Silicagel wrote:Anything I should check upon arrival? What is a TPE plug?
First of all, do not worry too much. Definitely not every Piper Doll is bad. Like any other doll brand they just have some particular strenghts and some particular weaknesses. Among the particular strenghths is supposed to be the non-existent TPE plug issue (more about this below).
When your doll arrives, do not get overwhelmed. She will be beautiful and take your heart in an instant. Just keep your calm and have a camera ready, just in case. Check the cardboard box for visible and severe damages (some scratches on the cardboard are not damages). Then carefully open the package and get her out of the carton. She will be wrapped in a lot of padding and a soft blanket. If a metal parts poke through the padding or the blanket, you have a shipping damage. Take pictures and send them to me immediately.
If so far everything looks fine, get her out of her plastic bag and remove the protection around the hands and feet. I am using a cutter knife to cut through the transparent type; be careful not to cut into her skin. Then inspect her skin surface, and after that slowly explore the skeletal movements. Do not force a movement. Normally everything will be fine. If she can not hold a pose, inspect more closely. The skeleton is supposed to be posable, so she can nod, turn her head, raise her arms and so on. After you have tenderly (with emphasis on
tender) explored her body, you will know if there are skeletal issues.
A broken neck (case one mentioned above) can look like this:
- vlcsnap-2018-01-30-16h44m51s385.jpg (83.01 KiB) Viewed 5475 times
Regarding the TPE plug issue, this is a long-standing engineering issue with basically all TPE dolls; during molding, the skeleton is fixed through the vagina. After molding is completed, the fixating is removed and little TPE glued into the back of the vaginal canal. This so-called TPE plug can become loose and allows water and other fluids to enter the inside of the doll. You can research a lot of the specifics here on TDF.
Piper Doll and the OEM factory (Doll Forever) advertised noisily that they had resolved the TPE plug issue. That was not a lie, but also not entirely truthful. As far as we can retrace the manufacturing details, they hot-weld the TPE plug. So they still use the TPE plug, but (ideally) use a method to bond stronger than with TPE glue ('cold welding') like other manufacturers do. If TPE is
properly hot-welded, it results in the best adhesion currently possible with TPE. The doll from the case mentioned above was not properly hot-welded, resulting in the classical TPE plug issue that should not even have existed.
A properly hot-welded rear end of the vaginal canal looks like this in a cross-section:
- sealing.jpg (24.64 KiB) Viewed 5475 times
Finding out if this problem affects you requires an endoscope and some experience to interpret endoscope pictures. Actually I do not expect that you will have to deal with the TPE plug issues. Piper Doll would be idiots if they'd not double-check what the factory outputs (I am discussing these issues for over a month, so Piper Doll is fully aware that certain problems exist).
Also, in your case even a potential TPE plug issue would be further mitigated as you get the insert variant, so you won't have to clean the vaginal canal too often - that's what the insert is for. As far as other Piper Doll owners are concerned, I can only recommend not to trust that the rear of the vaginal canal is securely sealed. Usually it is, but some customers use a hose with water pressure which loosens the plug it it is not 100% perfect welded. So rather rinse than flush with high water pressure.
As always, if you have any questions, drop me an email.
Sandro