A Collector or Addict?

Yes.

It's an addictive hobby so, whether to a greater or a lesser extent, I think you'll find many of us are at least a bit addicted.

I've got to the point where space is seriously an issue now and am trying to concentrate on the dolls I have, the plans I have for them (clothes I want to make them, marrying up the headless bodies and floating heads into finished dolls etc.) rather than bring more into the house, but I'm sure there will be the occasional irresistable new release.

Teddy

 

I felt like I was addicted to dolls when I was collecting fashion dolls. I thrifted most of them, and they were just too easy to obtain and accumulate for me. It was nearly impossible to turn that part of my brain off to just enjoy things, because fashion dolls are everywhere. After a while, I just wasn't really enjoying it anymore.

I still have a few fashion dolls from that time, but after I switched mostly to BJDs I felt a lot more like a collector. The difficulty in getting them (price, rarity, long wait times) forces me to think more about my doll purchases now. If I am not enjoying a BJD, it's much easier for me to part with it as well, because its hefty price tag encourages me to sell it to recoup the cost. This causes my group of dolls to feel a lot more curated to me than they did before.

This was only my personal experience; I'm not trying to imply that fashion dolls are inferior to BJDs or that collecting them is less valid. I only share to explain that I remember what doll addiction felt like, and that I am able to contrast my current practices to that time and conclude that I am now merely collecting.

 

For dolls? I think I am a collector. I have now a precise idea of what my ideal collection will be and a firm cap on it. I may change the idea to allow an exceptional doll in, but I don't think so. (Yeah I know. Never say never and all. XD)

For clothes and props? I was an addict for a while, did the spreadsheet thing, got scared at the amount I spent (it didn't seem like much, but it added up way faster than I thought) and am much more focused now on getting the "right things" rather than blindly adding to my collection.

 

I feel like I am both, but not necessarily of these kinds of dolls. I always collected dolls of other kinds, mostly fashion dolls and I still do to this day -- although, as previously mentioned by an above commenter, those are so readily available everywhere, it's kind of hard to stop if you truly like them (I have stopped a few times, and kind of went back to hoarding those, but I am trying to stop or at least limit my spending with them now). Before I discovered BJD, I was already a collector, a MISB one, of not only (addictive, mass-produced) fashion dolls, but also anime, Japanese-video-games and action figures. I consider myself a collector of those, because I don't remove (most of) them from their boxes, and if I do, it's because I have purchased multiples. I know that the term collector means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Some people use their collectibles, some store them in a vault and never touch them, some display them, etc. I am a bit of everything, depending on the toy.

I don't consider myself a collector of BJD, nor an addict because I customize them and heavily modify some for them to be a collectible for me -- I have stopped purchasing anymore of them, for a long while now (more than a decade) so it was never an addiction. It was never a problem for me to want to purchase many. It was actually quite easy for me to stop and not want anymore (I kind of wish it was that way with other toys I hoard, it would be so much less painful for my wallet). I feel that if I modify a toy, for me it's no longer a collectible, but a personal (art) project. Other toys I keep intact, even if I unbox some, most are still MISB -- so I consider to be a collector of those and also addicted to a few of them (sadly!). (:

 

Neither?
I'm certainly not an addict, I rarely buy dolls and the number I own vs the years I've been in the hobby is pretty low compared to many others. I just feel stressed out having too many, because that means another "mouth to feed" so to speak. It's already expensive enough to buy clothes and stuff for the ones I have
Besides, I realized soon that there's a big difference between liking something and having to own it as well. There are a lot of dolls I like, but I'm good only admiring them on pictures.

Now to the collector thing...I think it depends how one defines a collector. A collector implies there's a collection, maybe even a goal or similar to it for me. Like owning all of X. I don't know, I just always felt the collector term implies a certain intensity, one that I don't feel towards how I approach the hobby or plan purchases.

I'd say I'm just a doll owner and occasional buyer

 

@wanderingstar A very interesting question! Thank you for posting

For me, I have to be very careful, given that I have a form of bipolar disorder, when it comes to getting involved in an expensive hobby. I think addictive behaviour can be easily masked under the guise of collecting, so every doll hobbyist should be critical of their spending habits.
I try to balance a genuine desire vs impulse want when it comes to browsing. I've taken up sewing to eliminate the impulse to buy lots of doll clothes. For actual dolls, I resist the impulsiveness by telling myself that I can make the best sculpt for my character myself once I progress further in my 3D design course.
In the past I've slipped up and done shopping sprees when I really shouldn't have. Now I feel I have a better sense of control and understanding of why I feel an impulse to buy something. I still have room for improvement, of course, but the level of "addictiveness" has significantly gone down.

Some key traits to look out for when assessing your shopping habits can be these:
-How frequently do you make a purchase
-Do you have the money to comfortably make the purchase without financial difficulty
-How long have you actually wanted the item
-Would you purchase this item if it were not on sale, or are you getting the item BECAUSE its on sale
-Has anyone close to you expressed concerns over your spending habits
-Have you felt buyers remorse or guilt after finishing payments on your item
-Are you afraid to tell people about your purchase history or shopping habits out of shame
-Does your state of mind have a significant sway over your spending habits
-How many purchases do you currently have on layaway

I feel like a collector is more concerned with a sense of completion rather than the act of buying. Someone who is addicted is usually more interested in the thrill of buying rather than the sense of accomplishment that comes with obtaining a rare set, for example. Collecting requires a certain amount of knowledge and expertise with dolls to ascertain their value. There is an importance placed on the history of each doll and its iterations. An addict does not need this to have addictive behaviour, but a collector does to be considered a collector.

In essence, I'm sure lots of collectors can be considered addicts with how much money they've sunk into the hobby, but very few addicts can be considered collectors if they impulse buy dolls without considering their value.

 

Neither, really.

I tend to maintain "rules" on how I'm spending. I have a general idea of when I'm hitting my entertainment spending limit for the month, and I try not to pass that. (Getting a doll pretty much immediately depletes it.) And in terms of what dolls I buy, I have rules for them, too. For off-topic playline dolls, that's a certain amount of articulation, and I have to be at least kind of interested in the face sculpt and such. For BJDs, I need to really like that doll. Not just "oh that's cute" or "how lovely!" I mean thinking about it over and over, coming up with a character before I've even ordered it, etc. And it has to have room in my little apartment. (Which limits me to MSDs, pretty much. Not enough space for an SD, and I'm not super interested in the little guys since I can cover that with playline dolls.)

So I'm not building a great and grand collection, but I'm moderating myself too much for it to become a spending problem or otherwise distract from my daily life.

 

I consider myself a collector because I always have the notion of “completeness” in mind with my hobby. I won’t buy unless I see a specific character in that doll, so I don’t really do impulse shopping (unless you count the occasional doll “jumping the intended shopping que” for whatever reason, before I was quite prepared to purchase their specific character…special deals, availability, etc.) While I enjoy the hunt certainly, I’m never swayed by just another pretty face and have a firm grip on my personal aesthetic when it comes to BJDs. Any occasional selling I’ve done over the years was either to refine my vision or because the sculpt didn’t suit the character quite as well as I needed it too (a learning process we all go through.) I have not let my numbers get out of hand insofar as display space is concerned. All my dolls are out on display where I can see and enjoy them, and all are complete (faceups, correct eyes and wigs, and complete wardrobes for each one tucked neatly away.) So I feel, even though my crew is fairly large after so many years in this hobby, that it can safely be considered a collection.

 

My first dolls are on their way.

I am worried I may become an addict. I tend to get obsessive when I get into new hobbies. Having a shared bank account with my husband will likely keep me honest. That and having the cost analysis spreadsheet I made. Being able to see that number is something.

 

Good on you, Flufficorn

 

I'm not a collector or an addict. The buying new dolls part of the hobby is my least favorite part, and I don't see it as integral to being active in the hobby. I've always considered the BJD hobby to be "having dolls and doing fun stuff with them," not "endlessly acquiring new dolls". And I don't need new/more dolls to have the dolls I have and enjoy being creative with them. I've put together the group I have, which is on the smaller side, very slowly over the last 8 years, and I'm pretty much done buying, because I have everybody I really wanted at this point, and it was never about acquiring and collecting for me-- I just wanted to have a small group of dolls to enjoy doing creative projects and crafting with. These days I'm having so much more fun with my dolls than I was when I was still working on getting them-- I've always enjoyed sewing for them, and in addition to that and making wigs and eyes, I've been really into making props and learning to build doll furniture lately. I love making tiny things-- I find something almost magical about figuring out how to scale things down and make them look just like the real thing, only miniature! I also hope to learn more about photography and improve in that direction in the future too. There's always new ideas and just no end of cool things to look forward to doing with the dolls I have, and that's what my BJD hobby is to me.

 

@thedarkeststar13
It sounds like you put more value on experiences with your dolls and investing in the ones you have rather than acquiring more- which I think is an excellent attitude to have! I'm trying to shift my own attitude to be like this, so I'm happy to see it has worked out for you

 

Oh gosh, I think I am a bit of both. I do collect a lot of things but I don't actively add to a lot of them. I go through periods of "oooh let's see what's new out there for this collection."

However, I would say the pandemic has turned me into a BJD addict. My collection...has grown. And is continuing to grow. I should stop it from growing. I thought putting the stipulation of "elf ears only!" on it would work. It did at first. Now, I've come to appreciate a lot of elf ear shapes. Companies are putting out lots of elf eared sculpts. I have a lot of clothes, a lot of wigs, a lot of eyes...just SO MUCH stuff. I love all of it. I really do. Yet I haven't really taken the time to play with all my dolls. I just keep adding more.

So I am HOPING with this last purchase, I might be good for a while and just focus on stands for them. Or getting outfits from crafters I really appreciate. Maybe even go through the collection and really say to myself (and the dolls) "Do we need this?"

Only time will tell if I can get it to stop.

 

This is what I want my mentality to be. There are dolls I want, especially because I am new to the hobby. But I really hope that my consumerist mentality doesn't take over. >.< I want to have fun with the dolls I have.

 

I think the best way to get the frequent purchasing to slow down or stop is to really think about why you feel the need to buy more if you feel your collection is already so large. Purchasing can give a sense of satisfaction, thrill, or even control. It's a very quick source of good feelings. You can think of frequent purchasing as living on caffeine which is a temporary fix, vs tending to your collection and playing with dolls which is like living off full meals for energy.

In moderation, spending is fine, but your dolls miss you! Remember to show them some love

 

Never thought about it before, but maybe I should go with addict as I felt instantly personally attacked when I saw the thread title.

 

I have a sneaky suspicion my frequent spending is trying to fill a hole that was filled by spending time with friends/other living humans. Until seeing my friends more often returns, I have to try to keep the spending in check.

The one good thing is I NEVER go looking for new dolls. It's just my one friend who knows what I like who might send me a link and I go "Yeah!" or "Ugh NO!" or "Hmmmm" And I do try to make sure my "Yeah!" is a big "YASSSS!!!" and take a few days to think about it.

I do need to figure out doll time. What am I doing now that is taking away from playing with them or taking photos of them? That's what I gotta figure out. (I bet it's playing mobile games. Or watching TV.)

 

Oooh nooooooo
At least you're honest, good on you

 

I do feel kind of addicted to the hobby but I also go through phases where I can sell or trade specific dolls. I think I really enjoy creating new characters and I do some role play, so I feel if I do play a character long enough, I do enjoy owning them. So maybe a little of both?