I want to start my review by saying I'm mostly satisfied with my order, I'd definitely consider buyi
ng from mysmartdoll/ainidoll again.
Before I ordered, I wanted to send a few emails to support asking some questions, mostly to see how their customer service and responsiveness is. I was pretty satisfied with their email support responses. They respond pretty quickly (within a day or two), and it seems like they try to be helpful and answer questions the best they can. I even asked if there was a better discount than the one offered at the time, not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised when I got a bigger discount offer.
I'll say the payment part felt a bit sketchy, but everything processed just fine, and I got exactly what I ordered in the end, including the special options I paid extra for, like detachable legs and articulated hands.
I was skeptical at first, knowing the marketing images weren't likely the actual models of dolls they're selling, but the warehouse and customer review images seemed legit and gave me more realistic expectations. Definitly check the review images and the showcase page.
I was nervous, even still, when I got the photo verification pictures. I'll admit I wasn't entirely pleased (not the most flattering photos), but wound up giving it the greenlight anyways, and I'm glad I did.
It looks way better in person. Their warehouse lighting is awful. Also having the legs sticking straight towards the camera is a really unnatural looking pose, it probably would've looked better if the knees were bent like it was sitting. The photo verification pics they sent made it look like the dyed parts (lips, navel, vagina) were some awful over saturated hot pink color. Turns out it was just bad lighting, and even in the video it looked a bit better (they included a short video with the photo verification). In person they look just fine, although I'll say I wish they made it clear what all gets dyed, because I wasn't expecting the navel to be dyed, as it wasn't in other customer images, and I would've preferred if it wasn't. Not the end of the world however, just a small nitpick.
Moving on to the features, it includes both a fixed screw and a quick connect screw for the head, both of which are good. I used the fixed screw at first (not knowing what the quick connect screw even was), but found the quick connect to be more preferable once I realized what it was.
The skin feels nice, soft, and squishy with just the right amount of firmness. Colors all looked good from skin color, to nail color, to eye color; all exactly what I ordered.
Other goodies that came with it (comb, wig, blanket, ect) all unremarkable, but of acceptable quality. The comb was definitely a nice touch. USB heater could honestly be left out as it looks cheap and has a tiny usb cord; I would've rather an extra set of eyes in a different color, like they did with the wigs (it came with two wigs!), or something like that.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with my purchase!
But there's a few nitpicks and disappointments I had that made me knock a star off:
Eyelashes: eyelashes weren't secured very well, and wound up peeling up a bit (one was already coming undone when I first opened the package), but I wound up just peeling them off and think she honestly looks fine without them. Still a bit disappointing they weren't better applied though. You could fix them with a bit of glue, but you'd think for the price they'd be better secured to begin with.
Stains: My doll had some small stains which seem to be from the metal lubricant/oil from the metal neck joint and detachable leg joints. I'm hopefully they'll lift out with some cleaning, but it's a bit annoying. Be careful when detaching the head or legs that you don't smear any metal residue on the dolls skin.
Detachable legs: I opted for this feature because I was sold on the portability. I find that they're pretty iffy to install and uninstall, and they seem to be friction fit, so I worry they'll loosen over time; but they mostly seem to work as intended. I would've liked to have seen better connecters used, and wish they were cleaned up better though. Overall I like the feature, but you'd expect it to be a bit nicer for the price. A quick connect like the neck joint would've been better I think, or a spring loaded interlock. To get them off you you gotta kinda rotate and wiggle them loose, and it feels rather precarious.
Probably a good place to say the standing legs are good though, and work just fine with the detachable leg option.
The toes don't have any kind of joints/'bones' in them, so they're just floppy, but eh. Not really a feets guy anyways (plus standing feet have protruding screws on the bottom).
Details: I think the vagina could've had more detail work put into it, especially considering they're using molds, so it's not like they have to detail them individually for every doll (as far as I know). It's not terrible, but it could definitely look better (particularly the actual opening/hole). Also feel like it'd be nice if more of the face options were smiling, the sort of neutral expression looks a bit sad. Details in the hands, feet, and facial/head features all look good though! I was surprised by the intricate details in the palms!
Articulated fingers: I'm glad I went with these, I imagine the wire ones are a lot worse. They pose well and make the hands feel more realistic, but I think they could be improved a bit. The tips of them still seem sharp beneath the skin, and can poke through the skin if you're not careful, and some of the smaller joints can be harder to bend. I think they should've put some sort of nub or protective cap on the ends of the fingers under the skin to both protect the skin from being pierced, and to reinforce the nails, which feel a bit flimsy, like they could pop/fall off. Some sort of layer over the articulated hand joints under the skin would also fill out the fingers a bit more, as they feel a bit funny having really small slender 'bones' beneath them, leaving the fingers feeling squishier than you'd expect. The thumb joint also doesn't have the same range of motion as a real thumb, but that's probably a limitation of having so many small joints in the hand already, and overall the poses you can get out of the hand are pretty good!
Joints: I'll say i don't know how I'd do it better, but posing some joints can be a real pain. Not because of the stiffness or strength needed (neither were a problem for me), but because every other joint or the wrong joint will want to move. Moving just a shoulder, or moving the legs and not having the back joint move can be difficult for example. It's a delicate balancing act between grabbing the body around the joints and being firm, but not digging in so much you rip or damage anything. I also had one point where I got really confused posing an arm underneath a jacket, and had to take a step back and figure out what I was doing wrong as I almost twisted the arm more than 360 in one direction (youch!)
Usually to pose one joint, it helps to bend another to get leverage, like bending the knee to get a better hold on the leg to bend it at the hip, or bending an elbow to manipulate the shoulder easier.
Some things I wasn't expecting were how much of a dust/hair magnet the skin can be! Definitely do your research on doll maintenance, because you'll need to clean, oil, and powder them; which isn't as bad as it sounds. For oil you can use baby oil or mineral oil, and for powdering (which makes the skin less sticky) everything I've read says to use baby powder, which now a-days is all just corn starch, which is really cheap.
Getting clothes onto the doll can be a struggle. Rolling socks up into a doughnut and unrolling them onto the legs makes that easier (same for pantyhose and leggings, but you gotta scrunch up the waist part). Arms straight up to get shirts and jackets on, ect. Posing is your friend.
Also cleaning the orifaces isn't hard, it comes with an enema bulb; but drying is tricky, especially really deep in. I would've appreciated if it came with something like a drying stick. I'll probably wind up getting a pack of tampons, or a small electric air pump with a hose that I can use to just blow air at the insides to dry them out. You definitely don't want sitting water in there!
Last thing is the smell, which is completely understandable given the material and that it needs time to air out, but it is pretty unpleasant. Spritzing your dolls clothes (not the doll itself) with some perfume or air freshener, and airing it out for a while when you get it helps.
This was a really long review! But I wanted to be detailed and thorough. Definitely consider giving these guys a chance; they're not just some knockoff scam company; they're some of the most affordable I've found on the market (and the only I could find that sells smaller dolls like this), plus the reviews seem pretty legit, and the fact they leave up negative reviews and respond to them instead of just removing them I think speaks to their honesty.
For ~$900, I think I got my money's worth for the most part. There's some nitpicks I have, but they're mostly small, and I'm hopeful they'll improve some of them going forward.
I would've attached more images, but it seems to only let me post 3, so I'm using one for a cute photo, and two to show some of my above complaints.
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