Volks Super Dollfie - SD, SD13, SD16, SD17, SDGr, SDGou & FCS - XXIII

@pris84 ...wah that sounds nice! Will keep my ears and eyes open for news! O.o

 

@fransyung Great idea! It would be boring if you queue for 3 hours alone XD I have been Tokyo DP once and it killed my wallet. I usually start queuing early in the morning (no hope in getting a X pass so...) I would love to join you if you don't mind.
I think I better secure my flight ticket ASAP...

 

Oh man, this is the weekend for Oscar’s lottery..... I’m so stoked for it!!!! Struggling a bit with last minute hesitations to enter though. “I love her so much” vs “I enjoy having money”. Although I suppose I’m probably in the wrong hobby if I wanted to save dosh, haha! Anyone else in the same boat about these hesitations? Alternatively, anyone wanna make up my mind for me about entering? Haha

 

I am, but with Andre! I've been telling myself for a while that I do NOT need any more SD+ sized boys but when I saw Andre in person.... To stay strong or wobble and throw money....

 

@Moria_ash Once the trip is finalized, let me know so I can contact you privately. xD

Yes... I want Andre, too. But this trip to Japan will cost me my wallet and we still don't know what VOLKS will release for HTD Kyoto, so Andre has to wait. T.T Good luck if you are still entering, guys.

 

Got my money ready and waiting for the lottery website to go online. *impatiently bounces up and down* Even managed to get enough together so I can consider also trying for the dress. I LOVE that dress!

 

@fransyung of course. I guess you've already got your ticket...OMG I need to hurry up XD

 

Has anyone ever restrung their dolls so that the knot is in the body and not at the neck hole?

 

@Cloudedmind yes! I used to do that to all my dolls, but actually now I prefer to have the knot at the neck again because I can use the extra to easily remove and reattach the head by putting the elastic through the top curve of the s hook. I did like the knot in the body, but used to keep some ribbon looped through the elastic so I could remove the head if needed, so it still wasn't really neat so I stopped bothering. It is also much easier to tighten the elastic if the knot is in the neck. What were you wondering about?

 

@flowergirl I often have other heads that I want to try on the body's I have, unfortunately, many of them don't have neck hole openings that will accommodate the Volks' knot going through, and instead of widening the neck holes with my Dremel, I figured it would be easier to just restring my Volks bodies.

 

@Cloudedmind In which case, yes, I'd recommend re-stringing with the knot in the body. All Volks dolls I have come across (haven't seen many of the boy bodies though) have ample room in the upper torso to accommodate the knot

 

@flowergirl Thanks! I'll probably have a go at it this weekend. Hopefully, everything works out.

 

I always put my knot in the torso, for SD13/SD17/SD16. I usually remove the head of my dolls when I change clothes, and I feel like knot in the torso is easier for that. For SDGrG, I leave the zip-tie on the neck so I can change the heel and flat feet, but if you never wanted to change those, knot in the torso would work there, too. Good luck! XD

 

Does anyone know if the Volks international web store charges Japanese sales tax on orders placed from out side of Japan? it's been so long since I ordered from there that I can't remember if they do or not.

 

Volks hasn’t approved my webstore registration yet.. getting nervous!

 

After Event page is up. Oscar is 140,400 Yen including taxes, so I guess the other dolls are gonna have taxes added, too. Also, they say that if you win, they'll send you a PayPal invoice, which is awesome for me!

 

Hey guys. I'm going to be going to Japan in May and am planning on going to the Dollpa then. If anyone has any tips or... can really explain to me how to go I'd really appreciate it.

 

I'm gonna shake apart while waiting today. Thirty-seven people have Oscar in their wishlist so far. In looking at the item details I see no mention of whether Oscar comes with both heel and flat feet. Anyone seen a box opening that would confirm one way or another?

 

My friend has been waiting for 3+ weeks now and I think has basically given up

Good luck, everyone! I too am gunning for Oscar. I was worried about a clickwar for Date but a lotto for Oscar is truly scary

Re: prices with taxes: sometimes Japanese stores don't charge taxes on international orders (and Volks themselves offer tax exemption with a passport if you go to their physical locations and spend over 5000 yen IIRC), which is why I asked earlier. Volks updated their site since I last did a lottery so I couldn't check my past orders to see if they charged tax.

EDIT: found my old email order receipts and after some calculations, it seems like they do charge tax on the international webstore (but didn't charge me any shipping??? what?!)

 

Best of luck to everyone today! I'm on the sideline for the dolls but quiet anxious about the clothing release, two of my girls really need some dresses. They are just too perfect for the characters.

 

@wonton Ahh same! I've been waiting about a week, and omg your poor friend, @Astro, why did Volks decide to revamp their shopping website at such a crucial time aklsjd;faljks;df

Good luck to everyone trying for dolls/outfits this weekend!

 

@strow apparently my friend even sent her application in twice to make sure it went in properly.
Thankfully she's not trying for anything this lotto period, but it really sucks for those that are. She watched the MDD body she really wanted go in and out of stock over the period of like 2 weeks with no contact or account approval. I think she's gonna try emailing customer support ;-;

 

@St. James RDean has a video unboxing of her Lady Oscar. I don't remember her mentioning flat feet, but might have just missed it. Here's the video if you want to take a look, .

 

@Cloudedmind Thanks for pulling up that video! No sign of extra feet. Sold off Johanna's flat feet ages ago, because who knew? Oh well.

 

@St. James Sadly, I think the flat feet are on the option order form. But I think you'll be able to find them on Y!J or mandrake or you could send the order form off to a proxy site like SMJ or Buyee or ?? and have them order the legs for you. I guess leaving them out was another way for Volks to save money and time.

Good luck to everyone entering!! I think I'm going to sit on my hands this time and not enter the lottery. She's gorgeous but I really shouldn't .... Hope to see lots of Oscar and Andre here on DoA!

 

@pris84 Ah, perhaps I'll ask volksusa if they could consider honoring those order forms. I don't really care how long it takes (up to a point). Much like the FCS extra parts event, they won't know we want it unless we ask.
I would certainly like a pair of SD16 hands that can actually wear the gloves!

 

@St. James I can confirm they just ship her with the high-heel legs and I´m pretty sure there were no extra hand parts either. There is an order form I have seen selling on Yahoo! and on twitter. If I understood correctly, you are able to order pretty much every set of hands (7 pairs) and the flat feet. - As well as...wait for it - painted hands!
I am really interested in the later so I have been researching this a bit.
Here is a picture of the form if you are interested to see what´s available.

I wonder if volks will include the order form with the international orders?
Does anyone remember other dolls with "owner-limited option parts" (I don´t seem to remember a specific one)? Do you know if people outside of Japan got the form with the doll?
I did message Nakita from Tenshi no Mon and asked her opinion on it (and if her shopping service is available for orders like this) but I haven´t heard back from her so far. Should I update if she replies?

I know some people imported her so if worst comes to worst I might just ask around (or on the marketplace for that matter) if someone would sell the order form if they aren´t interested in getting something. The deadline for ordering the parts seems to be the 31st of March (don´t quote me on that) so it should be possible to send it back to a shopping service in Japan.
If the form is somehow not shipped to overseas owners, there is still the option of doing a group-order as long as we get our hands on at least one form.


All that said, I haven´t won yet so I´m still holding my breath. I´d really love to bring her home though. The entry period will start in about an hour (?) so I´m just holding out untill then (maybe applying really early will work as a lucky charm, who knows?) However, for some reason I was able to enter for her dress a few hours ago. I really hope that´s no issue with the online shop and somehow the entry is invalid (it´s showing in my "orders"-section so I´m hoping it will be fine).
It also seems like the click war isn´t as intense as I had thought since I don´t see anything beeing sold out - well besides the DD items that for some reason aren´t in stock yet.

Good luck to everyone trying to bring a new family member home! ^^

 

I'm not sure if Volks includes the forms with international orders. I assume they do as I believe they are usually packaged in the same bag that the rest of the doll's paperwork comes in. However, VUSA can't honor it
I was also curious about how many optional parts can be ordered off of one . I can to check both of my Date's (one with an English form from VUSA and one with a Japanese form that I purchased while in Japan) forms to see if there's any sort of order limit. I guess it'd also be possible to do one through VUSA if they'll be selling Oscar and someone that gets her through them is willing to host? (I haven't started looking at any of their Dolpa info yet since I'm hoping I can get her through the international site as the tax and currency conversion savings would be more than enough to order legs and hands with >w<. Hopefully they get her too though!! It'd be nice to have a backup)

One hour left!!

Edit: I just remembered that ordering with the VUSA extra parts form has to be done by the person that bought the doll through them. I think it's tied to your VUSA shop account.
I do think the Japanese form is different, just because in Japan you also have the option of buying dolls in person? It's a lot more complex and I didn't look into it since I knew I was getting one stateside as well.
(also thanks for the reminder, I have until the 31st to decide if I want more parts for Date!)

 

@Astro Tell me more, I wasn´t aware Volks USA also accepted forms for limited parts in the past - really interesting to know.
I only know that the blushed hand sets are limited to 1 for each style (so two sets per customer), I would assume they won´t let you order more than one of each item in general (I mean why would someone need 5 pairs of flat-feet legs if not to sell them?)

A few years ago, I remember feeling that things are a bit unfair for me because I live in Europe. When I started buying dolls they were considerably cheaper on the US-site but I couldn´t order them there because I wasn´t living in the country. Now the exchange rates have done a 180° turn and the US customers buy from the international site.
I´m not blaming anyone who does that, I would also buy where items cheaper (espechially when "cheaper" can easily mean hundreds of dollars). That said, I´m actually quite excited for the new trade agreement between Europe and Japan. Maybe I will finally have to pay less taxes (and therefore afford some extra hands) - but not even the customs officials were able to tell me anything besides "wait untill February". *sigh* One can only hope for the best.

 

@silver sycle Date Masamune II and Hasekura II came with order forms. I hadn't purchased a doll from VUSA that would even have need for a form since before they even started offering forms, so I'm not sure which dolls might come with them? I suppose they include them for any doll that's not from a line of standard bodies. Date and Hasekura's sales pages on VUSA say they're packed with the order form, so I guess we'll know soon enough whether there will be a form or not if they get Oscar and Andre. It's a little puzzling why they can't accept the Japanese order forms, but maybe Japan only allots them the amount of extra parts that match the amount of dolls they're given to sell or something?

Anyway, the form has a link to the VUSA web store printed on it and from the sound of things you can enter the parts into your cart from there and purchase them so long as you also purchased the doll they go with from them too. I also assumed they wouldn't let you order more than one of each item, but I didn't try doing it either. IIRC the order deadline was a bit later than the one on the Japanese form to account for the fact that they usually ship their dolls a little later than the international site does.

As an aside, I really wish they'd put replacement wigs on the limited option parts order forms. I love Date's default wig and am afraid of damaging it due to it's length. I would love the option to order a 2nd one. Having a 2nd wig for Oscar would be amazing too since hers is one of the really nice faux mohair-types that they really only make for specific dolls and don't sell anything even remotely similar to

EDIT: Just entered for Oscar, the order invoice lists her at 13,000 yen, so her price without tax? It'll be interesting to see if they add it on for international orders, since I definitely got charged tax on some DDs from 2015.

 

So I just entered for Oscar too so the painful waiting time has begun. Again, good luck everyone!

@Astro It would certainly make sense if they allowed owners of non-standard sizes to get more parts, especially in cases where the doll only comes with the "bare minimum" of parts (such as Oscar). I really hope all dolls (international and volks USA if they carry them) will come with forms. It´s just mean to exclude owners from certain items ... *Volks, we want to give you money - why do you do this to us?* Not to mention that it´s bad for the second hand market in general. If there is a cool item that most owners won´t be able to get, it´s unlikely to find it on the market in a few years from now (or only for a premium price).

I have seen the japanese form sell on yahoo and it seems like you just fill in your information and then give it to volks. I´m not sure whether this has to be done through a store or if you can mail it to them. However, I don´t think they just let you add it to your cart since it seems like you need to fill out the printed version of the form. The fact that people were selling them after the Dolpa would mean that they aren´t tied to a specific customer - which would be really nice for those who (maybe) won´t receive a form with their doll or just want a few new parts.

Also wigs ...so true. If I could I would have probably bought a second wig with all of my dolls since those can get damaged rather easily. (I´d also buy some sort of face up -insurance if that existed.) Espechially Oscar´s wig will receive a lot of wear simply by turning it into an updo. I was almost certain that they would have to allow people to get a second one because of the dress set that requires a styled-wig ...but no, they make us use the only one we have. T.T

 

I'm a little disappointed that her dress set didn't come with a 2nd wig already in the updo to be honest! The fibers it's made of strike me as more fragile too I wouldn't mind if they sold something comparable, but since they don't I'll have to be extra cautious with her wig if I win her + keep an eye out for a secondary wig that looks similar.
(For the record, the Devilman Yo-Midis have the same type of wig as Oscar and they feel a bit brittle and the fibers are much finer than normal heat resist wigs.)

@silver sycle That's how I assume the Japanese order forms work as well. I'm a little surprised that Oscar doesn't come with a second set of hands though? Date came with normal and sword hands, so I'd assumed that Oscar would come with them too (actually I forgot she came with a sword. I couldn't stop staring at her lovely face long enough to even bother looking at what all she came with, LOL). I only glanced at the one I got with the Date purchased in Japan but the impression I got was that you mailed it in? I'd imagine they could do something with it in store though. I wish something could be tied to customer accounts though so that we could just order extra parts, or maybe an online option that let you select add-ons if you get a winning lotto entry? Mmm, logistics.

 

I made up my mind and entered for Lady Oscar Good luck to everyone entering, may flights of Oscars and Andres grace our fair board!

 

I entered for Oscar and the dress outfit just now.. WELL... Like I'm gonna get it (win) ... I haven't had any luck with VOLKSJP on the Lottery.

I spoke to VOLKSUSA regarding Oscar; they don't have any info yet, but they are working on it. I hope they do...

Good Luck everyone..

 

@St. James Yes, exactly. Good idea on emailing VolksUSA. I think the more requests they receive in all areas, the more likely things will happen. At Dolpa, I told Mikey that I would love to see a joint VolksUSA x Volks Japan membership where International people could go to Tenshi no Sato and place an FCS order. I told her that for many people that visit Tenshi no Sato from other (all) countries, doing an FCS is like a "Bucket List" thing and is really once in a lifetime. She mentioned that Hideyoshi was at Dolpa and they were discussing possibilities of 'things' so I think VolksUSA is really fighting to bring new items and services to VolksUSA. I'd also love to see them offer the welcoming outfits when the FCS are released again. And I would love to see all of this offered to everyone internationally. Good luck on Oscar! I guess there is also the possibility of finding a split parter or such to get the flat feet through online FCS when the SD16 get their rotation again too? Ah .. if only things were easy.

Unless things change, I think all the dolls will come with the extra part order forms. It's likely too much of a hassle to open each box and take it out as they would have to separate those boxes staying in Japan vs going abroad. I am surprised that there isn't an option to order an extra wig? I know Mia and Lucia had the option to order extra wigs. And yes, Lady Oscar has the option of manicured hands like Mia, Lucia as well as Jo and Elizabeth. They are on the costly side ... I want to say about 15,000 for a pair of hands with manicure?

Good luck to all entering!!

Edit : From FB :: VOLKS USA is planning on conducting a Dolpa 40 After Event too ! Remember to check back sometime in February!

 

@pris84 It´s amazing that you were able to talk to Mikey, hopefully they can see the potential in the overseas market and give us some of the things that have been Japan-only until now. I really wouldn´t mind paying VIP-membership fees if I could get some of the services they offer for Japanese customers (like the head-exchange).
I´m still hoping that people who aren´t Japanese residents will one day get the chance to own special dolls like Kasumi - but I understand that this couldn´t be done online (although I would love to have an international VIP-member lottery for dolls like this) because they want to show you how to handle her etc. before you can take her home. Such a thing is best done in person. Yet, it certainly would be possible for them to give more options to customers coming to Japan. I mean, if you are willing to pay for the ticket and a hotel, you should be able to receive the same benefits as local customers.
Having a One Off lottery for the international market would be amazing as well...I have always wanted to try my luck.

It definitely makes sense that they wouldn´t open the boxes just to take out the forms, they usually ship very shortly after payment so the LEs this time are probably all finished and packaged for shipping to their new owners or volks stores in February.
At least I didn´t SEE a mention of the wig in the form I have seen...but that only includes one post on Twitter and an auction so there might be the option? I definitely don´t understand it, this would be the perfect example of a time when a second wig should be offered (unless maybe its difficult for them to produce it or they are running low on supplies?).
If they offer it I will definitely get another wig. The hand parts are indeed 15,400yen (5,400yen unpainted and 17,000yen for the legs) but I think hands (especially white-skin) do look a lot better when painted so I´m seriously considering to get at least one pair if I can.

 

@pris84 The membership card idea is something we've been asking for since we first learned they didn't cross over. I just peeked into my wallet and I still have my old '05 card in there!

In an even more humiliating twist, I may have totally botched my entry for Lady Oscar by entering using the Japanese site. The website wish list seemed to keep defaulting to the Japanese side and my phone browser autotranslates web pages so I didn't notice until my order confirmation came in Japanese. I hope my entry doesn't get tossed, but I know how Volks is when things don't go to plan.

 

When I tried to enter for Oscar, my browser kept doing that as well and no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t seem to access an English version of the site after step 3. But when I went to my account screen on the English site, my entry appeared there. So I am thinking it should be okay....

 

@Chobittum Yeah, I do see my purchases for the clothing and doll in my order history on the English side, but all of my receipts are in Japanese unlike what other friends who have entered got. I did write to them to apologise for the confusion, so now I just have to wait.

Spoiler

Not sure how I'm going to distract myself once I run out of Schitt's Creek seasons tho!

 

@St. James I really hope they manage to look at your entry for more than two seconds and realize what happened ;A; best wishes!!