No longer interested in a my favorite BJD company?!

I'm glad to hear you have found some alternatives to Fairyland that you really love! There is so much more variety to choose from today than there was when I started in the hobby.

I used to love DollZone and SoulDoll, but both companies have changed their esthetic and company aim, and I don't follow them any more. I have always preferred a more anime esthetic in my dolls, and that hasn't changed for me. I like looking at more realistic dolls, but I know they just wouldn't fit in here. I haven't yet found one I HAD to have who can break down the door.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

Branching out can be a good thing!

Angell-Studio and Volks have the largest number of sculpts that I really like, but I have lots of dolls at home and/or on my wishlist from Luts, Huajing Doll, Xagadoll, Asleep Eidolon, Ringdoll, RS Doll, Lina Chouchou, Soom, Dikadoll....

I love my collection, and I love how diverse it will be in terms of companies represented, once I manage to snag more from my wish list. ^_^

It's a great way to really REALLY pinpoint what your preferences are, in terms of sculpts and bodies, too. I tend to find dolls with similar qualities across several companies, and it's really shown me the exact direction that I think my collection will continue to go in.

 

I'm a huge FairyLand fan, my only dolls are from them, but I'd love to know what other companies caught your interest so I can check them out too!

 

I used to love Iplehouse back in the day, but once they revamped their doll line, I lost interest. Not sure if the old artist walked away but none of the newer dolls resemble the old ones except a few. My taste have changed a bit, but I still love my dolls and likely will not sell them. I'm really into Volks nowadays.

 

It happens. When I was new in the hobby I thought that I will have Loong Soul and Soom dolls, but never have a Doll Chateau or a Ringdoll... After more than five years I have and IOS-Universe Doll hybrid, an incoming Ringdoll-Dream Valley hybrid, and a Doll Chateau girl. (Last two is travelling home now)

 

when I started in this hobby, ring doll was my favourite, and I'm not sure I feel comfortable supporting them. After that it was Doll Chateau, which is not the aesthetic I'm interested at all anymore (though those bone wings are lovely). After that I basically fell out of the hobby, and now it's Twigling. things really change and fluctuate, and I find I really enjoy those changes, and falling in love with something new

 

Doll Chateau have completely lost me with their new sculpts. They discontinued all of the older sculpts I liked and I've not bought anything from them since the last large discontinuation event. The new sculpts are too similar to DZ/DV and just lacking that certain something that used to spark my interest.

 

Soom's esthetic has changed over time, and I've gradually grown less in love with their changes. Still, they occasionally have rereleases of their old sculpts, which I still love, and sometimes they do have releases I love. The fact that they don't offer fantasy parts blushing for tiny dolls anymore is..... particularly irritating, especially since faceup artists will not copy company blushing, which means it's impossible to get the doll you fell in love with, if you fall in love with a tiny's blushing.

 

Soom and Dollshe were my big loves when I first got into the hobby. I really wanted a lot of Dollshe guys and for a while those dolls made up a lot of my collection. I also loved Supiadoll. I feel like as I grew into the hobby and my tastes changed and somewhere down the line Iplehouse became my love. I love the realism of their sculpts and the size of the dolls.

 

When I first got into the hobby more than ten years ago I was all about the realistic sculpts and preferred tall dolls with long, slender limbs. Iplehouse was my favorite company. I had zero interest in cute, stylized sculpts and did not care for childlike dolls at all. Now I only want Volks dolls with big eyes and my favorite size is DearSD...

 

This is my 14th year in the hobby, but I’ve never soured on a favorite company. I think this is because I set up my collection from the very beginning to be freely diverse, owing to a fantasy connection, so I never had the chance to become bored with a single company’s sculpts. If they were’t exactly right for a specific character, then I branched out to other companies. In my profile, I list my doll family organized by company...which is fun because it shows me where my loyalties lie while making it easy to see the times I’ve chosen “outside the box”. I think all this has kept my collection fresh while enabling me to still remain loyal to certain companies.

 

I was all about Soom and Dollshe way back when, and told myself I'd own a doll from either company one day. I have since left the hobby and returned, and even with Dollshe running extreme sales and Soom dolls being more readily accessible second hand, they're just not doing "it" for me anymore. There's still a select few sculpts I'd probably keel over dead if I came into ownership of, but otherwise, I'm content to explore the lesser-known, hard-to-find companies that are bringing new and fresh things to the table concept and design wise.

 

Soom was the company that first got me into the hobby with their Mini Gem line, and I loved looking at their bigger dolls, even if they were bigger and more expensive than I wanted to buy. I was really drawn to the fantasy element of many of their dolls. Seven years later, and I no longer love their new dolls, and more companies make fantasy dolls. The first MSD I got is from Dream Valley. She's what I like about some of Soom's dolls (wings & elf ears) and Doll Chateau's older MSD face sculpts all in one doll. And I want another doll from the same company since her posing is so awesome.

I tried to stay with a cohesive aesthetic of dolls all the same scale in a similar style range, but love my Dollzone fantasy Wendy and my tiny Granado man equally. They don't go together in anyway other than being a similar size.

 

When I just got into the hobby I really, really admired old Dollshe boys and for some time considered Dollshe my favorite company.
Now I still think that they're beautiful and distinctive but not the most gorgeous for me anymore. They do have a lot of personality though and I still appreciate it.

The funniest thing that now my fav is Iplehouse which I didn't like at first. I considered them way too glamorous and basic, with a lot of gloss but very little character. How stupid I was. They're wonderful, very lifelike and diverse and I absolutely love them now

 

I really love having a variety of dolls. Iplehouse EID/FID male sculpts and Migidoll SD male sculpts were my favourites for a long time. I still check out their websites from time to time. The Migidoll face up style has changed radically since when I first started looking at BJDs and I find them less attractive now.

Now I find myself looking at new companies so that I can have a range of different sculpts and body types in my collection. I have a Loongsoul SD on order as well as a Dollshe Saint and an Atelier Momoni Momonita.

 

When I was first really into the hobby I would always say that DollZone and Ringdoll were tied in that respect.

I loved DollZone's style and wanted most of their minis. My first and still-favorite doll Laika is their Shoyo sculpt, and I remember eagerly planning out my and my friend's characters into all their mini sculpts. Unfortunately I was a teenager and couldn't save up for dolls easily, especially if I wanted to get stuff for the doll(s) I already had. And then I kind of lost interest in buying new from companies for a while, and after a while DollZone had kind of changed their style too. They also discontinued the older double-jointed bodies in favor of a new wider-hipped body that was hard to find clothes for (though I ended up getting a secondhand DZ Hal with that body and I actually really like it, even though I was dubious at first), and then in general their newer bodies just didn't look good to me. It seemed they were going for a different style than the cartoon/anime-esque one they had when I first got into the company. Now they're just completely unappealing to me. (though apparently when you can find the older sculpts on the MP they're relatively cheap! they haven't retained their initial value a lot I guess or maybe it's just been long enough. I have no interest in selling Laika but if I wanted to I'd probably make around 1/3 of what I spent if that).

As for Ringdoll, I loved the aesthetic of their 1/3 "Teenager" boy sculpts such as Spencer(my Grail), Petter, Ashford, Don, etc., but they had issues regarding long wait times and when they switched to mainly releasing sculpts in their "Grown" line I lost interest, as they were also discontinuing the Teen sculpts one by one. I'm lucky I was able to get Spencer when they were about to be discontinued, but by that time most of the other RD sculpts I liked were gone and they had apparently switched styles to more simple face designs that pretty much blended together in my face-blind eyes. Then of course the whole political thing happened and I'm no longer interested in supporting them, but I already was feeling like I couldn't justify the price anyway when there are other dolls out there that are just as god but half the price. I also was never really interested their Ring Kid line, and if I'm going to be accumulating several dolls, I'd rather them be minis.

 

I don't know if I'll ever have a favourite bjd company to the point that I would only consider dolls from that company. I can narrow down books to favourite creators and etc but it doesn't stop me from purchasing another. Even as a beginner customiser of offtopic dolls I try to have a diverse stock box.

I think being over a favourite is part of any hobbies. You do you etc.

 

I used to love Iplehouse and only thought of them as superior than anything else so I usually stalk their page until I got one myself.

Unfortunately I didn't like it at all. I got so disappointed with the body, the posing if it does pose and the magnets but the face sculpt is gorgeous I should say.

I shifted now to other companies tho I still think of hybrid the iplehouse head someday to more impressive body that other companies are offering.