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

Im sorry i guess i made a pretty thoughtless statement about the tv and console thing, that was rude of me. But i guess in my defense i live in a 'techy' community with people who build their own computers, gaming laptops and such. So they spend a lot of money on computer hardware.
I will say they thought i was crazy when i told them i was spending so much on doll :p but im enjoying the hobby and thats all that matters !

 

After being in the hobby for three years I have realized my aesthetic and am attracted to dolls under 30cm. Even for dolls in the 'tiny' category, there is a great range of prices, from less expensive to very expensive Artisan dolls. I think the same goes with any size category. I guess I get confused when people talk about 'cheap' dolls... do they mean just price (less than a certain amount) or are they actually meaning a specific brand that generally sells for less? Am I a 'cheap' doll owner because I have dolls from Brand X (who's dolls sell for less than others) and not Brand A (who's sell for more than others)? Humm.... I just look at it like it does not apply to me as I don't care what category I might be in as I'm happy with my collection.

 

I definitely agree that even an inexpensive doll can be made to look exceptional. But wigs, eyes, clothes, and jewlerly can quickly add up too if you don't already have a stock pile from years of collecting.

If I felt I wasn't in a position to buy the doll I really wanted, I probably shouldn't be buying one period, even a cheaper alternative.

I do consider BJDs a luxury, my purchases are far and few between but it doesn't bother me. I'm a student and working so my income is limited and I save what I can.

The few BJDs I do have are extremely special to me because they take so much time and work to acquire. I would definitely prefer to have one, more expensive doll than several "cheaper" ones, especially if I feel as though I'm "settling" on the inexpensive ones.

As kurogane mentioned regarding doll size, that is an interesting point. 1/3 has always been my "go to default" for BJDs, I've never had smaller dolls. But they are generally quite a bit cheaper as they go down in size (naturally).

But again, opting out of a smaller doll would not be something I would sacrifice if it would compromise the character I had in mind for my doll.

 

If I want something bad enough, I will save up for it. I don't limit myself much when it comes to what dolls I buy. I don't buy dolls because they are popular. I don't buy dolls because they are expensive. I don't buy dolls because they are inexpensive. I don't believe in settling, but I also don't believe in spending more than your means on a hobby. I've seen Resinsouls are done up better than Sooms, and also Sooms that are done up better than Resinsouls. I believe it's what an owner does with the doll that makes it beautiful and special!

I can honestly say that one of my "cheaper" dolls (Dollshe Saint bought during the 1/2 off sale) looks as good as my most expensive LE (Soom Amber). My Saint is the doll I pull out all the time, too! Inexpensive dolls can look amazing. All that really matters is that the person buying their dolls is happy with them

 

while i agree with the opinion that no matter what these dolls are not 'cheap'. they are not a twenty dollar barbie you can buy off the shelves at walmart. shipping, wigs, face-ups, clothing, shoes, eyes, those are all the basics of what a doll owner should expect to pay for and they add up. i think that i made some mistakes buying 'cheaper' molds in the beginning to avoid paying the cost of my grail doll (unoa l-bi).

in the end if you love a doll, whether it's a less expensive doll or not, that's what matters. if you're avoiding buying a doll that you really truly love because of the price, you should just save, trust me you'll be happier that way (i speak from experience).

 

I'm happier with my cheaper or used dolls honestly...simply because of the guilt factor. Parker, Nina, and Hope were all around $400 or under. (Hope being my grail doll - he needs a little refurbishing, but worth it!) My B&G doll that I'm trying to sell I want to get rid of just because he was an impulse buy and sooo much more expensive than the others, and it was a waste because I wound up not liking him much. :/

Honestly, I'll be sticking with cheaper or used dolls from now on. (And I say "cheaper" cuz no BJD is cheap!)

 

Two out of my three dolls would be considered "cheap" dolls. They are both Bobobie SDs. I looked mostly at Bobobie when starting out because they are very affordable and because I have friends with Bobobies that I had seen and heard good things about. I think that "cheap" dolls are just fine. I love my Bobobies, and to be honest, I'm not even sure that a "cheap" doll really exists. $170 new is still a lot of money! I don't know if I'll always look at lower-priced dolls, but for right now, as a freshman in college, if I buy a doll, they are not going to be a super expensive one!

 

I don't think keeping a limit on price is unreasonable. I've generally limited myself to under $300 (give or take a bit) and haven't found that it really limits me that much in what I have to choose from, especially with the number of companies out there. (It helps that I stick to MSD or smaller, too.) There's also, for me, an intimidation factor when the doll is more expensive--the one I did spend more money on, I never could bring myself to handle or play with because I was so afraid of breaking her, and eventually sold her off to a new owner. With the less expensive ones I have now, I have no real intimidation about taking them out for photos or meets, taking them apart to customize, and so on. I still wouldn't consider them "cheap," though, even the least expensive ones were still a good chunk of money when you have bills to pay.

 

I have to say that I, as a person, have forced myself to only buy cheap dolls. I'm a Sophomore and i don't have a job, so the most i make in a month is 20$ doing chores. Not to mention, there are holes larger than the marina trench in my pockets, and i rarely spend money. As such, buying something like a msd or a fairyland doll is pretty much out of the question for me. I look at the larger dolls, usually the dolls that are limited edition, and pine because there's no way i can afford something as glorious as them
As such, i havn't really strayed much from MSDs and DDs

I dont think that there is anything wrong with buying cheaper dolls, but at the same time, if there's a doll that you adore and you see the chance to buy them, do it!

 

I buy whatever touches my fancy. I own a Bobobie Chocolate pandora and a Loongsoul doll Jing Ling on a dragon doll girl body. The body was relatively cheap. I also have a Dollmore Ipsae on an AOD body. Most of the dolls on my wishlist are 'cheeper dolls' not because they are cheaper but because i LOVE the sculpt.

for the most part my dolls are semi- expensive heads with cheaper bodies. that being said I have a Soom SG body on layaway for my Feeple elf Chloe. it will be fitted with Beryl legs. I also have a Cuprit on layaway but she is my grail. ^_^

I guess you can say that I am not swayed by popularity or price. I get what I like

 

When I started looking for my first doll I was looking for something that would suit my taste. I wanted something that I would completely love. I found several dolls that filled my criteria. They were expensive but I wanted a doll right away so I started looking for something cheaper. I had a hard time choosing, not because they were cheaper but because I knew what I wanted, but couldn't afford that particular doll at the time. My boyfriend told me that I shouldn't settle for something that's cheaper because it's not the doll I wanted and I would be unhappy about it. He prompted me to save the money for the one I wanted. I would have made a huge mistake if it wasn't for him. Now, I don't really care about the price of a doll. It's not what I'm looking at when considering a doll. I look at the face of the doll, it's body, the resin options available, poseability, and company feedback. The price of a doll is never considered. The only time I look over the pricing is after I've decided the doll is for me and I need to figure out how I'm going to budget that doll into my finances. I've probably browsed the websites of all doll companies and I find that there are dolls I want from a number of companies with very different price ranges. >.> Although, I do believe the majority of my wishlist is filled with dolls from two particular companies that aren't cheap by any means. It's just what I prefer and price has nothing to do with it.

 

That's me right there~ uvu;; I only get what I like... my first boy cost me only 150 or so dollars and he's still my most beloved doll; I can never get enough of his face. My grails on the other hand are all extremely rare, quite pricey dolls (Crobidoll Lance Daydream, Immortality of Soul Chaos, Switch Seoha) even more so since I had to acquire them secondhand. There's also a Resinsoul among the Luts and Fairyland and Crobidoll and Doll Chateau and Soom and other expensive dolls in my wishlist as well as several other cheaper dolls. It's never about the price! c:

 

My reasons for buying cheaper dolls are both the same and different than a lot of people in this thread. Firstly, I'm wholly in agreement with the "it's your money and you can spend it how you like" philosophy. As for me, I only have one doll at the moment, and she's just a humble little (or rather, big) Mirodoll 60cm. I'm planning on getting an SD sized boy as well, and he will probably also be on the cheap end of things. I have several reasons for this.

Firstly the obvious, I don't have a ton of money to spend, I've never had a lot of extra cash and even if I did, I don't know if I could justify spending more than a couple hundred bucks on something that is not a necessity.

Secondly, I want to be able to mod my dolls. Yes, I *could* mod an $800 doll, but that would be terrifying! Maybe once I've had a lot more practice I will be more comfortable, but I'd much rather try it out on something that cost me less than $200 first.

Thirdly, I'm a crafter at heart, and I want to *make* stuff more than I want to *have* stuff (which will, probably and hopefully, lead me to selling a bunch of things I've made on the Marketplace or in an Etsy shop :P). So I wanted to get a doll so I could start sewing her clothes and making her furniture and modding her feet and painting her face etc...

Fourthly, and I dunno if anyone else has this reason but... I kind of like taking something "plain" or "ordinary" and working on it to make it into something more special. I know Miya (Mirodoll Wind) isn't the fanciest or prettiest sculpt out there (though I really do love her face), and her body is definitely not the most poseable, but I'm slowly improving on her aesthetics with successive faceups and mechanics with sueding and adding S hooks where she didn't have them... I'd actually really love to try buying a damaged doll and restoring him/her. I'd feel like a dolly doctor

All that being said, there are some really beautiful sculpts out there that remain outside my price range for now, but maybe someday....

 

I waited almost 5 years from the time I saw my first BJD to start collecting them - because I wanted the dolls that fit my characters. Some are cheap(er) & some are not. BTW 'used' dolls hardly means cheaper - the most expensive doll I own came 2nd hand from the MP..... That does not translate to me not having some pricey resin either.

 

I've been fortunate enough that none of the sculpts I've wanted have been particularly expensive (although the small fortune I've spent on face-ups, wigs, eyes, mods and clothes bumps up their cost considerably I'm sure). I do agree that all of these dolls are expensive when compared to some other hobbies - maybe if I'd taken up bird watching my wallet would be heavier However, I do operate within a certain budget at the moment. In a sense I limit myself because I don't even look at the very pricey limiteds; that's not to say that I bought my dolls only because they're 'cheap' as I do want and adore them all, I just mean that if I can be so happy within my budget I don't see why I should spend more money for the same amount of happiness.

 

I never thought about this until I recently decided to chase after my "lost grail" that I had written off simply because of low availability and a ridiculous secondhand price. Now that I have actually started to save and hunt these dolls down online I was faced with the possibility of actually acquiring her fullset, exactly how she came from the company, all accessories included together with her original faceup to boot and have hence encountered this dilemma. Her faceup is cute but less than ideal, never mind that it's a really old doll so, best case scenario, its fogged and yellowed because of the aging sealant. I'd really would like to get her a new, professionally done, faceup but for one I'll have to send her out of the country and I'm very paranoid since she's very expensive, and two -which is the issue at hand- I'd be wiping the original faceup off a very limited, very expensive doll...

 

My friend who got me into this hobby suggests I save for the doll I really want, a DOD Homme Ducan, but the problem is how long Id have to save for and the fact that there are other dolls, much cheeper, I also want... Im constantly changing my mind; While I dont want Ducan to stop being available before I can get him, I also want to have a couple more dolls in half the time it would take to get him...

 

I've been in this hobby for about a year now. Knowing that I wanted to learn how to take a doll apart & put her back together, I started out with 'needs someone to love her' dolls that were affordable for me. After I began to understand how to work with the dolls it was easier for me to be more selective. Since I like to do photo shoots with my dolls, I'm happiest taking the less expensive ones out to play. Spend time thinking about why you want to get into the hobby, what you want to get from being in the bjd world, and then buy what you love - when you can afford it.

 

I know what you mean. I guess the question you'll need to ask yourself is: which doll do I like the most? Is there a particular doll sculpt you'd be heartbroken over if you missed out on it?

Usually, when I'm in a similar situation, I'd imagine that all of the dolls I want are the same (high) price. That usually gives me an idea who's my favorite, because I'm still loving it just as much as I did when I didn't imagine it to be worth $5000.

 

I'm a bit unlucky in that the only dolls I like enough to want to buy are Soom's sculpts, which are limited and expensive. Luckily, Soom offer long layaways, so I've always been able to make things work. Plus I'd rather own one $800 doll that I love than two $400 dolls I don't, and I'd rather own $800 worth of heads that share a body than one full doll.