The Facebook debacle & other issues

5 minutes ago, Rilenan said:

Sorry for jumping in, but I was curious what CJ was short for? ;v; Been lurking this thread recently cause I thought a modded SmD head was cute but wanted to know about the company/Danny.

Culture Japan. Name of company. 

38 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

I’ve always worried that the issues they seem to have had with people declining to pay for lottery wins, and reversing of PayPal payments, are largely coming from the US market.

The US market is amusing since it gets to double dip on items through both the USA store and the international one, resulting in certain shinenigans ... though I think the problems might be a bit more global, I mean we had that one fellow from malaysa or thereabouts who came on the forum admitting to running a lottery farm of tens, or was it a hundred people, and then going from there as needed. which I guess was countered by the full price lottery system they put in place eventually.

38 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

“senpai who shall not be named.”

Dolldemort ?

38 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

They did add GL membership

I just saw this as another "no tire kickers" layer to be honest, a bit of a necessary evil, since for instance Meiko and Rena were VS and VIP membership only, so probably just to keep the domestic side happy that the foreigners had to have the base anté in as well.

11 minutes ago, Q_T said:

Culture Japan. Name of company. 

Ah, happy I knew I was reading/guessing correctly. Thank you!

40 minutes ago, finnleo said:

Dolldemort ?

This *genuinely* cracked me up. 🤣🤣🤣

19 hours ago, finnleo said:

I just saw this as another "no tire kickers" layer to be honest, a bit of a necessary evil, since for instance Meiko and Rena were VS and VIP membership only, so probably just to keep the domestic side happy that the foreigners had to have the base anté in as well.

Based on some of the sale items that GL members get, it seems like a genuine benefit as opposed to a barrier. It did occur to me that it does act as a speed bump to make things a bit harder for scalpers to game the system.

 

19 hours ago, finnleo said:

Dolldemort

 

19 hours ago, Bellatrix said:

This *genuinely* cracked me up. 🤣🤣🤣

Might end up being the high point of my day. 

4 hours ago, That_Dollfie_Dude said:

Though I must say, isn't it the case that Dollfie Icon is a line exclusive to the USA?

Sorry, missed this question. 

Icon was jointly developed by Volks Japan & Volks USA. The Icons were first sold at the 2019 LA Dolpa, and they were subsequently sold at the next Japanese Dolpa and After Event. They were rereleased in 2020 and sold in the US and Japan. 

4 hours ago, Rilenan said:

Sorry for jumping in, but I was curious what CJ was short for? ;v; Been lurking this thread recently cause I thought a modded SmD head was cute but wanted to know about the company/Danny.

Edited: Oops...I missed this last page and didn't think anyone answered.

Edited April 15, 2021 by CrazyDollPerson
question was already answered

28 minutes ago, CrazyDollPerson said:

Edited: Oops...I missed this last page and didn't think anyone answered.

Don’t feel too bad. I did the same thing, I just moderated my own post into the dustbin of forum history after I saw my mistake. XD

9 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Sorry, missed this question. 

Icon was jointly developed by Volks Japan & Volks USA. The Icons were first sold at the 2019 LA Dolpa, and they were subsequently sold at the next Japanese Dolpa and After Event. They were rereleased in 2020 and sold in the US and Japan. 

Sorry, this will be my last OT for the day: are they still being sold at Volks US? I would love a white skinned girl (my goal would be Terra, but the mismatching-coloured joints bother me way too much), so I'd love to have the chance to get one at some point.

6 hours ago, Bellatrix said:

Sorry, this will be my last OT for the day: are they still being sold at Volks US? I would love a white skinned girl (my goal would be Terra, but the mismatching-coloured joints bother me way too much), so I'd love to have the chance to get one at some point.

Icons are offered in limited batches. I got mine through a lottery on the Volks USA site last summer; there will probably be another wave of them coming out at some point this year. There's a thread for them here.

 

Not me turning notifications on for this thread, not checking for months, and randomly opening it to find 10 pages and no notifications in my email lol

Anyway, I just saw the aftermath on Facebook of yesterday's blue drop, and I have to say, I'm feeling very sad for everyone. Apparently, it dropped in the middle of the night for most people - with no clear warning of the time as usual, the doll was sold out in less than 10 mins, and the parts were sold out shortly after. I see so many heartbroken collectors, who couldn't check out in time, who didn't know the doll was going to be live that night at a random time, and many more who just can't afford to stay up until 4AM every day because maybe the doll they want will be going on sale that day. 

At least with Volks when it's a click war, it's mostly fair for everyone. This is just "be lucky" or "can you afford to stay up all night all days until the doll you want drops?". And that's not even taking into consideration that many privileged people have one or several blue dolls just because Dolldemort (cracked me up too) deemed them worthy, all while saying that entitled people who ask for things or release dates will be banned from buying. It must be so frustrating...

I just wish Danny Choose had stuck to the old mantras, and there we're so many good ideas ( and I'll be honest,there still are!) that came and went with a hand wave and a finger wag. He used to say it was never going to be this way. It hits me in the feel bads- when I first found out about Smart Doll I was /in love/. /Convinced/ they'd be in my collection one day. And maybe still, some lovely girls go up on the second hand market

On a lighter note, I was reading the bits about the "Entitled" to my partner- and there was good laugh when he said...

"It's crazy that Scientologists really believe in this stuff!"

Some friends just shared this (think the screencaps are from tumblr). I remember this arm incident, and I feel so sorry for them.

@bbotss I literally just read that post on Tumblr! Frustrating and upsetting.....I think buried in some product pages there are some rather ablest remarks as well? (DON'T quote me on that I'll have to really dig into it)

I know for sure we've got "Something-something-something- bootstraps- etc" rhetoric

I've noticed Smart Doll Land doesn't seem to be aware that due to health/finances/responsibilities...not everyone can just "not give a sheep" to drop everything and take big risks. I don't personally feel he handles what are really delicate and tangible issues when it comes to his portrayal of disabilities and how they impact people either. Re:Bootstrap Rhetoric and this being the apparent cause of the arm-rant.

A lot of the smd narratives are a bit like reading The Secret. If you believe hard enough you can achieve anything, and if you don't get your dreams it's because you're a hater/entitled/blah blah reductive understanding of karma. It's hard-core just world fallacy, which is a surprising position to take to be honest.

On 4/27/2021 at 7:29 PM, bbotss said:

Some friends just shared this (think the screencaps are from tumblr). I remember this arm incident, and I feel so sorry for them.

At this point I think I have to say this, You should NEVER buy any products from this man. Not because I think if you're a bad person if you do (No ethical consumption yadda yadda) but if you do, especially if you are reading this thread, he WILL treat you like garbage.

The fact that his base is straight up AFRAID of angering Danny is a problem, and this thread and especially this tumblr post is proof enough that these fears are warranted. Full disclosure, I am a contribute to a toy company (if you're wondering witch one I'm not going to reveal here because the specifics aren't relevant.) If at any point the company made me feel like Danny makes his fans feel you can bet I would leave in a heartbeat. 

Believe me, it blows fat chunks that no other company has tapped in to the market goldmine of dark skinned vinyl fashion dolls, but it just isn't worth being publicly abused by a man and his dubiously-legal* big-boobied anime doll empire. I'd sooner take the risk an dye my own DD or Obitsu doll than deal with the Danny, not that he would likely take my money at this point anyway. 

 

*To market and sell stuff to children, your products need to be tested for safety. I might be wrong about this, but I've never seen anything about his dolls ever passing any child toy safety protocols.

@IgelFullmetal Oh my god. I am disgusted beyond words right now. I'm...not sure whether to be angry that he treated the OP of that post the way he did, or incredibly hurt by the fact that he straight up said 'if you're disabled, don't buy my dolls'. I have cerebral palsy, does that make me 'less' of a person to him? According to this, apparently so. 

Honestly, I almost started crying when I read Danny's response portion, because it hit me that hard.

I'm done. Done with this company, done with Choo. 

1 hour ago, Selenae said:

@IgelFullmetal Oh my god. I am disgusted beyond words right now. I'm...not sure whether to be angry that he treated the OP of that post the way he did, or incredibly hurt by the fact that he straight up said 'if you're disabled, don't buy my dolls'. I have cerebral palsy, does that make me 'less' of a person to him? According to this, apparently so. 

I'm done. Done with this company, done with Choo.

Needless to say I won't be getting a smart doll as my first vbjd. I'm glad more bjd companies are getting into vinyl (such as dollzone's tinyfox and fairyland's anifee) to give ppl more reason not to buy one either. 

We’ve had to edit or remove 4 posts because of personal attacks. Just a reminder that the forum guidelines don’t allow for personal attacks, no matter how warranted they may feel. You can post criticism of company policy and how it’s practiced, and criticize the products all you want, but please avoid attacking people. 

Given the screenshots posted above I don’t blame anyone for thinking what they have been saying, but please find a way to direct the criticism at the business instead of the person; at least in public forum posts. 

Also keep in mind that bad behavior on his part doesn’t justify bad behavior on our part. 

@BeyondTime I'm sorry, I know I was one of them. But I honestly don't know how I'm not supposed to criticize Danny directly at this point. The post affected me to the point where my feelings for him went from general distaste, to genuine hatred.

1 minute ago, Selenae said:

@BeyondTime I'm sorry, I know I was one of them. But I honestly don't know how I'm not supposed to criticize Danny directly at this point. The post affected me to the point where my feelings for him went from general distaste, to genuine hatred.

Believe me I get it. I have a brother with pretty severe disabilities, and the images above contain things that are truly repulsive. Makes me glad all my SmD are after market. 

That was a rather disheartening post to read. Everyone has their bad days but the difference is wanting to make up for it. From what I am reading an apology was offered.

It is really something to go out of your way to make a post mocking someone. Yes it may make more things difficult to own but "never meant for them" does come off exclusionary towards those with disabilities.

Maybe they can offer an explanation on their end at least to address the intent of that statement. 

 

Probably asking for too much. It was just sad to see specially since I have RSI and have friends online that have MS and other disabilities.

 

@BeyondTime Thanks for understanding. I appreciate it. I honestly have some very coarse words involved in my thoughts, but I'm going to bite my tongue because I like this place and don't want to be banned.

1 hour ago, Q_T said:

That was a rather disheartening post to read. Everyone has their bad days but the difference is wanting to make up for it. From what I am reading an apology was offered.

It is really something to go out of your way to make a post mocking someone. Yes it may make more things difficult to own but "never meant for them" does come off exclusionary towards those with disabilities.

Maybe they can offer an explanation on their end at least to address the intent of that statement. 

 

Probably asking for too much. It was just sad to see specially since I have RSI and have friends online that have MS and other disabilities.

 

If you mean Danny, I think you'd sooner be able to see the sun rise in the west and set in the east, and when the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. (Game of Thrones reference), but I doubt he'd ever apologize. I'm not saying this as an insult but more of observation is that he seems to get more narrow minded as the years go by. It's a shame, because Smart Dolls and the message in the beginning was really cool and something to be a part of. I would have loved to have gotten a milk or a tan Chitose.

4 minutes ago, Deyja said:

I would have loved to have gotten a milk or a tan Chitose.

They pop up on Mandarake from time to time. You could get one, and then slam her head onto a DD body. 
 

6 minutes ago, Deyja said:

but I doubt he'd ever apologize.

This genuinely has me curious. I’ve heard of his posts being deleted after outcries, but has an apology even been given publicly for any of the things he put in those posts?