Cheap doll after cheap doll?

Oh my good goddess. That is the most elitist, rude and horrible opinion i have ever read on this forum. Not all of us HAVE thousands to spend on dolls. and guess what? We don't care if i'm honest. .__. If you feel that mass amounts of money make your doll beautiful, good for you. Enjoy.

But when you suggest that just because people TRY face ups, sewing etc that means they don't care about their doll... that's going too far. That is VERY offensive and down right nasty. Most of the dolls i have have face ups by me, so they are crap in your opinion how lovely. Loving someone or something doesn't mean you spend loads on it. Is your opinion also that if you don't spend thousands on your boyfriend/girlfriend that you don't love them? Really. It IS the same thing, despite the base materials. Love isn't measured in money.

At the end of the day, if you think everyone who doesn't have dolls up to your standards is "crap" (your words, not mine) maybe you just shouldn't bother looking at them? Problem solved.


God I sound REALLY mean posting this, but the undertones in the posts you keep posting really are offensive. I don't think you should post assumptions like "If you have lots of dolls that are 'cheap' you're lazy and have low standards"

free speech is cool, but so is consideration for feelings i think that simply asking "Why do you like dolls in the lower price bracket more?" or "What do YOU feel is the difference between $200 and $800 in terms of resin?"

 

Did it occur to you at all that maybe they DO like all those cheaper dolls and that no, they are NOT actually buying them just because they don't want to save up for more expensive ones? There are people who absolutely love, say, Bobobie or Resinsoul or Abio Angel and want nearly every single doll from those companies. Does that mean that they "don't want" to save up long enough to buy more expensive dolls? NO, it usually means that they like the dolls they're buying and want more of them. Does it not make sense that liking cheap dolls for their sculpts will probably equal wanting more of them? Why is this even being brought up, anyway? The idea that people who buy a lot of cheap dolls are too lazy or something to save up for the OMG OBVIOUSLY SOOO MUCH BETTER AND MOAR EXPENSIVE ones is offensive, BTW. I'm fairly sure that if people wanted to save for a more expensive doll, they would. Sometimes they don't. ETA because I forgot: Even if they are only buying them because they don't feel like saving up for more expensive dolls, who cares? It's their money, their business, and their choice.
Why do you care so much, anyway? Your attitude, whether intentional or not, is pretty much exactly the thing new hobbyists fear, and is the elitist outlook on this hobby that gets mentioned a lot but rarely seen. So, uh...thanks for demonstrating, I guess? People buy dolls because they want them, usually, whether those dolls are $100 or $1000, and even if they are buying them so they can have a hundred-doll army, who cares. Unless you, or I, or anyone else here is personally funding their collection, we don't get to dictate what they spend their money on. They want to "waste" their money, let them go right ahead, because it's their money. Your (or my, or anyone's) personal opinion cannot be forced upon other people in this hobby, and just because you, personally, find something a waste of money does not mean that anyone else will or has to share the same opinion.

Your opinion isn't the be-all, end-all of what the hobby "is about". You know what it's actually about? Buying pretty plastic dollies and customising them. Badly, sometimes, maybe with things that will damage resin and permanently stain. It can also be about elegant, classy dollies in pretty dresses that cost more than any one of my dolls and faceups that cost a week's pay. You know what it's about for *me*? Pretty boys in leather and fishnet who wouldn't know elegance if it walked up and kicked them, with lots of piercings, a love of punk and a borderline-unhealthy obsession with footie and beer. I play with my dolls, and I take them places with me, and once in a while they have a slight misfortune and end up with a tiny scar or two.
Not every person in the hobby shares the same idea about collecting, believe it or not, so to give a broad generalisation about what the hobby is or is not about is...unwise, to say the least.

Then don't look in the Gallery. Not everyone is a master of faceupping or photography. People can do what they want to their own dolls and if you don't like it? I'm pretty sure your browser come equipped with a handy back button that you can use to go to the previous page so you can find something more suited to your lofty standards. Oh, and I'm one of those people who mods their dolls into hideous creatures and absolutely adores gore mods. The reason? I like them. I have a character who happens to be a hideous monster, as do many other people. If *we* paid the "at least $200" for a doll, we can damned well do as we please with it, which includes gore mods, hideous faceups, and barbecuing, if we've a mind to do any of those things.

Then, once again, do not look at those dolls if they are so terribly offensive to your eyes. Also, just because a "cheap" doll's appearance is not up to your standards does not make it garbage. What's wrong with a bargain, by the way? Some of my mid-priced dolls were fantastic bargains,and they are very much not garbage or bad in any way. Taking the attitude that ANY dolls that do not conform to some specific aesthetic and are not taken care of in a very specific way are garbage or horrible, hideous wastes of money is ridiculously elitist and offensive.

As for "not trying to be offensive", if you really want to not offend, making statements like:

is not a good idea. I (and the others who own or like gore mods) do not appreciate being told I have some sort of mental issue because I happen to like zombies and other not-pretty mods.

 

I have two things to say:

1) I think the OP didn't mean to come out as elitest as she did, and I think she was really actually just interested in knowing what might be the reason people prefer the less expensive dolls over the more expensive ones. Just like everyone has been telling her, not everyone thinks alike. It might not have even crossed her mind that those sculpts would fit characters for other people.

Everyone gets into this hobby for different reasons, and everyone is allowed to practice this hobby however they like, be it buying $100 dolls and giving them sock dresses and yarn hair and sharpie face ups, or be it saving up a lot of money and spending $1000+ on a doll head or on a Soom monthly and then buying all the expensive "name brand" clothing and spending $100 on a professional-quality face up. So everyone needs to realize that there are two schools of thought here, and I don't think the OP was intentionally trying to be rude/nasty.

2) As far as what the word "cheap" means, I would say that it is relative to the SIZE category of the dolls. Such as... The difference in price between a Bobobie 60cm doll, and a Soom 60cm doll. Same size of doll, vastly different price.

Because yes, you could say a Pukipuki is cheap in comparison to a Volks SD sized doll... But that's comparing apples to oranges, because they don't fit the same size category. I hope that makes sense.

 

Even if they DO just buy the dolls because they're cheap and they ARE buying them because they don't want to save for more expensive ones, why is that even a problem? Why does anybody even care how other people spend their money? I mean hell, I drive a Ford because I can't afford (or, don't want to adjust my budget to accommodate) a BMW. Is the BMW better? Yeah, I think most people could make some pretty good arguments that it is. Do I care? Not really, what I have is sufficient. (Actually perhaps a better comparison here would be a Jaguar -- I don't own one because it's expensive and I don't even like them! I think they're unattractive, and even if I could afford one easily I wouldn't buy one. Personal taste. Lucky me I think my cheap little Ford is adorable.)

If you're getting what you want out of your dolls, as long as you don't insist that that's also what everyone else wants I don't see the problem. It irritates me when people like the OP act like expensive dolls should be the bar everyone is striving to clear, and it annoys me when people who own less expensive dolls act like anyone who spends more money is an elitist or an idiot. People have their own doll-related priorities, and if someone else's are different from your own that affects you in no way whatsoever.

 

Exactly. Who cares if someone wants to build a 35 doll-RS rmy because they don't want to save up for 10 Volks or whatever? It's nobody's business but theirs. Johnny X's doll choices in A country do not in any way affect Jane Z's dolls in B country so why does anyone care so desperately what choices other people make? We don't all have to buy high-end dolls to be considered real hobbyists (nor does everyone want to), and the people who buy more expensive dolls are not stupid or wasteful for doing so.

 

I'll admit, there are times when I thought a collector had only bought a doll because it was cheap, and didn't actually feel strongly about that sculpt. However, I don't understand why that's such a massive taboo in this community. Personally, I am extremely fussy with face sculpts and posing, so I can't buy dolls based on price, but I don't have any strong feelings about those that do.

Providing the person doesn't then go on a crusade and start bashing people who spent more on their dolls, there's no reason why people can't collect dolls because they are cheap. Who would it really hurt?

 

Settling? No freaking way! I currently own four ResinSoul dolls. I didn't just settle for them because they were cheap, I settled for them because they were a great embodiment of my characters I wished to turn into dolls. That and from the minute I saw them, I was in love with the gentle beauty that is contained in every RS doll. I'd fallen in love with much more expensive dolls before hand and since, but I always come back to RS because there is something about them that just captures things about my characters that so far, no other company has managed.

People consider them one of the cheaper companies and I understand that. But my choosing to buy so many of them (I have at least one, possibly two more RS dolls planned in the future) and I admit that some of it is needing to find a company that fits my characters as the final two RS dolls are both Faun/Satyr like creatures and need the hooves to match their (in Heiss' case boyfriend and in Niiro's his brother) and RS is the only one who does the dark tan I need and the hooves. But the actual sculpts of their dolls fit and that's what matters.

If another company came out with the right kind of slender, hooved 60cm doll with the correct facial features and it cost me 5 times what an RS doll would be, then I would go for that doll instead. It's not about price, it's about qaulity and personal choice. Honestly I think the qaulity of my $800 Iplehouse doll, (Kamau was the ONLY doll that came close to being right for Sarge and the price didn't bother me at all) is wonderful, but the qaulity of my ResinSoul dolls... Sorry but nothing compares to them for me. The qaulity, the attention to detail... It's just fantastic and the customer services... Wow, just wow. I'd much rather have my 4 cheaper dolls, than save up for one or two more expensive ones. I don't care what anyone thinks of my love for the not so expensive dolls, and I don't care whether people like the way I make or rather WILL make them look since I've wiped all their face ups in prep for new ones. The way I chose to make MY doll look is the way I LIKE them to look and it's nobodies business.

It really annoys the hell out of me that people presume I'm just lazy or cheap and it annoys the hell outta me that people presume just because they are cheaper they are inferior. Again, my RS dolls have actually been proven to have better qaulity than some dolls I've seen or heard of from the so called more expensive companies. It's all kinda luck I guess, but I have no preference on price and don't expect everyone to share my love of the less expensive dolls, nor do I expect them to presume that I only buy my RS dolls because they are cheaper. I go for sculpt over price and I adore this hobby so much because of the wonderful variety in price, sculpt design, colours and whatever else you can think of. Cheap is all relative anyway, what's cheap to one person might be a freaking mountain to another. *nods*

 

This thread is making me want to hug my poor Resinsoul and Bobobie dolls.

 

I'm seeing a complete lack of response from the OP at this point; it's probably safe to assume she's backed off and likely unsubbed from this thread. Though as Surreality and timid pointed out, at least now the next time someone asks about allegations of elitism we can point to this thread and say here's the evidence - and I think the responses here prove without a doubt that snobbery and elitism is thankfully confined to a very, very small minority.

How much you spend and how many dolls you own - and what companies you buy from - at the end of the day is irrelevant to everyone except that doll owner. No-one - not even the mods - act as final arbiters of taste and what's right for this hobby. You reasons for owning the dolls you do are entirely your own and no-one else's business; and if someone wants to get their panties in a twist over it they should take it offline or to their LJ.

 

*is staring at my Resinsoul with happiness now*

 

Or she could just be in bed Arkady since her location says she's in Australia ;3

 

I can see that I'm not the only one getting a little miffed at this topic... You say you don't want to offend anyone, but I think this is a very narrow way of thinking.

I really, really dislike it when people call any BJD 'cheap'. None of them - to non-BJD people, at least - are considered cheap in my eyes. Using the word 'cheap', to me, implies a sense of worthlessness and low-quality. Going about, asking why someone would want to make their dolls look like crap when they could just get Barbies is very offensive and is very off-putting to owners who do spend a lot of time on a face-up, regardless of its 'professional' quality.

You can't accuse someone of not caring, or didn't try hard enough. You don't know how much practice and time went into their work, and saying to someone who may have spent hours on what they felt was a great face-up that it's not "beautiful enough" is shallow to say the least. Maybe you may not like it, but it's not your doll.

Saying that people who have less expensive dolls are somehow less than you makes me upset. Can you provide solid evidence to me that proves that someone didn't do all they could to make their doll the way they wanted? Maybe they don't need to spend "thousands" of dollars to do it? Maybe they know that you don't have to spend X amount to be considered a BJD hobbyist. Saying that someone who doesn't make their doll look model perfect is not really in the hobby also sends a message to new hobbyists looking to buy a doll, or attempt a face-up. You may not think it true, but there will be people who will freak out that their doll's face-up isn't good enough.


Just because someone has a fleet of BBB or RS dolls doesn't really make people lower than others in this hobby. Sure, there's a possibility that they can't fathom saving $700, or that they don't want to wait as long - but most likely, it's that they like the dolls. I'm not going to continue going to a company who makes dolls I don't like. Just because someone has gotten their doll at a lower price doesn't make their doll less of a loved and cherished item to the owner, either. A lot of owners got their dolls from the Marketplace, where there are dolls who are not new, and often at a lower price than brand new.


I truly doubt I'm ever going to spend thousands on my doll, because they don't need it. The doll isn't going to appreciate it, after all. Plus there are good quality items that aren't at insane prices. If I like how it looks, I'll look into buying it. I'm not going to put my dolls in items that breaks the bank. I wanted an inexpensive doll, compared to the $700 ones because I know myself; I knew I wouldn't be able to save up $700 and not quit in the process. But the fact that I did look on the less expensive side says absolutely nothing about my dedication in this hobby.

The great thing about this hobby, though, is that there's a doll for everyone. So you can consider people like me lazy, and not as 'dedicated' as people like you are, but if someone wants to be in the hobby, but doesn't want to spend a lot for whatever reason, who cares? There're a lot more going on than just that they're selfish, or don't want to wait. This hobby DOESN'T have to always include the waiting game; having to do some sort of struggling doesn't make anyone more of a BJD hobbyist. Personally, I can't see myself waiting months. That's too much for me. Everyone has their own limits.

Some surprise she's going to get when she wakes up, then - lol

 

Depends where in Australia - but it's actually morning over there right now. It's 8:55am in Melbourne, for example.

 

She already said earlier in the thread that she was leaving it be now ^.^ so she won't respond anymore.

 

I am pretty sure it is because the owners DO like those dolls and they feel comfortable buying those dolls.

After being this hobby now for almost four years I can tell you that I feel comfort at buying off-sight with dolls from companies whom I already bought dolls from. Since I own the dolls I know what quality I can expect so I feel more confident when tempted to push that buy button.

As much as this industry has grown, quality from one company to another company is still not consistent. Even if the company advertised that their resin color is matched to so-and-so company, that is still not a sure bid for me - as resin quality may not be the same, the eye size and head sizes may not work etc.

So I find myself buying mostly (if not only) from the companies that I know of first hand.

And I also agree, there is no such thing as a "cheap" doll. IRL $300 is a lot of money still.

 

Considering you said you didn't start this debate in order to make anyone feel bad and just wanted to know why some people prefer to spend a little on a lot of dolls rather than a lot on one doll...this sort of comment is not friendly or helpful.

This is actually a hobby about customisable dolls. Whether they're classy or elegant or not is entirely up to the owner, but the hobby is solidly built on a foundation that promotes personal customisation of a person's own dolls, creating something unique and aesthetically pleasant for the owner. If you don't appreciate someone else's choices or artistry, you don't have to, that's not the point of the hobby. The pleasure someone gains from the hobby is derived from their dolls, not from how you or anyone else feels about their dolls.

It seems that the OP has left the building, so let us step back from feeling offended now and discuss this sensibly...if there is anything left to discuss

Having handled inexpensive and expensive dolls, I find I personally prefer Volks dolls and a small collection of them at that. Price is certainly a limiting factor for me, but having once had ten dolls, I prefer to have a smaller collection of dolls I can play with more regularly than a large collection of dolls I play with infrequently. For me, at least, being able to afford a small number of dolls from a company I consistently find appealing is more attractive than being able to afford a lot of dolls from a range of companies I don't prefer as much.

I can see why the OP would suggest that some people may choose a relatively inexpensive doll as their first purely for budget reasons, but I also feel strongly that while some people might choose any doll as their first as long as they have a doll...why would they do the same for their second doll, their third, their fourth...? As people grow and become more established in the hobby, with more experience at meets or with different companies, by someone's third or fourth doll...if they're still choosing dolls from the lower end of the price scale, there must be a positive reason for this. They must really appreciate the aesthetics of these lower end companies. Price alone is rarely a factor in choosing a doll, there has to be something about the doll to attract someone to buy. You have to see something appealing in the sculpt to make you click that 'buy' button, because even the most enthusiastic bargain hunters won't buy an unappealing doll just because the price is so darn good.

 

Moemi18 - speak of the troull

 

I don't care about cost or exclusivity or popularity - I buy what I like. I buy the dolls that I find attractive and have the look that I'm searching for. If that means the doll is from Bobobie or Volks, it's all the same to me. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of this attitude (not saying that you have it, but many, many people here do) that legitimacy is only achieved if one scrimps and saves and sacrifices for that "dream doll". The only thing that achieves is making the owner of a less expensive doll feel like s**t because they didn't spend $800 or $900 on one doll and feeling like they can't be a part of the community because they'll be looked down on.

If people would stop making it their business what other people can or can't afford, it would be a happier dollie world.

 

i agree with everything you said i feel the same as you. it just doesent matterif there cheap what matters is if you like them.
if want a more expensiver doll you should save for it not just buy a doll because its cheaper and you could afford it... but buy what you love... and yes sometimes its hard but if you try maybe you will get that dream doll

 

Equally you should not allow yourself to be browbeaten into buying a more expensive doll just because of the snobbery and elitism of a few bad apples if the doll you truly have your heart set on just happens to be cheaper.

Buy a doll you truly love. At the end of the day, price is irrelevant. What matters is that you want that doll.