I've been thinking a lot about doll handling nowadays, having watched other hobbyists receive all kinds of doll bodies and give feedback on how they feel in hand. I've come to view it as the #1 criteria for what makes a well-sculpted doll. Handling is that intangible quality that doesn't appear in photos, and only appears indirectly in posing videos, but I feel that it's so integral to enjoyment, because dolls are physical objects meant to be held by human hands. I have observed friends receive doll bodies that have great aesthetic appeal, but handle poorly. The body is top-heavy because weight distribution wasn't well accounted for. The locks and ratchets on the joints are difficult or unpleasant to engage and manipulate, so posing and playing feels like a workout or wrestle. Sometimes the doll does great standing poses, but can't sit up straight because of torso posture or hip joint design. Some dolls come so tightly strung that changing head or hands is a struggle because one doesn't have enough strength to pull the S-hooks out; some owners have solved the problem by cutting that elastic and restringing looser with new elastic. (I suspect these dolls were strung with machine help.) Even things like resin quality and finish can contribute to that pleasant or unpleasant handling. These are just a few anecdotal reports I've heard about, but seems to me that some sculptors don't prioritize how their dolls handle physically. I think digital sculpting is vulnerable to this, especially for companies that have a rapid product release cycle. I'm not saying that digitally-sculpted dolls are inferior -- I own some that pose wonderfully, though I have to say my physically-sculpted dolls remain much more pleasing to hold and handle. What I'm saying is, I think physical handling is not as primal to digital sculpting as it is to physical sculpting, simply because digital sculpting begins in an abstracted space and doesn't enter real space until much later. Whereas physical sculpting begins and ends entirely in real space, and the doll was handled physically all points in its design. Humans craft things they find pleasing to handle. At the end of the day, a big part of delight of BJDs is playing with and holding them, and I think a well-sculpted doll (digital or physical) accounts for this at all points in its design, engineering and aesthetics, even post-production like stringing and resin finishing.
For head sculpts I have to say Volks did a great job on this pair from Lycoris Recoil. In particular I reckon they totally nailed Takina (blue)'s pouty look. Doll her looks just like the illustrations in the visual guide (and of course in the anime).
