Lynn Posted May 29, 2021 Shiki Ichinose's pre-order start tomorrow, says Danny. She is not coming here, but I thought I'd let you know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisFhey Posted May 29, 2021 Huh, she's a Milk hybrid cortex. I thought they didn't make either of those anymore? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jezrah Posted May 29, 2021 She's been in the works for quite some time, so my guess would be that they held back cortex stock to use for her since it was already in the contract with the license holder that way. I would also speculate that the milk color may not be completely dead, but would only be used for collaboration dolls when requested by the license holder. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted May 29, 2021 7 minutes ago, Jezrah said: She's been in the works for quite some time, so my guess would be that they held back cortex stock to use for her since it was already in the contract with the license holder that way. This is probably akin to how Volks released collabs announced as DDIII on the DDIII even after the f3 was released, instead of just upgrading the body. I’m sure cost played a role in that, especially with Luka who had already been paid for before the f3 body came out. I’m curious about which LiPPS girl will be next, or if the iM@S collab will just quietly disappear without a word. If they do have another one in design we should see a prototype any time now. 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChrisFhey Posted May 29, 2021 Any idea why they'd opt for a Cortext hybrid though? I feel like those seams are rather unsightly. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted May 29, 2021 41 minutes ago, ChrisFhey said: Any idea why they'd opt for a Cortext hybrid though? I feel like those seams are rather unsightly. Early on Danny stated that the license specified Cortex, so it’s possible they might not have been able to negotiate a change with Namco. Among other things, Cortex was expected to be easier to mass produce and less expensive than vinyl allowing for more dolls and lower prices. It’s possible the quantities and prices specified in the license just don’t support full vinyl without significant renegotiation that Namco might have been unwilling to entertain. Hybrid is good in this case IMO, because Cortex bodies are no longer available. If you have a vinyl head and the Cortex body breaks, you should be able to source a new body that matches the head. 1 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AliensOfGold Posted May 29, 2021 I think all his licensed dolls were going to use full cortex, but since he crapped the bed with that whole product line it seems like he’s just using up what’s left. A new doll release in milk at this point is also pretty dangerous for the buyer because if it breaks out of warranty or you want option parts you’re stuffed. The asking price is also ridiculous. 79,000 yen (932 aussie bucks) for a half plastic half vinyl doll and no option for add-ons at all. On top of that the absolutely absurd hurdles you have to jump just to buy it. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miabird24 Posted May 30, 2021 Holy crap thats absurdly expensive, that's way over what most dollfie fullsets cost with more complex outfits... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted May 30, 2021 4 hours ago, AliensOfGold said: The asking price is also ridiculous. 79,000 yen (932 aussie bucks) for a half plastic half vinyl doll and no option for add-ons at all. Higher than the Volks Sailor Moon dolls ¥69,000 and most of them were f3. I think for ¥79,000 you got the doll and just about covered the school uniform. That’s assuming Shiki’s price doesn’t include taxes and shipping. 1 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
finnleo Posted May 30, 2021 having stumbled across this over twitter ... and I rarely comment on such matters in this direction, and I apologize in advance for anyone out to get one, but reactions were a bit strong. I know Shiki has a rather perticular mouth shape when her mouth is closed in the official card illustrations ... but holy cat-mouth duck-lips crossover, batman. almost makes you want to do a FMP/ABP bonta-girl though.... 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AliensOfGold Posted May 30, 2021 19 minutes ago, BeyondTime said: Higher than the Volks Sailor Moon dolls ¥69,000 and most of them were f3. I think for ¥79,000 you got the doll and just about covered the school uniform. That’s assuming Shiki’s price doesn’t include taxes and shipping. Shipping should be free if he still does that otherwise I think to send to my country it was around 6800 yen. Looking at some of the older licensed dolls she looks to be the most expensive to date. 10,000 more than Lelouch and 7000 more than the frame arms girl, but I can’t find a price for Nami. I’d say it’s just him finding another way to get some costs back from cleaning the sheets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abs2891 Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) I was going to say the latest snow miku came close at 75,680 but that was including tax - checked and Shiki’s price was pre so with tax she was 86,900 in Japan. But for international, the free shipping would probably equalize the price out for a lot of people. Though whether a half plastic/half vinyl should cost the same as full vinyl is a different debate. Edited May 30, 2021 by abs2891 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty Posted May 30, 2021 Did anybody get her? I’m only asking because the bizarre thing about needing to answer questions in English text is...really interesting to me. Isn’t that basicallylocking out the JP fan base for IM@s, or were the questions pretty easy for any human? (Not that’s smartdoll has a particularly big jp fan base, but surely there are at least some hardcore jp IM@s fans interested in obtaining any and all merch of Shiki...?) *twitter*instagram*art* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted May 30, 2021 33 minutes ago, Monty said: Did anybody get her? I’m only asking because the bizarre thing about needing to answer questions in English text is...really interesting to me. Isn’t that basicallylocking out the JP fan base for IM@s, or were the questions pretty easy for any human? (Not that’s smartdoll has a particularly big jp fan base, but surely there are at least some hardcore jp IM@s fans interested in obtaining any and all merch of Shiki...?) Unless their website set to only interrogate patrons from outside of Japan. 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted May 30, 2021 1 hour ago, AliensOfGold said: Looking at some of the older licensed dolls she looks to be the most expensive to date. 10,000 more than Lelouch and 7000 more than the frame arms girl, but I can’t find a price for Nami. I’ll contrast to the Uzuki Shimamura Smile & Treat version at ¥72,600. She has a really intricate outfit and a mic. Her school uniform added ¥9,800. 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DreamDollDesign Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, finnleo said: having stumbled across this over twitter ... and I rarely comment on such matters in this direction, and I apologize in advance for anyone out to get one, but reactions were a bit strong. I know Shiki has a rather perticular mouth shape when her mouth is closed in the official card illustrations ... but holy cat-mouth duck-lips crossover, batman. You said this way more politely than I want to. Edited May 30, 2021 by DreamDollDesign 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jezrah Posted May 30, 2021 Out of curiosity, what kind of questions are on the purity test? I haven't tried to order anything in a while and it wasn't there at that point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yuichan Posted May 31, 2021 Well, I bought her. Pretty much an impulse buy, since i've been interested in her since the first prototype pictures back in 2018, but over the years i really wasn't planning on getting a Smart doll ever. I'm kinda conflicted if i really made the right choice, since Danny's only been disappointing me with his actions since then. But well, here we are. After all though, im still happy about my Purchase. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yuichan Posted May 31, 2021 On 5/30/2021 at 6:58 AM, Monty said: Did anybody get her? I’m only asking because the bizarre thing about needing to answer questions in English text is...really interesting to me. Isn’t that basicallylocking out the JP fan base for IM@s, or were the questions pretty easy for any human? (Not that’s smartdoll has a particularly big jp fan base, but surely there are at least some hardcore jp IM@s fans interested in obtaining any and all merch of Shiki...?) I thought that as well, but no. The question was "kanade Hayami, Syuko Shiomi, Frederica Miyamoto, Shiki Ichinose and Mika Jougasaki form a Idol unit called?" (writing the full question here, since Danny said they'll change the question when they re-open orders for her, so i don't see a reason not to) Pretty much every fan of the franchise should know the Name, since its such a basic question. And even if not, it's literally just a 5 second search on google. Funny to me, apparently some die-hard Smart doll fans couldn't get her because they claimed the question was too hard and they couldn't find it out in time. Shiki was sold out in about 20 minutes, if anyone's been wondering about that though. I'm really wondering how many they're selling. On 5/30/2021 at 8:34 AM, Jezrah said: Out of curiosity, what kind of questions are on the purity test? I haven't tried to order anything in a while and it wasn't there at that point. Uhh, i quite dont remember them, but im pretty sure it was standard stuff? I might be wrong though since it was my first purchase there. It was stuff like if you read the before you buy and buyers guide, "you think that the customer is always in the right" and "i promise not to feed Smart dolls after Midnight". You needed to ofc checkmark everthing except the one that doesnt agree with his... philosophy. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baldylox Posted June 1, 2021 There was a question you had to answer specifically about the character Shiki. It asked what group she was in with some other Idol girls. The answer was LiPPS but it had to be typed in EXACTLY as I just did, with only the "i" in lower case. If you didn't answer that correctly then no doll for you. True, you could easily look that up on Google and find the answer but the trap was using the correct capitalization. Billy 2 I gave up counting the girls I own, they keep multiplying and won't stop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty Posted June 1, 2021 9 hours ago, Yuichan said: I thought that as well, but no. The question was "kanade Hayami, Syuko Shiomi, Frederica Miyamoto, Shiki Ichinose and Mika Jougasaki form a Idol unit called?" (writing the full question here, since Danny said they'll change the question when they re-open orders for her, so i don't see a reason not to) Pretty much every fan of the franchise should know the Name, since its such a basic question. And even if not, it's literally just a 5 second search on google. Funny to me, apparently some die-hard Smart doll fans couldn't get her because they claimed the question was too hard and they couldn't find it out in time. I still think the phrasing of that question would trip you up if you didn’t speak English as a first language, and even if you were ESL, the extra time needed to interpret what it’s actually asking puts you at a disadvantage. I was curious about this so I did some digging on jp twitter to see if there were many reactions to it. I didn’t find much (seems like a few people managed to get her though) but I did find something completely and utterly bizarre from Choo himself. This is the email he sent to JP buyers of Shiki. I assume it’s pnly JP buyers because I’m sure I would have heard about this if it was to English speaking buyers too. This is one of his ‘anti scalping measures’ and to be frank it left me speechless. ’Hello, I’m Danny! Thank you for choosing Smartdoll. Before we ship your order I need to confirm some things. This is to make sure Shiki Ichinose goes to mostly her fans and not resellers. Please take a photo of your Mika Jougasaki next to a device showing today’s smartdoll homepage. Please send the photo by tomorrow.’ In the tweet itself he says he will cancel and refund the orders that don’t reply. I have some degree of confidence with my Japanese reading ability but every now and then I read something that makes me completely doubt myself and I have to read it 5 times just to make sure I’m not misinterpeting and this is absolutely one of those times. Some points to consider/possible justifications about this: 1) He says that people -may- receive such an email, not that everyone will. It could be he’s only asking people he suspects of being resellers this. 2) The fact that this is Choo himself posting this outrageous email and not a surprised customer makes me wonder if it’s just extra kindling to entertain his ‘haters’ and the real email is different. 3) His tweet mentions needing a reply in a day or the order is cancelled, but does not specify if the reply needs a photo. It’s potentially even just bad humour from him and he doesn’t seriously require you to own a (now long sold out) doll in order to buy a new one (if you are Japanese) But even if it’s a joke, imagine receiving such an email. There’s nothing to indicate it could be a joke unless you’re familiar with his weird sense of humour, especially if you are Japanese, new to the brand etc. Even if it’s not a joke but more a method to extract a human reply (even if it’s ‘I dont own Mika, but I love Shiki, can i still have her?), it sounds so authoritative I can definitely imagine there are people that would panic and just not reply at all, thinking there’s no point because they don’t own a Mika, may as well just wait for the cancellation. also... One days notice! What if someone doesn’t even see the email in time? On the the other hand, if this really is what he’s asking JP fans for real, and owning a previous doll is a requirement...? I think that may actually be a new low and I’m sure anyone who has thought about it for more than 5 seconds can come up with a dozen reasons why someone who can’t produce such a photo at a moments notice/doesn’t own Mika does NOT mean the person is a reseller. (I’m suddenly imagining Volks asking everyone who ordered Meiko to show photos of all the previous Vocaloids to prove their worth as a fan lol) However its meant to be interpreted, the QRTs are raising the same concerns I have. (I checked them mainly because I still couldn’t believe what I was reading but they confirmed it for me...) things like ‘So you can’t buy her if you don’t have Mika??’ Someone else has pointed out that there are people who do not own cameras or computers and I everything with just a smartphone.. so how then will they take this photo of the webpage with Mika? (With a mirror, I guess? Which also seems kinda an invasion of privacy unless they censor themselves) 1 3 *twitter*instagram*art* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted June 1, 2021 4 minutes ago, Monty said: His tweet mentions needing a reply in a day or the order is cancelled, but does not specify if the reply needs a photo. It’s potentially even just bad humour from him and he doesn’t seriously require you to own a (now long sold out) doll in order to buy a new one (if you are Japanese) Possibly this email is only going to prior buyers of Mika in order to determine that she wasn’t resold, thus establishing that you aren’t buying just to resell. 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty Posted June 1, 2021 (edited) 12 minutes ago, BeyondTime said: Possibly this email is only going to prior buyers of Mika in order to determine that she wasn’t resold, thus establishing that you aren’t buying just to resell. That’s another potential justification - and I didn’t consider only Mika owners (ie people with Mika in their order history) would get this. But also I think it’s highly invasive and terrible. Reselling is for sure a stain on the community, but someone selling or parting with a doll doesn’t make them a reseller. There are a mountain of reasons someone could no longer have their Mika - they needed money for an emergency, they simply did not like the sculpt of the doll in person, they have limited space and had to downsize their collection, they hadn’t done much with her and saw someone who really wanted her had missed out so decided to send her to a better home, they bought her as a gift, she got lost or stolen or eaten by a dog, etc etc etc. For all he knows someone could have sold their Mika in order to afford Shiki. Not everyone can produce the money for large expensive dolls at the drop of a hat like he seems to think. edit: I have friends who live in different places to where their main doll collections live - ie at university, at a holiday home, or maybe their collection is split between their parents home and their own home (ie in the case someone moves for work). What if they do genuinely own Mika, but do not have her on hand to produce a photo at such short notice? Situations like this have happened with my friends (Or ‘sorry I can’t show you how X doll looks next to Y doll cos X doll is with me and Y doll is currently in another state’) the more I think about it the more ‘what ifs’ there are. Edited June 1, 2021 by Monty *twitter*instagram*art* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeyondTime Posted June 1, 2021 3 minutes ago, Monty said: But also I think it’s highly invasive and terrible. Agreed, and to be honest it’s starting to feel like it was easier to get cleared by the DOJ to do computer work for law enforcement than it is to buy a SmartDoll. I kid you not, I filled out an app and they did all the work without me even noticing. 2 1 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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shamrock Posted June 1, 2021 (edited) I can't see her product page. I assume it is only for those who have ordered SmDs before? Nevermind... I did a search and she is SOLD OUT! Wow! Edited June 1, 2021 by Shamrock crossed out outdated info Share this post Link to post Share on other sites