Can you love them all?

I currently have 15 full dolls and one head home, and another girl in transit. I have plans for two more girls and a body for the floating head, so that will take me up to 19 dolls total.

The most I've ever had at one time was 38, I think. It was too many for me, personally. I definitely had favorites, and while I had a little bit of an attachment to each of them, some were nearly neglected without even proper clothing or really even fully finished.

I also tend to rotate dolls in and out, I'm not much of a collector. Usually if I bring home a new doll, a different one ends up leaving. It seems like 13-18 is usually about right for me. If I have fewer, I feel like I don't have enough characters for stories and I get bored. If I have more, I get overwhelmed and spread too thin and don't enjoy most of them.

 

I have 60+ dolls and no, I do not love them all equally. Does this diminish my enjoyment? No.

I prefer some of them as gorgeous display pieces (and some I refuse to move lest I scratch a 250+ bucks expensive realistic horse blushing ) and some get dragged around everywhere, including on motorcycle trips to other countries.
What I personally find important to find joy is that they all have a faceup fitting for their character and one set of "in character"-clothes (I call this the manga/comic approach, one signature outfit is enough for most of them)

As long as that works, I'll add more if one strikes my fancy.

How you enjoy your collection is something deeply personal so the art is figuring out what works for you. And if that's 50 dolls behind glass and 10 as ride or die? Or 2 dolls you drag everywhere? All behind glass? Somehing else?
Nothing wrong with any of that, you do yours!

 

I'm at 112 at the moment. No, I don't treat them equally, I have my favorites. But I try to take photos of all of them (at least one doll once a week), I have them on display and that's fine for me. There are days in which I don't touch a doll, but that's how some days are when you work full time, you come home, eat and almost go to bed instantly, there is no time for the hobby. Weekends are most likely the doll-days and my days off too ♥ I love doing things with them and since my theme is Circus a big crew is fine, a circus needs a big crew >w<

Oh and since the dolls are based on characters drawing the characters, discussing them or writing about them are also "doll time" for me.

 

I’ve only got 3 and I’m pretty happy with that! I do want more, but probably no more than 12! It seems overwhelming to have so many, I like to focus on a smaller number!

 

Right now I have 5 dolls, waiting to buy a new one when she gets released, and I have 3 other characters I want in doll form. So let's say my plan is to have around 10 dolls. I don't think I can say I won't have more BUT I think I would like to avoid to own meaningless dolls, I sometimes find difficult to handle just 5 (mostly because I don't have time at the moment).

There was a time when I wanted like 30+ dolls and with time I started to see how ridiculous it was in my case xD I don't think I could handle it. I already feel guilty for not being able to make them enough clothes and stuff...

 

I have the five in my signature, plus two alternate heads for two of them. I also have one OT doll I consider part of my BJD collection (he's 3D printed) and four that are/will be put up for sale soon. I'm in a minimizing phase at the moment.

If I had a lot of space and more money I'm sure I'd like a larger collection but, for now, I'll be happy once the ones that are going are gone and I'm down to my 5 or 6. They're all complete with their signature outfit, wig, eyes, etc, so once that's done I am hoping to be done. I started this hobby with a lot more disposable income than I have now and it's not like I do much of anything with my dolls so it's more a matter of being too attached to the ones I already have to get rid of them. I don't think I'm in danger of buying any more any time soon.

 

I have 3 with 1 floating head and his body should be here in May. Out of the four, one is my Grail, two for display, and the fourth will travel with me.

I've had almost 20 at one time in my collection, but like you said, I didn't love them equally, so they went to new homes.

 

I have 40 and have plan for few more. I do love them all but not equally. Most of them are displayed and with pride. However, few of them I love the most and I do have favorites. I just find that with the ones I dont use the most, I just cant bring myself to let them go, so they stay despite just sitting on my shelf. Each one of them represent something importaint to me. The only ones I let go are the ones that doesnt represent something.

 

I have in the 30 dolls range, and I love them all. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and that's when I know it's time to sell some off. I definitely have about 5 favorites, and three are DISPLAY only. About another 5 are sentimental and don't really get played with but I love them. The rest are in active rotation. I don't keep dolls I don't love.

 

Dolls are inanimate objects. They don't have needs like pets do. I keep mine in drawers so I don't even see them daily, just when I feel like taking photos. I also don't love them all equally or spend the same amount of money on all of them. And that's fine, because again, they're just dolls. I don't need to do anything with them to justify owning them.

I like owning my dolls. I sell a doll when I no longer enjoy owning it. If I see a new doll I desperately want, I get it.

 

My question is, why do people seem to think they need to love all of them?
I have cats, they need a lot of love. They're always all over me begging for attention...so I refuse to get more than the two I have because I don't think I'd be able to give them the love they need. Unless I quit my job and never leave the house again.

Dolls are not alive. They don't need anything. If I wanted to leave them all unstrung in a heap forever I could and it wouldn't matter at all.

So no. I can't love them all and I don't care. I enjoy all of them, If I didn't they'd go away. I've got my favorites. A small handful that I do love, to the point where if I had to get rid of the rest of them I'd cling to the 5-7 I couldn't let go of no matter what. I don't feel any guilt about not caring about the rest as much. They're just dolls, and they don't care either.

 

We've got 18 currently, and are heavily considering a few more. And we've had many more than that in the past! You definitely end up with favorites, but really all of our current dolls are my favorite, in one way or another. They're all characters for different shows and things and that in and of itself is enough to want hundreds more, at least for me. We've got chunks of five different casts and could easily expand that - either with more characters per cast or with more casts!

As far as "touching" them goes - we've got displays set up that everyone is in, and those change with the seasons/holidays, so at the very least everyone gets some love ~5 times a year, which is enough handling for them - they get appreciation all the time, after all. Our puki needs a friend though, he hasn't been out of his drawer for a while...

In the end, you do what feels right for you! Some people like their dolls behind glass, some people stick them in their purse. Some people have one doll, some people have 100. Like everything else with BJD, in the end it's up to your preferences.

 

I think you can easily love all your dolls more than enough to justify owning them while also having a very clear few favorites.

I have 25+, and I feel like I definitely still love all my dolls. That appreciation isn't really related to how much I handle them- I have them all prominently on display in my home and I spend a lot of time every just admiring them all.

My "favorites" usually are just the ones I spent the most time customizing, since spending a lot of time with a doll just makes me feel more connected to them. Similarly, "least favorites" are almost always just dolls I haven't put in as much time customizing yet.

 

I kind of want a bjd from every well knows company. A doll from each one. I feel buying different sculpts from the same company will still be like repeating. Once I can collect a bunch of dolls from different companies, I will be happy. And no, I wouldn't play with all of them but they make me happy, even if they are for displaying purposes.

 

Ouch..@ me next time lol

My dolls are display pieces, and nothing more. That doesn't mean I don't love them. I just love them in a different way: stationary in a glass case on display with other like collections to be looked at and admired in passing.

I will collect until I've no desire to collect any more, or I run out of space....or maybe i'll just buy a bigger house.

 

I only have one as of yet. I project emotions into her that she doesn't have because I'm crazy like that. At the same time I feel terrible for leaving her without pants for about a week after I got her, because I wanted to make her some myself (and because after spending all my fun money on her, wigs and a shirt I couldn't find pair of pants that were both affordable and the style I wanted for her and on the other hand would have no issues leaving her home naked and without her head cap because I needed to get her some pastels and needed a reference for her skintone.

And then again I brought her to my bedroom each night for a while because I didn't want to leave her in her box for the night in case she got lonely and decided I am a bad doll mama and plan to kill me. I'm cray cray and I know it. One minute she's my baby girl, the next she's just a doll. I used to have a severe phobia of dolls, so me owning dolls is the final step getting out of it. Some dolls still scare me tbh, but not my Lilly. ❤️

Hearing about how you guys have so many dolls I'm thinking you must either have a lot of spending money or have been in the hobby for decades. I mean 112 dolls? Amazing! That is quite an investment in time and money, I'm a bit overwhelmed, terrified and a tad bit envious at the same time. ❤️

Everyone does their hobby their own way and that's fine. OP you seem to need an emotional bond with all of your dolls, and if that is how you need it to be, then you need to find the right amount of dolls for you to still do that.

For me the amount of dolls I end up with will be determined by three factors; my wallet, how much I get into the hobby and my HAF (Husband Acceptance Factor).

 

I have to have at least 50 dolls and working on their displays and making props is one of my favorite things to do. I do find certain dolls lend themselves to certain "looks" but I usually like to change them around. My best friend won't even change her favorite dolls eyes while I am constantly experimenting and switching things up. I have sweet, fantasy some really bada@@ and everything in between. The one constant is that they are all girls. I am working on a bar/club setting so I can put a bunch of unrelated doll types in one display and really have some fun. The bartender needs to be really special so still deciding there hmmm...…..anyway I think however and whatever makes you happy rocks. If I hit the lottery I don't even want to contemplate the dolls I would add since my time would be freed up and I would be making things pretty much daily. For me it's like saying I love sushi so that is all I am going to eat. What about pizza, veggie burgers and cream of wheat??! I always loved dolls but finding bjds was a revelation for me. The sheer amount of customizing and look changing will keep me busy forever. I intend to be in the nursing home with some of my dolls if it ever comes to that!!! I totally support everyone else enjoying their dolls in the number and way that makes them happy. No body is better or worse, just different like with everything else.

 

I have 2 right now (I've owned 4) and in terms of how many I'd be comfortable with...I think it would depend on the size of the doll. I keep them out in a safe place, posed, and tweak them or take pictures when I want. When I look over, I feel joy and could never just shut them away even behind glass. I only put a doll away in preparation for selling, as it helps me become unattached. Attachment is important when it comes to dolls, whether you see that as love depends on you as a person. I certainly do feel love for my favourites.

I also have a really bad habit of just wanting dolls that I don't really feel attachments to, that's how I ended up with the two dolls I no longer wanted to keep. So I think it's important to feel a certain pull to a doll be that just joy or something like love.