"HUIS TEN BOSCH (in Japan)" Tour ~Dream FCS~ USA people can join!

Oh I'm really looking forward to it, the Rei and just details on the event

 

Found a btssb Toppi up on YahooJapan.. expensive though :/

http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h45094920

 

Ohhh BTSSB Toppi is so gorgeous
~Anthony

 

Has there been any news about what the Rei-tenshi are like? *dying of suspense*

 

I've been wondering this too! I keep searching around for pictures of them but can't manage to find anything

 

Not sure if it's true, but I read that the Reitenshi are 10cm, or about 4 inches tall.

 

jeezzz I wish volks would just sell them and with different face mold and wings colors like the Sei Tenshi.

 

Sometimes, I wonder why Volks just seems to feed the secondary market by not making their dolls more available. I'd much rather my money went directly to them, but too often that's just not possible.

 

agree so agree. However many volks fans don't agree, mostly people who really love limited dolls. For us though its not just limited its win a lottery limited or worse win them as a prize. Yes it really feeds the secondary market and creates a certain amount of hype.

The main arguement is they are still small dispite appearing to be large and so they can only make a limited amount. Though of course they could do preorders and fill them. I do think they must like to see everyone excited over the limited dolls it gets allot of attention, but it also hurts to see a doll and not be able to buy it even when you have the money.

 

Wow, that is very tiny then Where did you read this?

 

I read it on 2ch. ^^ Someone's size comparison pictures to a Yotenshi also confirmed they must be around 10cm tall. If anyone's interested in seeing the links to their photos, check over here ^^

 

Volks seems to be a lot more old-school collectibles company, where the collecting is the point in and of itself. I mean, why else would you have people buying both a Phyllis and a Noel, for example? (And I don't know how many times I've heard "If you really want that doll, you'll find another $500 for that trip to LA!") Most of the other doll makers sell a lot of BINs, more like a typical retail business where the object is to expand the customer base as much as possible.

Sad to say I'm one of the unwashed masses who likes to click "add to cart" while picking her nose in the privacy of her own home instead of clutching lotto tickets at a Dollpa, but I ask myself the same things you do when I see adorable photos of Hewitt and Enn. The world is never fair.

 

Believe me, I've done the Dolpa and LA thing a couple of times and I would much rather have been at home, clicking "buy" for a doll -- although, maybe not the nose picking part. Looking at the success in this country of the Korean companies who offer an easier and more direct shopping experience, I can only imagine that Volks would also do well if anyone who wanted, say, a Sasha could just drop one into their cart.

 

I really don't think this would happen with every doll. Take Jun Tachibana, Mimi 13, and School B for example. All three are obviously designed by Mikey and sculpted by Kitamura, yet Jun is, for some reason, worth about $1500+ fullset, while Mimi 13 barely gets $700 second hand and rarely goes out of stock and School B is the least popular school head. Also ask yourself why Kai costs more than an old beauty white F-28 despite being extremely similar. Is it because he has a more interesting face up? Of course not, it's very minimalistic. Is it because of his eyes and wig? No, you can get a similar wig in FCS and get eyes worth (retail) $50 more, worth $140 more on the second hand market. Is it the outfit? Maybe, but I wouldn't say a screened t-shirt and red pants are all that rare in the BJD world, though the gloves are somewhat. Is it because he's a rare Korean limited? I think so.

There is also the point that standards seem to cost companies more money to produce than limiteds. There is more risk with standards, they take up more warehouse space, they appeal to an audience with (generally) less money to spend than an audience interested in only limiteds, and once the company upgrades a product they are left with many standards stuck with the old, inferior version of whatever they upgraded. Maybe it's a concidence, but in my experience it seems that Ken and Mika both are the best selling MSD standards, and they originated as limiteds, while Mari still hasn't sold out since Volks last made her years ago and she debuted as a standard.

Would I like to see more standards than limiteds? Yes, I'd love to be able to get a standard Yukinojo or just an SD16 boy period. But do I see this happening anytime soon? No. The last *original* standard Volks released was back in 2004, and that was the time Link, Yori, Kun, and Hisui and Kohaku came out. (Mimi Pureskin was released after them but she was just an upgrade from oldskin.) One could interpret this as being "overdue", but I'm not that optimistic.

 

As a Marketing major I agree with you. Although people say "I don't care if a doll is limited" the statistics of it speak differently. People don't like to admit it because it implies they want something more because not everyone can have it.

I think Volks have a very successful (though sometimes frustrating) marketing plan. Although I wish I could just pop a btssb Toppi in my cart I know it's all a trade off.

 

Don't most companies cast the dolls when an order is placed?

I wouldn't mind Volks's marketing strategy so much if it weren't for the fact that they seem to branch out more with their limited molds. Most of the non-Sato FCS are that "manga" style, with large eyes, tiny noses, and low-set features. I love Hewitt and Enn and the F-06-type dolls, and Sasha and Liz. And they're all limited or supa-hard to get! poo! (But I still wouldn't pay 5K to have them )

 

I completely agree with your first paragraph. I also think that Volks has gotten much better about making limited dolls more available with their US lotteries and after events and with rereleasing many of their more popular dolls, but there is still room for improvement. In general, I think that Volks relies too much on luck for things like limited lotteries and Seitenshi, which gives just as much chance for those who plan to resell their dolls at a profit as those who would really love to have one to keep.

As Aggity said they could also rethink their distribution of standards and keep fewer made up in stock. I think that most BJD people are used to waiting a few week for their dolls anyway. Still, having bought a standard doll off the shelf in Japan, that was awfully nice too.

But you are right that Volks is way overdue for a new standard. I would love to see a snow-skin standard or one of the more popular FCS heads, like the F-16, made into a standard. I read recently -- was it on your database? -- that the most popular FCS doll is actually the Kun headmold, so why not go in the other direction for a change?

 

I would imagine that Volks' doll casting style is much different from many companies since they are so much bigger. And I can say that from my understanding of the dating system of FCS heads, my F-15's head was made in April 2005, and I didn't order him until October 2005.

As for non "manga" style heads in Sumika, you can choose from: F-01, F-06, F-15, F-16, F-22, F-23, F-24, F-29, F-30, F-31. From Sato you get an additional choice of: F-21, F-27, F-28, MSD F-06, MSD F-08, and MSD F-16 . I don't think six additional heads is being too unfair to those not living near Kyoto. Sato is, after all, the testing ground for FCS. When a head gets popular enough it will be moved to Sumika where it will assumedly get more orders taken, and this be worth making an additional batch of the heads without risking too much.

On the topic of Sasya and Liz, Sasya looks *a lot* like Pureskin F-16. Some argue that the F-16 head looks "bobble-headed" on the SD10 body that Sasya has, but they're forgetting that Sasya herself is bobble-headed. The price of an FCS is only around $700 so I don't know where the $5000 figure is coming from. And with Liz, she's been released three times, and recently it seems almost everyone who entered for her with their Another Yourself ticket won her. The market had a fair amount of Liz's for sale directly after the winners were announced, I remember two on DoA selling for $1200 or less. If that's still too high you can consider getting a Carol since they were both designed by Aone and look very similar, the main difference being Carol's lower lip, which can be painted to look more like Liz's. I've seen Carol heads sell for around $350, less than you would expect to pay for a Liz (around $400-$500). Volks makes so many "sibling" heads that you can almost always find a similar head for much cheaper than a second hand price limited.

 

F-22 and F-15 were two of the most popular FCS heads last year, this is true. But then Syo Sweet Dream was pretty much a "flopped" limited since he is still in stock. So I would imagine it's hard for Volks to truly predict what people will go for just based off of a few heads' sales.

I think written feedback from owners or potential standard buyers would be helpful in getting another standard made. However, as long as we keep buying up their LE's and overlooking their standards, nothing is likely to change. Some people will make the excuse "I don't like any standard molds", but then they'll go buy a LE that looks a lot like one, and their message will be undercut a bit.