Sacramento KCRA Channel 3 ABJD Story [ON AIR NOV.15th]

oh! its okay xD i can find it thanks!

 

I finally saw the actual segment last night. I too thought it was reasonably nice and well done, certainly a big improvement over both the promo and the rude written piece on the website. It was nice to see Julia in person

The one thing that disturbed me about it was the way they kept harping on this being an "obsession". I know people in the segment talked and joked about being "obsessed" but I wondered if the news segment would make such a big deal out of "obsession" if they were covering something that's conventional for people (or men) to collect, such as comic books, baseball cards or sports memorabilia. No one seems to find that odd, yet because these are dolls and they look lifelike, there's a small undertone of "this is weird". I also felt they could have gotten more at the idea of the dolls being art (which would tend to explain their prices) rather than like some sort of overpriced Barbie. I think the news media has got a long way to go towards understanding this hobby, and if it's ever presented properly it will probably be due to people like Catrina (Dollyholic) who have ties to the business and media community as well as to the hobby.

But overall, it could have been much worse, so I would give it a B+.

 

I watched this again, the clean version...seriously, they were a) uninformed (saying "LOL VOLKS LOL" while showing dolls from all companies), and b) seriously, the freaky music with the fast shots of doll faces- particularly when they make the one doll's head sort of shake around- paints it like some kind of cult behavior. It looked like crappy wannabe journalism- more sensationalist than anything else.

I'm really disappointed in KCRA's portrayal of doll owners even more now that I could properly hear everything. Just...there were bits that I'd missed in the first video to go up, and I'm now even more "wtf" at this whole thing.

 

(Speaking strictly on the segment as I've not see the promo-from-hell...)

Ok, if I was watching this as an outsider I wouldn't really think it was too strange. I think within our hobby there's a bit of a tendency to become hypersensitive since it is one that can be easily misunderstood, but as far as news productions about "uncommon, surprising, foreign culture!" hobbies, events, etc, I always take them with a grain of salt anyways. The method they used to present this and general err... "aura"... isn't anything new. Newscasters always talk and intonate with edgy words like that. While some people may not appreciate the way they were represented (which is perfectly understandable), I think to the average viewer it will not make much of a difference.

The beginning repetition of "obsession" did come off just a little hard to swallow for me, but I think it's probably my inner bjd fan protesting. Once again attempting to look at this from the perspective of an outsider, starting with this is an effective tool to draw view attention and one way to describe the amount of affection we bjd lovers have for our dolls. That word is used a lot in other stuff like people who are beanie baby or action figure or celebrity obsessed, so... I guess it's not that bad. It's such a common word that can be used in any hobby that I think the slightly negative connotation has been lessened over time. Basically, I think a lot of the pros and cons they presented can be applied to a myriad of different hobbies and anyone who has any sort of hobby should realize this, so I feel no particular need to become offended over this.

Aside from asking Volks for numbers, I didn't find them talking about the price that out of line and in my heart I really don't believe it was done to be like, "Omg look at how much these weirdos spend on resin LOLZ". I think it was a really relevant piece of information, especially for those who may be interested in becoming a part of the hobby. These dolls aren't cheap - true story. Bottom line is money makes the world go round. Most things we do depend on money in one way or another, so it's hard to talk about something (especially luxury items) in a report without talking about it. I'm sure most anyone who has ever written a paper for school about bjd or a website has had some mention of price. Prices are discussed in news stories and papers all the time. While it is certainly up to the discretion of each individual collector as to whether or not he or she would like to discuss the price with others, in an ... "objective"... news story, I feel it's important.

Basically, I'm glad attention is being brought to our hobby stateside, even if the presentation is a bit awkward... I don't think outsiders can truly represent it anyways without investing more effort than that which is common of such news segments. And, you have to give them kudos for making the distinction that this hobby isn't Barbie (No offense to any Barbie fans intended! Just an objective statement, and many collectors themselves like to make the distinction). I'm not sure who the guys in the segment were, but I'm also glad they were included. This is a hobby for all genders and ages (ok... well maybe not small children ^^;;...).

I would have to agree though that it kind of annoyed me that they were showing non-volks dolls while talking about volks. It's not like I expect them to list every company, I just think it's ... inaccurate. I don't think it'll do any damage or anything as those that are interested enough will figure out the difference for themselves soon enough anyways, but yeah. I also wish the posing and photograph and customization parts would've been just a little bit more detailed (ie, they can be painted and re-painted again, sanded, modified, etc). The only other thing I found irksome wasn't the fault of the news at all so I won't mention it.

My comments on the music would be completely subjective and irrelevant as I happen to like "creepy" music XDDDD so I won't go into that~! Also~ it made me squee a little inside to see a Kurumi on ^0^ so cute. All the dolls in the segment were really well dressed and had cute face-ups so~ my compliments to all owners of featured dollies ^^!!!

Just my thoughts. No intentions of either defending or attacking the segment at all.

TL;DR = Overall impression: Not too bad...

 

I showed the segment to one of my non-doll friends, and she said "Wow! Those dolls really are amazing! And so pretty! *starry eyes*"
(She has seen only some pics of my resin kids and knows a bit about the hobby, but she hasn't seen a BJD in real life or people interacting with them)

So... I'm sure it was a positive way to talk about the hobby. If you don't count the way the woman yanked the poor dollie's wig at the beginning, the comments about their cost and wondering how much Volks makes, showing CP dolls while mentioning Volks, and the lame jokes at the end...

But all in all, I liked it. I was almost expecting it to be something like the nightmarish promo X_x

 

You guys looked adorable! I love the end about you Neon. Too cute

 

I enjoyed watching that, I mean yeah sure there were parts that just had my inner bjd fan crying out about the innacuracies ('That is a Delf Shiwoo not Volks!' lol). But all in all it seemed like a father friendly approach to the whole idea of bjds. I mean I can see what they were trying to do.

I just found it funny that the lady was like "well you know if you thought those were expensive, Volks releases limited edition dolls and they are like $1000" and in my head I was going 'pfft $1000 thats nothing!' lol. Its amusing how this hobby makes you see the prices of those kinds of things in a whole different light.

 

Sadly, the kind of "reporting" KCRA exhibits with this little "personal" piece is becoming typical for them.

I gave up trusting anything they have to say years ago over a missing child that they lied over just to get ratings.

I've seen KCRA since 1960's and, whereas they did a good job with the major flooding stories and the Loma Prieta, heaven help them on anything else they've done over the years.

This is just more of their brand of "journalism" ... I believe in history class they called it yellow journalism. The idea was to make everyone look like freaks for the Halloween holiday; they simply didn't air it then.

One word summary from long time Sacramento area resident: pathetic.

 

i saw it and i didnt think it was that bad. i thought the music went well with it actually. there were some mistakes, like showing the mini fee shiwoo abd talking about volks at the same time lol but i did think it was cool. its awesome that bjds are getting recognition around here~! i would have loved to have been there^^

 

I finally go around to seeing the segment tonight. I must say, it was actually kind of cute. This piece would be very informative to someone outside of the hobby.

 

ohhkay. The actual segment wasn't that bad. Not nearly so sensational as they pumped it in the commercial.

 

The part with Neon made me squu xDD So cute~! !​

 

I thought it was pretty good! (I haven't seen the promo, so I don't have any prior negative feelings). The first bit wasn't that great I don't think - the close ups of them saying they were obsessed, like it was from 60 minutes or something. But it got steadily better They did say that there were multiple doll companies - they just talked about volks because yes, most people do see it as the frontrunner of doll companies. They even said that only volks calls them super dollfies, which is good, because that's a mistake that a lot of people make. Overall I thought it was enjoyable, and I thought the presenter did a really good job at showing them positively, even sounding interested herself!

I also liked her comment that it was similar to people spending thousands on their cars. The money is another thing that usually makes us seem nuts, so it was great to have that comparison in there.

 

i wathced the promo and i am not gonna lie, i got the feeling we were made out to be a little crazy....no offense meant obviously.

~*edit*~

i got to see the actual episode thing and i liked that a lot more then the promo. O_O all those beautiful clothes at VOlks USA.

 

It wasn't so bad. It was nice to see some faces behind the names. Ah, I definitely have to go visit the Volk's store now since it's only fifteen twenty minutes away from my house ^_^

 

Well, after watching this video, I felt that it's short and not really informative.
It seemed that they had rush hour to finish up the project or something.

Not to be mean, but I think this's worse than Japanese News (from youtube)...
Also, I don't really like the way the lady took off the dollfie's wig at the beginning of the show.

 

Actually, Not too bad
Target audience is just general audience so not extremely deep and thought provoking but honestly not bad.

 

I've definately taught alot of people about these dolls, via my model car explanation, rather than walking away, leaving them feeling like something is wrong with us. Granted, some are going to keep that ignorant view, but some won't. Some will actually acknowledge that they were wrong.
I'm sorry, but i choose to educate people with knowledge about something then allow them to make their judgements. Education is not pointless. That's the most ridiculous sentiment i've ever heard. No one's fighting for "normalcy". I simply choose to educate the few people who throw negative remarks, when they will listen. You'd be surprised how often the voice of reason can work. And just for the record, the model car analogy is one that most people can actually understand. When u build a model car, you get the base pieces, you put them together, paint them, and customize them to fit your desired look or image. You collect them, and alot of people even photograph them. When u buy these dolls, you paint them (or have them painted) you sew for them, you create a desired look, or image, and we photograph them. Also, you are saying that cars are based on adult objects...um, i'm sorry, but as a kid, i played with hotwheels religiously. Yah, the object might exist in the adult world, but kids play with them. Dolls are based on people. They look like people. They are styled, for the most part, to look like people. So to me, that point is null and void.

But i will never just say "oh screw it, why even try to explain things to anyone, no one's going to listen". You'd be surprised just how often people do just that.
I've had MANY people think the dolls are alot less creepy after i've explained the hobby, the customization, the building up of a character, etc. Most in fact, end up finding it intriguing. But of course, if you never try, you'll never know.

The only way it's a creepy hobby is if you allow it to be. There is nothing wrong with adults collecting things like this, unless you make it something that should be 'creepy', or "unacceptable'. I will always walk around with pride with my dolls, and gladly talk to people about them when they mention the "creepy" aspect of the hobby. I've had alot of people say that it makes more sense when it's explained the way i do.

And honestly, i don't know about anyone else, but i get alot more "cool" remarks, and "Where do you get those!?" remarks over "Eeew, creepy!!!" remarks. I still get the occasional ignorant remark, but it's alot less than the posotive reactions.

 

The promo was awful. The story was blah. Totally tabloid-ish.

The news channel seemed more interested on how much the dolls cost and what profits the Volks company was pulling in. Even after the reporter was made aware that these dolls are NOT cheap, she yanked that dolls wig off like it was a dirty sock. The doll even looked like it was going to cry.

Honestly, the only part of this story that was well done was the interview of doll owners. Great job you guys!! Hopefully, if another story is done on bjd's, it will be more than just "Blah, blah, blah...expensive. Blah, blah, blah obsession. Blah, blah, blah... How much???"

 

The segment wasn't too bad, but it seemed to have a heavy Volks bias? Did they mention any other company -besides- them?