How open are you with your BJD as a hobby?

I'm kind of open, but default to not, at least in person. My immediate family knows, and my grandmother knows because she happened to be around while I was showing my mom a couple dolls. (My brother's even printing me a doll!) My college friends know, but I'm not around them in-person much these days, and I don't bring them up much to them. At work, the most I've mentioned is that I have a dollhouse I'm repainting, since I feel that's more acceptable than collecting actual dolls. And recently my knitting group found out about them because I knit for my dolls so often - I even brought one to one of our in-person meetups. They seem to have taken it well!

Online, I'm pretty open about it. The joys of semi-anonymity. I do get a little shy posting about my dolls in Discord servers and such; I worry that it's going to get annoying, or folks will be creeped out. I try to spoiler tag any blank/eyeless dolls so you have to click the picture to see it. In one friend server I'm in, we even have a "containment zone" channel where I ramble about my dolls! It's not the only such channel, and it does actually help me to keep my stuff in one place.

 

People in my residence know and some very close people, but other than that, I don't mention anything about it. It's the same for all of my hobbies though and not just BJDs.

 

I don't really tell anyone except my family and other doll friends, but I have at one point forgotten someone was very much not a doll friend and just dropped a comment on dolls in conversation because I was feeling chatty. They didn't respond to it, so I can only assume they were like "wtf is he talking about" and left it at that, lol.

 

Only my mom. My sister kinda somewhat knows and my brother and dad are the same I don’t involve them in my hobbies as they arnt supportive and like to make fun of me

 

All my figures and dolls are out and displayed in the house. If it gets in to the conversation, I would gladly join and carry on the topic. One good thing about being an adult; no one questions where you spend your money on

 

i'm pretty open about it lol, most people find them creepy anyways. My sister and mom supported me because i explained the creative aspect of it an they thought it'd be good for me (spoiler it was!). My current partner collects figures and transformers and such so they aren't weirded out by it they just wish they didn't cost so much (so i wouldn't spend so much lol)

 

I'm not very open with my BJD hobby to others, but I think that's because I'm a very private person in general. I'll discuss it with my family, close friends and my boyfriend since they understand and appreciate it as my creative outlet, but that's about it unless I'm specifically asked about it. I also don't like taking dolls outside of my yard for photos unless I'm going somewhere really remote. It's always uncomfortable feeling strangers' eyes on me when I'm posing a doll for a picture.

 

For a long time I was incredibly shy about being in the hobby as my family and my surroundings did not fully approve of my interest and viewed it as childish. After meeting my partner who had a really chill and supportive reaction when he found out about it, I started to open up a little. Now I am more comfortable with discussing the hobby with others. I started to keep my BJDs on display in my room. Even if I still get some weird reactions from guests from time to time, it’s all fine. Wanna know the best part of it? Turns out that some of my friends and acquaintances are interested in the hobby as well. They just never knew they could discuss it with me

 

I kept it under wraps for years, but I'm far more open about it now. Honestly, I use it as a shield to field people if they are worth the time to get to know them, if that makes any sense. If they immediately discount me and think I have mental issues because I have dolls and do photography, then I don't need to waste my time trying to be friends with him/her. I get rather bullied by my folks, because they've looked up how much they cost and throw that in my face a lot. Fortunately, I live in my own home with my husband, and their opinions are just that. I'm starting to get braver and take my girls outside on little trips for fun photo opportunities.

 

I'm fairly open. If it comes up, I say I have dollies. I can see the looks slide to the ahhh haaa... look. Then I say bjd and it goes away. No they don't know. Clarification happens and it defaults to blank. After that, I bring them up randomly. They love to see picts. It doesn't hurt I know people who cosplay either. It explains me picking off glue from my hands, random painted hands, and long strands of weird colored hair that isn't mine.

 

I keep it rather lowkey. Although I enjoy this hobby, it's a little too niche and I don't think the people in my circles would accept it to be honest. Most would associate it with either the baby dolls generally given to young girls or they go down the route of haunted dolls.
So, I'd either be childish or crazy.
It makes me a little sad, but there is not much I can do about it.

 

I bring it up if a relevant conversation comes up, but it's not the first thing I introduce myself with. I usually call them "customizable art dolls" and I've yet to experience a negative reaction to that phrase. Most people don't care to know more, but I think they just see it as an art collector thing and assume it's a byproduct of my job (being an illustrator --> artist ---> collects other art things) since they would usually know that by the time they start asking about obscure hobbies.

Honestly, I'm usually more embarrassed to tell people I watch American Football.

 

Not very open. My mother and grandmother know. My husband knows hehe, but I usually don’t really tell IRL people my hobby unless I know them for a bit. It’s tough, I always assume people will think they have uncanny valley vibes.

 

I don't really care so I'm open but it doesn't come up often bc I mostly keep my dolls in boxes if I have people over lol

 

I still kind of restrain myself around my in laws, who still kind of see it more as a weird creepy 'vintage' kind of thing-- but online, I'm pretty open about wanting to collect dolls and make things for them.

 

I'm pretty open about it, in the sense I post my dolls on IG and Facebook.
When I make new friends, I'll mention it to them after awhile too.

When I first started collecting I kinda hid it though, worried about people's judgement. Now I don't care

 

Only my partner knows about my BJDs. Some of my social circles would very likely be supportive/wouldn't think twice about it since they like stuff like DnD, Lego, video games etc. But for now I'm just not the kind of person to talk about a hobby if I don't have to, or if I don't know the other person will be interested to hear about it. In terms of social media I do not maintain an active presence by choice due to the nature of my job, so I've made separate accounts so I can follow fun BJD content!

 

I'm not super open. I think I've casually mentioned it to most of my acquaintances and friends, but other than that I don't talk about it a lot. My family and my partner think it's weird and creepy (bless my bf's soul, he still lets them stay in our room ) but my best friend is generally supportive. I don't have any friends that love dolls the way I do, but I have a few friends that like my dolls and admire them. I collect all kinds of dolls as well so I think it's fairly easy to talk lightly about my hobby without revealing too much, and without making it look like I spend as much money as I do XD lol

 

I'm not open about it. Some people know, because they've seen my dolls, but I'm not actively talking about them. Those who know (my partner, family, friends) don't mind them, though. Still, I don't talk about them to avoid discussions and I definitely would not tell a new acquaintance about it.

 

I’m somewhat open! My friends and family know/are aware I collect dolls! Some of my younger relatives are genuinely terrified of my dolls but are obsessed over them and choose to see them anyways? Idk kids are weird but its really funny.

I haven’t done this in a while but I used to bring my dolls in public and people are nice to me about it.