Shiki Ichinose

I really fail to see how this guy is still doing business.

These sorts of tactics would, I hope, get anyone else black listed by the community at large, but in his case it seems to make no difference and people still buy from and support him.

1 hour ago, Monty said:

 This is one of his ‘anti scalping measures’ and to be frank it left me speechless.

’Hello, I’m Danny!

Thank you for choosing Smartdoll.

Before we ship your order I need to confirm some things. This is to make sure Shiki Ichinose goes to mostly her fans and not resellers.

Please take a photo of your Mika Jougasaki next to a device showing today’s smartdoll homepage.

Please send the photo by tomorrow.’

In the tweet itself he says he will cancel and refund the orders that don’t reply.

I have some degree of confidence with my Japanese reading ability but every now and then I read something that makes me completely doubt myself and I have to read it 5 times just to make sure I’m not misinterpeting and this is absolutely one of those times.

Some points to consider/possible justifications about this:

1) He says that people -may- receive such an email, not that everyone will. It could be he’s only asking people he suspects of being resellers this.

2) The fact that this is Choo himself posting this outrageous email and not a surprised customer makes me wonder if it’s just extra kindling to entertain his ‘haters’ and the real email is different.

3) His tweet mentions needing a reply in a day or the order is cancelled, but does not specify if the reply needs a photo. It’s potentially even just bad humour from him and he doesn’t seriously require you to own a (now long sold out) doll in order to buy a new one (if you are Japanese)

 

But even if it’s a joke, imagine receiving such an email. There’s nothing to indicate it could be a joke unless you’re familiar with his weird sense of humour, especially if you are Japanese, new to the brand etc. Even if it’s not a joke but more a method to extract a human reply (even if it’s ‘I dont own Mika, but I love Shiki, can i still have her?), it sounds so authoritative I can definitely imagine there are people that would panic and just not reply at all, thinking there’s no point because they don’t own a Mika, may as well just wait for the cancellation.

also... One days notice! What if someone doesn’t even see the email in time? 

 

On the the other hand, if this really is what he’s asking JP fans for real, and owning a previous doll is a requirement...? I think that may actually be a new low and I’m sure anyone who has thought about it for more than 5 seconds can come up with a dozen reasons why someone who can’t produce such a photo at a moments notice/doesn’t own Mika does NOT mean the person is a reseller. (I’m suddenly imagining Volks asking everyone who ordered Meiko to show photos of all the previous Vocaloids to prove their worth as a fan lol)

However its meant to be interpreted, the QRTs are raising the same concerns I have. (I checked them mainly because I still couldn’t believe what I was reading but they confirmed it for me...) things like ‘So you can’t buy her if you don’t have Mika??’ Someone else has pointed out that there are people who do not own cameras or computers and I everything with just a smartphone.. so how then will they take this photo of the webpage with Mika? (With a mirror, I guess? Which also seems kinda an invasion of privacy unless they censor themselves)

IS this for reaL!?  I had been on the fence about getting a Cinnamon SmD, but now... I don't think I will.  He is just too high maintenance for me.  I will just admire the dolls from afar.

 

@Monty, your post, I am beyond speechless. Holy whoa!

5 hours ago, baldylox said:

There was a question you had to answer specifically about the character Shiki.  It asked what group she was in with some other Idol girls.  The answer was LiPPS but it had to be typed in EXACTLY as I just did, with only the "i" in lower case.  If you didn't answer that correctly then no doll for you.  True, you could easily look that up on Google and find the answer but the trap was using the correct capitalization. 

 

 

Billy

I know people who answered something else but still got it correct (not gonna say what they answered in case the shoe baby bans them). The one thing these people had in common was that they have nearly all the smds and/or are frequent patrons of the prototype garage. We're speculating if these people got a free pass regardless of what they answered considering how much they have spent so far.

2 hours ago, Shamrock said:

IS this for reaL!?  I had been on the fence about getting a Cinnamon SmD, but now... I don't think I will.  He is just too high maintenance for me.  I will just admire the dolls from afar.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were.

I was really excited to get a Smart Doll as well at some point, but my excitement has waned because of reading about Danny's shenanigans.

10 hours ago, Monty said:

I still think the phrasing of that question would trip you up if you didn’t speak English as a first language, and even if you were ESL, the extra time needed to interpret what it’s actually asking puts you at a disadvantage.

I was curious about this so I did some digging on jp twitter to see if there were many reactions to it. I didn’t find much (seems like a few people managed to get her though) but I did find something completely and utterly bizarre from Choo himself. This is the email he sent to JP buyers of Shiki. I assume it’s pnly JP buyers because I’m sure I would have heard about this if it was to English speaking buyers too. 

 This is one of his ‘anti scalping measures’ and to be frank it left me speechless.

’Hello, I’m Danny!

Thank you for choosing Smartdoll.

Before we ship your order I need to confirm some things. This is to make sure Shiki Ichinose goes to mostly her fans and not resellers.

Please take a photo of your Mika Jougasaki next to a device showing today’s smartdoll homepage.

Please send the photo by tomorrow.’

In the tweet itself he says he will cancel and refund the orders that don’t reply.

I have some degree of confidence with my Japanese reading ability but every now and then I read something that makes me completely doubt myself and I have to read it 5 times just to make sure I’m not misinterpeting and this is absolutely one of those times.

Some points to consider/possible justifications about this:

1) He says that people -may- receive such an email, not that everyone will. It could be he’s only asking people he suspects of being resellers this.

2) The fact that this is Choo himself posting this outrageous email and not a surprised customer makes me wonder if it’s just extra kindling to entertain his ‘haters’ and the real email is different.

3) His tweet mentions needing a reply in a day or the order is cancelled, but does not specify if the reply needs a photo. It’s potentially even just bad humour from him and he doesn’t seriously require you to own a (now long sold out) doll in order to buy a new one (if you are Japanese)

 

But even if it’s a joke, imagine receiving such an email. There’s nothing to indicate it could be a joke unless you’re familiar with his weird sense of humour, especially if you are Japanese, new to the brand etc. Even if it’s not a joke but more a method to extract a human reply (even if it’s ‘I dont own Mika, but I love Shiki, can i still have her?), it sounds so authoritative I can definitely imagine there are people that would panic and just not reply at all, thinking there’s no point because they don’t own a Mika, may as well just wait for the cancellation.

also... One days notice! What if someone doesn’t even see the email in time? 

 

On the the other hand, if this really is what he’s asking JP fans for real, and owning a previous doll is a requirement...? I think that may actually be a new low and I’m sure anyone who has thought about it for more than 5 seconds can come up with a dozen reasons why someone who can’t produce such a photo at a moments notice/doesn’t own Mika does NOT mean the person is a reseller. (I’m suddenly imagining Volks asking everyone who ordered Meiko to show photos of all the previous Vocaloids to prove their worth as a fan lol)

However its meant to be interpreted, the QRTs are raising the same concerns I have. (I checked them mainly because I still couldn’t believe what I was reading but they confirmed it for me...) things like ‘So you can’t buy her if you don’t have Mika??’ Someone else has pointed out that there are people who do not own cameras or computers and I everything with just a smartphone.. so how then will they take this photo of the webpage with Mika? (With a mirror, I guess? Which also seems kinda an invasion of privacy unless they censor themselves)

Ugh... 😨 I can't be the only one who finds this level of attempting to control things at least a little disturbing?

God... can he do at least one thing without doing ridiculous stuff like this? 

50 minutes ago, Yuichan said:

God... can he do at least one thing without doing ridiculous stuff like this? 

Apparently not.

12 hours ago, Monty said:

’Hello, I’m Danny!

Thank you for choosing Smartdoll.

Before we ship your order I need to confirm some things. This is to make sure Shiki Ichinose goes to mostly her fans and not resellers.

Please take a photo of your Mika Jougasaki next to a device showing today’s smartdoll homepage.

Please send the photo by tomorrow.’

Oh my goodness, I nearly spat out my coffee. This sounds like a ransom note.

I just realized this and I’m now laughing my ass off.

This ransom note cannot be real... I agree, it reads like one.

It doesn't matter for whatever reasons he sends out something like this, this is way over the line. There are plenty of valid reasons why someone wouldn't be able to procure the picture he wants in a day, even if they own the doll. At this point he's just cultivating more and more one big circlejerk fest under the guise of being a business. What kind of business model is this?

It makes me sad to see something like. Some smd are really cute and I love the colour range but his business conduct leaves me with an unwanted bad aftertaste.

I know how you feel so bad I love Athena, Moment, Envisage and many more of the smart doll girls but his behavior just ruins them for me.

Edited June 1, 2021 by Mars
Grammar

4 hours ago, Hymn said:

This ransom note cannot be real... I agree, it reads like one.

It doesn't matter for whatever reasons he sends out something like this, this is way over the line. There are plenty of valid reasons why someone wouldn't be able to procure the picture he wants in a day, even if they own the doll. At this point he's just cultivating more and more one big circlejerk fest under the guise of being a business. What kind of business model is this?

It makes me sad to see something like. Some smd are really cute and I love the colour range but his business conduct leaves me with an unwanted bad aftertaste.

I think I know where he gets it from... his dad is worse

What?

After re-reading the tweet with the ransom note I sort of started going through a couple of other tweets related to it, and I sometimes wonder how he’s still in business. If I were to pull that kind of snark with my (potential) clients, I’d be fired for sure.

 

20 minutes ago, ChrisFhey said:

After re-reading the tweet with the ransom note I sort of started going through a couple of other tweets related to it, and I sometimes wonder how he’s still in business. If I were to pull that kind of snark with my (potential) clients, I’d be fired for sure.

 

Ultimately he runs his own business, so he can do what he wants. What he can’t do is make himself immune from criticism and fallout. 

Yeah, I get that, but I’d expect more people to be pushed away by his behaviour. 

I'm really flabbergasted. Was just looking at a SmD group on Facebook and noticed that the shoes that came with Shiki aren't even real (either pleather or cheap leather)....they are just vinyl! Now, I know Volk's shoes for a lot of dolls tend to be pleather, but for a doll to be 79,000 yen it blows my mind that he wouldn't give her his actually decent quality leather shoes. They look like giant Barbie Doll shoes. 😕 Things have certainly changed in Smart Doll land.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Deyja

5 minutes ago, Deyja said:

it blows my mind that he wouldn't give her his actually decent quality leather shoes.

Leather is probably expensive in Japan. Good leather needs care too. 

Haven’t seen the shoes in question so I can’t comment on how tacky they are. Volks shoes can vary a bit, but generally they look nice. The few SmD boots I have look good. 

23 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

Leather is probably expensive in Japan. Good leather needs care too. 

Haven’t seen the shoes in question so I can’t comment on how tacky they are. Volks shoes can vary a bit, but generally they look nice. The few SmD boots I have look good. 

I worded what I was saying wrong as I never owned a pair of his loafers (always on my wishlist but never got around to it). I had several pairs of his shoes, one was a suede like material, the other a cheap leather, the last being real leather and the most expensive. I *think* his loafers originally were the cheaper leather material but I can't say that they weren't pleather. It just kinda irks me a little because he did away with the nice shoes and made vinyl casts of them and now those are the standard fair for shoes. He still sells leather combat looking boots, however. I'll include a pic (not mine) that I saw. Editing to add: It just makes the price even more unjustified knowing she isn't even a full vinyl doll herself.

Spoiler

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Deyja

52 minutes ago, Deyja said:

It just kinda irks me a little because he did away with the nice shoes and made vinyl casts of them and now those are the standard fair for shoes.

Maybe it’s financial fallout from Cortex flopping?

Idk... both of the loafers produced by his company don't look that well made.  One looks like it was a prototype and badly put together, which would lead to shorter life of the shoe.  The other literally looks like a plastic shoe you put on a 1/12 doll. 

Is he cutting corners to save money? (Which means he is losing money/suppliers)???

Edited June 4, 2021 by Shamrock
mispelled 'shoe'

1 hour ago, BeyondTime said:

Maybe it’s financial fallout from Cortex flopping?

I'm sure it's a huge part of it, and honestly I think the fallout from it was the single grain of rice to tip the scale for him. I remember reading about him talking all about cortex and how it will be a game changer in the industry. I self-deprecate for offenses such as forgetting to take out the trash, so I'm sure that the cortex flop has a huge impact on how he is as a person now. I hope for his sake that he can learn from the experience and grow from it.

 

20 minutes ago, Shamrock said:

Idk... both of the loafers produced by his company don't look that well made.  One looks like it was a prototype and badly put together, which would lead to shorter life of the shoe.  The other literally looks like a plastic shoe you put on a 1/12 doll. 

Is he cutting corners to save money? (Which means he is losing money/suppliers)???

It might be just that pair. The pairs of shoes I had by him were very well made. I've noticed from photos of clothes people have purchased from him (and all the complaints in the Facebook Debacle thread) that the quality seems generally going downhill. The 'real' pair might very well be a chaos pair. I just think the vinyl shoes look horrible. His pumps look even worse. 5,900 yen for a pair of vinyl pumps.

42 minutes ago, Deyja said:

I'm sure it's a huge part of it, and honestly I think the fallout from it was the single grain of rice to tip the scale for him. I remember reading about him talking all about cortex and how it will be a game changer in the industry. I self-deprecate for offenses such as forgetting to take out the trash, so I'm sure that the cortex flop has a huge impact on how he is as a person now. I hope for his sake that he can learn from the experience and grow from it.

 

It might be just that pair. The pairs of shoes I had by him were very well made. I've noticed from photos of clothes people have purchased from him (and all the complaints in the Facebook Debacle thread) that the quality seems generally going downhill. The 'real' pair might very well be a chaos pair. I just think the vinyl shoes look horrible. His pumps look even worse. 5,900 yen for a pair of vinyl pumps.

Oh wow, volks vinyl pumps are 880 yen... looking at his, the volks lack the extra stitching detail but still... I do wonder if the vinyl shoe thing also wasn’t spurred on in some way by the whole weathering/mismatched shoe controversy - these vinyl ones won’t have that and as he says, they won’t stain, but man... 

Just now, abs2891 said:

Oh wow, volks vinyl pumps are 880 yen... looking at his, the volks lack the extra stitching detail but still... I do wonder if the vinyl shoe thing also wasn’t spurred on in some way by the whole weathering/mismatched shoe controversy - these vinyl ones won’t have that and as he says, they won’t stain, but man... 

I don't know honestly. All I do remember was how great the quality was on his converse type shoes, pumps made with real frabric and lined in beige. That was kind of a fun tidbit when I first got my SmD and I was tickled pink I owned a pair of Jimmy Choos. 880 is much more reasonable!