Should I buy that doll? V2

Yesterday, I bought a Smart Doll for 500 euros, and today I found an offer for an Angel Philia for 950 euros... I don’t really like her head, so sooner or later I’d have to replace it—which isn’t a huge deal. The real problem is the price, plus the fact that I’d have to pay an additional 350 euros for shipping and other costs. I want an Angel Philia so badly that I honestly don’t know what to do. I’d end up spending all my savings in just two days, which I really DON’T like, but I’m worried that the price of Angel Philia dolls will only keep going up, and eventually, I might not be able to get one at all. I could keep checking sites like Mandarake or FaithZ, but things there sell out so fast that I don’t even have time to open the link—let alone make a purchase. Should I wait and try to find one that’s closer to my ideal, or should I just buy this one?

As someone who bought an Angel Philia back in the day for regular market price, 950 Euros is INSANE! - Especially if you're not completely happy with the sculpt.  Extra heads are quite rare and get scalped nowadays too. 

Although AP has massive bottlenecks in production currently, their stuff immediately selling out at least means they're not in danger of going under anytime soon. Eventually, the hype around them in China will die down and maybe Tommy will even be able to secure more production capacity at some point. Unless that one specific rare sculpt you're looking for pops up for sale and you have the funds to spare, I'd recommend waiting this out. 

In the meantime, if you want to get into mature style 1/4 scale dolls, it seems that Corvus Corax is aesthetically somewhat similar to AP and maybe a little easier to get at the moment? I don't have any experience with those, but there's some discussion going on about them here, that you can take a look at.

 

If it's more the AP styling/aesthetic, there's plenty of options to style your new Smart Doll in a similar way if you want. Depending on what you're going for, you can eventually bling her out with painted busts and/or a peach body for extra poseability. - And all that together with your SmD will probably be roughly the same as a scalped AP.

 

For now, I recommend you'll wait and see how you'll vibe with your SmD. And decide how to continue from there.

Yeah, this is not a good price for something you’re not in love with. I would wait it out.

But I have to ask…

11 hours ago, rottendollfie said:

Yesterday, I bought a Smart Doll for 500 euros

Did you buy this secondhand or is this from the official store with extra option parts/shipping/tariffs? Because 500 euros is also kinda insane for a Smart Doll. They’re usually 50,000 to 60,000 yen… which is not anywhere near 500 euros…

That is disgustingly overpriced, an AP fresh out of the box is around 400USD. I know getting them is currently not that easy, but that would be an unwise purchase.

I got one of my APs over the DOLK Taobao store. You will have to calculate at least 6 months of waiting time, but that is unavoidable at the monent.

35 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

Did you buy this secondhand or is this from the official store with extra option parts/shipping/tariffs?

It might have been through Anime Sugoi - an authorized European SmD seller. It seems like 550 Euros is their base price. At least that would avoid additional EU import taxes and reduce shipping costs a bit.

Edited 21 hours ago by Tierparkzone

31 minutes ago, Tierparkzone said:

It might have been through Anime Sugoi - an authorized European SmD seller.

Oh yeah, I forgot those existed!

950 euros (+350 for shipping)??? Good grief! And to think that, back in the day, I got into this hobby precisely because of Angel Philia—not only did I like them, but I also found them very affordable compared to other brands...

Edited 16 hours ago by Testament

Angel Phillia aftermarket price right now is 100% not worth it. €1.3k is insane. It's not like these are collab models either, where the price might be justified as holding steady, etc.

Personally, I'm planning to wait it out and see how things go in the future. Either the hype dies down or something changes production wise. 

 

But either way you'll definitely find a better deal than 1.3k looking around.

10 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Yeah, this is not a good price for something you’re not in love with. I would wait it out.

But I have to ask…

Did you buy this secondhand or is this from the official store with extra option parts/shipping/tariffs? Because 500 euros is also kinda insane for a Smart Doll. They’re usually 50,000 to 60,000 yen… which is not anywhere near 500 euros…

I bought a rather rare model (Mirai Classic, including her original long-haired wig, which is currently very hard to get). I’ve been looking for one for several years, somewhere relatively nearby and at a good price and this is the best deal I’ve found so far.

Besides, even if I were to buy a brand-new one, I’d end up paying more, since I’m in the EU and would have to cover high shipping costs and other related expenses.

5 hours ago, Testament said:

950 euros (+350 for shipping)??? Good grief! And to think that, back in the day, I got into this hobby precisely because of Angel Philia—not only did I like them, but I also found them very affordable compared to other brands...

Well, if that price shocks you, let me tell you that when I was looking for AP doll, I found two models for around 5,000 euros plus shipping, and another for around 8200 euros plus shipping. That’s absolutely crazy.

2 hours ago, luna_Lillie said:

Angel Phillia aftermarket price right now is 100% not worth it. €1.3k is insane. It's not like these are collab models either, where the price might be justified as holding steady, etc.

Personally, I'm planning to wait it out and see how things go in the future. Either the hype dies down or something changes production wise. 

 

But either way you'll definitely find a better deal than 1.3k looking around.

I guess you're right. By the way, when did that hype start?

I'm rich XD 

It's nonsense. I bought Marie (my first) in 2018 new from Mandarake for 410€ (shipping (34€), etc included).

11 minutes ago, Testament said:

I'm rich XD 

It's nonsense. I bought Marie (my first) in 2018 new from Mandarake for 410€ (shipping (34€), etc included).

Honestly, I envy you... that’s a dream. I’m currently desperate, I keep searching and searching, and I’m hoping I’ll find something.

5 hours ago, rottendollfie said:

I bought a rather rare model (Mirai Classic, including her original long-haired wig, which is currently very hard to get). I’ve been looking for one for several years, somewhere relatively nearby and at a good price and this is the best deal I’ve found so far.

I see. Danny brought her back earlier this year but discontinued her not long after, so if you weren’t able to get her during that extremely short drop window, this is probably the next best thing. Please post pics when you’re ready! We’d love to see how you style her.