No more swappable genitals on Chinese BJDs?!

freedom of expression is globally being dismissed. That's it. its a wrap

 

Jingles my doll penis bags like change in my pocket
Just kidding....
I don't use mine either but it's lame that the makers in China may not be able to produce it anymore.
Cover cap probably referring to a generic (or creative) non-penis bulge

 

Does anyone who's into the Chinese scene know something about these "potential new regulations" and what they entail? China usually gets new policies operational very quickly. Is it gonna be Barbie anatomy for everyone soon?

 

That's what it sounds like to me. Granted I am very much not part of the Chinese scene, and couldn't even begin to translate what the new regulations might be, it's sounding to me like a form of purity law where any depiction of genitals is forbidden or at least, very highly scrutinized for 'artistic merit' (aka not pornographic in nature.) It's not uncommon in governments like China's, so if I were to guess, that's exactly what it means - shapeless lumps or angel bodies.

Edit to Add: It is pretty generous on the artist's part to include extra hands to make up for it, especially if the tintins weren't actually something you were looking forward to, but it is sad that Chinese artists won't be able to hone their craft when it comes to the male anatomy. I get that it's difficult to discern what is artistic and what is vulgar when it comes to such things, and the argument can be made that they're completely extraneous when it comes to a doll, but it's also a testament to the artist's skill if they're able to render that particular part of the form with detail, as it requires a good grasp on musculature and how the appendage in question works. Very sad day indeed.

 

The Big BJD Discord server was discussing this the other day.

Some major dollmakers announced on Weibo that they're discontinuing genital/jj option parts immediately until further notice: Dollzone, Telethesia doll, Loongsoul, 2DDoll

The speculation in the Discord server, based on rumours/speculation around Chinese socmed, is that this began as a censorship crackdown against so-called R21+ figurines after a manufacturer was caught selling them to minors.

Spoiler: what they are?

I've never heard of R21+ figurines (and don't want to know anything more), but apparently these are adult-oriented figurines/action figures of characters in popular game/anime/media franchise, that show exposed genitals in sexualized poses.

BJDs are adjacent to figurines, and it seems like BJD makers don't want to get caught up in this censorship crackdown (because Chinese government can be very severe about this). So they're lying low and not selling jj option parts for now. Maybe they'll resume after all this blows over, but time will tell.

 

@aihre - if I'm reading that right, the telesthesia guys ordered before 6.6. are still as before? Or do they already have the bits replaced with extra hands?

 

I reread TD's Weibo post - seems like any orders placed before June 6th will still come with the 5-piece jj option parts, yeah. It's orders made after that date that will have that 5pc set replaced with option hands.

 

It's a nice thought. They're going to look a bit weird though
Sorry I couldn't help it

Thanks for the writeup @aihre!

 

Basically there has been recent cases of underaged buying 18+ anime figurines which caused some fuss with the regulations, although it is mostly impacting the anime figurine industry, bjd companies decided to not produce these just in case there are further troubles. So maybe they'll bring it back once everything settles a little?

 

Omg, that's sad news.
Also I'm curious about another secret dolls. There was a preorder with "special gender parts" separate option, so what about it for now

 

Thanks! That's how I understood it too, I just wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly. I also sent a quick message on my legenddoll order, so we'll see what they say^_^

 

Machine translating Dollzone's announcement gave me "all the DZ73/75 genital accessories, apart from the original ones, will be removed from the shelves at 6pm today".

I have a DZ Rock on the 75 slim body on order (ordered mid-January) so it will be interesting to see what happens to his body. I do like it when dollmakers include a magnetic "cup" part for male bodies, as I've had a body destroy multiple pairs of pants with its male endowment (why, Dollshe?!) and it helps pants sit more naturally, but it's sad to blanket censor artists who put work into sculpting the human anatomy.

Ironically the Rock fullset doesn't include shoes, pants or underwear, so I guess when he arrives he will be airing whatever his groin situation is for a while until I can figure out a pants pattern for him.

 

People used to make prosthetic genitals for their dolls awhile ago, if they wanted something bigger or in a different shape. I am certain there will be artists who will be happy to fill in that niche again for people who want those parts where it is legal.

I will say it is really alarming that something I've always thought of as being for adult collectors is being banned. There is something troubling happening all over the world these days and it makes me fear for artists, and anyone who wants to experiment with artistic expressions of sexuality.

 

Hello, due to recent events, factories are stop casting separate genitals. There is a case where a model of figurine (her clothes can be removed) is considered explicit and violating the regulation, plus pc are charging girls writing explicit content on an oversea server. So I suppuse in order to avoid getting into any trouble of this kind, they stopped producing genital parts.

 

Oh no, this is tragic! I guess all of us with bags of doll dingles just found ourselves with appreciating... "assets"

I'm over exaggerating for dramatic effect, of course, but this is actually pretty sad, and hopefully it doesn't have a long-term impact on this specific industry.

I wonder if all my poor outstanding orders are going to arrive neutered? I really hope not. It might be a small detail, but I appreciate the added bit of realism. All my BJD are of Chinese origin, too, so it seems like none of my boys are likely to escape unscathed!

 

I hope my Telesthesia & Dragon boy (Dragon - Piao Chiyue) arrives unscathed. He's on the 62cm Dragon Doll Boy Body, I don't know if that has separate pieces or not? If it's the same as the Telesthesia 62cm body, it does not. It should be safe.

I did order him in March, so that might make a difference? I can't find images of that body, so I don't know? I'm hoping the body doesn't have detachable parts, because it would be weird having a boy doll without his package.

I think it's only the dolls with separate pieces getting redone? I hope it's not all the boys forever. Anatomically correct dolls have been around for a very long time. It would be odd to stop anatomically correct dolls all together. I really don't want angel bodies.

 

That was how I was reading it too, boys would still be boys but won't include the optional parts.

I had many jokes on this subject, but @lutke has already said them all.

 

This is my own speculation, from watching the CN BJD community and my own sense of things in China. I think the situation is like this -

"Oh no, the schoolmaster caught that group of kids over there with nudie magazines and they're getting punished. Quick quick, hide our nudie trading cards! We gotta tuck our shirts in and put on our jackets, look smart when the schoolmaster comes over to inspect us. When he leaves, then maaaaaybe we can get our cards back out?"

Basically, the doll companies are preemptively self-censoring: putting on their best behaviour lest they get penalized by regulatory bodies that may be inspecting all figurines and toys. The major companies like Dollzone and Loongsoul are most likely to get scrutinized, hence discontinuing genital option parts right away. (Though some smaller sculptors like The Voice and YiCen are also doing it.) Furthermore, if one dollmaker suffers a penalty from regulatory bodies, it's likely to hit the entire BJD community since the hobby is relatively small. So this self-censorship is not just to cover their company backsides (pun intended haha), it's kinda protecting the community at large from worse consequences, like actual scrutiny and censorship, fines and tightening of manufacturing and/or marketing guidelines.

I don't know much about what's happening with those R21 figurines so I'm not sure how long this BJD self-censorship is going to last. I'm predicting that it'll take about 4-6 months for things to start lightening up and get more clarity about the future. Whether this is just a fleeting crackdown the BJD companies have to endure, or whether there will be actual changes to manufacturing and marketing guidelines or something.

Again, all my own speculation.

Yes, I think it's only the dolls with detachable bits that are affected; dolls with bits sculpted on should be exempt -- at least, from the immediate consequences of the censorship crackdown. For example, I haven't seen companies like Dream Valley (who don't make detachable genitals) issue this statement. I don't think anyone, not even the dollmakers, knows what will happen in the long run. We can only wait and see what comes of this crackdown, if there's any regulatory changes to how toys are manufactured and marketed.

I also strongly doubt that all boy bodies will become angel bodies. The BJD companies do pay attention to chatter and feedback from the hobby community, and currently, the Chinese community is grumbling about the loss of jj option parts. They too want anatomical correctness, for all the reasons we've mentioned here. No one is happy about this censorship, but the Chinese dollmakers gotta do what it takes to stay clear of worse consequences. I guess we all gotta wait it out!

 

Yes, I remember reading about this. Some women who wrote homoerotic fanfiction went to prison. That came to my mind when I read that the genital parts will stop being made. Perhaps if doll makers think they can go unnoticed, they will continue... but if they don't, I think it's understandable.

 

Update :
Companies are modifying their molds to remove fixed ones too. Finally we will have all kens

 

That’s sad. I just asked about my orders and it seems they were not affected (no swappable parts, just regular), so maybe this will only affect newer orders?

 

@maple.honey Yeah it seems that way, I asked and my telesthesia boy is still coming with all the parts (ordered 1st of March, comes in 5 weeks or so)

 

This is good news, my Dragon boy was also ordered the first of March. I don't think his parts were swappable to begin with as he is a 62cm doll. But it's good to know that T&D isn't changing their earlier orders.

 

Ack, nooo! Anyone know what Dream Valley's game plan is? I have both Velarde and Jia Lan on order, the latter being very recent, and I hope both of them will be grandfathered in and produced as the Dolly Deities intended. I know it's a trivial, largely-unseen detail (at least, once they're clothed) and a weird hill to die on but I'm definitely going to be a little disappointed if they arrive Ken-ified. Not enough to sell them on, but still, that would suck.

 

@RabbidBunnies
He should be safe! Also, I think all telesthesia boys come with them, I'm getting the 1/4 version of their slim 68cm guy and he has all the detachable bits

@Rekka hope they arrive intact! They're really pretty
I'm of a similar mind, I wouldn't care if they were designed to have nothing, but I'm weirded out by the poor guys having their bits removed after the fact>_<
I wonder if they'll keep the magnets so that people can make their own attachments xD

 

I believe this might be a similar or maybe the same controversy that affected Tbleague/Phicen early 2024-ish as well?

For some who don't know, Tbleague (formally known as Phicen) is a Chinese company that creates 1/6 and smaller silicon action figures that use a metal armature. They're... quite anatomically accurate, and in 2024, this thread on a forum for these figures being suddenly censored for newer releases was published. One of the commenters mentioned this from a BBICN article, although exactly which one isn't sourced:

"The media previously exposed the sale of pirated adult pvc figures in some shops outside schools and then the government sent law enforcement officers to inspect all local toy factories in Dongguan. Chinese law doesn't allow the sale of pornographic products but allow the adult products. Now the problem is those adult figures/models that cannot be used to facilitate sexual pleasure are not clearly classified as adult products. So now they temporarily remove the 'private details' to avoid legal risks maybe. On the contrary, the factories that produces adult pvc figures did not change the mold and their selling agents just temporarily no longer providing orders for pre-orders of adult pvc figures in China."

I haven't been keeping up for it since I wasn't a big fan of the prominent cameltoe happening on my silicon and related 1/6 action figures anyways, but it sounds like it's been concerning Chinese BJD makers now, albeit about a year out from when it started effecting the Tbleague crowd. I hope this doesn't negatively affect Chinese hobbyists buying overseas products that have detailed features, especially since these types of dolls are more about capturing the human body's form as opposed to trying to ...inherently titillate the viewer.

 

I just emailed Alice's Collections as to whether my Dollzone Rock (ordered mid-January on the 75 slim body) would be affected, and this is the reply I got: "Due to new regulations in China, male dolls will come with only the default JJ part but no gift extra JJ parts. The ones like in your order will still be made".
No Ken situation for my incoming boy, I guess, though I can't say whether or not he's already been cast

 

I’m officially worried about my Abidoll boy&girl body. It’s rare that you see any body designed to look trans, the only other one I can think of is by telesthesia, but if male dolls are coming under this much scrutiny, dolls that dont look cis are probably going to come under even more scrutiny for having optional genital parts. I can hope that by virtue of being a small artist, Abidoll may not be as quickly impacted.

I emailed New Clover Singing to see when she would ship, and also if I can expect that to be changed. I’m hoping not, but I’m not above sculpting my own parts so that I can have her as I saw her in the listing.

 

Chameleon, I waiting this body too, as I understood all orders which was made before 06.06 will be as must be, but orders placed after this date will be w/o genital parts. I understood it works for all like this. Btw share the answer about it, please

 

Yeah, that was the confirmation from Dollzone and/or telesthesia so far, but we can’t really know how any other company is going to handle this. I’ll post ASAP once New Clover Singing gets back to me to update you. Good to know I’m not alone in waiting for it.

Christina from New Clover Songing just got back to me, saying they will indeed have the swappable parts, but anything ordered after June will not.

 

thank you! I hope Abi will send our bodies soony ^^
Btw all this situation with their new law makes me sad I had a plans for some other bodies for my heads, but looks like now I'll wait the ways to buy with the parts...

 

I've been keeping track of whether doll sculpting has changed in response to this censorship of male genitals, and sadly to say, it has. I've noticed that some Chinese dollmakers are releasing new bodies that have male physique but no genitals whatsoever. Dollzone, Loongsoul and Dream Valley (here and here) have done this self-censorship on new bodies. Some Korean dollmakers too, like Luts and Kisselly. Though thankfully, it seems they're not going back to neuter male bodies that are already in production, though I don't know whether option jj parts can be ordered again (since they were all pulled from shelves in response to this official crackdown).

I mostly follow 1/3s and 70+ so I'm not so familiar with how the 1/4 and smaller are changing, but I think I've seen various male 1/4 bodies with no genital definition from Chinese dollmakers for a while.

It's only a few companies so far, but I find this troubling for the long term. It's one thing to sculpt a spot for detachable privates but include only a cap and not offer the additional "jj parts" for sale. It's another thing to sculpt a smooth, sexless pubic area, not even a cap or a place where a magnet could go for detachable privates, should they be available again in future. The fact that some dollmakers are neutering their new-release male sculpts suggests that this self-censorship may go on for a while... I hope that they don't change existing male bodies already in production.

 

This is very sad for the hobby in principle.

But I have to say I'm additionally irritated that (looking at the doll zone and loongsoul linked above as examples) there isn't enough enough volume left in the formless crotch that they could look "realistic" wearing a pair of underwear. There is... Truly nothing left down there.

 

I have no interest in swappable genitals but completely smooth boys is such a bummer. I like the androgynous thin look of the genderless bodies, but they've gotta have something down there for me to be consider buying one. The buff boys with a flat crotch is The LUTS muse lines must have sold really well for them to bring it to their other masculine doll lines, unless they have a large Chinese customer base they won't be able to sell to.

It's too bad about the current nude equals lewd mindset. I'll just have to start printing out nude renaissance paintings to post around the house (or further??) It's a bit cold right now, but perhaps my boys should be displayed nude once in a while.

 

After that law, I asked DZ for a future and they said they will planning to back JJ parts after 1 year, but how it will be in real - idk. But interesting how it works, because Abidoll later released msd body with 4 JJ parts, and of course I grab it.
For me its important thing, because its strange to buy a ken's body for a lot of money.

 

I'm not a fan of the censorship or the jarring sculpting decision of having a detailed body with a smooth crotch. It's not like I need aroused male dolls, but I prefer bodies to be anatomically correct, and I agree that at least having a genital part and a cup part helps a doll have a more natural silhouette when dressed.

This whole issue has made me reluctant to sell any male bodies I have, even if they're not entirely working for me, as I probably won't be able to find non-neutered replacements (let alone 3-part torsos as underbust joint only seems to be the current trend in most BJD sculpting).

 

I will make them from clay if I have to. I like the parts. I want the parts. I play with the parts. If I wanted a dick lump, I'd go back to collecting Ken dolls. Ridiculous.

 

My personal thoughts, following on my earlier post...

One of the reasons I was originally attracted to BJDs (or Asian BJDs, as they were known when I was a newbie) was anatomical correctness - where else can I have a male doll who's anatomically correct but also not sexualised? I'm not into the optional aroused jj parts (I prefer the doll's junk to be sculpted onto the body), but I'd rather have those than this complete neutering. Also not against androgynous and sexless/'angel' bodies -- it's actually nice to see more of them nowadays -- but I want my male dolls to be fully male. What I am against is censorship in all media forms (it's one of my personal beliefs and values), and I'd hoped that this Chinese censorship crackdown over toys and figurines was just a momentary reaction and it would've blown over by now.

I actually got so alarmed when the news broke back in June, that I fast-tracked buying one male body right away, and chose to buy another body secondhand that wasn't quite the right resin colour match, instead of wait for a preorder where I could get a more precise colour match, since I wasn't sure if the dollmaker would include jj parts by default. I still hope that I'm overreacting, but I'm quite dismayed to see those new male bodies, and I feel it doesn't bode well for anatomically correct males from Chinese dollmakers in the future. I hope dollmakers won't stop producing their existing male bodies that have private parts, but buying secondhand might be the way to go, to be sure of it.