People influencing what doll you buy?

At times I get influenced in what I may want to buy being enabled by their photos. Which then sends me into a research frenzy to see other people's photo's. If you find you keep going back to that same doll and continue to get that funny little flutter of excitement when you see them, it is most likely meant to be. Stick to your instincts, after all it will be your doll. Unique to you.

Sometimes I think getting other opinions can be a good thing, they may point something out about the doll you may have overlooked in your excitement. It has helped me get perspective at times.

 

Yea, when my boyfriend tell me that he don't like this model or this other model, im not gonna buy it because if he don't like my doll im feeling I don't like the model too ^^' but thats make me feeling sad in the same time because I don't know if I should take her aniway.. ^^'

 

Short version: Buy what you like.

Long version: When I'm planning a doll, I don't take others' opinions of the sculpt into consideration. I might read company reviews to make sure it's a company that has a good reputation for quality, reliability, and the like, but other people don't get to tell me what sculpt to get. Why?

Because I'm spending MY hard-earned money to bring home a doll that will become part of MY life and serve as both body and inspiration for a character of MY creation. MINE. Not my mom's or my uncle's or my best friend down the street's money/life/character. MINE. I am the one who has to live with my choice for as long as I'm in the hobby, which will probably be a very long time. I'm the one who has to put effort into taking care of them. I'm the one who decided to get into the hobby to begin with. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one who gets to decide which sculpt to buy.

Granted, I'm not one who minds having popular sculpts. All of my dolls are popular sculpts to some degree (though I didn't notice just how many other KD Borys were out there until after I ordered mine...). I buy the dolls I buy because I like them, not because they are or are not popular. Other people obviously do mind and will let that influence their buying choice one way or another. Both situation are perfectly fine as long as the new doll owner is HAPPY with his or her choice.

So yeah, buy what makes YOU happy. And buy in a way that makes you happy (e.g. ask for opinions if you want them, make the decision all by yourself if you prefer, etc.). But ultimately, the decision will be yours. Frankly, Vince_Twilight, I think your friend was a bit rude, and I hope you go with your preferences and get the doll that will make you happy. Besides, I've found that once I've had a doll for a bit, the sculpt stops mattering to me except as something I should remember in case people ask. My El isn't El anymore, he's Ryuuki. And there isn't another doll out there exactly like him (well, in my opinion anyway :p).

 

My friend really likes SDF Annette and Dolkot's Ryu. They are both dolls I like, too. I've considered buying both and think one or both might be future purchases.

But I would want an Annette boy... Creative I know! Haha. But Annette makes such an adorable boy.

Ryu was one of the first dolls I fell in love with so that fact combined with having such a close friend react so positively to him has made him a doll I constantly go back to to admire... I think I'll certainly add him into my family sooner or later.


What other people think of the doll only partially affects how I view them... But I am not really one to attach meaning and a personality to a doll without having them and knowing them in person. I pick the doll first, and the rest comes later. So maybe I am more influenced by the opinions of others when planning a future doll. However, only the opinions of those close to me matter. I really wouldn't care if someone I didn't know or care about disagreed with my choice of a doll. But I do take what my friends think into consideration, they know me so well after all.

 

I do exactly this. xD

Sometimes in my excitement I concentrate on everything I like about the doll and not the things I may potentially dislike. Only when my friend points out the cons do I step back and ask myself if this is what I really want.

 

shiori_hime said it all.

Buy the doll that makes your heart sing. The one that grabs you and won't let go. That's what I do and I've never regretted a purchase.

 

I'll never understand the way some people say "you shouldn't get this or that; there are too many already" as though the reason you're buying a doll is to provide some unique service to the community at large.

I mean, if I was trying to open a restaurant and a friend said "um, Fernwood is crawling with coffee shops and lunch/brunch hotspots right now...maybe you should think about other businesses?" I might take her criticism seriously. But I'm not out to make the doll world a better place through my purchasing habits! Not that one non-El doll would exactly turn the tide of Els, either...

As to other people influencing me, I haven't been influenced in the dolls I've bought (although my sister definitely supported the enshrining of MNF Shiwoo on my wishlist), but I have sometimes been influenced in terms of their character. Sometimes it's bugged me (as when my sister reported that her friends who got us into the hobby had "decided" something or other about Rada) but most of the time when people make character suggestions I end up working them in in some way, even to the point of significantly changing the focus of my dolls' story. It's like if someone, instead of saying "don't buy this or that doll" just showed you a photo of another sculpt that you fell head over heels in love with...so you buy it instead of the one you thought of before.

 

I buy want I believe is the doll for me. I want the Rin doll, in scholar outfit, really badly, but not alot of people are selling it. I may buy another doll, but the Rin doll is the doll for me.

 

it's funny really. my friend recently bought her first doll. she really likes my Ducan, but i think she will never ever buy one herself because i already have a Ducan, and i guess there's this unwritten law that a group of friends can't own multiples of the same thing. at least that's the way it is with me and my friend anyway. i wouldn't ever let someone put me off of buying something i really wanted though. i do think i would be awkward about buying the same doll as my friend but that would only be because i know she might have a problem with it.

 

I've noticed I have to ask some of my best friends about big decisions I'm making, but their opinion doesn't actually change my mind that much. Maybe if I was trying to decide between two dolls that I love and I was really close with both, then a friend pointing out good points about the other might change my mind...

So far I've bought only two dolls and I chose both on my own. I didn't so much ask anyone's opinion, just showed them "This is the one I'm thinking of getting, isn't s/he lovely?"

Althought I do agree on the "can't have the same one as a friend" rule XD

 

Crap.
o0
Was I that friend?!

 

A few years ago, before I ever got my first BJD, one of my friends showed me a doll she was thinking about buying. I told her that I didn't think she should get it, because it was a "dreaming" sculpt that, to me, looked rather drugged-out and kind of creepy.

It's a good thing she didn't listen to me, because now I absolutely adore that doll. She had a vision for what she wanted, one that I couldn't quite comprehend until she actually did it.

So... while the advice of friends can be helpful sometimes, it's usually best to go with your gut instinct. If you really want the doll, go for it.

As for the "don't get the same sculpt as your friend"... I don't get it. I don't understand this sense of possessiveness people have over a sculpt that they didn't create. There are a few sculpts I can't buy now just because I associate them so strongly with one particular doll, but it's more about my own mental block than anything else. I see a Dark Elf Soo, and I think of my friend Roxy's girl, Frankie. Every DES just reminds me of Frankie, and if I owned one I don't think I'd be able to see her as a different character.

I own several very common sculpts. It seems kind of silly for me to expect that none of my friends would ever get a Minifee Shiwoo just because I already have one. We each make the dolls our own through accessorizing and customizing... it's not the sculpt that matters, it's what each owner does with it.

 

I've actually had the opposite happen. Hubby, despite thinking my hobby was silly, actually convinced me to get a doll. I have found a limited IH Harin with the fullset hanfu and as much as I wanted her I knew we couldn't afford her. I figured I could put off buying her and in the meantime I had my eye on other dolls. Hubby actually talked me into getting my dream doll because he knew that she would make me happy. She really broke the bank, but I would not have gotten her if hubby hadn't told me to get her. He even let me get the new BG Freya (I was thinking of getting her instead of the IH Harin). I have the best hubby ever!

 

For me and my friends it's actually the other way around.
We kind of prefer the same companies and like the same dolls, so each time one of us wants to buy a doll she really admires, we encourage her to go for that doll.

Without them, I would never have had the nerve to buy Cicero or Zana !

 

i hope ive never accidentally influenced someone not to get a doll theyve liked...ive never really thought about it, even tho ive noticed a lot of indirect influence goes on on DOA (and some direct). i would feel so bad if that ever happened...i dont mind positive influence, i love to talk people into getting a doll they like XD ....but telling someone not to get a doll is exactly the kind of thing i think might have happened to me had i been a DOA member before getting my first instead of after. i probably wouldnt have had anyone come out and tell me not too, but there are obvious brands and dolls that are more popular than the ones i have. well, some of them anyway XDDD *El owner and proud of it*

and srsly Ravyn42, youre right, you do have the best husband ever!!

 

Hmmm, I've been "accused" of it o_O
Well not really, but it sort of felt that way.

I had been drooling and waiting and saving and stressing over a zaoll muse for about half a year :') And well, a lot of people on the dutch fora gradually became interested in the zaoll sculpts as well.
So I was feeling kind of... 'ugh' about that xD Because I wanted her so badly, and it took long, and it seemed as if everybody suddenly wanted such a doll. And got her sooner than me xD I just shared my silly feelings about that. But it somehow grew into a larger discussion about having an 'alone right' on a certain mold.

I was just sharing my feelings, just to get them out... so it wouldn't bug me any longer and I could just enjoy everything again with the other zaoll lovers xB I never meant for anybody to take it as if they were not allowed to buy one because I would dislike them for it o_O
I mean, I don't even take myself all that serious. And in my mind it's just ridiculous to even try and influence another persons doll choises. Your money, your doll. Common sense right?
So it didn't even came up in my mind that some people ... might have taken my words way more heavy than they were supposed to be, and in a totally different way. (Actually... I don't even understand how they got the idea that I wouldn't want anyone to buy a zaoll @__@ "Do I look like that much of a bitch to you?" I guess it was the general discussion at the time, since it was in general a big topic on the dutch fora :/)

But well, I was really surprised to hear that someone had actually been doubting to get a zaoll muse for her character because of me @___@
I was like... 'no, wth? why would I have a serious problem with that? And even if I /would/ have a serious problem with that... why should you even care?! It's your money, your desicion. Go buy that doll' :'D

She has her zaoll muse kid now, and gosh he is a pretty little thing xD

 

i do understand your problem.

But you might also want to ask yourself..if you want a doll 1 in every 10-ish doll owners have or has had. [lol don't take that number too serious]
Something i sometimes wonder when i see a very nice doll and wonder if i shall buy one.

I must say,
lately i have got the feeling that creativity is hard to find.
A lot of people see a cool doll.. decide to buy the same doll or take a character very similar to it and put it into another mold, but simply the same feel.

I myself decided when i started this hobby to try to be original and creative..
show people that unpopular or ...just mold people don't buy because they don't seem interesting can be very nice and different.
And.. i must say people didn't look at it like that.
They just added the same doll to their wishlist because suddenly it was a nice doll.. and didn't think of that meaning behind it.

...............what am i trying to say lol..

well.. that if you like El's ..buy one.
But maybe just take a look at other dolls.. dolls that you also like a lot..
but ..seem plain or.. not really interesting
but a very well put together mold...
and see what you can do with him/her.. instead of taking a El.

Sounds stupid.. but it will make the doll feel more like yours..
instead of.. another El?

Oewh, i kinda understand your friend tho.
If i would get a mold that someone else around me already owns..for some reason it would never really feel like mine.
Like Arienh above tells about this girl...
but for me a Zaoll Muse is a mold that..belongs with Arienh.. no offense to our friend that also has one..because with her belongs a Narae43 LOL

It's a bit strange i guess, and i don't seem to have this with cp/Fairyland and crobidoll dolls...probably because their just to many of them...?

 

No, I would not let anyone tell me what to buy. Not in that kind of way anyhow.
Because I believe in what you write... It would be my doll, with my kind of different attitude, look and personality.
So, that there is a lot of that kind of doll out, so what!?
Buy the doll YOU like and find attractive. What's the use of buying a doll that you always will see as the "next best thing"

 

I have to disagree with this, that a less popular sculpt would feel "more like yours" than a rarer one. I see what you're saying about taking something less liked and making something beautiful out of it, because I have a tendency to do that too... I like to see the potential in something others have written off or disdained.

But... I have a Minifee Shiwoo, a very popular sculpt. I also own a DIM Belita, a fairly unpopular sculpt. I wouldn't say that the Belita feels any more or less "mine" than the Shiwoo. I've put my own creativity into both dolls and they both feel uniquely mine... instead of "just another MNF Shiwoo", that doll is Chroma to me. And the Belita is just Iris. The sculpt's popularity doesn't really affect my individual doll, in my eyes.

 

No,if I like a doll I don't care what other people say. If it about the quality of the doll or company related like if the company is bad or does cheap crappy dolls, then of course I will listen to them but if it's about that a mold is to common or that they just personally don't like that doll, I don't really care

I want an El too, even if he is a common doll. I still think the mold is absolutely wonderful!