Choosing who comes next! How do you do it?

I'm in that situation right now. I'm torn between getting a body for Ben, reshelling Hailey or just springing to get a doll I've fallen in love with who has no planned character. I don't have the money for any of them yet.

Usually, I'll go for whichever seems most important or if I'm buying secondhand, which one is readily available. In my current case, only the unplanned one is, but I'm hesitant because the others have been on my list for awhile. Reshelling Hailey should be my priority because the doll I want for her has a ridiculously long wait time new, so I'm putting it off and hoping one pops up secondhand.

I guess none of that was really helpful, but generally I go by most important, hardest to get or who I can afford at the moment.

 

It always seem to go out of the window when it comes to time that I can afford one or two. As of last year, I've decided to reshell few of my dolls and that would be it, I am done.
Not until one night in the beginning of the year I had a crazy idea and already the idea of reshelling shot out of the window like a space X rocket and I am currently working on a new batch of doll family, already bought 3 new SD sized Iplehouse dolls and planning for one more this fall. what the heck happened here?
Basically, I give my self discussion on the doll wish list, going over it every other day, delete or add, rearrange, consider my budget and carefully consider if I really want to and would it be worth it? I go for the one that will be a character I want the most. I create characters first, not the other way around.
So far my crazy idea was to add 22 new dolls but I have talked myself down to 5 out of those 22. This hobby is hard. Everyone has different ways of dealing with it. One thing for sure, just don't go overboard. It really do helps to have a list on hand so you'd go over it from time to time. I keep mine in my iPhone note.

 

Heh, that's a nice topic. I have a list of standard dolls I see fitting for my main characters. The list was there for many many years and I regularly go through it to see if my preferences have changed or on the other hand have gotten even stronger over the time. I agree with @Cloudsorano saying that "I create characters first, not the other way around".
Right now I'm going through my MSD part of the list, more than half way done by now. And slowly shifting towards the SD part, since I ended up with two SD hybrids after finding bodies for training heads I had. But I have to admit one extra MSD tagged along as sort of spontaneous buy and quickly shelled a new character. Or half-spontaneous, since I rarely do something that involves big sums of money on a whim, - I wanted to see the body and color live, but none of locals had the doll, so I just went and bought it, and the head was a new sculpt I liked. But I still had trouble getting used to the doll after all.
And I do have a tendency to buy limited tinies and event heads, and to get free event tinies and the ones on sale... So all of tinies and animal BJDs I bought in the end weren't on the list to begin with. And I definitely can't say I've reached my limit with this size, 'cause I never know when another one decides to tag along. They are much cheaper, so it's easier to find money for them. And they barely take up any space. Then the heads usually require bodies, so I place the bodies on the list with a bit higher priority and look for ones that either match my posing/aesthetics preferences or my budget. Can take years though, so I'm not in a hurry.
As for other standard dolls, I have two more criteria for prioritizing apart from the doll's size. First one is the color I want the doll in - if it's a color that's not so stable in a company and I ended getting a part of the doll like its head ahead of the body, then the body is definitely is top on my list. And hopefully the result is a match. And the second one is how confident I am that the doll is exactly right for the character. I still have some I doubt about, even though they've been on the list for a while, so they are further down the list until I find a perfect shell. And the budget is never a problem since I have a tendency to save up for all my dolls and doll items, so I just buy the next doll on my list as soon as I have enough money for it and a good discount event is there. That also serves as some sort of brakes for me not to go randomly buy other dolls, otherwise I'll never get financially to the ones I was planning for initially.
And I often get ideas about new characters when I see different sculpts. So I think carefully about whether I'd really like to have a doll like that in my collection or it's just a random idea. If I decide that I'd like, it note the sculpt way down at the bottom of my list for the times my collection of main characters is complete.

 

For me, I generally decide who's next based on doll company events, what I need most (body for floating heads, parts, clothes), then lastly new doll releases that I'm interested in . I'm trying to finish dolls I have planned characters for before moving on to the next big purchase

 

i have so many on my wishlist right now it's horrible hahaha i always plan on who i want next but then i'll impulsively buy a new release or a limited doll and it puts my plans behind ;c it also sucks because i buy dolls very slowly (gotta pay back dem student loans) so typically i buy one a year, though this past year i went a little crazy and bought a few too many haha. no regrets about that, but i need to be good about it now and not spend anything for a little while. i'm HOPING that i can buy another girl for my next doll (either a zaoll ramie or a supia hamin) buuut we'll see how it goes. hopefully a new doll doesn't get in the way of my plan again, but it seems inevitable hahaha.

 

I'm the WORST at this. In the time it takes me to save up for a doll, I change my mind so many times... and yet I'm always the idiot who talks confidently about the plan I have, only to realize a week later that something else has captured my heart-- or, the less fun realization, that I need the money for a responsible adult thing like vet bills (or moving expenses, which is the current thing that's got me not doll shopping for a few months).

At least there are some times when I love two or three dolls, but one is limited, so if I'm not going to have the money together, it just means I can cross at least that one off my list, and if it shows up on the marketplace in the future when I'm financially set, it was meant to be, and if not, it's not like I won't have fallen for a hundred dolls by then anyway...

 

My wish list is made up of companies whose dolls I'd like to buy/own at some point. So my purchase order is somewhat dictated by whether or not there is a sculpt from that company that I like at the time; regardless of whether it's limited or not. Of course there are always cases where other dolls jump in the way completely thwarting my simple method.

When deciding between two standard sculpts both loved equally, I ask myself how much would it bother me if for some reason I was never able to buy the doll. Would I be more bummed over doll X or doll Y and then choose the one that I'd be more bummed to loose out on in my fictitious scenario.

 

I generally choose the character I want the most to shell, and make it a priority. I'm doing pretty good like that ! And if I don't have a character for a doll, then it's depending on the occasion (still, the dolls with a character have the priority). For example, I was able to trade the head of a doll I've loved and wanted since her creation, so now I'm saving to get her a body. Then, for the two other dolls that I want, since they are artists dolls, It'll depend on when I'll have the money, which of them is available.

 

Well, my current wishlist is largely populated by dolls that are not limited. One is semi-limited in that there's sparse order periods of order for her and my final LE want is already on layaway. (As a matter of fact I was going to order said order period limited when she next was made available but I had to make the decision of acquiring her or said limited... and the big LE boy won...)

When it comes to my non-limited dolls though it's a matter of which character I want to bring home next. so its really easy on me. I just have to decide which character I'd like to work on next!

 

I wanted to stay within the same company and size of doll (in my case IH B.I.D.s) and I knew what skin tone I wanted. It was just a matter of looking at A LOT of pictures of other dolls in that skin tone before I made up my mind which doll was next. I could spend hours just looking at pictures of these beautiful dolls. I appreciate everyone who shares their pictures, no matter the doll size or type of doll.

 

I have a short wish list but if it was a limited I've been wanting that pops up in the marketplace, then I'd go for that one first. Other than that, I usually just try to get the one I've been wanting the most.

Right now there's a doll I want but I need to get some bodies for a few heads.

 

I do a lot of research before deciding what to do, It does take some time, since it's not easy to decide. But I usually end up with 2-3 dolls that I want, and I buy them all at the same time, if I have the funds available. Last month I bought three Smart dolls, and now I'm waiting for Angell Studio's summer events, to buy my favourite doll; Xi Shi, on sale. I decided to get this doll a few months back, but I'm waiting patiently for the event, to save some money. Had it been a limited doll, I couldn't have waited, but this one is not limited. Since I'm kind of new to this hobby, I have found dolls, during my research, that I really wanted, but which are now longer available. So I hope to see them on the marketplace sometime in the future.

 

I also tend to take my time and mull over the possibilities of what standard dolls I would like to add to my collection. I hope by researching and grooming a wish list over time helps me narrow down which dolls I actually am truly in love with versus ones that might somehow lose their appeal to me as time passes.

I have acted a few times though when a standard doll sculpt I wanted was going to be discontinued. So that is a definite factor in who gets added next to the collection.

If I already have a strong character in mind for a sculpt, it will have a higher chance of being purchased next, versus a doll I think just looks appealing. Ironically, this factor has been keeping me from purchasing a grail that sparked my interest in the hobby years ago, since I don't know what to do with him character wise!

Another factor is if this new doll is going to have a companion. My mate also collects dolls, so most of our dolls are coupled off together. I'll have one half and she'll have the other. And ideally we like to get the couple together, so we both have to be able to purchase a doll at the same time.

And the last thing I think has to do with clothing and accessories. Right now, it's easier for me to add more SD17 boys to my collection, since my mate and I have an abundance of clothing for this size. But if we were to add in dolls from a size range we have no clothing for, it makes the investment even bigger.

I mean any new doll would eventually have specific clothing that's 'theirs', but a doll that does not fit anything we currently have gets to be naked for however long it takes us to get them some clothes, while a doll in a size we have clothing for would at least be able to wear -something-. And I know it's not the end of the world, but I feel bad for my dollies that have no clothes, eyes, or hair.

 

Okay so when I finally realized I had a job that would allow me start collecting dolls, I had a strict order I was going to collect in. Very strict. Only these dolls. In this order.

This went to hell when the Delf line was discontinued.

I regrouped. New doll order. I had not joined DoA and did not know about the second hand doll market.

Then my best friend threw everything off by buying doll #3 because she was in her price range and the least scary doll on the list.

Then Leeke went to the limited only system and a doll I wanted that they'd discontinued (DollGa Noella) was in the first rotation and I had to buy a head. Then I got MP access and discovered the doll market and fell for the KDF 2013 head and bought that. Then someone on instagram was selling a Delf Miyu so I bought her. Then I got an Angel Elf Soo head. Etc etc etc

I have still not bought doll #1 from the revised list. I've only bought second hand dolls with the exception of a couple bodies and the Arien head that just happened to be 30% off on the Leeke site when I was randomly checking on new wig colors! I have 2 dolls on layaway that I never planned to buy and a box of floating heads that need bodies. I've decided not to get ANY MORE DOLLS or bodies or heads or clothes or shoes or eyes or wigs or ANYTHING for a while so I can save up to go to LDoll!

Someday I'll get back to the list...

 

My last two purchases were impulse buys and I'm quite happy with both but I was dying to buy something relating to BJDs just to get started. Besides those I try to keep a priority list of things I want. Like my first priority now is to buy my floating head a body. Then buy a body for my other floating head or get an MSD doll. I have about four or five dolls on my priority list then about another five that I know I can wait to buy for a while, its more of just remembering that I want those dolls.

 

I go by how much money I can spare, and how much I think about a certain doll.

 

I used to prioritize them based on rarity. Whatever was hardest to come by I would try to find first. Most of the dolls I wanted were newly released limiteds or sold-out limiteds, so there was no point to focus on readily available dolls that were on my wishlist. These days, I don't have any dolls on my wishlist, so the only time I would be buying a doll is if it is a new release so that makes it super easy

 

My wishlist is very, very small now, but back when it was longer, I had a system.

Limited dolls first, of course. Get them before they disappear. Next, dolls that were in danger of being discontinued (older sculpts, especially from companies like Souldoll, who are known to discontinue whole lines). Third, if an event was happening, I'd buy the dolls from that company next, or if they were from a company known for events, I'd wait for one. Those three things usually helped me decide, but now that there are no limited, soon-to-be-discontinued, event-likely dolls on my list, I'm going in order of most to least expensive. That way, saving for the last one won't be as bad as saving for the first.

And then, after I've got all of the still available dolls, I'll go after the one that's already been discontinued.

 

Hm, I don't really watch limited dolls? I don't have that much of a big wish list too.. I need to see more dolls, more brands, I still don't know that much.

I pretty much chose the doll I want the most when I order >< I think about it before, what I want to do with that doll, etc.

Also, I have characters I want to shell. There are some who are more important to me, they are my priority.