Why YOU should purchase legit

Note: I've avoided posting this because I didn't want to offend some friends, but it's come to a point where I can't not post it. This was before I'd done a lot of thinking about recasts, so it doesn't express my full current understanding/view point. I'll do a more in depth, updated one soon ish.

Let's face it, recasts are pretty great. They give you access to expensive, high-end toys at a fraction of the cost, in colors your otherwise could never get, and often molds that are long-since sold out. I was pro-recast, but have since changed to recast-neutral. My intention is to get you to consider the importance of supporting the companies you love.

This is only my opinion, so take this for what it is worth.

There are so many discussions about whether BJD companies are small-time artists, companies, factories, etc. To me, this is irrelevant. I think of it in only one term: shrinkage.

A company, whether it be Walmart or the mom-and-pop quilt store down the street, measures the loss of product as shrinkage. Loss of product can be translated as loss of profit: e.g. loss of a sale or opportunity to make money off a product. When a shoplifter takes the sneakers, that's shrinkage. When the worker accidentally drops a crate of milk and the gallons burst, that loss of product is also shrinkage. When a person purchases the recast doll, the company sees that as a potential lost sale as shrinkage.

Recasts are shrinkage, and eventually they will take their toll on the larger company. The more people steal sneakers and shopping carts, the higher prices will rise to compensate for this lost sales potential and excess expenditure. They will also cease producing new product if the sales potential is not there.

Many argue that they would have never purchased from the company in the first place, so that by purchasing a recast they are not in this category. The company will not see it that way.

Prices rise and employee pay, hours, and benefits plummet to compensate for shrinkage.

I'm not an economist, so my understanding here could be a bit flawed, and I'm totally up for entertaining more opinions and ideas. Many see recasts as a way to put pressure on the doll market. We are not the doll market's primary customers. People in their respective countries are. We Westerners are an after thought, an extra market. In our home markets we have ways of putting pressure on businesses to indicate the need for higher or lower prices and more or less of a product. We don't have the ability to do that in foreign markets. DoA is the only way I personally can think of to affect these foreign markets, other than purchasing recasts.

I do believe that companies do not see it as, "Oh, they bought a recast because our basic is too expensive! Maybe we should reconsider our prices!" Instead they get offended and sometimes aggressive (like my personal encounter with Souldoll). It is my hope they will eventually understand why recasts are purchased when basics are available. It seems to be cultural differences regarding finances and economics that get in the way. Methods that work in one country just offend those in the other. I think this is improving as time passes and think that it will continue to do so, maybe even to the point where we have mutual understanding.

So when you can, when it is an option, try to save and purchase from legitimate companies. This means if you love Fairyland, buy from Fairyland. You will help keep prices in check and your favorite companies producing new dolls to love.

Don't worry: I'm no hypocrite. I had the funds and the opportunity to purchase from my favorite company. I did. I could have purchased an army of recasts, but I supported my favorite company to show them I do appreciate their work…even if I do own a couple knock-offs too. 

This post was originally written last year, before most of the drama regarding recasts happened. It seems even then I understood the risk of recasts. Since then, I've been selling off most of my recasts (at this time I have four recast anthros). If I hadn't modded these guys and made them so special, I'd be replacing all of them with legits too. I can't do that, so I'll be buying only legits from here on out. 

My next post will dive deeper into this.

And if this article doesn't have an impact on you, read this article here.

http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/

I really hope this hasn't offended anyone...

Thank you for reading, and happy collecting.

When Dye Jobs Go Wrong

Sometimes it happens. For the first time, it happened to me! I have a few theories about why this one went bad:

• My pan may not have been perfectly clean
• There may have been sealant residue or residue from the cleaning product used to remove the face up
• Mold release/odd sanding (as this has kinda happened on my other dragons)

Darker colors seems to be  more difficult to dye correctly. I want to test a few more pieces out with darker colors to see what happens. *goes on the hunt for recast spare parts*

I had little to no issue with the pinks and even the dark, dark purple on Grim's parts, so it has to be something more than just the dye itself. In any case, I'm not too worried. The only reason I dyed it as a base was because I didn't want to have to struggle to airbrush the super tiny parts on Penny. It'll be much easier now that they're dyed.

A Summary of the Issues:

1. This weird splotchy part on the face
2. This cool scale-like pattern on both legs (I'll be incorporating this because it looks cool)
3. Weird, brown stain, only on the belly. Wondering if it burnt slightly? Not a clue on this one.
4. Uneven coloring, common along seam lines, sanded areas, and areas with mold release. 

To fix this dye job, I'm going to be airbrush it!

If you don't have an airbrush, I'd suggest going the My Little Pony customizing route and begin layering thinned acrylic over the top. Use light layers and let them dry thoroughly in order to avoid streaking. Seal it well (one to coats of mod podge and Army Painter), and then blush and add details as normal. You could also attempt to remove the dye with a good soak in a cleaner or scrub it down and try it again.

I can see how someone who didn't know what to expect or encountered this on their first try would be pretty upset. I'm not upset at all, but then I have the tool to easily fix it. My suggestion is that if this happens to you, be in good spirits about it. How can you incorporate the weird parts into your overall design? What can you do to cover it? Take everything in stride, and just relax. It's all mostly fixable!

I'll update after I've finished the airbrushing. Stay tuned!

Eyeco Eye Review

(There is a post coming soon that is a photo comparison of various types of eyes.) Eye Comparison and Info Post

The models are Jack and Jill, my legit feeple 60s. I have 13mm eyecos in Jack (Mirwen), and I think I'll be going smaller. Jill (Chloe) is wearing 15mm, which may be a tad too small for her.

Items: Soft platinum glass dreamy blue in 13mm and forest in 15mm

Price range: $15 on up (The price increases for quality of the eye and size; the "fantasy" colors range a bit on the higher side.)

Speed of order: Pretty good. They shipped out about a week after I ordered and took only a few days to arrive (they're in the US and so am I so it didn't take too long).

Communication: Good. They sent me an email order confirmation, but no tracking number or anything like that.

Ease of ordering: Easy. I just used their website and paid via paypal.

Range of colors: Not a super wide range of colors to choose from, as Eyeco tends to focus on very realistic colors and styles. You'll find a range of blues, greens, and browns, with the less common grays and a few purple shades.

Accuracy of color to website: Close. The greens are definitely paler than the site would suggest, even in different lights. The blue eyes are very close!

Quality: 9/10- only dinging them because they don't pack the eyes real well when they ship them, so one pair of my eyes had a little knick in the white part.

Notes:

• You don't want the polyglass eyes. Those are a bit cheaper and are made for reborn dolls and other dolls like that.
• The sizes tend to run a tad small, imo, but that's good. If you want a softer look, order a bigger size.
• Where most eyes are in even numbers for sizing (8mm, 10mm, 12mm, etc), eyeco eyes are odd  numbered (11 mm, 13mm, 15mm, etc).

Where to buy: https://eyecoltd.com/