Hooves, Why Do We Like Them?

i remember i was pretty stunned when i first saw a doll with hooves on the soom site but .. that was about it. i think they look very nice but i absolutely couldn't think of a character with hooves for any of the dolls i'm planning to get. so they'll stay something i like to look at but don't want to own.

 

I personally love the hooves because they are innovative - not just in the actual sculpting of each set, but the overall idea of digitigrade legs. No other company that I've seen has done something so interesting. Soom's other dolls have similar innovations (although mostly, I feel, less structurally interesting than the digitigrade legs) - clear parts, Vesuvia's tail, Bix's jointed claw arm, etc.

Before I found Soom's dolls, I had no interest at all in owning a BJD, because all the other companies feel very 'samey' to me. The choice is between one beautiful, idealised head and another beautiful, idealised head. And the bodies, while they differ in jointing styles, also all look very samey (it says a lot that I started paying more attention to Iplehouse simply because they released a female body that actually had breasts).

I also personally think that Soom is releasing so many hooves because they are guaranteed sales. They can't afford to release a completely-off-the-wall concept every month, because sometimes their concepts fail (Bix, Vesuvia, Cass). Since businesses like Soom tend to fund their future ideas on money from their past ones, they'd probably be completely unable to make a new MD if they had too many failures in a row.

To me, the important thing is that Soom are innovating with every design. Beryl and Sard both had solid resin, cloven hooves. Heliot had solid resin horse hooves (and had his unicorn head). Amber had an entirely different leg design and pearly translucent parts. Cuprit had clear hooves. I think a lot of the complaints ignore the fact that Soom has lifted their game with every MD, even when they have rehashed old ideas. They completely sculpt new parts, and always add more features to their dolls beyond just 'another set of hooves'.

Anyway, I'll always prefer a company who says "let's release another doll with a new face and new hooves and new addons" more than a company that says "let's design a new head and release it on the same body we always use". To me, it just seems like buying an MD gets me a lot more creative effort and thought for my dollar than any other doll out there.

 

What an interesting dicussion, I've often wondered this myself!

As for me, I've always been drawn to mythical/fantasy creatures, and this extends to hooved dolls as well. ^^ But then, I also like paws, elf ears, fairy parts, etc. on dolls, and being a long-time My Little Pony fan I do have quite a weakness for horses and ponies!

And at the risk of sounding VERY silly -- a big reason I love hooved dolls (and pawed, etc) is that I don't have to buy them shoes! Sounds ridiculous, I know, but shoes always seem to be on the absolute bottom of my purchase-priority list and I've never really gotten over my "HOW much for a pair of doll shoes??" block. To illustrate: my Nono, who I got over 7 years ago, has about 6 pairs of shoes. Most of which were under $10.

So yeah, the no shoes thing is a huge plus to me. One less thing to buy, one less part of an outfit to worry about matching. xD

 

I personally dont like hoofs either, I do like mythology and what not also but I dont prefer my dolls to have hoofs. I do like cat tails and cat ears um mermaid feet are interesting to me even and horns arent bad but just no hoofs for me please.

 

I have hooved characters. 1 Satyr, 1 Unicorn [biped though], and 2 Centaurs.
I got Glati and Bygg to be the Satyr and Unicorn pair, now all I need are Centaurs. I don't think you can have too many hooves 8]

Also, I love drawing faun/satyr legs, so it just translated into my love of hooved dollies.

Although, I wouldn't mind more animals. Talons and finny parts *loved Iv&Eliv's fins, but couldn't afford them.* I'm actually a little done with paws...

 

I love fantasy creatures, and love anthros, but oddly, I really don't want a hooved doll. it feels odd to me becuase, I'm making a perfectly normal doll into a goat girl, but don't want to give her hooved legs. My next doll is even a full-on anthro version of her, animal head, hands and hooved feet. But I don't want hooves for her more human form.

I think it's becuase I dislike SOOM hooves. I actually don't like any SOOM dolls, and with the few exceptions of a few homemade mods and the aformentioned anthros, I haven't seen any sort of hoof that strikes me, and even with that, only one has jumped out enough to make me wish to purchase it.

I'm not sure if that means I'm super picky or just tired of the trend. I think it's nice, but I'm ready for something else already. There's nothing really all that special about attaching a claw or paw to a human doll when anthros have had the same sculptural details for some years now.

 

I have an affinity for satyrs and fauns. They represent a certain natural freedom, frolicking and cavorting carefree through the forest. Of all of the sort of classical mythological subjects, the nymph and faun combination are my favorite. My love of hooved dolls kind of stems from that.

Eventually I plan to have a tiny nymph and a tiny faun living happily together. And thanks to DaisyDayes, it's pretty well within reach.

But I do agree with other posters in wanting more paws, claws, and similar things. I would love to make a harpy, too!

 

I always loved drawing horses when I was little, so I always had a thing about anatomically-correct hooves... and then I saw Beryl one morning. I wasn't even into dolls then, but she got me.

Theeen, they came out with Sard, and finances somehow always worked out in the hooved dolls favor and.... pretty much between my fiance and me, we ended up with almost every big hoofy doll. @__@

And THEN THEY STARTED WITH THE TINIES.

 

I like wings, horns, hooves, what ever I think would fit the fantasy I have...

 

I really would like to see more talons, the way my Euclase has them. X3 Actually, I would love most of these features for MSD sized dolls. I would likely kill for an MSD sized scorpion tail like Vesuvia, or little talons! Maybe I should bust out the epoxy.

 

I don't like them, and to be honest, they seem rather gimmicky to me. A gimmick that sells amazingly well, mind you, but not one to me that is worth the hype associated with it. I've only ever seen one hooved doll that was dressed in a way that did not strike me as extremely silly looking. More power to the people that like them, but there are people who just don't get the craze.

But like any doll trend, they too shall come to pass when the next big gimmick comes along that people jump on, and then we'll see nothing but....who knows?

 

Hooves = no need to buy shoes. That's a considerable amount of money saved <-- only half joking...

Besides, hooves are just so chunky and sturdy-looking, they can balance out the more muscular sculpts. That's what I think anyway... ^ ^;

 

Strangely, i'm quite the inverse - When it comes to dolls, I become xenophobic - that is, I absolutely dislike abhuman dolls. This can be hooves, claws, paws, or even simply pointed ears as opposed to rounded ones.
I'm not certain why that is - in literature and games, i'm quite happy for fangs, claws, talons, etc - I like vampires and the un-holy. It's just when it comes to seeing it on a doll, for some reason to me it doesn't look quite right. Kind of like how a doll's facial hair is hard to pull off, I similarly think that abhuman designs are seldom done well.
Very tiny magnetised wings, and the small barely visible pointed fangs in a mouth are about the line I draw when it comes to dolls, despite my love of fantasy and sci-fi outside of this hobby.

 

I'm not a big fan of the Soom hooves (they look too big to me), but I like the idea of various fantasy parts to customize existing dolls.

 

While I appreciate the ingenuity and massive amount of work that Soom puts in to each monthly doll, I can't see myself rushing to order a hooved doll. I think the Monthly Doll project took off so well because Sard and Beryl were new, exciting, and different. Since then, Soom has continued to create new hooves and new concepts for their dolls, which gives each doll an exciting, unique quality.

There are many reasons to like hooves and many to find them tiresome. I personally love looking at the different characters people create with a flooded hoof market.

Between the hooves, claws, paws, and fins that Soom has released, I find myself loving the hobby more and more. It shows that the creativity doesn't merely rely on the doll owner painting and developing their doll, it starts with the creative minds at a doll company.

The one thing that bugs me is when people say that there are anthro dolls for animal parts... Some people don't like anthro dolls, but enjoy animal characteristics. Soom has brought bjders a beautiful middle ground, where we can have our humans a little on the wild side.

 

Well, almost every character in my Crypt (the fantasy world created by me) is a demon.
When I started to collect the most fantasy doll was a elf doll or a vampire doll and I bought them to create my demons.
Hooved dolls are the very perfect dolls to become my characters and than I moved my collection, selling in the past year almost every human/elf doll to buy hooved dolls.
The fact that you don't need shoes for them is something good for me, as I used a lot of money to buy shoes for my past dolls and as I love a lot Soom sculpt for super gem, I don't really need clothes for them too XD or for every one of them at last ^^
I think I will keep on adding hooved dolls to my collection, I just don't have the female ones, except Cuprit, just cause I am a male doll addicted XD
I must say I would be happy if some other kind of legs and feet are released, hooves are my dream but a new thing could be very very nice (as Chrom pawns or Euclase talons).

 

I have 2 hooved dolls on the way (bygg, beyla and glot) and for me its not just hooves its the fact they theses dolls are based on mythical creatures (thats my fasination!) I like mermaid dolls and stuff aswell, Eclaus was pretty kool (but there was something about his feet that wasn't for me...cant explain what though)
So for me its not just hooves ... its hooves, wings, fins tails, claws, vampires ect! I love it!

 

Now I'm totally biased towards hoofed things... but who better to put in their two cents? I've long been hooked on the 'other' - the strange and unusual. If it's ordinary or every day... I've had my fill.

I'm actually amused by this 'fed up with hooves' vibe? Maybe it's that I'm new to the hobby as a whole, but there seem to a great many different studios creating dolls... and very few seem to be making hooves... just the one, right? I've seen others with horns... and wings... and such, but nothing like Soom makes. Still.. they make 'normal' dolls... so I'm not sure why the displeasure. There is clearly a demand for the hooves. Heck! I'd never have been interested in anything other than what Soom has been making. I've been waiting to get the chance to own one since a friend showed me Glot and Glati (a day after they went 'sold out')... and it looks as though many of the dolls are 'parted' out and you could just get the human doll without all the bits, if you were so inclined.

I can see someone wanting something other than hooves from Soom...as they are -amazing- sculptors... but to this I say: wait. This studio is simply following up a concept- The Gem or whatever you want to call it... their pantheon. It would be strange, visually, for them to deviate too too greatly from their original plan. I'm sure you'll see even more amazing things in the future.

But back to the 'why do we like them'. I'm not sure I can answer for others... too many My Little Ponies in our backgrounds? Too much Narnia or The Last Unicorn... Legend, maybe? A little too much Pan (is there such a thing?)?

I think, for me, it's a visual thing. I love the look of hooves. I'm not sure how to justify it. I can only sit here and tell you that the only dolls I shall ever own shall be sporting hooves.. or horns (I'm not greedy... wait, yes I am.. hooves for all!)