FA+
Shop
So I have a question...
8 months ago
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ 
UPDATE: I have found the current owner and have reached out to them about this! Here's hoping we can come to an understanding and be able to look back on this and laugh!
I posted this to BlueSky, but I'll ask here too for more people's thoughts. No names are mentioned because I just don't want to put people on the spot for a genuine mistake.
I'm having a small dilemma.
In 2016 I bought a character from an artist. In 2018, the same artist created another adopt with the same theme, but the characters look nothing alike. No problems there, I honestly forgot about the second character over the years. In 2023 I purchased a commission of the character I owned from the artist that created them. I approved the sketch and eventually got the finished piece with different colors and marking placements, thinking the artist wanted to take some liberties and do a "glow up" kind of thing since so much time had passed and their skills had improved.
Today I'm looking back through said artist's gallery, and lo and behold, I find the second adopt that I had completely forgotten about. And they look exactly like the character in the commission I bought, not the character I owned and submitted in their form. I did my due diligence and looked up the second adopt owner to see if I could contact them at all about the situation, maybe even offer to buy the character if they haven't gotten attached to them, but they've been inactive on FA for over a year it seems. They don't have many links on their profile to contact them, and the ones they do have, I don't see the adopt posted anywhere. It's like they completely forgot they bought it. Everywhere else has been dead with virtually no activity for over 2 years.
I have since reached out to this individual and sent them a note on here as a shot in the dark to ask about the character, but I guess my question is, do I also reach out to the artist? I don't want the artist to feel like they have to redo the entire piece because I can see this as a genuine mistake on their part. And it was from two years ago. Yes, I should have caught it sooner, but at the same time, the characters are visually distinct in their silhouettes and their color palettes and I feel like if I were to point it out to the artist, they would say the same thing and that they should have also caught it. I could chalk it up to a loss if the owner doesn't want to sell, but that was a good chunk of money I paid, way more than what they originally paid for the adopt.
I'm just lost here and not sure where to go if the owner never responds to me.
Do I ask the artist to recolor the whole piece to fit my character even though it's been two years?
Do I let it go and take the financial loss?
Do I absorb the character as my own since they are inactive and haven't posted it anywhere ever?
How long do I wait for a response from the adopt owner before I ask the artist about adopt ownership?
I feel wrong just taking a character someone paid for regardless of if they're using it/active or not. I wouldn't want it done to me, so I'm not keen on doing it to others. Just looking for advice with this one.
tl;dr
Bought an adopt in 2016. Bought a comm in 2023 from adopt creator. Finished piece is not my adopt, but a similar one the artist made in 2018. Second adopt owner is inactive for close to 2 years. Sent a DM to second adopt owner to offer to buy said adopt since it's not posted anywhere. What do??
Presumably you gave them a ref. It's not your fault that they used the wrong one.
Cause yeah, sadly that's the fate of a lot of characters, as there are a VAST amount of 'doll collectors' in this fandom that just amass characters...just cause. Don't post them, don't do anything with them, just 'I have this PNG now and it's mine yey.' More power to them they are funding like half the artists on here XD but it's likely they won't respond or have even moved on from this whole fandom entirely after getting bored.
But it's also not entirely fair to YOU to have this piece that's clearly of another persons character that you didn't ask for, so if said person that does own the character isn't around, poking the artist about it I feel is your best bet. Just be up front, cordial, and they should have no reason to be angry at you.
And if they are, well, they weren't really that good an artist to begin with I'd say xD.