Things that annoy you... *Rant Thread*

BJD Confessions. I think its catty and immature. All anyone comments on how they don't like ____________'s doll, and somehow because it is the internet and its anon that it's okay. Well it's not okay to hurt another person's feelings. When is it ever okay to trash someone else? If you don't have the balls to type it out with your name attached, then keep it in your own brain.

This is an artistic hobby, you don't have to like everyone's art. But you should have the courtesy like your mama taught you to keep your trap shut and your fingers still. Sorry for the rant but it's not right to hurt people. It should be taken down and thrown out in the recycle bin for good!

 

While we're at it, some women over the age of 25 would be nice too. Or even under the age of 25 but not looking like they have the sheltered life experience of a 5-year-old. I keep looking to shell some female characters and it's just doe-eyed, tiny mouth city. And if it's not doe-eyes, it sexay vixxxxxen. I actually like doe eyes and sexxxxy too, they're fine in moderation, but the "delicate innocent flower"/sex kitten needs to end some time.

 

Companies not having pictures of the blank heads. I tend to do character "tribute" dolls and I'm super picky about the sculpts. Faceups can really change the appearance of the doll, and a sculpt that looks like it might work from the face-upped picture often turns out to be not right at all once I see the blank face. I'd love companies to have 3 sets of pictures: one face on, two profiles (left and right), and then two 3/4 views (halfway between face on and profile, on each side).

I wish I could find more "soft masculine" sculpts. I mean, there's quite a few out there that are all jaws and dimpled chins and frown lines, but when you're looking for soft to neutral features but with a more masculine jawline or a slightly thicker nose or thinner lips (for examples), there's not a whole lot out there. It's either "almost feminine" or "rugged".

and last, my failures at budgeting to save up for more dolls. Totally my fault, but it's still annoying.

 

Totally d'accord with the lack of sculpts representing people of colour. But I respectfully beg to differ concerning all else: I see people with Caucasian facial structures and for instance black skin everyday in the city, and likewise people with more African looking facial structures and light skin. Partly it's because people just mix up any way love leads them (and yay for that), partly it's because there are more looks on this planet than just Caucasian and African. Someone from India, f.i., can look very Caucasian in bone structure and have any darker colour under the sun. So I feel all these sculpt and colour combinations have their place here, you know?

And by the way, Mattel had an exclusively African head mold for their first 9 years of producing black barbies. After that they used different ethnic molds and sometimes even their Caucasian mold

As for the dreadlocks on white people and dolls, of course I respect your opinion. Just, where and by whom is it "rightfully considered cultural appropriation"? Maybe I do not get the concept because I'm European, but I really would like to understand this better. Are Caucasian dolls with nose piercings, harem trousers, raffia sandals or bindi culturally appropriating, too? And what about Caucasian or African folks owning Asian BJDs and giving them Japanese names? How do you tell where it starts and where it ends? All through the long history of humankind people have been culturally influencing each other, it is such an integral part of being human. I thought I'd bring this up because this cultural cross-influencing is such an important and inspiring part of the BJD hobby to me and I really would not want to be part of any community where that would be considered immoral.

 

I'm afraid I can't quite agree on this issue. Many many many cultures throughout history, including one or two white ones, have worn locked hair. Even the religious Nazarite locks of the Rastafari movement are perfectly acceptable for white Rastafarians to wear in real life, so I don't see how such a blanket rejection makes sense?

 

Super sexualized dolls that look like kids really freak me out. Like if a doll has an obvious child face but then has huge boobs and a skimpy sexy outfit....... It just completely rubs me the wrong way.

 

When dealers only have white or normal skin dolls in stock when the company makes a wide variety of colors.

When I go through different types of "dolly highs." For example, I'll get all caught up in wanting another MSD doll when I've barely spent enough time and energy on my current one and my main priority is suppose to be my tinies. Or I'll want to buy another doll, when I also need to get more clothes, wigs, and eyes for my current crew. Or I'll suddenly fall in love with a new company and want to buy a new doll from them immediately.

 

I'm sorry but light skinned people having dreadlocks is not in ANY WAY cultural appropriation, every race and culture throughout history has had dreadlocks cause that's what happened to people with curly hair (remember, they didn't have the proper hair care we do now). Actually in the Nordic countries they called dreadlocks 'fairy tangles', it came from the belief that fairies would tie your hair up in knots while you slept, while it might not look GOOD on some people (honestly, like any hair style, you need the right face shape for it to work) that doesn't make it cultural appropriation.

 

I think it's good to remember here that dolls are characters, not people. If I saw a white person in today's American society walking around with dreadlocks, I would probably think cultural appropriation. But if you have a character that's from one of those ancient cultures where white people wore dreadlocks, then that's just historical accuracy.

For example, I have a doll and character from the Edo period of Japan, and he wears traditional Japanese clothing and uses traditional props from that period. If someone would scream cultural appropriation at me, I'd be pretty upset, because I'm going for historical accuracy and to make my character as respectful and true to life as possible.

Character making and dolls are separate from real life. Now, if you see a doll that's apparently Caucasian and from modern times that has dreads, then maybe you can get up in arms about that and have a legitimate reason to. But don't lump all characters under an umbrella when someone might just be going for historical accuracy or finding an appropriate hairstyle for a fantasy character.

 

Sometimes, and I know it probably would get tedious for owners, when almost every part of the image is "credited" except the part you wonder about... say, the outfit is from Place and the sculpt is This from That, and they made the wig... but the eyes are unlisted. So then you wonder if you should just ask, or not.

 

Absolutely. If you are interested in where they got them, ask. Sometimes people just get tired of typing. Or they have forgotten lol.

 

@SamaraWaits I sometimes worry about offending, or seeming like I'm trying to copy. But sometimes those eyes look so gorgeous, and I want to know the company, because I'm having a hard time finding ones I like myself. Thank you though, maybe I'll have more courage. lol

 

All you can do is try. If they get offended and you are being polite, that's on them. I see people ask things all the time. Most frequently its the sculpt if someone shares a pic. Most people love their creation and are happy to share the info. As for copying, they say that's the sincerest form of flattery :P. I wouldn't worry about that too much unless you are in a tight community and someone cries about it. I think as long as you are bring polite, most people will be happy to answer. Give it a shot. If you get bad responses, more than 3 times from different people, then maybe there is something going on, but even just one person having a bad response isn't a reason to give up .

 

While allot of your points are valid, and certainly justified, it still does not make EVERY light colored doll wearing dreads cultural appropriation. You are definitely entitled to your opinion but when you make a blanket statement of "White people wearing dreads is rightfully considered cultural appropriation" you are stating your opinion as fact and many people (as well as doll owners) would be rightfully upset. Like Kiyoshi Senshi said some doll owners might be making dolls that are historically accurate, like if someone made a Celtic warrior doll and wanted it to have dreads cause allot of them did back then it would not make it cultural appropriation, nor would someone who has a fantasy or alien doll that was pale skinned and had dreads. While dreads may not be as relevant today as they were hundreds of years ago it still doesn't make them any less a part of someone's history, and really, judging someone based on the color of their skin is still bad no matter what their race.

I know you were listing what annoyed you but you simply could have said that you found dreads on white dolls to be cringy or that it seemed like cultural appropriation TO YOU, but you made it out as if your opinion was fact (which is not a good way to state things really). I also doubt it has much to do with 'white fragility', there are POC that own white dolls too, but perhaps more to do with people who are against cultural appropriation being accused of such simply because they have a doll that has dreads and happens to be light skinned (like I said before, fantasy and alien dolls certainly would NOT be cultural appropriation since their usually from made-up worlds separate of our own).

I do like that you're against cultural appropriation but you shouldn't always jump to that conclusion with-out knowing the story behind things, I know I would be upset of someone said I was culturally appropriating Asians because my doll Ogden was wearing a kimono without actually being Japanese. Since his character is based-off a man who lives very far in the future one Earth where all Human races and culture no longer exists (lost over time/due to wars) but he finds-out that the part of Earth where he lives used to be part of Japan and since he was born there he wants to honor the ancient Humans that lived there by wearing their traditional garb.

 

What is "cultural appropriation" anyway, and what is wrong about it?

The other day I saw a Japanese man wearing Nikes and Levis eating at McDonalds. I told him off, his behavior was totally offensive to me as a Westerner. He should have been wearing kimono and geta and eating sushi, not imitating an American.

Ok, that obviously didn't happen, so why should a white person (or doll!) cop flack for wearing a kimono?

Or is "cultural appropriation" only bad if white people do it?

 

Well, as it's been pointed out - then state your opinion as an OPINION, not as a FACT. If I want to honour my ancestors, the Celts (yes, my hometown actually used to be a Celtic settlement, some 1,000 years ago), by wearing my hair the way they did, I'll do it.

 

Okay, lemme start by saying this is very rare and seems to be less frequent than it was 8+ years ago when I first started the hobby, but something that annoys me... When people are just fine having gay (LBGT+) characters/dolls, but supporting and just not being crappy to actual gay people is apparently some kind of hardship...? Back when I first started the hobby, gay people were even less accepted than they are now, and having crazy rainbow sparkly gay boys was some kind of trend, but those same people sometimes (only sometimes, mostly rarely) weren't the best to actual gay people. I'm not sure if they were just uneducated or thought all gay people should be conventionally attractive and dress in nothing but rainbows, but... I dunno. As a gay person, it was kind of a kick in the teeth.

Like I said, these days there are much better representations of gay people not only in the doll world, but in general society, so that's nice. It's still a little weird when a straight person has a gay character that seems really...I dunno, like a caricature, but I guess there are actual people who are like caricatures too, so I can't really complain.

Society is weird. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I try to let the crappy people pass me by.

Aaaaaand that's the only mini rant about societal issues I will ever put online, heh.

 

Ah I agree with this, I already have lots of art supplies but getting all the correct sealants/removers is a pain! Funnie, have you looked for Testor's Dullcote in craft stores? I haven't used mine yet so can't say what it's like, but I found some in the model train section and according to a thread here on DoA it's resin-safe.

 

Tumblr confession blogs annoy me. Can't find cute pictures of dolls because I have to scroll through hundreds of posts that are, frankly, absolutely irritating (use flickr for pictures, it's better).

Something else that bother me is the discrepancy between head and body prices. I have two dollfie dream heads with no bodies because I haven't accumulated the cash for 'em yet. T^T I''m working on it, darn it!

And, honestly, saying this might bite me, but I kind of hate the self-congratulatory attitudes a lot of BJD owners have about their dolls, and where they came from, how much they spent, and how much better they are than everyone else's. You can take pictures of your dolls with their little note card signs every year, I'm not gonna suddenly kiss your feet & revere you. It's dumb, too, because I'm never going to interact with these people, but it's like the confession blogs. I have to scroll through so many of them that it gets on my nerves.

 

Whoops, posting again because @amarantinenoir reminded me that I'm veeeeery annoyed by almost (note the almost) the entire doll community on Tumblr. I used to have a doll blog, but I pretty much abandoned it because 80% if not more of the doll stuff on Tumblr is either nasty confessions that I don't care about or people fighting about recasts. (I think recasts are deplorable, but after 50,000 of the exact same post saying why they suck... You get tired of it when you just want pictures of dolls. Plus, some people on Tumblr, especially when they can be anonymous, are way way waaaaay too mean. It's ridiculous.) There are some lovely doll people on Tumblr, and thankfully, most of them have an account here too, so I just find them here! Much better.