So what should we call ourselves? (Opinions Wanted)

I've called it 'bjd collector/owner', audibly abbreviating BJD. I've also referred to them/us as BJD people. I don't see anything wrong with trying to coin a term. I feel like you didn't realise when asking this though, that although BJD's aren't commonplace things in most countries, the hobby isn't exactly... brand new per se... and the introduction of some sort of name for people who are into the BJD hobby will naturally not be well-received by all owners. That's just the nature of people, but I think it's particularly with BJD people because for some people its an 'escape' hobby that allows them to ignore 'real life' stuff that's depressing and just look at beautiful dolls. It's pretty much like that for me. If I wanna relax, looking at people's dolls is a big stress releif and it's interesting. 'slapping a lable' per se, is making it more seem like an association. We know no two people collect bjds the same way, so the lumping together is bound to irritate people... in BJD's people are very particular what they want to be associated with. Even the idea of only certain kinds of dolls being considered BJD's irritates people. (even though those lines are only really drawn out of the need to organize information so that it's not too ambiguous.)

My advice is keep trying to think of terms with people who are enthusiastic about coining a term, but do listen to people's concerns carefully, even if they're completely off-board with the idea of a term. Being ultra-defensive and arrogant over an innocently enthusiastic desire to coin a term is missing the point. Explaining what BJD's are and sometimes even what a BJD collector is, is a difficult burden. Not everyone wants to be some sort of ambassador who has their 'explanation' speech prepared if the subject of BJD's happens to come up to non-collectors. Having a term that got the idea that we're a bunch of people who collect BJD's across fairly neutrally, with minimal explanation of what BJD's are would be nice... but it would also have to go hand in hand with a relatively widespread understanding of what BJD's are in the first place!

Coining a term CAN actually help the idea of BJD's become more widely known. A catchy little unmistakable title will make people curious, and lables are there to help people understand the world. Frankly, I think without lables some people would fail to understand much about other people at all... I seriously beleive that understanding lables is the full extent of some people's willingness to care about or learn about other people. Complaining about labels having bad connotations, at least in a lot of cases, is wanting people to understand something they're truly incapable of understanding, or otherwise just don't give the craps required to come to an understanding in the first place. It's an interesting hobby in our opinions but realise, there are things you probably could never see yourself getting enthusiastic over, or if you had any reaction it might be annoyance with that hobby... for me that one's called baseball cards. ...Having seen just how enthusiastic and dedicated baseball card collectors can be, getting all giddy and loud about opening a new pack of cards, I'm left stunned and bewildered on several levels. I don't even get that way over MTG cards... Needless to say I really would rather not know, myself. No idea what they were so riled up about, but ...I'm nice enough to make the assumption that the baseball card collectors I witnessed were probably 'oddballs' in that hobby. lol. I'm sure it's not too hard to think of something each of you people could rather not spare the braincells for. (and I wouldn't be surprised if I've annoyed at least one baseball fan because of my example XD sorry)

That all being said, while I don't particularly love any of the terms offered in the OP, I particularly dislike resinista specifically because it sounds like fashionista. That connotation doesn't quite give an accurate impression of male BJD owners, (it's kind of sad to admit this for me personally) and I'm willing to bet quite a few female BJD owners might be annoyed over that word association as well. Using word association can be a good thing cause like I said, a word for BJD collectors might very well be one of the very few things people can spare the braincells to remember about the hobby... make those 2-3 braincells count by using as ACCURATE and intentional connotations as possible, if you must call it something... something the majority of the community receives well, and gets the idea across. I hope what I've said comes off more encouraging and neutral than discouraging, because again I don't see anything wrong with a 'better word' for BJD collectors. Some people are quite happy with their lables and choose to self-assign all sorts of lables to themselves. ...Stating one's own resentment or differences over a well-known lable is a powerful expression of individuality, in fact I consider it one of the very reasons lables are useful to begin with.

 

haha I agree I think it's because we always want to identify ourselves as something. To make ourselves feel a little bit more special whilst being in a community. I've read this in a book somewhere about why Japanese people have so many books about their own identity.
But yeah, I think 'owner' is just fine since that's what people use in Korean bjd communities
Some people call themselves doll mommy or just mommy which is nice as well

 

What's wrong with labels? It's convenient. "I collect BJDs, which are these cool dolls you see here." is pretty much all I ever have to say.

 

How I introduce myself: Hi, my name is _ and I'm a toy collector.

Why "toy collector" and not dolls exclusively? Well The dolls to me are part of my larger collection of robots, plush, vinyl, and action figures. Odds are good that if someone catches me in public with my doll I probably have other toys in the car or my pockets as well. I'm not so huge on dolls being segregated to their own little corner of the toy world, I like to mix it up. Plus "doll collector" has the aforementioned (in this topic) negative connotations whereas "Toy collector" just sounds whimsical and kooky. If it makes me sound scary enough to someone that they flee I'm cool with that. It probably would have been a major downer hanging out with a person like that anyways.

 

That's all well and good, but it makes me think of the guy in Toy Story 2... the one in the chicken suit. XD

 

I totally had that same visual

Whenever it comes up, I just say "I collect dolls". Lately I've come to adding "customizing" in there too, because especially since I started doing my own face-ups it feels more like that's what I'm doing. And also it sometimes bugs me a bit that people immediately think of reborns or porcelain dolls. They seem more interested about the customizing part. But on the other hand, it's not my problem if they choose to be ignorant. If they want to know more, I will tell them more, explain, show pictures etc. If not, then it's fine to let them think what they think. I much prefer to explain and show pics though, not just because I love to talk about my hobby, but also I figure the more people know what BJD's are, the better

 

I have to admit being a somewhat cute gothy chick helps prevent people from getting that visual when they're talking to me in person. XD And now I totally want to watch all those movies again...

 

D'aw... I'm the opposite. I'd like to be a cute goth chick but I'm pretty certain I look more like a guy in a giant chicken suit.

Anyway, back on topic, I only yesterday had to choose what to say to a guy who asked me about my hobbies, and later on I realised I'd told him I customized dolls, rather than collected them, and generically dolls rather than BJD (I don't think he'd have known what they were). Later on it occurred to me he probably assumed I meant Barbies or some other type of doll that's better known than BJDs, but I don't mind. A doll is a doll is a doll!

Two conclusions: I don't really care if someone thinks I'm into reborns etc, and that I consider myself a customizer rather than a collector. Perhaps I've got a touch of special creative snowflake syndrome.

 

I'm a Asian Doll Collector. I like BJDs, Isuls, Taeyangs, Obitsus, anime figurines etc.

 

I like BJD collector, it sounds professional! haha..

 

Ballers! Oh that's taken

Umm, Dollers? Like gamers. Doll-etes? Doll-ites? Something dollish, 'resin' always reminds me of resin kits too much. The little boats, planes, Aliens. Maybe I'm just dollish!

 

I don't think I can refer to myself as a collector, so the easiest thing I would say is BJD enthusiast. Then again, you can really call yourself whatever you would like since it's not very necessary to label yourself as anything ^^

 

In that case I will randomly call myself "mother of dragons" >.>

 

Dammit, I was drinking something when I read that.

 

Yeah, but what kind of dragon? I mean, just "dragon" is a little bit to generic, don't you think?

Today I've realized I'm actually using the term "art doll collector". That's because the Ducth word for doll, "poppen", is mainly used for children's toys. I discovered that I was constantly explaining that, 'no, I don't have kids and no, I don't give them to my nieces'. Saying 'art doll' somehow makes people understand that I'm not buying them to be a sugar-aunt, but to collect them for myself.

EDIT:
So, here I am, having no problem whatsoever being mistaken for a Himstedt doll collector, but heaven forbid if someone thinks my dolls are children's toys.

 

Well yeah, I mean we don't want to get ourselves associated with those lesser dragons. Some people might think we're the mothers of mass-produced vinyl dragons, heaven forfend. So what should we call ourselves? Dragonoids? Dragonists? Custom-made Asian art-dragon birther?

 

My evil plan is coming to fruition XD

 

I have long been unhappy with the terms chosen to describe the dolls and the owners (and I've been here since 2004, so it's definitely been a long time!).

Who the heck ever thought that "Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls" was a handy term? A bigger mouthful I couldn't even conceive! "BJDs" is not much shorter and not at all helpful as a quick way to describe ANYTHING. (Gah--stupid acronyms! Year after year of poor newbies trying to figure them all out! Names/terms are supposed to be USEFUL! Not confusing.)

*sigh*

So, forget about idea of whether LABELS are good or bad, we NEED terminology in order to communicate efficiently!!! Let's leave all the judging aside.

However--do I think there will be better terms put in place? I doubt it. Hasn't happened yet.

We seem to be stuck with long, awkward terms that need lots of explanation, AND with all the terms that people use instead, because they are more easy, like dollfie, SD, MSD, Yo, that, yes, are brands, but too bad! They are still being used by folk to describe things! Mostly because the other terms (Large, Mini, BJD, ABJD, ball-jointed dolls, whatever) are just not so helpful (or easily searched!!!).

ARE there better terms? Maybe, maybe not. But I've just given up, personally. It's like frickin' herding cats. Whatever useful descriptors will just sort itself out as they will...

 

That's why I stick with "doll collector" it's short, easy, simple, everyone immediately knows what it is. If they want to know specifics then I explain, otherwise I leave it at that.

 

I like collector as well. It's plain and simple. I don't want to invent a name for being in this hobby.