User blog comment:OtterJiang/V3 - Good, Bad, and Ugly/@comment-30602727-20141224014824/@comment-5051846-20141224093202

On the subject of Tianyi's first design, I do have to agree that I would not call it creative. D: To me it was Miku with a Chinese twist, falling more severely into Miku-territory than it's professional for any official design to. While I will agree that there are common trends in Vocaloid (some being trends just because they're popular in Japanese characters generally, some unique to Vocaloid), most as distinctly less obvious than Tianyi's first design.

I wouldn't be completely sure all Vocaloids are based off Cryptons', I think it's more likely most Vocaloids are aimed at the same common otaku appeal, since most of the Vocaloid trends are common anime design tropes, not just Crypton ones. Remember, Kei himself based Miku off many existing popular designs. But it's all about how you analyse it, there's definitely been some confirmed cases of Miku-influence, so I do think it happens.

I must confess I myself dislike how design trends sometimes leave Vocaloids like Mew or Sweet Ann to be considered less of a Vocaloid by newbies. orz So anything that makes a design more unique and doesn't fall into the usual safe routes is a plus in my book. :D

I speculate that Tianyi's first design is what caused the company to use Idealo to redesign the outfits, as they would have been heavily at risk of being accused of being a 'typical Chinese rip-off' off Miku, possibly even legal action.

Too many similarities makes a design less likely to stand out, forces them to compete against already more popular designs and often causes backlash from fans. Therefore, you must be careful with how much influence you show. I think because Gongyu was so much more similar to Miku than other Vocaloids were to Miku, it would have sadly limited her. orz