Realistic-Idealized & Mature Vs. Stylized Youthful-Dolls: Which Do You Prefer?

Sometimes I wonder if coming in to this hobby via Anime and conventions influenced me to liking cuter dolls? I certainly appreciate all beauties but I feel like I gravitate towards the cuter BJD. I've been told I have a weird view on what 'cute' is though, I like 'creepy cute' stuff alot to :>

 

I don't really have a preference. I love both stylized and more mature-looking sculpts.

 

I think I prefer sculpts that are somewhere in the middle. Although, if I were forced to choose one of the extremes, I would go with stylized. I'm not into anime. But I still like the aesthetic and uncanny valley is sometimes an issue with me.

Though I must say, the more realistic sculpts often tempt me. They are just amazing.

 

The older I got, the more I started liking cartoony styles full of characters.

As a teen I was all about that ANGSTEY HYPER REALISM (which included my writing, art, and also doll tastes), but after moving out, getting a degree and a first real career, dealing with depression and settling into the 7th year of my relationship.... the angsty hyper-realism it got boring really damn quickly. I like (and draw) cartoony, emotive styles now, and I think that transfers over to the dolls as well.

I mean I still appreciate realistic detailed dolls a lot (some people have absolutely breath-taking Iplehouses, sooms, dollstowns, whatever) but, I'm willing to spend $1000 on a pretty, hyper-stylized ray of sunshine, but not willing to drop the same amount on realistic dolls.

 

I've been following the hobby for a few years and the first company I was introduced to was Iplehouse which is definitely on the more realistic side of the spectrum and I was absolutely in love with the look of them I was as about 15 at the time and I was convinced that that was the best company which makes a lot of sense considering that I came from collecting hyper realistic 1/6 scale figures so I don't think age has too much to do with it as the years have passed I have definitely started leaning towards the weird little valley of dolls that are somewhere between being realistic and stylized my first doll was an immortality of soul guy I got earlier in the year and I do plan on getting more dolls that are capable of pulling off either look

 

I like dolls that are a mix of realistic and stylized. Actually, I like dolls that best remind me of my favorite art style, the kind of realistic-proportioned but soft and smooth-skinned and idealized Chinese digital art like heisejinyao's work (although funnily enough I don't think HZ dolls are the best interpretation of her style, haha). That's probably why my favorite companies are all Chinese, because they tend to make dolls that most closely resemble that style. (I find Volks on the too cartoony side, most Korean companies on the too realistic side)

 

i wouldn't come to bjd if they wouldn't be realistic perfection. independently of age, i was always looking for mature looking beautified realism. yep even when i was a little kid. i always liked adult people and imagined princes in fairytales in the same way i do now ^_^

 

I don't think I have a preference. If the face looks good then I like it. It could be the more realistic or more chibi like, so long as it has a pleasant-looking face. Maybe I like an in-between.

 

I like both, but for a long time I couldn't stand the incongruity of having them together. A (very stylized, big head) Volks Lucas and a (fairly realistic, small head) 5th Motif Venitu look awful side by side, a total clash of aesthetic sensibilities. Yet I love both sculpts, and now I own both.

My solution is to split my bjd collection into two collections. I consider my big-head, unrealistic dolls part of one collection, the stylized doll collection... and poor Venitu is currently an island unto himself as the sole member of my nascent realistic doll doll collection. I do plan to get him some company by 2017 though.

I think these days there is actually a smooth gradation from the one end of the spectrum to the other, as you have plenty of in-betweeners like Soom sculpts which look more stylized than, say, (new) Dollshe, but still have small heads and relatively small eyes and can look right with the realistic dolls as well as with some of the more stylized dolls.

 

I mostly prefer more realistic dolls. Even on the more "cuter" dolls I own, I still mostly prefer more realistic faceups and wigs.

I wonder if a lot of this is due to me just absolutely not being a fan of anime/manga/video game characters. I do like a few gaming characters (Princess Peach or Rosalina dolls would be awesome!), but overall, I just prefer realistic characters and dolls.

 

I like stylized dolls with realistic faceups, actually. A bit of both. I don't like small-headed realistic sculpts at all.

 

While my general preference still tends towards the "old school", more doll-like end of the spectrum, this is pretty much where my collection is too these days... I have everything from a pair of very cartoony Volks F-17s to a quartet of fairly realistic IpleHouse EIDs, with a lot of the crew falling somewhere in-between. I just refuse to pose or photograph the more realistic ones with the more stylized ones. I keep them in different cabinets, and that cuts way down on the "aesthetic whiplash".

I'm 46, and have been at the doll thing for 11 years now... and what's popular and what's seen as dated style-wise absolutely HAS changed in that time. It'll keep changing in the future, too, I'm sure. That's just the nature of the beast.

 

@Brightfires yes, I'm sure 3-5 years on from now we'll be seeing the decline of the currently red hot minifees and Switch boys and some other look will take center stage. It's impossible to keep everything matchy-matchy without missing out on a lot of great sculpts and styles.

I think another reason my stance shifted was because at the start (like 8 years ago), bjds were the only doll I was interested in, I wasn't very open to other types of dolls at all, and so I felt like my bjds had to adhere one standard because this was the One True Collection and I'd have no other.

But nowadays, I collect different types of dolls/toys, not just bjds, and as my overall doll collection tastes have diversified, so has my taste in bjds. I wouldn't expect my azone pure neemos or my max factory figmas to match my bjds, so I also no longer expect my bjds to all match each other.

 

I find I greatly prefer stylized or fantastical as far as what I'd actually want to own. I appreciate all the realistic sculpts, and can also appreciate the smaller and cutesy dolls. But I don't really want to own a doll that looks like a mini person. I personally can't see that being a thing for me right now, it might be in the future, but for the moment, I want weird over realistic.

And I think I don't want a mini super realistic person because I suppose the idea is a little eerie to me.

Mind I am very new to BJD, i don't even have one yet, I just am relaying what I have noticed thus far for me.

 

I tend to prefer more realistic, mature dolls, especially dolls that are so perfect and pretty. Funny enough I am finding myself also drawn to anime dolls and in fact just got my first Dolfie Dream. Ultimately I think it comes down to the personality of the doll and whether or not I think it's a good representation of a particular style.

 

I definitely tend toward childlike and stylized. All of my SDs are old school dolls I got second hand other than my DollGa Noella, who was a Leeke re-release in 2013. I have a Volks DearSD on the way, and she's a Nono, one of the oldest, most stylized sculpts. I love the absolute beauty of Iplehouse sculpts, though. I'm more interested in the JID line though since they're more child like without being actual little kids. I can appreciate a lot of the newer, more realistic sculpts out there, but I don't know that I'll ever own them. In addition to the Nono, I have my eye on a old school Volks girl I found online and I'm paying off my PW Goldie on Friday. What can I say, I love those big eyes!

 

Definitely on the stylized end of the spectrum. My collection hovers somewhere between the very stylized (old Delfs) to the somewhat-less-stylized (Elfdoll boys) and then one girl that's somewhere in between those two. The trend toward hyper-realism does absolutely nothing for me; I just don't find the look appealing. Part of what I love about the stylized dolls is that they're very obviously dolls.

Yup. Trends shift in doll-collecting, like in anything else. I know my collection is considered 'dated' but I prefer to look at it as 'retro'.