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Really Large Male Dolls: A flash in the pan?

Mar 4, 2007

    1. When I got into BJDs about a year ago, it seemed like the only place to go for your large adult male dolls, really, was Dollshe, or possibly Bishonen House.
      Now it's like every company is putting one out.
      I'm just kind of wondering what the market will bear as far as all these large guy dolls go.
      Are these just the trendy thing for this year? The dolls are so big and expensive, I can't see them all continuing to be produced.
      At the same time I have noticed some of the formerly rabid Dollshe fans kind of losing interest...going in a different direction with their doll collections.
      I know there will always be people who want a big guy doll, but the market is really getting flooded with choices, or so it seems...

      thoughts?
       
    2. When Bermann first hit the scene, not many liked or even would consider him as an option. Then suddenly a few people started taking photos, from there, it seemed everyone wanted him.

      I find that some dolls are just too darn large, and the bodies are difficult to deal with. Volks largest dolls don't have that problem, though.

      I must point out the fact that Volks ships their products within a week, unless it's a FCS doll. Most all of the Korean doll companies make you wait, and wait.......and wait. I'm done the waiting thing. I find that a huge problem, too.
       
    3. I think the main thing propelling the biggest dolls is the more mature face sculpts and mature body sculpts. Come out with those on another 60cm-ish doll and they'll probably sell equally well.
       
    4. Just as some doll makers have expanded their lines to offer minis or tinies, it seems as though this is a genre niche that many companies are interested in filling. It may seem as though the trend slows in the future once every company creates their own version of this type. I don't think anyone expects their doll to be the explosive best seller that Hound was when he was first released, but I should think it would be an interesting design challenge for any studio. There is enough room in the market for more large boys, and if they want an easy way to gain back their R & D costs, all they have to do is create multiple head types that work for the same body type. I think the big boys are here to stay, but they just won't be the phenomenon that they were.
       
    5. Personally, the thing that first attracted me to BJDs was thier size. I grew up with Barbies and other American fashion dolls, which top out at about 16 inches for the Tonner dolls and 18 inches for my Kitty Collier doll. (A bit OT, but I paid $50 for my Kitty Collier about 7 years ago and I was shocked at how expensive she was LOL) So for me, the bigger, the better. I even have a My Size Barbie that I picked up for 6 bucks at a local flea market, although even I will admit that a 1/2 scale BJD would be big, heavy, and unwieldy. Still, I plan to have a Dollshe boy join my family at some point, and I'm interested in that new giant SOOM boy, although he's so damn skinny. Maybe if he's wearing baggy clothes, the skinny won't be so obvious. *shrug*
       
    6. I have big boys... a Hound and a Bishonen House, when I look for a doll I am looking for a mature face the height isn't an issue but it recently became one. 77 cm for my Bishonen House was my limit. 80 cm is way too big in terms of working with all the other dolls.
      I love some Volks molds but it seems I am just in love with mature looking dolls when it comes to guys. I would love a Yukinojo and I wish Volks would do a Sd-16 in its FCS.
       
    7. yeah I am not sure about the 80 cm. It *might* work to have just one, the same way as I have one guy in my circle of friends and acquaintances who is 6 foot 6 or 6 foot 8 or something. He is obviously kind of a "freak" although he is also probably one of the best looking men I know. I can't see having more than one doll that's comparably tall.
       
    8. I must point out that Volks has been making their 1/6th Neo Guy line since 2001 and probably before that (I'm not a Volks 1/6th expert, maybe someone else can clarify the time frame). So, while SD16 Yukinojo's height was new, his body was basically a Neo Guy turned into resin, and they did not get the idea for more articulation and/or maturity/masculinity from Dollshe or any other ABJD company out now. I bring this up to defend large masculine boys in general by saying this isn't a new idea to dolls/figures, it's merely something popular at the moment that has existed for a long time and is finally being explored.

      The expense of them I think isn't an issue, as most 70cm Korean dolls cost the same as or slightly more than other Korean 60cm range dolls, and these 70cm still cost less than Volks SD13 boys who are only 60cm or 61cm. Only Volks' 65cm boy Yukinojo is a relatively expensive doll coming in around $1300 retail.
       
    9. I agree that many of the big boys don't cost that much more than SDs and often cost less if you purchase a stock doll, but I seem to be seeing a lot of "I'm changing to tinies" or "I'm changing to MSD only" and while that might just be people's personal preference (and heaven knows there are expensive MSDs out there too), it does seem more economical to have several tinies as opposed to several big boys. The clothes for the smaller dolls are often less costly too, although again not always if you're buying Mio or something.
       
    10. well it all depends... people's tastes do go through an evolution. I had only boy dolls now I'm getting girls too. It all depends on your tastes at the time.
       
    11. I agree with this idea, and want to add that sometimes people just don't like what they expected they would, and can only find out their true taste once they own the doll in question. People who only had large boys and are selling for smaller ones probably just never knew what it was like to own another doll size, and now that they do they've decided they like it better. I think there will always be people who prefer large boys and have several of them, like myself :daisy
       
    12. Large male dolls will be around as long as people keep making up tall characters and insist on having all of their characters to scale in doll form. (Yep, like me!)

      My main characters are from one tall family, and everyone has to be to scale. My first doll Magnus (71cm) set the scale and he's 6'8", some are a little shorter 6'2"-6'6" and one is taller at 7'2". I'm sure I'm one of the many people who has helped push this trend. I've been saying "More big mature boy dolls please!" for the last two years so I could encourage someone to make the equivalent of 7'2". I think an 80cm body is what I need and then I'm done with big.:sweat

      On the down side, so much effort has been put into "bigger" and "more mature" that I'm having a difficult time finding a new, really nice looking, decently engineered short slender boy, like something 57cm. I hope all these companies don't dive so far into the trend of big that they forget some of us are also looking for other body types. :(
       
    13. i just wanted to clarify that i'm not hatin' on big boy dolls. i have a large number of them and they're not going anywhere. it's just weird to have to deal with so many choices when last year i was all bugged because dollshe, BH and perhaps volks SD-16 (although my yuki is significantly smaller looking) seemed to be the only selections out there, for bodies especially if you're into buying or making modded heads and different head sculpts. now in addition to that, we've got dollmore and dollzone, with elfdoll, unidoll and soom on their way...and all in just a few short months. it's kind of daunting even for someone like me who likes the big boys and buys most of them.
       
    14. I agree with this too. One of the reasons I don't like the SD10 boy body as much is because its joints aren't as sturdy, they don't have all the locking parts of SD13 boys and lack the thick resin around the joints to make me feel the doll is secure in most poses. If Volks ever redesigns the body with slightly thicker resin in the joint sockets and makes split torsos standard then I'd definitely give the SD10 boys another chance.
       
    15. I just got my Dollmore Bakai Kyle, and I just love him. He shipped in a week and I got the Bakai Bonnie as well. I think that there will always be a market for them, as peoples tastes change all the time and new people come into the hobby all the time. I remember the first time I saw a hound, I thought they were ghastly, now I love them, he's so distinct.

      What attracts me to a doll is face and physique, size (as long as they go well with my other dolls, story wise) is not really an issue. I have to love the doll, no matter what size it is.
       
    16. If I could rearrange my collection, I think I would probably only have big dolls. I own several dolls, all different types of bodies and find my Dollshe dolls probably the most photogenic and the best posing (or is that the best posers? Hmmm.). ;)

      I don't think sales on the bigger dolls are waning, per se. I still see people buying them. Dollzone, Dollmore, Volks... they all have something to fill that niche on top of Bishonen House (and I'm missing others I'm sure) and I think there is plenty of room for more. I buy purely if the doll seems like it would photograph well.

      Believe me... I know a number of people when the Bermanns first were released that got theirs and immediately sold them off. Bigger dolls are unweildy for many people and in person, they can be rather frightening to some people (I have creeped out many people with Trent and Christian, let me tell you). Even with this being said, I LOVE them.
       
    17. I would never give up my DZ Yuu! He is muscular with out being too beefy, and I love his head sculpt because it has so much expression. He was also pretty darn affordable. I just don't like how hard it is to find him decent fitting shoes. His shoes are so hit and miss that I am glad I never ordered them from overseas before trying someone elses on first!

      I don't think they should get much bigger than 70cm though. It is hard enough find everything that will work with the doll (including carrying cases) without making even bigger ones to try and work with.

      I do like how they are releasing the different skin tones in the bigger dolls. I just wish they would release a blue or green 70cm like Bambicrony did with their tinys. I would love to make a true wood or water nymph out of a DZ Yuu, Wing, or a Hound. :) They would make awesome aliens too. I would love to get some MSD's and have a big 70cm alien abduct them for a photo story. :D
       
    18. You could always get the split torso SD10 body through FCS! ;)
       
    19. That would only solve my torso problem, it wouldn't make the knees better, because even SD13 girl knees are not as sturdy as SD13 boy ones :sweat
       
    20. What gets me is how POPULAR the big boys are and yet all the clothes for them from companies look very similar if they carry clothes for them at all. :/ I also don't understand why the dolls keep getting BIGGER. I have two 70cm and as much as I like Mecha Angel's face(does he look like Jamie Lee Curtis to anyone else?) he's too big for me. Two 70's is enough! That's a biiig part of why I went with 65cm. Between real people there's always a little height difference but not often a foot or more(proportionally)! :S