Volks News 87

5 hours ago, Monty said:

There's also a 'Dolpa Online DokiDoki Lottery', whatever that is! Plus 'New product surprise announcements'. The next Disney princess? (Cinderella was already confirmed to release in August) Maybe the announcement of which new SD doll idea won in the Best Selection? Maybe something DD releated?

I'm hoping for an Elsa, even if she's not technically part of the Princess line.

I mean, Disney let Good Smile Company and Real Action Heroes make Elsas, not to mention those awful Hasbro models and the utterly insane $30,000.00 Saks 5th ones.

But if not Elsa, then Ariel or Belle. Maybe Belle, since Tokyo Disney was going to open that beauty and the beast area.

9 hours ago, lardroom said:

I'm hoping for an Elsa

 

9 hours ago, lardroom said:

even if she's not technically part of the Princess line

I think it boils down to is Volks' deal for the Disney Princess franchise or is "Disney Princess" an overarching label they are using for licensed Disney collabs. If it's the former, and I suspect it is, then they won't release Elsa and Anna as a part of Disney Princess. That doesn't mean they might not make a separate deal for them under the Frozen franchise.

21 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

I think it boils down to is Volks' deal for the Disney Princess franchise or is "Disney Princess" an overarching label they are using for licensed Disney collabs. If it's the former, and I suspect it is, then they won't release Elsa and Anna as a part of Disney Princess.

I think so too. Just looking at Punzie's banner from Dolpas 42, her box art, and the card insert, she's part of the "DISNEY PRINCESS Collection."  Sucks.

 

I'm a bit obsessed with Elsa...(super off-topic and I'm sorry)

 

 

Punzie is cute and all, but I think if they announce some of the other Disney Princess, I may not be able to resist...

31 minutes ago, lardroom said:

I'm a bit obsessed with Elsa...(super off-topic and I'm sorry)

 

Elsa has supplanted Belle as my favorite Disney character. I really want Volks to make Elsa & Anna along with a slew of outfits. That green dress from Frozen Fever would be awesome.

I'd love to see Elsa and Anna as Volks dolls--and their outfits! 😍 But Tiana would be the princess I'd most like to welcome home! I don't think Volks has ever made resin in her skin tone yet, but thinking of the new colors from the Dollfie Icon line, maybe they would someday?

Since it's an online event, it's a chance for more people to participate. I never could go to a live Dolpa, but I could definitely join online! Is the Volks News already sold out or will there still be a chance to buy an 'entry'?

53 minutes ago, Ren said:

Since it's an online event, it's a chance for more people to participate. I never could go to a live Dolpa, but I could definitely join online! Is the Volks News already sold out or will there still be a chance to buy an 'entry'?

Volks News isn’t even out yet and they also haven’t announced the new release date yet, nor the specifics of how this online event will actually work. I very much doubt it’s something you have to buy entry for, though, but I can’t even say that for certain yet. I certainly wouldnt want to pay for the exciting experience of the volks website crashing due to server load anyway, I can experience that fun for free during the after events ._.

This is just my own assumption of how it will work and it obviously could be wrong cos this hasn’t happened before. But what I am currently imagining is a presale of the new items (new dolls, clothes) by lottery, with the announcements they want to make done via twitter at intervals throughout the day. The limited one off lottery dolls (ie SD one-offs, DCoords) may have entries open in the morning and then be drawn in the afternoon (or on a different day entirely). I don’t know how the online charity auction will be conducted, it may even be via a different website.

Then about a month later will be the regular After Events we’re used to, with the new items sold via clickwar.

As for the dealers, a lot of them are probably going to be selling their wares online using a hashtag on the day, with posts linking to their online stores or yahoo auction pages.

Theres also the chance that they’ll have something to take advantage of it being online, like a twitter photo contest. 

Right now we can only wait and see. I don’t expect it to be an actual faithful alternative to a real life Dolpa by any stretch but it’s certainly better than nothing. 

Oh, that sounded very bitter . I wasn't following the news until recently, so I thought the usual guidebooks/tickets already been sold. I'm imagining something more optimistic myself, but I guess we just have to wait and see.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:47 AM, Monty said:

As for the dealers, a lot of them are probably going to be selling their wares online using a hashtag on the day, with posts linking to their online stores or yahoo auction pages.

There's an update on this:

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/news/notice/20200327_02.html

As I read it, the gist of it is, dealers who were to appear at Dolpa 43 can either have their entry fees refunded, or transferred over to the next Dolpa. So in other words, Volks is not setting up any kind of alternate method for dealers to sell for this event.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:47 AM, Monty said:

Right now we can only wait and see. I don’t expect it to be an actual faithful alternative to a real life Dolpa by any stretch but it’s certainly better than nothing. 

I expect something like what you wrote as well. I hope they do come up with something that will be fun or at least feel a bit special, because while I'll never be able to attend a Dolpa either in Japan or the US, this may be an opportunity for me to experience a little something of what it's like.

11 minutes ago, cfx said:

There's an update on this:

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/news/notice/20200327_02.html

As I read it, the gist of it is, dealers who were to appear at Dolpa 43 can either have their entry fees refunded, or transferred over to the next Dolpa. So in other words, Volks is not setting up any kind of alternate method for dealers to sell for this event.

Oh I didn't expect Volks to set it up themselves, I thought the dealers might do their own thing on twitter like many did with the cancelled Doll Show.　There is a hashtag 'air dolpa' (#エアドルパ）(ie virtual dolpa, like an air guitar) that has been in use...but not for this specifically, so I hope if they do decide to do that they choose another tag because people seem to be putting whatever they want in that tag. (people were using 'air doll show' for the virtual dealers market)

Edited March 31, 2020 by Monty

6 minutes ago, Monty said:

Oh I didn't expect Volks to set it up themselves [...]

But I was.

Not that I know anything about how any of this works.

11 hours ago, Monty said:

Oh I didn't expect Volks to set it up themselves, I thought the dealers might do their own thing on twitter like many did with the cancelled Doll Show.　There is a hashtag 'air dolpa' (#エアドルパ）(ie virtual dolpa, like an air guitar) that has been in use...but not for this specifically, so I hope if they do decide to do that they choose another tag because people seem to be putting whatever they want in that tag. (people were using 'air doll show' for the virtual dealers market)

What types of dealers market stuff at Dolpa in Japan? Where would they sell online?

4 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Where would they sell online?

This is just what I was wondering, especially for ones that don't otherwise sell online at all which seems to be most of them as far as I know. I know some dealers such as eye maker Blue Rose Graden have an FC2 store that they sell doll show leftovers at but that seems to be the rare exception, and I assume some sell via Yahoo Japan auction.

I get the impression, though obviously don't know this, that Cherry Milk and Ginger Tea sell their leftovers to Mandarake, as evidenced by the fact Mandarake tends to have an influx of their clothing, new, right after events.

Anyway, this is why I thought Volks would set something up so that the dealers could sell online for the Dolpa event (whatever it will be) or the after event. While making things available online would be new to them, I don't see it being that much different than the dealer consignment items Volks sells at Doll Point (and other stores?).

3 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

What types of dealers market stuff at Dolpa in Japan? Where would they sell online?

The dealers market at Dolpa is basically like Artist Alley at anime conventions - or Comiket with doll stuff. The big Tokyo events have over 500 of them selling everything from eyes to fake food to manicured hands to custom heads, plus of course clothes. The dealer market takes up more than half of the event floor space usually so it’s not a small part of Dolpa (and for many it’s the main reason to attend)

They sell wherever they want to basically. Some of them have their own sites with attached web stores and others use sites like Booth (which is kind of like Etsy, I suppose?). I know there’s a few who just use yahoo auctions and mercari though, and others just trying to sell via twitter itself.  Most of them probably won’t ship outside Japan but Booth can depending on the store. 

Since a lot of the dealers depend on regular doll events for income (a good deal of regulars at Dolpa are also regulars at Doll Show, I-Doll etc), those that didn’t have an online presence before might be forced into making an online shop now.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Monty

1 hour ago, Monty said:

Since a lot of the dealers depend on regular doll events for income (a good deal of regulars at Dolpa are also regulars at Doll Show, I-Doll etc), those that didn’t have an online presence before might be forced into making an online shop now.

Hopefully some of the vendors who do military gear. Saber Lily needs tactical vest for, um... reasons.

Edited April 1, 2020 by BeyondTime

Has Volks announced a new date for Volks News? I haven't seen anything but I probably don't know where to look. Assuming it is coming out ahead of the online Dolpa, time is running out to at least announce when it will be.

They havent, and it'll be on their twitter when they do. If theyre following previous patterns they'll announce it on a wednesday and it will come out next Monday, just two weeks before the event. Which isn't cutting it fine too much, but it may actually be the shortest time between announcement and pre-sale for the new dolls.

Not that it matters for us right now... :C I'd say I hope things improve before the After Event but Japan's situation has been growing steadily worse and the status of any operations is kind of an unknown right now...

The most frustrating part of all of this is that during times like this I want to give my monetary support to the companies I like, whether local or international, but the stop on international orders will make that difficult. Maybe I'm overreacting or paranoid but I'm really worried about what kind of hit some of these companies could withstand when I read about how small local hobby stores here may be forced to close up shop for good, and the smaller conventions that will not return after having to cancel this year. For those in the appropriate countries that can afford it, I think it would be worth ordering from VolksUSA when its possible again, even if you usually use International.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Monty

24 minutes ago, Monty said:

For those in the appropriate countries that can afford it, I think it would be worth ordering from VolksUSA when its possible again, even if you usually use International.

This is a good idea.

I'm not sure of the details on the current Los Angeles order, but the Bay Area order allows non-essential businesses to operate as long as they keep people physically separated by at least 6 feet, and everyone who can telecommute must do so. As far as I can tell what they are trying to do is make it possible for retail businesses to fulfill online and phone orders, but remain closed to the public.

It sounds like the LA order might be stricter, but I haven't read any details. They're really worried LA could end up looking like New York.

The volks_dd and volks_doll twitter accounts are where I'd been looking.

32 minutes ago, Monty said:

Not that it matters for us right now... :C I'd say I hope things improve before the After Event but Japan's situation has been growing steadily worse and the status of any operations is kind of an unknown right now...

Right. I'm still curious to see what's being released, and almost hoping there's not anything I want this time.

32 minutes ago, Monty said:

For those in the appropriate countries that can afford it, I think it would be worth ordering from VolksUSA when its possible again, even if you usually use International.

I'm probably going to order from them once they reopen and maybe enter the February clothing lottery. I'm thinking about getting a second of that navy suit, and while it's still in stock on International now, it may well not be by the time I could order there again anyway.

I don't have any clue on what the situation is where Volks USA is located, but I assume they still think they can reopen on April 19, since they scheduled the February outfit collection lottery for April 17-20.

Shelter in place is in effect until May in California, and people have been told to prepare for longer.

15 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Shelter in place is in effect until May in California, and people have been told to prepare for longer.

I don't really know what that means.

Where I am people are asked to stay home, but there's not any kind of enforcement really, and businesses such as Volks would be allowed to stay open, AFAIK. There are restrictions such as restaurants can only offer takeout/drivetrough/delivery, beauty salons can't be open, etc. but in general a business like Volks that doesn't directly interact with the public would be allowed to operate if they chose to do so.

In my state (PA) staying home is mandatory. You are only supposed to go out for essential reasons, like for groceries or to check on a family member that you help care for. In my county not everyone is following that, because we have some of the lower numbers in our state, but our grocery stores still have a limit on the number of people allowed in the store at once. There are other counties where things are worse and people have gotten fined for being out without a reason. Although my work was able to send 75% of our people to work from home, that means 25% still work in the office, which is in a more affected county, and they have to work spaced out from each other. They carry an official note stating that they work for an essential business in case they get stopped. Businesses that are still open are also mandated to have more stringent cleaning routines. But I don't think even online only non essential businesses are being allowed to work yet. In PA our overall numbers are are high but still behind CA.

7 hours ago, cfx said:

I don't really know what that means.

In California residents have been told to stay home and only go out for essentials like food, medicine, or to work in industries deemed essential. Non-essential businesses were basically told to either close or to have people work from home.

In addition to this the Mayor of LA has threatened to cut off utilities for businesses that stay open in defiance of the order. I suspect that he's more worried about bars than he is about hobby shops.

On 4/7/2020 at 12:58 AM, BeyondTime said:

Non-essential businesses were basically told to either close or to have people work from home.

GameStop is claiming they are an essential business.

It's Wednesday and nothing on Volks News on either the volks_doll or volks_dd twitter, so I guess it's not coming next Monday either.

Edited April 8, 2020 by cfx

6 hours ago, cfx said:

GameStop is claiming they are an essential business.

It's Wednesday and nothing on Volks News on either the volks_doll or volks_dd twitter, so I guess it's not coming next Monday either.

Boston forced them to close down due to violating the lock down.