SD FAQ

Maybe you're seen an intriguing picture on the web, or had an image of one uploaded to your doll club that caught your eye. Maybe your resin kit or 1/6th figure modeling has brought you here. However you found Super Dollfie, welcome!

This FAQ is only one small resource. Den of Angels also has a lot of information.

A few notes before we begin:
Please be aware that Super Dollfies and Dollfies are not the same thing, and refering to Super Dollfies as Dollfies is in fact incorrect. Dollfies are the range of 1/6 dolls that Volks releases; more information on them can be found at Nat's Dollfie site and they have their own groups, separate from Den of Angels. If you wish to shorten Super Dollfies, refer to them as SDs to avoid confusion.
Super Dollfie have fans around the world, and Den of Angels has many international members.
When referring to words and terms created by Volks, such as Super Dollfie, an effort has been taken to maintain the Japanese style of word usage. However, Japanese names have been presented in the Western fashion, with family names last, as this is customary for Japanese when dealing with primarily English speakers.

Although this FAQ deals primarly with Super Dollfie, we have tried and are trying still to incorporate as much information as we can about the many other similar ball-jointed dolls that are now available on the market. There is less easily available information about these newer dolls around, so if you have something to contribute, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Big thanks to Janne and Cassiel for doing so much work on this FAQ! :)!

Please send corrections and comments to:
cassiel AT crysania DOT com,
aimee AT aimeemajor DOT com
janne AT comcast DOT net

Super Dollfie (or SD) are made by Volks in Japan, a company that has been making high quality models and resin figure kits for over 30 years. They started with resin figure kits, etc, and then eventually moved into 1/6 scale "dollfie" dolls as well. Super Dollfies themselves all started basically when Mr. Enku sculpted a one-off a kind doll (SD size and style) for his wife. The doll used old stringing and ball-joint techniques that were developed at least a hundred ago in Europe, but the doll had a very expressive look and a bit more developed balljoints. (For more information on old-style balljoint dolls see Jumeau Tete Bebe, Gebruder Kuhnlenz and Schoenau and Hoffmeister. ) An executive director saw the doll and wondered if they would be made in larger numbers. The first Super Dollfie was made in 1998 and were Sara/Kira/Nana/Megu, etc (all with the same headmold of course). They are dolls, yes, and more. They combine the beauty of the Japanese aesthetic sense, and the companionability of dolls with the resin figure finishing and painting hobby to create something altogether new and wonderful. Volks says, "Your SD is born from your heart and subconscious mind. It is your dearest partner, growing with you day by day and sharing endless time with you. She is an understanding partner, in touch with those who are aware of her magic. The times you will spend with her will be wonderful, because she can reach the real you!"

The idea is then, that Super Dollfie are made to be special just for you. Keep in mind that Volk's motto is "We Seek Creativity"! They're made to be customized specially for the owner, not to sit on a shelf or sit in a box. Volks wants you to take the doll and make it a reflection of you, or a special companion.

The name Dollfie comes from joining the words Doll and Figure, because they really are more than normal dolls. Volks started out with a 1/6 range of jointed Dollfie, then later expanded to include a range of much larger dolls, hence the name SUPER Dollfie. SDs have joints in their necks, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, (and for some of them, in their torsos) allowing them to be posed in any number of ways. They can sit, stand, lean over, hold out their arms for a hug.. in all ways, they mimic life. They are large and heavy and have a certain way of commanding your attention.

Often referred to as Precious Daughters and Sons by Volks, Super Dollfie are individually cast and assembled from Volks molds in Japan, not made by machine or in volume in foreign factories. All phases of the process are done by hand with strict quality controls.

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SD bodies are composed of polyurethane resin. This is a heavy, sturdy material that can be subtly reshaped by gentle sanding. It has a somewhat similar look to porcelain, but is much more durable. This resin is similar to what Volks uses to make their resin garage kits.

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There are currently 7 kinds. (not including FCS)

Eventually Volks plans to have these: SD Rei Tenshi < SD Sei Tenshi < SD Yu Tenshi (Youtenshi)< SD Ko Tenshi< MSD< SDC< SD< SD13< SD16< Mother SD

Mother SD, is probably the statue scene here with some youtenshi, and probably not intended for sale at any point.

Sei-Tenshi - "Spirit Angels" - SeiTenshi are slightly smaller/different than Youtenshi and are volks smallest dolls so far. Originally VOLKS released only 3 SeiTenshi and they were given out as kindof a "lotto" item at Dolpa 12. Hoh, Hikaru and Hook were the first three. After that VOLKS has started to give them away as lottery gifts at special events in Japan and the USA. They are never available for sale (except for rarely on the aftermarket). They have a non-jointed torso.

Yo-Super Dollfie (YoSD)/ Yo-tenshi - A little bigger than Sei-tenshi. They are smaller than MSD and look like tiny fairies or toddlers! They have jointed waists. (then "tenshi" variation is available only at Tenshi No Sato in Kyoto japan and has wings... normal Yo-SD do not have wings.)

Mini-Super Dollfie (MSD) are larger than youtenshi and are child-like in the same way that yo's are. They seem a little older than youtenshi. Compared to Super Dollfie, they have thicker bodies. They have jointed waists.

Super Dollfie Cute (SDC) are about MSD sized but have a more mature body, and a special extra possible joint system.

Standard Super Dollfie (SD) come assembled with a non-jointed waist, or can be put together from parts with an optional jointed waist and several optional heads, arms, legs, hands and feet. They are said to represent children about ten years of age.

Super Dollfie 13 (SD13) have slightly more grown-up looking faces, thinner waists, jointed torsos, and the girls have larger busts, like a 13 year old child.

Andolrea U-Noss (UNOSS) (DISCONTINUED) has a non-jointed waist, and a distinct, sexier body mold, as well as a mechanism that gives her poseable eyes. Andolrea U-Noss' parts are not interchangeable with the same-size Standard SD. U-Noss comes either as a blonde android type, Seina, or a brunette devil type with horns, Aika. Android parts and horns are removable.

Volks release both regular and limited edition SDs. The regular ones can be bought off the shelf and are continually produced by Volks. Limited edition SDs are released for special events only, and only a certain number of them are made to be sold. More information on the regular and limited edition releases can be found at Aimee's site here.

Also there is "FULL-CHOICE-SYSTEM". Which allows you to choose almost every part of your doll and Volks assembles and specially creates the doll for you. This provides special heads also that are only available in FCS (as well as access to some limited heads.)

There are also exclusive heads that you can get by going to a painting class.

For another look at the available kinds of SD, a visit to the Volks website is in order. Yes, it's a Japanese site, but they have an English version now also.

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Most SD type dolls all come as what is refered to as half assembled goods, which basically means all you have to do is put on their wig. (A wig is included.) Their bodies are already strung together, their faces are fully painted, and their eyes are already inserted. Any further customization is completely up to you.
SD can also be created from parts (you buy each part separately), and some of the Mini-SD come as unassembled kits (you buy all the parts at once as a kit complete with wig ). These need both assembling and painting. Volks will assemble a Mini-SD kit for you, for an extra fee.
Please be aware that while the Mini-SD kits are cheaper than the assembled versions, building a standard SD from parts is no cheaper than buying one already assembled.

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SD come in their own custom box cushioned between satin-like pillows. The half-assembled versions are fully strung, their faces painted, and their eyes inserted. They have a wig, and (usually) nothing else. Some of them may come with underwear, but not many. The limited editions will come with a full outfit, but for the rest, you'll have to be creative!

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Standard SD are 22", SD13 are about the same. Mini-SD and SDC are about 16". For complete measurements, please try these body measurements. Also, you can try this Japanese measurement database (that includes Cerberus Project, Volks, AngelRegion and Customhouse, etc. Measurements on it are in CM) Also this DD/SD/SD13 database on the same site. For body comparisons with other ball joint dolls try these Comparison Shots and also try Karin's comparison shots.

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Volks sells wigs and eyes. They have SD clothes, boots and shoes too. Ask your buying service for details. Volks accessories, custom-made SD clothes, (and even SD) are also available through Yahoo! Japan auctions.

Clothing can also sometimes be purchased from Japanese doll clothes makers through their websites. This is rare though as most people either sell on Yahoo! Japan auctions, or at doll conventions in Japan, and they often sell out almost immediately. (But if you search around sometimes you'll get lucky!) Also many Den Of Angels club members make SD clothing either for private sale or through eBay.

Wigs, eyes, shoes, and accessories are also available through US doll supply companies such as Global Dolls, Monique's, Miniworld and Tallina's. Please also see the links section.

Volks Accessories - Photos of carrying cases, stands and customizing equipment you can get from Volks. (ask your favorite shopping service!) If you're interested, also, here are scans of one of the older Super Dollfie Volks catalogues. Please keep in mind that these are older items and many if not all of them are not available anymore. But still, it's interesting!

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Standard SD can stand, with some effort on your part to balance and pose them. SD13, Mini-SD and U-Noss stand more easily than Standard SD do. Even though they are made from sturdy material and do not break easily, it is not recommended that you leave them standing by themselves where they could fall.

There are also several ways to make your SD more steady; see the 'Basic Customization Questions' section of the FAQ for more information.

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SDs (and many SD-like dolls) can be purchased in three different skintone colours: normal (fresh), sunlight (suntan) and snow (beauty white). The normal skintone is a natural, fresh, almost peachy colour. It is still a fairly pale colour, but is quite a bit darker than snow. Snow, as the name suggests, is a very pale white colour. Volks' original old version of beauty white has a slight yellowish tinge to it, while it is said that some other SD-like dolls come in a more milk white colour. However, now Volks has new pureskin snow, it is a pale white color described as being like a cherry blossom (it has a slight pinkish tinge and is gorgeous!) Sunlight skin is the newest skintone and is meant to look like a warm tanned skin color. It often photographs darker than it is. It's not actually super dark though,.. it's more of a warm skintone color. Not all dolls are available in all colours; many companies often only offer snow and sunlight skintone for limited edition dolls or FCS.

Neither skintone is "better" than the other -- the choice of colour is purely an aesthetic one. However, it's said that sunlight skin is NOT to be sanded like the other two can be. Volks will offer to sand sunlight skin for you (ie to sand seams) since they have a special method of avoiding discoloration with the sunlight skin. Even then though those who chose to have Volks sand their sunlight skin doll did notice a slight difference of color at the sanded areas (not too noticable though!). So sunlight skin would be the most fragile of the three.

Please note that all of the above is about "pureskin" which is the current skintone set of Volks. Volks previous had an older resin mix (with normal and beauty white color.) These dolls are slightly different in color, and actually are said to be a little less fragile than the new pureskin resin. Most people prefer the newer resin though because of it's lovely tone and translucence. It's unusual to have a doll break even with pureskin, and if it does, Volks will often fix the offending part (for a fee.)

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Not to be mistaken with the skintone colour, the difference between normal skin and pure skin is a difference of the resin itself. More recently (starting in about May, 2003) Volks began offering some of their dolls in a new type of resin, called 'pure skin'. Pure skin is slightly more matte than the old resin, and also slightly "luminous". Many owners say it looks much more natural and more like real human skin than the old resin.

Right now MOST Volks dolls are released in pure skin, including FCS.

Please see the directly previous question as well.

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This is really a matter of choice. The colour of pure skin and the colour of normal skin are very similar. For most people, the difference is not readily apparent at all, and you would probably not notice; there have been reported incidents of members accidentally stringing pure skin and normal skin body parts together without realising the difference! However there are some people who find the difference enough to put them off. You would have to decide for yourself.

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Since 2003 or so, Volks have started to "upgrade" the design of their SD bodies. The original SD bodies had flaws that were frustrating to some, and in an effort to please, Volks have tried to fix some of these design flaws.

So far, the standard SD girl body, the standard SD boy body, the SD13 girl body, the MSD body and the SD13 boy body have had 'new' versions released. These releases co-incided with the release of Volks' pure skin resin, so all 'new' body types have pure skin.

The SD13 boy body has in fact had two new body types released. Two limited edition SD13 boys and one standard rerelease SD13 boy came with the first new body. Then more recently, two limited edition SD13 boys came with an even newer body, muchly improved over the first new body.

Although most limited edition SDs are now released with the new body types, the regular releases are a different story. As of yet, only 3 regular girls (Nana, Megu and Nono) have been rereleased with the new girl body, and only one regular girl (Mimi) has been rereleased with the new SD13 girl body. No standard boy has yet been rereleased with the new boy body, and no SD13 boy has been rereleased with the second new body; however the SD13 boy Syo has been rereleased, with the first new body.

Apparently, these new bodies are not yet available via the Full Choice System, and they are not available to buy as optional parts.

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We have many comparison shots here. Also try Karin's comparison shots!

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Dolpa = Doll Party. It is volks regular doll convention that occurs several times a year. The larger ones (Hometown Dolpas) usually feature the premiere of a new Volks product or dolls, etc. It is most often held in Tokyo Big Sight (a huge convention center in Tokyo, Japan which is also the site of Comiket.) Most Dolpa have over 500 booths by various dealers, etc, as well. The dealers sell custom outfits and accessories mainly. Often they are exclusively sold at Dolpa or on YJA, so Dolpa offers a rare chance for those interested in buying custom clothing.

The Volks booth itself shows off new limiteds and elaborate displays of new products and dolls. There is also an "one-off" SD auction, a lottery for one-offs, and also a lottery for volks presents (sometimes outfits, sometimes dolls!). There is also a customized doll contest, a "tea room" for chatting with other doll collectors and photo sopts. Volks also has special "how-to" lectures (often customizing or care, etc.)

When going to Dolpa, people line up early but are admitted randomly (as long as you line up before a certain time.) They won't let you line up before a certain time either, which prevents people from lining up all night, etc. Once in the Dolpa, you choose to be part of one of three lines. One line is for buying the new Volks Limited dolls (if there are any.) Another line is for "Tenshi no Sumika", being special new volks accessories and outfits being sold at the Dolpa before being released in stores. The last line is to be admitted into the dealers room (and not the other two lines). Often because of all the interest in various things, you really can only choose to do one of the three lines, because by the time you are done with the dealer's room for example... the limiteds will be sold out, etc. Popular dealers will also sell out quickly!

However for those who go to Dolpa, if they miss out on getting one of the lucky limiteds, they are now able to preorder one of the limiteds at the dolpa for later delivery, so no one goes home emptyhanded!