Ash has arrived!

As I expected my new SD13 sized boy from Mudoll arrived today. I went nuts on this purchase and bought the whole thief fullset, and I must confess it was really nice to actually get clothes with your doll for a change. Anyhow read on for the box opening pics and to read my commentary on Mudoll’s quality and service and such.

So, he arrived today in this lovely EMS box, and he arrived FAST! Mudoll shipped him out on May 17th and he arrived here in the morning of May 19th. I consider that very fast for shipping from overseas considering I have had to wait longer for EMS shipping in the past. The other great thing was I had ordered him on the previous Friday, and they obviously had him in stock and ready to go so there was none of this business of waiting for your doll to be made. It seems to me that whatever Mudoll has in stock, they actually have in stock and ready to go, HOWEVER I have only ordered from them this once, so maybe this is not the case for all of their dolls. After my awesome experience in dealing with them though, I plan to order my next Brownie direct from them, so I will have more input then.

Mudoll was perhaps a little light on the packing, because the doll case came bubble wrapped, but it was bopping around in the box without any packing peanuts. However, nothing was damaged, so I guess the packing did it’s job overall.

So, whenever you order a Mudoll Ash, he totally comes in a little fake leather carry case. Talk about a nice bonus! The case has a little handle on one side for easy toting, but it also comes with a strap, so you can sling the case over your shoulder as well.

Inside the box, the doll is surrounded by foam and strapped in with velcro. He was also shipped with a plastic face protector over his awesome face-up. As you can see there is also room in the top of the box to strap in clothing, wigs or whatever else you want to take. Also, you can see in the background there is a thin piece of foam lying behind the case. That piece of foam lays over top of the doll compartment for added protection. 🙂

Here is just a close-up of Ash peeking through his protective cover, and it gives you a better look at what the inside of the box is like.

And here he is, the first time out of the box, bald and nude, lol. One of his eyes is a little wonky here, but that is easily fixable. He has a really really pretty face-up. I think he has the most beautiful default face-up of all of my dolls, and I’m going to do my best to preserve it since I like it so much.

OK, so a few words on the quality of the doll itself. First of all, I was super surprised to find that my Ash came to me completely sanded! He was sanded and beautifully smooth with not a single seam evident! Sanded dolls really are the best, and with Mudoll, at least for now you don’t pay any extra to have your doll sanded. Frankly I have to say that for as expensive as some of these dolls have become, you shouldn’t have to pay extra for seam sanding, it really should be included in your finished doll. I can be a little forgiving of the companies who offer dolls at a considerably lower cost, but if you think about it, these lesser known doll makers are able to offer you a primo doll product at a lower price and with better overall finishing.

Anyway, I am also glad to report that despite not having double jointed elbows or knees, Ash poses very nice and was able to stand straight out of the box. I’d also like to add that the pictures of the doll’s body on the website make the body look a little plain in comparison to how it is in real life. It may not have the perfect body structure of a minifee or the abs of a iplehouse, but it is well sculpted and would probably be very attractive blushed. I haven’t done any resin comparisons yet, but I probably will soon after I wash and set the color in his stock clothes.

Speaking of clothes, here is a shot of everything clothing-wise that you get in the fullset (the wig is not in the picture though). I was a little surprised that besides the pants, jacket, sleeveless top and hi-top sneakers, the fullset also came with a pair of black boxer briefs and black socks. It’s a really nice fullset, and the quality of the clothing is very good with lots of attention to detail. The only downside of this fullset is that IT WILL STAIN YOUR DOLL! I’m not kidding, I thought I would be safe dressing him up for a quick set of pics, but I was quite wrong! After I undressed him when the pics were done, he already had some minimal marking on his abdomen, around his elbows and on his butt. I was able to remove all of the marks though with the magic eraser, but it was still vexing and led to some stressful feelings. The main culprit in this set are the black socks, briefs and sleeveless shirt. I think though that if you wash these and properly set the color you should be safe. I don’t plan to wash the jacket and pants though, because the pants are a baggy style and didn’t leave any marks on the body and the jacket appears to be made of a wool-like material which from experience I know do not take to washing well….also the jacket was not a problem.

Right now my Ash is resting back in his box wearing a perfectly safe pair of white boxers and a handmade tee that is also color safe. Even though the jeans didn’t mark him, I still don’t trust him wearing them for a long period of time, so right now he has to be a hobo bum until the cargo pants I bought him arrive. I also bought him a short fur wig as well. Which reminds me, if you want the stock wig that comes with him to be done up in the style as in the pictures, you have to do it yourself, because the wig comes as just a plain long ginger brown wig with bangs that looks very feminine if you don’t do it up in the Asian topknot. It’s easy to do though, and the wig is a nice quality synthetic mohair with very very fine fibers.

So, in conclusion I am completely pleased with this doll in practically every way, and I thought that Mudoll’s service was excellent. I would definitely order from Mudoll again, and if anyone was considering this doll but shied away from it because they didn’t know enough about Mudoll, well I would tell you to consider it again! I feel so strongly about the quality of product and service that I am going to start a feedback thread for them on DoA since I definitely feel this company deserves more business!