DD 2019 Preorder: Master (Gudako) and Mash

I was looking back at the Volks DD collaboration page and it's actually been quite a while since there was much for Idolmaster. End of 2016 was the preorder for Iori, Yayoi and Anastasia and while those were of course delivered late 2017, there weren't any other Imas releases in 2017. 2018 had Kaede and Yuriko, and Yuriko's release was so limited I think she barely counts, and this year there has been nothing so far, with only the December dolls left to go. The past few years there haven't been extra outfits released for existing girls like they were doing, either.

I would've expected Saber Lily to have ranked high in the votes for rerelease. I also wouldn't have expected Miku to (not that Miku isn't popular, but that she's easy to obtain aftermarket and Volks resells her all the time anyway), and yet Miku's the one that got the official rerelease so I obviously know nothing. She could still get a rerelease as part of that anniversary thing, or one that isn't indicated as such as they did the last time with the votes. It would be interesting to see if she gets changed in any way with a rerelease, as how blue Saber got new armor and a new faceup.

34 minutes ago, Amara77 said:

I feel like if their stuff was released you could dress a number of recent the sculpts and get similar results.

Yeah I've been feeling this too unfortunately.

Edited September 6, 2019 by cfx

This is also a pass for me. I'm happy for the FGO fans though! The dolls are very cute.

.

Edited August 25, 2023 by ParacosmDoll

They're both cute, but as much as I love FGO, I'm not that attached to either Mash or Gudako as characters, and I just don't feel like the sculpts capture the characters very well.  I'm almost more tempted by the outfits, but both of them look like staining nightmares.  Maybe I'll reconsider once there are more pictures up, but for now it's a bit of a letdown.

Is it just me or do they look a bit like Rem & Ram?

Well... last night I did say to my fiance, "I know I'm hyped but knowing Volks I'm probably gonna be disappointed." xD I'm being a little dramatic but... this is very underwhelming. I take everything back I would have rather had another Saber. I spent the entire night dreaming of which doll was going to be the pre-order. Apparently dream-me wanted X-Men characters??

 

That and there is every im@s character that I want that hasn't been made and it's been since the end of 2016 like cfx said. Which also means any new ones that come out are going to be a click war... and... when? I'm honestly a little worried, but mostly impatient, since that's really the only thing I've been looking forward to and it's been a very long time. 

 

It's weird that Mash doesn't have her outfit. There's been a lot of pure black outfits so I'm not sure the stain argument holds... but maybe it does because it's tights. Out of all the characters though the "basic main protag" is a little strange. I'm probably going to buy Mash. She's adorable and her alternative outfit is too. But she reminds me of Len?? She reminds me of someone recent or she is just being lost int he sea of cute pinched faces like others have said. 

Mash and Gudako!  I want both!  I wasn't expecting Gudako at all.  

Hopefully. Mash's glasses won't disintegrate like Mari's.  

2 minutes ago, Galvatim said:

Mash and Gudako!  I want both!  I wasn't expecting Gudako at all.  

Hopefully. Mash's glasses won't disintegrate like Mari's.  

 

wait what

Just now, littlebirdzoom said:

 

wait what

Yeah, Mari's glasses are junk.  They start cracking apart the moment you open them.  

5 minutes ago, Galvatim said:

Yeah, Mari's glasses are junk.  They start cracking apart the moment you open them.  

Oh wow. Let's hope they've changed or improved materials since then! That's scary.

41 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Is it just me or do they look a bit like Rem & Ram?

No, it's not just you.  I initially thought the same thing.  But I think it's just that we've all been seeing a lot of Rem and Ram on the forums lately, and Mash has a wig that seems similar.  Gudako's smile is similar to Rem's, and with both of them together it looks like Mash is being all pouty like Ram. They kind of have some broad facial shape similarities, though.

 

 

I hope Fou comes packed with Mash.  

The only Fate character that would make me more excited is Ishtar.  Well, maybe Medusa.  I'm not surprised that Mash is in her Chaldea researcher outfit.  The shield and armor would push her above Saber in cost.  Volks could still release her shield on it's own, and reduce the design costs by not having it disassembled to squeeze in a DD box.  

Maybe next year we can get an updated Saber casual (white top, blue skirt) outfit.  Gudako includes that one in her wardrobe, too.  

I was really hoping for iM@S but maybe one of them will be the Winter DD release. I kinda guessed FGO from the way the page was styled. Not really disappointed but more underwhelmed by the faces. They’re similar to Rem and Ram but like lite version lol. 

Omg I’m definitely gonna try and grab a Gudako!! I’m still new to this so I’m not sure how exactly these preorders work though.. does anyone know if they open them on the USA or international store?

They open in the international, in october and end in december, you wait a year. The payments for the last year pre order its around the corner, and normally in november they send the pre orders.

5 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Is it just me or do they look a bit like Rem & Ram?

Same, but since no one else said anything, I didn't want to be the first lol. Cute but very plain and boring at this point. I hope to see more variety from Volks eventually. Some more mature girls would be nice, maybe they should hire a new sculptor...

5 hours ago, Galvatim said:

Yeah, Mari's glasses are junk.  They start cracking apart the moment you open them.  

...that probably explains why I’ve never seen the glasses sold on their own then ._. I hope they’ve improved since then.

42 minutes ago, Monty said:

...that probably explains why I’ve never seen the glasses sold on their own then ._. I hope they’ve improved since then.

Mitsuki did hook me up with a second pair, which also cracked as soon as I unfolded them.  I don't recall hearing about any issues with Rise's glasses, so Mash should be fine.  She also has the advantage of not really needing them to look right, unlike Mari, her glasses are a signature part of her look.  

45 minutes ago, Galvatim said:

I don't recall hearing about any issues with Rise's glasses, so Mash should be fine.

I tried to search without success, but I remember a discussion here a while ago where someone wanted to buy these, and there was at least one response warning them they weren't worth the high aftermarket price because they break so easily.

Still Rise came out years ago so Mash may still be fine.

3 hours ago, katana said:

I’m still new to this so I’m not sure how exactly these preorders work though.. does anyone know if they open them on the USA or international store?

They should be on both USA and international; they normally are. The rules for how you pay specifically how much up-front is required are different between the two, I believe. As with most DDs, you'll get them a little earlier if you order from international.

6 hours ago, Gabriel said:

Gudako's smile is similar to Rem's, and with both of them together it looks like Mash is being all pouty like Ram. They kind of have some broad facial shape similarities, though.

I really think Volks sculpts have taken on a faddish (not the right word) quality, because there are certain things common to various recent sculpts that were not common at all in the past. Mash, Ram, and Towa all appear to have the low/squared-off jawline. Gudako, Rem/Ram, the Sailor Moon dolls, Karin, Kaede, Yuriko, ... , all have the little button noses with practically no bridge and due to that the flattened-out faces. If one happens to not like any of these trends (the noses and flat faces for me) then you may not be particularly happy with these trends.

My favorite sculpts are Takane Shijou (by far), Sheryl Nome, and DDH-07, so I obviously like noses, lol.

Edited September 6, 2019 by cfx

I'll consider Mash but volks has really been producing pretty stale characters lately. 

I guess it wasn't just me that felt the sculpts seen here are not that much exciting. In my opinion, the problem with recent DD releases becoming underwhelming and somewhat stagnant is due to Volks having just one sole sculptor putting out releases for the past 4+ years. Serika Misaki has been sculpting all of Volks DD releases since around 2014, minus re-releases. Misaki is one of the original sculptor for Volks (Zoukei-Mura). Other sculptors are Kosuke Kitahara (Chorosuke), Rimuka, and Hakase Amano.

 

While Serika Misaki had put out some popular hits, e.g. Saber, Sasara, Saber Lily, Miku, to name a few. However, she's often playing it very safe when it comes to sculpting the facial expression; almost always the standard shallow sculpted smile lip faces. This in turn somewhat leads to an infamous problem known to the character designer, Tony Taka; the "Same Face Syndrome." It's coming to a point where the outfit defines the character more so than the face sculpt because they are so similar. It's as if most characters can be made with just the outfit and any similar recent sculpts and the feeling would be the same.

 

Though, to Misaki's credibility, she does tries for different touches once in a while. One example is Megurine Luka. To me, this was to me an attempt at spicing up the sculpt a bit. However, the sculpt for Luka may be too different from previous designs or that people just got too used to the smiley faces up to that point and anything different is viewed in a negative light. The partially open mouth sculpt was getting a bit of criticism. Citing, it just look awkward. The few following releases went back to the smiley closed lips. At least up until 2B, where the sculpts is completely changed to resemble an SD due to the realism doll character design from the original source.

 

The last few years' overall DD releases seems to be stagnated in flair or uniqueness. Not that any of the recent sculpts are bad in any means, but it's simply getting, for lack of better words, boring. What Volks really need is for the other sculptors to come back and mix things up a bit. Personally, I'm hoping for Chorosuke to return and put out some more of his amazing work. He worked on Tamaki, Kanu, Beatrice, Rise, KOS-MOS, to name a few. All of which have unique designs and were very well received.

I don't feel like the issue is that Serika Misaki does all the sculpts now, as she's done most of them for many years and has done the ones I personally like best, but that it's more that she seems to be stuck in a rut doing designs that are very similar and using the same design cues, with some exceptions still like Matoi.

I took issue with the open mouths on Kaede and Luka, but seeing repaints I think my issue is more with the faceups than the sculpts; I find both to look like they are in the middle of saying something rather than looking inviting and smiling. Otherwise my complaint with Luka is the same one I have with Miku, which is just that they don't look like what I envison the characters should look like, and maybe that's just my problem rather than Volks'.

That said, I'm sure my complaining about open mouths didn't have any effect on whether Volks is continuing those or not, and sales of Kaede and Luka seem to have been just fine.

Edited September 7, 2019 by cfx

I'd disappointed that it's more FGO characters, but at the same time I'm also not surprised. FGO sells well, it's popular, and it has so many popular characters to choose from. . . . I just wish Volks would change it up though. 😕 I'm not interested in either, but will admit I like Mash's outfit and Gudako's face sculpt (even though it's a little basic).

Price come out from volks news

65,000 yen for mash

Gudako is 62,000 yen and her extra outfit is 13,800 while Mash's outfit is 12,800.