Is BJD really just for adults? And adults, what do you think of kids who like them?

You want to see something funny?

Ok - well, I have yet to actually OWN a single bjd YET. I just love the pix I see.

BUT, I am a dyed-in-the-wool dolly-fanatic. Right?

Would you believe I got the reverse?

An 8-year-old said to me on seeing all my dolls upon my moving in (she was with her mother who was helping me) - "Aren't you too old to play with dolls?"

It CAN cut both ways, hehehe...

 

As an adult I don't feel that there's any problem with young collectors at all. However there are certain kids that are too immature for the hobby and that's usually denoted by a preoccupation with certain anatomical features (sadly I've been at a meet where this was the case and it un-nerved everyone). For the most part this list has a very mature group of individuals who are capable of expressing their creativity in a mature and non-offensive way. I have been privilaged to make friends with several underage doll owners and so while estetically the hobby may be an adult hoby, I think adult is probably not the correct word but mature hobby. It takes a mature individual to rise above the physical and look at the creative and artistic aspects of this hobby.

 

Well, I first got into balljoint dolls when i was 13, and looking through sites with my little sister (of course, my first true love was DoC Ducan, but I've matured since XD). I wanted a doll way back then, and now, six years later, I finally have my first- a DoC Yen, named Shinku. I love her now as much as I loved them back then, and I think if someone like me can hold onto that kind of love for as long as I have, then kids who are much more mature than I was at 13 should be fine. It helps if you had to pay for it yourself though XD or do what I did, buy a cheap and damaged doll, then pour your soul into fixing them.
The most important thing is to form a tight bond when you get them >: once you love them truly, it's forever.

 

I was 15 when I started liking bjds and got my first doll at 16. I'm going to be 19 in a few months and I still like them. I was a kid when I first liked them and I'm an adult now so I don't think bjds are meant for just adults or just children. I really don't care if anyone over 12 has bjds as long as they actually liked them.

 

O.O what?!?!? Bjd's aren't only for adults!!
Personal opinon: I think bjd's are a hobby for more mature people. They CERTAINLY are not just cheap little barbies or something. They're high quality hand-made dolls that are expensive. But the hobby isn't limited to just adults! I'm fourteen and I'm saving up for my first (who is also going to be an El, ironically ) I think it's open to anyone that is mature enough to handle them

 

I always thought it was an adult hobby because how would someone under the legal working age get the money for one? I don't have anything against younger people owning BJDs, it's just new to me to see so many people under the age of 18 with them. There's been a huge influx of younger people buying BJDs the last few years.

 

To be honest, if I had listened when people said, "Isn't that just for adults?!" when I was in my early teens, I probably wouldn't have a fraction of the art-related skills I have now. I was the 10-year-old in an adult silk painting class, and took it seriously -- so who am I to say there is an age limit in regard to a hobby like this?

 

I think BJD are for anyone who have the ability to take good care of them
Probably as you've all said: being a bit more mature, to be able to understand the techniques and skills to take care of a BJD... it's just not as easy as dolls like barbies....

Age means nothing, there are adults I know out there with a BJD who acts more immature than a school kid.
Of course it would be better for ones who can afford the costs (even saving bit by bit from pocket money), becoz I think others shouldn't have to pay for your own expensive hobby (which I consider BJD is...lol)

 

Really interesting and quite a relief for me!

I got my first doll, a DoC Twingkey a year later, after much debate with my parents, although not for reasons like, "Oh you're too young!" It was more like, "But those dolls look so uncannily real!!! They could contain SOULS." . . . Magic, voodoo, superstitious stuff. .__.;;;

I rarely ever used to post on the boards here because I felt that everyone else was much older than I was. . . I first got into BJD's through Dream of Doll's beautiful line of dolls when I was 13.
But now, I post on the boards just as any DoA member would, commenting on photos, asking for commissions, resin comparisons, etc. I find myself more and more intrigued by the BJD world as I grow older, surprisingly, since it's a stereotype that children love dolls and toys.... except, the entire BJD community proves that wrong, but you get my point.

In any case, I'll be off as a freshman in college coming fall, and I have already owned 3 dolls (although one, I ended up "sharing" with a close friend of mine).

I've only owned MSD's so far, but hopefully when I save up enough, I will be able to get an SD or SD13.

 

No I don't believe it's just for adults. But it is a hobby geared towards the mature type. If you pay so much for something you really need to know how to take care of it. These dolls aren't something you can toss in your toy box when you're not playing with them.

 

I don't think the BJD hobby is "just" for anybody. It's for everybody! Do I think that most children are up to properly caring for something so expensive? It depends on the child. My youngest brother, who recently turned 10, has loved my pukis for as long as I've had them (more than a year), and has sincere hopes to own one of his own someday.

I know of several children who have their own dolls, though they tend to be more of the vinyl or less expensive varieties. A friend of mine recently got her toddler daughter a Liv doll, which I think is a great way to introduce her into the hobby without spending too much money. I plan on doing something similar with my own children, if they show interest in the hobby.

 

i think it depends. Some kids i would say no to giveing them a BJD some kids i would....there are some adults i feel the same way about it. There realy is no age limit for things as long as you have and enjoy your self that is what matters.

 

I'm an adult, have been in the hobby a little less than a year. I have only been to one meet, just recently, and I totally dug the younger people there! They seemed really cool, creative, interesting.
I'm buying my niece a bobobie for Christmas this year, she's 5. Her mom, my sis, is into the hobby too, so her doll will be kept with my sister's, and will be for special play time. I have no concern whatsoever about her ruining the doll. My son is 12 and breaks everything he owns. He can not have one and may not play with (or touch...or look at, for that matter) mine. It depends on the child, as well as the parent's interaction when it comes to expensive "toys" as far as I'm concerned!

 

My kids have no interest in dolls... they are boys and they break everything. Mommy's dollies are off limits.

I've heard some of the other side... younger people thinking it's weird for older people to like them. "Is it weird for old people to play with dolls?" But if you really think about it... who is usually collecting all the expensive fashion dolls? Not just Barbara (who just turned 50) but other expensive fashion dolls? Older people. They can afford them. And the sellers are also also older people who really know their fashion dolls. They aren't just selling them "because they are popular" but because they too are really into the hobby. It's very natural to go from Barbara to Asian BJDs. They all wear clothes and look pretty in their glass doll cases.

Mine don't hang out in glass cases... but I do dress them and make them clothes.

 

I just bought my 9 year old daughter a Dollmore Suntan MoMo for Christmas. Both my daughters have all sorts of dolls & I enjoy sharing this hobby and dolls in general with them. They are also good about caring for them and after a long talk about how to care for, pros/cons about a bjd, she still really wants one.

 

I got interested in BJDs when I was about 15 so I don't think it's an issue if kids like them. (: Though I was only able to afford them on my own as an adult. I think if I were to have kids of my own someday though I'd encourage their interest in it at a young age if they were so inclined. I don't believe it's a matter of age. But I do think it's wrong to spend unwisely if you can't afford it though.

 

I don't think that bjd's are just for adults...but...maybe most of people think so, because those dolls are
first: very expensive
second: definitly NOT toys
and third: too beautiful to drag them around

it's not a matter of age, just a matter of being mature enough to take care of them^^

I personally am actually 13^^ and I'm going to buy my first doll as birthday present
( ok, well it's actually not me who is buying her... xD)

 

Well i am 15. But i think that it takes a more mature responsible child/teenager to take care of these dolls. If i was older and had children i wouldn't let them get a bjd until they where at least 13, but it would depend on the maturity of the child. But no i don't think it is an "adult" hobby. I was actually surprised when i read this that there was "adults" with dolls...man, im way out of it.

 

I'm kinda in the median age, being sixteen and all, where usual BJD collectors are nineteen and over....

I think most of the reason why it appears to be such an adult hobby is because the price of the dolls and the means of earning the money to obtain them, and the maturity required to maintain them. I wouldn't expect a five year old girl to really be as crazy about them as we are, and able to keep one in rather good shape... but show me up any time please!

Twelve to thirteen and you have a BJD? Hey, I've got nothing against that, as long as your pretty mature and serious about the hobby. I've made good friends with small kids because they can act like little adults (being kids I've babysat, of course! XD)

 

I always feel so evil because I think like this... But...

I'm not so big on the idea of younger people having dolls. Mainly because I'm one of those people who just don't like kids... (even though I'm only 18 myself!)

But really, BJD's aren't like any average cheap doll. It's exapnsive and they are more fragile than like, barbies... Thus I think that to have a BJD you should have a certain maturity. A maturity that most young people don't have. Of course, some do.
For example I wouldn't find it so bad with my thirteen year old sister havinga doll,
besides, she would have me to come to for help.

But most of the time... I do think BJD's are for those just a bit older...