New Basic Dolls

Blue-buki. Kablueki.

My immediate though was "oh god there's another one". Also that's unfair choice because obviously PEOPLE WANT MORE BLUE. not that i mind blue is heckin' pretty also someone in comments said "Guardian of the Galaxy vibes" and Yes.

1 hour ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

My immediate though was "oh god there's another one". Also that's unfair choice because obviously PEOPLE WANT MORE BLUE. not that i mind blue is heckin' pretty also someone in comments said "Guardian of the Galaxy vibes" and Yes.

Agree, tea doesn’t stand a chance, not with the demand for blue.  Anything blue is going to sell - especially with the messaging that it’ll not be around long term.  
 

That aside, the kabuki face up goes well with the blue.  Very pretty doll.  (Also, I didn’t say it for the cocoa doll at the time because well, red is the most traditional color but since he’s changed it here, I’m going to say that I think changing the cocoa kabuki face up to using a blue instead of red would have been prettier - and blue is used sometimes in kabuki so not unreasonable)

Edited August 7, 2021 by abs2891

2 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

My immediate though was "oh god there's another one". Also that's unfair choice because obviously PEOPLE WANT MORE BLUE. not that i mind blue is heckin' pretty also someone in comments said "Guardian of the Galaxy vibes" and Yes.

My first thought was "first new Tea girl in what feels like an eternity, and it is one I don't like 😭"

But I am not surprised about the lukewarm reaction. Kabuki her design is very strong, so naturally very divisive. And Cinnamon + Cocoa were just released so a third one within a month is a bit much.

I think Kabuki looks amazing in blue. The face paint suits her perfectly. 

new semi-real names just dropped

I’ve never been a fan of the semi-real girls, but I really like Imagine.

Curiosity came out, I think she's cute, I like her faceup.

Fabric Friends and Dolls added the Kabukis and a bunch of clothes and some parts to their stock just now. 

 

Cyberpunk? Where? 

On 8/16/2021 at 5:08 PM, Eiko82 said:

Cyberpunk? Where? 

it can be a lot of things, from prosthetics to panel lines ... but sarcastically speaking if we are to discuss the most recent big cyberpunk thing I guess the company has been trying to make the Maelstrom fall/winter clothing catalogue for awhile now...

Dimension!

...And a bunch of blabbering about NPCs and "Look At Me I Am Special Because I Am Different From All You Zombies" and quantum whatevers.

But Dimension! She cute! And science-y! And valid!

Holy shit! That was several pages of his insane ramblings about himself then a one page story for the next same face doll he’s come up with this week. I believe he is truly insane.

I also feel really bad for his employees who’re being “mentored” in business by him.

I kinda loathe evo-psych. Tigers being a predator explains the way our eyes work, but beyond only basic threat models, not really anything about our brains.

(Also lol at the idea of owning a house these days!)

But the doll is pretty. If we buy it though, are we being NPCs by engaging in consumer behaviour? Dude, don't sass people out of buying pretty dolls!

Edit: plus NPCs can't see outside of walls. They don't have cameras. Unless you're in Forbidden Siren, in which case yeah, the NPCs can see. Sorry, being pedantic here. 😆

Edited August 18, 2021 by Katsudon
Pedantry

2 hours ago, Katsudon said:

I kinda loathe evo-psych.

I think it’s a useful branch of science as long as it’s being used to further our understanding of how we work. It can inform other sciences and deepen our understanding of the human mind. Using it to toot your own horn is nonsense. 

@BeyondTime Haha that might be the problem: I've only been exposed to people doing the latter and not the former. XD

Aaand I missed on Dimension.

Sold out in 3 hours

@Bellatrix She's listed as back soon-ish, so hopefully you'll have better luck next time!

CHAOS BOYS!

...That you can only order if you're Chaos-approved I guess. And it's weird that he's not just releasing them regularly - I guess they don't come with the full eyes/wig/underpants...and it looks like you have to buy the shell and frame separate which is annoying...

(And I see one of my friends has commented on the "have to buy other dolls before you're allowed to chaos" policy, so what are the odds she's getting banned...sigh.)

They don’t even give you a head with the body… remains tough times for anyone in the market for a smartdoll boy.  The fact the semi-real is also headed to chaos would seem to indicate it’s staying that way too.  A shame for those that’d like one but aren’t interested in buying other things.  

I really would like a boy, and I'm super intrigued by the idea of assembling one myself...but I can't do chaos, so here I am, left out of the fun. :')

I wish he'd put stuff like full sets of uncut parts and frames into a "DIY" section with appropriate warnings. That would probably deter newbies enough without locking out those who really want to do the DIY process, but that's probably not likely...I can dream though!

I find it really devilish to sell them as chaos. People have been wanting boys for literal years, and all Danny is doing is a lucky dip for them. He's not running a business as much anymore; he's running an expensive lotto.

8 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

CHAOS BOYS!

...That you can only order if you're Chaos-approved I guess.

Buy a couple of our girls so you can obtain the right to play gatcha games in the hope of getting a boy…

I think it’s a mistake to view SmartDoll as a retail store, and instead it’s more like it’s its owner’s version of an pachinko parlor; a place where you play games of chance through which you can, in a roundabout way at times, obtain a particular thing as a prize. Some of the games have higher chance & lower risk. I.e. buying a doll during the brief window it’s available vs. chaos where you could shell out thousands and not get the prize you’re after.

Our mistake is probably that we keep thinking of it as a retail shop where you go in get a doll off a shelf and pay for it. When we do that we make certain assumptions about how a retail store is expected to behave, and those assumptions really don’t seem to apply here.

To put it another way: We evaluate Danny as a shop owner running a shop serving customers, but he’s really more along the lines of a vlogger who successfully branched his social media presence out into a merchandise line where chance is what gets you the most sought after products. 
 

Edit: 

2 hours ago, Deyja said:

he's running an expensive lotto.

We both ended up at the same place. XD

Ugh.. I want a Smart Doll boy but you need to have purchased from the store twice to be eligible for Chaos products. It’s frustrating. Perhaps he won’t have to keep unsold Chaos items if he opened up that section to the people who’ve purchased from his store once or not at all.

However, the problem of looking up purchase history and banning customers is not limited to Danny Choo’s SmartDoll store.

A Japanese businesswoman I’ve been in communication with, the creator of DollyPop actually, told me about Volks Inc and how they will review a customer’s purchase history and will ban them from purchasing if they’ve determined they worked with a competitor or criticized their actions or products online. It’s one of the reasons she uses a pseudonym. She wasn’t personally banned from Volks Inc but heard stories of it from somebody else.

It’s a part of Japanese culture to keep quiet and not openly criticize a business or another party’s decisions or actions.