The Facebook debacle & other issues

Tbh I'm just gonna go through a reseller or get one second hand, I don't have the energy or patience to deal with Danny acting like a detective on CSI Miami trying to grill a suspect.

31 minutes ago, cinnabunroll said:

Tbh I'm just gonna go through a reseller or get one second hand

Think I know just the people you need help from in order to get one first hand.

I ordered my Smart Doll last Monday 05/15, she shipped Tuesday 05/16 and she arrived on Friday 05/19. She was supposed to be delivered on Thursday 05/18, but the courier had a delay. I did not pay or ask for expedited shipping. In the email, I mentioned I discovered Danny’s blog while looking for photos of Mama Chapp dolls and inserted a picture of one of them sitting on my puppy. In the response email, he thanked me for my feedback and asked more about Mama Chapp dolls. Very pleasant. I did tell him it was for my birthday, but did not give the date. I was expecting at least a week for it to ship, especially since they just returned from their holiday break. 

4 hours ago, LaRosePetite said:

I ordered my Smart Doll last Monday 05/15, she shipped Tuesday 05/16 and she arrived on Friday 05/19. She was supposed to be delivered on Thursday 05/18, but the courier had a delay. I did not pay or ask for expedited shipping. In the email, I mentioned I discovered Danny’s blog while looking for photos of Mama Chapp dolls and inserted a picture of one of them sitting on my puppy. In the response email, he thanked me for my feedback and asked more about Mama Chapp dolls. Very pleasant. I did tell him it was for my birthday, but did not give the date. I was expecting at least a week for it to ship, especially since they just returned from their holiday break. 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've always been curious as to what sort of hoops customers have to jump through and what butts need to be kissed (Danny's) in order to just get what you want. The weird gatekeeping was probably the last straw when it came to me deciding not to buy from Culture Japan so I was curious how much of that was true. 

https://twitter.com/SmartdollLand/status/1660895858278416384/photo/1

 

Oh no, I have to buy a SmD now!

Edited May 23, 2023 by mukyuu
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I really like it! The only thing that looks a little weird to me is that the feet look too small but I think Danny said somewhere they can't adjust them much otherwise they won't fit on the frame. 

2 hours ago, ladyandlion said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've always been curious as to what sort of hoops customers have to jump through and what butts need to be kissed (Danny's) in order to just get what you want. The weird gatekeeping was probably the last straw when it came to me deciding not to buy from Culture Japan so I was curious how much of that was true. 

I wouldn't even call them hoops to be honest. My first purchase I just had to reply to an email from Danny confirming my address, the only other thing he asked was why I chose that particular doll over any of the others. I just replied stating what I liked about that particular doll. Next email I got thanked me for my purchase and said my order was ready to ship. All other orders since have been processed without been asked anything.

8 hours ago, Stupid_Hoomun said:

All other orders since have been processed without been asked anything.

It is mainly about how new/first-time customers might get denied purchase for saying a wrong thing

22 hours ago, Stupid_Hoomun said:

I wouldn't even call them hoops to be honest. My first purchase I just had to reply to an email from Danny confirming my address, the only other thing he asked was why I chose that particular doll over any of the others. I just replied stating what I liked about that particular doll. Next email I got thanked me for my purchase and said my order was ready to ship. All other orders since have been processed without been asked anything.

Oh okay. Thanks for clearing that up. 

23 hours ago, mukyuu said:

https://twitter.com/SmartdollLand/status/1660895858278416384/photo/1

 

Oh no, I have to buy a SmD now!

Looking good. I think the eyes look a tiny bit odd (maybe a little close together? I'm not sure) Or maybe it's the new facial structure (but I think it's more so the eyes that bug me.) Other than that, looks like a good start. 

On 5/23/2023 at 2:16 PM, mukyuu said:

https://twitter.com/SmartdollLand/status/1660895858278416384/photo/1

 

Oh no, I have to buy a SmD now!

The feet are too small, hopefully he fixes that. Also, I hope it isn't plagued with the same problems as the boys. I feel like that was proof enough that sharing the same skeleton base isn't gonna cut it, since the boys had posing and joint issues for that exact reason.

I'm definitely willing to buy one from a reseller, if there aren't any problems with the initial launch.

41 minutes ago, cinnabunroll said:

I feel like that was proof enough that sharing the same skeleton base isn't gonna cut it,

That's definitely a thing in manufacturing though, making three products with one assembly line is way better than running three lines to make those same three products. Manufacturers will always prefer the former to the latter, and it might not be economical within a product line to do otherwise.

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

That's definitely a thing in manufacturing though, making three products with one assembly line is way better than running three lines to make those same three products. Manufacturers will always prefer the former to the latter, and it might not be economical within a product line to do otherwise.

Fair enough. I just hope it doesn't cause as much problems as I can forsee. And I guess I'm also just really worried that he'll send them the way of the boys, or may end up never releasing them except to a handful of specially selected buyers. A chunky 1/3 doll would be great.

3 hours ago, cinnabunroll said:

I just hope it doesn't cause as much problems as I can forsee.

Totally agreed, if they need a specialized frame they should make one and not release a poorly made product.

Unfortunately I feel like having to make a different frame would just be a fast track to it getting discontinued quicker due to manufacturing complications.

4 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

Unfortunately I feel like having to make a different frame would just be a fast track to it getting discontinued quicker due to manufacturing complications.

Or *cough* costs

10 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

Unfortunately I feel like having to make a different frame would just be a fast track to it getting discontinued quicker due to manufacturing complications.

Honestly, I feel like the body will be distcontinued rather quickly, even if it makes it to the shelves (unlike a lot of his other projects). He has an established habit of showing off a new shiny thing he wants to make, then never releasing them. And who's to say this body won't go the same way as Eiji and Crimson? I can't remember if it was already talked about on here, or if it's even true, but didn't he insinuate that he stopped making the boy dolls because he isn't attracted to men? What if he feels the same about this body and makes them a limited one-time run (or a random, occasional limited run)?

The reason I would rather buy from a reseller or secondhand is because I don't really trust him to keep his word, and that's only if he doesn't decide that only a handful of people can have them if they meet very specific, stringent criteria.

EDIT: I'm not saying your wrong ofc, I agree with you. Just stating my viewpoint on the matter at hand.

Edited May 25, 2023 by cinnabunroll

14 hours ago, cinnabunroll said:

 I can't remember if it was already talked about on here, or if it's even true, but didn't he insinuate that he stopped making the boy dolls because he isn't attracted to men?

The official reason is because they don't sell as well - posed, of course, as a snarky, "All these people keep saying they want boy dolls, but then they don't actually buy them." This not only contradicts the "we care about our ideals, not making money!" stance found elsewhere, but also has a number of other explanations, such as the fact that far fewer options are available for the boys. And they sell out almost instantly when they do become available. The thing about not being attracted to guys came up in the context of not knowing how to design appealing male dolls. (Which is also silly - aside from the fact that you don't need to be personally attracted to someone in order to determine that they're generally attractive, he could have someone else lead the design process.)

My personal speculation is that the boy dolls were created more to fill a need in the market, rather than personal interest, so they got cut in favor of things Danny was interested in once they hit some hurdles. Which is why I'm concerned about the longevity of the plus-sized bodies. I wouldn't be shocked if there was backlash to "Smartdoll is so inclusive and shows that everyone is beautiful!" along the lines of, "Yeah, as long as they're built like skinny models." (I know I've had that reaction myself.) 

On 5/24/2023 at 4:04 PM, ladyandlion said:

I think the eyes look a tiny bit odd (maybe a little close together? I'm not sure) Or maybe it's the new facial structure (but I think it's more so the eyes that bug me.) Other than that, looks like a good start. 

I think it's just that the eye placement is especially wonky, or that the eyes are close enough together that the usual cross-eyed positioning looks more obviously off. She's cute, though, and it's nice to see that the final design didn't go the Mattel route of being wider and thicker but having a flat tummy.

28 minutes ago, Tira said:

he could have someone else lead the design process

The digitrevx episode did leave some assumption that the modeling stuff was outsourced, especially with the dude. a cynical person might also think that the dude bodies went away if more and more people were asking about who actually modeled the thing, probably leading to other suspicions.

the big girl design update post did amusingly mirror that of the early days stuff, that digitrevx mentioned about their commision period, ad-hoc screen captures of the work in progress models.

But.. there is some truth in the concept that once a comfortable level has been reached with some bits of the project, the less viable/popular/unwanted stuff has been nixed (*cough* robotic *cough* origin *cough* story...)

9 minutes ago, finnleo said:

(*cough* robotic *cough* origin *cough* story...)

The robotic doll is an interesting concept, if you want a doll that is really meant to sit on a display and moves on it's own. Bet it would be a good bit heavier than a resin, not very manually posable, and not much fun to pickup and just play with. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are lots of folks who would love to spend time programming a doll to move, and engineering type people who would mod and upgrade, but I think that would be fairly niche. I can get people being irate about the failed commitment though.

I guess for me I'd rather get to hold Sailor Mercury in my hand and have fun with her, but that's just me.

I already posted the efforts of some folks on page 141 to make robotic frames and by the looks of it weight didnt seem that much of a issue and depending on how the servos are geared posability should be possible manually too. But again manually posing and having an automata display piece are two different concepts in my mind.

its sort of a dog chasing its tail, but I do keep bringing it up since the robotic frame was the original pitch the whole thing was based on and money was taken (by bying the first batch of dolls the purchasers were supposedly also funding the project) with the promise of a upgrade path (purchasers of the original batch would get a discount to said frame in exchange for their support) to said robotic frame that never came to be.

EDIT, but this origin story sets the baseline from the beginning about once one part is doing well enough, the less viable stuff is ditched.

Edited May 26, 2023 by finnleo

3 hours ago, finnleo said:

But again manually posing and having an automata display piece are two different concepts in my mind.

I'm thinking of that Volks Miku that played the piano and sang, but was also hooked up to an external power source iirc. You probably know way more about robotics than I do, but I do realize that in general engineers are constantly improving power sources, materials, miniaturization, and I'm sure robotics is making use of those. In my head though, it just seems like it would be heavier and not as much fun for my inner kid to enjoy, but I'm not someone who has fun building and programming robots either; their inner kid probably feels robbed. 

I can pickup a DD and have her sit in my hand while I look at her face, and that's harder on my wrist with a resin due to weight. 

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

it just seems like it would be heavier and not as much fun for my inner kid to enjoy, but I'm not someone who has fun building and programming robots either; their inner kid probably feels robbed

Im going to be a bit blunt here, but whether or not a mechanical or robotic frame is more enjoyable to use was not why I brought the robotic frame up.

I brought it up because I was using it as an example to confirm that the subject matter seems to have a tendancy of ditching concepts if and/or when something else has provided sufficient market attention.

And the robotic frame is still a fairly significant footnote, since it is what the whole thing was promised to be in the first place, wheter or not it was for the better in the end that it did not come to be.

I remember the robotic frame idea, I almost thought it was a joke.

I liked the robotic frame idea, but in general I like robots so *shrug*

I remember getting my hopes up when I first saw it, then someone informing me it was just an April Fool's joke, me being disappointed, eventually bringing it up on an instagram post a year or two later and getting the "we didn't have enough resources" response, which is fair if he wanted to move in a different direction I guess, but I still harbor vague hopes of getting into robotics enough to make my own robot doll (or other miniature humanoid robotic companion; I wanted to get involved in "social robotics" before that sort of died out in the USA kind of- anyone remember Jibo or Kiki? probably not). Quite the ambition, I know lol.

I do remember there being stuff about how the smaller 60cm compared to the larger scale (Mirai Plus, then Mirai Mannequin Machine, or was it in the other order?) had issues with getting parts small enough to use that were cheap enough to mass produce. Though in retrospect the moving of the concept to the larger 1/2 scale (before demoting it to "mannequin"), may have been stringing it along a bit. I was naive and bought into it (not literally), but it's pretty clear at this point that there is no intention to go back to those roots- except with cyberpunk themed display parts, which I have to admit are cool and would buy if I were willing to buy from Danny.

40 minutes ago, Starwaia said:

I liked the robotic frame idea, but in general I like robots so *shrug*

I wasn't trying be critical of folks who liked the idea, I just don't think it was viable as a product aimed at the average anime doll collector. Likely it was too expensive to develop as a commercial product, and too niche at this time to recoup the costs of that development. I mean, "we didn't have enough resources" sounds like code-speak for "not enough money to make it happen", and money was coming in for that project from people buying the initial smartdolls.

It was a cool idea, but I don't really hold it against CJ Inc for not making something that would have been unrealistic. I do get why people feel it was a failed commitment, and money did change hands so there is a reason to hold someone accountable for failed commitments. I can totally understand why people would worry that the grey skinned prototype might end up as a one of a kind SmD sold off in the garage; kind of like the centaur, and gods I want to say something foul about lack of attraction but I won't.