Do you want your doll to be popular or as long as you like it?

Since I collect for myself and no one else, I don't see how anyone else's opinion is of that much importance. Of course it's gratifying to post a pic here and get likes...but I would love my crew just as much if everyone thought they were ugly or weird. Then again, social media means little to me beyond the enjoyment of seeing what others are doing or creating; my own FB and IG accounts host nothing but cobwebs and crickets, so I'd say I'm basically not the kind of person who needs a whole lot of external validation. Basically, I buy what I like, whether it's wildly popular or completely unloved.

 

I don't care if my doll is popular or not, but it is so convenient when they are...

More customer photos helps make buying decisions, more popular bodies are easier to buy pre-made clothes and shoes for, and stuff like that.

I like my Dollshe girl but apparently no one likes her flat feet because getting good shoes for larger than average female flat feet that have too small an ankle to look okay with a lot of boy shoes has been frustrating!

 

Popularity doesn't factor into appeal for me. I buy what I like, which exclusively seem to be unpopular sculpts. I'm in the hobby for my enjoyment and I like to see what others do with lesser known and underappreciated sculpts.

 

I'm a bit of a hipster so I'm attracted to things that are outside the norm. Such as the scorpion BJDs I've seen, I like weird and creepy stuff like that, as well as creepy-cute like the pastel painted one. If it's not a popular product the price might be more, but if it's that good it's worth it.

 

i don't particularly care if dolls i like are popular or not. it's nice if they are, though, because then i have a better shot at finding pictures of them. there's nothing more disappointing than finding an uncommon sculpt you really like and then having nothing but poorly shot company photos to work off of!

 

I don't really think about my dolls like that. I like what I like and don't really worry if others like them or not. Maybe I thought that way when I was younger but now I'm not really bothered too much. I know what I like and do appreciate and admire the dolls of others

 

I don't know if it's learned behaviour from growing up weird or if it's just cos I'm still weird but I never like popular things. I wish I could it can be very inconvenient. But I like to make everything for my dolls so it doesn't matter if they're popular

 

I don't purposefully seek out popular sculpts but I find liking a popular sculpt comes with the perk of more pictures and clothes available. Liking something more obscure comes with a more exclusive and special feeling so one thing isn't really better than the other.

 

The nice thing about a popular sculpt is that you can look it up online and see lots of pictures of it. Of course, it just so happens that the dolls I like the most aren't as "popular" and don't have many photos online. Just my luck.

 

Agree with a lot of what is being said the more popular a sculpt is the easier it is to find photos. Popular opinion tends not to greatly impact purchases outside of BJD. I buy the sparkly things for me.

 

I need him to stay popular so the company will keep him in production runs, i dont have him yet.

 

I don't really care if a doll is popular or not. I have to fall in love with the sculpt before I decide to put forth the money to get it. I need to go back and look at it time and time again, and never get sick of looking at the sales page before I buy a doll. Then I know I should get it.

Most of my dolls are character dolls, often from an anime. I tend to get sculpts that fit the character I am creating, but a number of my Crew are simply dolls I fell in love with. My favorite doll (shhhhhh, don't tell the rest of my Crew! ) is a basic, common Luts/CP Delf Shiwoo. They were all over DoA back in the day. But he was the perfect sculpt for Sakuma Ryuichi from 'Gravitation," which is why I joined this hobby in the first place, to create some of the characters from that series in resin.

People that join this hobby nowadays seem to be going for more realistic sculpts. Sure, they have their appeal, just not really to me. I prefer anime-ish aesthetics to realism. I don't really care as much for realistic dolls. The most realistic doll I have is Twyla, my IH Luna Tamer, and even so, she's gray with a a werecat face, claws and tail along with her human parts.

Ryu

 

I just go for dolls/sculpts I like personally. When I started out, I didn't know much of anything about bjds. I looked at all sorts but I'm very picky. It wasn't until I found FairyLand that I fell in love with my first bjd, a PukiFee. Every bjd after that has also been FairyLand, not because they're popular, but because they have an aesthetic that appeals to me.

 

Go for a doll/sculpt/company that you like, not whether it is popular or not. I mean, there is a reason why certain companies and certain dolls keep on coming up (reliability of the company, quality of the products, consistency with aesthetics, etc). However, pick the dolls you want for your own pleasure.

For me, I picked Volks because I like their aesthetics and the quality of their products and they are all roughly the same scale (or could be perceived to be from the same "family"). My friend that is also a collector has dolls from different companies (I think like 3 or 5) in totally different sizes (from chibi small to large/tall guy) but they all share the same aesthetic (white skinned, kind of gothic/vampirish, Victorian/Steampunk style). So it's totally up to you.

And like what others on here have said, whatever is popular now may not be popular even a year from now as there are so many beautiful dolls from various companies and everyone has different tastes in dolls. Besides, I think it's more important with what makes you happy and what makes you want to invest in a particular doll (piece of art you want to own, fits a character for a story/game you are making, etc). Just do what is right for you.

 

Most of my sculpts are rather rare (less than 20 made) and I want dolls that no one else has so they can be told apart from everyone else's dolls. Other than that I simply tend to buy what I like. But I do not seek popularity really. And I don't often want to own dolls that are popular in the sense that everyone has one (joke's on me, my profile pic is a Venitu). Though my doll taste is very generic realism, I do not collect dolls with fantasy elements, so it is sometimes difficult to deviate from the mass.

I have noticed it can be discouraging both to consider getting a doll that has little to no owner photos yet, and to consider getting a doll that has plenty of owner pictures. If there is no owner photos, I often get insecure if I can make the doll look good at all and what kinds of stylings would and would not fit them in my opinion. If there are plenty of owner photos of the sculpt I like but I seem to like none of the actual stylings, I can also get discouraged, but this time because I am not sure if I can style it so that it looks any different.

I do sometimes ask for other people's opinions when I really cannot decide, such as which colour eyes should I pick for my character or which wig. But those are little things and usually I only ask my friends such stuff.

 

It doesn't bother me whether a doll is popular or not! Actually, my favorite thing about this hobby is how I know every doll will find someone who loves it. It really warms my heart when I see a doll and I remember even if I don't like it so much, someone else will love it to bits

 

I don’t mind if my dolls are popular or not, but having unpopular sizes makes it quite difficult to source eyes, wigs, clothing…..

I feel like the sweet spot is ‘a sculpt that was popular in the past’, because they’re easy to find for good prices secondhand and easy to shop eyes/wigs/clothing for, but the downside is by the point they’re not as popular anymore, people's tastes have changed and as time goes on finding those eyes/wigs/clothes gets harder and harder. Like how SD13 used to be a standard clothing size and now it's difficult to find.

 

I actually don't know what dolls are popular yet and probably couldn't tell you one sculpt from another. But if I saw a particular style that I liked was very popular, I'd probably be encouraged to follow that trend.

 

I'm pretty new, so I honestly have no idea what is popular/what is not. So, it doesn't matter at all to me! I bought my first BJG (and now, I just bought my second) because I love them - I have ZERO idea if they are popular or not. Ignorance is bliss! LOL!

 

I don’t really care, but I do seem to be liking a lot of less-popular sculpts/companies
Though that could just be my taste being terrible lol