Opinion on Fairyland, over hyped or not?

I have two, a Fairyline60 Miwa and a Feeple60 Chloe. I love them both but I am also not super impressed with them. Miwa is my beloved trouble child. Moments after opening her a piece of her neck broke and she needed a torso replacement. Even with the help of fellow collectors, her stringing has never been great and she remains floppy. Every time I do much of anything with her she falls apart. I will never ever sell her but she’s also my most frustrating doll. My Chloe is beautiful but I feel her posability is limited and I kind of wish I had invested that money into another doll.

I do like the magnet hands and feet, very cool design that makes it much easier to change their clothes. But I won’t be purchasing another Fairyland no matter how much I enjoy their stock photos.

 

Part of the "hype" of Fairyland is in their history.

The neck system is entirely their invention. I think the magnetic hands (and later, feet) were their invention as well. Hell, before their neck mechanism, good luck if you bought a shirt without fasteners.

Before Minifee, the only mature MSDs on the market that I recall, were Unoas.

So, the first Minifee I bought, back when Cerberus Project was still under Luts, was essentially unclothe-able. Even Unoa clothes were (and now definitely are, since MNF have been slimmed down over the years) too big. And sometimes Unoa-sized clothes were difficult to find. Volks MSD clothes were the standard sizing.

Now? I can barely find clothes made specifically for my Unoa, but by golly, MNF sized clothes are ubiquitous. And that, if nothing else, says something about their popularity.

 

I've been noodling this for some time. I have come to the conclusion that whether FL is overhyped isn't what I think about. It's how much doll am I getting for my money? For me, the ideal doll is going to have certain posing and a certain aesthetic. I'm not super picky, but I know what I like and don't like.

The reason I ended up selling all but one of my FL bodies is mostly because of the posing. If they could slouch more (like if the pelvic joint on the A-line bodies wasn't just for decoration) and if the mobility thigh joint was capable of popping out so the dolls could pull their legs up to their chest, it's the plain truth that I would have been much happier. At this point, if I'm going to put $500 into a 16 inch doll, it's gotta be able to pose like a living thing (side note, I have a $100 off-topic doll that poses infinitely better, so I started asking myself, why am I putting the money into FL at this point?)

That's about where I've come down on FL -- if they were less expensive, the lack of posing would make more sense to me. Putting $319 into a Souldoll Soulkid on their new body, for instance, makes more sense to me because their posing is so much more diverse and it's even a larger doll. The only FL body I have at this point is an A-line boy body, and I only kept him because he slouches like a dream.

Bottom line: FL is great when their dolls are what a person wants. As for me, I figured out through trial and error that I want something different. That doesn't make them bad dolls. They're just not for everyone.

Sorry for rambling, I just think I finally got all that straight in my brain.

EDIT: I thought of one other point. Fairyland bodies would not seem so over-hyped to me if they'd been updated more over the years. Who else has a mobility joint that you can't pop out? Who has a pelvic joint that only slides a tiny bit from side to side? These were two of my biggest complaints when I had FL bodies, and I wish they could release updated versions of some of their bodies to compete with the newer industry standard.

 

One of my biggest problems with Fairyland is the feel and weight of their resin. It's lightweight and feels to much like plastic. It's probably a design choice to make them easier to balance and pose but...You just can't compare their resin to Volks and Iplehouse. There's a huge difference in quality and has lead me to purchase my dolls elsewhere. It almost makes me feel like I'm not getting my money's worth. I know I may seem harsh but that's just my honest thoughts. I love their fullsets. Their dolls are beautiful and own about 6 or 7 dolls from them. However, my preference has changed and I would rather have a higher quality doll than a beautiful fullset that my dolls don't even wear!

 

They did update the hook system to magnets at some point which was a major move, but true - I also think often why they haven't made the knees double-jointed at the very least. It's funny though - somehow I don't mind the Unoa bodies being the same for years at all, yet with Fairyland it feels so odd to not have upgrades.

 

Ahh magnet hands. Good times.

I think the lack of upgrades feels strange partly because the sculpting on FL dolls is incredibly tight. That makes them very solid in their posing, but significantly limits it at the same time. I can't just manipulate the joints to do other things as easily as I can with my other dolls whose pieces aren't so tight and fitted to each other. I'd imagine restringing them looser might help with that, but I never tried it to find out.

I can't help but think of Souldoll here. They actually listened to customer feedback after they redesigned their Soulkid body. It had a piece inside the chest joint that limited slouching, so people were modding it a lot. They literally looked at peoples' mods and fixed their own sculpt so that it wouldn't need to be modded anymore. That's the kind of interaction I enjoy from artists in this hobby.

I know it sounds like I'm bashing FL, and though I have had gripes over the years, I still love their dolls. I just think if the posing hadn't been quite so limited like I mentioned in my last post, maybe it wouldn't feel like they needed to be upgraded before now.

Ahhh I do agree about this. After owning some different brands (Loongsoul especially, but also Crobidoll and Souldoll), I've noticed that my newer FL dolls were quite light. My Event '14 Soony is quite hefty, but all my others are significantly lighter. That's one reason I noticed that you can't manipulate their posing much. With heavier dolls, their own weight can hold a joint popped out of place for the sake of a pose. As far as overall quality, I shall spare you my essay on FL's quality control, and just say those other companies I mentioned have opened my eyes to true quality.

 

With Fairyland I think they're an easy-to-love company because of their beautiful aesthetics and sets, but after handling so many other dolls, they didn't have what I wanted: a nicer posing body. I liked CP's sculpting for faces a lot, and when I finally was able to invest in the hobby FL was at peak hype and I kept hearing about how minifees have the "best naturally posing body".

My first mid-size doll was from Doll Leaves, and she posed with incredible variation, so my expectations were through the roof, especially after watching a few BJD youtubers who owned them with nice customization and photostories. Of course upon receiving mine, she was charming... but the body frustrated me so much to the point where handling her at all made me anxious, and I ended up selling her. Perhaps I'd own heads in the future, but hybrided onto more pose-friendly bodies.

 

I say Kinda - I don't have many dolls but FL was one of the companies I desperately wanted a doll from when I first started out in the hobby, particularly MNF Shushu. I knew nothing else about BJDs besides "I like this one because it's pretty". Now that I've come back to the hobby after a decade, I'm shocked at just how many sculpts they've churned out over the years. I've bought a few MNF because I love the faces, luckily ones that are unique looking (or are unique looking to me). But reading everyone's comments about the posing difficulty and resin issues, it makes me nervous to handle mine with anything but kid gloves - I'm glad that there's so many collectors who can speak to their experience with FL dolls, so I can learn stuff like this and be better informed when purchasing new dolls.

 

I think they’re well-loved, and some people over-hype them. If you’re talking about comparing Fairyland to other makers, there are plenty of others who are just as good and who offer more options. The people who are saying they aren’t overhyped, but artists are under-hyped— I think that is the sentiment I agree with. Fairyland is great at what they do, but they definitely don’t hit the mark for certain things for me, like fantasy dolls. If I want a fantasy doll I’m definitely going to a company that offers fantasy tones, more readily accessible elf ears or other alternate ears, etc.

I have two Pukifee which I adore soooo much. They pose pretty well (though they can be top/head heavy without sueding) and the amount of joints they have and what they can do for their size is amazing.

I didn’t think any Minifee really spoke to me until I recently found a Lishe head on the secondhand market that I couldn’t refuse. I’ve seen my friends’ Minifee in person, and the body isn’t necessarily my favorite…it felt a bit cheaper compared to other resins I have, and the stupid hip/leg cap things are a painnnnn. But I will probably still get her a Minifee body because I like to have variety in my collection, and I don’t have one yet.

 

I checked the "a little" box and I have one feeple girl Her magnet hands and feet are awesome... however fitting other companies' shoes on her is painful.

The body is moe-line and it poses decently, but I'm not into doll acrobatics. If it can sit and stand without falling, i'm happy. It could use some sueding, not gonna lie. Probably some restringing? I'll get to that, I promise

As for the aesthetics, it's just a regular sleeping head and I'm a sleeping headed doll junkie. Give me all of them any time. Nothing super exceptional, just as sweet as any other. That said, her hips and belly are magic. I love their shape and proportions. Her breasts are cute too, though I'd never been into large-breasted dolls. but I like hers, she's got a very soft, feminine, huggable-looking body.

Also, i'm not into MSDs, but theirs are super cute: Marcia, karsh, Mirwen... oh come on And the new ones too Also, Feeple Alan (sleeping) is my long-time BJD boy crush xD

 

Honestly... if you asked me whether or not Fairyland is overhyped.......... Yeah???? They look lovely, but like....... they're still super popular to the point of "you see them everywhere" levels, especially MNF Chloe for a lot of people, myself included.... While I'm not SUPER interested in posing (as long as they can sit and/or stand I am satisfied), the fact that they don't have the best posing in the world can be a turn off for some people. That, and the sculpts I tend to gravitate to are typically fantasy sculpts, and yeah the main FL dolls I was into were fantasy BJDs. And in terms of personal taste I tend to like Doll Chateau looking sculpts (lanky and Burtonesque) as well as anime sculpts more....

 

I feel like the second hand market is FLOODED with fairyland dolls. I also feel like most items (clothes, wigs, etc) are for fairyland slim MSDs. They all look the same to me, aside from the new fairy girl and Juri 08. I cannot tell most of the sculpts apart and I feel that the company has 'same face syndrome' pretty badly .
I swear I see like 8 Chloes a day on facebook listings. I think their bodies are nice, and I see some girls and understand the hype, but I'm sort of tired of looking at them all the time. Everything is for them!

TLDR; Me and my big girls and boys are sorta left naked compared to them and they've over saturated the market.

(They can be quite cute if styled correctly/etc and i've seen some lovely fairylands, so no hate if they're your thing... I understand it!)

 

Yes.
And I gotta say, I hate the outfits across the board. I got big girl vampire carol and I was ready to chuck that dress in the garbage.
BUT (theres always a but)
if mika/mir get a 65 version i may had to buy it. that was the first fairyland doll i ever had but it so small i just didnt care about it and sold it.

 

I decided on "kinda" because I do feel like they are just EVERYWHERE and for a while a lot of people were convinced they were the best posers and the best sculpts out there, but I just can't get on board with that. They do have some BEAUTIFUL sculpts, but a lot of them look too similar to me. That said, the new F65 girl is GORGEOUS, but I also cannot stand the F65 body for posing, so I'm REALLY hoping for a F60 or MNF Nuia.

 

Admittedly...I said yes, they're over-hyped. Even as someone who eventually cracked down and bought one—I stand by this sentiment.

For years I remember Fairyland being touted for their poseability, magnetic/exchangeable hands and feet, and the popularity of sculpts like Chloe, Mirwen, etc. Even now I see them littering my Facebook feed, insta-spamming Instagram (sorry, couldn't resist) when straying from my curated list of followings, and amongst a good many people's favorite companies (alongside the likes of Volks, Smartdolls, and the occasional other). It's only been as of recent that I've been seeing more complaints regarding their actual poseability (or lack thereof, something I've learned through my own personal ownership—my girl cannot, for the life of her, sit demurely without looking like she's trying to pop a squat, with her rear end about an inch above the ground and nowhere near having her thighs rest against her calves—and don't get me started on how it's easier for her to sit like a dude instead of a proper young lady) instead of them being praised as the best.

On the subject of magnetic hands/feet—I have some rather personal gripes with them. It hearkens back to the days of Pullip collecting, where I had one girl on the type 2 body who's hands were constantly popping off. With my Mika/Mir, it's a pain to take her shoes off because it's the same issue. Yes, there's convenience in magnetic hands/feet, but it's oftentimes a double-edged sword where I face the sharp edge on the wrong day as much as I avoid it on the right one.

Also, lots of folks seem to hold their resin to this high standard. I'd have to beg to differ after I put my girl through the dye vat. Blushing and getting creative offer a wonderful coverup, but underneath that faceup—she's got a lot of freckling and discoloration going on. In other words—she didn't really take smoothly to the dyeing process (even after going through the proper motions of preparation), and, if I weren't okay with dealing/working with those imperfections, I'd have been banging my head into a wall over the results.

And, honestly—I've never really been all that interested in their fullsets. People seem to go gaga over ever single release (believe me, there are always group orders placed by the dozen showing up across a good many buy/sell groups out there for them), but for me they're...meh. Cool for anyone who is into them, but I've seen so many other talented artists/companies come up with fullsets on par, or even better, than the ones Fairyland releases.

I admit—their sculpts (or a vast majority of them) do seem to suffer from that same face syndrome: big eyes, pouty lips, cherubim/rounded face, and small nose. The girl I have, Mika/Mir, seemed to be one of their few exceptions, and, honestly—if they released more sculpts like that—the same face syndrome thing wouldn't be as much of an issue. Yeah, sometimes the eye shape changes, but the faces are always shaped the same, and that's a turnoff for me.

Yeah, some of their event heads have cool expressions/additives, but they're the exception—not the norm. Plus, they're often a lot more difficult for someone to get their hands on without having to buy the default face/body/fullset along with it—

So...I won't tell anyone to stop loving what they love. If Fairyland is somebody's jam—cool. I just honestly wish I'd either see less of them, or that they change up the formula for their face-sculpts (shape-wise—I'd love to see longer faces with narrower eyes coming out from them like Mika/Mir instead of the usual moe-inspired aesthetic that seems to be their bread and butter. [moe in anime is pretty much "innocent, idealized youthful female character", which is something I'm not remotely interested in regarding bjds]).

 

I have resisted fairyland for a long time. Most of the sculpts are too cute and don't really fit into the style of my group. I do however got a minifee body and am thinking of buying another one. They are not as great as many people say or at least used to say in terms of poseability, especially if you look at other bodies that are just chefs kiss. Minifee have some issues with one leg being slightly longer than the other, which can get frustrating if they don't want to stand up straight, so consider a doll stand. But they are just so beautiful and the still very many poses you can achieve look very natural. That's one thing other bodies often wouldn't compare well with. The lines of the poses seem much more natural than many other imo. Plus, they don't really loose their value and if you ever decide to sell them you will easily. For me thats a big plus, since I like rare sculpts and less liked companies, but damn, if you decide to sell them it takes ages if you are lucky I got one beautiful head from Mayakdolls that's almost impossible to sell. You won't have that problem with Fairyland. Also, most clothes are made to fit minifee, so it can be easier to find nice outfits and accessories.

 

I voted for ‚kinda‘.

In my opinion they deserved the fame and hype in the past. They (Cerberus Project/ Fairyland) were one of the first companies that brought us mature slim minis. Their sculpts were special. You could easily recognise a CP doll, but at the same time they were very distinct from each other. Their double jointed bodies (speaking for Minifee Active Line and Feeple70) were beautifully designed and the dolls could do many poses.
Now they aren’t that special anymore. Many companies sell slim mature minis, do offer double jointed bodies, let you choose different hands, feet, busts and so on and so on.
Unfortunately the design of the Fairyland sculpts doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I think that changed after the release of the Minifee Chloe sculpt. This doll was very beautiful and hugely popular (I have one, bought the Fullset ). But later released dolls looked so similar and not so unique anymore, it got a bit boring.

Qualitywise they were never that special.

 

It's funny that you say that, because just today I was testing this with my Minifee boy. My favorite msd girl body at the moment can easily sit on her legs and look really natural doing so. I tried to emulate the pose with my mnf, and it wouldn't have been horrible except that his hips would not hold any in-between poses. So because his calf won't bend far enough to sit flush against the back of his thigh, and his hips won't allow any pose but a 90-degree angle to his thigh, he is left kind of crouching while bent forward awkwardly. Which doesn't even matter, because he's bent so far forward that his own weight makes him face-plant, rendering the whole pose useless.

I'm not trying to bash FL by this, it's just what the body does. I've had four FL bodies, three of which were different lines, and all of them were like this. It wasn't a priority for me when I first started the hobby, but I must admit that if the hype hadn't been so strong at the time, I probably wouldn't have gotten one as my first bjd.

I appreciate this perspective a lot. I wasn't part of the hobby yet back then, so I don't have a firm grasp on what it was like. It's so interesting to hear about how much everything has changed. I wonder if some of the hype today is kind of left over from those days.

 

The human dolls never appealed to me. But I do love their little "Alice in Wonderland" full set caterpillar, Absolem. He's amazing.

 

Omg how cute!!! I didn't even know lol