Changing tastes in dolls?

The start of my collection was mostly stylized sculpts. Luts and Fairyland especially. Also owned a lot of boys. And fantasy sculpts like elves and centaurs and such.

Lately I've been migrating toward less stylized and more realistic features. Dollmore and Kaye Wiggs, for example. And I somehow ended up with more girls than boys now. I still love the fantasy sculpts, though. Fairyland is one of my fave companies to get those.

 

When I first joined the hobby I liked dolls that had larger eyes and heads, now I like sculpts that are not too realistic but are more mature looking. The best example I can give is that my first doll was a Dollzone Shoyo, and now I have 3 different Withdoll Emmas XD

If you're like me and like the look of more mature dolls but the size or price of minis more I highly reccomend Withdoll minis and Luts' Midel Delf line. @Musume also has a blog post on other mature mini companies Id link to but am on mobile so cant right now.

 

When I started I wanted the realistic sculpts in SD size. Now I’ve moved on to fantasy MSD sculpts and completely love them. I’m also getting more male sculpts then female sculpts.

I also started with wanting to get dolls that I thought were pretty. Now I’ve changed to get dolls that fit in to a story/narrative. Most of those dolls will be fantasy MSD with a couple of SD and YoSD.

 

When I first started out, I wanted fantasy minis only. No human sculpts, no bigger dolls, and especially none of those cutesy kiddie Yo-SD size dolls.

Then I got my first LittleFee, and now I have eight (plus four Teenie Gems). I got a MNM head for a character I love, and while I didn't stick with it, I ended up with quite the selection of human sculpts. And I fell in love with two older sculpts, so I have a pair of bigger dolls now, too.

I have at least largely stuck with more stylized sculpts overall, since I want the newcomers to fit aesthetically with the existing dolls, even when they're from different narrative groups, but most of my other preferences shifted to the degree that the two larger dolls I have are ones I actually couldn't stand when I first got into the hobby!

 

It seems a lot of people's tastes do change. I'm probably more unusual in that my tastes have barely changed at all. When I first started collecting 12 years ago, I was drawn to male, semi-stylised sculpts in 60-70 cm range. I liked the early elfdoll boys, lati red, and the smaller eyed Volks sculpts like Isao, Michele and Yukinojo. And that's pretty much exactly what I still like! If anything my tastes are even more entrenched now. Partly this is because I want my dolls to match stylistically as much as possible, and partly, I just know what I like, I guess.

 

Im really new to the hobby too (literally a few months, don't havw my first doll yet) and I've had this so many times! I also went from not wanting boy dolls then falling in love with some male sculpts. I've also gone through really really wanting a specific doll as my first then changing my mind and becoming unsure if I actually want that doll anymore! I also didn't want any fantasy dolls at first, just realistic but I think I would kinda love to get an elf sculpt at some point!

 

I used to have all girls and my wish list consisted of mostly sd sized girls. I had a lot of different types of sculpts, stylized, realistic, fantasy. As long as they were pretty. I had a few male characters I wanted to shell, but after having a unoa boy, I wasn't as keen and sold him. Now, though, I have mostly slim msds and tinies on my list, rather than sd's. I prefer stylized sculpts over realistic and I have boys!!!!

Honestly I find it fascinating how our preferences change and evolve. I was just talking to my friend about it last night too.

 

When I started I didn't like child dolls. I now have one and ordered another! My collection is still mostly 65-70cm boys, though.

 

Hmm. I'm a new doll owner, but I've known of and appreciated dolls for years. At the start I really liked the stylized, animesque sculpts (and I also really liked Luts) and for a little while I liked things that resembled MH dolls, big eyes and small noses and so on.
Lately I've been interested in both more realistic and less perfect sculpts. I'm talking crooked noses, weak chins, just what's considered "less ideal". I also, separate from this other interest, want more plus-sized dolls and definitely dolls with varied skintones (more darker dolls!) The eye craves variety.

 

Ok, I'm almost 10 years into the hobby, so I'll just make a timeline. XD

-2008- I only wanted mature MSD boys, in the Dollzone or AoD aesthetic.

-2009- Ok, maybe a couple of MSD girls, but quickly decided girls were not for me and I only wanted mature MSD boys.

-2011- After borrowing a friend's SD boy, I decided I liked SD a lot more than MSD due to more mature options, and more wig, clothing and shoe options. Proceeded to sell every MSD I had except my first within the next year and get all SD boys.

-2013- Got Hailey, SD girl, and bonded more to her than any girl I had ever owned before. Still preferred boys, but decided to give girls another try.

-2016- Got Erica as a trade offer, and began the SD girl obsession. I also got an Aimerai Enfield Horror because I like the true story, and that triggered my love for little weirdies and pet dolls. Since getting them, I've sold, bought and traded several dolls, and almost all of the ones I've gotten and kept in that time were SD girls or tiny creatures.

So, in my time I've gone to from MSD semi-realistic mature boys to SD realistic/semi-realistic girls and weird tinies. That's a pretty big jump!

 

These are all fun to read! I don't have a long bjd history (I've only been an owner for almost a year) but my tastes have changed.

Originally, I wanted small dolls. I love miniatures, and I was a bit self-conscious about the idea of owning dolls, and I wanted to keep her low-profile. However, now that I've had experience with Tinies (19cm and 27cm) and a MSD (48cm), I realize I like the larger sizes because they are SO much easier to sew for. I don't know if I can go as large as SDs (although I love the realistic sculpts) because I'm a small person and even the 48cm MSD is a bit heavy and awkward for me to handle, but if the right SD comes along, I may try it.

In terms of changing of tastes, some tastes that remain firmly in place is that I don't want fantasy dolls or dolls with unusual skin colors or most dolls from the more popular companies (Fairyland, Iplehouse, etc.). I like looking at pictures of all types of dolls, though

However, some changes are:

I originally thought Pasha Pasha dolls were too weird-looking, but now I really, really like how the shoulder joint looks in photos, and I appreciate that they are not conventionally pretty.

Also, I never wanted a "cute" doll, but now I think it would be fun to eventually have a girl to dress in pastels and anime outfits (I have my eye on Haru's Maji - I love their company and would like to support them). Also, my brother loves anime, and it would be fun for her to cosplay his favorite characters.

I always thought I wanted a single doll to spoil and enjoy, but I can't find the single "perfect" one, and I really enjoy seeing photos of dolls interacting with each other, so I will have to find at least two or three dolls that I like that are in the same scale.

Basically, my tastes are a work in progress!

 

Yeah definitely have had a change in taste I once thought that the more realistic dolls were kinda creepy and were more interested in Dollfie Dreams (As originally collected azone neemo dolls & pullips). Of course, upon seeing the forum and the many beautiful dolls, I now see the variety of sculpts and other brands I never knew about! (Which makes Dollfie Dreams now seem rather limited ) Of course, don't get me wrong! still love Dollfie's, but I now also love the more realistic dolls such as 'Fairyland' and 'Iplehouse' !

 

My taste in dolls wasn`t changed. I still want the doll that I wanted when I was a schoolgirl.
More generally: I like SD boys. More than girls of the same size. And kid dolls I like only from other owners.

 

When i 1st started, i only wanted girls! And only attracted to not smiling kind, my 1st 2 girls are kinda moody looking! Then i got a volks kuuta as a bday gift from my bf and i started to like boys and i have 3 boys and 4 girls now! 2 of my girls kinda have a smile, lol

 

Yes, my tastes have certainly changed since I've been in the hobby!
But really, our options were more slim in 2006.
My first doll was an Abio Angel and Elfdoll Lydia. There weren't many dolls that were uniquely shaped, or stylized.
I have gone from having a whole slew of male MSDs, some tinies, and some girl dolls to basically a whole lot of Pipos Cheshire cats and 60-70cm boys.
After having girl dolls (I've really tried), I can never seem to bond with them. No matter how many I've bought. Same thing with Yo-SD sized human dolls and anything smaller. I've pretty much found my niche with SD sized boys. Despite thinking originally that MSD and girl dolls were for me.
However, I'll still hoard any SD Shiwoo I can get my paws on. That might never change.

 

I started with big resin (SD 70cm) but recently I started manipulating Dollfie Dreams and vinyl dolls and... Well... I never thought I'd ditch resin but vinyl feels so much better to me. Also I never thought I'd get another SD dolls because they're not practical... Now I have 3 and more coming probably xD

 

In 2006 it was all Luts/CP SD dolls, mostly girls but a few boys. I loved the big doe-eyed girls, Soo was my first.

In 2010 I decided to go back to school which meant moving home and having less space, so I sold all my SD dolls and started the Minifee addiction. I've always had a bit of an OCD thing where I want my dolls to look like they belong together so I stuck with Fairyland for quite a while. In about 2012/2013 I started getting some SD dolls again, but still mostly Fairyland with a few Luts sculpts.

2014 I got my first Dollfie Dream and well... that changed things drastically. In the time since then I've realised that I love the SD size but prefer vinyl as it's lighter and easier to pose. I also don't do boy dolls, no idea what to do with them. Most of the SD resin got sold, a few of the minifee moved on and the DDs have multiplied like rabbits.

Currently I've realised that while yes, I like groups of dolls to look like they belong together I no longer want all my dolls from just one or two companies. The last couple years I thought I wanted to downsize but I think what I really wanted was to diversify my collection. There are just so many pretty dolls... I can now say that once everything that has been ordered arrive I'll have dolls from 7 different companies and that makes me very happy