If Soom released their monthly dolls as a basic line next year, how would you feel?

Seconding (Thirding?) this sentiment. I've said almost the same in a debate thread on limited re-releases... but to be honest, I've always felt a wee bit guilty about my Beryl. I was able to snag her from Soom during her release, so I didn't pay inflated secondhand prices for her... but I felt bad for all the people who wanted a Beryl and just couldn't get her at the time, or joined the hobby after her release date. I adore my Izzy, and I won't ever enjoy her less no matter how many Beryls are released. Even if they re-release her with hooves and all. My enjoyment of that doll is not based on her current resale value, and never will be.

And to be frank, I was actually happy to see a re-release for those who missed out on her the first time. There are other Soom MD's I was unable to afford at the time that I wouldn't mind seeing come around again, even as human "no extras" versions. The more the merrier, I say!

And to those who are upset about having paid secondhand prices for parts of the limited sculpt (like a human head) that may now be re-released... yeah, it kind of sucks, to know you could have just waited and paid less. But is complaining going to make it any better? I have a rare LE10 doll from another company who was by far my most expensive doll, even more expensive than Beryl. I purchased him on the secondhand market a few years ago for the (at the time) going rate. The company re-released the sculpt once in a run of 40, and I saw the exact same doll sold in the MP a month or so ago for exactly half what I paid. It was a bit of a moment, but I just had to let it go and move on. In a collector's market, that's just part of the unpredictability and sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles.

 

I personally would be ecstatic if Soom ever decided to release standard versions of their MD line. There were several Soom MDs I would have loved to own, but obviously don't, for various reasons, one being that I absolutely don't care for the fantasy parts. Sure, they're gorgeous, but I don't have characters who would use those fantasy parts, so they'd have been/would be a waste of money for me. Not to mention the skintones--so many Soom MDs have been Cream White or Tan skin, and as ohmygoshgorgeous as those skintones are, again, I don't have characters they would work for. So standards would be ! .

On the other side, though, I can only imagine how horrible it'd be for all of those people who bought MDs (Especially human-version MDs) on the secondhand market at enormous markups, because the assumption with Soom's MDs has always been that the sculpts were/are limited, and those secondhand buyers paid the price for that. (Literally, that is.) So if Soom were to come out with a standard line of their MDs, it'd be perfectly understandable to me why some would be quite upset.

 

Just wanted to add: those of you who are angry about re-releases... go look at the pages for the dolls... specifically the lists in the pictures where they mention everything... PLEASE NOTE: the only time 'LE' or 'Limited Edition' is used is next to: clothes, face-ups, sometimes the eye, wig.

NEVER in any of the descriptions do they EVER say that the sculpt (this is INCLUDING the fantasy parts!) are limited. I checked Appini/Shonki, Hati/Skoll and Euclase. This means that they are able to LEGALLY re-cast any of their dolls IN FULL without repercussion.

If those complaining parties wish, I will happily spend my time in bed recovering from surgery (which shall span the next few days) making a DETAILED list of EACH release stating what IS and is NOT limited edition.

Will that make people happy? Or at least stop the whinefest?

 

It won't even take a couple of days - I keep all the Soom promotional shots saved, so I can whip this list up right now.

Things that are listed as "Limited Edition" or "LE" in Soom's Promotional Material
(given the specificity of these lists, anything not on a list can be assumed to not be limited edition)

Zodiac Dolls (3rd Land):
Deneb - face up, wig
Beryl - face up, blushing, wig, wings and outfit
Bix - face up, blushing, wig, outfit
Amber - face up, eyes, wig, outfit
Onyx - face up, body blushing, outfit
Io - face ups, blushing, eyes (the mask's eyes, not Io's), wig, outfit
Euclase - face up, blushing, wig, outfit
Vega - face up, blushing, wig
Heliot - face up, blushing, wig, outfit
Vesuvia - face up, wig, outfit
Sard - face up, blushing, wig, wings and outfit
Topaz - face-up, eyes, wig, outfit

Elements (2nd and 4th Land):
Galena - face up, blushing, eyes, wig, outfit, shoes
Alk/Yrie - face ups (both), eyes (both), wig, outfitss (both)
Cuprit - face up, wig, outfit
Glot/Glati - face ups (both), wig, outfits (both), wings
Ai/Afi - face ups (both), eyes (both), wigs (both), outfits (both)
Chalco - face up, blushing, wig, outfit
Chrom - face up, wig, outfit,
Hati/Skoll - face ups (both), eyes (skoll only), wigs, outfits (both)
Bygg/Beyla - face ups (both), eyes (both), wigs (both), outfits (both)
Cass - face up, blushing, eyes, wig, outfits (both), shoes
Iv/Eliv - face ups (both), eyes (both), wigs (both), outfits (both)
Sphaler - face, blushing, wig, outfit

Ying/Yang (Pella - World Beyond):
Grit/Syen - face up, blushing, eyes (both), wigs (both)
Appini/Shonki - face up, blushing, wigs (both)
Breccia - face up, blushing, wig, outfit
Monzo - face up, blushing, eyes, wigs (both), outfit,

Remaining Story:
Aphan - face up, blushing, eyes (both), outfits (both), shoes

So there we have it. Nowhere on the official promotional artwork does Soom ever state that the sculpts (including those of fantasy parts!) are LE. Some outfits and eyes are not LE. Shoes, with very few exceptions, are not LE. Body blushing is occasionally not LE. The sole thing that is always, without exception, LE is the face up.

The people complaining about Soom being 'liars' simply never bothered to read the very specific, detailed, itemised lists released by the company before the product was purchased, and instead relied on bothering people answering the Q&A who (if Soom operates like just about any large company ever) would have had no access to any information beyond 'once this set is sold, it will not be re-released'.

Anyone who invested in things that weren't, at any point, explicitly claimed to be limited, should have read the fine print more closely.

 

*Cheers* That should definitely be posted on Beryls Soom page!!!!!
I'm so annoyed at those who are complaining. Please be happy you
have your fullset doll and be happy that other people will have the
chance to get their dream doll!!
I think this is great, Soom has listened to all their customers who
have begged for a re-release or basic version!! It will NOT
diminish the value of your doll. But even if it did it's not Sooms
concern/problem what anyone wants to sell their own MD for.
Honestly anyone who complained to Soom about secondhand prices
should be ashamed.....they created the doll...but you think YOU
should get (often) double what they sold it for???? Wow.
Look who's being greedy. Not Soom. They are simply trying to please
their customers and continue to thrive...which if you actually LIKE Soom
you should realize this and be glad. I would be truly heartbroken without
Soom, as would many others!!!! OK, I think I said what I wanted to.

 

Great work sharnofshade! I'd say this thread is over and all the disgruntled parties can go eat some ice cream/favorite food here of choice to cheer up. :]

 

Ok I'm kinda on the fence on this one. On one hand I could certainly understand if one of my dolls were re-released. I mean the hell I went through for my sard... But at the same time he's a Dia with pointy ears so technically he's already here.
I can't say I wouldn't feel a little sting if he got released given my 2 years of hell battling for him. But at the same time I'm happy for anyone that hasn't been as lucky to be able to get him. If it was me on the other side I would be dancing.

Sure I'm not happy about paying an outrageous price for my boy but you know what, I really wanted him, and I don't regret it one bit. But I'd never get nasty over it. I'm happy knowing I got an original one. Not that it makes the others any less.

But what people need to realize what makes the MD's limited are their parts and it doesn't appear to the same skin tone even. So the MD's are still special. Collectors are still going to go for the MDs rather than the rerelease. I don't see how anyone can get so riled up over the value unless they mean to make a profit. I have no plans of selling mine personally, so the market value dropping doesn't bother me.

As for rudeness. This has been bothering me for a while. I can't even read the comments on the soom monthlies anymore. There's always someone that's unhappy for some reason or other and they are determined to let everyone know it. I mean sure tinies aren't my thing but I don't go yelling at soom because my month was ruined because they made another yo. I find it extremely rude to do so on their MD pages.
They can't please everyone but they sure do try. I mean everyone complained about wanting new sizes so the mega gem happened and people still had a fit because it was the wrong size. So they do the MSD and sure enough someone's pissed because they wanted another size or gender.
I mean if you would like to suggest a new size or what ever I think politely dropping a email is better then "OMFG NOOO MORE HOOVES AND SUPER GEMS!!! MY MONTH IS RUINED!" all over the MD page. Sure I'd like to see something different too but I also love seeing the variations they can do with the hooves too. The reality is people are still crazy for them. If they didn't sell soom wouldn't be making them.

TL;DR
CHill out MDs are still special. There is no excuse for rude behavior.

 

If Amber was re-released with her fantasy parts, I would be stoked beyond belief. Amber -is- my dream doll, and since I was totally new to the hobby when she was initially released, I missed my chance to buy her at a more sane price. Nowadays, she floats around $1400, and I am (was?) really considering saving up that much money. I know that a number of people are happy to throw that much money down without a second thought, and if I could I would, but I can't personally. I'm a full-time student who really needs to focus on buying a sofa! Soom re-releasing these limiteds would definitely take the pressure off. Even if they tweaked MDs slightly to appease those who hate this idea, I would still be utterly enthralled to own Amber. No outfit? I think I can survive.

The idea alone makes me so happy! Oh hooved girls, how I love thee!

Edit: I totally agree with HighPriestessIce on the MD page rudeness. Honestly, if you liked EVERY SINGLE MD that was released, would you not be broke as a joke? I would be in debt as eff personally. xD

Edit Edit: Why do I have to feel sorry for the people that have spent a lot of money on an MD second-hand? D: I dun wanna!

 

sharneofshade and Tallenvyaere - Good work! I hope this can finally start to quell some of the feeling that there was deception afoot on SOOM's part, cos there wasn't!

I believe, as mentioned before, you've probably got the receptionist/office junior answering the Q & A board, she/he is most likely not involved in any decision making what-so-ever and is most likely just updated with info via memo!

So to those that feel so really upset, please take the fact below into consideration:
No where on the webpages (as sharneofshade has proven) does it say the head sculpts are LE and that the person handling the Q & A board was most likely just doing their job the best the could by making sure people even got replies to questions. It would still not be their fault.

I had the fullset Beryl once before and let her go (), if I had $1500 spare cash right now, I'd probably still go after the ws version again, just because, she is so original and still so beautiful. I like the look of the ns Beryl, but without all the whistles and bells and ws, she is beautiful too, but more ordinary of course.

 

Well, I don't understand the angry voices and think they are entitled behaviour. Like Raou said, few years ago if a company decided to re-release dolls, sure we were miffed, but the overall feeling of being privilleged to actually own one did win in the end. Right now this hobby is filled with people who want to have everything their way.

I just don't get it. Right after I bought my Madoka (on the aftermarket) she was re-released, right after I bought my Williams (on the aftermarket) he was re-released. I bought my Peroth first hand, have seen his value increase ridiculously and then Esthy created another doll that looks like Peroth's twin.

You know what? I don't care. I collect beautiful faces, not impressive price-tags. And in the end, no matter how many releases their are, Madoka, Williams and Peroth still hold their value, because these releases are all different versions of the same mold.
If you (general) decide to pay mark-up prices, I don't think you have the right to scold the company when they re-release that doll. It was your decision, you took a risk and you lost. But at the same time, you thought the doll was worth the money you paid, so why not be happy for those who have a chance to get the same doll you love as well?

 

Hnn, the legal wording may be whatever it will, Soom has made money off people making assumptions that those dolls will never be sold again. Technically every single Volks doll is a limited item if you read their fine print, but everyone knows they restock their standards and not their event-specific LEs (although they do re-release on occasion).

People who like having something rare or hard-to-get aren't in love necessarily with the pricetag. They may feel a special attachment because it took so long or so much effort or required perfect timing/clever dealing/whathaveyou to finally get that grail doll home.

I do NOT say the behaviour of people on the Soom comments pages is acceptable, but a teeny-tiny bit of willingness to see why people might have specific emotional reactions to something a company does is not, I hope, completely out of line. For example, Williams is a grail doll of mine. My reaction to recently learning there's a special NY Dolpa release of him was not actually to be happy for all those other people who now have a much better chance at him than I have ever had. It will be later when I see owner pics and read owner reactions, but that was not my kneejerk reaction. I'm not going to pick up a pitchfork, but I am going to admit to feeling annoyed.

To drag this back on topic, different collectors collect differently. Somebody who likes knowing their dolls have certain value is going to be more sensitive to this, and I don't want to just dismiss their feelings or imply there's something wrong with them just because I don't collect that way.

I completely agree that aftermarket prices have nothing to do with the company, and it's bizarre to suggest the company should do anything about them.

 

So, even though Soom was extremely meticulous in noting what was and wasn't limited about their MDs, they shouldn't be allowed to re-release their own artwork because some people misread, or didn't bother to read, the details about what they were actually buying?

I don't feel sorry for anyone who spends hundreds or thousands of dollars on something without researching it first. Me, I knew my Soom dolls would be worth it to me no matter what, because I couldn't give a toss what their monetary or rarity value is. But if I did care about those things, you can bet I'd actually make sure those things were secure before spending any money on them. If someone desperately wanted an incredibly limited sculpt from Soom, they should have read the fine print before slapping down their money.

Soom didn't hide that their sculpts weren't LE. People just saw what they wanted to see. I can sympathise with disappointment about that, but not with anger directed at the company. Soom didn't do a damn thing wrong, and anyone attacking them (distinct from 'being disappointed') for re-releasing Beryl is acting like a child throwing a tantrum because they can't have their own way. I don't have any sympathy to waste on people like that.

I agree that people collect differently, but everyone is responsible for how they spend their own money. If they care about rarity or value, they should be careful about what they invest in, and do their research (where 'research' is, at minimum, 'read what the company explicitly says in their sales pitch about what they are selling').

'Assumptions' are the responsibility of no one but the people who make them.

 

Hmmm IMHO...somehow it feels like some people might love their doll less if there are a lot of people owning the same doll, the doll's market value isnt as high as they hope and/or others get to buy the doll easily while you had to give extra effort to afford. It's a valid emotion but it's not something I share. Whatever rocks your boat hehe.

 

I love these two points!

 

I could not have said it better myself. Excellent post deserves quoting.

 

I don't disagree with you. I was more concerned with the many posts implying or saying there's something wrong with caring about the value of your own collection or that anyone who is at all bothered by this is just elitist nadonado. I'll repeat - I'm not the least bit interested in defending flamers. Although if this is just a legal issue, they're all within their legal rights to be as angry and rude and idiotic as they want.

I'm not even saying that Soom is being like this, but it is entirely possible for a company to be a dick about something and be backed up by the law.

 

I'm sorry, but I just can not believe that people are actually going to make an argument that Soom may have - for some reason - no right to sell their own doll. That argument seemed to absurd when I saw someone actually threatening to sue Soom on the doll's page, and I thought maybe it was just one person throwing a huge hissy fit and that no one else would even think it was something they could argue the legalities of.

Here's food for thought, to everyone who's saying that Soom is guilty of false advertising: That is an American concept. the American FTC regulates it. It is not actually a law that applies to the rest of the world as we know it. So no matter what they told their customers in the past, they are not guilty of a crime. It's their doll, they have the rights to sell it, and no one here has a right to try and dictate legalities to them.

I'm not trying to direct this at anyone in particular, I just want to point this out right here and now, so that we can get all of the talk about legalities because of "false advertising" out of the conversation. It is a "not-an-issue" because Soom is not an American company.

 

Sorry Timid, I should have been clearer myself. Only the first part of my post was directly linked to yours (and that was more out of convienence, as it was the most recent one talking about assumptions and Soom potentially misleading people); the rest was directed to the thread more generally.

You were clear enough about where you, personally, stand, and I know we don't really disagree on any of the major points

 

I think that's a good point. Legalities are really a red herring here. Also, as the flamers aren't actually flaming on DoA, maybe the conversation should wander back towards the OP? (I'm as guilty as anyone else of getting distracted.)

After all this, I think my take on a basic line of formerly monthly dolls would be to wish for Soom to be a little more creative than that, but happy in the abstract for people who can finally get a version of *insert grail sculpt here*.

ETA: sharnofshade, no need to apologize. I was only using your post to go on a tangent about the overall flavour of the thread myself.

 

Honestly, I think it would be neat to see how they would change things to sell them in basics. It's always neat to me to see how companies revamp things.

i know they've been discontinuing a lot of sculpts lately. Maybe that was the first steps to starting up a new way of selling their dolls, all revolving around the MD sculpts.