austrian otaku

I’ll agree with you that Danny’s site has gone pretty mainstream. Even in the year that I’ve been following it, it’s changed quite a bit. With the growth in readership and membership, a lot of things have shuffled around. It used to feel like a much tighter knit community, but like all things on the internet, it’s subject to the forces of incredible turnover.

I still lurk and post every so often on figure.fm, but not as much as I used to. I’m pretty much relying on things like otaku.fm and twitter to drive readership to my blog these days (and from the small group of regulars that I acquired).

From an advertising perspective, I’d expect anyone to give shout outs to whoever sponsors them. It’s almost an obligation for him to do things for GSC/Maxfactory. As for the Apple sentiment, that’s pretty internet-wide. Most people are (at some degree) anti-Microsoft and it’ll always be a never ending debate. Just remember though, he used to work for Microsoft, so there’s a special place in his heart for the company. He doesn’t hate, it’s his readers that do.

I actually tried to meet up with him when I was in Japan. He’s a pretty busy guy so he wasn’t able to get back to me in time to make plans. I tried enticing him by saying I’m a Microsoft employee (which I am) and my travel companion works for Apple (which he does). Sadly, it was not meant to be.

I still lurk on the page since I like to see what other people are buying. As much as some of the postings are kind of crap news, every so often I’ll see something about a new release I hadn’t heard of or something Dollfie related that I’ll find interesting. ^.^

The blogroll page doesn’t display the latest comments, maybe that will only be activated once I post my next comment? And nice to see ComLuv activated!

As for DC/Figure.fm, I’ve joined slightly before the renewed opening of figure.fm, and while I like that site, I never found the DC side of much interest. I did find some people who always replied to stuff, so there is still a sort of accord and dialogue you can strike with other people.

And yes, Danny is a businessman first and foremost, people should realize his blog is there to help his business first, and that we may find it interesting is a beneficial side effect. Those who come there with other expectations will almost undoubtedly leave disappointed, but those who are willing to accept that, and try to work past that might find something not entirely not useful. BTW, I think I’ve found your blog through Figure.fm Or did you find my blog and I found you through the comment? Hm.

Also, Danny should seriously get some people to help him with the site, I can understand he’s one man moderating hundreds of comments a day, and a couple dozen posts, but the arbitrary, no-notification mode of moderation is quite… sucky. I mean, you remove a post from the main-page, at least tell us why.

And back to blogroll, the reason mine is on a different page is not clutter, but because I want to describe the blogs. I want people who click a link to click one that fits them, and that can’t be done on the main page.
I also need to update mine, no ETA, don’t ask

Edited to add: And like Ed above me, I sometimes post there to get some more attention, I wonder how many new readers my two (brilliant) posts on blog-creation and success attracted to me.
Guy´s last blog ..[TIL] Claymore. An Uknown Fondness.

Wow, that poll is ridiculous. I only own one figure each from GSC or Alter, but quality-wise, Alter is like ninety-nine percent. Fauna had one tiny paint mistake on her back, which was covered by her hair, and that was it. Otherwise, perfect and amazing quality.
My Miku by GSC, good quality too, but not the same level as Alter’s.

But, truth is, I prefer Kotobukiya, even with their lesser quality. ;D
Marshmallow´s last blog ..reimu

Wonderful =D

Actually, I wasn’t ever really interested in all the fuss which’s being made around him over and over again.

I made an account on figure.fm some weeks ago, but still don’t know what to do with that. After stumbling over various kind of posts I’ve got confirmed that even DC.com isn’t weeaboo-free territory – so, what to do to prevent yourself from being named like that? Dunno. Maybe I’m just too lazy :c
@ that GSC-thingie: I don’t/won’t/can’t believe that. If you look for example at Myfigurecollection, the result would definitely show ALTER on first place. GSC wouldn’t even definitely get the place after ALTER, imo. So, as you said, it’s pure mob-faggotry.
@ OTACOOL: To be honest, I’ve been pretty envious about those who got featured, though I’m not sure whether it’s the envy about the collection (lolz) of them or whatever. It’s good and nice in some way, sure, but I think it’d have gotten a way better image if it was made from some real random otakus during a Comiket.
Mana´s last blog ..[English] Crap, they got me.

@Guy
That’s how I became interested in your blog.

OTACOOL is silly…it is not cool to drown in figurines. On the other hand, it’s at least an interesting concept.
And deleting the comments of people who don’t endorse the same thing as you more or less because they don’t endorse the same thing as you is ridiculous.
mefloraine´s last blog ..Niito / にぃと

@Marshmallow
Yeah, even if Kotokubiya’s figures are of a lesser quality, their designs are better. Alter and GSC give us more “models”, with haughty and cold aesthetics, which one can appreciate, but warms up to less, and Kotokubiya has some really sweet designs (Riannon) and they land some of the sculpts I like the best, like Shining Wind, Tears to Tiara, and more.

Not always, but sometimes.
Guy´s last blog ..[TIL] Claymore. An Uknown Fondness.

“Unfortunately even those featured inside have to pay for the book” What? I’m shocked. I’d say that’s somewhat, scandalous.
kumasanmk´s last blog ..News #90

It looks really good! I have to ask, though; did you axe Powered by Sugar for any particular reason? I’m just curious since I know we moved from Blogger to Wordpress recently, so I wasn’t sure if you just needed the updated version or something else?

And yeah, DC is pretty ridiculous. I do love GSC, but that poll is insane in the lack of votes for Alter. =/.

I am subscribed to DC.com via email and only check out interesting posts like his photowalks and choose whether or not I want to read anything else. Been a long time reader from 2006 and trust me things seem very less “personal” over there. ^^
Jamaipanese´s last blog ..Killing my Video Game Blog

I signed up for a DC account in mid 2008 and at the moment I got a lot of clicks back to my site but now the stats are down from DC. I still shows the DC and figure banners (My figure and otaku accounts were transfered from DC so I didnt do anything else but for now I dont check the sites too periodically. Also I have DC in my twitter following list, but I dont get any reply or hear anything from DC to me. *sight*

I’ve gotta agree with you on most points here. I’ve been a long time reader of danny choo and have been posting for about a year or so now. It’s changed a lot since I first started reading it and most of the changes have not been for the better.

I mostly read figure.fm now and not dannychoo because I like the photo posts and figure reviews that people post there. I used to like it when danny did reviews of figures and gundam’s, stuff like that. Now a days it’s all just him mostly showing off. Showing off about his safs, or his mascots or his macs or his tv aperances. It’s become something of a personal blog for the sake of showing off to the mindless followers I guess.

The people who buy things based on Danny’s likes is the most frustrating thing in my opinion. Dany likes Macs, people go buy macs. Danny likes GSC, people like gsc too, Danny loves his mascots, people idolize his mascots too, Danny gets into dollfie dreams, people start getting into dollfie dream too.

The dollfie point is of particular frustration to me. I’ve been collecting them since 2005 and when I had posted mine on dc before and I got little response except for ‘creepy dolls are creepy’ type thing. Danny goes and gets himself a dolfie dream and suddenly the majority of people love them and buy them too. Some people are genuine enthusiasts like me, but other people are blatantly people thinking ‘OMG I like this too dd are amazing I really want one I’m sooo jealous of danny’ . Its just so frustrating to me.

I used to be able to read almost everything on dc.com and be happy, but now I red selectively and don’t actually enjoy a great deal of the content.

I’ve only been on DC only since the beginning of this year and even in that short of a time it’s changed quite considerably.

I share a lot of interests with the DC crowd as a long time Apple user, Japanese language student and an anime fan anyway, so I still keep up with the posts because they’re often relevant to my hobbies but I don’t comment as much as I did. Most of what I do comment on is Japan-related from the Liveblogger posts because I can relate to a lot of it, but I’d imagine for those not living in Japan they might get rather tiring. The only thing DC has influenced me into doing is spending more money on my existing hobbies, so I guess his showcasing of products for companies like GSC is paying off!

At least 80% of the posts these days – members’ or Danny’s – seem to be Dollfie-related these days. I don’t really mind because I’ve been into them for ages anyway, and recently ordered my own at last, but it wasn’t what drew me into the site originally and a lot of the posts are just so repetitive.

I feel like there’s a lot less discussion on the site. It was always a little risky because Danny doesn’t like people stirring up drama, but there often used to be fairly substantial discussions in both Danny’s and the members’ sections.

I post on figure.fm from time to time because it’s good for traffic and it’s fun to share some of my photos with the community, but I’m not a big participant and that’s not likely to change in the future.

Don’t you miss those days with Tenrou doing the scenarios…
I have to agree, those days are already gone and might or might not return. (Im going with might not)

Otacool was just business so i don’t think i should comment on it ^^; – i was not part of it.

ALTER’s still epic pwnage. Most of my scaled are still from ALTER but, they too have dropped a little (Really did not like their Mio).
zh3us´s last blog ..Recieving Optic!

I tend to agree with most points here as well. I stumbled upon Dannychoo.com early this year and before that I was pretty much a lone-wolf collector, unknown to the rest of the world so to speak. I was rather excited when I started looking around in DC and the idea of writing my own blog popped up my mind soon after. I want to use my blog as a vehicle to make friends who share similar interest as I do.

And your point about Danny’s mob does exist (I suspect the average age is rather young too), a lot of people immediately jump on almost anything Danny likes. Though it was by and large his coverage on Dollfie Dream that I got into it but that was my first exposure to them. I on the other hand don’t always buy into his preferences, may be that’s why he doesn’t like me very much haha. I am in my mid 30s, I am capable of making my own decision on what I like and what I don’t like haha. I rarely visit DC.com now and spend most of my time in figure.fm since I have been able to make a few friends there.

I have had one of my Japan trip report deleted on me before too, though he resolved the matter soon after.

As far as your comment being deleted, it’s a tad bit sad that it happened that way; but perhaps it can also be viewed as to avoid flaming war? Or perhaps a bit too much for mac fanboy to swallow? Fanboy and objectivity don’t belong in the same sentence!
Wolfheinrich´s last blog ..1/4 Uesugi Kenshin E2046 Gathering version

I agree with almost everything that you said i used to really like DC.com but even in the short time that i have being a reader its changed alot . I really dislike the way most of his figure posts are almost totally focused his “friends” at GSM/Maxfactory and while i do like GSM/Maxfactory i mean come on you just have to love nendos i think ALTER is the better company for scale figures

The one thing that really killed DC for me was when myfigurecollection.net started using personalised banners designed by its users in the main header design which was a really cool idea http://myfigurecollection.net/news/80 well 9 days later danny came up with the same “idea” http://www.figure.fm/post/en/1110/Your+figure+fm+header.html makes you wonder how many of dannys great “ideas” were just riped offf from other websites
Mememo´s last blog ..Hobby search sale

“I visited DC.com daily since mid 2007 and registered over there in early 2008. Looks like this was the peak of the awesomeness on that site unfortunately.”

In 2009, Danny gave us the opportunity to be featured in the Otacool magazine.

Can you tell me another website where you can have such opportunity ? Sankaku Complex maybe ? (LOL)

And yes, this year, Good Smile Company released a lot of more gorgeous figurines than Alter… (Saber lily, Black Rock Shooter, Moka Akashiya, ect)

For your “Windows 7 Fail” article, beleive it or not but the website of Danny is called Danny Choo.com, It’s his real name, if he didn’t have deleted your Windows 7 fail article, this would have mean that he approve what you said about Microsoft and that would be very bad for his reputation and the réputation of the community.

and finally, i discovered your website via DannyChoo.com, like many of your readers. I don’t know how many visitors you have in the month but you won’t deny that Danny boosted your traffic.

And now you remove DC.com from your blogroll ?

Fine, danny will survive (LOL), but it’s NOT LOYAL from you to do that.

read danny’s new article”tokyo photo walk 6″ and we may find out more about him and what things he had passed through
i am a new subscriber to dc.com (only few months)didnt experienced as much as you guys did but still i believe danny is a good man just trying hard to keep up his business.
Lets hope things will going better on dc.com.

I’m surprised to hear that comments like that suddenly get deleted without notice… that is something to think about.

I’m similar with Guy with regards to becoming a DC.com member, I joined just before figure.fm was released again, and even then, I do notice that a lot of the recent posts are about figures if not Danny’s work with x company. I initially joined because I wanted to find and talk to people with similar interests, although it’s pretty tough to do so in DC.com/figure.fm because you can never really get updated if someone responds to your posts or your comments, so I started my own blog and actually got more interaction there… I’m a bit guilty of using the featured feed to get more exposure for my blog ^^; but that’s really is it’s purpose.

I also didn’t get why people who got featured for OTACOOL didn’t get free copies of the book.

As for blogging about achievements, it could be called showing off, but it could also be called someone who wanted to blog about what they achieved. It’s like some random blogger on Wordpress/blogger/LJ/whathaveyou happily blogging about getting a great job/graduating/etc — only it’s in a larger, more noticeable scale.

This rant seems to me like it’s more about the community rather than Danny himself ^^;
ninjovee´s last blog ..A Trip down Memory Lane

@louki wrote: “if he didn’t have deleted your Windows 7 fail article, this would have mean that he approve what you said about Microsoft and that would be very bad for his reputation and the réputation of the community.”

come on @louki, why bother asking for people’s opinions if you won’t accept any opinion other than your own. he might as well switch off commenting on his site altogether.

if he doesn’t agree with a comment, rather than just deleting it (which is called censorship) he should respond to the comment and say he doesn’t agree and why.

obviously the act of censorship, for what appears to be a harmless comment and a viable opinion, just shows a lack of respect for his readers/followers.
reesan´s last blog ..Hentai Milking Meganekko

Absolutely right decision on DC.com! OEG would be shedding tears of pride! Those DCfags voted against my painting so I’m biased, but well.

The blogroll’s great-looking.
Gargron´s last blog ..Reaching you is reaching me

Well, I can’t say I didn’t expect to see something like this eventually. But then again it isn’t a new thing for people to rant about DC.

Personally, I do have some dislikes about the present state of DC.com/Community, but they don’t really bother me enough to openly protest…until this comment. XD

I’ve been reading DC off and on since 2006, but didn’t join until DEC 2008. After I joined was during the time period that some comments above mentioned was the ideal awesomeness era that everyone has liked so much. Thankfully I was able to experience that era of DC for a short time.

My one most major dislike that completely astounded me, was how the members news is being treated. I reallllllly don’t think that it would have hurt Danny to leave the members news on the front page below his news and next to the photo articles like it used to be. That helped a boatload of us bloggers get traffic- something he always mentions he wants to help us with. For a while, the featured feeds dissapeared too, and then the figure.fm thing happened.
Now, don’t get me wrong, figure.fm is a great idea, and a very fun place, but…I realllllllly detest the posting system. I mean, you have to post something LIVE on the site, and then go back after you barely made it to finish updating the post in real time. When I post something, I like to post all of it, and not be restricted to a weird posting system, and have it all come out at one time.
And I couldn’t believe that there was no more posting on DC for member news…it’s JUST A FEED from figure.fm now. It actually hurt me to see that he has it WAAAAYYYY down the page under the mobloggers, and…it’s….HIDDEN!!! HIDDEN!!! HIDDEN WHEN YOU FIRST OPEN THE PAGE! You have to “spank” one of the mascots to open it…
And what do they say? “Most Users visiting a site tend to leave in 15 seconds if they don’t immediately find something to their liking or interest.” Well…who’s going to see that but other loyal members who spend their days around the site and happen to see that section!

Seems to me like he took dannychoo.com and banished everyone else from being a part of the article/post/information hub aspect of the site, and threw everyone onto their own section that they “belong” in…a members site. Well…that’s all find and dandy because the members will be frequenting it and us bloggers will still get traffic from them, but…there are like 1,000,000’s of “lurkers” on DC who I’m sure used to visit our sites when we posted on the main page…

I have spent the past month getting Run Around Kazu back up, and revamping the site design (which isn’t finished yet but will be soon). Because of my lack of skills, I can’t make something as awesome as a blog where members can join and share stuff like on DC, but what I have done is create a forum that links with my blog for members to join and…well, basically do the same, but the Run Around Forums community provides a different aspect and outlook on the idea that Danny has created when it comes to a otaku/japan loving community, my readership and community most importantly, falls under only one major idea- “Share what you love.” It’s all about fellowship, hobby and info sharing that makes the whole idea special.

I myself am trying to get my name out there, and have already began my business path…however when I come back with convention coverage, photos of my life, or news about me teaming up with someone in the business/otaku world, I bring it so that it entertains people, and I spend hours if not a whole day on a single article sometimes, so that the reader is immersed, informed, and entertained- and as far as my community goes, it’s a place for other bloggers/otaku/people to share what they love in a wide range of topics, discuss RAK topics, and most importantly, get their blog noticed by sharing articles from their OWN blogs on RAF (run around forums) without a funky posting system. My community may be somewhat separated from my main page, but the ENTIRE community happens there, including my stuff, and it is set up to (hopefully) become a great place with great people. Things are currently in a beta state and being tested, and so everything’s a bit small atm, but I’ve identified my passion, and I’m following it, because the rest will most likely follow and I’m pressing on.

DC to me has been an inspiration for my personal passion that I’m building today. I doubt I would ever have been motivated to do what I’m doing today if it wasn’t for Danny.

But, DC.com/figure.fm has kind of been like the training wheels that has trained some people into a certain feeling and ideas for blogging/life/etc, and some don’t let go of those training wheels and become those “loyals” that will attack you if you say one bad thing about Danny.

I’ve taken my training wheels off, but I return for the community/fellowship aspect that does exist there. To me there’s no reason not to check out the site/participate/comment/etc, but you have to treat it in a certain mindset of who and what we’re looking at IMO:

Danny Choo: A motivational speaker/Web Designer/Pioneer/Blogger who grew up in a crappy life and is now living his dream in Japan. He has become a very busy guy and a very lucky guy to be in the positions he is in. And he is smart. It didn’t take me long to realize that he is somewhat of a business genious. He is now “famous” because he is LUCKY enough to blog from the SOURCE (being Japan) of cool things (anime/manga/etc.) and also is LUCKY to be able to know the people he does at the SOURCE. Blogging at that source puts a MASSIVE beat down on any blogger who doesn’t. I already accepted that my readership isn’t going to see his numbers for a while since I’m fated to live in California, so I don’t have the opportunities he does. My content on my site features news/review and otaku related events that happen here in the US.
But Danny did get himself there, and he’s amazing for doing that. I realllly respect him for being such a responsible and goal-achieving individual.
This is a guy that has fought for what he has, is pretty cool himself, and is now taking another huge bite he is fighting to chew (if you read his latest photowalk you’ll understand).

dannychoo.com: His website that he chooses to run which, as the Otaku Encyclopedia states, “has become” a trusted source for information on Japan and otaku shenanigans. If used right, like other social media tools, it can boost our traffic if we play the game right. This is an “opportunity” truly, and without Danny I’d feel like it’d be like if we were without another social media community/tool/place/etc., as well as a friend.

So DC and his site has to be treated in the mind set that it’s really…all about Danny Choo. And for a short period of time there was a lot of features many members liked. Now that it’s back to being all about Danny Choo and his interests/articles/fame, the members community can’t just go away so figure.fm exists…

I apologize for making such a long comment.

I’m not really pissed at Danny or anything…but I’m annoyed…like, “why Danny? why?”
I mean, it is his site, his community, his network. He can do whatever he likes. It’s not like we’re under some contract or governmental document that says we have certain rights on DC, there’s nothing that says things are supposed to be a certain way, so it’s really a privilege that it exists.

But I do feel you in some way there in your words.

I however, can see and appreciate a man’s hard work, whether it be for business, passion, past-time, free stuff, fame…or all of the above. Call me a DCfag but I still appreciate what he has done for the members, whether it be present or in the past- and don’t get me wrong, if Danny didn’t exist, us bloggers would have an easier time getting traffic, so he is DEFINITELY competition. But there’s something special about Danny Choo, and I believe he deserves in every way to be where he is now.

Sure there’s some inconsistencies that annoy people…but damn, can’t everyone just acknowledge a man’s hard work?

As a final comment, I’ll say that I am annoyed with some of Danny’s recent choices, and have even discussed them with people I know. Life is about mistakes, and maybe he’ll learn from that again when he notices that his comments barely reach 100 anymore, and as his page views deplete. OTACOOL I think was revolutionary, and has brought together a group of people from all over the world that are passionate about their hobbies, into a collection for current/future generations of otaku to see that there are others like them, and how wonderful the otaku community truly is…it’s a community of love really, and that’s COOL. I think it needed to happen, but I do believe that the 108 who made it should have received a free copy, no doubt.

I really hate to see biased-ness when it comes to Apple and Microsoft- my cousin is the biggest macfag on this planet and rubs it in everyone’s faces that PC’s are useless garbage…it actually makes me hate Apple even more that they have created elitists like that…so it does pain me to hear that Danny responded like that to your comment…but then again…it’s his blog. But then again, he could have also wanted to avoid any possible flame wars.

Let’s face it Hikky, we’re bloggers. We are intelligent beings who browse the net for info to talk about, (as well as sharing our interests) and we’re going to find it no matter what. Whether it be via DC or something else. We also utilize social networks for our benefits. Otaku culture has existed LONG before his time of fame. He’s really just another source of news that comes from the very source, and another place for us to get noticed.

His biggest mistake as a blogger, is the loss of personal touch that I think EVERYONE around the site has felt lately. People don’t want to be part of a big corporate money making machine! I mean…it’s gone as far as there being a convention event called, “THE DANNY CHOO EXPERIENCE”. ………………are you serious? Would I have the “HIKARU KAZUSHIME EXPERIENCE? HELL NO. That’s very arrogant imo. And they were seriously going to create a 1/1 scale replica of his office…wtf were they going to do with it? Pilgrimage around Japan worshipping him or something? LMAO!

I’m not trying to put him down, but like I said, he’s made some awfully risky choices lately…

This thing is turning into a novel, forgive me, but I’m actually glad you made this article, I’ve actually really been wanting to discuss this topic with others for a while now. XD

I hate to see the site becoming a souless corporate/commercial money making monster…and I’m sure the readership will go wherever the quality stuff is, whether it’s DC or somewhere else…and I’m also sure there will be people who worship him still.

I don’t really know what to say at this point. I feel for Danny, I really do. His life, his struggles, and everything in between. It’s not as fine and spiffy for him over there as we all think it is.
But wherever the otaku spirit exists, whether it’s in his articles or in the community (wherever that leads) I will be there.

The man is still an inspiration to me, and that will never die. He’s not perfect, he’s a human being who stands on the same planet as us. If his site ends up sucking, well, then it was fun while it lasted.

Otaku will continue to evolve, and so will the communities of them. Danny has kind of organized a large amount of otaku across the world…and to me that is really amazing.

Time will tell I guess…and I’m sorry you’re so dissatisfied with him Hikky.
But maybe DC.com just isn’t a place that clicks for you and some people.
Everyone’s different. We all have expectations and can’t expect other people to reach them until we reach our own.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I remember that Windows 7 entry and commenting on that thread. I was surprised Danny quickly deleted all the “negative” comments. It’s bad use of censorship.

Honestly, I’ve never understood how some members would only buy things Danny has promoted. I don’t think they can call themselves real collectors. They’re just jumping on the bandwagon. I think collector’s should have their own individual tastes.

As for Otacool I think it was a cool idea although I’m not really impressed with Otaku rooms in general. I’m probably going to sound like an Elitist for saying this but most Otakus have absolutely zero design aesthetic. Most of the rooms have a bunch of clutter, boring white walls or walls covered entirely in posters. No offense to those people who do…. it’s just not something I like to look at. But it definitely wasn’t fair how each member that got featured wasn’t entitled to a free copy.

But I do like visiting figure.fm for the figure reviews + photography that gets posted occasionally. Sadly most of Danny’s posts don’t really interest me as much anymore. I wish he would take the time to write up some reviews (not just post pictures) and do more Japan Photo Walks. But I do congratulate him on his success on getting Mirai figma produced and a Mirai anime in the works.

oh man, ur comment doesn’t deserve a ban at all, it’s quite neutral!

GSC has great variety: good scaled figs, figmas, nendoroids etc. I think that explains why a lot of people out there like GSC as a company. I like the way GSC market their figures through blogs (e.g. mikatan and MF blog) and they have fun with it!

Quality wise, definitely Alter would be my fave hands down but they only do scaled figs and promotion wise, they probably don’t have the fun & loving image that GSC potrays. Guess Alter is not as easy to approach as the other companies ^^;
YuKi-To´s last blog ..Fatina

@hikky & Mana:

Well, actually the most owned and ordered figures are made by GSC. See stats: http://myfigurecollection.net/about/stats/&page=top

Thing is, GSC has released about 500 Figures. But most of them are collectibles, Nendoroid etc.
ALTER had released far less figures in total. But there are more scaled figures made by ALTER than by GSC.

I for one prefer ALTER. (There’s just one scaled GSC figure within my collection)
De JaY´s last blog ..How to…. ef -> wall

LOL No need to be honored. I’m more than a plain guy.
I am the one who is honored to have some well-done articles like yours featured at TB.

Should we try to do the same poll @ TB? Looking at our stats, at the moment, Alter has got 338 favorites, GSC 340 (+141 Max Factory) and Kotobukiya 141.
kumasanmk´s last blog ..News #90

About figures, well Good Smile Company is my favorite next to Alter and Max Factory, simply through owning figures mostly by these three makers and being impressed with their quality. Though Good Smile Company used to be a level above Alter if you look at older Alter releases but lately Alter has made very impressive progress.

As for Danny and his website, well it indeed has changed but another long existing website I used to frequent a lot e-shuushuu.net has also vastly changed this past year and not always for the better, especially when a site grows large, a part f the new increased community may not be that great.

Also keep in mind Danny is someone trying to drive business through his website, it’s his introduction card and link to new business and contacts. As such he needs the users and visitors but he’s forced to keep everyone happy (which is by default impossible) and will always get criticism no matter what he does or says.
Plus he has to keep an eye on what is displayed on his site or it may drive business away. How do you think an average Japanese corporation seeing tons of people posting eroge related stuff on his website might react? It’s a difficult balance.
Personally think he’s a keen business man steering a lot of the website to drive traffic and enhance his supporters or contacts in the industry, this is only natural, but with such a mass of people he also gets steered around by them too.
Don’t forget that site and the code base for it is what pays his bills.

And it’s not because most of us here are old, wise and intelligent enough to not be into blind fanboy (or fangirl) ism that everyone else online is.

As it is my personal opinion is this, Danny, you and everyone else here are people whom often have very interesting opinions and things to say, but I won’t always agree or like them, but I prefer to keep the peace and learn from a different opinion or just put it down next to me.

As for Apple and Microsoft, I work in IT so I’m capable enough to realize all have flaws and strengths. I don’t do into bashing, it doesn’t make any of those products better anyway.
Smithy´s last blog ..Detolf with dioder

@hikky:

Hey np on the novel length comment. I grew up on some very strict discussion boards that somewhat forced me into being trained to speak my opinion in discussions to be very detailed and complete. XD

Good point on the “having no ecchi on the front page” reasoning. I understand he has to look at all types of people who will visit his site, and has to be professional. And I too always wondered why we were never allowed to post more pics to begin with…and now that we can…it’s realllllllllllllllllllllllllllly annoying. XD

When I first came to this post I thought you had gone off the deep end and lost it lol, but I can see now that unlike those who write Danny hatemail and what-not, you are wise and can see his discipline and reasoning, but have presented some of his flaws in the way of a blog post, and actions by taking off your DC feed stuffz. It’s also nice to know that others are thinking similar thoughts. So I’m glad you posted this. More bloggers should be aware that they probably should have more individuality, and shouldn’t rely on Choo too much. Nothing against Danny, he speaks well about what good bloggers do himself- but too many get influenced by him to make blogs and such (heck I did) and then resort to small-time free blogger/wordpress/LJ etc… type blogs, and proceed into throwing Danny related content all over the sidebar/page and never really get anywhere themselves. I mean, everyone has their decisions and dreams, so if they don’t want to then…they don’t I guess.

Danny to me is still a bit of an inspiration (like I mentioned earlier) and I respect him as a person like you mentioned. Commercialism isn’t necessarily BAD, it’s just a very DANGEROUS thing to mix into a community/webpage/readership/blog that you’ve been building for so long, because it could either drive people away very quickly, or be successful if done right. He’s gotten people close to him. Built a page we all liked. Now things are changing. <—there's the problem. People don't like change much once they get used to something. Everyone's different, so some do. But it's a dangerous choice when it comes to dealing with millions of people. This was proven outright when we seen him change the website, and more than half the users (around 3/4 or more if I'm correct) voted to change it back to the original style.

I also forgot to mention that he made a post not too long ago about:

THROWING THE DANCING STORMTROOPER IDEA AWAY.
He still wants to dance around in the streets of Japan…but…as his own creation? I think…that might have worked in the beginning…but that's something that I think will crash and burn now. We've all come to love the stormtrooper thing, heck, that's what gets him noticed on YouTube by people who don't even know who Danny Choo is.

I believe that Danny is in a place in his life/career right now, where a lot of the experimenting and fun and games are over, and that he has to play every move he makes over there, the right way or else its over for him…idk…bleh

oh well. I'm kind of the same as you when you said "I’m just not happy with some decisions lately and felt like I had to mention this. DC.com has been some part of my “online life”, something not that usual and sometimes more than just another source for information, at least for me." So I feel mostly the same, but I've never been one of those people who worship him, and I still enjoy posting there for now, as long as it remains to be useful and a fun read now and then.

Annnnnywaaaay~ Thought I'd say congrats on the new domain and stuffz. Everything looks great!
Feel free to check out/join my site/forum (it's not finished yet and the forum is getting a makeover soon lol) hope to get new posts rolling soon and hoping for more members to join at RAF. (hoping for the members news section to take off for extra traffic for member's blogs) It will all be pretty promoted soon so I hope to see less "deadness" around RAF soon. lol
Will be adding you to my blogroll again when I finish up the last couple bits and pieces over on RAK within the next couple days. I would have been commenting more around here but I've spent 3 weeks with the flu and 2 without internet. X(

Also- Love your blogroll system! It's kind of like a mixed feed huh? How'd you do that? X3

-Kazu

Whoa, whoa whoa! Tons of extremely long comments here, took me a bit to read through them all.

Truth be told though, I’m actually quite a late member in comparison to when you guys actually joined up with Dannychoo.com. I’ve known of the site for ages, but I’ve never really bothered looking into it until early this year.

I can’t say much, seeing that I’ve only been there for quite a short time. I don’t regularly visit DC.com, but the site still provides some pretty interesting information if you’re out of the Japan. The only thing that really bugs me about DC.com is the huge amount of fans that DC has — it’s a little ugh to me sometimes, seeing how people look up to him in a way more than what you call simply respect for the man — and that’s probably it.

And oh, that opening picture wins. xD
Netto´s last blog ..Modern Warfare 2: Possible Dedicated Servers?

@hikky
Actually one thing I do want to mention where you can see Danny’s savvy at good SEO and driving traffic to his site but which I also find misleading at times is the titles of his articles and live blogger posts.
There’s a lot of items with barely any real content that will come up as the top Google hit and where the title’s relevance is less and you realize it’s done to secure a high Google rank and drive traffic to the site even if the real bulk content isn’t to be found there.

Smart business? In a way yes, people will flock to your site, but is it giving them good content? That’s another story…
Smithy´s last blog ..Shin Koihime†Musou 7

@Smithy
I hate it when sites do that. When I google, I want a relevant entry. BTW, when I reposted entries of mine on figure.fm, google would give the Figure.fm result much higher than my blog’s, but once the post dropped the front page, it more or less completely vanished from google.

@Hikaru Kazushime
In a way though, I agree. I am ok with people disagreeing or disliking someone, or something, so long they can explain why. But it’s the same thing for things people like. I detest equally those who jump on the fanboyism bandwagon and those who jump on the hating bandwagon, and being fans of the haters bandwagon.
Guy´s last blog ..A Tired Old Cliche; Genre-Breaking(?) Micro-fiction.

Dude, nice blog like seriously. I’ll definitely be tuning in to your site like all the time
FaS´s last blog ..New Author! Hello World

I’ve been visiting DC for a while too, although more so nowadays then back then. It’s blatantly obvious to me that DC is a business venture meant to generate publicity for affiliates.
I think that eventually more viewers will catch on to the motives behind DC and see that it really isn’t a personal blog as much as it is a corporate blog.
I don’t particularly mind either way. There are plenty of great blogs on the blogsphere for real content. I still go there once in a while to just check out what the mob is doing and what Apple, GSC, or other DC’s connections are up to. I also participate in the Giveaways, although I never got the one I won…
Yi´s last blog ..Gokujou Drops Volume 3 Preview

Holy moly donutshop. You know how LONG it took me to scroll down here on my iPhone…??????like 15’seconds straight. Anyways, yeah, I know how you feel about the members thing, but idk, I kind of like perverted stuff…as you can probably tell by my posts lollll
FaS´s last blog ..UNCENSORED…? – Seikon no Qwaser EXPOSED!!!

Oh and btw, ID love to out you on my blogroll too here are my details:
site name: Finallyanime!
Description: great site, clean layout, and fun content
site address: http://www.finallyanime.com

thanks a bunch! And I definitely bookmarked your site too

@FaS

Ugh, I liked! So clear and positively.
Have a nice day
Worker

Personally, I’ll never post on DC.com

The articles are interesting, and I started reading them when I first moved on the NotCliche network, but there’s many things good and many things wrong with that site.

I don’t like the perverted articles. It took me forever to realize what a dolphin meant. Holy crap, don’t even use those animals for perverted terms. And then…there’s also the scanty figurines he takes pictures of and other perverted “otaku” items. Bleh, y’all already know most people want fan service. [And that there are old guys that like that. ] God darn. Not really telling him to stop that, nor anything is wrong with it, but in a twisted way it can look wrong.

Otacool books. What? Those people should have gotten a free copy. That’s kinda like free service for DC himself. He didn’t make the rooms, the fans did, not him. It is interesting in a way how much money these people put into their hobbies…

Holy crap, cult. I don’t know what makes so many people want to comment on each topic like he’s a god, but I noticed it’s usually the same people over and over. I don’t think the post count is that enormous, it’s just the same people coming back to post over and over. But then there is the people who do post, but not that frequently. I don’t really have an opinion on people that make blogs just because of him. Some are swayed easily, some aren’t. At least I inspired myself to make my own blog with a partner.

The impression I get from him, just a guy trying to live his dream. @Hikaru, I think he’s just trying to live out his childhood, it even said in one of his posts. I mean like, living from house to house, parents aren’t always there, getting bullied frequently, yeah that’d suck. I’m pretty sure some adults out there are kids, and not everyone has this perfect image childhood where parents weren’t fighting, or there wasn’t violence, or no feelings of un wantedness. To me, he can dance all he likes, I won’t care anyways since I never watch any of his videos. And besides, there’s other things worse for staining reputation as getting drunk, being violent, etc etc you know.

In the end, it’s just a blog. I don’t care if he has a 1000 apples, or 1000 dolls. There’s no need to hate because anyone can do anything with their blog. Turn it into a multi commmunity site, or just a personal diary. Just some person who made the ultimate “otaku dream” and that’s why he’s popular. Yes, there is some good and bad things, but like one of his points, why waste time hate mailing? Just move on to the next blog.

@Aquilla Oh and, I don’t think you should feel down because someone’s doll trend was more popular that yours. If you like something, keep doing it. It was only popular because fan members on DC will do anything he does, besides, it’s not like he made dollifies.
Crystal´s last blog ..Kimi ni Todoke 10: Cooperation

I’ve never visited DC until OEG started bringing stuff up about it. Of course I’ve heard all about him, as nearly every anime blogger in business, and I did see him a few times in person at AFA ‘09. As a quick somewhat run-through I found the posts around 2005-2007 quite interesting and written in a nice style. But the newer posts feel exactly like “cold solid money making business”-like, which many people have previously implied here.
Not that I support OEG’s “cause”, as I am not an otaku but a simple anime fan and a blogger, but I can’t help understanding their thoughts behind their agenda. Danny wants to make his definition of “otaku” a cool, hip thing. Thanks to the Western fandom starving for such things due to the post-2006-trend in Japanese animation to shift more towards the domestic otaku audience, it has spread like wildfire. OEG claims that it’s already affecting Akihabara…well, don’t know about that, might be exaggeration on their part.
In brief, I don’t really like DC.com as it is. It’s tidy, clean and nice looking – but also feels empty and lacking a soul. Like looking around in a nice hospital reception room. And I can’t really bring myself to like Danny’s business strategy of marketing “otaku” as it was some hip product. Don’t get me wrong though, he has pulled off something most people can only dream of, but like Hikky said in the post up there: Don’t forget that he’s a businessman, and “otaku” is a product he’s marketing.
No, this didn’t make much sense as a comment but I like the entire discussion surrounding the topic. Makes the scene much more refreshing to observe.
NovaJinx´s last blog ..Nova’s January 2010 Anime Awards

@Crystal
A bad childhood is one of the worst excuses around.