Future BJD Trends?

I want the 50cm male doll trend to expand. Some independent artists sell this size. A few korean companies sell this size as well. It's my ideal "large" size.

 

Oh absolutely! Indeed. 50cm is large enough to have some "presence" but small enough to carry around. Carry by hand to a doll meet, move around the house, etc. I want this size to become popular so I wont have to make all the clothing for this size. It's such a funky size. Also 50cm male dolls looks so good next to 40-45 cm ladies.
Dreamy lads

 

Agreed! Biggest I could go, I think.

 

I think there will be a shift toward a "new generation" of fantasy colors that weren't available years ago. Special finishes like glitter, transparency, metallic, mica powders, dried flowers, ombre and other unique options will become more popular.

Perhaps there will be a new doll with a stylized and unique look that will sweep the market and inspire a new wave of similar dolls. I think it will stay within a popular 40-45 cm size range, because a lot of new artists are working with this size. MSD size will most likely be very popular for much longer.

I'm expecting more variety in body shapes to be a thing. Maybe more artists will strive to create their own line of dolls that are different heights and shapes, but are a part of the same doll lineup, so they look good together (like Barbie fashionistas).

 

I really hope varying body shapes and heights in one doll line becomes a thing! Also options for fantasy parts for further customization in those finishes would be amazing!

 

I really hope to see mature realistic 1/12 and 1/8 size dolls. I love that size, and hope to see more. Not the kids/babies - adults or at least adolescents.

 

As someone who's just getting into the hobby, I'm so heartened to see artists increase the amount of plus-sized/chubby/fat body sculpts in the world, it's just so nice to see the spectrum of bodies reflected in art. Something I'd like to see more of is large, hooked, or unusual noses in femme head sculpts-- they're definitely out there but I way more often see big or interesting noses on masc dolls which means sometimes you have to buy the full doll if the head can't be bought alone, which is a bummer. More big crazy noses on femme dolls, I say!!

 

I was thinking something similar to this! One of the attractive things about bjds is how customizable they are but why limit yourself to what's "realistic"? Not just in the doll community but in art and fashion, I've seen a lot of people experimenting with bright colors and fantasy looks. I mean it could also just be an algorithm recommending me content based on what I interact with lol but I could see these trends work with dolls. Who knows, maybe we'll see a lot more neon cartoony dolls in the future?

 

After being gone from the hobby since 2016 and coming back more actively recently, I've definitely noticed the big increase in 1/4 scale artist dolls that people are mentioning. Really like seeing the big variety they bring around, even if I myself stick more to the semi realistic types. Personally I'd really like to see more of this same variety for male sculpts and bodies, also just more male dolls in the 40-50cm range in general, since it's my favourite size but I still feel like I can't find a male doll I like under 60.

 

Same here! I kind of migrated from fashion dolls myself, so 1/4 is just a really nice size for me. And definitely, the demographic has changed a bit from what I remember back then, but a lot has stayed the same, too.

 

I was lurking around in ca 2007-8-9 so having returned to this hobby-sphere quite recently, it's so wild to see what has changed over those million years. I guess 3d-modeled dolls will become the norm over the next few years and we'll also start seeing more of the bigger sizes printed. I agree that the cyclical nature of trends will probably bring back a version of the "old style", but maybe as fashion-scale dolls this time? I'd *love* to see a chubby body made by one of the more popular companies in some years, too, but given how fashion trend cycles are moving back to the 2000s thin supermodel aesthetic again, i'm not overly confident.

 

Gosh, I hope 3D printing doesn’t become the norm. Those dolls can be super beautiful, but they’re just not my personal taste. I feel like my two 3D printed dolls don’t have the same presence/appearance/sturdiness as my traditionally cast ones. although I suppose it depends on the resin that the printer uses… mine just seem very translucent or thin in a way I don’t really like in person and they seem to lose color so fast. 3D printed or tech-assisted furniture and props would be really cool, though.

I’m really hopeful there will be more gender neutral doll bodies, particularly in the MSD size. I would love a soft 50cm doll body in the line of the Switch Labyrinth and the Luts SDF Muse. (And what’s with the lack of 70+ ladies??) Parts that could be swapped out for other parts like swappable busts might be nice too… ways to customize stuff we already have access to might be a good way to increase body type diversity without needing to engineer too many things. As long as the ball and socket are the same size, it probably wouldn’t be too terribly hard to give some body sculpts some belly. Thighs and arms tho… 8|a

Along that line, dolls with larger noses or less gendered faces would be neat, too. And Doll Leaves’ extremely fantasy inspired default makeup makes me hope that the larger companies might offer weirder default faceup designs in the future.

 

This is sort of an anti-trend(?) but I've noticed that tastes in fashion and makeup tend to be less cyclical in Asia than they are in western nations so I don't expect things like clothes, accessories or sculpts to change much. That being said, the presence of lolita fashions and ancient style/huafu in the BJD space is definitely connected to trends and popularity shifts with their respective subcultures so it may be worth keeping an eye on them!

 

OMG you are singing my song. I would also love to see older dolls (gimme a grandma! Or at least a woman in her 40s), and YES. Gimme a big girl. Loongsoul, Impldoll, and Doll Family-H are dipping their toes in the water with 68 cm bodies, and there's always the Dollmore Trinity 110-120 cm, but what about 70-75 cm? Having said that, I know it's off topic, but I see 1:1 scale BJDs coming back. Angel of Dream has a 90 cm boy now. Dollmore released a male Trinity. Obitsu has 150 cm doll (almost 5 feet tall), and they showed off another human-sized doll at a show last year. With 3D printing, which is (usually) a much lighter material, it will be a lot cheaper to ship a really big doll. Plus, the margin has to be better. You can charge a lot more for a big doll, and people will pay, cuz look at the SIZE of that thing!

I think the super muscular girl may finally get her moment. More toe dipping with DF-H, which, in the pictures at least, looks to me like they added muscles on top of a skinny body. Or Impldoll, which has a muscular torso, but the back is exactly the same as their other dolls. Dollshe said he was working on a muscular female body. We'll see. (eventually...)

Fairyland is pushing BJD "technology" forward. A buddy got a Fairyline 60 cm doll - the arms are held in via internal clamps instead of elastic, and there's the ability to swap out the bottom half of the body, e.g.; "modular" BJDs. I suspect that there may be a move away from full-body elastic, cuz it's just such a pain in the butt. Plus, the more complicated the doll is, the harder it is to recast/steal.

A trend I am seriously hoping to see is getting rid of metal s-hooks. It's crazy - you can open the box on a brand new doll and see resin chunks already missing courtesy of the s-hooks. There has to be something better out there. Or - BJDs may move away from resin entirely. It seems like new materials are being created all the time. Combined with 3D printing, we could see a shift to BJDs made of something totally new.

 

I have an 80cm off-topic girl but I'd love to see one in resin!!

 

Resin always struck me as an odd material for dolls - the lower cost for 3D printing (even a printer farm seems like it'll be cheaper in the long run than professional resin casting) with PLA filament makes me hopeful that we'll have more practical options for dolls besides resin and vinyl. I have a resin printer and while it's nice for static figures and doll accessories I wouldn't trust brittle UV resin for a traditionally strung BJD that's held together with tension.

There are some artists on Etsy selling STL files for dolls but it's not clear if they've done test prints before to determine where supports should go, what kind of post-processing is needed etc.

 

If you consider their origin it is not that odd of a choice. Resin was/is the material of choice for model kits, and the first Super Dollfie were supposed to be "model kits, but for women" in the eyes of Volks. They already had the knowledge and material from their kit business, so using it for the dolls made sense too.

On top of that, what other options are there for smaller scale production? Vinyl, silicon and anything else that requires metal molds is out, the upfront cost for those is crazy and it limits you greatly in what you can offer constantly. It's also prone to stain and in case of silicone it ages really badly. Porcelain is way too fragile and expensive too. Resin is the only one of them that is sturdy, somewhat "cheap" in comparison, the easiest to produce (again, in comparison), modify and more. Resin might be heavy but to be honest, from all the materials it's the least stressful to own and work with. It at most changes color, which is more the pigments' fault. Otherwise they don't really degrade and even a newcomer can reliably customize them without much hassle.

And while 3D printing is already am option for certain dolls...I don't really feel like we're all there yet in quality that all of them can be made in the level of quality we are used to from casted dolls. But I also really don't enjoy the feeling/look of PLA, and printed resin is too brittle for big dolls that require a lot of tension I'm afraid.

 

I like the MSD size better, I would like more plus size dolls -)