Pediophobia

I was never afraid of dolls. I had a porcelain doll as a child that looked just like me.

My boyfriend however is absolutely terrified of Keir

And he has no idea why. He KNOWS the doll won't 'come alive and kill' him. and that it's just a doll. but he says, 'it's too lifelike'.

I don't really get it. But there are such things as irrational fears. so *shrug*

 

My BF dislikes all dolls because of the "uncanny valley" but especially BJD because they look too alive (he was even creeped out by Batchix's Nova/Machina which I thought he might like because he loves robots). Also he's seen too many horror movies. (I have a sneaking suspicion part of his distaste for BJD in particular comes from a mixture of seeing them at cons and the fact that they cost a lot and I like them. Like I'd make him spend money on one. > )

My BF's roommate, on the other hand, regards dolls as soulless vessels waiting to kill us so that they can be properly alive. Sometimes I think he says this in jest, and sometimes I think he is perfectly serious. It isn't how they look, but the fact that they are human-shaped I guess. On occasion he has given me the dead child bit, but he's creeped out by my Sprite who is not particularly human-esque. (Her long fingers were a special point of dislike)

Action figures do not bother either of them, which I have pointed out as weird but they shrug it off.

I, on the other hand, love pretty much all dolls. Some don't appeal to me because of how they look, but I have never looked at a doll and gotten shivers, even when they looked real. Except for life-sized realistic collector baby dolls, when people carry them about. So I'm guessing that a very realistic, 5 foot tall BJD would be right out of the question for me.

Marionette puppets, tho... I can look at them and play with them but in the dark they need to be put away from me because they seem more sinister than other dolls and doll-like items.

 

I think a lot of the problem is how trendy it has become to be afraid of dolls, sort of like a fear of clowns used to be trendy.

Part of the problem, however, is how so many horror movies either involve dolls (like Chucky) as harbingers of death, or use dolls in otherwise disturbing and creepy ways. Most people don't notice the broken and forgotten doll laying on the floor or on a shelf, but it often sticks with you in your subconcious. I imagine the effect is deeper and more long-standing with children, though it never affected me in any negative manner.

 

I just wrote the exact same thing a few hours ago.

 

I've had mixed reactions.

A shop lady called Zi a creepy Chucky doll. And I thought maybe this was due to him having a rather pale and gothic face-up.

But I showed my friend a sleeping Kaede with a natural gorgeous face-up but her reaction was that it was creepy and too real but all in all was pretty.

I think both of the comments I recieved were media influenced. Dolls and horror movies etc.

Myself. I have always hated baby dolls. Like Baby Born. Especially if they are sleeping its not that offensive but I just feel a little uneasy, they are so real but even knowing that they are a doll. Maybe it's the fact they are babies.

I don't have any problems with dolls that don't resemble infants whatso ever.

I have the same feelings. Sorta like cotton balls. Every one seems to be afraid of them >.> and like some school children say its cool not to read and others will follow even if they may in themselves like to read they reject the notion due to other influences. Just like dolls they are rejecting the fact that they may like or what they really think, because of influence.

....And I'm rambling xD

 

For the most part I haven't really had any adverse reaction to my dolls - I will quite often take one when I go out to eat or obviously if I'm going to buy something for the doll itself - and the main reactions I've gotten are really people very intrigued, or I've been asked if it's a school project (I'm assuming they mean a college school project since there is no way I could be taken as a child), but the funniest reaction I had was with my buddydoll mars. I was holding him in my arms while walking to the doll store and a young lady jumped and I heard her say to her friend after we passed "OH MY GOD, I thought that was a real person, you know like a tiny person" I actually had to contain my laughter until I was in the store, because I didn't want to make the person feel bad or anything. But I think a lot of it deals with culture and what people are familiar with or experiences they've had either in person or in the movies - and just how vivid their imaginations can be.

 

When I was thinking about getting a doll I sat down with my little brother and went through pictures, since I wanted to get one that he'd like too.
The more realistic dolls bothered him, since they looked so much like real people but he knew they weren't.
On the other hand, if I looked at dolls that were on the other end of the spectrum, and very stylized (I think it was Volks) he was more creeped out by those. He didn't like how the proportions were "wrong" and how they just didn't look "right." It's the same reason he doesn't like a lot of childrens' cartoons and doesn't like most anime. Something about them looking so close to people, but being so different at the same time.

That said, when I got Nicolai the first thing my brother wanted to do was hold him, even before I got the bubble wrap off. So I guess it has to do with the way they look.
It may help that I've got a smaller doll, too. Something bigger would've freaked both of us out.

 

I think it's unreasonable to be afraid of dolls. It's not like they can hurt you, despite what Hollywood says. But hey, who am I to talk? I fear bugs.

 

I haven't read through this whole thread, but i think this is a really cool topic! actually to be honest i have loved dolls for as long as i can remember. then about two or three years ago something changed because i used to have all these beautiful dolls on my book shelf in my room. they were a mix between some of my mom's old plastic dolls, with the rolling eyes, barbie dolls and a glass china doll. one day i walked into my room and felt like they were watching in me in not the best way and it reall scared me. i was also suffering from paranoia at the time but still.

so i put them all into my closet. but i love my DOT girl, she has a Camine head and even though i feel like she watches me too, i don't feel afraid of her. similariley to what other people have said about their characters being so real to them, i feel the same way and maybe that is why i am not so afraid.

the other thing though is that to me BJDs seem to, most of them, to have such caring faces. some i do find frightnening depending on how they are customized and such, but i most i feel are very sentimental.

i think in general many people feel negativley toward dolls, i don't know why. maybe it is the horror movie thing, or maybe a lot of people had bad experiences that had to do with dolls?

when i brought my doll into public for the first time most people didn't even look at her, to my knowledge. and the people who did notice her seemed to be intrigued. to me BJDs are very life like, and i think that is why it is so easy to fall in love with a doll you are really attracted to.

i don't really know what i am talking about...XD

 

As a child, there were two or three toys I feared. I believed toys were alive, so they might be inclined to hurt me.
Of course, I feel -safe- with my BJDs, as do many people scared of oher dolls.
I think its because of how we treat them in the hobby. They almost become close friends rather than posessions... We know their personalities and that they would never harm us.

 

I agree, Hoshi! BJDs tend to have much more caring faces than porceline dolls and barbies, whose faces are generally indifferent, too unnaturally happy looking, or downright angry.

I was afraid of dolls when I was younger, and even now I still feel uncomfortable around them. I dislike porceline and I really hate barbies and "baby" dolls. But I know EXACTLY why I have a deep rooted fear of them: I watched Chuckie and this one episode of the Dark Side where a doll kills a family out of jealousy when I was, like, five. THANKS NANA. -_- Then she insisted on giving me porceline dolls every birthday. Why??? I was scarred & scared early on.

I only had one porceline doll that I wasn't afraid of. She was a curly honey-blonde doll with green eyes and a lovely blue "alice" dress and bonnet. I know I wasn't afraid of her because unlike all the others I've ever had, she had the kindest face, like the person who sculpted her actually wanted her to look alive and caring, not just deadpan and glassy-eyed. I don't have her anymore, but if I did, I wouldn't mind her on my shelf.

There's also the possibility that people exposed to more Asian aesthetics might be more accepting of BJD's versus porcelines and others because of their familiarity with the style that humans are presented in, in Asian dolls (Bigger, more expressive eyes and mouths, smaller noses, very graceful lines/silohettes). I know that thats what initially made me overlook the fact that they were, indeed, dolls. People only familiar with the typical European aesthetic for dolls might have a more extreme bias than people who have seen anime/manga or even just traditional Japanese dolls (like the hina dolls for the girls day festival) or statues.

I'm not sure though. It would be an interesting study to do

 

I was terrified of baby dolls for a long time, I still am terrified of them. When I was little I was also scared of porcelin (I can't seem to spell that...), but I'm not quite as scared of them anymore. ABJDs are actually the only dolls that don't really bother me. The first BJD I saw had a creepy look to him- it was just the way the owner had him dressed up- and I loved him. Truthfully I thought baby dolls and such dolls were scary becuase they just stared at you, and the ones that blinked scared be because they would blink at me with just the slightest movement... Well... and I had a dream were dolls killed me when I was younger. Anyway, yeah, so the only dolls I go near are BJDs, despite that fact the first one I saw was somewhat creepy looking... lol.

So... Basically, I agree with what EksDee said.

 

Well I hate Barbies, thankfully all of the ones we used to have were thrown away when my Dad cleaned up the 'playroom'. Its their smiles and their really pointy hands and feet. I used to get freaked out by some porcelain dolls if I was in the dark with them, oddly enough I was fine with them if it was light...now meh, they don't bother me but I don't want them in my line of vision when I'm asleep. I just don't like the idea of tiny hands and feet and teeth (hence why little children also scare the bejeezus out of me!) although for some reason my dolls totally don't bother me.

I've had people mistake Kaito for "an anorexic baby" before so many people have told me that they thought he was a child when they first saw him. I think to myself 'what kind of child has long white hair?' lol
My nan loved him, until she found out that he was a boy. That I don't quite understand...although I think that was more to do with the face that he looks/dresses like a girl but is a boy and that is what she didn't like.

 

I think personally for me, any of my friends who said they were "creeped out" about my doll pretty much were frightened by the fact that he's different. I'm use to it... being an anime fan I have quite a few things that other people get "creeped out" by...

though for those who are actually afraid of dolls or small children. I have a thought that it's because of the way the doll may look at them. I mean the dolls have eyes, and can pose like real people, sometimes people tent to be affraid of them because they seem so human like but they're aren't human.

Hmm... it's hard for me to say personally... mainly for the fact that I love my dolls so much, I could never find them creepy

 

I thought it was really interesting, too, and not creepy. What is creepy and completely terrifying is seeing a dead person minutes after they've died. Still gives me nightmares, especially since I knew her while she was alive.

Anyway, I don't find many dolls creepy, usually only ugly. What does creep me out are dolls which are combinations of human and animal. Not walking animals, or animals with human hair, but dolls or figures with human hands feet, or bodies but animal faces, or the other way around. Occasionally, I'll find certain dipictions of such 'frankensteins' so intriguing that I'll forget my repulsion, but I mostly dislike and fear them. If you can't picture what I'm talking about, think of Egyptian gods and Greek mythical creatures.

When it comes to children, the ones I dislike are ones whose parents I dislike, because they've taught their children to be just as irritating and stupid as they themselves are. I like talking to people of any age who are thinking, and creative people, and children fit into this category as frequently as adults, as long as you treat people as though they are people. There are a lot of people I can't stand, so I don't talk to many people, so I don't believe the world is full of great people, but that it could be, if they would just stop insisting on being stupid all the time. I like children dolls that look intelligent and playful, but am sad that they are made of hard resin. It's really fun poking squishy children. >.>

 

I've been a doll collector for as long as I can remember and there have only been two experiences where one doll actually freaked me out, of all people, and another where two women entered my room and left very quickly due to my "freaky dolls." I asked why they thought they were so freaky and they told me it was because they were evil. I look at my precious little ones and they bring me so much joy that I can never conceive of them being evil but that's what they thought. It kind of hurt my feelings that they would think of my dolls that way but I kept an open mind about it. I did however find it quite rude of them to just leave the house after that. It makes me wonder if they were traumatized during childhood by the clown scene in Polterguist or something.

I realize not all people can appreciate the doll world because I did indeed have a very strange experience once myself. When I was about eight years old, I left my doll on the bed for about ten minutes and when I came back, she was sitting in my chair in the middle of my room staring at me when I opened the door! The chair was usually pulled close to the desk against the wall. I asked my grandmother if she went into my room but she denied it so I always ended up getting the creeps around that doll. Very strange. Even when I first got her and opened her box up, my uncle was joking in his creepy voice style that she's going to come to life at night and play tricks on me! What was he thinking saying that to an eight year old? Lol's. I bet it was my uncle who moved her but the weird part of the story is that I didn't see him around that day! Oddly enough that never deterred me from collecting. Each doll comes with its own personality and I've always been drawn to the ones I pick or they seem to pick me!

 

I've never heard of dolls looking like corpses of dead children until I read this thread! (that actually made me give my guys an uneasy glance and for a moment I felt really uncomfortable...that's a really horrifying idea that has never even crossed my mind...)
I'd have always thought it was because people thought dolls looked like they might move on their own, theres plenty of horror movies out there about dolls movie and killing people. Heck, I even drew a horror story about a doll that stole someone's body once before I even got my first BJD...

I think the only doll I've been truly afraid of was a clown doll my friend owned...It looked like a little child with it's face painted, but it laughed maniacly like a man when you pressed his chest.
Maybe that's more a fear of clowns, I was always afraid it would start laughing on its own when I slept over at her house though :X

 

Oh, figured i'd add one thing. Although they don't scare me, I am quite.... in detest of half-breed dolls such as those new cat things Luts chose to release.
I see my dolls as people in their own rights. So to see anthros, elves, sprites and pixies running around makes me feel a little odd.
I've no problem with vampire dolls though.

 

I can understand porcelain doll fears since they're usually featured in creepy stories but not bjd
i suppose if there's a story to go with then that would bring fear through association with just "dolls"; like with the weird "japanese insanity doll" picture, it scared me because i was told it was scary [has anyone seen this picture, i was terrified xD]

i could never be afraid of a bjd because they have more emotion in the eyes than most dolls that you're drawn to

 

I actually do have a doll fear, but it's mostly for porcelain and very realistic baby dolls. It's nothing paralyzing, but I did have to get rid of all the porcelain dolls people decided to buy me for christmas every year. D:

I think it's mostly because they all look like they can see forever. And the baby ones are so realistic it's a little unsettling.