Hello from the middle of nowhere! I'm new to this!

Hi, I'm Marce! I'm 20 and stuck in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. I moved here in the summer of 2010 and didn't get into any kind of dolls until that fall. Beforehand with a few exceptions like my Sailor Moon doll, I loathed dolls and most girly girl things. It wasn't traumatic/abusive or anything, but it's blatantly obvious that my parents would have rather had another boy at the time so they wouldn't have had to step foot in "the pink aisle". Monster High is what helped shift me away from that due to my natural gravitation to anything that would be considered in line with that Halloween spirit. I eventually spread out to some other dolls like Disney (including one limited edition in the form of Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph) and even some Barbies I had a blast finding heads I liked to match the Made to Move body skin tones and then putting outfits together for. My passion for Monster High dolls probably peaked in 2013 when I went to New York Comic Con in 2013- in cosplay- and met the creator as an early 15th birthday present.

I haven't bought a doll in too long, but that's because the toy industry is just honestly trash at the moment. One of my friends from back in the day of Monster High dedicated forums (we were both moderators actually) graduated from making customs for fun to working in the industry so I actually know just how bad of a place it's right now. It's so uninteresting or even just appealing to the point where I've shifted my focus over to Nendoroids. They offer the variety and pose-ability that kept me engaged with Monster High for so long. I almost even had fun dealing with a broken Nendoroid neck peg because it had me doing things I did back when I was regularly working on making my dolls nicer. Specifically, the hot water to warm plastic so I could remove and swap heads. That honestly makes me sound like a Sid from Toy Story, but I was more of the guy called in to repair Woody. I would also use straws as hair curlers to make curly hair characters match their artwork more and sometimes even paint shoes/accessories accent colors that were only seen in the artwork as well. My fine motor skills are somewhat lacking due to disability (i.e. I can't tie my own shoes) so if YouTube hadn't so unapproachable right as Monster High's relevance really started dying, I might have actually started a channel meant to teach slightly older kids how to help make their dolls more art accurate. The only thing that would really need parental supervision would have been boiling water so it's really a shame I didn't take to doing that sort of thing sooner.

The reason why I'm here though is because I learned about the Hatsune Miku Dollfie Dream and absolutely fell in love with her. Miku was really big with some of the users of the Monster High forum, to the point where I think PoPiPo got banned if I recall correctly. I also recently bought and have been hooked on Project Diva Future Tone so you would say I'm on a nostalgic Miku binge at the moment. Even so, I honestly just find her Dollfie Dream to be absolutely gorgeous. What's really funny is just days after I found out about and got hooked on looking at picture at the Miku doll, they announced that they'd be making her on a new body. I mostly here because the highest maintenance doll I own is the kind you traditionally keep in its box (LE Calhoun). I don't know anything about BJD care, but it seems like a natural evolution from what I was doing to my Monster High dolls. I'm even unfortunately aware of staining due to them dumbly packaging a doll with a black oven mitt on so he'd been stained by the time you got him out of the box. Even so, I still feel mostly unaware because I'm just so new to the world of deluxe dolls.

I really want Miku and I'm going to see what I can do about getting one on either body for not an outrageous price (I'm looking at you eBay, I know you're not my best option). Even so I know she'll be more expensive than any singular doll I've ever bought and that's why I genuinely expect her to be the only Dollfie Dream I'll ever buy, only maybe trying to get a Luka somehow if I were to suddenly come into some money. I love the idea of buying the parts of make your own doll- after all, I essentially did that with my Barbie dolls, but my limited fine motor skills and the price have me find it's not the smartest investment and that I should just stick to Miku if I get anything at all. Her face is already made to look nice, so that step is something I wouldn't have to worry about messing up. 

So yeah, I'm mostly here to lurk and maybe ask a few questions in preparation to when I might actually buy my first Dollfie Dream in the form of Miku. If anyone has any sort of advice they would consider worthwhile from purchasing her to actual care, I'd really appreciate it. She's just so pretty and I just feel like the process of getting her all dressed up and posing her for pictures would be really fun. 

 

Hello and welcome.

Ebay is generally not the place you want to buy dollfies from; prices are generally higher there than anywhere else, and now you have to be aware of counterfeit dolls as well. So far that's just Snow Miku and Saber but I'm sure there will be more.

Volks has limited rereleases of Miku pretty often, often in conjunction with Vocaloid or Miku events. Otherwise a good place to buy is Mandarake https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/listPage/list?categoryCode=020114&lang=en

Edited March 22, 2019 by cfx

I hope you can get a Miku! She is definitely one of Volks best girls. She is not so hard to come by, although I would avoid ebay entirely. 

Mandarake is of course a good option, but if you want a brand new shiny Miku, her rerelease (on the f3 body) will be coming up soon! Buying second-hand may be easier though, especially because Volks webstore is a bit weird at the moment, and the f3 upgrade will make her cost a little bit more. If you join any DD selling groups on facebook she may appear now and then there too. IMO, 600-700 US is the typical price for a second-hand fullset of her and anything more is overcharging unless they are including some extra stuff for you. 

Edit: insisting that you will only get one is what almost everybody with more than one does to begin with 😄 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Monty

On 3/22/2019 at 12:11 AM, cfx said:

Hello and welcome.

Ebay is generally not the place you want to buy dollfies from; prices are generally higher there than anywhere else, and now you have to be aware of counterfeit dolls as well. So far that's just Snow Miku and Saber but I'm sure there will be more.

Volks has limited rereleases of Miku pretty often, often in conjunction with Vocaloid or Miku events. Otherwise a good place to buy is Mandarake https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/listPage/list?categoryCode=020114&lang=en

Yeah I stumbled upon Mandarake thanks to a random Instagram comment I saw while browsing pictures of her. I also sort of heard about re-releases from Instagram- sort of only because it was mainly just implied rather than explicitly stated. 

On 3/22/2019 at 9:35 AM, Monty said:

I hope you can get a Miku! She is definitely one of Volks best girls. She is not so hard to come by, although I would avoid ebay entirely. 

Mandarake is of course a good option, but if you want a brand new shiny Miku, her rerelease (on the f3 body) will be coming up soon! Buying second-hand may be easier though, especially because Volks webstore is a bit weird at the moment, and the f3 upgrade will make her cost a little bit more. If you join any DD selling groups on facebook she may appear now and then there too. IMO, 600-700 US is the typical price for a second-hand fullset of her and anything more is overcharging unless they are including some extra stuff for you. 

Edit: insisting that you will only get one is what almost everybody with more than one does to begin with 😄 

It's good to actually see a proper price range for her too! I figured $750 is probably the max I should even consider. She's just not really in my budget right now, but I have an account on Mandarake for if the time is right. Of course if the new one happens to be available through a lottery, I would probably let fate decide there and go for it if I got lucky- or unlucky if you're my wallet.

What's really cute is that I showed her to my grandma (I live with her) and she was ready to buy her for me until I told her the price. I hadn't found out about Mandarake yet, but I doubt that would really change her mind there. Calhoun as a Christmas present is probably her limit in terms of cost, but she would probably lend me a smidge in that hypothetical lottery situation. She actually wants me to eventually get her, but that might be partially because she'll enjoy having access to such a large scale doll. She's super into crocheting these days and seeing Miku made her wish she still did the wooden furniture building she would do for my much older cousins' American Girls. I buy most of my own dolls (and Nendos these days), but she’s always been very supportive of the hobby.

Thanks for the warm welcome! 😊

On 3/21/2019 at 5:00 PM, marcecloud said:

It wasn't traumatic/abusive or anything, but it's blatantly obvious that my parents would have rather had another boy at the time so they wouldn't have had to step foot in "the pink aisle".

Just for the record girls are awesome. You probably already know that, but just sayin.

 

Volks USA should be offering the new F3 Miku at the After event for the April Dolpa. They will announce the dates on their Facebook page, and you can sign up for their mailing list. Pretty sure all you have to do is create an account there and opt in. 

I think you have a pretty good chance to get her in the lottery. She has been released so many times I kind of doubt she will be really hard to get. As long as the Volks Japan and Volks USA After Events don't run concurrently then you can enter for her in Japan, and if you lose you can enter for her again here.

They will probably have her again when Miku Expo comes around.

She's super cute, and the F3 body is a pretty nice upgrade. I find her face really hard not to like. It's got a look that is both mischievous, and says she thinks she's queen of all that she sees.

The big drawback to Miku in my opinion is the Vocaloid outfits tend to be really expensive, and Volks doesn't really make anything else just for SS bust dolls. SS busts tend to get outfits sized for SS through M, and I am hear to tell you anything sized for M is just pointless to get for an SS. It doesn't even really work on S bust girls either.

 

Sorry, going to spam you with a few links.

 

Here are a few of the better Miku photo stories.

 

And there are some shots of her stomping around a train set like a twintailed Godzilla here.

 

Miku with different styles.

 

 

http://www.dollfiedreams.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=11211

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by BeyondTime

Yep, girls rock!

Hope you get Miku, she’s definitely a pretty one, for sure!

As Monty said, yeah, we’ve all said we’ll only get “one” 🙄🙄

 

For your Grandma crocheting outfits, they look awesome on any of the Kiddos!

My neighbor and awesome friend, BuxDarkangel made this for Tana a few years ago, along with a Jedi robe: 

 

 

Anywho, welcome to the wild, crazy, money-draining side of vinyl cuties! 

 

Rick

 

 

Ah, Mikubis so cute. I hope you get her soon. I myself want her too. It's just something about that adorable face I can't resist.