Things that annoy you... *Rant Thread*

wait times omg. I'm impatient, I like instant gratification. I love the creative aspect of bjds but I do NOT have the temperament for the wait times lol. I get to about week 3 and I start getting antsy. I can just about handle a month wait, but a 6 month wait? I'd be chewing the walls. And it kinda ruins some of the excitment if you wait too long because it just turns to frustration and I find kinda tarnishes things a little.

Customs, they're thieves as far as i'm concerned. Ransom holding scumbag thieves. Gah. I hate them and their stupid "handling fee", it's not a handling fee, it's a ransom and there's zero justification for it. No way does it take 8-12 pounds worth of work (that's an hour's pay at least) to rubber stamp one parcel. They charge it because they CAN and it makes me angry. I'm fine paying customs and VAT, it's the handling fee that makes me see red.

Elitism. It's not nearly as snobbish as it was when I first looked at bjds waaaay back when, but there are still a few elitist jerks who love to pee all over other people's excitement with their "oh, that's such a cheap sculpt" nonsense. Thankfully they're a small group of jerks who mostly hang out over on tumblr with their stupid confessions blogs. *eyeroll* they're pathetic, but they irritate me because there's just no reason for rudeness in this hobby or to judge others because they like less expensive brands you know? I roll my eyes every time I see yet another "ew resinsoul/mirodoll" rant from someone on tumblr. It's just tedious and stupid.

The VIOLENT hate for recasts. I get it, recasts are terrible things, but oh my goodness some people go overboard talking about smashing dolls, hurting those who unwittingly buy them. I mean it's scary, I find that seriously offputting when i see someone talking about destroying dolls (it won't change anything, keep the hammer at home cripes) and hear stories of actual death threats. Like... duuudes, chill. I know it's a huge problem, but getting violent and destructive about it isn't helpful and it just kinda... scary. I saw a thread elsewhere a while back that was really going overboard with the destructive smashy stabbiness and I was like... eep. Some people are a bit uh.. psycho.
There's being passionate, and there's being dangerously unstable and frighteningly aggressive. Reign it in. Like seriously, getting hammer happy and threatening people isn't helping your case, just makes you look crazy and scary.
(I was involved in a discussion with a very heartbroken person at one point who's dear friend had bought them a doll that turned out to be a recast. the friend's heart was in the right place but now there was the dilemma, what to do with the gift. Someone was yelling about smashing it up and I was like "woaaah. That's a little OTT don't you think?" I mean yeesh. Also, resin dust in the lungs totally ain't worth it lol. )

The cost. I know why they're so expensive and I am cool with that but oh my goodness it still hurts. I'm really bad at spending substantial sums on myself, so every bjd purchase comes with a nice big pile of guilt and self doubt, which I could really do without. But if they were cheaper i'd have so many more and they probably wouldn't be as special. So... swings and roundabouts right? Still, I do wish they were just a teensy bit cheaper so I didn't have to cry every time I bought one.

The Dolfie standard. - Okay by this I mean the old "yosd are children, msd are teens, sd are adults" thing. With the market being as big as it is now, there's no real reason for this standard to still be followed. Different people want different things from their dolls and have less space or some other reason why SD is just not going to work for them. But they still want adult sculpts. WHY have more companies not started to produce properly mature minis and yosd sized dolls? There's a market there, one that's woefully untapped. And adding to this, the frustration when you ask for "mature minis" and get linked to dolls with faces like 15 year olds. FIFTEEN IS NOT MATURE! argh. I don't want puppy fat, i want a grown MAN's face, not a cute teen boy. Nothing against cute teen boys but my ocs are like 30, it's not gonna work.
Likewise, maaan why aren't there more dolls in the 50-55cm range? 60+ is HUGE and for me being in the UK, space is a serious issue with the doll collection (our houses are absolutely tiny like omg guys, english houses are itty bitty) I'd love to see more dolls in the 50+ range to be adults to the 42-47cm msd teenagers you know? I think that'd look about right to have the 14-15 year olds at 40odd and the adults over 50. the height difference between msd and sd seems a little too much for me unless the msd doll is like 12. With more and more companies making their msd dolls look like older teens, I can't help but feel like we need some short sds to go with em that aren't towering above.
Also I love height variation and just want to see more of it.



This was a long list of gripes hahaha. Sorry.

 

LOL. I'm quite new to bjd hobby. I didn't know there are so many gripes.
I'm waiting for my first dolls (I went crazy and ordered 4 at the same time with different company)
The wait time is very annoying though. I have never had to wait for something to be made, so this is quite new to me.
But since everybody above still here, I assume there are many good parts of the hobby to keep you hanging on. ^_^

 

One of my biggest issues is that everything is sold in USD and as a canadian the conversion rate is TERRIBLE so it makes it even more expensive and that much harder for anyone outside the US with a lower dollar. Customs are also awful as well.

 

DollMage Your work is beautiful! Yes, people can be cheap---I don't understand the insulting though--why do people do that? I wouldn't want to make anything for someone who started with an insult or was determined to dicker down the price..

You're competing with items made in a different economy too and that has some effect on pricing unfortunately. Also, the non-sewers have no idea how long it takes to design, fit and sew a detailed tailored garment. It takes years of experience to be able to do that.

 

In summary:

- Trying to get MSC. It's ridiculous how hard it is to get this stuff within Australia.
- Customs. Admittedly this has only occurred once but if I have to pay AUD$400 to get a doll released again I WILL GO INSANE.
- The elitism is something I find incredibly rude. It has never happened to me but it's just not a nice thing to do when someone loves their doll and you try and talk down on the company.
- The exchange rate makes me cry. Why must everything be in USD
- The only other thing that really bugs me is when I see people complain about 'defects' that are not considered as such by the company. Seamlines on tan skin or bubbles in clear resin for example, it's just something unavoidable the occurs during the casting process.

 

I surprisingly don't share some of the peeves most people do. I don't mind wait times (they give me time to make and buy stuff for the doll and get excited) or the high cost (saving up for something and finally getting it is a super rewarding experience for me). Really my biggest qualm with the hobby (not companies or specific people or anything) is the slight sketchiness of the secondhand market. I know it can't be helped, and DoA does a great job policing that kind of thing, but I don't like the lingering fear that I might not get what I pay for when ordering secondhand. And of course, when the doll you want was limited, you don't really have a choice. Thankfully, I haven't had a bad secondhand experience yet, so hopefully it never happens! (Thank goodness Paypal claims exist.)

 

I think the drama is probably the biggest thing for me :< It seems like such a nice hobby. I mean they're dolls and the drama is so....ridiculous

 

I definitely will agree with wait times. The first two dolls I purchased were both in stock and I have bought a few more in-stock dolls. Here in the marketplace I have purchased 5 dolls - four of them started out on layaway but I got too impatient so I paid them off early. The last one I bought, I paid in full!
The cost of the hobby is hard on me also as I am on a limited income.
I would love to go to a actual store too. Geographically I am not too far from Mint on Card but the odds of me getting there are slim.
Limited space is an issue - I wish I had a large house to hold all the dolls and extras I want but sadly I only have a one bedroom apartment - oh well!

 

(This is exactly why I stick to DoA instead of Tumblr! I had no idea there was "doll drama" until I looked stuff up on Tumblr, and needless to say, I stay the heck away from there now. The drama is just so childish and unnecessary!)

 

I think for me it's coupling two things together. The price, plus dolls/outfits with limited availability.
There are a couple limited dolls that I love, but they've come out at pretty inopportune times, and even the layaway price would've been more than I had available to put down at the time. So then you miss them... And it's pretty frustrating. That's really my only gripe, though.

 

^All of this.
I'll add the whole "You're copying me!" thing. It makes sense in about 23% of cases but almost every time it's something that has already existed in human size and as soon as it becomes doll sized the person who resized it thinks they own it. I really hate seeing the bullying and witch-hunting that come from this. Unless someone has literally attempted to copy every single aspect of your doll (Sculpt, faceup, mods, tattoos, wig, accessories, character, the character's name, clothes, and whatever else your doll has) then that person is not copying you. Even if they do draw inspiration from you, (like a name or tattoo or whatever) you don't own it and they aren't copying you. Unless you have trade marked whatever the aspect or outfit or name of whatever of your doll, you don't own it and don't have the right to say that someone is copying you. I'm so glad that almost all of that drama is on Tumblr and I can just stay away from there xD

 

The aspect of the hobby that I dislike is custom fees, as mentioned in this thread already. A lot of the time, the fees are so high that I could finish my doll for it.

The drama in the hobby is bad too, but since I don't engage in it, I don't have to worry about it.

 

RIGHT!!! It's just miles and miles of people shit talking everyone else, I mean you do you but I think it's kind of unnecessary for such a seemingly harmless hobby. I know there's always a couple bad apples in everything but jeez, chill out and let people do what they want, it's their dolls anyway.

 

Basically my only pet peeve is people being disrespectful towards the artists who sculpt the dolls. Everything else that bothers me - not doing research, unreasonable expectations, underselling and all the way up to recasting - comes from a lack of respect for the people who actually create the dolls we collect and a lack of understanding of what actually goes into creating them. I don't mean that people shouldn't expect to get their money's worth... but doll companies are small and made up of humans. I think a lot of collectors forget that.

 

Two things:

-The current exchange rate: Mostly because it's bad right now and it makes it twice as hard to be able to save up for dolls and items. I don't mind the wait times nor getting small little defects in the dolls(they can always be fixed.) The money thing that's the real hurdle for me.
-Tumbler: It's the internet's cess-pool of drama and hate-mongering. Need I say more?

 

Oh god the exchange rate. don't even...

re the drama, there's drama in ALL doll communities. Like.. it's crazy. You'd think children's playthings (like playline dolls) would not have drama but oooooh hoho. I found the "adult" groups on facebook to be particularly bad, the amount of immaturity and childish pettiness. Like oh yeah, you guys are soooo adult. *eyeroll*
I've seen drama in mh groups, in barbie groups, in sindy groups.. like across the board. Bored people with nothing better to do than be a jerk online. *sigh* it's a bummer, and often I find the community is something that can make or break a hobby for me.
I left the Sindy community because I found it really horribly cliquey and sort of... an old girl's club full of a lot of nastiness and gossip and spite. Some nice people there, but overshadowed by the nasty catty ones.
On the flipside, the living dead doll people are really really nice. Horror fans often are weirdly lol. I think it helps it's a very small community. Teeny tiny communities can better police and just remove toxic individuals.
But man, a negative community makes it hard for me to want to be involved in general because for me, the community is such a HUGE part of the collecting. I love sharing the excitement and talking to others and looking at their photos and stories and sharing in their joys and sorrows. Some people are solitary collectors, but i'm a very social one, I NEED a community or I start to lose interest.

 

I am also new to the hobby and like many other the prices are a huge problem for me. As a student I don't have access to a lot of money and it is hard to get into the hobby without any money.
Also the cost for the essentials if you are doing a face up. Things like Mr.Super Clear or other sealants are really hard to get here in Europe and it is just frustrating to me when I have got a doll lying around and I can't give her a face because I ran out of sealant and don't have any money to buy a new can.

 

Used to be wait times, but waiting almost a full year for one has kind of made everything seem reasonable in comparison, haha.

Mostly my biggest frustration is with myself; I’m a huge impulse buyer and it doesn’t do me much good sometimes. There’s definitely been a few times when I’ve wound up looking at a doll going “daaaangit, now why the heck did I buy that?” And then having to sell it, which I… really don’t like doing. Selling is really mentally exhausting to me; I worry too much about everything that could go wrong. Fortunately everybody I’ve sold to has been very nice.

Plus, I have pretty specific tastes aesthetically, which doesn’t seem to match the current love for flowers and fluff and pastel – I like that, but I own all boys and odd sizes and even the ones who would wear that sort of thing couldn’t fit it anyway (I’m looking at you and your noodle limbs, Rosette!). Just finding basics is an adventure sometimes.

 

Can you get Purity seal? I admit, I have a can of msc on my desk next to me because I bought 2 cans ages ago and misplaced this one. but I hate how strong it smells. and how hard it is to find. Mine came on the slow boat from china to the uk. And it was expensive. I can't say i've noticed any real difference in how it behaves vs citadel purity seal so i'm gonna just stick with games workshop I think.


Oh oh I thought of a new one! (why am I in this hobby when i'm so grumpy? lol), no blank head images... or images of the head side on. Omg I hate that. I emailed Souldoll the other day asking them if they had a blank head image for one sculpt and they were all "uh.. no?" why? Why don't you have a blank head image? come on guys, sort it out.
I kinda need a blank face image to plan a doll and see if the sculpt is right, and side on to see what the nose and lips look like. So often you see a face and think "ooo perfect" but then you see it side on and the nose is all wrong or the lips are wierd and arghh. Or the faceup makes it look right because the lighting and careful contouring has hidden sculpt details (souldoll's guilty of this with their vito boy Rail. The images he looks lovely because the faceup hides the strange massive eyebags he has on his blank sculpt. And the difference between faceupped doll and blank doll is really striking, much more than any i've seen.)

 

For me, it's elitism... There's often a sense among BJD collectors that non-resin BJDs are as good or that other doll collections are lesser. I think BJDs are incredibly beautiful, but I really would prefer the community be more open to all types of dolls in general. Some people are, but a lot of people are really snooty about their BJD collections and their communities.