Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Other BJDs...does it matter?

As a person coming into BJD officially I will say this,

There will be elitism everywhere, I show miniature horses and people look down on me for showing a "pint" size horse.

Y'know what? I don't give a flying leap! My first BJD is from a American artist and honestly my only priority is that they can fit with in my 1:12-1:8 requirement for a little fey gang. Don't let people dictate what you collect, please don't it ruins the fun honestly.

 

I feel like a BJD is a BJD regardless of who makes it or where it's manufactured. Certain companies/countries have a certain aesthetic that people like and there's nothing wrong in buying exclusively from one company/country/aesthetic. It's all a matter of personal taste. Whether the doll is $1000 or $200, it doesn't matter as long as it makes you happy and gives you a sense of enjoyment in the hobby. A BJD can't be less of a BJD if it only costs $200 and came from China. It still has similar mechanisms that fall under the definition of a BJD.

And like @Miss Heny said, there's always going to be elitism everywhere. It's a part of life. In every hobby, fandom, and even your job, there's always going to be people who look down on you for being inferior. It's not something that people should take to heart because people who like to rain on other people's parades have nothing better to do than belittle others. Like they get a sense of accomplishment in doing it because they have nothing else going on in their lives, so they'll find ways to make other people miserable.

 

Heck, my very first "BJD" was a Hujoo Berry. My first official resin one was a BBB Mei. Spending a fortune on a doll is no guarantee of quality and a less expensive doll doesn't mean it's cheap. What's important is that you love and enjoy the doll. The elitests be damned.

 

As someone who collects dolls from several companies, I don't think it matters if your dolls are chinese (resinsoul, for example), korean (Soom or Iplehouse) or Japanese (Volks). It all comes down to aesthetics and things like "heavier" or "lighter" resin being high quality resin depends on what the owner prefers. In my case, I choose the dolls I want to have if I like the sculpt, I never consider the brand or company BUT keep in mind that in some cases, you get what you pay for.

What I am going to say next it's just my personal opinion, it doesn't hold true to what really is better, it only means it is better (or worse) for me.

Resinsoul: I would like to get a Resinsoul but none of their faces appeal to me (except for Song but I don't have a character for him yet), this is why I have nothing to say about them in terms of quality.
Soom: Their tinies' faces appeal to me the most so I buy a lot from them even though their resin is light and their bodies really suck at posing so I'm paying just for the faces here. Soom has the best sculpts for tiny dolls for me.
Cerberus Project (through Luts): I prefer heavier resin and out of all my dolls, my 2004 CP Chiwoo has my favorite resin even though the body is not a good poser. CPs has the best resin for me.
Iplehouse: I also love the sculpts from Iplehouse but they have the resin I like the least, >_< I've had 3 IH dolls and their resin felt really cheap (when I say cheap, I mean like plastic) compared to my other dolls and they are not good posers either. Also, I'm not a fan of realistic sculpts.
Luts: I consider their dolls average, which means that there are other companies I will prefer over their sculpts and bodies but they are not bad dolls...they used to have my favorite bodies until I got the Volks bodies...
Volks: I was never a fan of Volks because of their high prices, I always thought that they weren't worth it....until I got one. Their resin is heavy, thick and smooth without being plastic-like and their SD bodies (like Volks SD17 and Volks SDGr) are my favorite bodies for 60cm-65cm boy dolls. This is where I stopped liking Luts bodies because when I got my Volks SDGr, I could see a huge difference in terms of quality and personal aesthetic. Same with my Volks SDC Mina, I think she poses better than my MSD Soom but I like I said before, I prefer the sculpts from Soom. Volks has my favorite bodies.
Switch: I love Swicth sculpts and bodies, I think this is the only doll company(besides CP) where I prefer both sculpt and bodies. Their resin is very nice and the body poses well.
DOD: They are very dear to me because I got my first doll from them and my favorite doll is from them too. However, I admit that their bodies are not my favorites.This is why both of my DODs are hybrids.
Dollmore: I never had a full doll from them,only a body and I love it. I just wish the MSD boy bodies didn't have girly hips but other than that, I love their resin and poseability.
Fairyland: I only have two puki pukis from them because I fell in love with their faces. Their other sculpts (like minifees etc) don't appeal to me, their tinies are on the chunky side (I'm used to Soom tinies' slim bodies) but I like their 60cm dolls even though their resin is not as heavy as my Cerberus project Chiwoo's. Since I only have my pukis to compare with other dolls and they're too small, I still think they pose well. However, they have magnetic hands and feet which sounds good and it is very convenient when we change their clothes...unless they fall off easily like it happens with mine ~_~


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Your title is kinda not exactly matching with your OP, imo. There are less well made Korean, Japanese BJDs too, if that's why you brought up the nationalities. I prefer Korean BJDs because of aesthetics. Depending on the country, I am noticing that the dolls have different vibe to it.

 

Funny how people can have differing opinions on just about anything. I have an Iplehouse JID boy and not only is he heavy, I love the feel of his resin (he's older and has that slight french resin effect) and he poses great for me. Soom littles are too clunky for me - I feel like the more detailed features (like the fingers) of the Fairyland bodies are more my style and while I haven't owned an SD, from pukis up to MNFs, mine have posed well. I'm currently biting my fingernails waiting on my Fairyline Rendia to arrive so I can't wait to see how that body works. And yes - the magnets hands, as well as the neck key, are fabulous!

 

I've never played around with a JID, but my EIDs are pretty much the worst posers in my entire crew. I love their sculpts and the resin is fine in my opinion, but their jointing is about as flexible as a brick.

 

I've only been a REAL member of the doll community for about a year, but back when I was in high school and I would just lurk around here and other places, I feel like the elitist attitudes were much stronger. It seems to have either died off recently or so many people roll their eyes at it that the genuine elitists no longer feel comfortable expressing their opinions publicly. I feel like well over 50% of doll owners (now at least) own at least one RS/BBB doll so elitism kinda doesn't make sense for most people. lol