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Too many? (Dolls in drag, / relationships, etc)

Aug 16, 2008

    1. But Zag, gay =/= crossdressing. Homosexual coupling and crossdressing are fairly different things.
       
    2. Of course not - but this is a more general statement indicating that if the thread doesn't become a "debate" it will be merged with one of the several other threads that deal with homosexual dolls, cross-dressing, goth, etc.. Sorry if that was worded confusingly. Carry on.
       
    3. definitely agreeing with taco :thumbup

      & it shouldnt matter who-all is doing what with their dollfies, just do with them like you want to.

      XD its funny, girls wear guy clothing all the time (IRL), but everyone has a fit when guys dress in "girl" things
       
    4. Uh, okay. So going back to fads and phases...there are some things that fall out of fad fairly quickly--going back to what Brightfires said, last year I've definitely seen a good share of girl-to-boy mods, and every other person with a girly boy wants one of those boob-sanded bodies. Now I don't nearly see as many of them. I guess it's because over the year there are more companies producing slender bodies and the need or want to mod a girl body wanes out. I want to say that the new fad seems to be either decora or steampunk, and especially steampunk which is also an ongoing trend in real-life, so of course that would also be reflected on the dolls.

      In terms of appearances we can call them "fads and phases". Though when it comes to race and sexuality, I don't think you'll ever get less of those, nor can they be considered "overdone".
       
    5. I think everyone should do as they please with their dolls. If I am a little tired of specific dolls or specific situations with dolls, there are plenty of other things here to hold my interest. I've been on the forum since early 2004, but there are many, many people who are new to all this and new members coming in every day, so the things that I find boring or overdone may still be new and exciting to someone else. I think the purpose of the forum isn't really to contest to see who can come up with the newest and most original ideas (although it seems that way at times), but a place to share photos, stories, and thoughts about these fantastic dolls. With thousands of members, it's inevitable that many people will have the same idea or be inspired by something they saw here and imitate it in their own way. Who cares, anyway?
       
    6. I can definately see how fads play a big role. Everyone's probably noticed the sudden boom in the mermaid dolls (Puki, Pipos, Soom Vega monthly...) whether it is just the costume or a new sculpt. Granted mermaids are not new by any means, it seems in the past year, they've become more popular in terms of BJDs. I love seeing new ways to do mermaids and the varying styles of tails, but I've noticed some people saying that they are tired of them.

      When it comes to fashion for dolls, I'm guilty of getting into the trends. I follow Korean and Chinese fashion closely and I like my dolls to wear the current trends. I even started an LJ community about fashion trends for dolls! I'd rather have my dolls be trendy than be trendy myself because it's cheaper for me to make their clothes than go out and buy something in style for me, not to mention alot of the looks don't look good on me.
       
    7. I think there are definitely fads in the BJD world. Companies are probably the biggest offenders. But who can blame them? They go for the fad because that's what the majority of the people want. And as companies, they're out there to sell their products to the people. But I don't think fads are necessarily bad. They start when one person sees something on someone else's doll and decides that they like it too. No harm done :'D

      I guess you could say I'm following the fads, since my boy's clothes will be pretty punk, but that's not the reason I like those clothes. I've never really been influenced by fashion trends, but I find myself just naturally leaning towards that stuff. On here and in real life~
       
    8. I personally don't feel things like wanting gay dolls, or dolls that dress in steampunk is a fad at all. How can you tell someone's motivation for wanting to make their doll the way they are, just by a few photos or a quick backstory? I don't quite see why it should be called a fad if someone sees something new or different to them, ends up liking it, and wanting to try it out for themselves? They like it, right? I just don't think it makes any sense to spend so much time and money on creating something you aren't even that interested in, just because everyone else is doing it and you think it'll make you look cool. In the end, pretty much nothing about these dolls are cheap, so the way I see it, if someone is putting forth that effort to make their doll look or act a certain way, it's because they genuinly want them to-not bandwagon jumpers. To me, that isn't a fad. And if people feel they are overdone, then I think they are just focusing on what they don't like rather than what they do.

      It always amuses me when people get together to whine about how there are too many gay, crossdressing boys, cliche fantasy characters and similar looking anthro dolls. Because they always turn right around and say their dolls would never act or look like that. I guess it never occurs to these people to look around and see how many people are agreeing with them! Obviously they're not so in the minority after all.
       
    9. This pretty much describes my thoughts on it. It's been my experience that people just do what they want - crossdress their dolls, or have them in same-sex relationships, or whatever - not that they're following fads. The people I've talked to have designed their dolls to what makes them happy, not to be popular or with the in crowd. It's just... a lot of people have a lot of the same tastes. Maybe that's why we're all in the same hobby.
       
    10. You took the words right out of my mouth! thank you.
       
    11. I'd think that if you asked every member on this forum if their dolls were a result of a fad, you'd get a wide range of varying answers.
      Let the individual speak for themselves, and stop trying to classify things, is how I look at it.
      My dolls probably look like they walked right out of a fad magazine. Do I care? Not really. Why? Because I'm just doing what I like with them. They're all male dolls, some are gay, some are not, I crossdress them on rare occasion for kicks, and they dress in punk style. They're Japanese/Korean, some have long hair, and I -- omigod -- even have an El. BUT -- this doesn't mean my inspiration comes from watching cartoons and reading comic books (no matter WHERE those TV shows & comics come from). Because it doesn't. Everyone has their own influence, albeit some of them may coincide with one-another.
      A lot of "fads" are going to be represented by companies -- slender bodies, girl dolls with large perky breasts, cats, mermaids, and effiminate males. But the company does not and should not decide what the owner does with their doll, and neither does the community.
      You buy the doll, you do what you want with it, and you're content. If that means modding a skinny, slender girl doll into one with a bit more to grab onto, then so be it. If it means buying a doll to be an origional character, and representing the character as a motorcyclist with pink pigtails, have at it.
      Why should you care what someone does to their own personal possesions?

      All of the above opinions are my own, and so I won't apologize for them, only for if my tone sounded a bit too snarky ;)
       
    12. I don't think that people are mindlessly following trends like sheep, and there is always a different spin you can put on a look. Though I think that there are too many yaoi boys, this is only in terms of limiting variety; I still think that they're pretty and I like to look at them - I'm not a yaoi fan, but if pretty doll is pretty then it's all good. I think that there is still not enough clothing choices for dolls: too many platform boots, black/white/'rent boy' shirts, goth loli frocks.

      I like all of the above fashions and many of my dolls wear them. It's a shame there's not more choice considering the dolls are meant to be customised to your own personal vision. I find it a bit weird because there is a fairly diverse selection of wigs, eyes and faceup styles but the clothing and shoes selection has been stuck in a rut for some time. I don't think that it's a case of supply and demand that make clothes too samey. A lot of the more unusual outfits are limited/sell out quickly.

      I've been looking for some nice, not too expensive, plain white tshirts for some time so I can customise them - I'm no good at sewing - but no dice. I basically think that more options on outfits would be a BIG help. There are some great commissionable seamstresses, but I don't think I should have to commission someone just to make some interesting boy's shirts or plain white ts.
       
    13. I suppose it would always seem as though there is too much of what you don't care to look at, and never enough of what you do want to see.

      Raven
       
    14. I agree Ravendolls. Whenever you're looking for something you want it always seems like there's more of stuff you don't want. Like others have said: types of relationships can't really be...overdone. Otherwise you'd see a bunch of people in real life shrieking and trying to hit on the same sex because they felt that heterosexual couples were just too overdone XD Sometimes I think "wow, there's a lot of ______ style of doll" but honestly, if I don't like something I don't really look at it and that's the end of that ^^;
       
    15. I just want to say that this is a very broad generalization, and that
      there are plenty of anime fangirls who don't like yoai. Also, there are people in this hobby who don't watch anime but may want gay dolls. There are tons of combinations and you can just say female anime fan= yaoi fan.
       
    16. I personally am not interested in the yaoi thing. I think there's a lot of it in the dollfie society. I have nothing against homosexuality really, but I think I'm seeing more boy-boy than boy-girl....sometimes I wonder where all the straight couples went. *_*
       
    17. I don't think that most people that are following fads will say flat out "oh yeah, everyone else is doing it so I'm doing it too". Most people who engage in fads, myself including, do so because there's some appeal. Sometimes some people do something really well and other people see it and think it's a great idea. They're not necessarily copying, they just see an idea and want to do something similar.

      I also agree with the people that say companies will help to determine what people do with their dolls but also what people are attracted to dolls in the first place. If companies keep selling punk, loli, fantasy dolls then people already attracted to those styles will be attracted to the dolls. People who do their own thing have to put in the extra effort it takes to sew, paint, and modify dolls to emulate a different aesthetic which also explains why some styles aren't as prevalent.

      I also have to agree with some people that some styles just don't stand out as much as others, especially people that keep their dolls in more mundane t-shirt and khaki styles. As well, the people that do the exceptional different styles will stand out as being rare and different and make people question why more people don't do dolls like that such as cyborg mods and dolls in traditional clothing and the like.
       
    18. Because of the intertwining of sub-cultures, it seems to makes sense that individual sub-cultural tastes would affect the way the "trends" run. As a general sweeping observation, as already mentioned, a lot of people into anime/manga are into BJDs, as are your general non-conformists, artistic types or people who like to consider themselves outside the norm. I'm guessing that many of us here do not consider ourselves part of the general mainstream, pop-culture junkie population. (Guessing, don't shoot.)

      So follows the tidal wave of alternative relationships and lifestyles and the fashion cycles that follow them: drag, goth, punk, hippie, whatever... Then there's the popular Asian alternative styles like goth-loli, visukei, dandyism, cyber-punk, harajuku, etc. These being Asian BJDs perhaps that also plays a part in influencing what clothing and face-ups are more widely available.

      Maybe it's just more concentrated, so it appears everywhere.

      Why do collectors follow trends? Do trends become fads? Do fads then become overdone and stale? Can a phase or fad be successfully revived?

      It all just seems to travel in streams, and I would agree with some that I don't believe majority are blindly following fads. Maybe it's all just a case of doll-manity (bwahaha) following humanity. Trends are unavoidable and the minute you think something is original, someone and their 50 friends have already clung to it and suddenly "it's just like everything else" again...lather, rinse, repeat - maybe modify it slightly. There probably hasn't been an original idea since the dawn of time. ;)

      Wow, I'll be impressed if any of that made any sense. >_<
       
    19. Fads and trends are just part of a community. You can't have a large group of people without having trends. If a person denies being at all influenced by their peers...then it's likely a lie or self-denial.

      Heh...I could just as easily say that I'm tired of this fad that involves talking to death what our dolls' wear or their sexual-orientation.

      Personally, I feel that this hobby has expanded to a size where nearly everything has its own fair share of fans following a style. If crossdressing is a fad, so is lolita. I see so many dolls in Ts and jeans, that must be a fad. Punk is a fad. Steampunk is a fad. Lingerie for girl dolls is a fad. Dolls with kids is definitely a fad. Anthro dolls must be the super-fad.

      I think the problem lies in the delusion that we're all special snowflakes and that we lie outside of any trend. Hah.
       
    20. I don't believe I ever once said there was anything wrong with similar interests (and thankfully there isn't), nor did I or would ever say there isn't room for a fresh interpretation of something that has been done before. Funny that you assumed I don't, considering many of my interests in the arts revolve around deconstruction, reuse, and reinterpretation. As far as your first question, those that are doing it out of joy and not for a reaction always outshine the latter.

      And I applaud you for that!

      And I agree.

      I cannot disagree there...

      ...but I can here. I've met many (including myself) that haven't the time to waste living up to anyone else's expectations other than their own.

      But only some of these are to the point that they represent a "flavour of the month" attitude. Others seem balanced with each other, which makes it silly to paint all with fadlike behaviour.

      Or you have just never met a truly unique soul! ;) But that's easy to do; afterall, there's a thousand clones playing tired-out jazz standards, but only one Miles Davis, unfortunately so.