Are Honest Artist BJD Reviews Possible?

@InkNLionsTeeth the best course of action is to take the side of people who share their honest experiences whenever they go under fire for doing so. You cannot stop things like social media personality cults but you can and should take the side of facts. Likewise if you had a bad experience, make sure to report facts and not mix them up with your feelings.

I do not believe anyone deserves special treatment since there's a lot of hard-earned money at stake from buyers who may not have a chance to throw that kind of sum around again. If you're asking high-end BJD prices you need to meet certain standards IMO.

 

As a doll maker, I welcome honest feedback and experience with my dolls! I work very hard on the joint engineering and test as much as I can before having the dolls cast, and then I test those cast dolls, too. If my customers are having different experiences, then I would like to know so I can help to resolve them!

edit: I will say though that my first clay-sculpted doll struggled hard, but the others should be quite easy and fun to pose in many different ways as 3D modeling made it much easier for me to engineer joints that weren’t constantly breaking during testing

 

I guess it depends on the situation, for me.

In your example, the dolls in question might just need to be restrung. Lots of dollmakers send dolls strung either too tight, or a little too loose (too-tight stringing is intended to last longer while posing the doll, since handling the doll will wear the elastics out over time. Too-loose of stringing is a bit safer than too-tight of stringing, since too much tension can cause breakage or cracking/chipping in shipping). An artist doll might also be shipped loosely strung because they're all hand-strung by (more than likely) one person and they may not have the arm or hand strength to string tighter. A doll might benefit from a different size elastic altogether, if it's too thin.

I don't think an artist deserves to be put on blast for either scenario above. Nor would I personally knock a star off their rating for that, either. Worth a mention in a review or thread about the dolls, sure, but I've gotten kicky tight dolls that struggled holding poses and knew I could improve them with a little work.

Meanwhile, if you get a doll and the joints don't sit well together, the finishing inside is rough and cutting up the elastics, parts are warped, etc. Then, yes, those are serious issues that need addressed and people deserve to know. It's not uncommon for a brand new doll to need restringing/suedeing/wiring to get the best out of what it's capable of. Unless a dollmaker has fully photoshopped their promo pics depicting the poses the doll is capable of, it's likely their prototype was strung differently, or sueded, or wired.

(also, keep in mind that if promo pics like that are taken when the doll is still gray from the surfacer spray needed before casting, it's also probably got more natural "tooth" or texture to it. Resin tends to be smoother in texture than the clay original, so the prototype may hold poses better naturally because of the difference in material)

Unfortunately, there's really no way of controlling if an online angry mob forms around either you or the artist. You're only in control of what you post/review. I don't think that that should stop you from calling out poor service/product, but the situation definitely matters.

(as to your question about threatening to quit after a bad preorder, I'm 50/50 on it. Could it purely be manipulation by bad-actor artists to get sympathy when there are genuine issues with their dolls/preorder? Of course. Could it also be someone genuine running into issues out of their control and biting off more than they could chew and becoming discouraged and upset? Also, yes. A lot of people dream of making a living off their art, and if it goes poorly when you try, it makes sense you'd feel like a failure or like you're not cut out for it and give up. I don't begrudge someone having those thoughts/feelings in that situation.)

 

Well to start, there's also the need I would think for "beginner reviews," so we can help folks get honest reviews for the right group. For example, I appreciate an artist who sends them a little loose so they don't break so I tighten them any way but some people might not realize theyre gonna come loose then be floppy for the safety of the doll. Had they a review from a beginner perspective, would they still have bought realizing that's how it's sent by default? Tons of people are Intimidated and also just plain disabled, so restringing or tightening a doll might be off the table depending how difficult they perceive the doll. There's also dolls are better with wiring and sueding but if you're a regular person with a day job, trying to make dolls it just seems like a wild amount of extra work for already slim margins and limited time and energy. Should an artist be negatively reviewed or should folks be warned the doll will look floppy coming to them? There's probably a more nuanced way to say it but that's the best I'm able

On the other side, there are people with unpolished dolls. I've bought an artist doll I realized would take a lot of work to be the sort of doll I wanted. I traded it to someone looking for it and the parts I liked I really hope the artist keeps doing what they're good at and improve at the bits I found were unpolished personally. I saw a video of someone interacting with it and was all positive and I 100% bought Into the hype, but I believe they were online friends so of COURSE they would be excited. It worked out because I traded it for a doll I wanted so much more so it was very much a happy ending for me, but I frequently hear its more often the opposite. At least if you believe everything you read on the Internet.

And then there's the double edged sword of anonymous blogs; on the one hand they can leave an honest review without fear of retribution, on the other it allows people to be uncritical and just mean.

I remember an artist was showing a doll in progress saying they wanted to try a different body type and without missing a beat, the well known blog had a user saying it was gross and lumpy. Ok cool! But how? Nothing you said was helpful? The artist is showing their reference and trying to figure it out? "Learn anatomy!" They have a ref right there trying to learn, asking for help. Nothing you said helps. You just wanna be mean to be mean. So remember "honest review" can also be "mean review." Just dumping on someone is useless and probably the same people who confuse dumping and genuine critique probably think they're just "blunt." Remember! If you only say negative things you're not blunt, you're just mean! Blunt people also drop random unfiltered nice things too!

To circle back, I DO wish there were more honest reviews. Definitely don't take reviews seriously by artists who say their friends' dolls are this or that because sometimes you just see the best bits in the people you love. I would love it if artists made more videos showing their dolls off, it does help. I remember an artist doll I bought had an unusual joint and they demonstrated how it moved and to please move it this way to avoid chipping. It showed intended use and probably helped a bunch of people not breaking their dolls (I know I would've). It also shows how poses are set and the artist intended to move it around and might also reveal "hmmm, they're fiddling alot with it, do I wanna spend that much time doing this or that pose?" And then when someone reviews it, they can compare it to the artist video to more honestly feel it's a scam versus feeling like their jumping the gun because maybe their experience isn't everyone's.

Sorry for the rambling

 

I think part of the reason is that not everyone has learned how to leave (and receive) constructive criticism. Stating the shortcomings does not mean the product is bad and will drag the artist down, and likewise, receiving constructive feedback shouldn't be taken as a personal attack by the maker. Honest feedback that does not mix feelings into facts and says things politely is unlikely to cause any harm - if any drama gets kicked up over it, the problem definitely lies elsewhere and that is not the reviewer's job to undo. If the "angry mob" is a concern, I'm sure artists are happy to receive feedback privately also. A mean review is not a constructive review, either.

Another reason is probably just the much smaller pool of participants - artist runs are way smaller numbers of dolls than "companies" offer and only a small percentage tends to leave reviews, so there's just going to be less public feedback overall. Most artist dolls tend to have presence split over various social media sites, too, so it might be hard to hunt down any reviews or figure out where it's best to leave them. It's always easier to add a review to a place set aside for it, like the feedback threads on DoA, than to have to make your own post on your own account somewhere (in which case it'd be nice if the dollmaker made some space for it on their website for instance).

I think it depends on how the statement is worded exactly! I definitely can understand how, in the current economical climate especially, a bad pre-order that made the dollmaker lose money will be a reason for them to quit selling dolls as it's not sustainable nor affordable to continue. It's expensive to buy dolls, it's expensive to make them, and it's a large chunk of money to get them casted in the required minimums at least (plus the shipping, plus the customs etc etc). I guess it's also fair to let people know there won't be any future preorders in case someone has been waiting for it.

"Preorder was a flop, I am leaving, I will never make a single doll again" is a bit of a different flavour imo, again bringing me back to the "mixing facts with feelings" bit that doesn't end the best way usually.

 

Other people have eloquently said everything I wanted to say, so what I'd add is: There's a difference between good/bad doll engineering and design, and good/bad customer service. Some dollmakers sculpt outstanding dolls, but have less-than-outstanding customer service. (Exhibit A being Dollshe Craft, but a few other indie sculptors also come to my mind, sadly.) On the other hand, some dollmakers can be good-natured people and have great rapport with customers, but their doll design isn't so masterful.

A good reviewer should be able to make a clear distinction between doll engineering and customer service -- DoA has separate subforums for Product Reviews and Service Reviews. And likewise, a dollmaker should be able to hold their own creations at a bit of arm's length and understand the difference between a critique of their sculpting ability, a critique of their service providing, and an ad hominem attack against themselves as a person.

But as mentioned above, not everyone knows how to write a good review. Sometimes reviews conflate doll and dollmaker together, or greatly emphasize the negative at the expense of the positive (or vice versa), so it falls on both dollmaker and bystanders to parse out what is the difference ... All this lack of clarity can unfortunately lead to misconceptions and drama and conflict.

At the end of the day, I think a good review is able to draw clear lines between facts and feelings, and between the aspects that were good vs those that weren't. If you (general "you") as a reviewer have done your best to present the facts of your doll-buying experience and your personal context of being a hobbyist, that's the best you can do. You can't control Internet drama, but that's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to tell the truth of your experience, as clearly as you can.

 

I already made some general comments above, but I once wrote a review of a poor doll-buying experience. (I preordered the doll from an established and well-known dollmaker, and ended up waiting almost 2 years to receive it.) Since you asked, I thought it'd be helpful to share my practical experience. Your mileage may vary - I'm not saying it's the way everyone should make a review of a complicated and troublesome doll order, it's just the way I went about mine.

The way I approached it...

• Lay out the facts in chronological order. This means gathering screenshots, DMs, and writing down my experience as best as I remember it. (It helps to keep good records -- I was already documenting my experience in detail around the 1-year waiting mark.)
• Give credit where credit is due, and critique where critique is due. My experience with this dollmaker was mixed: the bad parts were significant, but I could also find good parts in it. In this case, no one was completely innocent or completely villainous. So I wrote about all the complexity.
• I included some self-reflection -- I made some good choices, some not-so-good. Again, no one was completely innocent or villainous. I thought readers ought to know what kind of choices I made so that they can compare it to their experience with this dollmaker, and/or avoid making the same choices in future.
• As mentioned in my previous post: be as explicit and clear as I can when writing about what was good vs. what was bad, to reduce the chance of a reader getting confused or jumping to conclusions. I can't control what readers think, of course, but I did my best to write clearly.
• I put my review on my BJD blog -- it's public, it's not login-gated, anyone can read it. One of my concerns about the BJD community getting fragmented across social media silos, is that some discussions and reviews happen on one platform (eg. Discord, DoA) but remain inaccessible or opaque to people who aren't there. I don't like this kind of silo-ing of knowledge, and since I have my own independent web domain, I put my review there.
• I linked to my review in relevant places: waiting room/discussion threads in Den of Angels, in the BJD Discord server, in DMs with people when they asked, etc. If there were customers asking for help with their preorders with this dollmaker, I shared my review with them privately. In other words, I only linked to my review in relevant contexts. I didn't "go public" or keep splashing it around - because I think that's tacky and unnecessary, and because the dollmaker's behaviour didn't seem to warrant me being more outspoken about my experience.
• A place where I didn't share my review was on my Instagram feed. The dollmaker uses IG as their main publicity place and sells their dolls there. I have specific contextual reasons why I chose not to "go public" on IG, but I also have mixed feelings about this and wonder if I should've done it. Anyway, I'm sticking with my choice and it's water under the bridge now. It doesn't stop me from sharing with people if I see calls for help on Insta Stories or similar.

I'm no expert (gosh, I hope I never have to wrangle a troublesome doll order again!) but I hope this helps others decide how to review their own doll-buying experiences. My review is still on my BJD blog, but if OP or anyone wants to read my review to see how I worded things, feel free to DM me for the direct link.

 

That's simply not your problem. "Support the artists" is a nice and sweet thought, but it's not your duty to keep people afloat.
And yes, it's a manipulative statement as a seller. Deliver your preorder then... don't have any further preorders? Bonus: you can change your mind without embarrassing yourself.

 

I think a lot of other people have made really good points already! One thing I think that also comes up in other niche hobby spaces with indie creators, is that sometimes, people get really excited about what they're making and jump into selling too soon. They tend to lack some levels of skill (in bjd cases could be jointing issues leading to dolls that don't pose as well, because they haven't done it much outside this one instance to learn how they could do it better, for example), and they're often not prepared for critique, either during production or after sales. They often haven't had as much experience dealing with critique or negative feedback, so it feels like a personal attack, no matter how mildly worded it is, and depending on how they handle it, it can snowball into fuel for the drama blogs.
But I think this also feeds into the "my preorder didn't do well, I'm giving up!" From a buyer's perspective, I know what I'm looking for in the things I buy, and if I don't see it, I don't buy things. I acknowledge that making dolls is expensive, but when for similar pricing, I could instead buy from a more experienced artist that has reached that level of function and aesthetics that people look for, it makes more fiscal sense to buy from them. It's a difficult economic time for everyone, and niche hobbies like this are especially hit hard, when people often have to be more choosey in where they spend their money. At the same time, I get the artist's perspective too; the excitement and pride in making something, but other people judge it or don't see it the way you thought they might. It's discouraging. I don't necessarily think the artists who say things like this mean to be manipulative, but it again, comes down to experience. When selling something, you're now presenting yourself on some level as a small business, and from a business that definitely feels manipulative. Having some level of separation between personal pages to post those kinds of feelings and frustrations and the professional front used for marketing and selling your work would probably be more appropriate. I absolutely think they should be allowed to vent their feelings! But doing it in the same place they're trying to make sales makes it feel kind of weird to me as a potential customer. Like if I don't buy from them, then I'm not really supportive, even if i like their art, but have to prioritize my spending (though I will acknowledge that this is also on me for my own feelings, and probably isn't what they're actually intending to mean).

Unfortunately, the anonymity social media allows for is a bit of a double-edged sword; while many people are chill about it, some really are out there to cause problems and hide behind it to be mean. There's nothing you can do really to stop or prevent this, other than not feeding into it yourself. An honest review doesn't need to be mean. On some levels, this I think is also people lacking the skill in how to give constructive critique.

 

Awww I thank you for the kind words and the critical ones as well. I think because we are the makers of the dolls that sometimes we just know how to handle them more instinctively than other people, which is something that might be hard to overcome. Like in all of my photos of Ume and Anzu, I didn’t even wire or suede them, I think I just instinctively knew how to balance them better because I worked on them for two years. With my dolls after Ume and Anzu, I tried to make them as user-friendly as possible, without needing that instinctive understanding of their balance, and without needing any wiring, sueding, or anything else, and for them to pose well even if string tension wasn’t super tight.

I definitely learned a lot from Ume and Anzu, and when I think back on it, I don’t actually remember people giving me that feedback about their posing ability, and I think I would have appreciated it in DM form so I could help troubleshoot with people because I really do want people to be happy with their girls. I think DMing artists to let them know about a problem is very productive, and public reviews are too and you can also capture how the artist responded when you brought the problem to their attention.

 

I think these problems happen because many new aspiring dollmakers are excited about selling, rather than the craft. It's not a matter of lack of skills but misguided priorities. I often see new people who claim they want to sell dolls but don't own any. It's like you want to sell manga but you never picked up a pencil or a comic book. What exactly is driving you then?

 

People who think this way should remember there are buyers involved too. I'm sure that more buyers are driven out of the hobby by poor experiences than makers.

 

If someone takes (fair) critique so badly it triggers a nasty, accusatory public response, it's definitely not the fault of the person leaving (honest, constructive) feedback but the artist being immature about it. If a seller makes potential buyers walk on eggshells around them, it's simply not a good person to do business with.

 

Yeah that can be true too. I've seen that kind of thinking in other hobby spheres too. I still think on some level that comes down to inexperience. Selling anything requires an understanding of the potential market and the people who tend to jump right in to selling often haven't done that research and have a serious misunderstanding of the potential audience, the quality said audience expects, and the reality of what goes into making and selling things in that market. I do think some people see niche hobbies like this and the price tag that things carry and erroneously assume that means it's a lucrative market, when it turns out there's actually a pretty small profit margin most of the time. And then they get upset when they can't beak even and they've thrown their whole lot into it (which feels kind of irresponsible to me, but their life choices aren't my business if they're not affecting me personally).

 

Sorry to pick on this detail, but I don't think managing an alcoholic in the family is the same thing as reviewing the works of a creator who's trying to sell their goods and services to a target audience. You're not reviewing the creator's personal worth, you're reviewing their goods and customer service -- this is a completely different category to dealing with a family member to whom you have familial responsibilities. Yes, I know that creative work being released into the world can be very personal and emotional, but a well-regulated creator should be able to separate their own self-worth from their creations. What lutke and quilleth said above apply in this case: a creator who's trying to turn their creative work into a business needs to understand their responsibility to buyers in this transaction of goods and money, and also understand how their goods are welcomed and handled by buyers. And how does a creator learn this, except to hear feedback from buyers, both privately and in public reviews? This school of hard knocks is often necessary to understand how the real world works, and for a creator to learn how to regulate one's own emotions and self-worth in the face of external responses.

If the buyer is reviewing the goods honestly and in good faith, and not making personal attacks on the creator, the creator ought to respond in kind. This is a good faith interaction and both buyer and creator can help each other out constructively (through critique and/or praise). Conversely, a creator who's taking an honest review of dolls as an ad hominem attack is not responding in kind and not acting in good faith. In this sort of bad faith interaction, it's not the responsibility of an honest buyer/reviewer to carry this load of regulating the creator's own emotions.