Did you ever find dolls creepy before you got into BJDs?

It was gradual for me. As a toddler, I have pics of me with dolls. But I lost interest in favor of toy horses. I didn’t regain my love of dolls until a few years ago. I wouldn’t say I was ever afraid of dolls, but I didn’t like being stared at nonstop either. It took time.

 

Not really. I saw non-BJD dolls I didn't care for but they didn't scare me. Maybe it's because my mom had expensive artist dolls in her room that I grew up around. I didn't care for dolls much when I was a child, I would have rather played with toy animals. I got into BJDs fairly early in life and my mom was really weirded out that I didn't love dolls as a kid but I suddenly NEEDED a very expensive doll at 14.

Uncanny doll faces don't freak me out, I'm probably so desensitized at this point that I'm not sure I would find a doll creepy. I saw a vintage doll at a consignment shop about half a year ago where the owner described it as a "very creepy doll, probably haunted" and I didn't even realize the doll was off putting until I read that. It's just a sculpted face to me.

 

To be really honest, they still creep me out. Especially more realistic faces... the more realistic a doll's proportions are, the creepier they are. Like, those super realistic baby dolls really horrify me in a way few other inanimate objects can. I mostly collect very stylized dolls, because imo the more cartoony something is the less creepy it seems.

I was a big fan of doll-related horror movies before getting into BJDs (I still am) because I think their natural uncanny valley effect lends itself to horror wonderfully. Actually, the only dolls I collected before getting into BJDs were Living Dead Dolls.

So I don't think dolls being creepy is a bad thing... but I do find them creepy.

 

Yes, that plus the perception of dolls being either a creepy or childish interest kept me away from the hobby for a long time.
I find realistic baby/young faces off putting, even more so if they have extremely defined lips. I'm into 1/6 size so it's hard for me to avoid them
Porcelain dolls in victorian dresses give me the heebie jeebies but that's mostly because they're used in horror movies.

 

Outside of film, I've only found 2 specific dolls creepy one was an old composition doll my mom had inherited from her aunt that hadn't aged well, it had hairline cracks all over it's face and it's eyes were badly clouded. My brother and I used to always say it was possessed.
The other was a Christmas animatronic porcelain doll that had belonged to my grandmother but it was known to move on it's own and I wasn't the only one who got spooked by her, but my grandmother thought she was just the sweetest thing. It wasn't so bad when she lived with my grandmother but after she moved in with us... I swear that doll had collected some bad energy from somewhere.

 

Nope.

Lifelong doll collector

Teddy

 

No, and I was happy that I could come out of the closet. I always loved dolls but thought it was only for kids to have dolls. Once I seen a doll collector online with a multitude of dolls, I was all in! lol

 

I personally mostly never cared for them, just never was a kid that played with them. Even now most dolls are just whatever to me and I don't see their appeal at all. It's the customizing that got me into dolls, and BJDs were just the right mix of customization options and aesthetic.

The only ones that really make me go uuurgh are Reborns, but I also feel zero for real babies Wrinkly snotty potatoes. I can appreciate the skill, but their existence still puzzles me.
Same for all these dolls that are supposed to be children and are shown crying. What kind of person wants to have a room full of crying children? Feels cruel to me.

 

The only dolls I grew up with as a kid were the creepy old porcelain dolls my grandmother owns. They still to this day, absolutely scare the bejeezus out of me. But horror mod BJDs? Perfectly fine. Don't ask me how that brain logic works. Maybe it's BJDs are so much more customisable compared to antique dolls?

 

Nope, I don't find dolls creepy unless they were intentionally made to look creepy.

 

I find those chubby old porcelain dolls you find at granparents houses creepy af, even now! I guess it's more the style of makeup, they look lifeless but still stare at you creepily.
Bjds on the other way are far more personalized and feel more alive, they often reflect their owner preferences and they're so varied! So I always loved them.

 

The only doll that really ever creeped me out in person was a "life-sized" child-shaped cloth doll. She didn't look very realistic up close, but if you saw her from behind (she had a wig on), you thought there was a child sitting there. She used to sit in the fiction room in my library, and if you were closing by yourself at night and walked in and thought a child was there...

 

Realistic baby dolls creep me out. I did own baby dolls when I was a child but I know they're toys since they only have cheap paint on them but whenever I see infant dolls that were made to look real... I'm just Nope.

 

I always found porcelain, or dolls painted like clowns to be creepy. And when you cross the two? Oh no... my mom has a clown porcelain doll she wants to pass down to me when my kids are older I'm not quite ready for that haha

Those, and reborn dolls - I think that's what their called. They look too real to me, and for some reason I can't stand looking at them. But I feel the same way about the really good wax sculptures, so I think if it's too real, it just seems wrong to me

 

Not at all. My sister and I have always loved dolls and never fully gave them up. I was so excited to find more people who shared the hobby.

 

I forgot to say in my original response to this thread that, while I never found any dolls creepy before getting into BJD's, I have since encountered a doll that creeps me out.

Sad to say my first encounter with Blythe dolls (at a BJD meet) have cast them forever in my world as "The Scary Dolls."

I never thought I would find any doll scary.

Something about the "CLONK!" of the eye mechanism on Blythe, however, combined with the eyes closing and re-opening as DIFFERENT EYES put them firmly in the Dr Who monster category for me.

{SHUDDER!}

Teddy

 

never in my life. I've always loved dolls.

 

I can confirm that yes, I did used to think they were incredibly creepy. Some of them I still look at and my Uncanny Valley sense starts to tingle.

A few years back I was doing outreach for a local con here where I live and Resin Rose reached out to us for a booth swap. Hardly anyone wanted to go. I thought "what's the harm in re-assessing my opinion about these dolls?" That weekend really opened my mind to the hobby.

The nice thing is I don't have to like the same things someone else likes. Maybe I might think a doll is a little creepy, but my second thought now is always "but look at all the work this person put into it" and I instead focus on that, because it will never stop being amazing to me the level of detail and customization that can go into these dolls.

 

I'm a really bad judge on this because I'm a huge fan of horror art and media, and for me "Creepy" is not mutually exclusive with "Cute" or "beautiful." That said, there is a difference between "dolls I find not creepy" and "Dolls I will actually keep in my house." Plus that old talking Thomas Edison doll with a horrible tinny recorded voice shouting "Now I lay me down to sleep" absolutely increased the fear factor way more than anything I encountered as a child.