A happy surprise and an unhappy disappointment

[Dirili]

The good first:

A funny thing happened today! The other day I got an email from NT Doll about their new 1/4 dolls and they are soo cute! But I only collect the big dolls and I have waaaay too many of them here and on the way. So I told them I'd pass it on to DOA and that they should also contact BJDCollecstacy.com to get some exposure.

I went and posted in the news in DOA and started threads for NT doll in the 1/3rd and 1/4 categories.
For the 1/3rd doll thread, I thought it would be best if I made a composite pic of their 4 available dolls as a thread opener. Then today I visit BJDCollecstacy as I tend to every day and I was happy to see an article on NT Doll there. I clicked the link and there was a pic of the new 1/4 dolls and under that, a composite pic of the 1/3rd dolls. I looked at it for a second and thought "hmmm ther's something about this picture" and I realized it was the one I made! lol It's slightly resized, but when I resized it to fit over the one I made, it was exact. The black bars are not perfectly arranged.

I thought it was pretty cool really hehe. I mean it was such a small thing that I did copying and arranging the pictures, but it's cool that it was useful to other people. And I really hope that I helped NT Doll to get more business.

The bad:

Well, this is my first big disappointment with dolly purchasing.

So I finally got my Cristy Stone Siren head today which at first was a happy surprise because I didn't even get a shipping notice. But then I opened it...

A little backstory: Back in August I contacted Cristy Stone and asked if I could buy just a head from the Siren doll. I was allowed to buy a head with faceup for $200. I initially wanted it blank, but apparently the dolls are manufactured overseas and the heads all have a factory faceup done so she or Jeff would have just had to wipe the faceup anyway and I wouldn't save any money, so I said to just send it with the faceup.

Unfortunately the factory faceup is not even close to the pics Since my photography is so crappy I can't show the bad detail, but the colors are completely different, the shape of the eye makeup completely different. It looks very cheap. The eyelashes are the worst part, and the dark line between the lips is all crooked and wavy. I couldn't get the detail in the photos :/

I had planned on redoing the faceup anyway, so that was a minor disappointment. What I'm really unhappy about is that the sculpt itself isn't as nice as had thought/hoped. It's mostly the nose. The sides of the nose aren't shaped right and it has a bad profile. I think the pics of it on the site with the nice faceup makes it look better too, but after I got the head, I went and looked at the pictures again and realized that there were no pictures of the head in profile view. I don't like the sculpting inside the ears either and those were also covered in the product pics. *sigh* There were lots of pics too just not from a whole lot of angles.

So now I have to do some really careful editing because it's hard to reshape resin in crevices like the sides of the nose :/

Mostly I'm just very sad because $200 is a lot for a single head with a bad faceup in a sculpt that isn't what I expected. I kind of feel cheated. Guess I should have been more careful about my shopping

Here's some shots of the head I just got:


And this is what I was expecting:


Alright, /pittyparty
sorry for the semi-rant

[Stormlight]

Wow, Yeah, what a difference! Obviously the reference pic has a face by Christy Stone herself, who is probably way more skilled than the workers in the factory (at least she'd BETTER be, given the amount she charges for her faceups!). I dunno, to me the sculpting doesn't look that bad, but that faceup ... Bobobie charges $10 for their basic faceups and they look better than that! Those eyelashes are ... a little scary. They make her look like a baby doll. I'd be disappointed, too.

Very cool that the pic you made got used by the doll company, though.

[Greyhaunt]

Reminds me of back when Angel of Dream dolls started out - very nice sculpts, really hideous faceups.

It does suck though when you get a doll and it doesn't live up to the images you've seen. I've been there too. Good thing you weren't counting on a nice faceup, because man, that one you got on yours really sucks, the colors are horrible ;p

[Lif]

Thats a pretty expensive disappointment! In the company picture shes gourgous! But in the picture you made shes looking quit cheap...
Did you contact the manufacturer about this? I wonder what their explanation would be..
Its still a really nice shaped face tho. Only the nose is a bit weird án profile.
Can't make out the crevices of the ears that well in your pictures.
Sad that such a pretty doll comes with such a disappointment for you

[Dirili]

Glad I'm not the only one that thinks the faceup looks so cheap!

I didn't talk to them about it because I think this is a new production situation for Cristy Stone, so she probably just saw how the first batch of dolls came back herself. Maybe she'll change companies.

[Lif]

Still might be a good idea to atleasd let them/her know of your feelings about it.
If I was selling a product I would want to know if anything I sold anything unsatisfying to the buyer.

[Kirahfaye]

Total agree with Lif. Even though you were planning on redoing the face-up, you should let her know. I know companies protect themselves by stating the face-up might not look identical to the photo, but what you got looks a bit amateurish.

[Dirili]

True...
I didn't want to say anything negative to her because I felt like I was getting a favor in the first place by asking to buy just a head when she doesn't normally offer them that way. But it could be good to let her know if she doesn't know how the quality is turning out...

[Lamia of the Dark]

Send it back. Demand your money back.