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

When I find a doll I really like, I wait, don't look at it for a while, maybe a week or a few days, and then look at it again (pictures of it). If I still think it's the most beautiful doll in the world, and I haven't changed my opinion the slightest, I know I really want it ^_^ I also look at owner pictures of it to see what possibilities it has...

 

How do I choose? Before I bought my first doll, I have looked up all the doll companies listed on BJDCollecstacy. I found the style I really liked and tried to look at many examples of that type of dolls I could find. Then I found out about the different bodies and did research on DoA. Which looked good, which were said to be good posers, etc. (here it turned out that I had a completely different opinion, but oh well). I bought the doll, modded the hell out of the body, and still did not like the body. I ended up trading the body, but kept the head. I really the scupt, but did not quite know what to do with it. That became crystal clear when I finally found out what I really wanted. One thing came to the other. You can see the result in my Avatar. Last year I bought a dirt cheap body for it, and I am so happy with this body. Just what I wanted. That was the story of my first doll.

 

The first doll I saw was a LUTS Limited Sprite. I loved him, but knew I wouldnt have the money before the event ended. I was sad, because I felt the doll was beautiful. But now I don't really feel so sad, it's not a big deal. Had I bought him, yes I would be totally in love. But there is a doll that I know I will love forever, he will be my first resin BJD.

 

Before getting my first doll I researched the hobby A LOT. I knew I didn't want something too big or too small for my first doll. I was looking at LUTS and I had found many dolls that I wanted to buy. (Most of which are not my taste anymore.) When they released the Kid Delf Nana and Duri in November of 2012 I instantly fell in love with the Nana sculpt. I still continued to look at dolls but I always come back to the Nana sculpt. Two years later when I was able to buy a doll, my first choice was the limited Kid Delf Yul (human female version) but I was a too tad late and she was sold out. I was a little bummed out because of that. I went and looked at Nana again and realized that I didn't like Yul as much as I loved Nana. So with that discovery I decided to buy Nana, and I'm glad I did because I love her to bits and I'll never get rid of her.
So I guess I didn't really have a way of finding the doll I really wanted. I just fell in love with the sculpt in 2012 and I still loved it 2 years later.

 

To me, when I look for dolls I look for the characters I want them to represent. Sometimes I see a doll I would LOVE to have, but if I have no idea what to do with them, I would easily leave it. I'm still really happy with each and every one I got and am still searching for a few molds of characters I want to create... and I even have a doll that represents THREE characters, so that saves a lot!

 

I've encountered infatuation routinely throughout my years in this hobby. What I've learned to do is to give it a few days to a week and see how I still feel about the doll in question. Chances are I will have fallen out of love (and into merely "like") after a short period of time, realizing the doll just isn't for me. And I really watch the "company news" section on DoA routinely to see what the companies are bringing out. Their announcements usually predate the release of the doll by a few days to a few weeks, so that gives me time to really think about it. My grail doll was actually introduced in a company announcement, and I fell for her so hard! But prior to her actual release, I still had the time to think about it before decided that yes, she most definitely was my grail doll. So I made the firm decision to add her to my collection and stalked DDE's website, pouncing on that buy button the instant she came up for purchase.

 

I just know, or think I know. But, I do have to have them in my hand to really know. Sometimes when a doll pre-order takes a long time---I don't like them when they do come. Thank goodness we can sell the ones we don't like. But, I always seem to lose money that way!

 

My rate of collection so far has been pretty slow. It takes me anywhere from six months to two years to save up for a doll, which is more than enough time to determine if I really must have it in my hands or not. Besides giving myself plenty of time to fall out of 'love', I also let myself dream about their character and style. If that doesn't come to me fairly quickly, usually it means I am not as attached to the sculpt as I thought. I've also had the story take shape to accommodate the doll, then looked back at the sales pictures and realized he/she wouldn't fit after all, and the features I liked on that sculpt could be better personified in a different one.

I like Iplehouse's Arvid, but something always turns me off from Iplehouse's sculpts and it took me 8-10 months to realize it's because though their features are more realistically scaled, their sculpts are very, very smooth. For a 'man doll' I wanted more rugged edges. If I'd had the money to buy him right away I probably would have been disappointed to come to that realization after he had arrived, or worse, integrated him into the family but always been just a little bit disenchanted with him. Once over that initial infatuation, I discovered a few more little things that made him unsuitable for the character I had in mind. I still think he is beautiful and love to admire him from afar, though, he's just no longer a must-have. That is actually a liberating feeling. (For my pocketbook, maybe?)

 

To be honest, there are a lot of other dolls I admire, but if they don't fit my characters, I honestly don't know what I would do with them. So I admire them from a distance. There are a lot of tiny yosd dolls I go cukoo for... But if they don't work for the group I have in mind, I hold back.
I love them, but I know I love looking at them more than I would love trying to dress them.

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It must be love. Promo images are often misleading.

 

I tend to just impulse buy

But seriously. I will swoon and pine after one doll sculpt for months, then switch at the drop of a hat. All of my dolls are impulse purchases and I think I love them more because I never fantasized about them as opposed to those I was infatuated with.

 

This took some trial and error over time for me. For new dolls with only official company pictures available, it's hard to decide. I have passed on several ordering events only to go back and seek out the doll in the aftermarket. I find the owner pictures seal the deal most the time. I always have a running list I keep, and will compare potential purchases against that. I ask myself if I can only have one or the other, which would it be? I think it takes you getting something you don't like, to make you stop and think about it.

 

I've made a list of dolls I really love, some of which I've been looking at for years, and I'm trying to avoid buying too many on a whim in the mean time. But there have been a few limited releases and dolls on eBay that I regret missing out on. So I can definitely see some impulse buys in the future. Sometimes I have to step away from the photos on the forum, or else it starts to feel like I want all the dolls! People's creativity with them here makes most of them appealing.

 

honestly i still dont know the difference lol there are some where i just love love and keep looking at them then realize i dont have the money and stop looking and eventually i just forget about them. but then sometimes i don't forget and i freak out if i dont see them anymore (like in the marketplace..) and then i realize i have to have them! but i often look at limiteds and other owner photos and i wish i could have that sculpt but i do try and resist that urge to impulse buy... there are currently two i keep looking at and i have to remind myself i dont have the money. lol

 

I decide by how perfect the sculpt is for a particular character and how important it is to me to get that character a doll form. Kinda do a love verses price thing.
Like how much do I love this character verses this character and if I'm willing to forgo the cheaper sculpt because and save a little longer because I loved the more expensive one's character better...

though at times events play a big part too, because when luts had a month long event with pluto I was planning on using that same money to buy a dream of doll sha, but I didn't want to miss out on the pluto because I didn't think I'd ever find a sculpt that fit my character better, so even though I'd have preferred the other there was no way I was going to pass up such a perfect character match if I could help it.

 

It's pretty easy for me, the one that I really want always in my mind, like my grail doll wish which I really hope for.
I can imagine that doll is in my house, beside me, I sew lot of clothes for her, doing a lot of indoor and outdoor photoshoot.
For doll with temporary love, I ask to myself, is this doll enough? Can this doll take place of my grail doll?
I rather buy my grail even if take lot of time, since if I have my grail, I don't think I need any other doll

 

I really identify with Gwydion and Twinage. My tastes have really changed in the year that I have been collecting. Whilst I still really like my first msd I think about my Grail doll who I can visualise both in presence and personality. I know where i would put her and how much I would appreciate her and how she would fit into my story and home. I like alot of bjd's, some I also probably love a little, but I can happily live without them and just enjoy them through others.
My grail doll however makes my heart beat that little bit faster. Money and space are limited and I am quite fussy about not having too many dolls as I like them to be a feature in my room rather than part of a group. I recently bought a doll I have loved since the start of my collecting. I snapped him up as he is quite hard to find in the resin colour I wanted. I do not regret any of my purchases to date but I also know now what I like, more than I did a year ago. My tastes have become more finely tuned and I expect that I may have to let an early purchase go to fund my grail doll in part. I am not ready to make that decision just yet but know that it will take a special doll now to interrupt the saving of my pennies for the one who makes my heart beat faster!

 

I really want just 5-7 dolls,but unfortunaly i can't buy it as soon as i want

 

Do you just get a 'feeling' when you see a special doll?
Yes. I just got the feeling of wanting this Doll. Okay I have my own imagination of a Doll I wanted to have and I want to make out of it. So I choosed the closed Doll who fits into my imagination. That's why I didn't actually choosed the first Doll I got the feeling of wanting him but I choosed a closed version of my imagination and who looks kinda similar of the other Doll.

Could you bond with any doll you bought or are some dolls just a temporary obsession?
I can't answer this question because I just ordered my first Doll but I hope I can really bond to him.

Have you ever bought a doll only to find you liked the idea of the doll more than the doll itself?
No. I always wanted a Doll but I was more thinking it will be just a dream until my husband agreed, then I started to search and look after other Dolls just to find out whether I really want this one Doll or maybe another. I choosed in the End for another Doll but reject nothing. I still want this Doll and can't wait for him to arrive. :3

Have you learnt to tell the difference?
still. I see some Dolls, who looks good but I don't have the feeling of really wanting them. I just miss something but maybe it is just because I don't have the amond of money to buy each Doll so I have to choose carefully.

And are you satisfied to just enjoy wanting some dolls or do you have to try and buy every doll you want?
If I could, I think I would buy some more Dolls I want but therfore I can't and I don't have the space for so many Dolls, I think I am happy with what I can buy. but sure, I want some more Dolls like a little Angel or a partner for my first Doll but I choose carefully.

I just thought I'd ask since most of us want so many dolls, how do YOU choose?
I choose about my wishes and feelings, if I see a Doll and I get the feeling "yes I want this doll so badly" then I do everything to get it.

 

When I see a doll that I really like, I'll just sit around and wait for a while. You know; a few weeks maybe a month or even longer.
But I keep looking at picutres of the doll at that time, or try to figure out how he/she can fit into my crew.
When that "omgireallywantthisonetotallove" feeling is (totally) gone by that time, I'm not buying it.
This technique has saved me from a lot of impulse buys and prevended me from reselling dolls I own.