Popular Sculpts, do you avoid them when choosing a new doll?

I don't really avoid popular sculpts when it comes to buying dolls, but I can imagine some people will.
For example, I know that I will never get an El, but that is because I'm not a fan of the mold, not because he's so popular.

Of course like any other person I prefer my dolls to be unique, but if there's a really popular sculpt that fits a character perfectly I will not refuse to buy that particular sculpt because it's not unique.
I wouldn't go to extremes, really. I think by just choosing their eyes, wig, face up and clothing-style you can make a doll unique. That's the fun thing about this hobby.

 

I don't see why anyone would. You like a mold for it's mold, not for the popularity.
Volks and Luts are popular, but still no doll is the same. If you feel like you can't make a 'unique' doll out of a popular mold, you either lack creativity or don't feel up to the task.
And it shouldn't even be about unique-ness, but about what YOU as an owner like. You like the goth look? Sure, there's hundreds of dolls with that look, but it's what you like and you can always give it your own twist, despite the mold.

 

When i first started out in this hobby, there werent as many companies as there are now and the companies that did exist had far less sculpts to choose from. For a time it looked like every other pic i looked at had either a Lishe or a Shiwoo in it. Somehow this kinda put me off them for quite a while. Now that i dont see them THAT often anymore, i somehow feel more attracted to the Shiwoo sculpt.

I dont care much for uniqueness, but felt a bit overfed with those sculpts.

 

I could understand feeling like it was harder to envision a doll as a particular character if you saw his/her face eeeeeverywhere. But sometimes it's the popular sculpts that I find the most attractive. So I'll just look to the faceup to make them unique.

Let's see... When I was young, my friend and I had some of the same American Girl dolls. Not only were they the same sculpt, they had the same "faceup", the same eyes, the same hair, and so on... They were SUPPOSED to be identical. But you know what? They didn't look actually identical! I can go back in photos even now, 18 years later, and identify whether a given doll was mine or hers. Granted, it is mostly due to the hair rooting, and sometimes due to age/bleaching; but the point is, they looked distinct enough to me that I could tell them apart. I was always able to see vast differences. In fact, I never quite stopped sighing over her Molly, who was truly ten million times more beautiful than mine.

If I can find individuality in dolls that are theoretically supposed to be totally identical, I'm sure I can find it in dolls that share only a mold.

 

Nope, I don't - I go for the sculpt I like. If that happens to be an Akando (my Morgan), fine. If it happens to be an Ark (my Luken), fine, too. I'm not gonna get a certain sculpt cos it's popular just the same as I'm not gonna NOT get a certain sculpt cos it's popular. If I like it enough to be willing to shell out the money, I'll get the doll. It'll still be unique enough because I'm gonna give it the eyes and wig and clothes and commission the face-up I'm envisioning for it. So even though Morgan's an Akando and even there's plenty Akandos out there, he still looks different enough to make him unique.

 

Honestly, I've never been all that hung up on my dolls being one-of-a-kind Special Snowflakes, so it's never mattered to me how common or popular their sculpts happened to be. I bought each of them because they pleased *me*, after all, not to cater to the whims of dolly fashion or DoA's gallery viewers.

So, uhm... no. I couldn't care less.

 

I don't care about popularity; I just buy the dolls that appeal to me. It's not necessary that my dolls be unique.

 

i am still saving for my first bjd but if i or once i like other sculpts. i may save up and go for them but if they are popular i will try to find ways to customize them more then i would if it was a rare or otherwise sculpt.

i my self like uniqueness(hope thats spelled right) this is why i feel this way or i would customise more a popular bjd then a rare bjd. i would always customize its all a matter of how much.

but in the end if i don't like the bjd i would not get the bjd.

 

Based on the fact that most people want unique dolls, Do you find yourself avoiding the popular sculpts because a lot of people have them?
I'm not so sure that most people want 'unique' dolls in the sense that they're different sculpts from what everyone else has. I would say it's moreso that people want dolls to be uniquely their own characters. I don't really care about how popular a sculpt is when thinking about a new doll--what matters is that I adore the sculpt itself.

Would you choose another sculpt even though a popular sculpt suits the look/character you are going for?
Not at all. If the sculpt works, then it works. The sculpts I have range from well-loved to relatively unknown and each of the sculpts I've chosen specifically because they worked for the intended characters, not their rarity.

And if you do choose a popular sculpt what extremes do you go through to make it unique?
I haven't gone through any extremes to make the sculpts I have extreme unless they were damaged to begin with. I usually only mod if the sculpt has been damaged in some way. Although, I did mod a perfectly fine SD10 body to be more curvaceous and older looking.

 

Well, it certainly crosses my mind, but in the end, when I see a doll and fall head over heals for it, I really don't care if it's a doll that the whole world seems to have. The fact is, I can still customize it and make it who I want it to be, give that doll a little piece of my soul, and that is what makes them unique.

 

Avoiding a popular sculpt because it is popular seems as foolish to me as buying a popular sculpt purely because it is popular.

The one boon to a popular sculpt, provided it is available on a regular basis and not limited in some fashion, is that it's possible to see photos of it from owners in addition to the web advertising photos before making a purchase. The inability to do the same is the one downside to avoiding popular sculpts.

 

I would absolutely hate finding the perfect sculpt only to find out it was a limited edition released in 2008. I personally always look through the popular sculpts first and then go to some of the lesser owned companies. I like seeing what other people have done with the same doll. It's like seeing what the sculpt is capable of.

 

When choosing a doll, I do try to overlook "popular" sculpts at first, just to see what else is out there. But the popularity or lack thereof has no real weight when I decide which doll to purchase. In the end, it's all about how much I like or dislike an individual sculpt.

There are some popular dolls I think are quite charming, and there are some popular dolls that do not appeal to me in any way.

I agree with this statement completely.

 

I generally don't care about the popularity, because really, if so many people have this one sculpt, they can always look so different. I know someone who has three (yes, three) Luts Kid Delf Bory's, and they all look SO different, like they're not even the same sculpt. So popular sculpts doesn't mean that you're getting one that will look like everyone elses.

I go with what sculpts I love~ I know that the Migidoll Ryu is popular, I know quite a few people with one, but I'm eventually planning to buy one myself, simply because I love the sculpt so much and it fits a character I've got so well. So, popularity doesn't matter to me! As long as I love it!~

 

I don't avoid popular sculpts at all. When I find one I like...either to make a character for, or to fit a character I already have and am looking for a dolly 'shell' for...then I save up for it. Even if everyone else seems to have THAT sculpt, I don't mind. I know what makes my characters unique beyond their surface appearance. And even if it turns out the character isn't as unique as I THINK it is, it doesn't bother me, because I know that all the work that went into creating it is mine (or in my character dolls where the characters belong to, say, my husband, or a friend of ours, the hard work on the character is theirs) and that all the hard work of making the doll into that character is mine. That's enough for me.

 

The thing that amazes me is how simple things like wig, eyes and clothes can make two otherwise identical dolls look so different! and that's without going into face-ups etc. So no, I wouldn't avoid a sculpt because it was popular

 

I don't consider popularity at all. I buy the sculpts that tug on my heartstrings, regardless of the number similar dolls I see floating around the internet. The heart wants what it wants!

 

I don't even think about the popularity of a sculpt when i purchase it... I normally think "do i have enough money to buy the doll that best fits my character" Normally the popular sculpts; luts, volks and fairyland do not have anything remotely close to what i need in a character... But occassionally they do (hurrah for puki's)...