I recently purchased my first Smart Doll, via a product called Smart Doll Fortuitous. I have owned similar dolls from other manufacturers such as Dollfie Dream by Volks, Hujoo, and Resin Balljointed Dolls, just to name a few. So I already had a good idea what to expect.
This blog post features a video of my unboxing below, and is sprinkled with photos I’ve taken of my new doll. In the video I mention that I thought I’d received her default wig, but someone kindly pointed out to me, that it was actually Crimson’s default wig, which is no longer available on the site, and I’ve had a ton of compliments/offers to buy the wig – but I’m waiting to hopefully get a boy – maybe Gemini – or maybe a custom Dollfie Dream like a tan dollpoint akihabara boy :). So I think I’ll hang onto the wig for now. I do like how the wig is all choppy/shaggy in the back/kinda spikey, I just think it will suit a boy better :). I like my girls to be all girly-girls. lol.
View this post on InstagramSmartdoll Fortuitous Box Opening Video. #smartdollfortuitous #Smartdoll #BJD #ABJD #cute #kawaii #anime #doll #dolls #toy #toys #animedoll #luckybag
Fortuitous is unique in that it is similar to the concept of “blind boxes” in that you don’t actually know what you’re going to receive until you open the box. Fortuitous comes with a bra and panties set, a random pair of eyes already inserted, and a random wig. Fortuitous comes in a few different types, including completely random, or allowing you to select if you prefer semi-realistic or anime style dolls.
View this post on InstagramTrying some wigs and outfits on my new Smartdoll Fortuitous Chitose. https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/smart-doll-chitose-cinnamon #Smartdoll #Chitose #SmartdollChitose #SmartdollChitoseCinnamon #SmartdollCinnamon #SmartdollCinnamonChitose #cute #kawaii #doll #dolls #toy #toys #smartdollfortuitous #luckybag #anime #animedoll #animedolls
I used to be into more realistic dolls, but for the last 3-4 years I’ve gone almost completely anime. I’ve been in the balljoint doll hobby for over 15 years now, with my first being Dollzone Demi which they no longer make. I have all different sizes, shapes, brands, and both legit and recast dolls.
Lately for the last 2 years I’ve mostly been buying exclusively Dollfie Dreams by Volks – and also found out that they can fit onto Dream Fairy bodies (which to my knowledge are not recast). And the Dream Fairy body is a perfect match for Volks Semi-White – they currently don’t offer anything that matches Volks normal skin though.
I recently began branching out into other doll brands. I’ve wanted a Smart Doll forever, I’ve been following the brand since day 1, when the talk of having an actual “Smart Doll” with artificial intelligence was the primary goal of the company. – I dunno if that will ever happen, but that’s what garnered my attention because I’m really fascinated by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. I want to live in a world like Chobits :).
But as of right now, the company only manufactures regular jointed dolls, similar to Volks, Obitsu, Dream Fairy, or Azone. – But that’s still fine for me, because I collect all these types of “jointed” dolls, whether they’re mechanical joints, or ball joints, or strung together, or have an internal frame, vinyl, resin, abs… whatever. lol.
The first Smart Doll I purchased, actually wasn’t fortuitous. I actually have a Smart Doll Chitose Multiverse on layaway with fabric and friends dolls – a US reseller of Smart Doll products. But I’m only about halfway through my 6 month layaway and so – since I purchased Fortuitous outright directly from the manufacturer, it naturally arrived first.
You do receive a small discount if you purchase Fortuitous and leave it up to fate which doll you receive. The discount (at time of when I purchased my Fortuitous) was 10% off completely random, or 5% off if you wanted to specify either Semi-Real or Anime. I chose to go for the Anime one since that’s all I’m really interested in these days. My more realistic dolls are packed away and I only display about 6 of my anime dolls right now.
I just purchased 3 Azone dolls, which is a “new brand” (to me, but they’ve been around for decades in Japan). I purchased 2 Azone Ex Cute Pure Neemo Dolls (small barbie size dolls) and a 50 cm using the Obitsu body – I am currently waiting on all 3 to arrive, with the first coming next week. But that’s a blog post for another day.
Someone on instagram asked me to compare and contrast the Dollfie Dream and Smart Doll body – but that’s also a blog post for another day lol.
Overall this is what I have to say about Smart Doll:
They have really cute knees – some dolls like Dream Fairy have such ugly knees. What I like about Smart Doll Knees is that it has a natural look hiding the joints kinda when it sits or stands, etc.
The cinnamon skin tone is gorgeous. I thought for sure 100% that I would prefer Milk skin tone (I still haven’t seen it in person) – from the pictures on the site. But I also know that cinnamon dolls are still using the milk skeleton/frame system. You can see it in the joints of the wrists for example.
Someone told me that the skeleton is actually even darker than the milk outer shell – and that wrist joint is already pale, almost a greyish color.
But I like Dollfie Dream Semi White a lot – maybe even more than natural – and I assumed Milk Smart Doll to be similar to Dollfie Dream Semi White – but I read somewhere that it was actually closer to Dollfie Dream natural.
Personally I think the decision to change to cinnamon was to increase profits so people couldn’t mix and match heads/bodies from other companies, having to buy both the head and body from Smart Doll – which is a pretty smart business decision.
The cinnamon skin tone is very unique. It has a very nice “healthy glow” to it, It is a warm and pretty almost “sun kissed” color. It is not a “tan” – for that, Smart Doll has “Tea” color dolls – And Summer is the next doll I plan to purchase – she was the first Smart Doll I ever wanted and she is Tea so soon I’ll be able to show comparative photos of the two skin tones.
The cinnamon skin tone, has a hint of peach or pink, and in person it looks really nice! Just judging by the wrist joint which I know to be milk – even if it’s a slightly deeper shade of milk – I still really prefer cinnamon – comparing that cinnamon outer shell to that milk wrist joint.
I do wish they would make a cinnamon skeleton because the difference in the wrist joint does bother me a little – but not enough to prevent me from purchasing more cinnamon dolls in the future. It’s just like one of those little things – that they could improve maybe in the future. Really you could place a bracelet or something over the wrist joints if it bothers you too much. The wrist is really about the only place that it shows badly.
Smart Doll aren’t the only company to cut corners to save costs and keep prices “low” in this fashion. Volks did the same thing with their US exclusive Dollfie Dream Icons – which is why I didn’t want one. These dolls have purple, green, or deep tan outer shells, but using the flesh color dollfie dream frames, and their joints look WEIRD AF…. Especially since in the case of the Volks dolls, the skin colors are soooo different. Like with Smart Doll, cinnamon and milk are maybe 2 shades different, but a green doll or purple doll with “pinkish” joints – uhhh no thanks? lol. That was really off putting to me – but a lot of people liked those dolls. Maybe I’m weird that I notice all of these little details.
Smart Dolls are very sturdy and stable. Their stability can be enhanced with the free included telescopic stand that slides into a hole in their back, giving them a “tripod” for balancing on. This is a unique feature only found in Smart Doll and gives them a strong advantage over the competition. Smart Dolls can still stand without the tripod piece. But by using the tripod you can capture poses and photos that are impossible with other doll companies, such as standing on one foot, kicking up their heels, dancing, or jumping or other difficult and challenging photo shoots. – I haven’t tried these kinds of poses myself yet – I will soon – so if you’d like to follow me on Instagram you’ll see these kinds of poses in the future. (@Xenokitten)
The Smart Doll neck joint also seems to have more flexibility than the competition, with ability to look up, down, and sideways with more ease.
The Smart Doll faceups are very detailed and beautiful. I know that they use a mask and machine type system which is different to how many of their competitors design their dolls – many are still doing hand painted faceups. But honestly, I don’t mind the machine painted faceups.
The doll I received has a very slightly open mouth, with a little pouting expression. The eyelashes and eyebrows and other details are also meticulously detailed.
By now you can probably see the doll I received is Chitose :).
Some people who purchase Fortuitous are able to receive one-of a kind dolls, or dolls that are no longer in production. Cinnamon Chitose is one of the dolls that is soon to be discontinued (you can see a list of soon to be discontinued dolls on the Smart Doll website.). But some special people receive prototypes that never will become available for purchase, making them unique one-of-a-kind dolls. Other people will receive dolls that are currently being manufactured but not released to anyone yet – I saw a lot of people receiving Moment and Clarity and I really want both of those dolls and am a little bit jealous lol.
But other people (the majority of people in fact) will just receive run of the mill standard Smart Dolls – and there’s nothing wrong with that – they’re all lovely.
I really don’t care much for Prowess or Valiant but that’s merely because I don’t like the faceups. You could always send it out for a new faceup. I like the more natural faceups. Prowess has cat whiskers painted on, and Valiant has a large red birthmark. I later learned Valiant was based on a real woman with a similar birthmark. Valiant’s story is inspiring, as is the real woman’s. She doesn’t want to cover up her birth mark and although she might get teased or bullied, she has learned to embrace it as part of herself. I also have a birthmark, but mine isn’t bright red, mine used to be very dark brown, and like Jem’s (80s cartoons) makeup lol, a “little” lightning bolt on my right cheek right below my eye. But my birthmark has faded a lot. I also have rosacea, and other skin issues.. So I’m not trying to put anyone down who has unique features like that too. I understand. But I use dolls in a way as escapism, I like that they are beautiful and unrealistic and that’s why I kinda am grateful I didn’t receive Valiant or Prowess lol. But a lot of people love both Valiant and Prowess. They are actually 2 of the most popular models from what I see on Facebook or Instagram, but they’re just not my tastes. If I had received one of those two I would have probably sent the head off for repaint by an artist :). Which is one of the funnest things about this hobby. I wish I had talent to do faceups myself lol. I’ve tried a few times and it’s not good lol.
Overall, I’d definitely do Fortuitous again in the future:
I liked the excitement of not knowing what I’d receive.
If I did receive one of the two I don’t like as much – I could always send it out for a faceup and then have a one of a kind doll :).
I appreciate the discount.
I like the randomness of getting random wig and eyes – which makes the dolls more unqiue than just off-the-shelf Smart Dolls.
Smart Dolls themselves are very well constructed and beautiful dolls that I would highly recommend the brand to anyone who collects jointed dolls or anime figures.
There’s always a chance to receive a retired, soon to be retired, soon to be released, or completely one-of-a-kind prototype doll – which makes it even more exciting.
Even the basic most common Smart Dolls are still adorable. – You really can’t go wrong!
I don’t think I’ll be able to afford to jump on the next Fortuitous launch, but I definitely think I will buy more Fortuitous dolls in the near future. I think I want to buy Summer – and hopefully Gemini – first – and I want that Sailor Jupiter from Volks – and a dollpoint Akihabara custom dollfie dream – and I’ve bought too many dolls lately to be buying anyone – like 4 of which aren’t even here yet lol. I was supposed to go to Japan (for the first time ever) next month but because of this Coronavirus stuff that all got cancelled (and refunded luckily). I was then going to go to Disney (before Corona hit over in the USA and was still just an Asian disease), and then Corona blew up over here, and that got cancelled too – Disney refunded me – but the airlines I chose that time – did not – and now my job – and my health (not covid related) are all kinda topsy turvy / uncertain – and I don’t think I can travel – or make too many more big purchases – and not even sure if I can work or if I’ll be disabled – and not 100% sure yet if my work will take me back or if I’ll be job hunting – or what will happen – these are uncertain times – so I think I need to cool off the doll shopping sprees – and just pay off the layaway and wait for my others to arrive.
Speaking of dolls getting here – Smart Doll ships very fast – If it is your first time ordering – your order will be held a few days while they verify your address – but after being verified – it ships out the same or next day, and arrived from Japan to USA in about 5-6 days – it would have been about 3-4 days but DHL doesn’t deliver on weekends in the USA. (Not Smart Doll’s fault). 5-6 days for an international parcel is still pretty great! It took them about 3-4 days to verify me since it was my first purchase, making total turn around time from purchase to arrival about 9-10 days, still really not bad honestly, but now future purchases will ship same or next day 🙂 making the travel time less than 4 days usually. They ship much faster than any of the competitors – that’s one big plus!
