Darker skinned Dollfie Dreams

Anyone think Volks should produce darker colored DDs? I've always dreamed of having a darker girl with white hair. I know that Culture Japan has Ebony and everything, but I've always preferred the Volks bodies in the way that they look and feel. (I don't own a DD or Smart Doll, but I know someone who does.)

I think your concept of a darker skinned girl with white hair would be really pretty. Smart Doll is coming out with another girl that's quite dark skinned named Harmony, I think? But if you don't like their bodies then I understand. I would like different skin colors of DD as well. I am kind of tan, as I am multiracial, and I'd love to make a doll in my likeness... That sounds kind of conceited, but I think it would be fun to have a DD version of myself.

You're not the only one! There's a rather long conversation about it going on here: http://www.dollfiedreams.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3445&hilit=tan&start=90

 

I've also seen ones similar to the kind of style you're talking about (I believe she's a custom dye job by Semienigma). With any luck, a darker skin tone will be a more regular feature from Volks now that there's competition for the 1/3 vinyl market.

I would also like to see more skin colors from Volks. I admit I'd be put off from buying one if they called it "tanned skin" or "tan" though. I'd like one where darker is definitely her skin color and not just "I've been in the sun a while", I guess. (I mean for example, I'm darker skinned AND tanned. When my tan fades, I'm still quite brown. It's my natural color.) Smart Doll Ebony is as close as I've seen to my skin color, but at the end of the day, I'm a different kind of brown than her(I'm not sure how to describe the difference.) I'd just love having a doll with my skin tone though. My sense of fashion is already tuned into what matches my skin...so that would certainly be easier on me.

I think your concept of a darker skinned girl with white hair would be really pretty. Smart Doll is coming out with another girl that's quite dark skinned named Harmony, I think? But if you don't like their bodies then I understand. I would like different skin colors of DD as well. I am kind of tan, as I am multiracial, and I'd love to make a doll in my likeness... That sounds kind of conceited, but I think it would be fun to have a DD version of myself.

Yes, I have heard of Harmony. I'm pretty sure that's her name ^^ I'm actually light skinned myself. My very first DD character concept was a dark skinned girl with white hair but I had to scrap her when I realized I only had a couple of skin color choices. But I might keep her idea in mind, just in case volks comes out with some new skin colors in the future. ^^

In theory, you could do a dye/paint job.

In theory, you could do a dye/paint job.

Yeah, I could, but I don't think I would be able to get every part of the doll to look the exact same color.

Most of the dollfies are characters from anime

and Miku ofc.

To be honest from the anime iv seen so far i didnt see black/dark skin girls.

If ill think like a seller of a specific brand or like Volks themself, i wont see the benefit of making other than white/SW/normal skin bodies. They will need to make the body, parts, optional parts for just one doll.

 

Lets say we take some old dollfie with DDII body, Volks make money on the fact we like to upgrade and we buy a new DDIII body. We buy heads without bodies > Volks is here to provide us with a body.

So Volks will have to make 9 heads in a dark color , wait until people buy them, mod them , sell them and only then people will buy a body. Hard for me to see the profit.

 

Also i dont really know how much modding and face ups will fit a dark skin head.

 

In conclusion: Volks want money, as much as they can get.

Making special dark skin dollfie just wont make enough profit from my point of view. I still cant remember seeing a dark skin anime female character they can profit on and dont know why would they want to make a basic dark skin Dollfie.

I'm not sure what anime you're watching, but there are popular dark-skinned girls from major anime series (Anthy from Utena, Urd from Ah! My Goddess, Michiko from Michiko to Hatchin, Mihoshi from Tenshi Muyo, Pluto from Sailor Moon), so it's not like they don't exist.

 

Plus, if Volks does the complete Idolm@ster line-up, they'll need to do Hibiki. In many media, she's depicted as darker than the other Idolm@ster girls, so it's interesting to see what Volks will do with her -- will they shrug their shoulders and make her NS, or will we see the first tan DD in years? True, at most she'll be tan, but even that would be a big step from Volks.

 

For previous tan girls -- Sanjie and Kanu -- Volks only made the dolls tan in the Limited Fullsets; they didn't produce additional optional parts like extra busts or hands.

 

Darker skin tones have become exceptionally popular among BJD collectors; most of the big companies -- Soom, Luts, Iple, Fairyland, etc. -- offer one or more dark-skinned options. So there's definitely a market for it; I think it's silly to pretend there's not. The question is whether or not Volks wants to cater to that market and so far the answer has been "no."

[quote="Cauldroness"]I'm not sure what anime you're watching, but there are popular dark-skinned girls from major anime series (Anthy from Utena, Urd from Ah! My Goddess, Michiko from Michiko to Hatchin, Mihoshi from Tenshi Muyo, Pluto from Sailor Moon), so it's not like they don't exist. Plus, if Volks does the complete Idolm@ster line-up, they'll need to do Hibiki. In many media, she's depicted as darker than the other Idolm@ster girls, so it's interesting to see what Volks will do with her -- will they shrug their shoulders and make her NS, or will we see the first tan DD in years? True, at most she'll be tan, but even that would be a big step from Volks. For previous tan girls -- Sanjie and Kanu -- Volks only made the dolls tan in the Limited Fullsets; they didn't produce additional optional parts like extra busts or hands. Darker skin tones have become exceptionally popular among BJD collectors; most of the big companies -- Soom, Luts, Iple, Fairyland, etc. -- offer one or more dark-skinned options. So there's definitely a market for it; I think it's silly to pretend there's not. The question is whether or not Volks wants to cater to that market and so far the answer has been "no."[/quote] Hibiki isnt dark skin. She will be like Kanu. Himemiya Anthy - this is the dark im talking about. Almost black. Also Pluto isnt that dark. Found a good example http://www.dollmore.net/shop/step1.php?number=3403

I am full of epiphanies today.... is Volks not making any darker/tanned girls because their clothing is notorious for staining!!

 

think about it, we all "DD rescue cream" or "zit-off" our girls (or at least parts of them) constantly.... Will those chemicals do more harm on a tan girl?

For example, the uniform skirt will leave dark purple marks on her tan skin, and while the cream will fade it out, it'll strip away some of her tan as well... leaving her with a sorta Vitiligo-affliction or something

 

 

......

meanwhile, OMG, I hope Volks makes Urd and Skuld to keep Belldandy SD company

I am full of epiphanies today.... is Volks not making any darker/tanned girls because their clothing is notorious for staining!!

 

think about it, we all "DD rescue cream" or "zit-off" our girls (or at least parts of them) constantly.... Will those chemicals do more harm on a tan girl?

For example, the uniform skirt will leave dark purple marks on her tan skin, and while the cream will fade it out, it'll strip away some of her tan as well... leaving her with a sorta Vitiligo-affliction or something

 

 

......

meanwhile, OMG, I hope Volks makes Urd and Skuld to keep Belldandy SD company

 

I've used some Remove-zit on Kanu's foot before and it didn't change anything, looks like always. So I doubt that's a reason for not making any more tan-skinned girls xD

I am full of epiphanies today.... is Volks not making any darker/tanned girls because their clothing is notorious for staining!!

 

think about it, we all "DD rescue cream" or "zit-off" our girls (or at least parts of them) constantly.... Will those chemicals do more harm on a tan girl?

For example, the uniform skirt will leave dark purple marks on her tan skin, and while the cream will fade it out, it'll strip away some of her tan as well... leaving her with a sorta Vitiligo-affliction or something

 

 

......

meanwhile, OMG, I hope Volks makes Urd and Skuld to keep Belldandy SD company

If the vinyl itself is tan, then that wouldn't happen.

k, I'm an idiot... n/m my theory then (logic was white-skin yellows, so some kinda reverse color issue might be with tans)

Well, it is a well-known problem about BJD companies that brown skin -- especially the darker browns -- tends to be MUCH more unstable than the "white" and "normal" skin tones. There have been reports of dolls turning green and yellow after being exposed to too much sunlight... not sure if that would be an issue with vinyl or not? Interesting to see what happens with Smart Dolls Ebony and Harmony.

Well, it is a well-known problem about BJD companies that brown skin -- especially the darker browns -- tends to be MUCH more unstable than the "white" and "normal" skin tones. There have been reports of dolls turning green and yellow after being exposed to too much sunlight... not sure if that would be an issue with vinyl or not? Interesting to see what happens with Smart Dolls Ebony and Harmony.

 

With vinyl it shouldn't be a problem at all. Resin has problems because of sanding and color imbalances in the tan/brown resin when exposed to UV light (the red pigments lessen leaving only green and blue pigments causing the doll to green like that), though major color problems like that haven't happened in a long time.

 

Vinyl owners are lucky because we can have our girls exposed to UV for prolonged amounts of time with little to no color change as opposed to resin where owners take care to not even have the sun on them for more than a photoshoot. Having tan vinyl fashion dolls, I don't believe the color would be a problem at all with the sun.

helloo~

How do people dye their dollfie dreams a tan color? I'm a little desperate for a tan girl. ><'

 

I have so many questions about dollfie dream dolls that sometimes I don't know where to ask them!

helloo~

How do people dye their dollfie dreams a tan color? I'm a little desperate for a tan girl. ><'

 

I have so many questions about dollfie dream dolls that sometimes I don't know where to ask them!

 

I'm guessing, but iDyePoly (made by Jacquard Products) might be a good start.

 

 

Well, it is a well-known problem about BJD companies that brown skin -- especially the darker browns -- tends to be MUCH more unstable than the "white" and "normal" skin tones. There have been reports of dolls turning green and yellow after being exposed to too much sunlight... not sure if that would be an issue with vinyl or not? Interesting to see what happens with Smart Dolls Ebony and Harmony.

 

Are there any prototype photos of Harmony yet? I'd love to see the skin tone. I've started the (depressingly slow ) process of saving up for Ebony, but if there's a darker girl on the horizon…

 

With regards to "darker" skin tones not selling, Volks, Azone et al should talk to Groove and Takara. Pullip collectors are about ready to riot over the release of a "Mocha" MIO (Make It Own) kit (Pullips and Junk), and dark skinned Blythes command BIG mark-ups on the secondary market. I'm baffled that the aforementioned companies would think larger dark-skinned dolls wouldn't sell.

 

I know there were initial problems with resin dolls (probably because the color was applied only to the surface), but in this day and age of casting green, pink, blue and every other fantasy color, a darker brown shouldn't be a problem. It should be really easy to do in vinyl, Barbie's been doing it since 1980.

 

ETA: I just saw Harmony on flickr, and is it me or is there a little too much purple in her skintone to look realistic?

 

 

Tan and brown vinyl dolls are made by other companies, there should be no reason Volks couldn't make darker color DDs. But I've heard that tan dolls don't sell well in Japan, so that is probably why Volks doesn't make them.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

Tan and brown vinyl dolls are made by other companies, there should be no reason Volks couldn't make darker color DDs. But I've heard that tan dolls don't sell well in Japan, so that is probably why Volks doesn't make them.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

 

That's a shame but it's a different culture so it's good to know what to expect and why they don't do it.

Tan and brown vinyl dolls are made by other companies, there should be no reason Volks couldn't make darker color DDs. But I've heard that tan dolls don't sell well in Japan, so that is probably why Volks doesn't make them.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

 

Catering to their overseas market seems to be out of the question with Volks. Volks focuses on their SDs more than DDs in the west market.

 

I suppose since they won't sell well in Japan they may not be able to justify making extra parts for tan DDs because they don't have a lot of traffic at home and DDs are kinda secondary at Volks USA. We are a pretty small market and those of us that want the tan girls are an even smaller number.

Tan and brown vinyl dolls are made by other companies, there should be no reason Volks couldn't make darker color DDs. But I've heard that tan dolls don't sell well in Japan, so that is probably why Volks doesn't make them.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

 

Catering to their overseas market seems to be out of the question with Volks. Volks focuses on their SDs more than DDs in the west market.

 

I suppose since they won't sell well in Japan they may not be able to justify making extra parts for tan DDs because they don't have a lot of traffic at home and DDs are kinda secondary at Volks USA. We are a pretty small market and those of us that want the tan girls are an even smaller number.

 

Oh I forgot about the resin Volks dolls lmao!! there are tan Volks BJDs in all sizes (or so it seems, I'm looking at this group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1935686@N23/pool/ ).

 

I always thought that DDs were popular in the west?...for some reason Volks doesn't make tan AND male DDs. Could it be that Japan doesn't like dark skin and boys ? If they have been doing well with their tan and boys BJD line, not only here in the west but in Japan as well, then there shouldn't be a reason why they can't do it with DDs but they have a reason and now I don't think it is because tan dolls won't sell well in Japan...Volks is a huge mystery to me.