#volks japan

[calochortus]

Zoe by Nat Via Flickr: Volks SDM - F- 40

[otto-boyd]

Will you marry me?

[fujiselect]

[queenofsquids]

There was this listing on Y!Japan with only the torso photo as the thumbnail. But I recognized the Unoss body and when I clicked through it looked like ... every part was there? Including the head with unmodded lashes and eyebrows?!

So I dithered over making a bid for a while, then saw other people were bidding on it so figured everyone else realized it was a full Unoss too and I wouldn't have a chance of winning. But I put a max bid thru Buyee last night and woke up this morning to find I won the auction at $240 😱

Now I'm sweating like I sure hope my scrutiny of the listing photos is correct and I'm not gonna get a rattling box of loose parts missing a critical joint or anything. Fingers crossed. I really want an unmodded Unoss!

Also is that black stuff on one thigh gonna turn out to be magic-eraser-able, or am I gonna have to gird myself for ... ugh ... sanding

*vibrating*

[nifkii]

kuni_32r

[timetochaing]

[yuthana]

Vintage retro VW car litho tin toys Japan. VW Volkswagen beetle blue car tin friction powered. Unbranded, from Japan 80s 90s. Buy it now on eBay Click the link >>>>> https://www.ebay.com/itm/226506408963

[incorrectpot]

Jürgen: Hey Byodoin, do you take criticism?

Byodoin: I do not, and do not speak to me or my team ever again.

[momohitsthespot]

Arvou S2000 @ Attack Tsukuba 2023

Wow, where do I start… this whole writing process on the here seems so foreign to me now. The last entry on this site was in late 2021, so it’s been well over a year since I’ve posted anything on here. I guess you can chalk it up to a combination of me being lazy and just a lack of material that I really wanted to edit and post. Also, I was putting a lot of focus on my social media channels and…

[vividracing]

New Post has been published on https://www.vividracing.com/blog/a-inside-look-into-the-process-of-manufacturing-rays-wheels/

A Inside Look Into The Process of Manufacturing RAYS Wheels

So you’re in the market for a set of Rays wheels… The good news is, you have a refined sense of style. There is no denying Rays manufactures some of the best-looking wheels in the industry. From Volk Racing to Gramlights, these people know what they’re doing. Bad news, for the majority of us at least, this purchase will put a large dent in the budget. Is it worth it? Well, today, we are going to dive into what goes into creating what might be the most sought-after wheels in automotive history and is it enough to sell you on investing in what might be the world’s greatest wheels?

World-class quality, outstanding strength, and eye-catching beauty are some of the few words one can use to describe Rays Wheels, and even then one is still short of words. Rays Engineering is a Japanese brand known for manufacturing original forged wheels, their use of the latest technology helps them produce lightweight wheels that don’t compromise on strength. The company has several wheel brands such as Volk Racing, Homura, Team Daytona, Versus, Gram Lights, and more designed to meet all car enthusiasts’ needs.

When it comes to manufacturing these wheels, Rays uses advanced technology, and expertise to bring you wheels that are stronger (for your safety and security on the road), lighter (as it increases driving pleasure), and beautiful. The brand uses original manufacturing methods and quality materials to create the ultimate in forged aluminum wheels. If you are wondering about the materials used and the manufacturing process, this article is about to answer all of your raging questions. When it comes to manufacturing their word class wheels, Rays starts with;

Selection of Material – Rays wheels are made using Aluminum 6061 alloy. Before forging the billets, they are first heated to over 500 degrees Celsius to ensure strength and enable the material to be shaped into different designs.

Modeling Forging Process – In this process, Rays engineers shape the heated Billet material using molded form forging dies. This process happens in three stages, the first stage is when the Billet material is made into a pancake shape with a diameter close to that of the finished wheel, during this process, a ton of pressure is applied. The second stage is a step-by-step mold forging from the pancake shape to help it achieve the lightweight spokes and the cross-sectional shape. The second stage is where the center of the spokes is hollowed out. The final forging process brings out the overall shape of the wheel as the hollowed-out portions formed in the second forging are transformed into u-shaped cross-sections characteristic of thin-walled. The final stage is what helps these wheels to achieve the desired rigidity, strength, and lightness.

Forming the Final Detailed Shape – By using their in-house technology, proprietary dies, and machine, they heat the wheel to form the final detailed shape and simultaneously form the outer and inner rim.

Heat Treatment – After forging and rim forming, the wheel is heat treated to maximize its unique properties such as tensile strength.

After these processes, there’s mounting processing, where the outside and inside of the wheel are machined to achieve a precise balance, then there’s PCD drilling, a process that requires very high precision, there’s edge trimming, knurling which is a process that improves wheel performance on race cars as it helps prevent slipping between the tire and the wheel that might occur due to repeated sudden acceleration and deceleration, and there’s a painting process which is a vital process that improves wheel’s corrosion resistance.

Before they hit the market Rays Wheels are put through tests, and inspection for defects. Some of the rigorous tests they go through include load fatigue tests, fatigue durability, and more to ensure that the wheels add comfort, and improve driving performance. The basis of Rays Engineering is to manufacture ideal wheels that are strong and lightweight with beautiful designs. The final stage of manufacturing Rays Wheels is polishing and powder coating. The wheel surfaces are carefully polished by hand to remove the lubricant applied during mold form forging as well as galling marks from hot forging so as to ensure a beautiful finish for subsequent decorative painting. Powder coating is important as its thickness enhances anti-corrosion performance.

If TE37s are what you’re after; check out this video. Get some deep insight into the history and what is the difference between all of the different TE37 models.

  When it comes to wheel manufacturing, Rays Engineering has reached new heights in wheel design as most of their forged wheel manufacturing processes are performed by machines except for the final inspection which is done by their engineers. At the end of the process, the engineers put certification stickers on the wheels to show that they have passed the rigorous tests and met the standards. Rays Engineering manufactures its wheels in such a way that they meet very high standards, and we at Vivid Racing are proud to be their largest stocking dealers in North America.

Click Here to Buy Their Products in Our Shop

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5glBHADoug[/embedyt]

[rudnitskaia]

FINALLY.

FINALLY THE PRECIOUS GIRL GOT ATTENTION. *_____*

An Amelia is in development

[fujiselect]

[curiobjd]

I won a Volks Sara from Yahoo!Japan that needs TLC. Turns out she is from 1999. I can't wait to work on this 25 YEAR-OLD lady.

Doll nudity below the cut

She was painted lighter but it is patchy.

No, not the super sticky grey putty! I hate the feeling of this stuff, ew. Also there was a strip of wide clear tape over the putty. Odd. o.O

The sueding smells of leather and needs to be reapplied. In addition to the odd elastics and knots interfering with poses, one of the feet has a home-made hook in place of the original string.

Pity I don't think I'll be able to fix her all up before the anime convention, since not only did I get our local group of BJD collectors an exhibition table there, the theme of the convention this year is Y2K.

[tollundwoman]

I will fully cop to the fact that Undead Unluck is like basically a melting pot of shit that is quintessentially me-core, and that 100% colors my view of it. However, on the other hand, I don't care, this shit is still fucking complete fuego top to bottom.

Like, i get that the humor at the start is very unsavory and hard to swallow for some people, and I don't hold that against them. But the way it pays off on the initial rocky relationship between Andy and Fuuko is 10000000000000000000000000000% worth the price of admission.

And like, the character designs coupled with the art scratch a fucking primal itch in my brain. I could *look* at Undead Unluck forever. It's such a goddamn FUN style, and it's matched by a strong grasp on slick, readable page layouts. Not to mention the way the series is constantly moving its setting. In the first, like, thirty chapters alone, they go to Japan, Russia, The USA, Brazil, Australia, etc. I'm such a sucker for globe trotting.

The cast is very visually diverse. They all look cool, and so it's appealing to me on that level, but you can also just TELL that Tosuka adores his OCs. Like, fucking Void Volks, the basically nameless and faceless redshirt from volume 1? Yeah he's a core member of the cast now. Gina? The woman who died in volume 2 to advance Fuuko's plot? No she gets her happy ending actually and she gets to actually be friends with Fuuko. Like you want to talk about side cast utilization, this series should be setting a new fucking gold standard in WSJ as far as im concerned, One Piece notwithstanding.

And the worldbuilding. God, the worldbuilding. I'm a sucker for SCP/Magnus Archives-esque shit on a subatomic level and UDUL doesn't disappoint at all.

God, and how the powersystem is intrinsically tied to the worldbuilding on such a goddamn fundamental level, and how basically every superpower in the series has a purpose outside of combat, and just god shit fuck it's so fucking god damn good and I just wish I could like fucking bottle up the feelings that I feel about this series as an Imbibable Liquid and have you all drink it to actually understand how much I love this series because I genuinely feel that a) I will never be able to *fully* articulate why I love this series and b) I also totally understand why someone would think I'm a fuckin maniac for just how strong my feelings about it are. Like it's probably the epitome of like, "That Pretty Good thing that is just randomly a masterpiece to one specific person on the planet." But I happen to be that one specific person, and to me, Undead Unluck is That Pretty Good Thing.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

CW: Politics, Human Rights discussion

I Collect BJDs, Too. Trump's Second Term Should Alarm You.

We should all know by now that Trump winning the presidency this year is catastrophic for the basic human rights of minorities in the US (and abroad, let's be completely honest here). He is planning to enact a political playbook of draconian laws meant to 'bring back' a fictional ideal of the US, one that sees everyone subservient to conservative cishet white men. This is not fear-mongering, it is simply a cold hard fact that the people backing him financially have a lot to gain from instilling a form of government that solely caters to their whims and desires, and a lot of the Project 2025 playbook not only gives the power to white men in general over that of women, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC people within our boarders, but will give power to the wealthy white men in this country who want to own everything, including our very bodies.

This should concern you. I don't know how else to express to you that it should concern you. There are not enough words at my disposal to express just how dire this situation is for all of us. And if you aren't concerned, and you're a BJD collector like I am, then allow me to make it personal so you can understand.

These tarrifs will result in much narrower access to BJDs as a whole. I'll use V0lks as an example: V0lks has a store based in the US, in Los Angeles. They send this store batches of dolls and clothes and wigs and eyes and replacement parts periodically to help keep them stocked. When they run out of a thing (unless that thing was being phased out/replaced/discontinued), the employees make a list of what they need, use their own profits to pay for it, and then Volks would send them new stock to fill the gaps. When the tarrifs take hold, this new stock will be more expensive, since Japan in general will be forced to pay higher import tarrifs. That means the US Volks location will have to spend more money on the restock shipments, which will in turn make the dolls more expensive so that Volks can maintain a substantial profit margin; but these tarrifs will backfire, because a 20%-60% increase will not translate to good profit for Volks, which means the US location will be shuttered to keep Volks from hemorrhaging money, which means your only option would be to buy your dolls from Japan... and you'd be paying the extra shipping money, because it will still cost Volks extra money to ship dolls into the US. This may result in Volks choosing not to ship dolls to the US at all, meaning you won't be able to buy any of their dolls again unless you can find a third party willing to spend their own money to send you these dolls at even higher prices that include the profit THEY need to make for doing so.

Lots of doll companies are not as big as V0lks. A lot of them are considerably smaller. The smaller ones will cease operations in the US entirely right off the bat. Some will hold on, but eventually abandon us as a market. A lot of independant BJD artists in the US will not be able to make and sell their dolls because there are no well known (non-scammer) resin workers who will be able to help create a solid product the way that companies like V0lks or R1ngdoll or Lutz or Minifee can offer. Recast companies will also cease operations in the US, because they still need to import the recasts from the counterfeit suppliers in other countries who won't be able to afford the tarrifs point blank period. So if you thought that recasts would be an option, think again (they shouldn't be one anyway, but that's a different convo that we aren't gonna have right now).

These tarrifs, these policies, will affect vast swathes of non-American products, like snacks, drinks, food, entertainment, and toys. One of the big ones that overlaps with the BJD community, anime and manga, will likely vanish, as it will likely be deemed 'too adult' by the religious extremists in power. You will lose access to these things and you will not have another chance to get them for a very very very long time. By the time you do have the chance, some of the BJD companies whose market focus has been the USA might be completely gone. SmartD0ll, for example: their company relies on US consumption of their products, and they market HEAVILY to the US market because we are a really really easy demographic to market to on the global stage. Danny has staked a LOT of his company into our willingness to buy his extremely westernized anime dolls. They are not very popular in Japan, and he focuses very little on other markets where his negative behavior isn't as readily tolerated. Unless he does a massive pivot to a different market... SmartDolls will be gone. I won't speak on how I personally feel about SmartD0ll, but I know that a LOT of people love his product, and will be utterly devastated when they can never buy them again.

So, if you are in this community and voted for him, you should be worried. I know there are people in this community who did, because I've seen the alarming uptick of conservative rhetoric in this community first hand. At the end of the day, you are probably just as disillusioned with the US government and chose to vote accordingly. Even if that meant voting for a felon who has a vetted interest in toppling our current democratic structures and isolating the US economically and cleansing it ethnically and religiously. You will lose access to your dolls. Be ready for that.

~Anonymous

[montydollcrew2]

SD Owner’s Tokyo Bay Cruise 2024

Time for me to write another ‘experience’ post, about a month later, because it’s something I like to do. So back when I posted about my Omukae Ceremony last year, I said (on Instagram) that I’d always wanted to go on one of the Volks cruises. I had no way of knowing that they would announce another one that December for the following year!

This post is pretty in-depth so it’s very long and rambly and more for my own memories than anything else, but I hope it’s a little informative to anyone who is vaguely interested in the cruises.

Some background info, the Volks Cruises (or Super Dollfie Owners Appreciation Fair in Tokyo (or Kobe) Bay Cruise have happened at irregular intervals from (I think?)2005, to 2017, so it’s been a good while since the last one. They are mini events taking place on a short bay cruise, and going on them allows you to order certain dolls related to Oath of Silver Coin, Volks original line about pirates and the navy that gets lore added to it with every release.

Oath is one of their most popular lines and has been going for a while (the 2024 cruise was actually announced as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations). It’s cool to look back on the history of the line and see the change in the house style! I won’t say much about the lore other than the fact that Captain Cecile is the main character of the pirate side (and also my favourite Volks sculpt family) and Williams is the main character of the navy side and their relationship seems to be these first and last Kate Beaton strips. There’s fanficfion. I own a printed copy of some.

Anyway the 2024 cruise just happened to be around the time I was planning to be in Japan anyway for Magical Mirai Osaka, so entering the lottery for it was a no-brainer. Since the boat has limited capacity, entry is lottery-based. I genuinely didn’t expect to win - it’s the first cruise in a long time, the two limited dolls are particularly stunning (a 2024 version of Reisner, Captain Cecile’s obsessive first-mate, and new character Abelia, the navigator), there was only one scheduled cruise for sunset whereas previous years had 2 (day and sunset), so I figured competition was going to be very steep, but then I got a nice surprise in my inbox in late August.

Fast forward to the day of the cruise (3rd of November)

I attended a pre-cruise lunch with a small handful of other participants organised by usagicamera/usakame, a mutual of mine (and also the person who wrote and made printed copies of the gay pirate fan fiction), and since we were all kinda nervous it was a nice icebreaker. After that we went to the waiting area at Hinode pier. Here’s Cygnus waiting with usakame’s Captain Cecile in a maid dress and Teddy’s(another lunch attender I met that day) Elizabeth (Williams’s younger sister.), unintentionally looking like two rich siblings and their maid.

After some amount of time checkin began. They gave the GL (global) members a separate checkin line to make things smoother. I think besides me there might have been around 15-20 GL members present, but it was hard to tell because people were arriving all the time, and I was near the front of the queue so couldn’t see who joined after I’d checked in. We received a clear pouch on lanyard that contained a map of the boat, a numbered ticket, a voting slip for the best dressed contest and another ticket that told us which floor (of 3) we were assigned.

Because of the limited space on board, we were advised not to bring too much luggage onto the boat, so there was a cloak room for that reason. It also meant most people checked in their bulky doll bags and carried their dolls in their arms while they waited, and it was fun sitting and waiting while looking around at all the dolls suddenly appearing. (most of which were Oath related, although that wasn’t compulsory).

This was particularly funny because the waiting room was actually divided in half down the middle, with the other chairs for a different cruise that was around the same time - a wedding cruise, to be precise. So half of the room is people in evening dress and tuxedos, looking over in bewildered confusion at all the people - half of which were dressed as pirates, lolita or lolita pirates - carrying giant dolls.

While waiting to board a lot of people were using the photo-op space for the ship, including me. (Although our was a Symphony too the ship directly behind this was the wedding cruise, not ours)

When it was time to board, our assigned groups went in one at a time, starting with the first floor which had included me. Walking towards the ship, I spotted Volks mascot Komame (pirate edition) and Reisner hanging over the deck to welcome us aboard. I completely non-ironically love the Oath kigu cosplay that appears at these events, and the Reisner was really hamming it up, waving and gesturing for people to hurry up and board. (He also did finger guns at one point, but I wasn’t able to get a pic)

We walked past a string quartet performance as we entered the ship, which felt very fancy. I don’t have a photo of them but you can see them in the official event report. I’m not sure if it was something Volks organised specifically or just something that comes with all the Symphony cruises.

We were guided into the area with the main stage, which is also where the buffet was. I later learned that the 2nd and 3rd floor buffets had a giant screen that showed what was happening on the 1st floor stage, so I’m kinda glad I got to see the actual stage. Once everyone was on the ship, there was a welcome and a toast as we set sail - and then we were all allowed to move freely around the boat.

Me and my friends went straight to the Oneoff display (photos not allowed but they’re also on the official report), and it’s probably a good thing we did, because it meant we were among the first in and this didn’t have to spend a huge chunk of the cruise waiting in line like a lot of others did. They would only let a few in at a time and handed us a clipboard and pen with the entry form. After looking at the models in filling in the form, we put it in the treasure chest shaped entry box. On one hand, it was a good method to stop the area becoming too crowded, but the drawback was that it took longer and I later saw that the line was so long it snaked down the stairs and into another room.

The box was out on deck, so after coming out of the oneoff room I got to enjoy the deck with my friends right as sunset was beginning. There were some convenient places (drink rests?) to sit dolls on the railings which I was thankful for because I had so many visions of dolls falling overboard lol.

I was on deck for a while because it was fun, and because it was such a clear day you could even see Mt Fuji in the distance.

I then went downstairs a floor to see what the photo spaces were like, figuring I probably wouldn’t use them as there might be too many people, and I could see a huuuge line…but it turned out to be for the one-offs, and there weren’t too many people at the photo area at all. It was cool because they had combined the photo area with the Oath dolls display, so you could actually pose your own dolls amongst them.

Here is Cygnus standing awkwardly between Captain Cecile and Abelia. As for Reisner, he was on the other side of the display by himself. It was my first time seeing him in person. Actually now that I think of it, it was probably okay to sit a doll next to him on the seat, so I wish I’d done that. But there will be plenty of time for photos of Cygnus with a Reisner later.

I realised i hadn’t touched the buffet at all, so went to get my moneys worth at the closest one, which is when I saw the big screen - it was currently showing the tail end of the Best Dresser contest happening on the 1st floor which I had completely forgotten about until then. It seemed like the people who had registered for it were on stage explaining their outfits, but I’d missed most of it and was also too preoccupied with eating, so didn’t end up using my voting slip. 

After wandering a little more and meeting some friends here and there, I went back to the first floor for the big treasure raffle, which is what the ticket we were given when we checked in was for. There were a lot of prizes up for grabs and the winners were decided by the numbers randomly drawn out of the treasure chest. There were small accessories, doll outfits and a bunch of special Tenshi (the tiniest Volks dolls only ever available as raffle/bingo prizes.) As usual, I didn’t win anything (I have never won anything at Dolpa Bingos either), but it was still fun seeing how excited the winners got. 

The boat was coming back to the dock now, so it was time for the closing speech - which included a surprise announcement for the next Volks release. Everyone did the countdown together and then the Volks staff lifted up the giant placards to reveal the new Macha and Yumepi, a collab with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright! The dolls look spectacular and it’s been many years since a Baby collab, so there was a lot of hype and cheering. It was exciting to be among the first people anywhere to see these new dolls! And one lucky person won a Dolpa priority pass.

It was time to leave now, so everyone had to return to their assigned floors and wait until their group could leave, in reverse order to how we got on, so I was in the last group to leave. Volks staff on the docks were handing out goody bags for us as we left - they contained the newest issue of Volks News - 2 days before it would come out officially for everyone else, a letter of thanks from the Shigetas (the Volks owners, who unfortunately couldn’t come on the cruise this time) and some cute little trinkets in a $ bag. 

I guess I’ll let my Reisner play with them later (Even though I’d paid for him at the time I won my cruise ticket, the dolls themselves weren’t sent until nearly a month after the cruise, and mine was stuck in postal limbo for a bit and only got to me the other day). Some people were disappointed they couldn’t collect and take home the dolls from the cruise but I’m personally glad I didn’t have to manage to get another giant doll back with me, seeing as Cygnus was taking up a lot of luggage space as it was.)

So that was my first Volks cruise! I had no idea what to expect, but I had a ton of fun. The Volks staff were fantastic / they brought a lot of fun energy and were often mingling with the crowd - I even got to briefly talk to Ciera (one of the faceup artists). I got to hang out with some of my friends from Instagram and take photos with their dolls, and also meet some (although unfortunately not all) of my Twitter mutuals. The food was pretty good too, even if I didn’t get to eat that much of it.

But, there were some drawbacks that I hope will be addressed on future events. Mainly, it was very short - only about 2 hours - and that seemed to pass extremely quickly. With the amount of things to do, I really wish it had been at the very least an extra hour long. And I was one of the lucky people who didn’t spend most of it on the oneoff queue! Now, I didn’t win a oneoff, although it doesn’t bother me much as I didn’t expect to - I just knew I’d regret it if I never entered and I will take any chance at a Captain Cecile for RRP that I can. But I also was only in the line very briefly. I imagine it must be extremely frustrating to have been the people stuck in line for ages and ages, sacrificing so much of the time they could have spent enjoying the cruise, only to win nothing anyway - with only 10 one-offs total it was way more likely than not that you wouldn’t win.

The length also affected the Best Dresser contest - I was kinda interested in it, but like I said, was too preoccupied with trying to do other stuff that I missed pretty much all of it and so didn’t get to vote, and I imagine that lots of other people didn’t either (like the ones stuck in the oneoff line or out on deck). Some of the people who watched the whole contest may also have missed out on the oneoff line.

Otherwise, I noticed that Volks did multilingual announcements - Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but not English. I’m not sure how many English-only GL members were even present so I can’t say whether it was truly necessary, but it may have been confronting for someone if they didn’t know what was going on during some of the announcements. (However during the raffle when numbers were being called out they did call them out on English too, which they also do during Bingo at Dolpa)

But something I was a little more personally disappointed in was that I genuinely was looking forward to seeing the silly kigurumi cosplayers on board at some point, but Reisner was only visible when we boarded (and only from a distance). Looking at the event reports of past cruises, the cosplayers mingled with the participants and had photos taken with them. But this also could have been a time constraint thing.

The last cruise also had a giant cake with Williams and his midshipman Cain on it that looked like a wedding cake, so I was really hoping for something like that, but I didn’t see any large cake like that (there were lots of smaller cakes though, and they were very tasty - as well as a mystery plate of macarons somewhere that I only know about from other people’s photos - but I really wanted a pirate wedding cake 😔)

The time constraints would have made more sense had there been two cruises in the day like in the past, but this time only had the one, so there didn’t seem to be much reason to keep it so short (unless of course the time restriction was imposed by Symphony Cruises, which is likely)

But in all, it made for a great and unique memory. If I’m ever lucky enough for them to do another one during a time that works for me I’d gladly do it again.