In the vinyl department: Obitsu vs. Volks?

[K2!]

I was looking through the Sumika Times blog, and it said something about loose joints and reinforcing them with masking tape. I went WTF because there's gotta a sturdier way of reinforcing than that.

Yikes! I hope that wasn't a suggestion from Volks.

"If you wrap all loose joints with masking tape, your doll will stand rock solid. Of course she will look like she's ready for the roller derby..."

[1/6andtinylover]

And remember, every joint of your doll can become loose after a while, especially from removing and re-attaching joints, but don’t worry! Wrapping the joint’s shaft with a tiny piece of invisable tape will make the joint thicker and avoid it from coming off easily!


(from Sumika Times)

It's not masking tape but sounds similar.

...Maybe someone can email Volks and say, "My 27cm doll's joints are really loose. What should I do?"

[Lolita Lacemaker]

Yeah, my comment above was pretty careless XP. Sorry if anyone was offended.

On the 1/6 scale, the affordability of both Volks and Obitsu makes me want to get both and try to replace the Volks skeleton with Obitsu...at the risk of multiple parts flying a round the room, lost screws and sad dolliehs.

Not to worry.
Your Honor, we would site the Obi Wan Kenobi defense.

The doll industry does not have any set of standards that manufacturers are bound to conform to, unlike some other industries such as the automotive, audio/video, and computer industries to name a few. Every doll manufacturer is free to make a doll of any size, proportions, colors, etc., they want. Savvy manufacturers will look at what has gone before them and try to judge what will sell based on history, often adding their own "improvements" as they see fit. The various size classes SD, MSD, etc. are based on the early manufactures in the field and as time goes on those line have blurred as more and varied dolls are brought to market. Colorwise, manufactures have a myriad of reasons, aesthetic and practical, to choose the skin tones they do. Some times to conform to loosely established "norms", sometimes to set their line apart, sometimes for material limitations, etc.

There are relatively few objective ways to compare one doll to another. ABC doll is 2cm taller than XYZ doll. ABC doll is manufactured in Korea and XYZ doll is made in Japan. ABC doll makes their own line of clothes to fit their doll and XYZ doll does not, etc.
After you get through these points it all comes down to opinion and your own personal opinion will dictate which doll/color/size/features/cost you think is better.

This was well said K2! Very well said. I think that we should all keep this in mind when talking about any and all dolls.

[SetsunaKou]

http://www.volks.co.jp/jp/dollfiedream/index.aspx (Scroll to the bottom)

Those all appear to be parts for the new DDS body and if I reading the machine translation right, you would be buying both the interior and exterior parts for a given body section.
I haven't heard/seen anything about DD2 internal parts.

Yup, right as always, K2-sama! They're the parts for their new DDS body. ^^ I truly doubt they'll be selling internal parts for DD2 as they're probably only going to really push all the way for their new DDS now and not focus on their older models.

I hope the DDS body will be offered separately soon on the USA site. (Not just as a fullset doll. ^^)

[Lolita Lacemaker]

And remember, every joint of your doll can become loose after a while, especially from removing and re-attaching joints, but don’t worry! Wrapping the joint’s shaft with a tiny piece of invisable tape will make the joint thicker and avoid it from coming off easily!


(from Sumika Times)

It's not masking tape but sounds similar.

...Maybe someone can email Volks and say, "My 27cm doll's joints are really loose. What should I do?"

I have a very very very loose 1/6 volks. As in pick her up and she practically explodes. I was thinking of 'thickening' her posts using medical paper tape. Once I get her back from my friend who kidnapped her I will try tightening her up. I don't mind if she is floppy, but I don't like that she falls apart worse than a high school diva dumped on prom night.

[1/6andtinylover]

Makes me wonder if there are some sort of sillicone tube things that would fit over the joint shafts to fix the posing.

[Biff]

I think I'd just put clear nail polish on them. :3 I really am not a fan of the 1/6 Volks beauty bodies jointing style though. x.x They fall apart way too easy

[K2!]

I truly doubt they'll be selling internal parts for DD2 as they're probably only going to really push all the way for their new DDS now and not focus on their older models.

I hope the DDS body will be offered separately soon on the USA site. (Not just as a fullset doll. ^^)

They have announced the DD3. They'll probably be pushing that.

[SetsunaKou]

Wow!! That's awesome, K2-sama!!

From the caption on the picture, it says she's using the same type of frame as the DDS, but has the same body line as the DDII base body, so the DDII heads, hands and dresses will fit her, too. I don't see much difference from the DDII----I guess it's mainly the poseability factor because of the new frame? ^^

(As a side note, I didn't realize before that 'DDS' stood for 'Dollfie Dream Sister'! Thanks for sharing that picture as I finally read the meaning of DDS!! :laughs:

[-T2P-]

I don't know if anyone has suggested this before but I usually use Future floor polish to tighten up joints on my various transformers and action figures.

http://www.amazon.com/SC-Johnson-11182-Pledge-FutureShine/dp/B000ARPH4C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310238891&sr=8-1

I don't know if i would use it on dolls with soft vinyl (though as long as you were careful about not getting it on the soft parts themselves it might be ok), but the main advantage it has over the old super-glue and nail-polish methods are there's no chance of the joint 'sticking' permanently. I've even used it on hinge joints with great results.

One word of warning though, it will make the area you put in on shiny so make sure it only gets in the joints and not all over the place!