I'm Matt McMullen, CEO of RealDoll; AMA

Hi Matt. Have you ever used one of your dolls as a passenger for the carpool lane?

Yes I have. unless you are a highway patrol officer, in which case the answer is no :P

Have you guys ever considered selling your dolls with a kit so you can interchange parts in a Mr. Potato Head/Lego person way?

Funny you should ask! RealDoll has a patented interchangeable face system called Face X. You can mix and match faces on your favorite body ;)

What did you think of Lars and the Real Girl?

Great movie.

Did you make the Marcy doll in Californication?

Yes we did

Do you own any RealDolls for your personal use? Have you ever used one yourself?

I've used one before, yes. But I don't take my work home these days ;)

Hi Matt,

How exactly did you get started in this industry? I can't imagine it's the kind of thing you grow up thinking you want to do, so I'm curious how you got here!

My dolls started out as very realistic posable mannequins. Not really originally designed for sexual use. The reactions I got were overwhelmingly geared toward the potential use of them as a love doll, and I decided to go with the flow. :)

Why were you making realistic mannequins? Were they for department stores? Art?

Artists do the darnedest things. I thought they'd be an interesting next generation of mannequin or just interactive art.

Has anyone ever attempted to legally marry one of your dolls?

Yes, more than once. I don't know that the marriage was actually legally binding, but ceremonies have taken place :o)

Were you ever asked to give the doll away?

We give dolls away every now and then....

hello Matt. just a few questions for you:

what are some of your all time best-selling dolls? (i mean, are they the female dolls, the transsexual dolls, asian dolls etc?)

have you ever had/known a customer to purchase a realdoll that wasn't for sexual purposes? perhaps they asked you not to include genetialia?

do you notice a certain type of doll popular in a certain region as opposed to another? for example, can you predict the country/region a particular doll has been ordered from due to the popularity of that type of doll in that region

Hey :) We sell more female dolls than anything else. And there's a lot of variation in particular body type, hair color etc. Lots of people buy these for non sexual reasons. Photography is the most common. But we have also made featureless dolls for use in forensic training, medical simulation and the like. Most of our sales are domestic.

use in forensic training, medical simulation and the like

I'm curious about this. Do you know the reasons organizations would go with a RealDoll for these situations as opposed to some other sort of (presumably cheaper) dummy/mannequin?

largely the more realistic weight and skeletal structure/positioning freedom.

If the technology existed to make a fully functional sex robot, would you do it? Do you have any moral objections?

Yes, I would. No objections to that at all :)

I want one. I am female. Is that possible?

Absolutely. We have lots of female clients.

After seeing an android model this morning, my question is how do you see animatronics playing a role in the future of the industry? Any thoughts on integration of a Siri like interface at some point?

Absolutely. I've been working on exactly this with a small team for a few years now. We might very well be launching a new company devoted solely to the development of integrating AI with realistic sex toys, as well as potential VR applications. Considering selling stock in this one ;)

Please combine this toy with your dolls. A sex doll that learns your preferences, suggests kinky shit you might be interested in, can tell you what the speed of light is. Jeez, I'd never leave home..

Something like that will be coming soon ;) Stay tuned!

Do you ever get requests to make dolls in the likeness of someone else (like a celebrity for example)? Are there legal implications around this?

All the time. There are probably ways around the legal issues, but I've always chosen not to make a likeness of someone without express consent, like the wicked RealDolls for example (licensed adult stars); That being said, we make dolls that resemble famous people based on customer requests and provided photos, using existing faces and bodies.

And the thought of a real doll made to look like someones deceased love one just occurred to me. What a depressingly unhealthy thing that would be.

I don't think it's unhealthy. It's kind of touching. To each their own...

Hey Matt. I own a doll from you for over 6 months :) she's great!

I wonder, what sort of R&D goes on at RealDoll? Do you think we'll ever get realistic a.i. robotic humans? Realistic feeling skin and such?

Glad to hear you love your doll!! You'd be amazed at how much time I spend on R&D. It's crazy. I'm optimistically hoping we can integrate some new technology with RealDoll in the near future; I'm currently more interested in the artificial intelligence aspect of what's possible, and also hoping to introduce something that can be retrofitted for current doll owners. As for skin, I am constantly experimenting with new compounds and I'm sure the evolution of the dolls will continue. This is, after all, my life's work! Thank you for being a client!

Have you ever given any consideration to a Reddit discount? I expect you'd see a brisk boost in sales.

Not a bad idea... We do have a special running as we speak- $1000 off any doll for about another week... worth checking out if you're interested!

How exactly did you make the transition to sex dolls from your original venture? Did it all start with one client? I imagine reddit would love to hear that story.

I had a small webpage on AOL, just some photos of my sculptures, and early posable mannequins... There were 4-5 people who were all asking me the same thing, and were willing to send deposits. I saw an opportunity to start a business, and actually make a living as an artist, and I took it. I really had to readdress the design and materials to do so, thinking not just of the look, but the feel of the skin, etc. It took a bit of time, but those first 5 people enabled me to launch Realdoll. For that, I'll always be grateful.

How much do they weigh? I imagine they would be hard to move around.

The dolls vary in weight (and size)... Depending on your tastes and what you choose. They can weigh anywhere from 60 to 110 pounds. Most of the average sized and best selling dolls are around 65-70 pounds.

would you, or have you, made a realdoll modelled after yourself?

if a customer has a rip or tear on or in their realdoll, do they send it back to you for repair or are there other facilities to take care of such a problem?

most repairs can be done by the owner, and we offer lots of support and instruction in the unlikely event that damage occurs.

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In all honesty, our customers are awesome. Can't really profile them, but I'll tell you that doll owners are some of the kindest people I've ever met.

Multi-part question for you Matt & team.

I've always wondered. Where do you guys get the faces from? Do you hire someone and you tell them "yes, this face will be the next model!" Or do you pull it from a book/google. Same thing with body parts (arms, butts, boobs, dongs... etc) How long does it take to map out the section and make it into a mold?

Sorry if I ask a lot of questions. I worked in silicone molding before, but we made rollers and presses not dolls and mannequins.

Most of what I come up with is a sort of merging of many different sources. When I'm doing an original face for example I might have a vague idea of individual features I want to incorporate and use a few different photos for reference, but much of it is just working with the clay until I like how it looks. Same goes for most bodies and body parts :)

Would you rather be invisible or invincible? You can't go back and forth either, so you're invisible/invincible forever.

wait, does that mean you're also immortal in both cases? You did say forever.

No! If you're invisible you live to whatever age you'd die at naturally.

Then for sure, I'd choose to be invincible.

Do you have a twitter link or something to verify?

Also, if this gets verified, my question is:

What do you think is the most rewarding part of your work?

Edit: Thanks for verifying!

The most rewarding part of my work is actually hearing what a positive difference the dolls have made in a customer's life.

Is there any place where you can see one and touch it? I've often wondered what they feel like, but I don't have the disposable income just to satisfy my curiosity.

We do have a showroom, by appointment only- and there are some adult stores nationwide that have dolls in them for this purpose. More info on our site.

Weirdest sexual fetish you've ever seen or heard about?

"Pony play" is a bit ... Different. Saw that on a show we were featured on.

That reminds me off some unusual porn I've seen: human centaurs. Any requests for anything like that? Or just something impossible in the natural world?

Absolutely. From video game characters to elves. We do stuff like that all the time.

Hi Matt! I was looking at the site and saw that body D has DD cups on it, and there's an option to go up a cup size (so a DDD or E I believe they're technically the same). It doesn't look like anyone else asked this question so I'm curious if it's possible to go bigger than that or do you guys just not have the molds for it? Also do you have a picture of the largest size offered? I only see the base body D. You're site is moving pretty slow right now probably due to a bunch of reddit traffic so I'm having trouble navigating it. Thanks!

We can go pretty big, especially on a doll that has larger breasts to begin with. Get ahold of me directly if you are serious, I'll make it happen.

1) what did your family think at first?

2) what does your family think now?

Well, they were supportive at first, and they remain so. Most of my family had seen me sculpting females in all different sizes for quite awhile, so I don't think anyone was shocked.

Do you feel any of your customers 'take it too far'? Any examples?

...

(note, I'm not meaning this as a 'eww your customers are gross' thing at all, just wondering if some of the more enthusiastic members are going beyond what you'd really intend for the products.)

No, not that I'm aware of.

How big a percentage of your clients thinks the doll are real people, you think?

I don't think many of our clients believe their dolls are real people. Many of them actually love them because they're dolls.

How do you react when you see comments like this...

http://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/2yndnm/the_latest_generation_real_doll/cpb8q0r

...being made about your product and customers?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Whatever.

Hi Matt, a wizard offers to turn your poo into anything of your choosing. What do you choose?

Adamantium

Hello Matt! Just one question.

Why?

Because I can :)

With the utmost respect to your company and your clients, the prices that your clients pay, I can only assume that most of your clientele are somewhat desperate for the human touch. We've certainly all been there.

Did you start this business out of your own desperation for the human touch or was it more of a cool idea/lucrative business venture?

I started this simply as my art. I didn't really think about the long term reasons or potential for making money. Honestly, looking back, it was just me doing something I wanted to do creatively. And it truly took on a life of it's own.

Whats next for your company?

Continued improvement if what we do, and pushing the limits of what we CAN do!

Are you wearing make-up in the photo and is your hair died too? (oh, and is there a soul behind your eyes?).

No.