Volks News 87

The issue will be out 03/09, and the teaser thing with the topic list is up:

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/blog/2020/03/04/002210.html

Is the Tenshi no Sato Spring Fair something new or something done every year?

I think they've done several of them in years past. Not sure how far back, but it's definitely not new.

Pffft, a Volks-branded VISA! I guess you gotta pay for all the dolls with that, right?

2 hours ago, Gallye said:

Pffft, a Volks-branded VISA! I guess you gotta pay for all the dolls with that, right?

Since you get bonus reward points with every purchase made from Volks, there's no reason not to use it for doll purchases. Well, I can think of one reason. You'll go broke. 😅💸

I guess that's what this message is about that's on the store pages for each item:

Quote

Points： Points can be used for purchase

I assume that credit card is only for residents of Japan though, so why that is even on pages on the English version of the store I have no idea. Unless they intend to start doing something like Amiami's point system perhaps.

12 hours ago, cfx said:

I guess that's what this message is about that's on the store pages for each item:

I assume that credit card is only for residents of Japan though, so why that is even on pages on the English version of the store I have no idea. Unless they intend to start doing something like Amiami's point system perhaps.

Nah the points are available for VS members with a point card. There are two tiers, free (get a few points per purchase, volks news given to you free of charge if you went to a physical store and asked for it) and paid (1000 yen a year, get much more points per purchase plus volks news delivered to you free of charge). And I don’t know why the message was also there in English, likely just because they decided to translate everything. I sure wish we had them though. I miss racking up points because I was able to get several things basically free because of them , and could also spend them online if i wanted. Obviously it’s probably not feasible to send us all volks news due to the cost of international shipping but as you said a points system isn’t unheard of with other sites like amiami.

The VISA card they’ve had a while, I was always kinda tempted to sign up when I was there because they often had special contests for new signups, sometimes you could even win dolls, but I didn’t really trust myself with it lol. 

Tenshi no Sato/Mado do multiple fairs a year, usually it just involves changing the type of flowers on display as well as the coordinate models/one-offs for sale. 

Somehow seeing them talk about Dolpa info relatively normally gives me hope that it won’t be cancelled. I know it’s still early days and it’s nearly two months away, but...

Edited March 5, 2020 by Monty

Can someone fill me in on the importance of the Volks news? I think I read somewhere that only subscribers were eligible for some purchases or events.

Is this a Japan only thing? I try to go to Japan every other year or so. Is there any benefit to a foreigner living in the U.S. in buying a copy? Or...is it just the continual japanese obsession with print?

 

I'm not sure about for everyone else, but for me it's just that it's the source for news on Dollfie Dream stuff. Volks outfit and doll releases are timed around Dolpas and their other events, and the announcements of new items are typically in the magazine before they are anywhere else.

I've never bought the magazine before, but with Volks having less info online on outifts that will stay up over time, I may start to buy it to have as a reference.

I wish they were still doing the online version.

Edited March 9, 2020 by cfx

30 minutes ago, lardroom said:

Can someone fill me in on the importance of the Volks news? I think I read somewhere that only subscribers were eligible for some purchases or events.

Is this a Japan only thing? I try to go to Japan every other year or so. Is there any benefit to a foreigner living in the U.S. in buying a copy? Or...is it just the continual japanese obsession with print?

 

That’s true, every issue comes with an order form for a special limited item, typically hand parts (the parts to make DDs hold hands and the thumbs up hands are examples), eyes or wigs. You do need a Japanese address to be a member. VolksUSA tends to get these items but there’s no other way to get them. There are member exclusive events now and then (the Tokyo cruise probably the most glamorous example, there was the aquarium night too that they’re doing again this year) but I never went to any, mostly because there weren’t any in Kyushu while I was there.

Otherwise, it’s just nice getting al the latest info on upcoming clothes/events in an easily digestible format. It’s not the same if you buy it online and have to wait for shipping as by the time it arrives you probably already saw photos of it shared on twitter. For a free magazine it’s quite decent quality though and is just nice to have, although I had to get rid of most of my issues when I moved back to Australia, I only kept the ones that had the info on SDC Renee and DD Luka. (Would have loved to have an issue with the info for 2B and 9S but squeenix kinda messed that up and it ended up as a pamphlet separate to volks news)

if you mean the importance for this forum, it’s just a convenient way to group clothing releases. Edit: although some issues do contain exciting info and news for DDs, like certain body parts becoming standard etc.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Monty

I get the historical documentation aspect. A lot of the links to what appears to be official volks sites turn up empty and deleted.

I was wondering about perks of the Volks News, really. Tying it to exclusive items makes perfect sense for a japanese company.

34 minutes ago, lardroom said:

A lot of the links to what appears to be official volks sites turn up empty and deleted.

As Volks overhauls their various websites, links are being broken but a lot of stuff is just going away, and going forward it appears they aren't going to have the same kind of information available. Here's the page for the February 2019 outfit collection, with multiple pictures of each outfit and a picture showing all the pieces you get with each:

https://www.volks.co.jp/dress/1902/en/

And here's what we got for this year:

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/event/dress/2002.html

A single picture of each item, and a link to the webstore where there are other pictures. The problem with this is, items are removed from the webstore completely after they sell out, so in the future there won't be the kind of historical information online for older stuff that there is now.

The last Dolpa is the same way, just a picture of each item, and in that particular case, an error or oversight where two outfits aren't even on the Dolpa page.

Not everyone cares of course, but I spent a lot of time going through things like that when I started in this hobby a little over two years ago. I'd find some outfit on Mandarake and want to know what it was or what it looked like. If it came out after 2010 or so, Volks still had information on it. That's no longer going to be true. 😕

27 minutes ago, cfx said:

The problem with this is, items are removed from the webstore completely after they sell out, so in the future there won't be the kind of historical information online for older stuff that there is now.

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding. I'm presuming you mean mainly keeping track via the VOLKS website, however I feel compelled to mention that MyFigureCollection does add volks outfits/clothing pieces to their databases. Granted, I'm not sure how completed it is but a quick search shows it does go as far back as 2006 with details on the sets so there's definitely a considerable amount there and worth noting imo. Despite how much I'm not a fan of the site layout.

Volks News 87 is going to be delayed, and its new release date is yet to be announced.

Volks have just released a statement on the status of Dolpa re: the coronavirus issue.

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/blog/2020/03/06/002231.html

Apparently, they are going to conduct a web questionaire about Dolpa because they want to hear fans opinions on whether the event should go ahead. 

From the press release they sound very reluctant to cancel. Note that Dolpa does fall outside the time period the Japanese government declared for event cancellation (any events until March 15th) - its on April 26th, so if the situation is under control before then it shouldn't be an issue. However, things are very unpredictable and if they really do have to cancel, I would hope they give people notice. I think the survey will go up after this mentioned period.

EDIT: If Volks news isnt coming out until this survey is done and amendments need to be made to it, we might not see it until the end of the month...

Edited March 6, 2020 by Monty

4 hours ago, Monty said:

If Volks news isnt coming out until this survey is done and amendments need to be made to it, we might not see it until the end of the month...

Number one most important thing is that people are safe, so I can wait for Volks News.

I can't say I'm that surprised by this. But I agree, safety for their team and attendees should come first.

16 hours ago, Conuresans said:

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding. I'm presuming you mean mainly keeping track via the VOLKS website, however I feel compelled to mention that MyFigureCollection does add volks outfits/clothing pieces to their databases. Granted, I'm not sure how completed it is but a quick search shows it does go as far back as 2006 with details on the sets so there's definitely a considerable amount there and worth noting imo. Despite how much I'm not a fan of the site layout.

I've kept track of a lot of stuff I've snagged for DD on MFC.  But the entries were spotty even when whoever was adding entries was doing it diligently.  In the past couple of years, entries have become extremely irregular.  Maybe it's gotten better in the past 12 months or so, but I pretty much quit bothering because I couldn't find any of the newer stuff in the MFC database.  Plus, I know there are even older items with releases within the past 5 years which never got added.  

So it's certainly useful, but not complete by any means.

 

That was my experience looking for stuff there as well.

On 3/6/2020 at 1:21 AM, Conuresans said:

I'm not sure how completed

Very incomplete. And also some items like spare pieces like hands etc are not allowed in the database.
The dollfie dream licensed outfits are complete though, but if in every clothing collection are 20 items, only 4 or so are added to the database if some user is interested in adding it (like owning it).

There was also the discussion about MDD being 1/3 or 1/4 scale so MDD items are randomly in one or the other category (or in neither)

 

Back on topic, the cod19 survey in nice they’re asking the members their opinions.

The survey is now up. I'm not sure how relevant it is to most of this forum but if you were considering going at all your feedback does count. They do include other countries after all. I assume basic english answers are ok seeing as its open to all countries and you have to select your country. 

https://ws.formzu.net/fgen/S4911908/

It will run until the 18th, which is shorter than I expected (I'm kinda glad for that).

The autotranslator is there, and you can...kind of understand what its saying, but its really terrible english so just to be sure the answers are:

1)
-Dolpa should go ahead, I plan to participate.
- Dolpa should be postponed, my participation is undecided.
- Dolpa should be cancelled, I will not participate.

4)
- I have participated in every Dolpa/Owners event without fail
- I participate in Dolpa sometimes/when I can.
-I have never been to a Volks event

And then at the end theres an option to go in the draw to win...one of those little Shige bears. If you select yes, you have to provide an address.

 

This was a very tough decision for me. I've been looking forward to this event for months, I've been counting down the days. But in the end I thought the most responsible thing would be to postpone it. However, in the free text space I wrote that this is only my own thoughts and that the overall judgement shouldnt be only our (fans) decision, it should be the decision of Volks/the Japanese government.

 

Its interesting that they have pricing info for tickets already though. edit: also noticed the X-passes are going back to lottery which is a wise decision.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Monty

Is there any update on this? I looked at the Dolpa 43 page but I can't read enough to know if there's any new info there.

I can't go to Dolpa, but I'm curious when the magazine will be out.

41 minutes ago, cfx said:

Is there any update on this? I looked at the Dolpa 43 page but I can't read enough to know if there's any new info there.

I can't go to Dolpa, but I'm curious when the magazine will be out.

After the survey deadline passed, they announced they’ll update us on the status of Dolpa ‘at the end of March’. So within the next 5 days (remember ‘end of -month-‘ does regularly mean literally the last day of the month in japan.)

I don’t know what will happen if it’s cancelled - the info in Volks News wouldn’t be correct anymore and would need to be redone, and who knows how long that would take. There would be time though considering the after event would presumably go ahead still (even if it’s only online, if volks ends up having to close stores) and isn’t presumably until late May.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Monty

Dolpa 43 is cancelled:

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/news/notice/20200327_01.html

"Dolpa Online" event will be April 26.

A separate leaflet is being prepared to correct the now-wrong information in Volks News, and a date for its release isn't announced yet.

If there is more, someone who understands Japanese better than me will have to post that.

 

The page is up with the Volks News table of contents:

https://www.volks.co.jp/cs/news/20200304_01.html

Edited March 27, 2020 by cfx

Honestly, I'm kind of relieved. Things were definitely getting worse and worse this month and it feels like its only the beginning of this 'worse' in Japan. It makes sense that its cancelled and not postponed, too, because theres no way of knowing yet when things will calm down and it would be kind of silly to postpone it to a date too close to the August event.

The online Dolpa sounds interesting - they'll be doing the usual auction event as well as the SD one-offs and lotteries. It also says 'Dollfie Best Selection', so I assume its still continuing for SD (unless theres a surprise DD appearance), which is also a relief because I want a rerelease of the bigger boys and SDCutes! that tyltyl release did NOT count grumble grumble

There's also a 'Dolpa Online DokiDoki Lottery', whatever that is! Plus 'New product surprise announcements'. The next Disney princess? (Cinderella was already confirmed to release in August) Maybe the announcement of which new SD doll idea won in the Best Selection? Maybe something DD releated?

I'm really really interested in what will happen... I think this is probably a first for Volks! The big question will be whether these online lotteries will be open to everyone or not. I hope they space all the events out well because I'm kind of dreading what will happen to the site...

Unfortunately no release date for Volks News yet, but I'm expecting to see it early April - an online event doesnt take as much preparation for participants though and thus its not as necessary to get it out ASAP, so it could even be mid April.

I would think they'd do more of the SD Best rereleases this year. They were divided up into only four voting categories, but some of those included a lot of dolls and doll types. There was the full-size SD Girl group, full-size SD Male group, the "Yo" group (boys and girls) and mini group (boys and girls).

Considering how many different SD guy dolls were all combined together, surely they would release something else besides Tyltyl, considering how that was done.

I'm expecting some DD besides Sakura since a single release is uncommon, and of course outfits.

I'm wondering if there will be an Idolmaster DD this year, because July 26, 2020 is the 15th Anniversary of Idolmaster. Maybe Ranko was it, but I'd have expected the 15th logo to be on her box and it isn't that I noticed.

The online Dolpa sounds intriguing. 

 

4 hours ago, cfx said:

I'm wondering if there will be an Idolmaster DD this year, because July 26, 2020 is the 15th Anniversary of Idolmaster.

It seems likely that they will do some sort of collaboration with some of Namco's planned events.

Edited March 27, 2020 by BeyondTime