So what should we call ourselves? (Opinions Wanted)

I like that

I just call myself a hobbyist or a collector. The people outside the hobby are more likely to understand someone being a doll collector (people who aren't interested in dolls aren't going to be concerned about which types of doll you collect), and the people inside the hobby have so many different ideas about what it is to be involved in this hobby that it's probably safer and more accurate to call ourelves collectors than invent exclusive collective nouns for ourselves - and by exclusive, I mean it in the exclusionary sense, since not everyone will agree they are a 'resinist' or a 'hobbyist', so you start to exclude the very people you're trying to label. At least the word collector is established with a solid meaning and it has the least capacity for confusion, offence or exclusion.

 

I think this is the most important thing, at least for me. I'm all in favour of people thinking of themselves in whatever terms make them happiest, but when it comes to communication to a general audience, I can't see why someone wouldn't want to be clear and inoffensive.

That makes sense, but I think it's fair to try to be as clear as one can be in so far as it's possible. Obviously the more obscure your hobby, the more explanation will be necessary - I just think that when there is a clear/mainstream term for something, the most generous thing to do is to start with that term. Why complicate something that can be explained in a simple way?

Yeah, it's not my most central hobby either (mine would be outdoorsy/sporting-type ones) - but from my perspective that's just another reason to have a quick explanation for what it is so that the conversation can move on. And honestly, in many of the conversations about hobbies I've had we end up talking more about entertainment choices than we do activities or collections (I don't personally consider things like playing video games or going to the opera to be hobbies, but if someone else is talking about watching TV or going to concerts then I'll go with the flow and talk about the same type of thing).

 

If someone asks about my hobbies, I generally refer to my resin and vinyl roommates by saying "I collect ball-jointed dolls," and then leave it up to them if they want to ask questions because sometimes people just don't want to talk about dolls. I can't imagine why. Anyway, for those that know even a little about dolls this specifies what kind of dolls you collect, and is generic enough to satisfy those who don't really want to discuss it further. I will sometimes refer to my self as a "doll collector" when discussing dolls, because I am one, simple as that, but usually I'll say the former and only go into detail if asked.

 

What interests me is why people would want to avoid calling themselves doll collectors and look for alternative things to describe themselves. I wonder what is so inaccurate or potentially upsetting about calling yourself 'doll collector' when talking to someone who isn't in the hobby and isn't interested in what you do in the hobby? At the heart of it, whether you paint them, make clothes for them, make dioramas for them, or just sit back and admire them, you are doing these things with a doll you have collected. You can have a collection of one or of many, and a collection isn't limited to something that is kept and securely put away. Collections can be actively played with.

This isn't really a meme or a game topic. The original post poses a question and asks for opinions which is a discussion, which is why it was put here. Once a thread has been started it belongs to the whole forum, not the individual member who started it, and it is outlined in the forum Terms of Service that threads can be moved around to the area that suits the topic best. If you have a question for the moderators directly, you can always ask in Ask the Moderators.

 

Why someone who's in the BJD-hobby might not want to call themselves "doll-collector"?

Let me use one of my other hobbies as an example. There's the term "roleplayer". You can say "I'm a roleplayer" - which can mean you're into pen and paper, into live-roleplaying or into that kind of roleplay where you dress up as a nurse and pretend your husband/boyfriend's a patient at a hospital and you're the super-hot nurse and ... well, you get the idea. (And then, there's also those roleplays at seminars you're supposed to learn something from it ...)

Me, I like to use the term "live-roleplayer" when referring to me and my hobby. I'd like to do pen and paper roleplay, too, but haven't found a group, yet, so I'm not a pen-and-paper-roleplayer. I'm definitely not into that other kind of roleplay, either. I just like to be clear about my hobby (it's considered weird enough as it is). I can imagine that there's people in the BJD-hobby who feel the same about the term "doll-collector". It can mean many different kinds of things - Barbie-collector, Reborn-collector, whatever - and they just want to make it clear from the start what kind of "doll-collector" they are.

 

I'm loving the Resinista title best!

 

I thought about this when I was making my first bjd utube video

I used to say hello utubers now I say hello bjd-iers

I do love Resinista ... or we can say Bjdista :P

 

They are dolls. I collect them. Therefore, I am a doll collector. The same way I say I collect comics and don't launch into the very character specific, one company only description of my comics collection unless the person then asks for more clarification. What's the point of dumping a ton of information on someone who probably didn't want all of that information? Besides, actually listening to the person and starting a conversation goes a much longer way to positively portraying yourself and your hobby then throwing a bunch of esoteric terms at that from the start.

I really don't need a special word to make myself feel more important than other doll collectors.

I fear it has to do with the air of superiority that the BJD hobby tries to give itself - "These aren't those dolls!1!", I mean how many threads have there been on DoA bashing fashion dolls? - along with a negative attitude towards collectors in general.

 

If it makes you feel any better, this is how I saw your thread, as a fun word game, or I would never have joined in. I avoid debate threads like the plague as everyone gets so het up about the silliest things.

Edit: I had to come back and edit this because I just know that someone is going to take offense that I implied that she was "het up" about anything. So let me say that I don't want to get riled because of being labeled a neurotic or told it's bad form to express my likes and dislikes, when I only intended to have fun.

Sheesh.

 

And what exactly is so wrong about wanting to feel "different" from "your usual Average Joe doll-collector who doesn't collect BJDs"? Don't we all like to think and feel we're special, somehow? Not like everyone else?

Say you owned a red Ferrari. Someone asks you what car you got. Do you tell them "a red one" - or "a red Ferrari". And if it's the latter, do you tell them it's a red Ferrari because that's the more accurate description of your car or because you want to show off? And if you told them it's a red Ferrari simply to be more accurate and they then turn from you going "you're such a snob" - is it your fault for telling them your car was a Ferrari? Or is it that they just read more into your answer than there really was and jumped to a conclusion ("it's a truth universally acknowledged that all Ferrari-owners must be snobs")?

 

A proper analogy would be the Ferrari owner feeling the need to come up with a new word for Ferrari owners because they don't want be associated with Bugatti owners or gasp those Chevy owners or car owners in general who don't own Ferraris. eta- which, fine, if the Ferrari owners really want to they can do whatever they want, but it doesn't negate the fact that they are car owners the same as every other car owner

If someone responded to me saying I'm a doll collector with a question of what kind of doll, of course I am then going to explain what sort of dolls I collect. It has nothing to do with needing a fancy word for "someone who collects BJDs" to make myself feel special.

 

Yes, but there is a dual-meaning to 'roleplayer' that doesn't exist with 'doll-collector'. There won't be any red-faced assumptions!

If I tell someone in passing I'm a doll-collector there is no other meaning they can take away from that. Of course people can clarify, BJD collector, Barbie collector... but BJDs are still dolls, and in a casual, general chat the type of dolls being collected may not be really all that relevant. It also leaves the door open for an interested person to ask what kind of dolls you collect, rather than confusing them with a made-up name.

It all rests with individual choice, but if I wasn't in the hobby I think someone describing themselves as a 'resinist' or 'resinista' (as much as I love the word!) would be confusing. It doesn't say anything about dolls to start with, and if I didn't know anything about the hobby I'd have no idea where resin came into it. I collect resin dolls, I collect ball-jointed dolls, I collect BJDs...they all come under the heading of doll collector.

Barbie collecting has been going on for a lot longer than there has even been a BJD hobby and there isn't a specialised word for 'Barbie collector.' No one wants to misrepresent themselves, but avoiding unnecessary confusion is important as well.

That is a different kind of question though. If someone asks me what dolls I collect, I'll tell them; ball-jointed dolls and some fashion dolls. If someone asks me what hobby I'm into, I'll tell them doll-collecting.

I'm not attacking or anything. This is really interesting to me.

 

Call a thing what it is. I'm a doll collector. If anybody wants to know what particular type of dolls I collect, they'll ask and I'll tell them. Made-up little secret-club names make a grown person sound silly. And since nobody knows what they mean, they also require too much extra explanation, which defeats the purpose of a name. I would rather keep it simple.

 

I generally just tell people, " I like to sew clothes for my dolls", if they ask any other questions, I answer them............................. though "Resinista" is way wicked cool!

 

Here's the kicker, at least for me -- I'm not different from any 'Average Joe doll collector who doesn't collect BJDs'. I'm no different from the collector who specializes in porcelain, or the enthusiast who prefers Tonners. I am still a doll collector. I merely have a different focus. None of us are 'Average Joe doll collectors'. We all have our areas of expertise, and they're all different and all fascinating and none of them 'average'. I respect their enthusiasms; I would hope they would respect mine. Calling everyone else an 'Average Joe doll collector' belittles all other areas of the hobby. I mean, there are plenty of members of this board who collect something other than BJDs. How do you think it feels to have their collections written off as 'Average Joe collections' that clearly aren't worth any merit? Probably not great. I don't need fancy words to feel good about myself and somehow unique, and I certainly don't need to set myself above and apart to somehow feel special.

 

My suggestion would be to search for and read the previous threads upon this topic. That way, you might understand why we feel that way?

And, really, it's only an issue because it has very negative real life connotations. We've already seen the elitist reply "I don't want to be associated with those other doll collectors.", and I'm frankly surprised that I haven't seen the embarrassed reply "I don't want to be seen as playing with dolls.". That's always what it boils down to. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to be lumped in with those kind of people. I want to be different and special and unique without any effort. I have never seen any positive attributes given to this 'fun' concept of renaming dolls or doll collectors.

This. And it's not just belittling other doll collectors, it's belittling other BJD collectors too.When you say that we shouldn't call them BJDs or dolls, or when you say that Doll Collectors isn't good enough or unique enough - it makes the people who use those terms feel bad. When you push your hang ups onto other people, you're actually causing the same distress that you have. And that's mostly what I object to.

 

*rolls eyes*
Ok, this got nothing to do with this discussion here - meaning it doesn't stem from this particular discussion here - but I'm starting to grow tired of people taking what I'm saying and turning it around so that it suddenly means something I never meant but suits the point they want to make. Sorry if I don't get all the little intricacies right that might (or might not) be imminent in certain words - I'm not a native English speaker *points at her avatar* and though my English is very good, some things about it might simply escape me (contrary to a native English speaker).

Re: "Average Joe doll-collector" - with that, I was referring to the entirety of doll-collectors, world-wide, no matter which dolls they collect. Be it BJDs, Reborns, Barbies, life-sized silicone sex dolls, whatever. If you want to call yourself a doll-collector - fine. If you want to call yourself a BJD-collector or Resinista or Dollfie-ist or whatever - fine, too. That's entirely a matter of personal preference and, basically, it's no one else's business whatever you call yourself regarding your BJD-hobby (or any other hobbies or, in fact, whatever you call yourself in general).

What rubs me the wrong way in this whole discussion is some people implying it's oh so bad to call yourself something other than doll-collector. And I repeat my question: Why? Because they assume if someone doesn't want to call themselves a doll-collector, they do so out of some perceived superiority over other doll-collectors and because they're kinda looking down their noses at all non-BJDs? So, a perceived air of superiority isn't okay - but generalizing is?

(For the record - yes, to me, personally, my BJDs are superior to other dolls, for the simple reason that I like my BJDs and don't like most other dolls. I don't consider them superior to the Jack Sparrow Barbie I got, nor do I consider them superior to my action figures. They're less poseable but they got other qualities. It's got nothing to do with quality. To me, something I like will always be superior to something I don't like in the sense that I'll probably buy the thing I like and certainly won't by the thing I don't like.)

(Note: I originally saw this thread as nothing more than "hey, gimme some silly ideas on what to call ourselves other than doll-collectors!" and probably wouldn't have jumped on it if it hadn't been for said posts rubbing me the wrong way.)

 

I find this rather...funny. Because I used to be in the modelhorse Hobby. And there we have this fine separation within the Hobby - hobbyists who collect plastic models, and those who collect resin models. But every single one considers himself a modelhorse hobbyist. So I would say that doll hobbyist should cover many aspects of this Hobby - be it collecting, playing, taking pictures, sewing, modding, crafting, etc. I am happy with the term "doll hobbyist". If people want to know more, you can still explain your favourite aspects of the hobby.

 

I think (in general - I might be misreading some other people in the discussion) it's less about it being bad and more about it potentially confusing (and in the case of people who explicitly want to distance themselves from other dolls, potentially hurtful to collectors of those dolls). If someone wants to call themselves a resinista (or whatever) that's their choice, but most people aren't going to know what that means, so if your goal is conversational clarity, it just doesn't work.

I actually think some of the alternate names are cute, but in a functional sense they just aren't very accessible.