Are dolls like family or like toys?

Toys, objects. That whole sort of thing. They're no more family than my computer is, on account of them being inanimate objects.
Yes, they are expensive, yes I have spent a lot of time on them and yes they are my characters or whatever... but they are just resin in the end. I'm not exactly going to give it a seat at the table for dinner or worry about not spending time with them.

 

For sure!

I guess the word "family" isn't as emotive for me as it might be for some. They're a bunch of people whom I'm biologically related to, through either random fate or divine plan. Either way, it was not a choice I made. I like my family, and even love some of them, but I don't automatically love all of them just because they are kin. Some of them are total ass-hats.

OTOH, I have some friends to whom I feel much closer than I do to my own parents or siblings. I really love my cat, she is a great friend and companion. But she is not "family". I chose her, and she is a cat. I would never think of her as an ersatz child. That would be to dishonour the catty nature of the cat!

Likewise, if there was a fire, my dolls would be amongst the first things I would grab, after cat, laptop and personal papers. They are there to greet me when I get home, and although I know they're just hunks of resin, their presence cheers me up, as a friend might. They are precious to me. But they are not family because a) they're not people and b) I chose them.

 

Well, the discussion is rather interesting. I never thought about my dolls this way: I just so-called pl;ay with them. And besides I love them, but my husband and parents are more important for me.

 

I don't consider them family, nor do I consider them toys.

 

I wouldn't call them family in the 'what to save in a fire' situation, but they're definitely more than toys. They're more like sentimental toys. In a fire, you could try to save your photo albums and stuffed animals and sentimental objects, which could include your dolls. They're not family, but they're not toys. They're.... a family of toys.

 

They're very expensive and beautiful toys to me, but they also represent some things I wish I had. Like a big family...

 

My temperamental models.
aka not family but not toys.

 

To me I suppose...they are a little behind my real family. It's probably because they shell my mindchildren (OCs) and believe me, I am very strongly attached to them. And since the 'piece of resin' is shelling that mindchild, it 'becomes' it in a way, so yea u_u And in a disaster, I think they'd be from the first things I'd grab hold of. I mean, you can just stuff them in your blouse/pants or something, I don't think you can stuff your mom/dad/husband/wife/familymember in there (maybe your child in your blouse if it's a baby...but I think you get my point) so I don't really...see why you can't save both? But if it came down to choosing only one, I'd choose my family then I'd go cry my eyes out forever for my mind/resin-children u_u
Well, that's just my opinion though and I respect it if other people just want to think of their BJD as just 'toys' =v=)b

 

My dolls are family (i can't imagine spending this much on a toy) and frankly, people who treat them poorly like children treat toys scare me. I bought a tiny BJD from a lady at a convention once. She said to me; "oh, i don't need that thing anymore" and called him ugly. I was appalled. What kind of person can have something like that and not have any love at all to put into it?

 

It's not only because of their value that I don't treat them like any other plush or toy. But family they aren't.

 

I may never be able to have kids in the future because of an accident I got into a long time ago, so yes I call my dolls my family, and I'm not embarassed to call them my family either.

 

To me my dolls are characters I develop and create I can't draw, or sculpt, but I can make each doll unique and special. Even when I have the same sculpt I make them their own personality, and give them a back story and even family. My family is fine with my dolls and how I spend time and money on them. Of course I am 55 years old and raised my 2 kids to be their own person so why shouldn't I be as well. In fact daughter and my daughter-in-law are both in hobby. So we all agree they are wonderful. Hubby likes tech toys, and son collects stuff as well. So we all have a hobby or two we love. I am sorry for those who have families that see this as a bad hobby. It's not cheap, but it I think keeps many of us from doing stuff we would greater upset our families over.

 

They're not toys but not quite family either. They hang somewhere in between for me. I spend a lot of time with them and I invest time in them, making clothes or styling their wigs or taking photographs just as i invest time and love in spending time and memories with my friends. When I'm lonely or sad or feel like suffocating from problems I can't trouble my friends with I can just look at them or do things with them and not feel that way as much anymore and they've made me feel a lot better on many occassions despite not really solving my problems. So yeah. They're not 'just toys' as far as I'm concerned but neither are they living people that I may call family. c:

 

Most of my dolls represent characters that I have created, roleplayed or admired, so it's not necessarily the physical objects that I am attached to, but what they represent. The dolls themselves are just hunks of plastic; it's the characters they represent that are so dear to me.

 

Haha BOTH! They're not quiiiiite my family but I don't see them as just toys either. My dolls are their own family and I suppose I feel like im their "caretaker" since I do have to dress and clean them but they aren't part of MY family. I do see them as just objects but because of the characteristics I have given them they are more than just "objects" so in the end, while they are not part of my family, they are on the borderline i suppose. ^^

 

All the dolls I have are my family. Every doll has her (his) soul, and each lives her (his) life. I love them all, like they are children, and they are very precious for me.

 

For me is something between a pet and a precious-memory-related object (:

I can figure it answer like "what would you save in a house fire?", after mother, my dog I feel family too, and so my BJD before all the rest

Conclusion: I have a few itens more expensive in the house, but they are something special for me.

 

I love my little girl like family and though i get a lot of crap about it, i still see her as family to me. Now don't get me wrong, i'm not saying she's "alive" but i still care for her as if she was like a daughter in a way. I talk to her and brush her hair in the morning and dress her to go out and everything, even washing her every 2 days to make sure she doesn't get dirty. To me i could never give her up because she is my first doll and my favorite and to me caring for is almost like caring for her is like caring for a daughter or a younger sibling.

 

My doll isn't family in the strictest sense, nor do I feel that he's merely a toy. Somewhere in-between, I suppose. He's treasured and thought about when I don't get time to spend with him, and I do try as much as possible to make time. I realise keeping him proximal to me when I'm upset does wonders in its own way. I do agree the emotional feeling I get is probably the same as that of a pet-companion. Irreplaceable, I might like to add: even if he was taken away and I buy another with the same sculpt it just isn't the same, just as getting another cat of the same breed and colour.

cool scary guy encapsulates it perfectly: He's more than a toy although he isn't real (no doubt it's the emotional attachment, 'security blanket' feeling that counts in this 'relationship'), and he would be very missed if he were gone.

My family doesn't give me a hard time since I only own one and currently have no plans for any more. College is starting soon for me but selling him to pay my college fees is unthinkable.

 

Some of them, I consider family, others are more like close toys. Whenever I think of moving away or doing something big, I actually take a few of my dolls into consideration, like you know, where I'd put them, or which ones I'd take with me.