DD Fes 2016 - Ltd Preorder announcement Soon

A whole year?! I'm new so, I don't know if this is the average, is it?

 

For preorders a year or more isn't unusual. For lottery dolls I think the norm is more along the lines of 3 - 6 months. The big difference is pre-order is guaranteed for you to get a DD. The lottery is merciless. We have folks who have never won a Volks international lottery doll despite years of trying.

A whole year?! I'm new so, I don't know if this is the average, is it?

 

For preorders a year or more isn't unusual. For lottery dolls I think the norm is more along the lines of 3 - 6 months. The big difference is pre-order is guaranteed for you to get a DD. The lottery is merciless. We have folks who have never won a Volks international lottery doll despite years of trying.

 

Huh, my ears are burning... could you be talking about me?

 

And let's not forget that some pre-orders have taken LONGER than a year. I ordered my Miku in early November 2013 and she delivered in late March 2015... 17 months or nearly 1.5 years.

It's because everyone who preorders is guaranteed a doll, and because of this there are usually a lot of preorders, so Volks has to fill every one. That's a whole lot of dolls to make, unlike lottery dolls where only a set number are made (no one knows what this is, though).

Perhaps it's also mercy on their part to give people adequate time to save.

 

This is also why preorder dolls aren't too expensive on the aftermarket in comparison to lottery dolls which can double or even triple/quadruple in price - it's cos a lot more of them are made.

 

This is also why preorder dolls aren't too expensive on the aftermarket in comparison to lottery dolls which can double or even triple/quadruple in price - it's cos a lot more of them are made.

 

Aaaand then you have Saber Lily who I have seen listed as high as $6000 on EBay when she was around $850 new. Granted I am pretty sure the 6k was a deliberately high negotiating point. Spectacular doll though.

 

This is also why preorder dolls aren't too expensive on the aftermarket in comparison to lottery dolls which can double or even triple/quadruple in price - it's cos a lot more of them are made.

 

Aaaand then you have Saber Lily who I have seen listed as high as $6000 on EBay when she was around $850 new. Granted I am pretty sure the 6k was a deliberately high negotiating point. Spectacular doll though.

 

Saber Lily was a lotto doll, tho? Dolls Party 24!

 

The Saber pre-orders were Saber Alter v2 and Saber Extra. Saber Lily was never offered via pre-order, and she actually uses a totally different and completely unique head mold from all of the other Sabers.

 

Same mold = Saber Original (Blue), Saber Alter v1, Saber Extra (Red), Saber Alter v2

DIFFERENT mold = Saber Lily

 

Previous Pre-Orders:

- Marisa & Reimu

- Saber Alter v2 & Saber Extra

- Momo & Kos-mos

- Miku & Snow Miku

- Yoko & Nia

- Sheryl & Ranka

 

Technically also Rin & Len but I'm not counting those because they were only available at the Dolpa.

 

Saber Lily was a lotto doll, tho? Dolls Party 24!

 

 

Oh sorry, I should have trimmed the text I quoted a bit more. My intention was to compare her to lotto dolls that double or triple in price. Lily's low point NIB a year ago was around 3.5 times the original lottery price of ¥95000, and the high point was more than 6 x the original. Just to show how crazy the really desirable lottery dolls can get after market compared to pre-orders.

 

Lily is an amazing sculpt on top of being unique. I've seen her head alone listed for $1400. Simply one of Volks best head sculpts. (At least in my opinion.)

 

Kos-Mos is another stunning sculpt, but her aftermarket price was maybe 40% above the ¥95000 pre-order price when I got mine. She's like a Dollfie Dream super model too, but much more reasonable to pickup after market. Two years ago you could get her full set for the same price as a Saber Lily head.

 

I've seen one DD listed higher than Lily, but i can't recall which one.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Guest

Rina and Yuki were preorders as well. The exception that proves the rule? Mandarake has them going between 180,000-200,000 yen for Rina, and 200,000-265,000 for Yuki. I don't frequent YJA, so the actual going rate might be something else.

Rina and Yuki were preorders as well. The exception that proves the rule? Mandarake has them going between 180,000-200,000 yen for Rina, and 200,000-265,000 for Yuki. I don't frequent YJA, so the actual going rate might be something else.

 

I remember when their preorder period was running; it probably generated some of the most outright negative sentiment towards preorder dolls I've seen, barring the Rin/Len drama.

 

First people were like, "White Album? What the HELL? No one likes that show, it was awful!"

 

Also, unlike more recent preorders, Volks started taking orders before the prototypes were done. Yes, really. If you were one of the first orders, you were placing your order completely blind, based on the license property/characters alone. So. . . picking an unpopular show? Kind of a questionable choice. (Granted, they'd done this same thing before, but that was with Gurren Lagan, which was at is peak popularity. Not really a comparable license to White Album.)

 

Partway through the preorder period--like, 2/3 I think--they revealed the prototypes finally, at at that point you could cancel your order if you didn't like them. Sentiment towards the prototypes was mixed at best, and rather snarky at worst. Especially towards Rina; her V shaped mouth was even more pronounced in the first prototype.

 

Volks did do some revisions, and that did better the dolls' reception--to "eh, they're alright" for most people.

 

It wasn't until long after the dolls had shipped, and owner photos came out, that the popularity of both of them skyrocketed, particularly Yuki. Probably one of the most dramatic cases of "Volks pictures don't do their own products justice". Rina took a while to catch up, but her value did go up too.

 

I do think it's interesting, though, that out of the Yukis and Rinas I've spotted online, I think I've only seen ONE person keep them as their default characters--and as I recall, he specifically said it was because of the visual novel version, not the anime. Pretty much everyone else gets them for the mold instead.

 

So, yeah, there were a LOT of atypical things going on with the Yuki/Rina preorder. It was sure a roller coaster to watch! Seriously doubt we'll get that crazy mix of cirbleepstance in a preorder again though.

Wow, I'd never heard of that kerfuffle. Makes the whole RinLen business look completely logical and banal in comparison.

Partway through the preorder period--like, 2/3 I think--they revealed the prototypes finally, at at that point you could cancel your order if you didn't like them. Sentiment towards the prototypes was mixed at best, and rather snarky at worst. Especially towards Rina; her V shaped mouth was even more pronounced in the first prototype.

Wow Does anyone have photos of prototype Rina or Yuki? I'm really curious how they looked. I never knew this happened.

For people who were hoping for future "boy type" body it might happen. Posted the email of what volks jp sent to me over at

"DDs boy type" topic area if you want to read it~

Partway through the preorder period--like, 2/3 I think--they revealed the prototypes finally, at at that point you could cancel your order if you didn't like them. Sentiment towards the prototypes was mixed at best, and rather snarky at worst. Especially towards Rina; her V shaped mouth was even more pronounced in the first prototype.

Wow Does anyone have photos of prototype Rina or Yuki? I'm really curious how they looked. I never knew this happened.

 

The original "prototypes" used the Moe/Natsuki head. It wasn't a mysterious unreleased headmold or anything like that.

 

Here's the "prototype" Yuki -- oh hey it's actually Moe/Natsuki!!!

http://dollfieworld.com/18283-thickbox_default/used-volks-dd-yuki-morikawa-original-swimsuit.jpg

From this page, last photo: http://dollfieworld.com/en/home/8191-used-volks-dd-yuki-morikawa-original-swimsuit-102223.html

 

Then they did another version, this time with Yuki's actual head, but with an early version of her face-up (it changed a bit between this and the release):

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/volks-dd-m-yuki-morikawa-swimwear-244213410

 

Here's the "prototype" Rina -- oh hey, it's Moe/Natsuki again!!!

http://dollfieworld.com/17277-thickbox_default/volks-dollfie-dream-white-album-rina-ogata.jpg

From this page, last photo: http://dollfieworld.com/en/image-character/7692-volks-dollfie-dream-white-album-rina-ogata-102019.html

 

Like Yuki, they showed additional photos with Rina's actual head, but with an early version of her face-up, but I can't seem to find those photos right now. They're on the Ameblo DD blog if you're willing to dig through all of the pages.

There WERE other prototypes, Cauldy--but they only showed the headshots, and I, for one, am too lazy to dig for them. The Moe/Natsuki shots were before the prototypes I'm talking about.

 

But yeah, long story short, the White Album preorder was kind of chaotic compared to current ones. I think that was a BIG factor in how few of Rina and Yuki were made.

Are you sure you're not just thinking of the weird, early face-ups?

 

I don't recall ever seeing other heads than the Moe/Natsuki heads and then the actual Yuki & Rina heads. We did see Yuki and Rina heads with weird, non-final face-ups though. The face-ups changed quite a bit between the original reveal and the final delivery, iirc.

Sorry, I didn't mean separate headmolds, I solely meant prototype phases. ^^; Should have been more clear.

 

For those curious: http://www.wolfheinrich.com/2010/02/19/white-album-dollfie-dream-rina-and-yuki-final-images/

 

Ol' Wolfheinrich had comparisons of first and second prototype faceups here, for both girls.

Ah, yeah. The early face-ups were SO BAD! Especially Rina. Volks has come a LONG WAY with its pre-orders.

 

At least now we have presumably final forms of all three dolls, right from the very beginning... Not that I'll be getting any of them, or that I'll stop being disappointed by more friggin' idols, but at least it's organized.

iDOLM@ASTER the anime has 13 girls that are considered mains.

iDOLM@ASTER Cinderella Girls has 14 mains.

^ At least according to MAL.

 

I have no idea how many playable characters there are in the games that might have the potential to be made into DD, but with 27 girls and counting something tells me Volks will be hemorrhaging IM@S dolls for quite some time to come.

iDOLM@ASTER the anime has 13 girls that are considered mains.

iDOLM@ASTER Cinderella Girls has 14 mains.

^ At least according to MAL.

 

I have no idea how many playable characters there are in the games that might have the potential to be made into DD, but with 27 girls and counting something tells me Volks will be hemorrhaging IM@S dolls for quite some time to come.

 

Dayum. Puts a new extreme on Loads and Loads of Characters.

 

. .. since I"m not into IM@S at ALL, all I can hope for is decent head molds.

 

Dayum. Puts a new extreme on Loads and Loads of Characters.

 

. .. since I"m not into IM@S at ALL, all I can hope for is decent head molds.

 

 

That site (for me) had one of those annoying popup spam "youve won a prize - click ok to continue" windows

 

Just a heads up :/

 

Dayum. Puts a new extreme on Loads and Loads of Characters.

 

. .. since I"m not into IM@S at ALL, all I can hope for is decent head molds.

 

 

That site (for me) had one of those annoying popup spam "youve won a prize - click ok to continue" windows

 

Just a heads up :/

 

OH man, I had no idea--I have Adblock set super high, so I didn't get any of that at all.

 

Dayum. Puts a new extreme on Loads and Loads of Characters.

 

. .. since I"m not into IM@S at ALL, all I can hope for is decent head molds.

 

 

That site (for me) had one of those annoying popup spam "youve won a prize - click ok to continue" windows

 

Just a heads up :/

 

OH man, I had no idea--I have Adblock set super high, so I didn't get any of that at all.

 

 

Its all good - Im on mobile phone so i thought id just let others know ^×^

 

one time awhile ago i was trying to exit out of one like it and ended up subscribing to something accidentally, unsubscribed seconds later but still got a $15 charge >~<

 

Back on topic, ill be getting both Iori and Yaoyoi and the extra outfits. Dont care for Idolmaster character's so they'll be my own character dolls

Re: Yuki & Rina, the Volks DD blog has stuff, but they're just using other dolls to model the outfits,

 

http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-10439438760.html

 

In that case, they're modelling the option outfits with Moe. Here's Yuki's wig using Sasara and Moe (cute wig actually),

 

http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-10429639585.html

 

The early faceups, http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-10558401739.html

 

I saw them there before, so I just searched the DD blog for 森川由綺.

The early faceups, http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-10558401739.html

 

I saw them there before, so I just searched the DD blog for 森川由綺.

 

No, those are the finalized face-ups, that post is dated June 9. Finalized face-ups were revealed months earlier, on Feb 19.

 

These are the early face-ups:

http://www.wolfheinrich.com/2010/02/07/white-album-dollfie-dream-super-pre-order-deadline-and-new-k-on-dollfie-dream/

 

Plus, it still stands that the swimsuit were a pre-order bonus that was only available until Feb 7... and the early heads (first face-ups) weren't revealed until the beginning of the month, so if you wanted them, you mostly had to make a blind decision with only the Moe/Natsuki models for reference (not to mention, iirc, VolksUSA was far less clear about them only modeling the clothes on their pre-order page and not being the actual dolls themselves).

English site has been updated with product pages. Japanese site has been updated as well.

 

http://www.volks.co.jp/imas/en/

I'm starting to get worried. I always liked Iori. Giving her a pink bunny with the label "tsundere princess" does not help. I already have a tsundere in each size, so....

 

The only thing is that she doesn't, uh, demand that I get her, and I have a feeling a limited DDP will come out before her pre-order's shipped. While I did definitely want Miku, I was not expecting that the next DD announced when her pre-order closed would be Yaya (－‸ლ)