How do you know you’ve found “The One”?

I’m very much character-driven in my collecting. I simply won’t purchase a doll unless I have a strongly preconceived character for it. So when I’m searching for a doll, my choices are limited by my need to “recognize” that character in them. Sometimes this can be a very fast process, as in I’ll see a doll and suddenly a new, fascinating character jumps into my mind right away (in which case they become an instant grail, and I simply must have them!) At other times the process can be agonizingly slow, when the characters have already developed so strongly in my imagination, that finding their perfect shell takes a long time (one boy took me an entire decade, and one girl took me 8 years to find!) But mostly, I just keep a running list of characters I’d like to bring home floating around in my head, and if I come across a sculpt where I “ recognize” my character, that’s when I pounce!

 

I’m fairly new to the hobby, but I usually just grab a doll I like, since I mostly have them for sewing. But there have been a few dolls that I immediately fell in love with and decided that I needed at some point. Grails, you could say. But since dolls are so sellable/tradeable, there’s a bit of leeway in feeling in love with something. If you end up not liking it, there’s a thriving resale market.
As for creating a certain character, I recently became interested in shelling a male oc. So for that, the most important thing for me was the body stature, which sounds weird. My oc is very muscular, but in a bulky way. A lot of male bodies are slender. I also had to track down a company that did the proper dark tan I need. Faces are more or less whatever. I can always swap it out or modify the features I need.
So it really boils down to what you absolute must criteria are.

 

I can sympathize with your problem. In my case I was initially more drawn to male sculpts, but I really wanted to have a girl too. Long story short, I couldn't imagine actually owning any of the girl sculpts that I liked, and I also realised that I want one with a bit of attitude, so in the end I found a male sculpt that will be a perfect girl, though it's still a blank head. And I figured that for me it's important to envision a style for the doll. If it doesn't inspire me, and I don't know what I would do with it, I don't have to own it, even if the sculpt is nice. It also has to stay in my mind, then I'll know that it's not just a passing interest.

It's good to make a list of the sculpts that you like in the suitable size range. You could decide what style you want, realistic or stylised, cute or cool, should it match the doll you already have, what kind of clothes will it wear, and choose a doll that seems right for your plan. I also suggest looking at owner pictures, because it could turn out that you aren't as much into that sculpt. On the other hand, they can also make you like a sculpt, because you can see the potential that may not be obvious from the company pictures. If you like the doll in most of the owner photos, not just in one style, that's a good sign.

 

I'm searching for a larger girl doll right now and I am also having trouble. ><
Honestly, best advice I got is if you can already envision in your head how you wanna photograph a doll, what their wardrobe could be like, how their story could work with a doll you already have, or they just make you really giddy when you see their picture...then they may be "the one". More so than all the others you might also want. I found recently that it's the ones that make me most excited for other things that I pick first.

 

It took me until early this year after a good two years of searching around to finally order my first doll. It was interesting because I knew a few parametres of what I was most interested (I wanted a 1/4 scale boy) and I ended up figuring out early that I'd like a Withdoll (I like their 1/4 bodies a lot). But I didn't really have a specific character I wanted to shell or anything, I just had a rough plan of how I might customize him when I get my hands on him, so after that, I kept waffling back and forth forever about which sculpt I liked best or if I wanna try my hand at hybriding.

I spent a few months agonizing between two I narrowed down on, their Ian (scowling) sculpt or their Jiho sculpt, plus I still hadn't decided what skintone or whether or not I want a company faceup. Funnily enough though, while looking at owner pictures of Withdoll boys I saw a few Tarens and absolutely, completely, and immediately fell in love with that sculpt, even though I didn't pay as much attention to him in company photos, and in the next couple weeks I finally placed the order. Sometimes just looking through owner photos can really make you see certain dolls like you never have before!!

My boy's not ready yet (a few more months~ ) but I'm so excited to get him, I think I must've made the right choice because of how much time I spend every other day planning out different outfits and stuff for him lol

 

There's many dolls I see and add to a "save list" for a while as I look at other dolls. All that strike me as a potential new doll, I'll add to that save list, and then go back and compare them and see which one speaks to me the most. Dolls are definitely not something to rush into buying, and I always found that with time you get a better idea of what you really want, and one doll in your list starts to stick out more than others again and again.

 

I'm also character-driven, so I just have this idea, I develop a brief story and some sense of aesthetics and then find a doll. It also happens that sometimes find a doll but I won't buy it if I don't get the character right first. This method has worked for me mostly so far but it is not foolproof at all and you can still make not-good-enough choices. For me, that feeling of 'this is the one' happened just once, and I don't think I was in my right mind when it happened xD
My only advice would be to have a clear idea of what you want and research all that you can on companies, on different aesthetics and a lot of owner pictures because they help a lot to see the reality behind company's pictures.

 

That's a good question. I have a problem though where I like too many dolls, and have to debate between like 5 to 10 dolls on which to get.

I do have certain preferences for my dolls and look for those qualities before I buy a doll.

These are what I look for in a doll:
1. Size- about 60 to 75 cm for males
about 45 to 61 cm for females
Exceptions will buy smaller
size only if it is a concept I like or as a sort of prop for my
Bigger dolls.
2. Limited- I like limited dolls because they feel special or they come as a full set I really love.

3. Look- For my male dolls I look for sharp eyes, a handsome face, sharp jawline, a somewhat soft face, and a more realistic face that is somewhat stylized. I don't go for the anime looking dolls. I don't like dolls with really large eyes. There are exceptions to this, but I prefer a more sharp almond shaped eyes that look like daggers. For my female dolls I'm more pickier. I tend to buy dolls that I think will look good with my male dolls. The features I like in my female dolls are more stylized and less realistic I think. I prefer my female dolls to have small to medium eyes, but large eyes are fine if it isn't too cartoonish or anime like. I prefer the female dolls having softer eyes, but still almond shaped. I don't want the nose too sharp and want the face to be soft. I don't really like dolls for both male and female dolls looking like teens or children unless it fits into my doll family. I don't care if the dolls have monolids or double eyelids. I care more for the shape of the eyes.

4. Family- Most of my dolls I somehow ended up making into a family, so if I find a doll that will fit into that family I will purchase it. Right now I am working on gathering gumiho like dolls to make into a family. I've been working on this family of dolls, since I got into the hobby. Another family of dolls I am working on is a family from the Joseon time period. This is a lot harder than the mythical gumiho family because finding hanboks is really hard. I like Korean historical dramas, so that's how I got into gathering dolls that will be set in the Joseon era.

5. Full set- I prefer dolls coming as a full set. That way they have everything they need until I can gather the items to make them feel somewhat complete.
6. Impression- The moment I see a doll and I feel like I have to have it I will buy it if I can.

7. Cost- If the cost is good for that doll and I like it then I will buy it if I can.
8. Skin colors- I tend to go for the tan skin dolls. If they don't have a tan option. I think to myself will I like this doll in the colors offered and if I dont think so I skip the doll.
9. Body- I prefer a more mature bjd body and find it's easier to find clothing for the mature bjd bodies. If I find a stunning doll, but the body looks too much like a child I might skip the doll unless it fits into my family of dolls. If the body isn't detailed enough, has chunky hands, or some other detail I don't like I might skip the doll. If I really like the face sculpt I might buy it because I can later learn to hybrid the doll onto a better body.

10. Concept- If I really like the concept of the doll I will buy it if I can. For example, Rosen Lied dolls reminds me of bisque dolls, so I know I want to buy it even though it looks like a child because I always wanted a doll that looks bisque like. The concepts for Rosen Lied are always really nice, so I knew I wanted a Rosen Lied. Unfortunately, I could only buy two of them before they stopped making them.

I think that's what I look for in a doll to know I want to buy it and won't regret it. Another tip is search online for that brands dolls and see if you like how it looks. I go on YouTube and look for dolls to see if I will like it and to see the skin color. In the beginning I watched a lot of different company dolls on YouTube and found out I really like the Korean company dolls. Recently, I want Doll Chateau, but I don't know if a 31 cm doll is worth paying around $800 when Idealian 75 cm doll is about that cost for a basic doll. I don't know much about Dol Chateau, but that seems overpriced for a 31 cm doll.

 

Sometimes I know pretty quickly that a doll is one I truly want and sometimes its a more gradual thing. I need to at least have a character idea for them. So I'm often drawn to fantasy dolls because the inspire me. There were a few I initially liked, such as Dollzone's Wendy, that I half-dismissed for a while and ended up realizing I loved enough to want to bring them home - and did.

I'm waiting on my first MSD sized man now, and was sure he was exactly the one I wanted when other similar dolls didn't seem as perfect to me.

 

Generally, I'll be browsing somewhere like the Marketplace and I'll spot something that just suddenly grabs me and stands out. If I find myself continually coming back to the listing, it's usually a good sign that I've found a new doll to come join the crew - particularly if I find a character and backstory already springing to mind.

Sometimes I'll buy on impulse then find myself at a loss as to where they fit in. They either get sold on - or, as is the case with the Lishe I'm currently modding into a boy, I put them away for a while until I pull them out and take another look and try something different - a new face-up, a change of clothes, wig and hair - or try a drastic mod - and find myself falling in love with them and knowing just who they are and where they fit.

 

I think it's a mixture of a few things for me.

- The sculpt must give me a character and backstory. I have very established worldbuilding for my doll crew, but only vague concepts of what kind of characters will populate this world (I keep it deliberately so). Then I browse around, and wait for a sculpt to pluck one of those character concepts out and say "Here I am, I'm this character you imagined!" Or give me a completely new character that will fit into that established worldbuilding. I see a lot of attractive sculpts out there, but very few that spark a character like this.

- Even if the sculpt gives me a character, it needs to become such a significant "person" to me that I feel I must bring the doll home and turn the character into physical reality. I guess this is how I know the doll is "the one" - I can't imagine not having this character's physical form at home! Sometimes this process is love-at-first-sight fast - I've had a few sculpts that instantly made it onto the "must bring home" shortlist because their characters arrived fully formed in my imagination, and I couldn't imagine not having them in my crew. Sometimes it's slow - right now I have a few sculpts baking their characters slowly in my imagination. While they're not "must bring home" they might get there eventually.

- After all that rational planning over doll characters and such, I just have to have a good gut feeling about the doll, all the way to hitting the buy button. My gut has a good track record, and I've learned through experience to trust it when making both fast and slow decisions about buying any kind of stuff. On the flip side, I also trust my gut about doubts, and never had regrets about missing a doll sale or dropping a sculpt off the wishlist.

 

It doesn't matter how pretty a doll is, if it doesn't stand out or have something interesting that makes it special, I probably won't like it. Then there's also the fact that I don't get an urge to buy dolls if a character doesn't start forming when I look at them. Sometimes I can go back to sculpts that weren't interesting to me before and my mind changes, but typically if it doesn't interest me the first time, I'm unlikely to change my mind. For that reason I have a list of dolls that I would buy, but the list changes all the time. Sometimes things are added or things are bumped off the list. There's only been like maybe 5 on there that never change.

There was a time where I'd pick sculpts that matched characters in my head, and I've found that that doesn't work for me at all, so it has to be the doll itself that interests me first before a character starts to form.

 

Im a pretty impulsive doll owner, i fall in love pretty easily and once i do i just HAVE to try to get the doll. If you find yourself staring at a doll frequently, thinking up ideas for their character or how you'd style them, seeing how OTHERS styled them and things like that you may just have found the one.

 

For me it's when I can't seem to get the doll out of my head or if it's a mushroom sculpt that would fit in with Myca's crew.

 

I look at it and decide whether I want it. If I instantly start generating ideas for the doll or soon after, I would put it on my want list, but I wait a few days, weeks, or maybe months to determine whether I still feel for it. Sometimes it peters out and sometimes I think of ideas for a doll I wasn't so originally keen on or overlooked a month ago. Some of my favorites are due to me looking at their listing and later generating ideas for them. It's kind of hard to explain, but it depends on whether I can construct a character for the doll just through its listing photos.

 

For me it has to do with the character of the doll. Not always a character I have come up with, but the personality the sculpt conveys if that makes sense. Do remember that you can always sell down the road if you end up not being truly in love with the doll. It is hard, as they are expensive, but there is always that option. In addition, patience while difficult, is important. Years and years ago, I swore up and down that I HAD to have a Dark Elf Soo and I thought Lishe was a big nope for me. Now, once I have done my time so to speak here on the forum and I unlock the marketplace it's actually a Lishe I will be hoping I can find on the marketplace, not a DES.