"toxic Smart Doll community"?

3 hours ago, Nines said:

Not until you see how he trashed/harassed his least favourite employees.. 

from an ex-employee view

Wait, did he?

I've always been curious about the absolute silence from any employees. Working in tech has taught me not to trust the praises bosses sing about their own companies. 🤔

7 hours ago, Nines said:

Not until you see how he trashed/harassed his least favourite employees.. 

from an ex-employee view

What could you give us more information on that 

9 hours ago, Nines said:

Not until you see how he trashed/harassed his least favourite employees.. 

from an ex-employee view

Uh oh

I always assummed employees were required to sign an NDA agreement, while being told at the time of hire it was to protect Smart Doll Secrets.

 

Danny, would you care to chime in and elaborate on whether this is true or not?  We know you probably lurk this and the facebook debacle thread intently.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Meowjima

NDAs are normal, I have a bunch of friends involved with various industries, especially related to games, that would probably have unkind things to say publically about upper management if they could.

We do already know his original sculptor left (who did Mirai/etc, Chitose and Eiji) and had some...interesting things to say about working with him. Specifically, that he would make the sculptor send him screenshots of his works in progress open in the 3D program so he could open them on his laptop and be photographed looking at them, to create an impression he was the one working on them, which has never sat well with me. You can probably dig those old posts up in the Eiji thread, that’s how long ago it was. I was a big fan of Danny’s back then so made up some justification for that behaviour in my mind, but I still remember being a bit saddened by it. It still bothers me because it was back when he really stressed the whole ‘smartdoll by Danny choo’ thing rather than ‘the smartdoll team’.

He does seem slightly better at actually crediting people now, but not everyone. But for all I know that could be their own choice to not be credited directly. I don’t want to speculate too much about things we do not know for certain because I don’t want his thread to be a source of misinformation and bias, especially because he does that himself. 

2 minutes ago, Monty said:

I don’t want his thread to be a source of misinformation and bias

seconded.

If somebody in the know has information that they want to share without any arm twisting, they are welcome to do so, but I would also prefer to see some way of being able the confirm the possible wrongdoings.

ie. not "My sisters best friends cousins mailman said..."

I've had feelings against the whole SmD program since day one, and have my own passive agressive way of dealing with it, but I still prefer things to be fair.

On 6/3/2021 at 10:56 PM, finnleo said:

I've had feelings against the whole SmD program since day one, and have my own passive agressive way of dealing with it, but I still prefer things to be fair.

 Yeah, we can be better than Danny in that regard.  

To be fair, people break NDAs and stuff all the time in safe spaces. Plus, I'm not sure whether working conditions etc can reasonably fall under that. Design secrets and info about projects, sure; but your boss being a douche? Not so much. Otherwise sites like glassdoor (?) wouldn't exist.

I would wanna hear what the situation is before making any judgement either way. But realise that in a small company it would be very easy to tell who the source was, even if they already left.

On 6/5/2021 at 9:26 AM, Katsudon said:

To be fair, people break NDAs and stuff all the time in safe spaces. Plus, I'm not sure whether working conditions etc can reasonably fall under that. Design secrets and info about projects, sure; but your boss being a douche? Not so much. Otherwise sites like glassdoor (?) wouldn't exist.

 

On 6/4/2021 at 7:47 AM, Monty said:

NDAs are normal, I have a bunch of friends involved with various industries, especially related to games, that would probably have unkind things to say publically about upper management if they could.

All NDAs I have seen (and signed) only include project and design information. And even then specifically information that has not been released to the public through official media outlets. 

I've never seen working conditions being mentioned on an NDA. However people may still be silent about those out of fear for their career. If you want to stay in the same industry, loudly complaining on social media about how your manager was an ass may not be the best look. Others stay silent out of fear for backlash. It is incredibly difficult to speak out against well known people or brands. Don't get me wrong, if injustice happened I absolutely do believe that the wider public should know what goes on behind closed doors. But the sad truth is that the people speaking out often receive an immense backlash.

On 4/27/2021 at 11:23 PM, BeyondTime said:

Be interesting to see if the new frame he is designing has features that make hybridization harder. 

I believe he got rid of milk vinyl dolls for the same reason. And he has refused to sell SmD clothing to a customer he was chatting with via email, because they mentioned they were going to use the clothes on another brand of doll. That's when he started saying directly on the CJ website that he didn't want to hear complaints from customers who found out SmD clothes wouldn't fit their off-brand dolls.

I get really tired of him encouraging potential customers to NOT buy from him, as if he can't be bothered with their trivial problems. It's very offputting.

Linda S.

It'll be interesting to see if his "ALL dolls are welcome in the store" policy still stands when he opens it up to the public again.

On 7/30/2021 at 8:54 PM, galatia9 said:

That's when he started saying directly on the CJ website that he didn't want to hear complaints from customers who found out SmD clothes wouldn't fit their off-brand dolls.

And I can certify that his short shorts are DDS Kikuchi Makoto approved. 

Whenever I read these things I flip out. Last week I finally received Mirai, and I am very happy. I had no problem with the order, and they answered my requests without problems (vinyl rings and a signed postcard), I found them very pleasant and attentive.

I don’t know the work environment in his company, and it’s not my problem, I’m not going to work there. I’m sorry if it seems too drastic. But I think we all buy low-cost clothes, and we all know what conditions the workers who produce those clothes are in. Although it is true that I try to buy as little as possible in that regard. I do not intend to compare Danny’s company to a trouser factory in Bangladesh. I am sure they are in the opposite direction. But if it’s hard working at Danny’s company (that I don’t know) I don’t think it has to be a drama for the buyers of his product either.

I trust I can enjoy this new hobby without headaches.

1 hour ago, Figura4 said:

I don’t know the work environment in his company, and it’s not my problem, I’m not going to work there. I’m sorry if it seems too drastic. But I think we all buy low-cost clothes, and we all know what conditions the workers who produce those clothes are in. Although it is true that I try to buy as little as possible in that regard. I do not intend to compare Danny’s company to a trouser factory in Bangladesh. I am sure they are in the opposite direction. But if it’s hard working at Danny’s company (that I don’t know) I don’t think it has to be a drama for the buyers of his product either.

I don’t think very many doll clothing makers are running sweatshops, regardless of where they are located. I’m more inclined to think they are people with sewing skills making money on the side. Korea in particular is known for good tailoring, and selling tiny shirts and shorts to westerners is probably a lucrative side business. I doubt it has the scale necessary to make sweatshops worthwhile.

The sweatshops really start to come into play when companies like Ross order 100,000 shirts and only want to pay $1.00 per shirt. 

7 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I don’t think very many doll clothing makers are running sweatshops, regardless of where they are located.

Pretty sure they were talking about sweatshops making human sized clothes, not doll sized. That's not to say there are no doll sweatshops out there though. Sure there are nice Korean manufactures, but what about all the dolls you see in stores marketed toward children? Or even lines like Monster High that have a collector following. There's a ton of BJD clothes mass produced in China, otherwise you wouldn't see detailed outfits on etsy being sold for $130 when it'd easily cost you $500 from an individual seamstress domestically.

Just wondering.....how are people buying dolls this expensive that surprised by it being "Smart Doll by Danny Choo" and not "by Danny Choo and friends"
You ever looked at expensive human clothes? We get stuff like Marc by Marc Jacobs for Marc Jacobs lol. I don't like it either, but it's very obvious he's going for a high fashion impression with his dolls and their clothes.

I get that Volks sells outfits for $60-100 but as far as I'm aware, we don't know what the working conditions those are made under are like. If Volks sold clothes that was sourced in Japan or even just treated so it doesn't stain so fast, I'd buy from them more even at a higher price. But they don't. 😛

11 hours ago, rainglow said:

That's not to say there are no doll sweatshops out there though. Sure there are nice Korean manufactures, but what about all the dolls you see in stores marketed toward children? Or even lines like Monster High that have a collector following.

In this case I was referring more to the BJD market, but you do make a good point. 
 

11 hours ago, rainglow said:

There's a ton of BJD clothes mass produced in China, otherwise you wouldn't see detailed outfits on etsy being sold for $130 when it'd easily cost you $500 from an individual seamstress domestically.

I was sort of avoiding the elephant in the room and just said “I don’t think there are very many…” China is kind of notorious for that sort of thing, hence why outlets buy their $1.00 shirts from China.
 

11 hours ago, rainglow said:

I get that Volks sells outfits for $60-100 but as far as I'm aware, we don't know what the working conditions those are made under are like.

I doubt Volks is using sweatshops, but I can’t prove that. 

Why are we talking about sweatshops? Did I miss something? Is it a pricing thing?

I don't necessary mind paying more for a good product that's fairly sourced, my problem with SmD clothes is that they end up being expensive because DC takes it too far and decides he needs to use this specific type of fabric that's only found from this specific company in Japan and it has to be treated and worn and have all this other stuff done to it to make it fit his "urban post-apocalyptic" style...which I have no interest in and would be much happier buying a simple pair of pants from etsy from an independent artist that fits my style and budget.

(And who won't throw a fit and ban me from their store if the item arrives damaged somehow and I ask for a replacement.) 

6 hours ago, monkeypizzasonic said:

Why are we talking about sweatshops? Did I miss something? Is it a pricing thing?

I think it was more of a general discussion not specific to SmD, but it’s relevant to BJDs.

If I found out a company was using sweatshops to make doll clothing, then I’d want to know and I wouldn’t buy from them. 

I only "discovered" Smart Dolls about 6 months ago and this is just NUTS.  It's making me rethink buying anymore merch directly from SD site, but I REALLY want a blue girl.  People have told me I can find one fairly easily on the second-hand market, but I don't see much on Instagram and my requests to join a couple of FB groups are pending.  Ugh.  

Which brings me to this:

DC tweeted over a week ago now that 3 blue girls were going to "go online".  Nothing yet.  But, I have been checking Fabric Friends and Dolls' site the past few days and I swear the two blue girls listed there yesterday that are already sold out (Anomaly Zombie and Kabuki) were not there the other day.

Maybe I'm wrong and just didn't notice because I was focused on possibly putting Lelouch on layaway (I waited too long and he was gone. Probably a good thing though.  Good for my budget).

Anyway, if the blue girls were new the site was that maybe his way of putting some blue girls up for sale?  Having FF&D (and maybe the new store in Germany) sell them, like Lelouch?

I'm confused.

On 8/16/2021 at 8:59 PM, rainglow said:

Just wondering.....how are people buying dolls this expensive that surprised by it being "Smart Doll by Danny Choo" and not "by Danny Choo and friends"
You ever looked at expensive human clothes? We get stuff like Marc by Marc Jacobs for Marc Jacobs lol. I don't like it either, but it's very obvious he's going for a high fashion impression with his dolls and their clothes.

With most high end designers like say, Marc Jacobs, there's an implication that there is a distinction between Marc Jacobs the brand and Marc Jacobs the person. There's an understanding that things done by the brand aren't necessarily done by Marc Jacobs the person, and even if you were high enough in business circles to work with Marc Jacobs directly, the Marc Jacobs you work with in the business is not the same one that exists in private. Social media is handled by brand-approved third parties, etc., so that the private version and public version can keep that separation as much as possible. Criticizing Marc Jacobs the brand and Marc Jacobs the person can--and should--be two different things.

Danny has no such distinction. He insists on handling his social media himself, so there's no filter (or perhaps even proofreader, looking at some posts) between him and his audience. . .and unfortunately that goes the other way too, where if he reads some random critical comment he not only can but HAS taken it as a personal insult. To him, there appears to be no differentiation between Danny Choo the brand and Danny Choo the person, which means if any consumer wants to interact with the brand they have to assume they're interacting with Danny the person--and Danny the person has shown to be rather. . .dramatic on multiple occasions. When you pair this intense level of personal investment and control with the lack of credit he gives, it does put the latter in a different context, too.

The closest analogue to Danny I can think of is Walt Disney, and even then the persona Walt projected to the public was, at least in part, a role he played to fit his vision of the brand. The one thing making it weird there was that the projected persona may have been heavily influenced by how he wanted people in real life to view him, but there was still very much a performance aspect to it. Walt Disney played a caricature of himself as he wished he was, if you will.

Danny doesn't have that kind of deliberation; you just get raw, unfiltered Danny whether you were looking for it or not. Some people may find it more honest I guess? But personally I find it unpredictable, unprofessional, and off-putting. I have enough chaos in my existence, so I consciously chose not to invite his chaos in by making any more purchases from him. I got my one SmartDoll before I knew the full extent of the drama, and that one will probably also be my last.

1 hour ago, Poofiemus said:

<snip>

All of the above was very well said. 
 

2 hours ago, Vickie386 said:

DC tweeted over a week ago now that 3 blue girls were going to "go online".  Nothing yet.  But, I have been checking Fabric Friends and Dolls' site the past few days and I swear the two blue girls listed there yesterday that are already sold out (Anomaly Zombie and Kabuki) were not there the other day.

A lot of the girls go up as pop up events that don’t have a specific sales time announced. They may have gone up at 3 AM your time and sold out minutes later. 
 

 

21 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

All of the above was well said. 
 

A lot of the girls go up as pop up events that don’t have a specific sales time announced. They may have gone up at 3 AM your time and sold out minutes later. 
 

 

Well darn.  But good to know.  Thanks!

4 minutes ago, Vickie386 said:

Well darn.  But good to know.  Thanks!

Unfortunately it means that you have to camp his site to have any chance at the super popular dolls. 

On 6/4/2021 at 8:47 AM, Monty said:

NDAs are normal, I have a bunch of friends involved with various industries, especially related to games, that would probably have unkind things to say publically about upper management if they could.

We do already know his original sculptor left (who did Mirai/etc, Chitose and Eiji) and had some...interesting things to say about working with him. Specifically, that he would make the sculptor send him screenshots of his works in progress open in the 3D program so he could open them on his laptop and be photographed looking at them, to create an impression he was the one working on them, which has never sat well with me. You can probably dig those old posts up in the Eiji thread, that’s how long ago it was. I was a big fan of Danny’s back then so made up some justification for that behaviour in my mind, but I still remember being a bit saddened by it. It still bothers me because it was back when he really stressed the whole ‘smartdoll by Danny choo’ thing rather than ‘the smartdoll team’.

He does seem slightly better at actually crediting people now, but not everyone. But for all I know that could be their own choice to not be credited directly. I don’t want to speculate too much about things we do not know for certain because I don’t want his thread to be a source of misinformation and bias, especially because he does that himself. 

Wow so he doesn't even design the dolls??? That's disappointing and pathetic