mainstream

Honestly I would hate dolls to become mainstream. It's just when something becomes too popular, everyone gets involved, lots of critism and people will look at it more as a fad or a trend. I think that's a terrible way to look at things. I think the doll hobby is something really unique and totally different to what everyone else likes. It makes us sort of special and different. If it were to go mainstream it kind of lose that specialness oh having it as a hobby. Of course the doll itself is still special, but I'm talking about the hobby specifically. Also if it were to go mainstream everyone would know about it and therefore seeing the same things everywhere would just make it boring. It's just like listening to the same songs over and over. It will get boring. But honestly I wouldn't want it to go mainstream. Just because what happens to everything else that goes mainstream.

 

I'm gonna have to second this. Considering the price alone, I just don't see BJDs becoming as commonplace as people fear. Spending $600 on a doll is very different from spending $600 on a purse. While I can see them possibly gaining popularity among certain crowds (otaku, Hot Topic frequenters, maybe), mainstream? I doubt it. I honestly just can't see a Abercrombie-clad pre-teen hipster lugging around an El. And in any case, as others have said, something becoming "mainstream" doesn't have to be the end of the world. In HS I could never understand why some of my friends would stop listening to certain punk bands as soon as they became better known. I've since gotten some idea why, as certain artists I used to enjoy have completely changed their sound once they gained popularity. But it's not something I'm worried about with regard to BJDs.

 

Okay I'm confused. Why do you think doll collecting isn't already main steam?

It's one of the MOST mainstream collecting hobbies out there. I feel relatively safe saying that there are thousands of collectible dolls produced each year. Some types of dolls are more popular (i.e. porcelain or fashion dolls) than others (i.e. ABJDs or Living Dead Dolls) but that doesn't change the popularity of doll collecting as a whole.

Morgan

 

Well I'm specifically pertaining to BJD collecting. I know there are plenty of other dolls produced, but mainly I'm directing to BJDs alone.

 

I'm half and half... For example...

Manga has become soooo mainstream that everyone and their dog has a manga title out now... I just watched the "5 Wishes" (????) manga styled anime on Comcast/On Demand and Avril Lavine has her own manga now. I don't like her...

I mean, Courtney Love had one out a while ago ( Princess Ai- loved it... too many "Hole" and Kurt Cobane references ^^ ) and now it's almost like every other pop princess or radio star needs to print one.

Now, it seems like the only reason someone would be into the BJD hobby is because it's the "Now" factor. But... because it's now a hobby a lot of people recognize, I've seen a lot of people create their own artist dolls and become successful with them.

I believe BJD's have become mainstream already... America ( and most likely other non Asian companies ) have tried and most have failed to bring to light a BJD that's popularity has sky rocketed like Volks, DollZone, CP and such.

When something becomes popular, it gets attention and criticism.

 

(This may have been said before) A lot of people just want to be different, and have something new and 'trendy' rather than have something go mainstream and have others look at them and go, 'Oh, you probably never liked them until they got popular anyways..' And then you get the know-it-alls, and such...

But personally, I've nothing against BJDs going mainstream. As far as I can see, it's perfection beneficial, and to those who think mainstream kill all... when things go out of style, they go out of style. Trends don't always last for very long, but those of us that are devotees will more than likely stick with our girls and boys through thick and thin.

Therefore, I see no problem at all with it. Yay for cheaper clothes. Oh, wait. It's at HotTopic??? Yay for SLIGHTLY cheaper clothes! (or maybe even more expensive... ho'shoot...)

 

I don't care either way, when I'm enjoying something, it's for the thing itself, and not for its popularity (or lack of). I like to say that "it's fashionable not to be fashionable", these days :P

 

I wouldn't care all that much, in fact I would find it a joy to be able to buy BJD clothes at the mall or even a department store! Think of the money we would save, no more nasty shipping fees. It would benefit us I think, but I'm not hoping and wishing for it to happen.
A part of me would be a bit bothered by people going up and saying their doll is better than mine or something because they bought so-and-so, I don't want this to be a contest, but I have no problem with sharing this hobby with people ^^ it's fun! More people should know about it, but they should also know that they are not "dollies" that you can trash around like a child's toy. I can't see this ever becoming mainstream, people(at least in my town) are terribly destructive, they're always dropping their cellphones on the concrete, bumping into eachother, slamming down their purses and drinks...I can just picture them holding a doll..."WHAM!" poor doll...

Either way, if this becomes mainstream someday or not, it doesn't change the way I feel about my BJD. A few years ago I was going to customize a Barbie( ) to look like one of my characters, so when I saw a BJD(Unoa Lusis) on the net I knew I had to have one. and soon more. So what if it becomes a fad? Fads come and go, and soon they'd sell their dolls after the hobby became "uncool" again, then I could snatch up the unwanted lovelies. Sounds like a win/win for me.

 

Could it be a case of conflation of "mainstream" and "trendy"? They aren't necessarily the same, although they can be. I know personally, I won't have anything to do with trendy things if I can help it, and I get a trifle irritated if something I like/do/have/wear becomes trendy because it looses it signature "me"ness. Although that usually doesn't mean I will give it up, I may just put it away for awhile until the trend goes away. To bring this onto topic, the few doll lovers I have met so far have all been distinct individuals, who are comfortable in their uniqueness, not the usual crowd lemmings, and in some ways their resin children are part of this, if BJDs were to become "trendy", we would lose semi-unique factor to this particular hobby (if one can call it that ). Although it would be great to have everything much more accessible, I can understand the underlying fear of trendiness. Just my two cents worth.

 

Considering the size of the Dolpa's in Japan and the huge numbers of dolls available on the internet, popular is just begining to scratch the surface. Whether or not a certain astehetic of doll becomes "mainstreem" does not matter. People have been making dolls since the begining of time, and BJD for hundreds of years. A hundred years ago or so, France was one of the major exporters of dolls, people all over the world had them. In Japan, dolls have been a part of the adult culture for a very long time. I'm sure there was very little struggle for the dolls to find their niche.
I don't think the word "mainstream" begins to cut it. These ABJD that we do so love are already everywhere, but they still serve there purpose of being well made, customisable, and beautiful. As long as there are companies that make quality dolls in the tradition they do now, as long as the craftspeople love their work, I am pleased.
Knowing how much a doll can be appreciated and how they can be a soothing presence to some people who need that is reason enough not to deny someone access to them. Not just for the sake of the desire of mine to feel like I'm on to something unique and special. If dolls in the style of BJDs become more mainstream amoung toy companies for a more affordable price to warrent buying them for children then that is fantastic. Sometimes I wander through toystores and am thankful I don't have kids yet. Look at the crap they'd have to play with. When I was a little girl I always dreamed of having a doll that fit into the asthetic I wanted. How pleased I am to know they now exist and that I can have one.
The world is full of things to explore, and this is just one little part of it. It's really not worth it to me to sour it by being selfish.

 

I think there are a few reason behind these feelings.

one would be that to many they see these things as art, or at least as something unique and special, with the clothes and everything being made with care. The moment something becomes mainstream, you get a lot of just pushed out things that are no longer any of these things.

I really don't think it's so much as a fear over every one on your street knowing what a doll is and that making you feel less special, but more of a fear of cheapening the experience.

 

When something becomes mainstream it becomes disposable. It's easier to get a hold of, cheaper and therefore easier to throw away. Their value as art is taken away when they become mass produced by machines.

 

about the mainstream i have to agree with that. I don't fear BJDs becoming mainstream that the daughter of my next door neighbour and every teen i see owning one. but one thing i get worried about bands in particular as well as authors they change after they get popular. I used to listen to a cantonese band e-kids. their first single was good they were good but then after a year or two they became 'IT' and what happened? the group disbanded and their music hit rock bottom.

God forbid, about 8 years ago, S club 7 was a new band (the original) they weren't bad. catchy songs, happy atmosphere teens and young twenties with attitude and i liked them. After about 3 years they became one of the big bands and they started to loose their charm why? they started to become trashy and their songs sucked. they lacked singing skills and now of course disbanded.

that's one thing i worry about BJDs, i'll love to be able to buy stuff for my boys without the shipping. Actually i like how in Hong Kong there is a shopping centre for these hobbies. Non of the hobbies can be mainstream, they range from Pullips, Coco, Blythes, Dolls, BJDs, collectable figurines, manga series, Dollfies, cosplay... although it's more often in Hong Kong for these things, in that plaza/mall they had everything. it was only in an area of Hong Kong. Not everyway but it made things easier still.

I rather have something like that than every place having stuff. I don't mind ppl sharing this hobby but i dunno i hate it when ppl go "you only started liking it after it being popular" I liked Harry Potter since before the first film and the publicity stunts. But ppl assume i didn't and think they know it all (i've seen all the films but i'm not a fan) then again i've liked w-inds. before they became a huge seller in HongKong, just before that too.

As long as quality remains and there is still a community of dedicated BJD lovers it's all fine. It doesn't make me cringe and put Rae away once it gets popular.

 

Sorry that this is slightly OT, but the Harry Potter books are not a good example for this. Firstly, they were ridiculously popular long before the movies came out. Secondly, part of the reason why the first ones were better was due to A)better editing and B) time. She'd been writing the first book for ages. The number of revisions that went into it must have been crazy. Not only that, but when you pitch a series to a publisher they like to see more than just the first book so they know that they can get the rest of it and not take a loss. Meaning that when the first book came out the second one and possibly even the third one already had first drafts or even second drafts done.

After that she got less and less editing and more of a real life and in all honesty at this point I get the impression she doesn't want to be writing them anymore and is stuck in a contract. Reguardless, the steadily degrading quality in the books is not the result of having more fans of it due to the movies. It isn't really due to people being interested in the series at all unless you mean that if they were never popular to begin with she could probably have gotten out of the contract. Or it would have taken longer to sell the rest of the books, meaning they would have been better edited and looked over.

 

I don't mind things becoming more popular. . . the thing that pisses me off is when people utterly bastardize something that should be beautiful. D:

I probably sound like an arrogant jerk, but I don't mean to. . . this is mostly how I have felt about Lolita fashion more than BJDs. I probably bastardize just as much as the next person. :'D

 

The real problem would be ABJD becoming "trendy", you're "cool" if you have an ABJD, etc.. Not popularity. ABJD are already very popular, otherwise there wouldn't be so many companies with English websites.

 

I have been into many things that were not-so-mainstream and became such, and I'll explain some to illustrate my opinion. XD So bare with me...

I am a very casual fan of (mostly older) anime/manga and videogames. I used to have friends that were otaku but could not relate to them well because I was not obsessive. So, I just found other things to discuss with them.

I used to like Japanese fashion including Lolita a whole lot more, before the rich Americans got into it, being elitists and all and turned it into a kind of scene that reminded me of high school and all the spoiled clique kids with their expensive brand names. >.< I still love it dearly, but do not interact with other people of this fandom anymore.

So anyway, none of this bothers me now because I just enjoy things to myself when something gets too big and my friends get into it and obsess over it annoyingly. Or if it bugs me ENOUGH, I get new interests. Plain and simple.

But I doubt that BJDs will even BECOME that mainstream, because Americans are too busy spending money on ugly designer clothing because J.Lo wears it. And overpriced SUVs because rappers drive them. And so on and so forth. But if it DOES, I'll still love it.

Given the seriousness of this discussion though, I think we ALL need to get our priorities straight... meaning of course, that if BJDs going mainstream is your biggest concern, you have a lot to be thankful for. O.o

Didn't mean to seem uppity but seeing all of this hypermaterialism over the years is making me twitchy. (in ALL of my fandoms!)

 

Doll collecting has never been and will most likely never be a mainstream hobby.

 

I think that we generally don't like the idea of our BJD's becoming mainstream, because that would take away from the unique nature of the dolls. If you saw them all the time, and everyone in the world had one, most wouldn't be so interested. Even those who love their little resin children love the fact that they are so special and unique. I don't think i'd like seeing a bunch of 12 year olds running around with BJD's. I can't speak for everyone, but this is definately how i feel. I also will admit, that part of the love i have for this hobby, is the hunt. You search and search for that perfect doll, and then you find them. You pay through the nose to get them, and then you pay through the nose to dress them, unless you are lucky enough to make the clothing

It's great, because it's difficult to build your family. Like most things, Easy come easy go. If you didn't work hard to make it happen, then it wouldn't mean as much to you.

As far as "hot topic" goes, great store, great stuff, but generally, lower quality, hence why they are cheaper price.

However, i will say, if Hot Topic made BJD clothes, 99 percent of us would be off to Hot Topic every day to buy clothes. So few of us can complain if they did. Unique hobby or no.

 

yup yup i agree. I kno the books were popular before the movies came out. But i dunno, it just my friend was one of the first to read the books. It wasn't popular when she started. Once it got more popular the quality stayed for a while. But then the movies came out and all of a sudden Harry Potter is global and everyone including the ones who don't even read knows about harry potter. I'm using the movies as an example that when it became even more mainstream everyone is on it and now i have to say even how much i luv the books, it's annoying to have ppl think they know it all due to watching the movie or criticise on the book when they haven't even opened one of the books or gone past chapter one of the Philospher's Stone. It annoys me just slightly.