Are you a collector or a hobbyist?

My dolls are canvases! I love sewing clothes, knitting, making eyes, making wigs and doing their faceups! They inspire me to create

 

I'm a collector and they are my eye candy, my drive to try learning crafting skills comes from my desire to make them prettier to look at

 

I don't have a collector personality, I'm pretty happy to own just a few of something. Adding a new doll to my crew actually costs me mental energy, so I don't think I'll ever go the other way and turn into a true collector. I think I'm more of a curator -- I buy dolls that I like, of course, but they need to fit in to the existing collection, become part of my storytelling.

And that's basically my reason for being in the hobby: to tell stories with my BJDs. I wouldn't be here if I couldn't play with my dolls, take photos, craft, and ultimately tell stories with them. I've no interest in buying a doll whose whole reason for existence is just to sit on a shelf and look pretty, I already barely notice that I have figurines and plushies on that shelf already. (In fact, I have a tiny BJD that's turned into shelf candy, and I think it's just a matter of time before I sell it... whenever I remember that I actually have it.)

 

I'm a 80% hobbyist 20% collector maybe. Collecting is kind of fun and satisfying but it's not my focus, and in lean times I prune what feels like excess collection and stay in the creative roots of my hobby with the dolls.

 

Yeah I collect resin boyfriends. I'm already at 5 and the ideal is 7. It's getting really close... I don't want to pass 7 resin boyfriends.

 

I am both in many other genres of toy collecting, but when it comes to BJD, I consider myself a full-blown hobbyist. I've only kept my first two BJD head sculpts with their factory custom face ups, and my one and only tiny anthro fully painted by SoulDoll. The rest I've customized in some way, all of them have had their body blushed by me, and all most if not all have had at least some amount of facial modifications at this point.

I do consider myself a doll/toy collector, because that's what I've been since birth; I collect Barbie (as well as other mass-produced fashion dolls) and I do keep them MISB, only a rare few are unboxed to display or customize a tiny bit but they are multiples and not the one and single copy I own. I also partially do so with other types of toys, such as 1:6 action figures, some I keep MISB, others I customize in some way, and rarely anime prize figures as well. For the most part, I am a collector in other toy genres, but feel like I am more of a hobbyist when it comes to BJD. I don't keep most of them default, and I don't mind modifying the living daylights out of most of them. Although, the hoarder in me does regret not having multiples of some of the ones I've heavily modified -- not regretting the mod, just regretting not owning a pristine condition one as well. (:

 

I'm a hobbyist - I like crafting stuff for dolls and taking photos but I don't want to buy stuff just to own it. I don't think they're canvases nor art pieces, they're just... dolls? Objects to interact with? I don't display them unless I'm doing something with them and don't think there's ever a goal to getting a certain type or number. I'm more of a customiser is anything.

 

I'm definitely a hobbyist--I don't buy dolls to "collect" them, I buy them to flesh out characters, do faceups on, sew clothes for, and photograph. While I do have a bit of a collection now (11 resin and 1 vinyl doll, plus another dozen blind box BJD's), I find that even when I'm drawn to purchasing a doll, it's because I like it aesthetically and would love to sew/create/photograph it, not just have it sit on a shelf and look pretty.

 

At the start of the hobby I would have said 100% hobbyist, but nowadays I'm about a 40-60 split. Part of that is because nowadays I buy almost exclusively Chinese artist dolls, which means that they are limited, affordable and oftentimes extremely unique. So sometimes I'll buy something that I have no plans for just because I like the sculpting, want to support the artist, and suspect that I might have trouble finding anything quite like it again.

But even then, all the dolls I have are meant to be customized eventually. Doing faceups is still the primary draw of the hobby for me, but I definitely understand the appeal of collecting a little more now.

 

Yes.

Yes

Yes

It's a toy. I play with them more than anything else.

I don't collect them as in acquiring-the-whole-set, I collect them by buying the individual dolls that appeal to me and will (hopefully) fit into my doll-family setup.

Unfortunately I tend to end up keeping dolls that don't fit in for far too long as, once added to the "family" it feels like a betrayal to get rid of them(AND I'm terrible about getting around to doing things like figuring out shipping costs and putting together sales listings).

Teddy

 

Collector definitely I like to have pretty things displayed in my room !!! Cuteness overload!!!!

 

I definitely agree with the "curator" mindset; collecting for the sake of ownership doesn't appeal to me at all and I couldn't enjoy splitting my mental energies across a large collection. I'd always feel like I'm neglecting something and I'd hate the thought of selling something off because of that.

 

I am mostly a collector. I do sew and take pictures of my dolls, but I do not like physically modifying them. I usually prefer default faceups as well but have a few without.
As someone else mentioned, I see dolls in general as toys and the point of toys is play, so I play with my dolls a lot. So I guess I collect in order to play.

 

I consider myself a collector, and I do see my BJDs as artworks! I think they're beautiful! I love admiring their sculpting, their painting, the craftsmanship of their clothes and wigs and eyes, etc. It's why I'm particular about the aesthetics of their body sculpting even though I only see them when I change their clothes and why I like to take a few moments to admire their faceups whenever I remove their wigs. They're gorgeous pieces of art that I enjoy collecting!

 

I'm both. I usually buy a doll because it appeals to me, it doesn't matter if it's because of its aesthetics, I admire the work of a particular artist or simply because it inspires me in some way. My doll collection encompasses a wide range of dolls and I enjoy seeing them in my doll room.

I also enjoy the creative hobbyist side too...sewing/knitting, photographing, building dioramas and writing stories about them.

 

Both?

I do collect dolls for the sake of just collecting them. I have quite a few BJD's that I don't do anything with, mostly my MSD's and smaller dolls. I just enjoy seeing them on a shelf. It makes me smile to be surrounded by my dolls. A have sewn a lot of clothes for them in the past, but mostly have them just on display in my room.

I do a lot of stuff with my SD and larger dolls. They are my main focus. I use them for my photo comic, I write the stories about them. I've done modifications on some of them. They have a fairly extended wardrobe that I have made for them. They have a mountain of props and furniture. I even have a studio set up for them. I invest a lot of time, money, and effort into them. They are the dolls that get me into the hobby part of it all.

I think I always intended to make doll stories with them. It just took me awhile to collect the right dolls for the stories and start writing the story. Now it's like a rabbit hole. I need more characters for my story, that means I need more dolls, so I can write more stories, which will probably lead to more characters and needing more dolls!

 

Hobbyist, who enjoys them as canvas. I always wanted them as another form of bringing my OCs to life/a way of making OCs.
That means that if a doll is "just" pretty, I won't buy it. It needs to fulfill a purpose within my group.

I also do not have the desire to own a great amount, or one of every kind from a specific line or whatever (which would more align with being a collector). If a doll comes around that fits better for my OC, I also have no qualms selling the old one and reshelling the character.

 

I fall more into the hobbyist/curator side of things. My dolls all tell a story, and each one was carefully chosen for their place in that story. It’s a fairytale take on all my life experiences and emotions…a life journal expressed through BJDs. Each doll represents a definitive character that expresses something important to me. I do most of my own faceups, design and make their wardrobes according to whatever fashion style I want to explore, and do my own mods to make them exactly what I need them to be. Then I place them in groupings around my home as artwork in special vignettes that express a part of my personal story in a fantasy way. It’s all a way of spurring my imagination and creativity, giving me a chance to play and work through all the experiences of a long and eventful life. No one is ever collected to just be lined up on a shelf…they all have to “say” something within my rather story-like Bohemian decor.

 

Both - the hobbyist in me loves painting and creating dolls to my likes and specifications - I feel like many of my dolls are mini canvases. However, the collector in me loves acquiring certain fullsets, resin colors, sculpt variations etc. to complete my personal curated collection.