Volks Elegant Collection

[DollyKim]

I had a Beauty B for 4 years and replaced her with an Obitsu because she got floppy and had problems standing up. Also her arms would fall off at the elbows. I did put up with her for a good long time before I changed bodies and it is a lovely body.

I stayed away from the Elegant collection because if a joint broke there's no real way to fix it. Someone here had one and had problems with both legs.

[Kd_Bunchanumbers]

My elegant's neck snapped within an hour of receiving it and both it's leg joints broke and split through the skin soon after.

Needless to say I didn't use it.

[SetsunaKou]

I've used both types of bodies often, and prefer the Beauty bodies.

The Elegant seem like bendy toys to me. They're nice....enough...but seem like Gumby after a while. Also, because they're so 'rubbery', they STICK to everything and dust sticks to them, too! Also, clothing is REALLY hard to get on and off the Elegant bodies because of their 'stickiness.' I recommend them only if your doll has a swimsuit outfit and doesn't want any joints to show. I have hundreds of Volks dolls and for my own dolls (not commissions where they requested the Elegant), only keep one of the Elegant bodies for sizing purposes for commissioned outfits. (I try to keep at least one of each type of 1/6 body available so when someone commissions an outfit for a specific body, I have it available to size on ^^)

Here are some photos of one of the commissioned dolls we've done, using the Elegant body:











I am currently making another 2 dolls for commission using the Elegant body, but they are mermaids (one without a top even!) so the buyer wanted seamless, jointless bodies for them.

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but....because they are 'bendy' bodies they never get a really 'sharp' outline anywhere. Like at the elbow joints---always just seem like jelly to me and not truly 'natural' looking no matter how much you try to play with it. It's not terrible, but it's not really nice, either.

For the Beauty bodies, they are actually very, very nice---particularly the Beauty S, which is tall and slender. I've used it a lot and love it, as it's almost as nice as the Obitsu 27cm female body silhouette. I've found that Volks male bodies are more beautiful than Obitsu Male bodies; but that Obitsu female bodies are more beautiful than Volks females! Odd, isn't it? But the Beauty bodies (especially the S) are very comparable to the Obitsu look. (Female) They are not as sturdy or durable as the Obitsu, which can practically stand on their own, but have a really delicate and svelte look and feel to them. They can do sweet and feminine looks with their ankles and knees. They aren't as fragile as the EB bodies, too, except sometimes their hands just fall out of the socket! I think the pegs are just a teeny bit too thin for the arm hole. But a drop of e6000 or Goop glue solves that enough.


Here are a few photos of the Beauty 27cm body (not the midi which is the 25cm body):















For my own dolls, I usually try to use a Volks EBN or Volks Neo Goh Guy body with a Volks Beauty Midi body for the girl. That way the female is shorter than the guy, as in real life. So most of my 'couples' are that pairing of types, unless the girl is supposed to be taller or almost as tall as the guy.

Here is a shot of an EBN 28cm body with a Beauty Midi 25cm body:

[Biff]

I also have an elegant body with both knees snapped. No splitting on them yet on the vinyl, but I'd like to note there's massive mold seam lines on it and the ones I've seen in the stores have them too. It's not shown in the pictures on the site (not finding my photos of it atm). I've managed to sand some of it down with some light sand paper however, but not fully. The body can't stand very well or sit, so I'd probably at least recommend a stand if you do go with it. I think the reason is that the body is done with straight wire, unlike barbies with have a plastic joint inside their leg (the popping sound/feeling is actually the joint mechanism).

My friend (Dollcumentary) owns a Dollfie Plus, EB Beauty, and Obitsu body. The Obitsu is the least loose feeling, however it has the old soft torso which doesn't quite match the color of the hard plastic on the body. The EB beauty has a tendency to "go to pieces" by virtue of the joint design. It looks nice, but it got to the point where the arms would fall off so easily they wouldn't stay on at all. I'd probably go with an obitsu at this point, however the one I currently have on hand is falling apart at the waist. The only body I haven't looked at much is the excellent base, which is pretty loose feeling I believe.

I think they might be discounting most of the bodies to do a redesign of the joints.

[DollyKim]

I still have a few of the EB (excellent base) that I use, my EB N and EB C boys are doing okay for their age, Louis is five years old. I had an EB J who did okay, and two mini EB F boys. The only reason I switched the EB J and mini Fs to Obitsu bodies was because the Volks bodies were a bit floppy. There are little things like foot plugs falling off now and again but I could over look that.

With the Beauty and her arms falling off at the elbows there is a way to glue suede but I switched because she kept slumping.

My best Volks performers were the Dolfie Plus body, six years old and just a bit floppy, and the Neo Gohs. I have four of them which are a bit floppy but the six year old one would still be in use if I hadn't snapped his ankle so I replaced that body. I still have the broken one for later use.

If you want beautiful to look at bodies go with Volks, you want good posers consider getting Obitsus.