Calling All BLACK BJD Collectors, Are You Out There?

Are you, or do you know of many black collectors in the BJD hobby?

I'm a black older female and I live in NoVA, too. However, I don't know anybody else who collects bjds because I have yet to attend a meetup.

If you are a black collector, how do you feel about the availability of non-Asian or Caucasian sculpts and/or skin tones, in the market?

I love the variety of skin colors that are available now. Iplehouse impresses me the most because the company did their homework and not just simply offer for sale a dark skinned doll with the same features as a light skinned one.

 

I'm actually not upset, perplexed, yes, but not upset. I don't have a problem with people wanting dolls that represent them. I want the same thing, but less in facial features and more so with skin color. As you mentioned all the other "people of color" probably also want dolls that represent them, as such I try not to assume that every tan/ebony doll that comes out is suppose to be a representation of African Americans or Africans or should be. Because if every one of them was, then you get a lot of other left out people. Like Indians and Native Americans and Amerindian's and a whole host of others. So, yeah I'm all for variety and varying skin tones, I just don't care if four out of the five tan dolls that comes out doesn't look like my people, for all I know they could look like someone elses. *shrugs*

 

@Teruchan Oh trust me I know about the hair, just don't know what the general term for that type of hair is...curly and usually thicker or dryer! lol It's a daily struggle for me! XD Thank goodness for flat irons! Which reminds me, that I don't even feel phased by seeing a black doll without natural hair because there is just so much variety and so many options! Even I don't wear my hair natural most of the time. A doll who is a human and who's character is set in the real world can realistically stray from the standard features and no one really questions a dark skinned doll with blonde hair or a fair skinned doll with a mohair wig (which my natural hair is totally like when it's combed out!). I think that's a fun thing that people can just appreciate the beauty of rather than trying to put a label on something. OuO Makes it more exciting to be able to mix and match cultures and features and traits to create a doll that speaks to you!

 

There are different grades to hair from super straight with no curl all the way to super tightly curled. A stylist should be able to tell you yours. Like when they say someone has "good" hair? My mom's is naturally very soft, fine, and generally straight. Mine is soft but much curlier; the only reason it poofs is cause it's so thick! I just wish my hair would decide to curl in a uniform way instead of every strand for itself, lol. XD Ah well, that's what I like about Adia! She can have the styles I like. :3 I've got a faux dred thing going on that is at least easy and I can sleep in: I make twists all over after washing my hair, let them air dry, and untwist and I have a head full of S-shaped locks that last a whole week.

 

I have to admit, I've always wanted a Black doll with purple eyes. Not sure what color hair he'll end up with, more than likely he'll have dreads like I do. He's more than likely going to end up being some kind of fantasy being since I want him to have a truly unique style. But that's a ways away from today.

I'm just glad that there is more diversity in the BJD world (both humanoid and resinoid) then when I first joined. It IS nice to see other humanoids of darker skin tones when I go to meetups now, even if we don't always interact directly. Comfort zone and all that.

Ryu

 

Are you, or do you know of many black collectors in the BJD hobby?

Counting myself, there are five all female. Two I only met once, one moved away, and one lives five hours away. So, we don't see each other that often.

If you are a black collector, how do you feel about the availability of non-Asian or Caucasian sculpts and/or skin tones, in the market?

I wish there were more. It seems, for me at least, that iplehouse and volks are the only ones that have produced a really nice looking tan doll. Other companies tend to have a plastic look to their dolls. I nearly fell out my chair when iplehouse released Cocori. The skin color and facial features were very realistic. I own a Benny in ebony and a Bibiane in light brown from them.

 

Are you, or do you know of many black collectors in the BJD hobby?
I'm a black female in college, but I knew I was never completely alone on DOA. It was only a matter of time before I found this thread. BJDs call to everyone who loves dolls but want realism despite your race.

If you are a black collector, how do you feel about the availability of non-Asian or Caucasian sculpts and/or skin tones, in the market?
I never really gave that a thought when I started my BJD family. I just went with what doll I fell in love with because the doll was the character I had in mind. It wasn't until I found Iplehouse that I started to scope out companies that had a tan skin (think caramel) that I can love enough to buy. Like everyone said here, casting resin is hard and to add color to it is a tedious process that can cause a marbling effect (that's why the tan skin option is always a bit more expensive to buy). As for scuplts, Iplehouse wins that prize for making scuplts that look racially diverse. I know this because my family and friends think my Iplehouse YID boy, Maseru, is black or at least mixed with black and some think he's just mixed with a lot of races or something like that. I love racial ambiguity myself. I think that we need to give these companies time to explore how to sculpt more race-appropriate dolls, and hopefully, they won't go for the "stereotyped" look either because that just won't cut it and make the whole aspect of racial diversity in the BJD world redundant and worthless. It will catch on in all of the companies eventually.

As for my own BJD family, I have two white-skinned (one is a snow white and the other a paper white) and one tanned doll. I'm not a big fan of the peach tone but have a thing for dark red hair, inky black hair and sandy, dirty blonde hair for my characters. I like what I like and I'm proud of it and my characters' diversity.

 

me too me too!!! *3*
I'm still waiting for a company to release a young looking black male doll! and when they do, he's coming home to me and definitely getting purple eyes! (yes, I know iple sells some black dolls, but their boys are way to mature and muscular for what I want!)

 

[The doll on this link is gorgeous!] I'm typewriter paper WHITE skinned. Except I have a tendency for freckles, and reddish hair, which I've embraced whole-heartedly with chemicals in a box to give me bright red hair. [sooorrrry. off-topic?] I had wondered about the homogeneous tendency of this hobby . I haven't been out to meets yet, so I don't know about the individuals in my area. I got a degree in Sociology because things about human nature, like this, interest me. I'm glad you posted a thread so we could learn more about each other, whatever amount of melanin we have in our skin. OR cultural influences we've grown up around.

Some of my family would embrace this hobby, and others don't understand anything that isn't about making money, or "doing good" ~

Mariano G...you may be more with your people here than anywhere. Even though we are wildly individualistic people in the bjd collecting world, THAT is our common ground I'd say. And it is refreshing to find people I feel a part of. Even though I am white in a predominantly white area, I feel "apart" from most people, not "a part of". But I understand that having your skin color be the thing most people notice first about you is not something I will ever experience and cannot honestly know how it feels for you. I have had times when I felt sort of like a "winged unicorn" ...

Guess I like it. Bright red hair and all. I love variety. I have a dark tanned Dollstown Arin, dark Mina,,,a lot of dark dolls. And a pink Lucky, and other sculpts in blue, lilac, gray, green. Been trying to decide about a dark Doll Leaves Mortin before he is no more. But that one has a sharp pointy nose, so no resemblance to the beauty of African DNA on that face. I want more black features, not just skin tone. I think they are beautiful.

Apparently our creator likes variety too.

 

So beautifully put!

Ryu

 

Just to add randomly, Judging a doll by how 'black' it looks is never an easy thing, and not needed in my opinion...


DSC01026 by LusisxZero, on Flickr



My Idealian London has a VERY dark brown skintone, African maybe? The photo makes him look paler. And yet I don't think he looks african-american at all. He could be made to - He has the right features. I don't think there is a problem with a lack of diversity in resin races... The hobby is all about customizing, whether it be modding or painting. I think it's possible to work with what is a 'base' and enhance the features until you get the race you are looking for o^o

Just wanted to add my two cents. I'm a 'fair' skinned, freckled red-head naturally : ) Also "Normal skin" refers to the most basic skintone. "Beige" or "Peach" wouldn't work as each company may have more pink or more brown or more yellow or more blue or any other colour in their basic skintone. You wouldn't like to receive a pink skinned doll if the label read "Peach skin" would you? XD

 

well I'm not black black I'm hispanic and black does it count? XD

 

Been awhile since I've been in the General Discussion forum so I'm just seeing this thread. It'll take awhile to catch up but I wanted to address the original questions.

I'm a Black collector and I know there are a few others who regularly interact in the local doll community. I don't actively collect bjds in darker resins, but I'm sure I'll be bowled over one day by a sculpt. It would be nice to see more of the companies offer darker resins. As for the ethnicity of sculpts themselves, we've all noticed despite these dolls primarily coming from Asian-based companies, there are few Asian inspred sculpts. What's come out of late has come from demand. That's really what everything boils down too. Having enough demand for the companies to feel they can make a profit on the investment.

 

@Mariano G: There are people of that color with baby blue eyes. It's rare, but it does exist. I'm not really sure if they give eyes based on whether it fits or whether it's random. I think blue eyes like that can look nice with dolls of that tone.

 

I had to edit my post a little for on-topicness. You say "clearly African features", but you also have to remember they might not look clearly African to someone else. Dolls are meant to be personalized and customized, so I can understand throwing in other features. It could just be me as an artist, but I don't look at as portraying a certain ethnicity. The features are meant to be ambiguous, but there's also a market for something other than pale skin, thin lips, and tiny, sharp noses. That being said, "throwing blue eyes" into the doll doesn't seem that farfetched. They don't know what you think of the doll, they only know you want an "ebony skin" doll.

If they asked every person what eyes they wanted in the doll, it would lead to utter chaos. It would be inevitable that one color is picked more often than the others, and would lead to a small shortage, then an uproar about how they should have the correct colors for being such a big company. I think it's safer just to have random eyes.

 

Erm... I'm actually full blood Korean so I probably don't really belong on this thread ^^; but I wanted to just voice an opinion of the normal skin thing that you guys were talking about on page 4. I was thinking the normal skin is sort of a whitish or sometimes peachy color (Depending on the company) because ABJD's are asian dolls and are a representation of asian people, right? All the Japanese people I've seen are pretty pale skinned (but that could just be me) and I see Koreans every week and honestly adult koreans are pretty pale. (I'm on the darker side and I'm in no way dark skinned 'o' ) so its not so much that it has anything to do with caucasians, but more or less its just asian skin color.
Plus, theres that "the paler you are, the prettier" thing that's sort of a fad in asia

-sorry for busting into your thread like that, just kind of wanted to voice my opinion heheheeee...-