"But I want them all!" - aka How do YOU choose?

i like a lot of dolls, but logically i can't buy em all.
so, if i find some dolls i really like to have, my only one rule is:
the limited comes first, because if i miss the chance to get it, i will have to pay double if i have to buy it in the marketplace later.

 

Thanks for the links, I will check them out.

 

I have what I call in my head "two doll families". I have the dolls that are based on pre-existing characters that are being put into a storyline together and I have the dolls that are going to be part of a semi-new storyline for me - completely unrelated to the first.

The pre-existing characters are characters I have written and/or drawn for years now. So I'm looking for dolls that look like the ones I've created. My "Circe" must have an Asian look, tall, fit, beautiful and cold. So I found Sleepy Eyes Bella Auden from Dollmore and decided I'd found her. Jin Li Shang had to look Asian - a man so pretty he could pass as a girl. Had to be of a similar height to the "Circe" doll. Zaoll Luv was the perfect face for him - though I'm not sure I've found his body yet. And so-on and so-forth. They have to have the right features to look as much like what I've drawn as possible.

The second group, the elementals, are easier in their way. I've never drawn or written these characters. The first two have names and I've got an idea of what their sculpts must look like. I've found the girl's and am keeping an open mind for the guy's at the moment. But I am looking for body types and colors that suit their element - or, I suppose, the elements as I see them. Nixie is a water elemental, so I figured she'd look young and somewhat innocent. A rounder, younger, pretty face. She'll have a Zaoll Luv body, so she'll be small, so I finally decided I found her head when I ran across the Wien head from Leekeworld. Chaos needed to be masculine and I don't really want him to be a teenager, so while I've found a few 'maybies', I haven't entirely settled. I probably won't until my Jin Li Shang doll above is settled on a body.

In all cases, I don't really want an especially "anime" looking doll. Nor do I want an extremely "realistic" looking doll. Somewhere in the middle is something I tend to like better.

I also am extremely picky when it comes to jointing on dolls. If it has awkward joints, even if I like it in every other way, I reject it. There are a few dolls I've selected where I'm essentially "compromising" on the joints. They're not as nice as I like them, but they're not entirely awkward either. I hope for dolls that are good posers, but so many of the good posers have awful joints.

 

Well it tends to be a combination of factors.

Firstly I must have the funds
Secondly the price must be right
Thirdly it must be a quality/rare/amazing thing.

So it's pretty unusual these days I buy a doll! XD
Raven

 

The first doll I really falled in love was a lovely Romantic Dillui that I saw on Materiel celeste marketplace. She looked unique and when I saw her it was like I got 'hit' on the face. I asked my boyfriend and he didn't liked her so I just closed the page and months ago I was again looking in the marketplace but on DoA this time and I saw her again. I was not able to close the page another time so I bought her and I still have her today and her makeup is still perfect and she is still my favourite.

I actually choose a Doll for the price, the body,the mold, the makeup, sometime I just cant explain because I was not looking after a doll in particular, its just when I saw something interesting and I take a look closer, I do some researsh on internet to see more pictures and if she is my taste I bought her, but sadly there is dolls that I cant afford but id like to because of the price ^^'

 

I choose my doll when I see them in the marketplace or group order. Usually when I can actually afford them. My first doll Ttori was a gift to me. And the rest I worked hard to get.

 

First off I got to love the face sculpt.
Then I got to love the body sculpt.
Then I got to be either able to buy it out right or consider it a realistic prospect to save up for. Like for the IpleHouse EID Jessica in my list I need about £400 to pay for it and get it over here even before we get into wigs, clothes and shoes, but I can get two of the BBB Chun dolls for about the same price. Now do I want to save up for the EID Jessica first or drop £200 on a BBB Girl Chun that I already have the money for? And if I get the EID Jessica first would I want a girl Chun after her or would I want to save up for the other two Iple House EID Women? You see the kind of dilemmas I and many other doll collectors go through?

I could say "OK, I will get the Girl Chun first, but not until I have £400 pounds saved up then I got half the money for Jessica set aside already and it will also give me time to appreciate the 1/4 girl Mei I already have coming to me before getting another doll..."

Phil.

 

I do a lot of gallery browsing, considering owner photos are usually more accurate to what the doll looks like as opposed to the company ones. Then I choose by love from there... And what I should say instead of love is dolly fever lol.
If my heart isn't racing from excitement of finding a perfect doll, I wont buy.

 

It all has to do with characterization for me. For the most part, the only dolls I'm bringing home are the ones who resemble my current OC's. Fortunately (or really, unfortunately) I have only been able to find two dolls that meet the characters' standards

However, there are some molds (like that darned MNF Shiwoo) who just keep beckoning to me, even though he is no where even close to matching with any of my kids But even for him a separate character has begun appearing, so this time it's okay

In the end, I guess it's really my characters' opinions that makes the final decision for me, rather than the physical look of the doll itself ^^

 

At first I was so careful, only getting ones I really adored. Lately I have made some bad choices myself, and in a lot of ways, I continue to regardless. I am a little impulsive with new releases. For example, I got a LTF Flora fullset and a Puki Ruby fullset right when they came out, and really, neither of them were for me. The Ruby I keep because it was a gift from someone I adore. The Flora worked out well because I got a great deal on an Ante faceplate, and she might be my very favorite. I can just sell the Flora one. I also impulsively bought a PKF when I didn't have money to buy her stuff. Now my friend has agreed to do her face and some stuff for her is in the mail, and I know she's gonna be amazing.

The good news is that you can usually buy and sell dolls in the hobby without losing much money (unless you damage it). Sometimes even those dolls that don't seem to work out in the beginning become very dear to you, either on their own or because you tweaked them. These dolls that present problems to you may cause you to get creative with them, which can spark a strong bond. If not, sell 'em and get a new one!

Unfortunately I have a very long wishlist. I plan on being a collector of these dolls for... Well, forever. Right now I'm trying to focus on dolls with characters, that's the main thing. Over summer I'm going to buy a MNF Seorin and Ryeon with job money. Other than maybe one for a Christmas present, I hope to slow down my frighteningly rapid accumulation of dolls.

Did I even answer the question? What I'm trying to say is do your research, but don't be afraid to make "mistakes." Worse comes to worst, you can sell them.

 

It's usually something that I'm not even looking for at all, to be honest. I'll just be browsing around doll companies and occasionally see something nice from time to time, but the thing that really pulls me in is when I see them in peoples' galleries on DA or Flickr. Its cool finding all the different things others have done with an otherwise ordinary looking model. Very inspiring, and it really goes a long way to help me choose what type of doll I'd like.

 

I have a wish-list, it's just a matter of sticking to it! My first and second dolls weren't on my wish-list, neither was my Unoa boy, but I went through this quick phase where I just really really needed to have an Unoa. After that travesty, I decided that I'd just give up trying to condense my wish-list since I'd keep deviating from it to buy other dolls. That's worked out pretty well, and since I have a near even ratio of boys to girls, I've decided to go boy, girl, boy, girl until I have all the dolls on my list.

There is of course the glaring flaw in my plan: essentially, how to choose which boy and which girl are next! I'm going through it now since I've just ordered my first full doll off my list- and he's home (got there Monday, just waiting for me =__=) but I need to keep saving, and I don't know who to save for next. It's tough to just decide out of the thousands of dolls out there which one you really want to have, so definitely having a list helps a whole lot. I've only got to choose one out of 30. XD

 

Well, I'm lucky to not like most dolls that are around! I've never even fallen hopelesly in love with a Soom MD! xD

Ofcourse I have some dream molds that I'll be getting nonetheless, but those are just about.. 8 in total of all MSD molds out there? I'm very picky I guess xD Also, due to the fact that SD's are just too llarge for my taste that limits my wishlist down even more (although there are some I'd love to get when the money ship stops at the harbor @3@).

Now my wishlist contains another NAR LF Cien, because you can't have too many of your favourite mold, and a DK Pado in tan. Maybe I want a tiny as well after that, but that's pretty much it! =3

 

Well, I have a list of characters, and I´m buying the dolls that fits with this characters.

I try to follow a list that I have, and I just buy other dolls if they´re fits some characters and if they´re limited.

Of course there´s some "love at the first sight" moment, like "I love this model, I have no characters planned for it but I´ll CREATE ONE FOR THIS MODEL!!!" And if they´re limited, well... I make some sacrifice and buy it XD (In the worst cases, we can always sell it if we never use the model...)

But these moments are rare, I admit it =)

 

I choose my dolls based on price firstly. I won't even look at websites where the msd sizes are over $300 simply because I refuse to spend that much on a doll. Then I go from there based on the character I have in mind.

 

All the dolls I have on my wishlist are mature looking and have slender bodies - it's just a specific preference that I have. Price isn't something that's actually an issue because I don't mind saving up for it - I just haven't bought anything yet because I'm still just freelancing and not working full time so it's more important that I budget for real life before my hobbies.

Of course, as soon as the next round of Unoa buying opens up at Crescent shop I am totally using my cc because of rarity/time/etc. So yeah, I suppose it helps that everything I want isn't immediately available nor low enough in price to suddenly splurge, so it's all relatively planned out long before I actually buy.

 

When I first started looking at dolls I had no real plan and I thought I would just get whatever ones suited me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that wasn't right for me. They needed to have characters. While I realized I'd probably never be able to find the perfect dolls for my preexisting characters, once I got my first BJD I began to form her character and her story. I've narrowed the list down to 9, although I already own three of those.

I'm planning on buying my FL dolls first and all at once, so I'll be saving for them for a while. I figured I should save on shipping. And then last three will trickle in as the money does. I did have them listed by priority, but I want them all equally so that didn't really work.
I haven't really had a problem with OMGHAVETOBUYNOW because my dolls are so carefully planned. if I won the lottery though... xD all planning would be out the window.

 

This is funny for me to read. Because, I have been trying to deside which dolls to buy for 3 months now. I want too many sizes, ages, looks and ect... I am no help here...

 

I have a great love of unusual display spaces...which I create pretty much like artistic collages within my home. Whenever I'm thinking of the next doll to get, I invision character/clothing/display. Somehow this formula congeals into something tangible and recognizable to me. Then, when I've accumulated the funds, I just search DoA and company sites until I find the perfect fit. It's almost as if I "recognize" the doll once I see it...it's perfect for what I'm after. Like when I was looking for a young "ghost girl" with a pretty, innocent face...I found a BBB Espree in the marketplace and the sight of her immature girl's body in WS sold me on her immediately. It was the same with my Batchix Machina...I was looking for something fun and vintage-looking to display with an old vintage 8-track player my dear hubby had dragged home. When I saw a lilac robot girl in the marketplace, I just knew she belonged with it.

 

I usaully have a criteria a doll should follow,
1. the eyes can't be too big or too close together. (i hate it when I'm browsing and find a gorgeus doll but the eyes are soo big and close together that they look like an alien)
2. the jawline can't be totally square and should have a defined chin (sometimes i see dolls that are trying to look realistic and the jaw is like a man *for girl dolls* or they make the chin soo flat they look, kinda wierd in my eyes)
3. some things i would prefer in a doll , but aren't neccessary, is that the headcap is magnetic and the body has good working joints.