Do you love all your dolls equally?

I have favourites

And often the newest doll to arrive moves to the head of the favourites list for a while, before sliding into their more permanent place in the fvourites list.

Other than that, it can go in phases when one or two dolls occupy my attention for a while beofre another oneo r two move into the spotlight.

Teddy

 

Nope, I do not love them all equally. I always joke that there are several that outrank the others when it comes to buying new clothes and accessories. (And if something comes into the house that was meant for someone else but looks good on them, whelp.) It honestly helps me focus so I don’t have ten WIPs going at once, because I know who comes first in line. I have several dolls that are shelf babies, who have a couple of outfits that suit them and mostly only come out for photos occasionally because they feel settled and done. I wouldn’t get rid of them because I have them for a reason, but they get less attention than the dolls that feel like there’s always something to be done or worked on with them.

That said, I think it’s natural to question ourselves a little when we fall out of love with a doll we once felt strongly for. We get a sort of honeymoon phase with a new doll and when that fixation fades, of course you question whether you’ll come back around to them or whether it’s time to sell. It’s hard for me to tell sometimes which it is when it happens to me. I’d suggest giving it time and playing with the other dolls for now. Either the spark will reignite and you’ll have sudden inspiration or you won’t, but the doll can wait until you’re sure.

 

No. I keep falling in and out of love (and back in) with a particular doll all the time. The doll that I'm just taking photos of tends to be my favourite until I'm choosing another one to "play with".
Certain groups of characters can shift into focus for a longer while whenI get an idea for a setting or for certain colors. Like I have a "scifi crew" and a "sports team", a group of "students" for a while, but the the grouping idea changes, and other dolls are becoming favorites.

I don't feel guilty about it. I'm also shifting in and out of branches of creativity that interest me, too. Thank goodness, dolls have no feelings and don't care if I care …

 

I love all my current collection (45 is my latest count) but I cycle around to which one gets the most attention at any given time. It‘s “you’re my favorite”...”no, you’re my favorite”...”you’re truly my favorite”...etc. It’s always changing. It’s a good thing and means I love my entire collection.

That being said, however, I once purchased a doll who arrived about 4 years after I’d begun collecting, who so totally eclipsed every other doll I owned at the time, I felt she’d made them all redundant in my heart! So I sold the rest of them off and began my collection all over again to fit around her. Sounds drastic I know, but I just knew it was the right thing to do. Over a decade later and I’ve never looked back or regretted my decision. If you’re having doubts, hold onto the doll. If it ever becomes right for you to let go, you’ll know. There truly are do-overs in this hobby and that’s perfectly okay.

 

I was thinking about this last night, funnily. I've come to the realisation (and acceptance) that I have one special solid favourite who is out and handled and dressed up all the time and the rest are gonna take a backseat to them for a long while, but that's okay! I only got into the hobby end of last year and got my first dolls this year so there's still time for my attention to shift, lol.

I once saw someone suggest putting the doll away for a while and seeing if you miss them? You might find once you get fussing the new boys out of your system there is still love for the first doll! You could also try thinking up a story or new look, but I wouldn't try to force it since that might just burn you out more.

I don't think you have to sell anything just because you're not as into it right now, so don't feel pressured to do that either.

 

I only have 1 doll, so yes I love all my dolls the same :3
but if I ever have multiples, I assume I will develop a favorite. I have favorite books, favorite clothes, favorite everything, so it stands to reason I'll have a favorite doll

 

Nope! And they are not children, so I don't feel bad about it, not one whit ! XD If it were children, it would be horrible to spend considerably more time with one and ignoring the other and I would be the first to be up in arms against it. But chunks of resin? No. I have favorite clothes, favorite pans, favorite books without feeling bad. In the end, dolls are just objects. You may pour more work, emotion, whatever, it may be be of considerable emotional value, but they are not sentient and they won't hurt emotionally from neglect.

But I think I do love them differently. I sew and knit more for my girls, I experiment more with my guy, probably because I prefer my girls and feel worse at the idea of "experimenting" on them, things that I am comfortable with my boy (or at least his body, I've grown quite fond of the head after his new faceup), which is probably why I make most of my experiments on him.

That said, I do play with him around more and he's the only one of my dolls to have an artist faceup (after realising I would never be good enough, haha), so in other ways, he's my "favorite", I guess? It's not bad having a doll in a perpetual state of incompleteness, because you can do a lot of things with it and not feel too guilty! A "guinea pig", if you will. XD

If you can't bring yourself to sell, then it must not be the right time.

 

I have 91 dolls and counting, yes that is a lot, but my doll army took time to become the size it is.
That said it is not cuz I have never sold a doll, I have "fallen out of love" a number of times and sold/ rehomed dolls over the 13ish years I have been in this hobby. If you fall fully out of love, or a number of other reasons then it is ok to let a doll go. You will know if/when it is time to sell a doll. The put it out of sight out of mind thing can help make up mind if unsure one that.

I try to give all my dolls love, I like others cycle favorites. I do have a few top always a favorite dolls, and that is ok, having such things is ok. I have play withable all the time dolls that I handle a lot, and shelf dolls that sit look pretty and only come out if in a mood to snap their picture. And sometimes if I need to respark with a doll I reinvent their looks wigs, eyes, outfits, once even had a face up changed.

I still have my first doll, but the "romance" has changed into some odd sentimental fondness. So even though she is not at all what I go for in dolls any more, I keep her and likely always will. Not sure why she has stayed when others have gone, but as said there is some fondness there. Just remember it is fine to love a doll or two more then other dolls you own, even if the other was there first. Dolls are not alive they do not mind if you like one more then another, unlike kids which I am told get upset if you have a favorite.

 

I definitely have favourites My first ever grail doll (in my icon) still holds the number one spot in my heart. No matter what new doll I get, obsess over or spoil in the moment, he is still the one that makes my heart sing whenever I look at him...

 

Add me to the "definitely has favorites"-camp.

I like all of my little resin minions. I won't keep a doll that I *don't* like, and have sold on quite a few over the years when it turned out, for whatever reason, that the spark just wasn't there... But that doesn't mean there aren't some that I'm more attached to than others.

I feel absolutely zero guilt over that. As someone else said upthread, dolls aren't children. They aren't going to be harmed in any way by "not being the Favorite". (That's one of the advantages of being inanimate and made of resin. Sibling rivalry is never an issue. )

 

I think everyone else has put it perfectly. We all cycle through who we want to photograph/redress all the time. So don't feel bad if your first doll isn't the current en vogue doll. Don't rush to sell until you feel like it.

 

I have had those special dolls in my years in this hobby that I spent extra money, time and took a lot more photos of. But the number one reason I got into hobby was the variety and uniqueness of each doll. No matter the way it looks on a website I could make it my own. In saying that I have had those I really loved go because of finances or my health and its been harder for some and in that I bought their double only to find the love less. But there is one here now that no matter what is here to the end. My Irrealdoll Nur, Parker. She's been here for two years, and has the most clothes, shoes and toys then any other doll here. She was to start to be my travel doll in 2020 but we all know that didn't happen. So in 2021 hopefully at least one trip and in 2022 who knows. So while some may come and go and then come back again she's been my solid #1. By the way I had two Nuts but sold both and regretted it, she was first one I found again and loved even more then first two.

 

Nope, not at all. There's Genie, my Volks Rinon, who's always first on my list to get stuff. She's the center piece of my collection and is my not so secret favorite doll. I keep her and her little gang (my Iplehouse Leonard, and Feeple65 Ingrid) on my work desk to inspire me while I draw.
That said, I still love all my dolls, each inspires an idea and a project in me. I don't have a doll in my collection that I don't absolutely adore. I just know that my Volks Rinon is always going to be my favorite and that just because I don't love every single doll as much as I love this one doll doesn't mean I don't like having them in my collection. As long as a doll continues to inspire me -or I'm completely happy with how they look- they have a place in my collection.

 

No, I got my first doll when I was 8. She was an MSD AOD Fei, I loved her for years, then I finally got a YOSD doll and I thought she was cute. It wasn't until I got My first SD doll, that I fell out of love with my smaller dolls. I prefer the larger dolls. I still love my first now, but it more so because I feel like I have to love her, because she's what initially started me in BJD collecting. I didn't really know a whole lot about BJD's when I first got into the hobby, I just knew that I wanted one. Now that I know different companies, and the different styles of dolls, and the different sizes, I only like SD size dolls. Now, I'd say I love my SD dolls almost the same, but some a little more than others. It's the subtle things that put 1 doll above another. Like hands, veins on arms, detail to feet, that kind of stuff.

 

Nope. Cooper, Harriet and Pepper are definitely my favorites and I have 14 dolls. I kept my first and he will always hold a special place in my heart, even if he doesn’t fit in with the rest of my crew and isn’t something I would buy now. He started this hobby for me and I love him dearly. But I don’t think it’s possible for me to equally love that many dolls.

 

No, I definitely don't love all of my dolls equally. Some are pure nostalgia, others are primarily comfort objects; some I love because of the character they shell, others because they "complete" another character/doll. I've learned to be okay with rehoming dolls and adopting new ones when ideas for my collection change.

 

nope. i love them all, but the first one is still on the top after 8 years no one can beat him, since if it wasn't him, i would never have a bjd. i didn't want to have a doll just to have it, i wanted to have HIM and no one else. i dreamed about him 7 years and now i have him for almost 8 years. no regrets

 

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I have a small few that are my definitive favorites, but I also have others that I'll love on in waves depending on what I'm craving. Most of my dolls are bound in my mind to some particular character style so I only want to dress them in costuming from certain time periods or backgrounds. My favorite few aren't bound like that so they tend to get more clothes and more attention. I don't feel guilty about any of it because I enjoy them all in different ways.