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The Facebook debacle & other issues

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baldylox

Ok, I just heard about this and since I am involved, I'm going to talk about it here since I can't be booted or silenced like so many others are now being over on FB.

 

It seems that there is a certain SmD group on FB that Danny is a member of.  He doesn't actually post much but he reads posts daily.  It is a large group of which I was a member of in good standing.  I had done purchases there and got along with everyone great.  I shared photos and had lots of fun there.

 

But today I found out I was no longer a member there and had been booted and blocked.  Why?  Because I was also a member of another SmD group that did not do like this other group does.  And that is to bow down and kiss Danny's butt all day long.  Let me explain....

 

This other group allows talk there that questions some of Danny's decisions.  It also allows people to speak their minds on things like pricing or fabrics used or styles of things.  It basically allows people to speak their minds and ask questions.  The other group that I got booted from does NOT allow this type of talk tho.  Anything that is seen as talking badly about Danny or his products is swiftly deleted and brushed away like it never happened.  People asking why things are priced a certain way are dismissed as cheap and then booted for having an opinion.  I had seen it happen a few times but didn't pay it much mind until now.

 

Why now?  Because I have done nothing wrong.  I hadn't had ANY bad things to say there because it was a nice place overall.  There was no reason for me to be mean or rude or talk trash about Danny or anyone else there.

 

Anyways, I can deal with not being a part of a group on FB.  No biggie there.  But what I cannot deal with is the possibility of what I heard *might* be going on with the Mirai Store itself.  It seems that people who were members of the FB page that Danny has it in for are now having active orders cancelled.  That's right, someone said that they got an email asking for their order number because "they might have forgotten something" and once given, that order was cancelled.  No reason was given, it was just cancelled completely because that person was on that FB page.

 

What sense does that make in ANY situation?  If this turns out to be true then I am done with Danny and everything he is about.  If this is true, it is THE most childish, petty and downright ignorant thing I've ever seen someone do.  I hope it's not true.  I pray that it's not true. 

 

I like Danny.  I like his products.  I love his dolls and his clothing and his take on things for the most part.  I met him personally and think he's a good person.  I have bought lots of things from him.... including more brand new dolls than I have bought from Volks.  I plan to buy more things from him too, especially when Cortex is released.  I have stood up for him online and in person.  I've talked him and his products up at conventions and doll meets.  I share pics of his girls and clothing wherever I can because I think they are amazing.  I have no problems with Danny.  Heck, I even got on Japanese TV and talked him up.  He got in the Top Ten on Yahoo searches due to me and AsianEd.  I've sent more people to him than I can count.  And I never had any issues doing so because I like him and his products.  I felt good telling others about him and the girls.  I wanted people to know about them and to enjoy them like I was doing.

 

BUT.…...

 

If this is how he wants to act towards people that have different views than him and ask questions he doesn't like then I can no longer endorse him or his products.  Openly cancelling orders for something like this is just mind boggling to me.  As I said, I hope it's not true.  Because I certainly don't want to be blacklisted from ever buying from the Mirai Store again.  That would be really devastating.  Not just because *I* couldn't buy new things form him anymore..... because I couldn't send friends there anymore to buy from someone who treats people like that.  

 

Sorry for the rant but I wanted people to know what's going on if they are not on Facebook or hadn't heard what is happening there.

 

 

Billy

 

PS: EDIT - I changed the name of the thread since the whole FB thing was a while ago and we've basically turned this into a thread about other silly and annoying things going on in SmD Land.

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I gave up counting the girls I own, they keep multiplying and won't stop.

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BeyondTime
51 minutes ago, baldylox said:

I met him personally and think he's a good person.

If he does do things like this then ipso facto he is not a good person.

 

You might want to contact him directly, since this is facebook we are talking about it could be that you were booted by a fanatical admin who Danny has nothing to do with. I would really caution against believing any rumors you hear in social media too. You see a ton a bloggers and vloggers out there who quote unsourced facebook and twitter posts as if they are fact when in point of fact they are pure fiction made up by someone who just wants attention.

Anyone can post anything they want on the internet, so I would suggest taking what you are hearing about the stores with a grain of salt until you see proof.

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The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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Zaliayn

Thanks for posting, since I don't move in any Smart Doll circles other than the forum here.

This makes for rather concerning reading, and if it does turn out to the true then I am also done with the Smart Doll and Culture Japan brand because that would be utterly reprehensible behaviour. (Actually it does remind me of the time Danny posted about a customer's order and how they'd demanded a 'perfect' doll, and he'd cancelled their order). *Side note; I can't be the only one tired of all these controversies that keep popping up... 😐

And if these rumours are just that, then Danny really needs to call out these zealots (assuming he would at all) before they do serious damage to the brand reputation, because I know this will have already put some people off - I find myself once again considering my stance on SmD. I had really been looking forward to the Cortex release, but this is taking the shine right off of it. That said I'm withholding judgement until more info surfaces, if any.

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baldylox

I've seen 2 screenshots of Danny's Instagram messages asking for order numbers that have been cancelled.  They look legit to me.  I did send him a message but whether he gets it or not is a guess.  I'm sure he's now swamped with messages and mails due to this little thing.  I do have some clue as to how FB works so I'm not totally in the dark on how things can be manipulated.  😉  

As for the "fanatical admin" thing, that groups admin was asked to boot all those people by Danny so it wasn't just their call.  I do understand that they were trying to nip having more drama in the bud before it could start but that has now boiled over into another issue all on its own.  How things work out from here is unknown but I'll keep a level head on it until I hear back from Danny.  I'd much rather give him the benefit of the doubt than to just give up on him since I've known him for so long and kind of trust him.

 

Billy


I gave up counting the girls I own, they keep multiplying and won't stop.

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toppz1008

I think this is happening to me as well. I found out this morning that I've been kicked out from the group. I had no idea what is going on.. I was in that group, not the main one before the name was changed. It used to be norcal something. I didnt know when the admin changed the name Or what actually happened in there.. dont know what to say but I think it is not fair at all..

Edited by toppz1008
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BeyondTime
4 minutes ago, baldylox said:

I've seen 2 screenshots of Danny's Instagram messages asking for order numbers that have been cancelled.  They look legit to me.  I did send him a message but whether he gets it or not is a guess.  I'm sure he's now swamped with messages and mails due to this little thing.

<snip>

As for the "fanatical admin" thing, that groups admin was asked to boot all those people by Danny so it wasn't just their call.

Well that being the case I would then refer back to my first point, he is not a good person and he's gone out of his way to establish that.

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The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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Mizuumi-no-Otome

I've been waiting for a post about this, my friend started texting me right as it happened bc it very closely mirrors the drama that happened last year in the Bratz community (which we both originated from); to sum it up, Bratz have had several reboots over the last decade or so (only one of them being successful, until they screwed it up and went on hiatus). In 2017 they made the decision to do one final relaunch, with the original brand director running the show to ensure that collectors would get a nice set of dolls with all the improvements we hoped for- until late 2017 when they pulled her from the project and replaced her with a semi-IG-famous fashion illustrator with strong ties to the Bratz community (with no experience in toy design), doubled the price of the line and lowered both the quality of the dolls and the QC- and the designer blocked every single major fan and artist in the community when they voiced concerns over the price and quality of the dolls, while ranting almost daily on IG about 'bullying' lol. 

Anyway, on a more related note, I did see screenshots of Danny responding to a post about this....debacle in the 'good' group that he follows, so he's definitely aware and apparently he's also commenting on the IG posts of someone from the 'bad' group (I think the one that had their order cancelled) so this is likely not just rumors and is frankly really gross. 

I personally do not jive with Danny's social media presence at all; he spends a lot of time reacting to people with complaints or concerns (how many posts has he made complaining about perfectionist customers and Wabi Sabi now????) and it's really annoying and unprofessional, imo. This (and another debacle in which the CEO of Deciem hijacked their IG page and went bonkers- he was thrown out of his own company as a result) makes me think that the owners and creative minds behind a company, probably shouldn't run the social media because they tend to get really catty and sarcastic with anyone that doesn't love absolutely everything and bow down at their feet. I've seen too many examples of this to think it's a good idea for the CEO or designer to run the social media pages. 

If Danny is indeed targeting members of that FB group and cancelling their orders, he really needs to buck up and get it together because it's frankly ridiculous and bordering on malicious. If Danny can't tolerate criticism or any opinion that is not overwhelming praise, then he should probably rethink his involvement in the doll industry. I'm not sure what caused him to act like this and I'd be interested in seeing his side, but so far this just seems to be another case of Danny acting like a jerk to his fans. 

It's really upsetting because almost everything about Smart Doll is amazing and I really appreciate that Danny makes an effort to be inclusive and the dolls are beautiful, the quality is beautiful. But the way he treats people is just really icky. It's hard to be excited about what is, frankly, a revolutionary brand in the vinyl genre, when the owner is acting like a jerk.

ETA: I did hear something that happened in the 'bad' group involving Nazis, though- if that's true then I'm frankly really disgusted and confused as to what's going on  

Edited by Serena-Hime
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baldylox

To give some more info on this, it seems that before I was asked to join that new group on FB, the person running it did indeed post a photoshopped pic of Danny with some type of Nazi logo on either his arm or a hat.  It stayed up for a day or two but was taken down because it was in bad taste.  The page owner apologized on the page, on Instagram and on Twitter about it.  I never saw the image and I also didn't see the apologies because I didn't follow that person on those accounts.  So all this was news to me.

 

I agree that it wasn't the right thing to do no matter what your opinion of Danny ( or anyone else ) but the person DID take the pic down and apologize about it.  I certainly don't condone stuff like that but I'm glad they saw the mistake and took care of it the right way.

 

The reason I joined that group was because I was invited to and there were people there I knew from other doll places.  So I didn't think there was anything going on there other than the odd page title which is kinda funny in its own way.

 

I sent Danny an email about this and hopefully he will see it and reply.  I'm sure he will be busy with other messages for a bit so I'm not expecting a quick reply.  I really hope things get hashed out for everyone involved, not just me.  As I stated everywhere else that I have posted about this, I like Danny.  I consider him a friend.  I like his products and I hope to buy more from him in the future.  We'll see how it goes and I'll update here with any replies or info I get.

 

Thank you to everyone for keeping this civil.

 

 

Billy


I gave up counting the girls I own, they keep multiplying and won't stop.

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cfx

If this is true, it doesn't really surprise me, because it just seems like a continuation of what he's been doing for a while. I haven't met him in person, but I used to respect him and think I'd like him if I met him. A few years ago I found and started reading his inspirational articles on the Smartdoll site, and it was a time in my life when I needed to read things like that. Back then I wanted to buy from him to support him. I bought a few things; never much just because his dolls aren't an aesthetic I like.

After the "Vooks Doolpa" fiasco and how he continued to dig in his heels there, I lost all my respect for him.

If this is true and something recent/current brought it on, perhaps it's people questioning the cost of Mika. I don't know if that's being discussed elsewhere like it is here, but I'd assume it is, and I assume Danny knew it was going to be. Unlike any other product he loves to talk about on IG and twitter, he hasn't posted about Mika other than retweets from others, so therefore people can't comment on it.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions either so I'd like to see what happens here.

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BeyondTime
34 minutes ago, cfx said:

If this is true and something recent/current brought it on, perhaps it's people questioning the cost of Mika.

I was kind of wondering if it might be fear that cortex will get a lot of criticism with this new launch, so he's removing any potential threat to his investment.


The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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DaemonNoyz

I agree with majority of what's being said here...it is quite unfair for them to ban a lot of the people in the "other group" just by association! Even in the FB group that Danny is in, I have felt bullied and have been afraid to speak my mind regarding any of the products. It's not right. Oh and I have been waiting for cortex to release to buy my first smartdoll...we'll have to see if I decide to actually do that now...

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BeyondTime
1 hour ago, DaemonNoyz said:

Even in the FB group that Danny is in, I have felt bullied

That's never right, period!

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The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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Heshiko

This is... deeply concerning. I've never owned a Smart Doll, but it's been one of those "I'll get to it eventually" things - I really like their look and the little I've seen of Danny previously had been pretty endearing. 

But this is unforgivable if true, and after looking up the dollpa drama cfx alluded to, it's worryingly believable. His dolls are cute, he doesn't need to do things like this... it just pushes people away and ends up hurting the dolls themselves.

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littlebirdzoom

This is more or less why I feel the way I feel about him/his super fans. There's a lot of butt kissing and I personally stay away from *any* hobby or people with rabid fanbases. I am pretty sure I know what groups you're talking about too. Over the years I've seen too many things from Danny and heard too many stories, one of which I personally knew the person. The story of the woman who bought a limited doll and got her order canceled after someone asked Danny if one was still available only to find Danny canceled her order shortly after that and posted that it was up for grabs really bothers me. 

 

The only conclusion that I can "jump" to that's obvious to me, should be to everyone else and has been proven over and over again is that Danny is a thin skinned child sometimes. I mean how far-fetched is it to think he's not a great person when there's countless stories of him doing stuff like this? Someone who posts long rants about "how we do business in Smart Doll land" going out of his time and way to personally come down on people (and specific people) very one-sided (and some of stories of his are long in the past, but he still dwells over and over), makes back stories about his dolls that are clearly about him or his opinions, is known for blocking people who own Volks and SMD, is an adult who uses the word "haters", consistently changes his mind on things after hyping them up and gets upset when we're upset and the list goes on. He's always been like this too - there's evidence of him straight up being rude to people asking innocent questions. Borderline bully. My biggest beef with his social media presence is how much of a shade thrower he is and it's not needed. It's all just very unprofessional and childish, yet if he were to read this he'd come up with a hundred ways to deflect what I'm saying, not look at himself and just say I'm the bad one instead. 

 

It's not that I'm trying to instigate, but really... it's honestly a little frustrating how oblivious some people are to his behavior. Not saying you are, just in general. Stuff like this happens yet people still stick up for him and buy his stuff. All he needs is a reality check and someone else to write his posts lol. I want to like him too and I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but things keep pilling on. But my rant over - none of this is new. I used to adore him because as cfx said, all the inspirational stories about him making a life for himself (which I am hesitant to fully believe) and his brand came at a time when I needed it as well. I wanted to support him and was all over his mascot because who doesn't want that? A doll that is also a mascot. The whole brand thing was pretty neat. Most of my anger comes from just how hurt I am by it all. Personally, I don't find his dolls all that great and I have something against 3D printing (don't jump on me) but it's just the wonderful world and brand he created around it all that made me want one. All I want is a Kizuna anniversary but the thought of supporting him makes me think twice - when in the past all I wanted to do was support him. I'm sorry this happened and I am curious to hear the outcome of it all. Even if it was a misunderstanding, which I hope it was.

Edited by littlebirdzoom
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Waiting for eternity for Volks to release more Idolm@ster girls.

 

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Monty

There is nothing healthy about a fan community where you can not critique the products whatsoever. I cannot fathom a group like that a) existing b) having the CEO as a member to begin with. Having the CEO be a member of his own fan club is...interesting enough, but the extra dynamics at play here are just...woof.

I am pretty sure almost every member in this forum has, at some point, complained about Volks. Some of us quite a lot! But not once has it ever crossed my mind 'oh I guess this person must really hate Volks, what a toxic community!' The idea that you can not be a fan of something - a GOOD fan of something (and writing that honestly makes my skin crawl a bit) unless you blindly praise every thing about it is toxic. The idea that you can not be a GOOD fan or something without constantly praising the CEO is something else. And the idea that you can not even buy from that company if you complain? That blows my mind. That sounds like some kind of parody. It's actually laughable to imagine a company like Volks, or Good Smile Company, or literally anyone else just straight-up banning people for complaining about something. (lmao they'd have like no one left) The idea that we can not call ourselves deserving fans of a thing unless we love it completely unconditionally is just...wack. And I honestly can not stand the way he tries to spin this as some kind of 'standing up to entitled customers' thing and paint himself as a hero. His idea there is sound. Customers arent always right and shouldnt be treated like gods. But they shouldnt be expected to have to treat him like god, which is what this boils down to time and time again.

And that's why it really, really ticked me off when during some other drama Danny was involved in where he banned someone from buying from him because they asked him if the face paint on their doll was right, when he went into one of his usual mega instagram rants about how the customer is always wrong and he is always the victim, he mentioned how positive the smartdoll community is compared to 'other doll communities' as though it was some kind of 'gotcha', that not letting in 'THOSE people' (ie, people who dont blindly praise) was protecting his community. That these people who shun and bully people for having any complaint at all are the ideal community. Was he talking about the DD forum by 'other communities'? Maybe, maybe not. He could've also been talking about DOA. But that snide comment really got under my skin because there is nothing positive about the way his community regularly tends to conducts itself. A few months back I tweeted on my personal twitter about how unfair it was to cancel orders like that and suddenly I had smartdoll fans - who I had never seen or spoken to in my life - materializing in my mentions trying to start a fight with me. I honestly have no idea how they found me to begin with (maybe they just regularly search for people smack-talking the brand to do this), but I ended up deleting that tweet. Is this the positive community he is referring to? People who bully anyone who dares to critique?

What I don't get is this. Danny is constantly talking about how busy he is and how that is the reason things are taking a while. So why does he have all this free time to stalk people in a facebook group? Why does he have time to vanity search himself on twitter, find a completely benign tweet from a japanese guy expressing an interest in modding a smartdoll frame to his liking as he does with all his dolls so that he can quote-retweet them to all of his followers and tell them to never buy from him because his frame is perfect and how dare they imply otherwise? (doing frame mods is an extremely normal part of this hobby, there are even dealers selling 3rd party frames at Dolpa, cool cat reinforcements, etc, but Danny took this tweet that wasnt even @ him or a reply to anything he said and made out like it was a personal attack) Why does he have time to engage in petty name-calling on instagram with teenagers and children? 

Edited by Monty
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cfx
2 hours ago, littlebirdzoom said:

The story of the woman who bought a limited doll and got her order canceled after someone asked Danny if one was still available only to find Danny canceled her order shortly after that and posted that it was up for grabs really bothers me. 

This was Gourai's rerelease right? That story was really fishy, and seemed to keep changing on Danny's end. There was some claim about it being credit card fraud, or they made multiple orders, or something, I no longer remember all the variants it went through as he claimed different things after being pressed on it.

Unless he's completely clueless at running his business, there's no way he didn't have one doll left to sell her. Any such item that's made in limited quantity a company will keep a small amount in order to replace defective merchandise, merchandise damaged in shipping, etc. We know Volks does it as it's likely one reason they have those few older limited dolls they sell by lottery at Dolpa like when they did Sasara here.

Gourai's rerelease was handled very poorly, even for him, with such a short advance notice it was coming. It even ticked me off, because she's one of the few Smart Dolls I like at all, and while he'd done enough things by this time I doubt I'd have bought her, I'd at least have liked to have had the option to make that decision instead of having it made for me because I didn't even know about it until she was sold out.

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freakie-oppa

H...he shouldn't be punishing a whole group based on the actions of one individual. AND he shouldn't be choosing who his customers are because they have an opinion of a different product of his, or is in a group of people with differing opinions. Who properly runs a business like that? Not only is it impractical, it's immature, and terrible business practice. I hope he isn't that much of a fool? Otherwise I don't forsee his company lasting as long as VOLKs.

I will always say this, Danny Choo has a terrible habit of making MANY lengthy posts about things that don't need a reply, and then completely ignoring the pressing issues. He can literally go on for weeks about ONE negative remark. All forms of criticism, be it constructive, is a personal attack against him in his (and the 'Good' group's) eyes. As someone who is still within the BJD hobby where I see incredible company owners being so enthusiastic about their work in a good way on social media (again, Ringdoll, their owner is the bees knees), I refuse to support Danny's behavior.

My main gripe about the 'good' Facebook group is how much they enjoy banding together to attack, for example, Person A whom has  a differing opinion, and when they retaliate, suddenly it's a huge boohoo fest where they claim Person A is bullying them. I get it, stopping heated arguments is a good thing. But the silencing of healthy, mature debates, or innocent questions about prices is just a whole new low. And they KNOW it's bad taste since they're quick to delete the thread after they themselves have said their piece incase you screenshot their posts. The only good thing about the group is how big it is, but that's about it. Most people that post there personally, are toxic AF. But that's to be expected, the group admin is a hyper sensitive super fan.

I too have had bad experiences on the group, wherein even the main mod insulted me for being unintelligent, and then deleted the thread I had replied to. How I 'survived' being banned though, is a mystery.

They have to be masochists though, Danny is constantly blocking and unblocking this group.

Man, everytime a new thread appears about him instead of his product, it's like another saga to an ongoing soap opera, what will Danny CHOO next?

Edited by freakie-oppa
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Yumeiro
4 hours ago, Monty said:

It's actually laughable to imagine a company like Volks, or Good Smile Company, or literally anyone else just straight-up banning people for complaining about something.

I wonder if it is because Danny (individual) and not Culture Japan (company) gets "complained" about. A personal attack.

But bullying people into silence won't help the company grow... It would be a different matter if it was all for himself, but he has a company making items for others. It should be of benefit to at least acknowledge what people like and don't like - within reason (there are a lot of stupid IG comments - another reason a social media rep. would be good to have, to weed out the bad). Whether he decides that he wants to do something about it is another story. But building a dictatorship tends to end poorly.
It must be exhausting to be so sensitive about everything.

Edited by Yumeiro

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darlingdeers

I've actually been blocked by Danny on 3 different accounts for different opinions on him, back in the era of the entire drama over Mirai's sister broke loose.. He is not a mature man. He does not handle drama well. It makes me sad sometimes to even support such a person who is so easily ticked off, and so easy to block out his loyal customers for just questioning a design element... It's a good thing he didn't recolonize me from my Instagram he blocked when I went to the Mirai store... 😕

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Rynnsdolls

I saw the whole ordeal about the facebook group happen on instagram, and his replies were so unprofessional.. the rest of this tread added to it, he can be certain I'll never buy directly from his company. He kept shifting the blame to innocent members of the group, just to avoid having to admit that he made a mistake. He's more of a petty child than a business owner imo

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Daisy-chan
6 hours ago, Yumeiro said:
11 hours ago, Monty said:

It's actually laughable to imagine a company like Volks, or Good Smile Company, or literally anyone else just straight-up banning people for complaining about something.

I wonder if it is because Danny (individual) and not Culture Japan (company) gets "complained" about. A personal attack.

However, and correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Danny kind of brand himself as being synonymous with Culture Japan and Smartdoll? The "News" button on the Smartdoll website takes you directly to Danny's personal instagram not to a specific account dedicated solely to announcing Smartdoll releases or events. Also some of the links on the Smartdoll site take you to various pages on https://dannychoo.com/en instead of keeping you on the Smartdoll site. Even the Culture Japan logo is kind of shaped like a "d" which I assume is in reference to Danny himself.

Hopefully, when most people complain about Danny they don't exactly mean the person, but more of the company that Danny's intertwined his name with.

If Danny didn't want any complains about him personally, then this definitely isn't the best way to go about getting them to stop...

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KinokoParadise

If this is all true, and Choo's behavior in the past has led me to believe that it is, then it's just un-excusably unprofessional. I think Danny could benefit from having someone else to reign him in a professional setting, because right now he seems to have complete control over his company's affairs. Petty business decisions like these can only turn potential buyers and future fans of his products off.

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Yumeiro
2 hours ago, Daisy-chan said:

Hopefully, when most people complain about Danny they don't exactly mean the person, but more of the company that Danny's intertwined his name with.

Yeah, I meant that Danny might view it as an attack on him, when they in fact are talking about the company.
I worded it poorly. 

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Mizuumi-no-Otome
1 hour ago, Daisy-chan said:

However, and correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't Danny kind of brand himself as being synonymous with Culture Japan and Smartdoll? The "News" button on the Smartdoll website takes you directly to Danny's personal instagram not to a specific account dedicated solely to announcing Smartdoll releases or events. Also some of the links on the Smartdoll site take you to various pages on https://dannychoo.com/en instead of keeping you on the Smartdoll site. Even the Culture Japan logo is kind of shaped like a "d" which I assume is in reference to Danny himself.

Hopefully, when most people complain about Danny they don't exactly mean the person, but more of the company that Danny's intertwined his name with.

If Danny didn't want any complains about him personally, then this definitely isn't the best way to go about getting them to stop...

I think this is a big part of the problem; Smart Doll and Danny are synonymous, he is the brand itself, meaning that any criticism of the brand goes directly to him and is considered a personal attack on his artistry and business practices/social media presence. If Danny had a team running the Smart Doll instagram I feel 100% of these issues would have been avoided, including the weird/cringey/creepy stan culture surrounding him and the brand. 

It's difficult to criticize the dolls without it being (or being perceived as) a direct criticism of him because of this, while the same can't be said for companies like Volks because they're essentially faceless. 

I should have seen this all coming, frankly, because every time a brand does this it becomes a disaster. I can name at least 5 beauty/skincare companies with scandals like this in the last year, and the 2018 Bratz debacle happened almost entirely because the designer was active on social media and his name was plastered all over the collection.  

The more I think about this, the less I can stomach purchasing from the brand again. I really hope that Danny learns from this and apologizes, but I sincerely doubt it. 

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Rynnsdolls
3 hours ago, KinokoParadise said:

If this is all true, and Choo's behavior in the past has led me to believe that it is, then it's just un-excusably unprofessional. I think Danny could benefit from having someone else to reign him in a professional setting, because right now he seems to have complete control over his company's affairs. Petty business decisions like these can only turn potential buyers and future fans of his products off.

 the ig thread, including danny's responses

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