Feedback for Danny Choo

Is a reply is completely necessary? Wouldn't changes to his tone and treatment of his fans/customers be what we should hope for?

 

Well, given how much effort we put into the email, I'd appreciate it if he replied, even if it was just to show that he took the time to read our mail ^___^

I might be wrong but did Danny Choo put up picks of his new idol master doll an hour and a half after volks put up their pictures of the new idol master DD? O.o

I might be wrong but did Danny Choo put up picks of his new idol master doll an hour and a half after volks put up their pictures of the new idol master DD? O.o

 

As mentioned in the Mika thread, it's likely that Bandai Namco told Danny Choo and Volks that they weren't allowed to show their products 'til yesterday. Danny has teased Mika in recent weeks with "something you aren't allowed to see" message.

I might be wrong but did Danny Choo put up picks of his new idol master doll an hour and a half after volks put up their pictures of the new idol master DD? O.o

 

As mentioned in the Mika thread, it's likely that Bandai Namco told Danny Choo and Volks that they weren't allowed to show their products 'til yesterday. Danny has teased Mika in recent weeks with "something you aren't allowed to see" message.

That would actually make sense! Even if a 1.5 hour delay looks a little bit like a pun xD

No response?

That is pity. I really think that auto-email response is not enough.

Did anyone ever get a response to this? I saw Danny Choo posted a tweet today slamming Volks for saying that they only want their own brand dolls in Dollpa. In my opinion, if he doesn’t like that he probably should host his own event.. that kind of petty comment just annoys me. His business practices made me not really want to do business with him in the past, but now I just won’t.

 

I just don’t think his attitude is appropriate.. you don’t see Azone trying to start problems with Volks, and the make vinyl dolls too. Competition is fine, but there’s absolutely no reason to try to start problems with them.

Did anyone ever get a response to this? I saw Danny Choo posted a tweet today slamming Volks for saying that they only want their own brand dolls in Dollpa. In my opinion, if he doesn’t like that he probably should host his own event.. that kind of petty comment just annoys me. His business practices made me not really want to do business with him in the past, but now I just won’t.

 

I just don’t think his attitude is appropriate.. you don’t see Azone trying to start problems with Volks, and the make vinyl dolls too. Competition is fine, but there’s absolutely no reason to try to start problems with them.

 

I saw that tweet too, and what concerned me the most was the translation of Volks' original tweet (which was in Jap). "Rip-offs" seems like a very harsh translation and the way he tweeted his translation made it sound like Volks basically just accused all other companies of copying their original idea.

 

And quite a number of his followers are retweeting Danny's translation instead of the original tweet by Volks, so people are definitely going to get the wrong idea.

 

Edit: Yep, people are definitely getting the wrong idea from his translation. Everyone is upset about the words "rip-off" and saying how they won't support Volks because Volks is arrogant and rude etc etc

 

Dolpas are organized by Volks to appreciate and advertise their own brand of dolls. I don't see anything wrong with them setting rules about bringing in dolls from other companies. It's a matter of basic courtesy and respect for the organizing company. Just don't attend if you don't agree with the rules?

Edited August 17, 2018 by Guest

I saw this same tweet but as an Instagram post. I feel like the translation was unnecessarily harsh, and honestly I'd like someone to verify that it's accurate abd not just Danny throwing shade by saying that Volks views all other brands as Rip-offs.

 

It really rubbed my the wrong way, but the real kicker to me was the top comment on the post. It was a reply to someone's response that said "I allow any kind of doll in Mirai store". Like c'mon dude, it's blatant you're just trying to disparage Volks now.

yikes thats a bad look for him :/ Volks have that disclaimer EVERY time. By 'ripoffs', they are talking about recasts. Theyve been saying other dolls arent allowed way longer than smartdolls been around, and I don't see Obitsu getting shorty about this. Danny trying to make this about him is just...I dont have a word for it right now but yeah. Not a good look. (edit- just realized he didnt bother including a japanese version of this tweet like he usually does, what does that tell you...) Besides...he used to cover Dolpas back when he was a huge Volks fan, so surely he knew this already..?

 

I am also wondering if Volks tweeting this out now has anything to do with the fact that at the last Dolpa (May), someone -did- bring a Smartdoll in - I saw her myself, and wondered why. They seemed to just be showing it to someone else, so maybe they put her away shortly after. With smartdoll getting more popular, its also likely that there are people who just arent aware that Dolpa is for Volks dolls only.

 

Regardless, it doesnt make sense to allow non-Volks dolls at a Volks event made for Volks fans to celebrate Volks dolls. If this was the only event of its scale in Japan I'd understand the frustration but...it isn't? I-Doll and Doll Show are just as big and tend to have the exact same dealers (arguably more, since there are also dealers making stuff for Obitsu11/Blythe/Pure Neemo/other stuff not at Dolpa). Dolpa is only 'bigger' in the sense that it also contains all the official Volks stuff. Doll Show and I-Doll -also- have multiple events a year in different locations too! So it makes no sense to be jealous of not being able to have a presence at one doll event, especially when there are plenty of doll fans in Japan who dont even go to Dolpa because they're more interested in other types of dolls. It's not the definitive doll event.

 

I just...dont get why he has to act so antagonistic to a company he used to idolize, is clearly influenced by and introduced a huge part of his fanbase to. Especially because he used to make such a big deal about how he didnt want to convert existing volks fans, he wanted to make new doll fans. So why all the antagonism? It's like he thinks doll fans are like fans of smartphones/computers where theres fierce competition between Apple/Samsung/Windows fans and you can only have one alliance. (Given how much influence he takes from Apple - something he has often admitted to -, this may be true for him) But the majority of doll fans just like dolls and collect all kinds of brands, he doesnt need to try to convince people to be loyal to him. His products should do that on their own. Ironically, it's this kind of behaviour just turns me off his products.

Did anyone ever get a response to this? I saw Danny Choo posted a tweet today slamming Volks for saying that they only want their own brand dolls in Dollpa.

 

JFC dude, Volks has always been asking to plz only bring Volks dolls to their showrooms & events. This is like complaining about not being able to promote Shrek at D23 Expo or somethihng

 

for someone who used to be aaaaaaaall about DD's, Danny sure likes to crap on Volks now... the more I read his tweets, the less I wanna give this person company money

Why did he intentionally repeatedly misspell "Vooks" "Doolpa" and "Doollfie"?

 

This isn't the first time he's made snarky comments about Volks lately. From the page where he is requesting new owner+doll pictures (https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/surgical-mask) and guidelines on what the picture should consist of:

 

Your Smart Doll girls n boys can be wearing anything made by anyone apart from *that* other Japanese doll company because they have actually threatened me with a lawsuit if their stuff shows on my website. I will show you the mail one day when the timing is right lol.

I think it's normal for them to ask this.

Same about Mirai store. "I allow any kind of doll in Mirai store". Even if he says this, I'll never get my dolls (which aren't Smartdolls) in his store. Just a question of respect, for me.

 

I agree with you, Torino!

*shakes head* I'm so disappointed in Danny right now.

 

He is acting like Volks created the 'Volks dolls only' rule to bar Smart Dolls when in reality, Volks has had that rule for ages. They've never allowed any doll of any other company to attend their events or enter their stores. There were so many different way that he could've phrased that sentence, something like 'I regularly see Volks post this so I've translated it for non-Japanese/Smart Doll owners : Volks events are meant for Volks dolls only. They don't like it when people bring dolls from other companies to their events. So please be respectful and don't bring your Smart Doll to a Volks event', then no one would've been upset.

 

But Danny posted *that*, knowing fully well that people wouldn't do their research on the fact that Volks was referring to recasts and that they'd get angry/upset with the word "rip-off" so he can make Smart Doll look like the better company.

 

It's honestly baffling how many of his followers just blindly follow in this. So many comments on his social media and in the Smart Doll Lovers group were bashing Volks into the ground. He knew that this would be the effect of his words or he wouldn't be retweeting stuff like this:

 

What I really don't understand about Danny is if he is so confident in his own brand, then why even talk about Volks? What does it matter what Volks does with *THEIR* dolls, at *THEIR* events and in *THEIR* stores? It's *THEIR* business. Let them run it their way and you run yours the way you want to.

All these digs at Volks do, is make HIM seem really insecure/threatend and not the other way around.

pppffff it's really ridiculous... !

 

I was still hesitating to buy a smartdoll but the more I see messages from Danny, the less I want to give him money...

Volks has had this policy since as long as I can remember. It was also incredibly easy to find Volks own english translation of their post regarding recasts which was linked to in their twitter post.

 

https://www.facebook.com/volksusa/posts/please-be-aware-of-illegal-dollfie-goodsthank-you-very-much-for-your-continued-p/1580409398641441/

 

This whole mess is making me reconsider my plans on buying a smart doll.

That's just sad really. Why can't he act more professional and keep this stuff to himself. Japanese companies have disagreements all the time and I know Volks and other doll companies have butted heads except nobody really hears about it. They act professional and try not to bring negativity to the fan base. This kind of behaviour only stains the overall hobby which is a meant to be this fun thing that we all enjoy.

 

Danny probably mispealt Volks so the tweets wouldn't show up on their media monitoring.

Danny probably mispealt Volks so the tweets wouldn't show up on their media monitoring.

 

It literally takes *one* person to printscreen his social media post and send it to Volks to put it on their radar :-/

They're bound to know about this within 24 hours.

Just headache-inducing reading all the white-knight comments... Did Danny even read the whole statement/tweet himself?

If he wanted to educate people outside of Japan/not familiar with Dolpa about Volks policy then great! But his "translation" seem pretty intentional to be to sh*t-stirr, rather than anything else...

He could have worded it better, but choose not to, to make his own policy seem better...

 

Well... it seems to work on most...

That is the worst, most misleading translation I've ever seen.

 

Yep no respect for him at all now.

I feel like I've said some of this before, but here it goes again. UGH. The whole Dolpa debacle is embarrassing. Deliberately misinterpreting Volks's statement and framing it as a personal attack is a juvenile attention-grab.

 

The more Danny says and does, the more I wish Smart Doll was less of his personal pet project and more of... an actual serious company? One must sell oneself along with one's product, and I'm not too inclined to buy into Mr. Danny Choo if I can easily access the most cringeworthy parts of his psychological profile by looking at his social media. The way he presents himself online is childish at best, and, like some people here have hinted at, damaging to his business at worst. Good God, Danny, get a PR manager, or you'll run your mini-empire into the ground. He's so out of touch - every other doll company or artisan I follow is lovely and polite, but he seems dedicated to being the exception.

 

Smart Dolls are cute as heck, but, with every stupid boob joke announcement (women like dolls too, and objectification is passé) or over-hyped introduction of another doll with the same freaking face sculpt or humblebrag about ~quality standards~ - or, I don't know, manufactured victimizing drama of a company that his product is basically a copy of, the price I'm willing to pay for Cortex goes down about 1000Y. I don't feel too inclined to line his pockets when he continues to act the way he does. Ugh!

His insistence that their own English version of the same link provided on their tweet is incorrect just makes him sound more childish.

A couple of years ago I spent some time reading all the stuff on his website about how he started the business, his business philosophy, etc. and thought that stuff was great and wanted to support him because of it. I never bought a doll because his designs mostly don't appeal to me, but I bought the flash cards, a (human) umbrella he used to sell, and more recently some eyes and clothing.

 

That email he sent out discussed earlier in this thread made me less interested in supporting him, and this latest thing makes it worse.

 

It's also pretty clear that email many of you sent him basically fell on deaf ears.

In case people are wondering about Danny saying to ‘check JP twitter’. I think he seems to be banking on most of his fans not bothering to do that or not being able to and assuming him saying that means he is correct. Unfortunately, some people CAN read Japanese and DO keep track of J-doll discourse.

Most people aren’t just saying the same stuff being said in this thread : it’s always been this way, if you don’t like it don’t come. There are a few people who are disappointed and even some who sound antagonistic to Volks but they’re the minority.

 

Since he ‘helpfully’ didn’t tweet this in japanese, he might not realize there are Japanese doll fans that CAN understand his English, woops. And there is someone saying that his attitude is a turnoff for them and reflects badly on his brands image. Someone questions why he keeps having a go at Volks, the reply: ‘jealousy’.

 

Even all that said, there’s not a great deal I can find to begin with so it isn’t even as much of a discourse/discussion as he seems to be implying.

 

So yeah not sure what you wanted to prove telling us to check JP twitter, Danny.

He keeps quoting this particular tweet to those challenging him:

 

I don't read Japanese well enough to make any assumptions about tone or intent. Even if that supports whatever point he thinks he is making it's just some random person as far as I know, it doesn't prove anything about Volks.

He keeps quoting this particular tweet to those challenging him:

 

I don't read Japanese well enough to make any assumptions about tone or intent. Even if that supports whatever point he thinks he is making it's just some random person as far as I know, it doesn't prove anything about Volks.

Rough translation: So about indirectly banning Smart Dolls

Disregarding whether or not Smart Dolls are foreign-made, I thought for years that Smart Dolls were getting people excited about dolls.

 

So yeah, it super doesn't mean anything about Volks or why they should make a special exception to a rule they've had since the early 2000s about no dolls from other companies...?