"Attachment to Inanimate Objects".

My feelings on this can be summed up with one song/video sequence: When Somebody Loved Me from Toy Story 2. I have always been scared that my dolls/toys are going to be sad if I don't love them anymore. I would never just give them away (unless it was directly to someone I know will love them more, and with that I mean my old stuffed animals to my friends' kids, etc...), but when it comes to my BJDs, I treat them with extra care. I have a hard time letting others hold them even.

However, that's with the dolls I've bonded with... I still love my other dolls, but they aren't as special as some of the others... and I have an odd feeling they know it. If I ever sell them (and it looks like it might get to that soon ;_; ), I would only hope they go to homes where they would be treated like the special darlings they deserve. Still, there's a select few I could never part with, no matter what.

If it makes me weird, then I'm weird.

 

I've always loved and treated my dolls like individuals, especially certain ones who mean a lot to me. And one thing I think has people bonding well with their dolls and other inanimate objects is that they tend to be more forgiving that humans. For example, a few years back we had a small house fire and a few of my dolls had to go into storage for protection (thankfully not BJDs at the time or I would've been in a panic) and only this holiday season was I able to go back and get them. Opening the plastic containers, it was like the few years had never happened and they were just happy to see me...and to change out of their clothes.
There are quite a few days I know I probably talk to them and other electronics more than I talk to people, but maybe I'm just weird

 

I'm a packrat, but it's not really because I have a sentimental attachment to inanimate objects. The things I keep either are a memento of an old friend, or might be worth something someday. I love rare things that are worth something, even though I'll never sell them. Hence, my video game collection. I have a few worth at least $100.00 each.

When I was little, I had one favorite doll, but I never thought she was alive. I still have that doll today (been about twenty years now), and I still sleep with her, from time to time - I also sometimes check to make sure I don't squish her face into the bed so she doesn't suffocate, but that's just for teh lulz. She's definitely the most sentimental object I have, since she's been there through nearly my entire life, reminds me of my family in Canada, all the homes I've lived in, and all that good stuff. Still, though, if something happened to her tomorrow, life marches on. I'd feel bad, but it wouldn't be anything I couldn't shrug off pretty easily. I have too much stuff to worry about to be that concerned with her. Despite that, I'd like to keep her as long as I can, of course. :P

Where dolls are concerned - they're pretty, wonderfully-engineered, human-shaped chunks of strung-together resin, and nothing more. I got my first doll less than a week ago and he's near the top of my prized possession list, but that's mostly because of his overall beauty and cost, to be honest. He's an extremely nice example of capitalistic hedonism and art appreciation, and I love him very much and want to make him even nicer (i.e. not naked, with a wig and eyes that suit him, and with a decent face-up), but it doesn't extend any further than that for me, personally.

 

I usually get very attached to my dolls. I'm a bit of a pack rat as well since I keep getting things I don't really need but catch my interest. A lot of it is just random stuff you'd see at a yard sale. A small bell, Barbie clothes, a broken pocketwatch, etc. Sometimes I even collect fabric of different designs I see on clearance.

My most sentimental object would be my teddy. I had her since I was 2 and somehow she survived the past 21 years without dissapearing on me. Plus my baby blanket.

 

Oh man, me too. I can't even think about that song without getting all weepy.

When I was little I couldn't even eat cookies that were shaped like animals. I've grown out of that, but I am definitely attached to my dolls, and don't see that ever changing.

After all, there is a 44-year-old stuffed dog sitting on my dresser.

 

Yes... my family's van was named "Luwanda the Honda."

I dealt with her "death" by pretending with all my heart that her "soul" moved into our new car. At some level she's still with me.

 

I don't think I get attached to inanimate objects so much as I get attached to fictional concepts and then want inanimate objects of them! My doll is based on an old original character of mine, as will be any future dolls. This makes it easier to bond with them because I'm already very attached to the character, and since the doll embodies the character I become attached to the doll as well.

I do like having material objects, though. I love getting new electronics and merchandise from media I like.

 

Steve and Luwanda? Better than my old car's name: Fupoc.

Freakin' useless piece of crap.

I'm getting dolls in accordance to existing characters too - I thought it would be easy to bond with them that way, but it didn't turn out the way I thought it would. To my own surprise, the character I've attached to my new resin dude remains very much apart from the doll. Maybe it's just because he doesn't have the right wig and eyes, but as of right now, the doll is a doll and the character is a character. I can represent the character with him, but I don't think he'll ever be the character.

I'm all right with that, though. :P I don't need a doll to personify my characters. Just having the beautiful doll is enough for me.

Also, I was going to say something about collecting merchandise from things I like too, but I thought my post was getting a little long as it was. XD;

 

Fupoc? That's great. XD

I've had 3 named cars in my family - Sprite, Jasper, and my current car Ms. October.

 

Haha. It's pronounced "Foo-pock", to elaborate. XD Good old Fupoc... passed away one day in June when his transmission died. Best memory I have of him: driving ten people to and from a con all three days, an hour each way. Good times. (He was a minivan. XD; )

Now I have a 2010 Corolla (currently bashed up from an accident, SOBSOB, but a body shop trip is in order for 10AM tomorrow) named "Big O", after the giant robot anime (the main guy, Roger Smith, has the coolest black car ever, but it's not named). Normally I just tell people it doesn't have a name, though. Saves a long explanation people probably wouldn't believe anyway. >_>|||

I love the name Ms. October! XD

 

LOL me too, I think it's partly the way the girl treats Jessie in the movie, and partly because I worry I might have done that at one point to one of my beloved playthings and I would never want to make anyone, real or not, feel that way.

 

I named my current car Eric. He's a PT Cruiser and to this day I don't know what PT stands for, so I decided when I got him all those years ago that it stood for "Phantom Transport" and named him after the Phantom of the Opera (not to mention the fact that Eric is also the prince in The Little Mermaid, and the name of my favorite vampire LOL)

 

I'm one of those people who really think that certain objects, like dolls and stuffed toys, do have feelings of some sort. Weird, yes. Do I care? No. It's just how I've always been.

I mean, I even attached myself to a fictional character really hard. D: I was bonding with my first doll the moment I sent my payment. And I bond more and more with him everyday. I don't know what I would do if he got lost or broken. ; n ;

So I suppose having the ability to bond with things like that over the years would help....

 

I'm just now bonding with my Ai bobobie. I took her and held her in my lap...she slowly folded her arms and ended up laying down on the arm I was supporting her with. It's really sweet.

 

What people mean here by "bonding" with the doll ?

 

To answer the original question, I do have sentimental feelings for inanimate objects, but not with all of the ones I own. I mean, I have the baby blanket and old stuffed animals, but I've thinned them out and gotten to a point where I'm not so packratty. I made all my worldly possessions able to fit in one room (save my bike and car, but yeah), so as long as I stick within that space limit, I'm good.

I do feel that I've "bonded" with my dolls, as I enjoy playing with them and making them things, in part because I like to better my skills in sewing and creativity. I talk to them, and they have distinct personalities I somewhat interact with, but at the end of the day, they are still objects, and do not come before real people.

I suppose they mean feeling a close, personal connection with the doll, like you would with a friend or family member you get along with. It means something different for each person, though.

 

I'm extruding myself from different social circles into one of my dolls, that or he's just weird like me.
I guess he's got his own personality, but it's passive if I'm the one giving it to him. He also has a harem of womens now, I wouldn't approve of that normally, but he gets away with it somehow.

 

THIS. When I was a kid, I was worried about the line between inanimate objects and animate ones becoming blurred.

And this. ^
Nowadays, I get attatched to dolls in the same way I get attatched to an item of clothing/car/whatever that holds a lot of memories for me. I know it's not the innate value of the object, it's what I'm projecting onto it. So yeah, I can value object more than they are actually worth but I wouldnt say I bond with dolls at all.

 

People get attached to anything they invest emotion in. End of story, Basics of Human Psych 101. It's not a new phenomenon. Egyptians and other ancient cultures were often buried with favorite possessions so as to be able to take these things into the afterlife.

 

Absolutely - but I think it never hurts to remember that people want different things out of the hobby. Some people want the "bonding" in a serious way; others just value the doll for the beauty/customisation/collecting aspects. Bonding isn't something that has to be done, after all!

I basically consider my dolls in the same category as my much-loved teddies and soft toys - just much more expensive and beautiful! So I don't find it hard to "bond" with my dolls - I can't imagine not loving them, even when I haven't yet discovered all the quirks of their personalities.

But then I do remember, as a small child, bursting into tears because my friend pulled a branch off a bush and I was convinced the bush was in pain So I'm definitely a soft, soppy, sentimental sort!