Manly Men or Gentle Boys doll preference?

The late great David Bowie was always my ideal of masculine beauty. So don't ask me why I only buy Iplehouse men. OKAY, OKAY...I don't like their bodies because they do not pose well at all....but THOSE FACES, WOW!!!!

 

Given that the majority of my dolls are children and young teens, I really have no use for the testosterone-overload type sculpts.

Teddy

 

^^ This! Manly =/= macho. It doesn't need to be muscles over muscles - it's more about facial features, angles and expression.
I like my guys adult but skinny or bulkier but without "gym is my life" body. There isn't many trully realistic bodies to choose from - either they are muscle museum or if they are skinny, they are very stylized. (Still looking for normal, non-muscly (but not skinny) male body. Or viking build - bulky, but without rippling muscle definition (a.k.a. muscle under a layer of fat). Or chubby but not kid body...)

^^ Also this. If women are beautiful because of symmetry, then men are beautiful because of some unusual feature that offsets the "boring" perfection. There is many interesting faces when we move away from doe eyes, ski slope nose, childish pouts and pointy chins. (That isn't to say that these features can never be on a man's face. They can - just not all at once.)

 

For me, it depends on the character. However, I do have a lot more slender, androgynous bishonen type characters than big buff manly men, so I definitely lean towards the pretty/delicate end of the spectrum. And I've noticed the more masculine characters I tend to create (and want to shell into dolls) generally have sharp, sleek, and angular features, not so much ruggedly handsome like Iplehouse or Dollshe guys.

 

It really depends on the character I'm working on at the moment, but most of my boys are kinda in between these two body types. Usually I prefer slim male bodies, but with broad shoulders and slightly defined muscles, however I have some very muscled ones as well.

I guess what attracts me the most is diversity. I'm always looking for different body types 'cause that's how it is in real life and my characters are inspired and live in the real world.

Having said that, I'd love to see more shops producing chubby bodies for male and female BJD.

 

I like realistic male sculpts, especially mature ones. I don't owm any "boys" and don't think I'll ever do, it is just not my taste in dolls.

 

I prefer male sculpts with angles, but not perse classically masculine, either. Personally I don't like the younger/softer featured boys or strong manly men, either. I guess I'm drawn to a certain amount of anydrogyny. I can see why others would love soft and "manly" sculpts, though. They just don't do anything for me personally.

 

I like both, but I don't necessarily own obvious styles of both in BJD form. I do own a lot of OT anime figures, and they range from very masculine-manly-men to very young-cute-boyish ones, and OT action figures that are clearly more manly and realistic, although I don't associate realism with manliness (there are a lot of 1:6 action figures that are very stylized but still very manly). I own two Dollzone BJD dolls that fit well in the gentle boyish side, but both are currently in (modification) limbo, so I guess I only have two BJD head sculpt that fit into the gently boy side category, and one full doll that might work (although the body is probably not boyish, and more on the manly side). All others sculpts I own are on the very manly side (I think). (:

 

I have boys that I consider to be younger brothers of my girls. So in that case, I like them to look like they’re still kids.

I do like the idea of combining features to get more friendly looking manly dolls. My Soom Jinn kind of makes me think of that. He’s pretty much my only adult male... and he’s a tiny fairy.

 

I like half and half it will completely depend on the character of course, but I think slightly slender men with muscles is my thing

 

I generally like manly, realistically sculpted boy dolls, as you can see from the pic of Amos in my profile, who has such a muscular body, I'm having trouble finding clothes that fits him
Although I admit, I have also fallen in love with Switch's style, which is definitely famous for its gentle boy dolls. But hey, it's difficult NOT to like Switch, isn't it?

 

Somewhere in the middle. I don't care much for the super beefy guys, but I also don't like childish or pretty boys. I prefer mine to look like average teens/young adults.

 

Personally I prefer them to look like guys so I like both kinds of sculpts though I'm pickier about the softer boys. No girly boys for me. The softer boys can oooze manliness too. It just takes a little more styling (ok a lot in some cases but it can be done). Real men come in both types and I've seen dudes who looked like big strong manly men and are still men but not MANLY men, while I've seen softer looking dudes who make your testosterone meter blow a gasket. That's the long form of the answer.

 

I really prefer something in the middle. I don't want a little boy look yet I like good looking faces. The ultra manly ones don't come in a size I collect. I have a thing for the older Souldoll guys.

 

I'm very much a gentle boy person because my characters so far have fit into that mold, but I do like lean and well-defined bodies (as opposed to perhaps the extremes of something leaning on the androgynous side, and the more muscular). While I love looking at buff dolls, I haven't had the chance (yet?) to own one of them; if a character like that comes along, I don't see why not.

 

My characters are all teens so I prefer the softer, younger looking boys for my own collection. I can totally appreciate everyone else's manly dolls though!

 

This! I use dolls to shell my OCs and all my OCs are racially diverse, gender diverse, age diverse and ability diverse (etc etc) So I go with whatever works best for the character. I've got a pair of characters who embody the "gentle boy" look and a pair who are "MACHO DUDE" teenagers and one miserably thin, spidery SD fellow who's very much a man but has the posture and expression of a starving alley cat and some day in the distant future I'll be adding "big beefy Greco-Roman Wrestler" to the list. If they made chubby male dadbods I'd also add some of those men too. My preference is not for kyriarchical beauty, it's for beautiful diversity.

This hobby sometimes seems to be so polarizing about gender and body shape, it doesn't help when there's a lack of diversity. I don't think people want to choose between two extremes (and they aren't actually extremes IRL) but with limited choices it feels like there are only two types of male beauty: the soft boys and the hard men.

 

I am one for the most feminine and boyish of all of them.

 

I like soft bois.