Bjd frustrations

Recently for me it's that SD dolls are way too big, but most MSDs are just a TAD too small. My ideal size is the lean ~50 cm boys from DC/DV, but those are much less common and unfortunately much more expensive than standard 40-45 cm MSDs.

I also have had a pretty persistent problem with the lack of body diversity out there... it hurts me to have a group of characters where not a single one of them is a fat guy. The closest I can get to a chubby body is a "big baby" style doll, and.... like... I don't want a toddler body....

 

Same issue but with Xagadoll and Beyoursdoll which has the sculpts I need ;;

And yeah the lack of body diversity. All the boy bodies out there are too muscular. I've been looking for skinny 65cm boy bodies for a character.

 

Shoes. Shoes. SHOES.
For as popular as the big dolls are, it's so impossible for me to find shoes that fit my dolls. The ladies are a shade too big for standard SD shoes, and the gents are a bit too large for the classic 70cm/Uncle sized shoes. Few companies make shoes large enough for them, and the ones that do charge $50 or more. I can't even justify spending that on shoes for me! All my shoes come from a discount warehouse, but there aren't any options like those for dolls. I've been learning to make my own, but gosh, it's a lot of work!

But the popularity of their size means it's much easier to find other things for them now, like clothes and accessories.

 

MSD bodies tend to be mature (the boobs on some of the girls!!! Whoa!!!), yet clothing for them tends to be really really childish or Lolita-style, and MSD boys rarely ever get long pants. I just wish that more SD fashions came in MSD size, too.

Related: when a company says they do MSD clothes, but they really mean Minifee clothes. My crew can't get their butts into Minifee pants. Lol

 

This may be a side effect of clothes for smaller dolls are harder to do than bigger dolls. Lolita outfits are EASY to make, even at smaller sizes, they don't have as many seams to worry about as more complicated clothing. Which makes sense because kid clothing is simple so kids don't have to worry about getting into something extremely fitted/complicated. Just make simple round skirt and simple top then add frills.

For me, I'm frustrated that I can never find the fabric I want in the scale I want it when i am looking for it. I could find lots of gold lace applique stuff years ago when I didn't even OWN Raye. Now I have him... and can't find anything!

 

Tan skin and reference color! Sometimes I want a golden bronze, other times I want a more muted brown, and others a rich dark brown, but not many companies offer many options on the darker spectrum. It’s usually just one (or no) “tan” and that’s it. And then there’s the fact that lighting is a big factor, so I always want to see the resin in different shots, or next to each other, but even that’s sometimes hard to find... It’s been so hard trying to find the right color for my characters, never mind the right sculpts/styles.

Adding onto the hybrid problem, tan/darker dolls are hard to hybrid too.

Ah well, it’s still really rewarding when I finally do find something that works for me and my characters.

 

I can't find a muscular male sculpt that isn't also willowy-tall and babyfaced. And when I do find one I like (Iplehouse FID) it's... apparently completely out of production? Bah.

Also, this is not specific to this hobby, but I do not have enough time to do what I want and that's annoying. I'm glad BJDs are so pretty straight out of the box.

 

As someone else already said, I wish that there was more body diversity, especially in larger doll companies. I understand wanting to have sort of "ideal" bodies, because they are gorgeous! But not everyone's characters have that ideal body shape, I know that I'll probably never be able to make some of my characters because there just aren't very many body types in production.

I also wish that there were more head sculpts with typical "African" facial features. A lot of the dolls are either European or Asian inspired, which is lovely, but the faces can tend to blur together after a while...

It's awesome whenever I find something that I'm in love with though!

 

My frustration is wigs. My kids run on the 6-7 size and so many of the wigs have bangs, which I just don't like lol. Another frustration is clothes. Designers need to use either velcro closures or buttons because it's just silly to have to take a doll's head to get a shirt on. And so many slim clothes which do not fit a Mystic Kids MSD.

 

I think hybrids are something that tend to frustrate me, I definitely think after having to make two SD hybrid dolls I prefer buying a doll all together. Especially when it comes down to finding the right proportions, and then having to worry about resin matching. I just prefer to get to the part where it's down to customizing the entire doll (hair, eyes, faceup type stuff). Although I also agree that shoes that fit what you want and also fit your doll can be so hard to find. I wish there were more realistic basic mens shoes for SDs out there.

 

I think my main one has to be when people use "SD", "MSD" and "Yo-SD" as generic terms for BJDs made by any artist/studio, for a couple reasons:

1. It is incredibly disrespectful to any artist/studio that has given their doll lines a unique name to identify their work (MiniFee, Honey Delf, Grace Harmony, etc). It's like saying their artwork belongs to someone else.
   
2. As a person who has a few Volks SD/MSD/Yo-SD in my collection, this can be extremely frustrating when I'm trying to buy/sell clothes for them. MSD are chunky compared to most other 1/4 size BJDs. Often I buy something described as "MSD size" only to find it's too tight to be worn by my MSDs. I've sold MSD size items labelled as "Volks MSD size", only to get complaints from buyers saying "it's way too big for my [slim mini doll x]!"
3. When someone asks a question like "What SD/MSD/Yo-SD body do you recommend?" I think oh yay; I have a couple I can give this person the pros and cons of this product based on my personal experience, and then they reply with "what company are you talking about?"

And hybrids are frustrating for me, too. I have a 1/3 size Leeke head I snapped up when they announced they were discontinuing regular sales (back in 2012, I think?). He's been through several bodies and none have been satisfactory for me, either with proportions, resin match, or engineering. The 1/3 Leeke boys were never very popular, so finding a second-hand body from around that year is next to impossible...

 

In feel like... Most doll companies make their heads to big for their bodies.

It's more frustrating with MSD, because it just makes them look even more like children when I'm desperayely trying to make them look mature.

And on that note, not even just with weight, can we please have some male SD bodies that aren't completely toned and/or ripped? Not every guy works out and they certainly aren't born that way. A softer looking body would certainly fit a lot of the baby faced male SD sculpts out there. Though...they could also stabd to be less baby faced, both the males and the females..

 

For me it’s the cost of everything. The dolls, their necessities, and now shipping. I just can’t keep up anymore. This has made me very sad. A positive note is I’ve had to learn more skills to make what I need for my dolls. I still can enjoy the hobby, but in a more creative way.

 

Clothes!! I can never find the right clothes for my dolls. If I wanted dresses for my girls I would be fine, but try to find something unique and you're SOL

 

It seems like contemporary masculine clothing is already hard enough to come by without forking over a small fortune, and that combined with the constant struggle of finding anything made to fit an Iplehouse SID man is a trying experience. With that said, I have forced myself to learn some sewing skills because if I can't find it myself, by the powers that be, I will take matters into my own hands. Plus if I learn how to sew I can make an entire custom wardrobe for my dolls that are exactly to my design tastes.

Wigs with visible but natural looking hairlines is another thing. At least I've seen a few now, and heck, I'm even about to order some ventilating needles and wig lace to try my hand at wig making myself.

I think my takeaway from these frustrations is that you'd be surprised how much you can teach yourself with enough research and stubbornness.

 

For me its photography

I love how the doll looks in person but when it comes to photographing them the bodies look stiff or unnatural, theres a hair on the face, the eyeball is not aligned or the faceup looks different, blurry or out of focus in some area it feels like many things can go wrong

It is something I hate

Iplehouse makes unique shaped dolls, cannot share clothes with wither similar size dolls
Iplehouse also does not make new clothes, or shoes that fit their unique sizing

I end up dolls who stay naked