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

No, my dolls don't compensate for something lacking in myself. Sure, they live out a lot of fantasies & dress much better than me but that's just an expression of my own creativity. They're dolls & are only a part of myself in that I use them for self expression. I do think that these dolls especially can have a deeper attraction for some people though.

I wanted to mention how much people have disclosed about themselves in this thread. Those of you who have laid your hearts bare, I gotta say you have guts.

 

BJDs aren't compensating for anything missing in my life, they're just really fun to play with. I appreciate anything beautiful and well made. I like how other people enjoy their dolls too.

 

I feel that my dolls all have a part of me in them. I'm fine with who I am, and my dolls sort of look like me. If and when I find a doll to fit Ed's personality, she will be my complete alter ego, the being that I'd want to be if I wasn't human.
My character Edward Lecter is pretty much me. We have the same personality. So having her would be a dream come true.

Sadly, the only doll I thought looked like her was the limited HD Marin.... =TwT=

 

For me, I'm not much of the motherly type. So I think that taking care of my "child" is a sort of a compensation. It's something I wouldn't normally do. For anything else, no, it's an artform. So I'm a yes and no.

 

No effing way, man. I lack nothing. I am Princess of the Wild Frontier, and my dolls are just along for the ride.

OK, OK, you win-- I lack closet space. So I do dress the dolls in the same killer fabuloid mega-boots that I myself can no longer be bothered to wear every day. Because, hey! Those boots take up 90% less closet space than they would if I got them in my own size!

 

No, I wouldn't say that my doll is compensating directly for something I lack. But I do think he's everything I'm not, and that's why I adore him. I don't think I could ever have a doll that was just plain human, it would simply be too boring for me, because then it would be too simular to me.

 

My girls compensate for the fact that I can't wear killer shoes any more because I had a bad ankle fracture a few years back that still hurts. Also, I am too old to appear in public (except for Halloween and Mardi Gras) in clothing that looks sexually provocative, goth, lolita, elfin, trashy, or bizarre, so I compensate by dressing my dolls in stuff that I would like for myself for fun if I were younger. Hmmm, I guess I could dress like that, but I don't want to embarrass the teenagers in my family.

 

I can't speak for others of course, but what I've quoted above is true to a degree for me. I don't gaze at my doll enviously wishing I looked like him or anything like that, but I do use him as a model for the characters in the stories/novels I write; and yes, they nearly always bear the qualities that I wish I had but know perfectly well I cannot achieve (unearthly beauty, a perfect physique, elegance, near infinite wealth, experiences I've missed out on/botched up and can't go back to, and supernatural powers, among other things. )

My doll's beauty has helped me regain my creative energy and rediscover what I find to be aesthetically pleasing, and I'm getting back into activities I've let fall by the wayside. Now I can make all the costumes I wish I could crossplay but couldn't get away with! :P

 

These dolls are a creative outlet for me. It's great to have something "physical" to work with sometimes, instead of keeping it all in your head. I can dress them to represent ideas I've had for years, or media characters I want to express my fan-ness for.

The fantasy characters I've been creating since I was a pre-teen, usually, I admit, represent myself in some way (even if it's male or old or something), because they "live" the life I wanted to have myself very badly. But I don't lock myself in my room and "talk" to the characters or something equally unnerving.

I do admit I find myself to be ugly, and think that perhaps having beautiful things will somehow make me more beautiful or more "valid" or "acknowledged" in the world in some way. I also have depression and anxiety issues, and that sometimes reflects in that my dolls can be very perky and outgoing (something I could NEVER be) and/or important and liked in some way (something I've always wanted).

 

As things are, Ivory is basically the tangible version of a character I've had for years - it's great to finally be able to move him and touch him as if he's real, rather than just draw or write about him, like I had to before. It's also nice to be able to be "cruel" to him in an in-character way (mocking him slightly, pulling him up by his leg, etc), something I've never managed to express before, without it being something I have to imagine or explain.

My next doll though, (when I can afford her that is) is entirely creative for me. I've never had a "feminine" girl before, or at least not one in the same vein as she will be - so having someone I can draw, design things for, play around with, etc is going to be nice too

 

Yes, my dolls are compensating for something lacking in my life.

I live in a world where everyone is striving so hard to be an "adult"... day in and day out the people around me are trying to perceive the world through mature eyes, trying to dissect unexplainable events through scientific means in a desperate attempt to prove that the imagination is something better off left dead.

As my childhood friends become more and more these forms of "adult", my own imagination has to strive to compensate. The dolls don't take the places of my friends. That's not possible. What they do manage to do, though, is remain a constant reminder for me of the memories of our childhood. Resin remnants of fertile imagination, so that hopefully I'll be able to hold onto my own and the memory of theirs.

 

Fashion wise I think my dolls compensate a little. I love fashion but my own style is very basic. (I wear Birkenstocks & Tshirts 365 days a year.) So I guess I do live "vicariously" through my dolls letting them wear all the clothes I'm not comfortable wearing myself.

 

Yeah, I kinda do I guess...I always wanted to be a vampire, even as a little girly girl when i was 6. i do love the doll clothes though....they are waaaaayy more cooler then my own clothes.
-Jessie

 

Yup, I do, completely ^^.

I'm also not beautiful, and definitely don't have a perfect body.
My BJDs are my idealization of what I want to be.
I mean, they're also just there for me to love and dress up and play with and such, but that's part of it.

They also represent love for me.
I feel that as long as I try and no matter how hard I try, I'm not going to find love, because every time I try I get hurt more and more and I can't stand it.
My BJDs have all the potential in the world to fall in love, since they're so beautiful, so I guess I feel that they empower me to find love, because they most definitely could if they were real people.

I hope that all doesn't sound stupid...

 

Not really.
Except for the fact that I might wish I was as spoiled as my kids.
Especially Sundae, who gets every-freaking-thing he wants. (Including a wife, best friend, clothes, and his darling son.)
Lol.

 

At first, it was about their beauty; how versatile and how near-perfect they are. Now, it's compensation for my lack of self-confidence and constant low self-esteem, so that now I can look at them and feel a little proud that I have something so personally customed (and looking outstanding!) sitting on my lap. They make up for my fear to dress the way I wish to, sporting handsome suits and wearing outrageously adorable things, and generally just looking good in what they wear.
Another part of it may have been because I needed some sort of tangible instrument to help me feel less lonely, as I never had enough friends. I don't like to think that I'm using them as a tool to help my emotional conditions, but they do put up well with that type of thing.

 

It isn't stupid. ^___^
I understand what you mean but please don't tell yourself you're ugly.
I believe that you are a beautiful person because of your genuine character.
And I believe that's what makes a person beautiful. I'm a witness to that and I can prove you're a beautiful, kind, and loving person. *hugs*

I don't have my bjd yet, but just by looking at my girl's pictures and veiwing other owner's dolls, somehow I get soothed and relaxed by them. When I get depressed and upset I do this as a habit and it effectively makes all the stress go away.
It's simply amazing how these dolls compensate to things that depresses me or stresses me out like intimidation, lack of self confidence, and low self esteem. These dolls just makes me feel confident about myself because of their idealistic and sympathizing looks. I feel like they care for me. ^^

 

Well, to be perfectly honest, I had wanted a BJD for a very long time, but the thing that made me decide to get one was the fact that I thought my fiancé and I would be unable to have a family. I went through a bout of depression, and finally decided that if we couldn't have a real child, we would have a resin one. So I spent boatloads of money on a doll, and a month later... surprise! A baby is on the way!

So the BJD that I got replaced something huge that was lacking in my (our) life (lives).

...but now I'm too far gone in the BJD lifestyle to stop! More dolls on the way, too! XD

 

Maybe not me as much as the world around me. With my dolls I have a physical embodiment of a character I've created and the world that I shape for them. Is it a better world? Not especially but it is something diffrent and interesting to me. With elements that don't exist in real life. Magic, special powers, supernatural beings all of that stuff us fantasy and sci-fi readers thrive on