Angelsdoll Flora and Yul - Box Opening

I placed my Angelsdoll summer event order on the 3rd of August and yesterday it arrived!! This has got to be some kind of a speed record. I sold my DZ Raymond's 70cm body and was able to make room for one more girl in my doll closet, as well as fund this purchase. I believe this is the most affordable SD sized doll I own now at 250USD (including 2 blank heads and a body), thanks to AD's generous summer event sale.

This was my first time ordering from this company. It seems they've been on hiatus for a good 4 years in between and this year have returned with all new products. So far they have only released three 60cm girls: Flora, Yul and and another Elf Lucia sculpt. I ordered a full doll Flora with the newer longer neck version body and a Yul head both in normal skin tone. I'm super excited to start exploring these dolls!

So, without further ado, on to the box opening. Here's the box, nice and neat. The level of mummification is not as extensive as I've often seen, but all seemed intact and the girls had survived the trip from South Korea in perfect condition.

Flora jumped out of the box first. My goodness this head is SMALL!! It's MSD sized, I kid you not! It's super narrow a sculpt as well and rivals my skinny faced Soom Heliot easily. I think it is in fact quite a bit smaller and narrower. The features are gorgeous though and I'm absolutely in love with her look. Flora takes 10-12mm eyes and 7-8 wigs. On her own body, her hands look huge next to her head in reality. Her wrists are thick as heck, so hand swapping might be difficult. I'm thinking Flora will get to share the Mirodoll 60 and 62 bodies with my Elfdoll Eun-a, DIM Gretl and DM Skylar, that have smaller DM Eve hands.

Flora's got a really lovely profile. The resin is funkily translucent and luminous. Flora's head was a tad shinier in finish than Yul's for some reason. It'll require a thicker layer of MSC. There are some seam lines, but nothing too distracting.

Here's the Yul head on the body. She looks much better proportioned for this short and slightly plump looking body. I believe it's close to SID size in width and height. I love the womanly shape and smooth, realistic sculpting that's gone into this body. It has it's very own flavor and loads of expressive potential. The back and neck are perhaps a tad short for my taste. I usually like the elegant swan type girls, but then it would not have this look if it was any different and as it is, it provides my girl heads with more variation again. And that is after all, what I covet the most. The AD body stands ok, not perfectly solidly, but it's passable. I'm ok with it. Yul will get to default with this body as I like this combination. These are poor quality up angle snap shots here with my crappy compact that don't do her justice. I'll take better pics soon and you'll agree with me! ;)

Here's the difference in the head sizes of Yul and Flora, photographed side by side all level. Quite drastic, eih? Yul is a very standard SD sized girl head. I compared to my Elfdoll Eun-a and they are almost identical in size. Flora head on the other hand, as you can see from the picture is just ridiculously small. I think she will most hang out with my tinies!!!

What worried me a bit was when I noticed the resin around the girls eyes and particularly Flora's eyes seemed very thin! This could be somewhat due to the translucent quality of the resin, but I'd still say that's a bit too thin for comfort. I'd prefer a bit thicker amount of resin there, so that I don't have to hold my breath every time I look their way or place eyes inside their heads. I thought better to ask Angelsdoll about this, that is it normal. Around Flora's eye it's even evident from the front, when the face looks kind of blueish around her eyes, where the resin is thin.

Yul is better off. She's not as see-through there, but even with her, there are some thinner parts in the resin that I wish weren't there. Oh well, it is what it is... I sure hope the girls will be ok and I won't break them first thing!

The engineering in the body is not the regular kind at all. The upper part and the lower part of the body are strung separately like the new Soom Super Gems for example. I'm not a huge fan of this trend and it ALWAYS results in poor posing-abilities. The legs swing a bit helplessly on their own and the stability is compromised.

There's a hidden joint at the hips as well, instead of the classic slots for the strings and this is causing the poor girl not being able to sit at all properly. I really really profoundly hate that so many companies don't do the slot in the front of the thigh anymore! This hidden joint thing just never works. The dolls can't spread their legs at all, they can't sit well... *sigh. Oh well, it would appear, it's possible to string this body regularly as all, but I don't know what that's going to do to the already poor sitting. I'm keeping it the way it is for now and hope for the best. I may need to tighten the strings in the upper torso some at the very least. The arms are normally strung.

As I already mentioned there was a major sitting problem. The doll, as she came, could not sit to save her life. She would just flop down on her back and not hold a sitting position at all. There was a pack of 8 rather strong magnets included in my box that puzzled me, until I found slots for them in the doll's bottom and top the legs where the thighs meet the buttocks. I glued the magnets together and inserted then the 2 sets in the slots, secured with glue and what do you know, the doll sits! I don't understand why I had to do this myself and why the magnets weren't inserted there already before shipping, but oh well, it's an improvement. Mind you though, thanks to the hidden joints at the hips and separate lower part stringing, the doll still doesn't sit sturdily. There's no other holding mechanism in the buttocks for this sitting position like some dolls do (small notches or steps carved into the resin, I mean). The sitting completely relies on those magnets now and the slightest push will result in the heavy resin doll tumbling again on her back. I'm not crazy about this situation, but I'll see how I get along with this now. I will probably have to suede the daylights out of those buttocks yet.

The mobility of the arms/hands is ok, but by no means great. The slot in the hands for the s-hook is not deep enough into the hand part and results in limited movement there. The double joint at the elbows does not really function like a double joint at all. The doll can bend it's arm just a bit over a 90 degrees.

Here are some comparison photos:

1) My Star bodied Impldoll girl Vanessa is very close to Iplehouse EID woman measurements. AD body has plenty of chunk in the trunk, but it's nowhere near as much shoulders. I'd estimate it's like somewhere between Iple SID/YID sizes. Vanessa there is one of my smallest headed SD dolls and Flora manages to have an even smaller head. You can see the difference in the resin tone as well there. Angelsdoll is a very standard normal, a very slightly peachy tone of resin that should hybridize pretty easily. Impldoll pink is a lot paler.

2) Yul poses next to my Soom Super Gem Chrom there for a head size/ body size comparison. Neither one of them stands too steadily, so I didn't dare to do a standing comparison just now. Will attempt one later!

Conclusion:

For the price, I think I got some absolutely beautifully sculpted girls and I do not regret the investment in the least. The body has some issues that I knew to expect, but also some I didn't. I'd prefer if the innovative engineering solutions weren't there and that the doll would be able to sit and pose a bit more effortlessly, but I can live with this body. The thin resin around the eyes still kind of bothers me, but I hope it proves more solid than it looks.

The head size difference between Yul and Flora was a surprise. I expected their head size to be somewhere in between the two different sizes I got. As it is, some of my plans for the girls will have to change. However, they both will provide some companionship now to dolls in my crew that have had difficulties finding matching partners in photos. Flora will get a more stronger face-up suitable for fantasy styles and will make a marvelous pair for my super small headed Soom Heliot as well as be able to pose with my MSD kids. Yul will get a natural and subtle face-up and will make a cute companion for my Migidoll boys Cho and Ruy, as well as a sweet realistic looking little girlfriend for the Impl Idol hunks. My Soom boys Sabik and Chrom might find either one of the girls suitable assistants in a certain type of photo shoot as well, even if the matches there may not be quite as ideal as I'd hoped.

All in all, for the price I paid, I'd say it was well worth it and I will enjoy these girls a lot! I'm already planning photo sessions like a maniac for them! Stay tuned for proper photos soon!