'Cabinet Babies' or Playthings?

Mine are inbetween types.
I don't play... I change outfits and pose them as "decorations". My puki and littlefees are more "dolls" to me in the traditional sense. So they don't get handled on a daily basis, but they don't sit in a cabinet and never touched either. I do not travel with them (not counting doll meets).

I do want to get into photostories and set-ups and sewing for them; would that count as playing?

I think it all depends on the owner's personallity. I'm reserved and older, so walking around with a doll isn't me at all.

 

I play with them a lot.
I think I'm more the kind of person who really likes to play with them.
I like to watch TV with them, talk to them about my day.
But when I"m not busy with them I put them in their 'living room' in a nice pose. So then they become more a decoration.

 

Most of the time, my dolls are on the display I set up for them, just due to lack of time to play with them. D: When I'm in a particularly down mood, though, I'll bring one of them down and just have them nearby--it's a soothing feeling.

 

I find a doll like a bjd needs to be moved and fussed with or else just sit there life less. Just using them for display and handling them with kid gloves seems like a waste of money. I'm not saying I don't take care of my dolls but i just cant leave them alone for days on end let alone leave them in a glass case. They'd look so bored in there i'd just have to pull them out and cuddle with them just so there would be something for them to do. What I mean is I cannot love my dolls from a distance they are silent companions to the silence in my soul. They fill a creative hole in my psyc that I haven't been able to fill since I was a child (barbies can only do so much not that it was a lot in the first place). This is kinda like the difference between book lovers, you either treat your books like the're the only copy on earth or you love them well past the time in which they are so tattered they don't really look like the book it once was.

 

In my case i would say i would probably engage in light handed daily interaction with my boy when i get him... he has such a huge personality already established in my head and i think the only way to really see who your doll is is to interact with them and other people with them... keep in mind these are not your standard china doll... resin is tougher than it looks.

 

I feel it's a bit of both. Mine aren't on display at the moment, simply because I have no room, but if I could, I would keep them on a nice cabinet with a nice outfit and pose, but I would also take them out of it often enough to pose them, take photos, change clothes, etc.

So I have my moments where I like to display them, and moments where I want to play with them, and I would and do take them out of the house, too, just not too often.

I think part is the "display them" comes from not only the price tag attached to them, but the fact that they are just too pretty. XD

In brief, because I'm in between, I can't say I lean to either side. I don't particularly feel they should be kept in any specific form, I feel it's more a matter of taste.

 

Of course it is personal choice. But the material (resin) being pretty resillient just cries out for "Play with me". Even the old bisque dolls, many of them were played with. Not all dolls will "survive" for the next generation, but mine are going to have a good time now! Play on.

 

If I could I would like to play with them everyday. But I don't cuz I'm worried about the wear and tear, and also... time constraints. Haha.

 

For some reason my mom keeps wanting to put mine in a cabinet! Every time we see a glass cabinet somewhere she's all like "ooo! that would be perfect for your dolls!!" and then I have to explain for the umpteenth time that I don't want to stick them in a cabinet, I like the idea that they're out and accessible. Funny thing though, she doesn't want a cabinet for her msd, just for my dolls So maybe it's all more of a person perspective thing?

 

I play, cuddle, mod, and customise a lot with my dolls. Some of them sit in the living room as decoration, until I pick them up to play with or cuddle them. Having them in eye sight makes me do more stuff with them. So yeah, my dolls are extensively used and they show it. Not that they are broken and damaged, but they do get a scratch here and a nick there. I don’t mind, because I value the play fun I get in return.

Nevertheless, I completely understand people who pay $600+ for a doll and then several hundreds of dollars to get the right shoes, outfit, wig and eyes (those can become expensive too when all summed up) only to put the doll in a display case. To them they didn’t spend that large an amount of money on something they’ll take outside, expose to the elements, put it down in the mud and take pictures. They’ll treasure their doll with their eyes and mind and the doll will stay lovely till the end of days.

Unlike my dolls and their outfits. Last week one of my favourite pair of doll shoes got damaged. There’s a little tear in it and I think it must have happened during transportation when something rubbed against it. No sweat, I’ll just alter the shoes to cover up the damage and have new and improved shoes! Same thing goes if one of my dolls gets damaged. I’ll just patch him or her up and make it part of the doll. It’s the risk that comes with playing with your dolls.
If my dolls were cabinet babies, my favourite pair of doll shoes would never have gotten damaged and I would still be able to enjoy a perfect pair of shoes. It’s a choice we make and I don’t think there’s a good or bad choice when it comes to this.
I've heard people say that doll owners who put their dolls up for display and don’t play with them are bad doll owners and the doll goes to waste (and even worse: should be saved from those bad owners). I find that pretty judgemental and arrogant. As if there's only one good way to have these dolls and that happens to be those people's way.

A hobby this expensive should be enjoyed to the fullest. To me that means playing with my dolls as only display doesn’t cut it for me. To someone else that may mean preserving the beauty and treasuring their dolls with care.

 

I think that, as dolls, the usual is just to play with them. But as adults we are, we have a special concepto of "to play", and it means more like a way to enjoy expensive toys with care that not the concept a child would say.

I like to customize my dolls, dress them, undressthem, carry them to conventions an so, but I too take as care as I can, because after all they are expensive.

 

Hm this is an interesting topic
I can understand both, playing with them and putting them in a cabinet.

For me, its a bit of both, I love to pose my doll and change his clothing. ( for me that playing XD )
But when I dont play with him he has his place in my room where he sits savely and is displayed at the same time its also where he 'sleeps' hahaha

I personaly couldnt put my boy in a cabinet and never play with him, I like it when he sits on my desk when i'm behind the pc

 

I don't think that I'd let anyone play with my doll like she was a regular Barbie doll (those things are treated brutally by little kids) but at the same time, I really wouldn't buy a doll to just keep locked up in a case. I think there's a fine line between what's too rough and could ruin her and what is okay.

 

In my opinion, I do not consider them as actual play things you can toss around these few very days, but I don't think their Cabinet babies either. For the creator of dolls, I was researching, the people who created BJD's said that he wishes for people to play with these dolls and to not keep them bolted up in boxes or cupboards. So basically that proves we can play with them but because of their prices, we cannot do to extreme playing, so a little bit of everything is good.

 

Mine aren't cabinet material as I don't own a glass cabinet and it isn't safe with a 5-year-old sister around.

But they most definitely are play-things to me. Those Please Play With Care types.

If they're just gonna be bought to be displayed, then I see no point in getting BJDs since they're just gonna sit there being pretty.

But please don't attack me as this is my personal opinion. I do not say this to everyone I see or hear that they treat them as cabinet material.

For me, they go out with me to meets or to visit other dolls so we can put them together to take photos, let them 'chat' and what not. But carrying to events....er...it's too crowded... I don't mind if it's an all dolls event type...but cosplay events is a big no-no as there would be flashes going off....my babies~~~~

But if I do bring them to a cosplay event, that is because I'm setting up a booth and need them to display the doll clothes, wigs and accessories to be sold.

So my dolls are Please Play With Care play-things.

 

My opinion is that it's really up to each individual person. But for me, I keep most of my dolls put away in a trunk. They were expensive, and I really want them to last a very long time. But I also have one doll I just recently bought who I intend to keep out. Because I suppose I feel like they are meant to be played with, after all. : )

 

This is such a cool topic. Some would consider these art dolls. They are very individual and for the most part limited, as well as expensive. The most valuable antique dolls are the ones that were either rarely or never played with. It's all about condition and preserving history. But I wonder if the fact a child never played with them, takes away some of that history.

Any rate, I personally think of them more as playthings. I don't take vacations and justify the cost of the dolls as my entertainment.

 

I couldn't bear to see them locked away behind glass for their lives. They lose their life, their appeal, their personality when they lay untouched. I think they're meant to be loved by their owners! Although, my cousin is an avid collector of dolls and keeps hers in pristine condition, but she still cares for them very much...In my opinion, though, part of the appeal of BJDs (for me at least) is giving them life!

 

I guess I'm of two minds about this. I "play" with my dolls but I also like to keep them looking nice and neat on their shelf. I'm not so much to the point that hey are only for display and that I only touch them with gloved hands. However, I will take them out of my room and off their shelf for photos, new face-ups and very rarely to the fabric store for pattern size and color reference. I don't take them to the movies or have them sit with me while do things like surf the web or watch movies on the couch. I play with them for my enjoyment, but still treat then like the expensive dolls that they are.

So, with me, they aren't total cabinet babies like porcelain dolls, but I'm also not about to play with them like Barbies either.

 

Mine are mostly playthings. My husband and I carry them around at conventions (when we aren't cosplaying), I'm always posing them for photos, I constantly making new clothes for them...
But when I'm not playing with them then they do go into a safe place.