What did you think you would like vs what you actually like

I ended up not keeping my single 1/4 doll I bought to try out the size. So now I only have 1/6 size. I don't regret buying - I ended up just making myself pick some dolls to buy, because no other way for me to really find out for sure what I liked! I am glad you like them enough to keep what you do have at least.

This thread was very fun to read through, there's a lot of things I didn't think about~

 

Oh, what a fun thread. Let's see, I thought I'd like:

• 1/3+ dolls! Loved the sculpts and the aesthetics, but they're FAR too big for me.
• Elves, centaurs, high fantasy sorts of dolls. Not a hard no, but none of the ones I've gotten have really grabbed me so none have stuck around (except ones I'm having trouble reselling). Vampires on the other hand, just like I expected, I can't get enough.
• Similarly, fantasy resin colours! There are some really gorgeous ones but so far I guess they're not my style.
• Super intense faceups. They're how I got interested in the hobby initially, I love looking at them and I think they're awesome, but I seem to lean more toward natural looking faceups or simple makeup for my own dolls (like, basic lipstick and eyeliner for the ladies, but no intense eyeshadow for anyone so far).
• The typical big eyes, big head, very doll-like aesthetic. Again, I love looking at them, but in my hands they just don't bring as much joy as one that's proportioned more like a real person (maybe with some exaggerated features, sure, but not like the ones that I expected). These days even Iplehouse JIDs seem to have the "wrong" proportions for my aesthetic. Makes me very picky, but it'll save my wallet in the long run, I suppose.

Things I didn't expect to like, but do:

• 1/4 dolls. It's such a comfortable scale that I'm not sure how to describe it. (Y'all know though, we're all doll people here. It's comfortable :> )
• Mature minis specifically. Like I mentioned, I expected to really like the doll-like, mildly exaggerated proportions, but it's almost all mature minis for me these days.
• Unoas. Their stringing and eye system used to intimidate me a lot but I've found I really like it! They're not exactly mature minis, not exactly the very doll-like proportions, but they fit in with both and I love them.
• Different kinds of resin. It's nice to get to hold the sort of soft-feeling very smooth resin, but I really love LUTS' very toothy-feeling resin, and it seems to hold poses better due to increased friction. Unfortunately none of their sculpts have really caught my fancy lately.

This doesn't really fit in either list, but I also didn't expect to plan to have more than a few, yet my list keeps rounding out at about a dozen (though not all the same level of priority). Also didn't expect to want to make canon characters from media I like, rather than just my ocs, but hey. they're my favourites and I can't help it.

 

The major one for me was 1/3 males: I initially thought I'd like stylized, anime-esque boys. The first two boys I ever bought were Dream of Doll Lahoo and Volks Kohya, but through them I discovered that I absolutely didn't like that anime-type style. I ended up selling both of them.

It took me a while to figure out what kinds of males I'd like... not the more stylized types such as CP/Fairyland, Luts, Dream of Doll and Dollzone, but definitely not the highly realistic types such as Iplehouse, Impldoll and Granado, which were starting to become more common when I was still a newbie. I wanted something in between stylized and real, but couldn't really put a finger on what I wanted.

Then I discovered Dollstown. The DT boys all hit that sweet spot: an idealized kind of realism, but still a bit stylized and doll-like. The third boy I bought was Dollstown Mui - who is still with me and whom I love to bits. So Dollstown single-handedly shaped my taste in 1/3 males, and I've been using the Dollstown aesthetic and my Mui in particular, to compare any other boys I want to get. I've since been able to find a few doll makers whose boys fit my taste, which is great.

 

I can easily interact with dolls of SD and mini sizes (very mini, my smallest doll is 3 inches). But I don't understand at all how to play with MSD. Several times I bought beautiful dolls of this row, and I couldn't do anything with them

 

I seem to have gone in the other direction than other hobbyists.
I always thought I'd like the as-realistic-as-possible dolls but lately I've realized I tend to like more the ones with slightly more cartoony faces. I don't mean full anime-like but slightly more stylized and exaggerated face sculpts. Realistic ones are very cool but for my taste they seem too expressionless.

My first doll was 1/4 size and back then I though that's the scale for me but as it turns out I like bigger dolls. Maybe because they're easier to make clothes to and photograph. Posing is more pain but it's worth it.

Overall I think I've kinda always known what I like (except the realistic faces vs. stylized faces, that was a surprise) so it's been slow but smooth sailing with this hobby.

 

When I first started I only had anime styled dolls and tried to dress them super causal. I have since jumped into sophisticated/girly dress style and have no regrets. Dolls with nice big dresses are so beautiful

 

I love looking at more stylised dolls, so it's nice to read that from someone in this thread imo! (I think I only like the realistic ones so much because they're my characters and they already feel real to me.)

I've also recently fallen in love with a single vinyl anime doll (off-topic but relevant to this convo i think), and came up with a sort of mascot character for her, so it's definitely not that I don't like them! I just don't usually feel the need to have them on my shelf.

 

I thought I would like the girl dolls with big fancy dresses and pouty faces, but I really like the big male dolls with fancy outfits and pretty faces.

 

There seems to be no set style for me. Lately I have been wanting a Marmite Sue managerie. I thought I was finished with fashion dolls but I guess not.

 

I thought I liked the more eccentric and strange BJD or the more realistic ones. I've never liked large ones, so MSD is still preferred and Yosd second.

Now...I like anime dolls. I guess I'm still a weeb at heart in the end.

 

I really like looking at people's dolls when they are all elaborate goth, or candy sweet fairy kei type fashions. I thought when I would first start to dress my dolls, I would go all out with extreme fashion statements and make my dolls extremely bold and colourful.

I ended up putting them all in basic street fashion, and I like it. I like the casual looks of my dolls. I like that they look as if they are going to go for a stroll, or skateboarding, or just a hang at the park.

I still love to look at peoples elaborate dolls, it just doesn't feel right for my own dolls.

 

When I got into the hobby I really wanted my dolls to have a Living Dead Dolls vibe- gothic, irreverent, sometimes creepy or gory. Now I'm collecting cutesy anime dolls in pastel colors.

Honestly I've always been more attracted to cartoony styles, but I never really saw myself getting into anime. I am VERY picky about anime and I hate a lot of anime tropes... ESPECIALLY super cutesy "moe" anime tropes. But for some reason I don't mind it as much on dolls. I also underestimated how much stylistic potential anime sculpts actually have.

 

I thought I would like cute and strange fantasy-styled dolls... Which, I guess to an extent I still do and am fascinated by but turns out my style is mostly regular boring old men.

I also thought I preferred MSD sized dolls, as me, myself, is extremely short. Turns out that yes, MSDs are easier to handle and I do love the ones that I own but there's nothing quite like my 75+cm giants, even though they are super hard to move and pose and dress.

 

My style really hasn’t changed although I’ve collected a wide range of sizes and types to populate my imaginary fantasy world. From the very beginning I was drawn to the more stylized, big eyed, small mouth look. I want my dolls to look like dolls, and I resist letting too much of that pesky reality seep in. I did try a more realistic sculpt once because they were the hot thing…it turned out to be one of those “hate it, box it right back up, sell it within 24 hours” scenerios. And I never did that again.

 

One realization that has come with time is that DIY can get stressful and frustrating. Sometimes it's just nicer to pay someone else to do it. Also I used to think the bigger the better, but I'd never get another doll over 60cm.

Interestingly I think what I like has actually come full circle. The first bjd's I loved were Volks girls, but when I joined DoA back in the day I was heavily influenced by all the pouty modern emo boys circa 2009. I acquired one boy in particular under such circumstances that I never quite bonded with (though I'm trying to give him a second chance). After a many year hiatus, I realized that all I really want are big-eyed girls in frilly dresses.

 

ohhh my gosh I definitely feel the stress of DIY. I WANT to make all my dolls clothes but have yet to manage more than one single pair of pants, sigh. (Though I definitely want to do faceups for my not-girls; for some reason my girls get company faceups and it's great but the rest Need Something Else.)

(I've had a similar experience with sizes and "oh no wait that's not my style" too!)

 

I thought I would want realistic and elegant dolls.
Instead I've found I want anime dolls, and all the sculpts I want are generally more anime/cartoony.

I also thought I'd only go for SD/DD size, but I now have MSD and YoSD as well.

 

My first BJD love was a CP/Luts Dark Elf Soo. I was very into the conventionally pretty, huge-eyed girl dolls at the beginning, and I really wanted a big one. Now, even the mini size is almost too big for me- I love mature tinies, and I really love interestingly stylized bodies. Especially the pear-shaped sort with chunky legs. Still a fan of pretty girl dolls, but a somewhat less anime-inspired prettiness.

 

I think things have come in waves, in which decisions I made were bad/expensive! A lot of the downstream was funded by selling off the upstream decisions. It means I have had a lot of dolls come through my hands.

• I like MSDs! (Buys a bunch of DoD)
• I like SDs and slim minis! (Buys a bunch of CP delf and minifee/Narin)
• No more MSDs, let's go SD only! (Sells all MSD)
• More realism is where it's at! (Changes over collection)
• Maybe I'd like tiny size? (Buys a couple YOSD size)
• Nope, I like stylized SDs (Changes over collection again)

Some of this had to do with how things have developed or come available in the hobby over time. I wanted to try things out, and since I wasn't good at finding meets it was hard to imagine how I'd feel handling that kind of doll until it was in hand.

I absolutely have some regrets about selling some things, but I also think I made the best decisions I could in the moment.

 

I'm also in the "thought I'd love one size, actually love another" camp. I was drawn to bjds when looking at pictures of tinies - the smaller the better! But when I started seriously contemplating a purchase all my big wants are 1/4 mature minis.