Difficulty of acquiring DDS non-f3 base bodies in 2024?

Wondering what my options are for getting a DDS-III (is that how it's categorized?). It doesn't seem like they're available anymore new (?) so definitely secondhand, but would it be silly to buy a whole doll from Mandarake (without outfit) and have to sell the accompanying head afterwards? Do people sell just the bodies on Mandarake?

Would also love to know if there's any known issues with DDS-III bodies since I've heard some bodies were known for certain types of issues like certain limbs being loose or certain areas cracking etc.

46 minutes ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

It doesn't seem like they're available anymore new (?

Definitely can’t get them new, but I’ve seen quite a few bodies on Mandarake and Dollyteria. Can’t remember if they were DDS-III specifically. Is there a reason you prefer that over the newer f3 or soon to be released f3 2.0? Bodies on secondhand sites are priced so outrageously I think it’s better just to get them new in most cases.

48 minutes ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

certain areas cracking etc.

Shoulders and hips. The worst part is you can’t get replacements for those because they were changed with the f3 bodies.

Yeah unfortunately Volks no longer sells the III-type bodies or internal frame parts, so the only option is to get them second hand. I've seen III-type bodies most on Mandarake, while Y!J auctions and Dollyteria seem to mostly have the newer f3 bodies. I also feel like in case of Dollyteria, they have a set price for a certain body type and possible staining and other minor flaws don't lower the price, unlike on Mandarake. So personally I'd say that Mandarake would be the best option to get ahold of older bodies and you might even find a good deal too.

I don't think it would be silly to buy a full doll for the body and then sell the head. I kinda had to do that for my White skin DDH-06, because while I managed to collect most of the body parts before White skin was discontinued, I was still missing the waist and while I considered I could maaaybe get a semi-white waist since my girl won't be wearing revealing clothes, soon also Semi-White parts with the III-type frame were sold out on Volks' site. 😩 I tried looking but wasn't able to find a waist part on any second hand sites either, sooo... I went ahead and got the Santa Saber Alter doll just for the body. I managed to sell the head but am still stuck with the doll's other stuff, but hopefully eventually I'll get rid of those too. I plan to move countries within the next year or two, so I'd prefer to get rid of anything extra I don't have use for. :'D

For me personally the III-type bodies feel a lot more sturdy than the f3 ones. Y'shtola and Kaito feel so flimsy in comparison to my older DDs. In Y'shtola's case having the extra mobility for the elbow joint of f3 frame doesn't really pay off, because her outfit is such a thick fabric that her sleeve "fights back" when you try to bend her arms. And because the joint feels so flimsy, it doesn't hold the position very well even if you managed to bend it. She also cannot hold her staff at all, meanwhile my III-type frame Luka held the staff like it was light as a feather. A little embarrassing for Y'shtola who is supposed to be a powerful mage. 😅 Apart from the elbow joint having extra movement, I don't know if the f3 frame has that many improvements to it... well, I suppose the shoulders and hips are less prone to breakage. My Kaito's legs easily come loose when I have him sitting on the ground with his legs spread, but I haven't noticed any cracking on the frame. Meanwhile my III-type dynamite body has cracked hip sockets, so her legs fall off because of that, and she has trouble sitting up straight (wants to fall on her back). But even so, I think I'm gonna try and hunt down a second hand DDdy III body rather than buy the f3 off of Volks' site. I just don't really like handling & posing Y'shtola or Kaito compared to my older dolls. 🤔 

The only exception to III-type bodies is the MDD size body I have for my Arle, for some reason her shoulder joints and arms in general are super loose and her arms keep falling off when trying to pose her even a little. 😭 I almost doubted maybe she doesn't have a III-type body because it's nothing like the DDS and DDdy bodies I have. I bought her second hand so I couldn't be a 100% sure if she has her original body. But after doing research it does seem like her body is III-type, idk if MDD bodies in general just are looser than the bigger ones or if I happened to get a really bad one or something. 😶 I have tried tightening the screws on her frame more than once but it hasn't helped. So I think for her I'll eventually get the new f3 2.0 body, since it seems to have more upgrades on mobility and also changes to the look of the vinyl shell parts themselves. I just hope it's more sturdy than the f3 bodies. 😅

2 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Definitely can’t get them new, but I’ve seen quite a few bodies on Mandarake and Dollyteria. Can’t remember if they were DDS-III specifically. Is there a reason you prefer that over the newer f3 or soon to be released f3 2.0? Bodies on secondhand sites are priced so outrageously I think it’s better just to get them new in most cases.

Shoulders and hips. The worst part is you can’t get replacements for those because they were changed with the f3 bodies.

My main reason for preferring the III-era bodies is because of the existence of the unitorso, I just prefer the slightly more natural silhouette at the waist as opposed to the standard 2-part torsos, and unfortunately there aren't unitorsos made specifically for f3 (maybe there will be for f3 2.0 in the future? who knows).

I also don't really want to have to periodically take my dolls apart to fiddle with screws, as I've heard that it's generally a "maintenance" thing you have to do with f3 to I think keep the joints as tight as they need to be? I don't really enjoy taking apart and rebuilding my doll; I had to do it once to fix an issue with my current DD and I mostly just found it really stressful, but maybe that's because she was new at the time. I guess I'd get used to it with time, but taking the frame out of the torso was kind of awful.

If the screws weren't a thing, I'd probably just buy an f3 base body and a III unitorso, and replace the unitorso frame piece with the f3 frame piece, just so I could have ease of replacement parts like you said.

Do we know if the upcoming f3 2.0 will still require screw tightening maintenance? If it doesn't I might wait for it to come out, and get a III unitorso for frame swapping in the meantime.

Thanks for the notes on potential problem parts with III-era bodies! That's really useful info to have.

1 hour ago, mizya said:

Yeah unfortunately Volks no longer sells the III-type bodies or internal frame parts, so the only option is to get them second hand. I've seen III-type bodies most on Mandarake, while Y!J auctions and Dollyteria seem to mostly have the newer f3 bodies. I also feel like in case of Dollyteria, they have a set price for a certain body type and possible staining and other minor flaws don't lower the price, unlike on Mandarake. So personally I'd say that Mandarake would be the best option to get ahold of older bodies and you might even find a good deal too.

I don't think it would be silly to buy a full doll for the body and then sell the head. I kinda had to do that for my White skin DDH-06, because while I managed to collect most of the body parts before White skin was discontinued, I was still missing the waist and while I considered I could maaaybe get a semi-white waist since my girl won't be wearing revealing clothes, soon also Semi-White parts with the III-type frame were sold out on Volks' site. 😩 I tried looking but wasn't able to find a waist part on any second hand sites either, sooo... I went ahead and got the Santa Saber Alter doll just for the body. I managed to sell the head but am still stuck with the doll's other stuff, but hopefully eventually I'll get rid of those too. I plan to move countries within the next year or two, so I'd prefer to get rid of anything extra I don't have use for. :'D

For me personally the III-type bodies feel a lot more sturdy than the f3 ones. Y'shtola and Kaito feel so flimsy in comparison to my older DDs. In Y'shtola's case having the extra mobility for the elbow joint of f3 frame doesn't really pay off, because her outfit is such a thick fabric that her sleeve "fights back" when you try to bend her arms. And because the joint feels so flimsy, it doesn't hold the position very well even if you managed to bend it. She also cannot hold her staff at all, meanwhile my III-type frame Luka held the staff like it was light as a feather. A little embarrassing for Y'shtola who is supposed to be a powerful mage. 😅 Apart from the elbow joint having extra movement, I don't know if the f3 frame has that many improvements to it... well, I suppose the shoulders and hips are less prone to breakage. My Kaito's legs easily come loose when I have him sitting on the ground with his legs spread, but I haven't noticed any cracking on the frame. Meanwhile my III-type dynamite body has cracked hip sockets, so her legs fall off because of that, and she has trouble sitting up straight (wants to fall on her back). But even so, I think I'm gonna try and hunt down a second hand DDdy III body rather than buy the f3 off of Volks' site. I just don't really like handling & posing Y'shtola or Kaito compared to my older dolls. 🤔 

The only exception to III-type bodies is the MDD size body I have for my Arle, for some reason her shoulder joints and arms in general are super loose and her arms keep falling off when trying to pose her even a little. 😭 I almost doubted maybe she doesn't have a III-type body because it's nothing like the DDS and DDdy bodies I have. I bought her second hand so I couldn't be a 100% sure if she has her original body. But after doing research it does seem like her body is III-type, idk if MDD bodies in general just are looser than the bigger ones or if I happened to get a really bad one or something. 😶 I have tried tightening the screws on her frame more than once but it hasn't helped. So I think for her I'll eventually get the new f3 2.0 body, since it seems to have more upgrades on mobility and also changes to the look of the vinyl shell parts themselves. I just hope it's more sturdy than the f3 bodies. 😅

Mandarake would definitely be my go-to for any secondhand body/doll buying, it's actually where I got my current DD (a DDIII) from so I feel most comfortable with that route.

I'm surprised to hear you find f3 less sturdy than III; I thought the whole screw stuff in the joints would allow it to be more "firm" in posing for lack of a better term. I've never had or handled an f3 so I can't really give my own input on that, but I haven't had much issue with my DDIII body really. Any issues I had with her limbs not holding poses was pretty easy to fix by realizing I hadn't pushed the pegs all the way in (especially with the legs, I was kind of bad at getting those in all the way). But that's really just user error on my part I think. Having to take apart an f3 to tighten screws instead of just checking pegs would be something I know I would not like about f3.

I feel like I did read somewhere that MDD-III had some issues but maybe I'm remembering wrong, sorry to hear you had issues with your Arle!

1 hour ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

My main reason for preferring the III-era bodies is because of the existence of the unitorso, I just prefer the slightly more natural silhouette at the waist as opposed to the standard 2-part torsos, and unfortunately there aren't unitorsos made specifically for f3 (maybe there will be for f3 2.0 in the future? who knows).

I also don't really want to have to periodically take my dolls apart to fiddle with screws, as I've heard that it's generally a "maintenance" thing you have to do with f3 to I think keep the joints as tight as they need to be? I don't really enjoy taking apart and rebuilding my doll; I had to do it once to fix an issue with my current DD and I mostly just found it really stressful, but maybe that's because she was new at the time. I guess I'd get used to it with time, but taking the frame out of the torso was kind of awful.

The screws are there to tighten the joints when they get loose due to wear of the contact surfaces of the joints (instead of having to replace the whole joint). Unless your dolls move around a lot, regular tightening likely isn't necessary.

What skintone are you wanting? The Japanese/international Volks site still has the DDS-III in Flesh! Looks like Semi-White sold out very recently because it was still available just a few weeks ago when I last checked.

My sister's Karin, who's on the DDS-III, was purchased new from Volks in March, and she's a bit worn, but that's due to her receiving daily use for the past eight months. If you don't handle your dolls too much, it should be fine!

My F³ DDSB is a pain, constantly needing adjustments and overall just busting on me (most recently, his neck hole cracking!!), but my F³ DD, Miku, hasn't had any of the same issues. I tightened her arms and hips as a personal preference, but she's held up great so far. 

As for the DD3, I've heard that the shoulders and elbows tend to crack, but your mileage may vary, depending on how much use your dolls get.

On 11/20/2024 at 7:18 PM, Wonderously_Strange said:

What skintone are you wanting? The Japanese/international Volks site still has the DDS-III in Flesh! Looks like Semi-White sold out very recently because it was still available just a few weeks ago when I last checked.

My sister's Karin, who's on the DDS-III, was purchased new from Volks in March, and she's a bit worn, but that's due to her receiving daily use for the past eight months. If you don't handle your dolls too much, it should be fine!

My F³ DDSB is a pain, constantly needing adjustments and overall just busting on me (most recently, his neck hole cracking!!), but my F³ DD, Miku, hasn't had any of the same issues. I tightened her arms and hips as a personal preference, but she's held up great so far. 

As for the DD3, I've heard that the shoulders and elbows tend to crack, but your mileage may vary, depending on how much use your dolls get.

I'm heavily leaning towards semi-white for the character I'm planning to use the body for. I didn't know Volks JP had the III-era bodies in stock, I have a bad habit of forgetting to check that site over the USA one, I really should bookmark it!

I only really move my dolls to pose them for pictures or change their outfits, so I don't think I'd run into usage wear for a while (I hope??). I also tend to handle them overly gently since I'm kind of paranoid, so I hope that helps with avoiding wear.

Seems like F3 may or may not be hit or miss with screw tightening stuff? I did see a thread that mentioned putting an F3 frame into a III-era unitorso is hard, and I'd have to do that if I went for F3, so I'm still a bit wary.

 

On 11/20/2024 at 8:07 AM, Kemonomimicry said:

The screws are there to tighten the joints when they get loose due to wear of the contact surfaces of the joints (instead of having to replace the whole joint). Unless your dolls move around a lot, regular tightening likely isn't necessary.

Oh is that the case? That's not really that bad then. I haven't needed to replace joints in my regular DDIII at all so I guess I wouldn't run into tightening issues for a long while then based on how often I handle my dolls?

Honestly at that point the only thing I'm worried about is getting the F3 torso frame into a III-era unitorso shell and possibly having to take it out again someday for tightening, although I basically don't even use that joint (mid-torso?) anyway. Would it just never get loose then?

Edited November 22, 2024 by meltychoco_BJD

4 hours ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

Oh is that the case? That's not really that bad then. I haven't needed to replace joints in my regular DDIII at all so I guess I wouldn't run into tightening issues for a long while then based on how often I handle my dolls?

Honestly at that point the only thing I'm worried about is getting the F3 torso frame into a III-era unitorso shell and possibly having to take it out again someday for tightening, although I basically don't even use that joint (mid-torso?) anyway. Would it just never get loose then?

I don't know. I've had more problems with loose mid-torso joints on III bodies than on F3 bodies, but the only F3 bodies I own are MDD.

4 hours ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

Honestly at that point the only thing I'm worried about is getting the F3 torso frame into a III-era unitorso shell and possibly having to take it out again someday for tightening, although I basically don't even use that joint (mid-torso?) anyway. Would it just never get loose then?

I've shoe-horned the f3 frame into a unitorso body for DDS & DD. DD was easier to get it in, and then get it back out for tightening. DDS was hard to get in, and very hard to get out. 

On the internal frame, you will need to tighten the arms, neck, and spine. Temperature can affect the tightness of the metal, so don't count in never having to do it. 
 

On 11/20/2024 at 3:23 AM, meltychoco_BJD said:

Do we know if the upcoming f3 2.0 will still require screw tightening maintenance? If it doesn't I might wait for it to come out, and get a III unitorso for frame swapping in the meantime.

It does. 
 

On 11/20/2024 at 3:23 AM, meltychoco_BJD said:

maybe there will be for f3 2.0 in the future? who knows).

That would be great, but the waist would have to be thicker so that the upper frame could be adjusted without too much trouble. The 2.0 body does have a thicker waist, but we haven't seen DDS 2.0 yet, so no idea how it will differ, but it will likely share a frame. 
 

A few reasons I can think that might be why unitorso went away.

• Not as popular, so not as profitable.
• Not as pose-able.
• It looked like it was largely made for the iDOLLM@STER 765 Pro collab, and they seem to have stopped making those. They did use it for a few others too, but iM@S was the big one.

If any of those are correct, don't expect a return of unitorso. 

It could be that they don't make 765 Pro because no unitorso, and we don't know which is the cart and which the horse, so we don't know what drove the decisions. 

5 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I've shoe-horned the f3 frame into a unitorso body for DDS & DD. DD was easier to get it in, and then get it back out for tightening. DDS was hard to get in, and very hard to get out. 

On the internal frame, you will need to tighten the arms, neck, and spine. Temperature can affect the tightness of the metal, so don't count in never having to do it. 

 

5 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

That would be great, but the waist would have to be thicker so that the upper frame could be adjusted without too much trouble. The 2.0 body does have a thicker waist, but we haven't seen DDS 2.0 yet, so no idea how it will differ, but it will likely share a frame.

Thank you so much for this info! I guess opting for DDS unitorso on f3 spine is probably not a great idea then, unless I want to wrangle the spine out later (which I really don't). I think I'll wait and see if the regular DDS f3 2.0's waist is also thicker and compare it to the waist of unitorso, if it's close enough I might just go for new f3 normal body without unitorso then.

4 hours ago, meltychoco_BJD said:

I think I'll wait and see if the regular DDS f3 2.0's waist is also thicker and compare it to the waist of unitorso, if it's close enough I might just go for new f3 normal body without unitorso then.

Starting here, and on the following page, I have pictures of my f3 2.0 aqua: 

The second page has pictures in her underwear so you can see the body shape better.