"You must release perfect doll" (Soom MDs and critics about releases)

With the Soom monthlies, there's such an intense buildup over the month - what's going to be released next? How will they outdo themselves this time? What will the sculpt look like? Will I like it? Will I like the fantasy parts that come with it? People really anticipate the next release, and build themselves up for it. (I do this so badly.

When the release isn't up to their standards, yes, people get a bit snitchy. I do too. The difference is, I look at a doll and go "Oh. Well. Um." And don't comment and wait for next month. Other people might comment about the things they don't like.

What happens is that Soom often releases a string of similar dolls in a row. (September through January last year, my wallet was openly weeping) and if people don't like the current aesthetics of the soomies, then they tend to get annoyed. (I built myself up for a cool doll again and it wasn't what I wanted again.) Then the comments tend to become more snippy than critique.

Also, a lot of people don't look past Soom default face-ups, which tend to be very... sparkly. This does give their male dolls a very feminine look, but on the same token, none of my soomies have default face up, and all of them look very different from the dolls that do.

 

This is the internet, there are millions of people here, a lot of them are repressed in their day to day lives, so getting on the internet as saying something negative to someone else is most likely the highlight of their day. Now we can't go and take away the comments now can we? What will our trolls do then?

Does anyone think of them, huh? Well do you!

They might actually have to leave the internet (making it a much better place for everyone to socialize,) and get a life.

 

I often ignore the comments section, as there is a lot of unnecessary behavior. Companies like Soom, whom have risen in popularity, have high expectations from some people. And occasionally those are the people who complain the loudest. They have the advantage of being anonymous thanks to the internet, and have no qualms in expressing unwanted immaturity.

If the comments were said in a more constructive manner, then fine, but no company is expected to cater to everyone perfectly. Someone will like and buy the sculpt you didn't. If the sculpt isn't calling your wallet, then that's great! Save it for one who will. I think it's wonderful that companies like Iplehouse and Soom are able create stunning dolls at the rate they do. It's natural that they may start to look similar; the sculptor will have their distinct style imprinted on the mold.

Many owners have shown how sculpts originally thought unattractive to be stunning with a new faceup or mod. Dolls can come as blank canvases, and you can do what you like to achieve your perfect doll.

 

Stephen Fry had some wonderful things to say about comment boards, and they seem to apply perfectly to the Soom and Iplehouse comments sections:
"...stinking, sliding, scuttling, weird entymological creatures found on comments boards"
"When you go to a website... don't allow your eyes to drop below the actual content to the comments, because some of the strangest creatures on the ocean floor live there."

I've never quite understood the complaints about what companies produce. One, if you don't like it, that's one more "phew, safe"; two, I don't want a company to produce EXACTLY what I want in terms of a doll sculpt, because I want to make the sculpt my own by myself.

I don't really know why they leave that space for comments. I can't see either of those companies having enough English speakers with free time on their hands in their staff to go through all of those comments. I mean, at least a couple of times when I walked into the Soom store in Tokyo, it was the store clerk updating the Japanese version of the webpage. I have a feeling they don't do a thing with the comments, just let people feel they've had their say. Still, none of that kind of behaviour is excusable. If there really was such a powerful market for "insert personal niche here" there would probably be a company or two taking advantage of it. And chances are they wouldn't discover that great market from a random comment on an unrelated sales posting . . .

 

I think if you can't say anything nice, say something constructive. And if you have nothing constructive to say, take your opinions elsewhere. Comment boxes on company pages aren't suggestion boxes, they're asking for your opinion on what they've produced, not what you think they should have produced

It's no one's job, and certainly not a busybody's job, to 'save' Soom from themselves. If they want to bring out a doll you really dislike, it's not your problem. If they don't sell a single edition of this doll, you don't need to have sleepless nights. Don't like it? You're under no obligation to look at it or to buy it. Rejoice! It's an expensive doll you're not Soomed by, you can save the cash! There are silver linings to every cloud.

Soom (and most companies for that matter) are aware that not every doll they release will be hugely popular. Releasing LE dolls is always a risk, it could be a massive flop and with a company like Soom, people have developed certain expectations of them based on previous releases so when they do something different, people are going to be thrown off a little because it's not what they were expecting. I don't like the entitlist attitude that makes people think that critical commentary without even a hint of constructive feedback is going to be in any way valuable to the company. That should stop.

 

Entitlement + internet anonymity + no repercussions.

I have the feeling that when a company would say "Based on the comments left we have concluded the doll is disliked and to avoid financial hardships for the company we have decided to cancel the sale of this doll." people would tone down their comments or speak up more against entitlement comments.
Right now people can post rude comments without any clear consequences and thus they will continue to do so.

 

Wow, I feel so naive now, I didn't even know this was going on! Xo
I've never read (or written) comments on company websites, but I think it's really rude demanding something.
As has been said, the companies don't "owe" us anything, at the very least we should feel grateful they take the time and effort to come up with something new everytime.

 

Come on Soom what's wrong with you, you can do better! His jaw has to be the squarest thing since squaredom. I mean cartoon Batman square! And that nose it NEEDS to be broader. And what! poofy girly lips AGAIN! I mean seriously Soom how dare you continue to do something you've always done. Now do better, like RIGHT NOW. This instant, seriously, today.

All sarcasm and silliness aside, those comments make me laugh and cringe all at the same time. Manners, they're useful for something.

Now wouldn't that be interesting, a company deciding not to sell a doll because of bad behavior. Granted it would suck for those who are behaving themselves. But sadly I'm not sure if it would change anything. I can see Soom halting production for a few months or whatever and then releasing a new doll and still having people complain about having to wait X amount of months and the doll not being to their liking.

 

To me, comments of that nature are disrespectful. There are better ways to express opinions and thoughts than by bashing, I say. Moreover whether or not a doll is beautiful depends on each individual person. If Soom were to release "manly" dolls I would probably not buy them so it isn't accurate to say, "More people will buy them," because then all people like me who appreciate the more feminine/androgynous molds would not consider purchasing them. There will always be gain and loss -- as a BJD maker. Not everyone will like each doll released. While there are Soom collectors who try and buy all their dolls just because it's Soom -- that's not the majority.

I love Soom, but I wouldn't buy all their dolls just because of brand. And I haven't always liked all their dolls for my personal collection. Take Idealian Branon for example. He was too masculine for me. But my mom really liked him; she doesn't like the other "girly sculpts." But that doesn't mean I am going to bash Branon and say, "Wow. He's too masculine! Make them prettier. If you make them less manly I would buy and so would others!" ~ I find Branon is a beautiful work of art just like I have found many paintings a work of art; it doesn't mean I want them on my wall. But I would NEVER say, "That doll is ugly," because I do not believe there's such a thing as an ugly doll -- we simply have dolls we don't find appealing for our collection. One "ugly" doll can be someone's else's ideal doll. Is that person's perception of beauty wrong merely because it's not similar to mine? No.

These companies do not owe us anything. They don't have to make sculpts we demand. It's like asking a pop singer to make a rap album. You have no right to demand anything from a creative person/entity. You can make suggestions (and nice suggestions go a long way) but it's illogical to assume you can demand and have those demands met just because you've been a consumer in the past.

The last few Idealians haven't been my cup of tea but that doesn't make me want to go "OMG SOOM STOP MAKING UGLY DOLLS THAT I DON'T LIKE." A bunch of other people liked those dolls and bought them. The world doesn't revolve around me and I'm actually happy that Soom is doing varied type of sculpts so that everyone can find one for themselves.

Bottom line: You don't have to buy the dolls. And they don't have to make them to your demands. If you're bent about a certain style... there's always Minimee's :P

 

I have to wonder if the comment box wasn't just a part of the website template. If you break a lot of the sites down (take away the fancy graphics and such) they seem to follow the same basic pattern. Soom, Iplehouse, and Dollmore look to be very similar in layout. It's just that Soom (and Iplehouse to an extent) attract more trolls because they are more popular. Why be an a$$ if no one will read it?

I sometimes find Soom's most ardent fans to be just as annoying as the trolls. At least in the discussion threads. If they love a sculpt it's probably not a good idea to go in there and comment that the doll bears a striking resemblance to an certain character or that it seems like it's been done before (since they seem to use the same couple of sculptors, it probably has ). On the other hand, and it's mostly the hypocrisy that bothers me, they seem to have no problem with going into a discussion thread of a Soom sculpt they don't like and saying so. Repeatedly. It's fine to express a dislike of the sculpt, but isn't saying it once good enough? *shrug*

I have to laugh though. . . I wonder if Impldoll went with a custom site. They don't have that comment box on the bottom of their page.

 

They don't understand that they aren't dealing with a faceless corporation but a small group of artists. They don't care about how they are perceived. What matters to them is the belief that they are their consumer, their money is what keeps the company afloat and therefore they should be allowed to make whatever commentary or demands that come to mind.

They are right to a degree, definitely, but the comments section of the online doll catelogues were probably intended for thoughtful critiques and positive feedback to help other buyers; not child-like ravings or spiteful and even hateful statements directed at the artists.

 

Who honestly goes to Soom expecting omgmanry!dollz anyway? That just seems... odd to me, especially when you look back through their dolls. Even the big idealians and megagems have features I would consider "feminine".

Anyway, to underline "one person's BLEGH is another person's WOW" here, I will state that the new boy is honestly the first soom I have ever really looked seriously into getting. Yeah, somebody doesn't want the macho men, shocking I know.

 

A lot of people have issues with posting things without thinking -- the fact that they can feel anonymous also tends to make people a lot more brave when it comes to opening their mouths. There is no repercussions for rude behavior on the net.

Another thing that I've noticed in general is that while a lot of people make a fuss about how important criticism is, many don't give it well -- they just do not understand how to be constructive and how to use tact. It's very possible to offer criticism without being nasty and/or useless, but a lot of folks haven't figured it out yet. To them 'constructive' criticism = saying what ever pops into their heads as bluntly as they can.

Personally, I don't understand why anyone would get quite that worked up. Even if you were looking forward to a particular release and you feel that it fell flat for you, there will be plenty of other releases down the road. If I don't like something, I don't buy it and move on, because quite frankly, there are more dolls that I want than I have money for so it's not like I'm being deprived of the opportunity to purchase a new really cool dolly.

 

There are those who want attention and will go to any length to get it. Here we are discussing them and giving them more attention, after all. Their negative comments get reactions on Soom's site. I don't happen to think they are customers, just attention seekers.

Chances are, the sculptors never see these comments (if they can read English), because it seems likely they are just too busy. Besides (speaking as an artist) sales are the best barometer of the worthiness of a piece, not a few whiney brats trying to run it down.

 

I didn't think about that. I couldn't even imagine signing up with a company if I didn't intend to buy at some stage. I was just looking at the comments on SOOM's latest release and it made me angry.

Maybe if we write to SOOM we can get them to remove the comment section, or make it available only to those who have already made a purchase.

 

Ah, but it's only recently that SOOM has made people have to log in to leave comments. This was because some anonymous troll was posting "Ugly, get out!!" on every single piece that SOOM released. In this case, it was just attention seeking behaviour, and by God it got a lot of attention.

SOOM sculpts are amazingly versatile, and I think that's something everyone forgets. I've seen some really butch Chalcos and some really feminine ones too. I looked at Epidos and thought: He'll be cute with freckles! All young and innocent!" And someone else looked at him and thought "I'll punk him up to the extreme, because he'll look so cool!" And yet other people looked at him and thought their own plans and actions.

Yes, it's annoying that people troll comment boards, but it doesn't just happen to SOOM. Really, I've always been of the opinion that "If you can't think of anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." If a sculpt is not to my taste, I move on.

Also, agreeing with the many sentiments of anonymity bringing out the worst in people. Best example of this I can think of is 4chan.

 

I've never bothered to read the comment section of doll sites, but perhaps companies need people who are designated moderators of their comment boards. If they see a comment that is more complaint rather than critique (even though some people are just bad at delivering critique) they can delete it. It's sort of strange, to some extent, that a comment board can get so out of wack, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It brings to mind that "Three Wolf Moon" shirt on Amazon, but I think that's a different story.

I'm all for removing comment sections if people can't behave. Or maybe they could open the section up to people who have purchased that specific item.

Compared to other message boards, and websites, it seems fairly easy for BJD companies to control the annoyances. Because comments aren't the sole purpose of the site, they might not be a necessity to have. Especially when so many people are just there to complain, rather than offer anything of substance to the conversation, how can anyone benefit from that section?

 

Hmm, I don't think it would be right to limit the comments to people who bought the doll - that's what the review section is for (even though not many people use it... probably because there isn't really a reason to write a review for a limited doll since it's long sold out by the time you receive it). Also, pretty sure that all of the people who bought the doll would have strikingly similar things to say. However, I think it would make sense to limit the comments to people who in general bought anything from Soom before, because that would indicate that they're at least serious about buying from the company (though I guess it really wouldn't be fair to the people who haven't bought anything yet, waiting for the right MD).

However, I gotta laugh. Pictures of Obsidius are up and man... He's probably one of the manliest MD's Soom has made in a long, long while. Look at that frown. And that squared-off jaw. And that greek (roman?) nose. Aside from maybe the odd choice of pink for his lips, there's not a whole lot "feminine" about that guy (general smoothed-out BJD aesthetic aside). Paint him up with a bit less guyliner and give him more desaturated/darker lips and he'll be one of those obviously manly dolls. Which leads me to my next point - I think it would make sense to allow comments after ALL of the pictures are up. I mean, everyone pegged Obsidius to be "feminine", because his head is tilted down in the teaser... But he really isn't.

 

I think its alright to say if you don't like how a certain doll looks; how else is a doll company supposed to figure out why people didn't like a particular doll's concept?

However, pointing out an aspect that could be improved upon in a constructive and mature manner is different than saying "I don't like him, make the next one perfect kthx." Saying something like that doesn't benefit anyone except for drama llamas.

 

Maybe they could do like what DoA has in terms of new users and marketplace access. New users don't get access to the MP right away. They need to have at least 40 posts. You have to work for it - if you can call that work...?

Maybe SOOM and other companies can do something similar? Like, you'd have to spend at least $100 to use the comment boards.

Good criticism is saying how you didn't like the joint system for a specific reason, or you found his nose too pointy, or the general look of the doll looked different from the pictures, and you want to issue a 'buyer beware' to anyone - not to necessarily say "Don't get this doll" (though if the experience really was that bad, and said why it'd be OK), but to point out certain aspects.

I appreciate someone saying how different the doll looks from the picture. Are the eyes a lot more squinty than they are big? Does the mouth not 'fit' with the rest of the features? These are things I'd like to know.