Cheap doll after cheap doll?

Color me uneducated... what's BNF? *sweatdrop*

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I went back and read the very first post and thought "ok, that's a legitimate question and isn't worded particularly poorly..." It was the elaborations that followed that I think created a very different "tone." I was reading it going "stop now... you're digging your hole deeper and deeper every time you open your mouth!"

 

i have a dollfie plus from when i was about 13 and i love her to bits lol
she was very cheap but over the years of buying her clothes, wigs, faceups and such shes been expensive(ish)
i guess its all about your prefrence of doll i guess.
im planing on buying a more spendy one now, but at the time she was super cool to me so idk lol

 

I agree with this as well. My friend has a BBB and he is the cutest thing. They are not for me personally, but I don't think that anyone in their right mind could just "settle" for something that costs that much. It's definitely love for one type over the other IMHO.

 

Or what constitutes well done, loved etc. Everything is always relative to something else.

I could complain about other people's dolls and what they do with them, but then somebody else could look at my dolls and my faceups etc and complain that they're not good enough. Unless a person is some rare pinnacle of talent, there's always going to be somebody that does faceups better, that sew better, that takes better photography, that has more expensive dolls etc.

And speaking of cheap, what about hybrids that have an expensive part and a less expensive part? Or a doll bought second hand at a lower price that's maybe a bit older and doesn't come with some of the bells and whistles a brand new doll of the same type would have? There's a lot of situations and dolls out there that don't neatly fall into a particular category.

 

Big Name Fan, a member of a fandom who is particularly well-known

 

This! This, so much. In a way, I feel like I'm now privy to one of those mysterious elitist sightings I keep hearing about. Took over two years, but I finally got to see one!

Also: yeesh, if there was ever a time I wanted to say, "Please don't even pretend you're on my side," to someone for owning dolls from the same company, uh, yeah. Moemi18, the Soom fans already have a bugger of a rep for any number of reasons, I'd consider it a personal favor if you'd kindly refrain from anything that could be taken as a generalization that we all agree with this attitude, as that'll only make the whole mess worse.

 

Ahh! *lightbulb* Gotcha! Thank you for that!

 

Have to say... Having many dolls from many different companies...

Price does NOT reflect in resin quality at all. u__u;

Over here we have dolls from SOOM, B&G, AOD, DOD, ResinSoul, Alchemic Labo ('05 & '10 resin), Asleep Eidolon, Orient Doll and DZ and the difference in resins is rather minimal actually .__.

For example... The resin of our ResinSoul girl feels almost exactly like the resin of our stupidly expensive unoa girls lol xD

The worst resin and quality so far here has to be DoD >.< Their bodies are TERRIBLE posers. Even with double joints they just don't hold poses. Our single jointed DoD poses better, weirdly o__o

I have to say... AoD, one of the cheapest companies out there, has thus far produced the best poser amongst our troop xD Straight out of the box he stood, he touched his face etc etc...

And to comment on the faces? ^^; The price certainly doesn't reflect on the faces. Each company has a style, and people love the styles. So why does price have to be associated? As much as we love our Code.02, he had the most quality flaws upon arriving home out of the entire group xD We've actually just sold his body off in order to buy him a much cheaper body that suits us aesthetically more, so price had nothing to do with it. We already HAD the more expensive body and it wasn't up to our standards as far as posability goes and proportion go xD

So the moral?

If you love the sculpt? Buy it. If it's cheap? Woohoo! Bargain! if it's not? So what xD Save. save, save!

A resin child by any other company is still a resin child and should be loved ;D

 

I personally really like dolls in the cheaper price points. My grail doll was a DZ Binli that was previously owned and actually turned out to be the least expensive doll that I've purchased. Both my MSDs are less than $300; it doesn't mean I love them less than my nearly $600 SDs. While looking for my next MSD, I looked in all price ranges but still found the one I loved best was a DM Kid rather than the Limhos, Narins, MNF, Unoa boys, etc...

I'm not interested in spending thousands on any single doll, because it would make me too self-conscious about its safety at every given moment. I already treat my dolls very carefully, but I like the ability to play with them, pose them, sew for them... etc. High-price is a hinderance for me.

I've done faceups on OT dolls before, and despite getting pretty decent... I just didn't enjoy doing it. I applaud peope who are will to take on that artistic component themselves. It's not for me to judge their happiness with the doll by how finely they paint eyelashes. It's their doll, and how they connect with it is an individual process. The first OT doll I painted wasn't a great job, but I don't love him less than the last one that I painted once learning more techniques. I'd be loathe to repaint him, because there was a certain glint of personality that the original faceup has that I'd be sad to lose.

My sewing has gotten much better as I've continued, but it doesn't mean that I loved my first BJD any less when I was learning. I bought him some starter clothes, and he's got a nice expensive suit for special occassions. He never wore a sock dress, but his first clothes were nowhere near what I can make now...

I prefer to keep a smaller collection so I can give my dolls lots of individual attention, but that doesn't mean everyone has to enjoy their dolls the same way. Family planning for dolls is as individual as family planning for kids. Some folks want large families, and others don't. There's nothing wrong with either.

Finally, just because some people weren't satisfied with their less expensive sculpts, doesn't mean that I have any interest in ditching mine for a more expensive company whose sculpts just don't appeal to me. It doesn't matter how high someone thinks the quality of the expensive companies is. I LIKE what I buy, and I'm not about to buy a more expensive doll that I don't love just to satisfy someone else. I love my mom's BBB tiny, and I'd never want to see her replaced with something else. She's precious, and I love her like my own dolls. I get sick of seeing posts that still assume that everyone would be happier saving up for something pricier or that less expensive dolls are good "starter dolls", when I and many others are completely happy with the dolls that we pick in any price range. Picking less expensive dolls doesn't mean that anyone is settling; settling is getting something other than what you really want no matter which direction that takes you in price.

 

I'm not really sure what the debate topic is even really about here. Is she asking what makes people buy 'cheap' dolls? If people like cheap dolls or not? Seems to me like the OP was just stating her opinion and looking for people to agree with her.

 

The original post is a fair one, I think. I mean, even I will stop and wonder a moment, when I see someone with a large number of cheaper dolls, if they're buying dolls they love or if they're settling. But I also stop a wonder for a moment when I see someone with only expensive dolls, and wonder if they're passing up cheaper dolls they love because they're cheap.

And then I shake my head and move on with my life, 'cause until I start paying for someone else's dolls, it ain't my business what they buy or why they do it.

I believe this OP is not a troll, so much as a rare example of the Elitist that everyone seems to be afraid of. And I don't believe his/her elitism is out of malice, simply...ignorance.

Also, I love that the guidelines specifically say "shitstirring". That makes my day every time, man.

 

I think you should save and buy the doll you love, regardless of price. I fell in love with Narae when I first found this hobby, but her price was too far away from my comfort zone. So I bought a lot of other dolls, and sold a lot, and finally succumbed to a Narae who I absolutely adore. However my favourite doll? A 'cheap' Resinsoul Mei with a gorgeous faceup by Cristy Stone. Price is irrelevant, some people love the 'cheaper' dolls and others love the more expensive ones. And I think we lose track of what is 'cheap' - my friends would gasp at the price of my cheapest bjd!!

 

I buy a variation of priced dolls, but the way I see it, if someone wants only to have Bobobie or only to have Volks it's their choice, the doll community is small but vast in interests and sometimes people just don't care the price or really care the price. What ever suits their interest, I have 12 dolls from and 2 heads from seven companies, cheaper ones like Bobobie and Angel of Dream, mid range price Dollzone and expensive price Dragon Doll, Ringdoll and Everpurple. Not to mention I have Dollmore and Soomies on the way and yet I still want a Bobobie Tony. I see no problem in this!

 

To be fair though, posing is more the result of engineering than resin quality. I totally agree that price doesn't tell you anything about the look or pose-holding abilities of a doll (my cheapest doll can hold an unsupported pose like a statue), but I have found that the least expensive dolls do show a difference actual resin quality (in terms of weight/grain/etc). I do think that once you get into the mid-range and above there's less of a price:resin relationship, and I think much of the time the resin type is much less important than posing and/or the look of the sculpt so in the end it doesn't necessarily matter, but I do think it&#8217;s fair to say that there are some noticeable differences.


Which ties in to this part of the first post:

I think resin quality is often less important than any number of other factors. Posing abilities aren&#8217;t represented by price, the attractiveness of any particular head or body sculpt is too personal to be tied to price, and if you&#8217;re looking for a doll in a non-standard colour it&#8217;s actually some of the least expensive companies that offer the largest number of colour options as part of their standard offerings. If someone wants an army of multi-coloured Elfkins, there's no higher-end place for them to be found!

It's absurd to think that a single factor like that would matter equally to everyone. Different people, different tastes!

 

Slightly OT reply to earlier post: While I do agree that DOD has pretty bad resin quality (my DOD girl gets chips and gouges from the S-hooks simply touching the inside of her wrists), she's actually been a great poser. The problem with DOD is you have to string them HARD-CORE to get them to do decent posing. Like, get the thickest elastic that will fit in their channels, and get two friends to hold the problem child down while you pull it tight. They won't do anything with thin elastic except look at you with floopy faces.

 

I currently have 2 offtopic dolls and 2 ResinSoul/Bobobie tinies, 1 70cm ResinSoul/Bobobie on the way, 1 5Star Doll tiny, and 1 pukifee.
The first 6 dolls I listed all cost $200 or less, with my tiny little Pukifee being more expensive($300)

Price really wasn't the factor when I got ANY of them.

My first bjd is my RS Ni. I was looking at the dolls this bjd dealer was selling(all RS) while we were at a convention for my bday and I absolutely thought Ni was precious with her angelic face and her petite body despite being bald and naked, not because she was more affordable compared to the larger ones(they were all grey or had weird horns that didn't suit my tastes).

Husband bought her for me on the spot no questions asked, despite thinking even $120 was too much for a doll.
(his standards for "too expensive" for dolls has changed since then because he looks at dolls with me)

My other "cheap" dolls I either fell in love with the sculpt and could not stop literally dreaming about them despite seeing them just once or twice or they suited an OC of mine very well that I would love to have as a doll.

It just happens to be coincidence that ResinSoul and Bobobie have dolls I really like compared to alot of other companies out there. After my 70cm comes and I get a DoT Homme Ducan and a PW Goldie, I'll be back to ResinSoul to get twin Apollo dolls after I take a doll-buying break.

 

Just to quickly add xD We've done this and to no avail. The actual body itself isn't engineered to pose well i find xD Ah well :3 we're happy to be getting him a dragondoll body xD agree about the chipping etc though >< Flakey resin is flakey!

 

Then you would be disappointed to know that the majority of the big stack of Volks dolls in my signature is made up of "bargains I found on the internet".

All of the limiteds were obtained either at the original cost or LESS than the original cost. My F09 cost $300 (FCS MSDs with extras, just head and body, usually sold for $550-600 at that point). Each of my SD10 girls was purchased in pieces for far less than the cost of a standard SD10 from Volks despite having the more sought-after suwarikko body. I just got a SD13 boy head and body for around $500 including shipping (a standard SD13 boy from Volks is $800). They were absolutely all bargains, because even though I LIKE Volks, $800 for a doll is still way too much for me. Bargain-hunting lives, even on the expensive end of the hobby, and I wouldn't own most of these dolls if I hadn't gotten them for an absolute steal.

I'm happy for anybody who loves their less expensive dolls. It's great that they're happy with them and can afford to buy a bunch for the price I spent on a single doll. I totally acknowledge that I've spent a LOT on my dolls. I myself tend to find it a bit excessive. At the same time, though, what I choose to do with my disposable income is really my own business, and choosing to buy Volks dolls with it doesn't mean I think I'm "better" than someone who owns only Bobobie or AOD dolls. Those dolls just happen not to appeal to me personally. If they did appeal to me I'd happily sell off my lot, put the proceeds from one of the big dolls toward half a dozen of them, and laugh my way to the bank.

(Also I gotta admit that while I do like the resin and sculpt quality of Volks, these suckers can't pose worth a damn. I can't speak for the newer bodies like the SD17 or SDGr, but the MSD, SD10, and SD13 bodies? They hold the three poses they can do like rocks, but they can only DO like three poses. Sorry Volks. Fortunately flexibility isn't a huge priority for me or I would be one sad panda.)

 

Just like many in this thread have stated - what do we consider cheap to begin with? I can say that tinies are cheap - but some would instantly count the money against the "chunk of resin", and an 60 cm SD for $500 would definitely turn out "cheaper" than a 15-20 cm tiny for $200-250. Anything that's below $200, no matter the size? But then consider this: some people earn this much in_a_month in some countries, and it is considered "a good wage". I honestly cannot understand the concept of "cheap" here when the hobby is not cheap to begin with.

I think that when people buy more than 1 doll from a certain company (no matter, be it BBB, Luts, or Volks) it's because they simply like the style and quality. It rarely has anything to do with money, especially when a person owns more than 2 dolls (being in the hobby for less than half a year is an additional bonus). Some then decide to buy expensive clothes while others prefer to make something cozy because their character is, say, a house elf who doesn't really need anything spectacular.
And this never means that the owner of the house elf loves their doll less.

As to me - I have dolls from all ranges, starting with the inexpensive AoD and ending with several Soom MDs.
I think that what they cost in money never equals the cost in energy and feelings, and each doll will always be special to the owner, one way or the other.
As to your Barbie argument... some Barbies cost around $1500 and up.