Dollies...seek to break...me...
Jul. 11th, 2008 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zalliaArgh. So. Pullips have pissed me off. Well actually, the company has, but that usually tends to affect my feelings on their merchandise, as well. After Sou's wrist broke while she was wrapped in a freaking towel!!! I'm just too aggravated about the apparent lack of concern for quality on the part of JP. So I'm turning to the dark side. Gonna buy a bjd.
Unfortunately, I have picky taste where these are concerned, especially in light of the fuckload of money they cost. So I spent a couple weeks just going through each company's inventory and making a list of the ones I actually do like. (Screw trying to get limiteds or OOP ones). I ended up with about 20 or so, but there's only two that I want immediately. And they're huge. And expensive.
Gabriel from Angell-Studio was one of the first I saw at DDE and I haven't found anyone I like more, so she's definately going to be mine.
Isn't she love?? She is to me. So few of them actually look happy. Maybe I'll get a fuckface down the line, but for my first ones, I want them to be happy and grateful that I laid down so much cash for them. She's SD sized (about 59cm for my non-dolly friends) and $410 for the basic doll. And here's where it becomes un-fun. I have no desire to attempt a faceup on a high-priced doll especially when her's is so gorg, it's why I heart her. The company offers them for $35 for the lesser faceup and $65 for it to look like the picture. Which is what I want. Though I did ask for a pic of the basic faceup all I got was some comparisons of the boydolls. Real helpful there, guys. So fine, I'll shell out extra since she's a girl and needs nice makeup. Okay, well now the 410 only covers the basic body. For another 70 I can get the double-jointed body which allows for more poseability. How much more, I haven't been able to ascertain. Once again the company just provides me pictures of the DJ body, not the old one and no one on DoA seems to own these dolls or something so my questions go unanswered there. Bah. Alright, so I figure if I get the basic then since I have no otheres, I won't know if I'm missing out on anything. Well, at least the 410 provides eye and wig. Randomly. (For the price, why the hell do companies do it this way??) I'm going to request purple/blue, but there's no guarantee. And I've looked at the AS's wigs and they all pretty much suck. No sign of the one in the picture. -_- So I have to either try to find a copy of that one or figure out her own style/combination. Which brings us to clothes. IE there are none. So I also have to try to find an outfit(that I'm not going to spend a hundred freaking dollars on) so she's not nekkid when she gets here. And shoes. That cost an assload as well. And WHY THE HELL DO NONE OF THE FUCKING OUTFITS EVER COME WITH SHOES?? Gah, that bugs the crap out of me! At least the expensive Ellowyne outfit I paid for came with shoes. Blarg. And though Mom or I can learn to sew clothes for them, I'm not about to become a shoe cobbler. Oh and AS currently offers no shoes for sale so I have to figure out through comparing 10 million different metric measurements what OTHER company's dolls shoes will fit her as well.
So, I come to terms with spending about $550 on her once all is said in done with wig, clothes, whatever else I need to find.
Ah, but then my romantic side kicks in. She needs a boooyfriend. I mean, taking standalone pics is fine, but with the newfound posability, won't it be much funner for someone for her to interact with? Ah, but herein lies the problem. Whereas Pullip collectors are mostly about the girldolls, BJD collectors are mostly about the boydolls. Which I simply do not understand, because most of them are fug. Maybe it's my distaste for real-life asian men, or just my loathing of emo/angsty/wussy guys, but man. There is just not a manly sculpt amongst them! And it also shows because apparently most of these people make their dolls all gay. Which whatevs, do what you want with your dolls, but what am I supposed to do when I actually want a straight one? So I look and I find one I like best.
Ah, he looks pretty sturdy, good face, not too serious, not too youthful (Oh that's another thing, most of them look like they're 12, which...creeepy...) not all skinny and gross either. Yay! Oh wait, he's even BIGGER than an SD and stands at 80 frikkin CM. O_o Okay, so I don't have a problem with a bigger guy and smaller girl(She's hopefully not going to look like jailbait like with the 40/60 pairings), but blarg he costs even more than her. $655 plus another 50 for the faceup. NOT INCLUDING WIG OR EYES WTF SOOM. Well at least the fur wigs are only like $14. I was afraid for awhile cause the Soom eyes are 30 freaking bucks, but it looks like I can get some for about 10 elsewhere. Oh look, I really like Dollmore's eyes. Beautiful vibrant colors. Oh wait, that's why everyone does group orders, cause the shipping seeks to shiv you across continents! So once again, do I try to make him look exactly like the pic, or try and find his own style/colors to go with. Oh and then his clothes. Since Soom is the only one that makes HUMONGOUS dolls, I have to buy his clothes from them and will not be able to shop around. Once again we also get to go through the fun of shoe shopping since he *might* fit into some SD or 70cm shoes. Oh, but wait! These dolls can actually wear the hands with the jointed fingers! Well, that will be just awesome and fun to play with and pose for pics! Only another $150!!! For hands!! Oh and he won't get to show off his chest like in the pics either, cause they want $110 for body "brushing". Grr...at least Gabriel's not going topless anytime soon, but dang! He's not that much bigger than her and hers would only be 26!
But he's the only boy doll I really like enough to want to own, so fine, he'll be the boyfriend. So, looking to order to get a shipping estimate...oh, he's available soon, but listed under "Four Five Days"...eh, must just be the name of the line of that set of dolls. Oh no, wait, you can't just order these dolls. Fuck no, that would be too easy. We need some ridiculous and overly complicated system for making these available to the public FOR FIVE DAYS OUT OF EACH MONTH. And even then it's randomized who they're going to choose to sell. So. He's going to be for sale on the 15th. Of this month. And possibly next month, possibly not. Who the hell knows? Once again, no one on DoA, though after reading through shittons of other threads, I finally figured out that at least they cycle the dolls and he's not just going to be discontinued after this. Still. If I want him anytime soon, it should probably be now, if not, who knows when the hell I'll get just the *chance* to buy him...*cries*
Okay, it's not like I'm broke, but I'm not exactly looking to drain my bank account or rack up credit card debt here. I just got my tax stim check, but as soon as I did, my A/C broke and my bathroom sink stopped draining and I had to call out two seperate companies for the repairs. Actually wasn't too bad at $200 for both, but still. Wrench in the plans. I want to add some money to my CD and before all this I was going to put $500 in the CD and $100 in my checking account. Oh, then I won Chills on ebay for just a little over retail (which is GOOD since she's been my Ello grail and had been selling for almost $300 on the last few auctions she's been in), but still came to around $175.
Denverdoll does Layaway(who I'd be purchasing Gab from, though they never freaking answered my email about specifics on that(grrr)) and Soom will also do 5 payment layaway for a doll of that price though the payments would still end up being $140 a month. But I'm pretty sure if I order Gabriel I'm going to want her as soon as possible and will just fork over the money in one go. Which I probably would have done by now except all my DD dvd purchases showed up on this cycle and it's still another 10 days til the credit card rolls over.
AND HOLY FUCKING THAT IS THE LONGEST LJ ENTRY I've ever posted and it's about TWO DOLLS. If any of you get through that mess, it will be a miracle and I will love you forever. Anyways, it feels good to lay it all out, but I still have no clue how I want to go about this. Why do these companies have to make selling dolls so complicated?? Why am I so dumb as to want to buy them anyways?! Anyways, thanks for listening, if you did. *sigh*
Unfortunately, I have picky taste where these are concerned, especially in light of the fuckload of money they cost. So I spent a couple weeks just going through each company's inventory and making a list of the ones I actually do like. (Screw trying to get limiteds or OOP ones). I ended up with about 20 or so, but there's only two that I want immediately. And they're huge. And expensive.
Gabriel from Angell-Studio was one of the first I saw at DDE and I haven't found anyone I like more, so she's definately going to be mine.
Isn't she love?? She is to me. So few of them actually look happy. Maybe I'll get a fuckface down the line, but for my first ones, I want them to be happy and grateful that I laid down so much cash for them. She's SD sized (about 59cm for my non-dolly friends) and $410 for the basic doll. And here's where it becomes un-fun. I have no desire to attempt a faceup on a high-priced doll especially when her's is so gorg, it's why I heart her. The company offers them for $35 for the lesser faceup and $65 for it to look like the picture. Which is what I want. Though I did ask for a pic of the basic faceup all I got was some comparisons of the boydolls. Real helpful there, guys. So fine, I'll shell out extra since she's a girl and needs nice makeup. Okay, well now the 410 only covers the basic body. For another 70 I can get the double-jointed body which allows for more poseability. How much more, I haven't been able to ascertain. Once again the company just provides me pictures of the DJ body, not the old one and no one on DoA seems to own these dolls or something so my questions go unanswered there. Bah. Alright, so I figure if I get the basic then since I have no otheres, I won't know if I'm missing out on anything. Well, at least the 410 provides eye and wig. Randomly. (For the price, why the hell do companies do it this way??) I'm going to request purple/blue, but there's no guarantee. And I've looked at the AS's wigs and they all pretty much suck. No sign of the one in the picture. -_- So I have to either try to find a copy of that one or figure out her own style/combination. Which brings us to clothes. IE there are none. So I also have to try to find an outfit(that I'm not going to spend a hundred freaking dollars on) so she's not nekkid when she gets here. And shoes. That cost an assload as well. And WHY THE HELL DO NONE OF THE FUCKING OUTFITS EVER COME WITH SHOES?? Gah, that bugs the crap out of me! At least the expensive Ellowyne outfit I paid for came with shoes. Blarg. And though Mom or I can learn to sew clothes for them, I'm not about to become a shoe cobbler. Oh and AS currently offers no shoes for sale so I have to figure out through comparing 10 million different metric measurements what OTHER company's dolls shoes will fit her as well.
So, I come to terms with spending about $550 on her once all is said in done with wig, clothes, whatever else I need to find.
Ah, but then my romantic side kicks in. She needs a boooyfriend. I mean, taking standalone pics is fine, but with the newfound posability, won't it be much funner for someone for her to interact with? Ah, but herein lies the problem. Whereas Pullip collectors are mostly about the girldolls, BJD collectors are mostly about the boydolls. Which I simply do not understand, because most of them are fug. Maybe it's my distaste for real-life asian men, or just my loathing of emo/angsty/wussy guys, but man. There is just not a manly sculpt amongst them! And it also shows because apparently most of these people make their dolls all gay. Which whatevs, do what you want with your dolls, but what am I supposed to do when I actually want a straight one? So I look and I find one I like best.
Ah, he looks pretty sturdy, good face, not too serious, not too youthful (Oh that's another thing, most of them look like they're 12, which...creeepy...) not all skinny and gross either. Yay! Oh wait, he's even BIGGER than an SD and stands at 80 frikkin CM. O_o Okay, so I don't have a problem with a bigger guy and smaller girl(She's hopefully not going to look like jailbait like with the 40/60 pairings), but blarg he costs even more than her. $655 plus another 50 for the faceup. NOT INCLUDING WIG OR EYES WTF SOOM. Well at least the fur wigs are only like $14. I was afraid for awhile cause the Soom eyes are 30 freaking bucks, but it looks like I can get some for about 10 elsewhere. Oh look, I really like Dollmore's eyes. Beautiful vibrant colors. Oh wait, that's why everyone does group orders, cause the shipping seeks to shiv you across continents! So once again, do I try to make him look exactly like the pic, or try and find his own style/colors to go with. Oh and then his clothes. Since Soom is the only one that makes HUMONGOUS dolls, I have to buy his clothes from them and will not be able to shop around. Once again we also get to go through the fun of shoe shopping since he *might* fit into some SD or 70cm shoes. Oh, but wait! These dolls can actually wear the hands with the jointed fingers! Well, that will be just awesome and fun to play with and pose for pics! Only another $150!!! For hands!! Oh and he won't get to show off his chest like in the pics either, cause they want $110 for body "brushing". Grr...at least Gabriel's not going topless anytime soon, but dang! He's not that much bigger than her and hers would only be 26!
But he's the only boy doll I really like enough to want to own, so fine, he'll be the boyfriend. So, looking to order to get a shipping estimate...oh, he's available soon, but listed under "Four Five Days"...eh, must just be the name of the line of that set of dolls. Oh no, wait, you can't just order these dolls. Fuck no, that would be too easy. We need some ridiculous and overly complicated system for making these available to the public FOR FIVE DAYS OUT OF EACH MONTH. And even then it's randomized who they're going to choose to sell. So. He's going to be for sale on the 15th. Of this month. And possibly next month, possibly not. Who the hell knows? Once again, no one on DoA, though after reading through shittons of other threads, I finally figured out that at least they cycle the dolls and he's not just going to be discontinued after this. Still. If I want him anytime soon, it should probably be now, if not, who knows when the hell I'll get just the *chance* to buy him...*cries*
Okay, it's not like I'm broke, but I'm not exactly looking to drain my bank account or rack up credit card debt here. I just got my tax stim check, but as soon as I did, my A/C broke and my bathroom sink stopped draining and I had to call out two seperate companies for the repairs. Actually wasn't too bad at $200 for both, but still. Wrench in the plans. I want to add some money to my CD and before all this I was going to put $500 in the CD and $100 in my checking account. Oh, then I won Chills on ebay for just a little over retail (which is GOOD since she's been my Ello grail and had been selling for almost $300 on the last few auctions she's been in), but still came to around $175.
Denverdoll does Layaway(who I'd be purchasing Gab from, though they never freaking answered my email about specifics on that(grrr)) and Soom will also do 5 payment layaway for a doll of that price though the payments would still end up being $140 a month. But I'm pretty sure if I order Gabriel I'm going to want her as soon as possible and will just fork over the money in one go. Which I probably would have done by now except all my DD dvd purchases showed up on this cycle and it's still another 10 days til the credit card rolls over.
AND HOLY FUCKING THAT IS THE LONGEST LJ ENTRY I've ever posted and it's about TWO DOLLS. If any of you get through that mess, it will be a miracle and I will love you forever. Anyways, it feels good to lay it all out, but I still have no clue how I want to go about this. Why do these companies have to make selling dolls so complicated?? Why am I so dumb as to want to buy them anyways?! Anyways, thanks for listening, if you did. *sigh*
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-11 11:39 pm (UTC)LOVE ME FOREVER NOW!
Still can't believe a company would only sell one doll at a time for only 5 days of a month. They shouldn't be making money doing that... but I suppose they are though. Since they are getting away with it.
Are you sure you absolutely want BJDs?
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 09:57 pm (UTC)Well, it's a group of dolls that they cycle through and so the pool of them varies from month to month. Like there's a few variations of that guy I want, him in white skin, as an elf, as a cyborg...and for this month you can get all but the cyborg and a few other girls and guys. Oh and the stupid hand parts are part of this deal as well. I think the reason they do it is because all of these dolls are cast on demand so for the giant ones, I'm guessing they only want to bust out the molds in limited quantities at certain times? It's still screwy though.
And I'm determined now. I NEED poseability. ^_^
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 02:21 am (UTC)Heh. I'm pretty much done with JP, too. I feel like it's the same doll, over and over at this point. It's becoming like Barbie, only easier to break. That would be why my Blythe collection is pretty much worth the same amount as my JP collection now.... and quickly gaining on it. At least Blythe has more than one face mold...
I can't wait to see what you pick. And it's nice to see you posting again :)
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 10:04 pm (UTC)Yeah, I think that's it. They're not even trying to be creative like with Noir or the space girls. It's just all the same barbie-ish crap. I can't even look at that new one with my retinas shutting down on me. And they never change the dals expressions so they all look the same too. I'm not at the point that I want to sell them, but I'm not keen on enjoying them either. I took Mercu to the UFO fest hoping it would rekindle something, but then she just lost her hand and I got more pissed off.
Blythe have more than one face mold? Haha, they all look the same to me. I didn't even realize.
Ah, I didn't realize it had been so long. Or that I'd been missed. *^^
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 07:00 am (UTC)*cackles* I wondered where you'd run off to. Now I know. Darkside! Sometimes I suspect doll places just make things as complicated as possible, just to see how many people they can drive to madness.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-12 10:11 pm (UTC)I also had to work to up my postcount enough at DoA to get marketplace access. :P Man, I just hope I don't become as nuts as those people. There's some batshit crazy over there. At least I won't refer to them as my children. *shudder* I don't know if the companies make them mad, or they come into this hobby that way. O_o