Nier Automata x Dollfie Dream

Got the pamphlet in the mail today. All the images seem to have been uploaded already but there was also an order form included. Not sure what of this has been made known:

 

Order period: October 20th to December 2nd

Option to pay 10,000 yen plus tax deposit or full amount upfront

Items will be shipped in Autumn 2019, if they get a large amount of orders the shipments will be split in two.

 

So basically works the same as previous orders.

 

Both dolls don't appear to include normal hands. They do have special black wrist joints though. 2B has a special hand for the sword and then normal "glove hands" as well. Strangely 9S states that he has hands with gloves attached... maybe they look so good cause they are basically so tight fitting you can't take them off.... Hopefully we'll see more when the site goes up.

 

2B is definitely listed as shapely bust flat version. I'm honestly still surprised she's a DDdy bust. Guess the black is super slimming.

 

Tempted to go to Tokyo Game Show just to see them again but seems a bit of a hike. Might just hope for 2B without blindfold at Volks on the 30th.

 

Both dolls don't appear to include normal hands. They do have special black wrist joints though.

 

Having them come without normal hands seems a bit odd, since you would have to buy wrist joints and hands to dress them in something other than their default outfits. Saber Lily did come with black wrist parts to go with her gauntlets, but that was in addition to the flesh toned ones that were part of her base body.

 

Maybe this is different because it's F3, or because they expect a lot of buyers who aren't into DD, and just want them for display.

 

Both dolls don't appear to include normal hands. They do have special black wrist joints though.

 

Having them come without normal hands seems a bit odd, since you would have to buy wrist joints and hands to dress them in something other than their default outfits. Saber Lily did come with black wrist parts to go with her gauntlets, but that was in addition to the flesh toned ones that were part of her base body.

 

Maybe this is different because it's F3, or because they expect a lot of buyers who aren't into DD, and just want them for display.

I agree it seems strange. It may just be it was not included in the item list but they will have them.

 

Actually I read down in the fine print and it mentions normal hands (or Deka for 9S) with 採用です after it. I'm not familiar with that term though. They have a specific model number so maybe it means included? Anyone with better Japanese skills around? The phrase is basically "ノーマルハンド採用です" Are they just mentioning the base used for the hands perhaps? :/

 

Both dolls don't appear to include normal hands. They do have special black wrist joints though.

 

Having them come without normal hands seems a bit odd, since you would have to buy wrist joints and hands to dress them in something other than their default outfits. Saber Lily did come with black wrist parts to go with her gauntlets, but that was in addition to the flesh toned ones that were part of her base body.

 

Maybe this is different because it's F3, or because they expect a lot of buyers who aren't into DD, and just want them for display.

I agree it seems strange. It may just be it was not included in the item list but they will have them.

 

Actually I read down in the fine print and it mentions normal hands (or Deka for 9S) with 採用です after it. I'm not familiar with that term though. They have a specific model number so maybe it means included? Anyone with better Japanese skills around? The phrase is basically "ノーマルハンド採用です" Are they just mentioning the base used for the hands perhaps? :/

That seems to be the terminology they generally usually use for parts the doll comes with equipped, so its basically 'comes with 'normal' hands (ie the type most DDs come with that arent in any specific position).'　(they also use 採用 for bust types I noticed)

It'd be pretty cool if he came with regular normal hands as well as normal hands that had the gloves attached to them though. No need to worry about staining them if they're always in there. Those gloves look so good on him though, its a huge relief after Sailor Moon's, which resembled dish-washing gloves to me. ._.

 

This will be my first preorder and since I havent done one before I never really took much note of/remembered the dates, so its cool to know/remember that its open until early December. That means we'll know what the December dolls are (revealed in November) before the preorder period is over, so anyone on the fence about getting one (or both) due to looming potential must-have rereleases can rest easy. (well, for some of them, I doubt they'll have them all at the same Dolpa)

Edited September 18, 2018 by Guest

Wow, a $100 or so down and then a year to pay the rest? That's awesome! And more than doable. It's just frantically saving over a month that would be irritating. That's a much longer order period than I'd thought, too. I may have to consider getting both because I could totally do that. Hmm. Thank you for sharing the pamphlet info!

Hmmm. With the nice long pre-order period. I might do both. Put a down payment on 2B and then buy 9S out right. Doing that I would probably place two separate orders (one immediately and one later) which would mean I would have to pay shipping twice, but then I would only have to worry about saving up for one of them over the year.

Hmmmmmmmmm. . . .

 

Edit: fixed a spelling mistake.

That seems to be the terminology they generally usually use for parts the doll comes with equipped, so its basically 'comes with 'normal' hands (ie the type most DDs come with that arent in any specific position).'　(they also use 採用 for bust types I noticed)

It'd be pretty cool if he came with regular normal hands as well as normal hands that had the gloves attached to them though. No need to worry about staining them if they're always in there. Those gloves look so good on him though, its a huge relief after Sailor Moon's, which resembled dish-washing gloves to me. ._.

 

This will be my first preorder and since I havent done one before I never really took much note of/remembered the dates, so its cool to know/remember that its open until early December. That means we'll know what the December dolls are (revealed in November) before the preorder period is over, so anyone on the fence about getting one (or both) due to looming potential must-have rereleases can rest easy. (well, for some of them, I doubt they'll have them all at the same Dolpa)

Ok thanks! If that's true then 2B comes with the default normal hands as well and 9S has the default Deka hands too.

 

And just to be clear for people the order form is for instore preorders so online may work a little different on the payment options. Preorder period and release are the same for everyone though I think as they are mentioned on the back of the pamphlet too.

 

Did all the Volks web stores offer deposit only options last time or did it vary?

 

Did all the Volks web stores offer deposit only options last time or did it vary?

 

Jeanne, and Altria had a ¥10,800 deposit on the Volks Japan webstore. I don't recall the deposit amount for Volks USA, but they usually do a larger deposit up front. For iM@S it was $250.

 

I don't recall the Volks Japan webstore asking for a deposit for iM@S, but the extra outfits were full pre-pay at both stores.

 

--

 

There is a big benefit to the larger up front deposit, or full pre-pay. A year from now you never know what your situation will be, and the final payment is much easier to deal with if you paid part of it now. My cat got bladder stones right before the iM@S orders were due to ship. I was out thousands for the cat's vet bills, and had a looming $1800 payment to Volks on top of it. I got Yayoi through Volks USA, and I only owed $370 to them when she shipped instead of close to $1400 to Volks international. As a result I had a lot more options available to me to pay for Yayoi.

 

The $1400 to Volks international was split into two $700 payments about a month apart due to the multiple batches, that was a godsend, but you can't count on multiple batches to give you more time to pay.

 

They gave us about 6 weeks to pay for each batch in iM@S pre-orders, and I think it's about 3 months for the Saberface pre-orders this year. Those dolls are really expensive though, so this might be a special thing rather than a new normal. Volks USA orders will probably have a smaller payment window due to the time it takes the dolls to ship from Japan.

2B lists shorts in the set, so I guess that's the leotard; perhaps it's just the lower part i.e. like very tall pantsu.

 

If I recall correctly, the DD boys (All two of them.) listed shorts, and it meant their boxers. But for it to be on 2B, that is odd, unless that skin color bodysuit we noticed is really more spats like.

 

There is a big benefit to the larger up front deposit, or full pre-pay. A year from now you never know what your situation will be, and the final payment is much easier to deal with if you paid part of it now.

 

This is why I always pay full up front when I can on a pre-order. Prime example is I got laid off over a month ago and still haven't been able to land a job. And the two Miku outfits are due to ship this month. Since I paid full up front, I don't have to worry about finding the money for them now.

I would love to be able to pay for the full doll upfront, but tbh she is quite more expensive than usual DD dolls, for some reason. It is hard for me to collect so much money within such a short period of tim....

 

I disagree with this (respectively). First, since the rights to the Dollfie Dream name belong to Volks, they can call whatever they want a DD. It may not have the best response from customers, but they could still do it. Also, DDs are Volks dolls same as Dollfies because they are made by Volks. Example, there is a bjd company called 2D which makes both anime and 'normal' stylized heads and bodies. These are not called different types of dolls by 2D, they are all 2D dolls and are identified by their height.

 

Even Obitsu has more normal heads and anime heads for their different bodies and do not refer to them differently. It is just a preference.

 

With that said, to me (as a collector of everything, lol) the difference between Dollfies and Dollfie Dreams is the body material and inner support system (even this I am on the fence about). Dollfies are resin and strung, DDs are vinyl and have a plastic support structure.

This also comes from some Dollfies looking slightly ''Anime' too me compared to other bjd brands or based on the character they use.

 

In closing (lol), if they want to refer to the head-type difference as a completely different type of doll they can, but they also do not have to in my humble opinion.

 

 

If this keeps going we should probably move the convo to the Dollfie Icon tab because it might be off topic here.

 

I think you are missing the point. It has nothing to do with who owns it or how they call their Dolls. Both names are in a way brands itself. If you think of a SD you always end up thinking of a more human-like Doll, and a DD always was an anime-styled Doll. If you suddenly change the image of one of it your going to blurr the clean line between the two brands.

 

For me personaly thats a huge problem. I don't like the look of SD's at all, so if they are going to pull more stunts like that in the future I can't really trust them as a customer anymore. For new releases there would always be the small doubt, if its actually going to be a "real" DD? (And please remember how long we waited after they announced Nier) It would also really suck if they annouce a collaboration of a game or anime you actually like a lot and it ends up that way.

 

And please don't get me wrong, I don't want to blow this out of proportion. I know this could be a one time only thing and that a lot of people like the idea of having a SD like Doll as a DD for body/material reasons. I guess all I want to say is: I would appreciate it, if they actually make a new line (with a new name) for those kinds of dolls, to make thinks clear in the future.

 

And~ I know Kosmos and Rise could be SD like, but I think these two are a better combination of the SD Head Sculp and Anime face-up. (But again~ Thats just me~)

I think, Volks is seeing the DD line not as "dolls" like their resins, but rather as collector figures, only "bigger, better, with movable limbs and ability to change clothes".

Well, the last part occured to them not that long ago and since then they started to add lining to the clothing and other stain prevention measurements (earlier many times I had the impression, that Volks' fullsets are meant to put on once and then only be displayed in a glass cabinet).

 

In this case, releasing 2B and 9S as DDs is perfectly aligned with that "product philosophy".

 

And "real" DD is imho any DD released in whole or parts in the Volks DD line, no matter the style.

For example, SQ-Lab heads on DD body are already on the other side of the boundary...

Otoh, there are many DD heads with more realistic faceups, eyelashes and resin eyes, and they're still DDs.

I think these new SD style heads are a perfect addition to the DD line. If they were to do FF-X collaborations like Yuna, Rikku, or Payne they would have to have SD style heads. Same with Hrist from Valkyrie Profile.

 

Rather than creating a limitation to their DD product line, they’ve drastically expanded their collaboration opportunities. This new line may mean really good things, because if they made Yuna I’d want her to look like Yuna, and not an anime styled Yuna. The one big plus I could see for a new line with its own vinyl body, would be that these characters tend to have human normal bodies that would be better realized with an SD body form than the DD form.

Ah! I agree with Kumi and Wolf so much.

 

With how little they release any kinda DD with more realistic features it would be a waste to have to market it as a whole new line. They release a doll like this every what? 2-3 years? That simply isn't worth the money to try to create, and market a new line.

 

Personally, I would have hated if these guys were all anime-d up. Like the characters are 3D renderings with realistic features and as we've seen Volks takes that look seriously. They are following how they look in the game. Just like how they did with KOS-MOS (though she was a bit of a mess, and 2B/9S are a huge step ahead of her). I respect the choice they made because I prefer accuracy to "fitting into a mold" (which they decide if it does or not).

 

They've definitely earned some respect back from me with this release cause I was starting to feel they had fallen into a singular mold type. Good job Volks for breaking loose, and not being afraid to properly design these two to look like they should.

I think you are missing the point. It has nothing to do with who owns it or how they call their Dolls. Both names are in a way brands itself. If you think of a SD you always end up thinking of a more human-like Doll, and a DD always was an anime-styled Doll. If you suddenly change the image of one of it your going to blurr the clean line between the two brands.

 

For me personaly thats a huge problem. I don't like the look of SD's at all, so if they are going to pull more stunts like that in the future I can't really trust them as a customer anymore. For new releases there would always be the small doubt, if its actually going to be a "real" DD? (And please remember how long we waited after they announced Nier) It would also really suck if they annouce a collaboration of a game or anime you actually like a lot and it ends up that way.

 

And please don't get me wrong, I don't want to blow this out of proportion. I know this could be a one time only thing and that a lot of people like the idea of having a SD like Doll as a DD for body/material reasons. I guess all I want to say is: I would appreciate it, if they actually make a new line (with a new name) for those kinds of dolls, to make thinks clear in the future.

 

And~ I know Kosmos and Rise could be SD like, but I think these two are a better combination of the SD Head Sculp and Anime face-up. (But again~ Thats just me~)

 

 

I fail to see how I am missing the point. . . And I would not call this a "stunt". 2B has normal human features, so why wouldn't a DD version of her have the same? The dolls are marketed as a representation of the character so why wouldn't they try to match the aesthetics?

 

I do not think of Dollfies as human-like and DDs as anime, I think of them as resin versus vinyl. Maybe that is where my miscommunication is coming from.

 

I suppose in shorter terms,I agree with what Wolf and Gunter says. You do not need a whole new name for DDs that are based on more normal looking characters, it just means that you can expect the head to look more normal like the character. If the character is anime based then you can expect them to look anime-styled.

 

 

 

Edited: I felt I came across as confrontational and that was not my intention. Adjusted wording to limit that.

One advantage to a new line might be the addition of that line to the Dolpa release schedule.

 

If they just made it a part of the DD line it might not give you any regularity in the release of collabs using the new style. I would think it would be a good thing if we saw a few of these collabs a year.

 

I just see a huge potential here, and there are pros and cons to both options.

Lol. One con to that idea Wolf is there might be more dolls to buy every year. I do not think my wallet would be able to take it, especially with all the other companies I follow.

 

On a more serious note, another con is quality. If they make another name as an excuse to produce more dolls, I wonder if the quality will deteriorate a bit. I mean, it already feels like they cannot keep up with their own success sometimes. What if they start to rush everything because they have more dolls to make each year?

 

I do not think of Dollfies as human-like and DDs as anime, I think of them as resin versus vinyl. Maybe that is where my miscommunication is coming from.

 

 

That is the problem for me and it starts with Volks itself. Just go to their website and click on "Super Dollfie" and "Dollfie Dream". You can see that there is a visiable difference between both doll lines (That has nothing to do with resin or vinyl. You can't "see" that on pictures) And that is the image I have when I hear one of the brand names.

 

I'm not saying that the Nier Dolls don't look accurate or anything (if some of ymisunderstood me) I just think, if they wanted to go the realistic way, they should go with a SD and for the anime look use a DD (-> Smartdoll 2B) I mean look at Belldandy, she is an Anime/Manga Character but they used realistic features and made her a SD doll instead of a DD. I think thats the best example.

 

To wrap things up~

I don't think they look bad and its good that a lot of people like them. They are just not DD's in my eyes

 

I felt I came across as confrontational and that was not my intention. Adjusted wording to limit that.

 

I'm pretty sure nearly all of us are adults and this is a normal discussion. So no worries there

I just think, if they wanted to go the realistic way, they should go with a SD and for the anime look use a DD (-> Smartdoll 2B) I mean look at Belldandy, she is an Anime/Manga Character but they used realistic features and made her a SD doll instead of a DD. I think thats the best example.

 

Volks in the past did also some other "anime" dolls in resin SD form (like Suigintou, Shinku or Victorique).

But maybe during the talks with people from Square Enix they decided, that DD line is better for making the Nier dolls. We don't know the details.

 

Volks in the past did also some other "anime" dolls in resin SD form (like Suigintou, Shinku or Victorique).

But maybe during the talks with people from Square Enix they decided, that DD line is better for making the Nier dolls. We don't know the details.

 

Maybe dolls of the past were "sitting around" more, so it didn't matter? Especially with the social media (-> looking at Danny) and posing your Dolls for good pictures, the DD Body is probably better suited? Especially for Dolls from an "action game" (Sword and stuff) like those two. (I never owned a BJD/SD, but I heard it can be a pain to get the Body in the position you want or keep that position?)

 

I disagree with this (respectively). First, since the rights to the Dollfie Dream name belong to Volks, they can call whatever they want a DD. It may not have the best response from customers, but they could still do it. Also, DDs are Volks dolls same as Dollfies because they are made by Volks. Example, there is a bjd company called 2D which makes both anime and 'normal' stylized heads and bodies. These are not called different types of dolls by 2D, they are all 2D dolls and are identified by their height.

 

Even Obitsu has more normal heads and anime heads for their different bodies and do not refer to them differently. It is just a preference.

 

With that said, to me (as a collector of everything, lol) the difference between Dollfies and Dollfie Dreams is the body material and inner support system (even this I am on the fence about). Dollfies are resin and strung, DDs are vinyl and have a plastic support structure.

This also comes from some Dollfies looking slightly ''Anime' too me compared to other bjd brands or based on the character they use.

 

In closing (lol), if they want to refer to the head-type difference as a completely different type of doll they can, but they also do not have to in my humble opinion.

 

 

If this keeps going we should probably move the convo to the Dollfie Icon tab because it might be off topic here.

 

I think you are missing the point. It has nothing to do with who owns it or how they call their Dolls. Both names are in a way brands itself. If you think of a SD you always end up thinking of a more human-like Doll, and a DD always was an anime-styled Doll. If you suddenly change the image of one of it your going to blurr the clean line between the two brands.

 

For me personaly thats a huge problem. I don't like the look of SD's at all, so if they are going to pull more stunts like that in the future I can't really trust them as a customer anymore. For new releases there would always be the small doubt, if its actually going to be a "real" DD? (And please remember how long we waited after they announced Nier) It would also really suck if they annouce a collaboration of a game or anime you actually like a lot and it ends up that way.

 

And please don't get me wrong, I don't want to blow this out of proportion. I know this could be a one time only thing and that a lot of people like the idea of having a SD like Doll as a DD for body/material reasons. I guess all I want to say is: I would appreciate it, if they actually make a new line (with a new name) for those kinds of dolls, to make thinks clear in the future.

 

And~ I know Kosmos and Rise could be SD like, but I think these two are a better combination of the SD Head Sculp and Anime face-up. (But again~ Thats just me~)

Frankly I would call it a stunt. We all know what Super Dollfie is and its been around a lot longer then Dollfie Dream. They simply tossed some very true to form Super Dollfie heads on a DD body and called it a Dollfie Dream. You can make this distinction without saying anything is bad about Volks or the quality of the dolls. It simply should have been renamed, especially after they announced it and then took forever to finally reveal it. Some people wanted a release in the Dollfie Dream line, and I dont think its quite so fair to very clearly be working on Super Dollfie in the background. There is a reason they made DD in the first place... Just because its 1/3 scale vinyl does not make it a DD and im not really sure what point there is to pretending that is the case.

 

I only collect Dollfie Dream out of the BJD world so my views are from that angle but really I dont think its all that uncommon. Dollfie Dream is still the number 1 doll that overlaps into otaku culture and figure collecting. Years of lurking on figure.fm, doll.fm, and the social media of today I really dont see a large number of people who have adopted both DD and Super Dollfie. Those who have really did not stop there and bought into even more BJD from various brands.

 

Then you think, whens the last time anyone has seen someone wishing for 1/3rd scale vinyl Super Dollfie? All I know is I have never stumbled across it in my humble lurking over the years. All this wishing for DD boys, then they release 2 and the 3rd one is a shrunken Super Dollfie of which they have plenty of boys?

 

Smart Doll ripped off DD and not Super Dollfie after all, the DD face has a crazy good appeal and unfortunately it seems Volks has lost the ability to really capitalize on that ever since Miku IMHO. It seems to me with this release they are just trying to show what they, Volks, can do that the competition cant. Thats fine by me, but I just dont see how marketing it as a DD really is anything other then trying to get the DD community to accept what some of us have avoided for years, Super Dollfie.

I'm kind of confused by this discussion... I mean, Volks owns the DD brand, they get to decide what is and isn't part of the DD brand. Clearly they decided the more resin-style Nier vinyls dolls are part of the DD brand. Thus they are canonically DDs, regardless of what we as fans think.

 

Here Volks clearly gives us their definition of a Dollfie Dream. From the official site (my underlining):

 

Dollfie Dream® have realistic facial expressions and hair like dolls, in addition they are able to faithfully reproduce anime or game characters like figures.

 

Straight-up, Volks says the brand's goal is to faithfully reproduce anime or game characters. So when they're faithfully reproducing anime characters, yes, they should look like anime characters. When they're faithfully reproducing game characters, yes, they should look like those game characters. And the Nier dolls do. They look like the game characters. They would not if they were more anime-styled. The Nier dolls are 100% aligned with the DD brand as Volks defines it.

 

Here's another definition Volks provides:

Dollfie Dream are a type of dream doll just for you. By combining a beautiful silhouette and astounding mobile capabilities that have never before seen on a doll, the Dollfie Dream will take your breath away.

 

Do the Nier dolls have "a beautiful silhouette" and "astounding mobile capabilities"? Yes, so once again they fit Volks' official definition of DD.

 

It feels like if someone is upset that these do not feel like "real" DDs, it's because that person has created their own vision of the brand -- but one that is not actually based on the actual brand itself, as defined by its creator and owner, Volks.

 

Personally, I've always viewed DDs as Volks vinyl dolls with internal skeletons (or with stringing, if we're talking really old DDs), regardless of the aesthetics, so to me the Nier dolls are very much on-brand as DDs. Thus I have to disagree quite strongly with Alienshroom on this point. Moreover, I don't think any one fan has the right to speak for the whole fandom, when there are clearly such diverse opinions. No one but Volks gets to say what does and doesn't make a DD.

 

Beyond that, I am THRILLED they chose to make the Nier dolls DD instead of SD, and I would have been extremely disappointed if they had been resin dolls. I have been feeling for a very long time that a lot of the newer DDs suffer from "sameface syndrome" and something was needed to revitalize things. I am SO HAPPY with this decision and truly hope Volks continues to add more diversity to the DD line.

 

ETA: Super Dollfie has not been around "a lot longer" than Dollfie Dream. The first SD was 1999, making them 19 years old. The first DD was 2003, making them 15 years old. That's a difference of 4 years, which is pretty small when you're looking at a timeline of nearly 2 decades.

I am strongly considering getting 9S because I always liked and wanted a resin style boy, but I find resin dolls frustrating to pose. You can't leave them unattended as much because if they fall they can break more easily. Yes these guys are styled more like SDs, but if they were SDs and not DDs I for one would not want them.

Personally, I cringe to think of how expensive the Nier dolls would be in SD form. The SD line tends to be pricier than vinyl, I guess just because the resin itself is more expensive, so with all these accessories, if they were SDs the price would probably be at least $300 more for the exact same set.

 

Volks in the past did also some other "anime" dolls in resin SD form (like Suigintou, Shinku or Victorique).

But maybe during the talks with people from Square Enix they decided, that DD line is better for making the Nier dolls. We don't know the details.

 

Maybe dolls of the past were "sitting around" more, so it didn't matter? Especially with the social media (-> looking at Danny) and posing your Dolls for good pictures, the DD Body is probably better suited? Especially for Dolls from an "action game" (Sword and stuff) like those two. (I never owned a BJD/SD, but I heard it can be a pain to get the Body in the position you want or keep that position?)

 

 

When holding items that weigh anything? And the joints are not lined with suede or silicon? Yes, posing can be a pain with most bjds. DDs are also safer to stand by themselves, and more forgiving to owners who do not have a lot of experience with dolls.

I personally take both types of dolls (vinyl and resin) out for photos (some would gasp, but I like to 'play' with mine)

but I do not worry about leaving my vinyls unattended as much because the break-ability is minimal.