## Toshabi (Oct 16, 2012)

It's artists preying on the idiot's wallet. I see nothing wrong with it when people are willing to blow 25+ dollars on a copy-paste rainbow wolf :v


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## jorinda (Oct 17, 2012)

Toshabi said:


> It's artists preying on the idiot's wallet. I see nothing wrong with it when people are willing to blow 25+ dollars on a copy-paste rainbow wolf :v


This. The artist is happy with the money, the buyer is happy with the character.... no harm done.

I just don't care. It's just one more thing that people spend money for without a sensible reason.


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 17, 2012)

jorinda said:


> This. The artist is happy with the money, the buyer is happy with the character.... no harm done.
> 
> I just don't care. It's just one more thing that people spend money for without a sensible reason.



Until the buyer complains that their blue fox character is being copied by the guy who bought the pink version  Had to discuss how to deal with that because of bullshit copypasta characters.


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## Toshabi (Oct 17, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> Until the buyer complains that their blue fox character is being copied by the guy who bought the pink version  Had to discuss how to deal with that because of bullshit copypasta characters.



When don't furries complain though? :V


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## jorinda (Oct 18, 2012)

Arshes Nei said:


> Until the buyer complains that their blue fox character is being copied by the guy who bought the pink version  Had to discuss how to deal with that because of bullshit copypasta characters.



You don't need adoptables for this discussion. I once read a very nice rant about someone "copying" a grey wolf


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## Arshes Nei (Oct 18, 2012)

jorinda said:


> You don't need adoptables for this discussion. I once read a very nice rant about someone "copying" a grey wolf



No adoptables don't help the matter at all. Stop the copypasta bullshit and at least make them more original instead of throwing more fuel into the fire. They just add on to the problem.

In addition if you can't be assed to draw different designs, don't bother to call yourself an artist, but a Photoshop Knob/Slider jockey.


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## Nylak (Oct 18, 2012)

Smelge said:


> I liked that one guy who bought adoptables and then drew them getting killed horribly, and the resulting bitchfits from the original artist.
> 
> Joyous.



Holy crap, seriously?  I want to buy that man a beer.

Also, yeah, adoptables suck, yadda yadda yadda.  I've even had people ask to pay me to use my (old, sparkledog, kill em with fire) original character designs in roleplayng games for their own characters.  Meh.


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## Thaily (Oct 18, 2012)

So much vitriol.

Really, with an adoptable you're just buying a design, cookie cutter sheets with designs are just made to showcase the design.
The idea is that the buyer develops the design further and creates a character, the problem is that a lot of furries just aren't very creative beyond sexuality, genitalia and fetishes.
There's nothing wrong with the premise of adoptables; yeah, some of them are shitty, but so is some art. Beyond that it's just a springboard for character creation if you want to build on someone else's foundation.


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## chaotikat (Oct 19, 2012)

*waves at Moss* long time no see 

The whole adoptable thing is new to me, and honestly infuriating. Especially when I see some folks paying in the HUNDREDS for a character... 

I've been gone for 3+ years and when I came back I saw this whole adoptable thing all over FA. It's funny, I actually used to sell off characters that I had created, never used, but I had made a bunch of art of them. I hoped to let them have new life in the hands of others. I charged a nominal fee ($15 or so) for the art, handing the rights of the character over along with it. And now people are selling pre-posed outlines with as much rainbows and glitter and neon eyes to make the character 'unique'. What happened to personality? Just what the fandom needed, another dime a dozen neon fox/cat boy-girl with an eye patch and wings and horns and striped tongue and... what else can we throw in to be rebelliously unique? BLARGH


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