Availability of Standard Models

DD Standard Models: they’re the girls you can meet any time you visit our stores. They are waiting for you, at all of our VOLKS Showrooms and Tenshi-no-Sumika locations. There are currently two standard girls, “Aoi” and “Yukino”, their characters polar opposites. Which of them suits you best?

Edited April 14, 2013 by Guest

You need a good fortune teller to predict availability of anything DD related at Volks

 

But after the "Saber case" Volks should have more parts and standard models available soon. No one knows, how soon, of course.

They're probably preparing the new product line, with the 3 new standard models besides Aoi and Yukino.

I had it figured that Miko is the most popular and will sell out first. Then Mayu, then finally Rena. MDDs are always the last things to sell out.

 

I'm not sure on the availability in stores since I'm not sure how they handle them overseas... But I feel this may be one of those situations where it'd be beneficial to just purchase quickly online if there's a huge line for the stores.

Judging from the Japanese stores and Aoi and Yukino, I can tell you that a store is lucky to have even one of these girls in stock at the time. I know of a store that has Aoi (both v1 and v2) sitting around. But all of the rest of the Volks stores I've been to have zero of the standard models sitting around. I haven't seen a single Yukino since I've been here in Japan for the last month and a half.

 

This is a completely different situation from the Super Dollfie line, where Volks seems to have a ton of the standard models sitting around. I'm not sure if Volks just places a higher priority on Super Dollfie (still considered their flagship doll line) or if DD is just popular enough that they keep selling out. Probably a combination of both.

 

They'll probably have a LOT of the new ones available in the Japanese stores starting on Saturday, but because they're new, I imagine every single one will be snapped up quick.

I only saw a 1-2 standard sets in my Japan visit, and I toured a lot of Volks shops. Fingers crossed you'll find your dream girl, MDD in general is easier to acquire. And I'd love to see what the Korean volks shop looks like, if you have a chance share some photos

I'm hoping that you find what you're looking for, it seems Dollfies are really getting popular lately.

When I was in Tokyo last year at the Volks store, the store had both Aoi & Yukino in stock, but the clothes were very few are far between. I purchased a v1 Aoi

 

There was also a massive display of the then to be released Saber.

 

Shortly after that visit news broke that Aoi & Yukino V1 were being withdrawn, and soon disappeared from the web site

 

I was lucky that Natalie at DW, was going to Japan in early dec and she was able to snag me a V1 Yukino.

 

This year I'm back in Japan for a two week break, 5 weeks after the launch of the new girls, so I'm hoping that I will be able to obtain a Miko either at Volks, Osaka or Volks, Tokyo.

This year I'm back in Japan for a two week break, 5 weeks after the launch of the new girls, so I'm hoping that I will be able to obtain a Miko either at Volks, Osaka or Volks, Tokyo.

 

As an FYI - there's like 6 Volks stores in the Tokyo area. Most people just go to the Akiba one, but there's more than that. All of the Tokyo area ones stock DD stuff minus the one in Harajuku. That's a Super Dollfie specific store. But if you want to go there, they still have stuff that you can use with DDs, like the La Parsonal Collection clothes, wigs, eyes, head caps and body stockings, etc.

This year I'm back in Japan for a two week break, 5 weeks after the launch of the new girls, so I'm hoping that I will be able to obtain a Miko either at Volks, Osaka or Volks, Tokyo.

 

As an FYI - there's like 6 Volks stores in the Tokyo area. Most people just go to the Akiba one, but there's more than that. All of the Tokyo area ones stock DD stuff minus the one in Harajuku. That's a Super Dollfie specific store. But if you want to go there, they still have stuff that you can use with DDs, like the La Parsonal Collection clothes, wigs, eyes, head caps and body stockings, etc.

 

 

Yup, I went to 4 of them while I was just in Tokyo. I also hit the one in Osaka which is in Denden Town. That was actually the first Volks store I had ever been in and it was quite impressive. Well, ALL of them were impressive but still, the Osaka one was big and had really cute girls working there.

 

 

 

Billy

did you get lucky with one?

This year I'm back in Japan for a two week break, 5 weeks after the launch of the new girls, so I'm hoping that I will be able to obtain a Miko either at Volks, Osaka or Volks, Tokyo.

 

As an FYI - there's like 6 Volks stores in the Tokyo area. Most people just go to the Akiba one, but there's more than that. All of the Tokyo area ones stock DD stuff minus the one in Harajuku. That's a Super Dollfie specific store. But if you want to go there, they still have stuff that you can use with DDs, like the La Parsonal Collection clothes, wigs, eyes, head caps and body stockings, etc.

 

This i didn't know

 

Any chance you can tell me the locations of the other stores in the tokyo area please

 

Well, ALL of them were impressive but still, the Osaka one was big and had really cute girls working there.

 

 

Billy

 

Am i allowed to take my camera with me

http://www.volks.co.jp/?version=en - Tab SHOP shows 6 different links:

Tenshi-no-Sato

Tenshi-no-Mado (Japanese Site)

Tenshi-no-Sumika (Japanese Site)

Volks Showroom (Japanese Site)

Hobby Square® (Japanese Site)

Hobby Tengoku®(Japanese Site)

 

Probably You can find all Volks shops in Japan there

Any chance you can tell me the locations of the other stores in the tokyo area please.

 

 

The ones I know of are in Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Harajuku and I think Shibuya. But the one in Harajuku didn't have any DD stuff at all in it, it was all resins when I went there last time.

 

 

Am I allowed to take my camera with me

 

 

Nope. None of the Volks stores allow pictures to be taken inside. Now that's not to say you can't try and sneak some on your cell phone or something but if you're caught, they'll ask you to leave. So I wouldn't push my luck on it.

 

 

Billy

 

The ones I know of are in Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Harajuku and I think Shibuya. But the one in Harajuku didn't have any DD stuff at all in it, it was all resins when I went there last time.

 

 

Am I allowed to take my camera with me

 

 

Nope. None of the Volks stores allow pictures to be taken inside. Now that's not to say you can't try and sneak some on your cell phone or something but if you're caught, they'll ask you to leave. So I wouldn't push my luck on it.

 

 

Billy

 

I remeber last year when i was in the akihabara store and seeing how crowded it was on the gound floor and 1st floor, but as soon you ent up top you could breath.

It was here that i purchased Aoi and saw the main photo area near one of the entrances and by that was a display case showing the new sabers, and all around the store were little red cards with lines striked through pictures of a camera, so i guessed no pics of the store allowed buy you can if you using the display area with you own girls

 

I would never push my luck by trying to do something i shouldn't, but will be going to the other areas "Shinjuku and Ikebukuro on this trip and will take a look there.

 

This is my first trip to Osaka, so will be hitting Jungle & Volks in the hope that i will be able to obtain Miko but also another girl, but not 100% sure who that is going to be yet

 

The ones I know of are in Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Harajuku and I think Shibuya. But the one in Harajuku didn't have any DD stuff at all in it, it was all resins when I went there last time.

 

 

Am I allowed to take my camera with me

 

 

Nope. None of the Volks stores allow pictures to be taken inside. Now that's not to say you can't try and sneak some on your cell phone or something but if you're caught, they'll ask you to leave. So I wouldn't push my luck on it.

 

 

Billy

 

I remeber last year when i was in the akihabara store and seeing how crowded it was on the gound floor and 1st floor, but as soon you ent up top you could breath.

It was here that i purchased Aoi and saw the main photo area near one of the entrances and by that was a display case showing the new sabers, and all around the store were little red cards with lines striked through pictures of a camera, so i guessed no pics of the store allowed buy you can if you using the display area with you own girls

 

I would never push my luck by trying to do something i shouldn't, but will be going to the other areas "Shinjuku and Ikebukuro on this trip and will take a look there.

 

This is my first trip to Osaka, so will be hitting Jungle & Volks in the hope that i will be able to obtain Miko but also another girl, but not 100% sure who that is going to be yet

 

You'll have fun at the Osaka Volks store, its actually probably the biggest or 2nd biggest one of all the ones I went to (Akiba, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, Harajuku, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka (Den Den Town)), other than maybe the Kyoto one. I remember seeing a >25,000$ die cast model of a P-51 Mustang there, if you're into that stuff, as they have tons of non-doll floors there too, which is not the case for the Kyoto one.

 

Also don't forget to check out Mandarake and Lashinbang (In both Tokyo (Akiba and Nakano and others) and Osaka), as they both have stocks of dolls (DDs mainly), at arbitrary prices for your secret 2nd girl , even K-books as I recall might have had 1 or 2. Definitely take some time to go check out Mandarake's Nakano location, they actually have sort of taken over Nakano Broadway mall there and have a whole bunch of mini-shops in there catering to special interests (everything from DDs to used Manga to Movie posters to Retro Games). Mandarake's Grandchaos location isn't that near Den Den Town, but its absolutely walkable (My hotel was somewhere in between-ish) if you're already at one of them. There was also another store I couldn't tell you the name of a few blocks past the main Akiba street that was full of DDs and other doll things. (When you exit the JR akiba station and head towards the main akiba street, if you keep going in that direction up to the next main road, it is along there, I'll see if I can google map link it or something later if I remember). Jungle...there's a tough one for me...they have a good selection, but their total lack of response to me after they really bungled shipping me a DD (a nearly crushed DD box after sending her to me in....bubble wrap only), after numerous attempts really sours my opinion of them, in the "they're friendly up until they get a sale, then you are nobody" sort of way.

 

And yea, about the camera...I dunno what it is with Japan and their no photos stuff in seemingly strange places. But all the Volks stores will have a no camera...HOWEVER, when I was in the old Akiba location at Radio Kaikan in 2009, I took some photos of the first DDs I ever saw (Saber, Rin, Nanoha, Fate), after accidentally stumbling upon the Volks store (at the time I didn't even know of Volks, let alone DDs). So you 'can' get away with it, though like the other people said above, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing so.

 

Also, don't let the fact that the Harajuku location caters only to SD, I bought Kud's Cute Hoodie set from there, so they definitely have stuff you may not necessarily find at the other stores cause they either are meant for SD or MSD or they're snapped up by a different audience.

 

I know you haven't indicated you're going to the Kyoto main location, but to anyone else reading this, I strongly strongly suggest it, its a beautiful location.

 

Ok, I'll stop now, I could keep gushing on and on about all the places (unless you want me to keep blathering about other locations or add photos), but those are the major things. xD;

Yeah, the 6 Tokyo area Volks stores are Akihabara, Shinjuku, Harajuku (SD only), Tachikawa, Yokohama, and Odaiba (the Lalaport store). The Yokohama and Odaiba ones are kinda out of the way. I myself haven't been to 'em yet thanks to that. But the others are reasonable to get to. Akihabara, Shinjuku, and Harajuku are all easily reachable on the famous Yamanote line train. To get to Tachikawa, you have to switch to the Chuo line from the Yamanote line. Easiest place to do that is at Shinjuku station, since you might be there anyway for the Shinjuku store. Nakano Broadway (where there's a huge Mandarake) is also on the Chuo line, by the way.

 

I'll make a thread sometime this weekend with directions to the Tokyo area Volks and Mandarake stores. Will also include comments and reviews and such.

 

I can't tell you anything about Osaka or Kyoto area stores yet. They're actually kind of far for me, like a 4 hour one way train ride to get to Osaka. So I can't do a day trip there, I'll want to stay there over night. I haven't done that yet. I get to be in Japan for several years, so I'll definitely do that during my time here.

Harajuku hasn't got any DD specific items, but it's worth a visit if you have time. It's super posh and the area is fun for shopping. Plus as other folks said, they have a good stock of SD and MSD items that DD can also use. They had the most outfits in stock of the Tokyo Volks shops that I visited (shinjuku, akiba, harajuku). I do remember it was a bit hidden, on a smaller residential street on the backside of a block on the main drag.

Shinjuku was smallish but they had a bit of everything. Akiba is a must see

Also the Mandarake in Shibuya had amazing bargains on Volks clothes and wigs, and a good selection of DD as well. I saw lots of dolls there that weren't on their website.

Thank you for all the comments.

 

I was happy when i brought Aoi v1 l/y from the Akiba store, but was not imnpressed with the clothes selection. Then I was still new with the hobby and didn't know much, but thanks to everyone here, espeically Mitsuki, I've brought some originals through her.

 

One store i never found in Tokyo was Madadrake. I knew it was off in a back street area off the main street, but never found it, so will be interested in seeing what they have to offer if I can find them,

 

THe DDdy Miko now out of stock on the web site, I now live in hope that the stores will hold stock of her, as this is what I found out last year when Natalie @ DW went to Japan before x-mas, got me a Yukino v1 from Akiba, but the web site said she was OOS.

 

The shop/store in akiba, taken in late Sept 2011

 

 

 

Hadn't been in Tokyo for more than 30 minutes and i had already purchased Aoi