Smart Doll vs. Dollfie Dream Help?

Hello guys! I have a few questions that I just can't seem to find after spending a couple of hours of searching for... so I thought maybe coming here was the best place. I have a DDDY Dollfie, and I am interested in a Smart Doll. However there's several things I can't figure out...

 

First of all: what can a Smart Doll do? If I purchased one right now. Videos all know the mechanical/automatic ones as if they are already purchasable, information back from 2014. But, there is no way to buy one and I don't see a single soul with one. I am sure this is because Danny abandoned the small version because he moved on to making a larger version, the Smart Doll Plus. BUT, there are also more videos explaining that Smart Dolls can give you notifications from your IMs/Facebook/etc, and tell you the time. Does THAT part in fact actually exist? I am guessing not, but I'd like to know for sure if someone has one and can tell me?

 

Second: Why is Smart Doll so much more than a Dollfie Dream if it can't do anything special? If it can't tell time, or give you notifications, why is it close to double the price? That part is puzzling me. Is it somehow better quality, or are both girls basically the same?

 

Third: If you ask for the correct back piece, does Smart Doll really work for putting stuff inside her to make her into a phone charger or mobile PC? Does anyone find carrying their doll with that inside to be worth it, or is it actually too much of a pain?

 

Fourth: I've heard they are more durable than a Dollfie Dream. Is this true, or are they pretty much the same? I find it hard to imagine carrying my DDDY around all over like people do their Smart Dolls, without the DDDY getting totally ruined from constantly being man handled.

 

Fifth: Does anyone find the price of the clothing to be worth it? Has anyone had issues with staining with Smart Doll brand clothing?

 

Sixth: Can the Smart Doll hands fit on the Dollfie Dream models?

 

 

 

Any questions being answered would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I'm not sure what you mean by the smart dolls being twice as much as a DD...? They're about the same price as a DD, DDs often costing more depending on how elaborate their clothes is. Unless you mean compared to the standard model DDs....but think about it, a standard DD comes with eyes, wig, a (frankly boring) nighty and underwear. I doubt many people display them like that. A smart doll, on the other hand, comes with the eyes, wig, underwear, socks, shoes, pants and tshirt, ready for displaying as a fullset. The 'essential editions'' definitely cost more than a standard DD though - I think the total price of the clothing combined is a lot more than just 10000 yen, but i guess in a way that makes the fullset better value.

 

In any case, the clothes are ludicrously high quality and are stain-tested extensively before approved for sale (something Volks doesnt even bother with apparently), although this is good and bad. Good because I've never seen or touched more high quality doll clothing in my life, bad because...well, that's why they cost as much as they do. I really wish there was a wider variety of clothing from more economical to the super pricey stuff, but oh well, maybe one day.

 

The 'high' price (which I still dont think is high from a DD standpoint) is therefore because of two main things - clothing quality and the fact that culturejapan is still such a small company compared to Volks.

 

The videos about smart dolls being able to tell the time by calibrating nearby nebula were incredibly tongue-in-cheek, but Danny -is-still working on the Genesis thing which apparently will be able to be inserted into a smart doll which will be able to do what you described. No one has it yet because it isn't out yet. All the recent pics/videos showing smart dolls with phone chargers/etc inside their body cavities is mostly for fun, but I'm tempted to try it. Danny mostly did it to his Mirai because he carries her everywhere so he figured since he already does that he may as well turn her into a phone charger rather than having to carry the phone charger as well. I'm hoping that his recent interest in sticking phone chargers and external HDs inside her is related to increased development of the Genesis thing and him investigating the fit of certain size items. But if you wanted to try this yourself, you dont need a special chest piece or anything - their torso cavities are spacious enough to fit things in there as the inner frame doesnt take up that much space.

 

Durability I cant really say too much because I dont have a DD to compare to but I've seen plenty of people praising the smartdolls durability. Danny did design them to be able to be taken out for photography etc. Also, his dolls all come with a 1 year warranty and he will replace any breakages for free (minus shipping cost), and I dont know a single other doll company that does that. Others here who own both smartdolls and DDs can probably better evaluate any difference in what they can stand up to but it's definitely nice knowing that Danny has you covered for the first year if anything happens.

 

One thing I -do- know, that I only found out recently, is that the smart doll vinyl is a bit harder than a DDs which means colour transfer doesnt happen as notoriously easy. For all I've heard about vinyl dolls getting stained simply from being in the same room as dark fabric, I'm surprised how unstained my Eiji is. I'm still wary about it but the opinion across the board does seem to be that DDs stain a lot easier than Smartdolls do.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure the hands dont fit.

 

One 'smart' thing I do really enjoy is how much Danny listens to his customerbase and gives people what they want (without compromising what he himself wants of course), something Volks are famously stubborn on. For example, the darker skin tones and the male bodies that everyone wanted for years from Volks with still no sign of it ever happening. Things like Eiji's sculpt were developed with massive fan input and feedback.

 

For things that the dolls can do that DDs cant...they have a hole in their backs in which you insert a stand that can easily be obscured by their legs in a photo (visible stands in photos apparently annoyed Danny a lot), and there's also an 'air stand' you can buy separately for airborne purposes. In that way they're almost like giant figmas. (Now, why the air stand costs so much, I cant tell you. That's a mystery I'm still trying to solve myself). They can move their heads back further/up higher as the vinyl on the chest piece and neck is very soft and the inner frame part pretty bendy, which lets them do some poses DDs cant (such as lying on stomach looking up). The ankle and wrist joints are also a lot better in smart dolls, with a triple axis so theres a greater range of movement. Volks recently released some new wrist joints you can buy separately to upgrade DDs, which does the same thing, although I dont -think- any of the dolls actually come with them. Maybe future releases??

I also really like the fact that smart dolls have their torso joints directly under the breasts/chest so its barely visible, whereas there's a visible joint/seam on a DD that I personally dont like the look of.

These things dont sound like much on their own, but if you're into photography and posing they do make a huge difference!

 

It's very easy to want to compare DDs to smartdolls but in the end I think it's kind of fruitless. They're both very similar but ultimately different products. It's not really a matter of which is 'better' because I think they both have their strengths and weaknesses (also on a forum for DDs, opinion will justifiably be a little biased), it's more just which you prefer the look of. After all, there's nothing preventing anyone from getting both. It's what I'm doing, anyway. I got Eiji because even after years of people wanting one, Volks still aren't making a male DD and I vastly prefer the male smart doll body to the Obitsu one. If I get one of the girls it'll be a tan/tea-coloured one, something else Volks still wont do. But there are a lot of DDs I'd love to have and smartdoll currently has no answer to MDD!

but Danny -is-still working on the Genesis thing which apparently will be able to be inserted into a smart doll which will be able to do what you described. No one has it yet because it isn't out yet. All the recent pics/videos showing smart dolls with phone chargers/etc inside their body cavities is mostly for fun, but I'm tempted to try it.

 

I'm hoping that his recent interest in sticking phone chargers and external HDs inside her is related to increased development of the Genesis thing and him investigating the fit of certain size items.

 

As an addition:

I contacted(/pestered) him about updates on Genesis recently. He said that the "thing" he is doing now - Miraicon - is what genesis has become, pretty much. And he is looking for a company who will work with him on developing it further.

First of all: what can a Smart Doll do?

At this point, about as much as a DD. Danny is working on some tech interfaces, but I think we're looking at a few years at least before it's available to consumers. His Facebook and Twitter are probably the best places to find updates.

 

 

Second: Why is Smart Doll so much more than a Dollfie Dream if it can't do anything special? If it can't tell time, or give you notifications, why is it close to double the price? That part is puzzling me. Is it somehow better quality, or are both girls basically the same?

 

DD Standard: $462-$473 + shipping

SmD (at today's USD/Yen exchange rate):$488 + shipping

 

Double the price?

 

 

Fifth: Does anyone find the price of the clothing to be worth it? Has anyone had issues with staining with Smart Doll brand clothing?

 

The clothing is AMAZING. I splurged on shorts for my Ebony, and I was seriously impressed at the craftsmanship. But I'm not made of money, so "MIRAI" branded couture purchases might be few and far between.

 

 

Sixth: Can the Smart Doll hands fit on the Dollfie Dream models?

 

Check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=10638

Hands swapping is addressed towards the end.

Thank you guys for all the help, I really appreciate it! The price difference was actually me using yen prices from Dollfie Japan, as the US version is over 100 dollars more than Japan's when you look at exchange rates. So I actually paid 300 for my Miko doll, with about 20 on shipping, not the 460 range. And I used the full outfit price on Smart Doll, I just realized, so that's why it ended up being pretty much double my Miko. Sorry about that confusion!

 

Looks like Smart Doll comes with a lot more though, so I suppose it makes sense!

Durability I cant really say too much because I dont have a DD to compare to but I've seen plenty of people praising the smartdolls durability. Danny did design them to be able to be taken out for photography etc. Also, his dolls all come with a 1 year warranty and he will replace any breakages for free (minus shipping cost), and I dont know a single other doll company that does that. Others here who own both smartdolls and DDs can probably better evaluate any difference in what they can stand up to but it's definitely nice knowing that Danny has you covered for the first year if anything happens.

 

I agree with what everyone has said about Smart Dolls and Dollfie Dreams. However, with regards to durability, I would say that I prefer changing the hands on Dollfie Dreams than on a Smart Doll.

 

With Dollfie Dreams, it's quite easy to remove and change the hand parts. The vinyl is more soft so it comes loose more easily. With Smart Dolls, it's not as easy. I tried wiggling the hand part back and forth like I would with a DD hand. The vinyl is a lot harder so in order to remove the hands, you have to apply a bit of force at times. This actually led to me accidentally snapping one of my Mirai's wrists. I never changed her hands since then.

 

Danny does state on his website that he recommends warming up the hand parts with a hairdryer to soften the vinyl before removing them. This might work well if you're doing indoor shoots at home. But when you're outside, this isn't very practical.

Apparently the hard vinyl hands are on the older smart dolls. My Eiji has soft hands and apparently all the girls do now too.

It wasn't hard for me to take off his hands, although I only tried once and that was just to see if it was as difficult as I'd heard.

Oh really? That's good news. My girl is 1.5 years old so most likely, she has the old, hard hands.