Hello one and all!

[lsoleman1982]

Originally Posted by shamus

Did someone call?

Morning Andy

Hi Isol

I asked the girls and they say that she's a ringer. Neither Elvish nor Drow as her ears are the wrong shape. She is non the less a bit of a sweetie.

They also said that is an awful lot of money for an Aibei.... I know, they're a bunch of snobs so I'll just lock them out of the room for a minute and we'll have a bit of a chat about manufacturers.

I'm only going to talk TPE as thats what I know.

For that sort of money you could be looking at a Jinsan girl. WM, YL, OR, and I'm going to include SE under that banner even though they are more like a cousin than direct family. There are some very, very nice Elves that you could get but Jinsan charge an extra couple of hundred if you want to go off piste with the skin tone.

Aibei are a bit of a giant that slips quiety under the radar. They are the manufacturer behind some other brands which I believe includes Dolls Castle, Funwest and Kimber.

There is nothing wrong with them but we just don't have a UK vendor that handles Aibei.... Well, maybe Lucid but the Aibei's they get are bundled in with a mish mash of other manuafcturered such as CosDoll, Jarliet and others under their Girlfriend and finest ranges. The advantage is that you can get what they have quickly. The disadvantage is that you don't really know what you're getting unless you order named manufacturer dolls such as SM, JY, Irontech and 6YE that they stock (somethings hidden under the names Soulmate, Sugarbabe, Racy and Allure).

Silicone Lovers do Funwest and blue is a standard no charge colour option so any girl here could be just as "Elvish" as the girl in the pic that you linked

https://siliconelovers.com/collectio...t_height=170cm

Thats also a lot less than you are looking at as the price on thee SL site is the price that you pay where buying from Aibei you would also have import duties to add to that.

They are currently running a sale and offering all these freebies with Funwest dolls:
1 x FREE Extra Head
1 x FREE Gel Breasts
1 x FREE Standing Feet
1 x FREE Shrugging Shoulders
1 x FREE EVO Skeleton
1 x FREE Enhanced Mouth
1 x FREE Irrigator
1 x FREE Heating Rod
1 x FREE Hanging Hook
1 x FREE Push-fit Adaptor
1 x FREE Double Jointed Knees

I note on the Aibei site those are all paid extras.

You still have to select the free options and would still need to add to the above articulated hands.

But, I'm not pushing SL or Funwest. Just using them as an example to show that the link that you gave is expensive.

If you want to talk Elves (proper one's with point ears ) just let me know... Although asking that, you would get the seriously long replies that paraphrased will guide you towards either WM, YL, SE or SM. But I would tell you about others en route to that epiphany

For now though, I could be wrong, but I got the impression that this was more about Aibei than Elves per se.

One aside I will say. Watch the weight. I note that one you chose was 39kg. For how she feels double that. Try to keep your first under 33kg. Even at that weight she will take a little getting used to but your body will adapt to the weight relatively quickly where at nearly 40kg there is a real risk that you will have difficulties moving her around.

Talk in a bit.

Shamus.

Thank you Shamus and to your girls for this detailed reply, most helpful indeed, given me lots to think about which I didn't know I had to think about lol I have zero experience so this is all gold!

Yes she's a bit of an oddity isn't she? She's based on a character from the game "Elden Ring", Ranni the Witch....somehow she just called out to me when I saw the Doll version lol, incredibly cute.

It was a bit like browsing dating websites for weeks and then seeing one girl you can't stop thinking about lol!

It's good to know that Aibie are okay at least, though a shame about the lack of UK stockists, as I am definitely wary of any extra importing costs, especially on something like a doll, must be through the roof!?

I hadn't even considered weight, that's a good point too, or anything like skeleton or hands, so this is really helping me narrow down what I'm really looking for.

I will contact Lucid and have a chat, and also check out some of these other dolls you have kindly recommended! Maybe a custom blue girl order is the way forward for me if I can't have this Lady

[Ava Love]

Just going to show this before any decision might be made, very recently on the market and don't know if the do custom colours but just about everyone else does.

[lsoleman1982]

Wow she is so cute! I just looked at these dolls and they have loads of beautiful ones, though more than I was hoping to spend sadly /: Thank you for sharing this!

[Gavla82]

Welcome to the forum lsoleman.

Doll buying is certainly a deep rabbit hole. Especially with some many options.

Weight is the first and most important thing to consider. As a 38kg small box say is obviously a different distribution of weight to a 38kg girl. Same goes for a human, you may be able to pick up a human of similar weight, but our girls (and boys) can't - or rather won't, help you in carrying them, so they will just stay perfectly still and expect you to do everything for them.

Another thing to consider as well, is the hands. Whilst wired fingers are ok, they do break easily and then you get "spaghetti" fingers, which isn't a great look.

As far as I recall you have:

Wire to arm
Wire to wrist plate
Articulated V.1
Articulated V.2 - ball jointed, (not had experience of these as yet).

Both my girls have V.1 fingers and they are great for posing and only pose how real human hands would pose. I've had wire to arm and wire to wrist before and they are pretty fragile, but do work if you are careful.

[Slayers]

Aibei Doll Co.LTD
parent company : Dongguan Aibei Silicone Products Co.LTD
founded in 2017
3000 square meter production facility with 5 production lines
1500 square meter warehouse
location: Building F, Dongqiao NO.1 Road, Tianliao Industrial Park, Tianliao Village Shipai Town, Dongguan City
contact : Kevin Gu mobile +86 15217387761
email :aibeigirls@hotmail.com
average production 50 dolls per day

just saying

[shamus]

Originally Posted by lsoleman1982

Wow she is so cute! I just looked at these dolls and they have loads of beautiful ones, though more than I was hoping to spend sadly /: Thank you for sharing this!

Hiya,

as an aside its worth noting that not all TPE is created equal. That and the skeleton is what differentiates the manufacturers.

You may see some pretty cheap girls who look similar to more expensive ones. The things that you cannot see are things such as wire to wrist hands. Gooseneck necks. Standard T skeletons. TPE that feels like rubber rather than a womans skin.

The variance isn't necessarily price. But it is the love and care that a manufacturer invests in pushing their brand name.

Some expect to sell a doll and to never hear from you again. Others are building a relationship with the customer in the hope that they will return.

With Lucid they have both sorts of girl. The knack is knowing when what you are looking at is a good girl sold cheaply or a cheap girl sold at what you would expect.

I'll cover a few manufacturers to get you started.

Irontech (Lucid call them Racy) - Skeletons are in general second to non. TPE is warm and feels cheaper than other brands but it isn't. Its a good mix that just feels different.

SM (Lucid call them Soulmate but the reality is that they are ShangMei) - Excellent quality TPE. very smooth and excellent internals... So I've heard But the skeletons can be a little disappointing unless you opt for all the upgrades. The SM 155D is one of my all time favourite bodies. It will work well with the SM #63 elf head which is a relatively small shell but not a young head so fine to be here. Here's my Tulip on an Irontech 150A.



6YE (Lucid call them Allure) - Makeup can be a lot more basic than the marketing materials but the heads are actually excellent and can be made extremely lifelike. TPE is similar quality to high end girls. Very impressed with them but a bit short of Elves.

JY (Lucid call them Sugar Babes) - JY is a top drawer brand that made some bad commercial decisions back in 2018. They really struggled for a while to get their quality back on track but now they are back where they should be. I find their skeletons a bit stiff and super soft TPE seems to now be standard. Thats not a bad thing but just a warning that they may lose a bit more oil than some other girls. The JY Elf to get is JY #79 (also known as AS #39). First time I saw that head I had it on order within two hours and she became my River. She is not in any way a sex doll. She's the Elf that when I talk on here she's their voice who gives a different perspective. She was the firt Elf here.

These were the marketing shot that sold me on her:


But this is River (on an SM 155D)


But this is the same girl on a JY 148


And you can have her standing, shrugging, gel breasts and uterus function this week from Lucid for £895 : https://www.lucidtoys.com/collection...ex-doll_162006 That is a really good spec to price ratio for a branded girl.

Note that all of the above use standard M16 head connectors so in the future if you wanted you could swap the head. You don't have to stick with the one that came with the doll or even with the same manufacturer. Very few of my girls are wearing the bodies that arrived with them.

That will do for starters. Once we know whether your budget can take it we may venture up to Jinsan girls Those girls are made to your exact specification. You order them from a vendor and wait for them to be created for you. Generally the wait is somewhere in the 6 to 9 weeks mark but it can be a little longer. But in my experience Jinsan create masterpeices... Not every time... But when they create a girl that works boy do they come alive. i.e. Here's Holly (My Mrs), She's a WM #172 head... And yep, she's an Elf.



Or maybe Angel. Again, another Jinsan Elf (YL #286)


Or how about Tuesday? (WM #432)


See what I mean about Jinsan girls! They are just perfect. (And its not like SM and JY are not trying).

All the girls that I've just shown are TPE.

Chat in a bit,

Shamus.

[lsoleman1982]

Originally Posted by Gavla82

Welcome to the forum lsoleman.

Doll buying is certainly a deep rabbit hole. Especially with some many options.

Weight is the first and most important thing to consider. As a 38kg small box say is obviously a different distribution of weight to a 38kg girl. Same goes for a human, you may be able to pick up a human of similar weight, but our girls (and boys) can't - or rather won't, help you in carrying them, so they will just stay perfectly still and expect you to do everything for them.

Another thing to consider as well, is the hands. Whilst wired fingers are ok, they do break easily and then you get "spaghetti" fingers, which isn't a great look.

As far as I recall you have:

Wire to arm
Wire to wrist plate
Articulated V.1
Articulated V.2 - ball jointed, (not had experience of these as yet).

Both my girls have V.1 fingers and they are great for posing and only pose how real human hands would pose. I've had wire to arm and wire to wrist before and they are pretty fragile, but do work if you are careful.

Thank you! And thanks for your reply also Ah okay, I definitely don't want spaghetti fingers!
I'm thinking about the skeleton aspect more now due to all these things you guys have said, I hadn't given any thought to it until now, but I suppose what I would ideally like is no wire based on your experience, also, being a foot guy I do not mind about having standing feet, I'd rather have no metal showing (though apparently there are now standing dolls without these showing?)
I'm seeing that shrugging shoulders are even an option for some dolls! I love it.

Haha, they do sound pretty lazy, weight is definitely a consideration now too, I don't mind a bit of lifting, I could use the exercise in all honesty, but also don't want to put my back out lol!

Thank you

[lsoleman1982]

Thank you again Shamus, I've got a lot of browsing and researching to do!

I was wondering about how different make up might be compared to online photos, and other things that might not be apparent in pictures too as you say like structure and skeleton, it makes sense that the better the quality the skeleton and joints the more expensive the doll, and probably worth paying for from what I can gather.
I think budget wise I was originally expecting to pay over £1000 at least, but now thats slowly creeping up lol!
I would definitely rather pay for quality than be disappointed, also I want my chosen woman to last as long as possible and not go all floppy on me!


I wouldn't have thought about any of this before coming on here! Thank you again

[Andyman]

I can't add anything to what's been said about elves but as far as weight goes, I have two 6Ye girls, a 158 and a 150cm. I just had a new arrival of a JY148 with gel breasts. These three are my lightest girls at around 30kg. Compared to my SM and Irontech girls, they are really easy to move around.
Once you choose your girl we will all be waiting for you to say, you're only having one

[shamus]

Originally Posted by lsoleman1982

I was wondering about how different make up might be compared to online photos

It can be quite dramatically different.

On the bright side makeup isn't that difficult to get your head around. I look at it more as painting their faces than applying makeup... I actually use oil and water colour brushes along with the makeup brushes to bring them to life.

Taking an example of the 6YE girl who arrived here from Lucid a few months back.



Then once you have a wig on them they come to life:


Take a look at images posted by many members of the site and see how they evolve from when they were first posted on here until now. Some of the transformations are quite dramatic.

And don't think its all camera trickery. personally I use software to change the exposure and focus because the screen on my camera is too small to see the detail but there is no major alterations to the images (unless its for a specific pupose such as making someone disappear in a mirror.

I try to get the pictures to show how I see the girls despite my poor camera skills and a camera thats a little past its prime now. If I could capture how these girls look in real life I would be a very happy man.

So fundamentally. In real life you use makeup to try and make them indisinguishable from a living Elf (yes they do exist, lol) and for photographs you try to capture an image as good as what you can see. Think that I'm getting there with the former but I'm a very long way away with the latter.

What you were hinting at about the more you spend the longer they will last unfortunately doesn't hold true.

A £2k body is just as likely to become flopsy as a £800 one. Also the more that you pose them the faster they lose the ability to maintain a pose. Doesn't mean its end of life or even end of their photography career but it simply means that maintaining a pose has restrictions that you work around. It could actually be argued that a floppy body can be posed more naturally.

On the metal bolts in the feet. With TPE if you want them to stand then you have to accept it. You can get plastic covers for the foot bolts (Algae sells them). My girls all wear socks and most of them wear shoes / boots so the foot bolts are not a concern.

Maybe worth throwing in there that the old hard TPE bodies some of them could be stood on their feet for extended periods... IF... the foot had a foot plate. Some that do not have the ability to stand simply had wires inside the TPE and if you tried to stand those you would break the ankles. I doubt that you would find one of those sort now although there are still some dodgy doll manufacturers out there so never say never.

Lets just say that you won't find one amongst the dolls that we recommend.