Nervous about stangers holding your dolls at conventions?

i've gone to many cons with my dolls. we tend to display them as a group in the lobby. We also doll sit to let people in the group take turns shopping or going to panels. People i have dealt with have been very polite and respectful. Noone picks up dolls without asking, but when they ask I don't hesitate to let them hold my dolls. The non doll people who approach are handled differently depending on how they approach. If they come up fast and obviously arent being careful, we converge and block their way if needed. if they keep a distance and are curious, I immediately ask if they'd like to hold one. To me, that's how you really hook people in this hobby. I've had girls practically cry why they hold my boys because they really wanted to, but were too scared to even ask. Now maybe I'm naive, lucky, or just a scary 6 foot tall chick, but I've never even once worried about someone running off with my doll when they hold it. I obviously stay within reach since they arent familiar with dolls, but wow have people really had strangers take off with their doll right in front of them??

Either way, its worth the risk to me. I love to share my hobby with others. I wish I had found BJDs earlier in life and I know I really appreciated the group of friends who took me in before I had a doll and made me feel welcome.

 

I used to just assume that everyone at meetups knew how to take care of dolls, until a disasterous meet early on in my hobby experience where one of my dolls was returned to my table with his finger hanging on by a thread and another with a heel snapped off her boot. I'm a lot more careful about who's allowed to touch them in public now, and I definitely would not let a total stranger at a con hold one. People can be careless, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

I used to be fine with people holding my dolls and I'd keep an eye on them as they did. Then, at a local meet, someone asked to take pictures of one of my dolls and I said sure. They took the photo of the doll posed against a railing and then... walked away to talk to somebody leaving my doll standing there against a railing in a public place a good 3 feet off a tiled concrete floor. Fortunately, my boy stands like a rock and was fine but that wasn't the point. Anybody walking on the other side of the railing could've bumped it accidentally and sent my boy crashing to the floor. Or my boy could've done one of those infamous dolly nose dives for no apparent reason. After that, you only get to hold my guys if I know you well and trust you to be careful.

When I go to AnimeNorth, I always bring several dolls with me to wander around in DollNorth. However, they tend to stay in their carry bag until I need to haul them out to try stuff on or show them to specific people. They're much safer that way and worlds easier to carry.

Don't be afraid of saying no to someone who wants to hold your doll if you're not comfortable with it. If they persist, tell them how expensive the doll is and that you're not prepared to put something that valuable in the hands of a stranger.

 

I wouldn't let anyone hold my dolls that I didn't know and trust. They are worth too much (both price-wise and sentimentally) to risk an accident. I would leave my dolls at home if I went to a con to ensure than an accident wouldn't happen, but that's just my personal preference.

 

Okay, since I don't have my own doll yet, I speak from the perspective of one who has asked to hold a doll before. Me though, I don't know if I'm different or not, but knowing the dolls are breakable made me very wary to handle one the first time. It was not at a convention, but a free activity that the convention sponsors at a local coffee house. I politely asked, or maybe the owner offered because she saw me staring at her gorgeous boy so longingly, but either way I held onto that doll like it was my baby and the most precious thing in the world. I didn't even dare leave the owners side though she said she was okay as long as she could see me. And I didn't hold the doll long either because I was so afraid I was going to break him. One time, with the same owner, after I had gotten used to handling her boys I took one out of the back room where the activities are held and into the main part of the coffee house. I was so busy, as I am on staff with the convention that holds these activities, that I kind of just did my job without realizing I was taking her boy out of her sight. As soon as I realized I still had him in my arms I took him back to his owner and abjectly apologized for taking him out of the room. She seemed to be okay, because she knows me and is comfortable with me carrying around her dolls, but it scared me. Crazy, huh? Anyway, I've gotten asked several times, when I'm carrying around one of her boys, if he is mine, or can the person hold him. I always tell them he is not mine and if they want to hold him they have to ask the owner. That doll does not go out of my arms unless I get an okay from her; and I don't just take the other persons word that they have permission either; I make sure with the owner herself.

So, yeah, there are those people out there that make you want to scream and never let anyone ever touch your doll. But then there are people like me. And even those that are in between.

Me, at least for the first little while after I get my first doll, although I might be willing to tell people all about her, I don't think I'll let anybody hold her that I don't know really well. At least not at first. Who knows about later.

All in all, it's purely your decision, and others should respect that.

 

I was actually planning on taking my doll to a con in the hopes of meeting doll people I didn't even consider this hmm I guess it would depend on the person I might just politely decline but still let them hold his hand or something I'd probably be in the bathroom cleaning it up with magic eraser even few minutes lol

 

I plan on taking Quinn and Tori with me to a local con in a couple months, on separate days though. I'd probably be fine with people handling Tori 'cause she's pretty sturdy, but Quinn likes to flop around and I can see someone who's not familiar with dolls dropping her D: They're gonna be dressed up all frilly and nice, so I'm preparing myself for the inevitable barrage of questions lol.

 

It's been some time since I've gone to a con, but I'm planning to attend a few later this year. I'd never worried about letting anyone handle my dolls before - in my previous experiences, people would ask before trying to handle anyone else's crew carefully. I realize now that I've been pretty lucky! There's a regular attendee at local meets who has a bad habit of grabbing dolls by the neck or head, and without permission. So I'll probably be much more careful at cons in the future.

 

I would only allow other BJD collectors to hold my doll. Or people who, after hearing about the cost, agree to pay for any damages they may incur accidentally.

 

I take my dolls to conventions and let whoever wants to hold them - but in truth, not many people ask.

Same here

Teddy

 

After reading the previous comments, a possible suggestion might be having behavior expectations posted at the entries, on vendors' tables and on PR media ( newspaper, FaceBook). Then again, you could tell those you don't feel comfortable with handling your possessions that these are "protection dolls" and they bite! Lol

 

I've never been to a con before, but I take my dolls to as many events as I can. Most recently, myself and my Dollmore Narsha boy were at Norwich Big Geek Meet, where I did have the strangest experience I have had with one of the organisers coming up without any warning and moving my doll's hands and stuff, which was surprising and a little out of my comfort zone but nothing bad happened. Tbh with my experience I don't get a lot of attention in crowds for my dolls but atm they are all MSD or smaller. Walking around random places, mainly college, I do get a lot of interest though. One of my college's nurses loves my dolls ^ - ^

 

That's the point you stop trying to be polite and scream at the top of your lungs, "Stop, thief!" and start yelling to the people around you that she's stealing your doll. Conventions have security and somebody taking something of yours without your permission IS stealing, no matter if they claim it was a joke or not.

Plus, hopefully it would embarrass the Hell out of them and they're less likely to try that sort of "harmless" behaviour again on you or anybody else.

Teddy

 

I don't even own an expensive doll yet and I would say no, be stingy and probably figure a way to keep my dolls behind plexi or something if they were on a table as a display. I don't let people touch my canvas art just because either. As I tell my daughter we look with our eyes not with our hands. Now that said if I ended up striking a long wonderful conversation with a lovely person and they end up mentioning they were thinking of getting that sculpt themselves blah blah blah then I might offer and be VERY diligently on top of them till the doll came back home.

 

yeah this is probably what I wold have done. totally not acceptable behavior. It was very childish on their part. I am sad no one intervened when she was "joking" about stealing and seeing the owner stressed.