Collectability: How do you Collect?

I've never had any desire to have all of any one line of dolls except MAYBE the Pipos cats but even that isn't very important to me - I have 3 of them and I am perfectly content. I actually like the fact that my human dolls are from different companies; if one's dolls are all from the same company it seems there is a strong likelihood that they will have similarities since, naturally, each company favours certain aesthetics that appear in many of their dolls (Dollzone's noses, Soom's open mouths, etc) not to mention some companies have distinctive looking resin (Bobobie comes to mind) and you can always tell them from that alone. Since my human dolls are friends (since they represent myself and my hubby ), I don't want them to look like brother and sister and their incoming companion, Neo AngelRegion Nappy Choo, doesn't resemble them in the slightest either. I like it that way. "Variety is the spice of life", or something like that.

 

It's not so much about collecting a doll company's line for me as collecting my casts of characters. Although with Dream of Doll I try to find excuses to make Character A or B because I really, really love their line of DoTs (although notsomuch their most recent dolls, which makes me sad).

 

I could see collecting an entire set of something like a Puki Puki, I think I know of someone who pretty much has, and I've seen people pick a single mold and collect all available skin tones of it. Or if there's a themed set like Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz. But everything by a single company seems way too much to me only because a few years back I was close to falling in to that with other things and didn't feel it was right for me.

Just heads is a good way to go about it, you have more rom that way, and can swap easy enough. Collecting face plates could work too.

 

I have dolls and doll parts (I have a few hybrids) from ten different companies, and I have ten dolls. For the most part, I would not collect an entire line of dolls because I do not like all of the dolls from any single line.
The closest I come to wanting to own an entire line is with Dollshe. It really is not a line so much as every male doll the company has ever made. I would love to own at least one of each (more than one of most). However, I can't really afford it and only have one Dollshe as it is.

 

Hmm..well I have planned dolls from several different companies. Like most people I don't like every doll from one company, or from one company line. However, I will say that there are two companies, Luts and Fairyland, that I would like to collect a lot of from some of their lines. Like, I want to collect most of the Minifee boys, but not all, and a lot of the Delf/ Junior Delf boys I really like from Luts, so I'd love to be able to get as many of them as I can ine day. Still, I didn't fall hard enough for these sculpts to decide I need them right away, so I'm getting all my "dream dolls" first, and then I'll start collecting for the sake of collecting.

 

This is an interesting thread to me because I'm deciding on my second BJD to buy. I'm trying to decide whether to focus on one company or go for a diverse variety. With other types of dolls I have focused on one company at a time, and have groups of dolls that look good together interacting as a display. One of the appeals of BJDs, however, is the huge diversity of styles. There are too many interesting dolls from different companies to restrict myself to one company.

 

I buy dolls to fit characters, so going for entire lines isn't really feasible for me, as many of the sculpts won't work. That said, certain companies seem to have a higher number of workable head sculpts -- Ninodoll, B&G, and Volks immediately spring to mind. However, I have dolls from many different companies.

 

I have all the male dolls in the Volks Tokyo Boys line (Shiro 1, Tsukasa, Isao 1, Yukinojo, Isao 2, Shiro 2, Ryoya).... I think that's about it. Even that's not truly complete, because they included girls in that line, and I dun' do girls.

The rest of the collection is a mixture. I have a small apartment, otherwise there's plenty of lines & series I'd love to collect completely. It'd be delightful to have all the Noctarcana Circus guys at once, or the whole Soom Zodiac from '08, or all of those DOI Idols, or all of those charming little Lati Blue guys. But, basically, my finite collection has to serve as a microcosm of my secret world-domination wish for Every Beautiful Boy-Doll In The Universe.

 

My collection represents a diverse inner-city neighborhood, so I deliberately chose dolls from different companties to insure that they all looked very different from one another. So as you can see, I collect on one end of the spectrum...but I have a friend on the other side of the spectrum who has 12 Luts SDs, and let me tell you, when you see that many gorgeous dolls from one company all lined up, it is very impressive indeed!

 

How do you collect dolls? Do you collect just one or two from the line, or do you try to collect the whole line?

I actually try to avoid buying too many dolls from the same company. I prefer variety and love, love, LOVE experiencing different companies. Not to say I'd keep myself from falling for dolls from a company I already own. If a doll fits a character I'm looking to shell, it doesn't bother me to have multiples.

I really enjoy diversity among my dolls - resin color, etc. I find myself drawn to stylized sculpts, though. The realistic ones, while beautiful, are not for me.

If you do want to collect the whole line, why is that?

N/A.

 

Hmm... I want to say that it's not so much about collecting to me as it is about getting dolls to represent the characters I like. I want to say that, but then I look at my dolls and notice that, with only three exceptions, they're all Blue Fairy Tiny Fairies and Fairyland dolls! Then I looked at my planned collection and see that they're are only three more dolls outside of those companies I want!

It turns out that my tastes are very specific, and in the end it seems I will end up "collecting" my favorite Fairyland and Blue Fairy dolls. However, I don't want all of them... Although I have been very tempted to cave in and collect all of the tiny fairies, because I like them all!

 

How do you collect dolls? Do you collect just one or two from the line, or do you try to collect the whole line?

I collect FairyLand event heads and faceplates. All of them, even ones that have ended up general edition like MNF DES and three of the winking Puki faceplates (which actually makes things easier down the line!). As I'm a fan of NS rather than WS, I'm trying to get the entire set in NS, though I will settle for WS ones in some cases (such as my NaNuRi'07... still looking for an NS one which is starting to look like it's going to take a miracle to find XD; ).

While I plan on 'finishing' the event head/faceplate line eventually with bodies, eyes, and wigs, for now I'm content with just the heads and faceplates. There are a couple that I'm not overly fond of in this set (LTF Winking Ante, MultiHead Ante), but unlike others I still own them for completion's sake.

Right now all I'm missing are one MNF head, one PKF head, and four Puki faceplates. All now-GE ;D

If you do want to collect the whole line, why is that?

Amusement, really, and to see if I can. I do really like FairyLand sculpts, even if I don't like all of them, so it's not like I'm collecting them even though I don't like them. But it's mostly for completion's sake that I collect even the few I don't particularly feel drawn to.

 

Well, I collect a lot of Volks dolls and Soom is forever picking my pocket! Especially the affordable and not space hogging tinies. So yes, I would say I collect a few specific lines. Volks LEs and Soom MDs.

If I where made of nothing but money I have to admit I'd have about 5 Dollmore MSDs too. I have two already but I LOVE the Dollmore kids! And they have been coming out with new sculpts and tans that are just OMG!

I also want about 100 MNF and LTF but again- all my monies goes to Volks and Soom

 

I actually kind of do the "one of each different" style. As a general rule, I enjoy variety in my dolls... so I like to space them out from different lines/companies. The only exception to this is that I have a handful of CP heads... but even those I try to put on all different bodies.

 

How do you collect dolls? Do you collect just one or two from the line, or do you try to collect the whole line?
Realistically speaking, I cannot imagine me EVER buying or trying to buy an entire line of dolls. I hate clutter and having too much stuff and I find with me, I'm happier with less dolls. So far I've had dolls from 7 different lines and out of those lines I've only kept one. I'm expecting to have 3, maybe 5 dolls and that's probably it. I'll be going for whatever company and mould/line that tickles me just right for my character style. I'll just enjoy everyone elses dolls if I need a fix for a certain line.

 

I would never have the funds to have the entire line of say luts kdf''s. then again, I don't like them all, so it will not be a problem. atm I'm in the process of downsizing a bit, so I can later on get dols in the size I like, to me size is quite important when collecting, I always look at msd's rather then sd or tiny. I had 2 sd's when I found out the size issue XD.
I do tend to look at a company or sculptor that I alrteady own rather then looking at a different company. I'm saving up for a kdf now, so I'd say for me it is the same company I already have, because I know what ir'll be like mostly. while I like volks I am not likely to get one in msd size, even though volks has a lot of dolls I would love to have.

in short: I am likely to buy another doll from a company I already have, preferably in the same size.

I don't have the house for a big collection, nor the funds, which also decides the size of collections possible.

 

I was like that with CP Shiwoos... Once I had the first pair, I knew my own instinct for gathering things and my affection for the sculpt would make having more of them inevitable. XD

How do you collect dolls? Do you collect just one or two from the line, or do you try to collect the whole line? (Note: I don't mean that you'd buy dolls you don't like, I'm just asking in terms of dolls you do like)

I have a lot of random dolls here that were purchased just because I liked them... But I also have nearly-complete, "one of each" collections of Shiwoos and Breakaways (In the Shiwoos' case, I only need the PukiFee. For the Breakaways, it's the new Fairyland LittleFee event face-plate.), and those groups were assembled specificly with the idea of having complete sets of every variation on the sculpt.

Not all of my Shiwoos and Breakaways are "active" dolls, though... Some are simply heads or face-plates kept strictly for having an example of their type, and I suppose that you could say those are the ones I was less interested in for their own sake. (After all, if I wanted them for play-time or display they'd have bods and be out here with the rest of the crew, right?) They're more like traditional collectibles, kept stored away in the name of completeness.

If you do want to collect the whole line, why is that?

It's instinct, mostly. I like collecting things and when I do that, I like having complete sets of whatever it is I'm gathering. For instance, when I was collecting gaming miniatures, I set out to have the complete run of Julie Guthrie's old Grenadier dragons, every Wolfen sculpt from the Confrontation series and at least one of every miniature in Ral Partha's AD&D line. (And finding some of those little brutes was every bit as much of a challenge as hunting down a rare doll-) When I'm interested in a book series, I'll collect every title in the set. It's just the way I do things.

 

Every time I want to buy a new doll, the first thing I do is look if one of Akihiro Enku's (Volks) sculpts fit the character. Secondly I'll look if there is some obscure artist doll I really want.

I don't really collect series, but I have my specific preferences. What I do know for sure though is that if Volks decides to re-release Cecile into a more realistic sculpt (like Williams and Reisner), I'm going to collect all Order of the Silver Coin-fullsets, both the normal and the scarface-versions.
...That day is going to be extremely painful for my wallet...