New Basic Dolls

I just read that and how he is going to cut down on new dolls made and produced due to questionable components, and I'm here thinking - what about all the pebbles you shipped out with new dolls in them? Were they shipped with questionable quality as well?

It seems like SMD isn't doing too well, I hope they get a hold on their QC issues or whatever issues is bugging their production. 

I think the "limiting the amount of dolls we release each month" might be a good thing. It's just a hunch but I get the feeling that COVID-19 really did a number on their vendors (vendors shutting down or not being able to deliver the goods) and that Smart Doll has been struggling a bit to find a good balance to stay in business and fullfil people's orders whilst dealing with these issues. So hopefully, this will help relive some of the pressures on Danny and his staff. 

4 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

assuming this is unofficial since Volks have the Disney license, but still cute tho. I like her hair.)

Unless the license is exclusive, which I kind of doubt, Danny could still get his own license to make Disney Princesses. Volks’ license is a resin deal too, so it’s kind of a different market than DD & SmD. 

If Danny’s fans wont buy Volks, then I could see Disney Princess as a market he could tap within that fan base. 

I would be kind of shocked if The Mouse would be willing to take up a contract with a vendor who publicly insults their customers, has customer service issues, has pulled any of the other crap that Danny has, etc. The House of Mouse is extremely protective of their image, which very much centers around them creating the ultimate, exclusive customer service experience.

13 minutes ago, Cauldroness said:

I would be kind of shocked if The Mouse would be willing to take up a contract with a vendor who publicly insults their customers, has customer service issues, has pulled any of the other crap that Danny has, etc.

Doesn’t he already have that relationship? I thought he had a deal to make Star Wars dolls, or at least had claimed such a deal was in the works. 

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Doesn’t he already have that relationship? I thought he had a deal to make Star Wars dolls, or at least had claimed such a deal was in the works. 

He hasn't said anything about that or Marvel lately, but while that and Star Wars are under Disney now, they still have separate companies. I could see The Mouse giving them some leeway on who they deal with, but the Princess brand is 100% Disney and Disney is 100% customer-oriented; they definitely wouldn't let DC near any original Disney characters without full control over the whole process and he probably wouldn't agree to something like that.

  

3 hours ago, Cauldroness said:

The House of Mouse is extremely protective of their image, which very much centers around them creating the ultimate, exclusive customer service experience.

 

35 minutes ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

He hasn't said anything about that or Marvel lately, but while that and Star Wars are under Disney now, they still have separate companies. I could see The Mouse giving them some leeway on who they deal with, but the Princess brand is 100% Disney and Disney is 100% customer-oriented; they definitely wouldn't let DC near any original Disney characters without full control over the whole process and he probably wouldn't agree to something like that.

  

I want my future Belle to be an SD Belle anyways so no skin off my teeth if he did release her, but I seriously hope you are both right. Disney Princess should be associated with dignity imo.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHnQcR0hkHT/

POWER GIRL!

And some tech/business stuff. But POWER GIRL! 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHpul88hrrD/

Semi-real Valiant

WOW!! She is gorgeous 😍

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHwQyi9hpGZ/

Old prototype that might join the line.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHwcwO8BDW5/

G04 Resilient.

That Post Apocalyptic Boob Tube is such a no-go for me. It looks like really dirty, grimy bandages... Even in a apocalypse, please change your bandages...

Danny, not everything has to be so grimy!

8 hours ago, sumdude said:

That Post Apocalyptic Boob Tube is such a no-go for me. It looks like really dirty, grimy bandages... Even in a apocalypse, please change your bandages...

It looks like a Mad Max-esque cosplay item to me, or something to wear on Tatooine  On the other hand, it will probably cost $75 and if it does then it's a big no. XD

 

8 hours ago, sumdude said:

Danny, not everything has to be so grimy!

^ This!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CICc-i1h3Hg/

News roundup:

- God Eater/Bandai Namco project(s?) in the works

- SmD Plus shells sold, DC says he'll refund people who manage to produce better frames for them

- Apparel Chaos outlet incoming

- Can't release new stuff atm because they're busy working on Christmas orders (understandable)

- Lots of tech stuff being worked on

Also Batgirl, Power Girl, cute floral pants and tiny Smart Doll?

 

That's all very exciting!  The prototype clothing chaos outlet is going to sell out so fast!

2 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

...and tiny Smart Doll?

 

My impression of the picture on the right is that that's a normal sized Smart Doll sitting among the remaining Plus sized shell pieces. He hasn't said anything about smaller dolls in years.

45 minutes ago, Jezrah said:

My impression of the picture on the right is that that's a normal sized Smart Doll sitting among the remaining Plus sized shell pieces. He hasn't said anything about smaller dolls in years.

I think it's just the perspective shift of a wide and lens coupled with the camera being slightly tilted. The pieces in front seem to match the size of the clothing in the packages. You can see the same effect in the photos of the line of dolls; great big heads and itty-bitty feet.

I was wondering if it was a weird perspective thing.

1 hour ago, Jezrah said:

My impression of the picture on the right is that that's a normal sized Smart Doll sitting among the remaining Plus sized shell pieces. He hasn't said anything about smaller dolls in years.

Thats right. That's the same image used in the SMD+ garage sale post, those are SMD+ pieces!

Quote

1 hour ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

I was wondering if it was a weird perspective thing.

 

Lol I was looking really hard at the pictures to see the small Smart Doll I thought that Power Girl looking figure behind Bat Girl was it at first.

That’s just how big those things are/were. They made 1/3 scale dolls look like toys.

Speaking of a tiny smart doll, wasn’t he working on a 1/6 scale version years ago?

Yes. In 2016, Danny was working on a 1/6 version of Mirai called Pocket Doll : https://archive.dannychoo.com/en/posts/pocket-doll

I might be mistaken but I think about a year or so ago, he did mention them again and said that if enough people showed interest, he might continue development on them. But as far as I know, it seems there hasn't been any update on them. So I'm assuming that Pocket Doll is a shelved project.

That's one of the things that can be either fascinating or frustrating when it comes to Smart Doll.  The whole thing is Danny's passion project.  He's always actively developing lots of new stuff at the same time, and he likes to share a lot on social media.  Many other companies would only share things that are market ready, or at very least things that will certainly be up for pre-order relatively soon. 

So on the one hand, it can be unfortunate to get your hopes up for a project that doesn't make it (Smart Doll Automatic version?).  On the other hand, you have to figure that most companies work on projects that ultimately don't make it to market, and you probably won't hear about all of them.  Perhaps this is one of those areas that reflects Danny's ethos of treating customers as friends (keeps us in the loop) rather than customers (previews are not "promises").

It's a shame, really. The "Smartdoll Pocket" and "Smartdoll Nano" ideas he had years back were really fun, and I would've definitely bought them if they'd been made. I can't think of any other dolls in those scales made with so many vinyl body parts (minus the joints and skeleton, of course) like the Pocket and Nano would have been. And gosh, if he'd done the boys in those scales it would have been fantastic. There aren't many doll lines with standard posable male dolls anymore, especially in anime style.

Ahh, what could have been...

I think he mentioned a few posts back somewhere in the comments about releasing kits for one of the smaller versions of Smart Doll. Argh, lemme find the post, it takes some digging...

Okay, that took a while. Here's a screencap! So, small Smart Dolls maybe? If they go down the obitsu route where you buy a body, head, and wig separately, kit style too, that would be pretty neat. Totally projecting...

Or he could just mean regular vs plus. (But then there was that big plus pieces set so... who even knows what's going on)