Unboxing Xycolo XC-170/E body style with ›Yinan‹ head

Regarding the shipping procedure, there is not much noteworthy. Like many other doll shipments from China to Europe, this one arrived in a two parts – one box with the doll and another box with the head and some accessories. Since Chinese shipping agents repackage the international shipments, neither the box itself nor the padding inside is necessarily representative for other shipments.

Packaging. In this case, the cardboard box with the doll was very similar to the boxes used for most other dolls: a neutral brown-grey box without logos printed on the outside. Except for the usual small dents and scratches, the box did not indicate rough handling or damages.

In this case, several components of the main box were moved into the 2nd package. That might illustrate the power of Chinese shipping agents – they decide what and how shipments depart(s) to destinations outside of mainland China. They are true gatekeepers.

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Inside the box, the doll's body rests in a styrofoam structure, very similar to the way most TPE dolls are shipped nowadays.

On top of the doll, the styrofoam structure does not lock the body tightly in place; when the box is transported with the short end up, the doll can move. This did not cause a damage, but it potentially puts avoidable strain on the skeleton.

The upper body of the doll was arched like this:

This indicates that the box was transported with the neck part at the bottom and got a few thrusts. Xycolo's skeleton is rigid enought not to be harmed by this, but I would still prefer a padding which better prevents the doll from moving aroung in the cardboard box.

The upper part of the box is reinforced with a plywood board. This is also known from TPE doll packages and normally intended to prevent the neck connector to poke through the cardboard. Since Xycolo has the 'spigot' part of the neck connector in the head and not on the body, this plywood board does not make much sense. Possibly the shipping agent repackaged the shipment from the factory into a box normally used for TPE dolls.

The inside of the styrofoam side walls is covered with a plush blanket which has been glued onto the styrofoam. Again, this is also used for some TPE dolls so it can be considered a simple, but more or less proven way of protecting the doll.

The doll's body itself does not reside in a plastic bag or a sleeping bag; instead it is 'Dressed' in a pink fabric cloth with sewn seamlines. This is different from any other Chinese doll I have seen, and it looks quite natty:

To summarize, the doll is protected sufficiently, but not exceptionally well like Sino-doll's molded padding.

However, there is always room for enhancement. What I would like to see in this case is a bit more stability of the styrofoam structures to tighter lock the doll in place.

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Unlike man other Chinese doll makers, Xycolo includes usage instructions…

…but it's completely in Chinese, so except for the diagrams, most customers from Europa or America can not benefit from the documentation.

Thinking about a manual is clearly the first step in the right direction, and it proves Xycolo's claim to be more considerate than others (who not even supply a manual for electrical components).

However, localizations or at least an English translation is a desideratum, obviously.

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The Scope of Supply is very similar to other Chinese silicone doll makers. The doll comes with

• a wig,
• the (Chinese) manual and
• a set of (pretty) underwear.

If you ordered the insert variant, there also will be an insert. That's it.

In this case, some optional Accessories were ordered.

That's the optional hanging mechanism:

It is attached to the body part of the neck connector:

The included accessories are similar to what you get from Doll Sweet or Gynoid Tech – the essentials, but nothing more, especially no material/skin tone samples and no silicone adhesive. However, possibly those components might have been removed by the shipping agent.

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Peeling a new doll out of her wrapping is always a special moment – and a moment where you get the first idea how close the doll is to what you had in mind.

Smell. This doll has almost no noticable smell when taking her out of the box. Only in closest proximity to the skin surface a faint silicone smell is recognizable.

It's pretty clear that this silicone blend can be recommended for anybody who is sensitive to chemical smell.

Oil leakage. There is minimal oil leakage, much less than the oil leakage on other current silicone dolls from China. Even after handling the doll for a couple of hours I didn't feel the urge to wash my heands from 'grease'. I think no other current silicone blend has that little oil leakage; the closest is Doll Sweet blend from my 2018 Evo. I definitely do like the haptics.

The lack of oil leakage also suggests, that this silicone blend might not be very shiny. That would qualify her for photography, similarily like Doll Sweet's S-level makeup.

Softness. As the low weight suggests, the Xycolo dolls have relatively large foam cores for weight reduction, so they are not tweaked for softness. The first impression confirms this. The synthetic flesh feels like firm muscle tissue. I like this, but if you are after a silicone doll with softness comparable to nowadays TPE dolls, Sino-doll or Maidlee Doll might be better choices for you.

Last but not least, the weight. Compared to life-sized TPE dolls or the smaller 165 cm and 162 cm silicone dolls from Gynoid Tech and Sino-doll, the Xycolo's XC-170/F feels like a flyweight. A little heavier than Doll Sweet's more petite DS-163, but conveniently managable. Without having her put on a scale yet, I think this is the most lightweight doll in this size range I have ever encountered.

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The first impressions are a bit subjective, so let's move to some hard facts, the accordance to specifications.

Body height. Laying flat on her back and measured from soles of the feet to the top of the head, we have measured a body height between 168,5 and 169 cm, so this is pretty much as tall as advertised. That's a little surprise as still so many dolls are significatly shorter than specified.

Body weight.

Regarding the body weight I had been a bit sceptical; the originally specified 26 kg might be possible, but would require either a very thin layer of silicone, a smaller body height, a more petite body shape – or an innovative new tech. During production the specs were silently updated to 30 kg which is an increase of about 15%. Since very few dolls from China match their specified weight, the actual question was: How much heavier would she be?

Here is the answer:

Without head:

32,9 kg without head (= deviation about +10%)

With head attached:

34,8 kg with head attached (= deviation about +15%)

Considering the initially specified 26 kg, this would have been a quite nasty deviation if Xycolo hadn't updated the specs 'just in time'. I take this positively as an indicator that Xycolo is seriously trying to publish accurate and up to date specs.

The Yinan head weights 1,9 kg.

About 2 kg is a normal weight for a life-sized silicone head.

The 10% deviation is within the usual range, similar to the deviation I have measured on other Chinese dolls, so it is acceptable with some teeth gnashing, but it is not excellent.

However, for a life-sized doll with about 169 cm body height, a real weight of around 35 kg is quite good – and the doll still remains within a managable weight range clearly below the critical 40 kg mark.

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The Yinan head had some surprises ready, though absolutely not unwelcome ones.

Firstly, the head was packaged separately in a nice and clean box:

Secondly, the face is seriously protected:

Thirdly, the head comes with a fully function head stand:

These are some unexpected, but usefull goodies.

Opposed to Gynoid Tech, Xycolo does everything imaginable to protect the head from injuries. It sits tight on the stand within the separate cardboard box, so it can neither roll around nor get in contact with other parts. This is the most thorough way to ship a separate head I have ever seen.

Also, the head stand and the protective shield can be immensely useful for collectors. Both parts are re-usable, so you can directly put the Xycolo head onto your cupboard.

The head itself is made of a firm silicone. Eyes are movable. There is a small oral cavity which does not have enough depth to be usable for oral sex. This head does not have any teeth.

Similarity between the delivered head and it's depictions on promotion photos is clearly recognizable.

The manufacturing quality of the head is flawless. It's comparable to Doll Sweet's S-level makeup and has subtle details like little blood vessels.

Eyelashes are stitched, as ordered. Eyebrows are brushed, so this is a deviation from the ordered configuration (stitched eyebrows).

The quality of the head is close to outstanding: Above what you currently get from Sino-doll, on par with Doll Sweet's S-level makeup and almost on a level with Gynoid Tech.

Though there is a little reservation: Xycolo heads do not have a spring-based eye mechanism. The eyeballs rest in half-shells, similar to heads by Orient Industry. The line of sight can be adjusted with a tool like an eraser pen, but it's by far not as precise and conventient like Gynoid Tech's outstanding eye mechanism.

Overall, the Xycolo head is exquisite, but not outstanding.

It will be most interesting to see more heads from Xycolo for a broader comparison, but I expect that there will be an unusually high level of consistency. The face is one of Xycolo's strengths, as well as packagin as manufacturing quality is concerned.

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Let's take a look at the neck connector which has a noteweworthy detail: The doll comes with a serial number engraved on the body side of the connector:

So finally there is – after Doll Sweet – the 2nd doll maker from China who actually uses serial numbers. Outstanding!

The neck connector itself works the other way around than most others: The spigot part sits in the head. Functionally, it works OK. Though the spigot part is relatively short, so the head does not sit very firm on the body, just tight enough not to roll off.

A potential advantage if placing the spigot part in the head is that the risk of shipping damages might be reduced.

Head part of Xycolo's neck connector:

The head does not have a serial number engraved.

Regarding the skeleton, it does what it is supposed to do. Everything you might expect from a high-end skeleton is there, including joints for shrugging.

Only time will tell how long the joints can keep their tightness and posability. However, during this Unboxing, the joints did not start to loosen.

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Xycolo's feet are beautifully sculpted:

The feet have an appealing shape with lots of details, and the toes are cleanly separated. Nice!

Also, the ankle joints can be bent and tilted in any way one would expect: Rotate sideways, bend for high heels and so on.

Since this doll was ordered without the standing option, the daring question was if we wanted to make her stand and risk an injury.

After palpating the foot plate carefully, we decided to take the the risk. Haptically, the foot plate seems to have properly deburred edges, and it it relatively large. So the odds were good.

Result:

Xycolo's XC-170/F can stand, even if she is not specified for standing!

Inspection of the feet after standing:

There is no trace of any injury!

That does not mean that I would recommend to let this doll stand for weeks or months. If this is a requirement, get the standing option.

However, if you are sufficiently careful, this doll – she is the heaviest available from Xycolo – can stand for short periods of time and keep her beautiful feet intact.

That is outstanding as it accomplished the same as Sino-dolls 'standing without bolts' option, it just looks much more beautiful and does not come with side-effects like a ridge or a skin color deviation. Again, outstanding!

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Xycolo is the the second Chinese doll maker who offers jointed fingers. The approach from Gyoid Tech was quite impressive. So how good are Xycolo's articulated fingers?

Visually, the XC-170's hands are beautiful. They are aesthetically appealing and look natural.

Though there are a couple of differences. On GT's GT-165, the finger bones are made of plastic; on the XC-170, metal is used. I am not sure if metal provides tangible benefits, at least I could not make out advantages of Xycolo's approach.

Also, on the GT-165, all fingers are jointed; on the XC-170, the little finger is using wires. And, the pinky on the GT is functional, meaning: the joints are strong enough to bend the surrounding silicone. Overall, I'd tend to say that GT jointed fingers are a little bit more advanced than Xycolos. However, it is possible that the metal joints are more durable – time will tell.

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