"Over Popular" Sculpts & Originality

If Chloe is what you like, buy her. The baseless (and yes, disliking something simply on the basis of perceived or actual popularity is baseless) blather by anonymous clusters of pixels on the internet shouldn't have the power to dictate what suits your personal taste.

Just by being your doll, your doll is original. Period.

 

If you like Chloe you should buy a Chloe. Despite the fact she's overly popular she's a wonderful mold and as long as you like her that should be reason enough to own her. Don't buy dolls to please an "audience", buy dolls to please yourself. I don't know where this whole mentality has stemmed from (the 'I don't want to pursue x plan with my dolls because I'll get persecuted' and the 'I don't want to buy x mold because everyone hates it/owns it/loves it'.). Besides this hobby not being a popularity contest so the "audience" and their opinion shouldn't matter at all, it is, at the gist of it just that -a hobby- and hobbies are meant to be enjoyed. Think of it in the same fashion that you wouldn't read a book/ watch a movie/play a game just because everyone else loves it if you don't like it or vice versa.

Other than that, originality is a concept that's way overrated. I've been the target of accusations of copying another owner's doll before -even though the dolls were only vaguely alike and not even the same resin tone or by the same company- and I've seen witch hunts of several popular owners against others about their own dolls being copied. Such a thing is simply not possible because it's the same as saying that two different people can't have original characters that are both dark, emo, goth vampires for example (nothing against these characters, I'm just abusing a stereotype for example's sake). The concept of creativity in and on its own, "original ideas" are nothing but the accumulation of other ideas and concept that appeal to people and have been pieced together from god knows how many different things.

As for me, I buy dolls regardless of popularity as long as they fit my characters. The face sculpt will 'have' to match them otherwise I can't bring them home. If that means they're a super popular sculpt then so be it, if they're not that's okay too. I'll admit that I both love and hate having both popular and unpopular sculpts for different reasons each. For the very popular dolls sometimes you might feel like you can't really make them 'unique' but at the end of the day that doesn't matter too much, yet, at the same time it's wonderful to see other people enjoying their own versions of that sculpt and it's amazing to see all the different ways a single doll sculpt can be customized to look so different. In the case of the unpopular dolls it feels great to customize them in such a way that likes them but is curious about what kind of sculpt they are because that way you can introduce them to a nice new company or a new type of doll. Sadly it's so hard to find other owners with them most of the time, though, and looking for pictures becomes a proper treasure hunt.

It's important to me to make my dolls look distinct among my group of dolls. They don't have to be the most unique snowflakes around in the entire doll hobby or anything like that as long as they don't look like carbon copies of each other. I'd like it if my dolls could be personalized enough and could be different enough from the other dolls within the same sculpt not so that they could outshine the others but more so as to reflect the characters they are based upon. My doll family runs the entire gamut of popular dolls customized in a popular way to unpopular dolls customized in an unpopular way with everything in between being a pretty solid possibility. At the end of the day I suppose I simply like to have fun with my dolls and that's okay.

 

Well I actually like Chloe a lot and she was one of the first dolls which I fell for. But my tastes changed and I never got her but that didn't really stop me. I fell hard for Soom Dia, which I believe is another popular sculpt. I don't care that's he's popular and loads of people have him, he fits my character and I love him to bits. I also enjoy seeing other people's interpretation of him, which gives me ideas.

I think it's hard to make a doll identical to someone else's. Hell, I got Mercenary Hyperon and he was supposed to come with a company faceup but that never happened. They botched it and I had to alter it so now he looks nothing like anyone else's.

I'm always open to other people's criticism as long as it's productive and not just "He's ugly!"

 

I'm not a fan of chloe....or really any of the fairyland face sculpt, but if people like them ya sure get them. I mean it's personal taste and everything.
Though it does get tired after seeing just...nothing but chloe and ante and generally fairy land floating around.
For a while i was wondering why there's so many of them.
I still don't know why.

 

I guess I am a little bit of a hipster, in that I am not generally fond of dolls that EVERYONE LOVES. However, I do have a bit of hypocrisy in me. My grail doll is the Esthy Peroth (fairly popular) sculpt on a Doll Chateau 70 cm body. When it really comes down to it, my love of a sculpt could easily overcome my distaste for the popularity of the doll. Also, given the fact that I have very specific and unusual plans for my Peroth/DC hybrid, it makes it much less of a problematic concept. XD In general though, I think people should own whatever doll they feel like, and make it look however they like.

 

I've bought both dolls that were popular & many that were not. It doesn't bother me either way. I love my dolls & that's enough for me. Besides, even if a bunch of folks own the same doll, it will always look different just with wigs, eyes & clothing, not to mention face-ups. Everyone has different visions of their dolls & I love seeing my dolls done up differently by others.

 

Chloe is popular, but as my husband told me when he saw it "No wonder. You can do a lot with that face." Sometimes there's a "good" reason why something's as popular as it appears! I wouldn't count out owning a popular sculpt, but I would not buy it -just- because it's popular. If it works for what I want, so be it. Shushu's another common, popular minifee. I have one ordered because the face works for what I want to do.


I don't worry about if my doll is original. Shushu's the result of my frustration at not finding an Elsa doll anywhere. The face looked Elsa-y to me, so I decided to make my own Elsa doll! My dolls are for me; I don't care if people I don't know and will never meet roll their eyes.

 

I think that people should buy what makes them happy, not what makes the other people in the hobby happy. It's not the 'group' doll, it's your doll and if it brings you joy, get it!

 

If it's popular, it's popular for a reason! It doesn't bother me in the least if I want a doll that a lot of other people have, that just means that the company did a great job creating something that appeals to a lot of people. Dollshe Saints are pretty common, and I have two! It's a gorgeous sculpt and it's very versatile with a wide range of expressions. I wouldn't worry too much about whether a sculpt is too popular or not popular enough

 

In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of the FL aesthetic besides Ante in all of her incarnations. But my opinion shouldn't matter to you, ever. You should always get what you love, not what I love, LOL

It's up to you as to what you want in your dolly family and you should run with it, no matter how popular or unpopular the particular sculpt or company is or who expresses their like/dislike for that doll. If anyone I know adopts FL or plans on adopting one, then I'm happy for them and will always encourage them. At the end of the day, you have to be happy with your choices for YOU, and not for anyone else, so you should always adopt the doll sculpt(s) YOU want most without contemplating what 'others' may think or say.

 

There is a reason Chloe is so popular, she is beautiful! I have seen a couple at meets, but it isn't like you see her over and over again. Popularity is relative, Barbie is popular! Unless you have a bunch of friends in the hobby, and Chloe is way popular at your doll meets, this is a moot point anyway.

There is a thing about collecting or most any hobby after you have been in it a while. After a time, you might get tired of what you see the most often. I think that is why most collectibles have rare, grail objects that everyone lusts after. It is a little different with bjds, but not so much. My tastes have already changed considerably, and I'm a newbie. I still adore my first doll, it is just that I now like ones I never thought I would. Anyway, I understand why people may not care for a doll, but I think it rude to trash other people's loves.

 

Buy whatever makes you happy.

The only issue is that if you're worried about resale value down the road, remember that picking something popular will definitely affect how much value your particular doll will have should you decide to sell. If you aren't worried about that though, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

I have a MNF Chloe, Celine and a LTF Ante. I think all three are popular, but that term is relative- most people in general have no idea that bjds even exist (at least where I am). In that sense, even when they're popular, they're still special. And of course, you can have your own characters, looks, clothing....I don't get bored looking at these dolls, even if they're in abundance.

 

Just got my f60 Chloe and she is stunning! I adore her. Never let others judgement get in the way of what you love!


~Bambi

 

Like many others have said before, if you really like the sculpt then you should get it. Even if it's really popular. You're going to make it your own doll and that will make it look different. I guess all my dolls (except for one) are of the really popular sculpt type, but it doesn't matter to me. And if you think it will still be a problem, well I guess you should stay away from the big companies. Or do a bit of research in the database, that will point out many popular sculpts.
What also can help is try to stay away from the stereotype looks when you plot the character.

 

The way I see it there's usually a good reason a certain sculpt is popular. Sometimes a certain sculpt comes out and it really appeals to practically everyone. That's a doll designer doing their job particularly well and making a doll that's going to really sell. I can't really fault that. There are a lot of BJD sculpts that will never appeal to me at all. Some I like but would never buy for myself and then there are the sculpts that really make me sigh because I'd probably buy one given the $$$ but usually can't afford to.

I never thought I'd own a Narae or a Saint. WAY too popular and expensive to buy, even as just a head, but then I finally saw heads that were priced very low because they had issues, and what do you know I actually managed to snag them. Do I care that there are probably thousands of both sculpts out there? Nope, I am just way too happy to own them at all. I'm kind of the same way about MF Mirwen. Badly want her little head, but she's completely out of my usual price range so for right now I'm just sighing and dreaming...

I'm mostly done I think with my BJD collection except for finding better heads eventually for my Miro MSD's and grabbing a body for a floating head. I'm not saying I'd never, ever be tempted otherwise but finances being what they are this year I really can't see myself buying anything more by way of dolls for a while, if ever. It will be a while before I even get to doing any of that. But many of the more popular sculpts they don't even tempt me at all. The ones that do though? I would buy them in a heartbeat if I could come up with the $$$ and I wouldn't care one jot about how many of them were out there. All I'd care about is that they are MINE.

 

With anything, I only buy what I like. If it happens to be the one everyone else likes as well, then so be it.
My collection is about my happiness.

 

I think I'm too old and too tight on cash to care what other people think about what I do with my money & interests. Chloe is a beautiful sculpt - I mean, there's a REASON she's popular, right? To avoid a sculpt just because it is popular seems like a kind of self-sabotage. "I didn't eat that slice of chocolate cake because other people thought I shouldn't." Doesn't compute, for me. (I mean, one of the things I encountered when talking about/reading about the doll on my Want List (a fem Karsh)... was the voice of people who don't think Karsh should be a fem doll. There's no way I really care about those voices because... I'd be the one buying it, not them. And I'd be getting it for me, not them.)

So, rock out what you love. Dollies or otherwise.

 

When I bought my first doll I wasn't really looking at the popularity, I chose her based on how I liked her.
But then I noticed just how many people had the same doll, but really when you think about it, everyone is going to customize their dolls differently and they're not all going to look the same afterwards, so I guess it doesn't really bother me at all~

 

Get whatever dolls you love! Popular or not, at the end of the day, it's your doll and if you're happy than everyone else can pretty much suck it. I've heard of people being upset with their friends getting a doll they wanted but, honestly, it's not a big deal. BJDs can be customized so much that sometimes, it's almost impossible to tell if two dolls are the same sculpt unless you look really close. Get your Chloe and have a blast!!!