Have your tastes changed?

Oh, definitely! For my first four years in the hobby I tried hard to embody all my male characters, and never bonded with any of them for very long. 20+ dolls, in and out of my house. It was a very frustrating pattern that almost caused me to quit the hobby... Until I got Tank, my female Littlefee Ante. She was the first doll that ever satisfied my picky tastes for posing and aesthetics. Then I got my female Shinydoll Kanagi, Margot, and once again I'm hopelessly hooked on dolls.

 

Absolutely! In fact, I was just thinking the other day that I'd have to "eat my hat" so to speak on a number of posts I'd made back in 2008. At one time, I loved the Luts Kid Delf Ani, and was absolutely desperate for a Custom House Little Junior Mars. I hated Dollstown and Notdoll's larger girls, and I thought that I'd never in my wildest dreams buy anything as expensive as a limited. I wouldn't spend more than $20 for a wig or $10 for eyes either.

Let the hat eating commence. I'm the proud owner of not one, not two, but three limited dolls- all of which were dreadfully expensive and wonderfully worth it. I'm completely indifferent to Ani. I would still buy a Little Junior Mars, but only if I had gotten everything else I really want first. I LOVE Dollstown to distraction, and have been simply DESPERATE for their entire SD male line, and half of the girls for two years now. I very nearly bought two Notdoll Lab girls (Belladonna and Ligaya) during their last awesome sale, and if given the opportunity, would do so in a heartbeat this time. I also got myself addicted to Crobi wigs which start at $25, and recently splurged on not one but two pairs of Eyeco Ultras which do as well. *Sigh* I think it's to be expected. We all grow up and change, and as we do, we look at the world a little differently- thus our tastes change along with us.

 

Mine have definitely changed.

When I first started the hobby, I wanted cute, anime-ish girls to be dressed in super fluffy dresses.

And then I bought my first doll - SoulDoll Paris (a boy). He's the only boy that has stayed in the house, though. :P

Also, I really hated the tall, lanky bodies. Think Dollshe, Hound, & Bermann back in the day. Blegh! I couldn't stand them!

Now, I'm looking at more than a few guys that have very similar bodies... They're fantastic!

And that's not to mention the eyes, wigs, clothes & shoes that my crew wear.

Yeah, I still like the super cute, anime-ish girls. But now I'm wanting some of the tall, lanky guys, and a few of the more realistic sculpts out there.

 

I'm definitely going to have to "eat my hat" on a lot of posts just like Teruchan! I had similar limitations to myself--would only buy $10 eyes and NEVER pay fullprice shipping from an Asian company. Since then I realized that when you shortchange yourself by limiting your options, you wind up cycling through so many different products until you finally cave in and buy the expensive thing anyway, spending way more money than if you had just done that in the first place. Now I make sure to buy the urethane eyes I want for specific characters, I snag the wigs I truly love when I can, and when Souldoll has an outfit that I love I don't even think about spending time putting together a GO--fullprice shipping hurts but not as much as a "sold out" tag on your favorite item!

Finally, I have to say that I had a rule against getting any "human" dolls. All my dolls were based off fantasy characters, and had some fantasy element to them (elf ears, wings, hooves, etc.) After having difficulty bonding with even the sweetest fantasy dolls, I eventually got over this stigma, and have purchased dolls that just inspire me!

Though through it all, I feel like my aesthetic has only opened up more, not just changed. My favorite doll that opened my imagination up in this hobby was a Soom Cuprit. She was my absolute grail doll, and still the most beautiful doll I own or have ever seen. My tastes may have just expanded to include more things in the meantime, and a deeper appreciation of unconventional sculpts like Doll Chateu for example, or artist's dolls like Victorian Winter and Sleetwealth Briar

 

I find myself really being drawn to just a few companies' dolls now (Volks, Leeke, and DIM MNMs), where before I never narrowed down my doll buying by company. I'm also pickier about clothing than I used to be and favor glass eyes over acrylics which is a complete reversal. In most cases I'm also less concerned about posability than I used to be. Oh, here's another big one -- I used to not want girl dolls, and now girls make up the majority of my doll family.

 

Yes, they most definitely changed.
When I first got into the hobby, I wanted only big mature looking dolls, 65 cm and bigger, and I couldn't ever imagine owning anything as small as an MSD or a tiny.
Cue six months later, and I buy my first doll, a soom nenad which just happens to be a tiny. I try buying myself an SD and find that the size is way too big. Then on an impulse I decided to put up a wtb for a soom mylo which I'd wanted before but hesitated due to her size, but when she arrived she became my favourite right away.
Now I have two MSD's and a tiny, and am also eating my own hat xD

 

My tastes definitely changed. For years I was in love with DoD Duncan, and always thought that it would be my first BJD ever if one day I could afford one.
Now I've grown to dislike Ducan for some reason, because 90% of the owned Duncans I've seen on pictures didn't look good enough in my opinion. It's gotten to a point where I can't stand Duncan anymore.
I've grown in love with more special faces I would say, and sometimes at first glance I really like a doll, but if I just take some distance and some time to look at them more in details, or do researches on Flicker or DA, to see some pictures of owned Sculpts, that gives me a clearer idea of if I really like the doll to a point that it's worth buying it. I would say 80% of the dolls I really wanted at first glance, I don't want them anymore after a few days of researches. I found it to be the ultimate method in order to be sure I will really love the doll for sure and I actually want to spend money getting it.

 

I had big elves and mature minis when I first started collecting. After a while, I got tired of the elves and decided that the mature minis weren't to my taste either and sold them all. Over the next few years, I bought a bunch of big realistic human dolls and teeny elves. I made a few rules about not buying certain sizes and kinds of dolls, but have lately broken every rule. My taste fluctuates wildly and now I just go where it takes me and have stopped trying to make sense of it.

 

I think my tastes for the dolls have stayed roughly the same, on the SD scale at least. No bobble heads, and 14mm eyes. I've also managed to stay mostly away from MSDs as I'd resolved to. I've not managed to stay away from tinies, though. @_@ Always thought they were too expensive for their size, but now I own 5. OTL

My taste in doll clothes have definitely changed. I used to balk at the idea of casual wear, but now I have a decent collection of casual clothes (thanks to China and their cheap goods =3=) that I do not hate on my dolls. ._. QAQ I would still like more couture stuff for them, but China is cheap and I am lazy. QAQ

 

misslolarose -Your post states it all for me too! I've even been looking at an Aiden! Elf ears and fantasy colored resins were off my list, but now that is all I want! I've even begun to look at different doll sizes. Maybe I'll venture into 1/3 someday!

 

Oh definitely! I mostly wanted male dolls with one girl, now I have mostly female (and there's so many more girls I want too.) I also liked the smaller dolls, but now I prefer the larger ones, so my collection is leading away from minis and tinies.

 

I am noticing already that my tastes -- I would say, are developing. This is something that takes time for me to sift out. I like pretty much everything, every doll I see. It is a process for me to see which ones are really going to rise to the top of my love list, and stay there.

 

My tastes are still developing. Though I thought that I'd like the dark and mysterious dolls and the fun fantasy dolls, but I found myself going for the most natural looking dolls and very realistic dolls now. I think its strange that my tastes have gone in that direction, but I don't mind if my tastes change, as long as I can stay happy and buy the dolls I want.

 

My tastes have definitely changed, I've noticed, and I've only been in the hobby a year. At first, I wanted nothing but cute, wide-eyed dolls with some realism but not too much. I even have a whole list of them written down that I thought I wanted. But, lately, I find myself more drawn to stylized dolls, more realistic ones, and, recently, "strange" dolls. I have no idea what this will mean for my collection but I have a feeling it may feel a definite shift. Which is okay because, currently, I only own dolls I really want and will stay regardless of my hobby direction. I just find it odd. I think I was too afraid to branch out at first because of what one of my closest friends thinks of BJDs in general. I wanted her to find them cute and not creepy, I think. But it's my collection so I'm trying to dictate it as I please.

She is going to HATE my Dollshe boys, though. -_-

I also, at some point, swore off fantasy parts. I told myself it would just never work out for me and to let it go. Now I have two dolls incoming with fantasy parts only and another one I'm contemplating. I just love them and, honestly, I don't understand how I went so long without them.

 

Hmm... I've only been in the hobby about a year and a half, but I think my tastes have changed considerably... I used to love the Soom monthly dolls, but now I don't like them as much. Also with the 5Star Doll Aiden, I at first wan't so sure about the bright red skin-tone but when I saw there were only 19 of the 100 available red-skinned Aidens, I pounced on it~ He just arrived today and I absolutely love his company faceup (which has eyelashes and scared-looking eyebrows, which I wouldn't have liked a year ago)

 

I think my tastes may have changed for a time, but not entirely, because most of the dolls I've kept in the long run are my oldest dolls. The new dolls have represented my peaked interest in other styles of dolls, but it was more curiosity I think, and they've all moved on. I have shifted my taste in wigs and such though, I went for a time where I wanted mohair wigs for everyone, but then more recently I bought other fibers, too.

 

I was just thinking about this today when I noticed how many of my "original" dolls I still own compared to how many sculpts I've bought and sold over the years. I'm the same as bagofspiders, really. I've even sold some of my early dolls because I thought my tastes had changed... but regretted it and am lucky enough to own them again.

One thing that *has* changed for me are clothes: I started out preferring simple, casual things that could be mixed and matched and now I'm berserk for ruffles and bows and huge full-set outfits.

 

Well I have been collecting for a few years and because of a move haven't really been active in meets and such cause of location and so have been kind of on hold with doll buying lol. This is because when I started I fell in love with the strange large male dolls and the model female large dolls. Then found PoPo and BoBo dolls and I loved seeing them online but when I got them I didn't like them and sadly they really have not been out of the boxes so I guess that was a big change for me was to kind of stop and try to see a doll first before buying it. Of course there has also been changes in employment so have to really step back and save and think about how much I really want this doll lol. For the longest time I only liked the very large dolls just loved the different clothes and wigs and it seemed that it was easier to find things for larger doll and make clothes and such for them. This was until at a doll meet someone had an SD sized doll and I just loved how kid like it was in little tennies and that is when I had to find a smaller doll to have I was very lucky in finding a Cherishdoll in the states that I could put on layway and when I got her loved it! That was a huge surprise for the rest of my family cause I had been all for the darker dolls and here I was all happy to have a cute little girl lol! Since I got her I have been more drawn to the smaller dolls to the point of thinking of selling some of the larger dolls to get smaller dolls think some of it is my large dolls that are out of there boxes sit in chairs most of the time while my little girl gets changed and taken places all the time really alot of it is easier to take her places along with a 20month old son lol. Also since I got my smaller doll I discovered pukis and there even worse lol I always seem to find a reason to bring one with me lol and would love to have more. So I guess I found it really surprising to just love these huge dolls 60cm or bigger and now I would rather populate my home with tinys or med sized dolls. Just wish that was something I could of learned before buying 4 large dolls and hiding 2 away all the time lol