Dream Fitter eye mechanism

This one nearly snuck by me - it was put up on both Volks stores without a single bit of fanfare and I never would have noticed if I hadn't been poking around. Apparently it was introduced through Dream Choice and now it's just plain available: a little sponge mechanism for holding DD eyes inside the head without eye putty! Plus a silly rubber-tipped stick you can then use to reposition the eyes without opening the head!

(And here are links to the Dream Fitter and the Dream Fitter Stick on the Japanese store.)

Has anyone tried these? If so, what was your experience like?

There's been a little discussion of it here off and on. I asked about it one time:

I never did buy one to try like I had planned to so I can't offer any opinion of my own.

There's a few comments about it spread among some other threads. I will point out one thing here because I didn't reread that entire thread so I'm not sure if it's there or not. This only works with Volks eyes, because it depends on how the back of them are shaped and that little pin that's on them. It may be possible to modify it and have it work with something else though.

Edited February 21, 2020 by cfx

It works with smaller Volks eyes, but large eyes that touch inside of the head don't really work well using this mechanism.

A little late to the discussion, but I'll throw in here.

I bought a set for each of my Alters, Saber Santa Alter and Saber Alter V2, the design was easy to install, and the instructions were "fairly" straightforward for not being able to read Japanese, that is. the pictures are very "common sense".

In my opinion, I didn't like them very well, compared to using putties like Volks, blu-tac or silicone earplugs. 

My issues were the foam put too much pressure on the backs of the eyes, causing them to "drift" towards different positions, and not where "I" set them. 

There are different pegs/adapters in the set, to help with the occasional aftermarket eyes, but, using Volks eyes for Allie and Meg, I didn't try them out. 

As always, "Your Mileage May Vary". For the price, it's not very expensive to get a set "for science!" 

 

On 1/1/2023 at 11:30 AM, battrastard said:

A little late to the discussion, but I'll throw in here.

I bought a set for each of my Alters, Saber Santa Alter and Saber Alter V2, the design was easy to install, and the instructions were "fairly" straightforward for not being able to read Japanese, that is. the pictures are very "common sense".

In my opinion, I didn't like them very well, compared to using putties like Volks, blu-tac or silicone earplugs. 

My issues were the foam put too much pressure on the backs of the eyes, causing them to "drift" towards different positions, and not where "I" set them. 

There are different pegs/adapters in the set, to help with the occasional aftermarket eyes, but, using Volks eyes for Allie and Meg, I didn't try them out. 

As always, "Your Mileage May Vary". For the price, it's not very expensive to get a set "for science!" 

i already tried it for about one year ,

the sponge was expired by dry and hard and not good condition to use after,

if you don't mind changing eye often it's still can use if you don't touch it

Edited January 8, 2023 by Deaknaew

Had one in an MDD (Dream Choice). It was horrible; the eyes would constantly shift because of the sponge, and I wouldn't notice until after I had started looking over photos to pick out the best one. It's awesome in theory, but it does not work well at all.

I’m probably the odd one out in that I love them and always buy one when I pick up a new girl. I haven’t had them for long and don’t have my girls out on display, so if the eyes have shifted, I haven’t noticed, but it’s so easy to move them back into place or change direction (which you can’t do when they’re glued in) that I don’t think it’s a problem.

Glue leaves a gross residue on the eyes and blu-tac always seems to be visible from the outside, so until they come up with a better option, the Dream Fitter is the lesser of three evils I guess?

Edited January 9, 2023 by ragnamuffin

I use one for my Snow Miku because I am constantly changing her eyes. It takes a lot of fussing to get the eyes to sit in place where I want them initially, but I have not had issues with "after placement drift". Granted, Miku is one of the dolls I play with least because she is always in her pricy outfits so I cannot give accurate voice to how it is during travel or general play. All my other dolls have tac or hot glue.

10 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

I’m probably the odd one out in that I love them and always buy one when I pick up a new girl. I haven’t had them for long and don’t have my girls out on display, so if the eyes have shifted, I haven’t noticed, but it’s so easy to move them back into place or change direction (which you can’t do when they’re glued in) that I don’t think it’s a problem.

I also really love them! My favourite girl (so the one that gets handled the most!) has them and I personally prefer it over blu-tack for sure! Sure it has happened a few times where her eyes would shift, but it's quite an easy fix and it doesn't happen enough for me personally to think it's annoying. I rather deal with the occasional eye shift than with the putty honestly. And it keeps the head fully clean, which is another plus in my book!

The problem I found with Dream fitter is that eventually the crenellations on the back of the eyes sink into the foam and then you can't shift the eyes around. 

On 1/8/2023 at 11:13 PM, ragnamuffin said:

Glue leaves a gross residue on the eyes and blu-tac always seems to be visible from the outside, so until they come up with a better option, the Dream Fitter is the lesser of three evils I guess?

Ah, this is silicone earplugs for me. I've had them actually ruin a few pair of resin eyes that I've had. Left a film on them that never came off.

18 minutes ago, Eighteafive said:

Ah, this is silicone earplugs for me. I've had them actually ruin a few pair of resin eyes that I've had. Left a film on them that never came off.

Oooh, that’s good to know. I was wondering if there was any downside to them.

4 hours ago, Eighteafive said:

Ah, this is silicone earplugs for me. I've had them actually ruin a few pair of resin eyes that I've had. Left a film on them that never came off.

I've had them leave residue on acrylic eyes too. Pretty sure it can be cleaned off though, but it would take a fair bit of effort.

1 hour ago, BeyondTime said:

I've had them leave residue on acrylic eyes too. Pretty sure it can be cleaned off though, but it would take a fair bit of effort.

I've never had too much trouble getting the film off with acrylic or resin eyes, you just have to patiently wipe them clean with a soft cloth. In a pinch I use my thumb to get the bigger bits off and then a tissue to buff clean. 

You absolutely cannot use silicone ear plugs with silicone eyes, sometimes referred to as "soft glass". They can react chemically and melt each other. 

On 1/8/2023 at 11:13 PM, ragnamuffin said:

Glue leaves a gross residue on the eyes and blu-tac always seems to be visible from the outside, so until they come up with a better option, the Dream Fitter is the lesser of three evils I guess?

About the visible blu-tac, are you meaning that you can see the blue color though the vinyl, or that you can directly see it around the edges of the eye socket? If the former, you might try gray poster tack instead. If the latter, that's a matter of how you position the ring of putty while inserting the eye. You would need to make sure that the ring of putty is rolled more to the back edge of the eye, check it in the eye socket, and if you can see the putty or it's causing any gapping then adjust the putty further back before finally placing the eye and pressing the putty into place on the edges. Some people prefer to just place the naked eye in the socket and then insert the putty snake behind in order to avoid this.

On 1/11/2023 at 6:58 AM, BeyondTime said:

I've had them leave residue on acrylic eyes too. Pretty sure it can be cleaned off though, but it would take a fair bit of effort.

I scrubbed them pretty good with some dawn dish soap, and the residue never came off. I think they ruined my Towa's original eyes, too.

 

On 1/11/2023 at 3:15 AM, ragnamuffin said:

Oooh, that’s good to know. I was wondering if there was any downside to them.

Maybe it was just the brand I was using or that I got a oddly mixed batch, but I never used them again. I can't tell whether or not it made the inside of my dolls' heads odd.

I picked up a set of these at the Volks stand at AX this year to test with my DDS. Before, I had been using a sort-of makeshift method of setting the eyes on a slightly larger pair of eyes and then stuffing the head full of toy stuffing, which worked kind-of alright-ish but...I was eager to try out this "official" method, ha. And I must say, I do quite like it! Though, a couple modifications - I did find that I still had to stuff her head cap full of stuffing to make the sponge more "solid"/firm against the eyes. I think because of this, they don't shift around like others have mentioned. I also don't have Volks eyes, so mine are missing the little peg in the middle, but I just used a bit of tack to attach the backs to them. Works like a charm. & The little rubber stick is fantastic! It's great for adjusting these and my other dolls still using the eye-on-eye +stuffing method.