Playing Vs. Collector Mentality

I play with my most expensive doll as often as I play with my cheapest doll. However, my idea of "play" is just dressing or undressing them and taking photos, all of which I do wearing cotton gloves to keep them as perfect as possible.

When a LE or one-off is separated from one of its pieces, yes the value automatically goes down. It's why Momoko heads go for $2000, her default dress goes for $600, her body type goes for $400 at absolute most, and yet altogether she goes for $4000-$7000.

 

As much as I love touching my dolls and posing them for the most part I leave them be, there will be whole days where I don't touch them at all. I think regardless if it's a one-off or not it is still a work of art and my clumsy hands do not really want to mess any of it up, even though for the most part anything I screw up can be fixed.

However, my Cecile was the most expensive doll to date for me, and will probably always be the most expensive, (if I keep my wits about me) and he gets the least amount of attention. I don't know if that's a subconscious thing on my part but I'm just really too nervous to mess with him much.

At this point in time I don't have a display set up for them, they mostly reside in their boxes but I assume as the years go they will be displayed rather than played with, I don't really think the intent of these dolls is for "play" anyway necessairily. I don't know why you would spend a couple of hundred or even thousand dollars to drag a doll through the mud, so to speak.

 

I've been wondering about the same thing, especially regarding one-offs. I'm glad you posted this, as I'm curious to read people's answers. I only have one doll at the moment, but I'm getting ready to attend the volks dolpa in nyc next month. I've been excited to take a chance at winning a one-off, but I'm not sure whether I really want a doll that I can't feel comfortable playing with. In my case "playing with" is a very low-impact, maybe once a week thing, but still. I looked at photos of the one-offs from last year's nyc dolpa and they were all gorgeous, but a few looked much more like display items than dolls you would handle or change the costumes on. I hope some of folks who took them home respond to this thread.

Personally, I don't feel the same way about full-sets, as even in the case of super-limited ones, they still aren't "one of a kind" the way a one-off is.

 

Simply, I don't get dolls that I will treat as a collectible that I will not play with. Of course, I appreciate them highly as art, but I don't have limitless funds either, so I buy the ones that will bring me the most enjoyment, and for me... it's the ones I can play with xD!!

 

While only a few of my dolls are One-Offs, and none of them have been painted by particularly coveted artists, a fair few of them are limited sculpts that are/were relatively expensive and difficult to obtain.

I still play with them. ^_^

The way I look at it, even though I am more of a collector at heart, I didn't build this collection just to have a set of pretty dust-catchers. I bought these dolls to have an interesting pool of photography models, dressing forms, posing references and little, inanimate companions. For me, leaving them standing untouched under glass or packed away in their boxes would simply defeat the purpose of having them. I do maintain them very carefully, and I'm thoughtful about how I treat them because they're important to me on a personal level, but I don't handle these guys of mine with white gloves. They're "active" dolls.

As far as buying a valuable doll second-hand goes... It wouldn't bother me, as a buyer, if the previous owner was also a "player" rather than a "collector". As long as the doll itself was still in good condition, I don't think it would be less valuable to me just because it hadn't been kept sealed away.

I don't have much of an opinion either way re: default outfits. My dolls are almost all character avatars to some extent, so I would be changing the costume as soon as it arrived anyway, most likely. I would only care about it having the original face-up if that particular "look" was one that I found attractive.

 

I would never buy a sculpt or doll because it's limited or because it has a special faceup or something. I'd buy it because I liked it. I take care of my dolls as they are, and I'm anal about touch their faces and such... but I still play with them. I'm not aiming to sell them again, so if I don't get my money back if I ever have to... it'll be worth the money I lost... because I enjoyed them.
I have no idea if that makes sense to anyone else.. but yeah.
Don't care who the makeup is by, how limited it is... or what kind of outfit it has... if I like the doll, I buy it and I play with it. I don't like paying that much money just to look at things.

 

I love my F-16 I really do, but I've recently become terrified to take him out. His faceup was done by Nightmare whose heads go for obscene amounts of money. I'm terrified I'm going to mess his face, so he's been sitting on my nightstand a lot lately instead of modeling outfits. My YoTenshi Kasumi and my SD16 Amelia on the other hand I've been hauling everywhere with me and they are limited with original faceups. Their faces getting messed would upset me, but getting them repainted wouldn't bug me. Same with my SDC Arashi. Getting my B-El or my F-08 repainted would be traumatic though. So I guess I am more careful of certain dolls. ^^;

 

Sometimes I feel a little bad about playing with them because they're so expensive, but that's what makes me happy, so I can't really stop because I wouldn't enjoy the hobby anymore... But I really understand if anyone wants to keep their dolls (limited or unlimited) in pristine condition and have minimal contact. Too bad they yellow like they do because that makes them not very suited for permanent display, unless you do it in a room without windows! In the end I guess they sustain some wear and tear either way unless you just keep them in a box all the time, and I don't know anyone who does that.

I paid the most for my FCS and my LE Lilith but I treat them same as I do my other dolls. I redid the Lilith's face and am replacing her default wig, which I know makes her less valuable, but I plan on keeping her permanently so resale value is not a concern.

 

I think that this is one of the big differences between 'collecting' bjds and collecting vintage Barbie and current Tonner/Fashion Royalty dolls - you can and are expected to play with the bjds without really hurting their secondary market values. Though one CAN find a true never played with still in the box slightly older Volks limited from time to time ( friend JennyNemesis bought a miraculously perfect and never touched Isao 2 recently), you're 80-90% more likely not to find a truly unplayed with bjd on the secondary market. To take out and play with a vintage Barbie or even other current fashion dolls seems to automatically cut their resale value in half for more....
I was a MIB collector. But all of my bjds have been taken out and played with, their wigs and clothing changed (well, some have their default outfits still untouched in their baggies) and some have had their original eyeballs dug out and changed. Even the most expensive and unique ones. And to get around overplaying with any one bjd (faceups do wear off with time and play) I rotate the flock and put about half of them away. I have put some away for a more determinant time, such as the tanned ones that might be affected by sunlight and the one or two that are now so expensive and rare I can't get them replaced, but I do get around to playing with every single one of them and have dragged them outside, into the dirt, staged for an attack by birds, posed in the hot sun at a cemetary, etc. And yet they don't suffer the 'devaluation' that would happen with Barbie and Fashion Royalty, at least for now......one of the joys of this hobby!!!!
I would probably put more out if I had the perfect display case for them - they would be dust catchers I guess but I would still play with them and at the very least change their clothes - Alex

 

I don't have a one off but I do have a limited doll. All mine are out of their box in their own chairs, on hte dining room table, When I had one doll I had a shelf for her. I wash my hadns bwfore touching usually or use baby wipes.

I sometimes have one of them sat with me when I am home and we take lots of photos in the garden and we have just started making video stories. I just couldn't keep one shut away- even if on full display- they are so tactile and I love holding them. I know that my resins will yellow a little because I don't keep them out of the light- but they are never kept in direct sunlight.

I don't know how I feel about people selling limited dolls without their original clothes- part of their originalilty is the clothes they some with.

 

Personally, I wouldn't buy a doll I wouldn't feel comfortable playing with. I admire the LE's and one offs and all those amazingly beautiful artists faceups, but they're just not for me because I like to be very hands on with the dolls I own and a huge chunk of the enjoyment of the hobby would vanish if I were no longer able to do that.

That said, each to their own and hey, the world would be a dull place if all of us had the same mind set eh

 

For some strange reason, I ended up with more limited sculpts, hard to find sculpts and limited edition dolls than I have the regular kind - and based on the dolls I'm planning to aquire next, I'm going to be keeping that mentality. And I'm a pretty fervoured customiser, so I've done some slightly questionable things to desirable sculpts.

But I never, ever buy a doll, especially not a rare or LE doll, with the view that I might sell them one day. Generally, I wouldn't even buy a LE doll with a face up or outfit if I wanted to change that face up or outfit - unless there was absolutely no way of getting that sculpt (Latidoll Aida springs to mind - love that face, hate the face up) otherwise, and then I'd go to the second hand market and try and get them without any of their default stuff, because I appreciate some people DO want them intact and perfect. But if one day by accident I scratch a face up or chip an ear or whatever, it won't bother me because it's MY doll, not someone's collector item.

 

Our home does not have a display case for anything. I don't believe in displaying stuff for the purpose of display. Heck, not even our wedding photos are on display anywhere. XD

A few of my resin boys are special. J (F16), Crazy Ed (School A) and Wish (School C) have been modded and made up by fairly popular Japanese customizers. G (Michele) is a One-Off Memorial model. Do I still play with them? Yes, I do. By playing, I mean sitting them on my lap, staring at them, holding them, posing them and taking lots and lots of photos of them. I enjoy doing all that. 8D I have taken G, J and Wish (F16) out for doll meets. =)

Nothing is forever. Nothing lasts forever. I certainly won't live forever. (Thank God! XD) As such, I don't believe in keeping anything in an "untouchable" condition. I am generally careful with my things, be it a BJD or a potato peeler, so things do last and keep well in my care. However, if damage or the effects of wear and tear become obvious someday, I will simply live with it. These things are inevitable, so there's no point agonizing over the possibility.

As BJDs are purely a hobby for me, not an investment project of any kind, I don't worry about potential loss of monetary value. I did not buy them for the purpose of re-selling them. I bought my boys for the sole purpose of enjoying them. I have the habit of not selling but hoarding everything I own. (That's why I've ended up with over 500 manga on my shelves. XD)

 

I thinkt that even if my doll were expensive (and she isn't ^^) I would play with her, no metter the risk. I think that if i keep her stand still and just watch, I can enjoy her

 

I don't have a collector mentality. Even when I was into Barbies and Tonners, they got played with. I think I have maybe 3 MIB Barbies, total.

All my BJD get played with, regularly. I have a Bermann head on a Hound body who is difficult to obtain, and limited, and he gets played with as much as the rest of them.

If I couldn't play with them, create sets, costuming and storylines, I would not have the kind of interest and passion for them as I do.

 

I'm a very hands on kind of person, so yeah, I handle all of my dolls often. I'm very careful even though I don't own any truly rare dolls or such.
However, I can completely understand why someone would choose not to play with a doll.

Sera~

 

No matter expensive of cheap for me dolls are expensive to me. I appreciate the artist art work and this make me love my girls most thou she's not limited nor rare type. But to me, she's special cause the personality she gave me there's noone can duplicate. I dunno why but I never tend to have the heart to purchase a limited doll, may be its too over expensive for me to buy but I love and slowly see how the artist sculpt them so details and adore their works. xD

But sometimes I do understand why ppl tend to keep their limited dolls up as the value where by no people can own the same. well its mostly depends on different peoples mind set.

So yea I dun have the collector mentality but a playing mentality. xD

 

i've got more of a collector mentality than anything else. i mean, i have two actions figures and they're out of the box but i rarely play with them. i just like to know that they're there should i want to play with them(though having two from different series is kinda difficult to play with...>.>) sometimes i'll take them down and pose them and scream "omg! you're dirty!!" then clean em off but most of the time...nothing. the same would go for any dolls i would buy. though they would be in display cases rather than on my shelf. if i really want something then i'll put the money out for it but at the same time the money factor really stops me from playing with things because i'm afraid i'll break em. so i'm a collector. but not the crazy ones that are like "omg. it was taken out of the box and has been sitting here for X amount of weeks! DEPRECIATION!!" ha ha

 

Well when i was a little girl and got two very limited and hard to find barbies, straight away out the box they came, hair brushed, handled with greasy/food covered children fingers, however i loved them i may have taken there value down to very low levels but i truely loved them. Same goes for my dolls, i only have 1 hard to find doll well semi which is my elf but i play with him like all my others guys( No more greasy children fingers now though:P) Of course the type of play has changed its all about the photos and changing of clothes now