Poll question: What do you look for in a doll?

I chose fantasy. Love those elf ears! Size is an important factor too. SD size dolls scare me a little, I find their size a bit intimidating.

 

Uniqueness piqued my interest in this hobby from the start. Then I realised that supporting some of the bigger company dolls was not what I wanted from the hobby anymore. Now my second important aspect of doll selecting after uniqueness is the 'artist', I really like the idea of supporting independent artist/ doll makers, and decided to make it my news years BJD resolution.

 

I chose poseability and other.

I want my doll to pose at least somewhat decently, preferably very well. If she can't sit or stand on her own, can't touch her face, can't get into natural positions without looking stiff or awkward...it's not the doll for me. It's okay if I have to play with her for awhile to figure out the center of balance and how to work the joints for the best posing, but the engineering has to be there to allow for it.

My "other" is that it has to fit my OC, meaning it needs to have the right body type, face sculpt, resin color and go with any other dolls in the same story (like I can't have a super anime styled adult MSD paired with a super realistic 70cm doll, for example). Also, if I'm buying new, the company needs to have a good reputation. If they're known to take much longer than estimated to ship, have poor communication, are known for sending out unfinished or damaged dolls, have poor quality control or don't pack dolls safely, I'm much much less likely to buy. Lastly, I have to be able to buy them without too much difficulty. If I have to enter a lottery, be part of a clickwar or have an agent to get the doll, I probably won't get it.

 

I'm not sure how to describe it. Semi-realistic? I see a lot of really stylized and anime or hyper realistic and mature or semi-stylized and cute smaller dolls. But that is not really what I go for.

 

I chose my dolls based on the characters I already have in my mind. In my case, the doll has to adapt to the character, not the character to the doll.

 

My Responses:
Poseability-My doll can't be static, let me see you cross those legs!
Other-I'll explain in the comments!

My "other" response is similar to "Uniqueness-This doll looks like nothing I've ever seen!," but not exactly the same. I object to the second part of the answer choice, "This doll looks nothing I've ever seen."

"Uniqueness" has senses both of "sole" or "individual" as well as that of "uncommon." My "other" response corresponds to the second meaning. I tend to like dolls which look a little strange or different, in one way or another. I wouldn't say I choose a doll because it is unpopular with others (I think that LLT Roderich is fairly popular).

I tend to like boy sculpts for girls--they tend to be more proportionate (especially for eye size) than their girl counterparts, and I like stronger jaws and sharper facial features. I also like strong noses and chins, which are generally not found in female sculpts.

 

I tend to stick to stick with certain companies and not stray far from them. A big thing with me is the aesthetic of the body. If the body imo is "ugly" then there is no way I can buy them.

 

I picked uniqueness and 'other' as my biggest factors. I like fantasy dolls, though I have humans too. My oddest doll is a DZ Wendy on the human body, who's head is half fish and half human. I now have four Soom Fairies, including one the color of grape juice, and one blue-lilac. Two dolls by other companies have elf ears. As for "other" my dolls are mostly mature tinies or smaller, so being in scale with my existing group is a major factor. I also have a weakness for tan resin, and about half of my BJDs are varied shades of tan. Many of the non fantasy dolls I have are from a small company called Lumedoll, and have more realistic bodies and varied faces than those from other companies.

 

It's always something about the face that I look for. I can deal with a difficult body but if the face is off I start having issues.

Every doll that's caught my eye is always some mix of mature and cute.
Like, I don't know how to describe it... slightly round features? :S

 

I've known about BJD's since I was 13 years old (and that was 13 years ago xD). I thought they were really beautiful and I wanted to take pictures of them, but since they were a little expensive, I simply avoided thinking of them. Then, at the end of last year I was looking at dolls for curiosity and fell in love. She inspired me to create and made my heart flutter and get excited, so I needed her with me and bought her. I loved her face from all angles and the look she could have, so I guess I focus on aesthetics and how it makes me feel.

I'll open her box this monday! She arrived yesterday, but I'm in another city xDDD

 

It was Cynthia from Angell Studio: Rouran girl/Cynthia

I loved her Rouran girl face up and those light blue eyes~ I asked for the face up without the butterfly:

 

Hahahahaha, not at all! XD

 

I chose easy of clothes and fantasy, but I think now that I've read through the comments I should have put "other" and my other is variety. I don't want sameness in my personal collection. I have a human girl, a cyborg, a green gal, etc. I often see a doll I love, then realize I love it because it looks like a doll I already have, so I pass on buying it.

Been in the hobby 8 years now and my preferences have definitely varied over the years so my answers change over time.

 

Poseability is big for me. The most important joint IMO is the elbow joint; that at least needs to be double jointed for me. I strongly prefer dolls to have some kind of thigh joint as well that at least allows them to rotate their legs. I'm not too worried about double jointed knees as I rarely pose my dolls that way, but it's nice to have. Oh and torso joints! I don't like one piece torsos at all. They need to be able to slouch at least a bit.
Uniqueness, definitely. I get really tired of seeing the same sculpts over and over in my Instagram and FB feeds, and I want fresh faces in my own collection, ones that I won't see a million other of the same sculpt on social media.
If I could choose a third one it would be company preference hahaha. I know it's sort of silly, but... when I'm browsing doll sales on FB or the MP I pretty much only look at Volks at this point, LMAO. I'm also very fond of Peak's Woods and Merry Doll Round. I would love to get more dolls from them! The thing about company preference though... I'm not so hung up on it that I'll buy ANY doll from these companies/artists. I still have to really like the sculpt. But these Volks, PW, and MDR happen to have my favorite aesthetics/design and thus, have a lot of sculpts I find appealing.

 

I vote for uniqueness and poseability. Having had a doll with genuinely terrible posing that resisted all attempts to fix it, I really just can't stand bad posing. My dolls are never really naked (and the one I have right now that is going to be showing a lot of skin looks great and poses well), so I don't care as much about body aesthetics. (...I say even though I'm actually extremely picky about bodies. Oh well, I think it's usually possible to find a body that looks good and doesn't pose like butt. Just gotta do some searching!) And I don't really like single jointed knees and hate single jointed elbows, so I'm picky about that. Sure, double joints can look kind of wonky, even under clothes, but for me, these are dolls and I know they are, so...I don't really mind if the joints are obvious or a little weird, as long as I can bend the legs further than ninety degrees! I also really like thigh joints. Joints everywhere! (Except at the hips. I prefer torsos with just one joint. I'm honestly...really picky, whoops.)

As for uniqueness, it's honestly not as much about the sculpt (though I do love weird and wonky sculpts) and more about what I do with it; because my dolls are representations of my characters, I want them to stand out and really fit what I have in my head for that character! That being said, price is always a factor, but I wouldn't buy a doll purely because it's cheap. (Though if it was less expensive and I happened to like it, that'd be fantastic. Don't need to spend a bunch to get a great doll~ )