Well, after months of waiting, my Snow Miku doll has finally arrived at my home. I pre-ordered her back in February, and she came out in June. She arrived at my home almost exactly one month after her release date. I'll be reviewing their service at the end of this entry. Snow Miku was a collaboration doll made for the Sapporo 2011 snow festival. She is limited to 1000 pieces and was supposed to be a Japan only release. Thanks to the internet and shopping services many people outside of Japan were able to get her.
Here's her next to the standard Miku Pullip. My Snow Miku is named Yuki. Haha, not very original, but whatev.Their faceups are identical. The eyebrows are different colours, and Yuki's seem to be feathered, or have a hue around them of blue. I wonder if this is a production flaw or how she is meant to look. They eye chips are different too. Miku's are more teal, while Yuki's are obviously blue. They look a lot like Clara's with some white bits painted on them, which are pretty hard to see, I didn't notice them until I was done taking photos, so this doesn't show them.
The leeks. The blue one's are Yuki's "frozen leeks" and the green are Miku's. In all, I think the leeks look pretty odd. Nothing like a real leek. I keep Miku's in a box and Yuki's fit into her snowman as his arms. That's why he's so grumpy I think.
Their shirts. Be careful! I managed to break Miku's tie when I took her shirt off. I did managed to fix it though. I love the little added snow flake on the tie for Yuki's. It makes me with Miku's had something on hers too, but I don't know what they would put. There is a logo on the collar that is easier to see on Yuki's top, but it is on Miku's too. Yuki's top seems to be made of a nicer material too. It's not as stiff and shiny as Miku's It's soft and smooth and reminds me of snow.
Here are the skirts. I thought at first that Yuki's was more detailed than Miku's, but they are identical. I had a really hard time removing Miku's, it was really tight. So I guess no obitsu body for her!
I've not tried to take their boots off, even though other owners have assureed me that they are easy to get back on. Again, they are identical. There is a striping at the top that is more evident on Yuki's boots.
Aaaaand, PANTIES! What you all have been waitinf for, yes?? Haha, Miku on the left, Yuki on the right.
Armwarmer/Sleeve. More of the same.
Their headphones are very different. Miku's are the standard Vocaloid ones, while Yuki's are little earmuffs. I really prefer Yuki's, just coz they are so cute.
Yuki's wig has finer stands than Miku's. I think this has to do with the colour. It's almost white, like a translucent blue. And maybe they are going with the principle that albino's have finer hair? Who knows. Due to the fineness it's a little softer and doesn't seem to tangle as easy as Miku's.
The grumpy snow man. I just love him. He's grumpy in some photos, and sad or vacant in others. He doens't seem to be to pleased about this hot weather we are having. He's a lot larger than I would have expected. He's really solid too. They did a good job on him. I expected a couple of fluffs kinda stitched together, but he's completely stuffed and has a good weight to him.
And one last photo of my Hatsune twins being cute and loving.
If they ever come out with Sakura Miku as a Pullip I am screwed. TOO MUCH CUTE!
Now I want to talk a little bit about the service of ToyMalaysia. We snagged her off their ebay store and they promptly sent an invoice of about $170. Shipping was $34, so I thought it would be EMS, but we'll get to that later. After the payment we got back an automatic email thanking us for our purchase and that we'd be emailed when they dispatch it. Mind you this is back in February for a doll that comes out it June. Well, a few days later we got another email saying the doll will released in June and will ship after that. Then months went by with no contact or update. I found our through the internet that they changed the look of the doll from the prototype, but never got an email from ToyMalaysia stating this. I would have liked with the amount of changes they made that they would have emailed me and offered to refund me. It looked like a completely different doll, and I know they'd be able to sell her fast anyway. June came and we waited and heard nothing. She dropped on the 20th, and on the 25th we emailed them to see when they were getting her or if they heard from Groove about their shipment as Virus Doll and a couple places already had her. We got an auto-responce copy-paste kind of email back saying that we would have her by July 15th. Then another email a few days saying they don't have her yet, and it will be mid June before she arrives to them. So we waited. The 15th came and she wasn't here. On the 17th we got an email saying she would ship by airmail to us. I thought this a little odd since we paid the hefty price of $34 for shipping, when I've gotten airmail from this region and it costs about half that. As you can see she did arrive, this was 25th that she made it home.
Over-all I am displeased with this complany's communications and service. I don't think I will be buying from them again since I went months with out contact and that is a lot of money to shell out and not be sure what is going on.
Communication: Poor
Shipping Price: Poor
Shipping Speed: Fair, but poor due to price. I was slow for how much I paid.
Packaging: Fair. The doll was new in box, and even in the little crate that Groove mailed to them. Which they slipped into another slightly larger box with no padding or bubble wrap. I was pretty lucky that she came undamaged. It was better than nothing, but if the box had gotten damaged which often happens with over-seas shipping she would have been ruined.
Product Price: Good. We got her for about $140, and that is pretty good for a limited doll's price. I got my Chloi and Clara for $124, and they were limied to 600, which makes them more rare.