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

May 24, 2010

    1. for me, it's not so much of avoiding popular sculpts, but to have something unique even if it's a popular sculpt. i have a doll with a popular sculpt: lishe. the more special thing about lishe? it's a male. but the thing is that actually a lot of other people have male lishes too, and none of them look like mine. isn't this the most important thing?

      there was a period of time when i wanted to avoid popular sculpts, but seriously, it's just quite dumb to avoid it simply because the sculpt is popular. it's like not wanting to breathe because every other human being and animal is breathing too. maybe that was a bit extreme, but really, i choose sculpts more for the character than anything else.
       
    2. My first boy isn't a particularly popular sculpt, purely by coincidence (though I can't see why!), but no, I never take it into consideration. There are a lot of Els, but that doesn't mean I don't totally want one, because he looks like he could easily be one of the characters I want to dollify (someday, far into the future...).

      Honestly, I'm often surprised by what's popular and what isn't-- there are some really cute dolls that not a lot of people have, and there are some really popular dolls that I don't see the appeal of*.

      *Though to be fair, there were dolls I thought I didn't like after looking at the company photos, that I completely changed my mind about when I saw one in person, or just saw an owner photograph that a lot of care had gone into. Like, I've never really liked Volks company photos, and have been surprised at how much I've loved them in owner photos or in person (adorable!)

      =^__^=
      Anneko
       
    3. I dont think there is anything wrong with purchasing a popular sculpt, because each person's taste and dressing style of the doll is different, and each doll has its own personality. :)
       
    4. I think that avoiding something because it is popular is just weird.
      I never really think about the popularity of a sculpt. The first thing that gos through my mind is : Do I like or not ?
      And then I ask myself other questions.
      If I end up really liking a sculpt that is popular (I do have a MNF and 2 Soom MDs), well I will be happy to be able to see a lot of owner pics =D
      If someone likes a doll but doesnt buy it because it is popular, they are "hurting" themselves. I do not care if its popular, if you do, its your problem xP
      What I really do not like about this though is when someone will almost snob you because you have one.
      I do get the sarcastic "Oh. You have a Shiwoo" sometimes, and I can just hear the "Wow... original." in the back of their mind and it bothers me.
      When I see a doll I do not see THE doll, I see the character and personality you gave it, or just the way the owner shows it off, so it bothers me to see people not see more then the popularity of the mold or company.
       
    5. I adore the popular sculpts..from 2 years ago :) Because people get tired of them, toss them on the MP, and I can afford them--and I know what they look like from all angles, know what shoes/eyes/clothes size they wear, what the problems and quirks are from each year, and how to deal with them. Plus I have found generally that some doll lines are popular because they "work" well-- either they have nice resin or good posability or are nicely photogenic. And as many others in this thread have said, each owner makes the doll unique. Not to say I don't love looking at other's unusual dolls, but I have found that small quirky doll companies often make odd and quirky dolls, and I ended up selling them.
       
    6. In my honest opinion, I think that many people underestimate the impact that one's surroundings or society has an impact on them. A person might think that they like the mold because they themselves like the mold and that they are in control in choosing what they like or dislike. However, has a person ever thought that what you choose may not be in his or her control? Many people here are libertarians on the topic of free will. (not politics, philosophy) They believe that they are in control of their actions such as choosing a mold or doll.

      So to answer this question, I think that free will is more deterministic. Society has a fundamental impact on one's liking on a certain thing. A child doesn't grow up as a person who is not influenced by others. His or her preferences are shaped by those around us. For example, If I grew up in an closed-off society, I would be conformed to doing things that I was taught and learned. If a certain doll were to be plastered all over the net with hate/contempt by many others, I'm not so sure but I believe it is likely that person who is interested in that certain doll, would be hesitant in owning it. To avoid or to not avoid is not a choice by individual person but by a person who has been impacted by others.
       
    7. Well, interesting topic. I am going to say YES, I do avoid popular sculpt- or I should say sculpts which are very numerous.

      But there is a difference between rare and popular. A lot of Volks sculpts may be popular but the trick is getting one. So I guess I own several dolls that, were they more numerous would also be VERY popular, Luna, Kurumi, and Sard.

      But will I fork over money for say a Shiwoo, or an El. No. If I get a hankering to look at one all I need to do is look in the gallery thread.

      I also never saw Titanic and refuse to. Once things are popular I automatically- perhaps for contrariness sake- don't want to do/see/buy it.
       
    8. you are the first person to have this opinion. i completely understand where youre coming from, thank you for the reply ^.^ nice to hear someone from the other side of the table ^.^
       
    9. This is something I'm wrestling with while deciding on my first MSD order. Someone else local is doing a very similar theme (although thankfully, we've chosen totally different color schemes) and ordered the combination head/body I was leaning towards doing, and because I don't want people to go "OMG COPYCAT" I have decided to wait and do that combo later on. I'm currently going back and forth between RS Mei and BBB Sprite- I want an inexpensive MSD elf girl, and frankly, at this point, if I had marketplace access, it would probably come down to which one I found on there first, but since I don't, I can't use that as a factor.
       
    10. MangoTea


      what type of look are you going for with this new doll?
       
    11. I was doing a Butterfly Court (which is the same idea that the other person had- Great Minds Think Alike. :P) but I've revised that to a Court of the Air. She's going to have curly, dark brown hair (I think- thsi is subject to change) and grey eyes, bt I'm not sure beyond that, although I have some sketches. I love Ju's longer ears but I think Mei's expression is so pretty. I just haven't seen enough photos of more than 2 of them together.
       
    12. I guess I want to be original or something, I want my doll to be one of a kind... sort of. I've always been like that, not willing to be a part of the crowd. If something was populair, I would avoid it, deny I would like it. With dolls the good thing is that you can change the look of the doll very much. And if I really... really fall for a doll such as Glorydoll Louis, it doesn't matter much anymore, even though I have seen him around more often.
       
    13. I don't care at all, is it popular or not... doll sculpt must comply with the character, this is only that does matter.
       
    14. I don't purposely avoid popular sculpts, nor do I purposely go for them. I may be influenced by the availability of owner pictures, but that's about the only popularity-related aspect of buying a doll I take into consideration.

      I'd say that only the character matters when I'm buying a doll, but... I can't even truthfully say that, because I didn't buy my girl thinking of how well she'd fit the character, just how much I liked her. (And look where that got me--she's a totally different character now from the one she was supposed to be. xD; ) So yeah. Popularity doesn't even factor into which dolls I buy, ever.
       
    15. that sounds really awesome, you must show me pics when you have them. id really like to see them best of luck ^.^
       
    16. I would never purposely avoid a popular sculpt just because a lot of people like it. I really like the MSD F-18 face, and I wouldn't decide not to get it just because other people are getting it. But I wouldn't get a sculpt just because it's popular, either. I get the sculpt I want to get, and I try not to let other people's opinions get the best of me.
       
    17. Perhaps it's coincidence, but majority of my current resin crew seems to be comprised of sculpts that don't show up often on DoA, which makes looking for owner pictures quite a challenge.

      I don't like a lot of sculpts that one would consider 'popular', not because they are popular, but because their aesthetic misses a few marks for me. Nothing's stopping me from considering them eyecandy, though.
       
    18. I prefer not to buy popular sculpts because I have seen it a lot and I like to look my dolls and take photos of them thinking how special and pretty are them. In my country there are many minifee shushu and soo,they are really beautifull but I have seen it in a lot of pics with a lot of different make ups so I don't need to have one to admirate it in my room. I prefer sculpt I can't see many times in photos or meet ups. :)
       
    19. I guess in truth I can say both yes and no. Yes because I don't deliberately go for the popular sculpts, infact most popular sculpts, or the numerous sculpts anyway I tend to look at and think Eh... and then not want. No, because I go for what I like and not what's popular. If what I love is popular then yeah it will make me think twice or well more than three times about whether I actually want that doll or not, but I won't just say 'Oh I won't get it just because alot of other people have it,' if I do truly love it.

      I go for what I find beautiful and tend not to care what other people think. For example, my ResinSoul Mu/Dan hybrid. Most people despise Mu's body because of his upper thighs and the small hooves when compared to say Soom's hooved dolls. Plus they are very clearly at the inexpensive end of the BJD price spectrum. But that's part of what makes me love him all the more to be honest, the fact that he's not something a lot of people like in general and the fact that he's so unsual and so far as I know the only one of his kind out there so far, especially given his special colouration. Plus, I personally happen to love his completely unusual look that so far no other doll, popular or otherwise has managed to achieve in my books.

      But then again my next doll is an Iplehouse boy. I admit part of his allure WAS that Iplehouse sculpts are kinda popular, but again if that were the only reason I was interested in him, I would have not forked over $830 for him and moved on to a different doll. Kamau is a sculpt of theirs that alot of people seem to not like as much as the other's due to his unusual features. But again that was part of the allure for me, the unusual and striking features he has and also the fact that other Iplehouse sculpts are more popular than him.

      Basically, I don't purposefully go for dolls that are popular just so I can fit in, but I don't completely avoid the more popular dolls either. I will think really, REALLY hard if I want a doll that EVERYONE seems to want, but in the end if I love it then I'll get it and that's all there is to it. I did at first do as Cian did and wanted to avoid popular sculpts purely because they were popular, but now I go for what I love and not what everyone else likes.
       
    20. To me, I like a doll because I like a doll and the popularity of that dolly doesn't matter much to me. I have ones that I think are popular molds and ones that I hardly see. Like my BBB Tony or my FDoll Charlotte, I don't see many of them around, but they were my first two dolls and I love them so very very much. And then I have ones that I think are more popular like my DZ Yuu, my incoming Soom Chrom or my Bygg.

      Iplehouse is pretty big right now and I have an IP Tatiana, and that's not what made me love her, it was that she was perfect for Alice.

      So, I like a sculpt because it speaks to me or I think its absolutely gorgeous. Whether or not its a popular mold doesn't mean anything but that it's easier for me to see owner pictures and see how the mold looks with different wigs, eyes, face-ups and such like that. :3