Did you play with dolls as a child?

I played with Barbies up until I was about 12 years old...my friend and I had a whole story for our doll family which was about 20 dolls each. We hated Ken dolls though, I remember we put one in the woods in winter and took him out in Spring xD he was a mess of course.
Anyway, I had a bunch of dolls. Then I stopped because I thought I was too old.
This hobby really makes me feel happy, because I no longer think that you can be "too old!"

 

Yes, I played with barbies and stuffed animals as a child. I've always wanted more pose able dolls when I was little and most of the barbies couldn't bend there knees and elbows so when I later discoved bjds I loved everything about them. I love how you can customize and create unique dolls that are not mass produced and considered works of art.

 

I did play with dolls when I was little. I remember having quite a number of Barbie dolls, and on my fourth birthday, received the same Barbie twice, and gave one to my cousin, because 'sharing is caring'.

Well, after I left England and the family moved to Australia when I was six, I had to leave nearly all of them behind, and well, the poor Barbie that I took with me never had a nice life again. My brother and I would tie her up in high places, and make Action Man save her, though 90% of the time, she either slipped through the rope, was dropped by Action Man, or was swung into a pole on the bed, or the door, so odds were, she probably didn't survive.

I did have a Baby Born that I named 'Katie', (My full name is Catherine. I actually never took Katie from Catherine when I was seven), and she spent the majority of her life in the bath, because back then, they weren't designed for baths.

Don't worry, I'll be much nicer to my future BJD. ; D

 

I played with dolls frequently as a child: barbies, porcelain dolls, Dragonball Z toys, etc. However, when BJDs became very popular, I certainly did not jump on board and it wasn't until I held one in my hands that I fell in love.

 

I played with a lot of dolls as a child but mostly with animal toys like My Little Pony, the Littlest Pet Shop, Happy meal toys, etc. The only thing that had a human form was Polly Pocket. Barbies I had some because ppl bought me those, but I never was a fan. I don't think I loved plushies too much either; I preferred 'realistic' looking/feeling dolls I think (example: a bambi plush doll never looked like the original in the motion pictures whereas a plastic toy bore more resemblance). I think this led me get into anime figures/figurines, art dolls, and finally, bjds. Unlike the old days I'm in love with human dolls; but liking resin over fur/cotton etc., preferring realistic looking dolls remain the same

 

I played with dolls from toddler age on. Barbies in elementary school. Sailor moon dolls in high school. Winx dolls in college. Off-topic "BJDs" now. Dolls have always been in my life.

 

I played with dolls every chance I got. Growing up in a very strict military home, playtime was limite to after chores and homework. Television was only allowed during specific times only on weekends, so dolls were a big part of my life. Doll clothes were especially fasinating as well.
Role playing was also a very good child development tool, so it wasn't until I discovered bjd's that I was even able to get my daughter to entertain the idea.

 

When I was very young I did play with action figures (clothes? Pffft, our customization is weaponry! Check out my gun! Now my sword! Now my hooky-missile-launcher thing!)

Strangely though, I was always liked most the one token female in every action figure line. Even Rambo had a Token Badass Chick. Hell, sometimes I would ONLY get the token female from a toy line. I just really preferred the female body aesthetic. I thought it looked better than the male (particularly in the early 90s.... Anyone else remember when the fad was to have the EXTREME version of every toy line? Even the ghost busters has EXTREME ghost busters, scientists on metabolic steroids).

Funny enough, it was considered "gay" by my peers to like, much less have, these token females. Because, you know, preferring burly men with rippling muscles to girls is definitely the manly hetero choice.

Now I'm into bjds, and as an adult I stand by my previous stance: the female body looks better to me!

 

I played with dolls, but mostly barbies and my little ponies as well, and now in my 30's am i playing wiht dollies again and i love it! althought i keep my hobby a secret from most people.

 

I have always loved dolls of all kinds. My absolute favourite of all time was Martha, my first Cabbage Patch Kid. I got her in 1984 when I was eight years old, and I still have her. She's awesome. I also played with Jem dolls, Barbie to some extent, Real Baby (yay 1980s!) and various other baby dolls. I also LOVED My Little Pony and collected well over 100 of them, which are now stored in my grandmother's attic.

Now, I have all my old dolls with me, as well as my lovely reborn babies and of course my awesomely awesome BJDs.

I believe you're NEVER too old for dolls.

 

I had a about three barbies, two Kens and a Sindy that once belonged to my mum, I don't really remember being particulary attached to them. I think the only thing I like was the cute accessories and pretty dresses (not much has changed there though XD).
When I told my mum about the bjd I was buying the first thing she said was "but you never liked dolls..." haha I think my interest in bjd's now has baffled her.

 

I played with barbies, but I would tire of them quickly. I mostly played with my ponies or whatever horse figurine I had laying around.

 

Yes I did, barbies, bratz, and myscene...

 

I have played with all kinds of dolls all throughout my life. The type of doll seems to have developed more with my age, which is something I've always found interesting. Most notably I grew up with Raggedy Ann (age 0-3) the old-style Polly Pockets (age 3-6), Barbie (age 6-12), Brats (age 13-17) and now Volks (age 17-21+).

The first item I ever received in my life was a doll - as a newborn baby I was given a cloth doll with a rattle sewn inside that sat in my hospital bed with me that was made by my grandmother, I still have her to this day (oddly she remains unnamed in 21 years). So I guess you could say it was almost predetermined from birth that I would be a doll-person, hahaha!

 

As a little kid, I absolutely loved barbies. My dad reminds me that I used to have like 60 barbies (we've since then given them away to donation charities). But I still have a love for stuffed animals. I totally got away from dolls (barbies, moxie, whatever just don't appeal to me at all) but I really really like BJDs.

 

Yes, because I wasn't allowed to see my very few friends outside of school very often until I turned eighteen. I wanted "someone" to play with, so I was given a lot of dolls (cloth, babies, barbies, you name it) and stuffed toys instead. No wonder I'm socially inept even today.

I turned to this hobby for a completely different reason. I didn't want to "play" with my dolls when I first found them -- I just wanted to sit and stare at them for hours. But when I got close to buying one, of course that idea turned all on its head. I just like looking at and surrounding myself with very pretty things, and these dolls were very pretty. I've done the same thing with perfume bottles, faberge eggs and other expensive knick-knacks and such before; doesn't matter to me what it is, so long as I love to look at it.

 

We had barbies back then. We did a lot of roleplay. I liked the teddy bears a lot more though. I drew a lot more often than play with dolls so they usually just sit there till my sister wants to play.

Edit: I also had Polly Pockets...and Land Before Time hand puppets. TuT' ahe~

 

I had Barbies, Polly Pockets and Bratz dolls when I was growing up. As well as the occasional baby one. I used to turn on a cd and make my dolls do dance performances, or theatre performances. I was kind of strange when I was younger and made up really odd (for a child) stories for them and since I had like two male dolls they'd often involve cheating xD and the Polly Pockets would end up being the Bratz children.

...Yeah, weird.

 

Angel, i had Polly Pockets too. let's shed a tear for the 90s... (yes, i know they still exist, but they're not the same)

also most kids are really strange when it comes to making up stories about relationships. my best friend in 3rd or 4th grade and i had an ongoing 'drama' story with our dolls where there were 2 lovers and it was nothing BUT cheating/illegitimate child drama/making up/breaking up/etc. unless they have no imagination at all kids make up the weirdest stories with their toys, even if those toys arent dolls.

 

I find a lot of these responses awesome! Its crazy to see how many people did or didn't like dolls growing up!
I myself was very much a tom-boy. Any barbies or baby dolls would either end up lost, buried in the mud outside, thrown out of moving cars, or my personal favorite forced to reenact scenes from Jurassic Park with my collection of dinosaur toys, often loosing heads and other limbs in the process.
I still have a dislike for barbies, baby dolls, and the like, but there is just something alluring about BJD's that drew me to them. A lot of it has to do with the amount of detail put into the sculpts, the elegance and realism, and being able to fully customize them from looks all the way down to history of the character. Of course there's a lot more to it than just that