What do you like most about BJDs?

I like them for 'something else'; I love the artistic sense of them. I originally wanted one as an object of photography. Where I live sometimes it is hard to get out to lovely areas for good pictures, and things like that make a photographer who grew up in the country with 100+ things to take pictures of at all times very sad. =(

In the big city you can't even get a good picture of the sun unless you're standing on top of a 5-story parking garage. But BJDs, ah, my salvation~! ^_^ I don't even have to leave the house to get wonderful pictures of artistic things. I just set up a corner of my room with some fabrics and lighting, pose a doll, take a picture, pose it another way, take more, etc. It's never-ending and it makes people like me ever so happy. =D

 

Ahaha, yes, having a doll is like having a new baby. =P You'll take dozens of pictures without even realizing it! I'm sure you'll get back into photography soon. ^_^ It's hard not to be inspired by BJDs in some way or another.

 

I love the way you can make the unique. But my favourite thing about them is companionship.

 

I said posing. For me it's nice to have a time-consuming hobby that I can do at home since I'm so ill all the time. Posing is a huge part of it because I wouldn't want to take photos and therefore create props and backgrounds and so on if they couldn't pose well.

 

I think you should have "all of the above" as an option! I love their look - idealized yet more realistic, more "alive" somehow than other dolls. I love how they can stand and pose in natural ways, which makes them seem even MORE lifelike. And I really love the customization. How 20 people can have the same doll, with the same faceup even, but they'll all look different. I like how inspiring they are artistically, too.

 

I chose "something else ". I feel very happy when I see them .When I feel unhappy or sad , I hold them in my arms .Then I will get happy . I like watching their smiling face .

 

I LOVE the ability to customize them... it is what makes them SO appealing...

...Well, that and the overall Asian aesthetic.

 

I adore them for multiple reasons, actually. I love the fact you can make it your own, 100%, or keep them looking like the company pictures. The fact that they can pose, and take beautiful pictures is another good point. I love that they are so beautiful!

I also love the community aspect of it. While i don't really know may people or have any friends, really, that are into it, I know that will change. The people i've met have all been so nice and friendly it seems like a great way to make a bunch of good friends!

 

I agree with AmyAngel we should be able to chose "All of the above" or even "all of the above...and then some"

I love the look, the posing, the customising, the photo's, the clothes, the companionship, the realism. but above all I love to create personalities and characters for my dolls

 

I chose "something else" but in truth "all of the above" would have been the best answer for me too.

I have collected different kinds of dolls and figures in the past. When I got my first BJD I noticed straight away how much more fun they were. I can actually do stuff with them (customize, sew clothes for them, pose them etc) unlike with fugures and such that just are there.

Also meeting other doll owners is a very nice aspect of the hobby. I love seeing other peoples dolls, seeing how they have customized them, hearing about their characters and so on.

 

When I first learned about BJDs, I loved that you could customize them to your liking. That's what convinced me I should have one. But in second thoughts, I realize I actually like BJDs because they're the "embodiment" of my ideals of beauty - hence I liked the idea of further customizing them so they could look as I wanted. Well, that and the fact that I've always liked dolls in general, too.

Back when I was a child I had many Barbies, and despite enjoying playing with them, I didn't really like some of their looks. Maybe it was their heads, which I found too big for their bodies, or their eyes... ABJDs, with their stylized bodies and sharp facial features are more appealing to me. I'm aware this sounds just so superficial for a reason...

 

For me it's "something else", as there wasn't an "all of the above" option.

I too have collected dolls all my life, but something about them always seemed missing, and it says something that I've really given up on pretty much every other type of doll except bjd, considering I have owned some very rarified antiques and artist dolls in my time. They just don't begin to compare.

For me the crux of the matter is that bjd are about the dolls themselves. The figure, the sculpture and its engineering. An attempt is made to have something that is worth selling blank, naked and unfinished. Other dolls, no matter how exquisite completed are just these amorphous vaguely human-shaped cyphers that carry clothes, hair and paint, and the clothes hair and paint are the most important things about them. Undress/dewig/wipe a porcelain "art" doll and what you have is not really worth displaying. Same with Barbie, or her ilk. But there are many many bjd who are stunning to behold naked, bald and unpainted.

From there you can go anywhere you want (which is the secondary appeal for me), but at the core is something really awesome (in the original sense of the word), in and of itself.

Raven

 

I'd say I love them for the customization reason. There are soo many possibilities for just one mold. ^^

 

Strange...I was pondering this very question a couple of hours ago. Synchronicity strikes again.

I chose "Something Else."

All of the choices listed are part of the appeal for me. I especially like the potential in them; to my very very first doll part -- a head -- I said "now who are you?" and that same feeling carries through every single interaction with a new doll. And sometimes the ones who've been around awhile, too! There's also something visceral about the feeling of the resin and the heft of the dolls; it's a very tactile hobby as well as an artistic one.

But as I thought about it, I decided that there's another "favorite thing" for me. I enjoy, so very much, looking at what everyone else does with their dolls! This is such an amazing thing. We have people from all over the world, from at least three generations that I know of, and from so many different backgrounds, all working with the same raw material and coming up with such fantastically creative things. Some people use them for photography; some just to play with; others as clothes models; still others just display them. And the huge range of styles we get! It's... amazing.

I suppose that could be considered "customization" except that what I'm really reacting to is watching and feeling the joy that the dolls are bringing us, collectively, for whatever reason. It really is infectious. I can't even begin to describe the boost I get out of reading a photostory or looking at a shoot where it's obvious the owner is having pure fun, or letting loose with some major creativity.

Boy am I a corny thing.

 

I chose "something else" also. For me the thing I like most is how they are similar to other toys I like collecting, just bigger and more customizable. Forgive the comparison, but for me, they're very much like a Revoltech, a Figma, or even a Transformer (minus the uh, transform part ). It's the detail, size (I like SD size BJD), and I love how easy they are to set up for the kinds of nerdy photos I have fun taking with the various toys I have.

 

I chose "something else".
Truthfully, I pretty much love everything about them. I love how they pose so well, and how you can customize them and sew for them, and take pictures of them, and all that. I love how some of them fit into my characters so well. They're amazing pieces of art, and I dislike how some people just can't get that into their heads. I dunno, it's just.. whenever I'm bored, my dolls can entertain me in some kind of way. xD