Star Spangled Dolls

I'm agreeing with feather. I actually feel very alienated, but to be honest I really don't like the sculpts anyway (so it's no loss :P ). It's all very tacky and personally I wouldn't like it if someone slapped the Union Jack on random dolls just to make some money. It's so degrading.

 

What does the LLC stand for? Can't go jumping to conclusions... it may be an abbreviation for something else.

According to Google definitions, it means:

Limited Liability Company - This type of business organization protects the owners from being personally liable in the event that their company gets sued.

and

They usually are treated like a partnership or like a sole-proprietor.

So uhm... yeah.

Limited Edition Dolls - LLC is the partnership company in America.

Who are they partnered with in China?

An AoD artist does their faceups, but they don't make the dolls I'm guessing...
Though there is some similarity in the sculpts to AoD, maybe?

 

The use of the American flag as a stupid marketing ploy offends me.

chizzie_shark, LLC only stands for Limited Liability Corporation.

 

LLC simply means "Limited Liability Company". It's a recent version of "Inc.", (incorporated) that has been tacked on to the end of certain companies due to legal/tax stuffs I really don't understand. ^^;. It in no way means they are actually related.
That said, I think it was a pretty bad business decision to add that to the end of their company name considering the only other doll company that has that on their name is Laura's DreamDoll. -__- Even if they are in no way connected to LDD, everyone who has heard of them and hears this name will make an instant connection, regardless of facts.

XD Oops, krambear was quicker.

 

Not that I'm defending either company, but LLC is simply a shortened way of saying Limited Liability Company, which is, according to this website, "A type of company, authorized only in certain states, whose owners and managers receive the limited liability and (usually) tax benefits of an S Corporation without having to conform to the S corporation restrictions." So basically, lots and lots of small businesses are classified as LLC.


EDIT: We all posted at the same time.

 

Ooops, my bad, sorry! I'm not very knowledgeable about any form of commerce topic, gives me the shudders

But the rest of it's still pretty suss to me.

 

Hmm, I'm not American so I can't claim to understand the reverence a lot of people have towards the star spangled banner... but the fact that it comes off as pretty tacky to me as someone who has no emotional attachment to the flag, I wonder just where this company did its market research. I'm pretty sure it's going to offend people who care about their flag, and annoy people who don't want to be grouped with those who do.
A bad decision, I think.

 

I am American...and I can't claim to understand it either.

I have to say that the marketing put me off the dolls from the start before I even looked at them, and when I did look there was nothing there that over-rode that first impression.

 

Though I'm only 1/4 American, and I've never lived outside the UK so that 1/4 means nothing, I really agree with you.
I'm afraid this kind of marketing will perpetuate negative stereotypes.

I feel like the company is suggesting that there is something negative about owning a Korean or Japanese doll. Though Chinese-made is ok if it's not available for Chinese people to buy? That seems to be the emphasis.

Aaron's reluctance to say who the 'partner' is brings suspicions to my mind also.

 

Like the majority who already posted here, I was turned-off by the title of the company. 'Star Spangled Dolls'? I was nervous to click, and I shouldn't've. The marketing makes me feel a little bit ashamed to be American, although I'm sure that wasn't the marketer's intention (perhaps they're just very ... proud? o-0 ~song starts playing in background~ EEEEK NO!).

The sculpt of the dolls, too, I find to be bland and unattractive.

 

I dunno. I don't seem much difference between this and many other patriotic "Yay America!" things (that are also made in China).

Personally, I just don't like the little flag on the back idea.

And quite frankly, there is quite a large amount of people right now fascinated with all things Asian. They would probably do better marketing this as a very tradition, very Chinese sculpt.

 

You would think these dolls and this company would be banned and marked as "off topic", as they don't fall under the Asian Ball-Jointed Doll aesthetic.

Maybe that's just wishful hoping on my part.

 

Might be kinda snarky to say...but aren't the dolls kinda overpriced, considering they were made in China? And when I saw the first post on this, I was assuming from the title of "Star Spangled Dolls" that the dolls were being made in the USA. It's a misleading marketing strategy, to say the least.

 

There isn't any. It's all equally tacky and distasteful.

 

Quoted from other thread.

So in essence, they aren't even limited to American customers. I would consider nothing about these dolls "American" be it in manufacture, sculpt, applied aesthetics or sale. I also find the use of the flag and "ZOMG AMERICA YAY" solely for marketing purposes tacky and that alone would turn me off from purchasing.

It makes me embarrassed to be American.

 

I'm not impressed, by either their marketing tactics or their sculpts. The aesthetic doesn't look Asian to me, and like several others, they don't inspire any patriotism in me when there's nothing American about them besides where the distributor is.

 

I'm a Canadian, so the whole, buy from us, we're American thing doesn't fly with me. (doesn't bother me, just doesn't do anything to warrant me buying it) but I think that these dolls are actually fairly unattractive, some of them especially so, the heads seem too big for the bodies, and over all, they seem incredibly expensive for an ... -Americanized- version of the AoD dolls, (some of which I really like actually)

 

Glad I'm not the only one who thought this. Especially considering that AoD is producing them--the USA company is charging a few hundred more than AoD. All-American capitalism, maybe? I kid, I kid, but still, I'm not too fond of these. Seems like the sculptor and designer need to reread their books on what an attractive face looks like. The eyes are too close together and way too big, honestly, from the photographs, I don't think that these can be salvaged into anything really nice. At least the girl body is pretty cute looking.

 

Hi Everyone –

I’d like to respond to your messages here on DOA. First off I’m American, and I own this small business along with my partner here in Las Vegas. We came up with the name since we wanted to have a name we liked that represent our line and the work we put into them and our new small business! The name was chosen for that fact that we helped design the dolls and boxes! Most dolls are made in other countries anyway! We are not trying to desecrate the American Flag and we called it that and use the American flag since we are the only ones selling this line and we are from the USA! Not that we will not sell them to people outside the USA since that was not our intentions too. We just wanted something to call our own and represent us the people who are selling and helped make the decisions on how this doll would be marketed by us! Our website is a temporary website to allow us to show people what just came in, since we are working on a site that is larger with more information and details. We were excited to show off this line since we had lots of interest from Yahoo groups!

I’ve been collecting dolls for years and always had a dream to have my own line. These are BJD’s and yes all the dolls you buy from overseas are BJD’s as well! I feel a BJD is a BJD no matter who the company owner is or where they are made by! I think most people are silly, the way they are responding and I find it a little disheartening! These dolls are just like the dolls you buy from other places overseas and I felt we really took time to make sure we changed things that most people complained about BJD’s so I wanted to fix those issues and bring a doll without those same issues. (Magnetic Head caps, Smoother joints, a little more slender body, Joints that just don’t go all over the place, or flop and also dolls that don’t automatically go into the sitting position when you pick them up, or even kick their legs up!) Plus our dolls stand up right out of the box, and even in the extra High Heel feet that come with them.)

I take great pride in the USA and also the work that my partner and I have done with these dolls and feel they are in the same price range as most BJD’s in there size. I feel they have done great work at the factory, and I feel they made some really neat sculpts! And the work they have done took a long time and I feel they did a great job and stand behind them! I can’t believe that someone mentioned that we copied these dolls since you can only make so many Asian looking sculpts for dolls before maybe they have similarities of other dolls on the market but with as many companies making dolls that is bound to happen. Plus our sculptor is from China so they all have that same idea for faces and he has worked on Dolls for several years!

One of the reasons we called our company Limited Editions Dolls – LLC because we wanted to have limited edition dolls and have our lines for shorter periods, and make new head sculpts more often and would retire heads as we go. It’s always nice to have new heads and we can only grow as a company by improving on our doll line as time goes by with each release!

 

I don't think that any of the concerns that people are bringing up - especially when they are the same concerns - should be dismissed as "silly." I am unsure how we are to take this as anything but, well, insulting.

Then they should not be marketed as American dolls.

I understand that you are proud of where you live, I am as well. It is this same pride that makes me leery of the marketing being done for these dolls. The flag to me is more than just a thing to use a marketing ploy - I try to buy things made in America when I can vs things made overseas, to support American businesses, and I feel, like many others, that the way these dolls were being presented made them seem to be American BJDs. Which, as you have admitted, they are not.

It is troubling to me that the flag of my country, which is a very important symbol of my country, is being "slapped on" to a product that has nothing to do with the USA just because of a picked out name.