Owner frustration

I've only been to one meetup and one Volks event, but both were a good mix of "adults" and "kids". There were high school kids, college students like me, and plenty of mature adults. Having been to a couple of anime cons, I think I might be less likely to go to a meetup there as the crowd tends to be younger. Not that I mind that, as I regularly hang out with people younger than I and am an anime/manga fan myself, but I do feel a little awkward among so many teenagers, especially since anime/manga seem to be something you're supposed to "grow out of". ^^; But other than at an anime convention (this wouldn't be an issue at something like, say, ComicCon), I would never consider my age to even be an issue.

 

My major barriers are timing and company. The last few meetups were during the 9-5 workweek, so by default I can't go--these are not so important that I'm taking off work.

The one before that was rather physically unpleasant for me. I was completely unwilling to leave my girls alone so I didn't do anything--eat, drink or use the bathroom. So next time, I really want a companion and I don't have anyone willing to do that (at a "price" I'm willing to pay, anyway :P).

 

I do feel awkward going to a meet but not because of any of the reasons you seem to be, I'm just not sociable enough to know what to do when around other people O____o
But habitually doll meets are a really great way to meet people and have fun since everyone is there for one reason and its the dolls so no need to try and figure out what to do xD
While I would feel weird if I were alone in a group of younger teens (They exasperate me D=), habitually meets have many different age groups and you never really know how old the other person is except if you ask ^^
It all depends on the maturity of those there too.....
If you bring me a 30 year old fangirl and a more serious 15 year old... I'll go with the 15 one thank you :B
Its the same thing as Anime/Manga (since everyone seems to think they have to go together :P), you never know who you may find.... you just have to chose where you go and hope its not a bash-the-ignorant party :/

 

I tend to take my boys places, regardless of how I feel I'll be received. I just don't think it's a big deal.

As for meetups, the one I go to seems pretty well rounded. While I'm one of the youngest (18, whoo!), we have ages ranging from mine to my parents', and we all have a great time hanging out. We're all quite mature, and I don't feel weird about leaving the boys with someone else for a while. My elder sister comes with me most times, so I can leave the boys with her if I'm feeling particularly sociable. My first meet, I just kinda stood there and constantly set down/ picked up my boy because I didn't know what to do or anything. But I've made some new dollie friends, so now I interact with the other owners and we have fun playing with each others' dolls ^__^ And, yeah, some of them are a bit older than me, but that's okay, because it's a great hobby and I'm just happy to be able to share it with people.

 

The meetups in the city I live in tend to have a very well rounded group age-wise. While most are indeed in that '20-30' range, I'd like to hope that no one feels uncomfortable in any way. The group is also thankfully quite mature. Yea, we have our spontaneous bouts of random oddness every so often (sorry Decoy!), but nothing too extreme. To be fair though, I'm the one usually setting up the meets (or have been the last few times), so I'd like to think that although I've never verbalized it, any extreme behavior (putting down other's dolls, rudeness in general, doing anything inappropriate with their/other peoples dolls, ect.) is known to not be tolerated and will be delt with accordingly.

As I said though, Ottawa has a pretty awesome group and I really hope that we can get more people to start coming to the meets!

 

I'm a guy, the only guy in the doll community here.
That was a tad weird lol.
Not anymore, since I've been to 2 already. I didn't mind carrying Sarah and Clover around.
(my dolls make themselves fit in ) especially Clover

 

yeah Ottawa has an awesome crowd

 

The only meet-ups I know of are down in the city. The thing is, parking your car in the city costs around $50. And this is why I've never been to a meet.

Plus, there're my parents; if I mentioned I was going to go in public with my doll, to hang out with a bunch of other doll owners, I know one of them is going to look at me funny.

 

If you mean NYC, writerm, I feel your pain on the parking. There are some other options though, depending on the direction you're coming from. Sometimes you can cut that fee in half or even less if you park at a commuter lot outside the city and take the path train/subway/train/etc. into the city proper. It can make a huge difference.

I think I have lucked out on the meets I've been to. I think I'm the oldest person in the one that's local here usually at 37, but I don't feel ancient when there. (Thank you guys for that, seriously. ) Since we have a semi-private space and a smallish group, it also helps over all.

 

i'm the opposite. i'm only seventeen all of the doll owners around here that i know of are in their twenties. i don't know if i'd fit in with them U_U.

 

I've really never seen people at meetups here be less than friendly and accepting unless someone behaved SHOCKINGLY inappropriately, and I've never seen anyone get ruffled because someone's dolls didn't "fit in". One of the things I enjoy about meetups is getting to see dolls I wouldn't otherwise get to see because I would never in my life buy them myself. Someone turning up with dolls that are nothing like anyone else's is a plus, IMO. Gives us something new to look at.

I definitely do stare at people's dolls at meets, but it's because I'm interested.

I'm honestly not real fussed in any case. If I go to a doll meet and I'm not enjoying myself or don't feel it's going well, I can leave whenever I like. I find them a sort of low-pressure situation.

Re: cons, I don't know what it is with cons (and I've never been to one with dolls involved, I stopped going to cons in like 2002) but some people seem to leave their manners and social skills at home, so I wouldn't take people personally. 9_9 On the plus side, any jerks you run into at cons you'll more than likely never see again because the likelihood is that they, you, or both are from out of town anyway.

 

I'm the same age (26) and there are people at our local meetups who are both younger and older than me. Everyone has always been polite and well-behaved at our meetups as well, and the worst I've really seen in terms of the dolls "fitting in" is that certain dolls do sometimes get more attention than others- I wouldn't say that it's intentional or done in a mean-spirited way, but people do tend to pay more attention to the dolls they personally like and of course everyone's taste is a bit different.

I think it's worth trying the local meetups at least once. If you have a really bad time or feel very out of place you don't have to come back, but if you have a great time and make new friends it'll be worth it!

 

My current fear is trying to find a doll meet up and be struck down by the language barrier since I'm in a foreign country...

 

I have never been to a meet up before (I don't think a BPD Panel would be the same.) but I think I would be nervous and a bit shy. If there were any that were local to my area I would be interested in going. Next year at Otakon I am going to see if I can hook up with the other BJD Collectors. I think it would be fun and like others have already mentioned it is a great way to make some new friends with common interest.

 

The Ottawa group has two 15 or 16 year olds that came to the last one... they seemed to get along well with everyone (who pretty much all in their 20's and up).

 

I haven't had the pleasure of going to a doll meet, but as a ninteen year old who is just getting into dolls (I've just put my first on layaway) I would love to meet someone older, and more experienced ^^ The same goes with the different dolls. I would love to go and meet as many people and as many different dolls as I can, and learn as much as I can along the way. It seems like no matter what, there will be people there you will have something in common with, and it would be alot of fun. If you love something, share it with the world. There will always be someone who doesn't like it. There's always gonna be someone who thinks it's wierd, be it dolls, or maybe a strange pet. I take my little rat Puff places with me on occasion, and I always get funny looks, but in the end most people laugh, or even want to pet her. Even my grandma, who hates rodents, likes her-so long as she doesn't see 'that tail.' I think it would be the same with dolls. People find it easy to dismiss something at first glance as wierd, but when they get a chance to see it in person, and hear the good points from someone who loves it, they have to give it a chance. If they're rude, then they're a closeminded person who isn't worth your time, and they're the one who needs to check themselves, not you. Share what you love, because there might be some person like me in that crowd, who never knew they could fall in love with it too!

 

You know I don't care if my doll fits in or not(he's unique to me and after spending that much money on him he's going out). As for age, I think collecting BJd's are for anybody( well not a little kid because they can't really appreciate it).

 

I have to agree with Cynthia on this part. I have friends in their late teens early 20's (who are NOT doll collectors) that are definitely more mature than some of the people I've met at doll meets in that same age group. There seems to be a pretty wide age gap in the meets that I have attended but I would be most comfortable (and I think enjoy myself more) if I could just meet up with those that were in their 40's or over (I've always preferred to be aroud people 5, 10, 15 years older than myself) as they are more "restrained and quiet" as Cynthia puts it.

 

I have actually never been to a meet-up. The area I live in has no real BJD 'group'. There is one further north in my state, but where I live none of the BJD owners have met together, to my knowledge, on a regular basis. I know a few people in the area met at an Anime Con, but I'm not an Anime fan and I wasn't about to pay for something just to be there for the dolls.
A girl in my area is working on getting a meet-up together, and is doing an awesome job which I am beyond excited about.
But my biggest frustration would be that instead of being able to move into a group, we have to first find the people, gather them together and start one.
It pushes me totally out of my comfort zone, I am painfully shy when meeting people and I don't go out of my way to form those instances, so is very frustrating. I feel very isolated where we are, and while it's not their fault at all, I am a bit jealous of the group up north as it really seems to be the quintessential BJD group. But then again, nothing I do is normal, so why should my experience in the hobby go the normal route