DD KAITO

On 9/10/2022 at 1:12 AM, CeliathePikachu said:

So, might preorder Kaito, but it's been a long time since I've ordered from Volks so i want to know, with shipping fees, would it be cheaper to go with Volks USA or Int.? Other than price, is there any advantage to one over the other? I live in California, if that makes any difference (I suppose i could always drive to the LA area to pick up Kaito too, but I don't think that would be cheaper than shipping)

One thing to keep in mind is that shipping prices have gone up a lot in the past couple of months. But on the other hand you also have to pay sales tax on volks USA (esp being in CA). In the past I found the releases basically came out to be roughly the same amount personally. 

Right now is way cheaper in Volks JP. I just order a DDP Ribbon from volks JP and including shipping I paid about $374 for her. But I got some sort of lottery ticket and they gave a discount of $5000 yen. I was going to order her from Volks USA but with shipping not including the sale tax she came to be about $510 or so. So, I think right now is a good idea to order from volks JP

2 hours ago, MrFjmg03 said:

Right now is way cheaper in Volks JP. I just order a DDP Ribbon from volks JP and including shipping I paid about $374 for her. But I got some sort of lottery ticket and they gave a discount of $5000 yen. I was going to order her from Volks USA but with shipping not including the sale tax she came to be about $510 or so. So, I think right now is a good idea to order from volks JP

INCLUDING shipping? wow.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Mega Negi

17 hours ago, Mega Negi said:

INCLUDING shipping? wow.

Yes including shipping. The only thing is you have to wait a couple of weeks for Volks JP to ship, but once they do the package arrives quickly because the6 use DHL

20 minutes ago, MrFjmg03 said:

Yes including shipping. The only thing is you have to wait a couple of weeks for Volks JP to ship, but once they do the package arrives quickly because the6 use DHL

I think it’s only outfit collections or regular standard items that take a while to ship. With limited doll releases, they have consistently shipped on the release date (the shipping notification often comes the night before too) presumably to get them all out of the way/inventory.

 EXTREMELY cute pic on the official Twitter today.

32 minutes ago, Monty said:

 EXTREMELY cute pic on the official Twitter today.

I can't, I am in tears. He is so cute Tea time with KAITO.. 

No news about an usa release? Thinking about getting him but don't know if I want to order from Japan 

4 minutes ago, Saluli said:

No news about an usa release?

He's up for preorder on the 1st.

 

I think I'll try for him on Volks Japan. Is it likely to be a massive scramble and then he's sold out (for now?). He's not my #1 target right now but boy Dollfies are soooo rare I think I should give it a go.

Also does anyone have any ideas about what sort of time of day he will actually appear, or do I just have to risk wearing my keyboard's F5 key out?

35 minutes ago, Xiongmao said:

I think I'll try for him on Volks Japan. Is it likely to be a massive scramble and then he's sold out (for now?). He's not my #1 target right now but boy Dollfies are soooo rare I think I should give it a go.

Also does anyone have any ideas about what sort of time of day he will actually appear, or do I just have to risk wearing my keyboard's F5 key out?

Isn’t he a preorder on Volks Japan, too? Unless something changed, you should be able to put in a preorder during an approximately two-month window. 
 

Update:  I remembered correctly. He is a preorder. You put a deposit down, and pay the balance when he is prepared. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by MichelleAK
Updating info.

8 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

Also does anyone have any ideas about what sort of time of day he will actually appear, or do I just have to risk wearing my keyboard's F5 key out?

As MichelleAK said anyone is guaranteed to get him as long as they preorder him in the 2 month or so window, whether it’s the minute it opens or the minute it closes.

Web traffic will probably be crowded when the preorders open but the only real advantage to getting in mega early is that, in the event of there being a LOT of orders, they divide up the shipments and people who order earlier get theirs in the earlier shipment. But ‘order earlier’ during an order period that long is usually ‘within the first few days/week’, not first minutes, so there’s no real rush and people who still need to save a bit to cover the deposit have until December to do so.

*that said I am going to do it as soon as POs open anyway because I want the deposit paid ASAP and am basically the embodiment of that one ‘let me in’ meme gif waiting to do so lol

8 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

Is it likely to be a massive scramble and then he's sold out (for now?).

The annual pre-order project fulfills all orders.

 

8 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

Also does anyone have any ideas about what sort of time of day he will actually appear, or do I just have to risk wearing my keyboard's F5 key out?

The pre-order period will be 2 months long, and will remain open for orders during that entire time. The only reason to get in early is that they ship the orders in the order they are received, and if there are a large number they may break shipment down into multiple batches spaced a few weeks apart.

 

God willing I will preorder him for sure. I’m kind of tempted to order him on Volks USA just because they give you the option to pay in full and using PayPal. In Volks Japan they only give the option for the downpayment and you need to use credit card only. For me paying in full is way better also I think using PayPal is safer than just giving my credit card.

Edited September 30, 2022 by MrFjmg03

The official Hatsune Miku blog has an article on him and they reveal his box art!

https://blog.piapro.net/2022/09/p2209301‐1.html

It follows the tradition of looking bizarrely different to the doll lmao, although the dichotomy still isn’t as funny as Len’s 8D box art vs his B[ doll (speaking as a huge fan of Len’s grumpy sculpt).

I guess iXima has really changed how they draw him because this picture in particular looks so different to even other typical Kaito illustrations. It’s just a bit ironic because the original official pic of DD Kaito unveiled on Twitter matches the old iXima pic for Kaito’s v3 box art - even with the pose- so well. 

Edit: A tweet of the image too.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Monty

3 hours ago, MrFjmg03 said:

God willing I will preorder him for sure. I’m kind of tempted to order him on Volks USA just because they give you the option to pay in full and using PayPal. In Volks Japan they only give the option for the downpayment and you need to use credit card only. For me paying in full is way better also I think using PayPal is safer than just giving my credit card.

The only downside is the extra few weeks of wait time, but honestly in this hobby we're probably used to waiting for releases and a few extra weeks isn't that big a deal. 

I'm soooo excited for him aaaaaaaaaa

4 hours ago, Monty said:

The official Hatsune Miku blog has an article on him and they reveal his box art!

https://blog.piapro.net/2022/09/p2209301‐1.html

It follows the tradition of looking bizarrely different to the doll lmao, although the dichotomy still isn’t as funny as Len’s 8D box art vs his B[ doll (speaking as a huge fan of Len’s grumpy sculpt).

I guess iXima has really changed how they draw him because this picture in particular looks so different to even other typical Kaito illustrations. It’s just a bit ironic because the original official pic of DD Kaito unveiled on Twitter matches the old iXima pic for Kaito’s v3 box art - even with the pose- so well. 

Edit: A tweet of the image too.

 

Okay the difference between box art and doll is so funny to me for kaito. Dollfie sculpt is so soft featured (which I ADORE) but the box art is very cool mature. Although I adore what the dollfie looks like, now Im wondering how a cool mature look would of been like. 

It's weird to me that half of them have boxes done by Kei and half by iXima (more than half by Kei if you count Sakura/Snow miku, which is again odd because regular Miku is iXima), I do like iXima but the dolls themselves look way more like Kei's art of them since they draw the eyes so much bigger. iXima's art looks almost Super Dollfie-esque in comparison.

4 hours ago, Monty said:

It's weird to me that half of them have boxes done by Kei and half by iXima

As far as my memory serves me, its only weird ixima did original mikus box, since kei is the original designer for V1 miku, luka, rin and len. Dunno was ixima chartered for the doll boxart due to their refresh work for the characters, and also "finalizing" the adopted fanart derived looks for Meiko and Kaito which makes them the natural go-to choise for the doll box art for those two.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by finnleo

I felt it was kind of required since I made this thread (lmao) but I successfully secured a 00:01 timestamp preorder for him on Volks JP.  Taking the risk of conversion rates going back up come Spring, but I'll eat the cost in order to get him earlier than Volks US.

You're soooo lucky. I haven't been unable to get into the website at all 😪. I don't know if they prioritise visitors from certain countries.

At least I did just place a Mandarake order for somebody... just not Kaito.

Edit: got through and secured Kaito + outfit. Now we'll be in the waiting room for ages and ages!

Edited September 30, 2022 by Xiongmao

43 minutes ago, OccultBeast said:

Taking the risk of conversion rates going back up come Spring

Real economic recovery from the pandemic could take a few more years.

I've never done a preorder from Volks Japan before. Do they automatically take out the remaining payment or do I have to revisit the page in the future to pay the remainder?

I would have had a 0.01 timestamp too if it weren't for my pesky work keeping me! But I've preordered him and I'm on the verge of tears from the sheer excitement of it all!! Spring can't come too soon!