Turned off by a doll sculpt because it seems like everybody else has it?

That's a bit like saying you don't like a band because they're songs are on the radio now- you're just cheating yourself out of something you like.
I guess I feel like it doesn't really matter to me whether everyone has a sculpt I like or not, (although I do tend to like sculpts that aren't really seen a lot around here- that's purely by accident though!)

I do understand your sentiment however, it can be a little frustrating to see a zillion people with the same doll and really want yours to stand out from the crowd. Hybriding is a good way to go if it really bothers you, but it can be expensive, and I would say, go for what you love! Don't let anyone take away what you like! Try to customize your favourite sculpt specially and make him/her stand out that way instead. And I haven't seen that many Akandos around here...

 

Thats an interesting feeling.. Im half and half with that line of thinking. But if everyone went with it, then no one would be happy. There are alot of people in the world, and no one can have just one thing all to there own. The best we can do is get what we like, and make it our own.

I want to get an El eventually, but everyone under the sun seems to have one. It doesnt put me off though, because I can get it, and make it how I like it, and then because of that, for me, it will be the best El out there, because its mine and made it mine.

 

In most of life, I tend to like things most people don't. Movies, music...

But in dolls? I apparently have common taste. And I have no problem with that. I don't care if everyone on the whole forum had a DZ Mo, an El, a MNF Shiwoo, Shushu and Karsh. They still don't have Riddick, Ciaran, Kale, Finn or Jester. Heck, Riddick still has his default faceup and wears part of his fullset, and he STILL gets as much love and attention from other people as my more unusual looking ones.

I collect what I like, because I like it. While it's nice for others to like my dolls too, it really doesn't matter. I'm not collecting for others. Whether there are hundreds of them around or I have the only one, they're still just as special to me.

 

I think that's part of why this hobby is so appealing -- even if there's TONS of people with the same doll, they can all look completely different! Though it can be a bit frustrating to come up with something original when there's so many, it just makes it more fun I think. Take Shushu for instance; There are probably a hundred shushus on DoA, but they're all unique. It all comes down to the character and the personality of YOUR doll.

 

I might a little, but not really. Once I chose my favorite doll company (now I'm basically sworn to them for life, blood oath and all) , I basically took a deep breath and immersed myself in them. All I look at is their company site, all I search for in the gallery and other photos is dolls from their company, and I mostly hang out/lurk in the thread for that company's dolls. I don't even think they're that terribly well-known, but all I see is them and I love seeing more of them. With maybe 5-10% of browsing random other company's dolls on the side for flavor. So to me it's like the dolls I like are the only dolls I ever really see much of.

I had lots of requirements already when looking for my 'perfect dolls', a 'uniqueness' category wouldn't have helped matters =P . I got my first doll recently, and I don't see too many of her around yet (she's a newer sculpt) . But the ones I have seen... I did her faceup myself, first time ever, and she turned out sooo different from whatever I thought would come from her face before. Changing something as simple as a faceup, eyes, wig, hair, can change plenty enough that I'm not worried about being the same. It'd be pretty neat to find someone at a meet with the same doll (I don't think I will any time soon; like I said, pretty recent) and compare looks.

But then again, I totally see why having the same doll as a bunch of other people would be undesirable. I'm fine with having the same sculpt, but I'd really want to try and make everything else unique and special. I'm into more fantastic and showy styles, so I think achieving that is a little easier than more 'real world, everyday' styles. And I do still kinda' appreciate that my doll is a little rarer to spot around.

ali

 

I do understand the feeling. I shared it when I first began my collection. It took a long time before I could choose for love, no matter now rare or common. I have some very uncommon and under appreciated sculpts, Jollyplus Jise, Soom Godo, DiM Belita, Kaye Wiggs' Matilta to name a few. I even have Sard.

Who, however, do I love more than anyone else in the whole of my collection? My CP Chiwoo.

 

no, i don't.

i like and really do want a MnF Shiwoo. A lot of people have Shiwoo's. But so what? I don't stop liking something because it's popular. If I like it, I like it. I'm not going to change because the rest of the world likes Shiwoos. I actually think it's neat that so many people can like the same doll and do so many diverse things with it.

 

Although the mode is found everywhere, it usually becomes uniquely different and modified according to the owner taste and I find that really interesting, how one of the same dolls can look so different in so many ways and still underlying, share an equal sculpt. Then again, you can alter your doll, by changing it shape of the nose and mouth or by adding special ears, wouldn't that be different and unique, one and only xD

 

I used to feel exactly that way when I was a teenager. I wanted to be "different" so I would stay away from things that I might otherwise like because they were popular. Now I'm an adult, and I buy what I like, I like what I like and it's popularity has absolutely no bearing on my choices. This goes for dolls too; I have a Shiwoo which is a doll everyone and their mother has but I also have a Kohya, a very unpopular sculpt. I like them both for different reasons.

 

Nope not at all

I like what I like and I own what I really want and must have
if there are a MILLION Williams out there I will still buy him, own him and sought out every single picture of him every taken by his owners

 

Hmm...kind of yes and kind of no. The first doll I ever ordered was a Megi-2 from Dollzone because I thought he was just too darn cute - he was the first BJD I ever really got to hold and admire in person. But then I realized...a LOT of people liked him as their first BJD. I can't say whether that's why I never bonded with him, but either way, I didn't. He was super cute and great quality...by all accounts, he was perfect but he wasn't special to me. I can't say why, but knowing how I tend to lean more toward things that are less common, maybe subconciously that is why I rejected Megi.

I say no because I don't conciously think "Well, look at the hundreds of Megis on DoA...I don't want to be among the masses." I don't conciously feel the need to be different just for the sake of being different, but I could definitely see that being my reasoning without me being aware of it.

 

nothing would stop me from having an ante! just look at the little fee thread.. almost everyone has an ante... but that doesn't stop me..infact, it makes me want one more coz they are all so cute. I have enough love for all the antes in the world.
Take it as a challenge for yourself to make your doll stand out from the millions of others of the same mold

 

I know I sort of tend to get turned off of a sculpt that tons of people have..I used to think "meh I don't want a doll that is like all the others!" even if I could customize it to be different.

Most of my resin kids are sculpts that aren't terribly popular..or some that are practically unknown(My five star doll Ethan..:p) but I found myself with a Luts Chiwoo head in a trade..and well..yeah. Everyone loves Chiwoo there are hundreds of them and he's the biggest head in the house..(seriously..huge) but..at first I was planning on face-upping and selling him but now..I'm attached and saving to get him a body. -laughs-

I guess what I'm saying is that..things can indeed change, a sculpt that everyone else has and you feel turned off by..can someday become a sculpt that you come to understand why it's so popular and want one of your own.

 

You know, that's kind of a thing for me, too. I do go for dolls that I genuinly like, but I think that, for me, knowing a particular sculpt is less common makes it a bit more appealing. It's not that I can't fall in love with a doll a lot of people have, it's just that I think it's neat that my doll of choice that I pined and saved for was the face a lot of other people passed over.

I guess it is a bit immature, perhaps even lazy, but honestly, I always love those oddball dolls on their own, anyway.

 

No, and honestly, the attitude of "I can't like it because everyone else does!" irritates me to no end. Someone wants to be different to the majority, they can go right ahead. But it's silly for a person to deny themself something they want because a lot of other people like it as well. I feel that way about everything: music, movies, dolls, clothes-whatever. People like what they like, and if a lot of other people like it, too, that just means they have more people to talk about it with. With a hobby like this, even if two hundred other people have the same doll, they're virtually all going to be completely different. I have an El, possibly THE most common BJD in the hobby. But if you took him and all the other Els out there and lined them up, I can guarantee you that unless they were twins or had default faceups, no two of them would be exactly the same. And nobody else's El is my Syndrome, which makes him special to *me* even if he is just one of the horde to someone else. The same is true of my DZ Mo-there are a LOT of those, too, but nobody else's Mo is my Alex.
If you (general you) want your particular doll to be special, have it customised. Come up with a look you love and a makeup style you want and have it painted that way. Comission clothes if you have to have something one of a kind, or make them yourself, or alter something that's already out there. It isn't hard to make your doll your own and have it stand out, whether it's an only-one-of-its kind minimee or the most common doll in the hobby. If you think that maybe you won't be able to make a doll your own because there really are just too many of them out there, then yeah, maybe it isn't the one for you. But to not get it just because lot of other people have it without even considering whether you can come up with a character or look that will be uniquely yours is, I think, a bad idea.

 

I look at a lot of different dolls trying to find the right one that fits me at the time. I usually don't find out till after I own it that it's a popular one if it is. The only thing I think of if something is popular that it must be a great doll if so many people own it.