Designer Toys 101: Is there anything new under the sun?

So our hiatus is over and we're back with more Designer Toys 101 columns. Strangely, I received a lot of in-person queries at Designer Con regarding subject matter for future columns (which I will get to) but, today, I'll be going into a something I can relate to personally right now: Is there anything new under the sun? Also known as "what should I do when it's pointed out my stuff looks like someone else's?"

A while back, Task One invited me to participate in a group custom show at Plastic Chapel called "The Dunny Show." I had one pre-made piece that was perfect for submission, but really wanted to find the time to create something new. As I was down to the wire on shipping time, I came up with the idea of mashing-up a Dunny body with a Lunartik in a Cup of Tea head. I was really thrilled with the idea and even did a quick Google check to make sure no one else had already done it (which I couldn't find any reference to). So I made it:
It came out a bit more rough looking than I wanted it to be, so I named it the "Rag Tag Robot" and set the price rather cheap ($40). But I thought the idea had merit, so I fully planned to revisit it when I had more time and do a series of them. But then I got an e-mail from EECHone letting me know that he'd done this same thing previously:
Well, crap. He did it just shy of a month before me and — let's be honest — his "Māji" series look way better too. So what's the protocol? What happens now?

While there's nothing legally stopping me from making more, I personally won't do it. It might be true that there's nothing new under the sun, but if I'm not able to bring something new to an idea then what's the point of doing it. EECHone did it first and, to me, it's his "thing." If I had an idea that evolved this simple mash-up to a new level, made it more unique than his design, then I'd be fine with doing it. But, otherwise, there's no reason to tread over previously covered ground.

Sorry if this column was less an eduction and more of a statement, but it was important (to me) to get this out there.

Next Week: How do you price customs?

The images used in this week's column were:
"Rag Tag Robot" custom by Trust Pigs (2012)
"Māji" series of customs by Josh Herbolsheimer and released by EECHone (2012)
Both of these custom designs use the "Lunartik in a Cup of Tea" head by Matt JOnes and the "Dunny" body by Kidrobot