The Facebook debacle & other issues

1 hour ago, Mothiraffe said:

I think it's... a strange thing to fixate on because as an independent business owner, he really can set the pace and tone of how his business operates, and he can do that regardless of the pressure from his customers. If demand exceeds output, he doesn't HAVE to work his employees more at all -- this hobby is no stranger to waiting long periods of time to get their products, just ask the resin side of the hobby! I've seen people fairly commonly wait over a year on a single doll, and hell, even Volks had people waiting for 2B for ages, some people are only just now getting theirs! Literally all he has to say is "there may be delays in filling orders due to demand + covid" and people would get it. Customers value communication, and they're willing to give people a lot of slack if they know why things have gone off the rails! My point is that if he's concerned about overworking his employees, or potential abuse towards staff members by customers -- if he's truly concerned about treating them well and not like the minimum-wage atrocities of the fast fashion industry (as he's mentioned,) well, he... has that option. And he has it irrespective of the people paying the bills.

Just my thoughts, but I think he is obsess with this because he is facing his own failures. When he started Smartdoll, he said multiple times that he was gonna be better than "the other company", that there will never ever be limited dolls, that all his dolls were gonna be available at all times, whitout years of waiting. He wanted to avoid scalpers and disappointment. But now he has realized that this is impossible, and he is now constantly ranting about how customers are harrassing him about this... and I'm not even sure there are customers complaning about that. The rude customers he is constantly referring to are the "weathered shoe incident" and the "bumped wig episode"... Whom we know were perfectly fine and polite customers with legitimate concerns. If these customers were his worst nightmares, I understand he can't handle a slightless level of complain above... Plus he is constantly saying that he treats well his employees, but seeing how he treats his customers or even potential customers, I just don't believe at all he is treating them so well. Or he is kind of a Two-Faced super-villain (Danny, since you read us, please make a shirt of how you are super-villain!!).

I don't think Danny is missing the point at all. He is too smart to miss any points. Rather, it's more like he's manipulating the facts (as usual) to make himself seem like the victim. The objections to his deleted post were mainly because he compared his line of luxury dolls to the problems faced by minorities, but he doesn't acknowledge that fact. Instead, he twists the facts to paint himself as a victim for trying to speak out against racism. If he truly believed in speaking out, why delete the post in the first place? He knows that his largest customer base is the US. He knows that he overstepped in that deleted post. He knows that even with his fanatic cult of supporters, the amount of negativity associated with his brand if he were to leave that post up would be more than his cult could stamp out. That is why he deleted the post.

Look at his deliberation mistranslation of Volks. He did that knowing that most of his fans would take his word for it, instead of actually doing a google translate of the tweet. He mentioned the term "ripoffs", and pretty much left the rest to his fans' imagination and left them to criticize Volks for a term that was solely due to Danny's own special "translation".

As for the weathered boots and my wabisabi wig, he used his own product photos on his posts instead of the actual items in question, and led his fans to think that unreasonable, elitist customers were complaining about perfectly good quality products. He insinuated that the boots were weathered differently, instead of admitting that one boot looked like it'd been bought just before covid-19 lockdowns and was thus brand new while its twin looked like it'd been through the wars. He insinuated that I was trying to tie pony tails in my wig and do all sorts of weird things to a perfectly good wig, and his fans just lapped it all up.

It's always a lot of "missing the point" with Danny, which somehow results in him garnering sympathy for himself and plenty of righteous anger towards the "haters".

Edited June 6, 2020 by bbotss

15 minutes ago, bbotss said:

I don't think Danny is missing the point at all. He is too smart to miss any points. Rather, it's more like he's manipulating the facts (as usual) to make himself seem like the victim. 

This to, he is VERY manipulative ( I've said this to others not on the forum before. Oops) . Sorry for the misunderstanding^^'. 

I wouldn't care if he found out who I am and banned me from the store, because I don't feel like giving his business anymore patronage. I do fear, however, him finding out who I am and connecting it with my email address used to buy my SD. Because, correct me if I am wrong, you need your email address you purchased the doll under in order to be able to spend 10,000-20,000 yen to receive a spare part. So, I'd never be able to fix my girl whether I used a proxy or not, because he'd ask for that original email address I'm assuming. That doesn't just permanently screw me over but screws over anyone if I ever sell my dolls too, wouldn't it?

@Deyja You can get repair parts for the pricetag even without proof of purchase. I won't say what part or parts I inquired about because then Danny will know my email, but I will say that the time I asked about replacing part of my doll, they were willing to sell them to me for 200 bucks. 

(I found the parts I needed for 70 on the aftermarket. Thanks, ebay!)

So take heart on that fact at least! All else fails you can use a different email or ask a friend to help. Danny wants to think he can control who gets his dolls, but unless he's going to draft a legal argument that "by purchasing this doll you promise you are not X and this doll will not fall into the hands of Anish Kapoor X", he really can't prevent anyone from shopping with him unless they themselves choose not to. Even if he tries to prevent shipping items from being delivered to your ADDRESS, well, it's a little more expensive, but 1) get them shipped to a friend, 2) proxy shipper. 

You can actually buy the frames separately when they're in stock... they cost a bit, but I've thought of grabbing one for the parts. Just in case... >.>;

TL;DR if he wants a market to spring up around delivering Smart Dolls to third party customers, this is how you go about ensuring that will happen.

10 hours ago, sunlightandtea said:

But it's not about the money guys, so if a part breaks please just buy a new doll. /s

So buy a smartdoll is like buying an Iphone ... then CJ should also provide insurance package for a certain price too

Edited June 7, 2020 by AyaToyBox
typo

I don't think anyone has explicitly called DC a racist on this forum...? His claim seems like self-victimization to me. There has certainly been criticism on how he parades himself and his brand as anti-racist, and while I think it's mostly performative (I'm sure he cares at least to some extent) that isn't the same as calling him an actual racist, imho. The thing is, allyship requires more responsibility, humility, and self-criticism than just saying, "I'm not a racist, look at my dolls' skin tones." Well, he never said that literally but it definitely is used as a shield. Sure, his heart might be in the right place in terms of anti-racism, but it takes more effort, from everyone, to make a substantial difference in the world. To me, this isn't criticism exclusive to Danny either, it applies to everyone including myself.

EDIT: Nvm about his heart being in the right place, I somehow forgot about that whack deleted post. Why do I still bother giving him the benefit of doubt? I wonder if an employee actually called him out on it since he seems to care about them, and perhaps their opinions as well. He's just too privileged to understand actual everyday discrimination.

Edited June 7, 2020 by SakuraRose

Like @bbotss said, he knows what he's doing. He's purposefully taking advantage of the fact he's talking to people who only get his side of the story to pretend the negativity is about one thing when it's about another. There are people who will get curious and go looking for the other side, but not always. Banning people from here from his Insta prevents that other side from being more easily found.

7 hours ago, SakuraRose said:

He's just too privileged to understand actual everyday discrimination.

If I understand correctly he was an orphan, so I kind of doubt he felt privileged.

Edited June 8, 2020 by BeyondTime

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

If I understand correctly he was an orphan, so I kind of doubt he felt privileged.

What? Jimmy Choo (THE Jimmy Choo) is Danny's dad.

26 minutes ago, sunlightandtea said:

What? Jimmy Choo (THE Jimmy Choo) is Danny's dad.

Correct, but as I understand it he gave Danny up for adoption and didn't come back into his life until he was much older. Under that circumstance I would expect rather than feeling entitled he would be more likely to doubt his self worth. Just my own opinion, but I think that's where his thin skin where his creations are concerned comes from.

Edited June 8, 2020 by BeyondTime

8 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Correct, but as I understand it he gave Danny up for adoption and didn't come back into his life until he was much older. Under that circumstance I would expect rather than feeling entitled he would be more likely to doubt his self worth rather than feel like he was entitled. Just my own opinion, but I think that's where his thin skin where his creations are concerned comes from.

Ahhh, gotcha. I apologize for misunderstanding. I did not know that. That’s an interesting take too. 
 

What I find kind of funny though is that we’re digging into Danny’s family history to try to figure out what’s going on in his posts. 😂 

5 minutes ago, sunlightandtea said:

What I find kind of funny though is that we’re digging into Danny’s family history to try to figure out what’s going on in his posts.

As far as I know he's been pretty open about his family history, but to be fair what I know is just what I have read here.

I've said it before, I don't think he's a bad person, I just think he needs therapy to address the thin skin. He seems to misread problems with products as personal attacks on himself, and there is something underlying that which needs to be addressed.

@BeyondTime That I honestly had no idea about. I also found it strange that he'd have an ableist attitude while having severe back pain or something? I get that he has more complicated issues than just "privilege" now. I thought his dad was always in his life. Sometimes people unknowingly/unintentionally manipulate others due to underlying trauma, especially childhood trauma. I'm not excusing his behaviour either but I've behaved like that during my adolescent years. A person might learn unhealthy coping methods due to childhood trauma, which I learned in therapy. I'm not justifying or excusing anything he's said and done though, to be clear, but I think I understand a little more now. 

I stand corrected, it wasn’t adoption. His parents placed him in foster homes due to financial difficulties. He discusses it all on his website. 
 

https://archive.dannychoo.com/en/posts/how-discovering-japan-changed-my-life?lang=en

Edited June 8, 2020 by BeyondTime

24 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

I stand corrected, it wasn’t adoption. His parents placed him in foster homes due to financial difficulties. He discusses it all on his website. 
 

https://archive.dannychoo.com/en/posts/how-discovering-japan-changed-my-life?lang=en

What shocks me about reading this is the tone. There's something much more lighthearted and humble about this, like maybe he was happier when he wrote it. Interesting read too. I dunno. Danny, you drive me nuts, but I hope you can get the help you need to get back to that state of mind.

9 hours ago, sunlightandtea said:

What shocks me about reading this is the tone. There's something much more lighthearted and humble about this, like maybe he was happier when he wrote it. Interesting read too. I dunno. Danny, you drive me nuts, but I hope you can get the help you need to get back to that state of mind.

I thought I was the only one! I used to read his blog posts, way back when he was just starting out with Culture Japan, and his posts about dolls are always so positive and you can really feel how passionate he was about them and how much he loved his Saber.

This is a bit random, but the blog posts about being in foster care seem maybe inaccurate to me. Kids back then were placed in homes by the state, and the state paid the expenses - not the parents. (my cousins were fostered in the 80s, and eventually adopted by my aunt). It might be that his parents told him they paid so there was an illusion of control? Either way, it sucks that he was abused in that system. That is awful luck, and terribly unfair and difficult to recover from. If Danny is reading this - I'm really sorry that happened to you. You didn't deserve it. Nobody does.

And... We do care about racism. Otherwise people would not have been bothered by the original statement. People love that smart doll has a range of skin tones, and things like port wine stains and vitiligo. Other posters have said it better. I am a creative person too, and I had to be careful when talking about racism to make sure it's centered on the issue, and not my brand. Because when it comes to other people's lives, my work is nothing.

Anyway, I hope I can get a smart doll one day. They are beautiful, and I hope you will let me add one to my collection. 

4 hours ago, bbotss said:

I thought I was the only one! I used to read his blog posts, way back when he was just starting out with Culture Japan, and his posts about dolls are always so positive and you can really feel how passionate he was about them and how much he loved his Saber.

Perhaps he's suffering from the thing I kinda worry about... when you turn something you love into a profession, it begins to feel like a chore.

It's possible that the stress of this has caused dolls to trigger a negative response in him now?

28 minutes ago, rensuchan said:

Perhaps he's suffering from the thing I kinda worry about... when you turn something you love into a profession, it begins to feel like a chore.

It's possible that the stress of this has caused dolls to trigger a negative response in him now?

Absolutely. In psychology (hello, I have to put my degree to good use somewhere), we talk a lot about intrinsic (self-driven) and extrinsic (reward-based) motivation. Intrinsic motivation is what drives us to engage with our hobbies, our families, and our friends, things that have no quantifiable value but bring us a lot of emotional fulfillment and joy. Extrinsic motivation is what makes us get up and go to work/school even when we don't want to, like money or grades. We have seen in some studies that when you take something you're intrinsically motivated to do, like create dolls, and turn it into a business, thus linking it to extrinsic motivation, you lose a lot of the emotional fulfillment and joy you had for it and are less motivated to do it in the future, even if it makes up a significant portion of your income, because it causes you stress.

It would be hard to balance the public persona of being a doll hobbyist and creator without slipping up and showing the private reality that you're burnt out and no longer enjoy it like you used to. Similar things have happened on the resin bjd side of things when people make a majority of their income doing faceups and taking commissions, IIRC.

This is another reason why his post about "if you hate your job, just quit and change careers to something you love" simply isn't realistic in most cases.

@fishbuttz Thanks for the explanation! I found it really interesting, yet somewhat sad at the same time. I guess it's hard to imagine ourselves in Danny's shoes since from most of our pov, working with dolls would probably be a dream come true.

- PR is not a bad thing, it's perfectly normal for a company to have one and idk why you're treating it like it's a dirty word.

- You keep talking about "haters", but most of the hate is coming from your side. Most of us here want to like your products and your company.

- Considering there's still a global pandemic on (+all the protests) and the entire world is stressed out right now, the last thing anyone should be spending energy on is being confrontational on social media. How about actual positivity? Saying nice things about the people who like you instead of talking about the people who don't? Showcasing other artists (especially black artists) who's work you admire? Promoting charities?

 

(If by "deal with it like a sheep" you mean mentally go chill out in a pasture somewhere and spend time monching grass and ignoring people yelling at me on social media instead of making 12 billion angry posts about it, then yes. I'mma go do that.)

 

The point: <---

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danny Choo: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

(Sorry to double-post but I wanted the above to stand alone.)

If these glasses weren't going to be like 100 dollars, I'd definitely buy a pair, you know. They're very funny and cool. I am CONVINCED these exist as a 3D model somewhere online, though. Could be a fun day project to make your own.

But man, I feel bad how angry Danny feels about all of this. Literally no one here is your enemy, I literally just got myself another Smart Doll (for a steep discount god bless you mercari.) I love this brand and the products they put out and I... am saddened to see Danny grow so cynical and bitter, when before he seemed to genuinely believe in the ideals he put forth, or at least to have... genuine enthusiasm for something. I don't know what happened there, but I feel for him... at the same time, the problem isn't that he's protective of his staff or that he doesn't keep everything in stock forever (because even though he said he was gonna do that, I know the logistics of that are a nightmare.) The problem isn't even that he made a regretfully reprehensible post, because he deleted that in short order and made one of the most genuine apologies I've heard out of him in a while. If he'd just LET IT GO and try to do better from here on out we would genuinely have all moved on.

The reason we're all still frustrated, disappointed, and exhausted is that instead of learning from this experience, he seems to have doubled-down on the concept that he can do no wrong regardless of what he says. "Golly gee willikers you all sure are threatened by a company using their platform to denounce institutionalized racism!" and "anyone who's angry clearly has ulterior motives!" and "I won't be silenced when I'm speaking on important matters!!!" but no one wants you to be silent we just don't want you to unintentionally offend vast swathes of people when you're speaking. For their sake, yours, and ours... but god, I know no matter how carefully I try to convey my feelings here, it won't matter.

We're "haters." Nothing we say has value in Smartdoll Land. We are the Enemy and so no matter what viewpoint we express concerns from and what experiences we've had that we'd like to impart, it won't matter: because just like Danny can't be silenced and won't ever apologize for saying XYZ, we can't EVER say anything correct or true, because haters are lying sheeps.

It's just saddening. At least I got another cute doll coming in the mail? 😕

Danny, just stop.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Galvatim