Volks News 83

2 hours ago, Sniiksnak said:

And it hasn’t stained them? It looks very good on your dolls. I’m being lured by the temptress that Volks is.

You can always buy stain protection body suits rather directly from volks or other places like eBay, and cool cat collection shop. Or just wash the clothes you think will stain. I’ve had a pair of black leggings I washed the extra dye out. Never have them stain my doll after the wash.

I was a bit disappointed by the clothing offerings for this round myself but honestly with the SD rerelease being Tyltyl (only the guy I voted for every day...) that’s really for the best... I’m really strongly contemplating entering for him so it’s just as well I don’t want multiple outfits on top of that. (The striped hoodies on those roomwear sets are cute though, and Bri hasn’t got any gifts in a while, so we’ll see)

It’s a shame the pink and teal seats are VIP items cos I would love those for Miku and Luka. I know VolksUSA often does preorders for VIP items but that doesn’t really help anyone outside the US. So it’s also just as well I can’t get them, it saves me some money 8’) 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Monty

1 hour ago, Monty said:

I was a bit disappointed by the clothing offerings for this round myself but honestly with the SD rerelease being Tyltyl (only the guy I voted for every day...) that’s really for the best... I’m really strongly contemplating entering for him so it’s just as well I don’t want multiple outfits on top of that. 

If you enter I wish you the best of luck.  

4 hours ago, Monty said:

It’s a shame the pink and teal seats are VIP items cos I would love those for Miku and Luka. I know VolksUSA often does preorders for VIP items but that doesn’t really help anyone outside the US. So it’s also just as well I can’t get them, it saves me some money 8’) 

Haha I was sitting here thinking the same thing. I went through the catalogue like "hmm nothing much interesting to me" but then I got to the last page and was like "Oh matching Miku seats haha." I even showed them to my room mate laughing about them, only to add a second later. "Is it bad I want them?" Because I had the exact same thought. 

Never really done pre-orders or anything like that before, I guess except for the Luka Senbonzakura outfit last year. Is it still click-war style? Hmmm how bad do I want them? lol

7 hours ago, Monty said:

It’s a shame the pink and teal seats are VIP items cos I would love those for Miku and Luka. I know VolksUSA often does preorders for VIP items but that doesn’t really help anyone outside the US. So it’s also just as well I can’t get them, it saves me some money 8’)

I was excited about the chairs until reading the fine print.

I've seen "soda pink" and "soda green" versions of these chairs on Mandarake before. Are those the same or are these ones different colors? I can't tell anything from Mandarake's pictures where the green looks like baby blue and the pink looks like hot pink.

8 minutes ago, cfx said:

I've seen "soda pink" and "soda green" versions of these chairs on Mandarake before. Are those the same or are these ones different colors? I can't tell anything from Mandarake's pictures where the green looks like baby blue and the pink looks like hot pink.

Picture quality aside, they look the same.

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1088333791

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1089843845

There have been "sorbet blue and "candy pink" versions as well, so you must have seen those.

Sorbet Blue: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1058194162

Candy Pink: https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1049048909

 

I don't know what I'm typing, apparently, "candy pink" was the one I just saw above and don't know why I called it "soda pink" as I don't think there is any such thing. I didn't notice there were two pinks on Mandarake. I've seen the blue previously but I was referring to the box picture of the green where it looks blue as well.

I've almost bought one of these in the past; I found it odd Mandarake often sells them for less than the black and white versions.

I received the magazine in the mail today. It's nice to be able to see the pages clearly instead of just relying on the low quality cell phone photos. While what I say below will sound like I'm disappointed with the magazine, I'm actually not. I'm glad I bought the magazine. I got to see clear images of the outfits, accessories, and new products in general. I also got to read some info I wasn't aware of until now*. I'm finding some interesting info on the pages which aren't at the Facebook link so VN83 was worth the purchase for me personally. What I'm disappointed with is the quality of the excitement (or lack thereof) generated by the new products shown in the magazine and not the magazine itself.

* = On page 59, there's info concerning Volks Japan starting a ceremony (from May 1) for doll owners who want to give up ownership of SDs. Said owners must pay a 2000 JPY fee for the farewell ceremony. SD owners will be given a chance to give away an SD to Volks *and* charge the owner more money to say goodbye to the doll. The absurdity is compounded because a doll returned to Volks will then be offered to prospective new owners for sale ("adoption") as "SD Adaption(sic) Model" dolls.

As stated earlier in this thread, I can't buy the chairs. At least not officially. Boo.

As for the announcement of new outfits... They're just disappointing. The "normal" or "casual" outfits look like palette swaps of previously released outfits. Even if they're not, the new outfits aren't distinguished enough from previously released outfits to feel like they're anything new or interesting. Sadly, it might be possible for me to say this with every new issue of VN. (I hope not.)

We knew Sakura Miku was coming. OK, fair enough. The second doll is... Miku Reboot? This "news" allowed me to endure my latest dental procedure without any Novocaine.

I can't say there's nothing for me from VN83. Assuming I buy it, I think I'll have all kinds of uses for the "mini carrying case".

I want Sakura Miku's outfit and wig, but not the rest of the doll.  But other then that, there isn't anything that really gets me, which is awesome!!

 

But wait, is that a doll sized doll bag...

I'm 80% sure I want to buy Sakura Miku for just the doll and split the fullset away, but I'm gonna hold off on posting a Split order until we have more info/more photos (and the VolksUSA release, tbh).

14 hours ago, growcian said:

* = On page 59, there's info concerning Volks Japan starting a ceremony (from May 1) for doll owners who want to give up ownership of SDs. Said owners must pay a 2000 JPY fee for the farewell ceremony. SD owners will be given a chance to give away an SD to Volks *and* charge the owner more money to say goodbye to the doll. The absurdity is compounded because a doll returned to Volks will then be offered to prospective new owners for sale ("adoption") as "SD Adaption(sic) Model" dolls.

I'm very curious about this, and whom would do this.  Does anybody have any more information?  It seems kinda scummy to me. 

The doll adoption ceremony is... very suspect. Even stained or damaged dolls easily get a few hundreds bucks in community markets, yet Volks wants you to PAY THEM to take a doll off your hands. It's just... I can see, from a business perspective, what they're doing. They're trying to throttle resales to more tightly control the market, while creating a new revenue stream of flipping used dolls. But the way they're doing it is just so... backwards. 

On a lighter note, I'd love to get Miku, but I don't know if I'll be able to. Of the three, Snow Miku's still my favorite... decisions decisions!

My take on the adoption service is that it’s not as pernicious as it sounds. In Japan, dolls are associated with spirits and it’s bad luck to just throw away a doll- you need a priest to perform a ceremony to satisfy the spirit. That’s my understanding anyway, someone more versed in Japanese culture can correct.

But it also allows for a Volks-sanctioned resale of second hand dolls without concerns about recasts. Volks offers a lot of services to legit doll owners and I assume adopters would get those services too.

6 hours ago, jadepixel said:

But it also allows for a Volks-sanctioned resale of second hand dolls without concerns about recasts. Volks offers a lot of services to legit doll owners and I assume adopters would get those services too.

That’s actually my take too. The ceremony undoubtedly has a cost for Volks to arrange, and ¥2000 doesn’t really seem like a lot. 

Sure you could just hand in the doll for adoption, but this way you can make it more of a transition from one part of life to another.

If they do this for Dollfie Dreams Billy will never have money again. 

Edited April 13, 2019 by BeyondTime

Still, considering the profit they'll get from flipping the dolls, it makes no sense to charge $20 to take the doll off your hands. Kinda sleazy of them. 

Knowing Volks, I'll bet the adoption dolls will never make it to the international site.  It's definitely going to be an "in person" kinda deal. 

Of course; I wouldn't expect them to become the new Mandarake and create listings for one of a kind things they take in.

They might possibly be offered at Dolpa’s.  

Performing a ceremony to thank and ‘exorcise’ discarded dolls is absolutely a thing in Japan but typically it’s done before burning them. 

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-06/japanese-dolls-souls-return-to-heaven-at-shinmeisha-shrine/7695414

But I saw this as something different to that. I need more info but my take was that it was something like an insurance thing that you could set up beforehand so that Volks would collect your dolls in the event of your death. (Keep in mind I may be entirely wrong about this, but it was my thought) It’s a morbid thought but I do sometimes wonder what would happen if i suddenly got hit by a car, etc, and died. I doubt anyone in my family is gonna know what to do with the dolls and they’d probably end up in thrift stores. It is a little odd to imagine Volks staff quietly coming to a deceased persons home to recover dolls, though. 

I just assumed the fee was for arranging that pickup.

as for the adoptable dolls, I just assumed they’d have a room for them at Sato in Kyoto. 

Anyway, I’ll look at it in more detail when the web version comes out tomorrow.

Full page scan:

 

Hmm, that's a thought I hadn't considered! I can definitely see that becoming a thing domestically, at least in the immediate area of Volks store locations. Thank you for your input friend, hopefully we'll know more soon. ^^

Anyway, digital is out. 

https://volks.meclib.jp/DM83/book/index.html#target/page_no=1

That one outfit people were interested in, it looks like it does fit DDs after all, seeing as they have two DDH16s wearing it to advertise the tan season having started at Dream Choice.

https://volks.meclib.jp/DM83/book/index.html#target/page_no=71

Anyway, I looked more at that article about the 'Farewell Service', and it does seem to be what people were saying - its a way to get rid of older SDs, not an insurance thing for when you die lol (but thats not gonna stop me thinking about that). But, seeing the breakdown of the process explains the price a little to me. 

Basically you pay online first, and they send you a box with a special bag in it, which you then put the doll in and send back to them. That implies that the 2000 yen is to cover the shipping cost. 

It does seem odd to me, and probably to most of us here. Especially when one can receive money from selling the doll to Mandarake/other resale shops (usually about half of what they sell them for, which makes me continually amazed anyone does it at all over selling on yahoo auctions, but I'm thankful for it). But I think this is targeting a very specific type of SD fan, the type that sees their dolls as being real and can not bear the thought of having them sit in a showcase in Mandarake of Dollyteria for the rest of their days (If you have ever been to these stores in person regularly you may eventually start to notice that many of the dolls have been there for YEARS and may never be rehomed due to their age/yellowing/etc).With this, they get the peace of mind that their doll went back to its homeland where it would be treated with respect and presumably refurbished. The thing is...I would have thought that anyone who loved their doll -that- much would probably not be wanting to sell it to begin with.. although then again, it may be hard to sell some really old dolls. It does seem like a great way to recycle and rehome dolls, I would just feel a bit less 😕 about it if it was an appointment thing at Tenshi no Sato instead of having to pay to send it off. (Since its advertised as a Tenshi no Sato thing, I assume the Adoption Models will only be sold there.)

To be honest...If Volks do refurbish these adoption models, I am wondering if anyone is going to sell off their old doll and then get someone to buy it back when its refurbished lol. edit: come to think of it thats what the SD doctor is for, so I actually i kinda doubt it.

anyway...the next issue isnt out until early July :c Usually that issue is late June! That wait will be torturous, I wanna know what August Dolpa is bringing already. I hope its at least July 1st, which is a Monday.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Monty

57 minutes ago, Monty said:

That one outfit people were interested in, it looks like it does fit DDs after all, seeing as they have two DDH16s wearing it to advertise the tan season having started at Dream Choice.

https://volks.meclib.jp/DM83/book/index.html#target/page_no=71

They say it fits and it looks good enough there. My concern is since it also fits DDdy it's going to be loose on DD or DDS. I know from various outfits I own that Volks' definition of "fits" and mine often don't agree.

As I figured from the scans, I don't see anything in this issue I want. I guess I'm waiting for the next issue too because so far this year it's just been disappointment for me.

@Monty Thank you for the explanation, I suppose it makes more sense now even if it is still... unique in my eyes. I can DEFINITELY see someone sending off a doll and then rebuying them after refurbishment, especially for the really really old Dollfies that are strung instead of skeleton-jointed. Of course, it opens up the risk of someone else potentially getting your doll if you have a rare one like that one Chii model that came out long ago. It's an interesting service either way, even if it's limited to a very small portion of the doll community in its usefulness.