The Facebook debacle & other issues

I don't know why, but my phone is acting up and isn't letting me reply with quotes. 😑 why, phone, why?

Anyway, yeah the skin tone variety is definitely a good thing. Before I bought my Smart Doll, I had a search around for anime style resin dolls, and back then there weren't as many available as there are now. What was more frustrating, was that companies which offer tan and darker skin tones on their regular dolls wouldn't cast their anime ones in anything darker than "normal" (urgh). Which really sucks.

(Of course it's less personal for me, because I'm pale as hell haha. But it's good to have the variety, just because that's real life!)

okay, i wanna get something off my chest,  we was mentioning influencers.  & one watch a lot, ( no name is going to be given)   but they did  video stream on the doll community, & they mention the whole "wabi sabi thing      stating people were complainin about "dimples" on SMD    I feel bad that this person believes that. & their a nice person, an totally not a clout chaser.   they have really awesome content        so can someone tell me what i should do?    thanks in advance

@DollyDearest I would probably ignore it as a blip, if it's a one off thing. It's annoying when people get stuff wrong, but they're probably just going off the info that Danny puts out, and he does make it sound like he gets tons of complaints about minor imperfections...

...despite how popular the chaos section of the site is. 😑 How the too imperfect stuff sells out within hours, and new owners lament not being able to buy from it.

I guess if it comes up again, ask if they have a source/proof? Because if there were that many complaints, it should be easy to find someone legitimately complaining about minor stuff on reddit or somewhere. Not just people mocking Danny for using wabi-sabi the wrong way, or posting hyperbole on tumblr. If anything, I see people mocking Smart Doll owners for putting up with stuff that other doll owners wouldn't (ie. the bacteria drama from a while ago; or the person who got a doll which hadn't had the last paint mask applied, and the community talked it up like a special ooak doll.) But I could be missing something.

2 hours ago, Katsudon said:

bacteria drama

Bacteria drama? 👀

2 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Bacteria drama? 👀

someone's doll had a buncha moldy junk on it, & asked for advice in a smd group on fb

4 hours ago, Katsudon said:

@DollyDearest I would probably ignore it as a blip, if it's a one off thing. It's annoying when people get stuff wrong, but they're probably just going off the info that Danny puts out, and he does make it sound like he gets tons of complaints about minor imperfections...

...despite how popular the chaos section of the site is. 😑 How the too imperfect stuff sells out within hours, and new owners lament not being able to buy from it.

I guess if it comes up again, ask if they have a source/proof? Because if there were that many complaints, it should be easy to find someone legitimately complaining about minor stuff on reddit or somewhere. Not just people mocking Danny for using wabi-sabi the wrong way, or posting hyperbole on tumblr. If anything, I see people mocking Smart Doll owners for putting up with stuff that other doll owners wouldn't (ie. the bacteria drama from a while ago; or the person who got a doll which hadn't had the last paint mask applied, and the community talked it up like a special ooak doll.) But I could be missing something.

a blip?    yea i guess, but it does eat at me, considerin this thread & forum.  Thank you 🐱

3 hours ago, DollyDearest said:

someone's doll had a buncha moldy junk on it, & asked for advice in a smd group on fb

😨 That's pretty horrifying. Did they find out what it was? Was it actually mold? If so, how on earth does that happen!? I thought mold won't grow on plastic unless it has a nutrient source...

I've heard the quality control for Smds can be pretty rough (like a doll arriving without lashes, a doll that's supposed to have freckles comes without any, etc) but I don't understand how moldy stuff could pass the quality check 😖

11 minutes ago, Roserolls said:

Was it actually mold?

It was NOT mold, it was a bacterial growth from a bacteria called Streptoverticillium Reticulum that feeds on plasticizers in vinyl and leaves pink spots. It can spread, but people aren't quite sure how, other than suspecting humidity had something to do with it. Still, it was pretty easily treated with bleach (to kill the bacteria) so it didn't spread.  This bacteria can target vinyl and PVC alike, but I don't remember seeing it on a DD or Obitsu. Doesn't mean this is a SmD exclusive problem, though. It gets pretty gnarly, especially on boat seats like this one:

It was mostly a big scare because it could affect dolls that were nude and boxed, leaving stains on what people knew were as-new condition dolls, which caused a lot of stress in the secondhand markets for a bit. And because the stains themselves were part of the vinyl, they were very very hard to remove. Scary stuff! (EDIT: or so I thought until I revisited some old posts on it. Looks like people got the stains out just fine with the usual method. No big deal after all!)

Edited June 16, 2022 by Oculae

Unfortunately if DC is always referring to QC issues as "dimples" and what not, then you probably will not have many people who see that for what it is and therefore do not complain about it and just accept it as a happy accident or something or they make themselves overlook it. As I said before, this thread is the only place that feels like one could find legitimate critiques of those who see the QC issues for what they are. 

As for the chaos sales, to me it feels like DC is more of a celebrity and, of course, Smart Doll as a trendy brand and people will just buy whatever stuff despite it being literal cast offs just to say they have something from that brand or influencer even if its junk. I don't know...I don't really get it myself???

And the fact that people treat the chaos items as if they were made of gold, when selling...
No, a chaos head is not worth $200! If it's a chaos item label it as such, despite how ok you think it looks! smh

7 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Bacteria drama? 👀

Only going to add that the bacteria thing was really misrepresented on the BJD Community Confesses tumblr (used to be TBC) where people were acting like dolls were shipped with the bacteria, when it was only on a few older dolls and all of them were apparently fixed up with antibacterial soap. So simple! But they dragged it out for like a month going on about how Danny ships mouldy dolls, so it became A Thing when it really didn't have to. 😐

3 hours ago, Oculae said:

It was NOT mold, it was a bacterial growth from a bacteria called Streptoverticillium Reticulum that feeds on plasticizers in vinyl and leaves pink spots. It can spread, but people aren't quite sure how, other than suspecting humidity had something to do with it. Still, it was pretty easily treated with bleach (to kill the bacteria) so it didn't spread.  This bacteria can target vinyl and PVC alike, but I don't remember seeing it on a DD or Obitsu. Doesn't mean this is a SmD exclusive problem, though.

Whew! I'm glad it wasn't mold and the doll owners were able to fix up the dolls and stains. Humidity seems like a huge factor, although I've haven't heard of this happening for other dolls, so it's probably a pretty rare issue.

The bacteria thing is common in a lot of dolls. I know Barbies suffer from it often, especially older ones that were kids toys, not collectors items. My little ponies could also suffer. Basically any doll made of vinyl.

The thing that bugs me most about chaos heads being sold for that much extra is half the time they don’t even come with headcaps. Like ... what the hell am I supposed to do with a head without a cap? 🤨 I don’t care how pretty you painted it, put a frikkin cap on it if you plan to sell! Yeesh!

Agh god I hate the whole headcap Thing with Smartdolls. Cause then all the secondhand markets think it's okay to sell a head sans cap, no matter whether it originally came with one or not. It's just...annoying! Why is it so hard to just toss even an orange cap in with all the chaos heads? You're already making them!!!

Because then Danny wouldn’t be able to squeeze even MORE money out of his willing lemmings victims sheeple if he just GAVE them away. 🙄

New    here.

I've got a tea Cortex Journey, bought second hand from a friend,  and the lack of information about defect or weak point about this kind of Smart Doll is really strange, also you can't find tutorial how to repair it or how to mods joints..... seriously? 

(I know is elbow/arm case)

I arrive from the bjd community and this lack of information is really a red flag.

Is appalling that customers are afraid to speak about defects or things that can be done better.

Also why on heart I can't  by clothes from the shop if I haven't a Smart Doll? What if I want it to buy  a gift for a friend?

Hello and welcome!

The Cortex version of Smart Dolls are hugely flawed and have QC issues to the point that if you're not careful, the arm joints or leg joints can break by the seams! It left me a bad taste for the once alternative cheaper version of Smart Dolls made out of PVC instead of Vinyl. The man who created Smart Dolls which is DC did not further improve the Cortex versions and decided to abandon them and discontinued them. So, they're out of the market. The seams on the Cortex versions does stand out, but they're not very well made since the seams can be disconnected or crack if you pose your Smart Doll Cortex almost everyday or if they fall down on the floor on ground level, which it happened to me! This is from my experience, but the legs on a Cortex is strong, but never the arms!

It is why I sold my Smart Doll Mirai Cortex 2019 (Milk) version to someone several months due to the weak arm and elbow joints. I asked SMD support and they told me that the Milk skin tone is not supported anymore since late 2020. So they offered to give me two vinyl Cinnamon skin tone arms as replacements on my next order, which I quietly refused.

And I do know that comparing Milk and Cinnamon skin tone for SMDs are night and day...so I decided to just sell off my Smart Doll Mirai rather than wasting money or buying Milk Cortex arms from BJD third party online stores.

I'm going to Volks because of this and I should had bought a Dollfie Dream BJD a long time ago before the pandemic! I'm a fool...

 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by ZandurFox

4 hours ago, ZandurFox said:

Hello and welcome!

The Cortex version of Smart Dolls are hugely flawed and have QC issues to the point that if you're not careful, the arm joints or leg joints can break by the seams! It left me a bad taste for the once alternative cheaper version of Smart Dolls made out of PVC instead of Vinyl. The man who created Smart Dolls which is DC did not further improve the Cortex versions and decided to abandon them and discontinued them. So, they're out of the market. The seams on the Cortex versions does stand out, but they're not very well made since the seams can be disconnected or crack if you pose your Smart Doll Cortex almost everyday or if they fall down on the floor on ground level, which it happened to me! This is from my experience, but the legs on a Cortex is strong, but never the arms!

It is why I sold my Smart Doll Mirai Cortex 2019 (Milk) version to someone several months due to the weak arm and elbow joints. I asked SMD support and they told me that the Milk skin tone is not supported anymore since late 2020. So they offered to give me two vinyl Cinnamon skin tone arms as replacements on my next order, which I quietly refused.

And I do know that comparing Milk and Cinnamon skin tone for SMDs are night and day...so I decided to just sell off my Smart Doll Mirai rather than wasting money or buying Milk Cortex arms from BJD third party online stores.

I'm going to Volks because of this and I should had bought a Dollfie Dream BJD a long time ago before the pandemic! I'm a fool...

 

 

Did DC ever acknowledge that Cortex wasn't working out or did he just kind of sweep it under the rug?

@ZandurFox  the part about replacement part XD is crazy, why can I buy it and why they are so expensive?

(I was lucky to buy mine for a really good price.)

Buying Volks and Obitsu replacement part is super easy and not so expensive  and I'm thinking of buying some DD tan hands for my tea (I know some adjustments are necessary)

@ladyandlion the crazy part is that is impossible to find real information on Cortex, the are no review, apart from this forum and maybe on Reddit,  Danny have sold them as super strong and more affordable but they were not, and you can't find customers talking about issues.

In the end I think that since the sales were bad and probably a lot customers asked for replacement part Danny decided to interrupt the Cortex series

 

Kind of a side note to influencers…One of the biggest issues I have with designers/creators (those who make items for 1/3 sized dolls) is that most all of the ones who once made items for Dollfie Dreams, now make for Smart Doll exclusively.  Yes, many items will fit both but wigs are slightly too small and hard to fit DD heads, fitted clothing items do not fit any DD bodies because of the difference in waist and hip sizes. So some very nice outfits just will not work for the majority of my dolls.  I realize that some creators only have one type of doll that they personally own for which they will design, but others once did Dollfie Dream and now it is only Smart Doll. I guess I understand to an extent…maybe it is money, maybe it is social networking influence or for clout with DC.  Of course, there is the fact that DC only has one style of clothing that he makes for SmD and it certainly not everyone’s cup of tea and you have Volks and plenty of Japanese designers who focus on Dollfie Dream.  
 

I do not know, maybe I just do not look in the right place. I know most of the designers and places that I have dealt with for many years and most have gone SmD. It is ﾟSO exasperating sometimes to choose between missing out on pretty clothes or having to alter them to fit DDs. I love LOVE designers who figure out ways to make items fit both body types like Adyka.  Perhaps this is all just a pet peeve of mine.  It used to bother me even more when I had only SmD from years ago (my original Kizuna).  Now that my husband and I (together) have 12 SmDs, we have more to clothe but it is still very annoying.  Also I could simply be a bit biased. 😋🤭 Never said I was above it. I really do not like the man (DC) anymore (I used to back in CJ days before the whole SmD stuff).  Just stating a fact.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Misheru

16 hours ago, Misheru said:

Kind of a side note to influencers…One of the biggest issues I have with designers/creators (those who make items for 1/3 sized dolls) is that most all of the ones who once made items for Dollfie Dreams, now make for Smart Doll exclusively.  

I imagine it's because Smart Dolls are marketed differently. Unless you are already into BJDs/vinyls (going from resin to vinyl) there's something about Smart Dolls that breaks through that and you will see many of them (at least on YT) who only have Smart Dolls. Don't know if that makes any sense. Perhaps it's Volks and how DDs are typically sold. They only sell 3 standard "ready to buy" models where as DC ONLY sells ready to buy models in greater numbers. No customization needed. Their aesthetic is also quite different (mainstream Calvin Klein-esque fashions vs frilly colorful idol "anime" fashion.) So since Smart Dolls have become more popular, I guess the people who usually create fashions for DDs have become distracted. (And maybe it's me but perhaps it's because there's a thing about being the owner of both Smart Doll and DD. Didn't DC imply at some point that he would ban those who didn't soley own Smart Dolls?) But you're right it sounds annoying.

4 hours ago, ladyandlion said:

Didn't DC imply at some point that he would ban those who didn't soley own Smart Dolls?

Not hear of that. But he'd refuse sales if you brought Smartdoll items/clothes for use on other dolls.

It's weird because he was so proud of his stance on "all dolls welcome here" when you could visit the physical store

I understand what you mean ladyandlion and I think some of the issue stems from the lack of variety in SmD clothing styles from DC or maybe it began that way. All of his fashions are quite expensive and are one note, mostly very casual and post apocalyptic….not that there is anything wrong with that it just is not everyone’s cup of tea.  However, as time has gone on it just seems that more and more designers for dolls (especially long time designers) have switched from creating for DD to doing so for SmD as I mentioned above. Of course that is their prerogative, I just personally find it frustrating as a consumer who owns both types of dolls (but far far more DDs) and I prefer to support fellow collectors over buying from Volks or other larger companies.

I suppose I was musing as to possible reasons for the shift or for those who start out making only SmD stuff with no thought to DD.  Money? Social media influence? DC loyalty? Doll availability/preference/ownership? Possible lack of knowledge of potential consumer base?  It was simply a post I made while being unable to sleep the other night and I was mostly thinking aloud after catching up in the thread and after trying to shop on Etsy.  😆 haha.  I hope no one takes it too seriously, I am just curious and a wee bit frustrated. I like a world where we get to enjoy all of the dolls we ❤️ love. Take care.

1 hour ago, Misheru said:

I understand what you mean ladyandlion and I think some of the issue stems from the lack of variety in SmD clothing styles from DC or maybe it began that way. All of his fashions are quite expensive and are one note, mostly very casual and post apocalyptic….not that there is anything wrong with that it just is not everyone’s cup of tea.  However, as time has gone on it just seems that more and more designers for dolls (especially long time designers) have switched from creating for DD to doing so for SmD as I mentioned above. Of course that is their prerogative, I just personally find it frustrating as a consumer who owns both types of dolls (but far far more DDs) and I prefer to support fellow collectors over buying from Volks or other larger companies.

I suppose I was musing as to possible reasons for the shift or for those who start out making only SmD stuff with no thought to DD.  Money? Social media influence? DC loyalty? Doll availability/preference/ownership? Possible lack of knowledge of potential consumer base?  It was simply a post I made while being unable to sleep the other night and I was mostly thinking aloud after catching up in the thread and after trying to shop on Etsy.  😆 haha.  I hope no one takes it too seriously, I am just curious and a wee bit frustrated. I like a world where we get to enjoy all of the dolls we ❤️ love. Take care.

I guess I'm not the best person to have given a response to your post as I don't own either doll. I like both dolls for different reasons (though I will say I like how fleshed out DDs seem in comparison.) I'm also not a seamstress (my mother is and she's helped me try to make a couple of things for dolls.) As to the switch, I have absolutely no idea. It certainly could be any number of the factors you mentioned. But I am sad that it's come to that. I hope you're able to find someone who creates clothing for both. 

Seamstress here, sewing for SmartDoll is easier,  they've measurements very similar to standard SD13 just the waist a little thinner.

On a side note maybe someone think that they are a good market since on the official site the clothes you can buy are limited in style and very expensive.