Another one

[Eleuthia]

Hello everyone,

I've recently discovered the world of dolls, and went searching for a solid source of information. Been browsing the forum for a couple of days now, and it seems I'm at the right address .

I've done my fair share of browsing, making notes and doing comparisons. About 5 days, a handful of beginner guides, doll reviews and a couple dozen threads have passed me by. Most questions I had have been answered, either by guides or by posts on this forum. My 'quest for knowledge' has been a fun one in and of itself already. Thanks TDF, your discussions are very much appreciated !

I did remain with a couple of unanswered questions, and they mostly relate to the specific dolls I'm interested in, and the vendors that offer them. From what I've read, the approved vendors on TDF are great at offering customer support. Quick and complete answers. Sounds good.

I sent some questions to dollto-china and siliconelovers regarding the silicone Starpery 159 cm doll, last monday, around 21:00-22:00 CET. No reply yet. Normally I'd say there's no reason to give it some more time. However, I'm now reading reports that indicate the scarcity and price of silicone is likely increasing in October. See for example the message at the top in the Starpery category of dollto-china's website: https://dollto-china.com/starpery-tpe-s ... dolls.html

I think it suffices to say that I'm getting a bit anxious that my pull of the trigger will be... late? It's even gotten me to start doubting whether I want to pull the trigger at all, if it'd be late. So I figured I'd give my own post a shot, and share my remaining questions with you all . If you happen to know the answer(s) to some of my questions, I'd love to hear them.

Question 1:
I'm confused by the different numbers I'm seeing on different sites. Is this discrepancy caused by a mistake, or a difference in offered features?
For example, the Starpery 159cm C-cup on Dollto-china:
https://dollto-china.com/starpery-full- ... -bing.html
It says here that the doll has a weight of 27.1 kg with a silicone body and head. It also mentions a foam core.

This seems to be the same doll, on Siliconlovers:
https://siliconelovers.com/collections/ ... -bing-bing
This page mentions a weight of 37.2 kg, also with silicone body and head. It does not mention a foam core however.

EDIT: it seems Siliconelovers have now added an option 'Weight reduction'. I reckon this is the foam core option that dollto-china offers.

Question 2:
I've read that Starpery offers soft silicone heads which have functioning oral holes. This feature is offered on Siliconlovers. I don't see it on Dollto-china.
Does Dollto-china not offer this feature?

Question 3:
I'm interested in the 'Hedy' head. I especially like the hair style. However the configuration menu's of both Siliconelovers and Dollto-china make it rather difficult to find out which hair option reflects the promotional material the best. I only know that the promo pictures use some sort of red/auburn implanted hair.

I reckon it would be wise to await a reply of the vendors and communicate with them further about this. But if anyone here knows what option on either site would best reflect the promo pictures, could you let me know?

Question 4:
Siliconlovers offers a 'Matte Head & Body' option. I don't see this option on Dollto-china. Does Dollto-china not offer this feature? Or is it an 'implicit default'.
Any opinions on whether the option is worth the steep cost are also much appreciated.

Question 5:
Siliconlovers warns visitors with the warning below:

"Starpery have advised us that the best heads to have on the 151cm body are either Rong or Phoebe, this is due to the petite build of the 151cm doll. The other Starpery heads can look slightly oversized and you might get that "lollypop head" effect"

This may be a difficult question to answer, especially since I bet that it is partially subjective. Does anyone have an idea if this lollypop head effect would arise if the 'Hedy' head was used on the 159 cm body?


And those are my questions for now. I'm sure there will be many more.

Cheers,
Eleuthia

[Studio]

I don't have the answers to your Starpery questions but would still like to welcome you to TDF!

[Eleuthia]

Thanks for the warm welcome! All good, I consider these questions here more like firing buckshot. I've directed them to 3 different vendors at this point. Now I just have to play the waiting game.

[setevoltas]

Same as Studio, not able to answer all of your questions specifically, but welcome aboard. It does sound like the world of silicone is about to shift pretty dramatically without some supply chain and sourcing adjustments.

One thing to take into consideration is that a vendor is your go between with the factory. It's not that they don't or can't offer a feature. It's more likely that either their website doesn't list all the given options, or they may not be aware of all the options. It's not to criticize vendor A compared to vendor B, but as you have already noticed, there is a lot to keep track of in this industry. New heads, new features, new everything across about 40 different brands. Not an easy task.

Try to focus more on the vendor's timeliness in communicating and ability to get you answers than what you do or don't see on the website.

As to why response times have been slow, not sure, but bear in mind lots of people in China will be taking next week off and might be away from work already.

https://www.google.com/search?q=golden+week+china

[Eleuthia]

@setevoltas Thanks for the welcome!

I think you just perfectly summed up the reason why my questions came up in the first place, cheers. I suppose I'm used to more accuracy and consistency from webshops in certain specific Western domains. It certainly is a lot to keep track of and I can imagine that not all info is 100% correct, or that every single feature is offered within a day of its conception. I'll get used to it and make my own documents to keep track of what I'm looking for, while keeping in touch with the various vendors.

Ah, golden week huh. That's good to know! I'll be prepared for longer response times.

[Eleuthia]

Man. The amount of choise is astounding. I'm enjoying the analysis of it all, but making an actual choice may take longer than I'd thought initially. Every time I feel like I'm getting close to a choice, another option turns up I wasn't aware of, or some photo looks better/worse when compared to another.

The dolls/brands I've had my eyes on so far:

- Starpery 159 cm, C-cup.
Been focusing on realistic dolls at first. Hedy popped out as great realistic option. Was trying to find out if this looked good with the Hedy head. My conclusion: no. The factory and amateur photos also produced the uncanny valley effect for me, whereas the promotional material did not.

My focus then shifted more and more towards less realistic, and more towards idealistic, fantasy and even anime. I suppose in an attempt to stay 'in front' of the uncanny valley.

- A banned brand.
Don't think I'm allowed to name them since they're banned, so I won't. Wouldn't want to pay the piper.

- Elsa Babe.
Gotta say, that Hoshino face looks... unique. Oddly, motivating.

- Irokebijin.

My quest continues, as I'm trying to find my perfect balance between idealism, realism, feel, maintenance, height and weight. So far it seems like I'll be looking in the 150-160 cm range to stay below 35 kg.

Any recommendations based on the brands named above are greatly appreciated. Cheers .