Did you start collecting with specific goals?

I just wanted a mermaid bjd, and the first doll I got was an OOAK Gretel head that one of my friends modified the ears too and gave her fish scales on her face. She has a vinyl body and she's not exactly what I wanted in terms of a mermaid but I love her just as she is! Also I did eventually get a Fairyland PukiPuki mermaid (and she's my favorite color, pink) so I'm more than happy with what I have.

 

The first doll that I wanted was a Dollshe and I'm afraid I am subject to buying more while waiting for a doll to be shipped so I winded up receiving an asleep eidolon tiny from my bestfriend and she became my favorite instead . when I started this hobby I've made a resolution to never sell and re-shell my dolls because I believe that things that are well loved by their owners somehow have a life of their own.

 

Yes, they're absolutely lovely! I saw a few that have the seahorse tail at the last meet I went to and now I want more again

 

I'm the same way. I've got a "look" or feel that I'm kind of leaning towards and it it fits then I'll buy it. I haven't actually sold anything so I've bought yet, I just try to repurpose it.

 

I started with a clear goal - to have my favorite character as a doll. Then, when I found out I'll need to hybrid him, I decided to make his boyfriend too (as the doll I found for the first guy had a perfect face for him, but the body just wasn't right for him - but it would be great for his bf - so I added a second doll to the original plan).
Now I wait - I'll see how it's going to be after they arrive and after I finish working on them.

 

Kind of, but also no. My first doll I got because she was super versatile, thematically, and I would be able to re-design her any time I felt bored with her. So I guess I went into this hobby with the intent to craft and design...

and then the next doll I got was very thematically solid, lol. In a way, he was almost easier, because I went in knowing what I wanted and what I could create for him.

My third doll was similar to my first- an empty canvas to design.

I'm approaching my 4th full doll, with the intent to just create what vibes and see where it lands.

Soooooo, no. I guess the answer is no. No goals in mind. Just getting what I like and having fun... but I guess that also is a goal! doll paradox

 

Honestly my goal 2 months ago when I found out about BJD's was 'buy all the pretty fullset Fairyland girls', but now it's to figure out exactly what I want. I have a certain 'look' and picture/image of what I want my girls to eventually be now (it took me awhile to figure out which direction I wanted to go). Not focus on fullsets too much anymore, do my own faceups.

 

I'm just a collector, not an artist or a writer or anything like that... so my gang is mostly just an assembly of sculpts that, for one reason or another, really appealed to me. Many have ended up being resin avatars for my old-school paper-and-funky-dice tabletop RPG characters and roleplayed MMO toons, but that's often because those characters were who they reminded me of once I got them rather than something I planned ahead of time.

There are exceptions... A few special characters *were* sought out intentionally... But they're far outnumbered by dolls who ended up in the crew as simply "I like this one!"-sculpts first.

I do have one hard and fast rule for the gang, though... The dolls that I want to photograph and pose together MUST look good together. Their scale, sculptural style and degree of realism absolutely have to match. Distinct groups don't really have to match other distinct groups, but all of the members within a particular group have to be compatible. That's the only way I can deal with having a Granado guy and few Iple EIDs in the same collection with a bunch of classic Volks bobble-heads and CP/Delf anime pretty-boys.

 

Yes, I had goals of buying dolls to represent my own writing characters, and my first several were purchased with that goal in mind.

Ultimately though, I was very unhappy going in that direction and kept all the dolls but reworked them. I tend to like a variety of sizes and aesthetic styles, from anime to realistic, and fell too hard for too many dolls! I also didn't want to shoehorn various characters into my story, so I ended up going completely against my doll plans and just buy what I like (keeping that story separate from the BJD world).

Now I have a big mix of dolls who don't thematically fit each other at all but I'm super happy with them!

 

Initially, I just wanted one doll, and I wanted him to be Final Fantasy inspired....and my collection is not even close to that now. I still have my first, but he's changed a lot since then and still doesn't fit in my current crew! I feel like I do better without planning too much and just kind of letting characters figure themselves out over time.

 

I love the more elegant, realistic looking dolls and I thought that I would own them when I started out. I was so convinced my first doll would be a Supia Rosy or a Switch Hina. But I think it's just the truth about me that I love cute things, and I ended up gravitating toward the more sweet, innocent looking anime style sculpts. I bought my first doll who appealed to me in that way, thinking "I just need to start somewhere, i can always change my mind or sell her if I don't bond with her". So I ended up just getting a sweeter girl sculpt I was drawn to and making my character from there. After a year I just ordered my second doll and I can't say my taste has changed much, I feel like she's very similar to my first doll appearance-wise. In that sense I think my heart just guided my decision and showed me what I would love the most. But there is always room for change, and there is always the chance you will fall more in love with your dolls than you initially expected. So I think that whether you start off vague or not, you should just see where things go and take it day by day.^^

 

My goal is and was to shell my characters. The problem is now I'm finding dolls and making characters to fit them as an excuse for them (looking @ you Dream Valley Ann)

 

I just really wanted a tiny doll. The kind that can sit on your hand (smaller than regular yosd types). I’m super happy with the one I have ^.^ Now I’m also finding out that I like fantasy dolls and animal dolls *^*

 

Basically, I wanted one doll. I got three within my first year in the hobby, and it's been a downward spiral from there. *lol* These days, I guess my goal is "Let's see how many more dolls I can fit in my tiny appartment" ...

 

I wanted certain dolls of film characters... then I got them and decided I wanted my novel characters... then I ended up with a bunch of random ones too... then...

Basically, I just wanted a few and it went wrong. I now have 15 dolls and am planning to hold off for a while!

 

I wanted to buy pretty dolls and make characters. Very rarely the other way around, although there were a few times I set out with a concept or character in mind and looked for a doll to match. Mostly I just buy what I love and don't worry too much about how to fit them in. It seems to have worked pretty well in my favor - in almost 14 years, I've never sold off a full doll.

 

I started with a very specific goal: make dolls of my two main characters so I could pose them, which I hoped would help me write the details of physical position during dialogue. But then... My MC refused to be shelled, the doll I originally bought to be her took on a whole series of new personalities without my permission, and suddenly tinies began appearing out of the aether... And I also realized that too much physical description in dialogue is actually kind of distracting :P so my goals now look much different than they did at the beginning! It's much less about creating a specific rigid vision now, and more about enjoying dwelling in that realm of imagination as an adult. It was so easy to get to as a child, but now... Well, I'm just really grateful for my dollies

 

At first I started with the goal of shelling ONLY my characters from one particular story...and then I saw sculpts that reminded me of characters I used to role-play or characters from other stories I'd written. I knew I'd gone off the rails when I ended up with dolls bought purely for aesthetic enjoyment. So now I have a more rounded collection but I also can enjoy different dolls in different ways.