Only recently, when I was searching for a new doll to replace a mouldy TPE doll, I learnt that Elina’s head could now accommodate more than one body/model type and I took a liking to Model 12’s body proportion. The new and taller Model 14 seems like a good choice too, but I prefer the bigger butt – I consider myself an ass man.
In fact, it was the ass comparison photo that made me pulled the trigger.
Thus, I ordered Elina with Model 12 body directly from Gynoid on 16 April 2021, knowing well the negative feedbacks against Model 12. Meanwhile, Gynoid was busy at the Shanghai Adult Products Industry Expo, so invoicing and order confirmation took slightly longer to process.
Buying a Gynoid doll directly has its pros and cons.
- The biggest advantage for me is that they can ship directly from their factory to my doorstep faster without communicating or delivering to a third-party reseller. This can be a double-edged sword if your country's custom does not play nice with sensitive goods from China.
- The other benefit I believed was that I could save some money since I do not have to go through a reseller. In reality, it was far from true. Gynoid can only accept payments through WeChat Pay or their offshore bank. Linking my debit/credit card to WeChat Pay was a nightmare and just wouldn't work. My only option left was to make payment to their offshore bank and the bank charges (on top of Gynoid's bank fees charged to customers) are painfully steep. In the end, it was almost the same as buying from a reseller.
- Another disadvantage of ordering directly is that there can be miscommunications as English is not their strong suit. There was also a lack of communication. For example, they ignore some of my queries and neglected to notify me after receipt of payment.
- For interested buyers, I highly recommend you go through a trusted reseller/vendor who can stand by their products. I am actually taking a really big risk; I’m pretty much on my own if any mishaps happen during or after delivery because I doubt I will have any after-sales support based on past reviews.
Production only started on 28 April (13 days after placing the order and making payment) due to payment delays at the intermediary banks. Gynoid advised me that the estimated time of completion is about 45 days but I suspected it would take longer because of the newly released Model 14, the Expo show, and the ongoing pandemic.
I finally got an email from Gynoid on 8 July. It was a 71-day wait. I imagine those who bought through a reseller would take even longer. The email only contains a single video of the finished doll. The video looks just like a copypasta from previous buyers. Unlike other doll manufacturers, they did not provide additional photos.
Shipment was confirmed on 12 July and the estimated shipping time was around 5 to 7 days to my address. To my surprise, I received the shipment in 3 days, i.e. on 15 July. The shipper they employed is some unknown company called Yse Logistics. Please note that I’m living in Southeast Asia and this shipping method may not be available to everyone.
Unboxing:
The carton box came in very good condition with no serious dents, holes or wet patches. I have to give credit to the shipper for doing such an awesome job. I usually get dents and punctures in carton boxes of this size. When the delivery guy transported the box to my apartment, the box was standing on its end. It was unavoidable because that’s the only way to fit through my apartment’s elevator. The doll was actually standing on her head inside the box. I’m just glad they’ve removed the “Erection Prohibited” print on the box.
Same old styrofoam sheets lining inside the carton box. No face shield. No spray foam insulation. A little disappointing considering price.
In the carton box is the doll with the head attached, a wig, and a manual booklet. Not sure if it's for mainland customers only but I used to remember they included more goodies in the box.
The doll was dressed in Gynoid’s standard lingerie, i.e. underwired bra and panties. The eyeballs must have flipped when the doll was in the upside-down position.
By the way, I requested Gynoid not to attach velcro tapes on her head and transport the wig separately in a plastic bag for ease of maintenance. I personally do not want any velcro tapes near my dolls because delicate fabric can get caught on them easily. Sadly, the other side of the velcro tapes were sewn onto the wig, which I only discovered while washing it. Not a big issue but it was frustrating to get them off cleanly.
Regardless, the quality of the wig and the lingerie is quite nice. I haven’t seen any staining from the wig after washing. I will keep the lingerie away however because it is a little tight and can cause compression marks over time.
I also requested her to have a firm butt. The default is soft butt and this option is not listed on their website. I opted for durability because a flattened or deformed butt will make me a very sad ass man.
In terms of the standard customization options, pretty much everything else is the default except for the standing feet and pubic hair. I asked for no pubic hair but due to a miscommunication partly due to my fault, I got her a bush instead. Again, not a big deal for me. She will be dressed up most of the time.
That is one thick bush.
Not gonna lie, her pubic hair showing through a pair of black pantyhose is kinda sexy.
Anyway, a quick inspection of her silicone body revealed no major faults or defects.
There are weird blemishes on the sides of the head though. I wonder if they had mistakenly glued velcro tapes and then later patched them up after recalling my request.
Also, some of the cuticles on her fingers are uneven and poorly done. Looks like a rush or amateur job here.
For the lack of a better word, I would describe the feel of her silicone body as being “gummy”. It’s on the softer side for most silicone dolls. Even the firm butt doesn’t feel as hard as I’d imagined. There is this sticky feeling as well. I don’t think she was powdered before they boxed her up, and even after applying some powder, she will feel tacky very soon again. I feel that the durability of this silicone material is questionable.
To me, her breasts feel like any other silicone dolls' but a lot softer. I believe they are gel-filled. The details on her nipples are rather unique. There are no colour options for the nipples though.
Yay boobies.
Her head feels like hard rubber tires. Even the ears are stiff. Hopefully, the ears do not become brittle over time. Unlike her body, the head does not feel tacky at all.
The parting line on the silicone body is visible but well-trimmed. It's normal on all silicone dolls. I hope they find a way to get rid of this completely one day.
Like any other TPE or silicone doll, my hands feel oily after handling her. Maybe she's new out of the factory but the oil from Elina almost neutralized the adhesive on my lint roller, which I was using to remove hair and dirt on her.
The first thing I did after relocating her out of the box was to remove all the bolts under her feet and replaced them with nylon screws. I replaced them because I did not like how deep they were screwed into the soles.
Before replacing:
After replacing (but not for long):
All 3 original bolts for each foot are M8 size but of different lengths.
After standing her up with the nylon screws once, I had to switch back to the original metal bolts. The screws at the heels are not perpendicular to the ground. Instead, they are supporting the doll's weight at an angle, causing the less rigid nylon screws to slightly bend, and in turn, the doll to wobble.
Based on the image below, I believe the bolt holes were eyeballed and pierced after the silicone was cured. This means the bolts can cause tension to the bottom of the feet if the piercing was not aligned properly. Screwing back the bolts took some effort since the holes are not formed when molding. There is no clear indication of the screw opening positions in the foot skeleton and I had to figure it out by trial-and-error. I’m guessing that is why some buyers complained about the bolts cutting into the feet.
Mine has a small tear in one of the holes already.
I took this opportunity to test my leftover silicone repair kit from Sinodoll on Elina. Too bad the 2-part kit didn't seem to stick well on Gynoid's silicone. I'll look for alternatives if the tear gets worse.
Good thing the original bolts are long enough to back out a little so that the soles are not touching the floor when standing up. I'm sure the bottom of the feet would have scrapes and bigger tears if I have not done this before standing her up.
Elina has been standing in socks and safety shoes since unboxing and I've been monitoring her feet. So far, I find no problems with her feet and standing bolts.
The joints in most parts are quite stiff out of the box. Only the left ankle and torso lateral joints on my doll feel a little too easy to bend or twist. When I swing her arms, there is a tendency to twist her torso in the same general direction as well. Just as some buyers have already pointed out, joint tightness is not consistent.
Something interesting I've discovered about Gynoid doll is that the shoulder joints can retract backward and protract forward, in addition to shrugging up and down. As far as I'm aware, most dolls with the shrugging shoulder joints can only do the up and down movements.
These joints are very close to a human's but also problematic as I now find it difficult to gauge the angle which I can swing out or forward her arm since it swivels with the rotating shoulder.
The neck joint of my doll is especially tight. I had a hard time trying to make her look up or down. When I tried to push her head down, I can hear crackling sound in her head. No worries because doll heads are made of hard empty plastic shells and applying pressure on them can cause the shell to flex and crackle. Just be careful not to press too hard on the head.
I removed the head to see if I could bend the neck easier by grabbing the rod connector. This did not help at all.
After which, I struggled to put the head back on. For whatever reason, the rod just refused to slip into the hole connector smoothly. After many retries, I managed to drop the head back onto the neck but found myself unable to align the head to the neck’s locking mechanism. It took me a while to figure out that my doll’s neck is a bit off-centred. Unless necessary, I won’t be popping her head off any time soon.
By the way, you can see a gap beneath the chin and neck at this angle because Model 12 is not designed for Elina’s head in the first place.
The side profile of her neck looks a little strange with the head too. Wearing a long wig is a good way to cover up the mismatch and neck seam.
Cleaning:
I gently wiped down her body with a soaked microfiber cloth and then left her standing to dry. No showering for her because I do not want water to enter her foam core. Her lingerie and wig are also washed separately for hygiene reasons. Applying baby powder after drying is recommended to reduce the tackiness.
My overall impression:
After a closer look at Elina, I can confidently say that Gynoid doll is a work of art. The fine details on the face, eyes and certain parts of her body are very stunning. You’re paying top dollars for these. The makeup on my other dolls just pales in comparison to hers. Her skin looks realistic and the texture is not overly exaggerated.
Her body proportion is just beautiful.
Gotta love her butt crack. Another nice detail on her body.
The sex function on this doll seems like an afterthought to me and it’s probably why Gynoid has never bothered to include the anal orifice. I can’t be happier without it - I just cannot stand the sight of a gaping anal hole.
Gynoid doll has one of the most poseable eyes in the doll market. Adjusting her gaze is such a joy. You only need to lightly push her eyeballs into her eye sockets and rotate.
There are even visible veins in the eyes if you look closely - a unique feature of some high-end dolls. Oh no, I can see my own reflection. Just kidding.
I bought one of these little suction tools after watching a freelance photographer used it to pose his dolls. https://www.facebook.com/10001196286410 ... 692221816/
It’s pretty handy and makes precision adjustments easier than with my bare fingers. Note that the suction strength of these tools is actually quite weak but the silicone cups are grippy enough to grab onto any smooth surface.
Another good alternative is to use a contact lens remover but these are smaller to handle for big hands.
Otherwise, you can simply use a cotton bud to adjust if you want to avoid touching the eyelashes with your fingers. Not much control and precision with cotton bud though.
Photo sessions:
All the shots below were captured using the camera on my mid-tier Samsung phone and an old point-and-shoot Sony camera. Both cameras use wide-angle lens unless specified. I feel that a wide-angle lens tends to distort Elina’s face a little. Many details are also lost due to my crappy photography skill and equipment. Maybe I should invest in a dedicated DSLR/mirrorless camera to take better pictures.
For privacy reasons, I added fake bokeh effects and/or removed the background (poorly done in Photoshop) in most of my photos. At the moment, I'm still learning the limitation of her joints so I am keeping poses simple. Sorry if the photos look too processed or boring. Good for you if you enjoy them as much as I do.
The 2 pictures below demonstrate how the same Elina head can have contrasting looks with different lenses and lighting setups (with everything else untouched).
Hint: Stop comparing pixels from different sources when you have no idea what are the cameras and lenses used. It's not healthy! If you don't like the "new" Elina look, just move along.
24mm (wide angle) lens makes Elina look thinner:
80mm (telephoto) lens makes her chubbier and horizontally stretched:
Ideally, I should be shooting portraits with 35-50mm lens that has less distortion. I'll do that next time if I get a new camera.
Bunny girl Elina:
I’ve always wanted a FREEing bunny girl figure but shy away from buying one due to the odd 1/4 scale and my limited shelf space. While waiting for Gynoid to finish my doll, I ordered 3 sets of bunny suits that fit her body measurements nicely. For the record, the bunny suits are XS sizes.
I was too lazy to put on the shoulder strap on this one, so Elina has to help hold the suit up with one hand.
I believe this attire is based on an FGO character, which I don't know much about. I just bought the costume because I like it.
I managed to acquire the same bunny suit that is included with Model 14 exclusively. I found it on Taobao by chance. Search for the shop named Ashotplz on Taobao if you're interested.
And most importantly, I completed this bunny girl outfit with seamed fishnet tights! Well…. almost. I didn’t want to risk her standing in a pair of high heels yet. That’s why all the photos have her shoes cropped.
I took this photo while I laid her on the bed to change out her outfit, thinking it would make an amusing shot.
Ended up having too much fun in Photoshop.
Storage:
I store my dolls standing up because I don’t have a huge bed or spacious room. That’s why the standing bolts on my dolls are important to me. Leaning Elina against the wall with a soft memory foam pillow behind her shoulder works for me. I usually make my dolls do the A-pose when standing for extended periods as I believe this is a good neutral pose to prevent folds under her armpits and limbs. I also prefer to get casual clothes that Elina can put on while standing up. I find it easier to maintain and dress her up this way.
Closing thoughts:
The perfect doll does not exist and despite all my nitpicking, I’m content with Elina as a fashion/cosplay/display/companion doll. Not so much as a sex doll though. If you are looking for a sex doll, I advise you to look elsewhere because of its questionable durability and the high price tag.
Is she worth the price then? Maybe, maybe not. It’s subjective I guess. It really depends on what you want from her. As for me, Elina’s pretty face, natural-looking waistline and cute butt are all that matters.
PS: Sorry for the wall of text and long-winded post.
