Danny Choo Smart Doll Boy [NSFW]

Eiji will come out in ivory too right?

'Ivory' is just regular Eiji/Mirai/Kizuna/Chitose skin colour, it's not paler. Ivory only looked paler because of her darker hair in contrast. But I can see why there would be confusion. At first I wondered what the 'point' of Ivory was, but then again I think her faceup is cuter than Mirai's.

I've noticed that for whatever reason, Danny gives more precise dates in japanese than he does in english.

In english he stated Eiji will 'release january' (preorders on the 24th, the original release date) but the japanese version of the tweet says 'late january'.

 

I got an email a few hours ago from Danny saying the delays were from redoing the hand sculpts and said "I will still take orders on 24th December but ship in Jan. I wont know date until closer to the 24th but should not be later than jan 24th." I think he has only been this clear with me because I've been (nicely) pestering him about deadlines.

 

Oh boy... I hope at least a 3rd party starts making sculpts for Smart doll guy.

 

I'm actually curious to see what Danny does once he gets all of his characters done and starts working on the more buff body. He initially seemed pretty excited about the possibilities with the guy bodies and it sounded like he might have had some licences that he had lined up or might persue. I think Danny gets swamped in the details and doesn't quite get his time estimations right. I do the same thing because it's very hard to guess how long a creative project is going to take the first time you do it. There are always problems that pop up where you don't expect them.

 

Madison (Dev Eiji) finally has a wig! Now I can do proper SmDB pics! He looks a bit weird at the moment because I don't have his style of clothes made so it keeps making me think that there is something wrong with his faceup when it's just the color balance of his clothes being wrong. (On the other hand he's the Dev Eiji sculpt... he's always going to look weird. )

 

Anyway, I'm finally happy with my shirt patterns enough that I'm working on the first 11 t-shirt designs that hopefully I'll get ordered tomorrow. It's been so nice getting back to designing instead of bashing through sewing patterns endlessly. I was working on them last night and hit a point where I finally got the one I was working on just right and I started cracking up. That's a very good sign. As for pants... I have two more adjustments to make to the slacks pattern before I can show them off, but I can say I'm pretty damn proud of what I've been able to do since I started out having no idea how to draft a pants pattern even for DD. In my opinion, slacks are harder to do than skinny jeans because you have to take the drape into account. By doing this I also realized that Dev Eiji has no rear end. I really, really hope that has been fixed on the full release version. If not I may need to make butt padding. Once the last few kinks are worked out there is a ton of other patterns I can make using the shirt and pants patterns as bases. I have loads of other interesting things I've been wanting to do but I didn't want to waste time working on half finished patterns and be frustrated. I keep wanting to do some pics of the pants but the errors are just too glaringly obvious to me. They will be in some pics soon because they are the only pants Ralph has finished, but they will be taken to minimize the parts that came out wrong. These are a massive improvement over my first attempt at a pants pattern nearly 4 years ago with Dolly's 'ugly pants.' I keep reminding myself to quit being so amazed over the fact that the SmDB pants have usable pockets. LOL!

 

~Sister Kyoya

Arrows represent areas I need to fix before releasing Eiji Smart Doll.Apparently he is the first ever anime-style soft vinyl guy. That's kinda cool!

I will take orders on Dec 24th and ship in late Jan.

If the order page shows "sold out" then just wait until when orders will open again.

He will be released at http://shop.smartdoll.jp

 

 

 

For you guys to see.

I'm actually curious to see what Danny does once he gets all of his characters done and starts working on the more buff body. He initially seemed pretty excited about the possibilities with the guy bodies and it sounded like he might have had some licences that he had lined up or might persue. I think Danny gets swamped in the details and doesn't quite get his time estimations right. I do the same thing because it's very hard to guess how long a creative project is going to take the first time you do it. There are always problems that pop up where you don't expect them.

 

Madison (Dev Eiji) finally has a wig! Now I can do proper SmDB pics! He looks a bit weird at the moment because I don't have his style of clothes made so it keeps making me think that there is something wrong with his faceup when it's just the color balance of his clothes being wrong. (On the other hand he's the Dev Eiji sculpt... he's always going to look weird. )

 

I'm curious about what he's gonna do too, but my concern is that all of his sculpts will look alike or even be the same sculpt with a different faceup. I have to admit that if the sculpts don't meet my quality standards I won't be interested. Eiji is a good enough male sculpt on it's own but it can't work for everything. I hope either danny does better with future male sculpts than he has with his female ones so far or that volks truly jumps in on vinyl anime guys. I think he might do well, since this is better than I had expected. He's a bit flat in the cheek area from what I can see since danny seems to avoid profile shots but you can kinda get away with that better on guys than girls. At least he seems to have a nose that's more than just a tiny, nipple sized nub and physical lips.

 

I'm a massive perfectionist on stuff like that though, so I'm hard to please. Danny's girls look cute definitely, but there's just nothing that defines them in my eyes. Just the generic, cutesy moe look. I like my dolls to have features I can describe. They're adorable, but they just seem so plain...

I'm really stuck atm I really don't know which to choose. El my guy is more tan then Error (shes using DD White skin) but this image is really made me 50/50 on witch Eiji skin i want i don't know what to think or do now TTLTT

any help is welcome. people who have seen the Ebony skin in person also.

 

If it helps any at all, Ralph's head is NS and perfectly matches the body I have. I know it doesn't answer your question directly but if someone else has seen the darker skinned body it might help with the comparison.

 

~Sister Kyoya

If it helps any at all, Ralph's head is NS and perfectly matches the body I have. I know it doesn't answer your question directly but if someone else has seen the darker skinned body it might help with the comparison.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

Indeed. i know the match between the Ivory and DD NS is good but for my the Ebony is so many different colours. it must be my screen but in most the image the ebony is in make them look orange and its really not want i want for the character (I think I said before he is normal skin colour but tanned from the sun so a more brown tan)

the image above for me make it look like a completely different doll. he is way more "Tan" looking then the orange the ebony has been looking on here.

I hope someone will be able to describe the look mostly since images don't seem to help being all different lighting and the skin variation so largely.

 

i have asked on twiter about a skin sample so i can see it in person so i am waiting on info n that.

 

 

and for the lol... from what i think is the beginning i have been calling him Enji not Eiji.... i really don't know where i got this for and i feel so stupid to only no notice XD. i blame my dyslexia pre-reading ti and changing what it was in my head..

I'm glad to finally see the tanned skin under different lighting - since those pics were taken at I-doll and not the store/cj office, it makes sense. It really does look better though.

Speaking of Ebonji, some of the newer twitter photos from people who have visited the store included him wearing what seems to be the Haute Hero set.

Here's some pictures of ebony that look more normal. Having seen her in person (and taken one picture of her) These are pretty close to what she looks like.

 

Here's the one I took. She looks a tiny bit more red than she really is but with ebony it seems like lighting is key to a good representation of her.

 

 

Here's a couple danny choo photos that actually look pretty accurate.

 

 

 

And a pic of her by someone else that is good.

 

 

Of course Ebonji is the same color as her, just less pictures and the store lighting doesn't do them any service.

Indeed all the main Ebony images make them look or orange on my screen its why I never thought about getting him in tan. I really wanna see one in person since its a lot of money and to get the wrong one would be sad.

 

I asked on twitter about getting some snips of colour but he asked if anyone I know is ordering form them soon but I don't know anyone in the uk that has or is going to have one XD.

 

If anyone on here is getting things any time soon let me know. I am happy to pay postage from you to me for the snips of vinyl.

via @Touma_1010 on Twitter

 

 

He's so adorable!!! I'm so nervous that the preorders are almost a week away. *grabby hands* I can't believe how perfect he looks so far for what I was originally hoping for. I'm totally on cloud 9 right now.

 

Error-Chan I'm glad that you mentioned about having trouble understanding the true colors of the skintones. Because of that I remembered to ask Danny if it would be possible to get a vinyl chip of all of the current skintones. I can totally understand where you are coming from having a hard time figuring out the color since it is rather variable between the pics that have been available so far. Hopefully soon we can have more helpful info (and I hope you can get your color sample too.)

 

~Sister Kyoya

Those cheeks! So cute!

I love this pic of him looking up at you that one of the store visitors took:

half because I hadnt seen that angle yet, and half because I almost always like pics of dolls looking up at you, its like a puppy dog that makes me want them really badly. Please no delays! I'll be holding mine in less than two months now if there's no delays ;-;

(I do kind of want to ask Danny if the blue wig will be out in time for his release or if it will come later. He did say 'ASAP' but that doesnt necessarily mean its one of the ones he'll have ready for him at release time. I really hope it does...not just cos it'd be great to transform him into Kaito right away, but because it's Kaito's 10th annivesary in february and I'd like to have him all Kaito'd up in time for that.)

Being in the Dev program... you'd think Danny would let us know first what's going on when the release date is pushed back, but I never find out before he posts it on Twitter or I directly ask him myself.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

Don't be upset, release dates are obviously social media fuel and something he wants to announce before anyone else that doesn't have something to loose, like their job. To put it another way Google doesn't share insider company projects with you just because you signed up for a g-mail account. ><

The reason why it frustrates me so much is because the point of the Dev program was to work with Danny on things that would increase the available products to benefit his business. Deadlines are a very big part of that, and yet not being told seems very counterproductive to me. Being a Dev, at least in my experience, is a LOT more involved than the association of using a gmail account. There is much I won't say to avoid being labeled as self-centered, but there have been other parts of this project that he has been very transparent about, just not deadlines. I have no idea if my specific view on this is unique or not since I have never talked with any other Devs about any of this except the one or two that have popped up in this thread.

 

Everyday even amongst all the stress and panic that I won't get things done in time I'm still in awe over what I'm even doing in my life right now. When this whole thing even started with Eiji, I never could have imagined to be on such casual terms with Danny and have a stack of correspondences exchanged between us sitting in my email. I still feel like I'm a dopey girl who just gets a bug in her bonnet over wanting more vinyl boys, and apparently wouldn't take no for an answer. (There is a line in the movie Goonies where a little girl is stomping around yelling "I want my bike! I want my bike!" That's what I feel like but instead it's "I want my vinyl boys! I want my vinyl boys!" ) I just wish Danny would give the Devs a little more consideration and let us know about the deadlines before it goes public since we are here trying to help him in the midst of working on our own things.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Error-Chan I'm glad that you mentioned about having trouble understanding the true colors of the skintones. Because of that I remembered to ask Danny if it would be possible to get a vinyl chip of all of the current skintones. I can totally understand where you are coming from having a hard time figuring out the color since it is rather variable between the pics that have been available so far. Hopefully soon we can have more helpful info (and I hope you can get your color sample too.)

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

Glad I could help in a way. I will be stalking any and all images to see the skins. but i think i am just

to worried of spending all the money on the tan to it then be wrong for him so i think i may just go for the normal for him.

Oh my goodness! He's so cute!

The reason why it frustrates me so much is because the point of the Dev program was to work with Danny on things that would increase the available products to benefit his business. Deadlines are a very big part of that, and yet not being told seems very counterproductive to me. Being a Dev, at least in my experience, is a LOT more involved than the association of using a gmail account. There is much I won't say to avoid being labeled as self-centered, but there have been other parts of this project that he has been very transparent about, just not deadlines. I have no idea if my specific view on this is unique or not since I have never talked with any other Devs about any of this except the one or two that have popped up in this thread.

 

Everyday even amongst all the stress and panic that I won't get things done in time I'm still in awe over what I'm even doing in my life right now. When this whole thing even started with Eiji, I never could have imagined to be on such casual terms with Danny and have a stack of correspondences exchanged between us sitting in my email. I still feel like I'm a dopey girl who just gets a bug in her bonnet over wanting more vinyl boys, and apparently wouldn't take no for an answer. (There is a line in the movie Goonies where a little girl is stomping around yelling "I want my bike! I want my bike!" That's what I feel like but instead it's "I want my vinyl boys! I want my vinyl boys!" ) I just wish Danny would give the Devs a little more consideration and let us know about the deadlines before it goes public since we are here trying to help him in the midst of working on our own things.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

I don't know how "involved or influential" a Dev program member is besides Q/A feedback. But lets be real, If you are working on part of the product and he asks how long something will take and he agree's with your estimate why do you need to know the release date? All that matters to you is meeting that deadline. The only other person that needs to know are marketing managers. If you are doing Q/A feedback it's up to him to decide what should be done based on time.

 

Again I don't know how involved a "Dev" is but, having sculpted Eiji which I am proud of and other projects that I'm equally proud of I know Danny does not always volunteer information for various reasons and of course I want to help Danny too. Danny is a nice guy but stretched thin so you just have to accept things the way they are but he is working on improving it by finding the right ppl.

Now hold on a minute, I think you are getting the wrong idea about what the Dev program is. The Devs do not work for Danny, nor are we on his payroll. We are just individuals or business working along with him. The gist of the program was more or less Danny saying "Buy a dev version of Eiji to make stuff for him that will be available (in your own shops) on Eiji's release day." By Danny not being clear on when his release date is, it complicates that very major part of the agreement.

 

Devs are not a QA group for Danny. I am developing all my own patterns, and everything I do is my own work, for my business. Being a Developer just gives me the privilege of having early access to the Smart Doll boy body. Danny has not seen my work nor do I have to have his opinion on what I do. There have been times when he asked my personal opinion about various aspects of what he was working on, sometimes requesting that I ask my forum 'comrades' when he's looking for a broader range of opinions. I have no idea what he even does with any of it or how it affects the choices that he eventually makes. All I really know is I've tried to make myself as helpful and available for communication that I'm able. The first time I contacted him directly through email was to nearly beg to be put on the list to be in on the first batch of Eiji. At that time Danny had been very vocal that previous Smart Doll owners got first dibs. Everything that has happened since then has really blown my mind.

 

I don't understand how me expressing my mild frustration over having to find out about solid dates to keep in step with what I feel like the Dev agreement was, somehow has been perceived into me ranting and disrespecting Danny. To be truthful, I used to think he was rather full of himself. But through this whole process with all the ups and downs I have grown to very highly respect him. I've had major lower back problems since I was in middle school (about 25 years ago) and I know how hard it is to live with a rather crippling health issue that can put you out for weeks at a time. Adding that to being a workaholic, and it is far from an easy existence. To me, being told "Danny is a nice guy but stretched thin so you just have to accept things the way they are" really illustrates that you do not understand the situation. At the moment it's hard not hearing it come across more like "Quit being a big meanie pants!!" which was not my original intention in expressing my opinion over a mild frustration.

 

I have done my best to express what I think and how I see things. I cannot help if it is read with malice, disrespect, or insult that was never intended. It is a limitation of communicating online that some of the social context is lost, and why I write such long posts simply to make sure I try my best to make myself as clear as possible. If you want to know how this post should be read, I'm half asleep, tired to the bone, laying in bed typing, as I struggle nicely to state my opinion that I'm half assuming will still be taken wrong by an avid/devoted Danny fan without taking all of my excitement, delight, and sheer joy from my previous posts and this project as a whole into consideration. Under that confusing mix of stuff, it shouldn't be any surprise if I can't express myself with complete and solid level of non-emotion. I'm human too.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Signing up for a gmail account is not the same thing as paying 60000 yen to be part of an exclusive program of which the entire point is to create things for a product that will be available for the buyers once the product goes on sale. No offence, but that's not a good analogy at all. No one is being ungrateful just because they are frustrated, it is actually possible to feel more than one thing at once. I'm trying not to sound rude here but your posts did come across as a little dismissive. People like SK have been incredible about this and I can only imagine how frustrating it is to have an unclear timeframe. I'm glad it seems to be more clear now, and that on the plus side, delays give them more time.

 

According to Twitter it looks like Eiji's new hands are finally done. The original ones with the extended finger did work well for some poses, but looking back on them they're a bit weird for 'everyday' hands, and now I can't help thinking of ET when I see them pft.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Guest

After debating on whether not I should say anything in regards to this I've decided I might as well as at least part of what I say wouldn't just be a rehashing of what others have already stated.

 

Digitrevx, I know of you and your works from deviantart back when I was involved with the MMD community and had garnered a fair amount of respect for you, that being said I also have a great deal of respect for Sister Kyoya so I'm going to try my best to stay neutral on the issue.

 

If you really did model Eiji (And I believe you did) You must be working with Danny very closely and if so I'm surprised you have such a misconstrued idea of what the dev program is. I suppose it could be something you and Danny didn't discuss much but I have to say I'd be surprised if it hadn't come up in conversation at least once, but I digress.

 

Even before hearing SK talk about it here so much I had looked into it myself the instant I heard of it and the page description on the website where you purchase him stated basically the same thing she described, albeit in a shorter more condensed manner. You buy this dev version for 60,000 yen (No small investment for a small doll clothing shop like what SK is starting mind you) and use it to make clothes for Smart doll guy not for danny choo to sell, but for the original shop to so they can ride the wave of demand for clothes that will be opened up once Eiji releases. So there's no Q&A handouts or anything like that. In fact Danny appears to have been speaking to the dev members (Like SK) for input on various occasions as this also serves as something of a beta test for the body itself. I'm not sure where you got these ideas about the dev program but I have no reason to believe from my perspective that they are false. Me being an outsider to that aspect may mean what I see in this isn't accurate however I have no reason to believe SK would not be as truthful as possible on this matter.

 

Now, as for danny not keeping devs in the loop I do think it's possible that with how active he is on twitter he may be putting that info up as soon as he's made a firm decision himself and thinking that's enough to keep everyone involved solidly in the loop. He probably can't post to twitter sooner if he isn't sure on his decision as there is some marketing aspect to social media for a company. You can't post "Well, I may delay this thing, not sure lol." or something like that. It makes the business come off as flakey but I see no reason why he couldn't alert devs to considerations. Just sent off a group email saying "I may have to delay this aspect of insert thing here. If I do it will be up on twitter if not, I'll let you guys know." I think SK wanting a bit more notice is completely reasonable. She's been working herself like mad over this and less uncertainty means less stress. The less stress over this the better it will be for her in all respects, even in business.

 

Digitrevx, I believe you handled this situation poorly and over-reacted on a lack of accurate information and no doubt some urge to protect Danny. He's a busy guy with a lot on his plate so I could understand getting defensive over a friend like that and I believe you didn't mean anything rude by it, just in the future think matters like this through a bit more.

 

Feel free to let me know if I misunderstood something, admittedly a fair amount of inference went into trying to examine this issue so I'm well aware that some things could in fact be wrong. I'm just trying to see possible cause on both sides in hopes that this doesn't get any worse.

To me, being told "Danny is a nice guy but stretched thin so you just have to accept things the way they are" really illustrates that you do not understand the situation. At the moment it's hard not hearing it come across more like "Quit being a big meanie pants!!" which was not my original intention in expressing my opinion over a mild frustration.

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

I do understand what you are saying but his decision to not share all info with you speaks for it self. The reason I even commented is, even the people making the product don't always get all the info either for various reasons. And yeah he is stretched thin but you would only know what having worked with him.

Its pretty obvious the Dev version was to recuperate costs of developing ver.1 while letting creators get a "beta" version to start making accessories. Yeah he will probably consider people that bought the Dev versions feed back before others but anything more is a relationship you personally have built up from writing constructive posts. We both know you Sister Kyoya and your contributions.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Guest

Feel free to let me know if I misunderstood something, admittedly a fair amount of inference went into trying to examine this issue so I'm well aware that some things could in fact be wrong. I'm just trying to see possible cause on both sides in hopes that this doesn't get any worse.

 

Yes I think you misunderstand. I'm trying to tell Sister Kyoya her expectations are rather high in this very particular case. There is so much that can be said. Danny does listen to feed back, I've even had to make changes because of that feedback, a lot in fact. I don't really worry about protecting Danny anymore. I tried but its a long story.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Guest

 

Yes I think you misunderstand. I'm trying to tell Sister Kyoya her expectations are rather high in this very particular case. There is so much that can be said. Danny does listen to feed back, I've even had to make changes because of that feedback, a lot in fact. I don't really worry about protecting Danny anymore. I tried but its a long story.

 

I do see what you were trying to say, I just think the execution was a tad poor. And it's alright if Danny has his reasons for handling it the way he does. It's also alright for SK to mention if it stresses her out. Sorry for what I may have misunderstood. It really did come off as defensive and a bit dismissing of SK. It wasn't your intent I'm sure and while I'd like to go ahead and say it's all alright now I think it would be best to let SK do that.

I think it's just best to agree that we disagree. I don't have the desire to debate with someone who seems to ignore every positive thing I've said throughout this entire thread yet insists on making a singular small opinion I expressed be blown completely out of proportion.

 

What I really don't understand is if you are the 3D sculptor, why in the world do you seem to be so easily mad or annoyed at me? Many people have expressed rather harsh comments in this thread directed very specifically at Eiji's sculpt, either the body or the heads. As for me, I've been thrilled and seen potential in every version, yet that seems to be completely ignored. One of the very first reasons why I wanted the Dev version was so I could have every version of the Smart Doll boy. Is this to go and nitpick every little perceived flaw in the sculpt? No. It's because I love it. I love photographing it and seeing how it looks when it gets posed. I am consistently amazed that I have such a remarkable vinyl body to work with as a base for everything I do with the clothes. Without it I'd just have a pile of fabric on the floor. The majority of people seem to have a severe dislike for the Dev head sculpt, but me? I'm actually happy and thrilled to have it. I love that he is very different, and fits one of the characters I was working on perfectly. I haven't photographed Madison much because I just got his wig last week and I've had other pressing things that I've had to work on first. Ralph (my Volks 01 boy head) snatched the body as soon as it came because it's what I've been looking for to suit him and he has just been waiting for the right one to finally be finished. The full release Eiji will be another character that I'm 90% sure he will fit one I've been wanting to make a boy doll out of since before I even knew about DD. So the reason (other than finances) that my Dev head doesn't have a body really comes down to the fact that Danny isn't selling just the blank bodies yet. Basically loads of reasons that have nothing to do with the sculpt itself.

 

Earlier in the thread I posted my suggestions for how the sculpt could be changed because Danny was asking the Smart Doll community as a whole what we thought. It was not my criticism of the sculpt (or sculptor) but suggestions that Danny could choose or not at his own discretion. As I've stated I really like the original sculpt, but I can also understand that it doesn't have as wide of an appeal as the newer one does. I'm sure that one of the reasons Danny ultimately chose to have it altered was to give the whole boy line the best chance it can have to succeed. As for the newer sculpt, It's embarrassing how often I've gone back to look at the pics because I just love it that much and feel completely giddy thinking that I get to have him home soon. (Soon being relative since I'm used to Volk's 9+ months preorders.) The pics I've seen of the changes in the body sculpt make me happy as well.

 

I for one am not attempting to trivialize the work it took to sculpt the Smart Doll boy nor make light of how annoying or frustrating revisions can be. I know it's hard work. 3D sculpting is something I've done some and having the right tools help but it takes more than a little talent to achieve a finished project. For quite a long time I thought about being a 3D game modeler, but I wouldn't be doing characters since I see myself more as a builder. I'd be making furniture and the like because working with organic shapes is not what I'm best at. This just makes me respect the people even more who are able to do it.

 

Now if this doesn't make me sound more than a little like a fangirl for the sculptor I really have no idea what else I can say. Putting it bluntly, I have an immense amount of respect for Eiji's sculptor and hope that the buff body can be done by the same person because I look forward to seeing more of the same work because it suits my tastes very well. (More than once I've gotten frustrated at Danny for pretty much saying "Look at this thing I did!" when referring to Eiji instead of giving proper credit to the sculptor. In the beginning it was so bad that I thought Danny himself had modeled Eiji. )

 

All of this being said, I'm really just baffled over the dismissive and/or harsh remarks I keep getting.

 

~Sister Kyoya