I couldn’t miss the opportunity to go to a Volks Dolls Party event while I’m in Japan, and the Tokyo Dolpa 23 was held in Golden Week so I made sure to attend. I got my copy of the guide book (which serves as the entrance ticket) in advance rather than at the door, which allowed me early entry to the event. While most events go on during the day, two of the most important ones require you to turn up early: the Tenshi no Sumika shop and the limited edition lottery. The Sumika shop the Volks official store for the event, and sells various things like regular edition dolls, stands and also a whole range of new, limited-edition clothes and accessories. This is what attendees turn up early to the shop for. The Sumika event outfits are only sold at the Dolpa event, and then at the after-events online and in their stores, always in limited numbers so you have to be fast to get what you want. The limited edition lottery is for attendees who want to get hold of one of the limited dolls Volks is releasing for an event. This time there were two YoSDs, an SD girl, an MSD boy and three DD girls. Attendees had to line up to get a ticket with a number on, and the lower the number the earlier they could go and try to buy a doll so the better chances they had of getting what they wanted.

Note: this post is very image-heavy. As usual, click on any image for an enlarged version.

This was my only chance to visit a Dolpa for the moment, as I don’t know when I’ll be returning to Japan after I leave in July, so I decided to go for the whole experience and turn up early. I can’t afford any more dolls at the moment, and there were a couple of things I wanted from the Sumika shop so I joined the queue for that. The event opens officially at 10 am, but early entry is from 7 until 9. I got up obscenely early and arrived at Big Sight for the event just after 7. I was number 364 in the queue (they give you a ticket to stop queue jumpers), which meant that a lot of people has already arrived ahead of me. Including the line for the lottery, I’d say there were probably about 1000 attendees there when I arrived, with more arriving all the time. Tickets for the Sumika line were handed out from 7 until 9, and then when the event officially opened at 10 ticket-holders were allowed in a few at a time to grab what they wanted, then queue again to pay. It was a little nerve-wracking as the line moved very slowly, and when I was nearly half-way to the till the first ‘sold out’ notice was given. Thankfully the first item – a pair of long white boots for SD and DD girls – hadn’t been on my list. as I got nearer and nearer more items were selling out. I was fortunate in that I was after clothes for my SD13 boy, because the outfits selling out were primarily the DD and SD girl sets. Luckily I was in time to get both of the items I had really wanted – one of the SD13 boy sets and a pair of black headphones for DD (although I’m using them for my resin dolls, since they fit just fine).

There was clearly a big otaku presence at the event (apparently the DD were the first limited dolls to sell out). The crowd was actually very mixed – from spending time on English-speaking doll fan sites you might get the impression that most doll collectors are women, but I’d say the event was split pretty evenly. There were a lot of middle-aged men, and while some were DD collectors many of them had SD girls and boys. There were married couples attending, with both husband and wife with their own dolls, gothed-up young people, women in delicate lolita dresses and all sorts of different people.

The event halls were still pretty empty when the opening ceremony was conducted, as only the early entry attendees and the staff were around. Once that was over the Sumika shop opened and the regular attendees started to arrive, and it got crowded pretty quickly.

Outside the Sumika shop Volks had set up a display with all of their new products being modeled by various dolls. They had a good selection, with outfits for all of their different sizes and ranges of dolls (aside from the original 1/6 Dollfies).

It was amazing watching some of the people buying from the shop – many people just went in and grabbed everything they could get, and left with baskets piled high with ridiculous amounts of clothes and accessories. I bet some of them could have purchased at least one new doll with the money they spent on clothes! It’s no wonder things sold out so fast with so many people just grabbing everything in sight.

After I had finished in the shop it was already past 11am, and I decided to have a look around the hall rather than throw myself straight into something like the dealers’ area. Volks had set up several displays including their Dolpa 23 releases along with various other dolls. The displays were very elaborate, with lots of different objects used for the scenery.

The frilly, lacy dresses seem to be very popular among Japanese doll owners. I can’t say I’m so fond of them myself – they make the doll look like it’s wearing a cake or something. I prefer subtler, more elegant outfits on the girls, but Dolpa was all about the frills.

They had a section dedicated to Dollfie Dream as well, of course. Part of it was set up as a sort of Fate/stay Night shrine to mark Sakura’s release at the event. They also had a mini Volks Showroom, with original character dolls Moe and Natsuki as the shop assistants. My favourite display was Maria’s though – the elaborate frame with flowers was really eye-catching. Maria was probably my favourite of the DD girls released for the event.

Alna is Volks’ new original character DD girl. She’s a bit more mature-looking than Moe and Natsuki, and they gave her the curvier Dollfie Dream Dynamite body, although I do think the huge breasts look a little awkward.

Next I wandered over to the one-off booth. One-offs are dolls from Volks’ Super Dollfie lines that are ‘unique’ versions of previously released dolls. They have specially-painted faces and one-of-a-kind outfits, and can be bought at the event if you’re really lucky. I’ve heard that they have various different ways of selling the one-offs, including auctioning them, but this time was a simple lottery. Every guidebook contained a form to fill out your details on, then you could place it inside the appropriate box for the doll you wanted. The lucky winners were chosen later in the day, and given the ‘honor’ of handing over their money to Volks in exchange for the doll.

Being unique versions, none of the one-offs came cheap, as you can see. They ranged from about ¥70,000 for the smaller dolls up to nearly ¥140,000 for the larger ones.

Next I visited the owners’ exhibition section, where for a fee doll owners could use a section of table to put their dolls on display for people to look at and photograph. There were some amazing dolls, like the transparent angel, and the little forest of YoSDs dressed as animals.

After that it was time to hit the dealers’ area. As well as some very nice items to buy, sellers often had elaborate little dioramas to show off their goods being modeled by their dolls. I bought a wig, a lovely pair of glass eyes and a dark blue shirt for Keiyan, my non-Volks doll. There were loads of lovely outfits, but being elaborate and hand-made they were all rather pricey. It was pretty difficult finding suitable clothes for my dolls though. While as I mentioned earlier most outfits for girls were frilly, lacy affairs, the boys’ clothing had its limitations as well. There was a lot of goth-y casual and formal wear, and military uniforms (I er, even saw a Nazi uniform… complete with a swastika…) and it was mostly black. It’s very difficult to find a wider range of colours for male dolls without venturing into the Asian street fashion-type outfits, which aren’t really appropriate for the backstory of the characters my dolls are based on.

A Miracle Train cosplay group! I never got around to watching the anime (probably just as well) but I recognised the theme of this group of dolls instantly.

I took a rest and ate some lunch after wandering the dealers’ area. Volks were selling their own bento, but as a vegetarian I was out of luck and had brought my own bento that I had made the previous day. Since it was the afternoon, the main events were starting, and first up was the lottery drawing for the one-off dolls.

The limited edition lottery had taken up a lot of floor space, which left lots of room once it was over and Volks’ staff set up tables and chairs for the ‘tea party’ area where doll owners could sit down and set up their dolls for display.

Danny Choo readers will recognise this DD Saber as his. I saw him at the event, and spoke to him for a couple of minutes.

The rest of the event consisted of the events on the main stage. Answers and winners for the Super Dollfie Quiz were announced, winners for random drawings and other contests, and finally the bingo. For every copy of the guidebook you are entitled to one bingo card, and the people who won got a random prize ranging from postcards to wig sets to the coveted Rei Tenshi and Sei Tenshi, special Volks dolls that are only given away for free at events. The Volks Tenshi are neither male nor female – their bodies are blank rather than having sculpted genitalia like the regular dolls. Winners of the event Tenshi have to register as owners with Volks, and are not supposed to sell the dolls as they are a special gift from Volks. I didn’t win anything of course, but the events were good fun.

I had a good time at Dolpa 23, and I hope to be able to attend other Dolpa in the future if/when I am able to live in Japan again. I highly recommend the experience for Volks fans, whether or not you’re looking to buy any of the dolls or limited outfits because there is plenty to see at the event even if you’re not.

You can see all of these photos and plenty of additional ones over on my Flickr set.