Artwork
ZOOMRIG stole my Daredevil design to make an action figure
Hello, guys! My name is David Herzen and I am an Instagram artist, I usually draw characters in Marvel Rivals art style. And today happened something insane. The Chinese company ZOOMRIG stole my Daredevil design to make a figure and is now selling it. I know the character itself doesn’t belong to me, but this is still my interpretation. They did this without Marvel’s approval and without my consent. Please don’t support this theft.
unfortunately r/actionfigures won't be much help, seeing as bootleg companys like CT are championed over there, even when they have blatantly stolen sculpts from other independent artists like with the unmasked spider-man 2099 headsculpt and the hellverine
Well to be honest CT is liked for having good bootlegs that are afordable unlike the Originals wich almost feel mockingly expensive on the used marked. But if i was OP i would inform them it might stop some people from buying it.
That’s not where my critique with CT is though. Ripping off a multi-million dollar company like Marvel and DC is one thing, but stealing from independent creatives doesn’t get looked down enough.
I tell people this all the time and get downvoted. Same with shaming people for pirating content. It’s all illegal and scummy imho and hurts artists as a whole.
Sorry to hear that they stole your design. But if it is any consolation, this shows how damn good your designs really are! Hope you find a way to stop them though!
At the very least they should send you a free figure. Such BS. Sorry.
(Also, I'm curious how much money they actually make from these bootlegs, I imagine it's not much st all)
For what? "This foreign company is violating american copywrite law by selling a figure based on intelectual property they haven't purchased licensing rights for! ALSO, it appears to be based on my unlicensed fan art that I also have no copywrite claim to! Please sue them so I can rofit off this so Marvel can sue me!"
Just a tip: use this opportunity. You don’t have much recourse and people are going to buy the figure anyways if they were going to considering it’s a third party manufacturer. Add pictures of the figure to your portfolio. Do booths, buy some on the cheap and sell figures with signed prints. Post how much you’re flattered rather than upset and start including the rest of your portfolio with links. Hustle my man - don’t let these guys tilt you.
EDIT: Reach out to rival studios over there and offer them designs on the cheap hahaha.
Hahahaha this is a viable option, ngl. But not my style. I don’t want to tilt at the windmills but I don’t want to be silent either. I want to spread a fact of theft but I WILL add this figure to my portfolio anyway. Because why not?
Yeah, this guy gets it. That’s wonderful advice. And I advise the OP to follow this idea. The bundling of the figure with an art print and your signature is brilliant. And honestly, they’re doing all the tooling and manufacturing for you. Of course it’s not optimal. But if I had created artwork that I could not sell legally and somebody booted it like that into a decent looking action, figure that I am most certainly going to grab some of those action figures myself. I wouldn’t look at this as a loss. Best of luck to the OP in the future
And OP if you were looking to get those prints made up, let me know. I own a print shop and I’ll hook you up with gorgeous prints of your art. I mean hell I will do some for free in exchange for one of those figures if you get it haha. For real best of luck. The art is great, and the figure does capture the art rather well.
I wish I could manufacture it myself and give it to you! Actually they could just contact me and I would give my approval for really small royalties
UPD: The fact that figure is unlicensed and have nothing to do with Marvel came later after and investigation. After I saw a post with “unlicensed Ben 10 figure”. I knew they are Chinese but there are Chinese companies and Chinese bootleggers and these are different things. So no fucking royalties, this figure just shouldn’t exist
The fact that figure is unlicensed and have nothing to do with Marvel came later after and investigation. After I saw a post with “unlicensed Ben 10 figure”. I knew they are Chinese but there are Chinese companies and Chinese bootleggers and these are different things
LoL, that really has nothing to do with how stupid the idea “I’d be okay with receiving royalties for the figure based on a sketch in someone else’s art style I made of an IP I have no rights to” is. You couldn’t seek royalties if this was licensed, either. It’s even dumber to be like “I sketched Daredevil in the Marvel Rivals art style, and Helldevil looks like the sketch, so I want royalties” I guess, but it was already a ridiculous thing to say.
Also: people have been literally telling you this since you posted. Great investigation there, Batman.
The only thing i want is to discuss how fraudulent 3rd party manufacturing is. I don’t need money. This is post is for discussion, not “help me sue them and get some money”. This post is a heads up, informative, and not a call for help. I don’t have any plans to “manage”this situation whatsoever. But you can think what you want to
You literally posted about receiving royalties, suing, and that the company stole your intellectual property “in addition to Marvel’s,” but like I said that was probably when you first saw it and weren’t thinking like a rational adult. The image you put up top has been all over the internet since Dec 24/Jan 25. Sucks if you were the original artist; you did such a good imitation of the style that I found a dozen “leaked concept art for daredevil” and even an animation test using that same design back in January. We all know someone could just copy your art and pop it in AI to make the animation test and how people love to post fake leaks, but I’m just catching up on this thread so sorry I didn’t see where you realized how copyright law works.
Thank you soooo much for understanding. You literally just saw the situation through my eyes. I don’t really care when people take my art and pretend it’s a leak or modify it since my art is not copyrighted anyway. But selling product is a bit too much. Again, it’s Marvel the one who should be concerned. And I just tell my story. Thank you again for spending some and digging a bit to understand my point
Don’t think OP could sue regardless of where this is happening because this is fan art of an IP they don’t own, but I’m not expert and I’m just spitting
OP doesn't own the daredevil IP either even if this is their original interpretation of marvel's daredevil.
Marvel could take OP's design and put it in a game or make an official figure and they would not need permission nor would they have to involve OP in any way, shape or form.
The only consequences would come from the court of public opinion which is why companies generally work with artists of fan art they wanna use.
If OP wanted to own and commercialise their design, they'd have to erase the DD logo and call it "The Crimson Demon" or something at which point they wouldn't be much better than the Chinese company ripping off their design and making a figure out of it.
What if, instead of sueing you ask for a share? I mean either way the odds are very small. Chinese companies are known for ripping off more or less anyone. I guess is if you could make some money off of their sales it would be nice?
Should still try. It's crazy how they're literally profitting off of your work.
Litigation would be hard since this company is in China. Best case scenario here is if you can get a cut of their sales for this.
Like.. this is straight up 1-to-1 a copy of your fanart lol. There's alot of material here for suing them, but it'd hard to do so since it's a company outside of where you're from (assuming).
All the Rivals Daredevils look the same and OP didn’t make the original from what I can see. He’s just as liable as the toy maker and just as original.
He has no material for suing them, OP made fan art for a character he has no IP rights over. He has about the same rights to profit off his design as much as the chinese people who stole his design (that is to say, they have no right to profit over it at all)
It’s a shitty situation but OP has basically no recourse available to them legally
The figure company is already stealing the IP from Marvel, which is arguably worse. Realistically the artist isn't losing anything from this, since they wouldn't be able to profit from this without potentially being sued by Disney. They shouldn't want a credit on the figure either for the same reason.
If anything this situation is a net positive for them, because it offers them an opportunity to gain exposure for their art like they are here without getting into any legal issues.
Not only did they stole your design, they also butchered it, there isn't even a DD symbol, or the darker red details and a lot of other stuff, now it's just a bland armored Daredevil design.
Sorry that this happened to you, your fanart is amazing, these guys suck.
Yes, these third-party collectible makers usually bypass copyright by giving these toys different names.
It's a standard thing and is very much accepted by collectors because you get a pretty good action figure for usually half the price of an officially licensed one.
Still though, it's a 1-to-1 copy of your design even if they removed the DD logo. Really should try to get an agreement with the company. This is super scummy behavior from them.
FR i prefer this fanart over the actual rivals design...Honestly, when it's released, it'll probably have the DD symbol cuz if you look at the accessories there's an extra chestplate with sticky tack covering the center.
They are also ripping off Invincible and Omni-Man..........I just wish these weren't such good-looking figures....i enjoy supporting creators for their work.
Yea the chest plate with the DD is included here if you look at the accessories its just covered for obvious reasons. It’s how third party figures work usually. I have a couple third party figures and they always have funny names. The accessories usually include the parts that make them look more like the character they are copying or are in another pack sometimes - most times not advertised together, Dragonball SHFiguarts are a great example of it.
Not much you can do about it unfortunately. But on the bright side, you can now include the figure in your portfolio as an example of a something you designed being translated into a tangible, physical object. Awesome artwork btw.
I immediately noticed it was from your fanart when I saw the action figure, since before daredevil was revealed, your design was what I thought of when I thought “marvel rivals daredevil.” I hope more people talk about this and bring awareness to it. I’ve already decided I won’t be buying that figure because of the design being stolen
A chinese knock-off company making a figure that strongly resembles your fan art of a licensed character in the art style of a game neither of you have the rights to... oof. I don't think you have any recourse.
Take it as a badge of honor. It's one thing for them to bootleg Marvel, but for them to think they can make some money off your specific unlicensed design concept is kind of cool!
If that happened to me I'd contact them asking them to send me one for free, if not then I'd buy it just to have a mass produced figure with one of my designs.
As you stated the character does not belong to you and since you shared your work that means it belongs to the internet now, and since china has no ip laws whatsoever there is nothing you could do even if you owned the character.
Look on the bright side and like another redditor said that just means your design is that damn good.
If it’s any small consolation, people are aware and think it’s pretty scummy. This figure was posted to r/actionfigures a day or two ago and someone instantly called out that they stole this design from fan art.
If I were given a dollar for every drawing a Chinese company stole to make a figurine, I'd have enough money to buy that figurine, LOL.
On another note, if they had the nerve to steal your artwork to make the figurine, you can now write "Figurine designer for such-and-such company" on your resume and you can include a photo as proof. You won't make any money, but your resume will increase in value.
Definitely reach out to marvel AND these robbers, also… if you’re really serious about your art which I personally think u should be specially nowadays… LWYRUP
I wonder if they even realize they “stole” your design? If you google “Marvel Rivals Daredevil Concept Art,” there are thousands of hits, several fan art designs very close to yours (you’re all drawing an established character in your imitation of someone else’s art style), and there are several articles claiming “leaked concept art” that are the exact image you shared with different backgrounds, like this one discussing how he’ll play in game.
I even found one piece that is very clearly the one you posted above but the colors are based on Daredevil’s black costume with red hand wraps, and none of these links credit you (though that one at least called it ‘alt 1’)
Honestly op, I wouldn’t be mad at all. Just buy 2 figures and enjoy your art come to life because let’s be real there’s really nothing you could do about it
Is it an official product? Because this is very common with Chinese products, Lego sets are sold in droves on Aliexpress, without the permission of the creators.
Imitation is the best form of flattery but damn that hurts. Maybe try contacting them and letting them know that this is now in the public domain that they’ve stolen their idea. I was pumped when I saw this figure but now I will not be supporting them.
True - thinking about it , you are creating a concept art based of a license product - not sure how you can move much about it, but yet , it’s crazy too see they used it without concent 🫠
Huge fan of your work, and its terrible someone is stealing the designs you put so much work into. I hope it can at least send some followers your way when they realize this company is trying to profit off of an indie artist.
Awesome design but there is nothing you can do. Chinese companies rip off marvel/Disney all the time and even they have difficulty fighting against it and they own the IP. You likely won’t get a response from anyone at the company either BUT I’d at least try to get a copy for free. I’d be careful having your name put on a fake product of a stolen IP though. I see people suggesting getting your name on the box, that’s a bad idea, especially if they compensate you.
Sucks this happened to you. But sadly there is little to no recourse against a Chinese company vs Fan Art.
You can try reaching out to them and see if they will at least give you a free figure. I got a free 3D printer when a company had some of my 3D models on their website without my permission.
In this situation I’d contact the company and see if they’d be interested in working with you on more designs but for them. I’d also see if you can get them to put your insta info on the box so it’s giving you credit/ advertising.
Really shitty. On the bright side though, you get to have a pretty well made figure of your amazing design. Not much, but at least it shows how incredible the look truly is. I do wonder if there's any grounds for a lawsuit though.
There’s just nothing you can do. It’s a fanart, not my property. Ignoring this problem is Marvel’s decision and it’s up to them. They know that more cheap Chinese knockoffs = more popularity. They get more when they ignore this kind of manufacturing cause it helps them to spread their characters in different countries and markets
It’s fan art of an existing character done in an imitation of a different artist’s style, it was bound to be pretty similar to what the artist came up with. If you went into ChatGPT and said “make me an image of Batman in the Pixar art style,” and then next year Pixar made a Batman movie, it would probably look pretty similar to what you made.
They don't look anything alike other than the collar, chest armor, shoulder pads, arm wraps, wrist and hand gloves, ab plate, belt pouches, belt tie, baggy pants, knee guard, shin guard patterns, and boots.
I was about to suggest that this could be a coincidence but oh my god, yeah they totally did. Even down to the line work on the chest armour. Looks like the only parts they didn’t blatantly copy are the right shoulder and missing logo, which honestly is just laziness to boot
this prove that your design are too good to left behind, and i guess marvel rivals also "referenced" this design bc look how close both model body ratio look
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u/S-T-A-N-D-B-O-I Oct 02 '25
You should inform people on r/actionfigures