If there was another word for BJDs, would they be easier to talk about?

I always call them "dolls" to non-doll people. This may seem odd, but I don't mind people knowing I collect "dolls", but I wouldn't want them knowing what type. If I told people I collect BJDs, they might find out how much they cost, and I don't want people knowing I have something that expensive. If someone seems really curious, I tell them about Pullips, since I also have a Pullip collection.

 

I think it is said best this way...

From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1600:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

~Juliet

What matters is what something is, not what it is called....

 

Echoing other folks here, I call them artist dolls to non-doll / non-BJD folks, and that seems to work just fine.

 

I also call them artist dolls and explain they are ball jointed and hand made in Asia, if people ask anymore I say theyre used for photography and animation to give them an idea of realism and articulation.

 

I have no illusions, I call them "my really expensive dollies". I may however switch to "Bifurcated Power-Trophies"...Polyhymnia, you are now my hero.

I do see how a different designation can influence people's perception of an object, the sub-genre of 'action figure' made it 'ok' for boys to continue to play with dollies past the age of five, but really, articulated GI Joe, Transformers... dolls! Warhammer 40K 'figs'... toy soldiers!

As JennyNemesis stated, these labels are a way for people to distance themselves from potential embarrassment about their choice of hobby, but the second that someone sees the actual 'BJD' or 'action figure' or 'fig', they will make their own judgement... 'art doll' or 'jumbo sized Barbie' (no disrespect to Barbie), 'lead-free pewter action figures' or 'little army guys'.

 

I feel like people would accept "porcelain dolls" or "art dolls" as something normal to collect and stick on a shelf. If one were to say "ball jointed dolls", I think it is acknowledged differently. People tend to think it is weird. I wish people were more understanding...

 

I always call them dolls to non-BJD people since I don't really have anything to hide and I certainly have no need to call them a different name. However people react to them is their own problem. Some people love them. Others not so much. If people wish to react negatively to them or feel freaked out, then I let them x3 mainly because I'm not going to waste my time explaining to people like that.

So yeah, I always call them dolls or BJDs =D and to people who I'm most comfortable around, my Kids

 

i understand what you mean. because people usually associate the word dolls with barbies/fashion dolls, or worse, baby dolls! ^^

and it does seem that bjds are altogether a different entity. i don't have a solution, i just know what you mean. ^_^

 

ah! hahaha! i love random eddie izzard references.

 

Oh, is that "Bifurcated Power-Trophies" quote from Eddie Izzard? OK, he was sort of already my hero.

 

That's when you go 'Really? *blinkblink* I didn't think she was that big as I can get her tops on without having to struggle over her ginormous cleavage for 10 minuets... so she can't be a Barbie, right?'

Someone once rudely called Lyr a Ken Doll and I said 'He does NOT have molded Mattel brand plastic underwear... He goes comando!'

 

If there was another word I am one of those people that would use it, I usually say something like "I customise big resin dolls " or sometimes "I collect customisable dolls"

I'm not really embarrassed by the word 'doll' and its not so much that I want to distance myself from other doll collectors but I just don't really see myself as part of the 'doll collectors' community, I feel much more a part of the 'arts and crafts' community

I think the main difference for me is I personally have feelings ranging from indifference (fashion doll) to dislike (re-borns) for most dolls, and just calling them 'dolls' can and has led to conversations where I have nothing of value to input because I have no idea what the other person is talking about, which is a bit awkward for me

 

I don't think my bjd as barbies but I understand that this is what's some people think when someone say "dolls." I'm beginning to take interest in photography and my bjd are the subject of my photos. Also, I use them for drawing reference. I'm horrible with male anatomy and bjd are bit more posable than those little "posable" wooden figure you can get at the craft store. (What are they called again??? Mannequin?? Amazon called them Wooden Human Mannequin)

So, to me, bjd are kinda like Model Figure or Resin Human Mannequin(lol that just sound creepy!) or when I'm being honest with people Reference Doll

@vulpes "customizable dolls" is an awesome name for them! I Love the Customizable part of bjd! Maybe I should start calling them that too!

 

Art doll is actually quite a good definition IMO. Still a doll, but with a bit more definition. I've usually just talked about 'dolls' but too many times I've been over the questions 'what do you with them?' ' do you play with them, like playing house?' 'do they have a doll house?'. All of them asked in a bemused tone of voice.

On page 1 someone said anime=cartoon and manga=comic, which technically is true. But! When I talk of anime, people think of cartoons made for teenagers/adults and when talking of cartoons, people think of the kiddy stuff (although there are western cartoons made for adults, we still tend to think of Looney Toones...). Therefore I specify I'm watching anime when I'm watching anime and I don't just say I'm watching cartoons although it'd be just as right.

The same for 'doll'. If you say doll to just some fellow from the street they are likely to think of a kid's toy. I think saying art doll would produce a more correct visualisation. If the term BJD (bee-jay-dee) was more widespread, it'd be even better. I don't mind telling people I collect dolls as long as I can get them to realize just what dolls I'm collecting.

 

As a male, i would LOVE another word or phrase to call my DOLLS. My DOLL boys would too. Calling my DOLLS, DOLLS just feel awkward. I have tried calling them BJDs, but people ask what it means and i have to say DOLL. Im so sick of DOLL. Its almost demasculating for me. That and compared to run of the mill DOLLS, these are really different. Like Porcelain dolls. Theyre not special unless you say porcelain. Maybe we should just say the full phrase and call then Asian Resin BJDs. Sucks dont it. =S

 

Usually, I just refer to my dolls. And if people give me a weird look, I give a little shrug and don't waste my time on them.

If someone is genuinely curious I'll explain to them that I like having the dolls because they're physical representations of characters that I write about. Then the conversation usually turns away from the dolls because "Oh, you write books?" is much stranger, for some reason. (Sure, collecting 300 dollar dolls is much more normal than -heaven forbid! - writing something. >_>)

 

Third scale or quarter scale action figures.
Customizable action figures.

Boys don't have dolls, they have action figures precisely so that they will not feel emasculated (and so their parents won't feel like they are emasculating their boy children)!
Toy companies say so.

 

I have to agree that even if there was another word for bjds, most if not all non-doll people would still label them as dolls. I honestly don't have any problem calling them that, and I'm always more than happy to explain how super awesome and unique they are compared to Barbies.

I recently got a guy friend of mine into dolls, but he does express that it's a bit emasculating to talk about looking at and buying dolls. And I mean, WE know that BJDs aren't intrinsically girly. But I feel like the issue is that culturally, we just define things like BJDs as dolls. And this is despite the fact that there is a spectrum, and in that spectrum BJDs are on an obviously different levels from dolls like Barbie. But they tend to get lumped together based on appearance and I doubt another name for them would change that, even if they had been given that name from the very start.

 

This comes up quite a bit, but really is it such a different thing? There are plenty of adult (and male, for that matter) collectors of Barbie and other fashion dolls and plenty of people who repaint them, or pay hundreds of dollars for the older ones or limited run ones. I think there are more similarities than differences there, so I find it strange that there's such a strong desire from some people to distance themselves from that.

 

You're right, I mean, Barbies and BJDs aren't so different in that respect. And I agree that Barbies and BJDs are more similar than different. But I feel like most people who associate BJDs with Barbie probably aren't thinking of the kind of people who collect and mod Barbies in a similar way. Most people just see Barbies as something little kids play with. I don't think it's so much a desire to distance BJDs from Barbie specifically, but from the kid-oriented nature that's associated with Barbies in most peoples' minds. We (and Barbie collectors too) don't just play with our dolls, but we spend a lot of time and effort in planning them and getting them. I think it's mostly the casual nature that many people associate with Barbie that many doll people want to distance themselves from.