Kagamine Rin & Len & New Miku outfits!*pic updated*

i really want Rin

but i'm afraid i dont have enough money in october

They're selling the event pre order. So they'll go in line for you and get it. Which is honestly really tempting, but super sketchy on how legit that is. If Volks is selling them at Dollpa for a limited number then I would need proof that this person selling it got in. I'm not sure how this works, but it's tempting...

If Volks is selling them at Dollpa for a limited number then I would need proof that this person selling it got in. I'm not sure how this works, but it's tempting...

According to the online entry, people who go to Dolpa are guaranteed to be able to order one Rin and one Len for later delivery in October. It is limited to one of each doll per person, but there doesn't seem to be any cap on the number of people who can place an order.

 

It's something new they haven't done before as a dolpa perk.

If Volks is selling them at Dollpa for a limited number then I would need proof that this person selling it got in. I'm not sure how this works, but it's tempting...

According to the online entry, people who go to Dolpa are guaranteed to be able to order one Rin and one Len for later delivery in October. It is limited to one of each doll per person, but there doesn't seem to be any cap on the number of people who can place an order.

 

It's something new they haven't done before as a dolpa perk.

 

Ah. So i guess that'd make it a little more safe to order. So tempting yet so irresponsible QQ inner turmoil central lol

*reads the ebay page for Len*

 

"Model: Kagamine Rin Dollfie Dream"

 

O.o

 

I would be so afraid to order and then receive the wrong doll even if the title says it is Kagamine Len. If anyone orders it, please confirm with the seller that they will get Len. I sent them a question and they answered quickly.

 

I even thought of purchasing him but I decided not to....I will probably regret this decision my whole life ~_~

Since I've seen people saying stuff on other sites and also here, I really think it needs to be said that Nagoya Dollpa =/= 'Japan'. People are saying stuff like 'preorder only open if you're japanese' or 'Volks only care about customers in Japan'. You do realise that a massive percentage of Volks fans in Japan can't go to Nagoya Dollpa either, right? Not everyone lives within reasonable travel distance to it (I certainly won't be when Im in Fu kuoka) and even people who do can't always go because of work commitments or money. Plenty of Japanese fans are just as angry about this choice as you are, believe me.

 

If they were holding preorders only on the jp site then sure, but this isn't about Volks 'disrespecting' international customers. It's about them hilariously underestimating the popularity of Rin and Len.

"Only in Japan," Is a lot quicker to type than, "Only at the Dolpa," It's just a simplification, I mean, In japan or at the dolpa are just as unattainable for most of us.

Yes, but the preorder is only open to Japanese fans -- whether or not those fans can attend the Dolpa doesn't actually change that fact. Even if I were able to attend the Dolpa, I still wouldn't be able to pre-order Rin or Len, because usually they will only deliver Japanese pre-orders to Japanese addresses. If a Japanese fan were able to attend, they would be able to pre-order. There's a huge difference between "it's literally impossible for me to pre-order these dolls, even if I had infinite time and money" and "there is a real opportunity for me to pre-order these dolls, even if I can't take advantage of it due to time/money."

 

Now, there is a totally valid argument about whether or not Volks is making their products accessible to all of their fans, then the Japanese fans who can't get to Nagoya enter into the discussion.

 

I still think Volks doesn't value their US-based DD fans, based on their overall pattern of behavior, this event included. We used to have a physical store in the US (now closed), DD lotteries open to North America (now discontinued), and three Volks distributors (no longer able to get limited items from Volks). Volks has been very good to their US-based resin fans, with special FCS events and even an LA Dolpa (which did have some DD-related stuff but was mostly resin-focused).

 

And yes, this is a very US-centric view, but I think Volks valuing the US-based DD fans benefits the entire international English-speaking community: it means more attention to the English-speaking community as a whole, more dolls in the English-speaking markets, more information made available right away in English, etc. And I can't imagine Volks will ever run special events for Europe or South America unless they've already made a real commitment to their US fans, and I really want Europe and South America and the other parts of the world to get some DD love!

 

So that's my overly long rant on the topic. I still hope to see lots and lots of Rin and Len on the forums!

Not everyone lives within reasonable travel distance to it (I certainly won't be when Im in Fu kuoka) and even people who do can't always go because of work commitments or money.

That reminds me of when I was talking to an older Japanese friend, who grew up there but moved to Canada relatively recently. She mentioned that she'd never been to Kyoto. At that point I had already been there three times. And since then, now a total of five times, which were two Kyoto Dolpas

 

If I wanted to, I could do something stupid like buy a plane ticket & book hotels and attend the Dolpa to pre-order them, or I could just pay the premium of the aftermarket (･･') That's the same thing the Japanese have to deal with.

Yes, but the preorder is only open to Japanese fans -- whether or not those fans can attend the Dolpa doesn't actually change that fact. Even if I were able to attend the Dolpa, I still wouldn't be able to pre-order Rin or Len, because usually they will only deliver Japanese pre-orders to Japanese addresses. If a Japanese fan were able to attend, they would be able to pre-order. There's a huge difference between "it's literally impossible for me to pre-order these dolls, even if I had infinite time and money" and "there is a real opportunity for me to pre-order these dolls, even if I can't take advantage of it due to time/money."

 

Now, there is a totally valid argument about whether or not Volks is making their products accessible to all of their fans, then the Japanese fans who can't get to Nagoya enter into the discussion.

 

I still think Volks doesn't value their US-based DD fans, based on their overall pattern of behavior, this event included. We used to have a physical store in the US (now closed), DD lotteries open to North America (now discontinued), and three Volks distributors (no longer able to get limited items from Volks). Volks has been very good to their US-based resin fans, with special FCS events and even an LA Dolpa (which did have some DD-related stuff but was mostly resin-focused).

 

And yes, this is a very US-centric view, but I think Volks valuing the US-based DD fans benefits the entire international English-speaking community: it means more attention to the English-speaking community as a whole, more dolls in the English-speaking markets, more information made available right away in English, etc. And I can't imagine Volks will ever run special events for Europe or South America unless they've already made a real commitment to their US fans, and I really want Europe and South America and the other parts of the world to get some DD love!

 

So that's my overly long rant on the topic. I still hope to see lots and lots of Rin and Len on the forums!

 

This is so true! Too bad we can't tell them this so they can open their eyes and relize that we matter too and there is a huge fan base of DD's here. Not everyone likes bjds

Too bad we can't tell them this so they can open their eyes and relize that we matter too and there is a huge fan base of DD's here.

 

Of all the years that I've been in the hobby there is a few things I've learned that is consistant with Volks:

 

1.) They don't seem to listen to anyone.

 

2.) Volks will do what Volks will do.

 

3.) Generally I find a large portion of how Volks handles things to be rather random at best, for whatever reason.

 

4.) They never seem to care about non-Japanese customers, and yet do not restrict DD to Japan only. (Not that I want them to, but it just confuses things and makes them seem somewhat two-faced.)

 

~Sister Kyoya

4.) They never seem to care about non-Japanese customers, and yet do not restrict DD to Japan only. (Not that I want them to, but it just confuses things and makes them seem somewhat two-faced.)

 

I can imagine a powerless-but-dedicated Volks JP employee reading that and crying a little inside (๑•́₋•̩̥̀๑) I think what you're referring to is that product planning & design don't consider international audiences as a driver for anything they need to make business decisions for. But in terms of actually managing sales and customer support for international customers, providing a web site and information portal to support a large foreign audience, Volks does much, much better than most other Japanese companies. I can't imagine them having more than 3 full time staff who can work on English copy for their websites, dobleepentation, and marketing, but they do have staff.

 

One notable improvement over when they did the Macross F announcement, the Rin & Len website has an English link, but it's greyed out. With Macross F they didn't bother putting up the link until it went live, and everyone was pulling their hair out (justifiably) wondering if there was going to be an international pre-order. They've also started adding English copy to their Dolpa guidebooks and event websites.

 

So they do care about international customers! We just don't matter much for any product planning business decisions

What I meant to say is that's what it feels like, that if you don't live in Japan, then it seems as if Volks just thinks of anyone else as an afterthought despite MANY of us completely willing to throw money at them. And we aren't talking about spare change here either. Many of us scrimp, save and sacrifice to to make it work so we can get the limited DD, but when Volks does things like they have with the Kagamines, it frankly nearly feels like they are fllipping us the bird. All these months we've been waiting only to find it suddenly beyond our grasp. That's not a good way to make friends, or loyal customers.

 

My mother was a business major in college when I was growing up and it isn't hard to pick up on the fact that at least in American business, it makes sense to go where your biggest market is. Volks doesn't seem to function like that and it really confuses me how they think about such things. I've tried to understand it for the last 4+ years and they seem to function in ways I just don't understand.

 

I'm sorry that what I posted was poorly worded. I'm exhausted after getting very little sleep last night and I've got a headache that's bodering on a migrane so I'm not able to think very hard at the moment.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I didnt realise you needed a japanese address for the Dollpa preorders. That is pretty sad.

My point still stands though that its not like every Volks fan in Japan has no right to complain either, because a good deal of them are still missing out on preorders too - Japan is bigger than people realise and not everyone is close to Nagoya. But it's true that they still have a better shot at it than the international fanbase. And on that note, I wonder what the odds are for the Japanese lottery versus the International lottery? They're separate lotteries, right? Since I'll be in the JP lottery I honestly have no idea what my odds are going to be like - it may seem like it would be better than the international odds due to international being 'the rest of the world', but then when you consider just how many people live in Japan, and the sheer number of scalpers based there...it woudlnt surprise me if the odds were the same for both.

 

Anyway, slightly happier news, the Volks DD blog recently updated with some new pics of Rin and Len that arent on the website or in Volks News.

 

Rin: http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-12175259793.html?frm_src=thumb_module

Len: http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-12175576854.html?frm_src=thumb_module

 

Rin I'm prepared to pay a lot for you, robodaughter. Don't you worry about that.

 

Normally I'm pretty indifferent to Len and he's probably my least favourite of the Cyrpton-6 (its not that I dislike him, I'm just...yeah, indifferent) but these new pics of him are so adorable

My bets are that those two will be available at AX or any other big con in America.

I noticed Rin has an SS-bust, would that be a first for DDS? Chihaya had a one piece torso, but this would be a two piece torso. I didn't think there was a upper torso piece for DDS SS-bust.

I noticed Rin has an SS-bust, would that be a first for DDS? Chihaya had a one piece torso, but this would be a two piece torso. I didn't think there was a upper torso piece for DDS SS-bust.

SS-Bust was released last year? I think as an optional part.

I can't wait until volks starts making other male bodies.

 

I already know that I don't have a chance at winning the lotto.

 

Hopefully they will make another male DD for a future pre-order.

Too bad we can't tell them this so they can open their eyes and relize that we matter too and there is a huge fan base of DD's here.

 

Of all the years that I've been in the hobby there is a few things I've learned that is consistant with Volks:

 

1.) They don't seem to listen to anyone.

 

2.) Volks will do what Volks will do.

 

3.) Generally I find a large portion of how Volks handles things to be rather random at best, for whatever reason.

 

4.) They never seem to care about non-Japanese customers, and yet do not restrict DD to Japan only. (Not that I want them to, but it just confuses things and makes them seem somewhat two-faced.)

 

~Sister Kyoya

 

Reading this I had to chuckle. My other hobby I've had most of my life, model trains. And on forums for what I'm into, O-gauge, people post basically these same complaints about the two big O-gauge train manufactures. So don't feel too bad, as this is rather common in the small market hobby world. Doesn't mean I like it or agree, only that we aren't alone in this treatment.

I noticed Rin has an SS-bust, would that be a first for DDS? Chihaya had a one piece torso, but this would be a two piece torso. I didn't think there was a upper torso piece for DDS SS-bust.

SS-Bust was released last year? I think as an optional part.

You're right, my mistake ^^; When they were released I already had the DDIII sized ones so I guess I wasn't paying attention.

You know, looking at Japanese economic data, I can only conclude that the Volks employees calling the product development and deployment shots are in a bubble even relative to their OWN country.

 

I image a LOT of conversations like this:

 

"CEO-San, we have this month's company sales figures, as well as international survey results and the nationwide retail sales numbers for the month."

 

"Uhuh. So, are we selling at least one of everything?"

 

"Well, eventually, yes, but--"

 

"We're good." *walks away* "Let's make transparent doll coffins, it'll be great!"

 

All parody aside, when you compare the presence of the English staff to the actual behavior of releases, it's pretty clear they're VERY different departments--marketing is one group, who seems to be relatively savvy, and then you've got the actual product deployment section, which is. . . uh. . . special.

 

There's definitely a disconnect there, and frankly it's a bit worrying. There's likely to be some day when the Japanese market nears saturation (and with increased competition from Smart Doll, and with Azone trying to step up their game, that day may be coming faster than any of us like to think), while the international market will be untapped ground, but with this kind of behavior, it makes me doubt that Volks will be able to adapt when that day comes.

 

Essentially, I've kind of accepted that it's not going to pan out for me getting Rin and Len specifically (except perhaps in the aftermarket way down the line), but the pattern itself concerns me.

Miku and snow miku are up for preorder again on volks usa, but Rin and Len can't have one?

Poofiemus, you're making me laugh too hard and too loud at work!

 

Quote of the year right here:

Let's make transparent doll coffins, it'll be great!

 

Miku and snow miku are up for preorder again on volks usa, but Rin and Len can't have one?

 

I suspect the "pre-orders" are them attempting to dump unpaid/unclaimed JP or INT pre-orders on the US market.

Doll coffins? Where? I could use some clear storage boxes for my little minions.

Doll coffins? Where? I could use some clear storage boxes for my little minions.

 

It's part of the next Dolpa release: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=14576&start=0#p198547

 

Maybe you can explain the appeal of them, because I sure don't get it.