The Facebook debacle & other issues

5 hours ago, Lurks said:

Mr. Choo, I don't think this questionnaire where three of the four questions asks you to choose between a very exaggerated, obviously terrible and unethical choice or doing the opposite (with the last question being nothing but a bad meme) is the anti-scalper/anti-entitled trap you think it is.

I can just imagine shoe child lining up his smart dolls in rows and asking them those questions, and the smart dolls responding in unison...

I’m not perfectly versed in all Japanese benefits, but will say that in regards to healthcare, Japan has a universal system so they should be okay in that regard no matter what CJ is up to - generally, when you work for a company they have certain responsibility re paying into the system and may offer employees additional benefits beyond the standard (and still very good) national offering.  (Retirement is also a national pension fund you pay into so they should generally be okay for that as well, barring changes made by the government to said plan.)
 

The most common problem in Japan remains overwork - they have recently introduced various limitations for staff level employees but the limits are quite high and whether they will result in genuine change remains to be seen.  It will heavily rely on upper management and the older generation has a tendency to see long hours as working hard - efficiency isn’t rewarded.  At least in that regard it would seem CJ is doing something right assuming the message is genuine.

So is the mold broken or not??
Or was it the paint-mask(s) that broke?

11 minutes ago, Yumeiro said:

So is the mold broken or not??
Or was it the paint-mask(s) that broke?

or is DC/ Cj broken?"  in there lies the rub...

Schrödinger's head mold... 

11 minutes ago, LuluChan said:

Schrödinger's head mold... 

It was both broken and not broken at the same time; until Danny opened the box. 🤣😂🤣

I knew it. 'Broken headmold', my behind. I honestly can't believe he has the gall to go 'oh, look! The Moonlight mold wasn't broken after all!', especially considering how much the garage Moonlight sold for. Danny's business practices are shady as hell, I swear. 🤮

Edited June 21, 2021 by Selenae

Wasn't the story that the mold broke, but he still had the master? So it's probable he made another mold off that maybe? Presumably he still has it since the moonlight in the garage was just an old one that'd been hanging around the shop.

I was always confused why he didn't make a new mold when people seem to really like the doll. Molds break, shit happens, make sure to back up your work!

18 minutes ago, Katsudon said:

Wasn't the story that the mold broke, but he still had the master? So it's probable he made another mold off that maybe? Presumably he still has it since the moonlight in the garage was just an old one that'd been hanging around the shop.

I was always confused why he didn't make a new mold when people seem to really like the doll. Molds break, shit happens, make sure to back up your work!

I thought it was a staff members old Moonlight. Basically the equivalent of Volks being ‘oh look here’s a staff members Aoi they didn’t want anymore, that’ll be $2000, she’s discontinued after all.’

I cant believe he has the audacity to complain about resellers profiting off of fans when he pulled a stunt like that. 

@Monty I really wish I could upvote your post a dozen times over. This is exactly what I was thinking, too.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Selenae

27 minutes ago, Monty said:

I cant believe he has the audacity to complain about resellers profiting off of fans when he pulled a stunt like that. 

That one takes the cake. Just remember, he's certainly not doing it for the money. Think someone should send him a bottle of polish, because that halo of his is looking a little tarnished.

@Deyja More than a little tarnished, I'd say. It's downright rotten at this point.

Sounds so fishy, but it is typical DC.

Well, Aoi may not be a great example cos absolutely no one was paying thousands for her on the aftermarket as it was but.... Miku etc? Sasara? There’s multiple limited collab dolls Volks pulled out of mystery space for events, both online and offline, without jacking up their RRP just because they’re hard to find now. 

If anything he’s only teaching scalpers how to price things with his garage shenanigans. edit, couldn’t resist: ‘it’s not about the money in smartdoll land’...until it is.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Monty

@Monty No kidding. Another thing that really bothers me about all of this is how he's getting away with it. If he were operating on U.S. soil, his hide would be charred to a crisp for a move like this.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Selenae
typos, whee!

1 hour ago, Monty said:

Well, Aoi may not be a great example cos absolutely no one was paying thousands for her on the aftermarket as it was but.... Miku etc? Sasara? There’s multiple limited collab dolls Volks pulled out of mystery space for events, both online and offline, without jacking up their RRP just because they’re hard to find now. 

My mind still goes back to all the noise he made over how expensive developing cortex was. 

3 hours ago, Deyja said:

That one takes the cake. Just remember, he's certainly not doing it for the money. Think someone should send him a bottle of polish, because that halo of his is looking a little tarnished.

a fallen angel..

@BeyondTime Oh yes, let's not forget that. Hypocrisy at its finest, if I must say so, in my opinion.

5 minutes ago, Selenae said:

@BeyondTime Oh yes, let's not forget that. Hypocrisy at its finest, if I must say so, in my opinion.

Hypocrisy doth make strange bedfellows.      considering, he made cortex kits, after customer requests.  because it wasn't made for consumers..  but oh wells   Dc needed new shoes an the like.  

3 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

My mind still goes back to all the noise he made over how expensive developing cortex was. 

I think this impacted a lot of his decisions after - prototype garage and pebbles all came when his cortex investment was failing

 

That said, I am SURE he still has the molds, so maybe one day he will bring them back. 

On 5/26/2020 at 9:39 PM, bbotss said:

@Katsudon Not sure if you have seen this, but a customer who placed an order recently was treated really badly by Danny. Basically he wasn't sure if his order got through but imo Danny was really nasty to him.

<chop chop>

Removed the remaining post for brevity.

Hello! I’m new. I’m up to page 20 (?) and working my way through. Promise I’ll keep going - but work and sleep and stuff. Also - I’m typing this on an Apple tablet. Heh heh.

At the risk or resurrecting old drama (and with sincere apologies if I am), this post has convinced me of one absolute certainty (I’m sorry to be the one to break it to US SmD fans), and that is Mirai Company is never coming to the US. 
 

Here we have a regulatory agency called the Federal Trade Commission, and most (if not all) states have consumer sales practices acts. California’s is particularly strong. 
 

This sort of behavior runs afoul of US regulatory requirements and laws. I don’t see any business case for Mirai Company to make an investment in creating a US subsidiary, based upon our legal system surrounding consumer sales. In other words, this sort of behavior would not fly. They would spend a lot of money setting up shop, and then spend a lot MORE money defending a lot of litigation.

 

Sorry, y’all. Mirai isn’t coming to America…

 

13 hours ago, Yumeiro said:

So is the mold broken or not??
Or was it the paint-mask(s) that broke?

What, so I won't be able to sell my Twilight for a ridiculous price in the future? 🤣

10 hours ago, Monty said:

I thought it was a staff members old Moonlight. Basically the equivalent of Volks being ‘oh look here’s a staff members Aoi they didn’t want anymore, that’ll be $2000, she’s discontinued after all.’

I cant believe he has the audacity to complain about resellers profiting off of fans when he pulled a stunt like that. 

Yeah, the pricing on that doll was too much! 😕 It's hard to take anti-scalping stuff seriously when he's charging so much for a regular stock doll. Meanwhile, don't anyone dare sell on their pebbles or make a smidge of profit on discontinued dolls! Do as he says, not as he does lol.

I haven't seen people charging so much for blue dolls even, and they're in demand at the moment!

Responding to other posts I forgot to quote... I can believe cortex was expensive! Injection molding costs a ton! It's a shame though there wasn't a way to continue it or vary it a bit more to give it more life. I do really like the idea of cortex. And if he kept it going with more variety then it would have been really awesome! Even if he didn't make more head molds for cortex plastic, blank vinyl heads would be a cool way to offer more variety and customisation options for people who want it. I wish it was still around...

2 hours ago, Katsudon said:

Meanwhile, don't anyone dare sell on their pebbles or make a smidge of profit on discontinued dolls! Do as he says, not as he does lol.

I haven't seen people charging so much for blue dolls even, and they're in demand at the moment!

I think I just saw someone list an old Mirai for 1200 usd...

2 hours ago, Katsudon said:

I do really like the idea of cortex. And if he kept it going with more variety then it would have been really awesome! Even if he didn't make more head molds for cortex plastic, blank vinyl heads would be a cool way to offer more variety and customisation options for people who want it. I wish it was still around...

Same.
I still don't really understand why it was considered a failure when it hardly ever got a proper release. Just in assemble-yourself, or bits and pieces every now and again. Easy to miss out on for a lot of people.
I think the idea of cortex was great. Especially with how it could be marketed towards figure collectors, and (pre-)teens. And it'd probably do better with the general western market with the DC licenses as "figures", more than "dolls". Guess it just took too much time to assemble the cortex-shell, and... overworked his staff.
Having both options would be cool.
But eh, it's hard to know what is what.

9 hours ago, MaleficentMrsofEvil said:

Sorry, y’all. Mirai isn’t coming to America…

I don’t think Danny was ever really interested in opening a US store. He made that statement after Volks USA moved from their old location to a location in a more industrial area that isn’t as nice. He said he was going to build a store in the neighborhood they used to be located in as a dig on Volks IMO.