CoenT wrote:
It saddens me to read your story, I didn't have as many problems with my Dagmar but it did feel like she had quite some design flaws. Surely being more careful would help but in the end I'm sure the problems would show up as they did for you! Also very very very frustrating that BD never messaged you back regarding these issues. I'd get quite upset if I were in your shoes :/
Likewise, this is exactly the same thing I said to one of my good friend's here in the forums that also bought a Dagmar Doll. We both bought them the same year, he bought his in the spring of 2017, and I bought mine in the fall. At that point it was his second doll. (He now has 5 dolls in all, BTW). Now his Dagmar has seen continuous use, where as mine had been put into storage because of a pending move. I only took her out for one week last year because my family went to see relatives and I was home alone for a week. So she is once again back in the box. Even though I moved again and finally have my own home, I have to have a closet built for my doll. When I recently came back to the forums and asked my friend how his Dagmar doll was doing, he said, "retired." Sadly his doll developed hip joint issues too and now cannot stand up on her own. So I was disheartened to hear that.
Another fellow I been regularly talking to has actually had his hip joints break and he ended up selling off the doll as is to someone that can fix it. So he is looking for something else right now. So yeah, to hear these stories, it is very frustrating and disheartening and I really don't want to see anyone else go through this, so I been slowly spreading the word around to avoid these Happy Dolls and in particular not to buy from Beautiful Dolls, since there is no service after the sale.
Interesting to read the way they made the skeleton. Already heard they used PVC, but didn't expect it to be in the way you described.
I knew from when I bought the doll it had a PVC pipe skeleton, but I was under the impression the joints were metal. Until I saw someone take a Dagmar apart to fix a joint did I find out what they actually did.
I do no longer have Dagmar. After her legs broke I decided to go for TPE and after a little while also silicone, which has now become my favourite material. I like the more 'realistic' weight and feel, however it comes at a cost and requires more care. IMO there is no 'best' material, but there is a 'best for you' material. Really just depends on your motivation for getting a doll and personal preference.
I was thinking about it too. I had my eyes on a TPE 6YE doll for a long time. BUT to get the weight to an exceptable level would mean going with a smaller doll. Now this would also mean a different wardrobe too. This was the doll I was looking at:
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This was one of the few "love at first sight" dolls too. I just love her face. They do have this head with a 166cm body, but the weight jumps up over 60lbs. This doll weighs in 55lbs and I like the body shape more. I am a large guy though at 6'2" tall, and this doll is 4'11" tall. One would think that is a very odd size match up, I actually dated a girl that was 4'11" tall. Granted, she was a bit "chunkier" than the doll is, but I did manage. Not to say having a girlfriend that small was without it's challenges. And you want to laugh, the next girl I dated was 5'9" tall! She was the tallest girl I went out with! My wife is 5'4" tall...so she's a happy medium. My Dagmar is 1" taller than my wife. It is funny too how that worked out as some of my wife's clothes (namely her bottoms) fit my doll.
OK, so going back to the 6YE doll. Well, I didn't want the maintenance and I figured that I would try a fabric doll out first. There wasn't too many pickings here, but I eventually went through the gamut and ended up picking the Happy Dolls Dagmar.
I agree with your stance on getting people informed about bad design. Dolls can look great serve their purpose amazingly but they need to be strong enough to last basic use for at least a few years for the price they sell at IMO. Sure, now and then something could go wrong but in the case of the Dagmar doll it is undeniably a design flaw and this should definitely be pointed out. I also think something has to be done about the lack of replies from BD. Just an acknowledgement of the problem from BD would be very nice in this case...
It does seem that both Beautiful Dolls and Happy Dolls know of these issues by now and yet neither is lifting a finger to fix the issue. So in my book, I feel the bad word should circulate and hopefully more and more people become better informed and less will buy from these people. So in the end, the goal would be that Happy Dolls produces a better product, or if they can't then they should go out of business. That is the way I see it. As for Beautiful Dolls, I just feel that no one should deal with a company that cannot even answer an email about an issue on a product that was bought through them. So in my eyes, they SHOULD be driven out of business.
I know 1AM dolls also sells Happy Dolls and I have encountered a person that bought from them. Supposedly, they at least get back to their customers and at least attempt to rectify the situation. I am hoping that with venders like them, they can push Happy Dolls to make a better product, or else they should be dropped from the vender's product line. So at least 1AM seems to be doing right. But I would never deal with Beautiful Dolls again and I will tell everyone I meet here not to deal with them.
Best of luck with your Dagmar, enjoy her and take good care of her. It's sad to know she will eventually get hurt more but I hope you can find a good place for her and that she can stay with you for a long time.
I am in the process of looking into a second doll. I am thinking that once I have another doll, I might be brave enough to attempt a repair on my Dagmar Doll. But given the nature of the issue, I probably have to open her completely up and take care of all 8 Joints together (Hips, Elbows, Knees, Shoulders). So she would be out of commission for a while. But I don't want to do anything, unless I have a 'backup' doll for the interim or in the even something goes drastically wrong with the repair. But even so, I really don't want to work on the doll until I know of a suitable and reliable replacement for her bad joints.
In the meantime, all you can do is try to get more information out about these issues with the design and BD. I don't have much time to help and it's been a bit quite a while for me since I've dealt with BD and the Dagmar doll. I can only suggest checking out my favourite vendor Dollstudio (Sandro). He has been very helpful when I needed his help with my repair and gives honest and straight answers. As far as I know, he deals with Happy Doll products as well so perhaps he can help you with anything else in the future.
As of now, I am not really sure what direction to head down with my doll. The most immediate solution was to get a replacement doll that has similar dimensions. One doll that comes close is Textile Doll. So I been doing quite a bit of research on that doll as I don't want to have a repeat issue. BUT TD seems to be reputable and their doll has a good skeleton.
Anyway, thanks for the infor. Does DollStudio have a thread going on here? Perhaps I might have a chat with Sandro and see what he has to say.
Thanks,
D