DD Gathering 2012

Victory is mine! It almost seems as if the new parts and standard models' release didn't result in a click war, as I was able to secure all the parts for an MDDIII L bust body, a DDdyIII Miko, and a DDS L bust for Millefeuille with no real effort involved. This means I can do the stories for Niimi and her transformations soon.

Victory indeed. I secured parts for MDDIII body and DD stand without click war.

Wow, that's a lot of stuffs! Congrats on getting all that sir!

 

 

Billy

40 minutes after release time, DDdyIII Miko and DDS Mayu are sold out, MDD Rena is still available. Not too shabby compared to a real click war.

DDS L bust and DD3 M bust secured

Mission Complete

SakuraSylph and I are back from attending the DD Gathering in person at the Volks Tachikawa store. SakuraSylph will have more details of what went down, I'm sure, but I'm pleased. We got everything we wanted, and we brought home stuff for other people (from SakuraSylph's request thread). Also placed the DDH-07 group order.

So, we went to the DD Gathering in person at Volks Tachikawa. This store occupies a whole half of the 7th floor of the Chubu FROM building, maybe 100m outside of Tachikawa Station north exit. There aren't any exterior signs for this particular Volks other than the line-item on the building floor directory, so be sure to look at a map carefully if you want to visit this store.

 

To attend an event in Japan, the first thing you want to do is look on volks.co.jp for event information a couple days in advance. Each store has its own rules about opening time, lineup, and procedure, and the stores aren't all the same. You'll want to know exactly what's going to happen at the location you will visit.

 

For Tachikawa, the store opened at 10a, and we had to be outside the FROM building no later than 9:30. This store was using the line lottery method, so it didn't matter when you arrived. We were there around 9am and just waited outside.

 

At 9:30 the Volks staff did some preliminary announcements, asking if anyone present was there as a friend and not actually shopping. No one raised their hand. With that done, Volks had the guards unlock a side entrance to the building, then led the group two-by-two up the stairs all the way to the roof. The group was around 40 people, and order didn't matter yet.

 

Up on the roof, we all drew numbers from a box and then waited for the staff to put us in order. They did so by just announcing numbers in order until a match came up, and then the ticket holder walked over to join the buying line. I had ticket number 10, and ended up 4th in line. DJStarstryker had number 53, and ended up somewhere around the 30ish person. That will be important later.

 

Once the line was formed, the staff asked how many people were going to buy any new DD Standard model. The intent was to hand out purchase-right tickets starting at the front of the line so you'd be guaranteed a doll. Why? The Volks showroom is packed with goodies, so only a few DD models can be out on the tables at any one time, even though more are in the stockroom. Only a few people raised their hands in response, so use of these tickets was not needed. After this we were led back downstairs to 7F where we waited in the stairwell until 10:00.

 

At 10:00 the store opened and the staff let people in 10 at a time. There was a carefully-specified pathway set up that went by each of the new releases and straight to the register, not stopping in any of the normal sections. For anything not part of this release, you had to wait until the DD Gathering initial rush was over before you could browse the rest of the Dollfie part of the store. The figure/hobby sections were open though, in case you wanted to wait. Once the DD Gathering line slowed to a crawl, some people were asking staff to go get them a pair of hands or blank head, so apparently that is OK to do.

 

I was near the front of the line, which meant I was fortunate to acquire everything I wanted and everything people asked me for, within the one-per-person limit. The drawback to the front of the line is that it moves fast to the register, so it was easy to pass by some items and almost miss them. Especially the doll parts since they all look similar in the box and there's barely time to read the labels. If you're at the front you need to know exactly what you're buying in advance since there is no time to stop and consider. A fair tradeoff for access though, if you're prepared.

 

DJStarstryker was later in the line, which has its own benefits and drawbacks. The drawback *could* be less access, in that something could be sold out before you get to it. For DJ, that didn't turn out to be the case this time as there was enough stock that we both ended up getting what we wanted or had been asked for. In this, the event was a great success. The benefit of being later in line is that the line backs up as people in the front check out.. Thus you have all the time in the world to look at items closely, decide what you want, not miss anything, and admire all the SD and DD on display.

 

After everyone had checked out once, the event was concluded and store operation returned to normal. Not a single person brought any dolls with them or used the photo spaces today... This was a shopping-only event. Many people left with piles of new goodies and/or a new DD Standard, so their hands were full and I guess it would have been hard to carry a doll too.

 

For stock information: each basket started with about 10 copies of a given outfit. Sometimes the staff would restock the baskets when they emptied; other times the staff would take the basket label over to the sold-out board. By the end of the day, only the two wa-maids, white socks, and DD stands had sold out; everything else still had at least one copy left even though a lot of people bought a lot of stuff each.

 

As we go to more events, we'll find out whether that stock level is typical or if it was just kindly high this time around.

 

And that is the report of our first Japanese Volks event. We had a successful shopping time, got to see some sharply-dressed people, and also put in for the DDH-07s. An exciting way to spend the morning!

I just love reports like this, especially for people like me who cannot attend or get to them

 

It gives me and i'm sure others an idea on how an event runs and how well it is organised

 

Thank you

I totally forgot about this so I've missed the holiday outing set I wanted *sigh*

DDdy, DDS, ハイカラメイドセット（桃） x 2 and 撫子メイドセット（濃藍） x 2

 

Oh, pre-ordered DDH-05 2012 x 2 and DDH-06 RUBY x2 as well

Darn, I missed out on this too. I really wanted that holiday outing set.

finally manage to secure DDIII shapely bust.. ^^, yippe,, next will have to wait for DDH07 release...

So how did that work? I thought the new standard models were only available in person for this event. I wish I could have gotten a Miko NOW but I am saving money and will wait for them to be released on Volks USA. I am still so new to all this so I get confused about how to used their site and what the rules for all this actually are!

They held a sales event on their website store on Volks inc. Initially, we were, not sure if they will have stock for their online event but they announced release on it a few weeks back. You can always order from their website and they ship internationally. Because Miko is a standard model, she will be restocked so don't worry.

 

Rumors say the same items plan to release in late Jan or early Feb for Volksusa. To be honest though, it will be a fight to get her via retail as she is the most popular and also the first one to sell out last night. Therefore, I suggest saving a bit of extra money in case you need to get it from a different party.

I refuse to loose click wars....She would be my very first doll of ANY KIND and I NEED her. I emailed volks USA and they said expect a 2-3 month delay on receiving the items from today's Dolpa. I am so jelly that people got Miko on the first try. I wanted lots of clothes from this too but like I said I don't mind getting those second hand someday if at all possible. I just need to stay updated on all this stuff and I am still new to forums and all this so I am a little scrambled >.< I just hope I can get Miko from USA right away.

she will be restocked

aha, a year later, maybe

 

much easier it is to wait for them to appear on Mandarake

I don't know if Miko, and other new standard models as well, has hit the Volks store yet so there's little possibility for her to be on Mandarake anytime soon

Maybe You confuse Miko with Miki ?

Today mandarake sold new standart DDS girl for 38k yen, so I think there will be and other girls

I don't know if Miko, and other new standard models as well, has hit the Volks store yet so there's little possibility for her to be on Mandarake anytime soon

Maybe You confuse Miko with Miki ?

 

Miko and the other two new standard models hit the Volks Japan webstore on the 20th at 10am JST. I have a DyIII Miko on the way.

 

They were all sold out within about 1 hour of going up for sale.

After that long wait for "anything DD" it's no wonder they sold out.

But Volks should now restock their shop more often. After all, Sabers are finally gone

Sabers are gone, now it's time to make a million Xenosaga and Sword Art Online dolls

I hope Volks learned something...

 

not sure that it will be so.

it's like a bone to a hungry dog so she would not bite.

VOLKS planing to do Xenosaga, than Sword art... and so on

since they started doing these Sabers there was not restock of a standart Aoi&Yukino 2nd ver. So will be with the new dolls

I hope Volks learned something...

 

 

And I hope it isn't to licence uber popular characters that suck the life out of production of the standards every six months. I think Raven and I were really lucky to have seen what it was like before the body drought set in, if we hadn't I might not have attempted having more than just Tamayuki. I can be patient when I need to be but it isn't something I can do easily, but having the body access get back to normal has almost pushed me to my limit. I am very excited about the new standard DD but still a little wary that there is this initial surge followed by another 4-6 months of nothingness. My poor Rainie, I never intended her to be a floating head so long when she came with Tama & Yuriko in February.

 

I want the fun and excitement back in the hobby, but until then I keep hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

 

~Sister Kyoya

As mentioned before, Natalie @ dw, managedto get me a yukino from a volks shop when the website was oos

 

The web site does not always reflect what is always avalible (well this is what i've found out) anyway

 

I can't imagine volks running there stores with no dd spares or base models, unless they are trying to scare away new collectors