How known is TOO known?

having been through that sort of cycle with a previous hobby it has both good and bad points. as the item increases in popularity you get a flood of people trying to cash in by making either the dolls or accessories. some of the quality is good, some mass produced, some just poor quality because people who aren't necessarily good at what they do still try to cash in. this in turn forces the individual artists to either be innovative to differentiate from everyone else or give up because they can't compete with the cheaper items that are readily available now.

eventually you end up with kind of two tiers. one the cheaply made mass produced items and two the truly innovative limited items which can sell for a much higher price. this in turn affects the collectors who have to choose which kind to follow. generally the cheaper items go the way of any trend and people get bored and move on. what is left is a higher standard, but also higher priced and most of the middle has been lost. if enough people remain interested the more affordable but good quality items may come back eventually, but people who tried to make a living selling those mid-priced items have probably be forced to do something else.

so the final result is usually advances in innovation of the high end stuff,( but out of most peoples reach both financially and in terms of quantity available,) and cheaper items that are almost unrecognizable as the same hobby, and a lot less in between.

 

Chanel is well known. Bulgari. Ferrari. Dulce and Gabanna. All well known BUT not everyone. Is able to afford it OR willing to buy one due to personal reasons. I think there would definitely be a larger BJD population in the world. However i believe it would be probably less common as some of these other such items. =S

 

I would mutter "I was doing it before it was cool." All the time. Everytime it came up.
It would make my day if somebody said to me "Oh yeh, I've heard of those." I told a kid at work that I collected them (I work in after school care) and she said "Oh, my mum collects those! They're cool!" And I got like, a happy tingle, because normally when I mention my dollies I am mocked.
But I certainly don't want it to become 'popular'. I tend to be subconsciously put off by doing anything that is 'mainstream' and I don't want to be put off my dollies >.<

 

I would totally be the one saying "I knew about them and had them before they were cool." I think I would probably lose my interest in them a bit because I like the fact they are different and not too many people around me know what they are. It's what made me want to buy them.


I think it would be cool if they grew in popularity or more people did know about them but it would just make me lose my interest in them. (I'm weird that way. I lose interest in mainstream things really really quick)

 

I can understand wanting to have something that make you unique, especially in this busy and crowded world where we have to be more and more creative in order to stand out. However, I find it odd when people seem to resent their favorite hobby/band/designer/trend/etc become more widely-known and enjoyed by others.

Are we all so selfish in our pursuit of uniqueness that we would rather our favorite doll-companies and the artists who make our dolls not reap the full benefits of their hard work by becoming well known and sought after? I would much rather the people who work so hard for us be able to grow their business and profit and be successful than to see them be artificially confined to a small community or elite/hardcore fans. (I'm basing this on my experience with an ex-friend who wouldn't tell me the name of the band for a song she'd just made me listen to, because she didnt want them to become "mainstream").

Personally, I think the only time the comment "I knew about X and had X before it was cool" is when you come across someone who thinks they're so original for something that's actually been around for a long time. For me it's more of a put-someone-in-their-place type comment, not actually an expression of dismay that something that used to be a small niche is now popular.

Also, I agree with the comment of racoondevil- just because something is well-known or popular does NOT make it common/for the masses. I think it's already been discussed that BJDs will probably never be able to be barbie-cheap due to the time/skill/materials involved to make them. There will always be upper elite level dolls.

 

I think... I enjoy the BJD world and its obscurity, because it makes the community smaller, and in smaller numbers, members of a community tend to, er, 'connect' a lot deeper. I like the fact that we can have a smaller, close-knitted community that for the most part enjoys the hobby for what it is, than to have it be larger and hereby more 'accessible'. I mean, yeah, it'd be great if people could find doll items so much more easily, but I think after a while it becomes part of the, er, joy of having the item.

I remember the talk about using 3d modeling technology to make BJDs and how they would cut the time needed to sculpt a doll, because the machine would be able to replicate a master sculpt however many times it needed to. If the hobby became popular, this may be, well... this will put a lot of pressure on BJD sculptors. Many people, while having good intentions at heart, become highly pressured with so much more demand than what they used to. Perhaps it may... cause the dolls to lose their personal touch.

Oh well, what do I know? I don't even have a doll yet. ;u;​

 

I would hate to see these dolls end up that way, being made like that. It will take away much of their allure, their uniqueness and their personality and then they will end up being more "barbie" like. So I really hope that doesn't happen.

 

While this is a scary thought, I don't really see this happening with BJDs. I don't know. There's just something so niche-like about the hobby that makes me doubt that it will ever really go mainstream. I know there are people in the hobby not into anime, but the outside world still views the hobby as an extension of that--at least, those people I've run into who are "outside" the hobby have referred to them as "those anime dolls" and that's only if they themselves, or a child was into anime.

Even if more people discover it, the dolls themselves are expensive enough that most people would dismiss them (I hope). Let's face it, too, doll collecting itself isn't really mainstream.

Now, if, somehow, it did become popular, I would still participate. I wouldn't hold it against the masses who want BJDs, either. That is elitism, and that's annoying. I might participate in the community a little less, but that's just a personal preference.

 

While something being more well known does bring in a wider variety of products and availability I think it's the wave of collectors NOT the popularity itself that people fear.

It's a simple formula really. The more people get into something the more you get the crazy ones. I'm not talking cute quirky crazy, I mean serious crazy. When I was young I knew all of five guys that were into anime with me, and they were all close friends. When anime exploded I met HIM at a bookstore: my first rabid crazy fan. A scary little teen that talked to me about how he spent every day 4-5 hours after school in the store just reading manga. He told me about how it was so fresh and new (to him -_-) and how American comics were all stupid superhero things with no plot. I of course brought up a few titles (Maus, Bone, Watchmen, Sandman) to no avail. If my boyfriend hadn't found me in the manga section and whisked me away I think I would have heard his speech on why Japan is the best country on the planet and doesn't have any of the problems other countries have because J-pop fixes everything. don't get me wrong, I think the guy was just a lonely outcast with issues, but geeze. Everything in moderation.

If BJD's caught on could you imagine the crazies? I mean it's bad enough that there is already the occasional bad egg (bootlegger, thief, raving company supremacist) but that's an unavoidable side effect of having a thriving community. If the community grows, so too will that segment.

 

There are already companies that use 3D programs to sculpt their dolls. There's actually a thread around that discusses just that. You might be interested in checking it out

Doll collecting is actually very mainstream. In fact in the US it is the second largest hobby after stamp and coin collecting.

 

I'm not really all that worried about BJDs becoming "mainstream." For one, while doll collecting may be very popular, it really isn't something that appeals to everyone. For another, it is very expensive. I'm not sure that mass producing these dolls is something anyone would want to take on, at least not without significant, significant demand beforehand, which I just don't foresee ever coming into being. Even as more and more information surfaces, I have a feeling most people will have a passing interest, but really no intention of ever starting their own collection.

Personally, I think it would be neat if more people knew about BJDs. I take a lot of joy in sharing knowledge about them. They're beautiful pieces of art, and should be treated as such.

I guess if they became "mainstream," I wouldn't care too much. The only thing that would bother me would be if it became harder to get the dolls I wanted, or if the disparity in quality and price became enormous as auntbear discussed. But if the awareness of them increased, especially in the doll community as a whole, it might be easier to go to doll shops and find clothes, wigs, and supplies for your dolls! I would LOVE to be able to pick things up in person instead of having to search online and try to find a site that has everything so I don't have to pay shipping fees out my butt, and so on and so on.

I don't know. I wouldn't be fussed at all if "everyone" had one. My dolls are based off of characters, and they feel like my own. It's the same as not really caring if a lot of people own a particular sculpt that I like. There are quite a few Yeon-hos on this board, and that didn't make me feel a thing. I know mine will be his own "person," so to speak, and that's that.

 

honestly, if that did happen i'd probably be very annoyed. Because this is something I'm working for (i refuse to ask my parents for help in buying my doll) and if BJDs suddenly became 'popular' i think most people wouldn't understand how much they mean to most of us.

but also, I think this is unlikely to happen because (as many have already stated) they're quite expensive

 

Oop. I stand corrected. It's still not something that I've ever seen someone say that it's "normal" or "oh okay." But that could just be because of my area/my own hesitant mindset to broadcast that I like to collect dolls, whether it be BJDs or otherwise. Where I am, it is viewed as odd, or maybe an "old lady habit." Hence, why I made my previous statement.

 

A: good/bad for collectors - options are always good, more niches, more price ranges, more product development...but...more ads where I can't get something totally gorgeous.

B: make BJDs lose their uniqueness for being different
~EVERY bjd is unique like every non-rezin kid...and they don't stay the same either...they evolve too - just sayin is all

C: make you mutter "I was doing it before it was cool."
~bjd's have not made me cool, alas, i am still a bit of an awkward nerd...with a few cool resin kids and a few of the other kind as well.

 

The only thing that would bother me would be if quality was sacrificed for quantity. The other thing to remember too is that the literal value of the doll would decrease as they became more numerous and easily accessible. I don't see that ever happening in this doll genre simply because of the complicated process of making resin dolls, particularly if quality is an issue. However, I would like easier access to BJDs and especially the clothing and accessories!

 

Well the price would probably skyrocket and I'd not be getting any more. Or there would be really good quality expensive ones, or bad quality cheap ones.
Plus if I heard people talking about beine so "into" BJD's, I'd probably be muttering about how I was into them before they became trendy. But I'd still love them, and maybe I'd be carring them around more frequently!

 

I think the major thing that would bother me is that everyone would know how much they cost. I see lots of threads about that on DOA and have always been puzzled, very few people in the UK would know a BJD from a Tonner or a Barbie and would assume they all cost a similar price. I like people not knowing how much I spend on my hobbies because it means there isn't as much sneering as there could be.

To be honest, here in the UK at least, these dolls would never become mainstream - because of the price - but also because of the anime/niche connections. Increased mass awareness would just lead to wider spread ridicule in the press and on TV. I am fully expecting a well-informed (not) piece on "Manga-Dolls" to appear on The One Show, or some other tea time fluffy magazine show. I already saw a brief and rather mocking piece on Sybarites a few years back, that allowed the knowing presenters to roll their eyes as if to say: "Boy, there are some whack-jobs out there!"

It's just the British way, anything a bit different: Spread misinformation and take the p*ss out of it til it goes away

 

Well, from what I heard, branded goods are almost like a necessity in Hong Kong. To me, they sort of lose their charms when people are forced to buy them when not having them calls for questions why you do not. Think Apple products. I know of teenagers aged 14-15 who worked part time just to get theirs.
While I agree that affordability is an issue, I think that the case of Blythe dolls where (in my country, at least) celebrities started toting the $7-8k super-customised ones and then it became popular. While the more common ones are still some what less pricey($120-$400?) than BJDs, it shows that the chance of the same thing happening to this hobby is quite high. I don't know where these dolls went though. They disappeared almost as fast as they became popular. While it is still easier to find those Blythe dolls in shops, there are more companies manufacturing BJDs so the effect of depopularisation wouldn't be as noticeable. However, I'm quite afraid of this hobby becoming popular. Wouldn't want to be stereotyped as those blindly following trends during its height and being slow behind the trend/out of fashion while still having dolls after that isn't particularly desirable either.

 

There are two main reasons I don't want bjds to become too popular/mainstream. One, as it is, it takes dolls a few months to be made and they cost hundreds of dollars. If they became mainstream, that system wouldn't hold up to the demand. So american companies might start producing poorly thought out, cheaply made bjds just to quickly meet demands and make money. I wouldn't want that! Two, sometimes when something becomes really popular, soon after everyone turns on it. Like the emo trend. For a bit it was widely popular but now everyone mocks and derides emos and emo style... I wouldn't want that to happen to bjds and bjd owners. Also, a lot of people don't like dolls and think doll owners are perverts/freaks/have mental issues. Imagine all the extra insults that we might get *shudder*