Stick To What You Know?

In terms of clothing and accessories, I'll pretty much go anywhere if I like the style and think it will fit my dolls. But in terms of the dolls themselves, I seem to stick to 1 company. I currently have 10 dolls, and they all only come from 3 companies (4 if you count the head from my hybrid). The companies are AngelHeim, Souldoll, and my weakness, SOOM. You see, I LOVE fantasy/anthro dolls, and since SOOM is the biggest maker of fantasy/anthro BJDs, that's of course where most of my dolls have come from. So I would defiantly think that I do not stray from SOOM's dolls because of my preference of anthro dolls. In fact, my mom calls me a SOOM whore. She thinks I should be a dealer or a representative, that way I can get a discount on orders because she feels I'm always pitching SOOM to people. Lol, SOOM. Enough said.

 

I have dolls from several different companies and I don't have a favorite. I have a few dolls that are from the same company and it is nice to buy from a company you already know but I find that I like so many different kinds of dolls that I'm always willing to try out a different company if they have a sculpt that appeals to me.

 

I do both. I like to stick with certain companies--because I like their aesthetics and I know and trust them to some extent. But I also look at other things to make sure I'm not missing anything that I might really like. I will still check out the company first... and will tend not to buy until there's some sort of track record... but if I really like the doll... I'll take chances and wait and deal with problems.

Liking the doll comes first with me. I take some precautions, but I'll take a risk and wait and jump through a few hoops if I have to, to get what I want.

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I have 5 dolls from one company.
Will have 4 from another.
2 to 3 from four companies.
1 from six or seven companies.

 

For dolls, yes. I'm pretty stuck on DoD. It's not that I don't trust other companies, I just like DoD overall looks (somewhere between mature and dollish). I've looked at a bunch of companies when I was looking for my first BJD. Now I have 4 total planned from DoD.

For clothes, wigs etc, I have a couple I really like, but I'm more open to looking around for what I want.

 

hmm... on my lists of dolls I own and want to own I currently have dolls from 9 or 10 different companies ^^;; Most are from soom, fairyland, and recently my pipos list has gotten larger. i dont change because I like the companies any more/less, the company doesnt matter so much if they have beautiful dolls and good customer service

 

I just stick to mostly the two companies i fell in love with - luts and dollmore...mainly because my earlier dolls were from them.(which im trying to get two of them back.)

but i've had other companies dolls before over the years, and i always find myself coming back to those two companies.

call me old school.

 

I haven't had many dolls so far, but so far two were Angel of Dream and one BBB... I'd like to explore some other companies since there are a ton of molds from different ones, but I'm sure if one company has better customer service or less wait time and a lot of molds I love, I'd stick more to them.

 

It would be easier to stick just to one company, but alas, I have 3 dolls from 3 different companies: Iplehouse, Dollshe, Dollzone. The next will be Dollstown. So the main point here is liking.
About the stuff... I stick to 4 companies: AnotherSpace, Iplehouse, Ndoll, Tata. I like their style and they fit to my dolls.

 

Do you find yourself tending to stick with companies you dealt with before, or do you like to explore other companies? Even if you have branched out, and bought from other companies, have you ever found yourself drawn to ones you've used before?
I do not mind to just deal with only one company. However, I think I should limit my self to buy more dolls. I like to focus on only a few so each of them get my attention.

 

I like to explore, I got my first doll from Luts, and while I love him dearly, I wish I had known about the stiff back the 3rd body type that I ordered possessed, it tends to make him hunch forward and I can't get him to stand straight unless I put his hips forward, which kind of gives him a girly stance. I'd like to know ways to fix this, but I'm happy enough with him as it is that I'm in no big rush to do so. My next dolls, however, are for specific characters and I want to make sure that I'm going to be %100 happy with how they turn out. Since the doll websites have somewhat limited photos of the bodies and faces and face ups, I've been checking around here and Dairyland for owner photos and pictures of certain types of dolls next to each other to compare. I was originally going to go with Minigem Uyoo Elf for one of my characters but after seeing how barbie-like she was and how little detail there was to the sculpting of her face I began to shop around some more. I found a Minifee that I liked for the character that goes with the other character, but I couldn't find a head for the first character that made me jump and say 'that's her face!' so I checked for some sites that I could just order a head from one company and the body from another, like Sweet N Honey. Sweet N Honey had some awesome pictures of how posable the Minifees bodies were and made me fall in love with them, especially since my characters are fighters and it'd be fun if they could have some awesome sparring poses, and then I found a male head from a Limited doll that I liked for the face and was told about the A La Carte option and that I could order straight from the site a male head with a female body. So now I love Fairyland, but I'm drooling over Iplehouse which also has a Custom Doll System so again I can get another limited head, one that I've been longing for. I haven't actually ordered from either, but I've researched how good their customer service is, how long their wait is, and a whole bunch of other stuff simply so that I'm hopefully not surprised with anything that comes up or out of my order. And of course I have a doll or two more that I'd like from Luts as well, but I wont be ordering those until I find a solution for the stiff back in the third body type.

 

I haven't explored the doll-market much, but in the future I will give a try. So far I have an SD and two tinies from Dollzone, these are my first ball-jointed dolls. I liked the service of the company, they are very quick, attentive and polite to their clients.. hope we have another chance to cooperate.
As now I'm thinking of finding them a bit if company, I would also like to deal with Soom or Rarencio Studio - as they have got the fantasy/anthro sculpts that seem rather attractive.

 

Hmm, interesting question.

I do have my favorite doll companies (LUTS, mostly) but I wouldn't want to only LUTS dolls, no matter how much I love them. So I certainly shop around, but a lot of that is window shopping; there are many dolls out there that I find absolutely amazing, but that I don't necessarily need to own.

I do fall in love with a doll occasionally, and occasionally it's with a doll that's way outside of my comfort zone, (and consequently not a LUTS). But there you go; there is no accounting for doll love.

 

I do this more with clothes than dolls. I like Dollheart outfits, and anytime I need a new outfit for a doll, I generally browse their site and don't even bother looking at clothes from other companies. With Dollheart, I've never been disappointed, and I like that all my dolls look good together when they're wearing similar outfits. At one point, I experimented with other companies, but I keep coming back to Dollheart. I like knowing what to expect, and I don't have to worry about the fit as much as I would with a new company. Plus, it's easier for someone who's a bit lazy - think of how long it would take to go through every company's website! There are so many now that it's overwhelming. I can stay caught up on doll releases through the News forum, but keeping track of all the new outfits released would be an exhausting task.

 

I tend to have bursts or phases where I'm holed up and constantly pining after dolls from one company specifically. Two years ago, it was DoD, last year it was crobi/luts, now soom. I do find that my aesthetic preferences remain largely the same even when transitioning from company to company; the sculpts and bodies generally adhere to a certain predilection. Though if I see pictures on the forums of a specific doll I like, I would definitely jump on researching that company.

 

I like to stick with one company once I bought one from them, but sometime other companies also have different I event that I like, so it depends =D

 

I tend to check companies I've used before first, but I don't strictly stick to them.

 

I love to explore, So i so own dolls from a number of different companies.
But I will admit ordering from a company I've dealt with before makes me a lot less nervous

 

Well, according to my Wish List I'm split evenly between 3 companies: FairyLand, Iplehouse and DollZone. I have a handful of other dolls from other companies I want, as well. And actually, the doll I want most is not from any of those three companies! My most wanted doll is actually made my Migidoll. So as far as sculpts go, I seem to be happy with a variety of different things. This may change as I deal with companies' customer service and wait times or when I see their dolls in person and maybe don't like them as much once I get them or am not happy with their quality. Who knows?

For now I have ordered 3 dolls, 2 from FL and another from LS. So the variety has already begun. I think I would get so bored if all of my dolls looked similar to each other.

 

I have found that I am not very adventurous when it comes to exploring new companies. My first BJD was a Volks, and I still like their BJD head sculpts more than any other company's. I am automatically drawn to them and will always look at their new dolls first. I also like DollZone's older sculpts, but I am not drawn to their new releases as much as I am to Volks. I prefer all my BJDs to look good together, which means I want them to have a similar esthetic. Generally I prefer a less realistic, more stylized sculpt. I judge all potential newcomers against my first, Volks SD13 Link. If they don't look compatible with Hiro, I don't bring them home!

Here's what I have at home: Volks - 8 (plus two bodies). DollZone - 8 (plus two bodies). 2 older Souldoll males. 2 k-doll hybrids. 1 each of Dream of Doll, Elfdoll, Bobobie, Angell Studio, DIM minimee hybrid, Ninodoll hybrid. 1 Gomidoll floating head. And 1 Volks Dollfie Dream... so far!

Engineering and body sculpt are really important to me too, so if I find out I don't like a company's doll bodies, I won't try them again. I find myself buying the same doll bodies for my hybrids, because I know what I like.

One reason that I don't look at or buy from new manufacturers is because a lot of doll companies with little feedback tend to just disappear. I want to make sure a company has staying power and good feedback before I buy directly from them.

Forgot to say, when it comes to clothing I am all over the map and don't haunt particular websites. I buy a lot of stuff second hand and have no idea where it came from. I tend to buy everyday people clothes, because my characters are mostly "ordinary", but I do have a few special Volks and Dollheart sets. I also like to buy some handmade items.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

So far I haven't been very adventurous in my BJD career. I've got 5 full dolls and 2 floating heads, all from one company and all within on size and gender (girly Minifee!!) I've had good dealings with Fairyland, I love their bodies and heads and it's just so easy to keep going with what's "comfortable". I also have an obsession with sets and liking things to look like they belong together, so getting dolls all from one company is ideal for that obsessive part of my brain XD

Lately I've been thinking I have too many dolls (it's easier to spend time on/spoil fewer dolls) but I think my problem might be not enough variety. So my plan for 2012 is to buy non-Minifee dolls.
First on the list is an F60 Lishe (not straying far, I know... but she's been on the "love list" for years, since when Luts had her)
Then in no specific order; a senior delf in lovely brown skin to be Lishe's boytoy (yay variety! new company *and* a boy doll), a Dollfie Dream (sooo adorable) and if I can justify any other doll purchases after 3 big ones in a year, maybe a tiny of some sort to dress in ridiculously adorable animal suits. A couple of the MNF may be rehomed if it turns out that variety is the key. But I'm not in any hurry to send anyone on their way, I'll take my time and see if new faceups and outfits will help me appreciate the few who have been being difficult anymore than I currently do.

So not so adventurous currently, but I'm planning on exploring