Greetings and Salutations

Hello everyone, I'm without a doubt very, very new here. Been lurking on the forums sporadically, trying to register but unable to for a while due to unforeseen happenings (didn't get an activation e-mail for at all at first). But now that I am here, I'm hoping to get to know about the community, as I've started to have some vested interest in dolls, particularly Dollfies which is what this forum is about and why I'm here to begin with.

Welcome! You've come to a great place to find out more about these vinyl beauties. Any girl in particular catch your fancy?

Welcome! Here is a great place for you to explore, I'm also new here but is in awe with amount of information and help from everyone here. We are a friendly community.

 

Hi and welcome! I lurked for about 4 months before I joined too

 

I hope you explore, there are lots of informative threads and we're a very friendly, helpful bunch if you have any questions!

Thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it.

 

And to be honest, I have no idea where to start actually, nor do I am sure about any of the girls that has caught me fancy since I'm not sure who they are so far. For this reason of learning and discovery of where to really look is why I'm here and finally posting in hopes that somebody can point me to the right direction.

 

If anything though, and hoping that I might not sound like anything typically unfavorable here or something, I'm made intrigued by a photo of a Hatsune Miku cosplay Dollfie by someone on the net, and I guess I kind of wanted to have one like that. I apologize firsthand if that sounded galling for a start into this hobby.

That DD Miku cosplay was it the one featured on Danny Choo's blog?

A Miku DD has been one of my longtime desires too! Honestly, I'm flabbergasted Volks hasn't made an official one. I've actually been tempted to do a custom Miku myself, but haven't committed to a particular head for her. (Which may be just as well, because technically Agatha, my current custom, isn't exactly done yet.)

 

I guess part of why I haven't settled on a head is because there seem to be so many that work. Danny Choo featured a Figure.fm user's custom Miku that used the Fate/Nanoha head to great effect, but also on Figure.fm I've seen one using Airi, another using Tohsaka Rin, and what I think was an SQ Labs Iris, and they all looked fabulous even though they gave off very different moods. There was another Miku that consisted of a pair of heavily customized option heads, one closed mouthed and one open mouthed, too. Too many choices!

 

Still, with all those choices out there, if you want more owner photos of a particular girl, we should be able to help you out. Personally I've found owner photos to be far more helpful when it comes to narrowing down favorite DDs than Volks promo shots.

Hahaha, yeah. It's the one on featured on Figure.fm by that user called Yui. I've followed up on him later on where he uses something called a DDH-06 Head for his Miku or something which makes his Miku attempt all the more fitting and pretty it seems.

 

Barring my want of having a Miku Dollfie of my own though, I'm up to getting anything really. And I guess besides trying to get one of the already available girls on the market currently, there's the option of custom building one up from scratch isn't there? Or is that an uncommon thing to do here?

Barring my want of having a Miku Dollfie of my own though, I'm up to getting anything really. And I guess besides trying to get one of the already available girls on the market currently, there's the option of custom building one up from scratch isn't there? Or is that an uncommon thing to do here?

 

Doing customs isn't uncommon at all! It's perfectly normal!

 

I just prefer limited sculpts because of how unique they are.

 

Anyways, welcome to the fourm!

Yep I know which one you're talking about! The shots Danny featured are of his DD Fate, customized with blue eyebrows to match the wig. The DD06, sometimes also called just the 06 head, is one of five heads Volks offers standard--that is, is available all the time and that you buy blank. (Though I think Yui got the limited version with the faceup.) The 06 makes a pretty good Miku too, though with it available standard I think a custom face-up would suit her best.

 

I know, they're all so cute you want to take them all home! Still, this list may help: http://www.flickr.com/groups/dollfiedream/discuss/72157604716375946/ It's nearly all the DDs released so far, save for the four most recent (Millhiore, Mariko, Haruka, and Lucy.) With over 60 different DDs out, it's probably sanest to pick a handful to keep an eye out on.

 

Yep! One of my two girls, Agatha, is a custom, and many people here also have customs. Most of them are made using one of the five standard heads on the owner's choice of body, then given faceups, eyes, and wigs to match the owner's idea of who the doll should be. It's pretty fascinating to see what different people do with the same five heads. For instance, Volks standard girl Yukino, my Agatha, and LordNoir's Chomiko are all based off the 03 standard head. It's pretty rewarding to see a custom come together bit by bit into her own unique personality. They can be rather demanding too though--I don't think Agatha will ever let me call her "finished"!

Dear Lord that's a lot. Now I'm even more lost on what to get besides the basics. @_@ Although it begs the question of where can one buy them in the first place, at least online anyway. I'm going up to Japan this June and hoping to hit one of the Tenshi no Sumikas there but I want to see if I can get one via online purchase first, if at all possible. I only know of the Volks Online store which is sadly understocked with most of the stuffs and Mandarake.

There will be a Kyoto After Event at 23rd March on Volks International site where you can try you luck with 2 Dollfie Dream, Lucy & Haruka.

If you visit Mandarake, you may find some rare hard to find DD in their store but with a hefty price i guess. Rmb to prepare enough $$.

Volks is where to get standard blank heads, bodies, alternate hands, the two standard image girls Aoi and Yukino, and whatever the very latest limited girls are, though the last ones you pretty much have to be ready to buy and watching Volks when they come out.

 

As for getting girls on the aftermarket, there's several different options. Usually on the aftermarket you'll be finding a mix of new and used, even on standard stuff, and it does take patience to find things at times, but it's totally worth it for that moment when you catch your "unicorn", as we dub our personal most coveted dolls around here. It helps that here people tend to post links to good deals online as the find them. XD Enabling powers, activate!

 

Initial already mentioned Mandarake, an anime-oriented consignment store with several branches throughout Japan. In addition to their multiple storefronts, they also list stuff online; that's how I nabbed my Nanoha, actually. The upside of Mandarake is that there's no bidding involved, and they do sometimes have some killer deals on used merchandise. The downside is that they often bump the price on items in mint condition, and their online indexing is nearly complete chaos. For best results online, it pays to search in both English and Japanese.

 

The Jungle is another geeky Japanese consignment store. They don't have as many branches as Mandarake and thus have a smaller selection, but they're way, way better at properly labeling stuff so searching is much easier there.

 

Another place is Yahoo Japan Auctions. Think of it as a Japanese equivalent of eBay--in fact, it's the auction site that beat out eBay in Japan. XD YJA has a whole category just for DD stuff, which ranges from damaged parts for cheap to gorgeous custom-painted heads to mint-condition, rare dolls. (And the custom clothes people put up there are sometimes crazy beautiful.) Upside is sheer variety, and again that sometimes you can find a good deal with enough careful watching. Downsides are bidding wars and proxies. See, for some stupid reason most YJA sellers won't ship outside Japan, so you have to basically hire someone to buy the doll for you, ship it to their address, and then forward your purchase to you, for a fee. There are several companies that actually specialize in this.

 

eBay sometimes gets good priced DDs, but it takes a lot of watching to catch those in between the utterly outrageous scalper listings. Personally I find eBay more useful for finding props, as there are all kinds of weird and awesome miniature things that work for our girls. There are also some clothes and wigs up there that are made for other manufacturer's dolls that happen to fit DDs.

 

Then there are some DD communities that will get dolls up for sale now and again. In addition to here, there's some that pop up on Den of Angels, some on the Dollfie Dream Flikr group, and sometimes some on Figure.fm.

 

Again, patience is key to any of them. Since these all consist of individual listings rather than any kind of "stock", it can take a while for the one you really want to be listed at a price that isn't gouge-your-eye-out scalping. But when it does happen, it's totally worth it.

That's helpful information, Poofiemus, than you. I'll make note of them for now. If anything though, for better or worse, I'm gonna try out my luck at the Kyoto After Event Lottery on Volk's site later. Keeping my eye out to when it's open and what not. Thinking I'm going to try and get Haruka Niimi seeing as she's the prettier of the selection and having dark hair which I like. Not too big on one using a Dynamite body but if she might end up as my first, I'm willing to make an exception and who knows, I might grow to like it. XD

You're welcome! I know it's a lot, but better to know all your options than miss a good deal on a girl or outfit, right?

 

If you do go for the after event, good luck! It looks like Haruka was slightly easier to get than Lucy in the US lotteries so hopefully for you that carries over to the international lottery too. I hadn't intended a DDDy for my first either originally, and had thought about modding an L bust to give her less. . . unlikely cleavage. But given that Agatha's style runs to the more formal/Victorian, the "invisible push up bra" boobs have kind of grown on me. XD