If BJD's were to become the 'next big thing'...

I think it would be good in a way--not as many 'OMG!!! CREEPY!!!!' people around because everyone would have one, but bad because.... everyone would have one. I think a lot of things do tend to lose their specialness if everyone and their mother has one.... Also, they would become mass-produced, therefore losing the made-by-hand specialness, and therefore drop in price. Sure, it might be good considering how long it takes most of us to save up for ONE doll... But then also quality would go down, and that wouldn't be fun for us...

 

I agree with chizzie shark, I'd be hurt because I hate people thinking I copy others. (totally started the keychian belt fad in middleschool!!!)
I try to stay away from things that others already do, but its not going to change my thoughts on it, or in BJD's cases how much I love them

I would stay away from the companies who mass produce dolls to appease the masses though.

 

It would be hard not to let it bother me, to be honest. However, a mold is a mold, and if I like it, no matter how mass-producing popular it is, I want it. I have the relief of saying I was into the hobby before it ever got (possibly) mainstream. Still, what a shame it would be, if this were to become a fad. I liked Naruto before it got too popular. Now I won't associate myself with the fans and ahve stopped watching it. When Titanic came out, I was already working on a big report for school, but scrapped it because suddenly, all the girls in my age group were starting reports on it too, because, you know, Leo was soooo hot. :B [/sarcasm]
I have to be unique in life. That's part of who I am. I was drawn to this hobby because of how unique and niche it is. I've already made quite an investment, so I won't be leaving it if it gets popular, but it might lessen my love for it a little. It's a little scary how popular they're becoming, so I'm hoping that the price tag scares younger, fad-obsessed kids away. Fortunately, a lot of the cheaper dolls (barring Dollzone) are less well known companies, so a good chunk hopefully who don't do much research will look for a different hobby.

 

Honestly? I wouldn't care. I got into this because I love the dolls, not because I was looking for some super-obscure niche kind of hobby. If I wanted something like that, I'd - I dunno. Build a model of the German Bundestag using tooth-picks? *lol*

If I should wake up tomorrow and discover that over night, BJDs have become hugely popular and every second person now got one, it won't change one bit about how fond I'm of Luken (or my three little Neo-Guys, for that matter).

 

*grin*

What a great topic to spark a little self-inspection.

I certainly wouldn't feel any differently about the dolls I have at the moment. I bought each of them because I wanted that mold, even if I later realized that they weren't quite right for me.

But. I have to admit that if if I suddenly started seeing ads for BJDs on TV or something - if the hobby suddenly started getting the "Cartoon Network" dumbed-down imported-culture treatment (sorry, CN fans, but every time I hear them mangle the character names on Naruto or recall the awful things they did to Yugioh I get the heebie-jeebies) - I'd really be disillusioned. I love the dolls as dolls and would hate to see them be cheapened.

I agree with the folks who have stated that it's already happening to a degree. I am delighted with the Tonner-sized resin dolls I have at home, and am pleased that more Western companies are discovering what a quality item can be made from resin. The downside to the increased visibility, though, is that even our go-to companies' BJDs are starting to have less quality because of increased demand. I compare my type 1 Shiwoo (heavy sumgun, he is!) to the dreaming El head I recently got, and the difference is amazing. El feels ... plastic. Because the resin is much less thick and dense.

That, really, would be my biggest problem with increased popularity. (But yeah, I'd hate to see BJDs become the "go-go boots" of the next decade). ><

 

You know, I have no idea. o.o''

 

i hope this doesn't happen.. that would suck so much >_>

 

I wouldn't mind. Eventually it would make dolls cheaper and more easily available. Sure there would also be hundreds more models to choose from, but I like having choices ^_^ The dolls I choose aren't based on how popular they are, since I have dolls that are both regarded as popular and unpopular, but I chose them based on their looks.

Just because something becomes the next hit, doesn't mean that it becomes all bad. If anime dubs hadn't become popular, I wouldn't have the bad ones to poke fun at!

 

I wouldn't mind at all. Honestly, I don't see what the issue is. Quality may go down, but no one's absolutely sure that would happen. Plus, the idea of seeing people walking down the street, holding them with their friends and such, that seems like a pleasant future. Besides, if BJD's hadn't been put out in front of the public eye, I wouldn't have discovered them! Thank God for that little TIME article.
I also see some distaste for celebrities owning BJD's. I think that'd be neat. Seeing Paris Hilton with a doll wouldn't make me change the way I feel about them. I think it'd be awesome and show a new perspective to the BJD world. I don't get why people are so afraid of things going mainstream. Some things react negatively to the recognition, and some things don't.
Just my two cents anyway.

 

More people = more artists = more fun things to play with. That trumps the downsides, for me.

 

... That doesn't have anything to do with cartoon network that has to deal with funimation and viz and their voice actors, who primarily come from Canada.

I really don't think it would be mass marketed by the media, at least ball joint dolls. But I could for some strange reason see those 27cm dollfies and like looking ball joint or fashion dolls becoming more popular with the media, like a form of modern collectable that could be obtained by a younger audience.

 

I think that I might be a little saddened by this, the reason why is currently a hobby for the people that can:
A) Devote that much time reaserching, learning and studding them.
B) People that have the amount of cash to dish out for them.
I think (As bad as this sounds) thats why I like them, because they are such a "luxury" hobby. And It saddens me to even see company that make, cheaper and not as pretty doll (What I find pretty. Not by everyones standards). So I think just that in its self, is pretty depressing!!!

Although I would like the fact, of more cloths for my boy, and Probably at a cheaper price. Hhehe

 

Gah... I know this will be sooo off topic... but I can't help myself. I have to defend English dubs. Okay, I'll agree on the most part with the Naruto one (particularly Naruto's) but I generally like the dubbed voices in anime more than the original ones!! That doesn't mean that I don't watch anime in only English or that I have some sort of aversion to the Japanese language (because I don't). I actually watch a lot of anime that hasn't even gotten to the US, and even some that has, all in Japanese (with English subtitles of course). It's a language barrier that is hard to cross. But I don't think that should stop people from enjoying these shows just because they don't understand the language. I mean, they dub Disney movies all around the world but you never hear people ragging on that.

ANYWAY.... to answer the original question. I'd have to say that I probably wouldn't enjoy seeing BJDs all over the place like some commonplace commodity. This is very much different from seeing anime all over the place because this is an item and not a tv show. But I guess it can be compared to the Naruto franchise in a way. Also... I wouldn't enjoy never being able to buy anything if it's always sold out. But I guess an upside would be that clothing and accessories would be a bit cheaper. But I don't think I'd want that at the expense of seeming like I'm a follower or have no imagination. Where's the fun if everyone has the exact same thing?

 

Aren't BJDs already really well known?

Anyway if BJDs are to appear on the shelves of ToysR'us or the likes of Woolworthes it would be a bit off-putting. If the dolls are mass produced to meet popular demand and quality lower then I would be slightly disappointed. But apart from that if people are 'jumping into the bandwagon' well it's their money. As much as I'm not fond of seeing dolls in sock dresses or poorly done faceups it's not my doll. To each their own.

Due to the price I highly doubt it would be so huge that everyone and their mother will have one but it could happen I guess. If that day comes, I'll still love my dolls as much, I'll still buy dolls that appeal to me. I would even buy some of the 'mass produced' ones for playing, but they would be different from the ones I have now. I like these dolls as pieces of art and that wouldn't change. We'll have to see when that day comes.

 

It's hard to say how I'd react. I think it would be good on some levels for the social aspect of the hobby, since it would mean that more people would be aware of bjds and thus, it would be easier to find fellow enthusiasts in the same area. Not to mention that access to clothing, accessories, etc. would probably improve a lot even if the prices don't change drastically.

On the other hand, as others have said, there would also be the danger of the influx in the number of 'doll groupies' who are just in the hobby for attention and because it's the 'cool' thing to have at the moment. However, this sort of people tends to exist in almost every fandom to some extent, just on different levels. Sure, it could get tiresome to deal with them, but they're generally pretty easy to identify and ignore online... unless you attempt to 'fix' their attitudes/beliefs/etc. In person, it's all about diverting their attention.

In the end, in the unlikely event that bjds were to go completely mainstream (I say unlikely due to the price), I think the pros could outweigh the cons since we'd be left with more variety and access to dolls while the fanboys/girls would eventually grow tired of the time/expense of the hobby and move on. Of course, after that many of the stores would probably have to shut down... I think I might've just talked myself in a circle, so I suppose I actually remain undecided.

 

No, it's not. But different countries will pronounce names differently based on the languages articulation of words. It's just natural, even the United States does it. Sake=Saki in the U.S. because our /e/(the slashes in between represent the phoneme e, that /e/ can either be pronounced as [e] or since there both allophones of the same phoneme /e/) has a few ways of being pronounced.

No language is perfect with words outside of their language, but I was just saying that blaming a company for a bad dub isn't right. Nor is it right to blame a country because the word is not in their peoples mental lexicon.
It's just a coincidence that most of the big companies for voice overs are located in Canada, or are free lance from the U.S.

 

Part of me thinks 'Yeh, it would fun if clothes, eyes and wigs were more widely available, i would be able to talk to more real people about them, it would open the whole world to me as i then had something to talk about to everyone' But, having said that, when Gwen stefarni (shudder) did the whole 'look at me i'm into the whole japanese thing too' it drove me up the wall as suddenly everyone seemed to know something about japanese fasion crazes, but in a really noobish way, like, only so much to as some wear alot of pink, some wear alot of black, not even about gothic lolita or ganguro's.
So, i guess i would be ok with it, providing that to buy a bjd you had to know a bit about them. (i sound so elitest, im not, i mean they couldn't go round pretending they'd practically created the idea without even hearing of volks)
but i guess you find posers in everything so *shrug*

 

Please no. I like being one of the only 20 people that has Wing.
But besides it'll never happen cause BJD's are so expensive. XD

 

LOL. yes. burning man... as a burner/psytrance music enthusiast myself, i don't even want to get started on that! T_T i've happily found other wonderful outlets and festivals to satiate my desires for spinning fire, experimental community, and nature, and i am not about to drop the absurd amount of money i would need to go to burning man this summer (much more wisely being spent on dolls). i mean, it was cool years ago when google put the man in their logo (first time they had ever made a google doodle too) at the end of august as a virtual "at BRC, see you all in a week" note and no one had any idea what it meant or if this stick figure was something new from google.... but now, anyway, thinking about BM puts a little sour taste in my mouth. sheesh... the american dream?!?! for a place that also thrives on burning the man, i think they've fallen quite astray.


back on topic, i would be very dissapointed if BJDs got to that point of mainstream popularity. i have been quietly interested in BJDs for about two years now, which stemmed from my interest in lolita fashion, and only discovered DoA about two months ago. i also went to my first doll meet up several weeks ago. even though our meet up was quite casual, i felt so humble around the other people and their dolls (also was the first time i saw a doll in person). i think this humble pre-first-doll state is a special one. if these dolls could be picked up off the shelf in a blister pack or something, well, i simply don't want to think about it past a 'ponder' haha. but also, i agree it takes a certain type of person to spend the money for a doll, but hey... who knows. and about potential doll knock offs becoming numerous-- no one looks highly upon someone with a designer bag knock-off, even people who don't give a hoot about designer bags. it's just another person with any old bag, no matter the facade. i guess i have a hard time getting to the point, but if BJDs reached this point of mainstream availability, i certainly would not love the dolls i owned any less whatsoever. i just might hesitate before i buy another. there is a definite appeal of seeing a limited edition doll being near to a release date and knowing there is a realistic possibility that you, personally, can order and own that lovely doll before it sells out. more buyers with less passion would illiminate this additional exciting draw to BJDs for me.