The Facebook debacle & other issues

That makes a lot of sense.... Either Danny can't compete with Volks because of his marketing the dolls in English, or the other way around. I had no idea SmD wasn't popular in Japan until you mentioned it. On a side note, Ragna's Mirai is really cute! I like how you customized her.

Edited April 30, 2024 by RozenGermain

23 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

The sad truth is, though, that Volks themselves look down on otaku and the DD line—DDs are explicitly banned from all Tenshi stores and Kachuan (their exclusive members-only facility), you can’t do the welcoming ceremony with DDs, and they really only coordinate special events like the cruise around Tokyo Bay and the invite-only auctions and exhibitions for SD owners

They do occasionally do anime themed Super Dollfie like Sapphire, Oscar & Andre, Belldandy, and Creamy Miami. Except for Bell, I'd expect those appeal more to girls than boys.

SD do give them a lot of options to express other aspects of Japanese culture.

Edited May 1, 2024 by BeyondTime

19 hours ago, RozenGermain said:

I don't know what he means by "cover" either. He really should elaborate on that. I can tell Japanese IPs don't seem to want to collab with SmD anymore though... I don't see any collab dolls if at all nowadays. I do like the diversity, as the main thing I like about SmDs is the variety in skin tones and parts to give your doll (my main gripe with Volks was the colorism problem, but that's not just a Volks thing tbh), but that alone does not a good company make.... Rose also makes a point that these are clearly not fashion dolls, due to the emphasis on owner customization SmD has, I don't think it's a smart move to do that, since fashion doll enthusiasts are probably going to find them disappointing due to the perceived dishonesty.

Also, this is how one alienates a good chunk of their customer base.... Especially when he was influenced by Volks in the first place, and I'm pretty sure a good chunk of his initial fanbase was DD enthusiasts. This is just childish....

Yeah. I love diversity especially with more skintones, but it doesn't necessarily stop me from wanting dolls from brands like Volks (I just wish their...Sunlight? Suntan? resin option wasn't just a super exclusive option and when it comes to Dollfie Dreams...it's just not there.) I like progressive thinking and marketing, but I don't like being pandered too either. And no they certainly aren't fashion dolls. 

52 minutes ago, ladyandlion said:

Yeah. I love diversity especially with more skintones, but it doesn't necessarily stop me from wanting dolls from brands like Volks (I just wish their...Sunlight? Suntan? resin option wasn't just a super exclusive option and when it comes to Dollfie Dreams...it's just not there.) I like progressive thinking and marketing, but I don't like being pandered too either. And no they certainly aren't fashion dolls. 

the unfashion doll. Aka pricey Barbie & Ken. 

1 hour ago, ladyandlion said:

Yeah. I love diversity especially with more skintones, but it doesn't necessarily stop me from wanting dolls from brands like Volks (I just wish their...Sunlight? Suntan? resin option wasn't just a super exclusive option and when it comes to Dollfie Dreams...it's just not there.) I like progressive thinking and marketing, but I don't like being pandered too either. And no they certainly aren't fashion dolls. 

Yeah, if I'm being honest, I think with SmD it feels more like pandering more than it feels like Danny actually cares. And this is coming from someone who likes variety in regards to how to customize a doll. I even thought that if Volks had more skintones, made boy bodies more accessible, added optional parts to make your doll disabled or just an elf, heck even making chubby bodies (which would likely be popular with the Kumako crowd if sculpted the same way), I think that would work incredibly well for them, because I think most DD enthusiasts like customizing their dolls and making their own characters, and such variety would aid that! SmD, on the other hand, I don't think Danny's particularly fond of customizers even now, considering his hatred of hybrids, especially in regards to SmD/DD hybrids.... Which is one of the reasons I feel the diversity is pandering on top of the other things mentioned earlier, because there isn't much, if any, encouragement of customizing your doll.... Even then the lack of variety doesn't stop me from loving Volks dolls, if anything, diversity would make me love Volks dolls even more, simply because it makes customizing the dolls easier!

Heck, I got into BJDs/MJDs in the first place because they were easy to customize into your OC (or favorite character for fanart dolls) if you wished! I wasn't into dolls as a kid, but I was into Littlest Pet Shop, and I loved to customize my LPS! A lot! I didn't give them the greatest paint jobs and I was too intimidated to do mods like head swaps, but the thing is I was into customizing toys and OC creation for a long time!

Edited April 30, 2024 by RozenGermain

Honestly, the whole thing between Volks and Smartdoll is given me huge Barbie and Lammily vibes. For those unaware, Lammily was a doll marketed as a competitor to Barbie with a more "average" body type and accessories such as stickers to give her acne or stretch marks. While it was meant to promote more healthy self-esteem in girls and to give them a less glamorized ideal to look up to, almost every single media outlet and official press from Lammily's creator focused near entirely on her body to the exclusion of any indication of, yknow, what the doll's interests or personality are. It's not that having a doll promoting representation is at all bad, it's that it feels weirdly condescending when it comes from a place of "look how progressive we are compared to those other guys".

14 minutes ago, PlasticJester said:

Honestly, the whole thing between Volks and Smartdoll is given me huge Barbie and Lammily vibes. For those unaware, Lammily was a doll marketed as a competitor to Barbie with a more "average" body type and accessories such as stickers to give her acne or stretch marks. While it was meant to promote more healthy self-esteem in girls and to give them a less glamorized ideal to look up to, almost every single media outlet and official press from Lammily's creator focused near entirely on her body to the exclusion of any indication of, yknow, what the doll's interests or personality are. It's not that having a doll promoting representation is at all bad, it's that it feels weirdly condescending when it comes from a place of "look how progressive we are compared to those other guys".

Makes sense, tokenization vs. actual representation, ya know, like making a character black for diversity points vs wanting them to be black because you actually wanted them to be black. SmD and Lammily would feel more like the former. How long did Lammily even last and when was it even a thing? I think that it would have been better off if the Lammily people maybe tried an MJD style playline doll? That would have been pretty cool if kids could make a doll into their own character in some way (I think Mattel wanted to do something in that vein but I doubt it went anywhere/succeeded), and could have encouraged creativity!

Edited April 30, 2024 by RozenGermain

54 minutes ago, RozenGermain said:

Makes sense, tokenization vs. actual representation, ya know, like making a character black for diversity points vs wanting them to be black because you actually wanted them to be black. SmD and Lammily would feel more like the former. How long did Lammily even last and when was it even a thing? I think that it would have been better off if the Lammily people maybe tried an MJD style playline doll? That would have been pretty cool if kids could make a doll into their own character in some way (I think Mattel wanted to do something in that vein but I doubt it went anywhere/succeeded), and could have encouraged creativity!

This was in 2014. It was a pretty short-lived doll line, they only released 2 or 3 actual dolls and the rest were fashion/accessory packs. Funnily, in 2016 Barbie released three more body types, so Lammily just kinda fell by the wayside. It just didn't have a lot going for it besides "not being Barbie".

Smartdoll does have its own niche with the more varied skintones and the Pear body, and I don't want it to seem like I'm against representation in any way! I think it's very cool that they sell accessories like hearing aids and prosthetics for their dolls. It's something I genuinely like them doing. However, I can't give them full points because it feels like every release of this nature is very....self-congratulatory? Which makes their motivation feel less like they want to help people feel seen and more like they want to be told they're doing a good job for it.

5 hours ago, RozenGermain said:

Yeah, if I'm being honest, I think with SmD it feels more like pandering more than it feels like Danny actually cares. And this is coming from someone who likes variety in regards to how to customize a doll. I even thought that if Volks had more skintones, made boy bodies more accessible, added optional parts to make your doll disabled or just an elf, heck even making chubby bodies (which would likely be popular with the Kumako crowd if sculpted the same way), I think that would work incredibly well for them, because I think most DD enthusiasts like customizing their dolls and making their own characters, and such variety would aid that! SmD, on the other hand, I don't think Danny's particularly fond of customizers even now, considering his hatred of hybrids, especially in regards to SmD/DD hybrids.... Which is one of the reasons I feel the diversity is pandering on top of the other things mentioned earlier, because there isn't much, if any, encouragement of customizing your doll.... Even then the lack of variety doesn't stop me from loving Volks dolls, if anything, diversity would make me love Volks dolls even more, simply because it makes customizing the dolls easier!

Heck, I got into BJDs/MJDs in the first place because they were easy to customize into your OC (or favorite character for fanart dolls) if you wished! I wasn't into dolls as a kid, but I was into Littlest Pet Shop, and I loved to customize my LPS! A lot! I didn't give them the greatest paint jobs and I was too intimidated to do mods like head swaps, but the thing is I was into customizing toys and OC creation for a long time!

That's also why I got into the BJD hobby as well. I guess for me I wanted Smart Doll to be an entry level vinyl doll and he had such a large variety that I had a lot of inspiration so I didn't mind not customizing it beyond changing out eyes and wigs. But then that changed when he decided not to keep around certain sculpts (and sorry but I hate that he seems to keep a page of discontinued dolls available, only because I'm highly bitter that they'll probably never be mad again or else if he does, he'll mark them up as limited edition or something.) Even if I wanted a Smart Doll and wanted to go through all of the hoops and hurdles to try and buy one by kissing butt, I don't really see anything I'm interested in as of late. I'm not a business expert but I think it would be good if Volks were to change things up, even if only a little, with DDs. 

2 hours ago, PlasticJester said:

This was in 2014. It was a pretty short-lived doll line, they only released 2 or 3 actual dolls and the rest were fashion/accessory packs. Funnily, in 2016 Barbie released three more body types, so Lammily just kinda fell by the wayside. It just didn't have a lot going for it besides "not being Barbie".

Smartdoll does have its own niche with the more varied skintones and the Pear body, and I don't want it to seem like I'm against representation in any way! I think it's very cool that they sell accessories like hearing aids and prosthetics for their dolls. It's something I genuinely like them doing. However, I can't give them full points because it feels like every release of this nature is very....self-congratulatory? Which makes their motivation feel less like they want to help people feel seen and more like they want to be told they're doing a good job for it.

I remember when Lammily came out. Again, representation is great. But I think that a lot of people don't quite understand the function of fashion dolls. It's about creativity as well as a fantasy. Just because someone is bigger doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to wear interesting outfits. You have to make it exciting and enticing. Perhaps if Lammily had a nicer more imaginative wardrobe it would have been better. Of course, people are free to have differing tastes in fashion like anything else. But I think that's one reason why Barbie isn't doing as well as she used to because Mattel has weirdly left her behind and created tacky clothing. (Ironically introducing new body types to Barbie created a problem with the clothing needing to be versatile but less interesting.) I think there's a balance that has to be kept between healthy self esteem but also just being free to be creative with fashion. (Personally, not having a doll that looks like me, body shape wise, isn't something that deters me from wanting certain dolls. Skin color is a bit different.) In that way I don't feel that Smart Dolls are fashion dolls in the traditional sense at all, despite the fact that yes, you can dress them and redress them.

I agree that the medical add ons do seem to be a bit...performative, even self indulgent. I think that perhaps DC has a fascination with them (iirc he's had some medical issues and spent some time at the hospital.) I really think whatever he has an interest in or issue with (whether it's medical issues or the idea that he's being bullied or attacked by anyone who gives even the slightest criticism) he incorporates that into the brand. "Drama Llama" "No Sheeps Given" etc. It's kind of a shame. I think it's great that he's putting out dolls with curvy or bigger body shapes or different skintones, conditions...but I just wish it didn't feel so blatantly pandering. 

plus all the community call outs for constructive criticism/ feedback.    Also what fashion doll nowa days comes with guns? smart doll seems more of a dress up action figure, then something like rainbow high.

Edited May 1, 2024 by DollyDearest

On 4/30/2024 at 9:07 PM, RozenGermain said:

That makes a lot of sense.... Either Danny can't compete with Volks because of his marketing the dolls in English, or the other way around. I had no idea SmD wasn't popular in Japan until you mentioned it.

I think he's given up on the Japanese market because his "British humour" didn't really sit well with the Japanese. At some point a lot of Japanese people on twitter were very unimpressed with the language that Danny used when replying to genuine inquiries. I think that was what started the whole "in smartdoll land the customer isn't god" mantra. And then there was the whole thing where he purposely mistranslated Volks' statement about Super Dollfie bootlegs into "Volks thinks every other brand (especially our Smartdoll) is a copy of their dolls how dare they" which I don't think won him any points with the Japanese doll community. Basically, he treats customers as less than ('cause for some reason treating them as equal human beings and being polite would mean that the customer is god ???) which doesn't really align with Japanese culture. His... approach to marketing and running a business seems to work better in the west (and I want to say specifically the US). Although I do wonder why his fans keep putting him on a pedestal even though he treats them so poorly. One of the mysteries in life, I guess. 🤷‍♀️
 

On 5/1/2024 at 2:12 AM, PlasticJester said:

Smartdoll does have its own niche with the more varied skintones and the Pear body, and I don't want it to seem like I'm against representation in any way! I think it's very cool that they sell accessories like hearing aids and prosthetics for their dolls. It's something I genuinely like them doing. However, I can't give them full points because it feels like every release of this nature is very....self-congratulatory? Which makes their motivation feel less like they want to help people feel seen and more like they want to be told they're doing a good job for it.

Self-congratulatory is so spot on. Every post reads like "look how we made this thing that nobody else is making, now tell us (actually me, Danny) how amazing we are". And he STILL keeps bringing up how "people hate that we make dark skinned dolls" when I think that if his supporters and critics can agree on something, it's that him making dark skin tones available for dolls is a very good thing. 🙃

Lately I'm chuckling at how he's promoting Volks, Azone and Obitsu as alternatives to Smartdoll, when not too long ago even mentioning Volks' name seemed impossible to him ('cause he was seething at them for not making his Mirai as a doll). I don't believe that he's doing it genuinely to support other doll makers, but to underline the fact that "these other companies only make light skinned dolls, while we are superior and prioritise dark skinned dolls, now tell us how amazing we (me, Danny) are". I suppose he's good at veiling the digs at Volks, Azone & Obitsu as friendly competition since it seems to fly with his supporters, but I'm certainly not buying it. xD

Edited May 2, 2024 by mizya
typo

49 minutes ago, mizya said:

I think he's given up on the Japanese market because his "British humour" didn't really sit well with the Japanese. At some point a lot of Japanese people on twitter were very unimpressed with the language that Danny used when replying to genuine inquiries. I think that was what started the whole "in smartdoll land the customer isn't god" mantra. And then there was the whole thing where he purposely mistranslated Volks' statement about Super Dollfie bootlegs into "Volks thinks every other brand (especially our Smartdoll) is a copy of their dolls how dare they" which I don't think won him any points with the Japanese doll community. Basically, he treats customers as less than ('cause for some reason treating them as equal human beings and being polite would mean that the customer is god ???) which doesn't really align with Japanese culture. His... approach to marketing and running a business seems to work better in the west (and I want to say specifically the US). Although I do wonder why his fans keep putting him on a pedestal even though he treats them so poorly. One of the mysteries in life, I guess. 🤷‍♀️

Well that definitely makes sense. But that kind of goes back to what I was trying to say before. Smart Doll, imo, feels more like DC's personal sandbox for him to play around with ideas and experiment and everything is subject to his whims. But, he's oh so generous to honor us poor doll enthusiasts the opportunity to buy his amazing creations as long as we don't actually think of ourselves as customers but as loyal followers, always ready with our compliments at his progressivism rather than being "haters" and complaining about QC and having to jump through hoops to actually obtain the dolls (like staying up all hours of the night hoping to get access to his scraps.) I apologize for the heavy sarcasm but that's literally how I've come to view all of this mess. So when you see it as him being very selfish in why he's creating this, I think that very much clashes with Japanese customs on how to conduct business and treat customers. (Reminds me of Elon Musk and his Teslas.) He's very much "This is MY show and if you don't like it then leave." No way that sort of behavior or mindset will win over the Japanese collectors. 

As to why his fans don't call him out on these things is because I think people really want the dolls. Also, if you have social media, especially YT and you're easily impressed by outward displays of progressivism as well as how seemingly accessible this brand is (aka a Western sensibility, website is in English etc), what is there to complain about. I never really hear anyone on YT talking about the buying process of their Smart Dolls and I wish more people would just be more forthcoming about their experiences. I'm not saying that DC is giving them free swag in the form of Smart Dolls, but I do think that perhaps there's an understanding that if they are going to buy the dolls, they aren't going to say anything scathing or even slightly critical about DC or the brand. Of course, I could be wrong and it's just my theory. The fact that this thread seems to exist to be the only place on the internet where we can actually shed some light on these things (because otherwise, I wouldn't have known) I think says a lot. 

1 hour ago, SonataAvalon said:

I am from US, can tell you that this "approach to marketing" does and wouldn't work. Even if being polite is an aim, you should see your customers as just "customers." people with a genuine interest in your service/item you offer.

And usually a businesses here goes for the "you'll buy it because you're falling for our marketing ploy lol"

Same here, and I can vouch. Both the US and JP have that same "the customer is always right" mentality. The main difference is that at least in the US the customer is more the entitled brat, and that's probably due to cultural values! And tbh, when western companies promote diversity, I am so jaded by rainbow capitalism that is see it as the marketing ploy that it is 100% of the time....

There are a few things that I do like about Smart Doll.

The telescopic stand on the Smart Doll that can be used to stabilize the SmD for cool posing and carrying heavy items on their hands and arms.

They're more sturdy for some poses that are more wacky.

 

I just wish those options are also implemented on Volks Dollfie Dream BJDs. But, it's not too much of a huge deal.

 

Interesting, this thread is still ongoing! But, nonetheless Smart Doll is Danny's personal vanity project in the end. I just wish he matures up and wises up, but I don't see that happening for a long time.

On 4/29/2024 at 2:00 PM, SonataAvalon said:

...bro this dude is just more and more of someone's kid not thinking life's fair for them. That's the point of Volk's whole business, it's a LOTTERY for A ONE TIME ITEM. 

And what does HE MEAN EASIER TO BUY?! HALF OF THE ONES PEOPLE WANT ARE SOLD OUT

"Hey I'm aiming to make these dolls more accessible for people to buy them since this other company" 

"cool, what about the out of stock Chaos/dolls/collaboration dolls which you could ask the collaborator to have a renewed rerun, you'd make more money, or make more of the dolls that are sold out, and or remake them?"

"what collab"

I just feel Danny Choo should know people want to buy his stuff, and shouldn't be so elitist. I think the survey is irrelevant and shouldn't be a thing for someone genuinely wanting one, it's a hassle and for easily breakable, it feels way too like those "only the worthy can have this, so here's some facts, you should know them" and after what has been happening to me specifically with the site just won't let me complete it or turn it in. This infuriates me.

half of em get sold out, because ik of certain people, who will buy double s and triples of certain dolls for "project's "

Edited May 5, 2024 by DollyDearest

On 4/30/2024 at 7:35 AM, ragnamuffin said:

Maybe in the West, but Volks is probably one of the biggest and oldest names in the world of figures and gunpla. Their hobby business existed long before their doll business did (it was founded in 1972!), and that’s partly how Dollfies came to be in the first place—the word is a portmanteau of “doll” and “figure” since they’re dolls that can be posed like figures.

Also, to address your previous comment, it may be true that they started out focused on the male otaku demographic, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. They really cleaned up their act when DD became more mainstream, and their marketing nowadays seems geared more towards their female fanbase.

The sad truth is, though, that Volks themselves look down on otaku and the DD line—DDs are explicitly banned from all Tenshi stores and Kachuan (their exclusive members-only facility), you can’t do the welcoming ceremony with DDs, and they really only coordinate special events like the cruise around Tokyo Bay and the invite-only auctions and exhibitions for SD owners 😕

Is it really true? Then that sucks, it's unfortunate that Volks treat their DD fans and collectors like that...

2 hours ago, ZandurFox said:

Is it really true? Then that sucks, it's unfortunate that Volks treat their DD fans and collectors like that...

I was a bit confused by this remark because it’s not..completely true? If by ‘Tenshi stores’ ragnamuffin meant any of the stores with ‘Tenshi no Sumika’, those are just all their stores that sell doll stuff, period. Of them, the only ones that are exclusively for SD are Tenshi no Mado in Harajuku and Tenshi no Sato in Kyoto. They’re very SD focussed stores, so I kinda don’t really know why you would want to take a DD there anyway (speaking as a fan of both). Once apon a time they actually were allowed in Sato, but the popular rumour (although it’s spoken about so much it’s more like an open secret at this point) was that a bunch of very rude, perverted DD fans ruined it for everyone else by taking NSFW photos and bothering both patrons and staff. They’re still allowed in the private photo rooms that you can pay to book - but again…id rather use the ones in Akiba Doll Point for free. (Anyway, since the infamous DD banning incident was so long ago and the fanbases are less distinct from eachother, I do wonder if they’ll allow them back soon? They did allow DDs at the private party at Sato recently…) As for all other ‘Tenshi stores’ (Tenshi no sumika’, DDs are welcomed - I mean they’d have to be, theyre sold there. I used to take mine to the Fukuoka one every other weekend. If you take a look at the regular group photos at the different Tenshi no Sumika shops throughout Japan you can regularly see DDs participating - and some you only see DDs.

As for special events - the upcoming cruise is themed around a SD line (oath of silver coin), so it makes sense for it to be for SD owners. One of the previous special events, the 2019 resort stay in Atami, was for both - you can clearly see DDs in the photos. https://www.volks.co.jp/owners/newakao2019/ (edit: well, on the site, a staff MDD - I thought they’d have an event report on the site, but the event photos I think are only on the volks_dollfie_event instagram, and I remember seeing DDs but unfortunately there’s no easy way to go to 2019 other than manually scrolling as far as I know)

None of this had much to do with the content of this thread, so I wasn’t going to say anything…but I just wanted to comment on that because I do sometimes see this ‘volks looks down on DDs’ sentiment from DD fans which is always a bit odd to me because it’s simply not true, they just handle the experiences in a different way. From my point of view, the experiences enjoyed by SD fans and the whole mythology surrounding them having souls etc (which is what the omukae ceremony is all about) is something that DD fans aren’t interested in or are actively weirded out by. But if they are, and requested it enough, Volks could potentially make an equivalent service exclusive to Akihabara - like how Dream Choice is the DD equivalent of Full Choice.

Anyway as for smartdoll I have nothing really to add that hasn’t been said - there’s a small but dedicated fanbase for them in Japan, but it never seemed to me that Danny really marketed to them much to begin with. All of his social media videos etc have always been in English, and unless I’ve forgotten, I don’t remember there ever being Japanese subtitles, so I imagine some jp fans feeling left out. Whatever he’s currently doing seems to be working for him and the niche he’s made, so my own feelings are irrelevant tbh.

Edited May 3, 2024 by Monty

25 minutes ago, Monty said:

I was a bit confused by this remark because it’s not..completely true?

You don’t need to act like I’ve said something patently false. By ‘Tenshi stores’, I was mostly thinking of Tenshi no Mado and Tenshi no Sato, but my understanding was that DDs were not allowed at Tenshi no Sumika either. I don’t live near one and have never been to one so I could be wrong about that, but the fact remains that you can’t bring them to those particular stores while no restriction on SDs exists at Doll Point or the Show Rooms.

I too have heard the rumour about perverted DD fans getting all DDs banned from Sato and Kachuan, which sucks because I’m a VIP member and would have liked to bring a doll when I go to visit, but can’t because I don’t have any SDs. I also would have liked to do the welcoming ceremony since it seems so wacky to me, but I can’t do that either 🤷‍♀️ 

Dolpa also seems more geared towards SD than DD. SD fans got a cruise and we got… a mook with some pictures of Piapro and Square Enix dolls? Most of the dolls on display are SDs and the grand prizes for bingo are Seitenshi and Reitenshi SDs. If you don’t collect SDs, why would you care about any of this? I understand that a lot of people collect both, and you’re free to disagree with my assessment, but as someone who only collects DDs, it sure feels like we’re an afterthought.

20 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

Dolpa also seems more geared towards SD than DD. SD fans got a cruise and we got… a mook with some pictures of Piapro and Square Enix dolls? Most of the dolls on display are SDs and the grand prizes for bingo are Seitenshi and Reitenshi SDs. If you don’t collect SDs, why would you care about any of this? I understand that a lot of people collect both, and you’re free to disagree with my assessment, but as someone who only collects DDs, it sure feels like we’re an afterthought.

They have had fullset DDs as grand bingo prizes in the past (notably Miku), but I agree they could do it more often. But I personally do not want a DD equivalent to the sei/rei tenshi simply because I do not want a DD that is almost impossible to ever acquire lol;; If they really did make tiny DDs like that, I’d want them more accessible. It may seem like there are a lot of SDs on display, but for some like the Dear SDs, those special events are literally the only way to get them. I think the overall accessibility of DD compared to SD is what causes the differences here.

Most of the other dolls on display are the one-offs - they used to have Dcoords as the equivalent at past Dolpas but they got phased out due to lack of interest - and it was likely due to Dream Choice as it happened not long after that started (A lottery for a doll you can’t choose the coordination of loses its appeal when you can go get a Dream Choice exactly as you want it I assume) . The appeal of the SD one-offs is two things that aren’t easily replicable with a DD equivalent: 1) older, discontinued limited sculpts (casting a single head in resin is very different/easier to manufacturing a vinyl head) 2) unique faceups (as opposed to printed DD faceups that could be gotten from Dream Choice). That said, I would actually love to see real DD one-offs with hand painted faceups and OOAK outfits like how Azone does its store events for custom one-offs by various different faceup artists though - even if it was ‘numbered’ heads only. 

I definitely don’t disagree with you that there could be a lot more things especially for DD fans out there (would personally really like a faceup class like they had for SD), I just disagree that all of this means Volks themselves looks down on their own products and fans of those products, anymore than I don’t think they look down on their hobby division and model fans who get even less fanfare. I simply think they have different expectations of what these 3 groups of fans actually want - whether those expectations are correct is a different discussion.
Anyway, don’t know if Dolpa still lets you submit feedback - but a desire for more DD focussed activities could be worth mentioning next time there’s a survey. For all I know they simply don’t think there’s a demand for these things if no one has mentioned them.

(Although we are a bit off topic from this thread now whoops)

13 hours ago, SonataAvalon said:

I am from US, can tell you that this "approach to marketing" does and wouldn't work. Even if being polite is an aim, you should see your customers as just "customers." people with a genuine interest in your service/item you offer.

And usually a businesses here goes for the "you'll buy it because you're falling for our marketing ploy lol"
 

12 hours ago, RozenGermain said:

Same here, and I can vouch. Both the US and JP have that same "the customer is always right" mentality. The main difference is that at least in the US the customer is more the entitled brat, and that's probably due to cultural values! And tbh, when western companies promote diversity, I am so jaded by rainbow capitalism that is see it as the marketing ploy that it is 100% of the time....

I said "seems to work better in the west" as in, it seems to work better in the west compared to Japan. I did not claim that his "approach" is the norm in the west. It doesn't work in plenty of places 'cause the way he conducts himself clashes with most people's values. BUT, there are clearly enough impressionable people, who buy his dolls and think that Danny is the most awesome person ever 'cause he's living the otaku dream in Japan. And I said "I want to say specifically in the US" because Danny himself says the majority of smartdoll owners are in the US, and the maps he posts tend to feature the US the most. Also, he attends a lot of cons & events in the US so it seems like he's mostly focusing on the US market. And I feel like the creators he features the most tend to be US based. But these are my observations.

It's kind of funny how he takes some parts of the Japanese culture and celebrates them as the greatest thing ever (the infamous wabisabi) but then he puts down the parts of Japanese culture that his ego doesn't agree with (treating customer as god).

Having worked in customer service, I feel like generally in western culture the aim is to be polite and keep the customer happy, BUT if the customer is wrong and being completely unreasonable, you are allowed to politely explain to the customer that they have misunderstood something (ofc, some customers will be unreasonable no matter what, and then you just gotta smile & hope they stop ranting at you and go away). Whereas in Japan it's usually that you're not allowed to talk back to the customer in any way, even politely, you're expected to apologise even when the customer is wrong.

I don't personally agree with the "customer is god/customer is always right" kind of approach, but Danny is taking it to the other extreme, where the customer needs to read several pages of texts saying "REASONS NOT TO BUY", jump through hoops to even place an order, and then be subjected to scrutinisation to determine if they're "worthy" enough of a smartdoll - or if they'll get their order cancelled and perhaps a ban from the website altogether if they give "wrong answers" in the scrutinisation email. Which is just completely ridiculous. And that is why I keep saying he shouldn't make his dolls commercial products, since he clearly wants to handpick his customers.

10 hours ago, DollyDearest said:

half of em get sold out, because ik of certain people, who will buy double s and triples of certain dolls for "project s"

What's "project s?"

4 hours ago, SonataAvalon said:

Project S? Is this something I want to be apart of?

I ment projects lol.  stupid autocorrect

7 hours ago, RozenGermain said:

What's "project s?"

projects. Not project s.  autocorrect is weird.

48 minutes ago, DollyDearest said:

projects. Not project s.  autocorrect is weird.

Haha that makes sense! What projects would those be anyway? Customizations? I have toyed with SmD customs before since I've seen people do them! But at this point I think the best option for me is second hand Smarties (or dealers), due to me posting on this thread and being critical of Danny in general....