The Facebook debacle & other issues

Explanations are cool but it just feels like a self-fulfilling prophesy at this point. "Boys never sold well so now we're doing everything to discourage you from buying them."

Aaand it's over. A couple of people complained after that harsh post and now the boys have been pulled. 

Guess I'm back to waiting for the 1/3 imomodoll boy, a shame. I really prefer the evolve frame. 

I really love the smartdoll body and sculpts but damn I dislike how fickle Danny is. 

Edited yesterday at 04:59 AM by Yuan

Holy hell I'm so angry... I usually try not to engage with this thread as I find conversations have become a bit repetitive and unproductive ... UM but besides that... what. I never planned buying directly from them (I'm sure we're all aware why) but I kinda hoped an official release meant some of these ridiculous after market prices would go down, even if the base price was stupidly high. I mean paying $500 usd for a body second hand with that signature Smart Doll Facebook price gouging added on isn't ideal but hey its better than $800. I guess it doesn't really matter now so might as well get saving.🙄 I kinda had a feeling something like this was going to happen... somehow, someway the boys were getting discontinued early. I wonder what's going to happen to whatever they prepared though? Ship it to one of their official retailors? Release them in small batches until they run out? pmo.... 

Edit: apparently they're going to be sold as blind boxes in chaos ofc 🙄

Edited yesterday at 04:30 AM by Mame

This is completely baffling, like this is a live representation of that meme of the guy putting a stick in his own bicycle spokes.

Lol. I give up. Just submitted a dream choice form to a proxy to buy a lovely DDB using the money I saved for a smart doll boy

I wish the DDB body was a bit buffer. :c I'm just stuck waiting for a vinyl boy I like, I guess. 

... I want to say something intelligent but honestly all I can come up with is young Anna going "Okay byeeeeee"

How the heck does Smart Doll still have customers when he repeatedly does things like this? I don't understand. Darker skin tones and different sculpts, yes, but at this point, get a resin doll or start dyeing because at least Danny can't cancel it for the most asinine reasons and in this case, "ppl are so mean to me uwu."

Edited yesterday at 06:16 AM by Amapola

Where was this posted? I don't see it on the SmD website or Facebook. And posts on X don't seem to appear in any particular order. Not that I don't believe it (Unfortunately I absolutely do), but it's weird he hasn't posted something on the website or anything so people can find the information easily.

Ugh, this is so frustrating! He's been teasing the boys for years, and we were so close to actually getting them, only for the plug to be pulled at the eleventh hour? I really, really hope Danny learns how to handle criticism. I used to like his business model of not catering to consumer demands. But there's got to be a happy medium between overindulging costumers and saying "F@#$ the customers." He's shooting himself in the foot at this point.

22 minutes ago, Amapola said:

How the heck does Smart Doll still have customers when he repeatedly does things like this? I don't understand. Darker skin tones and different sculpts, yes, but at this point, get a resin doll or start dyeing because at least Danny can't cancel it for the most asinine reasons and in this case, "ppl are so mean to me uwu."

From what I gather the SmD community is fairly isolated; they come in via SmD but don't move into the bigger BJD space, so they aren't aware that there's other options out there, or when they are those options seem scary because it's "those other companies".

12 minutes ago, Bad_Luck said:

Where was this posted? I don't see it on the SmD website or Facebook. And posts on X don't seem to appear in any particular order. Not that I don't believe it (Unfortunately I absolutely do), but it's weird he hasn't posted something on the website or anything so people can find the information easily.

Ugh, this is so frustrating! He's been teasing the boys for years, and we were so close to actually getting them, only for the plug to be pulled at the eleventh hour? I really, really hope Danny learns how to handle criticism. I used to like his business model of not catering to consumer demands. But there's got to be a happy medium between overindulging costumers and saying "F@#$ the customers." He's shooting himself in the foot at this point.

It seems most of this took place on X within 24 hours. I think there might've been a second location since I didn't see much if any true "negative" feedback on the X posts, but that's the only official portal I've really been keeping track of.

This is all so tiring. I love the dolls themselves but the constant drama around them wears on me. So sorry to everyone who was so excited for boys, I really thought they would get to be mainline this time. 
 

Also to add: I can’t find mean tweets in response to his previous posts about the boys? What is he talking about? Almost all his replies are glowing and gushing fans. 
 

The other possibility is that the quality of them really isn’t great. I had a smart doll boy a very long time ago and his arms constantly popped out. Danny has promised that full ‘sofubi’ boys would solve that, but I can’t imagine it did because the evolve frame has much more tension in it and is just not suited for the wider shoulders at all. I wonder if this isn’t a way to avoid the pretty certain criticism he would get on a full line release of boys who don’t fit their frames. 

Edited 21 hours ago by sunlightandtea

9 minutes ago, sunlightandtea said:

The other possibility is that the quality of them really isn’t great.

It's this one imo. Blog post describing the issues here.

Summary:

1) They used the old molds, which were damaged (not stored properly?) and that damage shows on the boys.

2) Apparently he's using auto parts manufacturers in order to keep production in Japan, but they have a higher cost and high defect rate so they will cost more and have more issues (?????????????????????????????????????????)

3) He used a softer vinyl to mitigate the arm ejection issue, but they still have limited articulation.

Higher price + poorer quality is a pretty bad combo to spring on your customers when they've been waiting for so long. 

...yeah. He probably put the blog out, thought about it some more and realised he wouldn't be happy selling a doll with the issues he mentioned.

Never owned a smart doll and not really in the community. But from everything people have said, his entire thing is making sure his customers know the dolls won't be perfect. Those who are aware of the boys and planned to be there for the drop are mainly those who very much understand this.

Plus people buying are probably just glad to get a boy for under 1.5k.

(Him saying they'll potentially go to chaos makes me think this- Isn't chaos basically where he sells things he wouldn't put up officially?)

Edited 21 hours ago by luna_Lillie

I normally stay out of all the Smartdoll drama but I am shocked. 

Just because people are voicing valid concerns (high price point, quality issues) he is taking the release back which people have waited so long for. 

But the most insane thing is how his fans in the Facebook Smartdoll groups reacted. They are giving the fault to the "terrible" people who darred to not be praising Danny and voiced critics. "They are at fault we are not getting Smartdoll boys"

I am sorry, but no, people are allowed to have opinions and are right to call him out for the price +quality issues! 

He is the one those fans should point at and tell him they are over him acting like a brat the moment he doesn't get 100% praised like a god. 

You don't want to make male Smartdolls? Fine, then don't, but teasing them over and over, hyping people up, and then pulling this whole thing .. Wtf

 

I was really tempted with the black navy skintone and also the boys, but I don't think I ever want to purchase from him again. Not only to not support him, but also because I am concerned what the support would be like should I dare to have an issue.

 

Edited 20 hours ago by pyoko

"Sadly it’s the ingrate who ruin it for the rest of us" is my favourite comment in all of this, to be honest.

Though I guess one could get a sense of empowerment knowing that a few questions and criticisms on a completely different platform will get a large project cancelled despite the noticeably larger group of supporters it has.

Honestly the comment that made me feel the most insulted was “well most people only see the boys as accessories to their girls anyway” as somebody who only really collects boys ☹️ 

Yeah that was a rough comment! I want a boy so he can be his own character and I was hoping to wait until they did an anime sculpt. 

But with all of this going down I think I'm finally exhausted with Danny's shenanigans. I own four smart dolls and was just waiting for the boys to go along with them. 

19 hours ago, HyenaSloth said:

Explanations are cool but it just feels like a self-fulfilling prophesy at this point. "Boys never sold well so now we're doing everything to discourage you from buying them."

the don't buy the thing, you always wanted, cause shut up."    guess I can live without buying Mr rick roll, and go back to plan B.

2 hours ago, seth said:

Honestly the comment that made me feel the most insulted was “well most people only see the boys as accessories to their girls anyway” as somebody who only really collects boys ☹️ 

I saw that sentence too, it's such nonsense. 

Obviously most people will not have many smartdoll boys if they are hardly ever available. Plus they have only one or two face up/sculpt options. 

 

We need to get Volks to make a vinyl guy with the size and build of their SD resin boy line. That would be my dream. A body that's more boyish than the DDB, but not bjd uncle buff, and they could use all the volks outfits they make for the resin boys. And one could buy whatever blank head one wants to go with it, instead of how Smartdoll handles heads. *dreaming*

Edited 17 hours ago by pyoko

This is truly disappointing. I've really been looking forward to the SmD boy rerelease, but of course the reaction isn't going to be great if you essentially tell people they're going to be more expensive but lower quality than other releases. What happened to "not letting the haters stop you?"

It especially sucks that ONCE AGAIN, boy dolls are going to be locked to people with multiple Smartdoll purchases. I wouldn't be willing to do a blind box, since I specifically want a Tea guy, but I don't think I'm even eligible, since I've only made one order, and I think you need two in order to access Chaos.

Given that he's been posting a ton of stuff about Cortex 2.0, I can't help but wonder if he just wants to focus on that. So he presented this project in the most negative way possible and looked for an excuse to cancel it.

32 minutes ago, Tira said:

he presented this project in the most negative way possible and looked for an excuse to cancel it.

I'd bet money on this.

He's not very smart with his business-sense... He should spend less time on brain-rot memes.
Take Nintendo for example - they doesn't show games till they are deemed ready to be shown, and still it might be a year till they release, but they are polished enough that they are past the point of "oops, something's not working" or having to cancel it.
Danny on the other hand posts prototypes, often ambitious ones, and hypes them up and makes promises before he's even tested if they are feasible! (for a quick praise-fix?) It only creates disappointment and frustrations on both ends when things fall through. And who's to blame? "All those who didn't believe in me!"

On top of that, he didn't seem very enthusiastic about the boys at all. It feels like he wanted this project to fail at every turn but masked it behind needing more diversity in the doll market. Except we've told him constantly that there is no good market for 1/3 vinyl boys especially in the skintones SmartDoll offers. Sure, there are resin dolls, but those just aren't the same - they're heavier and harder to pose (at least in my experience). There was even an opportunity for a painted torso with top surgery scars for transmasc inclusivity!

Like with every product he makes he does the most to discourage people from buying without being well informed. It's admirable at first, but the way he negatively framed the flaws of the boys was even harsher than the usual 'here's the flaws you might find' on the girls. 

At least now I can fully uninstall Twitter since I know the boys won't be dropping regularly. Smd announcements were the only reason I still had it installed. Blech.

i did some digging since his announcement of cancelling the plus girls after people voiced criticisms and honestly, his reaction just confused me. the biggest fans of smart dolls have been waiting on that product for so so so long and he just cancels it - not because of manufacturing problems, materials, etc. - but he blames people being concerned with the quality/price aspect of the boys dolls. it confuses me as what was brought up was valid. INSTEAD, the boys will be for chaos drops which are unaccessible for first-time customers like me and just a gamble.

the entire tussle he's having is seriously turning me away from purchasing from SmartDoll as a whole. in the past, i complained often of the trouble i had to go through for my tan dollfie. volks still has some way to go when it comes to the diversity of their dolls (tan is too exclusive to obtain and barely deviation from the lighter skin colors). however - and it might be optimistic - i linger on the hope they'll meet us halfway eventually. also, i absolutely do not regret the extent i went to get my tan dollfie. it was well worth it.

at this point, i'm much better off with ritmore dyes, drawing my own faceups and buying volks dolls than whatever smartdoll is doing. thanks to this mess, i found out about parabox's 110 cm doll and it might be the way to go for me if i ever want to do a bigger doll. 

Edited 13 hours ago by c_aw_miko

Wow, this is really a disaster of a PR move. I don't really have much to say beyond that.