Luka (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lukadia) wrote,@ 2005-03-07 09:06:00 |
|
| Current mood: |  good |
| Current music: | Every Little Thing / Just Be You |
THE BANRAI FILES (Complete with Confession - 11/08/05)
NEWS AND UPDATES ARE NOW LOCATED HERE
THE STORY
Yuko Ota is better known on the Internet by her nickname Aido (formerly Kaido). She draws the comic Fallen and created the characters Aido, Taishou, Dhio, Arashi, Eouen, Realeigh, Singe, Pyr, Reijt, and many others. She created the world of Altaedeus, its full pantheon of gods, and a species of feline-appearing dragons called the Kendii, noted for their distinctive tail and wing designs. In late 1999, Aido discovered that another Elfwood artist, Andrea (aka Banrai) had taken her online identity and claimed ownership of all these characters and names, animal species and gods, as well as the fictional stories written about them. Banrai eventually also stole Aido's fantasy world of Altaedeus, complete with its world map (which is lettered in Aido's handwriting).
Andrea "Banrai" H. once joined Elfwood using the name 'Yuko Ryuuza Siang.' She also claims to be the original (K)Aido, and to have created the characters Aido, Taishou, Dhio, Arashi, Eouen, Realeigh, Pyr (renamed Wesimbi), Singe, Reijt, and many others. She runs a MUD called "Altaedeus" together with her husband. She also stole the design for Aido's Kendii and renamed them Derra. Despite evidence, Banrai insists Aido is the creepy stalker. This behavior continues even beyond March 2005, when the original Banrai Files were published and her credibility finally destroyed.
THE IDENTITY THIEF
Who's the identity thief here? let's start with the name (K)Aido and the internet identity connected to it. Banrai claims she was Aido before a stranger named Yuko came along (in late 2000-early 2001) and took her identity.
To find out the truth, I did a search on the Wayback machine for Banrai's Elfwood gallery. I got lucky, there were about a dozen archived versions of her gallery, ranging in date from 2000-2001. In these pages, Banrai does not use the names KAido or Aido to describe herself. However, from 2000 through April of 2001, Banrai links to a friend called "(K)Aido R-----." The link leads to Yuko's gallery.
The archived gallery pages refer to Yuko/Aido as Banrai's friend and inspiration until April 2001, a few months after Yuko/Aido first complained that Banrai was stealing her work. The archived 2000-2001 Lothlorien site of Katie Slone, a friend of Banrai's, features drawings of 'Aido the Kendii' with a notice that the character was copyrighted to Aido R, with a link to Yuko's Elfwood gallery.
Conclusion: Yuko was and is the original Aido.
STOLEN WORLD
Aido's webcomic, "Fallen." For a picture of the world map as it appears on the site, click here.
Map of Aido's Altaedeus (High Resolution) - converted from PSD format.
Map of Aido's Altaedeus (Without Text Layer) As you can see, the PSD file Aido lent me still has layers present.
Map of Aido's Altaedeus (Text Layer Only)
Banrai's MUD site, which uses Aido's world and characters. It was originally a mirror site with HTML stolen wholesale from Aido's own site, but with the copyright information altered. That version of the site was taken down as of October 2003.
Map of Banrai's Altaedeus (Low Resolution) This link will work as long as Banrai keeps it on her page.
Map of Banrai's Altaedeus (Mirror) - in case she takes down the above site, this is the same thing.
Map of Banrai's Altaedeus (High Resolution) - Banrai's "High Resolution" version of the the world map. Since Aido's the one who created the map, she's the one with the Photoshop file. All Banrai can do is enlarge the web version.
World Map Paintover - After she was caught in 2003, Banrai posted this bizarre re-paint of the map on Altaedeus.org instead of the original, high-quality one. Not that she was confessing or anything, mind you. Yikes.
STOLEN CHARACTERS
The gods of Aido's Altaedeus.
The gods of Banrai's Altaedeus.
Aido's favorite goddess, Eouen, is a mother-creator-phoenix figure, and is a symbol of growth and rebirth.
Banrai's Eouen (in a thinly veiled attack on Aido) is a six-armed slut-goddess of vice and pleasure whose followers are mindless, cannibalistic minions who do her evil bidding.
Aido's Realeigh is a mantis goddess of theatre and trickery.
Realeigh sometimes wears Baelae the mask god on her face.
And another shot of Aido's Realeigh and Baelae for good measure.
Banrai's Realeigh, however, used to be some kind of furry mutant panda.
As of March 5, 2005, the character has become a mantis and the ripoff is complete.
User !Solderchild was banned by Deviantart because of this conversation about stolen character artwork. Banrai removed the picture itself no more than 4 minutes later, but I have a copy.
Here's a comparison shot of Aido and Banrai's versions of the characters Realeigh and Baelae. Note that Banrai's version of Realeigh also used to have a human form identical to that of Aido's character.
And here are the two versions of Baelae.
Aido's Dhio is a is a cloaked smith god wearing an iron mask, and is often associated with death (somewhat like Egypt's Anubis). He rides a horse called Keir.
Banrai's Dhio is a cloaked god of death wearing an iron mask who rides a horse called Keir. Yes, that's the exact same picture as Aido's version. She didn't even redraw it or remove Aido's signature.
Aido's Taishou is a male bat god of writing and communication.
Banrai's Taishou is a female bat goddess of music and written word. - NOTE: No, she didn't suddenly get really good at drawing anatomy--this artwork was stolen from another artist called Katie L. We'll get into that part of the story very soon.
Aido created two types of dragon called "Storm Leviathan" and "Mast Leviathan." Banrai also has "Storm/Mast Leviathan" dragons, though they look different.
Aido's Kendii and Banrai's Derra (1).
Aido's Kendii and Banrai's Derra (2).
Banrai posted this 'old' picture of a Derra as evidence that the Derra predated the Kendii.
Here's another 'old' Derra.
Banrai continually dates the creation of the Derra back to either 1996 or 1997, both long before she ever heard of Aido. She says it's impossible that she could have ripped off the Kendii because she never knew there was such a thing until Aido accused her of stealing them in 2001. (Keep that date in mind for a minute, it's about to be important).
Now visit Banrai's old Artistrealm account, which is still online. Scroll down to the "K" filenames. What do you find?
Yup, it's a picture of the green Derra, uploaded in Sep. 2002, under the filename KENDIICC.JPG.
Conclusion? Forget 1996 or even 2001. Banrai was openly using the name and design of Aido's Kendii in late 2002.
STOLEN ART
Here's a collection of side-by-side comparison shots. A lot of them are old, but they show pretty conclusively that Banrai's had a bone-on for Aido and has for some time.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
This one is actually a non-Aido rip. Both panels are pretty obviously-traced, and in one of them she directly copies the clothing as well. I'm really sorry about the text over the one panel of the comparison shot--I accidentally merged the layers on the only copy I had. If you have an un-texted version, I'd be glad to take it :)
In July 2005, Banrai got caught ripping icon art from an artist called MacKenzie:
Here's a larger collage of the icon rip, pointing out various amusing mistakes in Banrai's sloppy paintover job.
Here's a screenshot of Banrai's journal with a second, altered version of the icon.
THE LIES
Banrai's version of events depends on who she's talking to. Here are some screenshots and links demonstrating the way she changes the story to fit various situations:
Undated, 2003:
Full thread here.
Oct 15, 2004:
Full thread here.
Oct 21, 2004:
Full thread here.
Oct 23, 2004:
Full post here.
Feb 2005: "I've been accused of theft because my character is a mamillian dragon with *gasp* arm wings! And I'v ebeen harassed over this crap for YEARS." (FA may be down).
Feb 2005: "Alright, I'm tired of the crap....YES I do admit inspiration, hoever I was INSPIRED back in oh lessee 1997 or so? The DERRA are copyright ME...." (Another FA link which may be offline).
This is one crazy art thief. It's fascinating how she seems to almost believe herself at times.
THE INTERNET LAWYER
Read the entire fun-filled thread here.
Calling the number provided in this post, Aido discovers that it is in fact Banrai's home phone number! The mystery man, of course, is none other than Banrai's husband, Jason "Snow Leopard" B!
The story comes out soon enough: out of love for his batshit insane wife, Jason briefly transformed himself from a humble daytime fast food employee into the world-famous icon, INTARWEB LAWYER MAN! Intarweb Lawyer Man's powers included damaging libel and the ability to fold like a cheap cardboart cutout when confronted.
His weakness turned out to be a letter from the actual NC Bar Association explaining in small words that "YOU ARE NOT LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN NORTH CAROLINA."
(Note: Yes, I did check with an actual lawyer (hi Steve!) before posting the letter. It's cool.)
To this day, the Devious Duo insist that their forum post was made by a hacker, probably one of Aido's fans. They claim that this hacker also stole their cel phone and used it to impersonate Jason and Banrai during a series of peculiar phone calls with Aido, during which time the hacker promised to make his wife (also, I am sure, a hacker/impersonator in her own right) stop stealing Aido's art if Aido would promise not to sue. Finally, we are told that the hacker GAVE BOTH THE PHONE AND INTERNET ACCOUNT BACK.
People, please spay or neuter your obsessive furries. There simply isn't enough Welbutrin for them all.
THE WORST ROOMMATE EVER
Banrai doesn't confine her ripping to Aido. She does it to other artists, too.
Katie "Pokketmowse" L. had a bard character called Mel the Bat Pooka. Here's another picture. Unfortunately, Katie also had an art school roommate who called herself Banrai.
Banrai ripped some pages out of Katie's sketchbook, which later appeared on Banrai's gallery as pictures of a new character called Taishou the Bat Bard. Taishou is, Banrai says, the god of music and writing.
Remember Aido's Taishou? The bat god of travel and writing?
Banrai's version is basically Aido's god Taishou but with Katie's Mel the Bat Pooka for a body.
Here's a picture of the Art Attack version of Banrai's Taishou, and an un-cropped version of the same pic as it appeared around the same time on Deviantart.
It gets weirder. On one of the Mel pictures, I found a comment left by Banrai! She was using her 'Daaa' account at the time--and notice the date? August of 2002. That's quite a while before Banrai's Taishou showed up on the web.
Conclusion: she had definitely seen the character Mel before, and knew the artist.
Here's a collage of Katie's stolen art with a few samples of Banrai's own art for comparison.
NOTE: After I first posted this collage, an artist called Rachel "Rai" W. recognized two of the pieces marked as Banrai's as copies of two panels of her own artwork. LOL! I wonder how many more Banrai pics are un-spotted rips...
July of 2003
Whole thread here. Basically, Banrai complains on a DA forum about being accused of stealing Mel the Bat Pooka from a total stranger. But Banrai's old Elfwood site tells a different story:
"you can also visit my roommate, Katie L."
It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Just give her enough rope and off she goes to hang herself.
Now for some more of that nifty "Single White Female" action Banrai's so good at:
In October of 2004's now-infamous thread on Gaia, which we mentioned once before in this article, Banrai posts as "Andrea Hall."Andrea Hall is one of Katie's characters. She was also using one of Katie's drawings as a signature image. Remember, this Gaia thread happened almost a year after Banrai accused Katie of harassing her. Here someone asks Banrai if she drew the signature image. When she said she had, someone called her an art thief and she didn't post again. HMMM.
In the months since the original Banrai Files, Banrai has come very close to admitting to stealing from Aido (like we need confirmation). But she still claims Katie's character artwork as her own to this day.
Banrai has also ripped off a well-known VCL artist called Sheryn Brown. Here's the original artwork, and here's Banrai's version. Banrai later claimed she had permission, which Sheryn confirms that she did not give.
Many more stolen pieces have turned up since the original Banrai Files were published, and I will add them as soon as I get permission from the original artists. Stay tuned.
THE HYPOCRITE
She can dish it out, but she can't take it. Watch her squirm!
Here's a journal entry from Banrai herself, lying about why she left the furry art site VCL. Ch'marr, an admin of VCL, shows up and explains that she was actually kicked out for plagiarism.
She also likes to accuse two people of ripping her off based on similar character coloration. And here's more. For somebody who argues that her stuff isn't nearly close enough to Aido's to be considered copying, she sure is touchy about other people using the colors blue, green and yellow. Oh and lightning bolt stripes.
Listen up, guys. New law: 2 OF THE 3 PRIMARY COLORS, STRIPES, AND ESPECIALLY LIGHTNING BOLT PATTERNS ARE NOW COPYRITES TO BANRAI. Someone phone JK Rowling immediately, this is serious business!
And finally, the Yerf thread. Banrai posted some art asking for critiques on a pic of the Bat Pooka stolen from Katie, a picture of a dragon she drew herself, and a third mystery image that was already broken by the time I found the thread. Watch the hilarity as people point out the difference between the Pokketmowse art and Banrai's own pictures: 1 2 3 4 5 6
THE GALLERIES
*Entry removed* This used to be a link to somebody's story about being used and manipulated into helping Banrai mess with Aido. However, I hear they've become friends again since the Files went live. THAT, my dears, is a true Christian. May we all have such mercy showed to us when we fuck up big time.
The Fraud Files - A long and scary archive of the original Banrai/Aido conflict emails. It doesn't make a lot of sense unless you know the people involved, but I included it for the supplemental evidence.
The Fraud Files II - Thomas Abramsson, creator and head cheese of Elfwood, officially gives Banrai the heave-ho from Elfwood for art theft, harassment, and abuse of the Extranet.
The Fraud Files III - Here you see Banrai popping up again to start some new Elfwood accounts.
THE GALLERIES
Banrai has removed the Altaedeus gallery (www.altaedeus.org), but almost all of her online galleries are still online. This is a list of the sites we know about. At least ten people found their own art or the art of someone they know in one of these galleries when I posted the original BF, so it's not unthinkable that there may still be some stolen work floating around unclaimed. Have fun!
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/libr/c/a/c
http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/a/b/a
http://www.furaffinity.net/user.php?nam
http://yna.solfire.com/browse_artist.ph
http://yna.solfire.com/browse_artist.ph
http://www.side7.com/cgi-bin/S7SDB/Disp
http://www.dragon-realms.com/index.p
http://realeigh.deviantart.com
http://indigotears.deviantart.com
http://ianaree.deviantart.com
http://Daaa.deviantart.com
http://twilightcollective.deviantart.co
http://owlbear.deviantart.com/
http://takaru.deviantart.com
http://pinkuhlemur.deviantart.com
http://dhio.deviantart.com
http://ianaree.sheezyart.com/
http://realeigh.sheezyart.com/
http://banrai.sheezyart.com
http://kaido.sheezyart.com/
http://aido.sheezyart.com/
http://daaa.sheezyart.com/
**NEW** http://dustywings.deviantart.com
http://artattack.to/display.php?ar
http://3d.artwanted.com/artist.cfm?arti
http://www.floofyfur.com/gallery/banrai
http://artconspiracy.com/conspiracy_eye
http://artconspiracy.com/conspiracy_use
http://twilightcollective.net (This is her most common hideout lately)
After I confronted her for the first time (a month before I posted the Files, I think), Banrai lost her shit and wreaked lame-ass Intarweb Stalker revenge by posting my home address and legal name on her Deviantart page. She recieved a two day ban (Wow, that'll teach her) for violating my privacy, and now she claims I made the whole thing up. Good thing I took screenshots, huh?
This was too good not to share in its entirety, especially since I've moved. I mean, WTF was she thinking?
It's kind of neat though--my harmless hobby of laughing at drama has finally gotten me my very own STALKER! It's like I'm in some special club or something...an HONORARY FURRY, even. I think I'll be a sponge.
Yes, I have the soul of a harmless little sponge, skating over the splooge, concerned about how much I'm picking up as I go.
Final word: If you see Banrai or ANY crazy stalker/art thief at work, DO NOT FLAME THEM. Take screenshots and save webpages (complete with images) for evidence, then report the person POLITELY to the authorities. Flame wars with no proof make *you* look hysterical and immature, and people will side with the thief because they feel sorry for them.
And for fuck's sake, stop calling to harass them at work! THIS IS INTERNET DRAMA, NOT THE REAL WORLD.
If your art thief is a psycho-stalker a la Banrai or KAK or Paine, your only hope may be to bury her under a mountain of proof as publicly as you can--and that kind of thing can take MONTHS to do properly. You need to be patient. Good luck!
***UPDATE: THE CONFESSION***
This will hopefully be the last update posted to the Banrai Files. Banrai has taken my advice to post a public confession. I said back in March or April that if she ever stopped ripping people off, I would make it the final update of the Banrai Files, and I'm more than glad to fulfill that promise. If she's serious about being sorry, there's not much more I can add anyway, right?
This is the apology, taken from Banrai's website:
Hello.
My name is Andrea, or Banrai. Whatever you'd care to call me.
And I am a complete washout.
Yes, this is it. The last word.
I was a miserable thing when I first started drawing, and posting my artwork online, back around 1997-1998. After a while, I found one artist in particular that I absolutely adored; her online name is Aido.
Do you see where this is going?
Good.
Now, I befriended Aido after some time, and was pretty well accepted into the small clique she was in. Then, because at the time I didn't know any better, I printed some of her work, and traced it because I adored her work so much, I wanted to be able to draw like her. I even made my character just like hers. Creepy, huh? At any rate, after a short time I was found out, because I had been posting that artwork, under the name 'Kaido' (yeah, obsessed, I know) on Elfwood. Well, I was found out and forgiven, but I still kept on, because I still wanted to draw like Aido, I absolutely loved her art and her style.
I kept on taking her characters, and at some point I had managed to convince my best friend that I was the 'real' Aido, and the the actual Aido was an imposer. Honestly, I don't remember what the elaborate story I had made up was, but I do remember it involved me giving 'my' passwords to someone else and them stealing my 'real' gallery. Anyway, as well as I can remember, around that point I had my internet taken away for bad grades, so for a few months things sailed along. When I returned, it seemed like few of the friends I had were interested in me anymore, so I had the bright idea to try and make Aido look bad.
I stole the names of a *lot* of her characters for the web comic she was just starting up, and after time I tried to make the characters differ from her creations because after a while it gets boring, you know? Around that point was when my best friend found out what was really up, and we went our separate ways. I went off to school, and that's where I met my husband, who was interested in making text-based RPGs. Still being a complete idiot, I was like 'Hey let's use my world!' and so we did. That original mud-world is long lost in a server crash. Honestly, I don't know what went on between Aido and my husband, but I know that one day I answered the phone, and it was Aido. I asked her to not call again, and I never heard of it again, for a while.
A few years go by, and after some discussion, my husband and I made some major changes to the world, and we are still toying with the ideas we came up with.
I have done the best I can to move away from Aido's creations, and I think I have done well. My dragon species, the Derra, no longer have any similarity to Kendii except for being mamillian dragons, I have dropped almost all of the characters that I stole from Aido, and the ones I kept have gotten name changes, and severe design overhauls the the point of there being no recognizition between old and new. A few months ago Aido and I had some corespondents, and as she never replied to my final e-mail, I am assuming the entire situation settled between she and I. This is my public apology to the community, and to Aido, for my atrocious behavior. I'm sorry I've behaved like an utter moron, and I realize what kind of damage I had the potential of doing to Aido. I took things way too far, and Have made a lot of people very miserable. I take full responsibility for what I've done, and now I completely humble myself before you, the public. This is the only apology I can make, I know no other way. I am sorry I stole from Aido for so long, I'm sorry I twisted friendships that were whole and true, I'm sorry I made everyone miserable with my spiteful lies. I am sorry that there are people out there that don't even know me, that hate me for what I have done, and I've brought it upon myself.
I am sorry.
Well, there you go. She does rather pointedly avoid mentioning the other people she's ripped off, and she isn't being totally sincere (the emails with Aido, for instance, were quite a bit less conclusive than she implies). But I think those of you who've read the Files to this point probably get the gist of it anyway. She's at least mostly owned up to what she did, and she says she won't do it anymore.
Maybe now she understands how it might have felt to be Aido for the last five years. If so, we can at least hope the memory stops her from causing trouble in the future. As for me, I'm just glad it's over with. I don't think I can take another year of having my websites attacked and my accounts terminated for trying to tell the truth and clear a friend's name.
So, Banrai's given us what we want. Now here's what I want people to do in return: stop calling her out for the things she already apologized for. No more posting the link to the Files on her galleries. No drama-starting, no finger-pointing. If you have the opportunity to leave her alone without letting her get away with genuine art theft, be the bigger man (or woman or animal-in-a-human-body) and let her alone.
The threat is neutralized, and now we get to be the nice guy and back off. To keep at it at this point would be kicking somebody who's down, which means my work ends here. I don't want to be a bully.
If Banrai is truly done causing trouble, then this is the end of the story. This article will stay online, because I'm not stupid, but it will eventually fade away as the Net Drama That Was. And as for the Banrai Files themselves:
CASE CLOSED.
...I always wanted to say that.
