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Do you have a plan for your doll before buying?

Feb 24, 2017

    1. I`ve been planning to get a full set for foreverrrr now! I`m starting to put money aside now, I`ve planned out to around how long it will take me to get the money as well. It will be my first bjd and i`m so excited.
       
    2. I always have a plan because, usually, when I see dolls that speak to me, I start imagining what kind of personality, faceup, aesthetics and so on could be done with them. Plus, it takes so long to save up for a doll and then wait for them to arrive, there's so much time to explore all the possibilities. I like to connect with the dolls as well, as they are a sort of therapeutic support for me, so in a way I have a big influence on the basis of doll plans before I even start filling out details - the plan is there before a doll even is :lol:
       
    3. (Sorry, my reply posted twice for some reason)
       
    4. I've collected many things, and unfortunately for me I've always been a somewhat impulsive buyer, hence any plans I've made often end up out the window.
      Now, with trading cards and smaller things that's not so bad, but with dolls that mount to an investment? I'm not taking that sort of chance.

      I've started planning, and saving for, my first doll. Nothing incredibly meticulous mind, but I've sort of have a small check list to make sure that when I'm ready to buy I do have what I need and that it won't show up in the mail and I'll be left scratching my head and putting together half thought though plans for a doll I might have bought just because I 'liked it at the time'.
       
    5. Not anymore, I do get ideas from looking the sculpt on the shop, start to build a character and sketch face-up ideas. But everything can change when they arrive and I'm fine with it because I didn't plan, just play around with ideas. It makes me enjoy more the dolls and be open to changes.
       
    6. I don't have any plans, I just shop around randomly and try imagining my doll wearing it. But I do try to set budgets on how much for clothes, wigs, eyes etc.
       
    7. I definitely try to have a plan already, unless it's an impulse buy but even then, ideas start to form as I wait for delivery.
      I usually see a doll and ideas start to percolate before I click "buy".
      But because i'm really bad for amassing dolls fast I try to make sure I have a solid idea in place before I buy any dolls new, it helps that it's an awful lot of money for me so takes a lot of pushing to make me take the plunge.
      Backstories come later, but an idea for style, faceup, what SORT of setting or whatever they'll inhabit, what species they'll be (I tend toward non human dolls) are all part of my purchase justification.
      My problem is second hand dolls. If they're cheap and... there... I just can't resist. Ideas go out the window, I just WANT lol.
       
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    8. I am just going to get a doll that i really like and they will develop their own plan ^-^
       
    9. I tend to have an idea before I even look for a doll that matches. Or sometimes seeing a doll inspires an idea, but I would never consider purchasing a doll until I have a general idea of what I want to do first, no matter how much I like a sculpt.
       
    10. The only thing that I do a lot of planning for is the buying stage. If it's a limited doll I'll look into after market prices, if it's a non limited I'll keep it in mind for when the company has an event. Then I'll save up money... Although sometimes all that goes out the window if I find a doll I've wanted for a price I can't pass up :sweat

      I usually don't plan their future looks ahead of time because sometimes they decide that what I wanted them to look like is not what they want to look like:sweat
       
    11. Yes I have to have a character I love in mind and clothes set out. I learned in the past that just buying a doll and not having anything ready for it leads to me selling them very early.
       
    12. Alex; I knew nothing about him, before he arrived. He was my first doll, and I enjoyed the planning once he was ordered. I'm still trying to place his character and work out his perfect style, almost five years later.

      Pending MK Cris; I have a couple of ideas for his character, style, connection to Alex, etc. But, nothing's quite set in stone, because I'm considering selling Alex after all in favour of a Dollshe Saint.

      Desired Dollshe Saint; I have an assured plan for him already. He's going to be a character I created, who was never really intended for a BJD but the sculpt works so well I have to do it. I just don't think he would fit in with Alex's story or vice versa. I might be able to switch Alex with another character from this OC's story, to keep him around.
       
    13. Character-wise, I like to have a plan, but... I'm open to that plan changing once the doll arrives. Of course, with characters who mean a lot to me, I hope that the doll winds up fitting them, but there are definitely cases where a character I want to shell is very flexible and open to change, especially if it's a new character and I think a doll will make them become more solid in my mind and lead me to do more with them (which was the case with Marigold, very much-- I mean, in her case I was inspired to come up with a character because I'd seen these cute deer dolls, but I didn't order one until I knew at least the basics about who she was going to be)

      In terms of the stuff they'll "need"? I might go overboard on that side of things. I use gdocs to organize where I can shop for what doll bodies, and which things from those shops different characters would wear, plus which wigs are closest to what I want. So I've got all the information in place for not only my next doll, but every doll currently on my wishlist has at least a few notes.
       
    14. @Anneko Wow! I love the idea of a self-made database for all you dolls' needs :) I think I might just have to make one of those myself! I bet that really helps when your planning on buying a doll, knowing how much you'll be spending in what places, aside from the doll itself.
       
    15. @Ellidyr Yeah, it definitely helps me keep track of the money side of things-- especially when I might be looking at one order from the company itself and going to other places to get the wig/clothes/eyes, so I can calculate probable shipping everywhere... and having it all written down, if I was looking at, say, two different potential pairs of shoes, I could say 'oh, if I buy Shoe A, then I can get it from the same shop as Pants B', and all that.
       
    16. I honestly just wing it :sweat ~listen to my heart~ and all of that. I fall in love with a sculpt, and try to figure out how to make it look the best it can. wigs/eyes/clothes that don't work out can be sold away or stashed in The Hoard for future dolls and faceups and can be wiped and reworked until I'm happy. Figuring out the puzzle and experimenting is half the fun for me, even if it takes longer and is not as cost efficient.
       
    17. Yes! I use my dolls to fit into particular stories I have, so I've always got a plan for who they're going to be.
       
    18. Yes, I nearly always have a plan for a doll before I buy. Since all my dolls represent my original characters, I have a general plan in mind even before I start to shop, let alone before I actually purchase.
       
    19. Most of the time, but I've had a few impulse buys, like the doll in my profile pic. I was looking for a secondhand Loongsoul doll (can't remember the sculpt) but happened to come across a Yesha for sale for a great price. He came with a face up, eyes and a wig and had only a minor crack in his arm near his elbow joint (which is almost entirely unnoticeable). Wound up not being able to ignore that sale price and after a few PMs and, I think, a short layaway, I had him and I've loved him ever since. Had absolutely no plan for him though.
       
    20. For now, as a newbie, I need a plan before I buy any doll because they're all connected to each other haha. For example, the 'mother' character I have set up, I'm now flip-flopping between skin colors. I can't purchase another doll, one of her children, before I have her set. Just in general I need to know what doll is who and why I'm buying them haha.

      Maybe I'll have an impulse buy one day?:daisy