Soom Idealian 75cm Discussion Part 10

Honestly, poseability just isn't one of Soom's strengths and it never has been. Of the bodies that have been updated, the new version is usually an improvement but it's still bad compared to other companies like Luts. Resin and casting quality is also not one of Soom's strengths. I've always thought it was hilarious that they got as popular as they have, because of all the dolls I've owned, Soom dolls are some of the worst quality TBH sometimes Soom's own dolls look like recasts lmao. And it's not even like this has gone downhill- I ordered my first Soom doll in 2010 and the quality was bad.

Well, I don't wanna just dump on Soom. Most companies have their pros and cons. Soom's sculpting is beautiful and their concepts and designs are lovely! They've had unique ideas that set lasting trends in this hobby. It was basically luck, but I'm happy for them that ID75s are so successful. And if people are snapping them up like crazy, there's no reason why Soom would change their ways, because their strategies are clearly working. If fans want Soom to do better, they have to complain AND stop buying.

 

Most people don't like the ID75 body (they often refer to it as 'paralysed' lmfao) including the Chinese buyers snapping them up, but there's no way to get a head without also lugging the body along with it. The bodies are basically worthless in Asia with prices pretty much averaging at $330USD in China down to less than $200USD in Korea. But Soom would rather eat shit than sell the head alone. The only part of Soom's dolls worth anything is the head really, aside from very old models who had designs also on the body (which contrarily are worth a shitton these days).

I dont have a problem with the ID75 body, it's still my favourite body to date and I will die on this rock, but I also restring and wire every single one of them as soon as it comes home. They do well after the hazing process though and I've become very accustomed to handling them so I don't see it as a problem personally. Rather it's become the opposite for me these days where a body doesn't act like an ID75 and it annoys me (lol).

But @overlordu is right, Soom has never really cared much for posing, and the majority of their success has always come from their designs and styles rather than the former. It's undeniable that they have a very specific and recognisable style you pretty much can't find from other companies, and they've basically pioneered their way through everything on this alone. And you gotta hand it to them for that.

 

Thats super interesting to know @Setsura I remember that there was a big debate in the western community when Dia (or Sard) were released again and the sculpt looked... wonky. The cheecks were slimmer and the eyes looked a tad different.
heard about mold deteriorating over time, but I thought that Soom, the ultimate "we rerelease everything"-company, would take proper care of their molds...

@overlordu - Soom doesn't even do the casts themself :/ I remember stumbling over a chinese casting company on alibaba (that I'm 90% sure off doesn't do recasts, because everything they offered in their shop were casting services for big companies) which had pictures of piles of Phonolus heads in a bucket, lol.

(Now I'm a bit mad at myself that I sold the first release Dhampir Hyperon head last year... )

 

May I ask what wire you use for wiring your Idealians? I've been thinking about wiring my idealians since I usually struggle with posing them ^^;

 

You can just use coated aluminium plant wire. Theoretically you can make it as thick as the channels can take, but it's easier to install inside if it's thinner of course.

 

@Setsura does the resin consistency (or lack their of lol) also play a role in the price being so low? Or is it strictly posing? I imagine it would since it’s even if you didn’t mind the bodies it would be hard to resin match between batches when the color is off lol. Especially when they can easily send in headcaps to other companies for resin matching.

But now makes sense why the price for heads and bodies are flipped on their second hand market. $600+ for a head makes a lot more sense now if they are also compensating for the body being worth so little lol.

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I had been waiting for Soom do an another D Hyperion re-release but since Mori 9 released Lyra that is scratching that itch for me. I would still love a rerelease to get the outfit!

The new red Garion release looks lovely! I’m really liking the outfit too but I’m a bit surprised it’s over $400 more expensive then the Violet Garion fullset and the makeup and the clothes looked a lot more detailed for that release

 

Not really, it's just because there are other body options that are cheaper or ones that people prefer more, and there's an overabundance of bodies in comparison to the demand for the head. The head is worth about 2/3 or more the cost of the entire doll, the body is just like some nonsense you have to buy to also get the head. There's also a lot of people who only keep like 1-2 bodies and have like 20 different heads they just swap. It may be 'cheap' and considered 'paralysed', but because it's easy to find clothes for and super abundant, and being the most 'standard' 75 body you can buy, it's still a very popular choice. A lot of people find it too hard to sell as well so they often just keep it. If anyone's selling clothes and there's only one size, it's always going to be ID75.

With regards to matching, DFA jointed hands are extremely popular as matches for SOOM ID75s, people will often send in a recent batch and you can join group orders to get hands that match the specifc recent doll. As far as other kinds of matching go, the standard is usually SOOM 20 NS (yellow toned) and SOOM 21 Tawny (red toned) which you will find as the regular soom match for all big companies such as DFH, DFA, DikaDoll, 2D Doll, TD etc. 2020 NS and 2021 Tawny are considered the 'standard' soom colours, although bigger matching companies like DFH you can ask for more specific releases such as the latest Tawny Narmer or the latest bronze river etc. These days, the trends seem to be Voks/Soom for NS, Switch/Volks for WS and Soom 21 Tawny for tan options when you buy from independent artists selling heads only.

The new Red Garion looks gorgeous, but I'm disappointed to see they went back to the first come first serve shit again. It's just going to be a bloodbath of servers going down cause their site can't handle shit and sold out before you can even refresh the page lmfao. And the price tag seems really high, to be honest. As you said @RebelViva, the costume this round is not nearly as elaborate, and while the makeup is also nice, it's also not as elaborate as other LEs have been either. It feels like they're purposely capitalising on the popularity of red garion lol. I can stomach the LEs in the 2XXX price range, but when I see the 3XXX, you gotta really bring it home with SOMETHING to make me not feel crazy lmfao.

 

Wow, I'm gonna be in the market for an ID75 body soon, I wonder if I should figure out how to buy from somebody in China??? Sounds like they're dying to get rid of them!

 

Thank you!

 

@Setsura Thank you again for the info!! That was especially insightful for matching artist heads cause they will say Soom match but I havent seen anyone say what year yet until Mori9 recently lol.

Lol yeah I almost feel like the Hyperion fullset was worth more than the Red Garion just out of value of the detailed faceup, eyes and skull head. Definitely feels like they are capitalizing on its popularity.

@overlordu if you have a taobao account you can make a xianyu acct and buy through superbuy but I know most have trouble keeping them open. However I know Christina from New Clover will search for you on there if you dont have an account of your own. Her service fee for xianyu/taobao is pretty hefty though at around 30%. Bhiner will also do searches for you too for like a 15% fee but you have to bank transfer them money for xianyu purchases, and that was a hassle for me not really worth it, although they are faster to respond/process than Christina.

 

@RebelViva When companies refer to SOOM NS or SOOM Tawny, you can pretty much always assume that the NS is on the yellow toned side and the Tawny is on the red toned side. I've yet to find it to be otherwise so far. There are older batches of tawny which are still red in comparison to other companies dolls (SOOM has always erred on the redder side) but VERY yellow compared to newer tawny. These older tawnies will absolutely not match artist head tawnies or new tawny at all. New tawny is almost comparable to bronze in some cases, and new bronze gets colloquially called a 'sausage' for being extra red lmfao.

@overlordu The base price might be good, but remember you also need to factor in any proxy costs and the intl shipping cost as well. Keep in mind most people in China will NOT unstring the body or be willing to accomodate for this request. So you will need to pay the cost of the box and the full strung body in a lot of cases, which may end up being better to just buy it locally for yourself if you're in the US.

As a general rule of thumb, I also don't recommend buying off XianYu if you don't know what you're doing and don't recognise the terms or cultural sales rules there. There's a lot of recasts and conditions to a lot of sales, and if you don't understand what you're doing it's easy to offend someone or pick a listing which you may not realise may be a bunch of terms. It's a 2nd hand market, so like all second hand market purchases, you're liable to losing out completely if the other party is a scammer. Please remember to stay educated and purchase with discretion.

 

Armature Wire (I think around 1/8-Inch?) is also pretty nice for wiring Idealians!

I really have liked buying off Xianyu, but it is a secondhand market, so make sure you're getting pictures and CoA-- do the same due diligence you do in english speaking markets. I found that both Superbuy and Spreenow will communicate questions and get pictures before buying-- and they're less likely to offend, since they speak the language and know the culture! They also have caught conditions I didn't realize when using google translate (also don't forget the app can take pictures and translate from pictures! If there's anything written on the pictures, this is such a lifesaver).

But other than that, I've LOVED using Xianyu. They have a much bigger secondhand market, with the popularity of ID75, and that extends to outfits, sculpts, accessories, everything. Additionally, it seems like so many sculpts come with such pretty faceups. There's definitely a lot of cool upsides to Xianyu.

 

Yeah I’ve only had positive experiences from Xianyu too. I’ve even done transfer orders and custom wig orders. 1+ for screenshots and the use Google translate as well! It comes in clutch! I would never chat anyone directly. If I have a question I will just get my agent to ask/clarify.

I know Superbuy has an entire custom packing process to ship international so if you wanted them to trash the doll box and repack it unstrung or folded they would do that for you. I've never done it but I would just be VERY specific on what exactly you want them to do and how you would want it to be packed, as they primarily don’t deal with dolls so they wouldn’t know if you expected every piece to be individually bubble wrapped, etc, etc. Side note, even purchasing I would be VERY specific in your request you understand what you are getting. When I ordered LLT gloved hands from Xianyu my agent was like "Is this what you wanted?" once the item arrived LOL. I am sure it was odd to them just to see expensive doll hands being delivered.

I’ve gotten full dolls shipped before and it’s really not more expensive than it would be to get a new doll from a company shipped. They actually give you a ton more options when it comes to shipping companies so it could be cheaper if you didn’t mind waiting a bit longer with ChinaPost or Superbuy saver, etc.

I'm curious what are the sales conditions people find? I haven’t encountered any sales conditions on Xianyu other than people bundling in other items when selling a popular item or wanting to trade instead of straight out selling. Or sometimes a listing will be more of an advertisement for a sale that will take place on Taobao or Weidian.

Honestly I don’t even ask for pictures. You can see how many transactions people have had and their rating and see what else they have listed/sold. Xianyu is tied to social credit so you are less likely to get scammers if people have good reviews/history as it just wouldn’t be worth it to them to tank their credit/reputation suddenly. I've made a lot of purchases and everything I’ve gotten has been legit and came with COA. But there are still scams or recasts to watch out for.

Also +1 for faceups, I see the most gorg work on there, not a sharpie faceup in sight lol.

 

Of course there are many good experiences, I personally buy there and talk to sellers frequently. However, the reason I advise discretion is due to various incidents which have caused even the Chinese to suspect their own market in some cases, and seller rating is not always a direct reflection that a seller is good. I advise caution because I don't want anyone to go diving in (because it does look amazing from the variety) unaware of consequences.

There's a famous scam incident on XianYu that pretty much all Chinese ID75 players know of. As @RebelViva has mentioned before, transfer orders are common. What this is is basically when someone buys a doll, they might for example buy an ID75 with both heads, and then transfer the 2nd head to someone else at a cost slightly higher than RRP. This benefits both players in that the 2nd person gets only a head they want without the burden of the entire body (as I explained earlier why they don't want it) at a slightly increased price and the other person cuts a slightly better deal for taking the body. Basically what happened was back in the day when IDs only came with 1 certificate for the entire thing, a famous and well known player with a good reputation decided to take advantage of this. It was common that during this kind of transfer order that the person taking the whole doll would get the real certificate, and the person cutting the deal for the head only took a photocopy of the certificate. This famous player decided that because their reputation was good, they wouldn't be suspected of a fraudulent transaction. Which they weren't at first. They swapped the heads of those who bought only the head part of the order with recasts and sent it with the photocopy certificate. This happened for quite a while until eventually they were found out, and so they were blasted off the face of earth and basically witch hunted by players (for obvious reasons). Due to this, even nowadays, some players refuse to buy ID75s from their own market out of this fear. The tl;dr is, mostly you are safe, but don't even think about buying anything without a real certificate there (and even then there have been cases where a real certificate was given but the doll was swapped with a recast). As @overlordu mentioned earlier, sometimes the quality of SOOMs genuine sculpts are so friggin bad that it looks like a recast. And being some of the most recasted dolls, even the Chinese admit difficultly sometimes in telling real and fakes apart. So I advise caution for this reason.

Recently, my close korean friend initiated a trade for an LE5 doll. She had an LE5 Lim which she wanted to trade for the LE5 purple Zak. One of my Chinese friends wanted this doll and decided to pay the Scalpers price for an LE5 Zak on XianYu, which is 35,000RMB. After completing the transaction with this player, who has an immense amount of feedback and sales, she took over 1 month to send the doll, and after sending the doll, she only then advised my Chinese friend that the jointed hands were 'missing' and she wouldn't take responsibility for it as the Zak she bought was 'new in box and unopened' (therefore it's not her fault). She also overcharged my friend 4x for the delivery. After my friend received the Zak safely, she argued with this seller over the price of shipping and the jointed hands, and after hours with this person, who on the outside by only looking at their profile seems like an extremely reputable seller, admitted to stealing the jointed hands for herself and that the Zak was not new in box (because my friend could see it was repacked not in a way soom would pack it on receival). We managed to get the hands back which were completely in pieces and not new at all (but undamaged). Ratings can only go so far sometimes, and this seller has always been known in the community to be shady, but my friend wanted the Zak bad enough to trade for the Lim that she risked it despite social media warnings about this seller.

Of course, most sellers will be honest and you won't have direct issues in most cases. But please be advised that sometimes things like CoAs and good seller ratings aren't enough. As I mentioned previously, even some Chinese are too scared to buy from their own market, hence the begging of Idealian to re-release and crazy buying on release drop.

You won't have an issue on XianYu mostly, but please note the aforementioned in the back of your head and as always, buy from 2nd hand markets with discretion.

 

You've spoken him into existence!! Brown tan and normal skin!

 

Is this real life?

I finally got Garion in anything but white, and I managed to snag the brown artist set. I'm so happy I could cry!!

 

Man Soom, I literally just bought a cream white human Garion off the market and they go and release a Brown Tan human one (my dream colour) *facepalms*

I guess my house is going from 0 garions -> 2 garions, and over 20 ID75 heads now... goddamit soom.

 

HE HAS BEEN SUMMONED ha! I love it. I wonder if fewer people will pick him up after the Hyperon Reaper release

 

I'm so excited. I've been waiting for Garion for so long and thought I would have to wait longer because of the limited red one. Got both heads the moment I saw the release.

 

Congrats to everyone that has been waiting for Garion! I would have liked to get him but unfortunately I won't be able to after the Hyperon release!

Two back to back brown tan releases