Los Angeles Dolpa Thread (Nov. 24 & 25th)

But will be open to anyone?? There always seems to be weird terms and conditions of actually GETTING to even register for one of these? I want to go but I'm not a Haute Doll subscriber, I've never bought anything from the Volks USA site, and my Heath is an unregistered second hand doll...

 

chehime, if you just buy something from the store you will get a membership card. it can be something really cheap too like string or acrylic eyes or something.

 

The last two LA parties have required you be a Volks USA member so probably this one will as well. But as stated above if you want to go it's probably worthwhile to just buy something cheap from them and do it sooner rather then later.

 

They did sell their mansion so we know it wont be there but if I remember correctly I think Mr. Shigeta was talking about having it in a hotel or convention center

 

Eeeexcellent. I suppose I'll have to fork over for the UPS to ship said $10 eyes though... Ohwell... My boy does need some purple metallics.

 

Hm o.o how much do you guys think is a good amount of money to put aside for a dolpa ^^;;? *Excluding* extraneous costs like food, gasoline, hotels (which I don't need anyways...), plane tickets... ETC. Like money to spend just AT the dolpa? Is $3000 enough? I'm not sure or not if I'd wanna place an FCS order, but I want to be preared just incase I do... and also... I want to be prepared for in case I like whatever limited may be released... and then... I want some to spend at the vendor booths of course... ^^;;... hmmmmm

 

It's hard to say how much considering they say they will be bringing in Japanese customizers and vendors. I'm not sure what their price points are or how nuts one may get once we see the merchandise! At the LA Tea Party last summer, I spent $1500 in the Volks store alone including my FCS MSD boy and scores of other items (boy do they add up!). I was fortunate (or is that unfortunate?) not to have won a one-off. That would have added another $900 for the MSD one I was wishing for.

 

THREE GRAND?! XD
You guys crack me up... ^_^

I hope I'll have enough $$ to attend, XD

Raven

 

Emily & I are thinking seriously about going to the Dolpa. The NY one sounded SO amazing and fun.
I suffer from fear of flying tho but wheew the drive would be EPIC! We could have a WA to LA carpool??? Flying would sure be more efficient.

 

I've bought wigs from the Volks Store on a couple of different occassions and I never received a membership card. Do you have to ask for one?

 

I don't think there is going to be many Japanese SD owners. It's very rare for people to go overseas just for an event and head back right away.

 

Well I'm on and off about the whole idea of coming down myself. Depends on how much I save I guess! And what with the dollars (me being Canadian) being so close it would be an awesome time. But I have a question!

If I come down to the Dolpa, would I be eligible for an FCS as I don't live in the states? Like do they make exceptions at the Dolpa's because you took the time to travel all the way there?

 

XD oh me oh my. I definately won't have enough money to go to this one since I'll be going to Japan this summer. I guess I'll aim for the next Dollpa, New York or LA. I'll probably need just as much fun money for either trip. @.@ Not $3000, though. I don't think I'm going to let myself go that far...

 

I'll be going ^_^ I'm really looking forward to placing my first FCS order and do a faceup class ^_^

 

You don't need to have $3000 (although that would be nice.. ) I've gone to last 3 Dolpas with about $1000 (not include transport, hotel etc) and I was fine. I usually plan to have enough for one doll. At the NYC Dolpa I technically had about $1250 I guess since I bought a school head and face up kit in advanced.

The thing is even if you go to the Dolpa wanting to buy a doll you may not be able to. The first two LA Dolpas I went to I wanted a one-off but I didn't win. At the NYC Dolpa I wanted a Masha and eventually my name was picked but still not everyone was able to get her.

At Dollectable we had a dealers room and it was certainly easy to drop a lot of money there, so I'm guess this would be similar (probably with a bigger dealers room.) If you don't want to spend a lot of money in a dealers room my suggestion is to only take out as much cash as you plan on spending and leave your credit cards in your room.

 

I figure (this is me and my roommate noodling it) that Volks will probably set it up as a vacation package like the huis bosch event. It'd make sense to offer them some incentive to see the US other than another dolpa (which they can see in Japan).

We were however wondering about the Japanese dealers coming to the U.S. thing. I know that's what was hinted out but how feasible do y'all suppose that is? Foreign sellers coming into the U.S. is really complicated paperwork-wise and you have to pay tariffs which would be hefty. I'm no expert but it makes me wonder how many JP dealers would want to go to the trouble to come sell in the U.S.

This is just me thinking out loud btw. =)
Be more useful if we had some real info.

 

I've seen the pictures and videos but I'm also a college student who is helping to fund her way through school and only able to work part time so I wont be able to save that much. I'd love to have that much but I think it's better to go even on a limited budget then to not go.

Somewhat off topic but when I graduate I hope to be a Buyer too, it's what most people in my major aim for so maybe after that I'll be able to save more for these events *crosses fingers*

I hope Volks annouces it (at least in Japan) soon because a trip like that requires a lot of advanced planning for the vendors and Japanese fans and the longer they wait probably the less people will be willing to come from Japan

 

As much as I would have liked to have spent three grand at Dolpa, I ended up spending about one on doll stuff for the entire trip, including Doll Show, Dolpa and at the Sumika. It just depends on what you want and how much you're willing to spend. My big splurge was at DDK, but then I resisted spending at some of the other big dealers, because I felt satisfied with what I had gotten. Hopefully, Volks will post a list of the LA Dolpa dealers with links, so that everyone can do research and have a plan and budget before the event.

 

@Kellyhime: I would hope that they do. Makes life a little bit easier for us spenders. =P

 

I asked Mr. Shigeta about that in March since I've never been to a LA event, and Mr. Shigeta said that they hoped to bring plane full of vendors AND fans.

Not to rain on people's parades but a few minor things...

1) First, no Sato only options other than sunlight skin were offered for FCS in NY. Sunlight skin was offered in LA last year for about 3-4 months as well. None of the Sato only head molds or even the MSD Suwarikko body was offered as far as I could tell. I have my doubts they will be offered in LA.

2) There is no FCS at a Japanese Dolpa.

I personally agree with Midori and Birju_lachi about feasibility issues for Japanese dealers. This is not to say there will not be a wonderful salesroom with some of our own best and brightest selling items, I just think there will not be as many dealers as a Japanese event or that many Japanese dealers.

One minor thing, many dealers have to have things ready for other Japanese doll events as well as for Dolpa. Since items are generally handmade, in small numbers, and the dealers have regular full time jobs this limits how much they can produce. It's one reason during GW that you see some dealers skip Doll Show or Dolpa. The few circles I can think of that are large enough that I don't think they have a job outside of dolls are all 1/6 circles. ^^;

Most doll events started much smaller in Japan and it has taken awhile for them to get as big as they are. I'm sure even if this Dolpa isn't as big as Japanese one it will grow.

On the money question, I think each person needs to set their own budget and decide what they really are interested in buying.

 

Does anyone know if they will offer classes similar to those offered for the NY dolpa?

 

They definitely didn't offer Swaricco body in the NY FCS and No Sato only heads. They also didn't offer the fancier eyelash option as far as I can tell in Dolpa NY. I was asking for a swaricco msd body they said it was not being offered

 

There is no way to know yet but my guess would be that they probably will.

 

I hope so. I would love to learn how to do faceups and stuff.

 

I really hope they announce dates soon - fall is a bad time at work and the sooner I know the dates, the more likely I can come.

If they offer painting classes again - I will say they are totally worth it! (And maybe this time they will offer School C!)

 

I was a wee bit disappointed that I wasn't able to order a welcoming outfit for my SD13 F31 boy at the NYC Dollpa... but I guess it gives me an excuse to go hunting for outfits! *^^*

 

Same here I wanted to get a welcoming outfit for my Aree Elf but now i need to go scouting around for an elvish outfit. congratulations on your incoming SD 13 boy

 

Did you not buy the welcoming outfit? Or was the option just not included in the FCS? Its strange if they didnt include that option, since the model dolls were wearing them.

Even though I still live right next to VolksUSA, I havent done a FCS for myself yet, since they still do not offer the normal human ears for F-31. I wish the FCS wasnt so limited for US residents.

 

They didn't offer it. I finally scanned my order sheets and typed up what I ordered here:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145241

I'm planning on getting the omukae dress from Japan FCS later. I agree I wish they sold option ears and had more choices in the US. Though something is better than none I say

I hope you enjoyed your stay in NY sorry I couldn't offer to show you around. It was nice meeting you . Sorry I was so incoherent by the time I met you on Saturday I hadn't hd lunch and had just come from 2 back to back classes

 

Does anyone know when they're going to offer the official dates for this year's LA Dolpa? I want to go so badly, I can almost taste it.

And as far as painting classes go, how many types of heads do they normally offer to people to buy? Just one for each class?

Since I'm new to the whole Volks scene, do they normally release a new mold or doll for each Dolpa?

 

As I stated in a thread are we talking US "Dolpas"? or Japanese ones?

This was the first US Dolpa to offer a painting class and I believe one could pick between School A and SwD School A. In Japan the classes at an actual Dolpa are less hands on I believe (the classes closer to these are the smaller ones held at Sato and the Harajuku Sumika) and one can buy one of two SD sized heads usually and frequently MSD kits are on offer too.

Both NY Dolpas have had a LE doll released in conjunction with FDQ. Japanese Dolpas typically have 3 or more LEs released.

The NY event was really fun and Volks gave so much to fans there, but it was not all that much like a Japanese Dolpa. (for one thing, there was a lot less waiting in line in NY :P ) I felt like the NY Dolpa was a lot more personalized. Valico, Mikey and Aone all took time to talk to attendees as did Enku-san. At Japanese events this just doesn't really happen to the same extent. Also, since the events are much larger your chances of actually winning something are much lower. ^^;;;;;

AreeElf, It's possible the Omukae outfits are sold out. ^^;; When I placed a FCS order in Sato on May 1st I had planned to order the SD/SD-13 girl outfit, but it was sold out. Only the SD boy one was still available for that size. ^^;

 

I believe we're all talking about the US Dolpas... X3 At least, I know I am. I don't know when I'm ever going to have a chance to go to a Japanese Dolpa, as much as I'd love to. *siiiigh*

 

Well, no, the problem is for the LA Dolpa, Volks has said they want it to be more like a Japanese one, so it's important to sort of know what some of the differences are. ^^;;

It's unclear to me at least whether the LA one is going to be more like NY (which was more intimate or something like a Japanese one. ^^; )

 

Well I appreciate the PM I got letting me know they would let me get an FCS at the LA Dolpa~! :3 And with exchange being so close to Canadian it would be awesome. However I sent an email to Volks to ask before I got the PM from a member here. And here's the response I got.

 

That's awesome news for Canadian SD fans.

 

Just to add, I requested that my FCS F-31 boy I ordered at the NYC Dollpa be shipped via EMS, after the frequent problems I've had receiving packages via UPS. I only needed a senior representative's authorization for them to do so (which ended up being the same person who processed my payment).

 

I was really happy to have the opportunity to converse with Mikey and the president... it was so funny to see Mr. Shigeta crack jokes at the most unexpected of times (ie trying to get the microphone to work). At the close of the Dollpa, I invited him to come to Toronto, Canada for a visit *^^*

 

I'm dying to know what and if there will be a special doll released for LA Dolpa

 

Same here! I hope it'll either be a SD or SDC.

 

I'm still hopeing for an SD16 Price, or SD17 Girl and an SD16 Amelia One off painted by Mikey or Valico That would be reason enough for me
~Anthony

 

I'm not sure what I'm hoping for.. I love SD girls though so if they had a really cute one I probably couldn't resist.

 

I would love to see a SD17 Girl...I fell in love when I saw Reisner's SD17 boy body!

 

I'm hoping for a new little Yo. ;___; Maybe a SwD Shinn and Lin.

 

I kinda remember reading a thread about Mr. shigeta mentioning something about
rerelease of SD girl in LA dolpa. And that they were contemplating whether to
rerelease her or not for a long time.
Maybe------> MOMOKO???!!!!
I'll pass out if that happens.

 

though it could be that he meant Sasha (who got released at the NY dolpa)

 

I'm hoping for an SD10-13 girl myself. I'd sort of like to get a sweet dreams Syo as well. And maybe a one-of MSD F-16 which I really want.

 

I kinda hope it's a new mold that may be released before the last Dolpa of the year in Japan. =3

 

Once the date gets closer, we need to organize carpooling!

Because, I sure as heck don't have someone who is gonna take me ALL the way to LA.

 

Eeeeh. The Bart/Greyhound would probably be 80+ both ways.

Earlier in this thread, some in Davis suggested carpooling.

I could probably put up to 30 or 40 on gas. Carpooling would be alot easier. And I would be in a car full of people with a common interest. Haha

 

i think the amtrak train tickets from San francisco to LA is about $50.00 each way for coach seats.

 

I know there have been carpools from the Bay Area to LA for the past Dolpas. Honestly I'll probably just fly since you can get a round trip ticket for like $100, especially in an off time like October/Nov.

 

I fly SouthWorst Airlines to LA frequently during the year, and I go each October for the Halloween Haunt in OC. Average round trip that time of year is about $150.00

 

Just throwing it out there, I can carpool someone from the Vegas side. Not really keen on sharing a room with someone, but if you need a ride and you are someone along the way from Vegas to the Dolpa, I'll pick ya up and bring ya home. Throw me some gas money.

 

I'm hoping to find some people who are willing to spend a whole week in LA, either the week before or the week after. I'd really like to place my FCS order at the LA store and not at the dolpa, and I have always wanted to go to the LA store itself. Not to mention I want to go to disneyland, and do tourist stuff. Disneyland solo really is not fun XD

Would there be any interest for that sort of thing? It seems flying down from seattle is a bit pricey to just go to LA for the weekend.

 

The Volks store is only open on weekends so if you want to do that you'd have to stay an extra weekend. I'm wondering if the LA Dolpa is supposed to be more like a Japanese Dolpa would FCS be an option offered?

 

I did a quick search and found flights from SFO for about $140 so it looks like you're right. I may want to carpool then, but it depends on my work schedule. It looks like there will be no problem finding some carpools though based on the interest.