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

Mar 7, 2017

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  1. Uniqueness-This doll looks like nothing I've ever seen!

    52.4%
  2. Easy body shape-I'll never NOT find the clothes I want!

    9.8%
  3. Poseability-My doll can't be static, let me see you cross those legs!

    31.7%
  4. Company preference-My middle name is brand loyalty!

    11.0%
  5. Fantasy-If it doesn't have something non-human i'm out!

    17.1%
  6. Animal-Anything over 2 legs is fine by me!

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. Money-This doll is cheap, therefore I love it!

    7.3%
  8. Other-I'll explain in the comments!

    34.1%
Multiple votes are allowed.
    1. I chose poseability and other, although I can be a little lenient as long as the posing's adequate in my mind, and could be improved upon by simple mods, sueding, etc. I prefer three-part torsos over two part torsos for the added poseability, and love the versatility of jointed hands. But one thing to note: I won't sacrifice realism for poseability. I'm not going to settle on a hyper-stylized (cartoony) body to gain a super-poseable body.

      I tend to shop with a character specifically in mind, so I look for face sculpts, body types, and size specifically for them. I also focus mainly on SDs (for bjds anyways) as I don't much care for the youthful aesthetic common in MSD sized and smaller (with exceptions for more mature sculpts, and some OT dolls :)). I also am particular about some semblance of realism, whether hyper realistic or stylistically realistic. I'm not a big fan of faces that look too cartoony (or anime), or have odd, more exaggerated features. I'm also partial to elf ears, as my OCs all have them (although I do have some BJDs without).

      I also like having a variety. I'm not brand specific, and like shopping around. Variety is the spice of life, after all.:kitty2
       
    2. I've never seen a 3 part torso doll. Do you have any examples?
       
    3. bit of both lol. I buy Resinsoul not because they're cheap so much as because they come in every colour, I really like their cartoonish faces and Sun will bend over backwards to do just about any crazy thing you want (two heads? sure. Four arms? heck yeah. 6 arms? why not. I mean seriously, they will do just about whatever you ask and not charge a lot for it which is amazing)
      I recently got a Doll Chateau for crazy cheap second hand and omg I love him.
      So I mean deals do crop up for legit dolls on the secondhand market, particularly if you have quite unusual taste. Fantasy coloured dolls are a bit more niche as are weird inhuman ones which are my thing

      I find i'm less attracted because of price and more put OFF because of price tag. If I see something I think is cool but it's like £500 i'm gonna just back away slowly and forget about it.
      I mean I have several mid range 300+ msds on my wishlist which i'll have to save hard for, but when you're talking like the $1500 fairylands and stuff? I just cringe, gasp a bit and run away lol. I don't care how pretty it is, my poor heart can't take that price tag.

      I totally chicken out. It took me days to convince myself to press "confirm" on my first doll. I kept agonising "is this the right colour? is this the right sculpt? did I make the right choice?" argh. And now i'm having the same wobble. I've been saving up for one of two specific dolls and i'm like "arghh which one? do I go for the one I was supposed to get or the awesome custom cheer me up one?"
      it's terrible.
       
    4. Aesthetics should have been an option, I chose my dolls because they're beautiful to me :)
       
    5. I haven't got a hybrid yet, well if you don't count my custom house/mirodoll but thats just a body for a floating head! I'm currently anxiously awaiting my Mishi's Doll Murphy so she's top of my list right now. I like the idea of some of the doll chateau sculpts but havn't gotten one yet--they're all so spindly, I like a little more meat on my sculpts. I do like the FreakStyle Salome. I love the dollzone flower dolls, I have one of the tiny flower fairies. a lot of mine come from the second-hand market and I have an affinity for old dolls (think serendipity and fancy boots). I love aimerai's resin, it's beautiful!
       
    6. I chose easy body shape and other. Most of what I'm looking for is the aesthetics of the head mold. Does it fit my character or would it look out of place with my other dolls? I've done a lot of hybriding so I'm not afraid to replace bodies, haha. Poseability is nice, but if the body is pretty enough, I generally let it slide.
      .
      I'd say a lot of my enjoyment of the hobby comes from finding clothes, so I try to aim towards bodies with standard measurements. Both of my current dolls are standard sizes, and I want a second girl to share clothes with the first. This isn't end-all be-all, though, since I'm planning on an Iplehouse SID and they're a pain to dress.
       
    7. I picked fantasy and other.

      Fantasy, because I look at humans all day long. :p Even elf ears can be a bit... not enough outside the norm? Particularly if they're dressed just like everyone I can see walking down the street. That's not my thing.

      That said, there's a certain human doll I'm absolutely drooling over. >.> So it's not a hard and fast rule, just a preference.

      The "other" is... inspiration. As in, it inspires me, not feeling like the doll is an inspired work of art. Does that make any sense? When I got my guy, I surprised myself by doodling up seven or eight outfit concepts for him, and working hard on learning a new technique so I can get his aesthetics right. That's... not how I've interacted with a hobby before, and I really like it!

      But the upshot is: I think I've about had enough of collecting pretty things for the sake of having pretty things. If I don't get the itch to do things with and/or for the doll, I'm not going to buy it, no matter how beautiful or unusual it looks.
       
    8. Oh, I've props galore, LOL. I'm a cosplayer/costumer, very into anime. I wanted dolls to dress up as various anime characters plus my own (cause I write). So I created (on paper & now stories) a fictional little town near Atlanta, complete w/history, & my dolls represent the nerd/geek/cosplay types who live there. That means I can make whatever costumes/cosplay/everyday streetwear my little heart desires, & somebody in my little dollie group will wear it LOL
       
    9. That sounds adorable!

      I like that attitude about it :)
      A lot of people buy dolls and then turn around and sell them immediately because they didn't bond with them. I think everyone needs to take a little more tine to be inspired tbh.
       
      #49 Mittzle, Mar 8, 2017
      Last edited by a moderator: Mar 8, 2017
      • x 2
    10. I have to fall in love with a dolls first before I buy. I want to make sure that it will fit in with the rest of my dolls. I like to setup my dolls in groups of 2 or 3.
       
    11. It may seem crazy,but, the doll would have to speak to me. You have a lot of different and wonderful dolls out there but unless it has that no thing that says bring me home I won't get it. It's almost like,I'll know it when I see it.
       
    12. Poseability and money. As much as I wish otherwise, I'm a college student! I can't afford to spend too much on a doll. That said, even though I love resinsoul mei's sculpt, their bodies were a big turn off for me. I wanted a bjd who could pose reasonably well just as much as one with a lovely face!
       
    13. I choose uniqueness and fantasy as it's somewhat close in my mind: I really like exagereted limbs lenghts (no wonder I like doll chateau and blossomdoll bodies) and unique features like anormal number of eyes, unusual face expressions, strange shapes... The fantasy part come as an extention to that: something you can't have in your usual human (I think the fact that the first bjd that keeped my eyes were Frieda and Trieda from DZ has a say in it).
       
    14. Same here. I love it when they really push the boundaries or fantasy in a different way than your typical elf ear/crazy skintone direction. Doll Chateau hits the nail on the head!
       
    15. Other.

      To buy a doll, I need it to meet four criteria:

      1. Size. No larger than about 65cm or shorter than 52cm.
      2. Aesthetic. My preference leans towards realism; too stylized and I'm out.
      3. Quality. Does the company involved take pride in their work?
      4. Suitability. The sculpt has to physically suit the character I am trying to represent.
       
    16. I don't have specific rules about size or look or anything. On the whole I tend to prefer realistic looking dolls over cute cartoony ones, but there are definitely exceptions to this (Lillycat!). Things like poseability are not really an issue for me as I honestly just like my dolls to sit and look lovely, haha. I also don't think of them as specific characters so that's not a concern. However, on the whole I will:

      - Not buy a doll unless I have known about and liked the sculpt for a good long while. I tend to get very excited about things very quickly and then my enthusiasm fizzles out, so with dolls this expensive it's important to be sure I really do love them! This is especially the case since I usually buy secondhand, often from ebay, and you sometimes have to be fast! As there's not a lot of time to deliberate I will only go for sculpts I already know and love.

      - Look at lots and lots of owner pictures. Some dolls look beautiful with a particular faceup but if that's the only faceup they look good with, for me that's a bad sign. I knew my Iplehouse Soo was for me because I loved her in every single faceup I saw - even the faceups I didn't like, she still looked lovely.

      - If the doll looks beautiful even without a faceup, that's a great sign too! This was definitely the case for my Heeah and Lillycat Millie Choupie :whee:

      - Ideally, buy secondhand so I can see pictures of the exact doll I'm getting beforehand to check that I like her!

      - Try not to overthink it too much even so - with my first doll (Iplehouse Soo) I kept going back and forth on the pros and cons of her vs Carina, whether it would be better to get a smaller one, etc. But in the end it was Soo's picture I kept coming back to, so she was the one for me :XD:

      Money is also a factor, of course. For my first doll I went big because I (naively) thought I'd only ever have the one, and wanted to make sure she was the one I really wanted. But subsequently I have been a bit more circumspect - I wouldn't be willing spend $500+ on a doll again. As a grad student I really can't justify it!