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

I've always loved dolls for as long as I can remember, though I will agree I'm also not a fan of the Reborns.
Horror is my favourite movie genre, and I never understood what's scary in dolls. There's actually one movie that made it a little bit creepier, it had a plot of reviving the consciousness of a dead person inside of a life sized doll through human sacrifices. That was the first time I saw a movie that didn't use dolls just because some thinks they look scary, there was actually a reason.

 

That's interesting. I suppose gore in any kind of art elicits a strong reaction from people, be it good or bad. I think it's just that some people find beauty in it. When seeing it on a doll, you can either feel pity or worry about the doll, even if you know that it feels nothing, or think that it's a fascinating object. For example I really like l'Armoire de DanDan's Harlan sculpt, it would make such a wonderful photo subject. I also think that looking at something terrifying while knowing that it's not real can be strangely comforting. But maybe I'm just more concerned when something is not supposed to look scary, but still it does for some reason, like how in my country a lot of people thought that Buci Baba was creepy (it's basically a Cabbage Patch doll knockoff).

 

OK, yeah, Ventriloquism dummies (they aren't dolls in my book) DO skeeve me out a bit. It goes back to a TV spot for a horror movie where all you see is this V Dummy reciting a rhyme in front of a pitch black background. I have never liked them since.

Buuut, like I said, NOT a doll in my book.

 

I did not find them creepy at all. But the realistic ones took me a bit second to figure out they weren’t real people XD

 

Not really, I loved almost every doll. The old victorian ones ain't great though.

 

I gradually became interested in them. I was terrified of bjds during my HS years but in the last few years have gotten more used to them by seeing sculpts and artists do work that I find more pleasing, I guess? It's hard to explain but certain ones still scare me. If they look more anime or not like porcelain dolls I'm more okay with them!

 

Some of the more realistic ones weren’t my cup of tea but everyone likes what they like

 

Not in the slightest. I had a great-aunt who made porcelain dolls so I was always sort of fascinated with them. Fashion dolls, cloth dolls, etc. I have all sorts of dolls in my collection. Even horror movies/games couldn’t make me hate dolls. I actually really like ones with clown/jester aesthetics much to the chagrin of my family lol.
There are of course dolls that I don’t like or wouldn’t want on my shelf, but I was never afraid of them. There’s something in me that just wants to know the story behind the doll.

 

Not really other than the super realistic reborn baby doll.

 

I've never found dolls to be creepy, but I didn't have an interest in them until later in life. As a kid, dolls never interested me, even the ones made for girls my age. Instead, I was more focused on Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Littlest Pet Shop, and Webkinz. Dolls never bothered me by any means, but they also weren't things I'd think about at all. It wasn't until high school, when I discovered BJDs that I became really interested in dolls. After that I became so focused on dolls, especially their faces and every detail of them, that I would hone in on facial features of both humans and dolls that I found beautiful. These things really became like art to me (and BJDs are art, of course). I find dolls beautiful and intriguing and love how varied they are. Funnily enough, although as a kid I was never interested in the dolls made for girls my age at the time, I am now interested in the dolls made for girls today (their fashion is so much better and their designs are so much more varied and fun!)

A while ago I went to a museum that was full of supposedly haunted dolls (doubtful), and all I could think about while looking at them them and reading their spoooOOOooOooky descriptions were the individual features on them that I like and thought were pretty. One clown doll had really beautiful lips under the makeup, another antique doll had gorgeous eyes, a bunch had really pretty outfits and cute noses. There were some that looked a little unsettling, mainly the ones that were burnt or had the paint severely chipping, but I didn't find them scary, but rather intriguing. If anything, I felt bad for the dolls for being stuck in a dark, dingy museum with these goofy stories tied to them.

 

BJDs were actually what kinda opened me up to dolls a little bit more. I had a weird phase as a kid where I suddenly out of nowhere just hated them (porcelain dolls especially). Once I got on the internet, I discovered the varieties of BJDs that are little animals or creatures or that have unrealistic/ semi-realistic proportions and sculpts and found them charming. I still find more realistic-leaning BJDs to be unappealing, but I'm not outright scared of them anymore.

 

Never. I grew up with a collection of porcelain dolls that my mother kept on my dresser, so maybe I was just conditioned that way. The moment I saw a BJD for the first time, I was obsessed.

 

I think if you find dolls creepy in general it's hard to get attached to them. Though I like the idea of horror dolls, dolls that play with the fear of people. I really don't understand how anyone can find pretty dollies scary. To me they're nothing but lovely

 

I personally don't find dolls creepy, but my parents thought dolls and cats were creepy (i recall my mom often saying how gross looking a doll or cat was). They disliked dolls. When I was really little I think it was before 1st grade my dad did scare me once by telling me my dolls will come alive and hurt me. I think for a short time I did fear dolls because of that, but it didn't last long. He also told me Santa Clause would come and kidnap my sister and me. It was around the same time period as when he told me about the doll thing. There are some horror dolls I find scary only because it is horror themed, but the doll itself isn't creepy. Sometimes i do get nightmares about ghost dolls haunting me that's pretty scary because it's about a ghost possessing a doll. Anything supernatural related is scary, but sometimes entertaining.

Oh I think I do fear one type of doll. Those dolls that open their eyes on their own and close their eyes when you angle them a certain way. There is something dead looking about those dolls and lifeless. I don't mean the pullip dolls. What are those dolls called the ones you have as a kid that open shut their eyes? I think when I was really little I got one used from I think a church sale and that doll had a broken eye, so one eye was always moving and the other one was closed. Somehow that was really disturbing to me or was it someone else's doll that I am recalling? I had one friend who literally had so much toys it was like a toy store. It doesn't seem like it would have been my doll because my parents dislike dolls (toys in general) and I didn't have much dolls back then. It could have been her doll and i played with it or she could have given me the doll (she was nice and gave me toys sometimes to keep. Although i found out she was a little racist a few years later that ended our friendship)... I can't recall. I do remember though the eyes looking dead.

Would automatons count as creepy dolls? Recently while I was looking up antique dolls I came across something called automatons. They are creepy, but amazing. I find them interesting. I think of those things as dolls.

I suppose porcelain dolls are somewhat creepy, but I still like them because it's amazing how back then they can make dolls like that and the skills needed to make it. I find porcelain dolls somewhat creepy because people always claim they are haunted. It's that ghost element that really scares me not the doll itself. Ventriloquist dolls are I guess have a creepy factor because again i am thinking about it being haunted, but I like the look of Ventriloquist dolls too.

I guess I do find some dolls creepy because I keep thinking they might be haunted because of what people say about some dolls. It hasn't stopped me though from liking dolls because I know it's not really haunted it's just the idea of being haunted that's scary.

 

No not really. I never saw a doll and thought they were creepy. Or how some horror movies use children as scare factors. I never understood it personally.

 

I find the super realistic dolls to be creepy and much prefer the big eyed styled dolls over them. Especially reborns, those things are scary. No bueno.

 

Yeah... same. I'm fine with everything but the hyper-realistic dolls. Like I shouldn't have to stare at a doll for 5+ min to determine if it is alive or not a living thing.

 

I never liked dolls even as a child (except I wanted an American girl doll very badly for quite a few years) And I was actually worried that I would find bjds creepy before I got my first doll (luckily I didn't) even my family who don't like other dolls like bjds ^-^

 

I collected dolls my entire life, but when I first saw BJDs at an anime convention when I was 14ish, they did creep me out. I'm pretty sure they were some of the earlier Volks MSDs or SDCs as this would have been around 2006. Two years later, I brought my own BJD to the same convention (a Lati M)! These days I toy with the idea of getting one of the old SDCs because they're nostalgic to me now- they were my very first intro to BJDs, even if I didn't appreciate them at the time!

 

Originally I found a lot of the dream valley and dollzone dolls super creepy (Especially the horse one but with like human feet still think that ones odd) but honestly i began to kind of love more unusual dolls because they just feel like a breath of fresh air now. Also dollzone's mermaids completely changed my opinion because of how good the body looked.