The Most Disappointing Doll

Resinsoul Bei. I love her body shape but her posing sucks and while in owner pictures I thought her face would work for what I wanted it's just too childish. On top of that, I ordered her in NS assuming it would be peach like my older resinsouls but she arrived looking like she'd never seen the sun ever, a frightfully pale pink tinted white.
Unexpected and not what I was hoping for.

I keep intending to reshell the character but it involves saving up to do so.
*sigh*

 

The last doll I bought was a Demiurge Dolls Mustang head, to go on a massively over-muscled Mirodoll body. First, he was over a month late getting to me. I don't know if it was because the company owner had a lot of orders to catch up on, early Covid problems, or both, but that alone started to erode my excitement (not her fault, of course). I ended up paying extra for DHL shipping just to ensure that he really did get to me (I am still grateful to her for doing this, as it was out of her way). But I finally got the box and decided to put the unpleasantness behind me and just enjoy the doll. Then, I opened the box, and the strongest whiff of cigarette smoke I've ever smelled outside the presence of an actual lit cigarette came wafting out of the box. Note that this was a brand new head, not a used one, so it shouldn't have been a problem. I have no idea what happened, but it really killed this dude for me. To make matters worse, he looks too old for the character his sculpt inspired. Then, I almost couldn't get the head and neck hole converter onto the body; the hole in the neck converter was too small for the elastic. While I'm trying to give him a chance as a fandom character (an unmasked Darth Vader, to be precise), he's still kind of the red haired step child of my collection, at the moment.

 

For me it was a head/body combo (that apparently I disliked so much I haven't preserved any photos of him online). Way back in my early days in the hobby when MNM GOs were big, I joined one for a 1/4 Edward Elric. The whole GO ended up a train wreck, but I was pleased enough with the head when it came in and had a body ready to go for him, and once I put it all together, it just... didn't work. The body was too tall and lanky, the head was huge... it was just wrong. I was so sure I could mod the body and make it work, but the amount of work necessary just overwhelmed me, and I shoved the whole mess in a drawer and forgot about it all for a couple of years.

Eventually I moved, and in the process of unpacking my dolls found the head and body again (stored separately). I took another look at them and finally said, "No, this isn't working, I need to sell it." I hope the current owner likes it more than I did.

(For the record, I did replace the body, then decided the head didn't work, and replaced that too. I'm very happy with the final result!)

 

Oh yeah, I've had a few that I immediately realized weren't going to work in my group at all for aesthetic reasons, and that I'd probably end up selling them. LoongSoul MuXuan, Impldoll Joshua, SoulDoll Robb, AngellStudio Qingyi, AngellStudio Victoria... All lovely dolls in their own right, of course. I always hang onto them for at least a few months in case I come up with something else to do with them, but it's never happened, and they've all been sold on.

 

I'm like that too. The more I look at the doll the more I like it.

 

I'm mainly a second hand buyer and new to the hobby so I'm sure I have many more disappointments to come but my first doll was definitely more than I bargained for in terms of challenge: poor dye needing to be removed, restringing and cleaning, sanding, and soon color matching or finding a new head/body because I unknowingly bought a dyed doll that was previously a white body and a tan head definitely learned a lot but my hands are raw!

 

oh oh my very first doll (dollzone little snow) was really disappointing. i had never handled a bjd before, so i wasn't expecting the scale to be what it was (i checked and checked her measurements over and over and kept trying to convince myself she wasn't too large) but as soon as i pulled her out of the box i felt deflated. (what's worse i had to feign excitement as i had family around that i didn't want to think badly of me for spending so much money on something i didn't end up liking)
i kept her out for awhile to try and like her, but i ended up selling her and buying a different doll (dz eugenia) that i absolutely adore now.

 

My most disappointing doll was probably my first doll! I ordered a Dream of Doll Shall. I'd not really played with SDs much because I was very young when I went to my first doll meet and no one wanted me to touch their dolls (understandably) so I didn't have much of a concept of what the size was really like. As a result, I got my first doll and I was so excited but... She just never really felt like a doll to me.

I spent years and years not understanding why I didn't want to play with her before I realized it was the size! On top of that, she has an older very generic spacey expression, which wasn't really my style as the years went on. It made it hard for me to bond with her; but in the end she found a great home and I found a love of MSDs.

 

@Sianserais you had a Souldoll Robb?! I have one myself and I absolutely love him but he's the only one I ever see anywhere. I sometimes wonder how many of them actually exist...I suspect it's not many.

I guess my Robb was a little bit of a disappointment at first, but it was just how he was painted. I got mine with the company faceup, and I will say that tho I never considered selling him, I was a bit at odds with him until I had him repainted. I had thought the company faceup was going to be perfect for his character, and then it...wasn't. He spent a lot of time in his box, until he got that new faceup and some small iris eyes. Those changes were huge. Suddenly everything I thought I'd seen in the sculpt when I ordered him was brought to life. I'm so happy I have him in my collection

The main doll that comes to mind for me on this topic, though, is Impldoll Azalea. Now she is the only doll I have ever gotten who I'd call a flat-out disappointment as soon as I opened the box. From the minute I took her out, she was just not right. My biggest problem with her was that her head was ridiculously small on the original Idol body...her neck was super long and her boobs looked bigger than her head! I also found that in person, I didn't like the lower portion of her face at all...she looked weak-chinned and had a sort of droopy mouth. That area of her face just did not have strong enough features to look right with her very strong nose. And if all of that wasn't enough, I was disappointed with her skin tone-- I'd ordered realskin, expecting it to have a more pigmented color/be less pale, and it just looked like a very yellow normal.

Over the years I tried dyeing her (fail!), spray-painting her (the color was a beautiful brown, but it didn't fix the awful head/body proportions, so also a fail), modding the body to have less of a long neck and smaller bust (a slight improvement, but ultimately not enough), and then the body ended up sitting in pieces in a box and I tinkered around with modding the head and considered getting rid of it when I wasn't forgetting I owned it...

until 5 years after I got it, when I gave my Supia Muriel hybrid another body and was going to sell the super yellowed DF-A body I'd bought her on, and then remembered I had that old Azalea head and thought, while I'm listing stuff for sale might as well get rid of that too...and then just randomly stuck the two together and realized the colors matched and that Azalea didn't look so bad on a body that wasn't ENORMOUS. I handed her over to my faceup artist and literally just asked, "please just try and make her pretty" with the idea that either she'd look nicer for sale pics, or I'd like her and end up with a new doll out of scrap parts I was planning on getting rid of. Turned out to be the latter option! I'm actually really glad I never got rid of her; she's lovely now even if it did take 5 years to click with her.

 

I was a little wary of my Dollfie Icon when I first pulled her out...but I think it was mostly the stress of worrying if she was gonna be worth all the money I spent on her (I usually only get dolls on layaway) plus seeing if she would work for this character I was having trouble deciding on a shell for. Once i got over my initial reaction she grew on me pretty damn quickly.

I think I have more of a problem of being disappointed with myself for spending so much money on a doll while I'm waiting for them to arrive then when they get here*. Although I do have a Dream Valley head on order that might end up being my first doll I sell, just because I have better ideas for that character now.

(*For example: currently beating myself up for splurging on a big, fully painted Nympheas Brioche that's still on layaway right now, thinking "why didn't I get the smaller size" or "am I even sure I want him anymore?", but once I finally get him I'm probably going to adore him.)

 

He's STILL my favorite doll that someone else owns. I'm glad he grew on you, because I love him!




I've had the experience, too, with an Iplehouse Elin. I was so excited for her- custom faceup, got special eyes and wig ready for her to be my character and she was so beautiful when she arrived.

but she didn't feel like she was mine, no matter what outfit or style. I waited a long while before I sold her because I kept hoping and hoping that she would click, but it never happened.

tbh, I hadn't even thought that the whole "I didn't bond with my doll" feeling was even real until it happened to me.

 

Oh yes I did. I bought a Souldoll vito Lester in ws. It was back in my college days so he was really expensive. I bought him this special gothic outfit and I was so in love. Even when I opened the box, he was amazing.
However he did not fit between my other dolls (big heads and eyes). He was way to realistic and too white at the same time. Eventually I traded him.

 

I think one of the fastest times I decided to flip a doll was Granado Gabe. He was the wrong proportions to the doll I wanted as his boyfriend and the sculpt didn't set my heart on fire enough to use him for something else. And I later fell out of love with the character that doll was meant to be so I guess it wasn't in the cards...

Resinsoul's 1/3 body also incited a "I have made a mistake" mood. I kind of jumped on it because it was in-stock but it was like not a good fit for my doll at all and I should have waited for the body I did get. I am glad DDE let me return it for store credit since "I am dumb" is not really the best excuse to return a doll...

 

Not a full doll, just a body. The Dollzone B45-017 looks great and the newer joints have grooved locking mechanisms, but I found that they limited the posing rather than adding to it. The legs are oddly proportioned so they don't fold up neatly like the previous MSD DZ bodies.

 

My biggest disappoinment was my Soom Noellia. I missed the first 20 of the "Coffee Black" resin color, and when the company raised the total number to 50 I ordered one. She was the most expensive doll I'd ever bought at that point. When I got her, the color that looked like brown-black (like coffee) in sales pictures was in fact the color of grape juice. And the company hadn't sent her LE wig. I couldn't figure out how to contact them about the missing wig, but two weeks later it showed up. Her wig helped me like her more. Two years later, and I realized that her eyes always looked dark because the eyes she was wearing were too big. I got her a set of Oscar Doll eyes that look much nicer than the over sized ones she was wearing before. In the first few weeks I though I might sell her, but I'm pretty happy with her now.

 

@thedarkeststar13 - Yes, and I'm surprised he wasn't more popular, because I honestly think they did a nice job on the sculpt. I also ended up not liking the default faceup that much, but it was the proportions that were the larger issue for me. In comparison to my IH dolls, he just didn't work for the character.

 

My Resinsoul Ya. I call her my problem child. I like her face sculpt less in person than the pictures I had seen of her or even my own pictures I’ve taken. Something about her head shape is just... off, for me. She also is the absolute worst poser I’ve ever encountered. I almost wished I could send her back after handling her for just a few minutes. I’ve been trying to make her work since the beginning of May, when I bought her, but it’s just not happening. A friend on Instagram expressed interest in her, though, so she may be going to live with her at the beginning of next month. Hopefully where she’ll be much more appreciated.

 

I have had several but they are off topic. I can say that looking at photos of these dolls I loved them, and still do when I see photos of them, but in person I just wasn't feeling it at all

 

I think my biggest disappointment would be the Simply Meant to Be Dohwee I preordered last November. Due to covid I ended up waiting for him for about eight months, rather than three like everyone had planned, and when he got here I think I had built him up to be much more than he is. I didn't like his posing, I even restrung him and he still didn't quite live up to the posing expectation I'd had. I also don't really like the ... feel of his resin? I don't know if that sounds weird, but he feels different in quality to say, my Loongsoul girl and my Unidoll tiny. There's a noticeable light-ness that doesn't feel right for his size.

I'm holding out to see if I fall back in love with him, though. He's been sitting in his box waiting for the humidity in Florida to go down so I can do his faceup. I hope it works out with him, because he's perfect for the character!