Resin Best Friend or Resin Army? The pros and cons of having a few dolls vs tons

3 or less dolls. I can't comprehend owning as many as 10 dolls, but it's just a matter of personal choice.

I have one more in mind. ^^

 

I'm still saving up for my first, but I already see more dolls that I want. I think that in the future I'll probably be satisfied with 4 to 5 though.

I don't necessarily want to start a collection. However, if I see a doll that I really love, I'll probably buy him/her too so I might eventually end up with a herd that I wasn't expecting. ^^

 

You're setting up a false dichotomy, and frankly, I suspect you know that perfectly well. >_>

It's entirely possible to have both a large collection of dolls that you enjoy very much and an appropriate number of outfits, toys and "extras" to equip each and every one of them well. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean that no one can.

 

I have a lot of dolls and I plan to have quite a few more so I guess I fall into the "more is more" category. My dolls all have eyes, wigs and clothes. I actually have about three times as many eyes, three times as many wigs and maybe four times as many clothes as I have dolls. So my dolls are mostly all finished and have plenty of choice in eyes, wigs & clothes. I don't think it's an "either or" situation - most people who have a lot of dolls also have a lot of doll accessories I find. My only dolls that aren't finished are the ones that I am redoing face ups on or that I am modding.

 

Why can't I talk about my 50 characters that all need resin shells? Giving BJD forms to my characters IS what makes me happiest. My sole purpose for collecting these dolls is first and formost for my characters, most of whch have a very specific look so it makes no difference for me if they all only have one wig or pair of eyes. And to be honest, just because I have almost 10 full dolls with plans for a 4-5 more does not mean I don't have plans to stop (honestly, now that the bulkof my dolls are home my interest in new dolls has dropped dramatically). Also, you make it sound like one can only enjoy this hobby for a short amount of time. Sure, perhaps for now some of my dolls are unfinished and don't have alot of extras which I would prefer, but it's not as though there's some BJD collector's time limit in which I have to stop enhancing my collecton after 5 years or something. I'm perfectly content in knowing that while some of my dolls may be unfinished now I have plenty of time to accumulate extras for them once I feel the horde is finished.

 

I'm in the camp of wanting both. I have three dolls now, with lots of clothes, wigs, eyes, etc to share between them. I've never understood the idea of a "finished" doll, and for me the joy in the dolls is changing things up all the time. The closest I come to a finished doll is a default eye and wig color and even that's not always on them. I have plans for at least 6 dolls, probably more, and that's not counting dolls that I just think are pretty and want to own.

 

Ditto this. I currently have 8 (planning on 12 max)..and none are unfinished. Personally I find your disregard to be a bit disrespectful towards the characters thing, as they do make me incredibly happy, which is what you asked. If I wanted to shell 2 characters or 30 characters then so be it; that's where my happiness lies.

Outside of that I have no real preference, but as it stands I'm right in the middle.

 

I'm currently in a financial pinch, and having a lot of dolls is really helping me. It's easier to look at 10 and say "ok, who out of the 10 am I not doing much with" and be able to let them go.
But if I brought it down to 3, and they were the core three to my doll family, I just couldn't do it! I'm taking those 3 to the grave with me LOL!

But then there's the con of having so many and not being able to take them ALL places, I went to florida last year, which was a great chance to take photos. At the time I only had 3 dolls, so it wasn't a big deal to pack them all up and take them. But now, I can barely imagine trying to vacation travel with my whole crew!

A con of having so few for me was just creativity. For me all of my dolls are specific characters, and I am very strict with them. They don't stray much in doll form from their character form. I cannot make myself photograph the doll as anything but their character. I've tried - it's just awkward. So having few, at times, was very difficult for me and I'd often find myself really REALLY bored with them, but now I have 10 different dolls, 10 different faces, 10 different personalities that I can just play with. I always find a doll to play with that fits my mood and I'm never bored. (however, this concept also makes me constantly itching to get a new doll every time I get in some kind of funk mood or get some new interest and want a doll to reflect that *shakes head*)

 

I have over 30 dolls and every last one of them has a "default" outfit, a change of clothes/alternate look, shoes, and underwear if required. I love them all.

I also have one doll whose character/persona was created to specifically spoil rotten with stuff, as I found I tended to find my dolls' looks and just stay there. I realized I needed one, just one to spoil. This one does what she wants, has like five or six wigs, gets whatever strikes my fancy (within reason)...everyone else has at least two outfits to their names, but she has something like ten and a lot of mix and match separates, jewelry, accessories, whatever...

So my answer is all of the above. It can be done.

 

Well, I've seen some amazing dolls complete with full, in-character and meticulously-detailed outfits - and many of them, all belonging to a single owner. So I really don't think that it's impossible to own lots of gorgeous, complete dolls.

Me, for the longest time I've had one doll. I had 5 previously, but I sold all of the other ones due to financial and space issues and felt pretty happy about it because I even got a little extra to spend on my one remaining one. Now I'm back to waiting for a second one, but I won't be making any other full doll purchases until this one is complete. I frequently spend about twice the price of the doll on all that it takes to complete them (wigs, face-ups, clothes, eyes), so I guess I subscribe to the category of "fewer dolls, but all complete". However, it's only really because that's all I can afford at the moment, being a poor college student and all that other stereotype-y stuff. Should I ever get more disposable income and get into a position where I can afford to buy AND complete dolls at the same time, I'm certainly planning on getting MANY more - yes, to shell my other characters. However, I guess ultimately it makes me happier to have complete in-character dolls than a bunch of unfinished ones (unless they're a WIP).

 

I think it's completely possible, to own many dolls and sufficient love/outfits/accessoires for all of them.

For me it's less dolls. I have a problem dividing my love/attention between dolls. I deffinitely have a favorite, Abby. I could live with having just her and I couldl never, ever give her up (under non lifethreatening circumstances). She has all the good stuff (clothes, shoes, accesoires, jewelry) and to me, she is the most "alive", if you know what I mean. I'd love to have all my characters as dolls, but honestly, as long as I have Abby, I can live without all the others ... darn, that sounds pathetic

 

The idea of just a few dolls that I could spoil rotten is appealing, but ultimately not for me. I don't want to have to restrict myself that much. There are a lot of dolls out there that I like, and I do enjoy the buying process. Plus, I have more than one dolly project going on -- I have some OCs who need bodies (sorry, but you can't talk about this subject and not include buying bodies for characters as it's an important reason for some people), fan dolls, plus I want to leave some space for dolls that I just happen to really like.

I don't lose track of any of mine -- in fact, I'm not sure why that would be a problem as all of them and their things are well organized. That's all it takes really, a little organization. Plus, as someone else mentioned, you can have many dolls that are finished. I have some that are and some that aren't, but as I enjoy working on them, it's not really a problem as such. The process itself is just as fun as the end result.

 

I 'only' have 3 dolls right now and still none of them have a proper outfit.
I hope for more dolls in the future, though.
Maybe it's because I'm new? XD

 

I'm 'less dolls and more other stuff'. I love having lots of clothes to dress them all in, and I prefer having less resin to concern myself with. One of each size and gender, and I have tons of clothes that I can get for them. Better for me that way.

 

I'll take the army. Clothes and accessories for them are an on-going project, subject to change and endless planning. For me, it's kind of like casting plays. The more resin actors I have, the more possibilities there are. I don't really want to feel that each doll is complete and finished because I like the fluidity of these dolls and their ability to change.

 

I can't see myself ever having the space/time/money for more than two or three dolls. But I don't have even one yet, so who knows!

 

I want 4 (plus maybe one of those Hujoo ABS babys) so I can't really say three or less, but I think for me it's better to have a few and really have stuff for them, then having tons and tons that don't have shoes and live in their boxes.
(I'm crazy like that, my dolls will all have beds)
I don't like the thought of spending lots of money on a doll and having it sit there unfinished bacause I'm already planning for the next one.

 

I never got this many dolls, because I wanted a resin army. Over the past few years I saw a lot of different types of dolls that I liked and I got them one by one.
I also have a humungous amount of clothes, eyes, wigs, shoes, etc., because I saw all sorts of things that I liked and I got those one by one. Most of my dolls share, but as I have different sizes, my dolls share in small groups. A new doll of a size I already have, has a lot of stuff waiting for it when it comes home. As long as it's not a 10 cm doll or a female 80 cm doll, any new doll coming to my home can befinished right after I give it a face-up.
Usually it takes longer to finish a doll, though. I like the whole fitting stuff and discovering what looks best on a new doll. That's how I got a mountain of clothes, wigs, eyes, schoes, etc.
I'd also like to add that although I can call a doll finished, it will be "finished for now". Once in a while I change the looks of finished dolls to keep things interesting.

 

I just have my one girl right now and she has 4 outfits, 3 sets of shoes, 3 wigs, and an army of socks. She's a bit of a fashion whore, so I still don't think she has enough to suit her personality.

All that said, I like the idea of having less dolls simply because my SD takes up a lot of space by herself (bed, closet, carrier, shipping box). While people with bigger homes or smaller dolls may be able to have more, I just feel too limited by my room.

 

^This. All of this. And even though I don't want to have 10+ dolls, I too don't like to change wigs, outfits, shoes, eyes and what not. All my dolls (be it 1 or 200) get their default stuff and that's that. It's not one or the other. It could very well be both.