Are dolls like family or like toys?

My dolls are a bit of both. I love them, and think of them as 'family' in a lot of ways, just like my pets are. Just like I wouldn't sell a pet worth money because we needed it for something, I wouldn't sell my dolls. Dolls move out of my house when they no longer fit here, or a sculpt that works better for a character I already have comes out.

But in an emergency, like a fire, severe flood, or earthquake, where I can only protect or save so much and have to let whatever happens happen to the rest, they're on the bottom of the list. Last week I had a (thankfully small) house fire. My first thought was to get my kids out. They're 4 and 2, and don't understand the danger and need to get out of the house. My second thought was for out 2 cats and dog. I got 1 cat out, and the dog. The other cat ran back IN the house and hid. She does NOT like outside. At all. My dolls didn't even enter my thought processes in getting the living members of the family out of the house, or getting the fire put out. Once everything was done, I thought about them. I was as happy that they were OK as I was that the kitty who hid was OK. So in that instance, they went from members of the family, to toys, objects, like the rest of the 'stuff'. They didn't matter in the moment of only being able to grab so much, and get out quickly. Thankfully the only things damaged were the stove and my nerves for the night. But if I HAD lost my dolls, I realized I could live with that so long as my boys and my pets were OK...and I realized I could live with losing 1 or more of the pets, just so long as my boys were OK. Had I lost any of the animals, I would have mourned. Had I lost any of my dolls, I would have mourned them, too, until I could replace them.

So in general, my dolls are like family to me in almost the same way my pets are. But unlike my pets, or children, my dolls are replaceable. So in that respect, they are just toys.

 

I currently no longer own any LE dolls (I had one, but he didn't really work for me like I had wanted) and only really have 1 that I hope to eventually get...that I'm also hoping will be re-released instead of staying an LE, since the original sale on the site that sold her didn't say ANYTHING about her being LE. But if I DID have an LE doll and lost it, I'd do what I could to find it again second hand, or else find a different sculpt to be the character. Losing an LE would be like losing one of the dolls I have that my grandmother made. Something that I can't replace, and really really hope to never lose, but is still less important than the living members of the family.

As to the second half of your original question, my mother-in-law hates that I collect these dolls. She tried to talk my husband into making me get rid of/sell them, and has banned them from her home. So far as how I handle it, I only take my dolls to her place if we're house sitting and I'm either working on them, or plan a photoshoot with them in her yard, so she's not there to get upset over them, and I don't bring them up to her, or have her in my home. The second half will probably change, but if she says anything about my dolls to me OR my husband that is non-approving once I have my full display set up for them, and the dolls that belonged to my grandmother that have come to me since she passed, well...we'll be back to her not being welcome in my home.

 

My dolls are nothing like my family or pets, which are living, sentient beings. I treat them like toys, and since I don't act like they're anything more than that, no one gives me a hard time about them.

 

They are a family of toys.

No my friends and family like my dolls, I'm not sure they understand them, but they aren't for them to understand. My dolls are for me. If someone didn't like my dolls I'd tell them not to look at them then.
I think I'd have a problem with a person who didn't accept my dolls, they are a part of me. To mock them is to mock a part of me. I think it says a lot about how much friends and family care about who you are when they don't mind you sitting watching tv with a doll right by them

 

My dolls are more representations of characters than anything else. I am reluctant to call them toys, but for me that's a more apt description than family. I have a deeper connection to my dolls than my other figures or my soft toys, but the depth of the connection still doesn't come anywhere near as close as the one I have for my mother, brother, father... even my dog!

It's sad to hear that your mother wants you to sell the dolls to pay for your college - but have you considered coming to a compromise with her, something like "if I get a part-time job to help pay for my college, I won't have to sell the dolls." Or, even, "For every dollar I spend on dolls, I have to put a dollar into my college fund"? I find parents and family are much more agreeable towards eccentricies (which is what doll collecting is viewed as by non doll collectors) if they can see that you are also supporting yourself as well as your hoby.

ayas-shadow: Glad to hear that everyone was alright after the scare you had. I hope your stove doesn't put you too much out of pocket when you're replacing it.

 

As I fully believe my dolls have souls, they are definitely a part of my family. More than just toys, though I would still put them on the bottom of the list after pets, etc.

 

To me, they're more like toys, as you can't get rid of family Besides, you can't choose your family, and your family always have certain things that drive you up the wall. You can avoid all three with dolls!

I don't need dolls. I want them, and I got them, but I don't need the companionship of dolls like I do with living sentient beings. I need my family and friends for emotional connections, and I like to think they need me for that as well.

 

I always believes there are souls / energy within my dolls so they're never just toys. And yet, I won't deny the fact that they're not alive (Can't move or talk) so I won't put it as family.

In short, they're somewhere in the middle, very sentimental, important and close to me, but not to the extend of having me treating them as a living thing.

 

My dolls are more like tools than toys. In photography, are and animation they certainly do their job. I can't help but feel I know them on a deeper level as I create their personalities and bring them to life on the screen but i can't say they are family so much as they are co-workers you know very well

 

They're dolls.
They're my favorite toys, and I like dressing them up and posing them. But in the end, they are not alive and are therefore not family. They're still my favorite toys.

 

They're my characters. My bond with them can't really be compared to other things. Were the dolls destroyed, the characters would stay, but I would be sad for the beautiful dolls being destroyed.
But I created the characters based on the sculpts, so I would want to buy new ones of the same molds. I make my story based on the dolls after all.

 

They are more than "toys" to me but I would never ever say I considere them like "family"! They have a special shelf where I display them in my closet room, they have my attention and all but they are just very special dolls to me and everyone who comes visiting say they are beautiful, even my parents and husband and my 6yrs old daughter like them!

 

Honestly, my dolls are much more like toys than family. My dolls make me happy, and I would hate to ever part with them, but in the end, I'd much rather have my friends/family/pets than my dolls. My friends/family/pets have distinct personalities that are wholly unique to them, and they can't ever be replaced. My dolls are wholly replaceable. They are simply polyurethane resin in pleasing shapes that can be customized and made to look however I want. Their "self" is contained in my head, and not likely to leave it anytime soon.

 

I think they are a bit of both. As anbaachan commented earlier, dolls are not living sentient beings in the way that pets, family and friends are, but I do think of them as part of my family in a way.

 

Its hard to say. More than a toy. But not real. Some thing i would miss if they were not there.

 

My dolls are simply a collection. A fun hobby that if I couldn't afford I wouldn't be stressing over not having them. They are a want not a need.
Though it is my decision to buy them and nobody else's opinion will make me stop buying the dolls on my wish list Or sell them!

 

My dolls are not universally loved by everyone in my family. My husband likes them a lot, as do my two children. Practically every other relative I have thinks they are strange, creepy or weird, etc. I do not disclose the price of the dolls and their wigs, clothes, accessories because I know they would all be horrified at the amount of money I spend on my expensive hobby.

As to how I personally feel about the dolls--while I know they aren't living and not much more than pricey toys, they are still very precious to me and yes, in the event of disaster or theft, they could be replaced (unless it's a sold-out sculpt/model). But somehow it wouldn't be the same. That's how I am though, I tend to get crazy attached to my possessions. It's nuts, and I know it's not true, but I like to think that the dolls hold some kind of chi in them because of all the energy & effort I've poured into them or maybe house some kind of spirit that looks out for me because I choose to take care of the dolls.

I think I am coming to an end in terms of spending money on the dolls (I've just about gotten all the clothes, wigs face-ups and dolls I want) and am feeling quite satisfied with it all. So my friends and family who aren't exactly thrilled with my doll-hobby can rest assured that they don't have to listen to me talk about new dolls much longer.

 

Mine fit in that weird gray area between toy and family... they are not like my pets, since my pets ARE my family. I would never, ever give up a pet because it became and inconvenience (hence our being stuck in a slightly crappy neighborhood because of our cats). I was raised that your dog is like your brother. You treat it like a sibling, and it will take care of you, etc. Family always comes first and if there must be a distinction, then pets, then extras. Even my photo albums get priority over dolls.

But in one sense, my dolls are not just toys. They have little personalities all their own (most of my inanimate objects do though, take my car named Cthulhu and my computer named Glad0s...) and I get a sort of comforting feeling being around them. They are not a replacement for human contact.

In regards to the college situation, I have little sympathy. I too am a college student. I support myself, and I have to pay for college myself. However, extenuating circumstances and a complete lack of parental support (for college tuition I mean), I have had to take out student loans. Both my fiance and I work. Fun money we have left over after monthly bills goes towards our hobbies: my dolls, his designer board games. I wonder how anyone can NOT work and attend college. It just seems impossible to me. I would love to not work for a semester, yet I still manage straight A's. To the OP: your mother is probably concerned that you are showing fiscal irresponsibility. I second the idea that you get a part time job and start saving, and perhaps put your dolly buying on hold until you have established savings and possibly moved out on your own.