For the Love of Old-School

Like many others, I adore the old delfs Not enough to get one (yet) but love to see them in others collections.
However I do find that old dolls have so much character to them, I always bond with them quicker then new ones.
I recently bought an old Soom Ai and before that a Zaoll Luv that dated back to the very first releases and it is so interesting to have them around with all that history behind the resin ^^

 

Yep! XD
He's who I always said I'd pick to play Nemissary if I were casting a production of Bright's Goofball Necromancer: The Movie.

That's why... in spite of the sculpt being a heck of a lot more realistic than the rest of my gang... I just couldn't resist adding a V-07 to the crew. He was too perfectly Nem to pass up.

 

Yes Cynthia in FlintHills, the "Old Dolls Watering Hole" was great fun! I loved seeing photos of all the old classic sculpts! And it was nice to have a place to share photos of the older dolls and feel like they were appreciated.

I agree, the earlier BJD styles, because of their fanciful doll-like sculpts were more playful and endearing. For me, the current hyper-realistic sculpts don't lend themselves to relaxed play. They look too real. As beautiful as my Iplehouse EIDs are, I don't play with them. But, my old YIDs are cuddly and really spark my imagination. I think if the sculpt is too real you can appreciate how beautiful it is, but the fantasy and imagination are removed because of its realism. At least, it seems to work that way for me.

Mustbemissa, so much love for the old YIDs!

 

I feel like this only applies to certain companies though. Like I've noticed that Iplehouse, Impldoll, and Dollshe have started with doll-like aesthetics, but shifted to proportionately realistic aesthetic. Companies like volks, fairyland, luts, angellstudio have remained to their dolly like roots as far as I've noticed.
I do feel like artist dolls these are more proportionately realistic as well, but I've never considered many of their dolls to be extremely doll-like (visually) in the first place.
Just my thought~

 

I really miss that "old dolls watering hole" thread!

Most of my crew is fairly ancient as well (by BJD standards, heh). Even though there are some gorgeous newer sculpts that I love, it's rare that I feel inclined to save up for one.

I do attribute some of it, personally, to nostalgia. As a new collector on a much smaller forum, the world of BJDs was full of excitement and possibility. Because there weren't as many sculpts to choose from, it was really fun to see so many different interpretations of the same doll. Everything was a fresh take then! Now that the majority of those sculpts have all but disappeared, re-encountering them is almost like greeting an old friend after a protracted absence. You know the face so, so well, but haven't seen it in such a long time it just gives you a delicious warm feeling when you finally meet again.

Actually, I have ended up buying several older sculpts that didn't appeal to me so much when they were around the first time. Something about those older, odder faces I have a real fondness for now that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe my tastes have changed. Maybe they've grown on me over time and I didn't realize it. Or maybe I just don't want them to be forgotten.

 

Wow! Sandwich, this really pulled at my heartstrings. So beautifully expressed.

 

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

 

In the "Photo Reference" or "Games" Section maybe?

 

I'm kinda sad I missed all the fun in the old thread now, I never think to look in other parts of this place tbh, so undoubtedly I miss vast swathes of stuff but I could definitely get behind the idea of an old school picture celebration thread!

I must also agree with a lot of others on this thread that the old style dolls lend themselves much better to 'easy play'. Hyper realism is a beautiful thing, but if you don't get everything on that doll absolutely accurate and realistic too, it always looks slightly off. Older sculpts with more stylised features are just so much easier to dress, paint and play with because there's no pressure for everything to be PERFECT, I think. Or perhaps it might be better to say that you have more leeway on them. Certainly I feel that way about my own old dolls, anyway.

I'm also a member of the "I want to change that faceup, but it's original and eleven years olddddd..." club!

 

The thread would end up getting mulched if it was in Games... I could see it fitting in Photo Reference, though. People are curious about the older dolls and (particularly after a certain image hosting service lost their flipping minds... <_<) pictures of them for reference are fewer and further-between than they used to be.

It might also work in the regular Gallery. I don't *think* there's a rule that says only one person can post pictures to any particular Gallery thread... I don't remember reading one, anyway.

Re: the ancient face-ups, I'm in the same boat with a few of mine. Ming (my Yori) is one of the first-release limiteds and still has her original. It's so plain and so simplistic compared to the more modern faceups... But I can't bring myself to have it replaced.

 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your Soah, Alewife! I, too am a huge fan of the old Elfdoll sculpts. It doesn't feel like it's been twelve years since I started collecting bjds. But, I feel the way many here do. Your Soah looks brand new. I love her faceup!!!!!!!!!! Any time I see one of the old original promo pics of the dolls I got or wanted early on, I have to stop and look and I'm still excited to see pictures of them when I run across them online.

 

I've been collecting for 11 years and some of my dolls are a couple years older than that. I definitely love the old-school sculpts. I have my fair share of CP Delfs and Volks, too. Bluefairy was my first love. I'm also in the I-don't-want-to-erase-the-original-face-up club. Especially on a Volks SDC Miko from 2006. And I'm becoming fond of my slowly yellowing white skin Delfs. I'm lucky none of mine seem to be from the "beauty green" batches. XD

I haven't posted on here in years, and I've kind of been on hiatus, but I want to get back into things. I'm not even going to try to keep up with all of the new companies that have popped up. Yikes.

 

@Brightfires, that's a tough call on your Yori's face-up; I'm one of those weirdos who likes a lot of the mid-2000s Volks face-ups, and I think she looks so natural yet defined.

I prefer to keep my SD13 Jun's default face-up, because to me it's so natural. I did change her eyes and wig, which was a simple way to add some sophistication --

(Sweater dress by squirrelmoon )

 

Does anybody wonder if it's going to eventually roll around to newer collectors seeking out 'vintage' sculpts? I also wonder if the companies will start reissuing some of their original sculpts if they are sought after enough. I started out in the doll collecting hobby, like everybody else, with Barbie, the "gateway drug" to doll collecting. Then, I went into vintage dolls. It's so funny now to hear of ten year old dolls being called "Old". I feel the same way as a lot of you here; I keep looking at the newer dolls and just haven't felt excited about anything. But, I think if you're in the hobby long enough, you know what you like and you can see from the pictures if the joints or the face is going to be what you want or if it's something you've already done before. When I was new, I bought a lot of dolls that I ended up selling. Now, that things don't all seem so new and different to me anymore, I find myself going back to the original artists and sculpts that I loved in the beginning. Does that mean I'm old or have I just found my niche in this hobby?

 

I love the original sculpts!! I would love to get my hands on one ^__^

 

The style may come back into fashion eventually, but as paranoid as people are about recasts and being able to prove provenance I doubt newer collectors would ever flock to buy actual older dolls. Given their almost-universal lack of CoAs and other documentation, they're just too much of a risk.

That leaves talking doll companies into reissuing their abandoned "classics" with modern paperwork, or just encouraging them to make new sculpts in the older style.

 

I could have written this myself. This is me.

I took a break from the hobby for a couple of years, sold off most of my dolls, and now that I'm back I'm just rebuying all the dolls I've owned and loved in the past. I can't seem to fall in love with new sculpts or new doll companies. But it's nice because I know exactly what I like in a doll and what I don't like so I'm pretty darn sure I won't be selling any of the dolls that I'm getting now.

I also prefer single jointed dolls. I find them so much nicer to look at and hold.

I joined the hobby in 2008 and most of my favourite sculpts haven't changed since those first few years of collecting. The nostalgia!!

And honestly, I love old yellowed dolls. They have so much character. I'd rather have a doll that's been around a while than get the same sculpt newly cast.

 

Welcome back to the hobby, Hyzenthlay!

I love your comment! I thought I was the only one who loved old yellowed dolls. There is so much discussion about how to remove yellowing from bjds, and I always wondered why? I see the yellowing as a lovely patina produced from aging. My older white dolls have mellowed to a soft creamy color; I think it's quite beautiful.

The other thing I noticed about my older dolls is how solid they are. My old CP/Luts Elf Chiwoo has such a firm heft to him. It's easy to play with him and not worry about breaking him. With my newer dolls the resin seems so much thinner.

If you don't mind me asking, what older dolls have you re-acquired?

 

Hyzenthlay, I don't mind the 'yellowing' either, since they're all going to take on that warm, golden look with time and it still looks like a normal skin tone to me! And, some of them haven't really yellowed much at all. The older dolls have such a nice, smooth, heavy resin to them as well.