Volks Dolpa in LA 5 – Part 2

Following Part 1 of my Dolpa report, it’s time for the conclusion!

Dolpa Day 2: Sales, Lottery and Auction Doll

Day 2 followed a similar format to previous LA Dolpas – there was a morning lineup for the Sumika shop, with the starting order re-arranged by a random drawing. In this case attendees who had pre-purchased badges online had priority for the line, but otherwise it followed the normal Dolpa lineup process.

Here’s how it works –

First, everyone who’s waiting around forms into a line and is assigned a number in order starting from 1.

Then, Volks staff draw slips with numbers, and the number drawn becomes the new beginning of the line.

The original front of the line moves to the end, forming up from in the same order again behind the new leader.

I made a little diagram like so-

 

Some folks found this confusing and outrageous – I’ve done it enough times that I wasn’t surprised at this point, but I realize that’s not the case for everybody. So you know- if you’re ever at a Dolpa lineup, getting there early and being first in line is not necessarily going to work in your favor.

In my case, being near the front of the line wasn’t too bad, since the new line lead was closer to the end. Once the former line-enders went through the shop, there were still lots of interesting goods to buy. I was able to pick up some outfits I missed out on from after events, a cool dealer-made outfit from Japan, and few more odds and ends to round it out.

After making my way out of the shop, I went to try the gacha games and got myself a cute DD T-shirt. Apparently these games sold out pretty quickly so going right away worked in my favor. Since I was done shopping early, I also had plenty of time before the lottery doll deadline so I went and grabbed a number for the doll doctor/renewal setup.

I wanted to send off my Swd Syo head for renewal so I had packed it with me. As part of this service, Volks will replace the whole head- which in this case makes sense because this head had a lot of rough sanding done on it and although peeling would remove the yellowing it wouldn’t fix that over-sanding issue. Buying a new head from Volks may not be the best value proposition but after all the effort to fix her up I’m emotionally attached to this old head and wanted to do right by her, haha. There were quite a few dolls being sent off for renewal so I’m glad I was able to get in the line early and get Syo sent off. I filled out the form in advance and the process was quick once I was at the table, just a matter of confirming the details and paying through my Volks USA account.

Now the real highlight of the sales day for Dolpa is the doll lottery. This time there were no D’coords, but they had a good selection of 30 or so Dollfie Icons, a good many Dear SDs, a very limited quantity of Vocaloid dolls, and just a few older SD dolls as a Best Selection option. The new Dollfie Icon looks were even more gorgeous in person, this makeup was absolutely stunning and the outfits with coordinated poodle bags were super cute!

The way doll lotteries work at Dolpa LA is different from online – you choose one of the various dolls by their assigned number, and you can enter once for that specific doll. So instead of entering for a pool of identical dolls, it’s just the one and you vs everyone else who entered for that specific doll. I heard all sorts of strategies – pick the doll with the worst pose or worst lighting, and so on- but in the end the more popular sculpts will still have stiff competition.

 

The DearSDs were adorably tempting with their cute anniversary outfits! I originally was aiming for Marika (SD-106) but then found that in person I preferred Tiara (SD-86). After much hemming and hawing I ended up not entering for a DearSD after all – I may go after SD-86 as FCS instead, in a skin tone other than WS. I have a couple DearSDs at home and I’m trying to be really selective about who joins my doll collection going forward, as we are nearing capacity in the Doll Lab.

 

 

Once the lottery entries were submitted it was just a matter of waiting until the afternoon for the drawing, so I went with my pals to grab lunch and rest at the mall across the street.  Then following lunch we returned to the venue to chill with doll pals and trade gifts and goodies.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the auction model this time- a very exclusive WS Swd Tae SDGrG with an amazing Komame-themed outfit. I knew my photos wouldn’t do her justice so here’s an official one from Volks. It’s hard to see in the official photos but she even had a cute fluffy cat tail!

 

No surprise that she went for a crazy high price, even more than previous auction models at LA Dolpa. The wild part is that the funds didn’t go to charity this time, it was 100% to Volks! So my theory that folks who buy these pricey models are doing a fun tax write-off maneuver is proved wrong, haha.

Eventually Volks announced the results of the doll lotteries, by posting names on big signs next to the auction doll. It turned into a mob so I stayed far away until the crowd had cleared enough to confirm I didn’t get the Aisha that I entered for. I have two Icons already and I felt a bit guilty going for a third, so I’m glad they all managed to find good homes regardless. My travel companion did happen to win one, though!

After the winners were posted Volks staff starting packing up Best Selection and lottery dolls into their boxes. Since the whole process was taking forever we had to plead mercy from the Volks staff to prioritize my friend’s doll so we could catch our flight out of LA that evening. Fortunately the staff were very accommodating and we were able to get our stuff sorted (and dolls packed) in time for our return trip. I missed the rock-paper-scissors action for the lottery leftovers, but left pretty happy with what I was able to snag.

In retrospect I should have planned another night in LA to avoid the rush, but I won dolls at previous Dolpa lotteries which got sorted very quickly, and I wasn’t expecting this event to go past 5pm even for winners. Big thanks again to Volks staff for helping us out! I’ll plan better next time ^_^;

Overall, I had a great time at Dolpa in LA 5. Even though the event felt less ambitious than prior conventions and there were no pre-order dolls to pickup this time, it was still a great opportunity to meet with doll fans from all over, see so many cute dolls, and show some support for this very niche hobby. After pandemic my energy for crowded events is thoroughly diminished, so I felt that a shorter and smaller event was about as much as I could manage anyway. It was cool to meet in person many of the staff from USA and Japan whose names I’ve seen over and over online. I’m also glad to hear that Volks USA plans to resume their online FCS services which is a really nice option for us fans in North America. Now, fingers crossed that we’ll have another US Dolpa soon!