Do you feel that ABJD's compensate for something you don't have IRL?

As I don't have my doll yet, this is a tricky question. I'll try to answer the best I can. ^^ (speaking more hypothetically, than from experience)

I don't think I'll be compensating for much in my life by buying my BJD. Sure I'd like to be thinner, or prettier, or taller or whatever; everyone does; but I don't think that I'd be able to personify these feelings into a doll. For me, they're something to enjoy and are an extension of my creativity, not of my personality.

That being said, I have few friends, and they do not always understand me (or my hobbies), and sometimes that's frustrating. However, I think that BJD's in general have really put me in touch with a wider variety of people who I feel like I can appreciate, and know where they're coming from. :3

 

Well, dolls are dolls, it may add beauty into my life but not to myself. However, playing dress-up for my doll for outfits that looks horrible on me can somewhat compensate each other. (Sorry not sure how to phrase that.)

Not sure if its answering the question.

 

I like this discussion. Yes, I have no problem admitting that my dolls do compensate for things I lack IRL. I don't have children, so my tiny Miep gets spoiled with handmade shoes/clothes. The Bobobie Sprite girl I'm waiting for of course is an elf (I like fairies, elves, pixies, etc.) and she's even getting a tattoo (something I will never get). My dolls get to wear the outfits my body is not proportioned for, I'm petite and I work a regular 9 to 5 job, they get to wear the glamourous/edgy outfits and can be a model, princess, high schooler, pretend child, etc. That's why we 'design' our dolls the way they are, because we can.

 

I'm not going to say that I'm afraid to wear Lolita clothing per se, it's more like my mum doesn't want me to for fear I'll be ridiculed (I'm still in highschool). Also I'm not that great at making patterns and stuff, so the BJDs are a great way for me to get better at sewing. ^^
That and, I have an overactive imagination and it's always going, and I love people and their backgrounds, so when I make a character they always come with their life-story ^^.

BJDs are a great creative outlet. ^^

 

My dolls are pretty much extensions of myself. Each one's style is an extreme, taken from the little bits here and there that inspire me.

They're very much a tool of expression. For instance, I have dolls that only wear Decora style clothing, or punk, or period dresses and lolita styles aswell. These are they're everyday outfits, and while i wish i could dress like any one of those styles all the time i have a hard time picking just one XD

It's also my way of getting to make clothing that i'd never be able to afford to make for myself with the cost of certain fabrics.. they help me do all the things with fashion that i want to do, but all at once! Which is important to me, as fashion is basically my life and my highest point of art.

 

Yes and no. I don't have a doll (yet), but I wanted one desperately (and obsessively) for a very long time about a year ago. Then, after I started going out with a boy, I realised that my need for a doll was sated. Yes, I still want one (I can feel my obsession returning slightly), but...I was going through a really insecure time, and at that point, I saw a doll as a friend who I could talk to and who would be with me always.

I'm not saying that all dolls are substitute boyfriends/girlfriends - but after I found someone who made me feel special, and talked to me lots and spent a lot of time with me, I realised that the gap I had been planning on filling with a doll was filled with his companionship. I mostly stopped talking to imaginary friends around the same time too.

Now, the doll is more of a luxury I want, in opposed to something I crave to make me feel whole. But I think it all depends on personal circumstances.

 

hahaha All but one of my dolls are boys but I don't wanna be one.

I do suppose that I make their personalities out of the parts of me that I'd like to show. Thinking outside that box is definitely not encouraged where I live. Most people that know me, don't even know about my dolls.

hmmm... I have always hated my eye color tho... I think that's why none of my dolls have hazel eyes ^_^

 

I suppose that they do really, I was fated to only have one child and I so wanted it to be a girl, please dont think I dont love my son any less and am happy that he is healthy and gorgeous, I just would have loved a little girl to dress up and do their hair. Maybe thats why I'm more drawn to girl dolls rather than boys.Also Ive never been described as a beauty or slim, so I can live out a bit of fantasy through my dolls (when I get them).

 

Well i guess I could say that my BJD replaces my need of having a good friend, although I found some...classmates, I have never really had a " best friend " I have never had a good friend, one that would stay up with me till 3am or support me all the time...

Ever since I immigrated to Montreal from Hong Kong, I had my share of " friends " but the friendship never lasted long and always ended up bad. I always have been bullied as well, from grade school all the way to high school. So I guess to me, my MNF shiwoo is my only real friend to me, I named him Kuroo, but I know he'd never tell my secrets, nor contradict me or say bad things to me, you might think oh she is crazy, well i might be I guess >.>

 

I thought before about this. Maybe my little girl is the sister I never had. Then I thought more abotu it. If I had a sister, I certainly would not be dressing her, bathing her have her sitting in my lap! So, I threw that idea away. I know she is not the girlfriend I want, I don't have a probem in that area. Then I thought about the perspective of the idea.

Depending on how it is thought of a doll can be compensating for anything you want them to be compensating for. You could say having a hobby is compensating for a lack of hobby, if your hobby is dolls then your doll is now compensating. I really like the gothic lolita style and I dress my doll in gothic lolita. Someone can say that I am compensating my interest in the style by having it around or you could just say I really like it. I don't think I am compensating for anything when I hug my doll cuddle with her, I just love her. So, I think whether or not someone is compensating for something it depends on perspective.

 

Yes, my dolls do compensate for things I lack in real life. As I dont have a bjd yet I cant comment specifically on them, but already, just looking at them, they conjure up a world of romanticism,fantasy and beauty that I dont have in my life.I will never be as slim or perfectly beautiful as these dolls, but through them I can experience that.The dolls I do own right now,himmies,take me to a childhood that I never had,but longed for, for me it is a form of escapism and I feely admit to that

 

Hmm... I'm saving for my first BJD, so this is kind of hard to answer... But I just want one because I love them! I don't see them as compensation. As an artist, I am drawn to their beauty, and I can't wait to make all kinds of clothes for them. But just because I'm drawn to their beauty doesn't mean I feel ugly and am filling a void. I think my dolls are going to be a joy to have and play with, that's all. It's a really interesting question, though

 

I would like to say that I'm like bronzephoenix and I'm simply drawn to my dolls' beauty, that's all. But if the same were true for me, then I'm sure I would be as interested in boy dolls as in girl dolls. I'll have to think about this question more.

 

I think what they compensate for with me is that I have to suffer the horribleness and indignities of corporeal (fleshly) existence... and they don't! They don't have to feel pain (whether physical or existential), they don't get old, they don't have to pay their way in this crass and coarse world. I feel some part of me lives protected in that perfect lifeless resin shell.

Raven

 

I am still doll-less as of right now, unfortunately. But I can still tell you why I would LOVE to have one, and do plan on buying one one my tax returns come in the mail.

Even before I found out about BJD's, I was really into roleplaying/writing. (I still am) I have become so attached to some of the characters I created, because they were everything I couldn't be and ended up with the perfect, happy endings. They are all males that are attracted to other men. Each of them has a part of me put into them, personality quirks, interests, fears... But then they also have traits that I /wish/ I had, as well as that idealistic 'happy ending' where they fall in love and get their 'knights in shining armors'.
How does this relate to BJD's? Well, I'd love to fashion a doll after one of my characters, possibly more. Then I would get to see my creation(s)...in the 'flesh' we'll say. It's a way for me to always have them around, even after my friend tires of roleplaying our characters together and I have no one to interact with them, er, with...?

I'm a girl myself, but like I said, most of my characters are male. I do have female side characters that I would also love to turn into dolls, one in particular, but I haven't decided if I'll ever go that far.

 

Yes and no..
They don't really compensate for something I don't have, but they make me feel like I have a little brother and a sister which I can take care for with making clothes and playing with them.
It just makes me feel happy to do so, they can't hurt you so sometimes they are better than things IRL

 

To an extent, I suppose. But it probably compensates for having something just to really enjoy when I'm in some kind of a bitter mood, if you get my drift. Tones down the malice that some of my bad moods can carry. So if my doll really does compensate for something, it's something that really doesn't hurt.

 

I currently don't have a doll...but i have to say that the reason i want one is to further my sewing skills. i want a boy that i can dress in outfits that are lavish, impractical, and most men would look at me like I'm high if i asked them to wear them. (My poor boyfriend. He was asking for it when he started going out with a cosplayer.)

 

Honestly? No. Sanyu is based off of one of my characters... and she's really not something I want to be. Sure, I've thought sometimes that being stronger would be nice, or being acrobatic could be awesome... But I'm rather happy with me. I prefer arts to martial arts and dancing over training. Sanyu is not a person I want to be, never was. I got her to help myself advance in the things I want to do. Photography, sewing, jewelry making, drawing... I never got her to make up for something I didn't have... unless you count a 'mannequin' as something I never had. Or a good photography model. It's hard to find people who'll come to your class twice a week just so you can take pictures for hours... but that's off topic.

I guess I've thought about getting a doll that would make up for some of it... Like I want a minimee. However, I'd get the Minimee some long shiny red hair, completely unlike my own, because it is the hair I wish I had. But that would be only one doll, so I can't say my whole BJD hobby is like that because it isn't.

 

They're an extension of my creative self. I'm very ordinary IRL & enjoy a busy family life with hubby and kids.