illusiongarden Doll Discussion

Well that was incredibly frustrating. The website was lagging like mad and then the heads all sold out in minutes. Has anyone ever successfully purchased a head from the website or what? I’ve tried to get an Evening Johan during the last three releases…

thanks for letting me vent!!!

 

@mince You may yet be in luck, because Illusion Garden just made a new post on their Instagram:

"If you give us the information of premium sellers reselling for an excessive amount (more than twice the cost), we will cancel that order once their information is confirmed. Members whose orders have been canceled due to premium sales are bad members and cannot [purchase] in the future. Premium sales are behaviour that harms the original creator and customers. And don't buy it at a premium, please."

 

I have never seen a doll artist or brand take this kind of action against scalpers and I LOVE IT. It's one thing to buy a doll, try it out, decide you don't want it after all, and sell for a higher price because it's rare/hard to get. But Illusion Garden seems to be plagued with actual scalpers and they deserve to get blacklisted, especially after IG politely asked them to stop and they (apparently) didn't.

 

I managed to get one but the buying process was definitely nerve wracking. Definitely felt like I was trying to buy concert tickets

Wanted to get both Johan and Evening Johan but only managed to get hold of Evening Johan. I swear Johan sold out immediately

The wait for my paypal to load was pure torture, thought he was going to sell out before I’d be able to pay.

 

@aestellica okay, that’s amazing even if I don’t manage to get one!! Thank you for sharing. I’ll just have to keep my eyes peeled for a rerelease and maybe set up somewhere with some high speed internet. The difficulty is also the 11pm weekday release schedule but that’s just bad luck re my timezone!

@LaCantarella whoohoo congrats! I would also like to get both the OE and the evening versions… I really, really enjoy having multiple heads for the same character. Eventually we will get them both I’m sure!! Please post pics of your Johan

 

I haven't tried for a head yet since the one's I'd want haven't gone on sale again since I realized I wanted them lol (unicorn Yuli and human Hades) but what is the reason of IG pre-orders being so tough? I hear everyone talk about it being super hard to grab heads. Is it the website glitching? Or is everyone racing to get one so they sell out crazy fast? I feel like I need to prepare myself for battle lmao

 

@maryw13 It's the latter, which then causes the former. Hah. The heads are really popular, so a lot of people clamor to buy them, which then causes the website to bug out, and if someone already has not so great internet that doesn't help. Then throw in the people just buying to re-sale at a high cost because they know the heads are popular, and that just makes things worse.

 

Chiming in here about the IG preorders and demand, as someone who follows the Korean and Chinese doll communities very closely. I don't buy IG heads myself as I'm not interested, but I love Yurick's (IG's owner and sculptor) other dolls she's made for Idealian which I forever treasure. Posting because the recent events have made me super pissed and angry on behalf of Yurick.

IG has always been in huge demand from both KR and CN communities, and the volume at which the CN communities demand is just too much for almost any company to handle. They just have a lot of players - this isn't their fault. But because of the huge demand and lack of supply, its caused many scalpers in CN to appear on the scene of IG heads. Previously, they have always been scalped at shitty prices, but the recent Johan and E.Johan heads sparked a huge riot because the scalping price raised to an even higher price than anyone had ever seen before. And these prices were exhibited not just by doll scalpers, but non-doll playing scalpers too who were looking to make a quick buck. Scalping prices on the CN market were seen at 2800RMB to 3000RMB (~$417USD for a head whose original price is $168USD). Thus, following this demand, the traffic that the website experiences on release date is absolutely insane. A mix of those rushing to get it for themselves and those looking to profit off it. And yet, many of those who honestly do want it completely miss out still, and those scalping also manage to get their hands on it and try to shill it out immediately.

Yurick made several tweets (now deleted) on her personal twitter the night of the Johan sales date about how it negatively affected her and the way she felt about it. She tweeted a post roughly translating to 'No one cursed me when I didn't sell heads for a while, but when I finally did sell my heads again, I received 100 curses immediately. So, the solution is just not to sell anything at all, right????? Sigh....'. She also posted a tweet with an image that was about deactivating her Weibo account because of all the angry messages she received. I believe she didn't follow through with it, and she eventually deleted the Tweets where she had a bit of a breakdown and posted a tweet thanking everyone who sent her a message of support after seeing that she was upset.
EDIT: She did end up deleting her Weibo account, it can no longer be found.

And to me, it was really hard to watch her post those Tweets like that. To see her suffering like that when she did absolutely nothing wrong. There's a fine line between wanting to sell dolls altruistically to those who love them and damning everyone and not selling anything at all because some people just don't fucking know how to act right. She can't win. She can't make enough to satisfy the demand, then gets cursed by angry players who think (idk how) she's limiting it on purpose and forcing people to miss out (among other reasons).

EDIT: I went to Weibo and xhs to read comments about IG from the latest release. Please note the following are rough translations of SOME of the NEGATIVE comments I read by Chinese users and they DO NOT reflect my own thoughts:
'She posted about increased production time and doing her best to do better but still didn't mention at all how she would improve lol'
' She acts as if we can't survive without her doll, lol she's so arrogant. The intl price is so much more expensive than domestic and you're talking about scalping haha'
'She couldn't take the heat of the sales and ran away'
'If you don't have guts, don't come back'
'You say you don't like scalpers but you sure seem to love limited editions a lot, make it make sense'
'She left us alone as customers and is asking us to fight with scalpers instead of helping us fix it'
'Hate Chinese people so much you delete your account but take our money anyway lol'
'IG cancelling their weibo account is the biggest joke of the year +1'
'Go back to sculpting for soom and learn a lesson first'
'Quitting weibo means quitting in us, get out of the Chinese bjd market we don't want you anyway'
'You never listen or care about us anyway'
'If you were a domestic Chinese bjd artist the criticism would be even more harsh, you can't take it at all'
'Why don't you just open unlimited orders for a set amount of time? I don't care if I wait 1 or 2 years, show those scalpers who's boss. But you clearly don't want to.'

More can be read here (anonymous weibo bjd blog mega thread re: recent IG sales) but are also on other places ofc: 微博

EDIT 2: Not all Chinese people are bashing her or bad, please do not assume this from the handful of comments and posts you read. There are also those who support her very much. Please do not also jump in and write any translated or English comments, the culture is EXTREMELY different in China and I implore that you just sit back and let them simmer. Please DO NOT fight with them and fuel more anger. People are frustrated which is also understandable and the things they say will both be fair and unfair, and this represents only a small amount of Chinese players who are talking about it. Remember, people are often more vocal about criticism than praise. Thank you.

I will always condemn the actions of these scalpers, because they know what they're doing - damn just fucking work like the rest of us. Especially seeing how Yurick responded that night, knowing she's the sculptor of my favourite doll of all time (Phonolus), I felt so angry and upset on her behalf. I really truly feel angry and upset by how the sales of her dolls have always been completed disrespected by scalpers like this.

Anyways, apologies for the long post, but I hope this explains some things and sheds light on the situation. Imma peace out cause thinking about it makes me mad.

 

Holy moley thanks for posting all that info @Setsura

I had no idea that all that was going on! I want to clarify that my rant was in no way directed to IG and I would never harass an artist (omg). I was just frustrated at being unable to grab a Johan the last few times I’ve tried, which I attributed to website volume. It sounds like a difficult situation for IG but I wish the fans would be more understanding. Why do people have to be so mean?

It sounds like I’m pretty lucky to have the Angelos Johan head that I do have. I’m off to go cherish him!

 

@mince no worries, I didn't think you were harrassing her at all, it's normal to express frustration at the slow website and being unable to grab a head due to all the traffic.

There are valid arguments from both sides, but I think when the angry mob vents out all their frustration and anger in one place, it becomes a huge toxic echo chamber where they somehow justify the insults they fling and reinforce each other all at once. It's normal to be frustrated, but when you have an angry horde all together like that, it amplifies the severity of anything. I'm not justifying their reactions - what a lot of them said is still unacceptable and absolutely vile - but the situation itself with them all bouncing off each other doesn't help.

There are many chinese fans who have expressed disdain at the actions of those that are angry and critcised the harsh and underserving insults flung at IG. Although deleting the Weibo account was probably not the best idea professionally speaking, it does speak volumes at the stress of an independent artist in the face of such scrutiny. There are those who have expressed valid concerns and criticism since many previous sales and have been disappointed at her inaction to them, and I can understand the frustration of those as well. There have been many suggestions made for IG to invest in a Chinese agent to help aid her sales in China, and since then, several agents have come forward to IG to offer a more stable sales plan for Chinese fans, but she has refused all Chinese agent help thus far. She has also been suggested to open up more payment methods, as PayPal is very much a western payment method, and many other international fans have difficulty using it to pay, making it more difficult to obtain once more along with trying to ask her to invest in a more stable website to handle the volume of traffic better. IG has not responded to any of these suggestions at all or mentioned any note of them, which makes some players frustrated. However, many in support of her still mentioned that despite her not showing any reaction to suggestions, that many of the comments made were completely unwarranted and that those who said such toxic words should be ashamed of themselves. Something along the translated lines of 'you can't scold someone this hard and expect them not to disappear, these words are far too harsh for any human, let alone a hobby, these words used towards her are uncivilised and disgusting'.

I think the best way to put it personally is that a lot of the negative and angry comments have a complete lack of human empathy to them. It's just pure vitriol. Of course, she could open unlimited sales for a short amount of time, and it's easy to say you don't mind waiting 1 to 2 years, but can you imagine as an independent artist having to slave away at the same thing for 2 years just to try to please others? In this case, I think many would then begin to complain about the long production time and then complain more if the quality was not quite up to par when they received it (and to be honest, if I had to do the exact same thing for 2 years, it would start sucking more at the end, too, personally). Of course, she could open up a bigger business and more production lines, hire more staff. But she clearly has a personal reason not to, and she doesn't inherently owe any of us an explanation as to why she chooses to do what she does (even though in some cases it may be nice to know). The same people who have criticsed her without empathy are the same people who would likely then turn around and complain about how their favourite artist won't make dolls anymore despite being part of the very reason they quit to begin with. It's the same train of thought as those who would tell others who didn't get it to 'get good/you didn't want it bad enough' when they were able to obtain it, but when it's their turn to be on the losing side of not being able to obtain it they would then express unjustified hatred.

At the end of the day, it's a doll, not a life threatening issue. I know it's frustrating, but it's important to remember that hobbies are for enjoyment, and if you're not enjoying it, then I think there's a bigger underlying issue. It's a difficult situation for IG to be in, and personally, I would like if she could take a break and ground herself again until she feels better, and then perhaps try to be more transparent about what solutions she would like to try to implement or offer in the future. I think many people would be happy to see that their voices and suggestions have been heard.

 

Another sale for Johan came. I know I'm not gonna get him since is so hard to get a spot, just my most masochistic side that does not let me ignore it, and more so now that I am economically unavailable cuz Christmas is around the corner. I just wanted to pass by and make a random question to forget about this head until next time: Does Illusion Garden allow layaway or is a sale where you can only get him if you make the full payment?

Also, for future reference, being part of the "shopping mall members". Is that a membership or does just registering and having an account on the website make you a member?

And if anybody knows a sculpt similar to "Evening.JOHAN" let me know a head that is easier to get, I can close one eye and stand on my hands and pretend it's him

 

There's no layaway available, when you get to checkout you're paying the full price of the head as listed + shipping.

"Shopping mall member" is just making an account on their shop website. All your purchases get recorded on your account, and that's how they'll check your purchase history to ensure no one double-dips this second Johan round.

As for similar head sculpts, off the top of my head I'd look at Wonderland Doll, Lemoon, Telesthesia & Dragon, for a similar feel. I generally suggest looking toward China -- Illusion Garden heads and Johan in particular are extremely coveted there, and I'm sure Chinese sculptors use him and other Illusion Garden heads as inspiration, and/or sculpt heads with a similar aesthetic style. Besides bigger companies that you can find on Alice's Collections, you may want to keep an eye on indie Chinese sculptors -- dealers like New Clover Singing, Stacy's Pink Ocean, Space Studio BJD and Dollsphere offer them usually. And if you have access to Weibo, you can find lots of indie sculptors there too.

 

I have an IG Devil Hades and I really love him so when I saw Johan is getting another PO I figured I'd try. My first boy was secondhand so I didn't know the order periods are a blood bath. I have my account setup and I'm ready to try. If not, I definitely don't need another doll!! Good luck to those trying.

Edit: He did indeed sell out in about 5 minutes. I was sweating waiting for PayPal to load, but I got one!! Now to search insta for faceup artists

 

@aihre Thank you so much for the info! and I will have to take a look for that replacement, T&D does have a feeling to it, I don't know if Wonderland Doll has one that looks like Johan but I do like a couple of sculpts there

@poisonapple88 OMG Lucky!! Tell us how everything turns out when it arrives, I will have to cross my fingers in the next pre-sale in 2026

Another thing, for these heads, is there a close color match for bodies?

 

Thank you! It was really stressful, but I'm so happy I managed to get one. As for the bodies, I'm sure there are other options, but my current boy matches Switch perfectly for the normal tone. I've heard white is a match too.

 

was anyone else trying for the Iseon Baekrok with the special ears and romantic eyes?
seems like the ordering is still open for international at the moment
very surprised i managed to get an order in even though i lost track of the opening time

 

Yes! I placed one as soon as it opened, in fear it would be sold out meanwhile, I can't wait for Hades to come home!

 

hooray! and congrats on Hades as well, I hope he is home soon for you!
I still need to do a faceup for my evening Hades

somehow just my luck is that something always happens right at opening for me, like the dog suddenly needs out, something spills, water leak you - get the idea
it was good to still be able to slide in i really like his ears and definitely bonus points for the lace white option. his promo shots are really pretty.

 

I just placed my order for him! I did find it odd that we couldn't choose a resin colour, does IG do that often? I got to choose the colour for my Hades

 

Me as well! I forgot about the time difference so I thought that we had one more day I actually would've completely missed it had I not checked DOA and saw your comment, so thank you!!