Do you find this hobby competitive?

Woah i'm sorry you're n that situation. That must really put a damper on the spirit of the hobby. I'm also about your friend situation though. If that's he incentive for being in this hobby she may realize it's all in vain and not even like dolls anymore soon!

Anyway I will say I don't see this as a competition and I don't think I ever will. My friend got me into dolls and we have completely diff taste. I love volks and she likes different brands but we never compare the prices or get mad at the other if someone else orders a doll or not. If anything i'm just happy if she orders one and vice versa cos I consider her doll family to be on some level also my doll family!

 

Wow. That is quite a...Situation,

Anyways, I don't see ANY competition in this hobby, and you should tell your friend it is simply for fun, and it is far from competition.

 

My friend was always saying how unfair I was because I had so many dolls and it really hurt my feelings because of the way she'd say it...She even said it was unfair when I got to bid on a Fantasy Angel Lily and not five minutes later I lost that doll..I was heartbroken and she didn't seem to see what was wrong with what she said. I finally told her how it hurt my feelings when she said that and she's stopped.

 

A competition? The person who dies with the most dolls wins?

No, sorry, it's not a race to see who can buy the most dolls in the shortest time, or have the most expensive doll, or whatever. "Competitive doll collecting" is not a sport, and I'd like to think we're far enough removed from the fashion doll contingent that it's not all about the newest doll released while the older stuff is worthless.

 

I do understand what you mean though. I have a doll friend who seems to think it is also a competition. I'm more about whatever I like I collect. She and I went to a doll show. I finally seen a model of a BJD in person that I had been interested in for awhile now. While I really had no intention of buying the doll that day, it was nice to see it. Meanwhile, my "friend" was talking over me and the owner about buying the doll, and how she knew how layaway worked and that she could afford it. The seller was not offering layaway, but said friend wasn't getting it and kept trying to make the sale. Very embarrassing!

But what I found interesting was that she had never seen this model before, had no idea I was even interested in it until I saw it and got excited. Then she proceeded to "buy out from under me", that is of course if I had planned on buying in the first place. Not very nice if it was something I was actually going to purchase...

Currently she has been buying up a storm, no rhyme or reason, no particular company, just trying to get a bunch of dolls. She is even buying re-casts Which is not something I am interested in at all! I don't think of her as a close friend, just someone I met through my local doll club. But now that I've started to get to know her, I realize it's all a competition for her. So you can probably guess that my friendship with her has faded....

 

I don't think I've ever seen it as a competition in any way. I mean, what's to compete over? I guess people can turn anything into a competition or contest if they really want to, though. I just...don't get it at all. Like, I feel like I can usually understand the mindset involved in some aspect of the hobby even if it's not something I'm into myself, but this is one I just don't understand at all.

 

People who saw this hobby as a competition, are very poor people. They never be happy and had fun with their doll.
It is always the way in the middle for me, fun, happieness and a very heavy point.....I must have the money. I saw people,
lost all theit money for dolls..........only for competition.
Hugs Sabine

 

i'm glad your situation improved after having a talk with your friend

 

What would the competitive friends do if you won a contest or a drawing for a limited doll? It's not how many you have but how much you love them. ~Looks at ever growing pile of off topic dolls~ If I had someone like that in my life and was keeping them around for the entertainment value I'd find the ugliest most expensive doll and pretend to be falling for it just to watch them gobble one up. Meanwhile I'd quietly get what I wanted and they wouldn't know until it was there.

Sounds like the competitive people are so bad they'd even get upset if you had a different resin batch or head plate. For example my first Dollzone has a plate that says "I'm here" where his younger wife's just says "Dollzone".

 

It has and now my friend just compliments me over my dolls. Even my face-upless Kazumi she calls Gorgeous...But I'm still not taking her to meet ups..XD;; She's kind of a klutz...

 

I don't compete with other people, period. Any "friend" who has to do that beat you, copy you, take what you have, always have more, isn't much of a friend IMHO and wouldn't be mine for long. It's not just about dolls. People like that tend to do the same thing with everything. Not worth it.

 

I agree. I'm also a Star Wars collector and another friend was like that about it. Stomp out the competition, take what you can get, and so on. She isn't into BJDs and thinks they are childish so I don't have to be upset and anxious about my collection. I always hated that feeling of a friend having to one-up you. Really isn't much of a friendship is it? :/

 

I wouldn't say the hobby is competitive. But that's kind of a good thing. My friend has been in the hobby quite some time; and when he tells me about the dolls he wants to buy, it makes me try harder to save for my first one! I also think its great that he gives me advice and asks my opinion on stuff So no I wouldn't say its competitive at least I don't feel that way...

 

I suppose it depends on someone's natural personality. If you're a competitive person you'll look for things to be competitive about, whether that's a conscious choice or not.

I don't think this hobby is naturally a competitive environment, I don't think it makes people competitive if they aren't naturally that way. However, there are lots of ways that competitive people can indulge their competitive tendencies in this hobby - from developing face-up skills to making clothes to the number of dolls people buy in a year, there are ways to fixate on what other people are doing and either try to beat them or better them in some way...even if they might not even be aware of how you feel!

 

I don't see the hobby as a competition nor do most of the people I have met. Most of us enjoy seeing each others dolls at meets and get excited for each other when new dolls are on the way. Personally, I don't know the prices of brands other than the ones I own so I don't get into the whole "cheap" doll versus expensive doll thing.
I am pretty sure that I know who JediSpiceGissia is referring to (we live in the same area) and my guess is that that person thinks that having more dolls than the rest of us will make us like her more.

 

Not personally. My doll purchases are determined by my taste and budget alone. I am not interested in using my doll(s) to prove anything, show off or cause envy, resentment or upset. The day I stop feeling this hobby is joyful and fun, then it is time for me to leave. Life is too short.

 

I'm in a constant competition with myself to make better clothes, nicer face ups, take better photos, build better props etc. But that is just for my own development and amusement.
It wouldn't be as fun if I felt like I had to defeat someone else. If I felt someone was trying to constantly defeat me I would probably just let them have their fun and ignore them, but I do understand how that could potentially take some of the fun out of the hobby.
Unfortunately, I think, there will always be a few people like that, in any hobby.

 

If a person tends to be competitive in other arenas of life, they may be competitive in their hobbies, too. I don't look at it competitively, though sometimes it does seem as if some folks race to be the first to get the next big thing or the most popular face-up artist or clothier. But perhaps that's how the hobby works best for them. Sometimes discovery and the chase are the parts that most excite people.

 

I do find there to be a lot of facets of competition in this hobby although not for myself; in our circle, when someone gets a new doll or announces that it's incoming, another collector I know gets dissatisfied with her own collection and her currently obtained "grail" and sells them off so she can afford to get something new as well. Perhaps she's hooked on the act of always having something new as there's always someone in our friendship circle receiving a new doll, so she gets a sense of 'competitiveness' when seeing someone else is receiving a new doll? I really don't get it at all. It's always perfectly timed though to be in-sync when others in our group are receiving something new.

It doesn't seem to be a competition to topple who can obtain the rarest, most expensive doll either, but just a competitive desire to sell something off to buy something new, so they too can expect something new in the mail as another friend may be at the time and make sure others know that they too have a doll coming. They also love to talk about their incoming dolly packages and thrive on praise but never care to return it in any way, ever. The individual has sold an absurd amount of dolls in a small period of time on various platforms, most whom she considered her "grails", and has bought even more replacements for these sold dolls in that same time frame so she always has something new incoming to tell others about. I don't really know if she even cares about the dolls anymore or is just competitive about expecting something new in the mail just like others, it totally baffles me, LOL