The Facebook debacle & other issues

44 minutes ago, sumdude said:

People keep leaving the Smartdoll community/ facebook groups completely... I was looking for animeticdolls and found that every post in FB was deleted.  He one of the few good artists in Smartdoll community too.

that escalated quickly.    an how sad, i had no idea about this.    *shakes* *head*    has cj/ smd fallen so hard?

had question,  what's the deal with DC turning off comments on his YT channel?

1 hour ago, sumdude said:

People keep leaving the Smartdoll community/ facebook groups completely... I was looking for animeticdolls and found that every post in FB was deleted.  He one of the few good artists in Smartdoll community too.

What happened with animeticdolls?

6 minutes ago, LuluChan said:

What happened with animeticdolls?

He posted in a Smartdoll Group about how he disliked the new semi reals and how they are dominating all of danny's latest releases, it didn't have the best reaction by the members. Duh, cause no criticism is allowed. I sometimes look at his dolls to see smartdoll mods and just realised one day out of the blue all his posts were gone, and also he had left all smartdoll related groups, including the one created by him (chaos marketplace). So I feel like the crowd turned nasty on him.

 

1 hour ago, sumdude said:

He posted in a Smartdoll Group about how he disliked the new semi reals and how they are dominating all of danny's latest releases, it didn't have the best reaction by the members. Duh, cause no criticism is allowed. I sometimes look at his dolls to see smartdoll mods and just realised one day out of the blue all his posts were gone, and also he had left all smartdoll related groups, including the one created by him (chaos marketplace). So I feel like the crowd turned nasty on him.

 

I think he might have blocked you or something because I can see him in all groups... ^^'

That's why I asked, because I saw his post on semireal and the mixed reaction, sadly he seemed fed up with Smart Doll. I remember he used to post new faceups and mods almost every week. I liked them a lot too

7 hours ago, wishbearstar said:

had question,  what's the deal with DC turning off comments on his YT channel?

If he really is marketing mainly to kids now, comments on kids videos are turned off by default. I think that’s just as well because I remember looking at some of his videos and I was kind of...horrified how many kids were in the comments complaining about how their parents won’t buy them one. I also saw one comment that haunts me to this day of a kid asking Danny to pleeeeease send them a free one cos they can’t afford it, followed by *their actual residential address*! 

The alternative would be needing someone to constantly moderate comments so having them off is for the best. 

1 hour ago, Monty said:

If he really is marketing mainly to kids now, comments on kids videos are turned off by default. I think that’s just as well because I remember looking at some of his videos and I was kind of...horrified how many kids were in the comments complaining about how their parents won’t buy them one. I also saw one comment that haunts me to this day of a kid asking Danny to pleeeeease send them a free one cos they can’t afford it, followed by *their actual residential address*! 

The alternative would be needing someone to constantly moderate comments so having them off is for the best. 

oh i see.   yikes!  i had no idea.  i know there were some pretty heated comments on his 2017 Lelouch lamperouge smart doll vid.   hmmm

2 hours ago, wishbearstar said:

oh i see.   yikes!  i had no idea.  i know there were some pretty heated comments on his 2017 Lelouch lamperouge smart doll vid.   hmmm

Heated how? Were people angry with that release for some reason.

8 hours ago, LuluChan said:

I think he might have blocked you or something because I can see him in all groups... ^^'

That's why I asked, because I saw his post on semireal and the mixed reaction, sadly he seemed fed up with Smart Doll. I remember he used to post new faceups and mods almost every week. I liked them a lot too

Oh its funny that I was blocked, but better than him leaving everything. 🙃 Not that I've been rude to him??

Some videos still have comments enabled. Like the one with a kids box-opening, so I wonder...

Think they were disabled due to "bad comments", personally

What a coincidence that the latest blue girls drop coincided with the start of Icon lottery~

1 hour ago, bbotss said:

What a coincidence that the latest blue girls drop coincided with the start of Icon lottery~

Jokes on him, I can't afford either right now lol.

(But I'd still take lottery over unscheduled clickwars)

1 hour ago, bbotss said:

What a coincidence that the latest blue girls drop coincided with the start of Icon lottery~

I didn't realize! Was busy with Icon lottery myself. 😄 Icons are glorious, even with the mismatched joints. 

11 hours ago, AliensOfGold said:

Heated how? Were people angry with that release for some reason.

well one person, was pretty much talkin trash an being an over all troll. an of course they niavely fed said troll.  also jealousy 

Now this made me laugh today!

4 minutes ago, sumdude said:

Now this made me laugh today!

I saw this too, and I lol'd.

What "drama" is there on the resin side that they think is worse than the SmD drama? Or do they just live in their own little bubble separate from the rest of the Smart Doll/vinyl community?

I'd say the only unifying 'drama' the resin side has is the debate around recasts, which I'd hesitate to even call drama. Other than that, there are pockets of drama across the board but the 'resin side' of the hobby is far too big to generalise as an entire community (honestly I dont even really like the term 'resin community' for that reason. It's just too big to treat like a single entity) I like resin dolls a lot, but most of the drama I hear about involves people, companies and individual sellers/hobbyists that I personally never actually have anything to do with, so I only ever hear about it second-hand.

Some of it is very juicy and entertaining, but most of it pales compared to the stuff in this thread lol. Perhaps they're new...

4 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

What "drama" is there on the resin side that they think is worse than the SmD drama? Or do they just live in their own little bubble separate from the rest of the Smart Doll/vinyl community?

I mean - every so often, native English speakers (USians are particularly notorious for this) will blow up at someone in a thread for not wording something the way the native English speaker felt it should have been worded, and I think that's one of the biggest sources of drama. That's what I see on DoA particularly. But fortunately, other commenters generally pop in to remind the upset person that not everyone on the forum is a native English speaker, and they calm down.

Another type of drama I've heard about (but not seen) is when someone posts an unpopular face up. Maybe it's too gory, or a little too dark, and the critics will pop up to complain about how it's not to their liking. When this intersects with ESL speakers who aren't deeply learned on how to carefully word their criticisms, things can get ugly. I have seen this in OOAK groups. 

But usually, a reminder of different strokes for different folks tends to settle everyone down.

OTOH - Dollshe. Dollshe, Dollshe, Dollshe is drama all day, err'yday...

6 hours ago, sumdude said:

Now this made me laugh today!

I’ve seen things like this from folks in fandoms before. It’s like some of them are wearing a pair of blinders that only work on the bad stuff occurring within the fandom. 

 

4 hours ago, Monty said:

Other than that, there are pockets of drama across the board but the 'resin side' of the hobby is far too big to generalise as an entire community

A few months ago we got a large influx of new members who jumped from DOA, so I had wondered if something didn’t happen over there. 

4 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I’ve seen things like this from folks in fandoms before. It’s like some of them are wearing a pair of blinders that only work on the bad stuff occurring within the fandom. 

 

A few months ago we got a large influx of new members who jumped from DOA, so I had wondered if something didn’t happen over there. 

I mean, I've been in plenty of fandoms and I usually don't see the drama because I actively avoid it; but I've never claimed there weren't bad parts of them around somewhere on the internet. I think that's just bound to happen once you get to a certain size.

I'm on DoA too and I didn't see anything happen... A. But again, I avoid drama like the plague; B. Myself and some others have been occasionally recommending people in the DD/Obitsu/vinyl threads to come over here for more info. Maybe people just came over because they saw the links? It's not like DoA started deleting all the vinyl doll threads or anything.

...I think the only BJD drama I actively pay attention to is Choo-related, come to think of it.

41 minutes ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

Maybe people just came over because they saw the links?

I just noticed a lot of new introductions that mentioned jumping from DOA to here. I rarely spend any time on DOA so I wasn’t sure what, if anything, was going on.

I think we’ve had some mild drama here, and while some of it is in this thread, other parts of the forum haven’t been immune. For the most part when I talk about fans with blinders I’m referring to some of the bigger fandoms focused on celebrities, and how some fans can see things happen in the fandom right under their noses and still manage to pretend it never happened. 

Maybe the bjd fandoms are just more socially well adjusted, and that’s reflected in our pursuit of a hobby that focuses on models of people / characters. 

I would guess that even the drama in the SmD fandom is coming more from younger fans and less from adults. 

Most drama in the resin part have been about the way people craft their dolls' character, in my experience. Not just the faceup, but the style and "personality" of the doll. And yeah, as mentioned, some aren't too tactful when voicing that they don't like something.

Then there is the elitists, and those who cannot stand it when a certain type of doll/sculpt does not "conform to the norm" - Like, "all minifee's must have a top quality faceup, have mohair-wigs, and wear sweatpants", as an example.

But I've seen way less of it in recent years.
Although I think most took place on tumblr, and less people use tumblr now, right? It doesn't spill over to DoA as much at least.

Not a high bar, but there hasn’t been actual scamming of the, “I paid for a doll from this company and then never got a doll or my money back” variety which has happened in resin (unless I’ve missed something)
 

Otherwise, yeah, plenty of drama lol 

2 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

 

...I think the only BJD drama I actively pay attention to is Choo-related, come to think of it.

😅 Yeah, uh... I've read through nearly this entire topic, giggling away throughout most of it. Not that I'm, y'know, bitter or anything after having been blocked by a Certain Someone on Instagram. I consider it kind of a badge of honor to have received not one, but two snarky personal messages before being blocked.

What was sad, though, and initially upsetting, was that I did not think my "observation" (that Smart Dolls are "luxury goods") was in any way out of line; additionally, my comment was merely posted in agreement with another comment (which also got deleted, and I assume the poster was also blocked). Over the couple years prior to that, the Certain Someone had politely, and in some detail, responded with PMs to a couple of my earlier comments and questions, including once with a voice memo, which was pretty cool.

What frustrates me... not even frustrates anymore, so much as saddens me... is the change in direction and "business philosophy" of the company from the time, not too long ago (September 2018), when I made my first Smart Doll purchase until now. As noted many times throughout this long (and entertaining) discussion, the company was once about "product accessibility" as opposed to "exclusivity." There was, if I recall correctly, a stated pledge on the site that Smart Doll - dolls, accessories, and clothing - would not be "limited editions" and would "not" be discontinued without notice. That has certainly changed, with nearly everything being limited, limited to the point of selling out within minutes and never being restocked.

Culture Japan, or whatever it's called now, is a privately held company. The owner can do as he pleases with it. Apparently the new business model is working for him. That's great. I wish him well. Obviously he's getting along fine without my occasional purchases.

As for me, I'm kind of glad, now, that my Smart Doll models have been discontinued; discontinued before the bigger changes in business practices occurred. When I look at them, I find myself feeling happy that they represent the "Before Era," when Smart Doll was fun, and cool; and, yes, they were an expensive "luxury good," but they weren't a snobby limited edition get-it-before-its-gone-you-loser only-for-the-rich type of luxury good. They were a fun, cool, well-designed, quality product you could actually save up for over time.

And the shoes were better, too. Wish I would have purchased more of the "Tall Boots." But, silly me, I was taking Culture Japan at their word, that they would not arbitrarily discontinue items without notice.