The urge to "rescue" a doll

I remember you and your dolls! This was close to when I first opened commissions. I was (and still am) very grateful for your business! It's awesome to know what became of her all these years later, and to have been part of her journey.

 

Didn't have this before, but I got a shot of it when I found myself on the Japanese second-hand market yesterday. Mandarake had this MSD which a big "JUNK" label on her and she just... wasn't junk? Like, yeah, she looked really dirty and there were scratches on her faceup but that was about it for as far as I could see. Probably a good thing I don't have much expendable income right now because dang, I was so ready to welcome this girl with a three-stage bath and a new face :C

 

I used to "rescue" off-topic dolls, but not bjds. As someone stated earlier, you rapidly accumulate quantity and not quality (and a large to-do list). I don't recommend this method of collecting - or maybe just one rescue-project bjd at a time. Now I have a LOT of O.T. dolls that will probably go straight to charity.
Sigh...well, it was fun at the time!

 

@Answer42 - yes the one at a time rule helps.

 

I was actually looking for a damaged doll recently because I wanted to try some heavy modding on it! I bought a DC Kid-07 that I just love the aesthetics of, but couldn't bring myself to mod it because it was just too prestine! I didn't end up finding one for the character, but I don't think I would buy a damaged doll with hopes of rescuing it ^^

 

I occasionally have a problem with wanting to rescue a doll.

The doll might not necessarily be damaged, just old. If I see the price dropping and dropping because the owner can't get rid of it, I begin to feel a little sad for both the doll and the owner. I once bought a doll so the owner wouldn't drop the price any lower, because I felt sad for the doll.

Yep, I'm a crazy person.

 

I've felt that need too. There was this lovely MSD girl doll in the second-hand market. The price was astonishing low just because she wasn't posing great and had yellowed and was a little dirty. I ended up resisting it and she eventually disappeared. I'm not sure what I would've done with her if I had bought her, and I don't know where she'll be right now but I hope she arrived at a loving home because I really felt sad about her.

 

There are other types of dolls I can rescue, restore, and repair but I’m not as experienced with bjd yet so I don’t have that urge. For some people it has to do with sustainability and not having damaged dolls go to landfills. Then others like me rescue dolls that are just no longer available to buy new.

 

The urge is very strong for me with this one - I love a restauration project, I love the...um... price that comes with a fixer-upper and I'm always happy if there is less of a long wait to get a doll + knowing how hard selling second hand is right now, I'll gladly help a person out! I'm also inclined to try out more things on a rescue doll rather than a new one so it's kind of double the fun for me.

 

Oh, this is a huge issue for me. It's led to a lot of impulse purchases- dolls I don't really want but feel bad for. I've really had to work on reining myself in and sticking to a set WTB list, regardless of how pitiful and cheap a doll may be. Because even if I don't spend a ton of money on it, I still may not bond as well once it's fixed up.

Repairing and selling on could be a way to scratch the itch without taking up too much money and space?

 

I just rescued a doll, and her sad face and bad pictures just called out to me. She was dirt cheap (especially for a bjd, think playline doll price, but she's a Bobobie so no legitimacy worries) because she was missing her headcap. After a thorough bath and a crude apoxie sculpt headcap, she's beginning to shape up. I just couldn't leave her behind.

 

I also feel the urge to buy dolls to fix them up! For me it’s usually a combination of the price and knowing what I could do with it. I got a bunch of rescue projects all at once from someone who had a terrible ex mess up a bunch of bodies that she’d had to leave at his place. I’m almost done repairs on the last one, but the other two were both dyed lovely colours to hide staining, and fixed fairly extensively to hide milliput for a couple cracks. It was the only way I’d ever afford to own a fifth motif body, or an amadiz angels body, so I was thrilled by it.

Now I’m always scanning for other dolls that need fixing up even though I have two very big unfinished mods sitting on my counter, waiting for me to finish them.