Rude/mean comments about your dolls

Why would you want that? I knew plenty of those people, especially in the earlier days. It wasn't interesting. It was just annoying.

 

@ashbelEro critical comments can bring improvement. Right now people are afraid to say anything bad about anything and it feels like a lot of things are stagnating because of it. We don't need people being rude for no reason but there's definitely a lack of constructive criticism as well.

 

Oh so you mean going onto threads where people are showing off their faceups that they worked on and saying they're terrible. We definitely had a lot of those a while back. I see plenty of positive constructive criticism on threads *where people ask for it*.

 

Yes and it was one of the (many) reasons I left the hobby and have just come back. I started collecting when I was very young. I lived in a SMALL town in upstate NY. The majority of those around me had never seen nor have heard about this hobby and or BJD's in general. I would get comments like "That is creepy" or "It looks haunted get that away from me". Sometimes comments when they get more acquainted with my collection would be along the lines of "You don't really need an [[Insert X amount of money here]] doll do you?" or "Why would you spend money on THAT?". The comments can go on and on.

Moral of the story? It hurt. It sucked. I loved my collection but I hated the way people would treat me about something I loved.

The best advice I can give you is this: What matters is how YOU feel about your dolls. The value they hold to you is more important than the opinions of others. If you are happy thats all that needs to matter.

I wish I didn't listen to everyone back then. Honestly the people who criticised my collection are no longer in my life and the people in my life now one thousand percent support me getting back into the hobby.

 

I read your comment and I just wanted to say that this is probably one of the worst experiences I have ever heard of. And I am just so truly sorry you had to go through that. A hobby is supposed to be something beautiful just for you. And I am glad you are still in the hobby, and you didn’t let her take your joy! I hope you and your family will not ever have to experience anything like it ever again.
I am sending all the well wishes and luck your way!

 

Luckily I haven’t had a bad experience yet in the doll hobby. However as a small business owner I got plenty of nasty before. I tend to either give a smart reply to make them look stupid and put them in their place, or I choose to ignore them, block and move on. People will try to make you stoop to their levels - and I won’t have it.
I love this hobby, its for me. And if somebody else doesn’t like it, they don’t have to be part of the hobby and they can look the other way. I don’t pick on their hobby’s, I expect the same from others towards me.

 

What would constructiv4 criticism look like for someone's dolls though? I just don't think it's my place to dump on something that gives another person joy.

Though here's something I'll complain about people who use the hastag #bjdsales on IG for something that isn't for sale - they just want to make sure everyone sees their doll. I think that is obnoxious.

 

I specified "constructive criticism when someone asked for it". I see plenty of threads where people are like "This is my first faceup! What can I do to improve?" or "What do you think of my eyebrow work?" or "I'm not sure how I could have done the lips better" and THAT is a perfect time for constructive criticism, because you are not shitting on someone who didn't ask. And I say "constructive" because "constructive criticism" is "Have you tried using a thinner brush and a flow aid? Here is a tutorial" and not "Wow your eyes are disgusting, do better or don't bother"

I didn't think I needed to specify there's no place for the latter.

 

Well if somebody asks for it that's different - and offering tips for an artist to improve their technique isn't rude or mean. I'm thinking of people being like, "wow that's an ugly doll," or "those kinds of dolls are creepy..."

 

yeah i didn't say anything about that

 

Yeah but I can't imagine someone asking for feed back then running back here and complaining someone was making rude/mean comments about their doll - unless the person providing the feed back said something nasty like, "wow did you do this while wearing oven mitts?" "You're so bad your paints and dolls should be confiscated..." Now that would be mean - and while I haven't run across it in the BJD community - I have seen it in virtual worlds and 3D modeling. The oven mitts crack is something I actually once saw.

Now if someone came on showing off their face up and didn't ask for feedback - well that might be different.

 

I had mentioned it because there used to be rather a large trend in this hobby - as with most hobbies - of elitists and uppity collectors doing exactly that, if not to their face then behind their backs, but still very publicly. Used to be if you so much as thought about owning a Bobobie you may as well be trying to pass Barbies off as BJDs. It's been a long time since then, and I was saying I'm glad it's not the norm anymore.

 

I definitely think horror movies play a big part in people automatically thinking dolls are creepy. I never saw dolls as creepy, never understood why people were so unnerved. People need to realize what they saw in a movie shouldn't be applied to everything, in terms of opinion.

 

Whats a Bobobie?

 

They're a Chinese based BJD company with their own page on the DoA wiki.

 

See above, they merged with Resinsoul some time ago by my understanding. If you know anything about Resinsoul’s product page and images you can imagine that BBB wasn’t very valued in a BJD community that was gushing over Soom and Volks at the time. (And as I remember it, the product images were worse back then) But there was really nothing wrong with Bobobie as a company. Their dolls were well-made, the resin pouring was very good, they weren’t known for shoddy work. They were just inexpensive and not made up as fancy as the “preferred” dolls. And the mid to late 2000’s had a lot of bad behavior towards fellow doll owners for many reasons, owning “cheap” dolls being one. Again, very glad that’s not a thing anymore.

 

I would imagine "cheap" dolls could be an entry way into the hobby for many - which is what I'd say to anyone who sneered at them.

 

TBH I feel like if we as a community embraced "cheap" dolls and worked with them the same way we work with "top tier" dolls, you could easily make any Resinsoul Mei into a gorgeous model on par with a Soom. But yes, "beginner" dolls are also important.

 

I had a friend who called my dolls gross and creepy, but it didn’t really bother me. In fact, I enjoyed weirding her out and would push the envelope as much as I could to provoke that kind of reaction from her.

 

I brook no BS when it comes to my hobbies. So when people are rude to me I tend to ignore it. But it does happen...