Pediophobia

I have never been afraid of BJD's...I preferably like them more than the sherlie temple doll I used to own. good graciously molly! that thing was creepy! it'd stare at me, and I'd have to throw it into the play closet...only to then later go into the play closet and have the daylights scared out of me...to find that doll yet again staring at me....I'm sure it wanted to steal my body...creepy thing, we later put her under a blanket, and never looked at her ever again. thank goodness! :: gets the shivers thinking about it :: though, when my yder gets here....I won't be afraid of him at all...I'll think of him as good company... ^_^ but normally I'm not afraid of dolls...just that ONE...eek!

 

I'm not afraid of BJDs since they're very... natural? Every once in awhile I'll come across a picture of a BJD and be like, 'Woah, that guy is- oh no wait that's a Hound!' XD Of course there are some exceptions, there was this centaur BJD by the artist who did the DiM dolls and that freaked me out. Some of the others on her site do as well.... >_>

As for other dolls I am afraid of, Chuckie. My parents had me watch a lot of horror movies when I was young, and Chuckie was one, scared me for life. I can't even look at his image w/o freaking myself out. I went into a joke store one day and they had Chukie plushies and my friend started playing with one, I had to leave and go the the washroom 'cause I started to cry, it freaked me out so bad (I must've been.... at LEAST 16 if not 17). Also Elvis dolls (had a dream about it moving by itself) and some porcelain dolls that look like children. Very unlifelike. OH and clown dolls. Clowns in general scare me XD

....although sometimes I am scared of my Misia head since I have too small eyes for her now and she has no body or faceup XD She's facedown in a drawer right now XD



I should also add that my friend is scared by a lot of BJDs. However he finds Sooah (with the glasses) gorgeous. But he just fears dolls in general. And he did mention about their eyes being creepy. XD

 

I've never been afraid of dolls either, but I don't LIKE porcelain dolls. They are slightly creepy. My grandmother collected them, and I never liked that they were to be looked at and not touched. I don't get that. D: I also don't like babydolls of any sort, but for no real reason lol.

BJDs are great though! They're just the right mix of collectable and fun to play with.

 

I'm afraid of and hated all dolls until I met Volks' Megu and Shiro Tachibana. BJD's are the only dolls I'm not afraid of.

Dolls that are all dressed in frilly outfits with big hats and curls scare me the most when I see them in antique stores. I see them moving and going Chucky on me.

But not with BJD's...I don't know why, maybe because I own 3 BJD's that I lost my fear of them.

 

Porcelain dolls do have a rather alien aspect to them- they come already dressed, with fixed hair and eyes and their sole purpose is to just sit or stand there...they just "are" and never change.

BJD, on the other hand, "become"- even the ones that come with outfits do not come dressed (well, I don't know if that's true for all companies, but at least Volks limiteds come with their special oufits separately packaged). One must arrange them to their liking, and create an image. Thus the owner must handle the doll, and think about what he or she should look like.

In this way, a BJD is more human because it grows and develops- it is dynamic. Procelain dolls are static in comparison, and that just accentuates the idea that it's an object imitating a human. Procelain dolls are empty because they just "are", but BJD recieve a sense of spirit from their owners during the process of "becoming". Thus they feel warmer and closer to us.

I'm not particularly frightened of other dolls, but sometimes I do come across a porcelain doll that creeps me out. It could be because while BJD headmolds usually have some glimmer of an expression, many procelain dolls have very uninteresting, stoic faces. Thus they look like they're staring, while with BJD I get the feeling that they are watching.

 

my stalker isn't afraid of my doll, only thier eyes. she was fine with them once I pulled his wig down
I was never afraid of dolls.. I had a ton of barbies and my godmother would give me porcelien dollies too.. I msotly paid attention to thier dresses and hair, not thier faces.

 

Dolls really dont scare me, except puppets!! Like the ones you stick your arm in their ass to make their mouth move with your hand!! I dunno mang, it just seriously freaks me out. But only the human type ones, animals and fantasy charactors are fine. Yep, I'm a wierdo. *jen

 

I grew up with a HUGE doll collection. My mom would travel and bring me back a doll from wherever she went. My grandma would buy me two porcelain dolls every year, one for my birthday and one for Christmas. I also had a My Size Barbie and a My Twin doll. That said, at night, I had dozens of little eyes staring at me. I could never sleep soundly. They seemed so cold, so lifeless, so inhuman. Yet, they were made to resemble humans. I think that is what I found creepy - the same sort of face usually filled with life being cold and emotionless. BJDs aren't cold at all. They look human but, they can express themselves and don't seem so trapped or frozen. They hold something unique, too, like people do. There aren't two BJDs (even if they are the same mold) that look exactly alike. Most other dolls are mass produced, not only giving them a creepy clone-like aspect but they also lack the love that goes into making BJDs. Sure, porcelain dolls are hand painted and such but, I just feel that there is an extra effort and extra care that goes into BJDs. That might be why they aren't creepy, too - you can see that love in them.

 

My personally belief why people fear dolls is how the media has portrayed them. You got that Twilight Zone episode about the woman being a maniquinn and then you got Chuckie and his sequels... And then all these urban legends on voodoo dolls. This kinda stuff doesn't promote dolls very well. =/

 

>.> I blame things like the Unico movies when I was a kid. There's just something creepy about heads with holes for eyes. (Which means I am sometimes afraid of BJDs, too, especially if someone takes a photo of an eyeless BJD head.)

[If you want to use my response, feel free.]

 

I find that I am way creeped out by some dolls, but not by most. Some just seem to give off a malviolent "vibes' or something. It might only be that it was the style of the period that makes them look like they might pull out a butcher knife, but still...
The only doll I consistantly have problems with though is Raggedy Ann. Any kind, even pictures. I once saw this really frighening (and supposedly true) show about people getting killed by witches and devil worshipers, and there were these pictures of this very scary old lady talking to a child-sized Raggedy Ann who would supposedly talk and move on her own... And apparently most of the crew suffered horrible fates after the interview... Very cheesy sounding now, but it's stuck with me...

 

I always feel like things have spirits inside them... and so I feel bad for dolls that are abandoned and I feel guilty when I take them apart to use for parts. I don't feel this way about fashion dolls, but almost any other kind of doll or toy. Especially my action figures that I love and my BJDs. o_o;

 

I never was into dolls as a child. I was a tomboy and didn't develop an interest in dolls until after being an adult. I collected fashion dolls for a while, and have switched to the BJDs because they are so much FUN.

Nothing wrong with fashion dolls, just my tastes have changed and I never was one into alot of makeup anyway, so my ball jointed dolls have very minimal faceups.

Nope . . . not afraid of any dolls. :smile:

 

I never liked dolls - wasn't afraid of them, just preferred action figures and stuffed animals. I liked the *idea* of dolls, just never saw any that I liked. BJDs are like the ultimate action figures, and they have the faces/body types I dig.

My best friend and my boyfriend, both grown men, are creeped right the hell out by the dolls, though. My boyfriend is convinced they've moved when he's not looking, for instance. This is a man who used to wrestle alligators for a living.

I sat down with him and pulled my Chiwoo to bits - dug her eyes out, popped her hands/feet off, let him hold her head, showed him her stringing, etc. After that, he relaxed a little. Once you dig around inside anything the mystery's solved & there's not much left to fear.

 

I did not like dolls until I was about 15 yrs old reason why is bec. I remember getting a doll as a present when I was little and she has a very strong vinyl smell on her that I did not like, intead I like teddy bears better bec. there is no smell. I think she was a 1960 -70s walking doll but her vinyl stink so I cant play with her. I have collected bears since around 12 yrs old by the time I was 15 I bought a doll at a garage sale and fell in love with dolls.

I am now in early 30s and have collected all sorts of dolls, I like antique repro dolls, artist doll, baby dolls, ooak , silicone, etc almost any type of dolls that caught my interest

 

From www.dictionary.com Phobia:A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.


Sometimes there isnt really an explination things just are. I admit when I first saw abjd I thought they were just as creepy as other kinds of dolls. Not sure exacly what changed my mind, it just did. I've always been wary of human looking objects. I took down my poster of a popular boy band only after a few days b/c I felt like they were always staring at me. When the movie The Haunting came out in 1999(its about this psychiatrist doing an experiment in a old spooky house) I was most afraid of all the carvings in the house. The main character goes around remarking how beautiful they are. She admires all the childrens faces that are carved into the bed in her room and remarks how peaceful they make her feel. Well for me, just thinking about that scene now is sending chills up my spine. I told my mom if they had given me that room in the house, I would have left immediately. Its just creepy to me to have a bunch of people staring at me. I cant really rationalize why and even if I try, it doesnt make it less scary.

I guess I think of it like people being afraid of dogs. Being a dog trainer I hear about it all the time. Usually people say "well I was bit before and..." Well I've been bit several times (well none since being the trainer) and it hasnt made me afraid of dogs. That also doesnt make their fear any less valid, its just something that one deals with.

 

There's a wonderful entry on wikipedia that you need to read, about the "Uncanny Valley" *searches for the link* Ah, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_Valley
Here's my opinion.. ABJD are so life like--both in appearance and having "personalities"--That the move past the uncanny valley back into the acceptable range. Porcelain dolls, on the other hand, fall fairly close to the bottom of the valley, and thus are more likely to creep you out.

Just my $.02, use it in you paper, or completely ignore it, totally up to you. ^^

OT: I've never been bothered by dolls, but clowns scare the *bleep* out of me.. It, SICK, House of 1000 Corpses.. yeah, none of those movies are ever getting watched by this girl. ^^;

 

Absolutely no doll fear here. I never had any fear of clowns either. I seemed to find both quite fascinating, even as a child.

 

There are no dolls I am actually afraid of, per se; but I don't like porcelain dolls - they're just too still and lifeless. A couple of other people on this thread have mentioned the whole "undead" aspect and the soulless eyes, and I'd have to agree with those descriptions. I really hated that scene in Barbarella with all the biting dolls. My mother bought me a porcelain doll about 5 years back as a Christmas present; it spent the best part of three years sitting on a windowsill hidden behind a curtain until my last house move, when I quite gleefully dumped it in the rubbish skip.

The ones I really loathe however are those "baby reborn" dolls that seem to be all the rage these days. They look like ugly dead babies; especially the "sleeping" ones. Maybe it affects me more because I've had two miscarriages, but those things creep me out.

I don't find ABJDs creepy at all though. I think Neori has hit it on the head, at least for me; they go right through the Uncanny Valley and out the other side into something ethereally beautiful. Part of it is the fact that no matter how initially perfect they may appear, when you look really closely you can see little quirks in their appearance - I really can't call them flaws; they're just little signs that they were actually sculpted by a real human being, and painted by one too. Even the best faceup artists won't get eyebrows absolutely, perfectly symmetrical for instance; there will be slight variations in eyelashes, eyeliner etc.

Take a look at your own face in the mirror; human faces aren't symmetrical. I recall reading about a psychological experiment in which people were shown Photoshopped faces in various stages of "perfection", finishing with one that was absolutely symmetrical - and that was the one that creeped people out the most. The faces that are acclaimed to be "classically" beautiful are those that have some sort of flaw or quirk; just look at Cindy Crawford or Marilyn Monroe, for instance.

For me, ABJDs have transcended the whole idea of dolls and become almost something else; not quite people, but not far off. I can fully understand how some Chinese feel that very beautiful and lifelike dolls can attract spirits that will inhabit the doll and bring you luck if you treat them like real people; because how often have many of us said how lifelike our dolls are, how much they seem to have real personalities of their own? And that's why ABJDs don't creep me out; it's less like having dolls surrounding me and more like sharing my home with beautiful, not-quite-human miniature people.

 

ALL BS horror stories are "supposedly true", it's supposed to make them more scary. *rolleyes*

Someone mentioned puppets - those are in also the class of "things that move" (when controlled by people of course), and things that potentially might "actually move on their own" are a great subject of scary stories... (no one ever seems to write many stories about dolls or puppets that "come to life" and are NICE, though... :p )

And the "Uncanny Valley" of "creepiness" will be different for everyone. I don't mind seeing Final Fantasy CGI movies or having BJDs; for others, these are creepy and "realistic but not quite enough". I am reminded of the robots in Tanith Lee's book "the Silver Metal Lover"...