mainstream

I read the Fear Street Series. It was awesome. However, it's not a good example, because the Fearstreet Series was ALWAYS mainstream. it was popular from day one. The other reason it is not a good example, is because Fear Street was written for high-schoolers. Goosebumps was written for kids, usually in elementary school, possibly middle school.

As far as your Yoyo example, that also really isn't an example of something "going mainstream", it's more of an example of a Fad. A good example of something becoming mainstream would be the "Spawn" comic book. It was written to target a darker fan-base. Then, it became more mainstream, when the creators tried to write the same story to please the masses.

Bands can also become "Mainstream". I used to go see Greenday when they were NO ONE. When they were still performing in punk clubs in my Local city. Then, they got a record deal, and they became mainstream. Everyone loved them. That is more mainstream. Not an author who writes a new series targeting little kids. And Yoyo's have been in existence for god-knows how many years. LOL

I simply tend to like something because I like it. Not because others do or do not like it. That does not mean that it would not make me sad to see everyone and their mother holding a BJD. But i would not stop collecting if i saw that it became mainstream.

 

Most of my hobbies are rather niche and low key, such as animation cels and Jpop, so I never really think about or worry that something might become "mainstream," because they wouldn't quite "fit."

For example, while there are thousands of Jpop fans through the USA, the majority of the population wouldn't like it because of the "wacky Japanese" stereotype and the fact that there's no market for it (outside the anime, etc. fans) - any artists that have attempted to break in weren't very successful

With animation cels, it would be VERY VERY bad if it became mainstream. Cels are unique and one of a kind - unless you can manage to get one from the same sequence, or have someone make a fancel of something for you, that's it. Supply vs. demand would cause prices to SKYROCKET and bidding wars would be all over the place. I shudder to think about it.

I do worry that if more people got into dollfies, we would see them stuffed at the back of closets, or at a garage sale, once the "fad" wore off. Conservative or religious groups might villianize the hobby (as they are want to do with many popular things - remember the Pokemon debates?). Eliteism might get worse ("Oh, you have a DOD? Well, I have a Luts!"), more people will know how much they cost and thus it might become more dangerous to carry them around, all that.

But unless the prices are drastically reduced, and/or people flock to those sites with the $200 dolls, causing the other companies to follow, I don't think we have much to worry about. It costs too much to get into "casually." And even if it did become big, it wouldn't make me hate my dolls or the community. I might be a bit more quiet about it, but I wouldn't go away. I love Inuyasha but I never make it known or interact with fans - frankly, they scare me

 

i dont want it to be mainstream because you get people like this guy who just wanna cash in on our passion and many more who would try ripping us off. really there would be so many recasts going around if BJD were mainstream there would be no keeping up with it. can you imagine having to buy only from the companys because of fear of spending bookuu bucks on a precious little one and it coming home and being made of plaster *dies*

 

OMG, psycho guy...

Well, I'm not really excited at idea of BJD becoming mainstream in a meaning of "I have to have a BJD, because it's cool and everyone around have it too!!" but IMO this will probably never happen, 'coz these dolls are unique and very very expensive. From my experiences, people just say that they like it, but throw away 600 bucks or so for a DOLL is crazy.
On the other side, if companies like Mattel started to sell plastic dolls with joints that are pretending they are BJD for...say 50 dollars, it would be problem cause many people would buy them rather than a real resin BJD that is 10x more expensive. Then the companies like Luts, SOOM, Souldoll and etc. would probably go bankrupt and the world would be under control of Barbie/Bratz/BJD hybrids

OK, I'm overdoing it now..

But really. The BJD community would be full of freaks who proudly announce they have BJD and know everything about them but when you ask them what doll is this (and poke them a picture of El under their nose) they'd be absolutely out

 

What about the newish liv girls and Moxie girls dolls? They're practically bjds. The liv girls have glass eyes and are jointed and both liv and moxie girls have wigs, I think some of the moxie girls are jointed too. I'm really surprised that more people haven't brought these dolls up yet.

 

I don't really mind bjds becoming mainstream, I doubt it will happen purely because of the cost of producing real quality, but if it did something would worry me; This is a fairly unusual hobby and we seem to be a pretty close knit community who look out for each other, but once something is popular it's more open to the attentions of the wrong people. I mean, if my house was broken into, I'm 99% sure the dumb thief would walk right by the bjds to pick up the cronky old dvd player but once people start becoming aware of them and how much they trade hands for, the opportunists will come crawling out of the woodwork, it's bad enough as it is now with just the small number of criminals who have ripped off even savvy bjd collectors. Also, the dolls are anatomically correct and some have mature bodies but quite babyish faces, I can see the tabloids and this hideous government having a field day with that one like they did with manga/anime, it's not like they let facts and a tiny minority get in the way of a good old knee jerk reaction and mis-informed labels.

 

These are excellent points and I could see them easily becoming a reality if BJD collecting became mainstream.

A concern of mine would be so-called "celebrities" leaping aboard the BJD Bandwagon and rushing out to be photographed posing with their "dolly" or cramming them into their handbags alongside their miniature fashion-accessory dogs - both of which will get tossed on the trash heap the second the novelty and publicity wears thin.

 

goosebumps was terrible lol when all the kids read and did book reports on that, I did one on Through the Looking Glass lol yes the creativity and uniqueness of BJD (not to mention the quality) would take a nose dive if they became mainstream

 

Too late...it's already happened.

1.) Cels are no longer used for animation production. Unless you are talking really artisanal work, most 2D animation productions use computer programs to ink and paint and composite animation. Some programs will even "tween" for you, creating the interpolated "drawings" that fill out motion from pose to pose.

2.) However, some companies, including Disney, have artists on call which either create a series of silkscreens to replicate cels (these are called sericels) or do ink and paint replica cels. Sericels are not very expensive, but replica cels are, because they are the work of an individual artist.

3.) And CGI is becoming more and more dominant, so cels really don't apply to CGI animation.

This means that actual cels that have gone under the camera for a production are becoming even MORE expensive, unless you are talking about a very obscure title. I was able to find an All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku cel from Episode 2 of the OVA for about $50 at Anime Expo a couple of years ago. However, cels from really well-known shows, like for instance Neon Genesis Evangelion, are scary expensive now.

 

I actually pride myself in having my interest be underground, I don't like it when the rest of the world is doing the same thing I do, makes me feel like less of an individual. Now I don't mine the hobby being big like it is now, that just means more companies to produce dolls. The more companies that show up the more competition there is for all the companies to strive to have better dolls. With better dolls being made, we benefit. I just don't want BJD to become mainstream like Barbie or something of that nature, I feel at that point they won't be as special as they are now. There is always something quite special about an item that is a mystery to most people.

 

I don't think it would bother me much, because I think the core fandom would retain its integrity, but I don't know if mainstream BJDs would be interesting to me. I mean, what would they be like? Would they be nicely sculpted? Would they be anatomically correct? Certainly they would be pretty bland and not "quirky" at all. D: That's why mainstream things are mainstream. The more bland, the more mainstream. (Honestly I think a lot of BJDs are already a little bland.)

And how would the creative aspect be handled? I think this part would depend a lot on what stores sold BJDs. If it was a toy store, (like Hot Topic, which I know is a fashion store but has many toys..) you might not be able to get a blank doll at all, but they would probably have cool looking bodies and faces. If it was a craft store, you probably could get them blank, but it would be less likely that they would have very detailed bodies because nice little old Christian ladies go to those stores. Art stores, THAT'S who you'd want to sell them I think, although I don't know if there would be many ready-made accessories available that way. The problem is that they're somewhere between art and readymade toy, and the only thing that's really sold in stores that is like this is those creative kits sold for kids.. like jewelry-making or rock-polishing or...stuff...building kits. But BJDs aren't a kid toy and couldn't be sold at regular toy stores.

..............

... you guys, Cecilia is right, most adults just don't "play". Either we must use kid toys or create our own toys from scratch. So no, I guess BJDs will not be mainstream.



PS Amy Brown is a shameless thieving pirate whore, please get her away from BJDs and everything else she tries to touch. ):<

 

Who is Amy Brown and what has she done? Is she that fairy artist or I am way off?

 

I agree it would be EPIC if I could walk into the mall and pick up stuff specifically for my bjd.

On the other hand, we would loose the lovely feeling of finding that hidden treasure, the rag doll you masacre for it's clothes, the human wig you take apart and scale down, that piece of doll furniture in the antique shop that's just perfect, etc. Another thing is that if items for them are more avaliable you lose some of the insentive to make them yourself.

The other thing is that people love to exclude others (not nessecarily consiously or maliciously). By being part of a small goup of people that own bjds we feel like we're part of an exclusive club and this makes us feel good, proud, and protective. For a lot of people it's threatening to them to feel that their secret club might become public and easy to enter. I'll admit, this last part is a bit exaggerated, but I couldn't think of how to get my point across w/o some exaggeration.

 

Actually I think the problem is that more that adult women aren't marketed as wanting to play. There is a whole range of toys out there for adult men. Look at all the techno do-dads with no real practical purpose. Look at all the M rated video games. Actually truth be told, there really aren't video games with a target audience of females over the age of 9. The best you get are some puzzle games with a unisex appeal. Primetime cartoons all have a male target audience.

And lets face it, BJDs have a female target market. Not to say that there aren't many wonderful male collectors out there (just as there are girl gamers), but the target group is women. And the stores that sell stuff for women over age 18 tend to focus on clothes, cosmetics, furniture, craft supplies, or kitchen appliances. And really the closest we get to playing in that group is craft supplies.

So mainstream just isn't something I see happening.

 

Well I would love love love to have a BJD store nearby, somewhere I can go and see and touch the things I'm buying and actually shop for my boy like I would myself. That would be amazing! But I would also have a hard time to because I'd be afraid that whatever I buy at the store wouldn't be a unique or special as buying it online when 'everyone has it' now. I don't know... But at least they will never be like twilight.

 

I dont know if anyone had mentioned it, but mattel HAS already tryed to make a BJD knockoff. The barbie fashonistas are jointed and are ball shaped much like ABJDs.

 

The only thing that really grinds my gears, is when an artist/company/etc goes mainstream and sells out. It aggravates me to no end. What was once honest to good quality always seems to go right into the crapper after hitting Mainstream. Lots of my favorite Musicians and artists have done that, clothing companies, and a few artists I love have fallen to this "mainstream" ideal.

I also have a fear that real good, but smaller businesses will be bought out, or forced to shut down.

"Mainstream" is just not a good word for me.

 

Louis Vuitton was a famous designer before Paris Hilton's parents had met. And if you can't tell a Louis Vuitton bag from one from the K mart, well, what can I say.
You guys are so cute. News Flash : There is no more counter culture. Welcome to the Mainstream Walmart McWorld. And that's all folks.
I almost died laughing at one of the first replies, the one that said Hot Topic wasn't mainstream. Hilarious.
You kids must have your I touch phone pod headsets up way too high.

 

Since when are subculture and counterculture one and the same? The anime subculture's been around for decades now, fanfic/slash for longer than that, not to mention cosplay and cons. They are places of resistance to mainstream culture, but they aren't the same thing as the original counterculture, and nor do they attempt to be.

I live in a country where tens of thousands of people go to doujinshi/anime/seiyuu/abjd/cosplay events, and yet if you mentioned most of these things to any random person on the street they'd either have no idea what you were talking about or think you very strange. Those fans don't tell their coworkers what they did on the weekend. It's possible for things to be popular and yet still not mainstream. I don't see abjds ever becoming truly mainstream, and I don't want them to become so, either. Things tend to get annoying when things you like go mainstream .

 

No they don't... there very short and fat compared to BJD's. If your were more so meaning there "fashion Victims" line, there also short, and have atrocious body proportions. They were also carrying a doll line called "Little Apple Dolls" at Hot Topic that were from a different company, and had taller proportions than the normal "Living Dead Doll" series, but they would also be ill suited for BJD's. If you would like, I could probably take a comparative picture between the Living Dead Dolls, Fashion Victims and MSD sized BJD.