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Cheap doll after cheap doll?

Jan 17, 2011

    1. Because they want to. It;s that simple.
      They love their dolls for how they look. Just because you think they are hideous doesn;t mean the owner thinks so. And honestly all that matters is how the owner sees their doll.
      If you don't want to see pictures of dolls you don't like, don't look in the gallery, because I don't see it happening any time soon that everyone will conform to your tastes.
       
    2. Bingo! You've got it :)

      Expense is relative, and mods are definitely in the eye of the beholder. I can appreciate a really well done gore mod, but things like that can bother other people. But then, art isn't always 'pretty'. I prefer to look at things that are well done, but well done doesn't always mean beautiful in the traditional sense of the word.

      Ultimately, people can do whatever they want to do with their own dolls, and that's how it should be. Would you want some one telling you that you're playing with your dolls wrong? I wouldn't *shrug* This is a big place populated by a lot of different people and their dolls. It is inevitable that you will come across stuff that for whatever reason you just don't like. That's ok, it's normal. When that happens, rather than dwell on it, just move on to something else that appeals to you more. Expecting people to conform to what you approve of is only going to annoy them and drive you nuts. It's better to live and let live and not worry about it so much.
       
    3. actually gore mods gross me out, but thats just me, i think people who do that to their dolls have deeper problems. depending on the type of gore mod you're talking about.


      people just love their dolls because they do. i'm not even talking about those people.

      I have a problem where i try to argue a point and people don't understand.
       
    4. People don't understand because I don't believe there's anyone on this forum that neglects their doll or doesn't love them. Why would they even be on this forum if they don't like their doll?
       
    5. That's really a lot of assumptions building on other assumptions, and it makes the logic quite faulty, I'm afraid.

      Going in smaller bits...

      But where it's from is still a factor of final price point, and that isn't something all owners know. It comes up regularly, "how can the companies from -place- sell so much cheaper than the companies from -other place-?!" If someone is drawn more to the popular aesthetics from a certain place, that may skew their purchases towards one end of the spectrum or another.

      What does quantity have to do with it? I have what someone could probably say is 'tons of dolls', though they aren't on the less expensive end of the spectrum. (They run the gamut.) I can also tell you that most of the common assumptions people make based on this fact are hilariously dead wrong. Maybe that want a little tribe of teensy pixies, maybe they want a rainbow from resinsoul -- you never know what someone's plans entail, and making the assumption that they're just buying them to fill space is like saying a woman must be getting a cat to satisfy her ZOMG need to have a baby. It's the same sort of broken logic. Maybe it's true in a few rare cases, but there's still plenty of people who just like cats, too.

      Price and quality are related, but there isn't a direct line correlation between price and quality. There are a lot of factors there. And, again, what if they don't want one big doll, but a teensy army of pixies, or a rainbow of elves? What if they live with destructive siblings or pets that can't be wrangled away from their dolls, and don't want what gets gnawed by Nibbles to be the price of a downpayment on a car? There are so many options behind 'why' that have nothing to do with impatience that it's downright confusing to me that you choose not to recognize their existence.

      How is it obvious? Tell you what, I've got tons of shoes, but only a few pairs are over $200. You could apply the same reasoning. You could say, "Dee, you do not need almost 200 pairs of shoes, this is getting silly!" (And you'd be so right... :lol: ) "You should toss all the cheap ones and get yourself a nice pair of Prada boots! You have to have loved SOME expensive shoes!" Well, yeah, sure. I certainly have. But while I can justify picking up a pair of $250 designer heels I'll wear once off a clearance rack for $20, there's not enough love in the world that will justify spending $250 on the same thing, and unless there was a particular reason to need them that set them apart from the crowd -- a special event, I'd get more use out of it, or something mind-blowingly distinctive -- that'd just be the way it goes. By the same token, I pine for a pair of boots that'll likely cost me upwards of $2k that I'd consider a completely worthwhile investment; I don't get them now because they're custom made, and I'd rather finish losing weight before ordering them than having to do it again in a few years. Yet, by your logic, I'd just be 'filling the need for my ZOMGspensive boots with lots of little clearance rack finds' -- which isn't remotely true. A lot of people think in the same terms and do a cost-benefit analysis in the same or similar ways.

      Again... lots of assumptions building on one another and leading to a very narrow and faulty conclusion there. It may be true of some folks, but probably far fewer than you think.
       
      • x 1
    6. Well, really, that's your opinion and you're free to have it. But be ready for resistance because a lot of people don't share this opinion.

      Also, please be careful with your phrasing. I know a lot of people will instantly turn when they hear their collections compared to "bargain items and garbage."

      They're enjoying their dolls their way. You don't really have a right to judge them because you enjoy your dolls differently. Your browser has a back button - God knows I've used it enough times when I've stumbled across aspects of the hobby that I don't particularly like.

      The thing I think you're missing about this hobby is it covers people from all walks of life. Talk to any two people in this hobby and they'll give you a different answer as to what the hobby means to them. If you don't keep that in mind (and the handy-dandy back button poised and ready) a lot of people are going to react harshly to statements that perhaps weren't as well-thought as they could have been.

      Apologies if this post is littered with grammar errors. I am just about to head off to bed for the night.

      ETA: Ultimately, as well, they're dolls. As much as I love Lief, at the end of the day, Lief is a hunk of plastic in a humanoid form. Dolls can't be neglected. There is no proper way to 'treat' a doll. As much as people wax poetic about their doll and it's personality, at the end of the day, that is the projection of the human owner. The doll itself is just an inanimate object that looks pretty.

      Okay. Now I'm really going to bed.
       
    7. Everyone collects dolls in their own way.

      There is no right or wrong way to collect dolls.
       
    8. It's kind of like a person's attitude towards anything else, like clothes for example. My mother always told me to buy a few good things, as opposed to a pile of crappy ones.
      Usually I am underwhelmed with very cheaply made dolls. However I have loved other people's "cheap" dolls, I saw one this weekend that I adore, she is an adorable uniquely customized and very nicely dressed one. Also I don't judge people on their dolls. That is just silly. And I don't care how or why they spend their money. That would be outrageously obnoxious. That said, prices have come down, making some dolls (not Volks unfortunately) much more affordable. Also, I have seen the "cheaper" dolls done very nicely, just not by me lol.
      My problem is that I do love all sizes, and it always seems like such a bargain to get a tiny. Or twelve.

      I think it does come down to apples and oranges, aesthetics, or the artistic quality of a doll's sculpt and other details vary enormously. While I am a total Volks maniac (see avatar) I am constantly disappointed in their body sculpts, especially on the MSD side of the world, talk about your neglected doll! I loved Unidolls for the beautiful quality of the sculpture of the bodies. I did not love Bobobie, not because of the body sculpt in particular, but because of the feel and abilities of it.

      But at the end of the day, it does not have to do with price tag. That's why a forum like this is very useful for participating in a hobby where you can't actually see or touch many things that you are plunking down a lot of money for. Two things from different companies may look similar and be priced similarly, but they may be completely different in quality.
      Let the buyer beware.
      And it does crack me up to hear about neglected dolls. I suppose that the level of care you give to anything in your life is subject to judgment if you put it out there, and that just satisfies some people's needs to dissect and critique, there is a whole other forum that dedicates itself to it, if you are one of those needful folk, go there.
       
    9. I'm not even going to bother being specific here because everyone else has already done it for me so I'll settle for asking the simple question:

      Really, why in god's name do you CARE what some happy soul on the other side of the world to you with 107 "cheap" dolls is doing with them?

      Dude, just enjoy YOUR collection however the hell you want to and learn to live and let live.
       
    10. Or maybe rather than having deeper problems they really just happen to like zombie movies ;)

      This is a great example of something you're having trouble with, and that's making assumptions. Maybe the doll with the not so great faceup has an owner that does care for her, but is a beginner and that faceup is an early attempt. Maybe the person with tons of inexpensive dolls really does love them -- unless you know that person, you can't tell either way. Maybe if a doll is damaged, the damage happened due to a total flukey accident -- crap happens sometimes even when you're careful.

      But you can't always tell who those people are. The person with the gore modded doll that icks you out may love that doll to bits. A poorly styled doll can easily be lack of practice rather than a lack of love. The point is, you don't know exactly how people feel unless they tell you.

      Are people not understanding you, or just not agreeing? This is what I'm getting from you're posts: you don't like what you see as neglectful owners, and you also tend to lump people with lots of inexpensive dolls in that category too. But there are issues with this.

      1) There is no universal standard for good and bad dolly ownership.

      2) You really don't know the people that are posting on DoA, which leads you to make assumptions that maybe not be correct.

      3) I've seen very well done inexpensive dolls and poorly done pricier dolls and a lot of dolls of both kinds that fall in the middle somewhere. If you want to discuss what you see as poor dolly ownership, you should probably have left the price of the dolls out of it as well as numbers of dolls. You really confused the (non)issues here.

      4) People can do whatever they want with their own dolls which pretty well negates the complaints that you have.

      If I and others am missing some integral point of your argument, then you need to rephrase it so we understand.
       
    11. This is going to reiterate what a lot of people have been saying.
      My collection is mostly anthros. The most expensive anthros, first run, company face up etc etc probably top out at about..500? that constitutes, in this hobby, as a 'reasonable' price...(perhaps not ounce for ounce in resin,but for a normal collector, this is a doable amount to save for over time)
      so why do i collect anthros? is it because i can get a limited, gorgeous Pipos for less than the cost of a basic 'midlevel' SD from a 'popular' company?
      nope! it's cuz i love anthros....and no matter what anyone says, until i get tired of them, nothing changes that.

      i don't give a patootie if it's cheap, or expensive, as long as i have the funds, have the means, and have the desire. My personal tastes are my own. people who 'care' what i do with my stuff? That is totally THEIR bag. life is too short to hate on someone for what or who they buy, and what they do to them.

      if someone was to tell me 'your cheap doll =/= your expensive one' i'd tell them 'your opinion =/= mine'
       
    12. I was savin' this one 'til I was done with my coffee, even though Taco just nailed it.

      I have gleefully bought dolls that are the 'monsters' you describe in a previous post, and refer to here. (IMPL Miguel, even Soom's Bix counts as 'creepy creature' when it comes right down to it -- and that's if you don't count all the hooved and fanged and winged and taloned under that heading as well. Some do, some don't.) I suppose that in your narrow little world, I want to sprout fur and hooves and prance merrily about the countryside while mutating into a demon creature and... well, no, see, I can't even construct a properly ridiculous example here of what 'deeper problem' I'd be trying to demonstrate because the variety there is so diverse. Unless 'deeper problem' means 'grew up on mythology and folktales instead of Disney', which I don't see as a problem. Or maybe 'deeper problem' means 'was really scared of monsters and horror movies as a little kid, and made a point of getting over it, and really loves them now, particularly from a creature design perspective'? Thing is, none of those things are 'deeper problems' -- for anything but that wingnut theory, I suppose.

      I could just as easily make an argument that people who have problems with gore mods and monsters have trouble separating reality from fantasy because it's just a doll and cannot feel pain and the likes, and they just need to toughen up and get a thicker skin about it -- but that would be utter bunk, too. I could say that someone should, if they really have any respect for the arts or artistry, be able to separate the visceral subject manner in the work of someone like Giger from the amazing technique his work demonstrates, or its sheer creativity -- but I'm also smart enough to know that not everybody is going to be able to look past a lot of stylized genitals all over the place or the presence of alien fetus blobs or skeletons in profusion -- and so I refrain from sneering down my nose at them about it because, duh. It's visceral. Sometimes things are supposed to be. Sometimes that is the reaction the artist intends. This isn't that debate, though, so I'm going to stuff it at this point before I write a novel here.
       
    13. I like surreality's shoe analogy. Yes, I could save my money and buy a single pair of $200 shoes. But I need shoes for work, for shoveling snow out the driveway, for stomping around in the mud, etc. One expensive pair of shoes isn't going to fill all those needs. It works the same for dolls.

      That's OK! You're certainly allowed to think that. I might cringe when I see mods or a face up I don't like. The difference is I don't make the assumption there's something wrong with the person for doing so. Maybe they're just learning, or they like horror movies. I simply nod and hit the back button. If seeing these things is causing you enough grief to start a thread over it you might want to do the same thing.
       
    14. I know some owners, that are too impatient to save up more money for one doll...
      But the most important thing to me is, that they don`t look cheap xD
      I have seen a lot of doll owners here with tons of (in my opinion) very ugly dolls. I would prefer to own less and care more about them >.>
       
    15. I think this debate seems very "biased". Maybe those particular people like the cheaper dolls, does it really matter. People can buy whatever doll they want to. Also this could be viewed the opposite way, why would someone want to have several $500+ dolls? Others would say they spend too much money. I personally have to AoD girls which some might consider cheap, and I love them. It has nothing to do with my inability to save my money, if you know what I mean.
       
    16. the reason I buy "cheaper dolls" is because I think their sculpts are beautiful I love the slender and fantasy look, for " cheap dolls" they do a wonderful job and I own many because I like how they look, to me some of the more expensive dolls look awful just because it costs more doesn't mean you are going to like it or fall for it just because it is fancier. Also I love this hobby and all but I woyldnt ever spend more than 500 on just one doll especially when there are cheaper ones that look nicer imo.
       
    17. Agreed.

      I think I could be seen as having a really big range of cheaper and expensive dolls; some of what would be called expensive dolls I got for fairly decent prices! The first doll I brought I saved up over $400 to get, the last one which came through the post cost me..£45, not really sure what that rate is at the moment in $. Yeah, finding a bargain like that is awesome...but I also very much liked the doll I got for that price and have plans for her character now.
      My Resinsoul cost me £55 I believe, and she is one of the best dolls I have, her head is well proportioned, its a sculpt I like.
      My most expensive doll cost me over $1000...and I don't have any preference between them. I don't prefer the pricey ones I own over the cheap ones. My Bobobies at the moment are in 18th C style dresses, one of my hybrids is Volks body with a Bobobie head!
      I don't collect thinking of money, cheapness, priceyness or collect in a way that I have to buy certain dolls to "fit in".

      I collect what and how I want to :).

      (Grammer and other mistakes I can chalk down to tiredness. Apologies.)
       
    18. I agree with you.
      When I was about buy my first doll, I was thinking if the people will be diferent with me because I own a Bobobie instead a Luts/Volks. I try look for another
      mold for her but just cant find.

      I already see a LOT of Luts molds here on DOA that I found they pretty ugly, but I didnt put on my mind 'Luts dolls are always ugly'. I already found some BBB/RS more beautiful than a Luts, Volks or even Soom. To me, what made a doll pretty is the way that his owner make him,no matter the doll's price.
       
    19. That IMO at the end of your speech pretty much sums it up!

      It's all down to the individual what they want and like from this hobby! Thats what makes it so great.
       
    20. I have what I think is a very classy and elegant doll (my most beloved doll, by the way), and his body was, indeed, a bargain I found on the internet. It's a high-end body that needed repair, and I was able to repair it. Does that make me less of a collector? I like dolls of all price points, and I also love finding dolls that need to be repaired and fixing them up and making them pretty again. :)