Yay, My New Girl Arrived This Morning!!
This morning my Son opened the front door with the dulcet tones of what sounded like a Policeman with a warrant still ringing in our ears; Postman Kev' with his usual apologetic look handed him a brown box with my name on it, apologised for possibly waking us up and went on his merry way.My Son of course handed the box over to me, and so began my photo taking for this review...as you can tell from the title, my Tangkou Chinese Girl had arrived and as promised, here's the review I said I'd do, beginning of course with first impressions of the shipping package....
The address and postage stamp, was placed directly onto the brown box, which it turned out was an official shipping box from Sixth Sense TangDoll Company, who made my little girl.
The box rattled slightly, which was worrying but I later discovered the cause of this, which I'll tell you about in due course...
There are two things I found great about this otherwise boring brown box, the first being it has the weight and size dimensions of the doll (great if I ever want to sell her and need to know shipping costs for the buyer), batch number and also the label (sticker) placed over the seal at one end of the box.
One other thing actually two, that I really like, is that she was made in China and the fact that there are two lines of Chinese writing at the bottom of the dimension information, and I love Chinese writing it's just so beautiful.
The top of the box (it only opens top and bottom) had this adorable sticker over the sellotape sealer, and yay it's the artwork of my little girl who was waiting for me inside!
Here's the cover art, this is actually a slip case, which fits over the doll's actual display box, and is decorated on every side. The front of course has the biggest and most lavish design, a cartoon image of the doll - I think this may actually be one of the sketches from the design stage during the creation of these dolls.
Also there are several other images around her which I think may be there to give a kind of visual idea of the personality of this particular doll, these are placed on top of the same Chinese writing all set against the blue-grey background.
It also shows an image (to her left) of the beaded handle drawstring bag, which happily the doll comes with.
Incidentally, the sticker is also on the bottom of the doll's actual box, but more on that later.
This image is slightly different (sorry for bad photo here) as it has hearts rising almost as though the doll is "in love" and above this, in the middle of the case, there is more beautiful Chinese writing, with the word Tang Kou below.
The right side of the slip case, shows a similar image, this time without all the fancy "antique style" images which surround her on the front.
Again there is Chinese writing over what looks very much like a barcode and below the word/words "Tang Kou".
Copyright 2010 6th Sense Tang Doll Design All Rights Reserved and to the right; Item no; 80509, below this Made in China.
The top front of the shipping case, is also very pretty, apart from the words Tangkou Doll, there is an image to the right, which shows this doll is limited to 2000 pieces only, in this case, they call them sets.
The actual wording is "Set limit to 2000 sets for ... " then there is more Chinese writing, in red and silver; separated by a heart shape, which I think may be a translation of the words Tangkou Doll.
Below this is the number 4 then more Chinese writing and the American English translation "4 color of eyes / easy to active boby" this last word is obviously a typo and meant to read "body".
To the left is another Tang kou logo, this one shows an image of a girl (head and hair only) and a swirl attached to a Chinese writing Hanzi, all contained inside a cloud shape bubble.
This "girl symbol" showed up a few more times as I was unpacking her, but more about that later too!
After I removed the doll from her slip case, I discovered another beautifully decorated box, this time in black with pick illustrations, with the doll looking out through a large clear plastic viewing pane in the front.
Another sticker, identical to the one on the shipping box has been placed at the bottom of this box, slightly covering the word "tangkou".
Above the doll's viewing pane is the same Chinese writing Hanzi from the top of the slip case, the cloud shaped logo, with girl's head symbol inside, and the same information about her being a "4 color eye change doll", which is written in Chinese here as well and on top of the slip case itself.
At the bottom of the box, below the viewing pane is the word Tangkou, 1/6 Figure and the sticker mentioned above. Below this is the 6th Sense Tangdoll Company logo, and copyright information in English and Chinese as before.
The left side of the box shows a nude image of the doll and points of articulation.
Again there is the "girl symbol" with Chinese writing Hanzi above, and below that barcode type image again, with Tang kou below and a bow above.
I've taken a close up photo so you can see the eye change information section more clearly.
Unfortunately my photo of the right side of this box did not come out too well, but I don't really think it matters too much as it gives you the gist of what to expect to see when you remove her from the slip box.
Again, there is the "girl head symbol" in it's cloud, and two lines of Chinese writing Hanzi , most likely a repeat of what has already been said on the other areas of the box.
At the top of the box, there is a small, thin strip of sellotape which peels back without any effort and left no damage to the outer packaging when I did so, and now we're getting closer to the doll herself...
The inner packaging is a bright yellow cardboard box, with a clear plastic insert into which the doll has been placed in a shaped depression.
You can see through it that there are several other items taped to the yellow box behind the doll, more about them coming up soon.
6th Sense have really thought of everything, amazing really as, I read on their website that she is a doll designed with customisers in mind, so having all these extras just in case you'd like a "play" or "display" doll, is really a bonus indeed!
First I had to turn her over to see if she had any "hidden" bindings I hadn't noticed from the front...
This "girl symbol" showed up a few more times as I was unpacking her, but more about that later too!
After I removed the doll from her slip case, I discovered another beautifully decorated box, this time in black with pick illustrations, with the doll looking out through a large clear plastic viewing pane in the front.
Another sticker, identical to the one on the shipping box has been placed at the bottom of this box, slightly covering the word "tangkou".
Above the doll's viewing pane is the same Chinese writing Hanzi from the top of the slip case, the cloud shaped logo, with girl's head symbol inside, and the same information about her being a "4 color eye change doll", which is written in Chinese here as well and on top of the slip case itself.
At the bottom of the box, below the viewing pane is the word Tangkou, 1/6 Figure and the sticker mentioned above. Below this is the 6th Sense Tangdoll Company logo, and copyright information in English and Chinese as before.
Again there is the "girl symbol" with Chinese writing Hanzi above, and below that barcode type image again, with Tang kou below and a bow above.
The back of the box shows the doll's eye change function and how to use it.
It also shows how to access the sleep eye mode, as well as additional information which is standard on any toy, such as "choking hazards" etc.
This is all in Chinese apart from the "Warning, Chocking Hazard" parts and a "guarantee" which is in both English & Chinese, in an orange circle.
Unfortunately my photo of the right side of this box did not come out too well, but I don't really think it matters too much as it gives you the gist of what to expect to see when you remove her from the slip box.
Again, there is the "girl head symbol" in it's cloud, and two lines of Chinese writing Hanzi , most likely a repeat of what has already been said on the other areas of the box.
At the top of the box, there is a small, thin strip of sellotape which peels back without any effort and left no damage to the outer packaging when I did so, and now we're getting closer to the doll herself...
The inner packaging is a bright yellow cardboard box, with a clear plastic insert into which the doll has been placed in a shaped depression.
You can see through it that there are several other items taped to the yellow box behind the doll, more about them coming up soon.
And here she is, with her beautiful green eyes!
She has been secured to the plastic in two places, by her neck, with plastic coated wire, which you can just about see in this photo, and at her feet...
Her dress is beautiful, the fabric quality is excellent. I later discovered it is lined from the waist down.
The pattern is overlaid with light pink glittery swirls in places and there is also a very pretty detail along one side of the neck leading down to the bust; little "clasps" made out of tiny red and white seed beads, which are really set off by the white trim behind.
Her bag, which she is already holding around her wrist, is made out of the same fabric tied with a pink ribbon and has a handle made of tiny white seed beads.
The whole presentation so far has been a thing of beauty, but of course the real test is how easy is will be to remove her from the packaging and how much damage this will cause to the packaging itself.
The second place she is secured to the plastic packaging is at her ankles.
A thin piece of clear plastic has been secured over the ankle area and is held in place with a wide piece of sellotape, by having this clear plastic strip, it offers protection from the tape if the doll happens to move forward in transit she will not end up with any sticky residue that could end up being an absolute pain for her new owner to remove.
I have to say I find this a very thoughtful touch, so many "doll manufacturers really don't care as long as you buy the doll what does it matter to them if it arrives to you with sticky marks on?
But not 6th Sense, they know how infuriating an experience this can be for a new owner and have taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen with their product!
Again, the plastic area was very easy to remove, she just lifted out with no problems at all, and revealed what was sitting behind her.... two bags, both secured to the back with sellotape - one small and one slightly larger.
The smallest contained her underwear (odd, I thought, normally doll's are wearing this when they arrive, but I found out the reason later, and will tell you soon!) and a heart-shaped plastic button, which I knew from the back of her box is used to activate the eye colour change mechanism.
The larger bag contained the source of the rattle I mentioned hearing when I took possession of the shipping box! But I'll explain how later...
Inside was her stand, in three parts, making it easier to ship "flat packed" as it were. A hair comb, an "Alice" band and a small hair brush were also included.
The two bags, there's that "girl's head symbol" again! This time on the base of the stand.
The reason for the rattle I mentioned became clear when I turned this bag over.
The smaller items; "Alice" band, comb, brush, waist holder from stand, were able to move about inside due top the bag having to be a certain width to accommodate the stand base, and their being so much smaller!
The only thing I don't really like about these items, is the colour, although if posing her nude for say, comparison shots or something, a flesh coloured stand would be beneficial as it would not detract the eye from the real point of the photos.
Also in the case of the heart shaped button, flesh is the perfect colour for it.
As I have no idea what colour I would have liked them all to be, I guess I shouldn't complain as I didn't expect to get most of them anyway!
I thought she would come with her stand and the button for the eye would be either already in place on the doll or inside the plastic inner section she was protected in. So like I said it was a bonus to find all the other items too!
Here you can see all the extras as well as the parts for the stand nestled in the back of the bag, behind the stand base.
Here's a close up of the stand base and that cool "girl's head symbol" I keep referring too!
Oh and in case you're wondering, there's the "neck wire" at the bottom of the picture too, but before I took that picture after discovering the "extras", I continued on my quest to free my new girl from her bindings, I have to say this part worried me as I really unsure how easy it would be to do so...
I was very pleasantly surprised as she didn't! What she did have was a weird looking little gadget made of black plastic tied to it, which I discovered made the opening (of the twists) and subsequent removal, loads easier, to a certain degree once I'd taken in it my fingers, it almost untied itself!
And was much less painful, (in fact, not at all!) to use than those wire twists normally are to remove, so again it seemed that the Sixth Sense Tang Doll Company had probably thought of everything, which I guess is one of the bonuses of asking doll collector's and customisers what kind of things they look for in a doll!
So what was this pink item, visible in the photo's of the doll in her box, above?, well this happens to be her, wait for it... It's her "Passport"!
Inside it reads in parts like an instruction manual, which is great so you don't actually damage her while washing or if you do decide to customise, it also contains addition pages, which is another cute touch, but I'll come to them later.
This passport was also inside it's own plastic bag, and secured to the inside flap of the plastic "doll holder" part of the packaging by a small piece of sellotape, again this was easily removed, and again it left no marks or damage to the plastic sleeve during or after it's removal.
It also had a surprise inside, which I'll be showing you in a few minutes!
Here's that passport of hers, the girl symbol appears again on the front, but this time it has a banner below reading "2012".
Gone is her long hair from the previous times it has appeared, it has now been replaced by a crown upon her head, and what could possibly be laurel leaves to each side of the face, providing a very professional looking frame.
Above is the words "6th Sense Tang Doll" and below "Tangkou Doll" and the word "Passport" in Chinese with the English translation below.
Again the quality is excellent, it is made of thick paper or possibly thin card, is not at all flimsy and is easy to wipe clean of finger print smudges etc.
More about this and extra photos coming up!
Unfortunately, no matter how many times I have attempted to photograph this page, I have been unable to take a picture which gives it justice!
It is designed in a similar way to bank notes, with many lines, of varying colours,and has a picture of the Eiffel Tower in the top right, in a similar style to a stamp, which an airport would place on your passport when you arrive in another Country, this image and the line drawings/style of the drawings give the whole page a very official air! As I am having "Buckley's" at trying to get a good image of it, but feel I must include it, I have decided to upload this very bad photo, and tell you what it says instead, I think that's only fair!
This is Page 1 and It reads:
Preface:
It is Tang Kou's honor to come and stay with you today, and this special day will become her birthday. As her host, please don't forget to offer her a personal name in this special day.
For you, may be she is only a toy, but for a doll, you are her best friend in her life.
Please take care of her. She will be always with you no matter you are happy or sad.
One day if you do not need Tang Kou because of uncertain reason, please help her look for someone else who will be care of the doll with this identification card.
Thank you for your kind cooperation.
MAY BE THE DOLL IS ONLY A TOY TO YOU, BUT YOU ARE DEPENDENCE IN HER ALL LIFE.
TANG KOU DOLL http://www.pattiz.net
(I visited the website address, but I found a message saying my access to the site is unavailable at this time? Perhaps you will have more luck if you try it, or it could be that China has put some block on it's availability for "Westerners" like me!)
Page 2: As you can see page 2 gives you a space to place a picture of your doll, or yourself and your doll, and fill in details of her date of arrival (birthday), the name you gave her and the number she comes with (as these dolls are limited to a certain number per range, each one is given a number which corresponds to her place in the "batch"), there is also a place for your signature.
Each part is Bilingual, written in both English and Chinese.
Page 3: There is a picture of "France Tang Kou" (I suspect, that this booklet / passport is identical for all the dolls in the "Countries range", which may be why there are images of other Tang Kou dolls, not just the one I purchased (Chinese Girl).
This page gives the names of each person who helped to design the doll, mine reads:-
Sunny Sun
Official Prototype Sculptor.
Amy.
Modelling Division.
Susie.
Doll Make up Artist.
Again, these are bilingual, and each includes a signature of each person, which I think is a really nice touch and makes the doll range even more special!
Page 4: Contains information on operating the "Sleep Eye function", a list of the body parts, and joints names and information on how it is possible to remove some of the body parts, to enable you to place clothing and shoes onto your doll, which would otherwise be too small.
Page 5: Shows a variety of poses that it is possible for your doll to be placed into and maintain on her own.
The next set of diagrams show you how to make the stand and how to place your doll onto it so she is safe and secure.
Below this is a list of patent numbers and information on copyright/patent belonging to 6th Sense Tang Doll Group (HK) Limited.
Page 6:
As with other sections of this booklet, it appears that the translation into English has been done in a similar way as you would do with a foreign sentence and a "Foreign language Dictionary", i.e: word for word, whereas, a person who is able to speak that language would read the sentence and translate it contextually so that it makes more sense!
This page also contains a typo which makes the sentence it appears in read in an more amusing way than it would have done, had the typo not happened!
I'll point this out when I get to the sentence in which it appears...
This page contains information about the doll's personality, (please note, all spelling mistakes and grammar discrepancies are made because these are how it was written!) and reads as follows, ...
Tangkou Brief
Birth Place:
Hong Kong.
Age: 16.5 year.
Star Sign: Libra.
Blood Type: O Type.
Character: Elegant, kind-hearted, sociable and dreaming, since she has been beaten by cat (bitten by a cat), she like to make fun of others sometimes, have telepathic connection and sensitive with smell.
Tag: "Whatever" \ "Good Job" \ "Guess What"
Hobby: Design\Housing\travelling crusise (cruises possibly?)\cooking delicious food.
Special Hobby: Collect lovely notebook, one by one.
Fortune: the girl who borned (was born perhaps) to make others lucky.
Family: Father - Sunky \ Mother - YOYO \ Sister - Alice
Pet: a black cat.
The most hated animal: cockroaches.
The Favourite food: anything fresh, sometime taste the food at the food booth beside street.
(N.B. I'm not altogether sure what is meant by this last sentence!)
Again, the bottom of the page contains the words TANG KOU DOLL and the address of the website, I have already mentioned on page 1.
*The photo is of either the "England" or "Itailia" Tangkou Doll, from this series, which is what leads me to believe that it's one passport for all dolls, as you may remember page 2 has a picture of "France" on it!*
Page 7: This page shows diagrams and information on the doll's head and also how to install the eye mechanism button,along with information on how the eyes change and which type of expression these give to the doll.
Again there are a few amusing little translations in the text, for instance: the diagram explaining parts of the doll's face, shows the doll's "Eye Slices" by this they of course mean "Eye Chips" but I can't help thinking "Ouch" every time I read it!
Also, the bottom half of the page shows the workings of the eye change mechanism, Step 2 reads, "Press firmly and release till hear the clatter" the use of the word "clatter" is very misleading, while the colour change noise can be described as a clatter, the use of the word implies that it is very noisy, however, I think what they mean by this is until you hear the click, as this really is all the noise this function makes, and if you already have any "Eye colour Change Dolls" you will already know this sound and how loud it is!
Page 8: This page is entitled "Maintenance Tips" and includes lots of information on how to look after the doll's hair and body. The hair tips are very helpful, as it is sometimes possible to destroy doll hair whilst trying to clean it etc, if you do not know the type of hair you are dealing with.
The "body tips" include information such as how to prevent staining to the hands (which are made of a softer vinyl than the rest of the doll) while she is wearing different outfits, and also information about the possibility of "Sun damage" to the doll if left outside for long periods of time!
Page 10: This is the last page of the "Passport" and it contains a list of the doll's features, and customisability. As this page is very easy to read, I'm not going to type it out for you here. At the bottom of the page is the 6th Sense logo and the copyright information repeated.
After I had removed her from the box, which had to be done from behind the plastic inner casing she was attached to, my first view of her whilst holding her, was of the back of her head!
Still it gave me a chance to examine her hair, it's a little "unruly" looking, but as it looks great from the front and is again good quality and almost "Human" in it's feel, I wasn't at all phased by that!
Her hair is a beautiful and very natural looking shade of Chestnut Brown and this "ruffled" look actually helps to add to itself life-like quality.
I couldn't resist lifting it to take a look at the eye colour change mechanism.
The hole inside the button, is for the heart shaped button "presser" to slot into, and of course I tried this on it straight away, it worked great (as I've already said in an earlier photo) but I also tried it without the button, thinking it would most likely press a little into my thumb and more than likely become painful after a time...
But guess what? It didn't at all, not a bit of it! It felt soft against my skin, and no matter how many times I pressed it, no indentation was left, and no pain felt at all!
So I turned her over to see what colour eyes she had now, and I found she has a pair of very pretty grey-blue, front facing eyes, that catch the light so well.
Another button press, and she had very pale-blue left facing eyes, again these reflect the light beautifully and seem to sparkle!
And was much less painful, (in fact, not at all!) to use than those wire twists normally are to remove, so again it seemed that the Sixth Sense Tang Doll Company had probably thought of everything, which I guess is one of the bonuses of asking doll collector's and customisers what kind of things they look for in a doll!
Here's a close up of her "tiny whiteys" and the heart shaped button for her eyes.
Again, the quality of the fabric used for her underwear as just as good as that used for her dress!
Here's the other side of that button, it has a point so it can fit into the press mechanism at the back of the doll's head, you don't really need to use it though, as the button itself is not painful to press (even after a while of doing so!) but it is a nice touch, especially as it's been shaped too and isn't just a plain square or circle, as it so easily could have been!
By the way, it fits perfectly, it doesn't drop out or is a bit wiggly in there or anything annoying like that!
So what was this pink item, visible in the photo's of the doll in her box, above?, well this happens to be her, wait for it... It's her "Passport"!
Inside it reads in parts like an instruction manual, which is great so you don't actually damage her while washing or if you do decide to customise, it also contains addition pages, which is another cute touch, but I'll come to them later.
This passport was also inside it's own plastic bag, and secured to the inside flap of the plastic "doll holder" part of the packaging by a small piece of sellotape, again this was easily removed, and again it left no marks or damage to the plastic sleeve during or after it's removal.
It also had a surprise inside, which I'll be showing you in a few minutes!
Here is her little bag (fully lined in good quality fabric, inside and out), which contained another surprise!
Inside was a lovey beaded necklace, which matches the handle of her bag perfectly, and is so cute!
The bag was secured to the plastic in two places, using two tiny "clothing price label tags" (one can be seen in the above picture, I have no idea where the second one went!).
As it wasn't so clear in the last picture unless you know where it was and are looking for it, I felt it's only fair to enlarge the area, so you can see what I mean by that last sentence as I really have no idea what the real name for these plastic "ties are...
Anyhoo, the point about these little "label tag" things is while they secured the doll's bag to the plastic very very securely, it was amazingly easy to remove them, I din't even realise they were there until after I had broken them in half and released the bag!
At first, when I found the bag resisting me, I thought it was perhaps secured by thread of some kind, but as I gave it a gentle tweak upwards to try and see what was holding it down, it snapped and I became aware that it was secured somewhere else.
I repeated the process and discovered to my amazement that it had been secured with these little things; amazement because, these type of binders are normally an absolute nightmare to remove if you don't have scissors handy to do so; but not in this case, Sixth Sense Tang Doll Company have managed to find some that are "buyer friendly" - you have no idea how much I'm really loving this company right now!!
Gone is her long hair from the previous times it has appeared, it has now been replaced by a crown upon her head, and what could possibly be laurel leaves to each side of the face, providing a very professional looking frame.
Above is the words "6th Sense Tang Doll" and below "Tangkou Doll" and the word "Passport" in Chinese with the English translation below.
Again the quality is excellent, it is made of thick paper or possibly thin card, is not at all flimsy and is easy to wipe clean of finger print smudges etc.
More about this and extra photos coming up!
It is designed in a similar way to bank notes, with many lines, of varying colours,and has a picture of the Eiffel Tower in the top right, in a similar style to a stamp, which an airport would place on your passport when you arrive in another Country, this image and the line drawings/style of the drawings give the whole page a very official air! As I am having "Buckley's" at trying to get a good image of it, but feel I must include it, I have decided to upload this very bad photo, and tell you what it says instead, I think that's only fair!
This is Page 1 and It reads:
Preface:
It is Tang Kou's honor to come and stay with you today, and this special day will become her birthday. As her host, please don't forget to offer her a personal name in this special day.
For you, may be she is only a toy, but for a doll, you are her best friend in her life.
Please take care of her. She will be always with you no matter you are happy or sad.
One day if you do not need Tang Kou because of uncertain reason, please help her look for someone else who will be care of the doll with this identification card.
Thank you for your kind cooperation.
MAY BE THE DOLL IS ONLY A TOY TO YOU, BUT YOU ARE DEPENDENCE IN HER ALL LIFE.
TANG KOU DOLL http://www.pattiz.net
(I visited the website address, but I found a message saying my access to the site is unavailable at this time? Perhaps you will have more luck if you try it, or it could be that China has put some block on it's availability for "Westerners" like me!)
Page 2: As you can see page 2 gives you a space to place a picture of your doll, or yourself and your doll, and fill in details of her date of arrival (birthday), the name you gave her and the number she comes with (as these dolls are limited to a certain number per range, each one is given a number which corresponds to her place in the "batch"), there is also a place for your signature.
Each part is Bilingual, written in both English and Chinese.
Page 3: There is a picture of "France Tang Kou" (I suspect, that this booklet / passport is identical for all the dolls in the "Countries range", which may be why there are images of other Tang Kou dolls, not just the one I purchased (Chinese Girl).
This page gives the names of each person who helped to design the doll, mine reads:-
Sunny Sun
Official Prototype Sculptor.
Amy.
Modelling Division.
Susie.
Doll Make up Artist.
Again, these are bilingual, and each includes a signature of each person, which I think is a really nice touch and makes the doll range even more special!
Page 4: Contains information on operating the "Sleep Eye function", a list of the body parts, and joints names and information on how it is possible to remove some of the body parts, to enable you to place clothing and shoes onto your doll, which would otherwise be too small.
The next set of diagrams show you how to make the stand and how to place your doll onto it so she is safe and secure.
Below this is a list of patent numbers and information on copyright/patent belonging to 6th Sense Tang Doll Group (HK) Limited.
As with other sections of this booklet, it appears that the translation into English has been done in a similar way as you would do with a foreign sentence and a "Foreign language Dictionary", i.e: word for word, whereas, a person who is able to speak that language would read the sentence and translate it contextually so that it makes more sense!
This page also contains a typo which makes the sentence it appears in read in an more amusing way than it would have done, had the typo not happened!
I'll point this out when I get to the sentence in which it appears...
This page contains information about the doll's personality, (please note, all spelling mistakes and grammar discrepancies are made because these are how it was written!) and reads as follows, ...
Tangkou Brief
Birth Place:
Hong Kong.
Age: 16.5 year.
Star Sign: Libra.
Blood Type: O Type.
Character: Elegant, kind-hearted, sociable and dreaming, since she has been beaten by cat (bitten by a cat), she like to make fun of others sometimes, have telepathic connection and sensitive with smell.
Tag: "Whatever" \ "Good Job" \ "Guess What"
Hobby: Design\Housing\travelling crusise (cruises possibly?)\cooking delicious food.
Special Hobby: Collect lovely notebook, one by one.
Fortune: the girl who borned (was born perhaps) to make others lucky.
Family: Father - Sunky \ Mother - YOYO \ Sister - Alice
Pet: a black cat.
The most hated animal: cockroaches.
The Favourite food: anything fresh, sometime taste the food at the food booth beside street.
(N.B. I'm not altogether sure what is meant by this last sentence!)
Again, the bottom of the page contains the words TANG KOU DOLL and the address of the website, I have already mentioned on page 1.
*The photo is of either the "England" or "Itailia" Tangkou Doll, from this series, which is what leads me to believe that it's one passport for all dolls, as you may remember page 2 has a picture of "France" on it!*
Page 7: This page shows diagrams and information on the doll's head and also how to install the eye mechanism button,along with information on how the eyes change and which type of expression these give to the doll.
Again there are a few amusing little translations in the text, for instance: the diagram explaining parts of the doll's face, shows the doll's "Eye Slices" by this they of course mean "Eye Chips" but I can't help thinking "Ouch" every time I read it!
Also, the bottom half of the page shows the workings of the eye change mechanism, Step 2 reads, "Press firmly and release till hear the clatter" the use of the word "clatter" is very misleading, while the colour change noise can be described as a clatter, the use of the word implies that it is very noisy, however, I think what they mean by this is until you hear the click, as this really is all the noise this function makes, and if you already have any "Eye colour Change Dolls" you will already know this sound and how loud it is!
*It's worth noting that on this page, the photo illustrations are of either the "Itailia" or the "England" Tangkou Dolls from this range!*
The "body tips" include information such as how to prevent staining to the hands (which are made of a softer vinyl than the rest of the doll) while she is wearing different outfits, and also information about the possibility of "Sun damage" to the doll if left outside for long periods of time!
Page 9: Contains more tips on how to care for your doll, this time the face area and how certain types of products such as acetate, certain glues, shampoo, conditioner and perfumes etc, may effect the doll's hair and plastic and in some cases will lead to irreparable damage.
The back of the Passport, has the 6th Sense logo on it in silver, as you can see from the photo.
Now I'll tell you about the surprise item, I found inside it when I opened it up to start reading...
A credit card style "Certificate of Authenticity", in both English and Chinese; complete with her Official Sculptor's signature and her limited edition number, there is also a section for me as her "Host" to sign.
Again, this item is very good quality, it is not at all flimsy and in fact is a lot better quality than some credit card's plastic is!
The back of the card is plainer but as it contains Chinese writing Hanzi as well as the "girl symbol" logo it turns what could have been a very plain item, into a thing of beauty!
Now I've told you about all the bits and bobs that came with her and her packaging, it's time for the best bit... Chinese Girl herself...!
After I had removed her from the box, which had to be done from behind the plastic inner casing she was attached to, my first view of her whilst holding her, was of the back of her head!
Still it gave me a chance to examine her hair, it's a little "unruly" looking, but as it looks great from the front and is again good quality and almost "Human" in it's feel, I wasn't at all phased by that!
Her hair is a beautiful and very natural looking shade of Chestnut Brown and this "ruffled" look actually helps to add to itself life-like quality.
I couldn't resist lifting it to take a look at the eye colour change mechanism.
The hole inside the button, is for the heart shaped button "presser" to slot into, and of course I tried this on it straight away, it worked great (as I've already said in an earlier photo) but I also tried it without the button, thinking it would most likely press a little into my thumb and more than likely become painful after a time...
But guess what? It didn't at all, not a bit of it! It felt soft against my skin, and no matter how many times I pressed it, no indentation was left, and no pain felt at all!
So I turned her over to see what colour eyes she had now, and I found she has a pair of very pretty grey-blue, front facing eyes, that catch the light so well.
Another button press, and she had very pale-blue left facing eyes, again these reflect the light beautifully and seem to sparkle!
Press once more and the colour was a light-purple, again very reflective.
This time the eyes are front facing.
Her (again reflective, sparkly) green eyes, right facing, that I fell in love with straight away when I removed the slip cover from her box!
Each change was made smoothly, with no sticking / half turns / boggling to her eyes.
Likewise, the "Sleep Eye" function is very easily to use and turn back off again, with no sticking problems to this area, or lashes getting caught in the sides etc, that sometimes happens to other big eyed girls!
From the side, it is easier to see the eye mechanism (above) and the "Sleep Eyes" button (below), it's also interesting to see her in profile, as she does have quite a deep bridge at the top of her nose, making her nose appear very long and kind of "ski-slopey"!
Her pointy little nose sticks out quite a lot and I noticed before I unpacked her that it was actually touching the plastic viewing pane, even though the doll herself had been placed into a shaped depression that set her back quite far from the box front, or should have done if she didn't have that little "nosey" of hers!
She also has very pronounced cheeks, that make the bottom of her face and her chin especially look a bit like it's dropped... bless her!!
Another interesting feature is the fact that her ears have been "pierced" even though no earrings have been included with her outfit or in the "extras", but it leaves open the possibility of her wearing earrings if you so wish, without running the risk of damaging the doll if you attempt to "pierce" her ears yourself!
The hair at the front of her head, that has been pulled around the sides and tied under her ponytail, is beautifully soft and so shiny.
Each change was made smoothly, with no sticking / half turns / boggling to her eyes.
Likewise, the "Sleep Eye" function is very easily to use and turn back off again, with no sticking problems to this area, or lashes getting caught in the sides etc, that sometimes happens to other big eyed girls!
Her pointy little nose sticks out quite a lot and I noticed before I unpacked her that it was actually touching the plastic viewing pane, even though the doll herself had been placed into a shaped depression that set her back quite far from the box front, or should have done if she didn't have that little "nosey" of hers!
She also has very pronounced cheeks, that make the bottom of her face and her chin especially look a bit like it's dropped... bless her!!
Another interesting feature is the fact that her ears have been "pierced" even though no earrings have been included with her outfit or in the "extras", but it leaves open the possibility of her wearing earrings if you so wish, without running the risk of damaging the doll if you attempt to "pierce" her ears yourself!
The hair at the front of her head, that has been pulled around the sides and tied under her ponytail, is beautifully soft and so shiny.
Once the "Sleep Eye" button is pressed and locked into place, her decorated eyelids become visible, they are very subtly decorated with a tiny bow in the outer corner of each with four dots surrounding it against a light pink background. the bottom of the lids are decorated with a frill-edged line of white, reminiscent of lace, and at the very bottom a line of black, also frilled at the top.
The pink shading is also continued up from the eye lids and onto the eye well...
It's also very easy to see how long her eye lashes are, so long in fact that when her eyes are closed, the lashes reach to just under half-way down her cheeks!
The pink shading is also continued up from the eye lids and onto the eye well...
It's also very easy to see how long her eye lashes are, so long in fact that when her eyes are closed, the lashes reach to just under half-way down her cheeks!
This is my least favourite part of the doll, her ankles.
The ball joints which they are made of protrude so much and look very painful in certain poses, but more about them when I come to the nude / body joints section of this review.
I have to say I also dislike her shoes, not the style, I think they suit her outfit very well but the colour is a very ugly shade of brown, although having said that, brown is never really a "pretty" colour unless it's hair of course!
Ok, so now for the body shots... as ever I have to say this, just in case *Sigh*! ...
WARNING ... WARNING - DOLL NUDITY
There is excellent definition to the collar bone area of the doll, as well as on her stomach, which again gives her a more life-like quality and body than most dolls have.
Her bust is quite large but perfectly in proportion to the doll herself, and doesn't look like she'd been to see a surgeon, like some larger breasted 1/6th scale dolls do!
The torso is jointed just below the bust, but as this area (on closer inspection) is very much fused in place and I wasn't able to make it turn... not that I really want to do so, as Human's don't really twist their body's around from this area, but I digress...
I think this may be a "casting" feature, by that I mean that the casting of the dolls torso was produced using two moulds, the bust and shoulders being one mould and the waist and hips the other, otherwise I can think of no good reason why the body would have this line around it, as like I say, it doesn't have any function whatsoever!
She has a ball joint at the shoulder, quite a basic articulated hinge, similar to a Monster High doll in fact every similar as one of the diagrams in the Passport showed that this area has a removable joint. It is possible to pull out the forearm from the shoulder to enable you to dress her in clothes that she wouldn't be able to fit into with this part of her arm in place...
As the diagram showed the arm with this section removed, and it had a hole inside, I assume that like Monster High dolls it is joined via the "twisty pin" method that those dolls have on their joints.
The ball joints which they are made of protrude so much and look very painful in certain poses, but more about them when I come to the nude / body joints section of this review.
I have to say I also dislike her shoes, not the style, I think they suit her outfit very well but the colour is a very ugly shade of brown, although having said that, brown is never really a "pretty" colour unless it's hair of course!
Ok, so now for the body shots... as ever I have to say this, just in case *Sigh*! ...
WARNING ... WARNING - DOLL NUDITY
Her bust is quite large but perfectly in proportion to the doll herself, and doesn't look like she'd been to see a surgeon, like some larger breasted 1/6th scale dolls do!
The torso is jointed just below the bust, but as this area (on closer inspection) is very much fused in place and I wasn't able to make it turn... not that I really want to do so, as Human's don't really twist their body's around from this area, but I digress...
I think this may be a "casting" feature, by that I mean that the casting of the dolls torso was produced using two moulds, the bust and shoulders being one mould and the waist and hips the other, otherwise I can think of no good reason why the body would have this line around it, as like I say, it doesn't have any function whatsoever!
She has a ball joint at the shoulder, quite a basic articulated hinge, similar to a Monster High doll in fact every similar as one of the diagrams in the Passport showed that this area has a removable joint. It is possible to pull out the forearm from the shoulder to enable you to dress her in clothes that she wouldn't be able to fit into with this part of her arm in place...
As the diagram showed the arm with this section removed, and it had a hole inside, I assume that like Monster High dolls it is joined via the "twisty pin" method that those dolls have on their joints.
The back of the doll has "human-like" definition along the spine and buttocks areas of the doll, and I think I have also discovered the reason for the doll not arriving wearing her tiny whiteys...
The "you-know-what" area of the doll has a moulded section that already resembles underwear...
It's even patterned, and I think would come in handy to "hide her modesty" if you wanted to do some comparison pictures in which you wanted to display the doll without her clothing so you can get a better idea of the differences, but didn't actually want or don't like your dolls to not be wearing any grundies, this way she can wear grundies even if the pose etc you'd like to view would be much hampered by her wearing any!
Also, check out the small of her back, there's that "girl symbol" again!
Her thighs also have the ball joint attachment at the hip end, giving her greater movement in this area, than she would otherwise have.
Her knee however, is the basic "Plug and Pin" hinge, Monster High style again, and this area is also detachable, it can only be moved up or down, like her elbow joints.
Her ankle has that awful ball joint I mentioned before, not awful because it doesn't work...it works very well, it's just the Artist in me finds it all wrong to look at, as in order to sit right, it throws the foot into a strange position which makes the doll look like she has had a run in with Kathy Bates character from Misery!
There's that knee joint at work. I also don't like the way it has a slight overlap coming from the part of the thigh the knee joins into, it gives the knees a very sharp and unnatural looking "jut" to them, again the Artist in me finds, this irksome!
Also, see what I mean about that ankle joint?
In order for her leg to be straight her ankle has to be in this position, however, having a knowledge of Human Anatomy, I know this to be very wrong, as the ankle joint should really be back slightly, not very much at all, but doing so would then knock the whole foot out too!
I think really this boils down to the fact that the doll has been designed with too small feet, which is such a shame, as having her in pretty dresses and nice shoes would be great and she's beautiful enough to show them off really well, but with those ankles, it would look stupid or at the very least absolute agony for her if she didn't have something covering them first!!
The "you-know-what" area of the doll has a moulded section that already resembles underwear...
It's even patterned, and I think would come in handy to "hide her modesty" if you wanted to do some comparison pictures in which you wanted to display the doll without her clothing so you can get a better idea of the differences, but didn't actually want or don't like your dolls to not be wearing any grundies, this way she can wear grundies even if the pose etc you'd like to view would be much hampered by her wearing any!
Also, check out the small of her back, there's that "girl symbol" again!
Her hand has a basic "up / down" hinge joint, instead of a 360 Degree twist type, which you see on dolls that have detachable hands.
The plastic her hands are moulded from is a lot softer, and almost skin -like to the touch. it also has a lot of life-like definition.
Her knee however, is the basic "Plug and Pin" hinge, Monster High style again, and this area is also detachable, it can only be moved up or down, like her elbow joints.
Her ankle has that awful ball joint I mentioned before, not awful because it doesn't work...it works very well, it's just the Artist in me finds it all wrong to look at, as in order to sit right, it throws the foot into a strange position which makes the doll look like she has had a run in with Kathy Bates character from Misery!
Also, see what I mean about that ankle joint?
In order for her leg to be straight her ankle has to be in this position, however, having a knowledge of Human Anatomy, I know this to be very wrong, as the ankle joint should really be back slightly, not very much at all, but doing so would then knock the whole foot out too!
I think really this boils down to the fact that the doll has been designed with too small feet, which is such a shame, as having her in pretty dresses and nice shoes would be great and she's beautiful enough to show them off really well, but with those ankles, it would look stupid or at the very least absolute agony for her if she didn't have something covering them first!!
As I've already mentioned, her hands are basic "up/down" hinge type. In order to turn them for posing, you would need to twist the doll's forearms ("Arrghh!"), this of course would be a very unnatural thing to do, and akin to giving your poor doll (or yourself if you tried it!) a "Chinese Burn"!!
From behind the ball joints that are her "ankles" don't look bad at all, except when her foot is turned slightly to the left as you can see in the photo, it's beginning to look at little odd there!
The definition on her back is also amazing... Just look at those shoulder blades!
From behind the ball joints that are her "ankles" don't look bad at all, except when her foot is turned slightly to the left as you can see in the photo, it's beginning to look at little odd there!
When both feet are turned to their respective sides, the problem I have with them is obvious!
The heels of her shoes no longer point downwards, instead they now are tucked slightly under the foot, which causes her toes to turn upwards!!
Her dress is fastened using something very similar to Velcro only flatter and without the fuzzy stuff, in fact it's more a strip of flat though slightly bumpy plastic, that somehow manages to stay in place when pressed onto the felt-like material of the other side, it's the perfect fastener for doll's clothes of this size as it is not at all bulky and allows her dress to lay flat against her back and really show off her beautiful figure without the distraction of a raised area in this location.
The heels of her shoes no longer point downwards, instead they now are tucked slightly under the foot, which causes her toes to turn upwards!!
Her dress is fastened using something very similar to Velcro only flatter and without the fuzzy stuff, in fact it's more a strip of flat though slightly bumpy plastic, that somehow manages to stay in place when pressed onto the felt-like material of the other side, it's the perfect fastener for doll's clothes of this size as it is not at all bulky and allows her dress to lay flat against her back and really show off her beautiful figure without the distraction of a raised area in this location.
Her feet have a series of symbols which I think read W.W.A, (although I can't quite make this out) and 2008 underneath, there is also a small hole, which I believe is for her ankle peg to slot into, I saw in a diagram in the Passport that the feet are removable making it possible for her to wear "too small shoes" so I guess to do this, you'd have to have her footless for the duration of their wear!?
The shoes she's wearing were incredibly easy to remove and replace, no fiddling about trying to force them at all.
I haven't attempted to remove her feet yet, nor do I think I will do so, as I don't really have much reason to do so, seeing as she is to be my "display and play" as is doll!
Also, you can see from the photo that the slits up the side of her dress make it so much easier to pose her in "sitting position" and I'm pleased to say that the fabric, though lined in this area, lays really well while she does so!
Conclusion:
Overall, I am very happy with this doll, apart from the ankle problem that is, but I did notice this on quite a few of the dolls before I bought this one, so I mustn't complain about it.
Also as this is really the only problem I could have with her, I think it's a small price to pay for such a cheap, but very well-made and quality item as she is.
She is also facially very beautiful and will fit alongside my Blythe, Dal, Pullip, Hujoo and C.C.E Girls very nicely!
Unlike some other dolls I could mention, I didn't need a sledgehammer, blow torch & a Degree in Physics to remove her from her packaging - her packaging was so well thought out and designed so that it is something you'd want to keep even if the doll spends most of her time outside of the box, at the same time it seems to have been designed with the buyer in mind, and removal of the doll doesn't damage the packaging so much that it is only fit for the dustbin once the doll has been removed!
I have at times felt the need to buy some dolls in pairs as I really wanted to remove them from he packaging to "play" with them, but knew that in doing so the packaging would become obsolete and I would no longer be able to display the doll that way when not in use...I also know other collectors who have also done the same... this doll's packaging and ease of access to the doll inside, make that an unnecessary expense!
This doll definitely has been designed with the buyer in mind - I love that!
I also love that she has been designed with some of my favourite features in one doll, at a very reasonable price with customisers in mind too ... how many other Doll Companies do that?!
The shoes she's wearing were incredibly easy to remove and replace, no fiddling about trying to force them at all.
I haven't attempted to remove her feet yet, nor do I think I will do so, as I don't really have much reason to do so, seeing as she is to be my "display and play" as is doll!
Also, you can see from the photo that the slits up the side of her dress make it so much easier to pose her in "sitting position" and I'm pleased to say that the fabric, though lined in this area, lays really well while she does so!
Conclusion:
Overall, I am very happy with this doll, apart from the ankle problem that is, but I did notice this on quite a few of the dolls before I bought this one, so I mustn't complain about it.
Also as this is really the only problem I could have with her, I think it's a small price to pay for such a cheap, but very well-made and quality item as she is.
She is also facially very beautiful and will fit alongside my Blythe, Dal, Pullip, Hujoo and C.C.E Girls very nicely!
Unlike some other dolls I could mention, I didn't need a sledgehammer, blow torch & a Degree in Physics to remove her from her packaging - her packaging was so well thought out and designed so that it is something you'd want to keep even if the doll spends most of her time outside of the box, at the same time it seems to have been designed with the buyer in mind, and removal of the doll doesn't damage the packaging so much that it is only fit for the dustbin once the doll has been removed!
I have at times felt the need to buy some dolls in pairs as I really wanted to remove them from he packaging to "play" with them, but knew that in doing so the packaging would become obsolete and I would no longer be able to display the doll that way when not in use...I also know other collectors who have also done the same... this doll's packaging and ease of access to the doll inside, make that an unnecessary expense!
This doll definitely has been designed with the buyer in mind - I love that!
I also love that she has been designed with some of my favourite features in one doll, at a very reasonable price with customisers in mind too ... how many other Doll Companies do that?!
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