Feedback for Danny Choo

I feel it incredibly mean spirited to purposely quote a tweet from your rival company, with the intention on throwing dirt all over their name, EVEN IF the translation was correct. As the creator of his brand, this is NOT a good look whatsoever.

 

VOLKs has had this rule for years not just in their Dolpa's but in their physical stores as well and to be honest, it's not wrong to enforce it especially with recasts being so rampant, and with more and more people sneaking non-VOLKS BJDs into their conventions. They are proud of their work, and Dolpa is to celebrate and appreciate the products of their labors. Just because Danny Choo allows outsider companies into his store doesn't mean he's correct/wrong.

 

Everyone runs their businesses differently and he has no right to belittle someone for their rules, it's childish to assume VOLKs is out to get him good, when other big wigs exist in the vinyl industry anyways(Obitsu being one of them). To not even check if his translation is right, and publish it for his fanbase to read is a massive display of poor character.

Edit: quoted wrong tweet

 

That original tweet by Volks actually links to a facebook post where they warn against bringing recasts to their events/stores because there have been instances of people trying to enter their stores with recasts. And not bringing other companies' dolls to Dolpas and Volks stores is a rule that has been in place since before Smartdolls. But Danny deliberately phrased his translation to make it sound like Volks is targeting Smartdolls, and all his cult members are lapping it up. The Smart Doll Lovers group had so many up in arms over the phrase "rip-off" because they believed Danny's translation and didn't bother to check out the facts for themselves.

 

I was trying to decide between Ruby and Chitose, but after this despicable move by Danny I'm probably never going to get a Smartdoll.

I had a look at Instagram and I'm shocked at the way Danny Choo responded to some of you guys and any others who opposed him. Maybe I shouldn't be since he had no qualms about dismissing people in the past. He just brings up irrelevant information in response to reasonable arguments. Some of the more recent replies on the IG post are just awful...he's blatantly trolling.

Hes just saying 'lol' to people now. I'm very tempted to show him the jp tweets of doll fans saying his attitude his appalling and has negatively affected his brands image,, but unlike him I dont think tweets become more magical just because theyre in japanese, and hes already dismissed me (because i couldnt resist calling him out for being untruthful about what jp fans were saying.)

 

At the end of the day it wouldnt even matter if volks said 'dont bring poopy smartdolls they are gross and bad', choosing to respond in the way he did is immature and a photo of a rival company tweet just looks tacky and plain bad on his feed amongst serious posts. I, and presumably MOST others, follow his insta/etc to know about HIS dolls, HIS news, nothing more, and certainly not pissing contests like this. Yeuch.

 

I honestly thought his manner had improved in the past few months but now he's actually acting even worse.

Edit: he just deleted a bunch of comments and also blocked some people. I’m surprised he didn’t delete mine or block me, but I guess I wasn’t rude enough (Not that the people who got deleted were either). He probably would have had I directed him to the said tweets from Japanese fans. Part of me feels petty enough to just post the collage of those comments and my translations here but I also don’t want to draw attention to the users without their consent. Maybe I’m just way too salty about this but the whole lying thing really got under my skin.

Edited August 18, 2018 by Guest

Well I guess that's it for me xD He keeps doing this over and over, so unless he goes for at least two years without being a total as*hat, I won't be buying a Smartdoll.

That's it. I'm done with Smart Doll. I'll happily buy products from people who make Smart Doll items but I'm never spending another cent at the Mirai Store.

 

This whole thing really is a new low for him. His responses to people calling him out are appalling. I didn't even know that he had started deleting comments. That's just low. I can't support a company with a CEO who acts like *this*.

That's it. I'm done with Smart Doll. I'll happily buy products from people who make Smart Doll items but I'm never spending another cent at the Mirai Store.

 

This whole thing really is a new low for him. His responses to people calling him out are appalling. I didn't even know that he had started deleting comments. That's just low. I can't support a company with a CEO who acts like *this*.

 

This feeling x100. You summarized it perfectly. I'm done. I had been thinking about getting a tea girl, since I do like the skin tone, but now? NOPE.

As someone who's been watching from the sidelines I can't help but say I'm, like many of y'all's responses, deeply appalled at the immaturity in Danny Choo's behavior and will not be purchasing any of his products directly from him. Though honestly (Forgive me if any of my logic is flawed here and feel free to offer suggestions on it) I'd like to see somebody do a twitter thread briefly stating the few good things he's done and then getting right into the dirty of explaining where he's gone wrong and why.

 

The reason I say put in the good is we shouldn't ignore it entirely, however as it is the terrible outweighs the good and needs to be compiled and presented sooner rather than later and be put in a format that's easily accessible to potential SmD buyers (Hence the why) as Choo may not listen to it or ignore it (Or just straight up block the user), but at least then we can spread the information to consumers in a resource that's easier to refer back to and not just sound like we're looking to pick a fight?

Danny's behavior on Social Media leaves very much to be desired. I'm glad I did my own digging on that tweet, since I can't read Japanese. Rip-offs and recast, arguably, can mean the same thing, but the way Danny phrased it was manipulative on purpose! Very disappointed in him. I'll still support him mainly because Smartdoll is the ONLY brand that has a dark skinned anime doll, but I 100% understand why other people are choosing to cancel the brand.

This all makes me really glad that I sold my smartdoll. I really don't want to support him at all now.

 

The doll hobby is very niche and vinyl dolls are even more so, it really doesn't need this kind of negativity from a company rep of all things.

 

@Makayla Panda

 

I totally understand, the dark skin was the reason I got interested in smartdolls too, but there are a bunch of tutorials how to make a DD dark skinned on this forum.

@archeotech Can I just ask you where/how you sold your Smart Doll? Because I've often thought of selling mine for various reasons, but since they're designated as off-topic for the doll forums I use, I don't really know where else to sell other than on ebay.

I don't know if it's truly within forum rules or not, but I've seen occasionally here someone have a low-key link in their sig about selling a Smart Doll.

 

@Makayla Panda

 

I totally understand, the dark skin was the reason I got interested in smartdolls too, but there are a bunch of tutorials how to make a DD dark skinned on this forum.

 

Yeah, that was one of the first things that I looked up when I joined this forum. But the work and risk put into the process was not worth the time, money and result.

Yeah, I was on the fence about SmD and now I very much know what side of it I'm on. I can't support someone who runs a business this way. The blatant way he keeps trying to create that nasty "us vs them" and "pick a side" environment is just...not okay. Especially when he's twisting words to suit what message he wants to send. And what's even more terrible is seeing how well it's working on people in the comment sections of IG, at least. I've seen quite a few people who seem to think that Volks and DD owners are out to get them based solely on the egging on that Danny does. Which is so ridiculous when you see how many people here and on IG have both! And no one there seems interested in considering that Volks has had that rule forever and that it has nothing to do with them...not everything Volks does is about SmD. But a lot of what SmD does sure seems to revolve around Danny trying to feel like he "one upped" Volks.

 

I guess what I'm saying is just that I find it really sad he's acting this way and other people are following in his footsteps. It just creates such an absolutely unnecessary toxic environment between doll owners when there's no reason for it.

 

I said before that his product should speak for itself. Trying to "tear down" the competition with posts like these just reeks of insecurity and immaturity, regardless of the actual quality of the dolls. There's a reason why other doll companies don't act this way. It has negative impact and leaves negative impressions on people. And that's bad for business. :/ really a shame, I was still holding out for Cortex pricing and Pocket Doll. Not anymore though.

While making a big deal out of Volks Dolpa being Volks doll-exclusive, Danny has just recently put up a page with some free clothing patterns as PDF files:

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/patterns

 

On that page it says this:

 

You are free to use and modify these patterns for your own projects at school or home which includes selling anything you make - I shall take no fees whatsoever - what you make is yours as long as you use the patterns to make Smart Doll apparel - and in return if your goodies are awesome, I will help you sell your Smart Doll apparel by listing your Etsy etc link on the Smart Doll Apparel Makers page which I will get up soon.

So the patterns are only free to use to make clothing for Smart Doll. This is different than the Volks policy he's complaining about how exactly?

i wanted a smart doll... now i do not

Omg. It's even more childish and ridiculous.

I have been following this thread with interest from the start. I can't say I thought sending Danny a letter was something I felt at all comfortable with, as I thought it wasn't my place to tell him how he should run his business regarding releases etc. But I'm not going to make any specific comments about that now, since the subject has changed.

 

I have met him a few times now at Dokomi and he always comes across as very friendly and generous at these events. So I'm having a hard time reconciling the "totally evil" image of him painted by some members here with that in-person-experience.

 

At the same time, I have been taken aback a few times by some of the things he has posted on social media. It felt out of place to point fingers (at customers or other brands), when there wasn't an open conflict in the first place. I can sympathise with wanting to protect your brand and hype it up, but never at the expense of someone else. After all, many of us doll collectors aren't brand loyal in the respect we only buy from one company. Most of the time, we want a specific concept realised and look for a doll that will work for that.

 

However, I don't think I will stop buying SmDs. Mainly because I really like the way they look and prefer their style to most DDs. Also, I don't necessarily need to buy into everything a brand's CEO does and says. For all we know, the people at Volks might be back-talking loads of other brands the whole time, but they just don't do it on social media and so we don't hear about it. I'm assuming most of the users here wouldn't stop collecting DDs if it turned out this was the case. It's not really a new thing for competitors in any industry to be doing, either openly or covertly.

 

The specific tweet regarding Volpa was misrepresented, I agree. At the same time, I would like to point out that in the FB group for SmDs it was fairly quickly corrected by those who were familiar with Japanese (and knew about the longer English version). It feels a little unfair to paint that group as completely uncritical of everything Danny does. It's important to remember that there is only the one admin there and her policy is to keep the group as drama free as possible, focusing more on photo sharing rather than discussions.

While making a big deal out of Volks Dolpa being Volks doll-exclusive, Danny has just recently put up a page with some free clothing patterns as PDF files:

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/patterns

 

On that page it says this:

 

You are free to use and modify these patterns for your own projects at school or home which includes selling anything you make - I shall take no fees whatsoever - what you make is yours as long as you use the patterns to make Smart Doll apparel - and in return if your goodies are awesome, I will help you sell your Smart Doll apparel by listing your Etsy etc link on the Smart Doll Apparel Makers page which I will get up soon.

So the patterns are only free to use to make clothing for Smart Doll. This is different than the Volks policy he's complaining about how exactly?

 

I do think it is a good idea for him to do so and great for people who want stuff tailor-made to Smartdoll dimensions without the associated cost. I actually don't think its too weird for him to specify making stuff for smartdoll only - even if it comes across as petty given the cirbleepstances.

 

What is more worthy of attention imo is the giant rant in there ('Be Nice to the Bus Driver') that has absolutely nothing to do with the product description...? Are we gonna talk about that..? Because it definitely sounds like he's referring to his social media conduct in it to me.

 

First of all I am actually glad to see that he has such a strong stance against typical Japanese business practices of working employees to the bone because that's honestly one of the most negative aspects of Japan right now, and its something that is getting a lot of discussion. But......his rant seems to me like he's complaining that his customers are expecting to be treated like 'gods', when the truth is they just dont want him to be a rude ahat to them.

I don't know why its so hard to understand that there is actually a middle ground between 'treat your customers like god' and 'treat your customers like crap'. He seems to think he is in that middle ground but this thread's existence alone is proof that he quite often is not. Unless he also is this rude to business partners, then he does -not- treat his customers like business partners or equals. And especially not at the moment. It seems more and more to me that to get Danny's nice treatment you have to treat him like -he's- the god, because he's been rude even to people who -are- polite to him.

I have met him a few times now at Dokomi and he always comes across as very friendly and generous at these events. So I'm having a hard time reconciling the "totally evil" image of him painted by some members here with that in-person-experience.

 

Never met him, but I have seen people state how nice he is - the service is awesome for example, and then we have these instances on social media.

I guess I have missed the "totally evil" part, 'cause all I have seen is talk about how he has been rude and unprofessional - which I do not think anyone can dispute.

Seems so bipolar...

And even more reason to run his posts through with someone before posting/hire social media personel.

 

For all we know, the people at Volks might be back-talking loads of other brands the whole time, but they just don't do it on social media and so we don't hear about it. It's not really a new thing for competitors in any industry to be doing, either openly or covertly.

 

Honestly, that is a bad excuse...

You cannot sit and blame or speculate that a company or organization might think ill about a competitor - just because they are a competitor.

Here there is pretty much proof - Danny took the opportunity to slander Volks OPENLY. To excuse that, based on that Volks allegedly is just as bad... Nah.

I have met him a few times now at Dokomi and he always comes across as very friendly and generous at these events. So I'm having a hard time reconciling the "totally evil" image of him painted by some members here with that in-person-experience.

 

Never met him, but I have seen people state how nice he is - the service is awesome for example, and then we have these instances on social media.

I guess I have missed the "totally evil" part, 'cause all I have seen is talk about how he has been rude and unprofessional - which I do not think anyone can dispute.

Seems so bipolar...

And even more reason to run his posts through with someone before posting/hire social media personel.

 

For all we know, the people at Volks might be back-talking loads of other brands the whole time, but they just don't do it on social media and so we don't hear about it. It's not really a new thing for competitors in any industry to be doing, either openly or covertly.

 

Honestly, that is a bad excuse...

You cannot sit and blame or speculate that a company or organization might think ill about a competitor - just because they are a competitor.

Here there is pretty much proof - Danny took the opportunity to slander Volks OPENLY. To excuse that, based on that Volks allegedly is just as bad... Nah.

 

My main point with that last comment was that I think it's a bit silly to take a moral high ground for one brand, while pretending it's not something that happens all over the board for basically any industry. I don't think anyone here thinks twice before buying off AliExpress, Wish or even smaller doll specific shops, even if we can assume a lot of them have lousy work policies and questionable business practices. You accept the bad, because you like the goods/services. But because Danny is more obviously uncensored on social media - which I do admit isn't generally considered good for business - it is apparently cause for boycott.

The specific tweet regarding Volpa was misrepresented, I agree. At the same time, I would like to point out that in the FB group for SmDs it was fairly quickly corrected by those who were familiar with Japanese (and knew about the longer English version). It feels a little unfair to paint that group as completely uncritical of everything Danny does. It's important to remember that there is only the one admin there and her policy is to keep the group as drama free as possible, focusing more on photo sharing rather than discussions.

 

I respectfully beg to differ. I didn't mean the entire group was completely uncritical of Danny's actions, but the core members and the majority of the rest were. I was one of those who was trying to correct the mistaken impression left by Danny's tweet, and it was a struggle I eventually gave up on. The words "rip-off" were being parroted left right and center, and Volks was being dragged through the mud.

 

Comments were eventually turned off because more people were starting to point out the mistranslation. Someone started a new discussion post, but it soon became clear that the majority of the group thought Danny could do no wrong. Excuses given included:

 

1) Danny was just being British, it's a Brit thing.

2) Danny was being cheeky, it's just a joke.

3) Danny said it, Danny speaks Jap, so the translation can't possibly be wrong.

4) Danny is only human, he has feelings too, he has chronic pain.

5) A few Smartdoll members have had less than satisfactory experiences with Volks, so has Danny, thus they applaud him for being able to get in a few comments/jokes/pokes at Volks' expense.

 

I didn't participate in the discussion after the first thread was closed, since pretty much everyone had already made up their minds. But the whole issue has left me very disappointed. Danny has such a strong fanbase and his line of dolls is so popular. There is so much passion in the group inspired and motivated by his creations. Instead of choosing to influence and nurture that passion to make his brand even more appealing and successful, he chooses to direct that passion into spreading misinformation and hate about Volks. And all for his ego? It's such a waste.

 

//..//

 

I didn't participate in the discussion after the first thread was closed, since pretty much everyone had already made up their minds. But the whole issue has left me very disappointed. Danny has such a strong fanbase and his line of dolls is so popular. There is so much passion in the group inspired and motivated by his creations. Instead of choosing to influence and nurture that passion to make his brand even more appealing and successful, he chooses to direct that passion into spreading misinformation and hate about Volks. And all for his ego? It's such a waste.

 

I can't take responsibility to individual members' decisions to be uncritically adoring of Danny.

I do know that some members pointed out the inaccuracies in both of those threads.

 

Once again, the FB group wasn't created as a platform for discussion, but as a more or less happy place to share photos. There are plenty of other places, such as this one, where discussions can take place. The thread wasn't closed in order to shut people up, but because the admin quite literally doesn't have the time or energy to deal with drama. I'm sure that if there were more than one admin and a couple of mods, there would be an opportunity to allow more (critical or not) discussion. It's just that in any online community there will be individuals who are either rude and/or uninterested in holding a nuanced dialogue with other people and it tends to blow up into a war-like situation, where you're basically told to take sides. I'm not very interested in that for my FB experience, so I avoid those types of groups there.

 

I think there is another group for Smart Dolls on FB and maybe that one is more of a mix.

I have met him a few times now at Dokomi and he always comes across as very friendly and generous at these events. So I'm having a hard time reconciling the "totally evil" image of him painted by some members here with that in-person-experience.

 

I know what you mean. I also met Danny in person in 2014 and he was really friendly. I felt that he genuinely cared about his products and his customers. Even my hubby (who isn't a doll-person) thought he was pretty cool. This experience together with the awesome customer service Smart Doll provides are some of the reasons why I gave Danny's occasionally-not-so-cool behavior a pass for so long.

I'm a BIG Smart Doll fangirl and seeing him behave like this really upsets me. I really feel that he doesn't need to act this way. Smart Dolls are a wonderful brand on their own. He should be proud of it without resorting to mudslinging towards Volks.

 

It's possible that Volks talks smack about Smart Doll or other doll companies. In fact, I have no doubt that some doll companies do talk badly about their competition. It happens in other industries all the time so why not in the doll hobby? The difference is that they do it *behind closed doors*. Talking badly about your competition in public reflects poorly on you, not the company you're trying to discredit. Given how long Danny has been involved in business (Google, Amazon, etc), he should know this.

 

..//..

 

It's possible that Volks talks smack about Smart Doll or other doll companies. In fact, I have no doubt that some doll companies do talk badly about their competition. It happens in other industries all the time so why not in the doll hobby? The difference is that they do it *behind closed doors*. Talking badly about your competition in public reflects poorly on you, not the company you're trying to discredit. Given how long Danny has been involved in business (Google, Amazon, etc), he should know this.

 

I agree that it is bad etiquette.

But I still don't understand why this should be the decisive argument against buying his products. Is it really only because he does it openly? I mean, I'm not saying people should change their minds, I'm just wondering why internet conduct is so important to some collectors in regards to Smart Doll specifically. Why does that actually matter, if you like the dolls? Is it that the dolls are somehow tainted with his "bad behaviour"?