RETIRING MY TPE DOLL:

This is for followers who may have followed to see the dolls, even from other platforms as I will link to this post because it allows for longer writing.

My TPE doll is retired from now on. The explanation is below if you care to read, as no more pictures of this doll will be posted.

I can't remember if I posted it here on Fedi but I talked about ordering a silicone head from my doll's maker. The head arrived without damages but the make-up melted off during transit somehow. This is the second time I have had issues ordering from them. I want to keep it professional... But I was extremely annoyed by how it was handled and not so much at the make-up melting.

Especially because this is the second time I have had quality issues with this company, the first time being the fact that there was a lot of loose TPE on one of his hands. These loose TPE chunks actually ended up peeling around a month later, resulting in permanent damage to his finder and exposing the jointed finger wires. There simply won't be a third time ordering and I won't be ordering anymore of these dolls from China, even from other makers.

I knew the make-up was not able to be repaired as soon as I saw it. Now, I can redo the make-up myself though I'm not a make-up artist. I would have had no issues retouching the cheeks with blush, though. The problem is, they applied some sort of base to the head that is some shades lighter that his actual skin color. Dolls with lighter skin tones can hide defects or problems easier but because mine is a brown color, this simply isn't the case.

After I e-mailed them, I asked right away how to safely remove the make-up off this silicone head. Due to the nature of these dolls, finding this type of info isn't that simple. I asked around and nobody knows how to remove it either. lmao
A lot of info is not organized or "underground". It took THREE fucking e-mails for them to actually tell me how to remove it. They kept dodging it and telling me stuff like "we don't recommend removing it" or "to put powder on it". How is it possible that the people making the dolls can't see right away the make-up is not able to be repaired but I can tell right away? The make-up is hard set on the face; it's not even able to be moved around with a brush either. Powder did jack shit.

What it sounds like to me is that they need a better way to do the make-up on the silicone head or this material perhaps shouldn't be used with make-up that doesn't hold up well on the material. At the very least, the make-up should be "user friendly" to the customer so they can retouch it as time goes on. They also said they applied something to the head so the "make-up lasts longer". Once again, it's not user friendly at all if something wrong happens like in my case. They have to understand they are not located within the USA, so any "fix" for this that they offer is simply not optimal. I'm extremely patient and I guarantee that other people, specially Americans, would not be as forgiving.

Why even sell it then, if it has such issue with holding the make-up? I was then given the option to "send it back to China" to have the make-up redone. It was not specified if they would pay for the shipping and I assume not. I'm not sending it back and paying more plus risking damage during transit. I know these dolls's material are frail.

This wouldn't have pissed me off as much if they had just fucking told me how to remove it. They tend to be evasive and don't know how to fix problems with the doll once it arrives to the customer. Going back to the peeling TPE on my doll's body, guess what I was told when I e-mailed them about that?
They told me to "put powder on it". They think everything is fixed with powder somehow.

Perhaps these dolls need more time in the oven before being sold with all these issues? They're charging 1k-3k+ USD for some of these. Yeah yeah, I know it comes from China so the stereotype here is that it will be bad quality. But like I said, there is no third time.

This is also not a problem specific to my doll's company. Almost all doll "vendors" (the middleman between the makers and the customer), have some sort of inspection service to check for damages before the doll arrives to the customer. They also charge money for this service to boot. I never thought about it much but why the fuck is such a service needed? Just don't produce a product prone to quality issues, how about that?

There's a lot of dolls listed on the vendor that I use to buy doll supplies that are damaged, all from different doll makers. Such as broken fingers or the material having a lot of defects.

Speaking of quality issues, the doll makers don't seem to want to improve these dolls at all. They're focusing on dumb shit, like "sucking vaginas" or vibrating dicks that render the entire doll worthless and useless if that mechanism breaks. I have spoken about it before briefly, but the weight of these dolls is also an issue and if you do use the doll "as intended", this to me doesn't sound practical. I don't use my doll for it but moving him around just to pose for photos is not easy, either. They keep making them heavier and heavier, which is more the truth to male dolls. I have only seen one doll maker be looking to improve and innovate the dolls so they are lighter and I commend them for that. They offer implanted hair that costs extra money and it just comes off with brushing anyways. Of course, you can't put it back in. In my opinion, wigs is what they should stick to. It's like everything they offer needs improvement or isn't practical from a consumer point of view.

There are issues with the skeletons too, such as broken articulated fingers or loosening joints. Since the dolls are not made in the USA, you can guess how well it goes when you inevitably have to repair it yourself. Some TPE dolls are known to also "melt" after two years or so.

This post is already way too long but I'm criticizing the entire industry here, not just the maker of my doll. I think they should have just been honest about removing the make-up from the start and also tell me what products to use so it can be redone. I have not got a clue what type of chemical or base they applied to him. The pictures I took show the make-up of the cheeks melted off in the plastic mask they used to protect the head. The last picture is the finger and loose TPE hand; it become a lot worse and the wire got exposed later, leading me to have to repair it. Inhaling TPE fumes in my room is not fun, because the material needs to be melted.

I have had zero issues with my fabric doll from Japan and I'm very happy with him, so this is the one that will be publicly posted. I know he isn't as popular as the TPE doll but I hope people will still give my cute fabric Elegos a chance. 🥹

I want to be clear that I DO NOT regret buying my TPE doll, actually. Just for the sole fact that I would not have found out about my fabric doll's maker if I had not been in the scene of life size/love dolls. I will continue to care for my TPE doll until his time is up and the material can't be repaired but I just personally don't feel right "advertising" a product with issues.

I'm an extremely brutally honest person, perhaps to a fault. I don't care who this post pisses off, people should be informed regardless.

This also cancels any plan I had to commission that "shortstack/Midna" body, as that also involves dealing with a China factory again. I will not risk spending 10k USD for something known to come with issues, now from personal experience. The TPE version is also an even worse idea, as this material is actually worse than silicone and I was only going to plan a TPE version because the body would have been publicly sold and made "for a purpose", in case people wanted to use for that.

I will try to get my other OC made by the maker of my fabric doll, though I'm unsure if they can make the head with the horns and imp ears or make him with such a dark skin color. If I am actually able to redo the make-up of the silicone head, it may get posted sometime in the future. But the way the damage happened and how the make-up was done, it probably means EVERYTHING has to come off and that is beyond my skill level to get it looking as good as the factory make-up.