Haruka & Kanata Smart Dolls - 2017

Danny announced plans to release two more girls from the Miraiverse as Smart Dolls in 2017:

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/MiraiRobotics/status/812133746946306048

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/MiraiRobotics/status/812133614435651591/

 

Before anybody gets their hopes up, though, he also said elsewhere that he has no plans to make a shorter body unless a license holder requires it.

  Ie-Aster said:

Before anybody gets their hopes up, though, he also said elsewhere that he has no plans to make a shorter body unless a license holder requires it.

 

Well that's a bit silly. It'd be better than making 1000 different faceups for the same sculpt, but who's surprised anymore. Volks will be volks, and I guess Danny will be Danny? It'll still be cool to see them. Hopefully they get unique sculpts.

  SMART DOLL by DANNY‏ @MiraiRobotics said:

not unless our license business requires it.

 

??????

 

It's obvious that he's not interested/doesn't care in creating girls with shorter heights and correct proportions. I already noticed this with Miho anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I mean, yes I know the process on creating new dolls is indeed expensive, but eventually it pays off! Look at Volks creating many different dolls with a variety of proportions. They can not only make the characters seem more "correct" but it opens a window to potentially have a large line of characters in the future.

 

If he can't afford it he just needs to work with characters that have the same proportions as his current bodies, and once he's got the funds for a new body he can work on a shorter "younger" body. It doesn't have to be MDD size but it can be like how the DDP body is. The midground on MDD and DDS.

What?? Mirai's little sis having the same body would be super jarring. :\ I'm kinda excited for Kanata, but this reluctance to make bodies that fit HIS OWN characters is really disappointing to me. I know the process is expensive, but still.. I hope that an incoming license holder will be strict about getting their characters looking right as Smart Dolls then.

 

A DDP-ish size would be great. There's a ton of variety in Obitsu 47-50cm options, but I'd want a shorter SmD girl(and guy!) in tea skin eventually if that ever happens.

I think it's important to remember that for better or for worse, Danny is first and foremost a businessman. My guess is that he's hoping to offset the cost of developing a new body through a licensor willing to offset the cost of development so that the final product is in keeping with their character.

 

I doubt the guy is blind to the fact that a single body is limiting his ability to stay faithful to the character, so my assumption is that cost and resources is the limiting factor. Not only would it be costly to design, develop and QC a new body type, it might throw a wrench into production. For all we know, he might already be stretched developing enough dolls to meet current demand, and won't be able to maintain current production while producing new bodies in adequate quantities.

 

This isn't to defend him. Like I've met almost all his recent reveals with either apathy or disappointment. I just wanted to point out there might be other factors at work outside of Danny just not wanting to make a new body

  SolicitorPirate said:

Danny is first and foremost a businessman.

A businessman doesn't act immaturely to criticism. He's supposed to learn from it. As I said previously before, Danny has been known to shrug off criticism or respond in an inappropriate way about it.

 

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I doubt the guy is blind to the fact that a single body is limiting his ability to stay faithful to the character, so my assumption is that cost and resources is the limiting factor.

This is why you don't work on characters with different proportions. And why he should be releasing characters with the current proportion bases he has hence why there's issues with Spike and Miho.

 

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Not only would it be costly to design, develop and QC a new body type, it might throw a wrench into production. For all we know, he might already be stretched developing enough dolls to meet current demand, and won't be able to maintain current production while producing new bodies in adequate quantities.

 

I have high doubts on this, he was able to meet demands when Miho arrived. There has never been a reported shortage/limitation of any Smd. Plus he puts them on sale for 10-15% off as well. That usually means there's too many of said products.

 

 

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This isn't to defend him. Like I've met almost all his recent reveals with either apathy or disappointment. I just wanted to point out there might be other factors at work outside of Danny just not wanting to make a new body

 

Because he isn't keen to taking criticism from people as said before. If he took criticism seriously then he wouldn't have so many people complaining about his work.

 

He had a really odd Eiji smd prototype before he officially released him. But with the criticism of others he improved it and made Eiji presentable than what he was before.

 

With all that said, it's just very disappointing that he's not even wanting to create shorter bodies even for Mirai's sister. His own character. It may not bother him but it surely does bother some fans.

Basically what Mario said. Yes he's a business man but he's not doing a very good or sensible job lately. From what I've heard he used to be a lot nicer about it, but now he's just getting crabby. I don't like to think bad of people so I put it off to him stressing himself out but still.

So the impression I had got prior to this was that Haruka and Kanata were being delayed in production because they were both canonically pretty short (like 140-150 cm in full scale iirc) and at that time Danny didn't have the funds to put a new vinyl body into production. He also said at one point that every new vinyl-casting mold cost him 10k, so for a new body, with a foot mold, a calf mold, a thigh mold, an abdomen mold, a bust mold, a hand mold, and two arm molds (I don't know what the bts of the arm are called), that's 80k USD not even counting the head. So it makes sense why that might not make sense to do in the beginning.

 

What I don't understand is, if the issue is still the cost, why release these two in 2017? It doesn't look like there's any shortage of licensed characters and collaborations, and licenses are probably going to be more popular than original characters anyway, so it doesn't seem like it would hurt them to keep waiting till it is cost-reasonable to make the smaller body.

 

What I do worry, and I hope this is unfounded, is that it's turned into "well I personally only think 60cm girls look good so I will make all dolls at 60cm even when they are representing 150cm tall characters".

 

(disclaimer: I don't know anything about business or business finances so if some of my conclusions are obviously wrong, please correct them.)

  Ie-Aster said:

So the impression I had got prior to this was that Haruka and Kanata were being delayed in production because they were both canonically pretty short (like 140-150 cm in full scale iirc) and at that time Danny didn't have the funds to put a new vinyl body into production. He also said at one point that every new vinyl-casting mold cost him 10k, so for a new body, with a foot mold, a calf mold, a thigh mold, an abdomen mold, a bust mold, a hand mold, and two arm molds (I don't know what the bts of the arm are called), that's 80k USD not even counting the head. So it makes sense why that might not make sense to do in the beginning.

It's actually more than this, I forgot how much exactly it was but it's a very hefty price.

 

  Ie-Aster said:

What I don't understand is, if the issue is still the cost, why release these two in 2017?

 

Actually, now that I think about it, he doesn't say when in 2017.(could be late 2017, if he says early 2017 then without a doubt he will be reusing the same body proportion) So he might reconsider, but the fact that he responded with...

 

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not unless our license business requires it.

 

... is making me doubt he's ever going to consider a shorter body unless when he collabs with another company and they "force" him to do one.

 

 

Danny shouldn't be too scared to try new things, you have to spend money to make money. Also take some risks. If he's going to stay in his comfort zone forever, eventually people will not buy or begin to buy less.

And as per usual if he doesn't have the funds he shouldn't work on these shorter characters in the first place.

As a off-topic kinda note: I'm sadden that Danny--who started his business with the idea of making a semi robotic doll (insanely ambitious and greatly imaginative, so not at all someone who should seem afraid...) has sort of become that.

 

He seems afraid to really do anything body-wise that is different. I understand that hefty cost, but if you are completely unmotivated without a licensee (which makes me wonder if he even inquired with the Miho license) paying the cost or part of it then.... I dunno. That just comes off as sad?

 

And I realize he's probably not this shallow, but I do feel like Danny doesn't care cause he is making his money. Why spend if people will still buy, after all. Maybe that comes out from the fact that I also feel like that amazing place he started from---crazy ambitious and so very imaginative has really died out. When I just see the same copypasta of faces, and creations like Spike or the clear negligence to Miho I just can't tell if that fire is still burning as strong as I feel like we felt it when he first started.

 

On a more on topic note, Kanata is the one character other then Chitose (who I didn't like at all in the end) was looking forward to seeing so I guess that's something...

I really don't understand how he can use the 'only short licensed characters' as an excuse when he didn't do it for Miho who would be a DDS or even a DDP if she was Volks. What gets me is that he wouldn't need to make an entire new body, he literally only needs to make two new thigh or shin parts to shorten the legs of the existing body. The legs are abnormally long as it is, so it wouldn't look weird.

All this time I assumed the entire POINT of making a Haruka doll was for her to look like a 'little sister' but now it's likely she'll just be Mirai with a new faceup and wig, he'll have no problem using the excuse that they're sisters as to why they look the same. The only potentially good thing would be getting a pink wig. Otherwise he may as well just release cosplay clothing/wig sets for Mirai instead of new dolls...

  Torino said:

What gets me is that he wouldn't need to make an entire new body, he literally only needs to make two new thigh or shin parts to shorten the legs of the existing body. The legs are abnormally long as it is, so it wouldn't look weird..

This is actually true. In the beginning with Obitsu dolls the only size available was 60 cm. Like Smart Dolls they have crazy long legs. At one point someone at Parabox shortened the 60 cm body by making a few strategic cuts to the outer skin and the inner skeleton and they published instructions on how to do it. I did it and ended up with about a 55 cm doll. It wasn't that hard and I have considered taking a good look at my Ebony to see if it would be available.

Then Parabox/Obitsu developed first the 47 cm Angela body which was awkward and simply didn't fit the scale of the other doll, and the 55 cm male- which is a nice body, but obviously didn't work with the 60 cm female. Finally they developed the 50 cm body with redesigned joints. In my opinion it is the best vinyl body out there- superior in it's ability to pose well, looks nice, etc.

Then they made the 65 cm bodies which were a train wreck.

Torino's point, though, that all he would have to do is make two shin parts (because it is the shins that are crazy long) is correct. He would not have to redesign the entire body. He could also shorten the torso easily by simply making the internal skeleton a bit shorter (spine)- which was part of the process of making a smaller Obitsu body from the 60 cm.

Hmmmm, I have a lot of scattered thoughts on this topic. On one hand, producing new sculpts all the time just because people ask isn't necessarily a good idea (you can't say yes to everyone). Even Volks takes years between releasing new bodies, and they don't take requests from twitter on what to do next. On the other hand, why make short characters if you're going to put them on the same 60cm body? Early on I was looking forward to a petite Haruka doll, but now it looks like it won't happen.

 

I'm also disappointed in Danny's attitude lately, but I also know he's been going through a lot of health problems and pain, plus he's probably putting so much time and work into the company. Like, I'd be burning out doing a fraction of that, not including the health problems. I don't know what the best solution here would be... take a step back and delegate more?

 

I wonder how the company is doing really. People on this forum are pretty critical, but it's hard to tell how many people outside are perfectly happy with the way Danny does things.

I definitely respect what Danny's doing and I do empathise with his health condition. It's just that there isn't exactly a shortage of long-legged anime characters that wouldn't look weird with the same body.

Maybe he will surprise us but I really don't know why Haruka was delayed otherwise.

Regarding when these will be released, historically Danny has released all dolls on their birthdays, so I would expect to see Kanata on July 4th, and Haruka on November 7th.

 

I too am disappointed that he's not planning on creating a smaller body for Haruka. I don't have much faith in this, but there's a part of me that's hoping this will be like the licenses. For a long time he maintained that he wasn't interested in licenced girl characters, but later announced he'd planned on them all along, and only said he wasn't to throw off his competitors.

 

My main hope for these two dolls is that they're cute, even if the bodies end up being the same.

I'm not too bothered by Kanata not being on a shorter body, and I'm still looking forward to her. I just hope she has a new head sculpt and comes with glasses (or it's something I can do as an add on if I request it).

 

As for bodies, I dunno. Danny changes his mind on things (or at least says something different on social media compared to his actual plans), so he might make a shorter body. Maybe he wanted to see if people cared about it at all? I'm getting the impression that sales weren't bad even if Miho was taller than she should've been, so maybe he was unsure if it was really worth investing in a new body if no one cared about it.

 

I hope in the future that he DOES have the capital to engineer new bodies-- I would love to see a skinnier boy body and different body types/heights for the girls. I'm not super surprised if he doesn't find it worth investing in now though.

  Mario said:

A businessman doesn't act immaturely to criticism. He's supposed to learn from it.

 

Man, if this was true, a lot of my meetings would go a whole lot smoother

 

Regarding the rest of your post, please note I'm talking primarily about potential operational and resourcing limitations, and not defending Danny's personal conduct or decision making.

 

I agree that his choice of licensed characters has been poor, and am pretty sure I had posted in the Miho thread saying that his choice of Miho was weird since there were a lot of other GuP characters whose proportions would have fit the base body better.

 

I also agree that a lot of his social media interactions have left a lot to be desired. His weird passive aggressive way of responding to questions about mold use is off putting and frustrating.

 

I am however, also very familiar with working on tight budgets and being forced to make hard choices due to extraneous cirbleepstances, and wanted to share my perspective on this. I negotiate and execute budgets and contracts on behalf of clients for a living, and see first hand how budgetary limits and other factors influence decision making, and wanted to share my perspective on why I think Danny is making the choices he's making.

I read that Danny is having a lot of health issues. It also took volks a very long time to come up with so many DD types, MDD, etc, they have been around for over ten years. I think some wait should be expected. It is easy to get excited since he seems to put out product quickly, but he is competing with a much larger company.

I don't really have anything to add to the discussion about Danny's business choices.

 

However, I was always most excited about Kanata, even before buying my Chitose Cocoa. So it makes me glad there will be a version of her eventually. I'll just wait and see what she looks like.

I see the title graphic here and I'm like, "Kanata's shorter?"

http://www.dannychoo.com/en/post/26711/Kanata+Hoshikawa+by+Iizuki+Tasuku.html

 

Maybe that's just me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I was a bit off on Kanata. She is shorter than Mirai by 10cm (Mirai - 165cm, Kizuna - 162 cm, Kanata - 155cm) but Chitose is significantly shorter at 149 cm.

 

After seeing this it seems reasonable (given budgetary constraints) to put Kanata on the standard body...but Chitose and Haruka...ehhh...

 

Now I do wonder why they did Chitose before Kanata.

 

To be quite honest, while I'm following this with interest I don't really have a horse in this race anymore. If Chitose had been on a shorter body and had a rounder (like Moonlight/Twilight) face sculpt, I would have bought her in an instant. But it was not to be.

(Personally, I prefer shorter heights, so DDS height is as tall as I'd ever want for a girl in my collection. As much as I like Twilight's sculpt, and as much as I like the aesthetic of most of the SmD body, if I ever got her I'd be trading out her body for a DDS. )

Not sure where people were getting Kanata being shorter from but Haruka definitely is. I didn't realize Chitose was -that- short though. I know he wanted to do Chitose soon because her design is so popular - and I think Kanata and Haruka are the least popular (you rarely see pics of them, although Haruka is on the 'ningyo' Moekana card he includes with the dolls I believe??)

So I always assumed Kanata would come later due to popularity order and Haruka because of her height.

 

Like others have said, he's still definitely released a lot of dolls in just one year and I do think it's unreasonable to expect so much so early but I just wonder why he has to churn dolls out so quickly then. Is it necessary for profits? I don't really know how these things work unfortunately.

With the canon heights being like that, I kinda wish that Mirai's body was made to be shorter in the first place. I take the 1/3 scale thing (too) seriously, so it bothers me a bit when I see official dolls of characters I like in bodies that don't match. ><" I understand that for several DDs like Saber a shorter body wasn't available when she was first released, but considering Danny made Mirai's body for her specifically.. welp. Shortening just the legs would be enough since they're so long anyway. I think modding smart doll legs might be trickier than the obitsu 60cm->48cm mod, since it appears the SmD shin inner frame would need to be trimmed in the middle instead of the bottom(otoh, the outer vinyl can just be trimmed at the bottom so there won't be visible cut lines near the ankles). Obviously it would be best if more official options were available.

 

In any case I hope that both Kanata and Haruka's heads at least look great in the end.

I sorta want Kanata, but if he's doing it like everyone else, she's just gonna have those tiny medium titties and not the large ones, also glasses or hair accessories or her signature clothes. God forbid she has a bland face too.

 

If only I could go to Japan and just do the building course.

  rukitron said:

I sorta want Kanata, but if he's doing it like everyone else, she's just gonna have those tiny medium titties and not the large ones, also glasses or hair accessories or her signature clothes. God forbid she has a bland face too.

 

If only I could go to Japan and just do the building course.

I mean, if we're concerned about character accuracy, I can at least say that I think the default bust seems fine based on the bulk of her official art.

 

I hope she gets her glasses and the little hair ribbon though-- glasses can get lost (boo) but hair ribbons are hard to screw up, right?? You can just retie them if need be or buy a roll of ribbon.