The Facebook debacle & other issues

8 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Yes from the game Xenosaga.  https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/dd/model/ddb-clm-0079.html

 

Oh okays.   thanks   didn't know that was a thing. 

Re: smartdoll faces, I think that confession was referring to the fact that, at least in the early dolls, smartdoll faces faded bizarrely fast, and they probably thought that was a problem that still persists. I remember people who had the OG release of Kizuna mentioning that her pink blushing on her face and lips had faded within a year or two of getting her, and I was able to see that comparing their photos after they first unboxed her to their ‘recent’ ones (this was a few years back.) I got curious and looked at a few other pics and really noticed Mirai and Kizuna in particular definitely seemed to have unstable pigment (the pink colours at least). Given that I have seen plenty of ye olde DDs from yesteryear with intact blushing, I assumed it was something related to how the smartdoll faceups were done specifically…. Back then, anyway. 

Nowadays it doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore - I have seen photos of smartdolls released 2 years ago that still look the same as the day they were unboxed, so I assume the problem was fixed, and likely a while back. Note that I don’t know if the problem affected -all- first gen smartdolls or just a bunch of them though.

^ speaking of Smart doll face ups, I must say that whatever Danny did, it was good.

Volks face ups are so easy to remove, it usually takes me less than 1 minute to remove a default Volks DD face up while with the smart doll I recently got, the face was so hard to remove it took me like an hour and there was no staining once removed. 

The SmD face up I got was vibrant and very difficult to remove, it really impressed me so I think those face ups will last for a long time. 

...and there was no rubbing off, I touched the face with my bare fingers with no problem because I was going to remove the face up anyway and the face up was intact. I don't think SmD owners have to be afraid of taking their dolls outside without a protector. 

Edited August 24, 2021 by jazijaz

12 hours ago, Katsudon said:

Posting here to ask about a thing posted on tbc, and as tbc is kinda unreliable as hell, I wondered if there was any stock in it. Basically, someone said Smart Doll faceups rub off, particularly the blushing. Has this happened to anyone? Or is this just more debacle?

I'm thinking that if it's a risk, then I'll just pick up an SD sized face protector. Because people don't go outside with their bjds' faces unprotected, so why risk it with my Smart Doll! 🙃

Edit: if it was posted somewhere more reliable I'd dignify that question with a thread of its own. But seeing the fallout from the mold thing on there makes me think this is not necessarily the most reliable of sources. Also I'm guessing it's more likely to effect people who take their dolls out and about, because of the friction of doll-on-bag.

Thanks my lovely wasabis! 😘

(Note for the uninitiated: tbc = true bjd confessions)

Dear heck, don't remind me of the mold thing. xD I recently posted a TBC to explain the whole thing which got posted last night so hopefully all the assumptions will die down now.

 

Re Smartdoll faces: Smartdoll seriously has one of the most sturdy faceups that I have run into as a face-up artist. That stuff is hard to remove and I am glad it is because I never managed to rub anything off either. Unlike my resins. Smartdoll doesn't seem to use MSC as a sealant but something else which is a lot more safe. My SmD boy just gets stuffed in a bag without any face protection and he never got damaged. 

Older dolls (first gen Mirai and Kizuna) had blush fading but that has more to do with time and light than with any rubbing. And that is easily fixable if you have a can of MSC and some pastels. 

6 hours ago, WorldofBJD said:

Older dolls (first gen Mirai and Kizuna) had blush fading but that has more to do with time and light than with any rubbing. And that is easily fixable if you have a can of MSC and some pastels. 

I remember seeing some of the older girls with faded blush for sure, but didn't dawn on me that there could be such a simple fix. Learn something new every day in this hobby.

2 hours ago, Deyja said:

I remember seeing some of the older girls with faded blush for sure, but didn't dawn on me that there could be such a simple fix. Learn something new every day in this hobby.

I learn stuff all the time, about the bjd / smd comm.   it dazzles me

9 hours ago, WorldofBJD said:

Dear heck, don't remind me of the mold thing. xD I recently posted a TBC to explain the whole thing which got posted last night so hopefully all the assumptions will die down now.

 

Re Smartdoll faces: Smartdoll seriously has one of the most sturdy faceups that I have run into as a face-up artist. That stuff is hard to remove and I am glad it is because I never managed to rub anything off either. Unlike my resins. Smartdoll doesn't seem to use MSC as a sealant but something else which is a lot more safe. My SmD boy just gets stuffed in a bag without any face protection and he never got damaged. 

Older dolls (first gen Mirai and Kizuna) had blush fading but that has more to do with time and light than with any rubbing. And that is easily fixable if you have a can of MSC and some pastels. 

Haha I tried to get them to stfu about the """"mold"""" there but it didn't stick. XD For real, your post about it was super helpful. It's always good to know what to look out for.

Aaaand that's a relief! Thanks to everyone else too! 🥰 I've not had to remove a Smart Doll faceup yet, so I'll prepare for that being a challenge. It's good to know they've changed their pigments to more lightfast ones too. Whew, debacle over!

 

He basically just wants gold-stars at this point, it seems
Few would take pride in banning customers, I'd think...

50 minutes ago, Yumeiro said:

He basically just wants gold-stars at this point, it seems
Few would take pride in banning customers, I'd think...

Looking at his tweet it made me think: ESL is a thing too. 

I feel like I can kind of...not justify, but understand the thought process behind his behavior?

I'm self employed, definitely not in the same industry or level of success as Danny, but earlier in my career I had an issue where I'd almost get...annoyed when a client requested something that I either wouldn't do or couldn't do. Sometimes a client would politely inquire about something that I'd already explicitly said I don't do. And instead of just rolling with it, saying no and moving on, I'd just let it eat away at me until the annoying clients were all I could think about, even if they only accounted for like 2% of my consumer base, and my work would suffer across the board as a result. I would feel so...disrespected by the perceived (and often actual) rudeness, and maybe even a little insecure that I wasn't skilled enough in my craft to do everything, that I would let it consume me, which manifested as unproductive contempt. 

I've had moments where I'd get so close to editing my ads until they're just a continuous list of things I don't do, in the hopes of avoiding the 2% of people that will end up 'wasting my time' in the end. It's almost a form of deliberate self-sabotage.

I struggle with depression and anxiety, and sometimes it feels so incredibly difficult to do normal things- and my emotional response to conflict is often a reflection of that level of difficulty, even if the conflict isn't actually my fault and even if I know that my reaction is irrational.

The big difference here being....my consumer base wasn't/isn't large enough for me to be able to avoid introspection without losing my job, so I had to figure this out much earlier in my career lol. 

Ofc I don't know Danny's life, but I can't imagine this behavior is emotionally fulfilling and it seems to me like it's really eating at him, just from the way every aspect of his brand has become an outlet for the contempt he feels for his consumers- instead of a project that does good and makes him feel good. 


ETA: This isn't really in response to the head thing above, moreso just Danny's general behavior especially with regards to him banning customers and anyone who criticizes him or complains about anything at all lol. I have felt this way about his behavior for a while but avoided posting this comment, because I don't want to seem like I'm trying to armchair diagnose or project onto him, rather just providing an insight about why some people might engage in this kind of behavior. 

Edited August 27, 2021 by Mizuumi-no-Otome

As someone who worked in retail for a bit... I get it. Maybe not banning (explain once and be done with it, ban on repeated offenses), but it's on the customer to make sure they read and understand all the fine print - and I don't think ESL can be the reason if the phrase is literally "head only". That being said... people are stupid, and people don't read (guilty as charged, bought an IKEA nightstand without checking the material and guess what, it's not the material I would have wanted -.-).

I think the assumption here is that the customer will try to force Smart Doll to send them the whole doll? Which I imagine might be difficult to deal with, either they have to return it for the refund or they start the smear campaign? I don't know. I wonder how many people it was, I suspect some folks might just as well mean one person.

Sigh. Okay. In fairness to the customer - well, maybe not fairness, but I understand where the customer is coming from, because this is actually a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I strongly dislike when sellers post pictures of stuff not included in the sale. It's like - you know I want everything in the picture. Why would you post it, if it's not included in the sale? 

I've screwed up a couple times doing this, especially on eBay, when sometimes you have to buy quickly before others do. And, um, if I recall correctly, isn't that sort of an issue with SmD? That stuff sells out quickly? And doll resellers are especially notorious for this tactic. I'll see what many would consider a grail purchase (e.g., Poppy Parker anything from Integrity Toys, or any of the older Robert Tonner Cami and Jon dolls) for a price that would be excellent if it included the doll and the outfit. It's only when you scroll all the way down to the bottom that you see "outfit only. Doll not included." Now - I did NOT leave any bad reviews, or return any of my purchases. I didn't express so much as a whiff of disappointment anywhere online, because it was my fault for not catching it. 

But still grumble grumble grumble my lizard brain sees what I think is a great price, and I hit that "buy" button. It's only when I receive the item that I realize my mistake. And yeah - it's my mistake for not looking more closely. But still. The small toddler inside me kicks rocks and grumbles that the sales picture was misleading. 

8 minutes ago, Mizuumi-no-Otome said:

every aspect of his brand has become an outlet for the contempt he feels for his consumers

That was my thought exactly. It's what bothers me the most about Smartdoll - everything he writes lately, whether it's a post about bans, an announcement on the latest chaos items, even the stories he posts with each new girl that comes out...they're all absolutely dripping with this undercurrent of contempt. And the tongue in cheek jokey tone he writes them in only makes them worse.

The It's Chaos, Jim bundles really rubbed me the wrong way because the way they were described really felt like he was almost mocking the buyers. Like, "Look! We swept a bunch of stuff off our tables into a box, taped it up, and it's $300! (And you're gonna buy it anyways.)"

It makes me more sad than anything else. The bits and pieces I've heard about SmD's early days and Danny pre-CJ sound like he was so much happier and actually enjoying every part of the process. Now...he needs a long vacation from everything, social media included, and a customer service team that can handle the craziest parts of dealing with the public. Whatever contact he has with customers clearly isn't doing his mental health any favors.

3 hours ago, Yumeiro said:

 

He basically just wants gold-stars at this point, it seems
Few would take pride in banning customers, I'd think...

the 💫 stars have fallen.     idk anymore...  
 

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Looking at his tweet it made me think: ESL is a thing too. 

ESL?

2 hours ago, MaleficentMrsofEvil said:

when sometimes you have to buy quickly before others do. And, um, if I recall correctly, isn't that sort of an issue with SmD? That stuff sells out quickly?

This
When the items are limited, there is going to be a rush. And if you have a wall of text without easily discernable information, I don't blame people - or call them stupid - for skipping in this case. It's a bad layout! And bad planning.
NOW it says "(head only)" on the sales, it did NOT before. How hard would that have been to add?? It just seem like he's baiting people to make hasty mistakes, so that he can post about his woes.
(and with those prices for chaos-grade heads... another reason as for why I don't blame people for thinking it might have been for a whole doll)

2 hours ago, Oculae said:

That was my thought exactly. It's what bothers me the most about Smartdoll - everything he writes lately, whether it's a post about bans, an announcement on the latest chaos items, even the stories he posts with each new girl that comes out...they're all absolutely dripping with this undercurrent of contempt. And the tongue in cheek jokey tone he writes them in only makes them worse.

And this, again
I'd rather see some GOOD or POSITVE posts! He has the power and reach to do good, yet.......
So what if he's had to ban 3-4 people today because they didn't read properly. I'd think such an announcement would be made if a large amount of people did something actually bad, that properly justifies a ban.
Ban info. fits better in one of his walls of text.
"But then people will not read it... I won't get my good chemical/clout..."
 

40 minutes ago, wishbearstar said:

ESL?

English as a Secondary Language

Edited August 27, 2021 by Yumeiro

Maybe I'm really not in the "CEO mindset" but 300+ USD for a mask painted doll head is absolutely f***ing absurd. Either he's not doing as great as he wants us to believe or the "I'm not in it for the money" hogwash is just that. 

Edited August 28, 2021 by IgelFullmetal

22 minutes ago, IgelFullmetal said:

Maybe I'm really not in the "CEO mindset" but 300+ USD for a mask painted doll head is absolutely f***ing absurd. Either he's not doing as great as he wants us to believe or the "I'm not in it for the money" hogwash is just that. 

could be.     

29 minutes ago, IgelFullmetal said:

Maybe I'm really not in the "CEO mindset" but 300+ USD for a mask painted doll head is absolutely f***ing absurd. Either he's not doing as great as he wants us to believe or the "I'm not in it for the money" hogwash is just that. 

$350 for a head with no head cap might just be an industry first. he's an innovator 🤣. Seriously though, the rate at which smart doll prices are rising is crazy. Maybe the company is having issues? Who knows. 

3 hours ago, magique said:

the rate at which smart doll prices are rising is crazy. Maybe the company is having issues?

Supply vs. demand is the most likely reason. This could just be due to COVID shortages and labor limitations though. 

8 hours ago, Oculae said:

It makes me more sad than anything else. The bits and pieces I've heard about SmD's early days and Danny pre-CJ sound like he was so much happier and actually enjoying every part of the process. Now...he needs a long vacation from everything, social media included, and a customer service team that can handle the craziest parts of dealing with the public. Whatever contact he has with customers clearly isn't doing his mental health any favors.

I completely feel this. Back when I found out about Smart Dolls and realized that I could afford to buy one, I was in love with his company, his ethics, morals...everything. Didn't consider DDs at the time, because I didn't care for their appearance and Danny's company 'seemed' so down to earth. I'm not someone who will go to extremes and throw out everything I own just because I disagree with a company's change of direction or what they support, but my Smart Dolls felt polluted to me after hearing and witnessing all the garbage Danny was spewing. I couldn't look at my girls and be happy, so I sold them and got addicted to DDs instead after all. Volks is by no means a perfect company, but I've never seen a company so combative as Danny and his tactics. I hate his company and his ideals now, but I really hope the mean gets the help he needs if that is an issue. He must be wound tighter than a spring to focus so many sheeps on things that SHOULDN'T be important.

So, one person writes support a stupid question. I get the frustration, as I worked customer service 9 years roughly. A lot of people are jerks, but there are more good people than bad. I never ever treated anyone the way he is treating customers right now save one for time where I blew up at a guy and swore at him. I apologized profusely after, and we were okay.

If it truly isn't about the money, Danny, then maybe you should focus your hobbies elsewhere, because the vinyl 1/3 doll industry is clearly causing you quite a bit of grief that doesn't need to be.

17 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Looking at his tweet it made me think: ESL is a thing too. 

Do you mean that you think Danny’s has English as a second language? Pardon me if I misunderstood the comment, but his primary language is English because he was born and raised in London. 

3 hours ago, Misheru said:

Do you mean that you think Danny’s has English as a second language? Pardon me if I misunderstood the comment, but his primary language is English because he was born and raised in London. 

I think meant a customer, who may not have English as a second language.   not Mr. C himself.   

3 hours ago, Misheru said:

Do you mean that you think Danny’s has English as a second language? Pardon me if I misunderstood the comment, but his primary language is English because he was born and raised in London. 

No, I think his own comments about people not understanding “head only” fail to recognize that some of his buyers may not speak / read English even though they may come from English speaking countries. 

18 hours ago, IgelFullmetal said:

Maybe I'm really not in the "CEO mindset" but 300+ USD for a mask painted doll head is absolutely f***ing absurd. Either he's not doing as great as he wants us to believe or the "I'm not in it for the money" hogwash is just that. 

Sorry to poke my head in here, I've just been having fun reading until now. But SmD definitely is not making waves within the vinyl community when it comes to money (in comparison to other companies). Not to scoff at the buying power of 'The West', but Danny has closed his brand off to the single biggest buying community: China. He was caught posting to a forum disparaging remarks about the Chinese community and has basically been blacklisted by Chinese hobbyists. It's why you probably have to think very, very, VERY hard to come up with a Chinese hobbyist that owns a Smart Doll. And while there are a few Japanese hobbyists who own Eiji (was that the name of the first boy release?) because of the novelty of a vinyl boy body, and maybe another sculpt here or there, Japan will always be most loyal to Volks.

Overseas hobbyists are fairly well known in other communities to pay more for doll related item (because we have to), so Smart Doll prices are likely at least in part influenced by that alone.