Maintaining the Love when a company changes its style (Soom MD plus others)

Im still kind of new to the BJD world, but what i have seen is shocking to me. I own a DOT Ducan, and when i first ordered him a year back, all of their dolls were very slim and slender, but i've been checking in every now and then to see what's new, and i find that i dont really like the new body mold. It looks so buff, and ugly. (no offense if you like the bold bodies, ect.) I was like what happened to the slender, bodies that i fell in love with when i first discovered the site?? Its not like you cant get the slender bodies anymore, you can if you choose it as an option when ordering, but i just truthfully dont like the new style that they have. I know that alot of the discussion in this thread is on Soom, but i just thought that i should add this. I wont give up on DOD!

 

I feel your pain, lol. Over the past couple years I've seen a number of doll lines go in directions that I personally find unappealing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-variety or anything, and I know there are people that really love some of the dolls that I don't. However, as new dolls are released I feel like I'm often disappointed -- especially when it's a company who I've purchased from in the past and liked. It causes me to stick more and more to the same few companies. In my more frustrated moments it often feels like some of these trends are completely taking over, though rationally I do realize that there is more variety out there than that.

However, trends come and go, and who knows what things will be like a few years down the road.

 

Meanwhile how do other Soom MD lovers keep your interest in the new dolls?
I haven't been too interested in Soom since Chrom, myself. It was Euclase and his giant hawk feet that origonally got me into dolls, but after they made Sphaler, I sold the Euclase hawk feet I had, for a lot cheaper than I bought them, and kind of lost interest in the bird feet. I fell hard for Chrom, but really only got him for the paws! OMG NOT hooves? EPIC! But when I got him a painfull 9 months later, His wolf feet were painted poorly. One had a clear and shiny coat, and one was dull and rough to the touch, like their painter took off for a bathroom break, and when he came back he forgot to paint the foot or something? And my Chrom firelord head is at least two shades whiter than this whole body. It frustrates me to no end, because I don't want to wipe a limited faceup just to have my doll's head match his body. And his human head was hard to deal with. The head cap seemed loose, and floppy, and always came apart. So I traded it off for a Limited head from Luts..lol. Seeing as Soom was the company that made me want a doll, I was very disappointed to have paid so much for a limited doll, just to have it come home nine months later, looking like a rushed job. -sigh- So I'll probably never buy a Soom doll directly from soom again I'd rather get one second hand, so I know what's wrong with it. >:

Do you feel being overwhelmed by so many new dolls?
I'm overwhelmed by Hooves. I'm sick and tired of them, and I think with each new hooved doll, they take away from the origonals. Same goes for the hawk/dragon feet. There's so much more you can do, so why limit the creativity? Lately, I've been more interested to see what Angelheim comes out with. Their little raccoon doll was so adorable, and different, I wanted him big time! I want to see more Angelheim in soom. xD Which is funny, because a lot of people seen that company as a soom copy, but to me they seem so much more original. More different. Soom is definitely capible of impressing us, I just think they are rushing their work, and it's becoming painfully obvious. I'd much rather see one new doll every three months than buy another rushed doll, that looks nothing like the photos on the site. Bleh.

Have the 'old Soomed people' purchaed the newer monthlies?
I was interested in getting a Chalco head for my Chrom. That or a nose job for the poor guy, but other than that none of the Big, or tiny monthlies have caught my eye. I did like Breccia, but her feet are just too weird. Thanks soom for finally doing paws, and failing at them. xD

Has anyone gotten rid of 'old Soom monthlies' and replaced them with 'newer Soom monthlies' ? If you kept your 'old Sooms' and did not buy 'new Sooms' is it because you have 'too many dolls' ? Is interest in Soom still 'the same' ?
My interests in soom aren't as high as they used to be. I take a quick look at the latest soom monthlies, and feel glad that they suck. I don't really want to be as dissapointed as I am with Chrom, when I go to buy my next way too expensive doll. At this point, unless I was in love with the face sculpt, because that's what makes or breaks a doll with me, I'll just go after the parts or something. And if I ever do buy another soom, I'll sand and blush it myself thanks.

 

unless i really love the face up, i am with Novae for 'non default' sanding and painting i also do not care for the fact that some companies show one face up and when one gets the doll one does this: O_O . i do not like it when one discovers that one's dollie cannot possibly have been painted by the same artist that was showcased to make the sale. i have default paint on on my soom Heliot poodle, Dream Realm italian stallion, and spiritdoll Dark. all are very beautiful. i really lucked out. however, i feel like i dodged a bullet. therefore, i will lean towards 'non default' in the future.

soom has just released Epidos. i am feeling the soom love this week because i am very happy with the graceful elegant horse body they have produced. the face is also 'classic soom', so again, i am happy.

while in Target this week, i came across "Big Foot the Monster" . for scale, you can see him here: http://a.images.blip.tv/Timetoplay-BigfootTheMonster597.jpg to see him in 'action' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phXvFmz8rmU . the reason that 'Big Foot' is important here is this: the first thing that i thought of when i saw him is, "uh oh. this is just the way our dolls are headed. it is monzo without his wings. O_O " . the 'big buff trend' is definitely out there. i am happy to see that with this release, soom is still doing 'classic', 'beautiful', and 'elegant' .

i am also pleased that they are realizing we would like to buy the parts "all the time" or "FFD" which is what i hope their new 'centauriod gem' category is all about. perhaps someday soom will realize: with soom it is like an erector set. we are able and to 'build our own dolls' "if" they would just 'make the parts available' to us, preferably in a variety of colors.

 

I also agree on the 'non-default' faceup. It was the reason I sold my Sphaler. They painted his lips so dark it ruined the whole face for me.

Do you feel being overwhelmed by so many new dolls?
Simple answer? Yes. It was very hard for me for a while when I got Soomed three times in a row. I thought I would die trying to get the funds for it. I wish they would spread the dolls out more, or take a few months break!

Have the 'old Soomed people' purchased the newer monthlies? Has anyone gotten rid of 'old Soom monthlies' and replaced them with 'newer Soom monthlies' ?
My first Soom doll was IO. He was the doll that really sealed me into the doll hobby in the first place. But looking back at the MD's before him, I don't regret missing out on them. IO was the first that called to me. Next was Heliot. I then got Sphaler(who i later sold), and Bygg(who I just traded away to a friend), and Breccia. For me it's never been about 'old' or 'new' or 'original' or anything. I look at each doll with fresh eyes and an open mind. If the doll doesn't call to me I just click to a new page and move on. I think the 'old' Soom MD's had a better set up and maybe more originality, just because they were the first, but that doesn't mean I ignore the 'new'. I actually really like some of the newer Soom faces, like Coquina, or Syphen. They are a bit similar but I really love the shape of the lips and eyes and nose.

If you kept your 'old Sooms' and did not buy 'new Sooms' is it because you have 'too many dolls' ?
I have currently sworn off Soom dolls. I have too many dolls and I want to just focus on bringing home the few more OC's I want in resin. I can't afford to be Soomed again. However, if I hadn't made this promise to myself there are a few new Soom dolls I would have wanted to get. ^^;

Is interest in Soom still 'the same' ?
My interest is still the same, but only a little less because I make it so. xD I'm trying very hard NOT to be Soomed again (because I can't afford it) so I try not to go to their website as much, and I don't let myself stay up late waiting on a new release..as I often get sucked into the excitement and feel the need to put one on layaway. haha

 

Soom - the bane of my existence. Well, maybe not quite.

I wasn't in the hobby when the original MDs came out. I remember last year seeing an MD Beryl and thinking I'd love to get her but would never be able to afford her, and almost immediately after that Soom announced her as their first SO. Still, I passed on ordering her directly and picked her up domestically on the MP. Her body now also holds a human female Chrom head, and a Sphaler girl head. Obviously not at the same time. I love Chrom and would love to have a male version one day. I also consider Sphaler to be incredibly underrated - I have another Sphaler head on its way. I like Sard a lot, but would prefer a male Dia. Other than that, I like Onyx and Vesuvia. I suppose on the whole I wasn't too taken with last year's MDs. I do think the owner customizations worked for the likes of Coquina who looked far better in owner pics.

As for the recent sculpts - this thread and OP is from last year so more sculpts have appeared since then. I feel there's been another change in facial design. A lot of male MGs and Idealians are incredibly similar, to the point of generic. It doesn't help that they all sit on very muscular necks. I think a little more variety might have helped in terms of mixing in the now pretty much absent SG male bodies. I miss the SG males, but of course they appear in the Special Order releases and basic line. Still, it would be nice to see more new SG males and perhaps an extension of the basic line.

As for being overwhelmed by new dolls - Soom have a devastatingly successful schedule that leaves fans lurching from one release to the next, with some people probably struggling to fit in other dolls. I think Soom know exactly what they're doing, but whether they're doing too much is another question. Since Beryl SO is the most recent head sculpt I own, I have no idea if quality has gone down with the increasing SO releases - two a month at times - and the new smaller Idealian range. I'd be curious to know how many dolls they actually make in a month, on average. The releases are quite overwhelming to those who like different types like MD, SO and Idealian. I do think Soom own quite few wallets at DoA, with people lurching from one purchase and one layaway to the next.

I do think Soom keep a lot of us hooked on their releases whether we're buying or not. I'm still seeing some excitement in the discussion threads - York got a lot of interest until people saw him full on. It was a while before his waiting room filled up though. I realise a lot of other people don't get Soom or find them boring or generic. I don't think they're all generic, and I still think many of their earlier female sculpts are fascinating strong women. I would have liked to see a female Idealian or Mega Gem line to counterbalance these chunky males but perhaps that's not what most buyers would like. Of course it's possible to lose interest in a company as it heads in a new direction but in my case I suspect I will continue to follow Soom releases and scan for them on the MP for the foreseeable future. How many I buy - and I often favour heads rather than full dolls - is more difficult to predict.

 

I would also like to chime in that I too would not order directly from Soom again.
Their quality is not what it was; my Heliot arrived dusty (resin dust, not what you'd expect them to leave around for their customers to inhale) and my NS Sard didn't have one of his hooves drilled.

 

Just for the sake of being different, I'm going to talk about someone other than Soom.

In the begining, Iplehouse had the YIDs. Then they added JIDs and EIDs and SIDs and all that, all in a completly new style. Now, I actually prefer their new style, but I know a lot of people still like the old YID sculpts, and I do own a Lion and am planning to get a Mars. The thing is, Iplehouse is so busy coming out with all this new stuff they've been completly neglecting the YID line. Which sucks because there are people like me who prefer the smaller sized YIDs to the big kids. The old YID body hasn't been upgraded, there are no new sculpts coming out for the line, not even any accessories! I would like to see some YID-compatable sculpts in the new style, and new bodies with the same engineering as the EIDs and SIDs, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen for a while, if ever...

 

Oh man, this so hard!
I have an YID SooRi from '07 back when Iple only sold the YIDs and his body is woeful compared to the SIDs or EIDs. Thing is those guys are just too big for me!
I'd love an SID body in YID size so much, and it is so disappointing that Iple seem to have forgotten about the line that started them off .

 

I don't really know much about Soom, but a company I formerly adored has recently very drastically changed their style, much to my disappointment. I feel like they're trying to produce too many dolls to quickly, and that the quality has suffered (I should add that I have owned several of their older dolls, and recently bought a newer one, and the quality is just not the same). They even changed the resin they use from the pretty, translucent environmental resin to an opaque, less-heavy resin. I still like their older dolls, and a couple of their newer items have caught my eye, but overall, I'm losing interest in them. It makes me a little sad, but there's always the chance they'll still come up with something lovely I'll want! I like to be hopeful.

 

Soom

I was Soom'd the minute I first saw their site, nearly three years ago now. I remember waiting up, stalking their site, and being excited over their newest MD. I remember endlessly debating every virtue and vice with my girlfriend. I wasn't there from the beginning, but I do remember when Euclase and Heliot came out, and it seemed like people flipped out over him (course, it could just be me), but with the newest boys, Shoshon and Ender, it feels like they've somehow not quite gotten the same reception as the other MD's have in the past.

For me, it started with Sphaler. It wasn't his parts, or his mold, but his photoset. Sard and Beryl had such excellent presentation - Beryl, if I remember correctly, even had another doll with her. The Soom MD's used to have such amazing presentation. It was worth stalking their site just to see what they'd do next, as far as that goes. I remember IO crawling, Shadow Onyx with Light Onyx, Chrom and Cuprit with their thrones. Just the sheer imagination behind how they presented their dolls blew me away.

To me, it feels as though they have another photographer and/or photo-editor, and the pictures just aren't quite as imaginative anymore. The presentations are less like beautiful photoshoots and more like sales threads (which, admittedly, they ARE), and kind of fall flat to me.

I won't say anything about their sculpts, except to mourn the past MDs and be concerned about how alike the new MDs are becoming (Ender and York, for example).

And Soom is starting to experiment with fantasy colors... they have a red-skinned doll. O.o


Iplehouse

Iplehouse was one of the first doll sites I ever saw, and is home to one of the first boys I ever wanted (YID Barron). They'll always hold a special place in my heart. I absolutely adore their new EID and SID bodies and sculpts, and I'm excited about what new and fun things they'll be bringing out. I'll admit to some concern when they had the Chimera dolls, worried that they were trying to compete with Soom and worried that they would get off on that tangent, but they didn't.

At the same time, I wouldn't mind seeing some updated YID bodies, either. I'm a "bigger is better" dollie person, so it hasn't effected me as much, but still... I know they have the capabilities, I just hope they realize that they'd also have the support of us dollie fans.



O.o Not to seem like I could dictate what those companies do or don't to...

 

I agree with many of the comments here on the Soom monthlies. The third generation has not caught my interest at all, beyond snippets of parts. From the second generation, there were dolls I loved but couldn't afford, such as Galena or Monzo. I managed to pick up Sphaler's parts, and Chalco's (who, though his face was fairly bland in my opinion, his design was gorgeous). I started on the first generation. Euclase and Heliot were like the beats of my heart. Both had unique, soulful faces. I see this in some newer companies like LLT, AIL, Dollstown, and Supia, still. I love faces that can express. The first Soom MDs did this. I still wish I'd bought in on some of them.

As for other companies, though the OP's original topic was about Soom, I've felt the same way about other doll companies. Volks, in particular, and Luts, too. I moved away from Volks (when I started in the hobby, it was my company of choice) because their sculpts had become so bland and similar to me, and lacked the expression I loved in older molds (like Kohya, my grail Volks and first doll). I had started hating Luts when I got into the hobby, but as they neared the 2006/2007 mark, they started to release at least event heads that appealed to me, and then the Minifess came. I started following them, and became hooked.

However, since maybe about 2008 I feel as if Luts hasn't come out with an interesting headsculpt. Faces have become fairly vacant looking to me, and though I keep checking back for new, inspiring models (Maska was different due to his beautiful eyes, but his mouth was typical), I still am waiting on a promising SD-sized doll release from them. (I am also doing the same for Dream of Doll, who hasn't caught my interest since their first DoT boys and girl) and I'm still crossing my fingers for them, but as for Volks, I've given up. My aesthetic has changed to stranger, more realistic looking dolls. If the other two companies move forward, I'd love to buy again. The same, obviously, goes for Soom. (Though I do have to say, I'm very happy with the new Gem boy. He looks alot like their bigger dolls, or a 'refreshed' Namu. I may buy one in the future. Though the sculpt isn't incredibly realistic, it does hold that Soom charm that caught me with the MDs, and with Nam, my favourite Gem boy.)

I also remember when Dollshe switched to their new bodies. That lost me from them, too. I had thought they looked like aliens. I haven't looked back, since, really. Though I still love Bermann, as do most collectors here on this website.

Right now, I'm currently very intrigued in LLT. I am waiting with baited breath for Edria, and I am likely to be a repeat patron of theirs. I hope their sculpting style does not grow lazy, or less soulful. Each of their heads have such strong expression to them. If they change, that would make me sad, I think. Here's to having faith?

 

We're under no obligation to like absolutely everything that a company releases, or will release, in perpetuity. The only pressure to "maintain the love", as you say, seems to be self-imposed.

When a company goes in a different artistic direction than the dolls I originally fell for 5-6 years ago, why should I blame them? When you break up with your boyfriend/girlfriend/band, because you're starting to head in different directions as you mature, it's folly to try to keep things together just for the sake of togetherness. If you ain't feelin' it, don't fake it. This also doesn't mean you have to start hating them, merely because they want something different now.

(It's also important not to be short-sighted. Later on down the road, they might release something new that makes your heart melt.)

No, I don't like everything Volks or Soom or Iplehouse has ever produced, but I don't have to. Every year they always have something new that I admire-- whether or not I feel it's for me, and whether or not I purchase it. It's their current vision; it's what they want to do now. When a company starts doing something that I'm not into, I feel it'd be pointless & tacky to berate or begrudge them for it. Instead, I just go home & play with the dolls they made that I DO still like.

 

JennyNemesis has a very good point. I agree with what she's saying completely.

 

Honestly I was the biggest fan of soom before monthly dolls were ever created.

I loved the gem line and the amazing amount of limited gems with the outfit and such they were offering
I started liking soom less when the monthly dolls were introduced and the gems were decreasing in sale and popularity.

I have one monthly doll she is a teenie gem afi and I only have her because I love the idea of a tan tiny deer and the mold is nice. I do not wish to own other monthlies, they arent bad but I miss the old soom.

 

Regarding Soom, I have quite a few now. When I started their monthlies were simply put, too far out of where I thought my circle of comfort was in regards to spending. Between me and a friend we've amassed quite the Soom army - I have a tan Chalco, a Beyla, a Keny, also the Young Artist Covell, and a Super Gem Lupin. While she has Hati/Skoll, Appini, Yrie, and Chrom. Where differences are concerned, I can definately see a change in style, but I'm not alarmed by it. I'd expect a change in style when releasing so many dolls in such a fast pace, otherwise they'd all tend to look the same. The newer teenie gems have less chubby faces and their heads overall are narrower. My Chalco has quite the nose on him, and his lips are beautiful. What I tire of seeing is the same Super Gem hands over and over and over again (the human ones). While I love the sculpt, I've started to wish that some of them would come with different hands like the teenie gems have - a distant and possibly impossible wish since most of the super gem md's have fantasy hands of some sort anyway.

I haven't lost the love at all. I adore my friend's Chrom. I was blown away by my Chalco. I love all my Sooms and I've fallen for a few of the later ones as well - Ender specifically, and Taco and Dolomi were incredibly cute. I also love the new tinies with their open mouth. I think part of the love is in finding the right faceup to bring out the differences in each sculpt.

I think the only company I've fallen off of is Luts. I still find their dolls beautiful, but their aesthetic no longer quite meshes with my own. I have two of their msd's and a wintery head. I won't get rid of my minis but that wintery head is giving me no end of difficulty. It's very round and childlike for something that's supposed to be at least in the teenage years.

 

Heh. I guess I'm going to be the weird one and say that I personally can't see too much difference in what Soom is doing beyond the changing of sizes as far as monthlies go. I thought their girls (with the exception of the pre-monthly era girls) were pretty much always very soft and a bit similar, while their guys tended to have a bit more expression. And I never really liked any of them, beyond the "oooh, pretty" at the fancy photos and outfits with a lot of details. There have only been three that grabbed me - Sard (mostly because I liked Dia, s/he was always a beautiful sculpt), Chrom (whom I actually owned at one point in time, but sold) and now the most recent one, Lami and Trachy, the little tiny devil things. Well, I thought the little cats were really cute too, mostly because they had faces that were distinctly different from all of the other closed-eye tinies Soom had out, but the aforementioned three were the only ones I actually liked enough to even consider buying (never did get Sard, and still waffling on Lami... Just how pink is "baby pink"?).

I think what happened to Iplehouse was pretty... natural too. Their older sculpts never really grabbed me, and they seemed to be doing okay as a mid-range mid-popular company. From my knowledge, it seem like there was a gap of several years between the last new doll they created and the EID? So it just happened that in those years they seriously progressed and changed as far as their aesthetics were concerned. Which I find very easy to understand, as someone who dabbles a bit in all things artsy/drawing-related. Once upon a time I used to draw super stereotypical big-eyed mature-bodied anime, but over time I realized how silly, amateur and boring my stuff looked, so I went, studied up some realistic anatomy, and drastically changed my drawing style to semi-realistic with-some-vestigial-anime which I personally find MUCH more pleasing to the eye now. (Doesn't mean I never give in to saucer-eyes though Aaand I'm sure that two years down the line I'll be staring at my old stuff all "Pah, did I really like this?")

And as far as Volks, well, I wasn't around during their full glory days, but I know that just looking at the FCS sculpts, the newer ones appeal MUCH more to me than the older ones, though some of the older ones also have their charm. Buuut I'm looking at it retrospectively, since I wasn't around to know them before the changes, unlike Iplehouse and Soom.

 

Regarding Soom dolls: I've owned Soom dolls from the 60cm Gem line and from the regular and limited monthly Super Gem line (I never owned any of the tinies or the newer mini's, as my crew are all 58cm - 70cm in height). The older Soom Super Gem facial sculpts were what reeled me in. Both the male and the females were interesting, mature, beautiful...exactly what I needed for my elusive to shell characters. I also very much enjoy the various fantasy parts Soom offered with their monthlies. That said, due to dolls not working for my characters, I've re-homed all of my Soom dolls save my two favorites (SG Dia and the original monthly limited issue of Onyx Light ~ Both girls being in cream white). They embody characters who are sisters, and I love their strong, powerful and very lovely facial features, as well as their 65cm height. I also kept my various pairs of Soom ball-jointed hands, which several of the guys in my crew employ, as well as my former Cuprit's horns (I love those) and they now happily "live" with another (non-Soom) girl.

I haven't purchased any monthly limiteds from Soom since Galena, as the newer Soom monthly head sculpts, while still very beautiful, are just less mature looking for my specific, personal tastes. However, if in future Soom offers a new sculpt (or a re-issued one I'm interested in) that attracts me, I will most certainly purchase from them again. I do prefer the smaller head dolls with smaller eyes, though, as that not only works for my personal tastes, but also fits in better stylistically and scale wise with the rest of my crew. I just prefer very realistic and mature looking (again, this is just my own personal tastes).

I also like it when Soom offers a variety of skin tones (that new deep red they are offering now is gorgeous). It would be great if in addition to NS that Soom would again offer cream white for their regular line as well as tan, and that they would offer tan and cream white +"fantasy" colors for special re-issues of limiteds, as well as their current limiteds. It's always nice to have a variety of skin tones to choose from. It would also be great if Soom would augment the current line up (regular and monthlies) to include new head sculpts that reflect the earlier mature facial sculpt style as well as their current facial styles. I think Soom's customers would be pleased, as everyone would be sure to thus find a facial sculpt that works for their particular tastes, and Soom would have even more of a variety to offer us. It's also nice that Soom is now offering very buff, tall male dolls through their other lines, as well as more slender ones such as the Soom SG guys.

Since I have a lot of male characters in my stories, it's wonderful that so many companies now have a beautiful array of realistic and masculine dolls available, from tall, slim and lanky to muscular to very, very buff and muscular. I like seeing this variety! And there are some really exquisite and mature female dolls being offered through other companies too (Iplehouse comes to mind for realistic and mature male and females dolls, with a variety of skin tones). And I love Dollshe sculpts, it's also nice that Mr. Dollshe offers several body styles, so that everyone can pick what is absolutely perfect for their needs. For me, this is all good. Variety is indeed the spice of life!