Limited Doll Question

I am sorry if this topic has came up before, but when I searched it, nothing showed up.

 

Anyways, I was wondering about limited dolls and how "limited" they really are. Is there any website that tells you how many pieces of a certain doll were made?

 

I recently purchased a Yoko and I was curious as to how many were made of her, and I am curious about a few other characters as well.

 

Thanks~

Volks is really close-lipped about the quantities for their limited dolls. It's very hard to get an accurate idea of how many have been produced and sold, unfortunately~ I'm always very curious about it. It feels like each limited doll is released in different quantities.

I really want to know, too! I think as they get more popular, the quantities will have to change accordingly.

I think as they get more popular, the quantities will have to change accordingly.

 

Mwahahaha, wishful thinking

No way. Volks doesn't work like that.

It's probably some mysterious way of Japanese business thinking, maybe mixed with some kind of tradition or some spiritual thing. Don't know.

 

I'm surprised - and very - that they re-released Sabers. Not quite the same Sabers like before, but still.

Every normal company seeing their products going for insane aftermarket prices (like Sasara or Yuki) would do a re-run for pre-orders, so they won't be left with unsold pieces. And get a lot of cash.

They have the molds and the possibilities.

But not Volks - and that's strange.

I think as they get more popular, the quantities will have to change accordingly.

 

Mwahahaha, wishful thinking

No way. Volks doesn't work like that.

It's probably some mysterious way of Japanese business thinking, maybe mixed with some kind of tradition or some spiritual thing. Don't know.

 

I'm surprised - and very - that they re-released Sabers. Not quite the same Sabers like before, but still.

Every normal company seeing their products going for insane aftermarket prices (like Sasara or Yuki) would do a re-run for pre-orders, so they won't be left with unsold pieces. And get a lot of cash.

They have the molds and the possibilities.

But not Volks - and that's strange.

 

I think most Japanese companies understand the magic of limited quantities and even some figurines I love will never get re-released, keeping the originals shiny and untouchable.

 

Anyways, perhaps you're right about the quantity change (or lack thereof) and it will only get harder to win one in the lottery in the future. Not looking forward to that...

Limited quantities means limited cash flow. They simply don't want he money. I don't get it but okay, their choice

I think it is the limited supply that helps cause the high demand. They don't waste material. They KNOW they will pretty much sell everything they make. That is smart business in its own way. Keeping stock can be expensive as well. If they had unlimited supply from the start I doubt DDs etc would be as popular as they are now. It is (IMO) the limited supplies that has made this hobby what it is. Even if it is frustrating to most of us.

I think it is the limited supply that helps cause the high demand. They don't waste material. They KNOW they will pretty much sell everything they make. That is smart business in its own way. Keeping stock can be expensive as well. If they had unlimited supply from the start I doubt DDs etc would be as popular as they are now. It is (IMO) the limited supplies that has made this hobby what it is. Even if it is frustrating to most of us.

 

Agreed. That's what makes some people want them more is because of how rare/valuable they are due to limited quantities.

And where is the money for Volks in this? Nowhere.

If the people want to buy Sasara for 3000$, why not make limited preorder for her, 1000$ each piece?

How many will be preordered? I think many.

Looks like easy way to earn some big money by Volks, not by some Y!J sellers.

But no. Why?

Take the Saber pre-orders, they've pretty much backlogged EVERYTHING else at Volks. There are almost no hand options in stock anymore, no bodies in stock, hell, even the DDS internal frame is apparently sold out in pretty much every Volks store in Japan.

 

Sure, they could probably ramp up production, but it isn't that easy. It's a large investment, and they'd have to sustain the high production as well.

And where is the money for Volks in this? Nowhere.

If the people want to buy Sasara for 3000$, why not make limited preorder for her, 1000$ each piece?

How many will be preordered? I think many.

Looks like easy way to earn some big money by Volks, not by some Y!J sellers.

But no. Why?

 

I don't Sasara would be valued at $3,000 if Volks continued her production?

Maybe they don't want to be overwhelmed with massive orders. Looking at the Saber pre-order, it looks like they're not coping so well. Delays and out of stock option parts

 

waha, You beat me to it

I'm pretty sure your dd will not feel as special if it was mass produced and sold on sites like amiami or hobby search. I'm very surprised they did a saber re-run, the pressure in Japan probably got to them finally. Although I doubt they will do something like this again, they are not a large company and they are catering to a niche market. It's alot more risky for them to extend their capacity and have the market flood. Compared to 2-3 years ago, I feel there's a significantly more people buying them just because they are the cool thing atm and the amount of scalpers have greatly increased. If volks increase production just because of these 2 factor, they will lose out in the long run. Japanese loves the word limited, volks will always give priority to its home market.

Volks is really close-lipped about the quantities for their limited dolls. It's very hard to get an accurate idea of how many have been produced and sold, unfortunately~ I'm always very curious about it. It feels like each limited doll is released in different quantities.

 

I think you're right, that there's different numbers for each doll, but it's hard to tell for sure. The fact that some dolls are more liked by the DD community than others sort of creates an artificial shortage (outside of Volks control) for that particular doll, because people buy and don't really want to sell her as much.

I think you're right, that there's different numbers for each doll, but it's hard to tell for sure. The fact that some dolls are more liked by the DD community than others sort of creates an artificial shortage (outside of Volks control) for that particular doll, because people buy and don't really want to sell her as much.

 

Not only is that demand outside Volks' control, but I think it's often outside their *knowledge*, at least at initial release. It's often hard to predict which dolls are going to be coveted and which under-appreciated. I think Volks had assumed SH Sakuya would be the show stealer for DP 27, for instance, since they announced her before anyone else, but then Rise just kind of got popular out of nowhere. They tried to guess, and guess wrong, and I think it's partially just in case of that that they don't say how many they make of each doll.

 

The other reason they don't say, I think, is that by not committing to a certain number they then *can* re-release. Now, for DDs, it's very rare for a re-release to occur, likely because of conditions in the licensing of characters. But for their SDs, they do re-releases and variations on molds quite often. They're still limited, not only because each release is a little different, but because they're still not available all the time.

 

Speaking of which, I kind of have to wonder if DD's recent popularity is part of the reason the DDIII body has so many issues. Between such high demand, and the change in design (and presumably resulting changes in molds/workflows), that might explain the fall in quality control.

 

I do have to agree with Waha regarding the pre-orders. Volks doesn't do doll pre-orders often, and with all the past ones they put a cap on how many of each doll each person could order. They took away that rule for the Saber orders, and it's biting them hard. I fully expect to see a cap on any future pre-orders, especially if the license holder for any of the really coveted girls decides to follow Type-Moon and OK re-release.

And where is the money for Volks in this? Nowhere.

If the people want to buy Sasara for 3000$, why not make limited preorder for her, 1000$ each piece?

How many will be preordered? I think many.

Looks like easy way to earn some big money by Volks, not by some Y!J sellers.

But no. Why?

 

I don't really think they are hurting for money. I assume they are meeting their expectations and, in the case of the sabers, exceeding it. If they were mass produced like other products the value would plummet. It's a fine line they are walking between keeping supplies low and flooding the market. Low supply means high constant demand, which to me would be a nice way to run a business since they know they will meet a certain income each year without having to lose too much on production.

 

If they kept re-releasing older dolls it would just piss people off and make them less likely to buy the next "limited" item. I've seen it before in other hobbies. Things that are marked limited for a time but then released in mass later usually backfires. Granted, the Sabers were an exception, but I think people realized that this was a one time deal and it was for a limited "time", which is still limited.

 

I still think a large part of this hobby is the prestige that goes with getting that limited item. If people felt or knew that "Eh, they'll release it again later", then people will not be so worried about buying it when it is available.

 

Just my two cents. I sure would love another crack at a Yuki. ;P

Speaking of which, I kind of have to wonder if DD's recent popularity is part of the reason the DDIII body has so many issues. Between such high demand, and the change in design (and presumably resulting changes in molds/workflows), that might explain the fall in quality control.

 

Agreed. I've been thinking along the same lines. I really like the idea of the extra posability, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to trade that for durability. If I don't like the DDIII bodies when I get them, I might actually "downgrade" my girls to DDII bodies while they're still available. Hopefully Volks will eventually fix them though.

 

I do have to agree with Waha regarding the pre-orders. Volks doesn't do doll pre-orders often, and with all the past ones they put a cap on how many of each doll each person could order. They took away that rule for the Saber orders, and it's biting them hard. I fully expect to see a cap on any future pre-orders, especially if the license holder for any of the really coveted girls decides to follow Type-Moon and OK re-release.

 

Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad they removed the cap. I know some resellers will take advantage of that. I'm not. I bought 2, but that's because I wanted to make 1 a custom (wanted Saber Alter's head for this, was cheaper to get Alter v2 for an Alter head + body than trying to buy an Alter v1 head from somewhere plus a body) and 1 I want to leave as Saber Alter. I would not have gotten the chance for this had Volks not offered that option. I would've just had to suck it up with 1 and be disappointed, or be out more money from buying a second Alter head at market value.

 

Don't know how many people plan to use her for a custom other than me, but it sure opened up those possibilities.

 

If they kept re-releasing older dolls it would just piss people off and make them less likely to buy the next "limited" item. I've seen it before in other hobbies. Things that are marked limited for a time but then released in mass later usually backfires. Granted, the Sabers were an exception, but I think people realized that this was a one time deal and it was for a limited "time", which is still limited.

 

I think the scary thing is, there's still a lot of people who missed out on the pre-orders who want these dolls on top of all the ones Volks has had to make. I have the feeling the scalper types will have plenty to offer for those who are willing to pay ridiculous markups though.

 

Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about re-releases for older dolls. It's not like this is new. Volks did this with Asuka and Rei and a few others in the past. But the vast majority only get 1 release and never get released again.