The Facebook debacle & other issues

I'm expecting I'll get banned eventually, but who knows- even if he does i can just check his store and posts in an incognito window lmao, and ask a friend to place an order for me if I ever do actually buy something from the SmD store. (There are dolls I want, but man I don't wanna give this man money...)

 

WRT his first, now deleted post... well. The words I have are few and profane, so let's say I'm glad it was deleted and leave it at that... world's biggest yikes dot gif. The one that came after was actually almost pleasant in comparison, I was even about to praise the man for showing his support and keeping his typical attitude mostly out of the post, but now I know it's because he put all that attitude in the first post. What an absolute mess- and what is WITH his obsession with boogers? What the hell?? He tries to find so many things to self-martyr over with his dolls and it just rubs me the wrong way on so many levels. I just cannot even with this. You ever see/hear/read something and just instantly get a headache? That's me right now.

I just wanna lay in the floor and weep sometimes over the mismanagement of Smart Doll's social media. I'm at a loss for words and as I've shown here before, I don't know how to shut up at the best of times. And it's like he doesn't even truly SEE why so many people take umbrage with him.

It's not because you sell dolls in brown skin. It's not because of your wabi-sabi ethos. It's not because of the hole in the back of Smart Dolls, which I have praised endlessly for years now and I wish more doll companies would do.

It is simply, and solely, because Danny Choo, as a person and as the face of his business, is miserable to deal with in professional capacity and childish in the way he belittles customers with issues and attacks fellow dollmakers and professional companies alike. The problem with Smart Doll is and always has been Danny Choo. The problem with Smart Doll continues to be the behavior of its company face, Danny Choo. The majority of problems with Smart Doll would be forgivable if Danny Choo took his own advice and stopped spending all his "sheeps" on social media squabbling. 

That's all it is. Smart Doll's problems as a product (elbow joint cracks, overtightening of joints from the factory, etc) are so minuscule in comparison to the problem of Danny Choo's behavior that they're basically Nothing to worry about. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Smart Dolls, as a product, are fine. I enjoy them quite a bit, I really do.

My problem lies in the founder. 😞

What a crazy read this thread was @_@

I personally swore off buying from SmD last year because I'm friends with the weathered boots person and was shown first hand all of the emails and correspondence from Choo during that situation... but I had no idea how deep the rabbit hole truly went.

I truly hope that anyone that still chooses to buy a SmD after looking through this never has any issues ^^;

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

Quote

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

You're allowed to enjoy anything you want! If anyone were to knock you for showing off and enjoying your doll off it would make us as bad as Danny.

Though I swore SmD off, I still think the dolls are quality and there are sculpts I think are very attractive (especially some of the semi-realistic ones he's shown off recently). I think if the doll makes you happy you should post it. There will certainly be people that enjoy it with you

I'm still working on trying to separate the art from the creator admittedly, so I get a little weary of crowds with a large amount of smart dolls, especially if they are ignorant to these issues... but that doesn't mean I think owners are bad people and that they shouldn't be able to enjoy what they spent their hard earned money on.

Edited June 4, 2020 by rensuchan
Added quote

12 hours ago, Shuga said:

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

There's nothing wrong with owning a SmartDoll and enjoying/sharing it.  Artists can be crazy, but their art can still bring joy and entertainment to people. Look at Kanye West, the dude is a confusing mess of nonsense, and offends a lot of people.  But I'll be damned if I don't still jam to Gold Digger.  But anyway, enjoy and share your doll with us, she's your doll now, not Danny's.  

Edited June 5, 2020 by DesertPhantom51

2 hours ago, Shuga said:

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

Of course you're still allowed to love your dolls!! I doubt anyone here has a real problem with the existence of smartdoll, just how Danny is handling things. I don't know about the rest here but more than anything I don't want smartdoll to go bankrupt or anything, I want Danny to do better so he can actually be the positive influence on the community that he wants to be.

4 hours ago, Shuga said:

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

Pretty much everyone that has an opinion on Danny and his business seem to agree on one thing...

 

The dolls are NOT the problem and the dolls are important to their owners.  I can tell by your message that you love your girl and THAT is reason enough to share her here and wherever else you feel like it.  Don't let the owner of the company sway you or your feelings towards your girl.  Share her with pride here!  Feel free to post photos every day if you want to.  No one here will think less of you for or and they definitely aren't going to tell you that you can't post photos here.

Please don't let one man's issues with the world deter you from having fun and expressing yourself thru your wonderful Smartdoll girl.  I look forward to seeing her.   

 

 

Billy

7 hours ago, Shuga said:

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

Enjoy your doll! After all this I still want a smart doll XD if it helps just pretend that she came from space or was made by Hatsune Miku (it's what people do with Minecraft) 

The only reason I wouldn't share my doll here is the fear Danny would go so far as to recognize her and ban me from future possible website purchases. I still love looking at other people's photos and don't judge them at all! I'll just stick to actual photos on Insta for myself.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Persnickety

27 minutes ago, Persnickety said:

The only reason I wouldn't share my doll here is the fear Danny would go so far as to recognize her and ban me from future possible website purchases. I still love looking at other people's photos and don't judge them at all! I'll just stick to actual photos on Insta for myself.

It's terrible that you feel like you can't even share your doll on this forum because of fear of people stalking for criticism ><

10 hours ago, Shuga said:

And I won't lie, due to all of this coming to light here, I'm kinda afraid to post pictures of my gal? Are we even still allowed to enjoy the ones we have? I've been looking at my girl the past few days feeling guilty. I love her and want to show her off... But I'm just not sure it's a good idea??

I wouldn't worry about the people on the forum, the only dolls that aren't welcome here are illegal recasts.

If you're worried about Danny finding you and banning you, then that's a different story. I can understand not wanting to post under that circumstance.

13 hours ago, Persnickety said:

The only reason I wouldn't share my doll here is the fear Danny would go so far as to recognize her and ban me from future possible website purchases. I still love looking at other people's photos and don't judge them at all! I'll just stick to actual photos on Insta for myself.

I'm in the same boat. Only one of my girls stands out, but all three of their names are very unique and used often. I don't dare post their names or their photos here sadly If they were all dollfie dreams, not a problem.

That fact that you guys feel like you can't share your dolls because Danny might ban you for voicing your opinion is what REALLY ticks me off about him.  I feel so bad for you all!! But it's proven that he bans based on his pettiness (speaking from personal experience), so I totally get you all being cautious. Everyone should be able to enjoy and be vocal (positive and negative) about the things they love without feeling like you have a stalker.

Edited June 5, 2020 by kranberrijam

On 6/4/2020 at 8:30 PM, Persnickety said:

The only reason I wouldn't share my doll here is the fear Danny would go so far as to recognize her and ban me from future possible website purchases

I'm definitely in the same boat. I have a feeling that I may be banned after I complete my next doll and show her off. I am legit worried about keeping her hidden until I get a Unity. Cocoa girls are hard to find 2nd hand. But on the other hand, I'm sure I can find someone who would be willing to shop on the store for me. We'll see...

9 minutes ago, MaKayla_Panda said:

Cocoa girls are hard to find 2nd hand. But on the other hand, I'm sure I can find someone who would be willing to shop on the store for me. We'll see

I'm starting to think people should make bot accounts on twitter and insta, and when someone want to post photos of their new doll someone triggers the bots to flood the internet with hundreds of images of that doll at the same time so Danny can't figure out which one belongs to who.

Edited June 6, 2020 by BeyondTime

2 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

I'm starting to think people should make bot accounts on twitter and insta, and when someone want to post photos of their new doll someone triggers the bots flood the internet with hundreds of images of that doll at the same time so Danny can't figure out which one belongs to who.

That would be AMAZING honestly. too bad Im not that technically savvy or I would definitely do it. Lol

I operate under the assumption that I will be recognized sooner or later, but i've said it before and i'll say it again: it's not hard to get around a store ban. You know the proxies many of us have to use to bid on Yahoo Japan Auctions? We're eventually gonna need one for Culture Japan. 

... lmao hey, I bet the ones that already exist would be willing to do it. Just if it comes to that. Sure, it's a bit more expensive, but it's an option! 

 

Regardless, please share your dolls, folks -- Smart Dolls, product, are great. I've had a lot of fun with mine, and even though I've tried to avoid buying from CJ directly, heaven above I want Reflection something fierce! I don't think anyone here will fuss at anyone else for having this brand or showing off their dolls! (And if they do, report them to the mods -- harassment isn't okay.) I actually consider this forum... a safe space, of sorts. Where we can appreciate the dolls, while still being critical of the problems with either them, or their creator. I can mention that older Smart Dolls have elbow joints that like to split, chip, and crack (BECAUSE THEY DO) and no one's going to jump down my throat for it, and I think that's vital. So please, share your dolls- I'd love to see them~

As an addendum, I feel that if we cannot be critical of the things we enjoy, it does a disservice to those things. As a creator, I would personally want to know where I went wrong on something. Say, if you're cooking, and the lid comes off the salt-shaker midway through- you can't just stir it up really well and hope no one notices, then get huffy when people point out that your food's inedible. If you make a fuss and blame them for having an undeveloped palate instead of owning up to your mistake and offering to make things right, your restaurant is going to close. And all things said, Smart Doll Beverages is still one of my favorite restaurants under this analogy -- if only the chef could stop spilling his salt all over the food....

I am half-awake; I anticipate the metaphor's been laid on a bit thickly! But tl;dr I think this forum is a uniquely safe space to truly discuss Smart Dolls, good and bad. While I respect anyone's decision if they're reluctant to share anything for fear of retaliation from Danny Choo himself (or his fans,) I think it is a tremendously sad thing when the actions of the creator drain the joy out of their work for the fans*. Especially these days, we should do the things that make us happy. You're in good company here ^^

(*Looking at you, Ms. Rowling. OTL)

Danny posted another rant on Insta, again missing the point of why we were annoyed at him.

👏You can 👏have a 👏PR manager 👏and still 👏talk about 👏stuff that's 👏important to 👏you it's not 👏mutually 👏exclusive.👏

10 minutes ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

Danny posted another rant on Insta, again missing the point of why we were annoyed at him.

👏You can 👏have a 👏PR manager 👏and still 👏talk about 👏stuff that's 👏important to 👏you it's not 👏mutually 👏exclusive.👏

Lol! I wonder if he realizes that his rant merely proves he's been lurking around forums spying on his "haters" whom he claims to not give any sheep about? He even made a shirt just for us! *waves at Danny*

His insta post:

Edited June 6, 2020 by bbotss

Quote

You see, money is not the name of the game in smart doll land - If it was, then I would only make stuff the consumer wants, let them hurl abuse at my employees (and work them to death) and keep quiet about issues I care about (racism).

Okay. I point this quote out specifically because this is a common theme in Danny's posts, this idea that if he gives customers what they want, then instantly the employees are going to suffer. Obviously no one wants the employees to suffer, but surely there's a happy medium between Danny making stuff he likes, employees not being literally worked to death, and the consumer getting a product they like.

He tries to imply though many posts that 'oh well if you hurt me- you hurt my employees!' This is true, that is how business leadership works. But he has made the unfortunate choice of tying his business completely to his cult of personality. Literally everything has his name on it. Obviously I'm not talking about saying racism is bad, many faceless companies are doing the exact same thing right now. Seems like they can talk about issues they care about without telling their customers to walk the plank, doesn't it?

I don't want the employees (or anyone for that matter) to suffer, but I can't throw money at products that cannot justify their costs. I'm not responsible for what he does to his employees regardless, and neither are any of you.

There's a saying that you can have something good, cheap, or fast, and you have to pick two. I would say smart doll only tried to pick one. It's not cheap, and it's not fast, and it's getting to the point where it's not good either. Replacement joints should have been something anyone could buy a loonngg time ago given the issues with them, as are wrists.

But it's not about the money guys, so if a part breaks please just buy a new doll. /s

51 minutes ago, sunlightandtea said:

Replacement joints should have been something anyone could buy a loonngg time ago given the issues with them, as are wrists.

But it's not about the money guys, so if a part breaks please just buy a new doll. /s

It's still cool that they offer replacement parts for free, with their 1 year warranty, I'll give them that. But yeah, any second-hand purchase and you are out of luck.
Do Smartdolls not suffer wear-and-tear with time..? Weird to not reliably offer replacement-parts. It's also weird to mark replacement-parts at 10.000 yen, if it is not all about profit. Might just be me who is dumb.

I'm happy to see that there are a few who have commented on his post about how his words can be taken negatively, as it is also a company statement of sorts - as in could be seen as a pr thing.
So will he start swinging the ban hammer or make a fuss about being hated on...😒

You know, a thought occurred to me. 

Danny is a VERY passionate person. That isn't a bad thing. I'd wager that as an independent business owner and an entrepreneur of some merit, his passion is actually quite important to his success- he's dogged in going for what he wants to achieve and in spite of everything, I've always admired that about him. For all his faults, I'm not going to say there's nothing positive there, either.

But sometimes, the way he speaks of his passion... sounds awfully similar to what I hear in game dev? "Don't do it for the money, do it for the passion!" I presume many of you have encountered that kind of mentality in many creative fields- can you let me use this photo for the exposure, can you make me this website for the love of the art, can you write me this story because true artists don't do it for the money! It's an absolutely predatory mindset in those fields, and I'm not saying that's what Danny's doing at all, but rather I find it interesting because Danny has at least some background in the "tech bro" world from his time at Amazon and Microsoft. It seems that it's left a mark.
(Hi, Danny. I've been reading your blog since web 1.0.)

I think it's... a strange thing to fixate on because as an independent business owner, he really can set the pace and tone of how his business operates, and he can do that regardless of the pressure from his customers. If demand exceeds output, he doesn't HAVE to work his employees more at all -- this hobby is no stranger to waiting long periods of time to get their products, just ask the resin side of the hobby! I've seen people fairly commonly wait over a year on a single doll, and hell, even Volks had people waiting for 2B for ages, some people are only just now getting theirs! Literally all he has to say is "there may be delays in filling orders due to demand + covid" and people would get it. Customers value communication, and they're willing to give people a lot of slack if they know why things have gone off the rails! My point is that if he's concerned about overworking his employees, or potential abuse towards staff members by customers -- if he's truly concerned about treating them well and not like the minimum-wage atrocities of the fast fashion industry (as he's mentioned,) well, he... has that option. And he has it irrespective of the people paying the bills.

Terrible customers exist everywhere in any field for any reason and no matter what we do, sometimes we still run into the human equivalent of a trash can. You just have to mitigate their BS and deal with it as it comes up -- like inclement weather, you can only shore up your defenses so much. It's impossible to stop the weather, which is unfortunate, but it's reality. If you spend all your time barking at people through the fence of those defenses, though -- "don't give us money! our products are terrible! we only want a certain type of customer and you're not it!" you're just going to scare off all the ones you want instead -- because terrible people don't generally care what they're told. If they want something, they're going to get it, and you're going to have to suffer with them until they leave one way or the other. Which is unfortunate. I hate retail culture anYWAY-

I'll keep saying it until I'm blue in the face, so bare with me- in spite of everything Smart Doll, product, has its fans. Me- I'm a fan of these dolls because they make me happy. I love Smart Dolls, Smart Dolls are an awesome product. And hell, for a long time I was legitimately a fan of Danny, too -- he could say some off-color things sometimes and I didn't agree with the things he would say here and there either, but damn you can appreciate his passion and knowledge on things, at least up to a point! I wish I could still wholeheartedly recc and rep this brand like I did in the beginning. Like from the bottom of my heart, I WISH I could be a "true fan" of Smart Doll.

But, and I'm going to use a phrase I say to my father (who is 73, bless his heart) whenever he says something accidentally rude or offensive: I love you too much to let you be ignorant. I contend that to be a true fan of something, you do a disservice by turning a blind eye to its faults and missteps. We should be polite and resist the urge to lash out at something that feels like a slap in the face, but we shouldn't let something fly just because we like the person or group behind it. That isn't fair to anyone- the group we like, or the people they have disparaged -- and priority always goes to a disparaged group in these matters. Danny mentioning social injustice isn't a problem. I LIKED that on his first release of a cocoa girl, he mentioned how unfortunate it was that he's the only (vinyl) company doing darker skintones! Like yeah, that's true, and we should talk about it! The problem is when you say something like "smart doll fans are like a disadvantaged minority group" because no matter how you slice that, jesus christ, in no way is the luxury doll community similar to a group of people in danger of death every day they roll out of bed, purely for reasons beyond their control. I appreciate that he realized he fucked up and deleted that post in particular, and that his ensuing apology was downright humble and seemed legitimately genuine, but the fact that he continues to insinuate that anyone who finds fault in him is doing so for biased reasons and NOT because of his own behavior is disingenuous at best, and tacitly implies that those who have something bad to say about Danny Choo are acting in bad faith.

And I'm not perfect, I have a lot to learn and I fuck up sometimes despite my best efforts! I think we all do; humans learn through their mistakes, and as someone part of another oft-maligned group, as long as someone is willing to admit their mistakes and do better, there is a lot of leniency in correcting them and giving them the chance to make up for it. But I don't appreciate the insinuation that I am speaking out because I am somehow biased against Danny personally. I was a fan of his, and I still enjoy Smart Dolls in spite of the proprietor. Frankly, the reason I am so often motivated to speak on this subject is the simple fact that I still love this brand, and talking about my frustrations IRT Danny Choo keeps me sane. 

At the end of the day Danny appears to have it in his head that we are his enemy, and that his only true fans are the sycophants who crow that he's never made mistakes himself. That is unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do to change that short of publicly renouncing these forums and swearing fealty, I think, and I truly cannot be assed. At the end of the day I speak on this matter because more than anything else, I would like to see... I don't know. The lines of communication improve? For Danny to realize that the public at large isn't his enemy? I would like to not live in fear that my inability to hold my tongue will get me in hot water and banned from the store, I know that much.

More than anything, I just hate that it's all come to this. I can't wait to see the new shirt... OTL

 

EDIT:// oh I got a feeling I found the new shirt design lmaooo

Spoiler

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBFrL2YBbVx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by Mothiraffe
instagram

Seems like Danny is missing the point that using issues of race/racism as an accessory to promote your personal brand is always gonna come off as extremely crass (note how he uses "talk of race/racism" as an opener to a post that is otherwise entirely about his company/business model). Not to mention completely misconstruing the belief that when people tell him to hire PR its due to him being outspoken about his personal beliefs and not because he has consistently awful communication with customers over problems and habitual self-victimization in the face of even the slightest critique.

Edited June 6, 2020 by whisski

4 hours ago, bbotss said:

Lol! I wonder if he realizes that his rant merely proves he's been lurking around forums spying on his "haters" whom he claims to not give any sheep about? He even made a shirt just for us! *waves at Danny*

 

I'm starting to wonder if he's drowning in all the sheep he apparently doesn't give. 🐑 I'm just going to keep sitting here, eating my popcorn.

 

2 hours ago, sunlightandtea said:

I don't want the employees (or anyone for that matter) to suffer, but I can't throw money at products that cannot justify their costs. I'm not responsible for what he does to his employees regardless, and neither are any of you.

There's a saying that you can have something good, cheap, or fast, and you have to pick two. I would say smart doll only tried to pick one. It's not cheap, and it's not fast, and it's getting to the point where it's not good either. Replacement joints should have been something anyone could buy a loonngg time ago given the issues with them, as are wrists.

But it's not about the money guys, so if a part breaks please just buy a new doll. /s

THANK YOU. I feel bad for his employees too; he talks like he treats them so great, but who really knows.

Also, basically everything @Mothiraffe said is true.

Wow! A t-shirt just for us! You shouldn't have Danny! It's really cute! I always love seeing the moekana illustrations, will it be avaliable in SmD boy size?  But anyways, I agree with what people have said previously and have nothing else to contribute to this conversation, Danny missed the point completely.  ( also please stop spying on us Danny. It's kind of creepy)