dissapointment in volks?

Ahh I see! my oldest doll is from 2007 so that might explain it. I saw above that Volks thought the SD13 boy was their worst poser. I can see why they might feel that way but I really have no issues with my boy. He stands with no doll stand and I can pose him well enough. But for sure the SDgr body is the next on my list for a new boy to add to the collection!

But you know...I just like the dolly doll feel of Volks dolls. The thick body and rounded non double joints just scream DOLL and I like that. I got into this hobby because I liked "art" dolls and Volks still have that feel for me. The slimmer womanly dolls feel too fashion oriented. It's why I don't covet SD16s or Soom dolls etc... Don't misunderstand, I LOVE looking at photos of those dolls and I greatly admire them but I want this thicker cute doll feeling I get when handling SDs and SD13s. It's so hard to describe to you but there it is

Thicker dolls by artists like koitsukihime are the ones that inspire me most.

 

My crew is largely made up of Volks big boys. I luv the weight and feel of the resin. But I have to agree that AS resin is pretty good too. My first doll was Lucifer from AS and I was surprised he is just as heavy as my SD17 boys!. But when I compare my SD gal from Doll-Love, the resin definitely pales in comparison.

 

I only have an iris head, but im payingoff her body slowly. For now ill only compare the resin. Her head feels thick but slick andsmkoth but not in a way that a barbie doll feels, she still has some tooth to her. But compared to my other dolls, resinsoul and latidoll(older lati reds) have somewhat disappointing resin
They are smooth without tooth and somewhat shiny and rather lightweight(I like a heavier doll, I feel that way they are more sturdy)

 

Well, me too actually. I put body on equal footing with face sculp. So I still don't really understand the problems you are having. Seems you think the quality is low and I don't agree.

 

My first impressions of volks weren't all that great, I thought their faceups were too bland or too barbie-like, and their bodies too bulky. Though I did end up interested in YO SDs, and I don't mind so much about the body of Yos as they're much the same from company to company, and it's a child (it's the older female bodies that I prefer to have more of a curve to, rather than being chunky or blockish). The company started to "grow on" me a lot, preferring user pictures and limiteds and I seem to prefer their more recent sculpts most of the time. When I got my YO-SD home though I wasn't disappointed in her AT ALL. She was just the right amount of tightness in stringing, her makeup was just the right amount of minimalist and beautiful and her wig very soft and fantastic quality, and easy to put on, and her resin felt soft yet strong and luminescent. I took a little further to get the hang of sitting and standing her but now I definitely have the hang of that and I'm very happy, and she can touch her head and everything, which some dolls can't do.
So now after all that I want more volks dolls @_@ mind you I still don't much like their standards, or the fact that the standard SD10s come with a one piece body - I would rather a torso joint. I like one or two standard's but that's it. Mind you I think I'm pretty doomed to get another volks doll soon, or at least it'll be one of the next dolls I get next. I'm fascinated by them now. They're just so solid and well made, and my YO didn't need any adjusting at all, unlike other dolls who I've had come to me with elastic too tight or too loose.

 

I have the same problem with my Volks boy body, he's not the best poser in the world. He'll sit up if I lean him against something, but if I try to sit him up on his own, he can't hold the pose without falling backwards, even with the little notches in his legs. I think the sheer weight of his torso tends to pop him out of the sitting pose. Mine is the solid torso, though, which probably explains a lot. He can stand very well, and his arms pose nicely. I like his weight, and the body sculpt is really lovely. I love the proportions. My only real disappointment with my Volks doll is that his knees are very fragile. The way the lower leg sockets into the upper leg looks nice, but the socket sides are very fragile. I've seen several Volks dolls that are broken there (as mine is, I bought him that way).

As for posing, I think many dolls have problems in one way or another. I have dolls from 8 different companies and of those, two don't pose at ALL, two are terrific, and the rest fall somewhere in between. The Volks is in the middle there somewhere.

 

I own 2 Volks SDGr bodies and 1 SD17 body, to me, it really depends on the body and how recent it is.
SD13 - to me, cannot hold more difficult poses. If anything, they can stand solid, sit solid, and that's it.
They can't semi-fold one knee and lean forward, they don't slouch, they have trouble kneeling and touching their ears...
For anything else - especially comparing to the newer double-joint standards - it simply fails.
SDGr bodies, I can say are one of the best I've ever handled. What others have said earlier are true to me - that they pose quite naturally. My SD17 has a great center of gravity and leaves me in awe, though he is not the most solid stander, when you do adjust, he holds the pose naturally.
The resin is also thick, and weighty, not plastic-y at all - but maybe, it's because they are all sprayed with MSC or Volks UV cut. ^_^ ;

 

Simply put, I love Volks! The first ABJD I ever saw was made by Volks, the first ABJD I ever lusted after was made by Volks, and the first ABJD I bought was made by Volks. I love the substantial feel of their resin, and I'm happy with my dolls posing abilities. Then again, I'm not really putting them into acrobatic positions either. Except for my FCS MSD Sunlight boy, I've bought all fullsets, and my oldest Volks doll is SDC Kaede, who is Pureskin I believe. I have seen dolls made earlier than my Kaede, and their resin does seem to have a different texture than she does, and the original factory face-ups were often more simplistic back then than now, but I still think that Volks makes some of the highest quality ABJDs.

Juli DC

PS: Orphansparrow, someone else might've already suggested this, but you may want to consider giving your Lucas's body a sanding and then coat it with Volks Powder Spray or MSC...somewhat replicating Volks Satogaeri service.

 

Disappointed with Volks? Mmmm, I bought a yo-sd chibi outfit that didn't actually fit on my yosd. That was a mix of annoying and disappointing, but that was back in 2006, and I have kinda gotten over it...

In respects to Volks' faceups, which I think a lot of people see as one of the weaker areas for Volks, I always kind of thought Volks assumed you were going to wipe and customize the doll (for standards for sure, limiteds maybe/probably) anyway, and the faceup was just there so people could see potential in the doll. The whole Volks company model is based on customization and changing. In cases like one-offs, where the doll is kind of sold as "done," you see a different goal-in-mind face up being completed...

Pose-ability has never been an issue for me. It seems like companies either sacrifice the appearance of the joints for better range of motion or limit the range of motion for the appearance. Maybe I have just been trained by Volks, but I don't like the look for more mobile bodies. Too many lines, separations, balls, gaps, or sleeves... It would be nice if my sd13 could touch her face, but if I need one of those double-jointy connector thingys to do it, no thanks. She sits on a chair most of the time anyway. My msd, however, is a "traveling gnome," and I've had no problem posing her on one foot, on a rounded surface, on carpet, sand... I guess people with other companies might see the limitations (hand-to-face comes to mind), but it's like being color blind whenever keeps going on and on about how great red vs. green is. Okay, if you say so. =)

 

I've got mostly pureskin dolls, but back when I had my Enn, he was oldskin. That body was a terror to pose. With wiring and sueding, it would've been okay, though. I did notice that the oldskin didn't really have the same texture as pureskin. It felt smoother, so I'm sure this is the same case you're experiencing. I'm still not knocking the quality, but I think a coat of MSC would've helped this part.

I will always be a Yo addict...

 

I was not disapointed but then...I had no expectations at that time.
I did get bored with my Volks dolls though as new companies emerged.
Needless to say I am Volks-less now and have never looked back (except in the case of their MSD Shinsia T_T the first Volks that made me want a Volks. DO want.).

 

While my Volks dolls do stand and sit well out of the box, I noticed that they are a little bit stiffer than the other dolls I had. It seems like after a few days, they loosen up a bit.... and sit more easily. But I keep them seated most of the time. I love the feel of their resin compared with the other dolls I've had (Luts, Bobobie). I do love Luts though for their faceups, pricing, and I think the posing and resin is pretty good too!

Volks is my favorite for quality, but Luts is definitely my second favorite because they're easy to just buy and be happy with the faceup, body, and price.

I'll definitely ALWAYS buy Volks dolls though, I'm not put off by them at all!

 

I just got my first SD17 -- first time handling one, even -- and I'm so far from disappointed! He's heavier than my SSDF, he's stable, his resin looks and feels fantastic, and when I move him around he goes into poses without obvious locks in his torso, etc.

My SD10 standard body boy is not a great stander, although he's a champion sitter. As he was my first I never did get around to trying various things to improve his standing and poseability; I got braver later and haven't gone back to work with him yet. I don't know if they do it from Volks USA, but at Volks events or at Sato you could go to the "dolly doctor" and they'd fix problems with standing and the like, sometimes for free.

Quality is in some ways a matter of perception. Not everybody likes heavy or matte-textured resin. I don't think ability to pose beyond sitting and standing is a measure of quality, personally. There are plenty of bodies out there with lots of joints that I don't think are high quality, especially if those joints just turn them into resin noodles.

 

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with Volks I've had great experiences with them directly purchasing from them, and great experiences buying second-hand Volks dolls. My Volks Kurt and my DDII body are the only dolls I've directly bought from them, the rest of my collection were second-hand or built from second-hand parts, but each doll is special to me in their own way and I've got them the way I like them through working with them and trying different ways to get them to do the things I want - but mainly the only requirements I have of a doll is that they sit, stand and put their arms around each other from time to time

I think of the important things to remember is that Volks sees their dolls as something the owner will customise to their own liking. They're not trying to sell you a finished product that you have to keep in the condition you buy it. The face-ups are bland because you're supposed to add to them or completely make the doll over the way you want. The only doll I've kept completely original is my SDC Kurt, but I love his original face up and the soulful eyes he came with, so I saw no reason to change them.

I have an oldskin SD Megu and she is amazing. A lot of people can't stand the oldskin original SD girl body with the crazy legs and pronounced arch of the back, but I find it quirky and fun. Loosely strung she could snuggle quite sweetly in my lap, tightly strung with kips and wiring, she holds a pose as well as my Dollfie Dream II (which is saying something because the DDII body has internal armature to help it keep poses)

Don't write off a doll or a whole company just because the doll isn't doing what you want it to do from the word go. This is a customisable hobby, just because some dolls stand right out of the box, it doesn't mean all dolls should or even will. Putting work and effort into getting a doll looking the way you want isn't a negative thing, and spending time with your doll getting these features right is a nice part of the bonding process - you feel a lot more attached to your doll if you're the one who's done the mods (even if it's as simple as slotting wire into the legs!) and taken the time to engineer your doll, your way.

My YoSD is the same. She fits in whatever handbag I'm using, I can pop her in whatever pose I like... I'm aware of the limitations, but also feel that my dolls are supposed to be dolls. If they looked and posed in a more human way, it wouldn't feel the same to me.

 

I think that some sculpts and the resin are really exceptional. Unhappily I can't affirm the same for they're faceups I have reconsidered many Volks mods only after seeing owner picts with custom face-ups! From a renowed company like Volks I expected more U__U¨

As for the body, I only own 2 Yo-SD and even though they don't have the poseability of a Littlefee I don't have any problems in letting them pose as I'd like to

Ah maybe another thing that is a bit annoying is for me the size of the heads They're all big headed, which makes finding an alternative body a bit difficult

But all in all I appreciate Volks dolls

 

I've been in the hobby a while. 2003/2004ish? My first doll was a Volks Myu-- this doll has been through /everything/ with me. Including Hurricane Katrina, where my mother fished her out of the rubble. ..And her resin was just fine.
When she came out of her box, I was amazed at how perfect her stringing was, and how naturally she posed. Though, now that I've played with some other dolls.. Her posing, while not the /worst/, is right in the middle. The dolls that have really surprised me have been the new Feeple models.

 

I love Volks. I am totally biased so I dont know if you can count my opinion. I love their resin. It is smoother and heavier than most companies. I love their face molds, wigs, clothing, and shoes. I love their FCS where you can customize your doll. I like their paperwork that their dolls come with, along with all the extras you can buy. I find all of their items to be very high quality. I have never been disappointed in anything I have bought from Volks. Almost all my dolls are from Volks.

I dont like:
Is how limited their molds are. I hate paying $1300 for a Luna head because she is rare.
I dont like their face ups, but I like to customize mine so that is not a deal breaker.
I wish they would sell all their dolls online. EX. Yo's and their Sato molds.
I wish their outfits were not all limited. So many outfits I have missed because I did not have the $$ that moment in time.