Poll: How picky are you???

At the moment I don't buy just watch and admire I already have too many to add to them and I'm also short on money still I like to fave/bookmark pages so that I can rewatch and admire , I always wanted to do that with bjd's and other dolls when I bought my furgas I had faved/saved as bookmark every furga there was on ebay/amazon etc more than 60sale pages just to get 3 dolls so that is my vibe I may buy more or very little or none at all but I want to know what there is.
I also do the same when I want to sell , I save/mark/fave pages of similar sales by the loads to know if they will sell how fast and in what price so that I be wiser with my listings

 

While I do window shop when bored, I like having a list of who I like and use that as a guideline for hunting and planning. I currently have a bit of a list as is but it’s technically longer than what it looks like as I haven’t found the all the right dolls for what I plan for some characters ^^

 

I think there's a part of me that loves planning dolls more than the dolls themselves, lol. I will plan dolls down to the accessories I want for them (even if it's a full wardrobe), and most of the time I wind up not buying them. There are a few that manage to get onto my list of future dolls, and when that happens there's a likelier chance they'll get bought. I am also much pickier with sculpts and what I buy, so I can cut down on spending a little bit that way.

But I also fall to impulse buying, especially when I have the money to do so. Right now I've only got 3 dolls on my list, and I'm really going to try hard to stick to it when my No Buy ends.

 

I’ve always wanted a doll for the last ten years or so, and now that I’m more financially secure I was able to find my first doll and patiently waiting for her. I had told myself this was going to be a one time thing but now I feel like I’m just mesmerized by all the beautiful dolls and want them all !!

 

Pickiness is a spectrum for me - I am not super picky about sculpts, but I'm very picky about waiting times and prices. I also don't mind less poseability or a bad resin match but I am picky about posture and body size/proportions. I tend to enjoy older dolls so new releases don't really rope me in that easily any more thankfully - there's just too much choice there for my little brain anyway and I don't like having too many options to pick from

 

I do window shop and buy the ones I like but I am picky about the ones I like. For example.

- I don't like miserable-looking sculpts (smiley sculpts, or at the very least, "neutral" expressions, are the ones I go for)
- almost all of my dolls (even the 1/3 size ones) are children or young teens rather than late teens or adults ( hard to do in 1/3 scale at times - plenty of childlike faces, bit so many childlike bodies).
- As a result of the point above, many of them are hybrids, so both heads and bodies can be right.


Teddy

 

I want to say that I'm a planner, but the truth is that my most beloved dolls have been impulse purchases, while the ones I planned for have been left more or less untouched in comparison I guess there is something to love at first sight when it comes to a sculpt.

as for the second question... I was probably a lot pickier when I first came into this hobby 14ish years ago, however the style these days tend to trend more towards sculpts I prefer, which means window shopping has become risky compared to how it used to be back in the day

 

There tends to be an initial gut reaction to stuff I like. I can however spend months deciding if I just enjoy seeing the thing or actually want to posses it. I don't like clutter and am not a collector for collecting sake, so I tend to be very picky about what I ultimately purchase. I can also mull over specifics to a near obsessive amount. Like I spent 6 months trying to decide between 2 resin colors before making a decision on my most recent doll...

 

It's a little bit "I spend months looking for my next doll" and "I only look for dolls when I'm ready to purchase" because I only have a few characters I want to have as dolls, and I'm very picky about what sculpts to use for them. If I don't have a character I want to have as a doll, then I might look at dolls for fun, but there's not really any stakes in it, because I don't feel the need to buy one, and can just look at the pictures to admire them.
And I guess I've gotten pickier, because I only buy a doll if I have an idea for it now, after my first one sat around blank for 3 years before I sold her, simply because i didn't have a character for her and thus couldn't decide how to customize her. So only buying for a specific, already existing character is partly in reaction to that

 

I am open to impulse buys but I do plan my major dolls very carefully. Once in a while I'm just looking and something about a doll will grab me. Most of the time though I'm carefully plotting everything.

 

I'm absolutely a constant window shopper who impulse buys about half the dolls I like. My collection has gotten big enough I'm going to need to either make and stick some new rules or get more space.

 

It takes me forever to decide and then I end up buying a different doll

 

My cope is that impulse purchases are better since I’m instantly in love with no regrets purchasing them impulsively

 

I certainly went through phases throughout the years!
In the beginning, like the first two years, I would very much actively look and seek out dolls I could potentially buy. With some, very vague, plans as for what I am looking for. Thankfully I was very low on cash during that time, and 99% of my plans never came to be. Which is good, because there would have been a lot of impulse buys or simply dolls bought I know would later not be my style anymore.

Once I had a specific plan for my collection (i.e. I needed certain OCs shelled), I would actively keep my eyes peeled for any new releases that could fit the characters I had in mind. I would nearly never buy anything outside from these plans, no matter how much I liked a lot of releases. When a fitting doll would pop up, I'd buy it. I did have some projects that I started but then abandoned though, which usually meant buying a head and then later admitting to myself I will never turn this into a full, finished doll anyway. Often times it failed because I couldn't find the right seamstress/wig maker etc. to tackle this project, or it was a head that simply refused to be hybrided with anything.
Oh, I also never checked the second-hand markets regularly for something "interesting". Most of my years I was waiting for THE doll to be released that doesn't exist yet. In case of one character that took 14 years

Nowadays, with most of my desired characters shelled and a certain fatigue also very much setting in, I don't look for dolls to buy at all anymore. Most dolls that are being released nowadays are not my thing anyway, that makes it easier. I still have one character to shell, but otherwise I am content. I think to get me to buy a new doll, a release would really need to be absolutely groundbreaking OR get me as far as wanting to re-shell one of my current dolls. I did that several times in the past, but that meant I sold the old doll as well.

So I guess I went from an active window shopper to patiently waiting for the right doll to pop up to not really paying attention to what is going on anymore in the span of 16 years

 

Suuuper picky. whenever I decide I want to buy a new doll I have to spends months looking at different dolls to find the one I love most, then wait a couple of more months to see if I still love it as much as I did initally, and then maybe I'll buy it it's mostly just because I tend to lose interests in things rather quickly, so if I'm gonna spend that much money on something I need to make sure I really really want it, and that I'll still want it after all the months it will take to get to me

 

I'm a combination of a window shopper and a wishlist-er. I have some definitive dolls and/or doll parts on my wishlist that I buy accordingly once the funds become available. However, I also have a loose framework of characteristics I'm open to finding and will buy accordingly if something comes up that fits into that framework at the right time. This is usually how I end up accruing floating heads with plans to hybridize down the road.

It usually takes me several months before something firmly cements itself on my wishlist, though. I find whole dolls to be a bigger emotional (not to mention financial) commitment than just heads, so I have to sit on wanting a full doll for some months before it officially becomes a "to buy" item.

TL;DR: I'm picky about full dolls, but flexible with potential hybrids!

 

I’m more of a window shopper than anything although sometimes I’ll take a note of a particular doll or style that I like.

I do however have a couple of dolls I’m waiting for the rerelease of and one I’m kind of hoping to see made. They’re the only definites.

 

If I know a doll is not a limited run - aka it's always in stock/comes back in-stock frequently - then I tend to sit and think/plan.
If it has a very long ordering period and is limited, I still think on it. It's how I decided against some Volks Dollfie Dreams recently.
If it is a shorter ordering period, I still think about it! If a character comes to mind, if layaway is possible, if I constantly think about the doll, I buy it.
To me, those short order dolls are impulse buys. I didn't plan to make Elfquest dolls but then Fairyland Nuia showed up...so here we are!
Or, in the case of my Granado layaway, it's sort of impulse because her full set outfit sold out so I was worried she would sell out.
When a local doll dealer still had a store, I definitely bought some dolls that I got to see in person there without any planning.

But I don't actively shop for dolls. Yes, I get emails, and I check out the new sculpts, but I am picky about what kind of dolls I want to own. I really need to thin out my collection though - I am not enjoying it to it's full potential in all honesty.