Dollfie Dream F3

Does anyone know any significant difference in terms of poseability between the new and old bodies? like something the new body can do that the old one can't. I got the f3 body and I see no difference at all, the old body can do everything I tried on the new body, the joints feel more sturdy but I would expect that from any new body. I actually dislike the ankle/feet ball joints because on the old body I could rotate them and hide that gap/hole in the ball, now it's completely visible whenever my girl wears high heels and it bothers me so much. I tried to rotate them but I couldn't and I don't want to force it and break it.

The feet are my main complaint as well. The reason you can't hide that is the ankle area of the vinyl is cut much lower so the ball is exposed. As I discussed with Gabriel in another thread, this also has the issue of making the straps on shoes with ankle straps far too loose and floppy.

 

Someone with f3 can answer the poseability question better but it appears to me that as Volks shows in their marketing, the frame itself has more motion, but it's going to be limited by the vinyl skin. This is already true of the old bodies for some of the joints. My guess would be the f3 body can cross its legs better, as that's a modification sometimes done on older frame to increase the range of motion of the hip joint i.e. "sexy legs":

http://blog.doll.cafe/2016/10/sexy-legs.html

(not my article)

Ah, yeah this is an unmodded DDSf-3:

 

 

And with just leggings:

 

 

That’s an incredibly adorable holiday outfit.

Thank you! lol, it's my goal every year to make everyone something cute to wear for the holidays.

cfx: oh I just saw that other thread where you're discussing the ankle problem, my girl has a lot of high heel shoes with straps so this is very bad news for me. I feel like the body was downgraded instead, I'm not happy at all. I will sell this one as the problem with the ball joints and shoes bothers me a lot. If the only change was to slightly cross the legs better then it is not worth it for me. Thank you for all this info, I should have researched first before buying.

 

Anyways, merry Christmas to everyone!

I don't have an f3 body to compare and I'm sure there's some other small improvements to poseability and I don't want to discount that out of hand. Volks likes to show in the frame picture like here:

http://www.dollfiedream.tokyo/dd_en/support/ddf3/

that you can, for instance, raise one shoulder and lower the other due to the way those joints were changed. But that's going to be very limited because the vinyl skin just doesn't flex that much in those ways. I've also found that in much of the clothing I have that posing tends to be limited more by what makes the clothing lay right anyway.

 

But overall I am also more disappointed by changes like the appearance of the ankles than whatever slight movability improvements we got, plus the price increasing by about 10%. I was in need of two bodies which I didn't want to buy right now but did so I could be sure I could still get the old ones. I have a lot of the shoes with ankle straps as well and them being loose on the new bodies really bothers me.

Having had my true first photo sets with the DDS-F3 courtesy of Junior (and apparently Iori also as the DDP's are F3 architecture?), I have some conflicted opinions.

 

First of all I loved the DD3 body because it was tight as a drum, and out of the box for the most part you could do some crazy balancing acts with it, trying not to break anything in the process naturally, since there is the cracking issue with the hips and shoulders especially with early DD3's, despite the aftermarket reinforcement pieces.

 

The general style of the F3 fixes this problem, but it also seems like Volks wants you to set the frame up to your liking. I guess its all part of their marketing program, like how you can tighten the joints up later on ... thing is if you are into some weird balancing stuff you will probably need to take the thing apart (based on my personal experience, two out of two need work) and go through every joint, possibly even having to sand or shave some places to get some extra pinch action into them.

 

So yea.. personally I need to take Saber mk2, and Iori apart to get them to a state that I like to pose with, which I am not terribly fond of for something almost straight out of the box, while I have some DD3's that have been used and slightly abused, and are still tight... a bit too tight as witnessed by some cracks, but still they perform.

 

The extra mobility is undeniable. Crossing the legs while sitting is a breeze now, however getting the hips back together afterwards is now a bit more ... interesting since there now is a slot in the hip-pegs that need to line up before they fully go in. Depending on where the ball in the leg side of things was when it came out of the slot might make it easy, or a bit more challenging.

 

Amusingly the torso seems to behave like a MDD-1 where it wants to spontaniously split in two at the main central peg... fortunately its a lot easier to put back together than a DDS or MDD.

 

The extra joints at the wrist are also a welcome addition but on the saber mk2 normal hand parts they seemed awfully loose, so having a prop equipped with them might cause a few grey hairs, unless taken apart and fiddled with (looking at a confiscated roll of 0.2mm thick polyurethane tape), so dont throw those old DD3 solid wrist parts away just yet..

 

The ankles are interesting, since the ball is brought up from the foot to be viewed, but frankly the gap that was usually there with the DD2 and DD3 legs caused their own issues, and the ankle strap that was mentioned might have also disappeared into that void as well.

 

But personally the jury is still out. If I can work out the slop out of the two I have, they have promise. Is this promise worth another price hike? I really don't know since I thought the price hike from a DD2 to DD3 was a bit much to begin with. But then again I'm a weirdo.

For me the price increase is not worth it. I love to read everybody's input about the new body! I might come off as whiny but I really had high expectations and was highly disappointed, especially because of the price but even if the price wasn't an issue I still wouldn't have gotten the new body if I knew about the ankle/ball joint issues.

 

Here are my girls, the one in blue has the new body. The one on the right/in red has the old body.The old one has better looking ankles and no gap in the ball joints and the strapped shoes look great. I will be putting up the new body for sale with free shipping within the USA.

 

If you're coming across as whiny I'm sure I am since I've been going on about this for a while.

 

I'm really irritated by these changed ankle joints as well. Before I came to this hobby, I bought scale figures. I only bought scale fixed-pose figures because I couldn't stand the look of joints on figma, nendoroids and other such...that and I am more a fan of the detail and artistry in the scale figures.

 

I mention that because it took me a while to come to deal with the joints on DD and not wanting to just always use clothing that covers them. I finally came around that the joints were just part of the doll and were an ok tradeoff for what else you get. How Volks makes most of the joints look helped i.e. I still can't stand how the knees and elbows look on Obitsu. These new ankles on DD are just worse in every way that matters to me.

 

The price increase is a big deal to me as well. I seriously debated really entering this hobby at all due to the expense of it and it defintely wasn't the adult thing to do given I'm really old and need to figure out how to somehow retire. (OTOH I need things in my life that are fun and don't suck.) That 4000 yen increase in the body prices for me pushed DDs firmly into a price range where I'm really not comfortable spending that much on something that I just want, not need.

 

I'm not discounting any poseability improvements; I just wasn't unhappy with the poseability as it was so these changes weren't worth anything extra to me, and Volks made changes I don't like, and pretty much priced me out of the market as well.

 

Your picture shows me something else I wasn't sure about which I now see looking at the parts on the Volks website. The bottom of the shins is cut shorter and straight as well exposing more of the ball on that side; the old shins especially on the sides go down further. I believe your two bodies are DDS? If so the difference on DD is even more significant I think, because the DDS feet already didn't cover quite as much of the ball as the DD ones, based on pictures. (I don't own a DDS.)

cfx: The joints need some time to get used to it. Even so, I'm still trying to hide the wrist joints but the ankle joints didn't bother me as much on the old body. The price is really an issue, I could have gotten another pair of hands or even use it for gas the thing is, I will always lose some money by selling the body because why would someone buy it from me when they can get it all new from VolksUSA? so the only option I have is to lower the price or offer free shipping.

 

I feel you about the future and right choices we should make. I always sell something in order to buy another thing. I took a 2 year old break and this is the first time I have DD girls so I went on a spending spree but I used the old bodies my boys used to have and I was lucky to find just the heads for cheap. I just spent money on clothes and shoes since I had nothing for girls but I also got rid of many many stuff in ebay. This hobby is a luxury hobby, I learned to sacrifice old things to get new ones and use paypal which offers 6 months to 2 years so I have an account for paypal savings only. I don't think I have ever paid straight out of my pocket but I have to be responsible in paying everything back when the time comes because the fees are outrageous. As of today I have managed to pay everything on time in all my 14 years in the doll hobby. I hope you can find a balance between this hobby and your retirement.

 

They are all DDS bodies, my main concern is that small hole in the ball, the shoes but now that you mentioned the difference between the old and new shins, you're right and I can't stop thinking about it....

 

cfx: The joints need some time to get used to it. Even so, I'm still trying to hide the wrist joints but the ankle joints didn't bother me as much on the old body. The price is really an issue, I could have gotten another pair of hands or even use it for gas the thing is, I will always lose some money by selling the body because why would someone buy it from me when they can get it all new from VolksUSA? so the only option I have is to lower the price or offer free shipping.

The wrists are the joints that bother me the most as well but I've kind of gotten used to them I think. I still really notice them in pictures when people bend the hands at like 90 degrees which looks unnatural (and if I try bending my own wrists like that, well, it hurts heh).

 

I feel you about the future and right choices we should make. I always sell something in order to buy another thing. I took a 2 year old break and this is the first time I have DD girls so I went on a spending spree but I used the old bodies my boys used to have and I was lucky to find just the heads for cheap. I just spent money on clothes and shoes since I had nothing for girls but I also got rid of many many stuff in ebay. This hobby is a luxury hobby, I learned to sacrifice old things to get new ones and use paypal which offers 6 months to 2 years so I have an account for paypal savings only. I don't think I have ever paid straight out of my pocket but I have to be responsible in paying everything back when the time comes because the fees are outrageous. As of today I have managed to pay everything on time in all my 14 years in the doll hobby. I hope you can find a balance between this hobby and your retirement.

Thank you. That's what I've been thinking about doing as well, selling some things I don't really care as much about anymore. I just started in this hobby a year ago and it's a little too easy to go a bit overboard with the excitement of something new and I did that.

 

They are all DDS bodies, my main concern is that small hole in the ball, the shoes but now that you mentioned the difference between the old and new shins, you're right and I can't stop thinking about it....

 

Pretty shoes.

 

Yeah that hole is the worst part. I believe the reason for that is on the older body you can't bend the foot upward very far...not that that is a position I find all that useful, but by changing how the inner piece of the ball is cut as well as the vinyl skin, they increased the movement there. Perhaps Volks felt it was an ok tradeoff since the resin dolls have various visible slots like that in the joints, but that was one of the things I specifically liked about DD was they didn't have that.

 

The way the shins are cut now the ankle joints look a lot more like the wrists do.

 

You might perform an experiment before selling, that I believe will work though it won't help with how the shins are cut--try putting the old DDS feet on the f3 body. I suspect they may be interchangeable, though they may also be too loose, or too tight on the rods inside the shins. I had thought this might be the case just from how the feet look in pictures, but the comments about Saber's boots and how they were tight on the f3 legs and in the Saber thread someone here commented they worked fine on an old body so they must be pretty close.

 

Anyway if that works well enough you might be able to just replace the feet rather than the whole body, though the cost of doing that may be no better than what you'll lose by selling the body and replacing it.

I don't suppose anyone has any thoughts on MDDIII vs MDDf3? To be honest the problems described with the ankle joint dont phase me at all, although I dont expect to be getting a f3 doll until 9S ships. But I'm especially curious about how the updates affect a MDD, especially for the wrist joints which are famously flimsy on the MDDIII (and presumably the MDDII) to the extent I'm often scared to change hands.

I don't suppose anyone has any thoughts on MDDIII vs MDDf3? To be honest the problems described with the ankle joint dont phase me at all, although I dont expect to be getting a f3 doll until 9S ships. But I'm especially curious about how the updates affect a MDD, especially for the wrist joints which are famously flimsy on the MDDIII (and presumably the MDDII) to the extent I'm often scared to change hands.

I don't have a MDD so this is somewhat theoretical. But in general the wrist joints didn't change because they kept them compatible with the older bodies. What did change on DD/DDS, that finnleo mentioned above, is the bodies (and presumably arms) now come standard with the "rotating hand" joints that was what you got buying them separately for however long that's been changed and so the ones that don't rotate will be gone along with the old bodies and parts.

 

MDD got wrists with that extra movability as well. Perhaps that makes them more fragile but I don't know what the weak point was before; I'm guessing it was elsewhere though. In case you haven't already seen, they look like this now:

https://ec.volks.co.jp/category/010702/4518992421605.html

As you have Tito you know what the old ones look like but for reference, on the arms as I don't see a separate listing now:

https://ec.volks.co.jp/category/010702/4518992394190.html

 

To the extent I've noticed on my DD ones, that extra joint doesn't seem to make them any more fragile than they are otherwise, but I don't know if it would be different on the smaller MDD wrist size.

 

I know a number of people already have the larger f3 bodies from Jeanne, Saber as well as buying bodies and D'Coords, but I can't recall if someone got an f3 MDD yet?

cfx: I did try to do that, to put the old DDS feet on the new f3 body and you're right from your observation..they are too loose, the feet fell off completely from the sockets and the new feet didn't fit at all on the old body. I could try to change the whole legs but I only have the girl in the middle to make the changes with since she doesn't wear high heels like her 2 sisters do but she has the unitorso body and I was told that the new legs are not compatible with the unitorso so I haven't even tried it :/

 

Anyways, my resolution for this new year is to research first and make better choices *crosses fingers* happy new year everyone!!!

cfx: I did try to do that, to put the old DDS feet on the new f3 body and you're right from your observation..they are too loose, the feet fell off completely from the sockets and the new feet didn't fit at all on the old body. I could try to change the whole legs but I only have the girl in the middle to make the changes with since she doesn't wear high heels like her 2 sisters do but she has the unitorso body and I was told that the new legs are not compatible with the unitorso so I haven't even tried it :/

Yeah the pins and sockets at the hip for the new legs are completely different so those wouldn't be interchangeable at all. Ths shins look like they could be, but I'd bet they are either loose or tight just like the feet, plus if you have to change that much stuff might as well get the right body.

 

Anyways, my resolution for this new year is to research first and make better choices *crosses fingers* happy new year everyone!!!

Me too. I do try to research everything but still ended up with some bad choices because of assumptions I made.

I don't suppose anyone has any thoughts on MDDIII vs MDDf3? To be honest the problems described with the ankle joint dont phase me at all, although I dont expect to be getting a f3 doll until 9S ships. But I'm especially curious about how the updates affect a MDD, especially for the wrist joints which are famously flimsy on the MDDIII (and presumably the MDDII) to the extent I'm often scared to change hands.

 

I can sort of offer some opinion since no one else has so far lol.

 

 

The general style of the F3 fixes this problem, but it also seems like Volks wants you to set the frame up to your liking. I guess its all part of their marketing program, like how you can tighten the joints up later on ... thing is if you are into some weird balancing stuff you will probably need to take the thing apart (based on my personal experience, two out of two need work) and go through every joint, possibly even having to sand or shave some places to get some extra pinch action into them.

 

I would say this is true for the MDD f3 in my case. I ordered mine in parts and assembled myself. I had to tighten basically everything. And for the heightened price tag...I don't like feeling like -they- just didn't want to tighten screws? Idunno, I like a DIY project and I can understand wanting to leave the choice to the buyer for how tight you want the joints, but I also don't think the default should be so floppy that it can't hold itself.

 

That said, once everything is set, I do feel it holds poses more strongly than my MDDIII. Especially in the arms. They move a little differently, but not in a bad way and I like them. But I can't say I've noticed any real difference in range of motion.

 

BUT on the other hand, The tightening of the screws may not last? I've only had mine about two months and I only was able to get hands and wrists 2 weeks ago...and the wrist already started falling off because the inner piece needed a screw adjustment. I've taken the hands off about 2-3 times in this period and that was a little annoying, honestly. Luckily I even had a screwdriver in that size because that particular one is very small.

 

 

however getting the hips back together afterwards is now a bit more ... interesting since there now is a slot in the hip-pegs that need to line up before they fully go in. Depending on where the ball in the leg side of things was when it came out of the slot might make it easy, or a bit more challenging.

 

 

This is the part on the MDD that was a nightmare for me. It took me way longer than I'd like to admit to get the hips together. I could not get them to click for the life of me. So I kept squeezing them togther way harder than I wanted to(multiple attempts too.) I was worried I was going to break a piece from doing that and FINALLY they clicked together. So now I hope to never have to remove the thighs because I do not want to do that part again.

 

So overall, I like the body and it so far feels more sturdy than the old one. I just didn't like all the extra set-up to get it that way. Worth the price increase? Eh...honestly I can't really say either way. I'm not big on dynamic poses, I just bought the new one because that's what was available.

 

Oh, and of course I forget, the wrist joints. I would say I think they feel less fragile. I haven't been getting that "this is gonna snap" fear with them. It might be because they swivel with the pull when I take hands off, maybe. I can't 100% describe it because I don't really think they're thicker than the old ones, but maybe it's that it seems like it bends less overall when changing hands.

I honestly wasn't expecting the F3 frame to be released so suddenly. I've been snooping around and doing research for this hobby for about a year now and this is my 1st time witnessing a frame change/upgrade. I kind of feel like all me research was wasted and I have to start over for this new frame. I definitely can't afford to buy a full body yet, so hopefully more stuff will come out while I save up. I'm really hoping for a Unitorso F3 part....

A little warning here--Mandarake has been listing f3 bodies for things that, from the pictures, don't appear to actually be f3, case in point:

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1103849382&ref=list&categoryCode=020114&lang=en

 

Those aren't f3 feet or shins which I can tell for the reasons discussed earlier in this thread. The feet look like DD3 instead of DDS too; in fact I'm not sure it's not a DD3 body with a DDS bust based on how it looks overall? Since it is in a f3 box, looks like perhaps someone bought a new body, swapped it out on their doll and then put the old one in the new box and Mandarake didn't know?

 

Here's another listing for one that appears to actually be f3:

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1103542699&ref=list&categoryCode=020114&lang=en

 

Based on that picture, and maybe someone with Jeanne or Saber can confirm, it appears the slot at the top of the shins on the rear is cut more like it was on DD2 rather than DD3?

I had a dream about this frame! Don't do research late into the night and sleep on it

 

Has anyone done a video about the flexibility of the frame yet? I've been curious about something that no one has seemed to play with yet as far as I can tell. I think I've said this before, but I'm curious how far the knees can bend/fold in on themselves and I'm curious about the elbows too. The first time I got the DDP body from Dcoord I really.... really didn't like it. But I also had no time to open it up and adjust all the screws.

 

The price difference is pretty big, so I want to be sure it's worth it and my poor Alisa needs a body now.

Here are my girls, the one in blue has the new body. The one on the right/in red has the old body.The old one has better looking ankles and no gap in the ball joints and the strapped shoes look great. I will be putting up the new body for sale with free shipping within the USA.

 

I hadn't really noticed this before, but then I wasn't looking. All my current F3 girls wear boots. I can see would definitely be an issue with high heeled shoes with ankle straps. It certainly doesn't look good, and you would think you could design around that. Like by putting the hook part of the ankle frame at the rear instead of in the front. Almost anything other than geta or sandals would cover it.

Here are my girls, the one in blue has the new body. The one on the right/in red has the old body.The old one has better looking ankles and no gap in the ball joints and the strapped shoes look great. I will be putting up the new body for sale with free shipping within the USA.

I hadn't really noticed this before, but then I wasn't looking. All my current F3 girls wear boots. I can see would definitely be an issue with high heeled shoes with ankle straps. It certainly doesn't look good, and you would think you could design around that. Like by putting the hook part of the ankle frame at the rear instead of in the front. Almost anything other than geta or sandals would cover it.

While I haven't taken any feet apart, I suspect the hook opening was at the rear before and they swapped it. I didn't save the link so can't post it, but I have seen a Japanese blog where they took the old feet and swapped those parts around and filed off bits here and there so that the feet could move further upward. I don't see that as a particularly useful posing so I don't think the added ugliness is worth it though.

Just took apart my Iori body for a possible photo-set, and went through the joints, all in all about 30-45 minutes depending on distractions.

 

Overall the body tightened up quite well. however there are some weird quirks that I don't know how to feel about yet.

 

The arms are a bit of a disappointment since there is no screw to tighten up the elbow. The ankles are also annoying since the screw inside the foot will tighten the main joint but not the swiveling pivot beneath it, so that remains to flop around... might have to consider trying the urethane tape in there at some point.

 

But what really annoys me is that they are using normal nuts in the setup. where Ny-lock one's would retain their tension a bit better in my mind. So that's a possible upgrade.

 

I have seen a Japanese blog where they took the old feet and swapped those parts around and filed off bits here and there so that the feet could move further upward. I don't see that as a particularly useful posing so I don't think the added ugliness is worth it though.

 

This is so you can get a squat pose for instance. the movement is annoyingly limited in stock form once you take notice of it.

 

Something like this would be pushing it with the stock movement:

feena035

 

It is a percentile thing though, and most wont need it. Though in some cases people will probably need to learn to do the tippy-toe balancing act, since you cant plant the feet fully when you have either leg at a wide angle to the back from the other.

@Finnleo - That's as far as the knees will bend? Even with adjustments?

 

The more I think about it... the more I realize I didn't buy my vinyl girl for her posing, and it sounds like most of the upgrades for this iteration are incremental.

 

Volks would need to really up their game with fully double-jointed knees before I worry too much about swapping out my girl's body. If they put in a knee joint similar to the elbow, that would be really great, and wouldn't detract from the aesthetics that much, because of the way the upper leg/knee is shaped.

@Finnleo - That's as far as the knees will bend? Even with adjustments?

 

The more I think about it... the more I realize I didn't buy my vinyl girl for her posing, and it sounds like most of the upgrades for this iteration are incremental.

 

That image is actually a DD2 demonstrating something a DDP-f3 cant do (that I know of personally, have yet to play that much with the DDS-f3), due to the ankle limitations. But over all that's also how much volks vinyl bodies have in therms of the angle between the thigh and shin. any more and the knee area begins to look very unattractive regardless of body generation.

 

The main gains in the f3 are the hips and shoulders. Anybody who's had their DD3 crack those places will most likely agree with me.

 

I went on a small rant in my cosmic mint image-post about some posing stuff, but I suppose the f3's are probably easier to get a start with in planted standing poses with the added ankle pivot joints, so you don't have to massage around the ankle's like with a DD2/3 for the same effect. .. I might see them as a problem for some of my posing but then again I'm a weirdo.

 

If you really want a double-hinged knee and elbow solution there is the obitsu (of which there is the mix'n'match Parabox) line, and thats probably why Volks keeps to this general style of joints, since they probably want to cater to a specific aesthetic since ultimately these things are a compromise.

Yeah I'd be really unhappy if Volks went to the Obitsu knee style as I really dislike the look of those joints.