I OWN THESE COLOURS 😤😤 How DARE you buy plastic from a different factory instead of giving my preferred factory 180 dollars and waiting 2 years. (Sarcasm, obviously 😅) Nice kbd67 lite btw, have one also 😌
Yeah, kickass color schemes shouldn't be so exclusive/locked behind a steep paywall/literally unable to get after their original run. although, it would be amazing if these clone manufacturers start creating their own colorways, like Akko.
To be fair this argument is a bit shady. Yeah you can't copyright color, but it's not like kit designers just slap a color on the keys. They put work into choosing a pallette, legends, novelties, cables, depending on the kit even custom fonts. If you wouldn't wear fake clothing/merch, you shouldn't buy unoriginal sets. If it's so easy to make good looking sets, why do people buy fake GMKs instead of original sets from those other manufacturers.
If you think the colours are kickass and buy them instead of a cheap non-clone, you’re admitting that the designers provided significant value that shouldn’t be stolen by clone manufacturers.
@@ds_7 yea, but I aint paying money for real ones when the fake ones look just as good as $100 cheaper. Those fake ones also provide significant value.
Until designers and GMK stop being greedy with $250 price tags and 2 year waits and worthless ABS plastic that shine within a few months, they don't deserve a SINGLE customer. So yes, buy clones. ONLY clones.
Hard to imagine there is a sentiment that you may actually be a bad person because you don't want to pay 300$ for 200 grams of colored plastic. Honestly, I'm considering Chinese industry as a midlle-class worker's hero, making it possible for anyone to afford an excellent smartphone, or high resolution LED TV, that would otherwise cost a fortune.
this, its like hating on people for buying rep shoes. Not only are these sets expensive retail, but for some the aftermarket is INSANE. I've been wanting Future Funk, but even finding an after market set is nigh impossible and when you do, you're gonna pay several hundreds of dollars. Esp when the dye sub PBT wont fade in double the time it takes the GMK to shine. I agree with the video, specifically designed novelties shouldn't be copied, as with some mousepad designs. I'd never buy a fake Future Funk mousepad because an actual artist created it.
After Cannon Keys started selling PBT china clones as “licensed PBT sets” I no longer care. The artists made their money. People should do what they want. Don’t let a bunch of rich business owners and trust fund weeb designers bully you into spending more money than you want. Breaking your wallet to honor some bro code with people you’ll never meet is silly and they already made tens of thousands of dollars off picking colors for key caps. Do you.
There is literally nothing wrong about clones. Its only a problem when people try to pass it as the real deal. You'll never see me send $200 on some keycaps so I'll only buy gmk clones
I'm so divided on this subject. Genuine sets are too expensive and have too long a lead time. For what you're paying you shouldn't have to wait 2 years. The reason clones have become popular is because of this forced scarcity. At the same time if someone had copied my work I'd be pissed. I don't know how to feel.
As an artist, I can’t be mad if someone makes an illustration using the same colors as mine. What would piss me off is if all of the details were similar, clearly derivative, and it tried to pass as my work. So, some of these listings are guilty to that degree, and some less-so.
As a consumer, it pisses me off that these designers don’t make new rounds of a set when there is clearly great demand with pbt instead to avoid lead times
@@dhaerque I do think it's too much effort to organize for most smaller kits and get all the retailers on board again. The designers don't earn that much from the kits. Designers also do not always have power over how often their kit will be reprinted. For example kits released through Drop have contractual limitations.
Especially if you can’t buy that set anymore, what’s the point of desperately searching mech market and ebay and paying 3 times the normal cost (which was was too high to begin with)
Yeah, and because of these ridiculous prices, wait times, scarcity, a scalper market has emerged. it's really gross. I want these awesome colorways more widely available.
Also... just looking at ebay listings for GMK sets. All unopened/sealed. Why are people buying these sets then, if not to sell them? it's a sham. People forget it's plastic.
exactly, it’s kinda sad and the fact that when they’re available to buy there’s not consistent/infinite stock so those people buying it to resell are also depriving others of those sets
My take is that if you are new and don't know or you're in a country where buying a GMK set would be a significant amount of your monthly income then clones are fine. Otherwise you should just wait for the designer released PBT sets through community vendors like NK or CK.
Hot take: clone keycaps are like that third-party controllers you see everywhere on the market. A bit of a lower quality, undistinguishable for the untrained ears and eyes. So, imo, as long as they are upfront about them not being the real deal, doesn't overcharge or lie to their customers, they have all the right to exist. Why go mad over them? You got thicker keycaps, sharper fonts and more lively colors using double-shot if you go for the real deal anyway, right? Unless... well, the reason you actually paid 150$ ish and wait 2 years was manufactured scarcity and now you are only mad because your exclusivity is gone. ps: I could be wrong, so take this with a grain of salt. Tthere are no official info I could find about the GMK mecha keycaps set (which are clearly designed after Evangelion) are officially licensed by the creator of the aforementioned manga / anime, so unless this was proven wrong, you could stop with the "plagiarism" bull shit.
as an artist myself, that's pretty messed up. artisans go beyond just picking colors, that's designing an entire mini 3D sculpture to go on someone's board. If you steal others work without it being transformative (see: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon) then you're a thief and not a very good artist imo.
@@coleydotmp4 that'd deter people from buying clones and instead go support other brands that produce high quality products, overall a good idea and would make the price lower as well for the color scheme and style
@@PleatGFX Yeah for sure. And the NK version of Taro is endorsed by the original Taro designer. I feel like if these manufacturers could work in a cut for the original designers, then it would only make sense to make these sets more widely available, and in PBT (which is many people's preference anyways). I would buy. And im planning on getting the official NK PBT Taro anyways once I give this set to my friend.
Peeps getting upset over colorful plastic with letters and words on them. Nonetheless for me personally, I feel torn. On one end. People take time to design these keycaps and colorways. But on the other most people can't easily afford a 100-500$ keycap set. Especially if you live in a country where the price of the dollar is probably 2-5x more. As well it's due to scarcity which is why this topic is even a thing.
Coming from a person who only buy authentic gmk sets, go right ahead as long as it does not have novelties. I get why there is a market for clones, the gmk price is ass and the wait times is ass. So, yeah I get it.
Yes. Companies are able to trademark colors within their own industries, for example you cant make another cell service provider with t-mobile's bright pink color. But this is limited to branding within the same industries, not colors of products.
@@eggychan7613 also, "Copyright protects original work, whereas a trademark protects items that distinguish or identify a particular business from another"
If they claim they’re GMK than it is illegal and they could be sued or the product blocked entry into the country. Furthermore as you’ve mentioned color schemes aren’t the big issue (although most clones fail to have good color matching compared to the original), but if they copy the Artisan, then you as buyer are to be shamed as well.
One way to get around the whole clones thing is to design your own set through a manufacturer that specializes in making custom keycaps. Way cheaper than GMK, and they usually only take a month or two to arrive. There's also the fact that you made them. Adds another layer to the idea of a "custom" keyboard.
@@coleydotmp4 DIYKeycaps is one the sites that offer those services. There's a ton of presets available, and a preview of how it looks on all possible board layouts. For everything to be somewhat more bespoke, you might have to email them personally and they'll ask for the design. They charge $50 for the base kit, and $80 if you want novelties. The quality is somewhat comparable to Tai Hao and some budget AKKO sets.
Yes, the line is so sharp, only a select few are willing to give 200 dollars up front and wait 2 years to get cheap colourful plastic. And once that opportunity to buy is over, there is no way to purchase them. How can there be anything wrong with replicas of an unpurchasable product. Does that mean you think running emulators for games that aren't on the market anymore is immoral?
I feel like if you can't buy the set that you want because the group buy is over, then it's perfectly reasonable to buy a clone. Buying the set aftermarket doesn't give the designer any of the money anyway and praying for an r2 isn't a reasonable ask.
If the Artisan are stolen then it still bad. There is no justification to that, if it’s only a color way sure each their own, although quality issues with color matching are a given
I see nothing bad in 1 to 1 clones, If you want to support designers go buy keycaps from them directly, If you are poor dude like me who works 9 to 5 for miserable 400$ a months I feel justified to get the clones, I bet those designers make my monthly payment in a week or less with all the price gauging. Also it's damned shady practice to charge buttload of money for not even a 100 grams of PBT plastic (one of the cheapest material in the world). Those people are Charing 180$ for a set that costs 6$ to manufacture... Why are they selling for this much ?They can since silly people with lots of money are more than happy to pay, so why would they sell for a lower the price ? God bless those clone makers, they might only profit 10$- 20$ on a set but they sure as hell are gonna sell more and make more people happy. That's why I love Shenzhen, there are no patent laws, you liked something ? go buy it, dismantle it, improve it, change it, rebrand it and sell for cheaper price. This may be harsh on the author of the idea/item but it's dam good of us consumers and product improvement / evolution.
I empathize with your frustration. One thing i would like to point out though, is that most of these designers are barely breaking even with their keycap sets.
If you value design enough to buy a clone set, you are acknowledging that you prefer it to cheap non-clone alternatives. Thus, you are identifying value that you don’t want to pay the creator for. That’s immoral & theft IMO.
I honestly don't care. People who design these GMK keycaps already get massive success for overpriced and limited amounts of keycaps. What's stopping clones from having the novelties. I want clones with novelties.
The only issue i have with your comment is that as someone who knows keycap set designers, most are not that successful monetarily and many actually operate at a loss :/ but i agree its stupid how hard a lot of them are to get!
I still buy clones bcs as a newbie into keyboard hobby lol why would you buy the real ones and thinking all people have that kind of money to buy real gmk ones
There’s definitely a grey area with certain “clone” sets. For example, a botanical clone that is similar green but isn’t a perfect color match and also comes with no novelties? That’s just a green and white keycap set. Now to get people to buy the set, yes they put botanical in the name, which is definitely unfair. Ethics wise, what I’m trying to say is some clones are more ethical than others. When you rip off novelties. Or if the color patterns were super distinct like Gmk Dracula. But imo, I don’t think these “vague” clones are really too bad morally. Obviously not squeaky clean though.
@@coleydotmp4 it's all about the quality of the product, the price and the warranty (and sometimes the showoff, people that are bowing down in front of brands names), that's all people care about, maybe there's 1% that cares about other things, but the mass majority doesn't. now you might ask why the colors aren't perfectly matched or the novelties, the reason is simple, to avoid legal claims, nothing to do with morality.
I OWN THESE COLOURS 😤😤
How DARE you buy plastic from a different factory instead of giving my preferred factory 180 dollars and waiting 2 years.
(Sarcasm, obviously 😅)
Nice kbd67 lite btw, have one also 😌
Yeah, kickass color schemes shouldn't be so exclusive/locked behind a steep paywall/literally unable to get after their original run.
although, it would be amazing if these clone manufacturers start creating their own colorways, like Akko.
To be fair this argument is a bit shady. Yeah you can't copyright color, but it's not like kit designers just slap a color on the keys. They put work into choosing a pallette, legends, novelties, cables, depending on the kit even custom fonts.
If you wouldn't wear fake clothing/merch, you shouldn't buy unoriginal sets. If it's so easy to make good looking sets, why do people buy fake GMKs instead of original sets from those other manufacturers.
@@shinoMusic a lot of people do in fCt buy fake clothing and merch
If you think the colours are kickass and buy them instead of a cheap non-clone, you’re admitting that the designers provided significant value that shouldn’t be stolen by clone manufacturers.
@@ds_7 yea, but I aint paying money for real ones when the fake ones look just as good as $100 cheaper. Those fake ones also provide significant value.
Until designers and GMK stop being greedy with $250 price tags and 2 year waits and worthless ABS plastic that shine within a few months, they don't deserve a SINGLE customer. So yes, buy clones. ONLY clones.
Hard to imagine there is a sentiment that you may actually be a bad person because you don't want to pay 300$ for 200 grams of colored plastic. Honestly, I'm considering Chinese industry as a midlle-class worker's hero, making it possible for anyone to afford an excellent smartphone, or high resolution LED TV, that would otherwise cost a fortune.
this, its like hating on people for buying rep shoes. Not only are these sets expensive retail, but for some the aftermarket is INSANE. I've been wanting Future Funk, but even finding an after market set is nigh impossible and when you do, you're gonna pay several hundreds of dollars. Esp when the dye sub PBT wont fade in double the time it takes the GMK to shine.
I agree with the video, specifically designed novelties shouldn't be copied, as with some mousepad designs. I'd never buy a fake Future Funk mousepad because an actual artist created it.
If they made the real thing reasonably priced there wouldn't be a need for clones.
If you're sweating it that bad about clones, just donate to the designer directly after your purchase lool.
Guys, just buy GMK clones. Who in the world want to wait 3 years and have to pay $200 for a keycap set. Just buy the GMK clones please :)
As a wise Glarses once said, 'Good take, good take'
After Cannon Keys started selling PBT china clones as “licensed PBT sets” I no longer care. The artists made their money. People should do what they want. Don’t let a bunch of rich business owners and trust fund weeb designers bully you into spending more money than you want. Breaking your wallet to honor some bro code with people you’ll never meet is silly and they already made tens of thousands of dollars off picking colors for key caps. Do you.
Is that true? Also if it is, is there a way to get the sets cannonkeys sells for a cheaper price elsewhere?
There is literally nothing wrong about clones. Its only a problem when people try to pass it as the real deal. You'll never see me send $200 on some keycaps so I'll only buy gmk clones
I'm so divided on this subject. Genuine sets are too expensive and have too long a lead time. For what you're paying you shouldn't have to wait 2 years. The reason clones have become popular is because of this forced scarcity. At the same time if someone had copied my work I'd be pissed. I don't know how to feel.
As an artist, I can’t be mad if someone makes an illustration using the same colors as mine.
What would piss me off is if all of the details were similar, clearly derivative, and it tried to pass as my work. So, some of these listings are guilty to that degree, and some less-so.
As a consumer, it pisses me off that these designers don’t make new rounds of a set when there is clearly great demand with pbt instead to avoid lead times
@@dhaerque I do think it's too much effort to organize for most smaller kits and get all the retailers on board again. The designers don't earn that much from the kits. Designers also do not always have power over how often their kit will be reprinted. For example kits released through Drop have contractual limitations.
As a broke person who never held a true gmk keycap set. IT'S THE ONLY CHOICE (except for akko it rocks)
Especially if you can’t buy that set anymore, what’s the point of desperately searching mech market and ebay and paying 3 times the normal cost (which was was too high to begin with)
Yeah, and because of these ridiculous prices, wait times, scarcity, a scalper market has emerged. it's really gross. I want these awesome colorways more widely available.
Also... just looking at ebay listings for GMK sets. All unopened/sealed. Why are people buying these sets then, if not to sell them? it's a sham. People forget it's plastic.
exactly, it’s kinda sad and the fact that when they’re available to buy there’s not consistent/infinite stock so those people buying it to resell are also depriving others of those sets
When the set is out of stock, and not being made ever again, where’s the issue?
My take is that if you are new and don't know or you're in a country where buying a GMK set would be a significant amount of your monthly income then clones are fine. Otherwise you should just wait for the designer released PBT sets through community vendors like NK or CK.
Short answer is yes it's ok, long answer is yessssirrreee
Hot take: clone keycaps are like that third-party controllers you see everywhere on the market. A bit of a lower quality, undistinguishable for the untrained ears and eyes. So, imo, as long as they are upfront about them not being the real deal, doesn't overcharge or lie to their customers, they have all the right to exist.
Why go mad over them? You got thicker keycaps, sharper fonts and more lively colors using double-shot if you go for the real deal anyway, right? Unless... well, the reason you actually paid 150$ ish and wait 2 years was manufactured scarcity and now you are only mad because your exclusivity is gone.
ps: I could be wrong, so take this with a grain of salt. Tthere are no official info I could find about the GMK mecha keycaps set (which are clearly designed after Evangelion) are officially licensed by the creator of the aforementioned manga / anime, so unless this was proven wrong, you could stop with the "plagiarism" bull shit.
just bought a set WITH all of the novelty caps
i sent this to a friend and it helped him a ton ty nicoley :)
Hi. What’s your opinion on artists accepting commission to replicate artisan keycaps?
as an artist myself, that's pretty messed up. artisans go beyond just picking colors, that's designing an entire mini 3D sculpture to go on someone's board. If you steal others work without it being transformative (see: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon) then you're a thief and not a very good artist imo.
if its a gmk set that isnt available anymore (sale is over, designer and producer finished their stuff and etc) it should be fine
I agree. And tbh, epbt and other higher quality pbt manufacturers like Kinetic Labs should be producing these color themes too (like NK PBT Taro)
@@coleydotmp4 that'd deter people from buying clones and instead go support other brands that produce high quality products, overall a good idea and would make the price lower as well for the color scheme and style
@@PleatGFX Yeah for sure. And the NK version of Taro is endorsed by the original Taro designer. I feel like if these manufacturers could work in a cut for the original designers, then it would only make sense to make these sets more widely available, and in PBT (which is many people's preference anyways). I would buy. And im planning on getting the official NK PBT Taro anyways once I give this set to my friend.
Who cares, just buy whatever you like/ can afford
Domikey is actually pretty good quality although price is a bit steep compared to others.
In my opinion, Domikey is only reasonable if you’re interested in getting triple shot keycaps
Peeps getting upset over colorful plastic with letters and words on them.
Nonetheless for me personally, I feel torn. On one end. People take time to design these keycaps and colorways.
But on the other most people can't easily afford a 100-500$ keycap set. Especially if you live in a country where the price of the dollar is probably 2-5x more.
As well it's due to scarcity which is why this topic is even a thing.
besides that, you gotta wait a long ass time for some sets
Coming from a person who only buy authentic gmk sets, go right ahead as long as it does not have novelties. I get why there is a market for clones, the gmk price is ass and the wait times is ass. So, yeah I get it.
can you send the link pls?? have been searching them for 30 min and cant find them... could you help? thank you :)
How about GMK Dots?(or what that set is called?)(Not a serious question ahahaha)
Is that a color novelty on each key hmm jkjk
Taking the clones any day of the week
Ooof tough topic
GLORIOUS POG
Did you know that some companies actually copyrighted their company colours, no joke
Yes. Companies are able to trademark colors within their own industries, for example you cant make another cell service provider with t-mobile's bright pink color. But this is limited to branding within the same industries, not colors of products.
@@coleydotmp4 oh yeah true
@@eggychan7613 also, "Copyright protects original work, whereas a trademark protects items that distinguish or identify a particular business from another"
Stop nerding on me
@@eggychan7613 Btw. The color is called magenta
Are these Keycaps good?
Very solid for the price. i have 2 clone sets currently from the same manu, double shot pbt on aliexpress.
I buy from the same shop, yongqiu and on other of their shops they say its a clone perfectly
If they claim they’re GMK than it is illegal and they could be sued or the product blocked entry into the country. Furthermore as you’ve mentioned color schemes aren’t the big issue (although most clones fail to have good color matching compared to the original), but if they copy the Artisan, then you as buyer are to be shamed as well.
It's China bro.
if shipping didnt take forever, and if it had a reasonable price, there wouldnt be any clones
Was this pre nk pbt taro?
It was not - at the time nk taro was out of stock. when it restocked, i picked up a set. typing on it now!
0:50 yes, yes you can (or at least trademark but i doubt gmk can defend such a tm anyways)
One way to get around the whole clones thing is to design your own set through a manufacturer that specializes in making custom keycaps. Way cheaper than GMK, and they usually only take a month or two to arrive. There's also the fact that you made them. Adds another layer to the idea of a "custom" keyboard.
oooo i'd love to make a video about this. do you have any particular vendors that do this that you could link or direct me to?
@@coleydotmp4 DIYKeycaps is one the sites that offer those services. There's a ton of presets available, and a preview of how it looks on all possible board layouts. For everything to be somewhat more bespoke, you might have to email them personally and they'll ask for the design. They charge $50 for the base kit, and $80 if you want novelties. The quality is somewhat comparable to Tai Hao and some budget AKKO sets.
tbh if people are going to cry about me buying gmk clones with novelties, then they should buy me the actual set lmao
i do get what you mean though
no. the lines are sharp as fuck.
Yes, the line is so sharp, only a select few are willing to give 200 dollars up front and wait 2 years to get cheap colourful plastic. And once that opportunity to buy is over, there is no way to purchase them.
How can there be anything wrong with replicas of an unpurchasable product.
Does that mean you think running emulators for games that aren't on the market anymore is immoral?
Yes.
down with clones, the pp that clones are the same ppl that buy JORDANS or YORDANS lmaooo
I feel like if you can't buy the set that you want because the group buy is over, then it's perfectly reasonable to buy a clone. Buying the set aftermarket doesn't give the designer any of the money anyway and praying for an r2 isn't a reasonable ask.
If the Artisan are stolen then it still bad. There is no justification to that, if it’s only a color way sure each their own, although quality issues with color matching are a given
Are the taro clones? can I get a link pls?
I got mine on aliexpress, just search gmk clone, it's the one with a ton of different colorways in a single listing. Hope that helps.
Just search Aifei or YongQui, they’re the manufacturer for those doubleshot abs clones (without novelties)
The clones that you bought are doubles shot abs right? How are they?
I see nothing bad in 1 to 1 clones, If you want to support designers go buy keycaps from them directly, If you are poor dude like me who works 9 to 5 for miserable 400$ a months I feel justified to get the clones, I bet those designers make my monthly payment in a week or less with all the price gauging. Also it's damned shady practice to charge buttload of money for not even a 100 grams of PBT plastic (one of the cheapest material in the world). Those people are Charing 180$ for a set that costs 6$ to manufacture... Why are they selling for this much ?They can since silly people with lots of money are more than happy to pay, so why would they sell for a lower the price ? God bless those clone makers, they might only profit 10$- 20$ on a set but they sure as hell are gonna sell more and make more people happy. That's why I love Shenzhen, there are no patent laws, you liked something ? go buy it, dismantle it, improve it, change it, rebrand it and sell for cheaper price. This may be harsh on the author of the idea/item but it's dam good of us consumers and product improvement / evolution.
I empathize with your frustration. One thing i would like to point out though, is that most of these designers are barely breaking even with their keycap sets.
yes it is
budget answer is pro milky yellows, expensive answer is ... epsilons
It's literally a color...so no its not a bad thing. Without competition you get monoply and higher prices.
You should make a discord :D
I've seen that some gmk clones have issues where the rgb lighting is being seen through them, I'm wondering if the set you bought has the same issue?
She bought doubleshot abs, which is thicker. Not like those cloned, dye sub keycaps
If you value design enough to buy a clone set, you are acknowledging that you prefer it to cheap non-clone alternatives. Thus, you are identifying value that you don’t want to pay the creator for. That’s immoral & theft IMO.
I honestly don't care. People who design these GMK keycaps already get massive success for overpriced and limited amounts of keycaps. What's stopping clones from having the novelties. I want clones with novelties.
The only issue i have with your comment is that as someone who knows keycap set designers, most are not that successful monetarily and many actually operate at a loss :/ but i agree its stupid how hard a lot of them are to get!
Good take, I'd Sub but for that I would have to unsub xD
HAHA no one will know that I bought the novelties clone set IF I DONT TELL THEM I BOUGHT THE SET >:)
I still buy clones bcs as a newbie into keyboard hobby lol why would you buy the real ones and thinking all people have that kind of money to buy real gmk ones
Like you gotta be filthy rich and living in the US (to avoid paying extra for shipping) to be able afford every set you like tf
@@chiizuu752 funny enough that Europeans pay already more than US just because of Tax.
Hell no don’t buy clones such disrespect
no one is gonna ask if its ethical
There’s definitely a grey area with certain “clone” sets. For example, a botanical clone that is similar green but isn’t a perfect color match and also comes with no novelties? That’s just a green and white keycap set. Now to get people to buy the set, yes they put botanical in the name, which is definitely unfair. Ethics wise, what I’m trying to say is some clones are more ethical than others. When you rip off novelties. Or if the color patterns were super distinct like
Gmk Dracula. But imo, I don’t think these “vague” clones are really too bad morally. Obviously not squeaky clean though.
@@coleydotmp4 it's all about the quality of the product, the price and the warranty (and sometimes the showoff, people that are bowing down in front of brands names), that's all people care about, maybe there's 1% that cares about other things, but the mass majority doesn't.
now you might ask why the colors aren't perfectly matched or the novelties, the reason is simple, to avoid legal claims, nothing to do with morality.
gmk is bad!!(quality designs are cool)
Nope. Its not ethical.
cry about it
ok