New announcements? SAO and Emilia Dollfie Dreams

It likely depends on the financial institution's policies.

 

In my case, they are actual posted transactions on my credit card now. I paid with PayPal using my credit card and PayPal emailed me and said they submitted an "order" in the amount of $XYZ to Volks International. I don't believe my financial institution allows holds without posting it to the credit card.

 

Each company and situation will be different.

 

 

Edit ------ and I don't think volks is responsible for this. But I do fault their lottery system business model. Why can't everyone that pays within the order period get a doll? Lottery system is nonsense

It's not based on the bank's policy.

 

If you paid by PayPal, you will be billed. If you paid by credit card, it is a temporary authorization.

 

My authorization was actually dropped sometime today. I entered on Friday when lottery opened. So no bill, no holds, anymore.

It likely depends on the financial institution's policies.

 

In my case, they are actual posted transactions on my credit card now. I paid with PayPal using my credit card and PayPal emailed me and said they submitted an "order" in the amount of $XYZ to Volks International. I don't believe my financial institution allows holds without posting it to the credit card.

 

Each company and situation will be different.

 

 

Edit ------ and I don't think volks is responsible for this. But I do fault their lottery system business model. Why can't everyone that pays within the order period get a doll? Lottery system is nonsense

It's not based on the bank's policy.

 

If you paid by PayPal, you will be billed. If you paid by credit card, it is a temporary authorization.

 

My authorization was actually dropped sometime today. I entered on Friday when lottery opened. So no bill, no holds, anymore.

 

I'm glad that worked for you!

 

This is just a general rant, but it mainly sucks for those of us that would love to have just paid with our credit cards (or hell, my debit card) and weren't able to because of issues with Volks' CC processing system. I can understand them just not taking Discover, my credit card of choice, but there's no reason my debit card shouldn't work. It just doesn't, for some reason. It's not unusual for myself and my husband to make large purchases on either of these cards, and in my case it's not the first time they've seen Volks on my account, either. It's just frustrating for me that I'm locked out of these methods for no reason I've been able to discern, again just ranting.

 

(For clarity, I am able to use these cards through my Paypal account, so the money comes from the same place in the end, it is just again, frustrating for me because I have to pay the Paypal fee that they don't charge to CC orders, and my lottery payment posts)

I just wanted to drop in and wish everyone luck who is trying for either Kirito or Asuna.

This is just a general rant, but it mainly sucks for those of us that would love to have just paid with our credit cards (or hell, my debit card) and weren't able to because of issues with Volks' CC processing system. I can understand them just not taking Discover, my credit card of choice, but there's no reason my debit card shouldn't work. It just doesn't, for some reason. It's not unusual for myself and my husband to make large purchases on either of these cards, and in my case it's not the first time they've seen Volks on my account, either. It's just frustrating for me that I'm locked out of these methods for no reason I've been able to discern, again just ranting.

 

(For clarity, I am able to use these cards through my Paypal account, so the money comes from the same place in the end, it is just again, frustrating for me because I have to pay the Paypal fee that they don't charge to CC orders, and my lottery payment posts)

 

Have you called the debit card issuer? I had something like this once when trying to buy from Toys-R-Us online once. I knew the card was good and had funds, but it failed to process. I called my bank and was told it was declined as the state the web store's servers were in were a flagged fraud state and so any purchase there would be declined. I was shocked that they would do something like that without any notice or heads up. I much like better the it goes through and they call you to ask if it was really you. For the Toys-R-Us thing they offered to allow the payment to go through once and I was able to place the order. So I'd say call and explain and then they should be able to remove the block to allow it to process.

This is just a general rant, but it mainly sucks for those of us that would love to have just paid with our credit cards (or hell, my debit card) and weren't able to because of issues with Volks' CC processing system. I can understand them just not taking Discover, my credit card of choice, but there's no reason my debit card shouldn't work. It just doesn't, for some reason. It's not unusual for myself and my husband to make large purchases on either of these cards, and in my case it's not the first time they've seen Volks on my account, either. It's just frustrating for me that I'm locked out of these methods for no reason I've been able to discern, again just ranting.

 

(For clarity, I am able to use these cards through my Paypal account, so the money comes from the same place in the end, it is just again, frustrating for me because I have to pay the Paypal fee that they don't charge to CC orders, and my lottery payment posts)

 

Have you called the debit card issuer? I had something like this once when trying to buy from Toys-R-Us online once. I knew the card was good and had funds, but it failed to process. I called my bank and was told it was declined as the state the web store's servers were in were a flagged fraud state and so any purchase there would be declined. I was shocked that they would do something like that without any notice or heads up. I much like better the it goes through and they call you to ask if it was really you. For the Toys-R-Us thing they offered to allow the payment to go through once and I was able to place the order. So I'd say call and explain and then they should be able to remove the block to allow it to process.

 

I probably will if I enter another lottery through International, like I said above, I really was just ranting, haha. It's only annoying with large purchases like lottery entries.

(For clarity, I am able to use these cards through my Paypal account, so the money comes from the same place in the end, it is just again, frustrating for me because I have to pay the Paypal fee that they don't charge to CC orders, and my lottery payment posts)

I think the discrepancy could also have to do with Volks using NICOS as the credit card processor with the Verified By Visa / MasterCard SecureCode options enabled / required. Different Japanese card processors seem to have different levels of trust with the banks' anti-fraud systems, similar to how sinclair was saying one particular US state was flagged. If your bank doesn't work well with NICOS in general, you may have to call to get it unblocked. Mandarake also uses NICOS (as of the last time I ordered from them), so if you're curious about a card's status vs that payment processor, you can test in advance of any time-sensitive Volks lotteries by buying something at Mandarake with CC.

 

My card that fails buying from Manda also failed at entering from Volks, and the card that works hassle-free at Manda also worked to enter this current lottery on. It's not Volks the company, since their physical stores in Japan use a different payment processor (InFox I think) and the one card works fine in those stores. It's so funny how that works. 'Tis just NICOS for online payments that's a problem for whatever reason.

 

Paypal just shows up to the credit card bank as a US company, so it won't trigger the same SecureCode or anti-fraud flags and hence go through much easier. It's nice to have as a backup option, but it definitely comes at a cost, as you pointed out.

 

EDIT: Thus far, my entry remains a temp authorization. Looks like there's a chance it might stay that way, based on others' experience, and then drop off when the week-or-so expiry limit occurs.

I don't want to get my/your hopes up, but I can remember from previous transactions with them, Volks put in a temporary authorization for a few days and then it drops and a week later they actually charge the card (MasterCard in my case).

(For clarity, I am able to use these cards through my Paypal account, so the money comes from the same place in the end, it is just again, frustrating for me because I have to pay the Paypal fee that they don't charge to CC orders, and my lottery payment posts)

I think the discrepancy could also have to do with Volks using NICOS as the credit card processor with the Verified By Visa / MasterCard SecureCode options enabled / required. Different Japanese card processors seem to have different levels of trust with the banks' anti-fraud systems, similar to how sinclair was saying one particular US state was flagged. If your bank doesn't work well with NICOS in general, you may have to call to get it unblocked. Mandarake also uses NICOS (as of the last time I ordered from them), so if you're curious about a card's status vs that payment processor, you can test in advance of any time-sensitive Volks lotteries by buying something at Mandarake with CC.

 

My card that fails buying from Manda also failed at entering from Volks, and the card that works hassle-free at Manda also worked to enter this current lottery on. It's not Volks the company, since their physical stores in Japan use a different payment processor (InFox I think) and the one card works fine in those stores. It's so funny how that works. 'Tis just NICOS for online payments that's a problem for whatever reason.

 

Paypal just shows up to the credit card bank as a US company, so it won't trigger the same SecureCode or anti-fraud flags and hence go through much easier. It's nice to have as a backup option, but it definitely comes at a cost, as you pointed out.

 

EDIT: Thus far, my entry remains a temp authorization. Looks like there's a chance it might stay that way, based on others' experience, and then drop off when the week-or-so expiry limit occurs.

 

That's really interesting! I learned a thing today.

 

Though it does make me interested in Chase's relationship with NICOS, I will have to do some research.

http://ameblo.jp/blog-dd/entry-12271517002.html

 

Some new photos of Asuna and Kirito on the official DD blog. To me Kirito still doesn't look like Kirito... —\_(?)_/—

Edited July 4, 2017 by Guest

I personally am not too bothered with how the face came out. Especially in the girly department considering it IS a constant running gag, that Kirito looks like a girl .

 

I feel like the lower portion of his face though doesn't really fit, due to how narrow the mouth and nose is. I will admit that is probably what makes the doll look less like Kirito.

Dunno how to link properly on mobile but I just got some pics from different angles at DollPoint. He doesn't look very different in person to me -shrug- https://www.flickr.com/photos/144151963@N08/

Unfortunately they were behind glass, unlike how Rin/Len and the DDP girls got displayed in Fu kuoka, so I couldn't get very close.

Even if I wanted him before those duck lips would be a dealbreaker. Still curious to see what people do with him.

I want her head with eyes and wig, and his outfit. But not enough to put in for myself.

Dunno how to link properly on mobile but I just got some pics from different angles at DollPoint. He doesn't look very different in person to me -shrug- https://www.flickr.com/photos/144151963@N08/

Unfortunately they were behind glass, unlike how Rin/Len and the DDP girls got displayed in Fu kuoka, so I couldn't get very close.

Even if I wanted him before those duck lips would be a dealbreaker. Still curious to see what people do with him.

Thanks for sharing the in-person photos, Torino! I like his nose and especially his eyes, but not that chin. Despite FOMO, I'm going to pass on Kirito. Hopefully, someday Volks will release the boy bodies on their own or in new standards, and make them more affordable to those of us who like boy DDs.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

I'm still going for them both. (On volks USA) Kirito's lips look pretty weird but I'm thinking a different faceup would be helpful. There's a lot of color on them that really isn't helping. I was gonna change him up anyways what with giving him freckles and all that so it might be best to get him wiped entirely and start out fresh at this point.

I'll post some photos eventually, but I just got back from Dolpa and Kirito looks a LOT better in person. He looks like a derpy girl in the official photos; the actual sculpt is masculine.

 

I'm not saying he's amazing, but if I actually wanted him I wouldn't be disappointed. I mean really, there was some official artwork beside him and the real Kirito has a baby face (･･')

So You're saying that's another case of "Volks can't make a decent photo of their own doll" ?

It's possible, it happened in the past several times

I'm not saying he's amazing, but if I actually wanted him I wouldn't be disappointed. I mean really, there was some official artwork beside him and the real Kirito has a baby face (･･')

Kirito DOES have a baby face! And he gets mistaken for a girl quite often. As I have seen in many anime, the hero and heroine of the story are almost dead ringers for each other. I don't mind that, but I don't know... his chin looks awfully pointy.

 

So You're saying that's another case of "Volks can't make a decent photo of their own doll" ? It's possible, it happened in the past several times

No, really?

 

Linda S.

galatia9

At least they did good on some of the Miku photos, or else I wouldn't have been so willing to shell out for her, and thus enter this hobby.

At least they did good on some of the Miku photos, or else I wouldn't have been so willing to shell out for her, and thus enter this hobby.

Yup, this photo is what hooked me. She was much cheaper than the Saber/KOS-MOS pre-orders which made getting into the crazy-expensive hobby seem somewhat plausible, so I took the plunge. It's a deep dive...

 

But even in Miku's case, once we saw the owners photos she was even lovelier.

 

Well, I uploaded a bunch of photos. The harsh spotlights on them made photography difficult so I tried using my popup flash set to very weak power (I tried using my real flash but wasn't able to diffuse it properly next to the spotlights). The main problem with Volks' photos is they always have Kirito looking down a bit :/ Also, from everything I've seen so far, his wig is junk (･･') You'd think it'd be easy to make a quality short black wig.

 

Asuna & Kirito by bodolza, on Flickr

 

Kirito by bodolza, on Flickr

 

Kirito (4) by bodolza, on Flickr

 

Asuna Titania ver. by bodolza, on Flickr

 

There's a few more photos on Flickr.

Thanks for sharing in-person pics, foo! Much appreciated. If I had some way to get the original Asuna, I'd love to have both her and Kirito, in their original SAO gear. But I have a nagging feeling I wouldn't play with them much! They look stunning together.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

Oh, man, in those shots his mouth is exactly where it should be! Excellent, I'd suspected that Volks had had his head tilted in their shots--for some inexplicable reason. (Volks, why do you do these things?) Kind of a pity to hear about his wig, but at least short black hair isn't exactly hard to replace if it turns out to be a disaster tribble instead of hair.

Asuna Titania ver. by bodolza, on Flickr

 

There's a few more photos on Flickr.

 

It took me a minute to figure out what looked off about this picture for me, whoever dressed Asuna for the event placed her skirt too high. I hope that's not an indicator of the actual manufacture for the skirts, I was really looking forward to having it a little more low-slung like the promo shots.

 

Still not sure if I regret not entering at USA for her, too, yet. Time will tell, I suppose.

Volks just tweeted out that they're going to start sending out the announcements now!

International I presume? Seems a few hours early for USA.

Yeah, only for Volks Int. and presumably Japan.