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4 minutes ago, Meggiekarp said:

That $750 price tag is ouch. I was looking forward to the minty girl, but I honestly don't see them being worth with those semi-white joints (besides the white one). Does anyone know why they cost so much compared to DDs? 

The cost isn't exactly out there.  You're getting a close to fullset doll.  Whereas a standard only comes with a wig and a slip, these are getting a bra, skirt, belt, pants, "frill bottoms", fishnets, and heels.  It's more akin to a simple fullset than a standard.

Then there's the faceup, which is more involved than a standard DD, as well as the added eyelashes.

Then there's the new colors and the glitter formula.

It's priced roughly the same as Kagamine Len.  No, you don't get a keytar, but the other new features are obviously intended to offset that.
 

20 hours ago, Nyx Whitestar said:

 

 

I do kind of dig this particular head/faceup.  I like the pale one better.  It has the advantage of the joints being closer to the skin color.

Fuller lips are fine, but the upper lip on these bugs me.

She needs crystal blue eyes, too.  If they had given the demo some shining blue eyes, I'd probably be much keener with regards to her.

 

I like them. I don't think I would buy one for myself, though. It's not my aesthetic and I prefer the nier dolls' softer faceups, but I can definitely appreciate there being more variety in the vinyl doll hobby. Particularly with the skin colors... that could be nice to see on a DD.

4 hours ago, Meggiekarp said:

That $750 price tag is ouch. I was looking forward to the minty girl, but I honestly don't see them being worth with those semi-white joints (besides the white one). Does anyone know why they cost so much compared to DDs? 

Maybe of that shimmer/glimmer... what was that additive to vinyl?

 

Also Yay for the blue skin tone. If it stays in official main line = if it will be released. 

 

"Ana'doreini talah!"

I love the look of the tan one, and I love the outfit they all come with. I have to admit the lack of proper color in the joints is kind of making it a no for me.

I do hope they keep making them, and eventually make an IF to match.

Oh. . . . oh no. . . . .

I promised myself I would cap at 5 Volks dolls, but the mint and purple skin. . . . and pierced ears and belly button. Volks is the worst I would love to have one of these ladies! 

While I am annoyed that the joints do not match, maybe I could convince myself they are supposed to be that way because the doll is actually a robot. Or maybe I could gently color them somehow? I probably would not even try with that price tag. 

750. Dang. I am going to have to really think about this one. 

 

Random thought, does the open-eye face remind anyone else of 2B's DD face? Just me? 

I don’t think 750 is a lot comparatively considering how much you get, plus how much more goes into those faceups. They said it’s the same technique for SDs, which would mean handpainting every one, right? That’s much more labour intensive than the face masks a DD uses. The shimmer too would have to count for something.

8 hours ago, Meggiekarp said:

That $750 price tag is ouch. I was looking forward to the minty girl, but I honestly don't see them being worth with those semi-white joints (besides the white one). Does anyone know why they cost so much compared to DDs? 

Standard SD models go for right around $750 and SD owners are who I think Volks are aiming for with these. The limited dolls go for even more, so that's what people are used to. Personally I think it's pretty wild to pay that much for a vinyl doll considering they can stain, but the posing is really different compared to a bjd. I'm guessing that's what Volks is tempting people with in addition to the pretty colors and why they see the price as fit. 

Not to fault DD faceups but these have a lot going on in comparison too plus the outfit and shoes. Volks shoes are like $50 alone lol.

Normally, this type face is NOT my thing.  I'm not a real fan of the realistic faces/molds for my dolls.  I prefer the anime stylings of the DD and SmD girls.

 

BUT....

 

This tan girl here is completely amazing and mesmerizing to me for some reason.  Those semi closed eyes and disapproving look are just HNNNGGGG.   

 

I do NOT however like the idea of not coloring the joints.  It makes absolutely NO sense to me.  It's kind of off putting and looks unfinished or thrown together in my opinion.  But if that tan girl gets made to be widely available, I might just have to ignore those off color joints and adopt her.  😉

 

 

If you notice, these are on the DDIII body, not the newest body.  So maybe it's a way to use up old stock, hence why the joints are not color matched.  And from the email I got from Volks USA I got the impression that these were very limited and probably just a one off thing in that they'll have some there in LA for the event, then probably some on the site later, and once they are gone, that's it.  I'm not a fan of SD heads, or rather how their makeup is done, but Serra is growing on me.  I would love a MDD with that petal skin color.  But good luck to all that get one, I can't wait for photos to show up on here of them.

If they were using up old DD3 stock, what would stop them from just selling the bodies or frame parts as-is, rather than pulling entirely new vinyl colors, going for an entirely new style direction, and making announcements two years before release? It sounds more like a limited test run to me.

I was interested in particularly the mint and blue ones during the tease, but not if the joints don't match. If I don't care about the joints matching I can dye a doll myself and use whichever head I want.

I also am not 100% on board with most of the face ups. While I like the eye makeup, I don't like the harsh black line used for most of their lips. 

That being said, if this project ever did get a second run with matching joints I would be very tempted to adopt one and maybe tweak the lip makeup only.

I don't think they're using old stock as much as they're using old moulds that nobody else is using, that they can pour funky colours into for a proper production run. I guess this is a limited production run then? The face sculpts are new, IIRC Danny said that making the cast for that is like $10k. So maybe the US is a trial market 🤔

I don't know why I assumed new bodies - as in not the same bodies as Dollfie dream. 🤔

They look nice though. I actually like the "pale" one, with the different colored joints! The others joints don't fit at all colorwise...

And as mentioned they do indeed look unfinished. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Yumeiro

8 hours ago, foo said:

I don't think they're using old stock as much as they're using old moulds that nobody else is using, that they can pour funky colours into for a proper production run. I guess this is a limited production run then? The face sculpts are new, IIRC Danny said that making the cast for that is like $10k. So maybe the US is a trial market 🤔

Well, could it be that they're dying existing leftover DD3 body parts?

And yes, it could be that they're using the DD3 moulds because they're retired so might as well do something experimental with them.  I dunno.  But if you're going so far as to special cast the vinyl parts in new colors, then why not the joints and core skeleton?  I can understand not doing the core skeleton, but it seems they'd really want to do a few joint parts in the appropriate tone.

Considering how easily the vinyl pieces stain, it seems it would be relatively easy to give the existing inventory a dye job, while the plastic skeleton/joints would actually have to be cast in the color needed.  

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Gabriel

13 hours ago, baldylox said:

Normally, this type face is NOT my thing.  I'm not a real fan of the realistic faces/molds for my dolls.  I prefer the anime stylings of the DD and SmD girls.

Normally I'm with you on the SD sculpts, the three SD I have a very different from the usual SD face sculpt. Terra really is stunning though.

--

As far as the DDIII body goes it's also possible that they started this project before the F3 body was ready for production. I can think of one big drawback to these, and that is there aren't any option parts in these colors.

All the design stuff on them indicates these were made by the normal Volks design department, so it's interesting that they are releasing through the LA Dolpa. Has there ever been a new doll release at the US Dolpa?

3 hours ago, Gabriel said:

Well, could it be that they're dying existing leftover DD3 body parts?

And yes, it could be that they're using the DD3 moulds because they're retired so might as well do something experimental with them.  I dunno.  But if you're going so far as to special cast the vinyl parts in new colors, then why not the joints and core skeleton?  I can understand not doing the core skeleton, but it seems they'd really want to do a few joint parts in the appropriate tone.

Considering how easily the vinyl pieces stain, it seems it would be relatively easy to give the existing inventory a dye job, while the plastic skeleton/joints would actually have to be cast in the color needed.  

 

They’d have to use a different dye formulation for the different material type to make the color match across materials so it’s not that simple (plastic vs. vinyl). That’s why this feels like a test market. They committed to making head moulds but haven’t decided what colors are going to be popular. If they really do full production they’d dye f3 frame parts. They probably can’t make small quantities of the plastic parts in a different color like they can with vinyl. 

 

I don’t think they’d make a product by staining leftover parts, it wouldn’t look very good or be consistent, and probably lack permanence for the vinyl. 

54 minutes ago, foo said:

I don’t think they’d make a product by staining leftover parts, it wouldn’t look very good or be consistent, and probably lack permanence for the vinyl. 

That is one thing that had occurred to me, if they did stain the existing vinyl then Dream Rescue would remove the stain. That would be pretty undesirable, and it’s unlikely they would do that. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by BeyondTime

These are pretty! They're aesthetically up my alley but I don't think I'll get one, just because I prefer resins if I'm getting that more realistic aesthetic (and mini resins at that). 

Not that anyone would be dying to experiment on the frame of a 750$ doll, but Idye Poly should be able to penetrate the hard plastic of the joints if you want to go that route. You'd have to experiment with some junk pieces and dye mixtures first to get an exact color match, but even an approximate match would be more aesthetically pleasing than the white joints imo. 

They're so gorgeous! But, really Volks? Not even matching joints? For that reason alone I'd probably pass. Only the pale one would be worth it but she's a comparatively lame color (save the nacre thing). The purple one is my fave, tan is second (but i always love tan dolls lol).

someone on another forum posted a response that they got from volks usa when asking about icon.

it says that “icon has different color joints in order to emphasize the most important dollfie element: ball joint design. as the joints are the same color as the inner frame, if there is an issue with the inner frame it can be replaced,”

hmm, not sure how i feel about that. it is a good point that with a standard color of internal frame you can replace parts easily. and the thing about ‘emphasizing the ball joints’ is a little ...... idk !?!

Some people do dig the joints.  Still, I'm calling marketing speak.

23 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

Some people do dig the joints.  Still, I'm calling marketing speak.

Well, I think they have a point about the frame breaking. That's the one part of the doll you are likely to need to be able to replace, outside of the torso frame though you can't buy the other frame parts by themselves, so you'll end up with extra vinyl bits that don't match Icon.

I'll be interested to see how the sales are. Quantities of these dolls are limited enough that there is rarely an issue of them not selling out.

Edited July 25, 2019 by BeyondTime

Do you all have no faith in Volks? lol 

My guess is that they had a strict timeframe (they wanted to get these out for AX) and didn’t have time to manufacture a bunch of frames in unique colours. Mismatching joints aren’t that visually pleasing for sure, but it’s not really a valid complaint when these are just early prototypes.

Edit: Ignore me. I didn’t realize Volks confirmed that the mismatched joints will stay.

Edited July 26, 2019 by michinyan

8 minutes ago, michinyan said:

Do you all have no faith in Volks? lol 

My guess is that they had a strict timeframe (they wanted to get these out for AX) and didn’t have time to manufacture a bunch of frames in unique colours. Mismatching joints aren’t that visually pleasing for sure, but it’s not really a valid complaint when these are just early prototypes.

Don't misunderstand my comments.  I'm not intending any of my remarks as disparaging against Volks.

I'm just naturally cynical.

For me it's like a brainteaser.  Why did they decide to do it this way?