How do you decide which dolls you REALLY want and which you're just infatuate...

The rule I have with my partner is that I will only consider a doll if they name themselves. Not that I spend ages to try and come up with a name, but that one day I'll be sitting there looking at pictures of a sculpt I like, and suddenly it's like the doll talks to me and suddenly there will be this whole character around them - I'll know their name, and their likes and dislikes, their style and personality, all suddenly and all at once. It's kinda funny, because sometimes even when I'm not looking for a doll this will happen, and it's kinda frustrating haha! After a doll names themselves, and if I spend enough time after that looking at their pictures, and I don't lose interest, then I will consider saving up for the doll. It means that while there are hundreds of sculpts I like, there are only ever two or three dolls on my "I really want to bring these dolls home" list. At the moment it's at three, and one of those dolls has been on that list for a year now - he will probably be the first one I get when I've saved enough.

 

i have no idea how to decide that, that's why i have over 60 dolls! doh!

 

When I buy a doll I always think I am totally in love and MUST have it. But I have learned that sometimes it's just a fling and by the time it finally arrives I have moved on to the next "Love of my life".
When I first started buying dolls I thought I would get at least 1 doll from several different companies. By doing that I learned which brands I preferred. Now I only buy from my two favorite. Even at that I still have experienced that anti climatic feeling when a doll arrives and wonder what I had seen in it when I ordered. Hmm now that I think about it, I should be thinning out the less loved of my group, I'm just a much better buyer than seller.

 

Do you just get a 'feeling' when you see a special doll?
Well, yes. I look at something and go "wow! WANT!" -- but of course that is NOT enough! With something I'm going to invest a lot of time and money and space and effort into... I need to make sure it is MORE than just the initial feeling. I have to think about everything a lot:

How much do I want this?
Do I want it more than everything else that I need/want?
Do I have that money to spend? Is it worth it?
Do I have the space and time?
Does it fit in with my plans?
What are the company reviews on service and quality?
How easy/expensive would it be to get the clothes, faceup, items I would need to make this doll work?
Do I have other pressing needs for my money? Or better ways to spend it?
Do I really, really need/want this dolls so that it is worth all the sacrifice of time/money/effort?
Am I being unrealistic about any of these things?
Can I postpone the purchase? Can I find it cheaper if I wait and check the secondary market?
Is this something I absolutely MUST own? Could I do without it?
If I could have only ONE doll, would this doll be that doll??? (I really should like the doll THAT much to blow hundreds of dollars on it!)
etc., etc., etc.

I DO sometimes impulse-buy, but I really try NOT to do this! I see the doll and wait and think about it for as long as possible!

Could you bond with any doll you bought or are some dolls just a temporary obsession?

I can bond with any doll, really, because they are all so wonderful! Of course, some are more bond-able than others, but I can like nearly everything! And I'm not a fickle person... If I like something, I like it always. I may like it more or less over time, but I will always like it.

However... I do try and make sure I really LIKE/LOVE a doll before buying. Even buying a doll takes time/effort/money... I don't want to waste it on something I'm not sure about. Selling a doll is very possible--but it also takes a lot of time/effort and some money, since you don't usually get ALL your money back from a sale. Sometimes I will take a risk, as I said, but I try hard to really think about it and make sure first.

Have you ever bought a doll only to find you liked the idea of the doll more than the doll itself?

I really, really try hard to make sure I'm not just in love with the idea only. If I go through all the thinking (as listed above)... and making sure... usually I'm OK and it's the doll I really want!

Have you learnt to tell the difference?

Sometimes... sometimes not, but sometimes the idea is good enough to make me bond with the doll--as long as I know I really like the idea! But I DO try and make sure it's the doll I like, and try to be realistic about it.

And are you satisfied to just enjoy wanting some dolls or do you have to try and buy every doll you want?

Well, even if you had unlimited money for dolls, it would be crazy to just buy every doll you wanted! You'd run out of space--even if you had a mansion for dolls, you'd have to think about all that money you're spending on them and if you can really enjoy all those dolls or if you're just going nuts on owning and not enjoying!!!

Most people can't afford every doll they want--and that is just life. It's bad to get everything you want, since you WILL just impulse-buy and not bond with them all and just have lots of things you don't really play with and enjoy... That's just wasteful! So limiting yourself, money or not, is a GOOD thing! That way you make the most of what you DO have!

Because of this, it's GOOD to be able to enjoy some dolls and not own them. I am admittedly bad about not buying and just enjoying, which is why I have way too many dolls at this time, but I do enjoy a lot of dolls that I don't own. I try not to think of owner-pics of dolls as advertising for dolls I might want to buy, but rather try and enjoy other peoples dolls without having to own them all!

 

Mr. polyhymnia and I don't have the disposable income for me to go nuts with the dolls, and I think this has really helped me to be cautious about which dolls I bring home.

But I have made mistakes. I bought one doll (Angelsdoll Hyang) because she was brand-new and stupid cheap, and not because I loved her so much I couldn't stand to be in my own skin. I ended up selling her within a year. I bought one doll (Iplehouse Gentle Freezia) because she was being discontinued. Again, I wasn't over the moon about her, and I'm still not sure whether I want to keep her or not.

My current darling, Dollmore Ryu Miu, I fell in love with and bought because I found her so baffling, and yet so appealing. She's not the prettiest Model, not the most elegant, and I'm not sure anybody else on the board even has her. But I just adore her.

There are so many dolls I admire ... the Supia dolls and the Doll Chateau dolls, to name just two ... but know I will never bring home. The emotional pull just isn't strong enough.

 

This is really hard for me, because there's so many dolls that I want but I'll fall out of love with them in a month or two, so it's tough when I am infatuated with dolls and then I actually buy them and then it turns into buyers remorse and I have to sell them. It's a lot of work trying to weed out the ones that aren't 'the one'. Every time I consider a doll, I have to wait on it, and if I keep on coming back to pics of the doll or look up more of them, then I KNOW.

 

Very interesting question ...
I think there is some rational thinking and also a share of puzzling intuition/feeling that combine the choice of a doll...
I do not not always have the money necessary to buy a doll. So it happens sometimes many months during which I look at the photos of companies and owners of molds that I love: it must head match my taste and the body poses well, that all the doll in harmony. Size also comes into play, I know I'm comfortable with the MSD and YoSD sizes. I will not necessarily buy a popular doll, seen and reviewed on blogs or forums because I feel that I have trouble it my own.
And then there is a turning point: a photo, opportunity to buy in the secondary market for example, or a pre-order ... Then it is necessary that I buy? Whether what I provides for it to, what pictures I will do with it ... etc. I feel at this moment if I make the right choice or if I drop!
Up to the present I do not regret any of my purchases (I have 7 dolls for 3 years), I have a thought to resell to fund other projects now: I am unable as I love all dolls I chose!!!
But I think all this is very personal, some people are collectors at heart and must have an extensive collection. I do not feel the need to possess a lot and I want to enjoy the dolls that I own. It also depends on what is in fact, I'm not an artist, it is a pleasure and a hobby but I do not sacrifice everything for it I also have a family life!!!

 

As my collection pares down more and more to a smaller number, the ones with the staying power are the ones where I had a literal "jaw drop" moment of awe (either from loveliness or strangeness) upon seeing them, and then I just couldn't erase them from my mind. I had to have them.

 

This is a hard one as I know I have made mistakes here before, too.
In the end, it is a bit of trial and error, especially when it comes to limiteds. However, after a while you get to know what your preferred styles, themes, companies and sculpts tend to be and when you have favourites there you tend to stick to them as you know what you are in for as far as quality and service are concerned. I know this isn't always the case but if you look around you tend to find most long term owners and collectors tend to fall into these sorts of patterns after a while.

 

This is a hard one as I know I have made mistakes here before, too.
In the end, it is a bit of trial and error, especially when it comes to limiteds. However, after a while you get to know what your preferred styles, themes, companies, artists and sculpts tend to be and when you have favourites there you tend to stick to them as you know what you are in for as far as quality and service are concerned. I know this isn't always the case but if you look around you tend to find most long term owners and collectors tend to fall into these sorts of patterns after a while.

 

Do you just get a 'feeling' when you see a special doll?

Yeup. There are dolls I can oooh and ahh over, but some just give that love ping. Once I get the love ping though, I have to follow it up with searching for owner photos and blank sculpt photos. I have to love the sculpt blank too, kinda to make sure it's not just the face up I love, but the doll itself. So if there is love ping + love of blank sculpt + opportunity it's a go!

Could you bond with any doll you bought or are some dolls just a temporary obsession?

I love all my boys so far but they were all love pings. I do have one doll that I kinda fell into, rather than picked out, but we're bonding. Once I have one, I just can't see letting it go!

Have you ever bought a doll only to find you liked the idea of the doll more than the doll itself?
Have you learnt to tell the difference?

Not really. There is one boy whom I often cant get the look right for, which can be frustrating, but I can't see ever replacing him. I'd like to think I know the difference, but I don't really experience much regret in general, so it's hard to say.

And are you satisfied to just enjoy wanting some dolls or do you have to try and buy every doll you want?

For the dolls I ping on, it's hard to let them pass by if need be. I may phase in and out of wanting a doll, but once I get the want, I often buy it if able.

 

I already have the character in mind. The dolls just have to convince me that they are it. It's more like "Yeah...yeah! That doll can play that character!!" A bit like a casting director trying to find the right actor I guess. Most of the time I have a couple of dolls lined up for any certain character and I look at them every now and then and some scream at me more than others.

 

Do you just get a 'feeling' when you see a special doll?
I get this "feeling" when I see one of my characters in a doll. When I do, I become really fixed on that doll. At that point, I have already decided to buy, even if I may give it some time. Those are the easy dolls. I am never wrong about those! Most of the time, these purchases feel like impulse buys, just because I am so very sure and usually buy quickly.

There is a special case too: there is one doll artist whose work I love so much and whom I trust to such an extent that I'd buy her dolls almost blindly. My latest doll is one of hers. I didn't even like his sales photos very much, but I knew I would love the doll in person. I had a character for which I could use him (this is how it works with her dolls: I want the doll and go looking for a character that might fit passably - not the other way around, as with my "easy dolls" XD) and bought him on trust. Well, he's gorgeous and he fits his character really well!

Could you bond with any doll you bought or are some dolls just a temporary obsession?
I *think* I can bond with any doll. It's mostly because I tend to stick with my decisions/purchases. Any doll that comes home is "my doll" and I will have difficulty parting with it, even if, looking back, I could have made a better choice (like, getting a doll in WS when NS would have been a better option). I have just reshelled one of my characters, and whereas the sensible thing would probably be to try and sell his old shell, I'd rather use the doll to shell another character that I wouldn't normally have "dollified".

Have you ever bought a doll only to find you liked the idea of the doll more than the doll itself? Have you learnt to tell the difference?
I have been on the verge of doing that a few times, but I have never done it so far. "Idea dolls" would be dolls that don't correspond to any of my characters - dolls bought for the doll's sake. So far I have refrained from that.

And are you satisfied to just enjoy wanting some dolls or do you have to try and buy every doll you want?
I am content to enjoy some dolls that I really love through the pictures of other owners. Sometimes it is really difficult, but - there are just too many dolls that I like! When I look at the enormous collections that some people have, I realise that these are just too large for me. Even if I could afford to buy all the dolls that interest me and had room to accomodate them all, their sheer number would overwhelm me. I really have to choose. I have fifteen dolls now, with a sixteenth on the way. Three of those are teeny-tinies (12-16 cm) - they don't take up much space and I tend to forget to count them. But four MSDs, one YoSD and eight SDs... Let's say that it's beginning to feel like the limit of what I can handle.

 

I'm not one to come up with actual characters for dolls, but if I see a sculpt I like, I try to picture what I'd do with it. If I can't come up with anything beyond the stock pictures, then its just something pretty to look at but not to have. My dolls need to serve some kind of creative purpose, something to paint or sew for, or else they're just taking up space.

 

When I bought my first doll (AOD Jimi), I instantly crushed over him and felt that "connection". I think budgeting helps me a little. I used to have over 20 dolls in my wishlist, but decided against the plan because I don't have the financial support for it. Right now, I have my little story going on and this helps a little more because not all molds work for me and my story. Now shelling them into characters would really help in me making decisions for my own doll wishlist.

 

I never have enough money to spontaneously buy anything so I tend to save or book mark the doll on my computer.

I look back at them from time to time, and notice that sometimes I loose my interest in some dolls. so they come off the list.

a lot of the time I can admire pretty or cool dolls with out thinking I NEED it. If I keep coming back to a certain one, or if I feel a character/personality from them i fall in love. like, if they reach out to me and sort of tell me who they are, I can't ignore them!

 

My wish list used to be huge and i wanted to sperate out the dolls I actually wanted and the dolls i just liked so what i did is I looked at each doll and asked myself if this doll was discontinued forever how would i feel? and if i got upset i knew it was a doll i really wanted

 

I find that something just clicks for me and I know that's the one. It has happened with all my dolls. The ones that are on my wishlist are dolls that I can't keep out of my head and I feel my heart beat faster when I see them. I know that they will come home eventually. It's just a matter of time and money. I find all dolls beautiful and I admire a great deal of them and even love quite a few sculpts but I know that even if I love them they aren't always for me. I just have to get that special feeling before I even think about ordering.

 

Is the doll a Unoa? Yes-> YOU LOVE THIS DOLL
No-> Does is fit the Unoa aesthetic? Yes -> YOU LOVE THIS DOLL No-> This doll will subtly bother you until you get rid of it.
I find so many dolls attractive (that is their job) but for me they have to fit a certain aesthetic almost 100%. The only exception is my Dollshe Hound, but he is constantly bodyless because I want a body with cuter knees.

 

That is a good way to reach a decision. I am going to have to thin out my collection -- by the end of the year is my goal. I will need some guidelines to do the sifting. Which is the opposite approach, but a way to answer the question of this thread.