The bitter pang of failure, a big congratulations... and HUGE disappointment in Luts.

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS HEIDIPLAY AND DEVIL'S TRILL!

Two DoA users that managed to snag the Smoky Quartz Shiwoo when he came up an hour and forty minutes late.

You both have fingers of lighting and well deserve the prize! Hopefully, with permission, we'll post more about your elusive little rare guys as they go!

But yeah... as for me? I had one in the cart but my computer connection was too slow. I may have lovely scenery and wildlife, but I paid for it with my chance of snagging one of these little guys. He was in the cart, he was ready to go but.... click on make payment... a little too long to load and poof, gone.
Ah well.
Thoughts go out to Forbidden who similarly has her fingers around the slippery little fella, but lost him in a similarly tragic way.

Luts must be severely reproached for this. I wouldn't have mind missing out on him if the game had been fair, but the devotion of Heidiplay helped untangle the mystery of the missing Shiwoos when she announced through proxy after an hour long wait that they had been released on the Chinese site. Anger was pretty thick in the air as he STILL didn't come up on the English site and the rough translation of the message on the Chinese site suggested he was exclusive.
A whopping half an hour later he came on sale on the English site, woefully late.

WHY didn't Luts do a global release? Why was he released on the Chinese site and WHY did they release a highly anticipated doll an hour and forty minutes after their announced time when many potential collectors had given up?

Luts has a lot to answer for still. It has been an utter debacle.

NEVER tease a Collector...

Beware Luts.... You just made a lot of rabid doll collectors very upset....

.... and so, at 12pm Korean time, when the Smoky Quartz Shiwoo was listed for sale, Shiwoo Collectors, Doll Lovers and Scalpers (but we don't care about them!) alike decended onto the Luts site to try their luck at getting the ultra rare, beautiful, iresistable Shiwoo.

At 12pm on the dot everyone pressed refresh, held their breath and....

Nothing happened.

Not a peep. Nothing on the site changed, nothing came up. No "Out of stock" notice, no apology note for an issue or a delay.

A quarter of an hour later, people are turning to each other and looking questioningly. Had there been a misunderstanding? perhpas they meant 12am not 12pm? Perhaps they're a bit behind. Could they have sold out in the blink of an eye and no one realized?

Half an hour sails by and the Shiwoo Collectors, the Doll Lovers and the Scalpers (of whom no one really cares about) are going from confused to angry. Conspricy theories abound from people buying direct from the Luts base to Luts teasing us into reloading the page for more page hits- the latter of which prooves none of us are immune when we're desperately refreshing for a Shiwoo... it was MY theory!

At quarter to one, resignation sets in. Wolfie Pie sings the Luts Song, summing up everyone's feelings in poetic verse:
*sings* Ooooh Luts! You make me sooo maaaad! *sings* You're leaving the Shiwoo-lovers hangingggg! Nooot cooool! *end song*
And because it's late in some countries, people are giving up and going to bed. No blaming them, it looks like the game is lost. Perhaps they sold out on the Japanese site before they even had a chance to appear, even breifly on the US site?

Then it hits one pm. the game is now truly lost. Any hope of there being some horrible, hilarious mistake and the dolls being released an hour late evaporates.  It's over and no one really knows who won.

We're all pretty shattered. I personally have been waiting since I heard about it for this moment. I didn't mind who won it (as long as it wasn't one of those aformentioned Scalpers that no one cares about) as long as someone did, but I don't even know IF anyone did. There's absolutely no sign whatsoever on the Luts site explaining what went on.

MagicBunny of DoA expresses it well:
"It would be great if Luts had posted something. There are people all over the world waiting up because they're rabid fans (props to the rabid Shiwoo legions, btw!). It would be great if Luts would be aware of their global reach and let their sleepless fans down easy"

Questions have been asked of Luts regarding the non event. when Luts answers, we'll put them up here for everyone.

But for me? well I'll stay at it for a little while longer... and hour... or two...

I'm gunna hunt me some Shiwoo!

So the final details are up. The Smoky Quarts MiniFee Shiwoo Art doll will be on sale at 1pm Korean time, this coming Monday for $620. And there are only five of them worldwide.

Sharpen your hunting skills, recruit help, find the fastest net connection you can because blink, and he's gone...

Smoky Quartz Shiwoo Revealed!

He's been revealled! We have a date, a vauge number and some stunning, tempting pictures!

I asked the Q&A for more info on this lovvie, and i finally have an answer.... He's going to be severely limited, under ten released in total and he'll be open for sale on the 23rd of August 2010... So it looks like I will be spending a huge part of my day refreshing the Luts page in hopes of nabbing one.

Good luck to all you Shiwoo hunters. If I don't get one and you do, please spam on DoA! I'd love to do a featurette of him when he arrives to his lucky new owners' houses!

Here's a few more tantalizing teaser pics- his sleeping head his revealled AND his fullset outfit!

  

Luts releasing Smoky Quartz Shiwoo... MiniFee???

To the surprise and confusion of everyone in the BJD community, this little cutie has recently popped up on the Luts website frontpage!

There has been much speculation, much arguing and even more mudslinging about this one little guy then there has been in quite some time. Old anti-Luts sentiments have been dragged up, the pro-Luts people are on the defence and the Shiwoo collectors are waiting with sweaty palms for any kind of info...

A topic on Den of Angels has been the hotbed of this heated debate, as usual, and tempers are getting high. it's well known Luts and Ceberus Project* went their seperate ways, well known that the split, though amicable in some ways, has also been a little bit tense. it's also well known Luts haven't sold, and haven't been allowed to sell MiniFee since the split.

The solution to at least part of the puzzle was provided by the forward thinking Forbidden:
"Okay guys, no more speculating. I got an answer from Fairyland and it is a legitimate release. They said that they have not collaborated with or supplied new releases to Luts and this is more than likely a release from stock that they already had and have decided to sale...."

So how do we get this cutie in our collections? No news from Luts yet, I'm afraid, and we might be waiting awhile, they have a bit of a rep for announcing Art Doll details at the last minute!

Keep an eye on this blog... hopefuly more info will be up soon!



*For a bit more on Luts and Cerberus Project and their role in the world of Shiwoo, please chck out the glossary

A long, embarassing absence....

Don't you hate it when you lose a blog? I don't mean lose as in lose interest, or lose control, lose focus, no I mean that humiliating moment where you actually forget what your log in is.

I had to forgo the net for around a month due to personal issues... but after that couldn't remember what the login for this account was for the life of me! So in frustration, I left it go.
But work is boring and I wanted to start my blogging up again. So I tried again. I racked my brains for the email I had made for this account... because surely I made one? Right... right huh?

...

No, apparently not. I attempted my basic emails just on an off chance and... well yeah.

So I'm back, embarassed, but back!