Kurenai, Twilight and Moonlight

I saw a reply from Danny on Twitter saying that it would be sometime next year.

 

Oh wow, that's still a while away then.

 

Works out for me though. Gives me time to save up; one doll is expensive enough

It looks like Twilight will be the first of the three to get released.

 

I'm glad, she's my favorite of the three (probably my favorite of all the Smart Dolls Danny's ever made!) But we will still have to wait until sometime next year... Oh well, it gives me plenty of time to save up and get all my doll plans in order.

I guess what is confusing to me is that it looks like Twilight has little teeth but the other two do not. Or do they? Can someone confirm? Maybe it just doesn't show on my monitor.

It's just a different paint job -- I have a set of twins with open mouths, one has her teeth painted while (and so her mouth looks open) and one has her teeth painted the same color as her lips (and so her mouth looks closed), but they're the exact same mold, the only difference is the paint.

 

Same thing here. He painted Twilight with an open mouth, and the other two with a closed mouth. I believe the mold itself does not feature teeth, though. Twilight's are probably painted on her upper or lower lip to give it the illusion of being open.

I'm really surprised,though, that Danny told people different answers about what Kurenai et al.'s sculpt was:

https://mobile.twitter.com/MiraiRobotics/status/774497794820182016

I mean, I agree that it's interesting to see what people think, but somehow I wonder if a business official account is the right place to do this sort of experiment? But then I don't know, so if anyone has marketing or customer surveying type experience I'd like to hear your take on it before making a judgment.

 

Holy crud, I just saw this! THIS IS SO RUDE AND UNPROFESSIONAL!

 

I've been in marketing for the last several years and if anyone did this, it would be a major incident -- a formal reprimand at the very least, if not something more severe!

 

Honestly, I've always liked and supported Danny, I was one of the "early adopters" when it came to Mirai, but this behavior really turns me off and quite frankly makes me like his dolls even less. He knows a lot of his fans are first-time doll buyers who are going to have a lot of questions, and he decides the best thing to do is straight-up lie to them? Total violation of trust.

I was pretty confused by that precisely because it goes against all the big deal he's made about having first time doll owner customers (which is making that look even more like a flimsy excuse for cutting costs on the fullsets...)

I mean, I understand how annoying some of the questions he gets can be. I've seen people ask him the rudest stuff, people asking him to sell things cheaper, flat out insulting him etc, so I get losing your patience with this kind of stuff but what I DONT get is directing that at the wrong people. And all the 'experiment' will do is spread misinformation and potentially make people less interested if they think it's the same sculpt for the fifth time.

 

I defend Danny a lot because I understand where he comes from a lot of the time but this time was just uncool

Plus, can you really think of any modern doll fandom that doesn't obsessively track headmolds?

 

+ Blythe fans make huge distinctions between SBL / EBL / RBL, etc.

+ Pullip fans talk about Type 1, Type 2, Type 3, etc.

+ Monster High fans can tell you about the great Cupid vs. Ghoulia head mold debate

+ BJD fans refer to their dolls by head mold -- a Peakswood owner will talk about their "Goldie" regardless of whether she's on an original body or a lolita body, even though the only thing the two dolls share is the head (they're more different than similar, yet considered the "same" doll based on the headmold alone)

+ DD fans have a running Google spreadsheet of headmold numbers so we can confirm repeats

+ Tonner includes the head mold of each doll as part of its basic description

 

So why would Danny -- himself a doll collector, and now a doll creator -- be surprised or annoyed that people want to know what head mold a doll is using?

 

Not only is he confusing the "new collectors" that are, in theory, one of his most important audiences, he's also annoyed at veteran collectors for doing exactly what he should expect them to do?

I don't think Danny meant any harm by saying the sculpt was Mirai's.

 

He seemed curious about why people "said boooo" if it was Mirai's as opposed to liking it if it was a new sculpt. Maybe he thinks that if a doll looks nice then the sculpt type shouldn't matter that much?

 

He did clear it up in the end, saying that it was a new type, but it does seem unprofessional. Perhaps instead of doing things like this, he should just ask his customers why they don't like the Mirai sculpts as much as new ones.

I don't think people were 'boo' because they don't like Mirai's sculpt (maybe some though), but more because there are ALREADY five dolls with that sculpt. I forgot Ivory in my previous post so that's more than I thought at first. I don't get why he doesn't seem to understand why people would be happier about new sculpts (or at least his replies implied that). I understand the appeal of variety from one sculpt but still...

Maybe he got offended when people didn't recognize the differences, implying that all his dolls look the same. Or he was having a bad day, we all get those days...

 

One thing I have always liked about him is the connection he has with his customers, he will talk to you like a friend and he has a good sense of humor. Personally, I won't hold it against him, he cleared it up so all's well that ends well.

I feel it'd be an improvement if his Twitter adopted a more consistent tone. Right now, it's like a weird combination of personal and business Twitter, and it creates confusion in terms of customer expectations. Like half the time it takes me a moment to figure out if it's Danny the person or Danny the company rep talking.

Maybe he got offended when people didn't recognize the differences, implying that all his dolls look the same. Or he was having a bad day, we all get those days...

 

Well, he does have chronic and very painful back issues. So maybe he was just having a bad day, in pain, tired, cranky, hungry, stressed, etc. He HAS been very friendly and helpful before this. Plus- you know what it's like when someone starts something new. At first everyone is "YAY THAT'S FABULOUS" and then as time goes on- people start turning and getting hyper-critical. Maybe he's just tired of all of the BS in the BJD world. If you like it, buy it, if you don't like it, don't. If you have helpful criticism, great, but if you're just being an a$$hole (and there are plenty of those types around) - maybe he's just tired of dealing with that attitude.

I think Kurenai would be really cute as Rin from Fate/Stay Night, actually. I wasn't able to get the limited edition, and her face mold just doesn't really match up to her appearance in either the VN or the UBW anime. I was considering seeing if I could track down either Rin or Aoko (whose face is kind of a better match... unsurprising, since she basically looks like Rin sans twintails), but I'd rather get a standard doll than track down a limited. Her cheeks might be a little on the chubby side for the character, but I like her mischievous smile, and the eye shape is right.

 

I wonder if he'd let you order one doll with another's face-up? Like, Kurenai with Twilight's face-up? I like the latter's eyebrows and eyes better for Rin...

If he has a Milk prototype with Twilight's faceup, Danny may well let you purchase her--he did that for someone who wanted an Eiji with a Crimson faceup. But if the prototype doesn't exist it's unlikely, because the doll would have to be made custom in the factory and it may not be feasible from a business standpoint. It's worth asking though!

Good point... I guess I'm used to the resins which are usually produced in a smaller batch. I might ask closer to when I can actually afford her.

Danny doesn't just sell individual heads the way he sells headless bodies, right? I wonder why

Danny doesn't just sell individual heads the way he sells headless bodies, right? I wonder why

Not selling individual heads is pretty common with vinyl companies particularly with custom heads.

There are many and diverse reasons for this. It could be because the sale of individual parts (like a head or bust) doesn't return enough capital. The individuality of a company's doll head sculpts is often viewed as the "signature" part of the doll and many companies would prefer you bought their entire doll and not have the look of their product for the small price of a head alone. Selling heads alone allows counterfeiters the ability to copy a head for much less than the price of a full doll. There is the "exact number" issue. We buy X number of each part from our manufacturers so we can make X number of dolls. There are no extra parts to sell separately. If there are extra parts made they may be needed for replacements damaged during assembly or shipping. And there are marketing issues. The market for individual heads may not be large enough to warrant the production of an entire batch of heads that would sit around waiting to be sold.

 

Perhaps when Smart Doll gets bigger, older, and more financially solvent they will be able to start selling individual parts.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Guest

it's sad that danny kept making other girls.. has he forgot about Kanata..? i'm still looking forward to her...

it's sad that danny kept making other girls.. has he forgot about Kanata..? i'm still looking forward to her...

 

I'm wondering if he's holding out for having the capital to make a shorter body? I hope so at least. Like I think Torino said in the Miho thread, Miho is canonically shorter, so Danny may unveil such a body with Miho's release.

I've read Danny commenting on the logistical difficulty of managing an increasingly large inventory, which I suspect may be why he seems so slow in introducing new bodies and heads.

 

Also he probably enjoys pretty decent economies of scale by using the same body for all dolls, and I can imagine a small business being hesitant to lose that.

a 'sneak peak of Twilight in Milk skin' courtesy of twitter user @TinaTangle

 

I really can see the similarity to Tohsaka Rin now. She's really pretty.

I prefer the tan version myself, but since a tan girl is a must for me eventually I'm now having a hard time deciding if I should get Twilight, one of the new tan D'Coord girls or wait and see what other surprises Danny has.

I wonder if that means all three of the new dolls are going to come in Milk, Tea, and Cocoa. I didn't think they would but maybe Danny decided to since they all have different face ups?

 

Now I really want to see Twilight in Cocoa...

So the character name is tied to the faceup instead of the head mold? I love Moonlight's faceup the most so I'd love to see her in milk and tea skin too. I wonder if Danny would really sell Kurenai/Twilight/Moonlight all in different skin tones, or if these are all just prototypes..

Danny doesn't just sell individual heads the way he sells headless bodies, right? I wonder why

Not selling individual heads is pretty common with vinyl companies particularly with custom heads.

There are many and diverse reasons for this. It could be because the sale of individual parts (like a head or bust) doesn't return enough capital. The individuality of a company's doll head sculpts is often viewed as the "signature" part of the doll and many companies would prefer you bought their entire doll and not have the look of their product for the small price of a head alone. Selling heads alone allows counterfeiters the ability to copy a head for much less than the price of a full doll. There is the "exact number" issue. We buy X number of each part from our manufacturers so we can make X number of dolls. There are no extra parts to sell separately. If there are extra parts made they may be needed for replacements damaged during assembly or shipping. And there are marketing issues. The market for individual heads may not be large enough to warrant the production of an entire batch of heads that would sit around waiting to be sold.

 

Perhaps when Smart Doll gets bigger, older, and more financially solvent they will be able to start selling individual parts.

 

Thank you for this insightful comment, I feel like it reminded me DD basic heads are sold at a very affordable price but it doesn't mean this always works out for the company particularly if they're a smaller one. Interesting!

 

On a sculpt note, I found the Smartdoll faces strangely flat before this - even if they are cute from the front - but this new girl looks great! She also looks like she has an edge to her personality

Here are some closeups of Twilight in milk :

 

I gotta say that I really like her. Wonder what she'd look like with brown eyes. I'm still not sure if I wanna bring her home or wait and see what other sculpts Danny will create.