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

There are many dolls that I love and want on first sight, but to prevent impulse purchase I always wait a few days and sleep on it to see if the initial excitement fades off... I do have criteria, but sometimes it can fly out of the window when I see a certain doll, the one that, like minimini said, make your heart pound, you'll know you'll want it even though he may not be perfect in terms of all your criteria. (at least that's how it is for me, or maybe I'm just a fickle mind person, lol).

So if I keep going back to the same doll even after days, weeks or months, and I still love that doll as much as ever, and that doll still screams out to me to bring him home~ then as long as I can afford him, there's no reason for me to resist. lol~

 

I know what I want. I have already made a list of features my doll should have and choose a doll according to it.
I've invented some characters, I know exactly how they look like and so I search for the doll that would be closer to the image I've invented. So, that's not a problem.
The financial side of the question is far more painful. But I prefer not to economize on the accuracy of my characters.

 

Well now it's a matter of budget, I have to be much more careful and picky with my doll choices now I am a student. I'm quite impulsive so it's a case of how long the obsession with a doll lasts. If it feels like it isn't going away, that's a good sgn that this is definitely a doll that will make me happy.

 

yeah...I agree with Akudem, its not easy XD...but your instincts and better judgement will let you know which is perfect for you

 

I have two dolls at home (well, one is in the mail) and another 18 on my wishlist, so this is definitely an issue I face. I do have a method for my madness, though!

First, I have a set amount of money that I am allowed to spend on resin in a given calendar year. Otherwise I would probably buy them up all at once! So keeping in mind how much money I'm still allowed to spend for the year helps me decide.

Second, I have proven to be mostly a MP buyer. I like getting second-hand dolls- there's no sense in having the company make a brand new one when there's a perfectly good one languishing in the MP. This has the bonus of being lighter on my wallet, but also limits me to what is out there.

When I bought my PKF and my Puki it was because I had the money in my account and I wanted to buy a doll, so I went searching through the MP to see what sculpts that I had on my wishlist were available, and they were the first two I found! MP availability makes choosing who comes home next much easier on me. ^^

 

well what i do is pretend i bought one of them. Then if i feel like i want the other one that means you actually liked it more.

I made a list actually... the list is 100 dolls long exactly. Then i narrowed it down to my "top wish list". I looked really hard and got it down to 26. Then i made a "super top wish list." It has 16 dolls. Then i kept judging and i narrowed down again to my "mega top wishlist". it was 11 dolls. Then i made my "uber top wishlist"... its got 7 dolls. of course favorites are going to change but thats how i narrow it down....

 

I'm very picky personally, and I don't have an issue of there being hundreds of dolls I want...But when I buy things, especially expensive things like dolls, I always have a waiting period before I'll allow myself to buy it, to avoid impukse purchases I'd regret.

My waiting period for my first doll was supposed to be a month however, but I only laster 9 days XD However, I don't regret it at all and I think in that instance 9 days was long enough...

 

i do a lot of research and do a pro and contra list for me so its easier for me to find out what i really really want and what not!
I had a time where i bought every doll which was cute for me......but then it goes out of control .......but that will never happen again.......^^

 

I used to do impulsive buying for my first few dolls,thankfully,they came out fine >_>"
So after my 9th doll,I learnt to really do research before getting anymore dolls.What matter the most to me is the face XD...
I can accept normal posing ability but the face must be my type ^_^That's why...so far none of the doll I got,is a female doll >.>''
Perhaps I've been reading too much y**i................OTL
So far,the only doll I will go crying for not able to get is Okita -_-;..............Anyway this boy is now in my resin family ^.^

 

When I first got into this hobby I researched and looked at a lot of different companies. I ended up falling in love with AoD (which happened to be cheap but it was just luck). I've got a list of which dolls I want and I pick and choose according to what character I want to have next. It's definitely hard to refrain from breaking the bank though.

 

Usually, I wait for a "reason" to buy a new one, or else I'll feel guilty for some reason - even if I have enough in my bank account to easily afford them. I'll try to reason with myself to buy them for a particular event and not just on a complete whim, like Christmas (I bought myself a Pukipuki and about $250 worth of clothing for her) or my birthday for a reason to 'account' for getting one, and even then I sit on a particular BJD choice I've been looking at for some time before I make the decision to purchase them or not. Right now, I'm waiting for my birthday in March to order another Pukipuki, and I go to the website every day to look at the one I'm thinking of getting.

I guess I feel a bit guilty spending so much money on myself, since they are particularly expensive, and I'd like to keep my collection relatively small. I know I shouldn't feel bad about it, since I have a job and I'm paying for them completely on my own, as well as my bills and rent and all that, but I dunno. I suppose that's just how my brain works!

 

Right now I am saving money for an Iplehouse doll. It was clear to me that I want a Cocori in a dark skintone. I bought a dress for her (Iple told me there was only 1 left and so I bought it quickly!) but now I also fall in love with a Benny in dark skintone. Because of the custom doll system you can buy them in the dark skintone, and not only as a basic version.
I have enough money to buy Cocori(without Wig and other clothes) but I also have enough money to buy a Benny+Wig+Clothes!
And now, I really can't decide which one I should choose >.<
Please help me!!

 

Outside of the monetary concerns, I go for that doll that makes my breath catch for just a moment. It can be sheer loveliness, or something very unique about the sculpt that really makes me pause and consider the doll. There are plenty of dolls that I think are really gorgeous, but there's just a "vibe" I get from the ones meant to be mine. I wish I could be more concrete in how they draw me in, heh.

 

I choose based on what sticks with me the longest. I may stray from wanting one doll to another, but there's always that one that you keep coming back to. And that's how I know. ^^ &#9829;

 

... I always have so much difficulty because it depends on the aesthetics and for me it changes all the time ...

...So I always check the dolls I want after a while and decide whether I still want them or if it was a silly impulse of mine ...

 

I always choose dolls based on the character I have in mind. I have a wish list going. I don't just buy dolls because I like how they look or they don't last around here. They don't get played with which makes me see them as expensive pieces of clutter. Clutter makes me freak out and then I want to clean. It starts a whole vicious cycle thing. Plus I think to myself "if I sold that doll I could get money for ___" (insert dolly sculpt or tattoo I really need to work on). Soooooo long story short I only buy molds that work for the characters I want to shell as dolls. When I find a doll that I think works perfectly it goes on the wish list. How I choose which one to buy next really depends on which of my stories I am working on. Sometimes it comes down to something as silly as which of my characters I have home right now that I feel the sorriest for. Like I intend to buy the sculpt for my character Leander next because I feel sorry for Amaryllis. She has no companion to keep her company and she hasn't for a very long time. The doll I have chosen for him also happens to be the cheapest on my list so I can buy him without feeling too bad which might be a big part of it as well. (or I may ask for him for my birthday from hubby) After that is Haven, then Dorian, then Knox. At least probably how it will go. And in the middle some where are all the clothes and accessories for everyone of course.

 

I've limited myself to 10. That has caused me to carefully think about my next doll purchases, and to eliminate most of my expansive wish list. I'm afraid that if I go over 10, even by one, I'll suddenly cap myself at 15, and then maybe 20, and then it will just never stop haha.

 

it would depent on the amount of money I have.

 

It is, without doubt, one of the most difficult things to decide in our bjd-hobby.
We see a lot of dolls every day/week, some of them are gorgeous, other are just cute. You want to buy them all but - oops, you don't have a few millions of dollars!
My first doll to see, to wish and to buy was DOD Petsha. Once I saw a picture of her, it was on my friend's phone I think. That was the doll that entered my mind. I didn't know anything about BJD, though I knew that there is one beautiful doll existing somewhere. Year later my friend introduced me to BJD world and we met again - I and Petsha. Petsha chose me, I'm sure. If it hadn't been her, I'm sure I wouldn't been posting here now.
So, returning to my story. half a year ago I understood that I want Petsha. And she'll be my first BJD no matter what. But I got absorbed in the hobby, started to look at photos of other dolls. I liked a lot of them though ones were sold out others were too short, too tall. Time passed and a wish list occurred. It contained near 15 dolls in it.I adored them all, yet no one.
I have been waiting for my Aquatrica (Petsha) one day when I understood who will be next. Without any doubts I wanted her the most. I'm collecting on her now, when I'm done I'll start collecting on new one, and the decision will come to me suddenly, I'm sure! xD

 

I always have one or two dolls that I love the most. If I`m unsure about a doll I`m just letting her sit on my wishlist for a while. I`m always printing out pictures of the dolls that I want and sticking it on the wall, one next to another. While looking at them everyday for few weeks I can tell which one steals my heart the most.