10-01-2018, 02:48 PM
(10-01-2018, 04:19 AM)Alliecat Wrote: Geewhiz, davidd, I'm sorry to hear you have such a conflict over the new doll. Yeah, they're out of my budget too....
Don't chase the herd. Herds have been known to run off cliffs. Do your own thing and have fun with it.
Just my three cents, and all for now. I'm s'posed to be writing articles this afternoon.
Instead you wrote an article-length reply to my rambling! Thank you!
(10-01-2018, 05:30 AM)neon_jellyfish Wrote: You're thinking about it too much, when you should be having fun....
If you unbox her now, you might see why she's so eensive....
As for clothing, you don't need the official brand clothing, Smart Dolls are practically the same size as Volks' Dollfie Dreams (and they have exactly the same size of shoes), and there's a ton of clothing for them out there on etsy and ebay for lower prices.
Sleep on it and then have fun!
I've been giving this quite a bit of thought over the past few days, and even more since receiving this input here on the forum earlier today.
(10-01-2018, 07:49 AM)Lejays17 Wrote: I'm not sure how to word this, so I apologise in advance if I seem rude or harsh. You write a lot about the cost of things, and that the toys you buy don't really appreciate in price. Most toys don't appreciate that much, especially now. And things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it....
But if you have fun with taking photos or otherwise "playing" with it, then it's worth more to you. Otherwise it's a mound of plastic taking up storage room.
Hee hee! Nothing rude or harsh about it! We're all friends here on this forum, or at least, that's how it seems to me, and sometimes friends phrase things bluntly rather than wasting time. Plus, you're exactly right on all points.
(10-01-2018, 01:50 PM)Cornflower Blue Wrote: What they all have said above me. A few thoughts: I wouldn't worry about how long she'll be popular, just enjoy what you have for what it is. She's just like a giant obitsu or a Pullip with better jointing. You can find some more reasonably priced clothing on Etsy, you don't have to buy the e
A giant obitsu! That's funny... and also pretty accurate!
Thank you all for your lengthy and thoughtful responses. I appreciate you all taking the time to respond to my rambling and venting.
I'm wondering about the wisdom behind the release of the less e
ensive (supposedly) Cortex plastic version of Smart Dolls. The new, less eensive version of Smart Doll will likely give Culture Japan a bottom-line boost for a while; but a decade ago, Pinky Street tried to cut costs by eliminating the second body, reducing the size of the packaging, and using lower-quality plastic. Mattel tried the same thing with Monster High in an effort to broaden the appeal to a less affluent market segment. "Luxury brands" do not always fare well when they attempt to court a broader market share by reducing quality or offering less eensive versions of their premium product. Both Pinky Street and Monster High are gone. Will offering a less eensive version undercut the "perceived value" in the Smart Doll line?Smart Dolls are e
ensive relative to any other "toys" I've purchased before. But I was thinking about that today, and remembering that when I first got in to Pinky Street, I thought they were fairly eensive (at $11 per figure, plus additional for shipping), and I put a fair amount of time into tracking down the least eensive price+shipping options. At first I bought only the basic figures, but over time, I was buying releases as they came out without thinking too much about it. (I waited for years for the limited edition Henrietta to become affordable on the secondary market, though. 
) At the time I was buying Pinkys, I never dreamed I'd be dropping the money required to get in to the Pullip doll line... that seemed absurd to me... but at my peak, I think I ultimately had thirteen of them. (My collection currently stands at six.) Smart Dolls are on a totally different price level than any other toy or doll line in which I've been interested, but they're also on a different size and quality level, and I suspect I will eventually grow accustomed to "playing" at that level. (But I don't see myself ever having thirteen of them; two... maybe three... is the likely maximum.)The Danny Choo Smart Doll clothes that are designed specifically for the dolls look really nice! Some of the pieces might actually be worth the price, like, in an "Apple Computers" sort of way, with excellence in form following excellence in function with an added premium for name-brand cachet. As suggested, I have started looking on eBay and Etsy for clothing options – in fact, I ordered a pair of shoes... hiking boots... that I hope will fit, for a significantly lower price than authentic Smart Doll shoes cost. But even on Etsy and eBay, the 1/3 scale clothing and accessories aren't exactly ine
ensive. They're less costly than authentic Smart Doll clothes, but we're definitely not talking used Barbie clothes prices here. Again, though, I have to adjust my thinking to dealing on a completely different, and larger, scale. In a larger scale, more detail is required on clothing and accessories to get them to "look right." And the market for 1/3 scale doll clothes is not nearly the same as the market for "real people" clothes, so the economies of scale to cover manufacturing costs do not apply. Many of the larger scale doll clothes are hand-made, which affects the price.Maybe it's time I learned how to sew.
"Selling a lifestyle" is something the Smart Doll web site does well. Smart Doll uses sophisticated "lifestyle marketing" techniques blended with an approachable, seemingly personalized approach. I enjoy the chatty, conversational tone of the sales copy, and the occasional lame jokes they throw in. I like the photos in elegant penthouse apartment settings and futuristic cityscapes. And, one of the photos on the web site was taken practically in my back yard, at Bryce Canyon National Park, about a 20 minute drive from my house. That photo on the web site, along with input from one of my Flickr friends, helped convince me to take the Smart Doll plunge.
Many of the Smart Doll photos seem, to me, to be taken in exciting, glamorous, exotic locations; or at least, that's my "emotional" response. Practically speaking, I know that many Smart Doll owners live in Europe, with castles practically outside their back doors. We all have different scenery outside our doorsteps. In Europe they have castles and cathedrals, I have sandstone arches and red sand dunes and abandoned log cabins. To people who have not been here, I suppose the scenery in my part of the world is almost as exotic as castles and cathedrals and shiny chrome big city apartments seem to me.
While the initial cost of Smart Dolls is steep relative to other toys and dolls I've purchased, and while I obviously gripe and moan about that cost, I'm not overly concerned about long-term investment value. I don't know how many hundreds (or maybe more than hundreds) of dollars I spent on Pinky Street figures, and today they are largely worthless... but I still love them and will not part with them. I probably spent even more money on Monster High, and collector interest in that line is stone-dead. You know what the Pullip market is like; very few figures hold their value, and then only if they are mint in box. So I am under no delusions about Smart Dolls being an investment.
I also need to get past "feeling conflicted" over the e
ense. I largely financed this doll by selling stuff I will likely never miss on eBay, so in a way, she didn't cost very much at all. I simply "traded old stuff for new stuff." What do I hope to achieve with a Smart Doll and in my Smart Doll photography? I'm not yet able to e
ress that in clear, concrete terms, but you are all correct in that the primary objective should be to have fun.But two are more fun than one, right? So I will need another one. I just need to find some more stuff to list on eBay!
Thank you all for taking the time to respond with such insight.
They're not dolls, they're action figures!