A few suggestions for later builds

[Oscar DeBarataria]

These are just sort of spitball ideas to start a discussion. Most of them are new; a couple I might have mentioned here before.

You guys are welcome to throw in your two cents as well. Anyway, here goes...

HEADS:

1. Built-in velcro strips at the top of the forehead, at the place in front of the ears where a wig flap would land, and at the base of the skull in back:
- Doing this won't immediately fix the problem of wig slippage, because the user then has to get velcro strips on the wigs at matching places. Ahhh, but what if the company which makes the dolls then also sells wigs pre-made with those velcro strips? That's a way to capture existing clients as repeat customers, isn't it? Not to mention, it's a reason why Zelex, or some other manufacturer, could then greatly expand the offering of wigs and perhaps go a little higher-end now that you're stocking something you know you'll have customers for (think a catalog for pre-existing Zelex customers who will throw money at you for little, profitable items in between buying dolls).

2. Movable eyelids:
- The thought here isn't really to go the way Mannequin Fan does them, where it's a hard plastic insert that slides up and down. This would be more like a thin silicone eyelid that folds and rolls up and down by hand. The question is whether you can thread an eyelash onto that flap; if you can, and you're able to do this without showing a seam on that eyelid, the realism would be off the charts.

3. Recessed neck seam:
- This would necessitate a full redesign of the heads and it wouldn't be all that compatible with current builds, so maybe it's not a priority. But for example, Gynoid's heads swallow the neck much higher than Zelex's heads do and it's a lot harder to see the neck seam. This is less of a big deal than the items above, but for those of us who do photography with our dolls, there's always the necessity to get into Photoshop and edit out that neck seam. Hiding it better removes a step.

4. Pre-pierced ears:
- All girls pierce their ears. You don't need to pierce the ears on a doll; you can just stick an earring through them. But, that said, having a piercing hole already in place does away with the problem of those earlobes getting beaten up over time by countless earrings sticking through; this isn't a big deal, but it's also a really low-cost thing which gives even the fumblers among us an easier time putting in earrings.

TORSOS:

1. Inflatable/deflatable breasts:
- This is a big spitball, but you hear all these stories about doll owners trying to use hypodermic needles to inflate the boobs on their dolls, and the results tend to be, well, less than awesome. What if some dollmaker had a tiny little hole, let's say in the nipple, where with an instrument the dollmaker provided a boob could be made to grow a size or two or three - or shrink a size or two or three? This might be a handy little item that said dollmaker could sell as part of its catalog. And perhaps the substance used in the breast inflation wasn't air but instead a gel of some sort - or even something else which could mimic lactation. Hey, you never know what folks might get into.

2. Navel piercing:
- This is the same thing as the pre-pierced ears. You can apply this to nipples as well. Like I said, it isn't something we need, but it is something that's a convenience for folks who'll be taking those things out and putting them back in and would like to avoid making multiple little holes as we go along.

3. Rib cage:
- I don't think this has to be anything more than a piece of plastic cut like a rib cage which sits atop the foam core under the silicone skin, but the realism it would provide both visually and to the touch would really add something. Even if the doll's rib cage doesn't show (even if she's sculpted not to be one of those emaciated girls whose ribs you can see), you'd feel her ribs when you're on top of her or when you hold her standing behind her, and it would matter.

THE FUN ZONE:

1. The bullet:
- I don't have it completely worked out as to where the little hole would be where you plugged in the charger, but a vibrating bullet somewhere just under the skin near the G-spot in the doll's vagina that you could turn on when you hit it might just be a game-changer. One of the things that really, really works for me with Amber is that I got her a vibrating butt plug and it makes her all "buzzy" down there, and that makes a difference. Get that vibration closer to the surface in the cooter and it'll make for a lot more interesting experience. Much more so than the auto-suck thing which I'll never understand.

2. Inflatable/deflatable butt:
- Same principle as the breasts, and same potential to sell the tool that does the inflating.

JOINTS:

1. The Re-tightening:
- Throw this one out if you want, because I'm not an authority on the new skeleton. I've only cut into the pre-Inspiration body to access shoulders, hips, elbows and knees, so I don't really know what i'm talking about here. But what I'm thinking is that if you go with an advanced ball joint system for pretty much all of the major joints - hips, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles - which tend to wear out, and your ball joints can be re-tightened using a long, thin tool which looks like a screwdriver, and there are very small holes which are barely perceptible or perhaps have little silicon plugs which can be pulled out to open a hole and allow for re-tightening of those joints, the value to the customer could be very noticeable. Naturally, of course, this might cut down on the necessity for a new doll, so I understand why maybe it wouldn't work from a profit standpoint.

FINGERS:

1. Reinforce the articulation:
- This one I know something about, because what I've been doing every time one of Amber's fingers gets loose - I love articulated fingers, but we're talking about far too delicate a material they're working with to create great-working joints - what I do is I snake a 25-pound steel wire down one of those fingers either from a poke-hole or an incision I make. And what I get is a reinforced finger which has the control of an articulated joint structure plus, within that structure, the flexibility and durability of a wire. What's more, you can break a finger and still have it function because the wire is there. This is a really easy addition at the factory. You just string a wire along the hand bones all the way to the fingertips, and you've now made sure that if there's an accident and the "bone" breaks on an articulated finger, it'll still work pretty much normally. As often as a finger will break on a doll, this really is something that ought to be addressed. Also, I saw somewhere that somebody mentioned the value of thickening the fingers on a doll; I'd suggest doing that by thickening the "bones" on those fingers.

2. Kill the pokes:
- I know that Zelex has implemented a little rubber cap atop the finger bones in an effort to put a stop to the ubiquitous finger-pokes that everybody suffers with their doll, but that doesn't quite work, does it? My answer is that the rubber cap isn't enough; what you need is a rounded bulb at the end of that "bone" and a thinner silicone skin around it. That way there's no sharp edge to create a finger poke. Practically the first thing that happens to a new doll is those damned finger pokes, and considering that those fingertips are made with such detail that a new doll will almost generate a fingerprint it's just a damned shame.

3. Replaceable fingernails:
- To fully explain this I might have to find a way to draw it, but here's what I thought of. First, develop a cuticle; namely, a little silicone overhang at the base of the fingernail which holds it into the fingertip. Then, attach to the fingertip bone a hard plastic sheath or pocket which protrudes out beyond the skin underneath the fingernail. What we're producing here is that you then have proprietary fingernails which look normal on top but underneath have a protrusion that slides into that sheath from the bottom up, and then the nail tucks under the cuticle. You can remove the nail by pulling back the cuticle, then pulling the nail out by sliding it back away from the fingertip. Once we do this, we can sell an infinite selection of nails in different colors and lengths, and no Zelex customer would be caught dead with just one option for his or her doll.

FEET AND TOES:

1. Coat that shank!:
- First of all, I'll just say what everybody knows, which is that bolted standing feet are an outrage and should be moved away from immediately. Nothing ruins a doll faster than looking at a pair of bare feet and seeing a set of Frankenstein bolts there. It's a shame on the entire doll industry to see that. But while boltless standing feet are a huge upgrade, they're also problematic because the metal shank that makes up the foot will tear up the silicon at the bottom of the foot in nearly the same places the bolts are placed. Namely, at the back of the heel and at the "ball" of the foot. Once you've seen your doll's feet come apart in those places and investigated the cause, you realize it isn't complicated: this happens because there's a sharp edge there. And this really isn't a complicated fix. All you need to resolve it is a rounded plastic cap both at the back of the heel and at the "ball" of the foot where the edges of that metal shank are. If it's me, I'm going to put a semi-hard plastic shoe around that shank so that the back of the heel, the ball and the outside of the foot will have a rounded edge that protrudes slightly downward and creates the exact silhouette of a real foot so that the foot fetishists among us absolutely cannot get enough of these dolls.

2. Hinged arches:
There are a couple of manufacturers who have played around with this idea, but a really durable hinge at the arch of the feet which would facilitate the wearing of high heels would be a small detail that could make a big difference. Not to mention the fact that if you could create the pose of an arched foot, the photo buffs would lose their minds. We're talking about creating ballet-arched feet here, and it's not all that hard. Who doesn't see a ballerina arch her feet and get just a little bit excited?

3. Toenails, same as fingernails:
- I described this above, so I don't need to detail it more here. But being able to change out fingernails and toenails, both with respect to size and color, is something doll owners would respond to pretty much immediately and if you're out there selling sheets of plastic nails in all kinds of colors and sizes, you can charge a pretty nice chunk of change for something which costs you a negigible amount of money to make.

4. Toe-bones:
- I don't think articulated toes are all that big a deal. I have a Dolls Castle 170 which has a wired big toe, and...meh. Rather than that, here's what I'd suggest - make a set of soft-plastic "bones" that attach to the shank of the foot, curve slightly downward along the lines of where toe joints appear on a human foot, and then pour your silicon skin around them (leaving a hole for the little sheath under where the toenail joint goes, so the replaceable toenails can slide in). What you get from that are toes which aren't jiggly; that's another lazy bit of doll engineering that owners shouldn't have to put up with. Instead the toes have structure, which means you can put those feet into open-toed shoes without having to pull toes through the opening in order to make the feet not look stupid. And because they're soft plastic they won't break, which is good because the last thing we need are broken toes.

I know this is a monster of a post and I apologize for that, but I've been waiting for a good while to get this out. Like I said above, hopefully this will start a discussion about cleaning up some of the details that the doll industry should be on top of, with the first dollmaker to get there reaping the financial benefits.

[Oscar DeBarataria]

Duh. I forgot the obvious place to put the charger port for the vibrating vagina bullet. The belly-button!

Actually, once you've put a charger port in behind the belly-button you then have the ability to install lots of other electronics, whether it's an AI speaker, the feedback legs or whatever.

[MaximusVI-E]

For myself, one of the major things I find off-putting, is the neck seams. This is not a specifically, a Zelex issue as such, but, applies to pretty much to the entire industry. This is one probably the #1 thing holding me back now. Artful professional photosets and well chosen angles cover them up and that is all. If any of the three companies I am currently tracking to purchase were to ever introduce such a change to their lineups, Zelex being one, that would convince me it was time to order. I am not even asking for perfect, seamless necks here, just something better than what is currently considered the norm.

The other feature that would really interest me, is ability to open\close eyes. That would really open up a lot of possibilities for different expressions and looks, but, I have no idea how complex or difficult such a thing would be to implement. Moveable eyes help a lot, but, I would be quite interested in open\close as a feature.

[Cameramike]

How about a side button for adjusting the breasts. Inflate then deflate. Shuts downs to prevent over inflation.

[Rollo62]

IMO the biggest issue is the overall quality of the skeletons. This applies to all chinese manufacturers. There shouldn't be any noticeable loosening of the joints, and there can't ever be a broken part. This is possible by applying the rules and laws of machine design theory. Get some real engineers in your staff.

[Oscar DeBarataria]

IMO the biggest issue is the overall quality of the skeletons. This applies to all chinese manufacturers. There shouldn't be any noticeable loosening of the joints, and there can't ever be a broken part. This is possible by applying the rules and laws of machine design theory. Get some real engineers in your staff.

I've had dolls from three different brands and with every one of them the joints got loose.

So if they can't fix that, then fine - make the joints accessible with a screwdriver so they can be retightened. Make little silicon plugs shaped like a barbell and shape the top side to look like a mole so it's easily found. You pinch that mole and pull out the plug, get in with your screwdriver and retighten the joint, then stuff that plug back in.

Easy.

Easier to make joints that don't come loose, but that's obviously not happening anytime soon, so the next best thing is easy adjustability.

[Davey2469]

Redesign the skeleton. Lighter weight for one. Maybe another back joint a little higher to be able to protrude them boobs! Ball joints instead of u shaped. Possibly putting neoprene washers instead of metal to metal. I think the stiffness might last longer.

In the face, flexible cheeks allowing a bit of a grin or even a pout. I know with moveable jaw, I can extra close and she pouts, kinda cute too. Facial expression ability (minor of course) without having to use an app. How about being able to request dimples? The face is always the eye catcher so flaunt it.

When pouring the mold, colored nipples first then pour so they don’t loose their color. Same with the lower colored areas.

[thunderkiss69]

The 166K should have the nipple moved down by at least 2.5cm/1 inch. I've never seen such pendulous breasts with nipples pointing 45 degrees up! That's the one and only reason I won't buy her, it looks comical. In one of the photoshoots, they put the bikini on top of her breasts because of the bizarre nipple location.

Also, the 166K has a great slim rectangular body! Please consider different breast sizes for her!

[anonymousdfuser]

Redesign the skeleton. Lighter weight for one. Maybe another back joint a little higher to be able to protrude them boobs! Ball joints instead of u shaped. Possibly putting neoprene washers instead of metal to metal. I think the stiffness might last longer.

From what I've been told, the ball joints have issues after about a year, so they are no longer used.

[Jugo]

TORSOS:

3. Rib cage:
- I don't think this has to be anything more than a piece of plastic cut like a rib cage which sits atop the foam core under the silicone skin, but the realism it would provide both visually and to the touch would really add something. Even if the doll's rib cage doesn't show (even if she's sculpted not to be one of those emaciated girls whose ribs you can see), you'd feel her ribs when you're on top of her or when you hold her standing behind her, and it would matter.

A hard rib cage could be made from styrofoam. That would make the doll lighter as well. I would welcome this very much.

It would in general be better if the dolls were hard where humans are hard, i.e. skull, rig cage, kneecaps, elbows, feet. I have seen so many videos where manufacturers are showing off their softness, soft knees, soft forehead, soft back, etc.

JOINTS:

1. The Re-tightening:
- Throw this one out if you want, because I'm not an authority on the new skeleton. I've only cut into the pre-Inspiration body to access shoulders, hips, elbows and knees, so I don't really know what i'm talking about here. But what I'm thinking is that if you go with an advanced ball joint system for pretty much all of the major joints - hips, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles - which tend to wear out, and your ball joints can be re-tightened using a long, thin tool which looks like a screwdriver, and there are very small holes which are barely perceptible or perhaps have little silicon plugs which can be pulled out to open a hole and allow for re-tightening of those joints, the value to the customer could be very noticeable. Naturally, of course, this might cut down on the necessity for a new doll, so I understand why maybe it wouldn't work from a profit standpoint.

Problem with current skeletons is that friction is created using steel on steel surfaces. This doesn't work as tiny balls of iron are formed increasing the roughness of the surfaces as time goes by which causes them to either seize up or wear down. Steel on brass works though since the brass is self lubricating and will polish the steel surface rather than making it rough. Only one manufacturer has worked this out as far as I know. Combine this with spring loading and you would have joints that stay consistent for years without any need for adjustment. This approach would work for ball joints too.

FINGERS:

1. Reinforce the articulation:
- This one I know something about, because what I've been doing every time one of Amber's fingers gets loose - I love articulated fingers, but we're talking about far too delicate a material they're working with to create great-working joints - what I do is I snake a 25-pound steel wire down one of those fingers either from a poke-hole or an incision I make. And what I get is a reinforced finger which has the control of an articulated joint structure plus, within that structure, the flexibility and durability of a wire. What's more, you can break a finger and still have it function because the wire is there. This is a really easy addition at the factory. You just string a wire along the hand bones all the way to the fingertips, and you've now made sure that if there's an accident and the "bone" breaks on an articulated finger, it'll still work pretty much normally. As often as a finger will break on a doll, this really is something that ought to be addressed. Also, I saw somewhere that somebody mentioned the value of thickening the fingers on a doll; I'd suggest doing that by thickening the "bones" on those fingers.

I think it should be possible to build fingers from balls and pipes the way BJDs are made but where the wire holding them together is spring loaded so that the hand would be able to grab onto things. This would make the hads flexible and jointed at the same time.

2. Kill the pokes:
- I know that Zelex has implemented a little rubber cap atop the finger bones in an effort to put a stop to the ubiquitous finger-pokes that everybody suffers with their doll, but that doesn't quite work, does it? My answer is that the rubber cap isn't enough; what you need is a rounded bulb at the end of that "bone" and a thinner silicone skin around it. That way there's no sharp edge to create a finger poke. Practically the first thing that happens to a new doll is those damned finger pokes, and considering that those fingertips are made with such detail that a new doll will almost generate a fingerprint it's just a damned shame.

When silicone is used in industrial applications it is reinforced with nylon mesh (basically the same thing nylon stockings is made of but thicker threads). I think this could work well on all high stress areas of dolls, not only to prevent finger pokes.

[ZatmanBier]

Redesign the skeleton. Lighter weight for one.

This is, honestly, the big one. People are NOT kidding when the say the weight of these dolls is HEAVY. 40kg may not seem like much, but it's plain dead weight. Very difficult to move on something like a soft matras (and that's not taking into account the possible damage caused by rubbing...).

There are some other minor tidbits, like the neck seam and the less than ideal LHP, but weight is really the big deal. Had I known before i would have probably opted for some smaller/lighter doll (I also better understand the popularity of these now).

[anonymousdfuser]

Redesign the skeleton. Lighter weight for one.

This is, honestly, the big one. People are NOT kidding when the say the weight of these dolls is HEAVY. 40kg may not seem like much, but it's plain dead weight. Very difficult to move on something like a soft matras (and that's not taking into account the possible damage caused by rubbing...).

There are some other minor tidbits, like the neck seam and the less than ideal LHP, but weight is really the big deal. Had I known before i would have probably opted for some smaller/lighter doll (I also better understand the popularity of these now).

Honestly, while the weight may not be ideal for everyone, I personally like it. It makes the doll feel more realistic when her weight is pressing up against you.

[Synthian]

Hard kneecaps and brass/steel joints like Jugo says!!! Here is his thread with the designs, the man is a genius engineer listen to him
viewtopic.php?p=2529119#p2529119

TORSOS:

3. Rib cage:
- I don't think this has to be anything more than a piece of plastic cut like a rib cage which sits atop the foam core under the silicone skin, but the realism it would provide both visually and to the touch would really add something. Even if the doll's rib cage doesn't show (even if she's sculpted not to be one of those emaciated girls whose ribs you can see), you'd feel her ribs when you're on top of her or when you hold her standing behind her, and it would matter.

A hard rib cage could be made from styrofoam. That would make the doll lighter as well. I would welcome this very much.

It would in general be better if the dolls were hard where humans are hard, i.e. skull, rig cage, kneecaps, elbows, feet. I have seen so many videos where manufacturers are showing off their softness, soft knees, soft forehead, soft back, etc.

JOINTS:

1. The Re-tightening:
- Throw this one out if you want, because I'm not an authority on the new skeleton. I've only cut into the pre-Inspiration body to access shoulders, hips, elbows and knees, so I don't really know what i'm talking about here. But what I'm thinking is that if you go with an advanced ball joint system for pretty much all of the major joints - hips, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles - which tend to wear out, and your ball joints can be re-tightened using a long, thin tool which looks like a screwdriver, and there are very small holes which are barely perceptible or perhaps have little silicon plugs which can be pulled out to open a hole and allow for re-tightening of those joints, the value to the customer could be very noticeable. Naturally, of course, this might cut down on the necessity for a new doll, so I understand why maybe it wouldn't work from a profit standpoint.

Problem with current skeletons is that friction is created using steel on steel surfaces. This doesn't work as tiny balls of iron are formed increasing the roughness of the surfaces as time goes by which causes them to either seize up or wear down. Steel on brass works though since the brass is self lubricating and will polish the steel surface rather than making it rough. Only one manufacturer has worked this out as far as I know. Combine this with spring loading and you would have joints that stay consistent for years without any need for adjustment. This approach would work for ball joints too.

FINGERS:

1. Reinforce the articulation:
- This one I know something about, because what I've been doing every time one of Amber's fingers gets loose - I love articulated fingers, but we're talking about far too delicate a material they're working with to create great-working joints - what I do is I snake a 25-pound steel wire down one of those fingers either from a poke-hole or an incision I make. And what I get is a reinforced finger which has the control of an articulated joint structure plus, within that structure, the flexibility and durability of a wire. What's more, you can break a finger and still have it function because the wire is there. This is a really easy addition at the factory. You just string a wire along the hand bones all the way to the fingertips, and you've now made sure that if there's an accident and the "bone" breaks on an articulated finger, it'll still work pretty much normally. As often as a finger will break on a doll, this really is something that ought to be addressed. Also, I saw somewhere that somebody mentioned the value of thickening the fingers on a doll; I'd suggest doing that by thickening the "bones" on those fingers.

I think it should be possible to build fingers from balls and pipes the way BJDs are made but where the wire holding them together is spring loaded so that the hand would be able to grab onto things. This would make the hands flexible and jointed at the same time.

2. Kill the pokes:
- I know that Zelex has implemented a little rubber cap atop the finger bones in an effort to put a stop to the ubiquitous finger-pokes that everybody suffers with their doll, but that doesn't quite work, does it? My answer is that the rubber cap isn't enough; what you need is a rounded bulb at the end of that "bone" and a thinner silicone skin around it. That way there's no sharp edge to create a finger poke. Practically the first thing that happens to a new doll is those damned finger pokes, and considering that those fingertips are made with such detail that a new doll will almost generate a fingerprint it's just a damned shame.

When silicone is used in industrial applications it is reinforced with nylon mesh (basically the same thing nylon stockings is made of but thicker threads). I think this could work well on all high stress areas of dolls, not only to prevent finger pokes.

[Bree]

...

2. Movable eyelids:
- The thought here isn't really to go the way Mannequin Fan does them, where it's a hard plastic insert that slides up and down. This would be more like a thin silicone eyelid that folds and rolls up and down by hand. The question is whether you can thread an eyelash onto that flap; if you can, and you're able to do this without showing a seam on that eyelid, the realism would be off the charts.

100% have to agree here. Seeing a doll with eyes aimed down looks crazy without adjustable eye lids on 90% of the heads. I always look for heads where the eyes are more squinting or tired for sexier look. If heads had adjustable lids, so many more heads would be of interest. At least for me.

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[MattN]

3d printed molds. You choose the frame size then customize your favorite body measurements within manufacturer acceptable parameters. Head and body. Create your exact dream girl. Bang your favorite pornstar. This will take several years probably.

Robot functions. At least get the auto blow job right first.