"Over Popular" Sculpts & Originality

Some are popular for a reason. If I love it, then that's all that matters. With enough effort, I should be able to make it original enough.

 

My personal doll aesthetic is a little on the strange side so I don't usually have popular dolls..and even if I did they would be unrecognizable after I got them. I a mod girl and I love doing plastic surgery on my dolls. Very few of mine haven't had a little work done. I like seeing popular dolls and I rarely get the "Chloe fatigue." She reminds me of the over the top Texas fashionistas that live in my area. If I had one I would probably give her a nip and tuck then dress her in the outrageous Texas Chic big hair, zebra print, rhinestone cowgirl style that we have around here.

...Actually that sounds really fun...(hides wallet away from myself)

Seriously though popular dolls are fun to look at. I'm content to see them in the Google Images feed.

 

It's funny that you bring up Chloe specifically as she was my first thought when I saw the post, AND I'm expecting her delivery today!
Anyhow, I don't mind a sculpt's popularity because I'm better able to get ideas for faceups and complete looks that way. In other words, I get to see the doll's potential and that's important to me because it can be difficult to see potential in a blank canvas, so to speak.

 

I completely agree with this statement! When I was first looking at BJDs, Chloe instantly went onto my wishlist. To me, it doesn't really matter how popular the sculpt is, since I plan on doing my own face-ups anyway. Everyone's dolls will end up looking unique no matter what.

 

I collect the dolls for myself, not for any other reason. I don't go to meets or anything, and other than this site and one very close friend of mine (who has different dolls than I do) I see very very few dolls. . So even if a sculpt is popular, I have no way of knowing -- and if I love the doll, I don't see why it should matter !

 

Well, we are buy dolls for yourself, not for anyone opinion, right? Of course there are some people who love dolls for unique and loves feeling of elite, but I don't think that there are many of them.

 

Personally I like seeing the same doll over and over, like RS dolls or homme ducan or FL sculpts, i like to see how each doll is made to be different, how a new wig or eyes or face up can make it an entirely different doll~ Obviously you know what doll it is, theres no way you could alter a sculpt to such a point it no longer has a semblance to what it was, but making it your doll with your style is a great thing to see ^^ especially when you see something new on a sculpt, especially when you own the same one, and just think, wow he/she is nothing at all like mine!

 

Popularity of the sculpt doesn't bother me. My dolls have their own personalities anyway, because after being in the hands of a person, they do change from what they used to be in the company warehouse even if you just comb them and dress them without any modding to the sculpt. And it is always a pleasant experience to see my dolls' "sisters"!

 

Personally I have never found Minifees that appealing for some reason. Their bodies don't look right to me for some reason... But I know exactly why they are so popular! Everyone finds them to be really versatile and they have adorable faces that are very unique to Fairyland. Plus the posing on them rocks! That's why I don't really have a problem with them being popular even though they aren't my cup of tea...

 

i don't think i own or wish for any overly popular sculpt. regardless of popularity i buy what catches my attention though i must admit that even as a child i never liked to own stuff that everybody had and i am still the same today.

 

I own a littlefee ante which I feel is one of the more popular sculpts, and I was hesitant to buy him because i didn't want my doll to feel unoriginal. But I couldn't be more glad that I decided to buy him, and I love him with all of my heart. Now I don't really care how popular a sculpt is as long as I think its beautiful and love it then thats all that matters.

 

I feel a bit peculiar because I purposely buy only popular sculpts. I don't own a single doll that isn't a really well-known mould, except potentially for my Tinybear Bracken, who is I think well-known to collectors who like that kind of thing. There's really two reasons for this:

1) if you're interested in buying a popular sculpt, you're guaranteed to find lots of owner pictures and advice online, which can make life a lot easier; and,

2) I want the originality in my dolls to come from their customisation, not because I happened to buy a doll that other people don't like so much. Like most people, it's important to me that my dolls are unusual, but I like making them look different from all the other versions of that sculpt through my own work. It's a huge compliment when people tell me that they didn't recognise the sculpt of my dolls because they look so weird. I once had a BJD owner ask me if one doll was a Hujoo - it was a LTF El!

Also a smaller reason:

3) Usually popular dolls are popular for a reason - because they're pretty, good posers, and all round fun to play with!

 

None of my dolls are popular, but it's not why I chose them. If I fell for a popular sculpt all that would matter to me is that I loved it.

 

I have to admit I like rooting for the underdog most of the time, but that's because my tastes are weird in general and seem to work in very specific ways. For example, one of my favorite Disney movies is The Great Mouse Detective, and I'll pick it over more popular movies like The Little Mermaid or Aladdin any day of the week. That's not to say I don't like the others, far from it! But there's just a special something about TGMD that appeals to me on a deeper level than those movies. I'm guessing some of you can relate to that, even in doll terms.

Speaking of which, with dolls I'm afraid I'm more of a mixed bag. What I like has a 50% chance of being either "popular" or "not so much", apparently, or even "kind of popular, but not really".
As for whether I'd buy a doll knowing it's massively popular... If I really, really loved it, then I'd have no qualms about it. Most people have already made this point, actually, that what matters is what you personally like, and again, if a certain sculpt is that popular, you bet there is a good reason for it. So yeah.

 

Yes and no? I am looking to get an older brother for the Little Monica Bear that is arriving soon, and love both the Migidoll Miho and SoulDoll Leloy.

Miho is cheaper and popular, Leloy is more expensive and I have never seen him outside the stock images. While I still like Miho, I think I like the dolls that are less popular because I want to buy them and give them a chance to shine. I would take so many pictures of Leloy just so more people would see the cast and appreciate/buy him.

 

It's because of all the other Minifee Chloes that I fell in love with the sculpt, so I have to thank them for being all over the place! And if mine looks just like all the rest, again, they're the reason why I like her. So I don't have a problem with that, either! I have a Dikadoll Rena and an Or-Doll Eris and they seem to be less popular, but that's not why I got them. Dolls are just way too expensive to go by what other people think. At the end of the day, it's my shelf they're sitting on!

 

I just feel like as long as you give it its own personality and rename it to something you like, unless you like the company name SO MUCH that you can't think of any other name hehe. It's all about appreciating the work of others and appreciating your work, even if you just have a popular doll with the company face up. As long as you enjoy that doll, that should be all that matters :3

 

I think that when it comes down to it, it just depends on the preference of a person.
But, for me, I don't really care that much if I'd have the same doll as a lot of people. I mean, you can customize him/her as you want, and also, I think that as long as you like and enjoy playing with the doll, then what other people think shouldn't really matter? Or something like that. xD

 

My doll collection is for my enjoyment, so it does not bother me if others consider a sculpt to be "too popular" or anything else.

 

Why would I care? I don't really socialize with doll owners in real life. Online, I could find a doll with the same sculpt even if it was really rare. It doesn't really affect me, so there's nothing to care about.