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

I don't pay too much attention to popularity on 99% of sculpts.
However, as a huge Fairyland junkie, the fact that Ante is so popular among littlefees has sort of pushed me away from her. Not to say that I would never buy her, she's just not first on my list

 

Nope. I'm a LUTS/Cerberus Project girl, and so is half the population of DoA. I'm good with that.

 

You bring up an excellent point, and it's pretty much how I feel about El's, as I feel very overwhelmed by how many I see (not to detract from them)
I don't think I'm purposely avoiding this particular sculpt due to its popularity, I think i'm moreso....desensitized(?) to them, if that makes sense.

 

as with most of my life, the dolls I tend to like are generally not the more popular dolls, and usually attract controversy haha. IDK why.

If I *did* like a popular sculpt, I'd get it though. Who cares if everyone has it? I'm going to make it my own!

 

Avoiding a popular sculpt just because everyone has it just sounds like a way to cheat yourself. Personally, El is not on my wish list, but it's not because El is popular. In fact I don't mind looking at pictures of him. As for uniqueness they all tend to look different even with company face-up anyway.

If say a popular sculpt was just perfect for a character of mine, yes I would get it. I wouldn't go to extremes to make it 'unique' s/he would be made to look how I had envisioned the character originally, whether unique or common.

In fact, I would have been happier if all the dolls I wanted were popular non-LEs, it would make obtaining them much easier.

 

For me, it's not about whats popular or what isn't. If I like a sculpt, I will put it on my wish list. In fact, I haven't a clue which sculpts 'are' popular.

 

I tend to have the more unpopular sculpts in my doll family, I do like El and Lishe and I did have a Lishe for a small while and thought she was lovely, but she found a new home quite quickly when I found resin SDs too heavy for me.

I have a Volks Megu head, which I suppose is a popular sculpt, but I don't find her popularity overwhelming or overshadowing. I still like looking at all the Volks Four Sisters on the forum and the vast numbers of them don't diminish how much I like my own doll.

If I liked a popular sculpt and they fit in well with the rest of my doll family I'd still buy them.

 

Well, while I was searching for the doll I wanted, I looked through the 'popular' doll sellers. Sure, some of them were absolutely stunning, but I kept thinking to myself, "The photos are manipulated. They're made to look beautiful." C'mon, even some of the websites have a disclaimer saying that the dolls may not look the same as how they're shown. And you can just tell they are made to look as stunning as they look so that they fly off the shelves, so to speak. At that point, I looked for pictures of those said 'popular' dolls, and they looked absolutely nothing like the picture. Hell, some of those 'unpopular dolls' looked WAY better sometimes.
To be honest, it's really about how much thought, dedication, and love an owner puts into a doll that makes them so beautiful to each and every one of us. In the end, I fell in love with a sculpt of a REALLY reasonably priced doll. And what drove me to my obsession? The raw picture that the website provides. It's nothing special, but I just thought he was absolutely gorgeous anyway. ^_^

 

I bought a Lishe head from Ebay before i really knew about BJDs and before ~I knew how popular a sculpt Lishe was... when I discovered more about them and created my wish list, Lishe was still on it because i don't really care what everyone else has, I just love her face

 

I don't avoid or choose based on popularity, but it does add a little spice when I have a doll (or even limited item) that not many people have. It's harder to have a super-popular-sculpt-that-everyone-has these days, because there's so much choice out there. Even though I like a hint of unique or rare, it's not the deciding factor by any stretch, and it's fun to see other people with the same sculpt. Having sculpts in common with friends is a plus for me, too .

 

I don't select based on popularity- I decided based on how much a sculpt appeals to me and how it will fit the character. My 2 dolls, AOD Rao and Lati Blue Rei, are fairly popular sculpts, but that didn't stop me from purchasing them. My next purchase, Doll-Love Word-Leaf, on the other hand, isn't a popular sculpt, but that didn't stop me from purchasing him either.

 

I don't bother about 'popularity'. I pick sculpts based on how well they fit the face of the guy I need at the time. So while I find the DZ thread inundated with Mo's and Megi's, it didn't stop me from grabbing up my Mo. The BBB thread is rife with Sprites, but it didn't stop me from grabbing up my Sprite. I go for the face of the guy I need, if it happens to be popular, oh well. I still like it. If its not popular, oh well, I love it anyhow. I'm just not a trend follower I suppose. XD

 

I'd think someone buys a doll because that person would like to see that doll in person and play with it whenever they have time. If you feel you don't need to bring a doll home, because you can find pictures of the mold plastered all over the internet and it annoys you, then don't. I buy my dolls because there's something about them that catches my interest and I would like to customise them and make them look pretty. I rarely look at gallery threads these days, so for me it doesn't matter whether 10, 100 or 1000 DoA members have the same mold. I won't notice anyway.

Making a doll "unique" would mean you compare your doll to other dolls and then make it better. I want my dolls to look good, not better than yours. I love to see what kind of dolls other people have and what they did with their dolls, but their dolls have nothing to do with my dolls and how they look.
Sometimes dolls are popular, because they have something that makes a lot people like them. There's a difference between liking something because other people like it and liking something that other people like too. You like what you like, right?

[edit]
I do admit that I bought a few sculpts that were unpopular, because there were so few owner pictures of them and I wondered about the looks you could give those dolls. Had these sculpts been very popular I probably would be content to only look at owner pictures.

 

For me, how popular or how unpopular the doll is doesn't really matter. It's all about the aesthetic, for me I'm afraid xD. Whether 1001 people have it, or just one... Well, it's not a big difference to me :3 After all, it's not like every has the same name for it, or the same clothes etc etc. They're all different, by degrees.

TL;DR: No, not at all.

 

Do you find yourself avoiding the popular sculpts because a lot of people have them?

I don't avoid popular sculpts because 99% of the doll community has them, I avoid them because I don't like them. I see so many el's, chiwoos, shiwoos, etc... and I get sick of them. I want something new, something different. However disliking the dolls just because many people have them is a form of immaturity, but not necessarily wrong. Not every el or shiwoo is exactly the same, their owners have each imprinted a unique style all their own on them since these dolls are customizable. But to dislike them because their esthetic isn't appealing to me, or anyone else, is okay. It's a matter of personal taste whether you like/dislike them for popularity or not. It's not really fair to say someone is wrong for liking/disliking a popular mold just because it's popular. They just have that highschool mentality and let's face it; many people have that mindset. It's just a flaw.


Would you choose another sculpt even though a popular sculpt suits the look/character you are going for?

I don't get the whole "character" thing, I get the doll I want to look at everyday. My dolls will take on a specific look when I dress them and photograph them, but once they are back on the shelf they are dust collectors. I love my dust collectors and my wallet eaters, so I get the ones that I find pleasing to the eye and what I want to live with. Once my dolls come to me they get a name that suits and maybe a little bit of a backstory, but that is really just for future photostories. I'm going to spend my money the way I want to.


And if you do choose a popular sculpt what extremes do you go through to make it unique?

I don't think anyone has to go through any extreme to make their doll uniquely their own, just by choosing the wig and eyes that you like makes them unique. Even the choice of clothing you put on your doll will make them your own...unless of course you get a fullset and keep everything default. ;3 But I'm all for mods and extreme customizations, as these dolls are so versatile you can do anything to them. It's great to see all the ideas people come up with and bring to life on their doll.

 

Most of the dolls that are 'popular' I never liked anyway. I looked at dolls and bought my first BEFORE I joined DoA, so I had no concept of what was 'in' and what wasn't, I just bought the little girl I liked... (and its a complete coincidence that nobody else here seems to have one, haha). I seem to have slightly different taste than other people on DoA anyway, as I don't see a lot of the sculpts I like floating about. That said, there are a few that have a certain 'buzz' around them, such as Dollshe Saint, that I still love and happily put on my wish list.

 

Do you find yourself avoiding the popular sculpts because a lot of people have them?

if so why?
My answer to this. IS like the other's I guess. I want to have a doll that is speciall and not a sculpt that everyone get's and find cute and are a commun doll.
So I am always in a look out for a NEW DOLL mold But Still I have a face that I LOVE/LIKE in my head. That I find perfect for me.

Would you choose another sculpt even though a popular sculpt suits the look/character you are going for?
Well Yes and no for this question cause my character has the face for most of the popular sculpt out there. So I just pick the nearest looking doll that I can find to be my character. price does count on this one. If a doll which is in a price rage that I can afford and another doll is much higher in price. Then I choose the lower price of course. Cause I know both goes well with my character, when it's face is like the doll mold itself. In other word very commun face XD
So both yes and no in this question

And if you do choose a popular sculpt what extremes do you go through to make it unique?
Well I make it as good as I can afford to make him look good XD

 

An El is firmly on my wishlist. So what if it's a massively popular sculpt? DOA is only on my computer screen - if I feel like I've looked at too many Els, then I can just turn off the computer. Photos of other people's Els just don't compare to having a real hunk of resin on my lap.

But then I'm not all that fussed about making my dolls look extra-special unique. They're mine; that's all that matters!

 

Popularity? I like what I like, doesn't matter how popular it is with everyone else. If *I* like it, that's all that matters.