"Attachment to Inanimate Objects".

I, for some reason, have a bond with the majority of my material possessions. XP

With my dolls, it's so strong that it bothers me sometimes, lol.
Like, I went to bring Ashe with me to my camp in NH and ended up having a guilty conscience, and I ended up bringing Shiwoo and Yukio with me as well.

I've thought of selling Yukio so many times, but I can't bring myself to do it. I get that guilty gut feeling. I don't know why.
It's silly things like that. I also have strong bonds with some of my stuffed animals. XD


But I think it's fairly normal, especially if these dolls represent beloved characters you've created.

So, I personally think it's fine to have bonds with your dolls.

 

Well, for me, I was very, very shy as a child. So, most of my toys/dolls/etc were usually my companions as I didn't make friends very easily. I'd create entire worlds to keep myself amused.

That being said, I think some of that carried over into adulthood. I have a penchant for talking to inanimate objects when they don't work for me (like my car or my computer), so it doesn't surprise me that I would do the same thing with my doll when he frustrates me. XD

Each one I have planned out has their own character and personality, which helps create that attachment.

And as for "bonding", I've never had any trouble. But then again, I'm the type of person to only buy a sculpt that I really like and not just because of a whim. I usually spend a couple of months researching a sculpt and looking at pix, so I know for sure if I want it or not. Yanno?

Anyway.

 

Oh goodness being the type of person that gives personality to inanimate objects would definitely help with bonding with dolls. I found myself going to a museum the other day with a porcelain doll exhibit to get ideas for my girl when I get her. I actually found myself talking to some of the dolls in my head. And then I had to give a little bow/nod to them as I left.

 

My, I can't think of something that I don't talk to! I am very attatched to my dolls, and it is like they are real people to me. Both have personalities, and I know their quirks and even the way they talk. And they even scold me when I'm not doing work like I am supposed to, haha. So yes, I would say I have a stron bond with both my dolls

 

I tend to get attached to my dolls, but I think that anyone that puts a lot of work into a doll would get attached. Add to that the fact that I will talk to anything, (the dogs, the cat, the computer, the piano...) and there you have it. Seriously, I think it's natural for people to bond to things they enjoy, and of course we enjoy having our dolls and working on them.

 

I get attached to my dolls too, and even if I become rich and buy more dolls, the previous ones I put a lot of work into hold quite a lot of importance.

The face-up, the eyes, the wig, the clothes, and even personality/story -- All these things contribute to personalizing your doll, which makes the doll so much more special as well.

My dad got me my MSD assembly kit as a present, fully paid, so to me, it's extremely important.

I talk to my doll, and I find it really easy to do so because he looks so real and the way he just sits there quietly and listens, even if my story is really boring, makes him really easy to talk to. Sometimes I imagine him giving me advice or comfort too. O__O;

 

I find that my boding system is very... strange >.>;;

I see my dolls as inanimate objects, and treat them as such. While I will refer to them as 'the kids' or 'the little ones' I don't actually think of them as 'children' or 'people'. I project personalities on to them, but only in my imagination - and although some of them appear 'fussy' in what they will wear or how they will pose, I recognise that is my personal interpretation of the way they look etc. I don't tend to think of them as 'demanding' things (such as new clothes or accessories etc) the way some other people seem to, and I don't care at all about them posing or being photographed 'out of character'.

That said, I love them to death, and either get very attached to them or sell them quite quickly. I also talk to them and have conversations with them (one-sided of course) and treat them like 'family members' even though they're objects. I'm a little strange in that although I love my dolls, and I love their characters, I really do still see them as just toys

 

i've found i bond with certain dolls quicker and better then others, it think it's because the characters i give some are more intergrated in to my existing group then others who have to 'fight'' almost for their place.

But i find it easy to bond with all of them, and with anything really. I has a lot of animals growing up so i saw personality in everything which i was told didn't have it. (has a fairly 'animals are animals, not people' family.) which made me see them as people with personalities and such so i've always been creating them for everything. If i get something new, like a phone, laptop, pet rock etc. It gets a name based upon it's personality and the way it acts.

I wouldn't say i was a packrat or get unnaturally attached but i don't like getting rid of thins i've named... i think i'd actually get very upset if i had to give up Eli (My laptop.)

I think i got really off point there... sorry bout that ><'

 

Hmmm. This is an interesting topic i have been thinking about alot lately. I love my Echo, and would not dream of parting woth her, but I don't think we have yet fully bonded. For me, I think that is because she is still not fully mine, I mean, like, my creation, and my character. I have disliked her factory faceup since i got her, but have been too afraid to change it (having never done so before). But at the same time I have been making her clothes and accesssories, and her personality has been coming clearer. Now it just bothers me that her personality, and the uniqueness i project onto her is not reflected in her face. She was neglected for a while, but upon taking her back out I am finding it easier, for whatever reason, to bond with her.

As far as other inanimate objects are concerned, I am, like so many people here it seems, both a pack rat and a day dreamer. As a child I had tonnes of barbies and I used them to reenact stories and play out characters in my mind. Some of them developed into permanent characters and attachments, others were just nice to look at, and changed characters as my imagination and stories required. The stuffed animals from my childhood mean alot to me, but ones i got as i got older became more like collector's items. I still attach alot of sentiment to certain things now, mostly things that have a story behind them, how i got them, or made them, or used them to get through different trials. I am connected to a number of toys, and my laptop (although it does not have a name...) my camera, certain clothes and mugs even XD.

And I do talk to things. For toys, it's the eyes, and the calm quality i think that makes me connect to them as well. They can be comforting when there is no one else there for you, and they stick around no matter what.

So i guess I am torn... I don't know quite why i "bond" with things, but think there are many different reasons that have been identified already in this thread.

Anyway, sorry for going on and on...
It's nice ot share and compare to what others think

 

I'm glad it wasn't just me I still get upset if I break a dinner plate or something. I have siblings, but I grew up as if an only child as they didn't live with me. I developed attachments to really random things... I still do this, and it's definitely transferred to my dolls! If, say, one of my dolls were damaged beyond repair (ugh!!) I would not replace them with the same mold... I consider my dolls very individual and I don't think I would feel the same about another DG Noella, for instance, even though she could be aesthetically the same.

I'm a little better than I used to be after moving out and living on my own. I had massive purging sessions... actually, that was awesome! I had felt so weighed down by broken bits and pieces or old birthday cake ribbons... wow, I sound like a real freak, hahaha

I would not purge my dolls, though...

 

im exactly like you!!
& when i start to play with a branch that i found on the floor, i then feel sad to leave it and i wanna take it with me at my house XD
but i dont think it makes the 'bonding process' easier. i bought a head but i never really got attached to it for real. i was like: nuuu. i cant sell it, it'll make her sad )': but at the same time, i count every single dollar i have or lost. so i just cant keep her since i dont feel really attached to her! but i cant sell a doll if i do!! i often see ppl sell their dolls and they are like: well i need money to buy another doll! and i just dont understand that. i LOVE my doll. i sorta give a part of my soul to them (well, right now its just him...) so i could not get rid of them --> him...

YES. EXACTLY

 

I know for whenever I get my doll I'll be horribly attatched.

When I was about seven I got one of those myscene dolls, it was Chelsea the one with brown/red hair. The attatchment I had to that doll was... scary I actually attacked my sister when she suggested I swap it for her River (one of the male myscene xD) for the day. I'm worse with cuddly toys, they all have names and personalities the labrador puppy toy named Ben I got for my sixth birthday went on some wild adventures and I'd talk to him at night and stroke him. I got Skye about two years after, a little border collie toy and she'd sit under the covers in my 'tent' and we'd make sausages. When I was three I got told I got a bowl with water in and put three lollipop sticks in, I called them my fish and wouldn't let anyone touch them.

When I had all my cuddly toys on my bed I tried to cram them all at the top under the covers around me so they wouldn't feel left out. I still dont like leaving cuddly toys anywhere but safely tucked up in bed xD

Broken things need talking to in my opinion and I've also had a habit of talking to my grandma's plants in her garden, oh and while it's not an inanimate object, I used to tell my cat all sorts of secrets, we'd have massive heartfelt conversations sometimes for hours I even imagined her comforting me and I swear she did, whenever I'd cry she'd nuzzle into me. It was sweet

 

i am very much like you in that i get attached very easily to random objects and give them feelings and personality. i will even pick up pebbles in the street and bring them home.
i like to call this the "disney syndrome".
and my dolls, being mini-humans, of course have those same feelings and personalities. i make sure they are not too hot or too cold. i make sure they are sitting or lying down when not being played with. i just can't help it!

 

WOW, someone that does the exact same things I do! Were we separated at birth?

I too believe that something that I have such a close bond with should have a personality as well as a name. My car, Yusuke, just hit 90,000 miles today, and I patted him like a good dog. My BJDs all have personalities as well, never mind that so far, they're all based off of anime characters. But, I'm also planning some original characters as well, and I've already started working on their personalities, and they're at least 2 years away!

To me, something that you interact with on such a daily basis such as a car, a phone or a BJD will eventually have their own quirks.

Being a Pagan, many of us believe that things that are treated as if they're alive by someone that loves it acquires a "soul" that exists on the Astral Plain. So, even if it doesn't seem "alive" by scientific methods, the item has a "life" on a level of existence that we have yet to detect by today's methods.

Maybe someday we'll be able to find a way to detect that "life". Until then, I'm going to treat my computer, my car, and my phone, all of who I love, as if they have feelings. Maybe they do.

Ryu

 

I am attached to inanimate objects also, and figure that if the doll had no personality, I wouldn't buy it.

 

the second i got my first doll out of the box, before he had eyes or a face or hair (or even a head attached) i thought "His name is Calhoun." That night i thought "Calhoun needs a girl friend so he won't be lonely when i'm not around" even though i have tons of dolls, just none of them are BJD's. I felt bad the next day when i had to leave so i set him up with my Miss Alexander Peter Pan doll that my BF had custom made for me and made sure they were "bonding" before i left.

i have a terrible time cleaning things out because i do feel like i'm betraying whatever it is i have to get rid of. i do think it helps you connect to your dolls because we already connect to things, and this thing is human shaped, and all humans naturally connect to other humans so we get double connections.

 

this is a very interesting way to look at objects. i once dabbled in paganism for a few years but have found my niche in the Mormon church, but that's not the point. i never heard the part about objects acquiring "souls". i think that is very awesome and may explain why some people get attached to things so easily.

gotta learn something every day. thanks.

 

I actually believe something fairly similar, and as I handle my bjds so much and put so much thought and energy into them, to me it's seems quite natural that they would become something more than just a doll.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one!
I've always been really sentimental about inanimate objects- I save my cards, and even keep labels from boxes or tags that came with things I really love- and I still have most of my old favourite dolls. When I was about 11, my mum threw away a bunch of my favourite childhood dolls because she was worried that I was still playing with them at that age- and I cried for days- I litterally didn't get over it for ages (and I did try to dig around in the garbage to find them but I couldn't rescue any of them )
The only way I'd not be able to bond with a bjd is if I didn't choose it. I love my dolls- and even apologise to them if they get bopped on the head or manhandled by accident.

In relation to dolls acquiring lives of their own- I totally agree! My boys' expressions change and everything - even my mum noticed and made comment on how Mikah seemed to look especially smug when she picked him up. So I totally believe that when you love something, some of that love gives it a bit of life- maybe not something tangible, but definately something real to you!

 

I get really really attached to odd things. I remember just being heartbroke when we sold our first van as a little girl. Even when I watched my first car be carted away on a tow truck for the last time i remember I just started bawling. On my desk at work I have a godzilla knock-off that i've had since i was ten... his name is Freddie and he goes everywhere with me.

I always feel like if you love something a little bit of your soul goes into it. The more people believe in that thing the more life it has... and if you stop believing in it, stop loving it, it slowly stops being alive- but it's not really a death.

it doesn't mean that i think my dolls will kill me in the night for selling them or that they will come to life at all... it's more like a reflection of the time and effort and affection I put into them.