New vs Old

Today I noticed a lot of developments and chat in the "Luts Delf Thread" (which is of course void now that the 60cms are back with CP and Fairyland, rather than with Luts) as a opposed to the Fairyland F60 thread.

Apparently Luts are releasing a new 60cm line which is going to have the name "Delf".  I don't blame them, now the line has been restarted by CP and renamed, then there is technically no doll named "Delf" anymore, and it leaves Luts free to use it instead. (and probably use the publicity this name will yield.)

There was of course the thought that they might be releasing the old dolls... with Luts resin...

Some people can be a bit silly. CP, owning the rights to their 60cm line, has released it and considering it was never cast in the same resin as any of the Luts dolls, it can be said that it was never cast by Luts either, so Luts never had the molds. Plus it would cause a heap of litigation if Luts even tried to sell something which they no longer had the rights to sell. No, the "Just forget how they were" points to a brand new line which just happens to share a name with a line which no longer exists.

It did then start up another discussion in the now defunct "Delf" discussion. What should the thread be called and should it or shouldn't it be merged with the F60 thread.

And it brought up a lot of silliness. There are people who consider the 60cm line produced by CP as two completely different sets of dolls. Which is almost like saying there should be two different MNF threads - one for B-lines (and those heads cast with the B-line dolls) and one for A-lines. Because to be honest, the difference in the older 60cm body and the newer 60cm body is the difference between a B-line MNF and an A-line MNF in pretty much exactly the same way.

But no, F60s don't have the same "history" as those which were released by Luts. You can't have the same conversations about resin colour and head size (which is crap, because the F60 thread has already had that conversation and continues to have that conversation.)

The one which got me was the one who didn't consider the new heads to be the same heads as the old heads. They used the word original, which got my back up.

CP released the Lishe and the El as two of the F60 heads - they are two of the oldest sculpts in CP's lineup, only the Shiwoo and Chiwoo are older. (and I always forget if Shiwoo or Chiwoo came first, I think it was Chiwoo). They are iconic sculpts, with all the "history" and originality you could want.

I do not consider my F60 Lishe to be any less than any of my other Lishes, released when Luts had the line. I do not think because there is an "F60" at the front, that she is worth any less. Considering that they are using the same mold as used for the older Lishe heads, how could I possibly? She might not be as rare or expensive as some of my Elf releases, but the same could be said for any of the "basic" releases of ANY of the sculpts as opposed to their limited releases.

Just because the word used in front is different and suddenly you're claiming a different body - does it change? If my MNF Tanning Lishe was NS, would she be worth more because she's a B-line as opposed to my A-line MNF Lishe? No, and no one would dare to say that B-lines are more important than A-lines or that they have more "history" or are "original" as opposed to the other sculpts - possibly only because there wasn't a six year gap and a fight in order to update their bodies.

I also think that we are devaluing CP when we say that their outdated (and possibly embarrassing) bodies and heads are more important than their updated ones. I've said this before, CP obviously is proud of it's bodies and most particularly, their engineering. Just look at the incredible F65 and Chicline. Look at the proven and boasted (by proud owners) posability of the MNF A-line. Look at the double jointing and posability of a 9.5cm Real Puki.

How could they be as proud of the old Type 1 and Type 2 bodies, especially for the female 60cms, with the limited posing, the single joints and the old style? I know artists (a few professionals) and often their old stuff is hard to look at and cope with. It shows their mistakes. It shows them how far they've come and knowing CP, they wouldn't want their customers having to put up with old outdated bodies. I know they released the F60s with anticipation and were incredibly disappointed by the reaction of die-hard fans to the new bodies.

I think we're all getting a little bit precious. CP love their old sculpts, but they don't view the "Delfs" as any better than the F60s, in fact I'd say they view the F60 as better because of the bodies and the fact that they can finally sell them where they should be, with the rest of their lines.

Plus I think its ridiculous to draw a line in the sand and say that one set of 60cms are better than the others. They haven't changed anything about the new F60s, except they did what everyone wanted them to do - brought out the A-line version, probably about 6 years later than they wanted.

Does the name really matter all that much? I'd be happy to change all of my old "Delfs" to F60s. After all, that is the name they have now. That is the name which tells everyone that they belong to CP. And that shows that they do not and have never really belonged to Luts, and to be honest, I prefer that.

Now I've had my rant, I'm going back to dreaming about the possibility of a new Limited Breakaway. (or a Shiwoo, who knows?) I will keep them happily and consider them just as "original" as all the others.