Are attracted to unpopular doll sculpts?

I have noticed that I also gravitate towards sculpts that aren't as popular, too. I think the most popular dolls I have are a Resinsoul Wu and Luts Yul Satyresse. For me it has to do with the fact that I tend to be interested in dolls with unique features, even within their own company, and often times that goes against a company's "look" and what they're known for, which is why the people who like the company are buying from it in the first place!

For instance, DIM's Larina and Laia are extremely popular dolls with unique features that highlight what DIM is known for, but they're "safer" than DIM's Gayane, which has an incredibly strong brow and hooded eyelids that make it difficult to paint. I can see why people would think the Gayane is ugly and not want to buy it, actually, but that wasn't me for whatever reason.

 

I think this thread is a good example already about how things are very much a matter of opinion on popularity.
I thought Larina and Laia were very popular among DIM fanbase several years ago (lol and Gayane is the one I always wanted but definitely less popular than the other two). I also thought Chase was popular and especially F65 Chloe, just that they never made enough F65 availability...same for chicline.
But me splitting hairs over it is pretty stupid. I am definitely a lover of the unpopular. But I think my collection has two tiers now, the unpopular and the dejected unloveables -- in good humor of course. I just feel like I ended up mostly buying up weird second hand dolls that couldn't sell easily and mostly nobody ever heard of/ cared / or recognized them except for once every now and then their company suddenly gets a bit of retrospective interest again.
I definitely feel bad for such objects and I think it helps me to get emotionally invested and to make them into something great for myself. Besides I like not being part of the mass, to an extent.

 

I find "popularity" somewhat strange. It seems to be very region-specific. For example: I live in North America, but some of my doll friends are in Asia. I see a lot of 1/4 Fairylands where I live, but there's a pocket of folks who are deep into "as real as possible" dolls. I definitely seen more anime-type sculpts in Asia and 1/6 tend to be the most popular size (paradoxically, 70+ is probably the second-most popular I see.) The popular brands are also a bit of a hit and miss, too. I see Asian folks fighting over each other for a 1/6 head from Mia's Baby Doll, but she's a bit of a blip on the radar in North America. Some of the Korean companies are big(ger) in North America, like Raccoon Doll, but it seems like no one's heard of them among my Asian friends.

So it's really a bit of an "As long as you love what you have" sort of a story. Just because the dolls you have here seem "unpopular" where you live, it really doesn't mean they are "unpopular" somewhere else.

 

Going with the region-specific thing: where I live, the more realistic aesthetics of Iplehouse or Granado (the older obviously masculine Granado sculpts at least) aren't that popular. That may be because they are less affordable than certain Chinese brands that only offer more stylized and cutesy sculpts, especially on the smaller scale. Still, I don't want to jump to any conclusions.

I do have one sculpt that seems to be quite rare because she never really became popular among Iplehouse's offerings: Scarlet. She's androgynous compared to most Iple girls (and I've even read comments here and there that she looks "evil" lol), but she's perfect for my main character. I simply love her to pieces.

 

Popularity also changes over time. What is trending right now may not be trending in 5 or 10 years. BJDs have barely been around long enough to see a full cycle of that 20-year-fashion trend cycle.

I own a Crobidoll Lance (which I've hybrided into a girl doll) - a doll that was once widespread and distinctive in the 00s. I bought my Lance in 2010, and I used to see this sculpt all over DoA and elsewhere. Now, over a decade later? Maybe I'm not looking in the right places, but I barely see Lance around, and Crobidoll by and large doesn't seem to be as prominent a company as it used to be. So does this mean that I own an unpopular sculpt?

Popularity is so subjective. How does one measure this without having sales numbers from the BJD companies? By the number of photos I saw on DoA's Photo forums back in 2010? By the number of photos I see in the #crobidolllance hashtag on Instagram in 2023? That already excludes people who own Lance but who aren't posting pictures of him -- does non-representation in the "right" spaces mean that Lance is or isn't popular?

On my part, I think there might be confirmation bias at work when I look around and think "I see my doll everywhere - I must have a popular sculpt", or "I hardly see my doll around - I must own an obscure sculpt". I'm suspicious of my own biases, so I try not to play this popularity/rarity game.

 

I'm drawn very strongly to the weird/unusual and a good chunk of my collection reflects that. Some of my boys are almost never seen out in the wild. To be fair, I have a lot of rare/limited dolls but I also have a fair number that were/are commonly available and yet were/are just not popular for some reason that is a mystery to me.

I have a DZ Edward (long discontinued) and even when he was a commonly available sculpt, there just weren't many of him around. I think there's only like 5 of him listed in the DB here on DoA and one of them is mine. I have 2 Impl Ziv's (there's a whole story behind why I have 2) and despite him being available for literal years (he's still available now), you hardly see him in owner hands. I have a Dollsh Orijean and he was available for several years (might still be but who knows with Dollshe) yet there aren't a lot of him floating around out there. Or at least there doesn't seem to be to me.

 

Is Miwa considered unpopular? I find her so beautiful, especially with the rabbit legs (though, I’ve heard they’re difficult to pose with, maybe that contributes to her unpopularity…).

That said, I really hope to have my own Miwa someday, popularity be damned!

 

Of all 4 of my BJDs, I've only seen a few examples of other owner pics on Instagram. My Impldoll Joshua, I think I've seen two owners on Insta, and there's one profile listed here. Dream Valley Rah, Eagle version, has one other owner on Insta, none here. My Dollzone Dio had one owner on Insta, but I think they've since moved them on. And I haven't seen any of my wwwMeowu cat-taur anywhere.

So yes, I'd say I'm drawn to the more obscure/unpopular sculpts, but I have very specific tastes lol.

 

I often find myself drawn to the dolls that are popular because I see them so much more often so I get to see them in different wigs and different styles so I eventually warm up to them and fall in love with them. There are the rare dolls that are less popular that I see and immediately fall for though. It really just depends on the sculpt.

 

I agree that region might make a difference. Before I ordered my Fairyland Feeple60 Moe Chloe, I actually was very hesitant because it felt like Chloe was their most popular sculpt in all sizes and I was seeing them everywhere. I wasn't sure I wanted such a popular sculpt, but....I got her anyway because she's just too perfect for the character, and I have no regrets!

I do own a few unpopular sculpts, though. (You can see all of my dolls on my profile) I've always been a huge fan of BlueBlood Doll, but they never were extremely popular and have defunct for nearly a decade now. I have a Draven. Another is my OfButterfliesNThings Paulette. She's a gorgeous plus size girl, but she wasn't very well known and the artist is currently on hiatus. And then my rare but not would be my Migidoll Siho. As popular as Migidoll is, I don't think I've ever seen another Siho.

 

Yeah "popular" is an idea that is vague at best. Even just "Most Seen" changes depending on the venue or what social circles or media you are using.I mean FL Chloe is extremely *common* around some circles but that maybe does or doesn't mean she's popular, just that there's many of them ending up in photos by people who post photos a lot.

Most of my dolls are less commonly seen sculpts overall just because I bought some that are no longer made or were not made in large numbers. But "popular"? Who knows and I can't say I really care.

 

Hey! Another Blue Blood Doll owner! I have a Valentine!
(He's the one in the display pic.)

Nice to meet you!

 

Ohhhh, I used to have a Valentine and he is my favorite sculpt of hers! I'm still kicking myself almost a decade later for stupidly letting him go during a rough period of my life. Give your Valentine some love for me!

 

Absolutely! Will do!
(Coincidentally, there's a Valentine that's been languishing in the MP for a while. He does have ear mods that do not look so hot, however. It's a thought, though.)

 

I suppose because of the age of my dolls that I don't see many of them around. I just buy sculpts I like the look of.
Isao has to be the most "popular" sculpt I have, and Tokyo Boys are classics, so no wonder!
The least "popular" sculpts I have are probably SDC Miko and Toki – I haven't come across any owner photos of them, plus the SDC size isn't the most popular.
No doubt what I see is also skewed by my language and location – I don't tend to look up bjds on other sites/forums, and as Volks is Japan-based, there's probably a few photos of sculpts I own in Japanese net sites somewhere...

 

I have always loved unpopular things, most of the earlier BJD I own were discontinued due to unpopular sales. There were very few of them around, if at all, but one of them specifically was discontinued by the individual artist that made him because he didn' sell well, and she mentioned it as a reason for his discontinuation. I've never done so as a goal, it's just something natural as the weirdo that I am, that I love things that are kind of dark, not the standard of beauty (or at least ancient standards of beauty? by modern standards, if there's any left? DX I'm an old fart, so I'm ignorant about current beauty trends -- I have no actual interest at all, but due to my work I had to be interested in it in the past!). I love the things that I love, and I won't stop or pretend I don't, because no one else likes them. I don't really care, since I don't purchase readymade clothes, it's never made a difference for these types of dolls. I've read some people care to purchase popular dolls of these types, because they don't want to be stuck without being able to purchase clothes, shoes or wigs for them. Which I guess is understandable, but as a weirdo, things like that don't bother me. I rather know I own the actual item I love, even if I never get to touch it, or "play" with it, than to think I could have owned it and don't -- I have lost a few chances to own certain dolls, due to my lack of funds when they were around, rather than fear of them being unpopular, so I know for a fact that I rather just own the toy; the clothes and other stuff are not important to me. Being the weirdo that I am... makes perfect since in my nut-job-of-a-head. (:

 

I agree with @Enzyme and am also an ‘old fart’. I’ve never been one for the popular things, never given a rat’s arse about what’s fashionable or on trend purely for that sake.
Quite often I find what’s considered beautiful by the masses downright dull and uninspiring. I like things because they inspire me or I feel drawn to them, they interest or fascinate me.
As I’m very artistic I’m quite often drawn more to dolls that are more realistic or sculptural or have a strong character about them. That may not always be what I buy as yes I’m influenced by ease of purchase (usually going through dealers such as DDE or AC), cost and ability to find clothing when it comes to making my final decision due to my tendency to become frustrated with them in the long run otherwise.

 

Popularity isn't super subjective to me in one sense -- when I look at broad bjd hashtags, there are certain companies and dolls that pop up more than others. I tend to see a lot of Fairyland, of course, often Chloe and Celine and Mirwen. So in that sense, they are some of the most popular dolls because a lot of people like them, own them, and photograph them (I'm a Celine owner, myself).

That said, my interest is always piqued when I discover dolls that I've never seen before, or see someone get one that I rarely see in the hobby. Of course, I could be looking everywhere but where that doll is more talked about and owned. But if you want to know about the popularity of a doll, any easy way to estimate is to look up the hashtag on IG (or used to be, before they ruined everything ). Certain dolls just aren't widely shared, and so aren't well-known.

My current favorite of my collection is my Loongsoul Wei Huo Hu. I discovered him many years ago on acbjd, then completely forgot about him because I never saw him again in the hobby. I rediscovered him by chance years later, and I'm so glad I did, because he's so unique and I feel that I can be extra creative with him because I'm not comparing him to other dolls in that sculpt.

And then, my second favorite has to be my F60 Soony, which is possibly one of the most popular bjd sculpts of all time, or at least among Fairyland sculpts. So popularity doesn't really effect how I see my dolls, as long as they inspire me.

 

Well... given the enormous selection of dolls these days, I will say it's been difficult to find other owners who've posted photographs of dolls that I own.
On the other hand, I am extraordinarily guilty of not photographing my dolls (and posting pictures) enough.
So I view it less as an issue of popularity, and more of, "There are probably other folks who own this doll, and they are probably not posting pictures either."
I know some people are uncomfortable posting public photos - they don't want to be subject to any criticism of their face-ups or outfits. Me - I'm just lazy. I feel bad about this. I should be taking pictures right now, lol.