Name one thing you wish was different in this hobby

@Thespian : Preach. I've met lots of lovely people on this hobby but there is always a judgemental / rude / unpleasant person who think that their opinion is law, just like in other corners of the Internet and IRL. Unfortunately, it does seem to me that the rare unpleasant ones in the BJD world can be more "vocal", which can regrettably scare off newcomers. That said we can just choose to ignore the trolls by simply tuning them off (unlike IRL XD).

The "Volks owner = elitist" thing is something I have a hard time wrapping my head around. Sure, Volks may be more on the expensive side, but surely there is also a lot of sculpts in the same price bracket (and still, it's nothing compared to porcelain BJD) and they are definitely not the only ones doing limited edition galore. They are not the only ones to limit releases to a part of the world either. I don't see anything that distinguish the "only Volks owner" from another "only-insert brand-owner", but I guess jerks have to be jerks. (As Volks is not really my aesthetic, I know next to nothing about how they conduct their business, but I doubt I would fundamentaly change my mind on that subject. XD)

 

I wish everyone would just decide to stop using Volks-specific terms to refer to doll sizes.

SD and MSD (literally referring to Volks dolls) are inaccurate, and at this point, totally obsolete in reference to current doll sizes. All it does is confuse new people (and people who've been around a while but only dabble) into thinking all dolls fit into specific size categories and make it hard to shop for wigs (1/4 dolls are not all 7/8, 1/3 dolls are not all 8/9), clothes, shoes and hybrid dolls.

 

If I could change only one thing? That's easy.
I would get rid of the insecurity that I see in so many of these conversations about "the hobby".

I would have each and every one of us be so confident in our own choices and so secure in our own preferences that no one gave a single flying flip what anyone else in the community thought about us or our dolls. That would end so much of the fear of judgement, the nervousness about potential "toxicity" and the pearl-clutching over potential elitists lurking behind every corner... We'd all be able to say "You know what? I collected these dolls FOR ME to enjoy. It doesn't matter if everyone else agrees with me. I'm happy over here."

 

For me, definitely the wait times! I'm currently about to go into a two-year waiting period for 3 Dollshe dolls. But it's not just the doll wait times - even the clothes and accessories usually take 2-4 months to arrive! It can get really frustrating because I may want the clothes, wigs, etc., for a particular shoot and once I receive them, the inspiration or motivation has already passed. It also makes it difficult because the dolls themselves seem to have specific styles and what I buy for them may not be what they want to wear. So even though I'm years into the hobby, I still have not one fully "complete" doll!

Second thing for me is I wish there were more collectors in my country and that there were more doll crafters and creators in Canada!

 

Yeah.. I do feel like there's a bit too much reliance on pre-orders throughout the hobby. Makes me wonder if it has always been this way across the dolls & accessories, or if because the dolls were ordered in this way, accessories and clothes-makers decided to do it as well. I know things like anime figures also come as pre-orders, but not much of my other hobby/collections do. I know it can seem enticing as a maker to create things that you are certain you'll be paid for (because you already are in a pre-order), but I do also feel like it's a bit tiring as a customer to not be able to shop and receive things relatively quickly. "In-Stock" feels like a big happy deal to see on a listing when I find something I like!

 

Add me to the "Waiting time is pain" club. I'm totally okay with paying the full price for a doll but, Goddess, I can't even imagine waiting for several months for having a doll produced. All the other doll-related stuff also takes an eternity to be produced unless it's in stock. And it's not only the declared timeframe, but it's also the additional delays caused by getting too many orders, delays caused by pandemic, delays caused by any other random thing that will surely happen unless the stars align, and here we are waiting for a year if we wait for a doll and 2-3 month if we order regular clothes... that's a torture for me.

 

@AlexEllery Yeah, for sure. I am now at the 4.5 month mark for an outfit I ordered.. and looking at the same for a wig. I know I agreed to the terms when I made those purchases... but definitely having delays added, and no one ever coming in on a shorter timeframe than quoted is causing me to rethink whether I'll even bother buying a lot of this stuff anymore. At first it really used to be my thought that since it always takes me forever to get around to doing my projects I could save myself some grief by purchasing from someone else... but now I'm pretty sure I would have gotten around to making the clothes for my dolls by now if that's what I had planned to do 4.5 months ago

 

The wait for my first doll was torture. XD

But once it was done, I found out I was not bothered with having to wait for other things, especially if they are custom accessories or complete dolls. Of course, I get that little jolt of excitement when the package is at my house, but since I have other projects to concentrate on, it does not bother me anymore. It will come when it will. Basically, I don't mind waiting for complex things.

But for stuff that is more "basic", like staples clothes, I like having them quickly.

 

@maxxxamillion Jesus Christ, 4.5 months for an outfit! I wish you all the patience in the world to get the desired stuff. >_> I would have made myself sick over that already

I search for a body for one of my dolls and I have a dilemma: should I order it from a dollmaker and wait for several months or should I look for it on a secondary market (which give me a chance to find it quickly or not find it at all and lose time)

 

This might upset some people but I don't like people posting "feelers" in sales. If you want to gauge price you can look into other sellers or ask the community how much they would be willing to pay. It is frustrating when you are looking for a doll and finally find it only for it to be a feeler and the seller never ends up selling it.

 

I would change one thing only since I joined this hobby late. Dolls are not to be limited and can be ordered anytime.
Most dolls I want are no longer available to be order. Or very hard to be found

 

The ridiculous size of the counterfeit apologist contingency. :d just can’t fathom it.

 

This!! Most of these are during holidays too so they expect you to be able to buy several LE dolls at a time! Becomes very frustrating.

I am seeing the apologist community growing on Tiktok and it makes me so frustrated. So many sculptors have spoken out against recasts and these people ignore it. I hate the cycle of apologists backtracking and pro artists having to prove them wrong.

 

Waiting times!

 

Something I really wish was different was how there is this sort of level of "secrecy" around making a BJD and how there isn't a lot of information readily available on the sculpting/jointing/casting process. Trial and error can get pretty expensive especially in the casting phase. And compared to things like faceups and making clothes there is almost no information available.

It's probably because BJD isn't a mainstream hobby and not everyone in the hobby can invest a large amount of time, effort, and money into making a doll. But it does make it a lot harder for people who want to make dolls especially if they don't have the money for a casting company or they want to start with at-home casting.

 

@vanillamarie Totally! I'm working on creating and casting a doll right now and the number of factors that I've had to consider to "get it right" are enormous.

I honestly think part of it may be that people who are doing all those things don't feel they have additional time to document the process well, and it's a tough ask, because posting all that kind of how-to information is a big undertaking (which leads to the inevitable issue of free resources being generally unavailable).

The total number of hours I've put into figuring out the process have actually taken a few months of dedicated focus, so I try to pay it forward when I can answer specific questions for people - feel free to DM if you wanna chat about sculpting or casting for sure. And personally, at least I try to document all the steps even if it's not a true "how-to" so that people can follow along and hopefully come up with specific questions if it relates to them.

This brings up a related thing I wish was a bit different too -- even though there are pretty good repositories here on DOA for questions and tutorials and projects, I feel a lot of the information around how to do mods, general making and making dolls is very disjoint if you look past DOA (so if you can't find it here - where do you go?), or you have to go look in other communities and figure out what other kinds of hobbies do similar processes so you can piece it all together. When I think of trying to create and post a tutorial, I truly don't know how to distribute it in the "most accessible" way. It's almost like my question ends up being: what would make information seem "readily available?" And I don't have a great answer for it yet.

 

Recasts. It really makes me sad that such talented artists are getting ripped off and getting their art/dolls stolen to sell for cheaper just because some people are too inconsiderate/ignorant/greedy to get the actual real doll. What worries me the most is that this will eventually kill the bjd hobby. I don't want artists to stop making their dolls because of the counterfeiting

 

I think part of the problem with recast sales continuing (other than the obvious... it's stealing a design/ counterfeiting/ selling) is the people who have never held a legit doll. They don't see the issues with recast quality. They think they got the same doll but saved $300. They think it's normal for a doll to be strung too loose or tight and it won't pose properly. For the feel of the body to be plastic-y and not so smooth.
When I held my first Fairyland doll (I think pukifee?) I could feel the quality in the touch of the skin on the body, in the joint movement, so easy and smooth. The way the head will hold in just the right position.
It was magic.

 

Other people may have said this too, but I wish the added fee for tan or grey resin was less extreme. A few companies offer it for only a modest amount extra, but it's often $50-$100 extra. I pay the extra fee for all the pretty shades of tan, but I wish it was lower!

 

Right??? I think the problem here is the community this one isn't nice at all. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just competing with others instead of sharing the love for dolls