The sad shady reality is he absolutely knows what hes doing. He knows he will lose some long time artists…however, theres enough new artists who wont know any better. Not to mention the artists who have no qualms about selling knock offs will also be buying from him. Im just learning about it all and its upsetting
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We have been discussing this on reborns and there are artists who know it and still think it is just fine. As they put it, “they are his do with as he pleases.”
Sigh…
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I replied to this on Reborns.
I think we need to try and understand why her family is doing this. The obvious worry is they are just greedy. I am wondering if we should consider that they may want to re-release some of her work to keep her legacy alive, sadly we won’t get any new sculpts from her. Its heartbreaking. They may need the money, there might be bills to settle or pay and this seems like the best way to do that. What would she have wanted as a mother? That might be different than what she would have done as an artists. I know she would have honored a LLE because she did but I also think she would have wanted her kids to not have to worry financially?
Is there a meeting place?
I wonder if he called this and any others a limited memorial release, small release, numbered and the COA’s will state that this is a limited memorial second edition?
I understand collectors rely on honoring an LLE. I think she would have but what happens after you leave this planet is kinda out of your hands.
Let’s remember that we miss her but her family misses her so much more and they are trying to navigate, I think its ok to be concerned but we must be gentle and understanding.
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We own a small business. When my husband retires, he hopes one of our kids will take over. My youngest boys are 14 and 15. Since they were tiny, Harmon has reminded them that their behavior effects his business. They are expected to behave with integrity, even as kids. Under no circumstances would either of us approve of them compromising honesty and integrity in favor of money. And if they were to cut corners and then say we approved of that before our death or retirement, we would turn over in our graves. It’s wrong for a kid to claim their parents said and approved things that contradict everything the parent said in life. I do not believe Adrie would approve of her sold out kits being opened back up. He is not honoring his mother. He is disrespecting and ruining her legacy. 
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I am just done with it. I will keep my 2 cherished Stoete babies but I won’t buy any more of the Stoete kits and I am done. Just like I have been with Andrea Arcello. Moving on to better things.
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There is no meeting place in my opinion.
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Has been working with Adrie for years but has no clue what things like ‘open edition’ mean? That’s bull****. Can’t even claim a translation error because in Dutch it would be ‘open editie’, which is nearly the same.
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I am with you .
It is not oke to talk like this now that she is gone 
I had a hard time when she was gone because she was a wonderful person
that has made beautiful kits
Her nowing she will never be wrong with her only son
And his family have to live now to after that his mother is gone
They had been working together for a long time
So please please let this rest is it word al this only because of the money
Because that is what it is al about it make me very sad that you al react like this 
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Please don’t talk bad about dead people
My parentsthey have learned never to do that
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No one is talking bad about Adrie. Everyone is upset because he is destroying his mother’s legacy and going against what she said she’d never do…
That’s disrespectful of him to collectors and to his mother.
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I totally agree!!! Her son is WRONG! Adrie was wonderful and NO ONE is speaking about her in a bad way.
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I do want to clarify in agreement that this is not about or against Adrie Stoete. She was a wonderful woman.
This is about her son doing a wrong thing with her sculpts out of disrespect for the LE status. If he wanted to do a memorial edition to honor his Mom I think he even still would need to swap out the limbs or something to make it somewhat different that the original.
While I totally disapproved of Andrea Arcello releasing Harper again, at least she did give her different limbs from the LE originals (although I think that was more about the fact that a lot of people changed out the original limbs on her for hands that were not both wide open).
I am also not unkind or trying to be brutal to someone who has lost his mother. I have great compassion for that. None the less, this is a business and it was a wrong business decision he has made to dishonor her LE kits by opening them back up just so he can make money off them. For me, it also adds insult to injury that he has manipulated his story so much to try to make it more palatable. If you are going to make a bold unkind decision then at least have the backbone to stand up and say you did it because you don’t care about limited editions and own up to it.
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I cut out my entire first portion of my post- I rather just bang my head against a wall. So, I’ll start here:
Don’t compare those who couldn’t get their hands on their dream kit, possibly a keeper kit, to those who buy stolen sculpts, that’s not fair. They are buying a legitimate kit like those before them, the fortunate few. I don’t want to be chastised if & when I buy the kit. It’s my dream kit. I won’t pay $600 on the secondary market, that’s criminal. Also, I would never buy a fake kit out of respect for the original artist.
Most important- I strongly feel that it’s wrong to berate someone who lost their mother & accuse them of horrible devious actions. If someone is privy to this family’s intimate dynamics-more so than the son himself, who ran the business alongside his mom, I apologize, you are justified. Does anyone fit that description? At first, he offered an explanation, which he didn’t have to do, is it true or false? Will any explanation satisfy anyone at this point or ever?
I’m just reading the room and I’m quite alarmed by some remarks made about Adrie Stoete’s son. The rhetoric is brutal. He inherited the business- it’s his business. Maybe he’s doing what he needs to keep it going. He tried to appease some, he can’t and never will. He probably doesn’t care at this point now-who can blame him? He probably wants everyone to shut up the hatred. Some of what I read is nothing but. Please don’t say, "Well, I would never do that- you don’t know. If you’re not happy with this situation, then boycott HIS business. Leave it at that. While the rest can enjoy what they never could.
This was not the type of Heated Topic post, one could just skip over. It was a slow burn. Maybe those are the best kind. The kind where you get to see people’s true colors. The kind that opens up your eyes. I must say it sure opened mine.
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Lisa, you are right that it is not the same thing as buying a China copied kit, but it is still breaking the Limited Edition Status. I doubt anyone will chastise you or anyone else for buying them. Has anyone gotten berated for buying other kits that were opened back up like the Arcello kits? I haven’t heard it if so. I hear your viewpoints and you are not alone in them. I recognize that as well. I can relate to the feeling that one is beating one’s head against the wall. That is how I feel when trying to explain how special and important LE kits were to many of us back when they were a “thing” and how upsetting it is when this kind of thing happens. Hot topics do indeed push hot buttons and bring out a lot of emotions sometimes. I have had to realize that the reborn doll industry has changed drastically in the 20+ years I have been in it. The original integrity of Limited editions has started to decline and while this may not be directly due to malicious actions it is still very disappointing for some of us who never thought we would see this kind of thing happen.
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My ignorance may have sounded harsh. What i mean by comparing the dealings to those of stolen sculpts is this:
An artist stops making a limited edition kit. It becomes sole. It ends up on shopping apps. Not cool.
And artist stops making a LIMITED EDITION kit. It sells out. They sadly pass away.
Somehow it ends up being re produced by the hundreds with a whole bunch of weird stories behind it that appear in the likes of lies. Not cool.
It is his business now. But you know what he cant do? Is sculpt new kits. Not in her name. And hes not making money on the kits on his website.
So what better way to bring sales in, then to bring back everyones dream kit! And adrie herself said shed never sell again. She never said shed never sell the 400 kits still lying around. Its very obvious the kits were never lying around.
In my opinion its not much different then a knock off sole kit. Even if hes got the stoete name and the business.
Then again, as ive stated before, im so new to the community that i probably dont know enough to have an opinion. I apologize if i offended anyone by my opinion.
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Don’t compare those who couldn’t get their hands on their dream kit, possibly a keeper kit, to those who buy stolen sculpts, that’s not fair. They are buying a legitimate kit like those before them, the fortunate few. I don’t want to be chastised if & when I buy the kit. It’s my dream kit. I won’t pay $600 on the secondary market, that’s criminal. Also, I would never buy a fake kit out of respect for the original artist.
I also wanted to say that my comments to him were in reference to his saying in one of his emails that he was releasing the once SOLE Lizzy as a way to take the wind out of the sails of the China reproductions. His making her available will in no way stop China from making them too. But looking back at my comment to him I agree that I should not have implied that only those that buy the kits would be those who support knock-offs. I know that legitimate artists will buy them as well. What I was saying is those who support knock-offs do not care about opening up a LE again and thus it would not stop the knock-offs industry and buyers.
Edited to add I am going to try to shut up on this subject now. 
Its too stressful!
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I agree with stressful. When I first came on here several years ago, I was so taken back by the help & generosity that people lended each other. Since then things seemed to have changed. It would be wonderful to get some of that mindset back. Thanks for your clarification, I understand your point now.
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I’m glad to have you here. It’s wonderful our community is growing and new people are here 
I hear your opinion on this release being not much different than a knockoff, but I want to explain why I disagree. Now, this is just my opinion too. You see, it’s not just for moral reasons our community is against the knockoffs. There are also safety concerns. I do wish the whole rereleasing a departed sculptor’s work would have been handled differently, and I want to believe the son is just doing what he thinks is best, and it’s leagues better than a knockoff.
When a knockoff is made it’s intentional theft of intellectual property. It deprives the sculptor and/or copyright owner of prestige and money. It also harms their reputation by reducing the chance a novice buyer will find the real thing, and if a buyer gets a knockoff on accident they will have a lesser opinion of the sculptor when they receive a low quality product.
Our industry’s authentic kit manufactures produce kits without phthalates. Phthalates are a harmful plasticizer that is especially bad when heated. The knockoffs are not guaranteed to be phthalate-free. They’re totally unregulated, they might have any harmful chemical in them. Lead is a particular concern when the dolls come from China.
So, back to what happening with Lizzy is that yes, again the sculptor isn’t getting money, but that’s because of death. It’s not out of malice and it’s not theft. The proper copyright holder will get the proceeds. We can trust that her name will be associated with her sculpting. We can also trust that these new kits will be made to the same quality standard as the ones made when she was living (I assume.) I’m not sure if I believe the son really is following a plan Adrie herself approved, but I hope that it’s true. Other sculptors have done similar things.
I agree that it’s awful that the SOLE status is now ruined, but that’s like the least worst thing about the knockoffs IMO. I’m just worried that if we equate Lizzy to knockoffs we minimize the harm of actual knockoffs.
(For more context, knockoffs are an especially sensitive subject amongst our artist community. There was a another sculptor who recently drew the authenticity of her own kits into question, and that didn’t end happily for anyone. So that’s why I want to be extra cautious that we don’t scrutinize these kits in the same way. Let’s focus on the other shady stuff that’s going on.)
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I absolutely understand everything you have said. I do feel a little differently about what i said. Thank you for how youve explained it.
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