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Second thoughts about the hobby

Jun 27, 2010

    1. I think it's time I answer my own question. So here goes:

      - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Yes. Quite frequently.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      Yes. I have characters from my writings, but connecting them to dolls doesn't work for me. Whenever I try to embody my characters into dolls, my writing suffers. I never get around to writing anymore because I'm too busy with the dolls.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      Just that! Writing makes me happy, and focusing too much on the dolls impaired my ability to write. I felt I needed to get them perfect before I could allow myself to continue with my stories. I got writer's block. Eventually I got so frustrated over finding the right sculpts, and the right size, and the right accessories and attributes and all that.. I felt like giving up. Everything is so expensive and I could never get it right. For me the dolls were supposed to be a means to an end: to help me with my writing, but they became an obstacle instead. I got sad and frustrated.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?


      I realized that my desire to own and play with dolls had nothing to do with my writing. And that my writing was better off without dolls. My characters should remain just that: characters, and the dolls needed to be their own entities. If my writing gets inspired by my dolls; excellent! But dolls inspired by my writing won't work for me. I gravitated towards the dolls because I mourned the loss of my childhood, and wanted to recapture it. It has nothing to do with my writing! Now that I'm letting go of my character dolls and starting over, I feel happy and free. My writing has skyrocketed! Inspiration flowing in from all sides.
      And now I am also able to enjoy the dolls, as dolls :aheartbea
       
    2. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Quite a few times.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      Not really. In a way I saw it as the final step of my character's creation, going from an illustration on a piece of paper to something I could hold and manipulate. I can reach over right now and make him pick his nose, it's awesome.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?

      Money. It's always the money. I have quite a few dolls and during the start I used to look at them, realising they total to a deposit on a car. I found that keeping them all done up and clothed took so much out of my wallet and some days it maked me feel crappy.
      On the upside, this hobby has taught me to budget! So these days I'm not so down :D

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      At the end of the day, I still think they're great. I'm always going to love painting and sewing for them and one day I'm most certainly going to create BJDs of my anthro characters and take it just that one step further (I actually want to get into sculpture!) I've made some kicka*se friends and they pick me up on my dolly downer days.
       
    3. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Not actually. I'm still pretty darn obsessed two years in :sweat.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      Not a mistake, but more complex than I'd originally thought. The dolls sometimes change the characters, and there are storylines I'm not sure how much I should ever post much about as I'd like to publish those stories at some point.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      While I haven't really had second thoughts, I do regret my lack of proper financial control. I have done some pretty good damage in my time in this hobby. I would probably have done damage with something else, mind you, but maybe not this much? I'm settling down though.

      It's still taking time to get used to the people in this hobby, too. There is just a different way of interacting sometimes and I don't seem to fit in as easily here as in other fandoms. Plenty of great people involved, of course.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      I'm still enjoying it and don't feel I've gotten good enough at any aspect of it. I'd like to get to the point of being able to do at least one dolly-related skill well, at least. Also, none of my dolls are truly done yet, and I doubt I'll ever be fully satisfied. I like having fandoms or past-times that offer continuous learning, so I expect I'll be in this for a while yet.
       
    4. Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Despite not being in the hobby for a long time, I've sometimes had second thoughts about it, yes.

      For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      I tend to end up incorporating the 'doll' into the character and merging the two to get a mix of both personalities. My current doll has gone through so many changes and he started out as a character in my head. Now he's my muse and the driving force behind a short story and he also holds bits and pieces of characters I've had over the years in various stories.

      What made you have these second thoughts?
      Strictly money related. Sometimes it makes me cringe at how much I spend. I'm not looking forward to adding up the total cost at the end of the year. Although I don't tend to buy the more pricey dolls, what I do buy still makes a huge hole in my wallet and makes me think, "Now, that would pay for groceries for a week." or "That extra little bit could have gone to pay off the mortgage faster." I'm a bit tight fisted with money as I've not always had the luxury of having it.

      What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      Using the doll as a model in my photography projects. After a long break, the dolls provide a great source of inspiration for my photography work and they're usually pretty photogenic so there's not as much fussing involved as with a human subject.
       
    5. Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Yes, but only once.
      For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      Several of my dolls were pre-existing characters and others were created for the doll molds that I loved and wanted to own. Over the years, I have made a few mistakes choosing a mold for the pre-existing characters as they didn't accurately represent my idea of the character. In some cases, I never find the right mold and eventually just give up transforming them into a doll. In some cases, and these are rare, the doll completely embodies the character. One of my characters, Judas, fits into the category of "character created for the mold". As I was waiting for the doll form of him to arrive, the character took off and became very well-rounded and complex, almost more complex than I wanted. Eventually, when the doll arrived, I tried to pour all of that character into the doll, but in doing that, the character just got lost and I directed all of my attention to the doll. I realize now that I was trying too hard to portray the character through the doll, and eventually this caused the character to dwindle. I sold the original mold and then replaced him with the doll he is now. But his character is still not nearly as strong as it used to be. I love the doll way too much to care though. I have other dolls that fulfill those needs. :3
      What made you have these second thoughts? It had nothing to do with the dolls themselves, but my involvement within the community. A fews years back, I endured harsh criticism on forums, this one included, for mistakes I'd made regarding faceup work I was taking on to a point where even my character was personally attacked. It took me a little while to realize where and how I'd gone wrong and eventually I considered it a lesson learned. Still, the whole thing left me bitter, and at that time I felt like dropping out of the hobby altogether and selling my dolls.
      What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      I changed my mind because I knew that I couldn't just run away from something that brought me so much joy. I just re-evaluated my needs and wants within the hobby, and eventually I learned to take pleasure in it again.

      I don't think, at this point, I could ever leave the hobby. I'm in it too deep. xD If anything, whenever I feel like I'm in over my head, I just downsize my collection.
       
    6. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?

      YEA I have.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or
      that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?


      I actually love having my main char and a minimal char as dolls. They remind me of my love for them and their story and of how they have gotten me through the most tumultuous aspects of my life.

      I actually haven't ever felt that I had to much attention on the dolls, if anything it is the opposite that I don't do enough with them. Which is why, I think, that so much of my life is focused around dolls so that I don't forget about them.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?

      I attend Parsons the New School for Design in NYC. Basically I have been dreaming for years that one day I will have my own company that is about making cloths for dolls and their humans, and art work about those dolls and doing customization for those dolls and even making my own dolls.

      When I attended my first semester at the new college I basically had teachers who made me feel inadequate and unable to do the things I liked to do. I used to enjoy sewing all the time just to sew, especially to make things for my dolls. One of my teachers refused to let me make things for my dolls and basically drove me away from them, shifting my focus to ppl instead to what made me happy. I spent the second semester recovering from this although I still felt like I was no good. I was blessed to have a teacher named Susan who I showed my doll work too and she told me how well she thought I did. Hearing her words of praise has driven me to finally start my customization business on DOA and to start drawing again.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?


      I guess I already answered this a bit, but my teacher Susan did. Mainly because she told me that she believed in me and that respected my interests. Even though I haven't had any customers yet in my DOA shop I want to keep working on it for her sake and for mine because she believes in me and so does my family and yea.

      I am hoping to start sewing again soon i can't wait to use some of the stuff I learned while at school to make beautiful clothing for dolls that I can eventually share with everyone on DOA.
       
    7. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Never the hobby, just what dolls I've had and being active in the community.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      I've never regretted getting dolls for my characters. Putting my characters in 3D form has been something I've always wanted to do for a long time. 8) If anything, getting dolls for my characters has made me closer to them and helped me to develop them more deeply.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      If anything, I made a mistake over trying to match characters to certain dolls instead of choosing ones I actually liked. At one point I had a large collection of dolls like this and I just sold them all because I wasn't completely clicking with them. In that sense, it really made me rethink the dolls I had.

      And the community sometimes-- I don't like to participate in it. Other times it's great and I've made some really awesome friends through it but I suppose with every and any community, there are just these things that really bother me about it and I it makes me hate being associated with it.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      For characters, I decided to just aim for the dolls I really like and adapt the character to them instead of trying to fit them to certain molds that I may not necessarily like. I now solidly have a collection that I can say I don't want to sell a single one of them.

      As for the community side of things, I always have my friends, the sunshine through the rain, haha.
       
    8. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Pretty often I get the wandering "what am I doing?" thought in my head. Sometimes I wonder what is the point in using so much money on what is ultimately just objects instead of trips and the like. But that passes. I always end up excusing it as ~art~. I did take a year off, though. It was right after the cresendo in my dollhobby and I just ordered dolls left and right. In the end I sold all of those and stuck with just the "core" of three dolls. I am slowly building up the collection now, but I am taking it much slower and am a lot more picky.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      I did focus a lot on the characters, but I felt that just fell on moot ground. The dolls I bought made their own stories and I feel they fit them a lot better. It's a lot more fun bringing out the doll's potential, rather than forcing it into being something it's not.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      Lack of money and lack of time. I always end up thinking "ugh if I hadn't bought those dolls" .... It passes. The moments where I look at them and is filled with pride and love is a lot more often and worth a lot more.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      I don't really know. I felt I had sworn it off completely. For some reason I didn't sell those three. Then one day, after about maybe ten months, I started to look at bjd pictures again. Slowly, but surely, I was drawn back into the hobby. I started sew again. I gave the three dolls a make over, two of them nearly an entierly different story. And so here I am, back in the game xD
       
    9. Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Mhm. I was feeling pretty low that whole year when I first got Quinn, so he barely left his box. Or, if he did, I didn't do anything "worthwhile" with him. (This could just have been m mindset though >.<) Anway, I began to feel really bad about always leaving him in the box and it was just another crappy feeling that I didn't need, so I tried to forget about him until I was ready. D: Nowadays, although I never want to get rid of my dolls (I didn't before either, but whatever xD), I still feel a little bad about the money I spend / could potentially spend on them. I never undersood why though, because I would have no qualms blowing it on other things. :S /long explanation xP

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      When I first got Quinn, I had no characters planned at all. I recently got really into characters, but I'm actually trying the opposite of what you said. I'm trying to not obsess so much over the characters and just enjoy the dolls or, if buying a new doll, I don't want to get a doll I don't really love just because they look like a character in my mind.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      Money mainly, I would say. Also lack of time. Or more like I felt I had no time when I probably did. :l Also, I got caught up in the whole thing where I didn't ever want to post pointless snapshots of them, I only ever wanted really good photos, so I stopped taking photos of them at all for a while 'cause I felt I wasn't good enough. :\

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      Complete change of brain / mindset. XP Also, I stopped caring about what others thought, got my characters sorted out, etc.
       
    10. I'm kinda having a similar problem. I love my dolls, don't get me wrong but i don't see it in the same light as i think other doll owners do. I have two dolls and i love them sooooo much but i find that too much for me. I live with my parents and its limited space for me and my stuff so most days my dolls sleep in a box cuddled together on the dresser. I love dressing them up but i don't treat them as much as a human as I've seen most owners do. Their more like a pet i don't have to feed or pick up after to me.
       
    11. &#8226; Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Like others here, I have. It's usually from the pressure of other people outside of the hobby that make me doubt my decisions. Other times it can be from stuff said online, my own actions or just the thoughts of the insane price. I have never quit in my time of being here though. I've only taken little breaks every now and then.

      &#8226; For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      No, my characters are never a mistake to me. I absolutely love them, and without these characters I probably wouldn't have any Ball Jointed Dolls to begin with. In my opinion, when I spend time with dolls, I am also spending time with their characters.

      &#8226; What made you have these second thoughts?
      Time, Money, Fear, People and various other things. I'm extremely nervous by nature and thinking of these things can really send a chill down my spine. Luckily for myself, it never last. c: The good things in this hobby definitely out weigh the bad things.

      &#8226; What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      I love BJDs too much to give them up. Every time I look at mine, I can't help but to smile. Besides, I've already gotten so deep into the hobby. Why let all that go to waste? ^^
       
    12. Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      When things are in the mail and I haven't seen them yet I'm like "oh my god I just spent so much money what if I don't like it I am a grown woman buying expensive dolls jesus I shouldn't be in this hobby" but then I calm down when I realize that adulthood is pretty much whatever I decide it should be and I can have expensive dolls if I want.

      For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      I had a character in my mind for my Miho but it didn't work out and I've given up on creating a character before I see the doll. So I don't think getting the Miho was a mistake, it just didn't work out the way I planned it to.

      What made you have these second thoughts?
      Just money, I suppose. I am pretty poor and I sacrificed to get the dolls I have, and I've saved up money for more, but I do have second thoughts when I think of other things I could buy with that money.

      What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      I just don't think you should give something up if it makes you happy.
       
    13. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?

      No, never.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?

      Making a doll to resemble a character is tricky I think. I'm too perfectionist to begin with, but it's near-impossible to ever be satisfied when something has to resemble something perfectly that's envisioned in your mind. For me a doll needs to be it's own thing as well, or it can never work.
      So I think from both characters and dolls, and see where idea and resinform can form a match.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?

      I don't have second thoughts about this hobby really, but at times the community does get on my nerves. I get tired of all the huge ego's or the people who feel it's uncool to be nice. But it's not something I take personally. This may sound a bit blunt but I don't need you to have an awesome personality for me to be able to talk to you about dolls. In general I think I take the people that do have that awesome personality as a plus instead of taking the people who would never be my friends as a minus.
      (And considering it like this I find it is really hard to get sucked into drama or grouppolitics, which is a nice bonus)

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?

      My love for dolls is here to stay, however much the circumstances may change. I might have to sell part of my collection someday, or I might not be online much or otherwise join in the community, life's priorities may change completely (child, sickness, a move to another country) but they won't go away. I envision myself being 80 and in a resthome surrounded by them. They are going to grow old with me.
       
    14. Yes, sometimes I wonder what the hell I am doing with my money. I could have bought a car! I could have done so many other things, but then I look at my dolls and their things and I think about the next one on my wishlist and that makes it all worth it.
      So... when I get this weird feeling of wasting money, I just dress my dolls or brush their wigs, photograph them or make things for them. That is what makes it worth every penny I put on them, and I don't regret a thing.
      AND also, when I meet my friends who own dolls, that just makes everything awesome again. Why would I want a car when I can have so much fun with a friend and our dolls?
       
    15. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby? Yes, I'm going through a bit of it right now. I keep thinking, "Maybe I should have waited until I was done with college." or "I don't know what the hell I'm doing with this piece of resin!"
      - What made you have these second thoughts? I suppose it's a bit of a mix of can't bond very well right now and that my doll was a gift. If I had saved my money rather than my grandmother surprising me with her, I feel it would have been more of an accomplishment for me. Plus, I'm just having a hard time paying attention to Allison right now with everything else that has been happening lately.
      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby? I suppose it's the fact that my grandmother put that much effort into surprising me that I can't let my dollie go. Plus, she's kind of a dream doll, so it would be a little hard to part with her.
       
    16. I had second thoughts many times during my first year in the hobby. I think it stemmed from getting my first doll and her not being right for me; she was too small but at the time I hadn't been in the hobby long enough to figure out what it was about the doll I wasn't keen on, or whether it was the hobby in general that wasn't right for me. I considered selling her and leaving but I ended up buying a slightly larger doll and eventually figured out what I wanted.

      I'm much more comfortable with this hobby now. The money side of it did used to make me reconsider whether it was right for me but I've reached a stage where I no longer feel I need to justify spending money on dolls. This hobby brings me happiness and I think that's worth it.
       
    17. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      I'm new at the BJD world but been collecting dolls for more than a decade and earlier this year I did take a break from them all. Now I just love the Iplehouse BJD dolls.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?

      I do not have characters before dolls. The dolls get characters. lol

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      I just felt very overhelm with all the dolls I had and I didn't seem to enjoy them as much. I know I need to downsize but the break I took made me enjoy them again.

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?

      I love dolls!!!!!


      Bren =0)
       
    18. Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Yes, all the time. However, I don't think I'll ever permanently retire from the hobby.

      What made you have these second thoughts?
      Before getting into the hobby, I knew the dolls would yellow over time. What I didn't realize was how upsetting it would be to see it happening. Most things people buy won't last forever, but for some reason yellowing dolls bother me, while buying a new computer that I know will be worthless in 10 years doesn't. Another thing I didn't realize is how difficult it would be to resell the dolls later. Overall, I don't think the happiness these dolls give me is worth the cost. I would more positive towards the hobby if I hadn't bought so many dolls in such a short span of time.

      What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      Nothing else matches their beauty. I hope that in 10 years or so, my collection will be smaller, though. I'd like to buy 3 per year at most from now on. I've managed to go 5 full months without buying anything BJD-related, and I'm proud of myself for that.
       
    19. - Have you ever had second thoughts about the hobby?
      Yes. I had all sorts of second thoughts about this hobby. Initially, I thought the whole thing was stupid and the dolls were creepy.

      - What made you have these second thoughts?
      My friend was into it and a bit obsessed and I just... couldn't figure out why she liked the creepy things so much! Of course, at that time I had only been exposed to it on the very periphery, by seeing people carrying them around at Cons or noticing that when I type in "Vanyel" into a google image search, a doll came up...
      So the only dolls I had seen were the ones that creep me out (The ones that are sort of realistic, but still have anime-ish features, like big eyes and small mouths... so they're halfway between real and stylized and look like creepy aliens or something? Those ones).

      - What made you change your mind and decide to stay in the hobby?
      My friend linked me to the Iplehouse website and I fell in love with every doll on it. Iplehouse dolls are just fabulous and I love them to bits. My friend also helped me purchase my Isar and that's when I really got hooked.
      Now I've bought a doll all on my own, and branched out from Iplehouse too! Soon I'll be soomed. Hahaha.

      - For those of you with characters before dolls; Have you ever thought it was a mistake? Or that the focus shifted too much to the dolls, and not enough on the characters?
      I have characters and everything, but I've never tried to make a doll out of them yet. My friend does that, but ... Idk. I just haven't. XD I think about it often, but with the two dolls I've gotten, I just loved the sculpt and needed to have it and decided to make up a character around the doll rather than a doll around a character. I'm still working on it, but I think once I have two to work with, I can manage. :D




      One thing that really gets to me about this hobby, though, is how wussy so many of the people are. Like I don't care about snobs or elitists or whatever, it's the pansies that bother me. I've noticed it around a lot and I just... I have a hard time using kid gloves with people and a lot of the people in this hobby seem very easy to upset. :/