Only allowing yourself to buy "cheaper" dolls? Part II

I've only bought "cheap" dolls so far, although I don't think anything $200+ is exactly cheap
But it's not because I don't want to spend more, it's because I like my cheaper dolls a lot more than most expensive dolls. There is only one expensive doll that I really really want and I do plan on getting her someday. Other than that, I like Dollzone and Doll Leaves and Bobobie. I plan on buying a lot more from each of those companies. A lot of the more expensive companies just don't have sculpts that I can't live without, the cheaper ones do.

 

Hmm, I hear what everyone is saying, it's ok to buy a cheap doll if it doesn't have flaws that bother you. The problem I run into is that, how do you know what its flaws are until you are holding the doll yourself?
There are lots of reviews around, but since dolls are so expensive people tend to buy only what they know they will be satisfied with, and so you end up with the experienced, able to make informed judgements doll owners buying expensive high end dolls saying (obviously) "These dolls are great!". The only people reviewing low end dolls are unexperienced or not picky doll owners saying "I love my doll~!". Both of which are true, but it doesn't give much of an unbiased reports on the quality of the dolls themselves.

For some companies it is easy to tell; if I fall in love with a Resinsoul or Bobobie doll, I know just from looking at the stock images and from the judgements that some people hold that the doll will have seam lines, it will probably have difficulty posing, etc.
But, what of the less popular cheap brands? I'm looking at a few options, and all the reviews are mainly positive, but I find it hard to believe that a company which sells for so cheap could have such good quality.

 

Personally, for example, I think RS dolls are great. The more people put them down the more I want to get an army of them and show them what can be done with them. If you put effort into a doll, and a lot of this effort involves money, you will get a wonderful doll, doesn't matter what company it's from. It sounds really bad, the money thing, but I think it's truth. You need to be prepared to put money into the doll after it's been purchased.
Man, you know, sometimes if you have a smaller budget then getting a cheaper doll is the cleverer thing to do really. Then any leftover money from your budget can be put to really nice eyes, a beautiful wig, a stunning face-up and a well-made set of clothes. (That's only if you like the doll you're buying that is, don't buy a doll just because it's cheap(er).)
That's way better than having an expensive, but naked and face-up-less doll in default eyes and a bad wig.
The cheaper doll will end up the best looking in that case.
You can spend a long time afterwards collecting the money for its accessories and gathering everything to make your basic more-expensive doll pretty after you receive it, but then you don't have a doll you can enjoy straight away because it might take months to get it looking decent.

P.S. I find it's always the more expensive dolls that still have seamlines. My RS's came already perfectly sanded. Maybe it'll have some difficulty posing (though my RS's stood and stuff from out the bag) but like lots of dolls, you can rectify that with a bit of care and expense, by buying a new set of elastics and sueding the joints.
Like I said, if you want a good doll you have to put money into it, whether it's RS or IH. The more you pay for already done the less you have to do when you get the doll, so I don't think RS dolls are good for beginners, because you have to do slightly more to it yourself when you receive it, but that doesn't make RS dolls bad dolls.

 

To me, there is no such thing as a cheap doll!

They all cost money. And if you're saving up for something, that money is still spent and means that much longer to save up or pay off something else.

I do buy expensive dolls, but do I WANT to pay those big amounts? NO! If I could get them for cheaper, I'd LOVE it. So if I want a less expensive doll, that's all GOOD. I think people who pay attention to price, high or low, are focusing on the wrong things. It is about the love of your doll, whether it cost a million or a buck.

... expensive dolls just mean more saving up and fewer other items/dolls you can get in that time. That's really the only difference. So people should focus on what they really want rather than the price.

 

There really isn't any such thing as a cheap doll in my opinion.

I don't base my purchases on how cheap or expensive a doll is, I just buy what I like.

 

I have a variety of expensive and cheaper dolls-- but I have to say there are perks to owning both and I don't think I'll ever only have of one variety. I find that SD Bobobie/Resinsoul mods are frikken brilliant and I have two. But I also love Soom and Iplehouse... so I don't know, I never really limited myself to expensive or cheaper. But I also think it's different for everyone. I really despise elitists.. 'Volks-slaves' or 'Soom mongers' as well as on the other side I don't like it when people only buy the cheapest dolls because they are the cheapest. I think you should go for whatever you want... Im probably off topic by now, but that's my 2 bits.

 

i dont call "cheaper dolls" cheap coz they are still not cheap at all, lets just say theyre affordable XD i do have some expensive ones (dod and volks) and affordable ones (aod and doll-love) in my collection.

 

Honestly, I don't care if a doll is expensive or 'cheap'. I get them because I like them. My first babe cost me nearly $400 by the time I got him fullset and shipping. I still adore him. I've now got two Hujoo babies, as well, who only cost me about $50-60 each, but I don't love them any less than my resin boy. I have another that I'm looking at and just the nude with faceup is almost $200. It really comes down to "How much do you want it?" rather than "How much is it?" for me. I don't mind saving for months to get what I want.

 

I don't go off of prices because there are a lot of dolls out there in the $240 -$400 range that are super cute !!

If you want a dream doll, then stop buying & start saving up.. even if it sells out.. there will be another that grabs your heart. It use to drive me crazy when I was saving up for an Ai Doll by Custom House.. & they would sell out in a heartbeat !!

I've found that I really love the FCS through Volks, bc you can make your own dream doll

 

I don't think any of these dolls are 'cheap'. It's an expensive hobby yet I'm happy to be apart of it. I'm buying my first resinsoul very soon and I think he's a great investment...Because he'll be mine...He'll be part of MY crew which makes up a bunch of random characters from a demon dog to a trauma surgeon.

 

It shouldn't matter whether a doll is cheap or expensive. If it's the doll you want, then it's the one you should get. (o: A bigger number doesn't always guarantee better quality either. I've had dolls that were fairly expensive, who were manufactured quite poorly. When I do find a more affordable addition to my crew, the price is only a plus. Never the deciding factor.

 

So someone that only likes Volks or Soom dolls is an elitist, yet someone who only likes Resinsoul, etc...isn't?

 

I very much like Fairyland Littlefee. The normal skin tone is beautiful. The joints of these dolls make them easy to pose. I can find lots of ready made cloths that fit them. Ken, TY Girlz and Beanie Babies are good sources for 28cm BJD dolls. They may not have the designer mana of a full set, but I like to combine and change the cloths to suit the seasons or the activity I image for my dolls. I have larger more expensive dolls, but I like this size very much. It is a bit smaller than YO. A great work of art is worth the extra money. Expensive BJDs seem to have good resale value. I buy my dolls to play with. There is nothing sadder than a boxed collection of mint dolls sitting on a shelf in a closet. A Vulcan Star Trek quote is: "It is better to want, than to have". I am still learning the wisdom of that quotation.

 

When I first started in the hobby there wasn't really any 'cheap' dolls available. My cheapest doll at the time was $600+!
It's pretty awesome that over the last 10 years so many new companies (and price points!) have become available. That being said, my tastes still seem to lean towards the more expensive end of the hobby. This isn't conscious choice! In fact it drives me bonkers because this hobby is expensive enough as it is
I think I just have bad luck in that my aesthetic tastes align with the more pricey companies *shakes fist*

 

Well under $200 is my idea of reasonable and while I might admire dolls that cost a lot more they're pretty much out of my range. $200 is actually more than I'd likely spend 90% of the time and it's not because I am cheap it's because that's what I can afford. A $500 and up doll might make me sigh but I can't rationalize it. That's my rent. That's the equivalent of a camera or a lens I might need for work. I'm kind of glad I found about Resinsoul and MiroDoll BJD's first actually. They're cute and affordable and honestly as much as I might sigh over that $500-up doll I'd much rather have a few RS or Miro BJD's for that same sum. I'm mostly going used with my dolls, or low end and I'm fine with that. In my eyes the dolls I have they're just as cute as the dolls that cost 5X more.

 

I go for dolls that suit my characters. A lot of the time, they just happen to come from less expensive companies.

But if there were two dolls that suited a character equally as well, I'd probably go for a cheaper one.

But it doesn't really matter to me. I just don't happen to be very interested in $800+ dolls in general. Sure, FL and Soom and IH fullsets are awfully nice, but I don't really need them for the characters I want. (Though I am very glad I didn't have the money to get a fullset Soom Gem Agate, because I would have bought her with EVERYTHING for my girlfriend, who's a huge Game of Thrones fan and loves Daenerys.)

 

people have so many different ideas of whats expensive and whats not wow
At least for dolls, I think that anything 370 and below is cheap and anything above that is expensive. I don't think 200 dollars is that bad its about as much you would pay for a tv or a console and most everyone has a PlayStation or xbox :p

 

I agree with this very much. Any doll can look good or bad depending on what the owner does with it -- when someone really puts the effort into their doll (whatever it happens to be) it really shows.

The important thing is that people are happy with their dolls, whatever those dolls are. I can understand being on a budget, or being new and unsure. However, my advice would not be to automatically go with what is the most rock bottom price, but rather give oneself a price range to look in so that there are choices. Maybe what's the rock bottom cheapest is the best choice for that person, but maybe it isn't. What you don't want to do is buy something because it's cheap only to part with it later. Once that happens a few times, it honestly becomes more economical to put more money in and get something you love and are less likely to turn around and resell. Obviously if you love your cheap dolls, then don't worry about it and carry on

I started out with a real mix of dolls -- some were cheaper some were not. I have pulled a lot of the cheaper ones out to sell -- not because I dislike them because they are cheap, but because the dolls I am more drawn to happen to occupy the more expensive end of the dolly spectrum. That said, if you really want to throw a wrench into the cheap/expensive scenario, I have gotten dolls from more expensive companies for much cheaper prices second hand. Sometimes being willing to put the effort into combing the sale threads really pays off proving that people on a budget sometimes have more options than they might think.

 

Actually where I live that's considered a luxury item pretty much and buying a new TV or computer or something like that is something most people only do when they have to. FYI, $200-300 is what I make some weeks and I have to work my butt off some weeks to make that. I still make about as much as I did doing retail or office work but now at least I'm my own boss and I don't have to work for morons who think I'm going to be their slave 24 hours a day for $7 an hour.

There are a lot of things I go without to be able to afford my dolls. I don't go to the movies very often anymore or go clubbing. I don't eat out a whole heck of a lot or buy a lot of new clothes. I make a lot of my doll clothes because buying real doll clothes can be pretty expensive. It's a trade off but make no mistake spending $150 plus for a doll that is major money for me and I really do have to think about it, weigh my options, and usually buy on lay-a-way to be able to do it and even when I do I know I'm going to have to make room for it in the budget elsewhere to be able to manage it.

When I bought my Lu I sent a MO to Cloaked Schemer that got lost somewhere between here and there. It's not been cashed but I'm still waiting on the PO to finish their investigation so I can have that $75 back. Might not seem like much but I had to kill 1/3 of a paycheck I wasn't counting on to be able to make up that MO and get that lay-a-way done and that was partly money I had planned on putting into my kitty bank for a body for the Kelly head she sold me and partly money that I had budgeted for my groceries. So losing it for a while that really did smart. The body for Kelly can wait a bit, but the $40 out my food budget wasn't so easy to deal with. I'm going to be eating a lot of P&J and noodle soups this month until they get their act together, finish their stupid investigation, and give me my money back!

Not everybody who collects dolls has the kind of budget where they can drop several hundred dollars on a doll. A $200 Resinsoul that's a VERY big deal for me and buying a doll that costs 3-5X that is just something I dream of. Like I said in my earlier post I stayed away from BJD's for a very long time because I never realized there were low end dolls. I would not have most of the dolls I have now if it was not for getting most of them as gifts or in trade and not one of them cost $150 actually.

I'm very happy companies like Resinsoul and MiroDoll exist. I wouldn't be able to collect BJD's if they didn't. I'd like to be able to be more picky about the quality of my dolls, sure, but with the constraints of my wallet I can't really afford to be that picky. Better they're low end or cosmetically challenged than no dolls at all. :P

The way I was raised I didn't have a whole lot by way of toys. I had a TV and a stereo box growing up and I had a wardrobe full of clothes but I had to earn them myself. I had a p/t job from the time I was about 12. I babysat neighborhood kids first then went into retail once I was legal to work that. My one half sister she came to stay with us once and she was miffed to see that, that I had a TV and a little stereo and a closet full of pretty clothes. But I earned that stuff myself and I told her that. My parents put a roof over my head and fed me, bought me jeans and t-shirts, but they didn't have the money for much else.

I still don't take "toys" for granted. When it comes to dolls a lot of people really do, but that's just not something I can do. No matter which way you look at it the money for a doll has to come from somewhere and in my case that usually means not having something else. Most of the sacrifices I make to be able to afford my hobby are cool. I don't mind. I love my dolls and unlike going to the movies or whatever I will still have them long after the memory of a movie is likely gone. A doll on the shelf is tangible. The pleasure I get from having it lasts, and that's why that sub $150 doll is something I think it worth it in the end. It is a major purchase though...

 

Although I'm pretty sure you don't mean it that way, I'm going to say it anyway: just because someone is willing to cash out hundreds of dollars on a doll, doesn't mean they take toys for granted. Almost everyone of us will have to make sacrifices to be able to afford these dolls. Money still doesn't grow on trees.

Back on topic:

I think it is a common misperception to think that people owning more expensive dolls have tons of throwaway cash. (at least, it's a notion that I've come across quite a few times) That's not how it works. In this I can only speak for myself, but I have a very low income; it's never gotten above minimum wage and most of the time it's not even half of minimum wage. Still, I own quite a few expensive dolls. To get them, I'll have to make sacrifices: these are pretty much the only luxuries I allow myself to have. And even then I'm only able to buy 1 doll a year: no extra's like outfits, shoes, wigs, face-ups or eyes included.

Owning expensive dolls doesn't automatically mean that someone is rich, or that she has trouble managing her finances. It could also mean that someone is good at budgetting and very, VERY patient.

Whether you go for the more affordable or the high-end dolls doesn't matter. We all plot and plan and budget and hope that there's some spare change left that we can use for our doll funds.