Review of Yeluoli/Night Lolita/My Ballerina Dolls

The Ye Luo Li/Ye Luoli/Yeluoli/Night Lolita/My Ballerina Dolls are jointed dolls that come in three sizes. This review is about the ⅓, 56 cm, 22 inch models. They cost around 50-150€, depending on vendor, clothing, and shipping cost. I got mine from AliExpress for 60€ for the girl and 80€ for the boy, nude, free shipping. They came unpackaged and naked and weren't sold as any particular brand, but based on the structure, sculpts, available make-ups, and the marks the back of the heads, I believe that’s what they are.

I also later purchased a similar non-yeluoli princess doll for 60€ full set, out of curiosity. That doll has no mark at the back of the head, has a different neck construction, and more visible mechanism in the shoulders and hips. It was chipped in one wrist so I lopped off an arm, and may write a comparison and review when I get around cyborgifying her fully.

The main appeal of these dolls is the price, which is the lowest I know in this size range: about half the price of the cheapest BJDs, a third of the price of an Obitsu or Smart Doll, and a fraction of the price of a Dollfie Dream. It was also my motivation: I wanted to get large, affordable, durable, BJD-like dolls that visiting children could freely play with.

General

The dolls are light compared to resin dolls, weighing at around 600-650 g. Skintone is pale matte pink, which especially on the girl reminds me of porcelain dolls, though it takes on a sheen from handling with my greasy fingers. The boy arrived stained in the chin and one arm, but the included magic eraser worked to remove the stains, and I have not had staining problems in the weeks since.

Head

Both dolls have a headcap, that can be twisted on/off. (Not all Yeluolis do.) The girl is marked “©2016 叶罗丽” at the back of the head, the boy “©2014 Fairy Lily”. According to previous reviews the eyes are glued on tightly, but the vendor had kindly removed the eyes per my request. I did remove the rest of the glue-mess with pliers, which worked well. The original eyes are cheapo-realism, but I changed them for a more cartoon style, which IMHO also worked well. Inside the head the eye sockets are prominent, and though the original eyes are oval, regular round eyes (16-18 mm) fit better. With domed glass eyes I'd suggest sticking to darker colours, as positioning them in any way other than staring forward is next to impossible. The girl came with eyelashes attached.

The original eyes. Acrylic, oval.

Basic 16mm ebay glass eyes.

Cheapo eBay 18mm cartoon/anime eyes.

The original face-up is simple and has a vaguely anime aesthetic, though to get a full-on DD-like anime look you’d have to do a custom face-up. The lines are clear, looking closely I can see a couple of minor imperfections, but all in all it seems like a good minimalistic face.

Body

The joints are hard smooth plastic (ABS?), the torso and long pieces a slightly softer material (vinyl?), and hands a soft vinyl (yay to no broken fingers). I say "slightly softer", because there is no squishiniess; in fact on first examination I thought the dolls were hard plastic apart from the hands. On closer inspection, however, there is some give. The different materials match well. Collarbones and scapulas are visible. Except for the central line and belly button there is very little definition in the abdomen, and no musculature in the limbs. In the girl’s hands there is webbing, and the fingernails are barely visible. Overall it is a very un-detailed but functional body.

The boy's hands (below) are much more detailed than the girl's (above). Both are made from soft vinyl so broken fingers shouldn't be an issue.

There are no nipples and no obvious genitals, though on the woman it’s debatable, as the ass crack does come quite far front.

The boy’s back sits strangely, it isn’t completely aligned. It is not an issue under clothing, but combined with the lack of body detail, you probably won't want to pose him shirtless.

The natural position of the boy's torso piece isn't entirely straight, most visible in the back. This isn't visible under clothing.

No parts come off for dressing.

Poseability

Previous reviews have said the wrist joints only hinge; however my girl had an additional 360 rotation joint. It’s still not as good as a ball joint, but an improvement. The boy has this rotation joint too and it can be released with a knife. For best results, use a thin knife, and hold the edge towards the body and the hard plastic hinge, away from the hand. Attempt to scrape the two parts separate, rather than cut anything. Probably a mod worth it for an adult owner, but not for a child's toy.

With the knifed wrist, the boy can sit with palms on thighs. Without modification, he can only sit palms up or elbow straight. The girl doesn't need modification.

The torso joints are terrible and in practice rotation only, the dolls barely bend back or forward. The problem is exacerbated by below average hip joints. The limb joints work better, excellently even. One minor detail is that the elbows don't go completely straight. This is not visible under clothing, but with bare arms some poses look weird. From what I can tell, the poseability in general is slightly below or comparable to other vinyl dolls, and I at least like the aesthetics of the joints. After a few weeks of testing the joints feel looser with no apparent way to re-tighten them, but the doll can still stand.

Beautiful joints with very okay limb mobility

The head joint is weird. The dolls can nod (though even this motion has very limited range) but there is no sideways tilt. This feature doesn't turn with the head; so when the doll looks to the side, it can do a sideways tilt, but no nod.

Below are photos of when I tried to mimic some of the poses in these two comparison posts:
48 cm Obitsu and DD2: http://yarnstack.blogspot.com/2015/03/comparing-obitsu-and-dollfie-dream.html
SmartDoll and DD3: http://www.pihlajakoto.fi/2014/07/smartdoll-vs-dollfie-dream-nsfw/

The rotation joints give good arm mobility in this pose. Comparing favourably to Obitsu48 and DD2.

Facapalm and pat on the back (of the head), both great. She can also cover her ears very well. Compares favourably to DD2, about on par with Obitsu48.

Forward bend about on par with DD2, nowhere near as good as Obitsu.

Very poor attempt at seiza, about on par with DD2 and Obitsu48.

Suwarikko like a champ. Compares favourably to DD2 and Obitsu48.

"Great" example of the bendability of her torso. This is as close as she gets to sitting and hugging her knees. Again much like DD2, nowhere near Obitsu.

No forward splits here. Both DD2 and Obitsu48 could have done this.

Almost perfect sidesplit, performance between DD2 and Obitsu48. You could twist her torso to mimic forward splits, if clothing allows.

Maximum bend in hip, knee, and ankle. Knee and ankle joints compare favourably to SmartDoll and DD3, hip joint poorly.

Very okay knee lift, comparable to DD3, better than SmartDoll. Excellent knee bend, better than either.

This pose shows the very limited torso jointing, absolutely no bend. Also shows the limited neck motion in looking up. Both DD3 and Smart Doll could do this pose much better.

Moddability

Wigs and eyes are replaceable, though not all models come with headcap.

The torso is strung with elastic. This is hooked to the pelvis piece, and a jointing mechanism in the neck, which would appear to be attached solidly to the head; there is a visible screw, but I think it's related to the mechanism rather than the head connection. I think that if you cut the elastic, you’d be left with:

1. A body with a BJD-like head interface. The cutoff is sharp and you’d probably need to sand or mould it rounder to get any mobility for a BJD-like head.
2. A head with a protruding “stick”, loop for attaching elastic in the protrusion. I didn’t try to detach the mechanism from the head.

Magnets for fantasy attachments could be glued to the inside of the head. Getting a magnet inside the torso or abdomen is also easy, but gluing it in place would be difficult and probably require cutting the elastic, as the holes at the top and bottom are small. The 10x1 mm magnets I had available stick firmly through the plastic, but larger attachments are prone to flipping with gravity.

Quick testing with attachment. Horns and tail made of PCL and attached to 10x1mm magnets with eye putty. Horns any larger would flip.

All in all the dolls are not very mod-friendly, and restringing the torso elastic seems like it’d be more of a pain than on BJDs, because the neck mechanism would make it more difficult to tighten.

In conclusion

I was positivitely surprised by these dolls. They have very clear limitations - they don’t have the poseability of an obitsu, the cuteness of a DD, or the elegance, detail and customizability of a BJD. But the faces are prettier live than in photos, poseability is sufficient, and the low detail - when not hidden under clothing - suits the original minimalist aesthetic. Perfect for clothing makers and children (old enough to not put the dolls in their mouths, because China), poorly suited for photographers or collectors.