Dollfie Icon

3 hours ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

 My favs are Clover and Iris but any and all are nice. I am newer to DD and new to this board although I collect many others dolls and toys.

Welcome to the board!  I agree, Clover and Iris are beautiful!  

3 hours ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

I’m new also to the Volks lottery...I’ve never entered a lottery yet. What are peoples experience with winning these lotteries? Is it usually fairly easy to win or does it seem to be nearly impossible? It seems that quite a few people are still hoping to get one. 

My first lottery for the Icons was for Terra and I won her.  The next THREE lotteries for them in a row I tried for Clover and failed every time.  On my fourth lottery I finally won Clover.  And I bought my Serra from Ebay recently so no lottery for me! 😄  From what I have ghathered with info from several different sources and collectors, it seems that every time the Icons are up for lottery, there have been between 40 and 60 of them made available.  We have no clue about numbers of the skin tones in each lottery tho as Volks doesn't release those numbers or numbers sold.  So it's all a guessing game really.  But as it stands now, there have been 5 lotteries so far for the Icons and if we guess that there were 60 available in each ( which is a maximum num ber guess ) then that means there are only 300 Icons dolls worldwide.  And we have no clue how many of those are in each skin tone either.

 

3 hours ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

The Volks doll that I purchased was through a 3rd party seller. I’ve read several things about the Volks lottery system but I still don’t quite understand. When you enter do you have to pay upfront for the full cost and your card will show the cost as “pending” but you will only officially be charged if win or to enter do you just enter your card info and it will only charge you if you win?

It depends on the lottery.  The Icons do not require you pay up front to enter for them.  Some other dolls do require it tho.  Maybe others who have entered more lotteries than me can chime in here with better info.

 

3 hours ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

All in all though, I truly hope these will be for a preorder to avoid possible disappointment for the many people who seem to enjoy them. I’m not a fan of lotteries in general at ALL. Although I can understand for a very limited run of something. But from what I understand this is the 3rd year for these with a lottery so I would think that if people are still waiting to be able to get one and they’re that popular then why would Volks not do a preorder for them?  I can understand a lottery maybe the first year/run for these, maybe even a second year, but after that I would hope for a preorder. I read somewhere that their face is hard and time consuming to makeup because of the iridescence so possibly that has something to do with the limited runs?  

Nope, I seriously doubt these will be a preorder.  Most of their special girls are lottery only and so far every one of the 5 times these gals have been available it's been a lottery due to the low number of them produced.  Volks is a Japanese company and they LOVE having limited runs on stuff.  Even tho these dolls were designed for the Western market, they still use the same setup for limits on them as their Japanese focused dolls.

Icons are all vinyl so their heads are too.  The faceups are hand painted and super detailed.  The skin on all Icons except for Terra do have iridescence made into the vinyl so that won't go away.... but the faceups also have some sparkle and glitter to them and since those are painted on, they *can* be damaged if you touch them too much.

 

 

Billy

4 hours ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

When you enter do you have to pay upfront for the full cost and your card will show the cost as “pending” but you will only officially be charged if win or to enter do you just enter your card info and it will only charge you if you win?

 

4 minutes ago, baldylox said:

It depends on the lottery.

I think at this point Japan requires a full prepay for all lottery and short term pre-orders - like with Meiko. Volks USA doesn’t require a prepay. They also don’t take PayPal for their lotteries. Japan has a lot of issues with scalpers and with people who decided not to follow through with payments after a win, so they had to get tough.

Thank you for the helpful info and thank you for welcoming me! 
 

I didn’t realize that they were that limited!!! Wow. I was thinking maybe 200 or so each doll at a time that wow those numbers are a bit discouraging. But I’m glad that I know now and can understand the odds a little better. Prepare and expect the worst but hope for the best right? Haha But like with any lottery if you don’t enter you don’t win I guess too is another way of looking at it. And it’s nice that at least Volks USA doesn’t make you actually pay upfront. I’ll keep that in mind that Japan does take payment upfront for lottery. 
 

1 minute ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

I’ll keep that in mind that Japan does take payment upfront for lottery.

They have to deal with a lot of BS, so the measures they’ve put in place are hopefully helping to bring more dolls to people who want the doll and not a profit margin. 

In the US lotteries, how long do the winning confirmation emails usually take to come in after lottery has ended and how long do the winners have to pay for whatever they won? Thanks in advance.     

Edited June 3, 2021 by Masteryoda1978

20 minutes ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

In the US lotteries, how long do the winning confirmation emails usually take to come in after lottery has ended and how long do the winners have to pay for whatever they won? Thanks in advance.     

Volks USA publishes their exact schedule for each lottery and they stick to it really well. 

Generally the announcement will be on a Friday with payment due by the following Monday @ 9 AM.

Thank you! 

On 6/1/2021 at 8:20 PM, Masteryoda1978 said:

Thank you for the helpful info and thank you for welcoming me! 
 

I didn’t realize that they were that limited!!! Wow. I was thinking maybe 200 or so each doll at a time that wow those numbers are a bit discouraging. But I’m glad that I know now and can understand the odds a little better. Prepare and expect the worst but hope for the best right? Haha But like with any lottery if you don’t enter you don’t win I guess too is another way of looking at it. And it’s nice that at least Volks USA doesn’t make you actually pay upfront. I’ll keep that in mind that Japan does take payment upfront for lottery. 
 

Specifically for the previous online Icon lotteries, you entered for a skin tone & eye shape (normal or romantic glance) combination. The hair and eyes would be chosen by Volks, so you wouldn't actually know what the doll looked like until you got her delivered. They are all gorgeous as Volks does a good job with coordinating, but just be sure you don't have your heart set on the ones they use for marketing purposes.

Else, they all come with a standard set of clothes/shoes. Last time around, there was an additional variable of the fantasy ear pieces. People either got the elf ears or the fish fins(?) Until we have more details, we won't know how Volks will differentiate the 2021 models from 2020 and 2019.

The only people who got to "pick" the Icons they lotteries for were the people who were physically present at the DollPa they were released at. Each attendee had the option to lottery for one specific Icon doll, so we had to pick wisely! 

Edited June 6, 2021 by asianed

Thank you I’d honestly be happy with any of them. They all look nice. I was wondering though why the wigs on some seemed to be different than the stock photos I guess it’s just whatever variant they send customers which is fine. Thank you for explaining that. I really do like the elf ears and the fish ears too.
 

If I don’t win this one though it seems that there’s usually an international lottery in Aug through their Japanese site? From what I’ve read. In order to enter that lottery would I need to sign up for a membership and pay a fee or anything?  Or can anyone enter without paying a membership fee? And if I do need to pay a membership fee how much is it in USD? And how long does the membership take to go into effect after I would buy it? Thanks in advance. 

On 6/6/2021 at 10:11 PM, Masteryoda1978 said:

Thank you I’d honestly be happy with any of them. They all look nice. I was wondering though why the wigs on some seemed to be different than the stock photos I guess it’s just whatever variant they send customers which is fine. Thank you for explaining that. I really do like the elf ears and the fish ears too.

There are a variety of wig and eye colors. Volks does a pretty good job showcasing all of the different types they use on the Icons, you just have to use your imagination on how a particular wig would look on a specific skin tone if there isn't a picture. There are also plenty of owner pictures too.

 

On 6/6/2021 at 10:11 PM, Masteryoda1978 said:

If I don’t win this one though it seems that there’s usually an international lottery in Aug through their Japanese site? From what I’ve read. In order to enter that lottery would I need to sign up for a membership and pay a fee or anything?  Or can anyone enter without paying a membership fee? And if I do need to pay a membership fee how much is it in USD? And how long does the membership take to go into effect after I would buy it? Thanks in advance. 

I'm not really sure how the Japanese market/international lottery worked for the Icons (I've never entered for them via international). Volks recently implemented a new system where you had to have a Volks membership (it's something like 500JPY/year) in order to enter or purchase certain items from the International store. The membership usually kicks in within a day of purchasing, from what I've heard.

 

Resharing a few pictures of my Icons: Lily (purple), Lulu (tan), and Leyla (green).

On 6/1/2021 at 2:48 PM, WorldofBJD said:

OMG another chance would be great. Time to start saving then. Hopefully a pre-order this time because it was kind of a disappointment to lose the lottery and see some people win three :'D And hopefully on the international site again too. I NEED ONE. NEEEEED.

So to quote myself.... It looks like they will only be rereleased in the US, Japan/INT shows absolutely nothing about them. Time to find an American to bribe... 😛 No, just kidding, but I may have to see if I can find someone in the US who would be willing to join the lottery for me and then ship to me. I NEED CLOVER. NEED. MIGHTY NEED. 

1 hour ago, WorldofBJD said:

So to quote myself.... It looks like they will only be rereleased in the US, Japan/INT shows absolutely nothing about them. Time to find an American to bribe... 😛 No, just kidding, but I may have to see if I can find someone in the US who would be willing to join the lottery for me and then ship to me. I NEED CLOVER. NEED. MIGHTY NEED. 

IIRC the last two times they didn't announce a Japan release until well after the US release was announced.

They’re so pretty! And that bee outfit awww so cute! 
 

45 minutes ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

They’re so pretty! And that bee outfit awww so cute! 
 

Thanks! I'm super lucky to have 3 of them. Two of them came directly from DollPa in LA in 2019 (hence getting to pick my "options"), the third came from last year's lottery.

As has been mentioned previously, Volks produces the Icons like their resin offerings. The body parts are mass produced, but the faceups are not. Unlike most other vinyl dolls (Dollfie Dreams, Smart Dolls), the makeup is hand applied stroke by stroke by an artist. This leads to a lot more detail in the makeup and adds to the complexity/time to complete each one. Once the paint is applied the faceup is then sealed with an iridescent top coat, giving it a beautiful shimmer.

In contrast, dolls that have greater availability are painted via a masking technique (think stencils), so they can be cranked out in much larger batches quickly, even if there's still a person doing all of the painting. 

I would imagine that the number of Icons they can produce for each run is also bound by the number of artists they have working on them. The original concept was done up by a Volks USA employee, though I'm unsure of if the artists in Volks Japan are also involved in the production. Those folks are also responsible for the broader range of Volks products, including their resin standard models, Full Choice System (FCS) dolls, and any other upcoming resin releases.

Here are some more pictures that I took back at DollPa to give you more ideas on the multiple combinations that were made that year. All of these dolls went home with people after the event.

 

I like that each is individually painted. Each doll seems to look a little different in some way. Makes sense too why they are so limited. That would have been great to be able to join in the LA lottery and to see all of the dolls in person. 

In the online lotteries, I see it is possible to win more than one if someone puts in for them. How many people have actually gotten lucky and won more than one at a time? Or do most people tend to win either one or none? Just out of curiosity. 

Dang. I actually cannot believe we are almost to July already. . .

I really home there is something different about this release verses the other two. I adore my Lilac and might break down and try for Clover. . .

1 hour ago, Masteryoda1978 said:

I like that each is individually painted. Each doll seems to look a little different in some way. Makes sense too why they are so limited. That would have been great to be able to join in the LA lottery and to see all of the dolls in person. 

In the online lotteries, I see it is possible to win more than one if someone puts in for them. How many people have actually gotten lucky and won more than one at a time? Or do most people tend to win either one or none? Just out of curiosity. 

Maybe some day we'll have in-person events again... It was my first time going to DollPa and I would love to do it again!

For the lotteries online, they draw the winners for each item individually. As far as I am aware, they do not care if you entered for one item or all of the items. It is entirely possible for you to enter for all of the items and then win the ability to purchase all items. Winning on one should not reduce your chances to win on another. Depending on the policies for the lottery, your account may get suspended if you do not follow through with the purchase of all things that you won. Volks Japan has policies around this in an attempt to deter people from entering for everything and then picking and choosing the items they'll want to buy.

It also means that certain items will not have as many entrants as others. I don't necessarily see that as a "problem" for the online lotteries, but for in-person, it could be a factor. At DollPa, some dolls that didn't get any lottery entries (remember, it was one entry per person per category).

For past Icon releases, your chances of winning were dependent on the number of each particular skin tone/eye shape and the number of other people entering for that same combination.

Personally, I've won multiple items in a single lottery draw, though I can't remember ever entering for more than one doll in a single event. First time for everything though In the instances I won multiple items, it was for outfits and/or a doll. I've even won lottery draws for a coordinated outfit, but not the doll that the outfit went with.

Edited June 8, 2021 by asianed

1 hour ago, asianed said:

Maybe some day we'll have in-person events again... It was my first time going to DollPa and I would love to do it again!

Mine as well, and I’m really hoping we have one next year. I sure it was just completely unrealistic from a risk assessment standpoint to try it this year. 

Thank you for sharing your story and for your help! Im just curious as to how many people have won more than one skin color at one time. Like say someone actually won the rights to purchase all 4! I would like to hear more stories...haha.  I’ll hopefully put in for 1, maybeeeeee 2, but will have to see on that.
 

And too it’s impossible to know how many will be released of each color so that mixes things up a bit too it sounds like! The LA lottery sounded even more challenging but interesting. 

12 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

IIRC the last two times they didn't announce a Japan release until well after the US release was announced.

Fingers crossed for a japan/int release too then. 😛 but I did find one person who was willing to help out if it is US only. So I'm a bit covered.

Question, would a Serra head match decently to a regular semi-white DD body?  

Her pink tone and pearly sheen would give it away I think but when you compare to her joints it seems passable compared to the rest. If you keep her mostly clothed and are careful about editing her hands if you mind them it seems doable.  

17 hours ago, abs2891 said:

Question, would a Serra head match decently to a regular semi-white DD body?  

No because Serra is the normal skin tone ( now called flesh ), not SWS.  So that alone would be quite easy to see.  And with the iridescence made into the vinyl, it would stick out even more.  So I'd say definitely no.

 

 

Billy

On 6/8/2021 at 11:06 PM, abs2891 said:

Question, would a Serra head match decently to a regular semi-white DD body?  

 

On 6/9/2021 at 4:24 PM, baldylox said:

No because Serra is the normal skin tone ( now called flesh ), not SWS.  So that alone would be quite easy to see.  And with the iridescence made into the vinyl, it would stick out even more.  So I'd say definitely no.

 

 

Billy

Serra's skin color is called "Petal" which is a bit cooler, and pinker in tone when compared to semi-white skin.
it's a close enough match to where it can be some-what passable since the make-up can mask the difference in color.

Jadepixel has a comparison of "Petal" and "Semi-White" on her blog here:
https://www.jadepixeldoll.com/dollfie-icon-serra-arrival/

Edited June 10, 2021 by Subaru

59 minutes ago, Subaru said:

 

Serra's skin color is called "Petal" which is a bit cooler, and pinker in tone when compared to semi-white skin.
it's a close enough match to where it can be some-what passable since the make-up can mask the difference in color.

Jadepixel has a comparison on her blog here:
https://www.jadepixeldoll.com/dollfie-icon-serra-arrival/

Thanks - looking at it, it probably wouldn’t bother me but it is not as close as I thought it might be