Danny Choo Smart Doll Boy [NSFW]

No no no we all got it wrong haha. There are two problems here. The ears should be lower and we should have the wig with a shorter fringe. Just imagine it as so, and so most if our problems will be gone. And maybe the lips should be changed as well... They look too kissable and duckface-y, and it would look much better if the smile line was thinner in the middle and got thicker towards the sides. Just my two cents.

He looks....far too elongated....

 

Is rather ugly. I wouldn't use that mold for male or female...

Ugh I just don't think I can work with it. I was always expecting to change it, but he just doesn't look boyish.

This may not be 100% final. Danny seems pretty open to input as designing males is not his thing (please be gentle! XD ) but I think as this is supposed to be Eiji he's not the type to be broody. I think a smile suits the character. I'm sure there will be other future male Smartdolls that can fit the 'less-happy' style. I'm also guessing, seeing as he's soon making the female Smartdoll body available to purchase on it's own the male body will be sure to follow. ^_^

This may not be 100% final. Danny seems pretty open to input as designing males is not his thing (please be gentle! XD ) but I think as this is supposed to be Eiji he's not the type to be broody. I think a smile suits the character. I'm sure there will be other future male Smartdolls that can fit the 'less-happy' style. I'm also guessing, seeing as he's soon making the female Smartdoll body available to purchase on it's own the male body will be sure to follow. ^_^

 

Here's a happier looking version

 

https://instagram.com/p/4O6aZ4Gwri/

I kept thinking...."Danny please say this was one of your failed heads and you just wanted to try it on for size."

He did state that boy looks weren't his specialty, but I just can't get past that tiny nose and missing masculine jaw line. The faceup is a whole other issue to contend with. The whole thing looks like Mirai decided to be a tomboy and the design got lazy.

Methinks Danny needs to slowly step away from the computer and hire a sculptor (proficient in male faces) to do it for him. This was exactly what I was worried about. The more I keep looking at this picture the more disappointed I get.

I hope there are enough people making their opinions known to Danny about this because it would be tragic if he was only taking the instagram comments to heart. Curious that he hasn't shared this on Twitter or Facebook yet. Maybe he knows he'll get harsher criticism there.

He hasn't been sculpting them himself. He hired an industry professional with a huge name for himself apparently. And I'm saying this again. We only got to see one faceup, at one angle, with one wig. Chill out, we have no idea what he looks like as a head aside from this one shot... But I still think the jaw could be more angular idk...

EDIT

And actually this is all our fault, and there are some things we haven't taken in account.

Why is it our fault? Well someone mentioned how he still hasn't posted it on Twitter or Facebook... That's because, as that same person said, he knows the criticism will be harsher... Why? Because he's making a goddamn male anime doll, all of that for a bunch of hysterical fan girls who don't even care about Eiji himself but only about making their anime crush or original characters... Which ALL have different facial structures and body types! Of course everyone will be divided on it! We should stop with this nonsense and actually be glad he even listens to us as costumers.

What haven't we taken in account?

The man is sick and is now stuck on a wheelchair for spinal hernia. Someone could pray for him or something instead of bitching about a head! I mean he barely can stand up now but he's still taking his time to update and work on the products. Give the a break! Mod a DD head and bear with it! Jeez...

This may not be 100% final. Danny seems pretty open to input as designing males is not his thing (please be gentle! XD ) but I think as this is supposed to be Eiji he's not the type to be broody. I think a smile suits the character. I'm sure there will be other future male Smartdolls that can fit the 'less-happy' style. I'm also guessing, seeing as he's soon making the female Smartdoll body available to purchase on it's own the male body will be sure to follow. ^_^

 

Here's a happier looking version

 

https://instagram.com/p/4O6aZ4Gwri/

 

Yeah, that's the smile I meant. That's more of how I'd think Eiji would be, he seems a very positive guy! ^_^

I have to agree with KiraKiraDoru. Everyone has their personal expectations, I understand that, but Danny isn't making a DD and Eiji fits with the Smart Doll esthetic. We know that Danny has already stated that there will be more sculpts later, but he's got to start somewhere. I do not envy the sheer number of opinions that he gets ranging the full spectrum on every little thing he does. I'd personally be wiling to fork out the $500 for mudbox if I was given the chance to sculpt a more masculine head for the buffer/super hero body. I can't say he'd look like a comic book character, but he'd definitely have a jaw. *can't get Tiger out of my head...* (I'd rather dream, try, and fail than never try at all.) But when Danny started on the Smart Doll boy, Free! was some of the references that he was using (posted on Twitter at the time) and Eiji's face really does fit along with that style rather well. Low nose, thin eyebrows and all. At least we didn't end up with Nagisa even though he is adorable.

 

 

From the official artwork I've seen of Eiji, he's supposed to be a somewhat bishi otaku. So his look all the way around doesn't surprise me one bit and I really like him. I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to utterly fall for him once he has his glasses. (Why is it always the glasses? *sigh*) He's not perfect for every anime guy, but there isn't one single DD sculpt that would work for every anime girl either. (I didn't want to come here and rant but I was more than a bit floored at the negativity. )

 

Then there is the fact that when he started the Smart Doll line that he wanted the bodies to be available separately for people's customs. In fact, the Mirai Frame is already available. The company has been expanding by leaps and bounds and Danny has been continually trying to expand the operation to meet demand. One of the things I've noticed about Danny since I started paying attention to him when Smart Doll Mirai was just an April Fool's joke is he seems to strive to be true to his word. Frankly that seems to be an increasingly difficult trait to find in business.

 

Let's not ignore one thing that many of us DD owners know already: The faceup can make a huge difference.

 

 

I cannot tell you how stunned I was when I began removing Kos-Mos' faceup and saw the sculpt underneath. I can't look at it anymore and not see a boy. (Yeah, yeah, I have a thing for the bishies. Part of it is just me trying to work with what we've got.) But I would have never believed that what was hiding under the faceup nearly matches a pic of an anime boy I've had hidden in my files. I never expected to make him since the nearest sculpt I'd found before was Nanoha. Kos-Mo's sculpt really is the first one that caught me off guard at what the base sculpt was, so much so that I really hate to admit it.

 

The thing I've been having a heck of a time waiting for is to see what the DD sculpts look like on Eiji's body. Ralph is first in line but I surely hope he quits growing! I can't make any clothes for him until he finally decides what size he will be! Just thinking about having a vinyl boy that isn't some cobbled together hybrid that looks decent enough in pics, but in reality has arms and legs popping out of the sockets all the time is a pretty dang huge deal to me. Plus I'm also really curious to see how the body looks with Kiyoteru's head as well as the 04. Once I get my hands on Eiji I'm going to have a heyday discovering what can be done with him. My only regret is that he doesn't have Kyoya Ootori shaped eyes, but that isn't a surprise since Eiji doesn't. I really don't want to mod the first Smart Doll boy head I get because I'd like to keep it the default sculp at least, but if it only takes a bit of modding to get my own Kyoya... I'll do it in a heartbeat.

 

I may sound rather calm but believe me, I'm so antsy to get my hands on Eiji that I'm about ready to crawl out of my skin. I'm trying very hard not to sound like the fanatic fangirl that I am.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Yes, my first thoughts were (a) eep (b) that looks nothing like Danny © that definitely looks like the Free! boys (d) that wig isn't helping at all (e) that doesn't look like Eiji much. I'm sure it will change.

 

For what a male vinyl doll should look like, the only similar thing I can think of are figmas. Picking some examples off the top of my head, Okabe, Archer, Arararagi-kun, Levi, Kiritsugu. They basically just look like their anime counterparts. If he stuck to making Eiji's sculpt look like Eiji, he'd be on to something

 

Actually I think I was expecting something like Okabe, although that's not really Eiji.

 

As for Smart Dolls being "flat-faced," I think that's just how he wanted Mirai to look, and Kizuna inherited that.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Guest

Maybe we all need to take a valium on this this one eh? We will all have our own opinions and we all know Danny respects his fans comments. If he didn't want the criticism he wouldn't even ask. That's what separates great designers from arrogant/apathetic ones.

Sister is right on the faceup aspect. It really does effect the look of a face. Once Eiji is released to the masses I'll be more excited to see what other hobbyists do with him for customization.

Let ALL of us calm down and sing Kumbaya together. The ones who are displeased (obviously me) will wait for the next sculpt. It makes my decision easier to save money for the Ebony version now.

If he stuck to making Eiji's sculpt look like Eiji, he'd be on to something

 

Actually I think I was expecting something like Okabe, although that's not really Eiji.

 

As for Smart Dolls being "flat-faced," I think that's just how he wanted Mirai to look, and Kizuna inherited that.

 

Agreed.

I just want Danny to take a frontal picture of the head. Please stop with these awful angles.

Till he does I'll just keep sayin' the same thing. It is a strange head with odd proportions and I don't believe in face-ups being the cure-all for the case of the uglies.

 

~~~

As a small out of no where moment.

My hopes and dreams of Solid Snake are slowly dying with this project. I'm ecstatic that Danny wants to make him, but if he can't even make his own design translate well into a doll, then how is he going to make Snake?

 

Can you tell I've totally given up on Eiji and decided I'd rather focus on yet another project I won't see for years (if ever) because that makes me happier then looking at any more strange angled shots of this disproportionate head? Cause that's for sure what I'm doin'.

For what a male vinyl doll should look like, the only similar thing I can think of are figmas.

 

It really comes down to personal opinion. Okabe is the only one I recognized and have actually seen and LOVE the anime, but especially Okabe himself. The figma version doesn't look right to me at all and looks distinctly like Inspector Gadget. I'm only pointing this out because the skill and the style of the artist has a lot to do with it as well. What one person sees isn't the same for everyone. Now I'm not saying that Eiji looks perfectly like Eiji because he doesn't. His face needs to be rounder, the face not so long, and the paint for his eyes actually needs to be less round to be accurate to his artwork, not to mention the nose. Eiji actually has a baby face in a lot of ways, but that's what many people told Danny that they didn't want. And I have yet to figure out how much of the stylized look of all the Smart Doll sculpts is the artist, and how much is Danny's personal input. It could be that he's going for a slightly deemphasized anime style since they are marketed as "social media art dolls" not anime dolls. He has stated that 80% of Smart Doll sales are to new doll collectors, and it could be that the existing facial aesthetic has a good amount to do with that.

 

Then there is the very annoying fact that we have one headshot, straight on. How in the heck are we supposed to judge from that Danny?? We already know that Volks can't take good pics of their own sculpts, I guess I had hoped a bit better from the Smart Doll team (or maybe it was just you?) Either way it is blood vessel bursting aggravating not having a good look at Eiji's sculpt and somehow judging everything from that. I keep telling myself that patience is a virtue... but then my temper gets in the way.

 

~Sister Kyoya

I just want Danny to take a frontal picture of the head. Please stop with these awful angles.

Till he does I'll just keep sayin' the same thing. It is a strange head with odd proportions and I don't believe in face-ups being the cure-all for the case of the uglies.

 

Definitely agree. I should've said "faceups will certainly make the look different, doesn't mean it would make it better." Also maybe Danny used a temp wig? Let's hope so.

 

Agreed Sister! Having only the 1 picture available and at an odd angle is frustrating. No wonder people are confused by the design lacking "true Eiji character" when we can't see the face properly.

 

I really wish this forum had a thumbs up icon to everyone's posts to make it easier to show my appreciation of their comments rather than typing everything out. Wow I'm in a gripey mood. HAHA!

To me, he looks a lot like what I've expected based on Danny's previous dolls and the source material. I think the glasses will make a huge difference in the overall look of the face, and some re-styling of the wig is in order, but he really does look a lot like Eiji, with the Smart Doll aesthetic. One thing that does have me wondering though, is the way this photo was released is MUCH different than his usual strategy of Facebook/Twitter/his own site. This makes me curious as to whether this is maybe just a WIP pic, that honestly wasn't intended to go out to the general public, ie somebody just hit the wrong button when they uploaded.

I am impressed with just how moddable this sculpt looks. It definitely looks like there is a LOT that could be done, here, to get a variety of faces out of this. From what I've been reading for a while, a lot of people had been planning on modding him anyways, so I think this should be a good thing. Anyways, I certainly haven't lost interest, yet, and look forward to seeing how this progresses. To be honest, I wasn't hugely excited about this project initially, but this picture has actually gotten me a lot more interested in the possibilities. Plus this has gotten me much more curious as to how he will do the other characters he's bee thinking about. It looks like it could be a lot of fun.

This makes me curious as to whether this is maybe just a WIP pic, that honestly wasn't intended to go out to the general public, ie somebody just hit the wrong button when they uploaded.

 

That could have been true, if you ignore the comment he posted it with:

 

I've been doing a load of test faceups for Eiji #SmartDoll . This one is on the happy side. I've got another which is moody. Making anime guy doll faces is challenging ><

 

Sorry dearheart, but I'd have to say you're wrong. It would be easier to know what to tell Danny what to fix, if he is looking to fix anything at all, if anyone had a clue how much input/criticism he'd actually pay attention to. Seeing Eiji's head in vinyl makes it hard for me to feel like he's already made up his mind on what he's going to do and what we have to say doesn't really have much impact at this point in the process.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Well, the fact that he calls them test face-ups shows that at least the make-up is still flexible, which is good, as that and the wig are the only things I was a bit concerned about as far as this specific character goes (If Danny is reading this, those eyebrows are just a bit thick). I can't wait to see how the glasses change thee overall look. On humans, at least, they can completely alter the perception of a person's face, to the point where, to me, someone I've known well for years can be unrecognizable simply due to the difference.

Ok. Analyzing the general style chosen for SmartDoll.

Mirai was intended as a collaboration project, and Danny collaborated with MANY illustrators on her image, as well as her friends'.

DMYO is the main illustrator for now, Izuki Tasuku was for a moment and Ikkyuu draws the chibi versions. Now that last one is irrelevant for the moment. Worthy to mention that her friends were designed by pinakes on DeviantArt. Now for the doll itself, we can see that there are two major influences in their designs, DMYO and Izuki's.

The eyes are from Izuki as well as the general body sculpt, and the faceups were from DMYO as well as the general head sculpt. Danny hasn't mentioned this himself but it's quite obvious. None of them ever drew her from the side view so Danny probably took his liberties with that.

Now. On Eiji's case... Well he hasn't been drawn much, and I think that aside from Ikkyu's art he's only been drawn in mainstream anime style twice or so. He doesn't have much reference for him so it is OBVIOUSLY harder. That was one fact, and now second. He knows the biggest demographic of Eiji will be female, which is why he has to take so much input on him. And we all can admit that decidedly girls don't know what they want because they all want something different for themselves ( not a girl ). So here we are with a " confused " sculpt for a confused product for a confused producer for a confused buyer base.

I don't think he's ugly or anything, I think he fits in with Mirai and Kizuna just fine. But his face is on the longer side, like Neris or Haruka, and now Sinon. I know others like those girls, but I don't. So I think Eiji looks fine, he's just not for me. I shall wait on other sculpts, or hybrid if it comes to that.

New angled photo. I think it looks a bit better may of just been the photo that made him look funny.

 

Edit: Quoting so you can see images together.

Smartdoll Eiji by Amara77, on Flickr

mhh i think his eyeholes might be a little too big for a guy and his mouth looks strange..a bit like a duckface maybe?

 

I wish he would release a guy with manly chin and cheekbone and a severer look ( i think this would make the face up). I hope he has an Adam's Apple.

Also this si what the link he gave with it says.

http://www.dannychoo.com/en/post/27298/Eiji+Seiun+Faceup+Tests.html

Eiji Seiun Faceup Tests

 

I'm still working on faceup, eye, wig and head mold tests for Eiji. I've got a few more molds and faceups in the pipeline and plan to release all heads unpainted too so that folks can customise themselves.

 

I will observe feedback and reflect in final product but probably won't try to reflect *all* feedback for example when folks want thick *and* thin eyebrows, round & square & pointed chins, bigger *and* smaller eyes etc. Although it would be interesting to see what a head that took into account all feedback looked like ^^

 

But I've got good news folks who are not too keen on whatever the final product turns out to be - I'm also starting a program where folks can design their own heads too! Its simple - just learn 3D (like I did) from Google Sensei using free 3D software (like blender) and make a head. Then get an online 3D printing service to print the head (like Shapeways).

 

I will then help take your 3D print and make it into wax and then electromold the wax to make a mold which can be used for soft vinyl casting. The cost is what my vendors charge me which will be 1,100,000 yen that you can raise through Kickstarter. Once the mold is ready I will arrange for soft vinyl test casts to be done and put you in contact with folks who do the casting so you can liaise with them directly.

You can see more of this production process in The Making of Smart Doll post.Anyway, I'll post more photos tomorrow. Progress has been slow of late as I'm using all my energy to fight the pain in my leg. Its like being constantly stabbed all over my leg ><

first off he will help you make your own so that's good for those who know how

 

plan to release all heads unpainted too so that folks can customise themselves.

<- this I think is the most important that he will be releasing blank heads for us. so his faceup does not need to be a big thing really. Edited June 23, 2015 by Guest

Oh no Not what I was hoping for in a male. I hate being negative because Danny has worked so hard on Eiji but the face is way too thin, long, flat and girlish for me. I guess I'll have to buy the doll for the body.

 

EDIT: I just saw the blank head picture of Eiji and I now think the nose is too pinched as well.

Spaming a bit now but this also just poped uo in my feed. blank him does not look to bad