Are you at the point where this it for collecting? Have you hit your doll limit?

I really and truly believe that I’m done (once my current round of layaways from February 2023 are complete and have arrived.) I never purchased a doll unless I had a preconceived character for it, but I’ve been slowly collecting continuously since 2006 at the rate of roughly 3 dolls per year and that really adds up over time! Once the last of my layaways are here that will make 55 dolls, and I’m finally done telling all my stories and creating new characters. Did I wind up with a much larger collection than I ever dreamed? You bet! But I love each and every one, easily remember every name, and have them all on display in artistic vignettes throughout my home. I see them constantly, interacting with them on a daily basis, and it’s all just pure joy for me. Each one has a complete wardrobe, each one is completely finished (except for the ones who have yet to arrive,) and each one has their own story to tell. It’s my dream collection…it’s like living inside a fairytale of my imagination, expressed in resin rather than words.

 

I only have a single 1/4 resin doll. I definitely want more dolls, but my limited living space makes it a little daunting. I could probably get away with up to 3 at that scale without having to do some serious rearranging to make space.

 

For resin bjds, yes I’m done collecting them. Now I’m focusing on vinyl bjds and already have seven, so my space is getting limited. I’m not going to put a limit on collecting anymore as there’s always just one more doll out there that will be ‘the last’ for me. I’m trying to focus on other hobbies and spend less time looking at bjds to limit my temptation. We’ll see how that goes, lol.

 

I should have also mentioned that while I haven't hit my BJD number limit, or my generic doll number limit, I HAVE hit my space limit.

The last dozen or so dolls that have come into the house literally have nowhere to be displayed. And we're also about to have some changes that will result in there being even less doll-display space available (inherited furniture, my husbands treasured family pieces, that will eat into the current display space), displacing several shelves full of dolls.

I'm not a store-them-somewhere collector. For me, there's no point in having them if they aren't out and being played with. So, doll buying (once the current outstanding order arrives), will have to grind to a halt.

A potential doll-cull might have to be endured (fortunately I had already identified a list of around ten BJDs that were fairly neglected and could potentially be moved on (sold one immediatly, to a visiting friend, and then ground to a halt) and I might be able to add to that from among the other dolls, though they've already been through several previous culls, so there's not a lot of wriggle room there.

How depressing

Teddy

 

I thought I did. LOL

Now I want 1/5 boy and girl since I discovered that scale. I am also yet to acquire 1/3 man/boy. This position is currently vacant because it's extremely difficult to find compatible sculpt and size for my girls'.

 

I don’t keep a wishlist anymore but I have plans for characters that I’d like to shell so I am not done as such yet. I’d always tell myself I’d stop at 12-13 but that number has doubled in the past year or so. One thing I have stopped doing is buying floating heads but I have now had the dilemma of headless bodies which I have found it harder to find heads for. I have a few other collections which balance things out a little bit but BJDs definitely are no1 for me.

 

I'm lucky there. I'm of the view that since people come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, a wide variety of dollstyles and sizes can work together.

My main group of SD sized BJD's are all siblings and cousins despite being from a wide range of different companies, proportions, and sculpt styes : The Victorian family settled in to the new cabinet

Teddy

 

Yes and no? After I came back to the hobby I sold all but five dolls (had eleven before) and have been buying steadily since. I'm the type that when I buy a new doll with a character, a story naturally comes out of that and necessitates more characters and more dolls. This has slowed since I started writing more seriously, to the point I only have two character dolls with concrete plans left.

Lately the more interesting dolls I've been buying aren't attached to any story. I'll have to see if I bond with them the same, but, if that's the case, I'm looking at potentially only buying dolls that are particularly interesting from now on. In which case that means I'll be moving on to more anime-style dolls.

So in a weird way, no I'm not done buying dolls, but also the nature of my relationship to dolls has changed and I may or may not be buying like I used to. Whether this means more dolls or less dolls, I'll have to see.

 

I feel like this is one of the most resonant comments so far on this topic.

I don't feel particularly done, but I also don't feel like running out to acquire more either. I think that @Amet 's point about growing and changing with the hobby is on point. You either stay in the hobby and keep acquiring, you stay in the hobby and sell what doesn't suit you/acquire what does, or you leave the hobby.

People who stay in this hobby without change are possible but rare because the core of this is art and imagination, and those things being static isn't usually how people roll.

 

I've been collecting resin BJDs in 1/6 and 1/4 scale for about a year now, and have 3 in my home and 2 on preorder. I plan to buy at least two more - a MNF Chloe and a Lotus doll - but after that I'm not sure. My primary doll collection is 1/6 vinyl fashion dolls, and even going into the future I think that's where most of my dolly dollars are going to go. This said, if a BJD appeals to me and I can afford her, I'll definitely be sure to snatch her up!

 

This May sound funny but I am formally into 1/3 dolls. I ended up having 2 SD’s (plus two bust stands to fill:P) and rest are 4 MSD, 3 Yosd, two pet dolls, and one reborn I am solid on scale/age setting tho. So I don’t buy 1/4 mature busty girls for example.

 

You know I thought I had a limit (10 dolls, all MSD size), but recently got an SD (68cm) boy at a meetup which puts me at 9, and have a Supia (Minisup) girl on the way, but now that I have an SD size doll and love him I'm feeling like I want to explore that size more. My goal is to not surpass 15 dolls now because I just feel like that would be a lot for the amount space I have in my apartment lol.

 

I have a large collection by any objective standard, but I'm also a pretty serious neat freak. I refuse to allow my crew to take up more than a very specific and well-defined amount of space in my little townhouse... The entire lot have to fit in my sewing room, either in the set of display cabinets that I bought for them, or (for the Seriously Too Tall for the Cabinets ones only-) on doll stands on top of the chest of drawers where their clothes are stored. I don't have a set number for the collection so much as a set amount of real estate.

There's not much more space for new dolls these days, so I haven't bought any.
The proverbial inn is full.

I'm still on the lookout for an Oracle M... and someday I may give in and spend a small fortune on a Volks Andre to go with my Oscar... But beyond that? I'm okay with being out of space. I have pretty much everyone else I've ever wanted in the collection. If I never add another member to the crew, I'm okay with that.

 

Nah, I only have 5 dolls currently, I've bought and sold over the years as tastes change or whatever reason, but I think if I see a doll I love I'll just buy them until my last days. I don't see the point of having a number in my mind deciding what I will allow myself in my life. I only really buy something if I REALLY TRULY love it though so am not likely to go hog wild anyway. You never know what wonderful future dolls may come into existence that you will fall in love with.

 

I've set limits, broke limits, went too far, set new limits, cut back and everything else. I think I've given up on set number limits, and now my limit is just "not having more dolls than I can bond with at a time." Owning 5 dolls but feeling nothing for two of them would be too many dolls. Owning 25 dolls with fully fleshed out characters, looking the way I want, with all the clothes and accessories they need and feeling a bond to each is not too many dolls. It took me over 15 years to figure that out.

 

This is completely on point. As long as creativity is still flowing, there will always be space for more dolls - in the imagination, at least! Having enough physical space to keep/display them is another issue, heh.

Recently I was looking at my collection (those at home and incoming ones), and realized that I was kinda thinking of my dolls as actors in a cast, each with a specific role to play. See, all my dolls have characters and I like to tell stories with them. I had 3 dolls at the start of this year and they never felt like 'enough', I wanted more. Now I realize that I wanted more actors in the cast, and like a proper cast, everyone has a specific role to play. As long as there was a missing role, I felt the itch to buy, but it had to be a doll who could fill the role. So that's what I did. Seems like my "complete cast" is 7 dolls, maybe 8, in total. I'm feeling very contented with these and my itch to buy dolls has now completely disappeared.

I suppose I prefer to view it in terms of contentment. (Again, if physical space or finances aren't involved.) Having "enough dolls" or feeling "this is it, I'm done" means that I'm contented with where my collection is at, at this point in time, for whatever reason. But life changes, creativity changes, so I might stop being contented in future and want to add more dolls to the cast of characters. I'm sure that'll happen eventually... hopefully not anytime soon!

 

I don't have any busty girls. I do have mature 1/4 - but they're a separate grouping of their own. All but one of my SD gang are children or younger teens, as are most of the rest of my BJDs (with one exception). Though the teeny tinies (RealPuki, or example) are ageless fae types so don't really count in terms of matching look/bodytype to age.

It's haivng these separate groupings that puhed my number-limit (if I have one!) up `since I tend to regard each grouping separately rather than my resin colection as a whole.

Teddy

 

I thought back when I bought my first doll that I'd be happy with just the one, and I was for a few years. Now I have a fair amount and I always feel like I want more. I don't think I'll ever reach a limit for wanting them. More that I'll have periods of not being able to get them due to space or money.

 

I'm in the refining stage of my collection - with the intent that some will be going and the knowledge that there will inevitably be some coming in. I'm also not oblivious to the fact that my favorite company has a strong hold over me so I know I'll be keeping an eye on their future releases and probably adding more of those, depending on release. But overall, I feel like I've obtained all my "chase" dolls. I am happy with my collection. I found what I jive with. So I'll be making a few more cuts to get rid of the dolls I found I bought to try and fill another doll's spot - and now having the dolls I actually wanted I can trim down some and focus on higher quality clothes, shoes, and finally getting enough eyes and wigs for everyone. And faceups.

 

I am very, very close to it!

At some point I had decided for myself that ~20 is probably my maximum. I like 70cm guys the most, so space is one limit, but I also enjoy decking out my dolls with nice things. And every new doll means a new mouth to feed, so to speak
I also am someone that has no interest in owning several dolls with the same base aesthetic or concept. I know others are the opposite there, if they like one doll from a company they will keep buying all releases that look very similar, but for me it's a waste of money and effort to basically own the same thing several times. I need to be efficient here
So even if a company releases a face that I like, if I already have something falling into the same aesthetic range I am not inclined to buy this doll as well. There are too many pretty dolls out there, you can't have them all anyway.

Currently my plan looks like this:
- replace a hybrid I have with a full doll from the company instead (the head is just impossible to hybrid and I am sick of trying to find a match)
- shell the last missing OC in the group (his 1/3 version will be ordered soon, his 1/4 is planned for the future)
- maybe, maybe replace an existing doll if a fitting one is ever released

Aside from that, nothing really is planned anymore and a doll REALLY needs to be special for me to actually be willing to buy it.
I rather focus on perfecting the ones I have now.