Review: Erwin & Levi Dolk BJD

Greetings, cadets!

This post is a bit different than the stuff I normally do, but I thought some of you out there might find it interesting so here we go!

If you have seen my Merch wiki, then you will know that I am an avid collector of various AOT merchandise, and in particular anything having to do with Erwin Smith (of course). I've got quite a few interesting pieces that I may share in future posts, but today I am going to focus on what I think is likely the item least commonly owned by others - the Captain Levi and Commander Erwin ball-ted dolls from Dolk.

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

This set was released in August 2019, with a list price of 167,500 yen each. It was the first time Erwin was included in the Attack on Titan doll series from Dolk, with Levi offered as an updated re-release alongside the Commander. Levi’s initial run was released on December 25, 2013 and reportedly sold out completely in only 90 minutes (according to an article from Crunchyroll). He has had a total of 4 different versions since then (Survey Corps ver, cleaning ver, plain clothes ver, and Underground ver), but this is the only version available for Erwin.

Here is a nice little promotional video from the company:

So, a bit of storytime before I move on with my review - I mentioned that these dolls were released in August of 2019. At that time, they were actually pre-orders ahead of the formal production. Now, I knew back then that the actual product would not be ready for quite some time and I would be waiting a while, but after g away a few paychecks for the purchase and hearing ZERO updates for well over a year, I had started to lose faith that I would ever actually get them (nor my money back). But then in May of 2021 I very unexpectedly received an email out if the blue requesting additional payment for international shipping and at long last, they finally arrived!

This is one of the shipping boxes they arrived in (if you look close you can see the little "Erwin" label near the bottom hehe) and, while its a bit hard to see from this photo, the thing was nearly as tall as my kitchen counters. So, its no wonder the shipping cost so much :skull:

Once I had everything all opened up, each doll was packed securely in its own individual box with lots of protective padding, and there was also a separate box for each of them containing their gear (so 4 boxes in total). The image above has it all laid out on my pool table, for a size reference.

They also each have these extremely nice instruction sheets that come with them - although, they are of limited use if you don't speak Japanese since there is no translated version :joy: :joy: :joy: The images are helpful enough, tho. And nothing was too terribly difficult to figure out anyway, aside from getting their faces all set up (more on this part in a bit).

I don't have a proper "unboxing" to share with you all as I actually opened these while livestreaming on Instagram. But I wouldn't have been able to share that here anyway because, much to my surprise (as I have never had any dolls like these before), they are actually sculpted to be... ahh... *anatomically correct*.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐒

I know that my images above with the open box showed the doll partially dressed, but that was after I had covered up his shame. When you first open the boxes, the actually look like this (bubble wrap adjusted for modesty):

So as you can see, in addition to being totally nude, they also came without any hair or eyes. Pretty much looking like some alien creature that has been in a horrible accident LOL. The hair is actually a tiny wig that goes on the doll which looks and feels exactly like a high quality cosplay wig (for my fellow cosplayers out there). Its even packaged like cosplay wigs, with a tiny hair net, molded paper insert to keep the shape, and a cardboard ring around the whole thing to protect it. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of this bit, but what I DO have to share is this unsettling little image:

I present you, Levi's eyeballs in a tin :joy: :joy: :joy:

Getting the face all set correctly involved taking off the back of their skulls and using putty to stick the eyeballs into the right position from the inside. This is kind of a little bit of customization you can do, since there is no "correct" setting that the eyes naturally lock into and you can pretty much adjust the placement of their eyes however you like. If you are clever, you can use this to get exactly the right kind of look you are wanting to complement the rest of the posing. Or, if you are like me, you might end up with cross-eyed dolls that require tons of repeated adjustments to fix :sweat_smile:

Once again I do not have an image to actually show this process, but after the eyes were fixed in place, I moved on to actually dressing the dolls. (If you scroll back up to take a peek at the instruction booklet above, you'll notice I did this in the wrong order!)

One of the most amazing -- and incredibly frustrating -- things about these dolls is the intricate level of detail even down to the individual articles of clothing. Every single item is ACCURATELY crafted to scale with actual working buttons, zippers, and belts. The image above kind of shows how all of Levi's shirt buttons are REAL (teeny tiny) buttons, not just simple snaps made to appear like buttons. Likewise, the fly of their tros had a tiny working zipper, all the bits of the harness had actual working belt buckles, even Erwin's BOLO TIE was an actual teensy bolo that slides up and down a braided leather cord. Its incredible but also super fiddly to get on.

Speaking of details, the dolls themselves are just unbelievable in the level of detail that was included in their construction. I mentioned their unmentionables already, but there is also things like their hands as shown above. You can see each fingernail, the ridges of the bones in the back of the hands, lines and creases in the palms, even some veins in the places where the skin would be particularly thin (these are more evident in Levi's hands, not so much Erwin's in that picture). This is all true of their feet as well, even though they are hidden by the boots anyway.

So here we have Erwin all set up and dressed. He looks huge in this photo due to the angle... And while he is pretty tall as dolls go, the actual size is 70 cm. So, a little over 2 feet tall. I will say that it is obvious when you compare my dolls to the promotional images, I still have some styling that needs to be done. The Erwin doll as he looks in the official stuff from Dolk shows his hair looking very sleek and shiny (as it should :triumph: ), while mine is kind of... fluffy, for lack of a better word. So I am certain that to get the desired look I will need to tap into my wig styling tricks and use some hairspray or something to really smooth everything out. I also wish that the Erwin doll had a more masculine appearance. I realize it's all just a part of the style for this company, but I would have liked to see his chest a bit wider at the very least.

But, I would say that posing is also likely to play a part in getting the overall look right. These dolls have all the moving ts you would imagine (shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles...), but they also have ts in the chest to allow for some really dynamic posting options, which I am no expert at just yet.

And here they are side by side! You can see that Levi is slightly shorter than Erwin. Not enough to be true to canon proportion, but still nice to see that they did not just recycle the exact same body with a different face for each doll; they truly are uniquely crafted for each character. Even their individual face shapes are different. I did purchase a stand for each doll to help ensure they don't fall over, but I think it important to point out that, despite being ted and flexible, the dolls are also incredibly sturdy and capable of ing their own weight! You can see in the second image above that they are standing together uned.

𝐎𝐃𝐌 𝐆𝐄𝐀𝐑

I mentioned earlier that each doll also came with its own complete set of ODM gear. I have not yet set these up fully or attached them to the dolls, but each is sized to fit the character and can be hooked on via their harness just as they would be in the show.

Just like the dolls themselves, the gear comes very carefully packaged with tons of padding to protect them. Here's the packing setup, plus a shot with my hand in it to give an idea of the scale. Luckily, unlike with the dolls, there is minimal setup required for the gear.

Of course, like the rest of this set, these are not at all lacking in the level of detail. Each gearbox comes with 3 inset blades which cannot be removed, plus one slot where the 4th blade can sit. The free blade can also be set into the handheld trigger mechanism. And yes, the dolls are able to hold the swords (although that is not pictured here as I have not attempted to attach these yet).

𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

I have rambled for a long time now, so I think its finally time to wrap all this up.

Wanting to know if these dolls are something you should invest in? Well, here's my summary of high and low points:

What I Liked

:black_small_square: Intricate details

:black_small_square: Large size

:black_small_square: Very sturdy

:black_small_square: Rare collector's item

What I Didn't Like

:black_small_square: High price tag

:black_small_square: Super long wait time

:black_small_square: Style too "feminine"

:black_small_square: Needs extra styling

At the end if the day, I have no regrets over making this purchase. They aren't perfect and there are things I would improve in the design if I could, but as a rare and interesting collector's item I am very pleased that I was able to get ahold of these while they were available.

𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐙𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐘𝐎