The Facebook debacle & other issues

5 hours ago, finnleo said:

Also, any publicity is just that -- publicity.

--but I do also wonder if some things have been planted posts just to spice things up.

Yeah.
Anyone not too familiar with Smartdoll or Danny will surely wonder "can it really be that bad?" and they'll most likely take a look at what all this commotion is about, and what he is selling. So I do not doubt he is getting some new customers because of it.
But it can't be sustainable...

All I'm gonna say is that, while publicity can take you far, direct one's attention to Amy's Baking Company to see how hard it can backfire if you choose to push your luck.

Also Danny putting up a Moonlight for sale is just downright cold-blooded. He sold her for more than double what she goes for on the aftermarket- it took me three tries to finally get my girl, and I've never seen her go for more than a grand. I paid less than that for mine. I genuinely feel bad for whoever got her, because seriously, that pricetag is more of a scalp than the actual scalpers on ebay. 

I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not... I miss when we could all just enjoy our dolls and be excited for new ones. it shouldn't be like this. 

At this point, I'm thinking it might be better to wait for the DC/Marvel/Star Wars dolls to start coming out and pick up one of those if you really want an SmD. Danny can be as elitist as he want with his original dolls, but if he tries any of this "you didn't give a good enough answer I'm cancelling your order" or "you have a minor complaint I'm demanding you return everything and banning you" with brand-deal dolls he risks losing the license.

(I can't speak for DC, but I live right by Disney and trust me, The Mouse would not be pleased with this sort of anti-consumer attitude...)   

Someone got a chaos cortex that came split at the ankle. A few are saying to contact support, and a few others are saying don't contact support, and then others are asking why saying it can't hurt to ask...if only they knew!

Buying and having dolls should not be this stressful, on the other hand when people read the disclaimers and choose to contact him anyway saying it "can't hurt" I kind of want to grab a bag of popcorn and see how it turns out.

 

6 hours ago, Yumeiro said:

So I do not doubt he is getting some new customers because of it.
But it can't be sustainable...

Well assumming if someone goes about it just as a madman, no -- it wont be sustainable.

However if you are doing it with any kind of mathematical approach, then at least you might have a chance to quit while you are still ahead.

So as long as the ratio of new customers versus lost sales is highter than 2:1 its still profitable.

The trick is not getting too addicted to the game, and quitting while you are still ahead ... something that I've seen some people fail at in totally different circuimstances.

 

 

 

 

@finnleo "Exclusivity"? Really? There's nothing exclusive about Smartdolls in general, and in my opinion if Danny is indeed going down that route then he truly is in denial. (Exclusive to me means a product you absolutely cannot get anywhere else, and where similar options don't exist.)

@Mothiraffe Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

6 hours ago, jenlovesdolls said:

Someone got a chaos cortex that came split at the ankle. A few are saying to contact support, and a few others are saying don't contact support, and then others are asking why saying it can't hurt to ask...if only they knew!

Buying and having dolls should not be this stressful, on the other hand when people read the disclaimers and choose to contact him anyway saying it "can't hurt" I kind of want to grab a bag of popcorn and see how it turns out.

 

I was honestly bending over from laughter seeing the "veterans" trying to explain why it was a bad idea to contact Danny about this. All while being as vague as possible as to not get banned themselves. Even someone suggesting that if he gets contacted too much about problems with Chaos kits he will just stop selling them as a collective punishment (at this point I find that credible tbh).

I guess I'm laughing because thinking about it too hard might make sad that we have to walk on eggshells for business inquiries for a product we pay 500$-ish. Lmao.

6 hours ago, Selenae said:

@finnleo "Exclusivity"? Really? There's nothing exclusive about Smartdolls in general, and in my opinion if Danny is indeed going down that route then he truly is in denial. (Exclusive to me means a product you absolutely cannot get anywhere else, and where similar options don't exist.)

So... keeping all snarkyness to a minimun.

You are saying that you can purchase a brand new smart doll from somewhere else than directly from the Chooch? -- So whats the problem here then?

exclusivity comes in many forms.

If I remember correct it was mentioned in this thread that even though you can buy smartdolls on the aftermarket I believe danny had said that he wouldnt offer replacement parts for those dolls. -- so aftemarket sales are excluded from after sales customer service.

As a new customer to the smartdoll store, again based on what I recall reading here, you are not allowed to buy every item offered on the store, these are reserved for established customers.

As the single official first hand source for the items the Chooch can at random decide who gets a doll, and who does not.

these in my opinion are things that make up exclusivity --all be it, slightly artificial exclusivity.

Edited July 8, 2020 by finnleo

@finnleo No, I'm saying that in the hobby in general Smartdolls are not exclusive because they aren't the only company out there. Kinda got me wrong there. Hell, I haven't even the faintest clue where you could buy one new outside of the official store aside from Fabric Friends.

And yeah, I'm aware that aftermarket sales are excluded from customer service, which is shitty as hell. As far as the established customer thing goes, I feel like that's more Danny flexing his ego and being needlessly strict and exclusionary rather than falling under true exclusivity, imo. But, eh. I'm gonna peace out of this particular topic for awhile, since I feel like I've said everything I would want to for now, and it's been going in a circle anyways. ☮️

Tbh even buying straight from Danny doesn't guarantee replacement parts, as people are too scared to ask!

Every time I move my doll's elbows or wrists, I utter the Smart Doll owner prayer... "please don't break please don't break please don't break..." XD

6 hours ago, Selenae said:

@finnleo No, I'm saying that in the hobby in general Smartdolls are not exclusive because they aren't the only company out there. Kinda got me wrong there. Hell, I haven't even the faintest clue where you could buy one new outside of the official store aside from Fabric Friends.

Fair 'nuff... guess Id need to clarify myself also, since komink from lant owf ralli enklish ant all.

What I was trying to explain was that while he will never be the only single manufacturer of vinyl dolls, he can at least try his best at making his brand the most hard to get in the terms of having to meet certain pre-requisite requirements within the marketplace. -- which does appeal to the collector nature in some people. Ultimately we want something not everybody can have, thus being a exclusive collectible.

6 hours ago, Katsudon said:

Tbh even buying straight from Danny doesn't guarantee replacement parts, as people are too scared to ask!

I was tempted to joke about this, but despite having a deep loathing for the brand itself, I do wish people had better luck with this. Nothing is more sad, than a broken toy you cant play with.

10 hours ago, finnleo said:

even though you can buy smartdolls on the aftermarket I believe danny had said that he wouldnt offer replacement parts for those dolls. -- so aftemarket sales are excluded from after sales customer service.

Might be going off-topic a bit... But how is the breakage situation and replacement parts, for dolls, in general? Is smartdoll the only vinyl brand that does not offer replacement parts? Granado/vindoll..?

I was just thinking of resin dolls, but I guess they are less prone to break, post transit...
Anyway, BJD companies tend to not sell replacement parts, but while being less strict, you do have to have purchased the doll directly from them, when asking for replacement parts..? Right..?

I have read posts where people have gotten replacement parts, but it depends on the company, whether the doll was limited etc. I did a quick check of one company and they ask whether you bought the doll through them or a dealer, so presumably buying from someone else is less of a big deal. I guess there are a lot more outlets for bjd companies to sell dolls through (or they are more willing to. It's a shame Smart Dolls aren't available through more dealers.)

But it's a lot easier to repair a bjd. It helps that the inside is elastic and not a plastic skeleton too. The biggest repair I've ever had to do is glueing magnets back in though, so I've no experience doing major repairs. XD A bigger problem is if your doll is old, and breaks, any new parts are likely to not match the resin due to yellowing/discolouration. 

Obitsu (and thus Angel Philia, Azone and Visuadoll) sells replacement parts for their entire inner skeleton and most outer parts (save for certain proprietary parts, like the bust and hips for the Azone AZO2 body).

Vindoll sells the inner skeleton separately as well.

For resin, breakage is most common with hands... and most companies sell hands separately. There are dozens upon dozens of resin companies, so there are no universals, but generally most resin companies will replace dolls that are broken upon arrival. Once you get to weeks or months post-arrival, it's far less likely, but some companies will still sell replacement parts. That said, you gotta work at it to break most resin dolls. Breakage is pretty much the LAST thing I'm thinking about when I'm posing them.

If Moonlight was being offered a year ago like that I would have been really bummed out. I missed out on her because she was released while I was still recovering from my cancer treatments and I had already bought my first DD (and thought that'd be my only doll lol). It was quite the kick in the head to find out that her cocoa kai was limited to 10 only, but I wanted to keep searching. The search itself was pretty disappointing, but after the whole Gemini thing I was just done with the idea of getting anymore SmD. Moonlight (and the mold in general) was my grail but I currently have 0 desire to acquire her anymore, even if I found a good deal. I feel pretty bad for anyone who also really wanted her too, the scalping from the brand itself is just ridiculous and a move that I thought would be unthinkable. Personally I think Danny will never re-release the mold, not because it was broken (a 3D file must have been made and why delete it?), but because it resembles Volks' sculpts more than the rest of the other regular SmD sculpts (aka not flat). That's just my conspiracy though, and you could argue that the newer semi-real molds aren't flat.

On 7/9/2020 at 11:04 AM, SakuraRose said:

 Personally I think Danny will never re-release the mold, not because it was broken (a 3D file must have been made and why delete it?), but because it resembles Volks' sculpts more than the rest of the other regular SmD sculpts (aka not flat). That's just my conspiracy though, and you could argue that the newer semi-real molds aren't flat.

I don’t actually think this is too far off the mark.  He recently started saying a bunch of buzzwords to describe his design choices with smartdoll sculpts (‘magic triangle’ ‘baby face bias’ ‘contour bias’, his way of explaining that the flat faces and...interesting sculpting decisions have deep anthropological meaning one needs to be smart enough to appreciate) and said these choices are what have led the brand to succeed. I assume those aren’t present in Moonlight’s sculpt and thus she was judged to be not worth keeping around.  (Honestly though the ‘these sculpt decisions are what keeps the business afloat’ to me sounds a lot like saying ‘this rock repels tigers. Do you see any tigers around here? You’re welcome.’ If you ask me the success of the brand is largely built on how easy the website is to navigate and how straight forward the ordering process is (...well, was)compared to things that intimidate newbies like lengthy preorders and lotteries.)

A while ago I seem to remember either on twitter or Instagram, someone inquired about Twilight (who shares a sculpt with Moonlight/Kurenai) and if they’d ever return and he replied something like ‘that was a sculpt for BJD fans, not smartdoll fans’. I thought it was a really weird thing to say (this was before I noticed that he had been starting to put down BJD fans a lot and try to paint them as unreasonable...despite still tagging all his insta posts with #bjd to this day?) It also made it sound like things Bjd fans like (In terms of facial sculpting) are lesser, and made me wonder if the amount of people who said she was the ‘only good’ Smartdoll sculpt annoyed him too much. Or maybe there was a falling out with her sculptor, assuming it was a different person given how different she looks.

EDIT: I managed to find the tweet because I remembered the ‘other girl‘ was Twilight and could search for it, the actual quote was ‘80% of our customers are first time doll owners. that sculpt is specifically for doll owners.’ So no he didn’t specify bjd fans but rather people who liked ‘other dolls’, and it’s still...a weird thing to say, and kinda confirms to me that the decision to axe her was specifically due to her sculpting. It also ties in with him prioritising new customers compared to keeping existing ones. (Ironic because I knew several people who didn’t own any large dolls and were planning to make Twilight their first because Ebony etc didn’t appeal, but it wasn’t the best time finance-wise)

Whatever happened, because of all that it’s hard not to read a disdain for the sculpt from him and thus also hard to not see the ‘here’s a Moonlight for you, but shes secondhand and over $2000’ as intentionally malicious, like a middle finger.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Monty
Correction

23 hours ago, Yumeiro said:

Might be going off-topic a bit... But how is the breakage situation and replacement parts, for dolls, in general? Is smartdoll the only vinyl brand that does not offer replacement parts? Granado/vindoll..?

I was just thinking of resin dolls, but I guess they are less prone to break, post transit...
Anyway, BJD companies tend to not sell replacement parts, but while being less strict, you do have to have purchased the doll directly from them, when asking for replacement parts..? Right..?

Actually, as long as you have a COA/headback to prove your doll is legit even if it's secondhand, I've had excellent luck getting in touch with some resin companies for replacements (Soom, specifically, but I've heard similar experiences with other companies).

The main issue for me is that his direct competitor does offer replacement parts, so I'm going to be comparing him to them. Reading over his updated warranty page, it appears he is getting better about allowing people to get replacement parts and possibly even if they're secondhand owners. I don't know when that updated, so apologies for my false assumptions. That is a great step in the right direction and I applaud him.

My concern is the frame.

The frame appears to have been originally designed to accommodate a robotic Mirai, so there's lots of room inside each part and particularly the chest for this. But it does mean that they break more easily. I've seen many failures in the smart doll spine and lower hip area in particular. This would make sense if the plan was to jam electronics into that chassis.

Because that was scrapped, I tend to think a smart doll frame redesign should be in consideration (in the torso at the least). Furthermore, dolfun has proven that motion can be greatly expanded in the hip and knee joints with minimal aesthetic impact. I would love to see that added to the current default design. That would be a bit of a game changer, especially because Doll Company Who Shall Not Be Named also has limited mobility there... Food for thought.

Danny: *replies to the one comment that wants Monday more, even though like the top 20 upvoted comments are all asking for Gemini*

Sounds about right.

(IF Volks ever releases basic versions of their DD/DDS males there's going to be trouble. Even though I've been in love with Gemini since he first was shown, I am seriously thinking that I would rather wait until we go to Japan in a few years and order a boy through Dream Choice than try to save up and hope I can jump on the SmD 24 preorder bs train.)   

I am a little worried about how frequent the preorders are. o_o Mostly because the Chitose version on preorder was really cute, but I'm worried that she won't have sold enough. (Don't know how much hype there was for her)

I might have been totally up for getting her if I had more time and money, but guessing the chance has passed me by ^^;;

(What if all the preorders do well just because people want to scalp potentially rare dolls. Just wondering...)

13 hours ago, sunlightandtea said:

My concern is the frame.

The frame appears to have been originally designed to accommodate a robotic Mirai, so there's lots of room inside each part and particularly the chest for this. But it does mean that they break more easily. I've seen many failures in the smart doll spine and lower hip area in particular. This would make sense if the plan was to jam electronics into that chassis.

Because that was scrapped, I tend to think a smart doll frame redesign should be in consideration (in the torso at the least). Furthermore, dolfun has proven that motion can be greatly expanded in the hip and knee joints with minimal aesthetic impact. I would love to see that added to the current default design. That would be a bit of a game changer, especially because Doll Company Who Shall Not Be Named also has limited mobility there... Food for thought.

More mobility would be awesome! It's always a draw for doll collectors 😄 (although tbh they need to do a better job of showing doll posability on the shop. They're all just standing there in the product pages. A little variety would be nice! Sell us an experience beyond 'girl can stand' haha)

I think that @Monty's point WRT Kurenai's sculpt is dead-on. Moonlight looks like a DDH through and through (I'm looking at her next to a DDH06 right now, as I type,) it's part of why so many people are drawn to her. Her face has DEPTH. LIKE IN THE SENSE OF HAVING PHYSICALLY APPARENTLY CHEEKBONES. Much as I love Smart Dolls, I frequently find myself... disheartened by the fact that their faces are flatter than a dinner plate, because it makes taking photos of them at an angle... well... let's just say most of my Smart Dolls are facing the camera. Moonlight is so photogenic because her face has angles that catch the light and create shadow and just, she's FUN to photograph, while Mirai and Ebony and everyone else, while still lovely, are so much more one-note. I would KILL for Danny to make more faces with angles, I was hoping we'd get that from the Semi-Real girls, but... it seems he's committed to the design aesthetic of heads shaped like the letter D. And that's his right, but I don't have to like it. OTL

He definitely seems... disdainful towards that sculpt, and never have I ever understood why. He knows by now that if it was rereleased, it would do well... and maybe that's why it bothers him. He's so committed to this particular design aesthetic of... uh, did he say it was the golden triangle when he explained why his doll's eyes are always slightly crossed in promo photos? Something like that- that the thought of something outside of those boundaries doing well might seem threatening, or like a slap in the face.

Me personally, I'd just be glad to be making money hand over fist. But as Danny's said, he 'isn't in it for the money'... 🤔

(Don't mind me I'm salty that I missed the prototype sales garage restock because now he's putting everything on the second page instead of the first. Not that I can afford anything in there anyway...)

I need more pics of SmD at angles. For research purposes.

Edited July 11, 2020 by monkeypizzasonic

2 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

I need more pics of SmD at angles. For research purposes.

Compared to a DD or just on their own?

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/collections/chaos-bundles-the-outlet-stuff/products/chaos-bundle-blank-heads

The blank heads... don't come with head caps... you have to pay 30 dollars for the head cap and the only one available right now is neon orange... doushite................

30 minutes ago, Mothiraffe said:

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/collections/chaos-bundles-the-outlet-stuff/products/chaos-bundle-blank-heads

The blank heads... don't come with head caps... you have to pay 30 dollars for the head cap and the only one available right now is neon orange... doushite................

There's someone on FB selling resin headcaps for the chaos heads for just £8. For those who can't access the link the group is called SMART DOLL AND DOLLFIE DREAM LOVERS (group name is all in caps).

https://m.facebook.com/groups/216146518930822?view=permalink&id=695916707620465