"Asian" or "Asian-Style" Ball-Jointed Dolls?

It's not as common since the modern bjds that came out of Asia are made all over now.

For clarification are referring to "Western" as the original French/German/English porcelain bjds that were common in 1800s and 1900s?

 

I’ve been on DoA every single day since 2006, so with quite a bit of experience under my belt I can say that the “A” just kind of disappeared gradually over the years. Back early on, nearly all of what we now just call resin BJDs were made in Asia. But they’re commonly made everywhere now so the extra “A” just fell by the wayside in most common conversation.

 

I think it has been more or less discontinued as a term as bjds worldwide have also had converging aesthetics. From the looks of it, western vs eastern had some pretty striking aesthetic differences, but that had diminished as the years have gone by.

There are still some that have a strong “western bjd design” - which I would describe as more realistic baby or very folksy aesthetics - which were just very different.

 

I collect both! But, I kind of collect all kinds of dolls.

When I speak about bjds and need to clarify, I call them "modern bjds". Sometimes I will specify the country of origin for a specific company. That's about it.

 

I think at this point the BJD hobby has developed enough of its own style and norms that there’s no need to differentiate it from other doll types based on origin. I personally see more debates about materials, joint construction etc. than visual style when it comes to defining BJD

 

I came into BJD from a general interest in dolls, including antiques.
The terminology I use is mostly dependant on who I am talking to. A general doll person? Then I specify the material and say "articulated polyurethane dolls", "modern BJD" or similar, until I'm sure we are talking about the same thing. This serves the same purpose as the ABJD term used in the early days of this hobby, that helped differentiate the dolls from "ordinary" ball jointed dolls, but since that term is no longer accurate, seen from the inside of the hobby it makes sense to drop the A.
However, the acronym BJD (along with similar ones like FBJD for "fully ball jointed doll" etc.) has been used in the general doll hobby for a very long time, so it's not like they are suddenly going to stop and say "oh, there's a new kid in town, here, we'll just change the name we use so you can have it to exclusively mean your type of doll, now." It's also worth noting that the acronyms are not usually said as acronyms but as full words in speach. The acronyms themselves are mostly written to save space in auction catalogues, inventories and the like. To call a doll type a BJD is something I've only heard within the BJD hobby. Most other doll hobbies describe their dolls either by material or maker and "types" are only used when broad statements needs to be made and those labels tend to be subject to change.

This hobby has a lot of special lingo that only really works within the hobby. When we move outside of it, we need to be aware of that and not assume that everyone else will just adapt or magically know what we mean. Iv'e seen a fair bit of very unneccesary friction between BJD people and doll people in general where BJD people have come across as arogant and ignorant, simply because they don't know anything outside of their own little bubble.

 

I don't know if it's still as common, but I see it when I see the advertising or sell options for the skin color. The pale white option is clearly the stereotype Asian ideal. It's harder to see if the doll is shown as peach skinned or Caucasian.

 

They’re talking about how people used to say “ABJD” or Asian Ball Jointed Doll to refer to the kind of doll we collect on this forum. People mostly just say BJD now and everyone assumes it means this type of doll.

I can’t pinpoint in my mind when the A was largely dropped. I still use it when I’m taking to non hobbyists about the kind of dolls I collect, but not really in hobby spaces.