Weekly summary 29/2019

[Dollstudio]

Hi,

this is a summary of what was going in the doll world in the 29th week of 2019, as far as we at Dollstudio & DS Doll Europe were concerned.

1) New arrivals.

This week, five new heads were introduced:

• Aiersha/Junying ›Sophie‹ head aka ›Meihui‹ (美惠) (JY Doll) - TPE
• AF Doll no. 129, 131, 132, and 133 - silicone

Also, two new body styles were released:

• New arrivals: Ildoll IL-155 body style / TPE or silicone / ~155 cm / ~26 kg (silicone) or ~34 kg (TPE)
• New arrivals: Ildoll IL-140 body style / TPE or silicone / ~140 cm / ~16 kg (silicone) or ~25 kg (TPE)

As always, you can follow the latest updates in our Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/DollStudioEU

Also, we have the New products listing on all three Dollstudio websites. It is sorted in reverse chronological order, so the latest additions to our portfolio are on top of the listing:

• Dollstudio US - http://us.dollstudio.org/new-products
• Dollstudio EU - http://eu.dollstudio.org/new-products
• Dollstudio DE - http://de.dollstudio.org/new-products

On Dollstudio EU, there is also the New arrivals timeline http://eu.dollstudio.org/timeline with a slightly different display style.


2) Latest blog posts.

Our (almost) daily blog posts feature mostly new photo sets, showcasing dolls and heads in various configurations.

Among some other things, we have posted these new picture series during the past week:

• 21.07.: YL Doll YL-151 body style with ›Kelly‹ head
• 19.07.: QiTa Doll QT-168 body style and ›Liupiaopiao‹ head
• 18.07.: Sino-doll SI-155/H body style and S21 head aka ›Yuwen‹
• 17.07.: Irontech IT-140/M body style and ›Mia‹ head
• 16.07.: JY Doll JY-170/100 (big breasts) body style with ›Sophie‹ head (Meihui)
• 15.07.: YL Doll YL-151 body style with ›Leslie‹ head
• 14.07.: New photos with Irontech IT-140/M body style and ›Jane‹ head

These blog posts are mirrored on the Latest blog posts section all three Dollstudio websites. It is sorted in reverse chronological order, newest posts on top:

• Dollstudio US - http://us.dollstudio.org/blog
• Dollstudio EU - http://eu.dollstudio.org/blog
• Dollstudio DE - http://de.dollstudio.org/blog

(EU and US sites in English, DE site in German)


3) New dolls in development.

Gynoid Tech is currently working on a new doll nick-named as Model 9. So far, only a couple of pictures have been released, but no technical details about product care or enhancements.


4) New and updated tutorials.

• Silicone doll repair primer – walks you through the required prerequisites and basic steps for any silicone doll surgery.

5) Factory photos and shipped dolls.

This week, we had two completed dolls:

• This Doll Sweet DS-145 Minus with ›NinaE‹ head travels to Slovakia
• This JY Doll JY-166/G body style with Ka 9 head travels to Germany

As usual, confirmation pics are in our Twitter feed and on the respective product pages.


6) Current & upcoming Unboxing Reviews.

The Unboxing review Gynoid Tech Model 7 aka ›Jì xiāng‹ (纪香) has been prematurely terminated after the preliminary conclusion as there were too many critical issues without resolution encountered (lack of standing capability, three loose joints, and finally the lack of an operational silicone glue).

The Unboxing review Sino-doll SI-152/D with S10 head aka ›Amanda‹ has been completed up to the preliminary conclusion. Also I added a 2nd look after six weeks how she is holding up; in a nutshell, she is holding up exceptionally well and there are no signs of decay, autodestruct or wear & tear yet.

For the planned Ildoll unboxing review there are still no final decisions made; at the moment I am considering on of the upgraded ZO body styles in combination with one of the new Hx heads.


7) Discontinued customizations and dolls.

Doll Forever and Piper Doll replaced several factory wigs with similar types because the supplier discontinued the original items.

Sino-doll discontinued Wigs no. 4, 6, 7, and 9 are because the supplier stopped to produce them. Currently there are no replacements available yet. For details please see the update.

Jarliet discontinued almost 2/3 of their whole portfolio. Kristel, Jen, Jiali, Monica, Pearl and Mia are no longer available, but Jarliet has already "made some new dolls recently". So at least at Jarliet, dolls seem to be considered as some kind of fashion products which are only available for a couple of months. From a vendor point of view, it is not justifiable to promote heads or dolls that become unavailable shortly after we have listed them, so we are removing Jarliet from our listing effective immediately. As far as Indigo's care & repair products are concerned, Jarliet is an unsupported brand, anyway. Plus, the only sound information we got from this brand in the past couple of months is what we can not sell. So goodbye, Jarliet.


8 ) Standing without bolts.

Many of us have desperately waited for standing capability without bolts in the soles of the feet to become widely available. Doll Forever announced this feature years ago, but later switched silently to the common design with bolts/pegs. Their TPE dolls could not stand for several days without hurting themself. Things like this can happen if a manufacturer only does very limited product testing. However, D4E fixed it and reverted to bolts, like everybody else in the TPE realm.

Recently, two manufacturers announced standing capability without bolts for silicone dolls: Gynoid Tech and Sino-doll. Gynoid failed the engineering part miserably, so currently only Sino-doll is left. As of now, nobody else is capable of offering dolls with standing capability without bolts.

…if there wasn't some classics, like the lightweight fabric dolls by Happy Doll, Doll Sweet's EX-lite, and some Japan-made dolls from Silicone Arts and 4woods.

The rest of the crowd – with exception of Sino-doll – has still some catching up to do.

From my sales stats, about 95% of my customers want standing capability. That's quite a bunch. If nothing else is available, acceptance for bolts/pegs is still good. As far as reliability is concerned – once again – Sino-doll and Z-Onedoll rule. It seems that so far, only these two brands are taking customer requirements seriously. And a fraction accepts Doll Sweet's hanging system as a workaround and because of the unique advantages for display and long-term storage.

But watch out, dear manufacturers! If alternatives to bolts for standing are offered, so far 100% of my customers have chosen the alternative – standing without bolts. At least if the alternative is credibly operational. So, dear manufacturers, if you are willing to listen, there is a 'window of opportunity' gaping wide open.


9) Miscellaneous doll industry trends.

As it was foreseeable after this year's Shanghai Expo, there is currently a huge move towards silicone in China. Mate Doll/SM Doll and Hitdoll/Ildoll have pioneered to make mixed-material molds and hybrid dolls, later WM Dolls and JY Doll followed. Now (almost) everbody else seems to try to catch up or even go beyond TPE/silicone hybrigs. For example, SM Doll introduced a full silicone body, and AF Doll recently showed four silicone heads for mixed-material dolls (AF no. 129, 131, 132, and 133).

Yet another trend seems to be to combine silicone heads with stitched hair. Z-Onedoll and Sino-doll had this option for a while, now Hitdoll/Ildoll, WM Dolls and AF Doll have shown heads with implanted scalp hair, too.

Since there are now so many new options for silicone heads, it becomes increasingly interesting how these heads are engineered (e.g. oral canal open at the end, with direct connection with GFK core; teeth molded separately) and what quality they are (e.g. permanent vs. semi-permanent makeup; skin texture etc.).

Sandro

https://twitter.com/DollStudioEU/status ... 7018257414

[dxc]

Hey Sandro,

I have seen you added the AF silicone heads already. I assume you will be adding the body range of AF to the portfolio as well then?

Special thanks for the silicone repair post btw. I am procrastinating a repair I have to do for some time, your overview does give me a bit of something like an anchor that I now feel a bit more prepared to attack this once the temperatures dropped here a bit.

[Dollstudio]

@dxc: I will add any supplier/brand capable of training a factory POC which is willing to actively cooperate with us for the benefit of our customers. That means: supply material samples for Indigo's care & repair products; disclose precise technical details (e.g. type of neck connector, where are hinges in the skeleton); disclose who actually manufactures the dolls; showing proper responsiveness (meaning: listens to what customers actually want); giving access to promotion material that is not misleading about the nature of the products.

For example, communication with Hitdoll/Ildoll, Doll Sweet and Sino-doll is excellent at the moment. I'd stick with those brands where the default response pattern is not 'evasive action' and 'don't move a finger' unless thumbscrews are applied.

Sandro

[Anung Un Rama]

Thanks Sandro, another informative update.

Anung