FFXIV DDS Alphinaud & Alisaie Leveilleur

My wallet is sighing in relief, as we'll pass on those two. I don't know too much about Final Fantasy, but I am a huge fan of IV's soundtrack. It was the first song I downloaded via Napster back in 2000. It has a nice retro feel and lately I've also been getting into Touhou music.

So Volks seem to like Frieren so much they're going all in on elves.

And yes Frieren only has elf ears unlike Asuna Titania and Kirika Towa Alma. I'm not sure about Kirika but Asuna needed to have regular ears since she's only an elf in the game, not irl.

My Frieren's ears have not yet fallen off. Strangely neither have Pureneemo's Asuna's either, despite just being tacked onto her regular ears with blu-tac.

If I were to guess, Square Enix has total control of all media releases concerning their collabs. This happened with 2B, 9S, and Y'shtola. SE communicated the product, time frame, and pricing. Then Volks followed on with their own marketing campaign. 

I suspect we'll follow a similar pattern as Y'shtola. She was announced during a Producer Live Letter during the product showcase section. Shortly after she was available to preorder from the various SE stores. Volks then followed on with their own ordering process. 

As there was not a live letter during FanFest, we will probably have to wait a few weeks before the next one is scheduled. My speculation is that it'll be after the release of patch 6.55 part 2 on Jan 16, as the next PLL will be focused on details for stuff between the patch and the expansion pack release in summer. 

On 1/7/2024 at 8:50 AM, mizya said:

I've never understood why Volks is allergic to making permanent elf ears for their vinyl dolls (because they do have resin dolls with long elf ears)

Unless there's releases I'm not aware of with actual normal elf ears... The Volks resin elf ear sculpts (Fairy heads) had the peg system. Literally an older version of what Frieren got. You can see it on all of the Fairy heads and the optional ear pieces- the head just has holes to insert them. Here's a website showing the optional SD FCS ears (now discontinued), including the elf ears: Neo Angel Den - Volks FCS - SD Boy/Girl FCS - Ears (ningyobingo.com) As far as I'm aware, Irvin and Kaelin used this system as well (considering I've seen them earless on Mandarake from time to time). 

I'm not a fan of the twins personally, although all of my favourites are Lalafell or Au Ra anyway. It would be nice if this was paired with a Shtola rerun, but that seems unlikely. I'm definitely skipping the twins regardless, I honestly find them just as annoying now as they were in ARR lol. Alisaie's sculpt is very nice though, I wonder if they're actually the same head? Either way, her makeup is definitely a step up from the horrors of 2B and 9S default. Maybe Volks has found a better way to do their semi-realistic head paint masks.

Edited January 8 by Emil

12 hours ago, mizya said:

Well, when I say that DDS size is too tall for the twins, I mean it in comparison to DD Y'shtola. In comparison to mine or anyone else's WoL the point would be moot because someone's WoL might be a lalafell, and even a max height lala will still be shorter than the twins. So personally I'm concerned with how the twins look next to Y'shtola, and possible other Scions they might make as dolls in the future. I linked a visualisation that I posted on twitter in my previous post: here. When we look at the game models, the twins' shoulder level is around the halfway point of Y'shtola's upper arms, while Dollfie Dream Sister's shoulders are almost at the same level as a Dollfie Dream's shoulders.

Yeah, I understood when I saw the pictures. I was more commenting on how my impression of their height was off because I forgot that my "personal" frame of reference is smaller than my real-world one. 

I agree that they should have been DDP. As soon as I saw them announced I was hoping they would be but knowing how neglected the body is by Volks I just knew they would be DDS. A shame. They will look really wrong scale-wise if you have them next to Y'shtola. 

Besides that they're gorgeous dolls. A shame of all the pleather on Alisae though. I wish Volks would stop using it knowing it disintegrates into oblivion. But I guess they still rather have accuracy above lasting. 

I really love the twins and would love to bring both home. Which really stresses me. I'm one of those people who can't split twins and I would definitely need to have both. Not sure how I'm going to afford the both of them if they're anything close to Y'shtola's price range, which I'm confident they will be.

I do not play this particular FF game, but they are cute. I got Y'shtola without knowing the character because I like her look. The semi-real DDs are so neat to me! I really like the boy, but with both Nier dolls and Y'shtola already at home, not sure I can justify him if he is priced like 2B or Y'shtola. Waiting for info always bites.

I never thought in my life I would want another doll from Volks my lone DD has always been enough Volk fore me. However if I don't at least get Alphie I will regret it forever. He's my favorite FF14 NPC and what kept me from quitting game back in ARR when I was thinking of giving up on it. 

Due to only doing main story with my S.O who doesn't have a lot of free time for gaming, I'm stuck in Shadow Bringers even though we have both been playing since just about the time HW was starting or about to come out. To make up for not going beyond where my S.O. is in plot, I now have 40 alts. My main few WoLs were me just remaking my favorites of my gaming PCs in yet another MMORPG with yet another back story tweak. As such having long ago shelled their main timeline versions in resin, I technically already have not one, but at least nine WoLs. Needless to say at least a few of those being SD scale will be the right size to hang out with the twins in scale to the size Volks is making them. 

In a perfect world and with luck I'll be able to get both of them, but if not I'm going to at least try for Alphie as again he's my favorite. 💙

they are absolutely beautiful! i’m still crying over missing out on y’shtola

I'm so excited for more news about these two! My husband says he'll buy Alisaie which leaves Alphinaud to me! We also just got the two cutest brother/sister kitten pair that we named after the twins so it's destiny!

On 1/7/2024 at 9:50 AM, mizya said:

When they released Y'shtola, I said to myself that if they make dolls of the twins, I'll 100% get them because they're my children and I love them (my WoL has adopted them). I was super hyped until I learned that they're Sister, 'cause that's too tall. 😭 Pretty would have been a much better size for them, in my opinion.

It seems like Volks has abandoned DDP.

That stinks... But then again, I don't think we had evidence Volks cared about DDP for a while....

13 hours ago, That_Dollfie_Dude said:

It seems like Volks has abandoned DDP.

I think the big question is do they use the 2.0 renewal to retire the DDP, or do they release an updated doll that is more differentiated from MDD 2.0. 

I feel insane because while I loved the twins while I played, I don't really care for the actual dolls too much? But I wanna buy Alisae just to customize into another video game character because it's so hard finding semi-realistic vinyl sculpts lol, and the expression and eye size is what I'm looking for so I wouldn't even need to mod. 

I do hope they release more info soon though so I know how to budget for it! ;_;

I'm the same way, I don't know much about FF14, but i am down for a semi realistic elf DD.
I hope it's not like a 1.5 year wait after announcement like the nier dolls were...

For me, I'm more interested in the outfit and accessories.

I know the hunt for it is going to be hard after release

(╥_╥)

 

1 hour ago, bahboh said:

I'm the same way, I don't know much about FF14, but i am down for a semi realistic elf DD.
I hope it's not like a 1.5 year wait after announcement like the nier dolls were...

I'm thinking they will be the preorders, so potentially up to a year from September 2024. 

I assume that the Let's Dollfie Dream book will be the first look at photos of the twins, so we probably won't see photos until sometime after July the 2nd - when the book ships out - at the earliest. So yeah, agreeing with @BeyondTime that they'll most likely be an autumn pre-order.

I'm still disappointed by their size and the big head treatment that Kagamine Rin & Len also got (and based on some owner photos that I've seen, DDS Frieren also has quite a big head to emulate DDP-like proportions - that's another doll I would've thought was gonna be DDP size), but I'm still curious to see official photos of them. The FFXIV dev team is pretty good at listening to community feedback (just recently they've addressed the playerbase's concerns over the graphics upgrade affecting their characters' appearance), but it probably won't extend to these dolls since it's a collab project with Volks. ^^; 

I honestly feel a bit disappointed with Volks at their reluctance to make boy bodies in all the different sizes that they have. DD boy is basically just an elongated version of DDS boy (okay, the hips and thighs' circumference is slightly bigger too, but mostly it's just longer limbs) so they don't have much variety between their existing two boy bodies either. And you still can't even buy spare parts for the boys. Back when Kagamine Len was announced, I saw some people saying that they'll just put Len on a girl body and call it a day, and I defended Volks saying "they're not going to half-ass the release, surely they're making a boy body" and I was happy to see that they delivered. But since then there's only been the kinda disappointing release of Dollfie Dream boy and nothing else. And, like, MDD boys would be SO easy for them to make. And they would definitely be popular. I think a DDP boy shouldn't be too hard to make either. And then my children could have been a better size. ;-; A Dynamite boy would take more effort since it definitely should be manlier than DDS/DD boy, but like, I think the Fate series are popular enough that characters like Gilgamesh and Archer would sell really well. I'm a fan of Gil-sama, but Archer would mean a tan (!!!) male Dollfie Dream. Heck, they even have the outfits & wigs made for their resin customs (Gil & Archer) and they've made a resin Alto to go with Sheryl & Ranka too so that's some of the prototype work already done. :S

This turned into a bit of a rant, oops. xD; I guess the issue is that Volks is still catering mainly to male audience and doesn't believe there's enough market for male characters, despite more and more female hobbyists getting Dollfie Dreams. I wish they'd see that there's a market for boy dolls. And tan dolls (and specifically Dollfie Icon Tawny-like tan, not the veeeery slightly darker Dream Choice/Y'shtola tan). 😕

7 hours ago, mizya said:

I assume that the Let's Dollfie Dream book will be the first look at photos of the twins, so we probably won't see photos until sometime after July the 2nd - when the book ships out - at the earliest. So yeah, agreeing with @BeyondTime that they'll most likely be an autumn pre-order.

I'm still disappointed by their size and the big head treatment that Kagamine Rin & Len also got (and based on some owner photos that I've seen, DDS Frieren also has quite a big head to emulate DDP-like proportions - that's another doll I would've thought was gonna be DDP size), but I'm still curious to see official photos of them. The FFXIV dev team is pretty good at listening to community feedback (just recently they've addressed the playerbase's concerns over the graphics upgrade affecting their characters' appearance), but it probably won't extend to these dolls since it's a collab project with Volks. ^^; 

I honestly feel a bit disappointed with Volks at their reluctance to make boy bodies in all the different sizes that they have. DD boy is basically just an elongated version of DDS boy (okay, the hips and thighs' circumference is slightly bigger too, but mostly it's just longer limbs) so they don't have much variety between their existing two boy bodies either. And you still can't even buy spare parts for the boys. Back when Kagamine Len was announced, I saw some people saying that they'll just put Len on a girl body and call it a day, and I defended Volks saying "they're not going to half-ass the release, surely they're making a boy body" and I was happy to see that they delivered. But since then there's only been the kinda disappointing release of Dollfie Dream boy and nothing else. And, like, MDD boys would be SO easy for them to make. And they would definitely be popular. I think a DDP boy shouldn't be too hard to make either. And then my children could have been a better size. ;-; A Dynamite boy would take more effort since it definitely should be manlier than DDS/DD boy, but like, I think the Fate series are popular enough that characters like Gilgamesh and Archer would sell really well. I'm a fan of Gil-sama, but Archer would mean a tan (!!!) male Dollfie Dream. Heck, they even have the outfits & wigs made for their resin customs (Gil & Archer) and they've made a resin Alto to go with Sheryl & Ranka too so that's some of the prototype work already done. :S

This turned into a bit of a rant, oops. xD; I guess the issue is that Volks is still catering mainly to male audience and doesn't believe there's enough market for male characters, despite more and more female hobbyists getting Dollfie Dreams. I wish they'd see that there's a market for boy dolls. And tan dolls (and specifically Dollfie Icon Tawny-like tan, not the veeeery slightly darker Dream Choice/Y'shtola tan). 😕

Absolutely. Seeing SFSakana's hybrid Kaito truly made me wonder why Volks seem to have no interest in a more "manlier" (or at least taller) DD boy body.

As you said, the apparent  "SD for girls, DD for guys" market divide has to have shifted somewhat by now.

In an ideal world. They would complete the Spy x family trio with Loid on a new body. Just like Anya with Chimikko.

 

I think it’s a bit shortsighted to say Volks doesn’t “believe” there’s a market for male bodies. They have the sales numbers for all their male dolls so they know with reasonable certainty how popular they are.

From what I’ve read, Len was hugely unpopular the first time the twins were released, and boy bodies are available year-round through Dream Choice, but most still opt to make female dolls. If people aren’t buying male dolls in numbers that turn a profit, then it doesn’t make financial sense to keep making them, regardless of how a small contingent of collectors feel 🤷‍♀️ 

I think it doesn't help the popularity of the DD boys that Volks just went ... with a very complicated proportioned body to work with.

They are way skinnier than any 1/3 scale boy out there and that makes dressing them a bit of a challenge. Also, while I dearly love my DDB and DDSB couple, personally I think undressed they are not ... the prettiest? They are certainly not my first pick for revealing clothes ususally. So yeah, the DD boys just don't have it easy out there.

8 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

I think it’s a bit shortsighted to say Volks doesn’t “believe” there’s a market for male bodies. They have the sales numbers for all their male dolls so they know with reasonable certainty how popular they are.

From what I’ve read, Len was hugely unpopular the first time the twins were released, and boy bodies are available year-round through Dream Choice, but most still opt to make female dolls. If people aren’t buying male dolls in numbers that turn a profit, then it doesn’t make financial sense to keep making them, regardless of how a small contingent of collectors feel 🤷‍♀️ 

Okay. Volks may have their own numbers, but that doesn't take into account the sales of dolls by customisers. Lately there have been more and more customisers making the most fantastic looking mods and face ups to create boy dolls. So I think there's a part of the demand for boy dolls that isn't known to Volks.

You need to be able to physically go to Japan and to one of Volks' stores for you to have access to Dream Choice. Plenty of people who want boy dolls aren't able to do that (myself included). Of course, there are people who offer to go buy the doll for you, but that will still cost you extra. I don't think it's really fair to say "you people aren't using this very limited service to buy your boy dolls, so that's obviously why Volks isn't giving you boy dolls".

DDS and DD boy bodies having minimal differences is most likely one of the reasons why not all of the people who want boy dolls are buying boy dolls. Because the current options aren't what they are looking for, when they either want a cute little MDD boy or a taller & manlier Dynamite boy. Like, maybe if Volks increased the variety in boys to the same level as the girls, they'd get more sales?

To sum it up, I don't think that Volks has even tried to do enough with boy dolls to say that it's not worth the investment.

1 hour ago, mizya said:

To sum it up, I don't think that Volks has even tried to do enough with boy dolls to say that it's not worth the investment.

I don’t disagree that Volks could do more for people who want boy dolls, like making existing boy bodies more accessible, but iirc one mold for a single body part costs around $10,000 to make, so it’s not surprising that they’re not putting more effort into producing different body types when there might not be enough demand to make up the costs.

They’ll probably do what they always do and read the air based on what other companies are putting out and how well they’re received. Since it mostly seems to be Chinese companies innovating now, maybe Imomodoll’s larger male bodies will pave the way?

1 hour ago, mizya said:

You need to be able to physically go to Japan and to one of Volks' stores for you to have access to Dream Choice. Plenty of people who want boy dolls aren't able to do that (myself included). Of course, there are people who offer to go buy the doll for you, but that will still cost you extra. I don't think it's really fair to say "you people aren't using this very limited service to buy your boy dolls, so that's obviously why Volks isn't giving you boy dolls".

Yes, but Japanese collectors far and away make up the bulk of Volks’ business so their business decisions are based on what their Japanese customers want, and it doesn’t seem like most Japanese customers want boy dolls.

To be clear, I’m not saying Volks isn’t giving international customers boy dolls because they aren’t using Volks’ geographically limited services, I’m saying they market primarily to their Japanese customers, and their Japanese customers are clearly not buying boy bodies in numbers that would justify producing more.

I don't have any investment in boy dolls, but my hunch is that Volks made them skinny so they could share clothes with female DDs. It's like how DDP has oddly short arms and a flat chest so it can share clothes with MDD.

13 minutes ago, meteorite said:

I don't have any investment in boy dolls, but my hunch is that Volks made them skinny so they could share clothes with female DDs. It's like how DDP has oddly short arms and a flat chest so it can share clothes with MDD.

That’s what I was thinking.