Mass discontinuation - How does it make you feel?

I have many DZ and DC sculpts myself. When companies do big discontinuatons it is sad, but understandable from a business standpoint. Thankfully none of the dolls on the DC discontinuation list are ones I want (phew). On the upside, I’m looking forward to seeing their new releases as they are always so interesting.

I do feel for those collecting, who can’t for whatever reason, bring home all the sculpts they want on the discontinued list. For those of us who don’t have a steady paycheck and layaways (no matter how long) must be taken with caution it is very stressful and disheartening.

 

Lots of companies discontinue their older molds, this is nothing new. I could swear DC has done this before already (though not to this scale) and Dollzone has done it multiple times. Dollshe discontinues his sculpts every few months (and then brings them back for another sale!). Souldoll has already been mentioned, Fairyland never brought back all their older sculpts (even though they made it seem like they were going to), Ringdoll did a large discontinuation a couple years ago, and Dollmore has wiped out a bunch of their molds with no warning whatsoever more than once....so really, be thankful you're getting a heads up, not everyone does it.

It happens often enough that it isn't that uncommon, even without artist rights and who owns what sculpt getting involved. People often want what is shiny and new and often times the old stuff doesn't sell as well, so it's discontinued to make room for more. Artist change and they get better or go different ways and maybe they don't want to see their old works sitting around anymore. Molds can break and get damaged as well, so sometimes they just can't make the head (or body) anymore.

Just because a doll is listed as a 'basic' sculpt does not mean it will be around forever.

 

I thought maybe I would feel the blow more now that it's my favorite company, but... not really? I feel like it will be refreshing, and I'm a little more excited for things to come. It's like spring cleaning, it gives me the impression (accurate or not lmao) that DC is clearing away the clutter to make room for brand new projects.

Plus I've learned pretty quickly that Doll Chateau heads (even relatively rare ones) are reasonably easy to find secondhand. I found Irma, the sculpt I thought I would NEVER find secondhand in my life, on ebay mere months after starting my quest to find her. And a couple months after that I found Lydia, another relatively rare head.

I much prefer when they have widely announced discontinuation "events" like this though. When they discontinued Jodie and Hilary it was impossible to tell they were discontinued until a month after I'd ordered and that was super disappointing. I sort of understand that molds can wear out and things can go wrong in this industry, so I've come to expect that discontinuation could happen at any time.

In any case, it's not a matter of scrambling to buy now or never getting the doll ever. The secondhand market is my friend, and it should also be yours!

 

I do find it a little stressful when it's a company that I was looking at buying dolls from - especially when it was a doll I wasn't planning on getting for a little while. It is sad, but I do understand it and am never mad at the companies themselves for doing it, especially if they give you at least a couple of months (aka a couple pay-cheques) notice, I really appreciate that.

I'm just now entering my third year in the hobby so I'm still experiencing new things - the Souldoll discontinuation last year was the first time something like this affected me so it had caught me completely off guard. It was hard to scramble the funds together unexpectedly like that and I was super grateful for the 6 month layaway that they offered (which I only just finished paying off).
I had 4 Doll Chateau dolls I was thinking of getting, 3 of which are being discontinued - So now I'm faced with having to decide if I want to make the plunge and order all 3 or pick who I really really want. Looks like the next couple of weeks is going to be dedicated to making that decision for me.

In conclusion, it's stressful but I've learnt that these things happen and we must try to be prepared for such things the best we can. I really wish they did a few at a time instead or gave 6 months to a years notice though - especially for the people in the hobby who have less money, or those that have specific doll plans that mean a lot to them or who are newer and won't be expecting this kind of thing to happen.

Edit:
I've learnt now that - although still stressful - these things give me the kick to make decisions about dolls I wasn't sure about and finally order dolls I've just been leaving and leaving.

 

It's definitely a bit of a surprise, and I feel for the people scrambling to budget planned/dream dolls from DC, as they're on the mid-to-upper range of BJD pricing. I think the 40-something dolls going all at once isn't a good move, though. :/ Unless they've got like 40 new BJDs to toss out for sale all at once?
On one hand, it could be that the molds are all too old and not worth repairing. That's what happened with the OG minifee heads. Only a few got remade aka the "popular" ones. So perhaps these dolls were seeing a decline in sales and DC deemed them not worth the upkeep, as some, like Alberta and Amos, are some of their earliest dolls. On the other hand, it's a very jarring and sudden decision, with no real warning. I wish they made it more of a "this is the last year to buy these dolls" and not take any orders after the end of 2019 (or even after June 2019 since they're a 6-month-wait company).

 

Personal level - totally sucks. Professional level - totally understandable. Still, I'd much rather have a company making tough, but necessary, financial decisions, than see them close because they were trying to make everyone happy forever.

 

It's just a thing that happens. DC gave us until March to buy anything they're discontinuing, which is a good amount of time for you to think about any of the sculpts you might want.

This thing happens quite a bit in the doll hobby (I should know, most of my dolls were from discontinuing sales).

The discontinued sculpts are pretty old as well and that might be a reason for the retirement.

P.S. in my experience, being notified that sculpts were being discontinued has been sudden and with no warning. Do companies usually hint that this is something they're going to do before the fact?

 

For me personally? yeah it is a bit of a bummer. I really have to budget for dolls, and I havent been able to buy a new one in quite a few years. So while it is a shame to see these dolls get discontinued, I've had to let a LOT of limited releases pass me by so it isn't too different for me in that sense. Plus, there is always the chance of the secondhand market. And I also totally understand the reasons for doing so. Like others have said before in this instance it is because the sculptor left and while we don't exactly know if the discontinuation is just like out of respect/a nice thing to do or something more like legal but there is also the matter of molds deteriorating/breaking from frequent use (sometimes sudden discontinuations can happen because of this), sculpts not selling well and needing to get rid of the materials for space/put the materials to better use elsewhere...
You know what they say: nothing lasts forever!

 

When CP and Luts had their split and the members of CP formed Fairyland, Luts discontinued and stopped selling the sculpts that were done by those artists. I believe it's a little bit about lisencing and respect.

If it's true that a DC sculptor left and formed a new company (Dream Valley), then I can see the company just wanting to move forward from this point.

 

@Althaia Do we know for a fact that the sculptors who made the 42 to-be-discontinued dolls were the sculptors who left to form Dream Valley?

 

I saw someone mention Dream Valley at the beginning of the forum. Personally I'm not sure (hence my wording "if it's true...") but DV does have a similar aesthetic as older DC sculpts (which all of the retiring sculpts seem to have similar aesthetics) and DC's aesthetic looks like it has shifted in the last few sculpts they've released, so it makes sense to me that it all might be related.

But I only have speculations at this point in time.

 

@Althaia I do remember reading somewhere that Dream Valley was formed by former DZ/DC artists, so I just wasn't sure if perhaps the artists asked DC to discontinue the specific dolls they sculpted. That would make sense, similar to the Luts-Cerberus Project split when Luts stopped selling the OG Delf line.

 

Yeah, sculptors from Dc (and maybe DZ) left them to create Dream Valley. Maybe in the dream valley thread there are some infos.

 

While it does suck that sculpts that people know DC for are retiring, I look forward to their new projects.

Yea, it sucks, but I'm thrilled that I was given an opportunity to purchase the sculpt that made me think twice about DC as a company.

 

I was a little surprised to see the huge discontinuation, but it makes sense.

If they're letting go of the sculpts that were created by the owner of Dream Valley, that would make a lot of sense, and I find it very respectable. Even if it's entirely unrelated, I've been retail management, and sometimes you get to a point where you can't just keep adding new stuff without getting rid of some old stuff. It becomes overwhelming, and all of your customers can suffer. Doll Chateau already has one of the longest wait times I've seen in the hobby (other than Dollshe...), so I could definitely see letting go of some sculpts helping with that, as well as giving their sculptors more time to work on new ideas. From a business perspective, it makes perfect sense to me.

Emotionally, it's a little sad because I've loved Snow Nymph, Stacy, Dolores, and Sexta for a long time, but never bought them. It's kind of a "now or never" moment, and it's looking like that moment is going to be "never" for me. I can't possibly come up with that kind of money in time without selling off a bunch of my other dolls or running into some amazing luck, and my own income fluctuates so much, I can't guarantee I could come up with layaway payments on time, either. I don't have characters for these dolls anyway, so it's not totally devastating to me, but I can definitely see how heartbreaking it could be to someone in my situation who did have their heart set on one of these sculpts. It is just a doll, it's not a necessity, companies have to do this sometimes, there will be other dolls, but that doesn't make it hurt any less when a discontinued sculpt is The One.

 

@CloakedSchemer maybe you can talk to BJDivas, they have extended their layaway program for the DC discontinuation. It might be a bit more possible to get 1 (or even 2) of the dolls through them.

There's also the secondary market.

 

I'll probably just wait and see if anything pops up on the secondhand market at a time when I can pay in full. BJDivas do have a very generous layaway policy, but I get too worried that something will come up and I just won't be able to pay it off at all.

 

Man, I remember when Doll Chateau was a new company and I was looking at their sculpts like "whoa, this is different!" but i always loved seeing the awesome customizations that resulted from such different dolls~

I've always loved Alberta but never got her because I was nervous about handling centaur dolls...I'm rather bummed to see her go...

I agree with the general consensus that we don't know the full story of the discontinuation, but my heart still goes out to all my fellow hobbyists who don't have a lot of spare cash for plans ;

Discontinuation events like this are pretty stressful, I'm thankful they put out a notice ahead of time though! I hope everyone can get who they want! Maybe this is when people make group orders so more people can finally get those dream dolls? ;v;

Also, I've already fallen in love with Dream Valley's style, since it did remind me of those early DC days
My hope is that the discontinuation brings some space for new ideas to flow into DC!

 

I felt better about the losses when I looked at all the many beautiful sculpts that are staying.

And I also have really liked the new dolls that have come out this past year, I even ordered one, Noah.

 

I am scared of discontinuations. I have many dolls i want and since money is super tight, ill only he able to get one a year, if im lucky, and even then its only if my tax return is big enough. If there were any discontinuations on my list...id have to pray i could find one secondhand. And then id hesitate cuz my experience with secondhand has been...spotty. i just gotta hope for the best.