"Its a doll, its not a real person."

I oucausally say that "Duchess likes this" or "Duchess said that"
But I usually do becuase of an old habbit, where I think of My things as things with feelings.
Eh, I could care less what people say, but if they insualt one my things, whether if it Duchess or my Mp3 player, a quick "Your mothers worst" shuts them up good XD

 

I love my dolls but just like they are: objects. They're nice and all and I'd rather have them in perfect condiction but they're not real people, I don't feel empathy with them, I love them like I love my computer, bed, ipod or many other things.

 

I only view my dolls as "real people" when in terms of RP, where they're embodying the characters I've had planned for them and in my head where they exist they're virtually real. But I can and do draw the line at how I view them realistically, because to me it's just common sense. If people can't see that, only thinking I'm crazy for being in such a 'pointless and expensive' hobby, in the first place why would I care about them and why would they me, tbph? They're not the ones paying for what I buy in the BJD world. Even my parents (who've made their peace about me being stark raving mad, heh) think it's alright as long as I save for it myself.

Plus, in the event I ever lose my head and think these bits of resin are actually real, my dear, dear little brother helps me to remember they're just dolls by asking "What if they come alive?" and me trotting out my stock said-without-thinking reply "They're just dolls, kid."

 

I personally see them more as a creative outlet and a basis for character creation. Even though I don't own a BJD so to speak but I've had very expensive and rare porcelain dolls by some of the best porcelain doll makers out there as part of a small but 'quality' collection. All in all they're a form of art and as a form of art I can see getting attached to them to a degree. (To me.) BJD's as far as articulation, anatomical sculpt among other things do mimic humans painstakingly well and it's not a surprise that people would become attached to them. Artists spend hours on their work and some grow to love it. I would personally never go as far as to talk to one but I'm not one to condone people on seeing their dolls as having personality. Because they kind of do since the creators made them to be that way and came up with back stories for them. The only kind of people who would get to me are the ones who actually truly believe 'dolls are real' and commission dolls that look like their children from when they were younger before going to college, ect. (Because that's just creepy.)

In the end it's a doll, but a doll that you spent time to customize and create. It's a work of art and your pride for working on it if that makes sense.

 

Since I grew up inventing characters, writing stories and drawing comics it isn't unusual for me at all to treat "things" as if they were thinking creatures. The quirks of my computers has had me say things like "he's pissed at me today" or "he's being grumpy today for some reason".

As humans I think we are built to naturally look for and understand emotion and thought. It's so we can socially interact with other humans and it is something that is pretty unique to us. However, we now have all these 'things' in our lives that we interact with daily. So it's only natural that we tend to think they are portraying some kind of emotion or thought because those are things that we are naturally receptive to... or I could just be crazy.

Either way, I don't even have a doll yet, but I have been looking over photos for a week or so and already have felt personalities for each of the sculpts I've been looking at. I doubt I would carry on a conversation with a doll, but much like I treat my computer or ask my cat what he's doing, I'll probably feel a need to think that my doll has a personality too.

At the end of the day it's only human (to me) and I think it's healthy. People that say "it's just a thing" say it probably more because they aren't personally attached to your possession. I don't expect people to say something about my computer being cranky, but I'm sure they would for their computer.

 

Totally agree with that! That is EXACTLY why I have my dolls

I know my dolls are objects, they are fancy expensive "toys" in a way. collectors/artist "toys" but toys.

I jokingly goof around and apologize to my dolls for taking their head caps off, noticing that their eyes are all messed up, undressing them in public, or if I have to show my boys' parts to someone for the 1000000th time.
But I don't seriously feel remorseful or bad for them.

However, there were two situations where you could say I was deeply emotionally involved with the doll.
First being when I got my DOI Luke, I felt bad for the physical doll that I bought it and now had no use for it. I know I was upset for waisting the money on something I wasn't going to use, but I also felt bad for the doll that he was nothing to me. I bawled my eyes out trying to come up with a character for him.

second was when I broke "seriously" a doll for the first time, again... was my doi luke >_> go figure, about a month later. At this point with luke (my luke's name is Luke XD) I had developed a character and seriously bonded myself to it and the doll to it, so I cared a lot about that doll. Well his finger broke of...somewhere, and I didn't notice it until a friend of mine pointed it out...well... I was pretty much in hysterics. I think the first thing I did was scream "oh my god, Luke" and then frantically searching my dorm for about an hour and not finding the missing finger, I just sat on my bed with him and, again, bawled my eyes out and just apologized to him non-stop. He was my favorite doll, and I just, in my mind at the time, ruined him.

People kept telling me, "he's just a doll, you can replace the hand" But it was the fact that I broke him, that I was essentially his care taker and I was careless to the point of breaking him. For days I questioned even keeping dolls anymore because I didn't want to "hurt" anyone else.

I know that in the back of my mind it all boiled down to money. That I was scared of breaking a doll worse than just a finger. Breaking a whole body, or a head... I cannot afford to replace all of that just from careless mistakes. ( I was able to order new hands... that need to be yellowed to match... I need to get on that >>)

But I also talk to my dolls, only around people who know my dolls/hobby though.
Random things like "your wig is messy! how'd it get so messy??" "how'd you end up in the kitchen?" "it's your birthday today!!" etc
not like having long extensive conversations with them.

So no, I don't see my doll as a real person, I do realize that they don't have emotions or feelings.
I get offended when people make some comments about my dolls character "well just make your doll like meat! he doesn't HAVE to be a vegetarian" .... he IS a vegetarian... I can't just MAKE him not be one. Stuff like that. But that's not directly related to the doll.

And I can have pretty extreme emotions when it comes to dolls, but it all boils down to the love of my characters and the realization that I cannot afford to just replace dolls. Breaking a doll means MONTHS to YEARS of trying to bring together the money to buy it back.

 

If people can talk to their cars, computers, and dogs like they were capable of human feelings and emotions, why is it so wrong for me to behave the same way with my doll?
He's just a doll, a chunk of plastic. Cars and computers are nothing but shiny metal parts, and a dog would just as soon roll in a pile of raccoon poop. At least the doll costs less money :B

 

dolls are really close to looking human.
Thus, in my theory, people see us as we think we're talking to another human. (bleh, bad wording >_<)
When really, like you said, us talking to our dolls is just like people talk to their cars and computers.

 

But because they look like humans it would make more sense to talk to them over cars and computers ;3

 

not necessarily.
some people... I could possibly even say a lot of people... get uncomfortable with human looking/acting things.
dolls, human-like robots, etc

that's the point I'm basing it on

because they're already so close to human looking it freaks some people out, but to talk to them like a real human can take it to a higher level.

 

Yes, but to me it makes more sense to humanize something that looks like remotely human over something that has no human qualities at all.
A twist: If a child mutilates a Barbie doll they are taken to a shrink, because the doll is human like and the action could be a precursor to mental instability. But if the child had instead destroyed the toaster, which is just a machine with no human qualities, it would just be viewed as rebellion and brushed off.

 

it all depends on how that child mutilated that barbie.
Lets think of it as a porcelain doll, because that's easier to break XD
If a girl threw a porcelain doll across her drive way along with a toaster. No one is going to care other than her getting punished by her parents.
But if she destroys her barbie in a fashion that would mimic damaging an actual person. Cutting off the hands, pulling off the head then drawing blood, etc That's when it becomes a concern.

Also if the girl took her doll and/or a toaster out into her driveway and repeatedly smashed them into the ground, both are going to send the child to the psychiatrist. That's a repeated violent behavior where the obvious target is to destroy the item.

It's how she did it, not what she did it to. (I apologize for using female pronouns in this, I am fully aware that dolls can be played with by anyone)

 

Mutilated as in cutting off hands and the such. I refer to this only on the humanization point, if a child can do such damages and it be viewed as a psychological issue because the doll is human in appearance, why is it so wrong for people to treat the dolls kindly because of the human appearance?

Also: For the smashing repeatedly of doll and toaster you described, is it wrong I thought of a little girl screaming "HULK ANGRY! HULK SMAAASH!! D:<"?

 

There's a difference between treating it kindly and treating it like another human being.
This topic is discussing dolls being talked to as if they were human.
Being kind to your doll, from a non-doll person's point of view, can mean just dusting it and sitting it on a shelf to look pretty.
Because in society doll "collectors" keep dolls on shelves and they just stand their too look pretty.
Talking to your doll is creepy because they look human-like, just like it's creepy to hurt them because they are human like
and it's immature/inappropriate because it is a "childs' toy" yes, they are adult collectors dolls. WE know that. but to other people they are simple just dolls. and a doll is a toy.

 

It seems most users here, though, speak to their dolls in a casual- almost joking- manner. Maybe I'm just naive but I fail to see how one could count that as creepy. Now, if someone was standing alone at the grocery store asking a doll what they wanted for dinner THAT would be a bit on the creepy side. Why? I don't know, because when I go to the store with my dog I ask her what flavour canned food she wants- like she even cares!
It's just funny to me, how such stigma can be placed on dolls but when someone does the EXACT same thing to other objects it's okay- only because of the human appearance or lack thereof.

 

My friend always snaps at me whenever I refer to dolls as "he" or "she" around her.... >.<

Yeah, like mentioned earlier, it's just who "gets it" and who doesn't. Obviously, to BJD owners, it's not that strange, but I guess to others, it's out of the ordinary to see someone talking to dolls.

I don't really mind people saying things like that too much, but honestly, if someone wants to treat dolls like real people, others should let them. Not like anyone's getting hurt. It's a matter of how the doll owner sees their BJDs.

 

I can't see how that really compares :/
A dog has ears, he CAN hear you, he can respond.
My dog, when he was alive, knew the word "food" when I said "food" he'd get all excited.
My dog would respond in that store, I would talk to him expecting him to respond in some fashion.
No he doesn't know what I'm saying, he's not going to tell me what food he wants, but he responds.
People talk to their animals, and it's OK, because they respond.
Dolls don't respond.
It's just something in a lot of people's mind.
That something that close to human looking that isn't, is creepy.
It's like owning your own little human to them (words taken from a few friends)
you are talking to that "little human"
You are looking at its face and communicating to it.
knowing it's "dead" knowing it can't respond.

 

if they were just dolls no one here would play 100+ for them
these dolls are the ideas,emotions ,love and hard work we put into them thats how they become more then just an object. it is because we think they are than that is what they become. i think i sound like a mad man but there is no other way to explain something so passionate as doll collecting.
i think if some one can not understand the concept then they really should get a hobby of their own besides trying to judge you.

 

I dunno, I tend to talk to my kitchen appliances when they make me mad/frustrated/happy. They don't have names and back-stories, but they due have sorts of pseudo-genders and personality traits for me. I wouldn't be sad if my toaster oven broke, but I think certain people just attach human emotions onto inanimate things. I know people who give names and personalities to their stuffed animals, so to do it for a doll just doesn't seem that strange to me. Still, some people will be more "realistic" and you just can't explain it to them. The best thing to do when someone insults you is to just move to a different topic.

 

I used to act like they were, just for fun. I thought it was all nice and grand to play pretend and have a bit of my childhood back with such beautiful dolls.
And then something happened that blew me away -- and not in a nice way, either -- and my dolls were there to "witness" it. And childish as it is, with one doll a prince and another a self-proclaimed knight, when they didn't "spring to life" magically and help out (though the realist in me knew they wouldn't anyway), I felt like I couldn't believe in them anymore.
So my toys are merely toys now, though I still like to look at them and touch their hands or hair on occasion.