There is a lot of that going around.

I don't understand why people feel its okay to steal characters instead of make their own or adopt a character.

They didnt just steal the characters its also artwork my friends paid for

Art, characters, intellectual property isn't safe.

A friend of mine had the same thing happen. Now I just keep my eye out incase I see a character I recognize and know is not the post maker.

I'm sorry its happened to your friends though. It is a lovely piece of art, and I hope that they can reclaim it all peacefully.

This is happening a lot lately, it has happened with me as well.
Im sorry they are going through that stress!

Sorry to hear that somebody you know is going through this. Hopefully they can be persuaded to see reason and remove the pic from their profile, or update the pic to give proper credit.

As a side note... I see on the art linked where they're saying this is them and one of their friends, but right on their home page they have the disclaimer saying that none of the art posted on their profile, or shared, is theirs.
Not sure if that was there before or after you and others brought this to their attention.
After all; they might not be claiming the art is theirs, but just doing as a lot of people do and saying this is them based on the situation the characters were in, rather than the characters themselves.

People who say artwork isnt theirs tends to use that as an example showing they didnt draw any of it themselves

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