Do you like the idea of "limited" dolls?

I am in two minds about the whole limited issue, but more leaning toward not liking it.

Actually, limited dolls annoy the hell out of me and I wish companies wouldn't resort to such methods to make you buy a doll. BJD are a darn expensive hobby as it is, and a lot of fans have to collect money first before they can afford a BJD. Limited editions make the life for those who don't roll in money even harder.

Aside from that, I don't see what's wrong about making a doll available all the time for anyone who likes it (same goes for outfits etc.). Also, the whole "a limited doll is a special doll, so I feel more special owning something rare"-attitude some people share is not understandable to me . It sounds more like a pipe dream or delusion someone likes to keep up to feel special since he owns something others don't. In my mind, what makes a doll "special" is what an owner creates out of it, and not if a company sells it limited or not. But I digress...

To cut a long story short: To me, limited doll releases are just a way for sellers to put pressure onto collectors to spend their money fast, which I don't consider very customer-friendly at all. If I happen to fall for a limited doll, I almost feel forced to buy it as soon as possible, or it will be gone. Forever.

I seriously loathe that stress and the fear of not being fast enough collecting the needed money for a limited doll until it's sold out. But then again, I am bad at reaching compromises, and it also irritates me to see how some certain individuals demand 4x more the original price for a limited doll on the secondary market. I discovered some limited dolls I'd really love to have but those were released way before I became active in the BJD-hobby at all. Some of those limited dolls never show up on the secondary market either, thus my chances are about zero to ever obtain them. Who knows what might have been if those dolls were not limited ?

The worst case scenario is if more than one limited doll appear on the market and I absolutely love both, but cannot afford to buy all of them. The only positive thing I ever got out of owning a limited doll was that people admired me for owning that doll. But that's not really the kind of attention I want. So yeah, all in all, dolls being limited annoys me and I see more negative aspects to it than positive ones.

 

As a piece of art, I think they're great. The companies actually take the time to design and make elaborate outfits and give them special faceups. They feel more put together, and if I was looking for something pretty to go on display, LEs would probably be the best way to go for the least amount of hassle (assuming waiting/shipping/etc go smoothly). BUT! It is awfully depressing when you realise that perfect sculpt came out two years ago and there's no way you'd be able to get/afford it second hand.

Personally, I like dolls for how customisable they are. And although there are LE molds, I don't feel as though I'm losing out on as much as someone who likes to buy full sets. Yes, there are some I love and will never own but at the end of the day I wouldn't want companies to stop making them. It just makes the hobby that little bit more interesting.

 

I like the idea of limitted dolls. although for me i always buy on impulse, but i think some limtted dolls are really pretty and there is the statisfaction of owning 1 limtted doll. however, i agree that if u just happen to be low on cash, it maybe unfair.

 

That is exactly what I hate about it. Owning a rare or limited doll doesn't make someone *special* and I hate the idea that someone should pat themselves on the back for owning a certain doll/outfit/shoes/w/e. It *is* elitism. Wake up, people.

If someone is not talented enough to make a regular doll their own and feel that specialness, then having a limited won't help them.

edit: What I mean by that is...if you feel that whatever skill you have isn't good enough to make a doll you can bond with, then buying one won't help. I've seen sooooo many dolls of the same mold look completely different with each faceup their various owners gave them that it seems silly, to me, to whine about anything being a 'popular' mold, so one needs a doll that is limited.

 

I feel the exact same way. I could never enjoy yearning and chasing after something -- when I want something, I want it; and the quicker I get my hands on it, the better. So I prefer dolls that I don't have to race against the clock to get, and that I can realistically save up for.

Not to mention, as some have said, the slight "elitism" thing that sometimes happens with LEs. I've collected Pullips in the past, and the same thing happens there -- someone posts that they scored a Leprotto and Kirakishou, and everyone goes nuts, squealing and being happy-but-jealous. Everyone would say "You're so lucky to have her!" In my opinion, having any doll, LE or not, is somewhat "lucky"! The fact that she isn't LE doesn't mean she's less special, and that you should feel less "lucky" to have her in your life!

I guess that's why I don't even pay too much attention to LEs. I try to not even look at them closely, lest I find that I've fallen for one. As soon as I read "LE___" in a doll description, I click the little magical X, and don't even scroll down to see the pics.

I understand why the companies do it, and I also understand that it's no one's job to be "fair" -- if I'm not wealthy enough to save up for a 900$+ doll on a month's notice, well, too bad. But I'm not going to let the desire for an unobtainable LE upset me.

lt; dr -- I don't like how the LE system works, so I just tend to ignore it.

 

LE dolls are not unobtainable. It's a pain in the ass to get them after they have been released, but they can still end up in your home sweet home. I dislike chasing after dolls, whatever they are (LE, discontinued) because I feel I don't have the time to sit and think when the opportunity pops up and then delays any attempt to get a standard. In the process I end up owning, errrr... only LE dolls in a way or another. I would love to have them standard, less annoyance to get them but seriously, I won't ignore them just because they are harder to get! I'm not rich, truly, but I like my dolls and actually don't pay much attention to their level of rarity as long as - I - find them pretty in my room. I don't feel more blessed than someone else, it's just that the ones I like most happen to be LE. I'm not happier than anyone else who loves his dolls, wether they are standard or LE.

Then LE dolls are not meant to be fair, they deliberatly play on the "blessed" feeling and brands don't care if people feel frustrated as long as others feel privileged. Now you feeling this or that is up to you, in similar situations people don't always feel the same.

Some brands like Volks or Soom mostly release LE dolls. But in most brands, LE means special treatment of a standard doll. If it takes a lot of time and effort to design, sew, paint in a different way AND if the name behind it is not your common employee and has a reputation to hold (rollingpumpkin and her kind), it doesn't hurt me that the brands don't always want to make these dolls with special treatment available for anyone, in the sense of an unlimited release of something that costs higher even for them. And actually it's also acceptable from said Volks and Soom, when you see they release fullset dolls, with special parts and all. A doll with hooves and many many complicated joints, I can understand it's more expensive and in less quantity, as the process of making it is complicated.

 

If you have had the doll you love, you hope it is the limited.
If you have not had it, you hope it can be sold everytime.
the limited may be unfair, but you can not change it ,isn't it?

 

I love my limited boys but the pressure to buy now does so grate on my nerves. Plus as has been mentioned, little can feel worse than realising that doll you fell in love with without knowing it was a limited, just so happens to be rather sought after, with the added fun of being worth 4 standard doll's pricetags.

I suppose for me it's a can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em sort of deal.

 

I like the idea of limited dolls. I don't think I would want to buy one, since I like to spend a long time deciding if I'm going to buy a doll, but I think that they are a nice idea. Not everyone can get one and that's the point. They are rare and unique dolls which I think is a good thing.

 

I agree, sold out doesn't mean impossible to get! I was lucky to buy my SDC Kurt direct from Volks even after 2 years of him being available! I collect frogs and BJDs and Kurt was the perfect crossover doll. Knowing he was released in 2006 made me sad because I thought he would be long sold out...but I found out he was still available on their international site. Miracles do happen. If you want the doll badly enough there are loads of places to look (the marketplace here, eBay, Y!Japan auctions) and you can keep a seperate savings account or penny jar specifically to save up for that LE you are dying to own.

The only limited doll I bought because of a mad anticipation frenzy was my Soom Glot and I sold her not long after she arrived - someone else benefited from my stupidity and got a long sold-out doll, which is great for them and proves my point that the doll you love will pop up in all sorts of places even after it has sold out from the company's website.

 

Ahh, it's that ol' Sour Grapes Fallacy once again = "Everyone who buys a limited edition doll does so for elitist reasons, & is only doing it to make themselves feel higher-up in some imaginary hierarchy [i.e. above me]". This is a wildly incorrect assumption. Wake up, people.

Many people buy their limited sculpts because that is the sculpt that they happen to love. Many people buy their limited editions of basic sculpts because that is the edition they happen to love. If other people get offended by those choices, it is clear who has the insecurity issues.

Another fallacy, which can also be caused by insecurity. When someone compliments Person A's LE doll, this does not mean they are denigrating Person B's doll for not being LE. They are simply saying "you are lucky for having [x] because it is limited"; they are not saying "you are lame for having [y] because it is not limited".

 

I like LE dolls. In fact, if I were to ever start a doll company I think I'd never bother with standard edition dolls and just sell limited editions.

It's no one else's fault that you (general "you" here) didn't have enough money to buy a doll at that time it was released. Souring up and claiming that all those who buy LE's only do so because they want to feel good about themselves is a highly immature thing to do because it is definitely not true (in most cases). Honestly, do you think people have such pitiful lives that buying a doll someone else doesn't have would be considered a highlight of it?

There are dolls that I thought were pretty that were limited and released way before I joined the hobby (like Esthy Peroth). I don't feel like hunting one down and paying exorbitant prices for one, so as pretty as I think they are I just decided not to own one. Really, it's very simple to decide a doll isn't worth your time and the hunt. And in all honesty, you do not need that specific LE to live.

I bought one LE head, for which I paid a second market price because I dawdled and didn't jump on the wagon to buy him in time. Whoops, too bad for me. It certainly was not the fault of any of the tens (if not hundreds) of people who did buy him in time. I'm considering getting my first true LE in the time span he's being sold because I just happen to have the money, and I think I'd be quite incredulous if someone claimed I only got him because it made me feel "special". Please, if I wanted to feel "special" there are many other better ways for me to spend my money. The only reason I don't feel like owning many LE's is really because they're harder to replace if something were to happen (not that any of my dolls are really replaceable, but).

And as for the "lucky" comment... It the same thing as you're "lucky" when you find a four-leaf clover. Not because it's somehow better than the regular three-leaf variety, but because it's rare and harder to find - and finding one is a stroke of luck.

The one thing I don't really understand is how prices rise on these dolls - I mean all I see is people saying "I paid this much for X, so I'd like that amount back"... fair enough, but the price jump would have started somewhere, right?

 

I love limiteds - simply the variety of different visions that companies have for their own dolls is astounding and I love admiring them. Sometimes I find myself wishing I'd bought one that I hadn't that I could have at the original retail price - eg Soom Glati ahahaha - but in the end, hey, it's not the end of the world, and I can admire everyone else's pretty Glatis. There's nothing unfair about the fact that I failed to get a Glati when they were on sale in February. There's nothing unfair about me not being able to justify buying one at the second hand market prices. It's just the way things are. And in all honesty, I have better things to do in my life than to be jealous of everyone else being able to afford dolls that I can't, and thinking that I should have the right to own one too when I can't afford it, just because I want one. That sort of attitude reeks of toxic self-entitlement. You do not need to have everything you want.

 

Dear God, all of the upset over limited edition dolls is just mind boggling.

Honestly, there are limited edition versions of any hobby you're into. Limited dolls are no less or no better then any other limited item one may want to collect.

And I doubt most people collect limiteds just to say "neener neener boo boo" to everyone who doesn't. We collect them because we love them, just as we would any non-limited.

I've got the Limited Edition 5th anniversary DoA Abadon. I got him because I love him. Abadon was my dream-Alucard the moment I saw his teaser photos before luts did their first release. I had to have him. And at the same time, I always wanted a dreaming Abadon head. I also needed a 70cm body to go with my Gary Oldman Minimee head that would match in resin as well as size. And the armor the set came with was just amazing. It was honestly what won me over first. The first sketches the artists at Luts posted of the coronet reminded me of my Transformers human boys with the futuristic visor look it had. I was hooked from the first image. Only later, once I saw the way they were making it into fantasy medieval armor did I realize that it could work perfectly for Alucard and Vlad, the Gary Oldman head.

I did not buy the doll because I wanted to rub it in everyone's face. He was my first doll, and he filled so many needs with just one purchase that it was perfect in multiple ways. And despite how it sounds with how much he cost, I am not rolling in dough. I had to work extremely hard to buy him, and I made sure I could afford to make the payments and still pay my other bills before I decided to get him. It hurt financially for a month, and I realized later that I probably wouldn't ever want to go into something that big again, because I wasn't fully prepared for how much it would cost, or I would set up any layaway payments I did in a better, less-painful way. But I'm happy I have him now, and I wouldn't give him up for the world. He's my babies, all three heads embodying a different character, and he's already gone out with me many times even on mundane trips like going to work for the day.

I'm also in a split for a Soom Yrie human body and head with face-up. I honestly couldn't really care less about the wings and feet. They're cute, sure, and I love how they did them, but they're not important to me. What's important to me is that little face. She's a baby version of one of my favorite characters by my girlfriend. That sweet little pouty face is so cute and innocent, she's such an adorable little angel. I can't wait to get her. She'll be my little baby Deja-face. *3*

I'm not getting her because she's limited. I know those Soom monthlies go for a LOT on the second-hand market, but I didn't take that into consideration when I decided to get her because I knew I could make a profit off of her. I took it into consideration because I didn't want to have to pay $800 for her when I could have gotten her for less then $300. As such, she's going to be so much easier to pay off then Abadon was, as well. With a Ren Faire and a bunch of bills and other things I need to buy around the same time, she was perfectly priced for my budget and what I wanted.

Honestly, saying all doll owners who own limiteds only do so because they want to have a status symbol is just closed-minded. Especially in a hobby that is all about owning super-expensive, gigantic dolls in a society that sees dolls as children's toys. After all, no one looks down on someone for owning a limited-edition western-culture porcelain dolls, do they?

 

Honestly, I regard limited items as just another gimmick. It bums me out when the base doll isn't offered as a regular release (I'm thinking IH LT gentle Cocori here), but since I am not going to be able to afford another doll for a quite a while, I by and large just ignore the matter.

 

I don't have a BJD yet (still saving!) but if I fell in love with a limited doll I would be disappointed that I didn't have the money for it there and then - I do think you feel as though you must buy it NOW or that's it forever...

 

Forgot to add that I also think taggging something as limited is a marketing ploy and an excuse to charge more for it.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying this.

Admittedly, I'm one of those crazy people who actually -enjoys- the pain in the ass to get a LE doll (particularly Isao Nanjou). Isao v. 2 was released just as I was getting into the doll hobby, and I didn't jump at the opportunity, so I spent a year looking for an Isao. Finally I found version 1 and bought it, and then 5 years later, I found a version 2. The reason why I spent all that time searching and checking prices/feedback on sellers?

Because I love Isao's face. I love his deafult wig and outfit. Absolutely love it. :3 Every picture I see of an Isao makes me happy. I didn't get version 1 and version 2 to say, "Hay gaiz, aren't I awesome!?!? I have TWO Isaos!!!!" I got them because I love the sculpt, love the outfits, and love them in general, because even as they are the same sculpt, they look completely different.

It's like someone getting 2 El's and dressing them up differently (say, a tan El and a regular-skinned El). When you look at that person, you think, "Huh, they must really like El's," not "They're just showing off."

Also...

Everyone's different, but coming from a person who enjoys waiting, I think that this is a sort of immature way of thinking. Even if you don't understand people who enjoy waiting for a doll, don't diss them. Sure, LE's force you to either jump on an opportunity quick or wait/go through pain in the ass procedures to get it, and regular editions do not, both are of equal value and both have their goods and bads that come with them.

 

I love the thrill of the hunt. It's one of the things I enjoy most about any of my collections. All of the planning and hunting in the end makes the actual obtaining that much more sweet for me.

 

I'm not picking on you specifically, Dschinghis. This is just a common theme I keep seeing:

1. I most certainly don't roll in money. I save and save just like anybody else. The key is I plan ahead of time. I know X doll generally costs $Y, or A doll will cost $B on the secondhand market. So I try to save those amounts.
2. Saying LEs are just some kind of marketing ploy is (IMHO) an insult to the artist. Why don't you go ask Charles (Charles Creature Cabinet) why he makes LEs? I bet it isn't to suck the money out of poor, hapless BJD fans while he cackles like a madman.

Every company probably has different reasons for making LEs. Maybe the mold broke, maybe they don't feel like making it anymore, maybe the costume lady quit, etc. The point is: LEs exist no matter what hobby you're in. Sometimes you can't get those LEs. Life is unfair. Deal with it.