Feeple 60 - Delf? VF? F65-esque?

I may get in a heap of controversy if I air my views, but then not as jumped on and slagged as much as I would sharing them on Den of Angels.

For those who haven’t noticed yet (or aren’t big readers of Fairyland’s blog or the MNF/Delf/VF pages on DoA), Fairyland has announced its plans to release a “Feeple 60”. This has of course produced a myriad of speculation.

The speculation probably has one major cause - Luts has stopped selling the Delf line. For those who know the story, these have always been sculpted by Cerberus Project, the same sculpting company which stocks Fairyland with all those dolls we know and love. When CP moved their dolls to Fairyland around 2007-2008, the Delfs stayed with Luts. It was always speculated on but never confirmed that there was a deal in place that gave Luts rights to sell the Delfs and all SD heads of a particular aesthetic that CP produced. There is the possibility that the timeline on that deal is now up and the Delfs reverted to CP (with all that entails) and now, that CP may have given Fairyland permission to sell them.

At the same time, through Yamato Japan, CP has released an updated F70 body along with a special, limited edition only sold in Japan Black Butler doll. (it said 70cm on the sale page, but it was a source of great mutterings because it was before they released the F65). They have also released teaser shots of a doll called the Victoria Frances doll, which appears to be on a Delf 60cm body - although with double joints and magnet hands. This doll is in the hands of Yamato Japan and the original artist and will only be released when they have worked out whatever is going on.

CP also released, through Fairyland, a doll known as the Feeple65, a large, 65cm doll with a distinctly human aesthetic, one which is in stark contrast to its 70cm and 58cm dolls - the Feeple70 and the Delf, which are both very anime with rather large bobbly heads. While the F70 was never particularly popular because of its height, the smaller version, the Delf (as sold by Luts) is probably one of CP’s biggest money makers.

CP also sell a large range of dolls with the same aesthetic as the Delf and F70 - the Minifee, the Little Fee, the Pukifee, the PukiPuki and the RealPuki. All of these dolls are vastly successful; many owners have more than one of which ever particular size they like. CP created one MSD sized doll similar to the F65 - the Chic line. While reasonably popular, it is no where near as popular as its anime-esque double, the MNF. In fact Fairyland has confessed that the Chicline is not being currently sold due to it needing a price increase - the dolls are harder to string and take longer to produce than the dolls of its own size and smaller. Like the F65, the Chicline does not have the popularity of the more anime-like dolls.

Which brings us to the F60 release and the speculation that surrounds it. Several ideas have been floated on various threads on DoA. (none of these are direct quotes from any thread, just a general statement)

• “It’s the VF doll! Oooh they’re going to release the VF doll!”
• “They’ll release a new F65 type 60cm....”
• Delfs which will be upgraded with a new F65-esque body
• Just Delfs with the double-jointed body shown on the VF doll.

My own personal thoughts is the fourth - that the doll will be a Delf, renamed to fit in with Fairyland’s naming process rather than still echoing Luts’ choice, with a body which has been simply upgraded to include double joints in the elbows and knees and mag hands. (pretty much the body seen in the photos of the VF doll).

So why don’t I think its any of the other choices??

VF doll:

The VF doll will be sold by Yamato Japan. Fairyland and CP have both made this very clear. They sculpted the doll and created the outfit/entire look etc, but they have NOTHING to do with the sale of said doll. That is up to Yamato Japan.

F60 version of the F65

1. Why not a 60cm version of an F65? Well... its fairly simple: CP spent at least 10 years developing the F65 and clearly stated before it arrived how much work they had put into the doll. IF they had wanted an F60 version of this doll... it would have been THAT doll. they wouldn’t have put 10 years work into a doll which is 5 cm taller. 
2. Why would you do a 60cm version of a doll, which while epically structured and beautiful in design, is simply not selling all that well? The F65, like the Chicline, is not showing the popularity of the Delfs/MNF/LTF/PKF etc, so why would you release yet another version of it? Most hard core FL collectors don’t have a Chic-line or an F65 in their collection, even though they do have two or three of the other sizes. (I’m not saying that there are NO FL collectors with Chiclines or F65s - I have Chiclines and have plans for an F65 and I do know collectors with them). 
3. Why release another F65 which is only 5 cm shorter than the previous model? Is it going to make it any more able to sell? - not particularly, since 5 cm is not going to change the heft of the doll or the size of it. It would just make it slightly more compact and that is a lot of work to go to to produce a doll which most likely won’t make lots and lots of money.

Upgraded Delf with F65-esque body

I simply don’t understand how people cannot see the difference in the aesthetic of the F65/Chicline v the Delf/F70/MNF. They are nothing alike. The F65/Chicline is more realistic in its proportions (particularly its head size), but they are broader, more muscular and with more interesting jointing (the girls in particular!). The Delf/F70/MNF are more cartoony - their heads are bigger, their bodies slimmer and they’re slightly more unrealistic. 

It would be like seeing a MNF head on a Chicline body where the photographer hasn’t made allowances for the massive size differences... or a Delf head on the F65 body which looks like a too small head perched on a muscular bound body (steroids anyone?).

Some collectors have managed to do these head swops successfully, but you have to be really careful in head choice and the manner in which you photograph them, otherwise they just end up looking silly. 

So why would CP cross the aesthetic lines like that? They just give us an option to do it - they don’t do it themselves... (in the case of the multihead/Puki/Pukifee situation - they are all the same aesthetic, just different sizes)

Delf - renamed and updated:

1. The renaming is easy - you can’t bring in the Delf - the name stinks of Luts’ branding and doesn’t fit with the other dolls which Fairyland sells, all of which have “fee” somewhere in their names - FeePle 70; FeePle 65; MiniFee; LittleFee; PukiFee (except RealPuki and PukiPuki, but they link in with the “Puki-fee” so I think that works and the Chicline - which I think was done to make them more unique in the lineup). So for the Delf to make its comeback under CP’s control and sold by FL, then a name change would be needed.
2. The VF doll showed that while the Delf had seemed to pause in body updating while they were with Luts after the split, CP had still been updating the body. The body which is shown in the VF doll looks unmistakably like a Delf 58cm large bust body - but with some striking differences: double jointed elbows and knees (how many have complained that Delf girls had single joints??) and mag-hands. Some have speculated that CP also changed the torso joint, but I have never been of the opinion that it occurred - mainly because why would you recast an entire torso/body combination when its already working so well? Double joints and magnets are simple enough changes to make without spending stacks of money.
3. CP has shown that it loves to makes it customers happy (FL does not always agree with them it seems). What would make long time customers more happy then finally being able to take their first doll back from Luts and sell it to the customers? Having all those sculpts back for them to have their own company sell them? Being able to finally have the money from this super popular line back into direct benefit to them?
4. Why would they not resell these? Think of how much money the Delf line has made over the years since it was first released! Why would they pass up that popularity for a new doll??

You don’t have to agree with anything I say. I’m just glad I’ve put my thoughts out there - I don’t mind if I’m wrong, but I’m hoping I’m not.