Do you only buy dolls that would fit into your doll-family?

I like to have groups of dolls that are similar, but that wouldn't stop me from buying a doll that intrigued me.

 

While I'm more into buying my characters shells now - I will only buy dolls in general that can look nice together. Even if I have no intention of having the dolls in a photograph together... they have to be able to sit side by side and not look awkward. If their scaling system and/or style are too different then it will just bother me. Even in peoples pictures of their doll space - if I see a mish mash of things it looks weird to me. It's like a picture where each item in the picture is completely out of scale with the rest - just looks bad to me. ^_^; I have nothing against people owning whatever they want but I know having that in my room would drive me bananas.

 

Sadly, yes.

I've bought several dolls that I felt were beautiful and really wanted to own them... However, when it finally reached me, I felt that they "did not fit" my current family of dolls. Even though I felt that the dolls were still very beautiful, I simply could not "bond" with them. Eventually, I sold these dolls away

My doll family focuses on gangster characters with a soft side (I'm really into mafias and gangs xD); and I do like cutesy dolls and want to own some; but they simply don't "match" the rest of the dolls in my family. No matter how I try to look at it, it just "doesn't seem right"

 

My dolls definitely need to fit into my doll family and the world I've created for them. My family is a SD13 sized with some taller 65/68cm demon characters. Because of this I won't ever get any 70cm or MSD sized dolls because they wouldn't work in my world. They would make everyone else look like weird giants.

That's just for me though.

 

I feel like almost everyone does this- except perhaps the people who only buy dolls for the sake of it, and don't photograph/name or otherwise interact with them. And even then, I'm sure there are those that also do this. Human nature makes us prefer things which are somewhat alike, or have some sort of cohesiveness of aesthetic. I certainly do, it's not that I collect dolls of a specific skin tone, or a specific sculpt, it's more like there are general themes that runs through all of them: eyes that aren't too large, full lips, a certain amount of realism in the sculpt (I'm not a fan of those overly-stylized anime looking dolls.) etc.

I'm also getting a bit persnickety about head size- I would like for my SDs to have roughly the same sized heads so that photographing them together doesn't look odd. I don't mean that they should all take an 8-9 wig, because they certainly don't, but I wouldn't be able to tolerate having a doll with a 7-8 head next to one with a 9-10. Other then that, I'm picky enough about the features I like that my dolls all generally have some sort of similarity, so they look alright together.

 

This pretty much sums up my postion. Most of the dolls I like look slightly odd and most of them look odd in different ways. There will probably be families in my collection than only consist of one doll, but that doesn't mean that they don't have a character or a context.

 

I've tried the 'making another family' thing and for me it just doesn't work. I've tried to have dolls that don't quite 'fit' with my family but again - so far that hasn't worked out for me. I may still try if I really like a doll but generally I try and go for dolls that fit the aesthetic style I have going and whose size goes reasonably with whomever I have at home.

 

Having little clots of stylistic/thematic similarity in the house is always fun... But I really think it's the contrast that serves to complement my collection! Little dolls, big dolls; skinny ones, brawny ones; light ones, dark ones; cartoony faces, realistic faces. I have schoolboys and demons and goths and fetishbunnies and imps and musclemen and one giant merman. And I don't keep track/ measure how many of each style/type I have-- I think my collection seeks a natural balance on its own.

There are two different family groups (one set of brothers, one pack of cousins & stepbrothers), and a few sets of BFFs, but all the rest are unrelated & don't come from anyone else's backstory. The dolls sort of "write themselves" when they get here; even if I've planned a backstory ahead of time, sometimes the doll changes it on you when you're finally face to face. Besides, when the mood takes me, they all 'interact' with one another regardless of family or story.... It's a houseful of dolls, they all share the same couch. ^^

Re the new question, yes... Dolls can be in 'relationships' when they're drastically different-looking, too. But I can't stand a drastic size-difference in a romantic couple (like 50-70 or 45-60) because it squicks me right out. A 5-cm difference is about as far as I go. Some of my couples look as different from each other as night-and-day (Volks Tony & Iplehouse Tan Lion, or SD17 Genji & EID tan Luo) but I find their differences complement each other beautifully.

 

For the most part, yes. They do need to fit into their own particular storylines; they don't have to be proportional to dolls from other storylines. I do want them to work well with each other in terms of style and proportion if they're from the same story. When they interact between storylines, I figure that's AU and strange differences (younger dolls in 1/3 next to older dolls in 1/4, for example) can just be ignored.

 

I think the answer would be "not really", even though I'm still waiting for my second doll. It's nice when they look like each other, and maybe I'll acquire new dolls intending to group them in families, but I still see my two girls (the one I have and the one incoming) as if they didn't belong to the same universe. I also believe that for me it would be boring to acquire dolls thinking about fitting them into a "family"(what can't be bad when I'll need a good reason to refrain me from buying other dolls). Even though I might want to make a dolly family, that's not my point nor my main reason when I'm choosing a doll.
Great photoshoots can be made with cute loners with no family, friends, nation or roots.

 

no. my dolls wont fit together at all, i dont care about thier type, look and size as long as they can fit in my heart

 

I actually had to put a lot, and I mean A LOT, of thought into how my doll family was going to flow before ordering Rai. I had to think about what size dolls I was wanting. Because, issue is, I'm buying BJDs to bring "life" to my characters. While I know it will be impossible for me to find a doll to EXACTLY match each character I have, I want to be as accurate about some things as possible.

Take for instance, size. Rai is my tallest character for the moment. So, he, unfortunately, has to set the size of all my other BJDs. I didn't want to get him in the lower SD size and confine the rest of my characters to MSD or smaller, especially since I have at least two teen characters to fulfill and I don't want them the same size as the adults unless they have had a growth spurt or something. And I don't want tinies for now. Also I didn't want him at the complete top of the SD range because then that doesn't leave room for any possible future characters who may be taller and that made me uncomfortable. So, I finally settled for 72cm. This way, I can get an 80-90cm BJD if a taller character comes along, I can keep other guy characters and one of my gals around 68-70cm, some girl characters and a couple guys around 62-65cm, and my teens around 45-58cm. I want the sizes to be more relative to age and stature and look more realistic than everyone being either the same height or having to go down to yoSD size. So, yes, I guess my dolls all have to fit into a "family" of sorts. But I find it essential for my writing. I want them to be as true to life as possible, not just simply "this will do" representations.

Luckily, only size matters. I do enjoy that, since all of my characters are different ethnicities (and some are fae), I can go with any sculpt from any company, as long as the sizes are right. And, even then, sizes can be altered for a well-sculpted head.

 

From almost the beginning of my doll-owning carreer i have had a specific type family in mind. I have a whole bunch of them already planned out, but unfortunately it is hard to find dolls that are the perfect sculpt. So i will either add another character to my family (which is super difficult, cause my family is all fantasy creatures), or just be sad i cannot have it...
lol
I find that doing this makes it easier to save money in the long run because i am a doll addict and would buy every doll that made me smile if i could...

 

I tend to chose dolls throughout the whole spectrum of "styles" and it doesn't really matter to me if I happen to bring home a doll that doesn't quite fit in aesthetically. But If i decide to take photos I tend to group similars. My collection is always changing anyway.

 

I view dolls as something really personal (and pricy!), so I would only acquire dolls I really like -- mainly if the face sculpt captivates me. Meaning that if I'm only interested in one particular doll in a particular doll set, then I would get that. If I suddenly realize there's a completely different doll from another doll line that intrigues me greatly, then I would get that. I would never buy dolls as "collectables". So the answer would be no, I don't only buy dolls that fit into my doll-family; I buy whatever I am interested in :3

 

I don't have a co-hesive family unit with my dolls. I just get whatever I like. The only theme is that all of my dolls are somehow 'darkly inclined'.

 

Since my dolls aren't a family but just more or less random characters from random stories - no, I don't only buy dolls that would fit into a family. They're not like a family at all. They're more like "3D-drawings" of some of my most favourite characters. Oh, and Cassie's not a character at all. I just got her cos I HAD to have her.

 

It's been exactly the opposite with me: I've had the opportunity to bring dolls into the Gonzo-kan household that I wasn't expecting and didn't have any previously made link with either the Natsume or the Yamamoto families, or weren't specifically Z's bandmates. I've basically "bent" the narrative to include the newcomers. I've had to do it on two occasions.

 

I don't really concentrate on who will compliment who or anything. If the doll appeals to me, then I get them. I do, however, want to have one couple in my BJD family but it depends on how well they look together. But I don't really want to get a doll just because they looked good next to the other. I wouldn't like them as much as buying a BJD that I love for being the way it is. It's really odd to me how there a those that are very particular in how their doll family looks and if there's one that is slightly off, they sell it in a blink of an eye with no thought. I don't really understand it and I guess if that's what they want, then go for it. I do notice that I'm into girl dolls with huge eyes and then the guys have a soft expression or narrow type of eyes. It's just something I happen to like and I don't really concentrate on what looks good with who or with everyone.

In a photographer's perspective, that is understandable.

 

Yes, I will always try to buy dolls who fit my "doll family". I look for proportional height and skin color to match the pairs. Having only MSDs I dont see myself buying an SD cause they would look so weird stand next to each other... but yes, I can start a NEW family with SDs... I like the diversity... yes... I love the tiny dollies too as FL RealPukis... but I will always keep them separate in groups if I buy them. For now I'm planing to keep my doll family well proportioned.