First doll questions and advice

Hi!

So I have been reading and researching and looking and making considerations for purchasing my first doll. I love the design of the dollfie dream, but am stuck between some of the model types, so would love to hear feedback from owners or people that just know more than me (so basically anyone). 

I am torn between a DD-3 and a DDdy. I've seen and read a lot of comparison threads on build quality, the looks, compatibility with other heads etc, but still have some questions that maybe anyone here can help with.

In terms of clothing, is one doll vs. the other going to be easier or harder to buy well fitting clothes for? I know there's a pretty big market for outfits available through volks and Facebook and etc, but is one generally more accessible than the other? Is there any way to best know what clothes won't stain easily?

Do you have any suggestions between buying a used collaboration full set doll (Saber, KOS-MOS, etc) or buying a new standard model from volks directly and just customizing from there? Is there any preferred locations to buy from? Most of what I've looked into is Mandarake and eBay, given no marketplace access here yet. For anyone that has tried, how difficult is it to obtain a new limited doll through secondary markets (i.e. the new nier dolls that are coming out)?

If I do end up getting a used doll, I have read that most stains are removable if you're careful and work at it, is this generally true? How worried do I need to be about light damage if I keep her displayed in a glass display case, not near any windows (there is a skylight, but it generally does light that far over in the room)? Is a body suit recommended if I plan to keep her on display the majority of the time, and if so, I assume generally try to look for outfits that cover most of the skin?

Thank you so much for your help! I'm sure I have other questions im forgetting but this is at least a start for me. From the other posts and help threads I've read, everyone here has been extremely friendly, so thanks again. Also open to general suggestions and advice.

For clothing fits I think DD M bust or L bust will have the most options. DD will be what most Volks outfits for Dollfie Dream are sized for. DD M bust will take SD13/SDGr clothing too, and that is a very common clothing size that Volks and other clothing makers make clothing for. 

Availability and price of limited dolls will vary widely. Kos-Mos is beautiful, but she has a small head. You will need some additional stuff like a silicone cap to make wigs fit her well. Saber Extra is another beautiful doll. Both shouldn’t be too expensive. Nier it’s hard to say because they aren’t out, but pre-orders usually aren’t too bad in terms of after-market price. 

Avoid ebay and get them from Mandarake or Yahoo Japan. 

I keep mine in a glass case in a room where they do not get direct light. I have yet to have any yellowing, even on my resin Super Dollfies, but I haven’t really had them long enough for that to be an issue. 

I buy used dolls with stains from Mandarake all the time, and I have yet to run into stains I can’t remove with time and effort with one expection. A stain one of the dolls got from a metal necklace will not come out. I suspect it was the result of some sort of oxidation. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by BeyondTime
Clarified sentence about pre-order dolls

Fortunately I'm bored right now, so here's a wall of text ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ 

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

In terms of clothing, is one doll vs. the other going to be easier or harder to buy well fitting clothes for?

Yes, a DD with an M-bust is generally the easiest thing to get clothes for. The M-bust is big enough to show the doll's figure through clothing even if the clothing is loose or the doll is wearing layers. Fabric is pretty thick relative to the size of doll clothing so smaller busts look better with tighter outfits (S-busts), otherwise it can look like they're wearing a bag for a shirt.

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

Is there any way to best know what clothes won't stain easily?

Unless you know what it's made from, you won't know without holding it in your hand. Cotton is naturally white and it's dyed with colour, and that colour can seep into vinyl. Polyester on the other hand isn't dyed (it's plastic) so it's safe. If it's black & cotton, it can be very dangerous. Black & polyester, perfectly safe. After a while you can tell by looking at dyed cotton if it's really dangerous; if the colour is rich and it's kind of shiny, it'll probably stain. 

The really dangerous stuff will stain the doll deeply if you put it on and take it off immediately (shiny black Volks socks I bought in 2013... curse you). Just... throw that junk out or maybe a body suit will help. And don't touch it with your bare hands and then touch the doll — the dye will stick to your hands and then the doll. Clothing that's really safe can be left on for several months, maybe 6 months and there will be little stains that are easy to clean. If something is pressing the cloth against the doll, like maybe a tight belt along the waist, there's a chance that everything else will be clean but there will be a light stain along where the belt was pressing. Not-really-safe but normal clothing can stain after a week, casually-dangerous clothing will start staining after a full day.

Generally test clothing to see if it will stain first using a spare part. I actually bought DD2 feet and I wrap clothing in them when I think something might be dangerous. If it turns out it's dangerous, you can wash the clothing in just water (put them in a lingerie wash bag and use the gentle cycle in the washer. Let them air dry, and do this several times if it's in the casually-dangrous category).

But stains happen and they go away when you treat them. Just test clothing you're suspicious of. And don't put two black socks on at once if you think it might stain, fully staining one leg is good enough for testing.

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

Do you have any suggestions between buying a used collaboration full set doll (Saber, KOS-MOS, etc) or buying a new standard model from volks directly and just customizing from there?

Yes, get what you like! If there's a limited collaboration doll that you like and you can get one in good condition for a reasonable price you can afford (Yahoo! Japan auctions are a great way to get new dolls for a markup; basically people buy them to resell online) and it's a doll you want, you'll be really happy to get it. OTOH if you like the idea of making your own character (either from scratch or based on something else, even if there's a limited doll for it already), it can be really rewarding to make something you like.

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

For anyone that has tried, how difficult is it to obtain a new limited doll through secondary markets (i.e. the new nier dolls that are coming out)?

It depends on the doll, typically how expensive it is and how many of them are made. Like Xenosaga pre-order dolls (especially KOS-MOS) was very expensive full price and wasn't as popular as the Saber and Miku pre-orders (because duh). Getting her second-hand at that time or now is going to be expensive and difficult. OTOH Miku is really easy to get, she wasn't very expensive and she's massively popular.

In some cases the scalpers who resell dolls on Yahoo! Japan overestimate supply/demand and get stuck selling dolls, meaning you can get them for almost retail price. Here's what's in the Dollfie Dream > Body section on Yahoo auctions,

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/category/list/本体-ドルフィードリーム-人形-キャラクタードール-おもちゃ-ゲーム/2084258813/

You would need to use a proxy to buy from them. They promote Buyee but there's also Noppin, Rinkya, From Japan and Shopping Mall Japan (I use Noppin). Do not buy from eBay, there's too many scams.

It's hard to say what Nier's going to be like, but it's a popular pre-order so I expect stuff will be available and it won't be marked up too much (like not 200%, maybe 110-150%).

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

How worried do I need to be about light damage if I keep her displayed in a glass display case, not near any windows

So I can't give any guarantees, but in the summer I absolutely cannot avoid light in my apartment, because it's small and I have too many windows (the only place I can have sealed off from light is the bathroom). I avoid keeping my dolls by the windows as much as I can and try to keep direct sunlight from shining on them too much, and, well, they've been fine. My oldest dolls do seem a little darker but OTOH Volks has changed their skin tone over time, like Rin was freakishly pink compared to anything I got before her. Melty was about 1.5 years after I got my first two dolls (Yaya & Sakuya were both released in 2013), and her face sculpt was and still is a slightly lighter shade than those two. As far as I can tell none have yellowed, but there have been reports on the forum where people's dolls have spontaneously yellowed, even in storage. 

I think you have to be worried about being very unlucky rather than light harming your dolls if you're at least trying to be careful. You also have to worry about keeping your environment clean, if you burn candles or incense the dolls are going to soak that up over time. 

  On 5/6/2019 at 9:29 PM, kollstag said:

Is a body suit recommended if I plan to keep her on display the majority of the time, and if so, I assume generally try to look for outfits that cover most of the skin?

Honestly the only thing you need to be worried about is the head. If something happens, everything else is easily replaceable (at least for a normal-skin DD, if you somehow get a tan-skin DDP you're going to have a very hard time getting replacement parts. One-piece torsos like Melty's are also hard to come by but I wound up getting a wonderfully posable f3 body for her anyway). But the head is very precious and is the main reason why limited dolls have any value; the other is the outfits & accessories they come with, but those are easier to get second hand than the heads. Do not get the face dirty.

You only need a body suit to protect against clothes that can stain. If you intend it keep it in a glass case for months at a time, and with the outfit using the body suit doesn't look bad (like maybe this, although she's not using a body suit), then yes, keep the body suit on. It's safer and there's no harm, although putting clothes on a body suit can sometimes make them fit weird (it's like wearing socks on top of socks you're already wearing). If you're going to be handling the doll more and changing outfits, just use it as needed since it can be annoying to deal with a lot (it's hard to put socks on top of socks). I wouldn't use one for the sake of preventing yellowing, only to protect against stains when you're not going to keep checking the doll to see if the clothes have started staining.

Awesome! Thank you both so much for your help. Definitely brought up a lot of things that I hadn't really considered but will definitely pursue. Definitely seems worth getting a few extra generic parts to test for staining just in case. I had read some people only use white gloves and etc to change outfits, but it seems like that might be going a little above.

Having never used a proxy for shipping from Japan, I will read up on that. I know you said you use Nippon, are the others less well reviewed or just personal preference? I assume it cuts into shipping time, but all good things are worth the wait. 

Thank you again so much, I can't wait to get a new member to the family!

The gloves are useful. The fabrics on the outfits are so fine that dry skin can damage them. They are also good for handling the head, but you should be careful not to touch the faceup. 

Hands can also be used for testing. They are cheap, but larger parts are better imo. You want to be sure you test the fabric and the seams. Sometimes the fabrics are fine but the seam threads stain. 

  On 5/7/2019 at 6:27 PM, kollstag said:

I know you said you use Nippon, are the others less well reviewed or just personal preference? I assume it cuts into shipping time, but all good things are worth the wait. 

The most important difference is generally the rates they charge — they don't buy stuff on your behalf for free! And Buyee actually I think you need to pay for the full bid price upfront, the others let you put in a deposit and they apply a multiplier (say 3x), so if you deposit $50 (which is completely refundable when you no longer need to bid), you can bid up to $150 on items. With Buyee when I checked, if you want to bid $150 you have to give them $150. And then that $150 is used only for that auction; with other proxies you can put in $50 and bid on several auctions up to a total cost of $150 (3x multiplier, so for example you could bid on six different auctions with a max bid of $25 each).

Also keep in mind that the original seller needs to ship it to the proxy, and then the proxy has to ship it to you, so shipping cost increases. Proxies let you store stuff with them in their warehouse for like a month and can ship things together to you when you're ready.

Some services don't do real-time bidding, meaning you have to put in a request to them to bid and they'll do it eventually. With Noppin you can bid real-time up to the last minute (although Yahoo! Japan auctions usually have 5-minute auto-extensions turned on, meaning if anybody bids within the last five minutes it gets extended for another five minutes). The proxy's customer service is also important, because often you have to communicate with the auction seller to ask for details, or just communicate with the proxy to help understand an auction and what you're buying. Noppin has always been good at that. They're also absurdly good at packing your stuff for shipment to you, they don't just throw it in a spacious box 😄

Actually when I got Sakuya via them, Sakuya's doll box is bigger than most DDs because it comes with her very large sword. They had to pack it in a box even bigger than her large box (it's fairly tall/long), so they actually cut two boxes apart and made a custom box out of it to ship it to me.

That said, I haven't had to buy stuff from a proxy for a couple years, although I think I will soon because I want to get a Dollce wig that's hard to get without one. So shop around and compare their service & pricing. They don't just do auctions, some proxies (including Noppin) will actually buy stuff for you from stores in Japan for you. 

 

  On 5/8/2019 at 4:19 AM, foo said:

Also keep in mind that the original seller needs to ship it to the proxy, and then the proxy has to ship it to you, so shipping cost increases. Proxies let you store stuff with them in their warehouse for like a month and can ship things together to you when you're ready. 

That's a good point. The original seller has something like 2 weeks to ship the item to the proxy. I don't recall the exact number of days, but the proxy should have that info on their own website.

Some sellers will refuse to sell to proxies, and some proxies will refuse sellers with a small percentage of bad ratings.

  On 5/8/2019 at 4:19 AM, foo said:

They're also absurdly good at packing your stuff for shipment to you, they don't just throw it in a spacious box 😄

Buyee has always packed my stuff well. They also have an extra protective packaging service for a fee, and which I do get for dolls. Usually not for clothing though. I got it for Lady Oscar's Odalisque dress without thinking about it, and it took me about 30 minutes to cut away all the bubblewrap to get to the box the dress came in. XD

Japanese packaging for shipping is legendary. I order CD's from amazon Japan, and the always arrive in perfect condition from across the bloody Pacific Ocean. I order from amazon in the US, and even when they ship from inside my state half the time they are scratched up on arrival.

Edited May 8, 2019 by BeyondTime

@kollstag welcome to the forum and the dollfie dream 🌍 

  On 5/8/2019 at 4:19 AM, foo said:

although I think I will soon because I want to get a Dollce wig that's hard to get without one

Dollce opened an international online shop, if you follow their instagram links they’re from there. If the wig isn’t listed maybe you can request it so you avoid middleman fees ^^

  On 5/8/2019 at 5:07 AM, BeyondTime said:

Japanese packaging for shipping is legendary

So true!

  On 5/8/2019 at 7:19 PM, Singer Yuna said:

Dollce opened an international online shop, if you follow their instagram links they’re from there.

Thanks! It took me a while to find their instagram, but their shop is https://dollce.stores.jp