What do you think will happen to your dolls in 20 years time?

I think it depends on so much. I'd like to think they'd still be valued but who knows what people will be doing in the future. I hope my dolls will only have yellowed and someone else will take them in and love them.

 

In 20 years time, my husband and I will still own our BJDs. However, past that I think my dolls will end up as family heirlooms. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just within my family (both mom's side and dad's side), but receiving and keeping porcelain dolls seems to be a thing. Like at some point in a young girls' life in my family, you will definitely get at least one porcelain doll that's brand new and inherit from someone else their porcelain dolls. And once you become an adult yourself, you gift a brand new porcelain doll to each young girl in the family and your own doll(s) to them or others at some point if you want to. We can just totally keep our collection and just give new dolls, but it's a thing I've noticed my family doing. Obviously, since we're talking about BJDs here and they are more expensive than the usual porcelain doll, I am actually waiting until the young ones (both boys and girls) in my family are old enough to appreciate what a BJD is before gifting them a BJD (maybe a used one first as a tester and if they are truly interested in the hobby I'll purchase a new one of their choice for them later). I'm hoping to have kids someday, so they are the most likely ones to inherit my BJDs. My husband and I are starting to keep records of what our BJDs are worth, and my immediate family and my best friends know they are not cheap. There are a few relatives that have done an amazing job with taking care of their porcelain dolls or American Girl dolls, so they are the most likely candidates for me gifting them a BJD in the future. Maybe in time the tradition will morph into porcelain doll and BJD gifting (porcelain doll for practice for taking care of something fragile/precious and then a BJD later on). It makes me happy to think of my BJDs being valued for future generations like the porcelain dolls in my family have been so far.

 

In twenty years I still see myself at least having my two 'core' dolls, though I don't know if I'll stay that interested in the rest. Elijah and Seera though are definitely 'treasure' items of mine, and like all such items I own I plan to keep them forever.

 

I told my son that he better give me some granddaughters when he gets older (he's 12 now and my only child, not having any more) so I can spoil the girls with my dolls. He laughed at me and said he'll see when times comes to it.
I believe I will still keep majority of my BJD collections 20 years down the road and they would become heirlooms. My son did say he wanted to keep them if anything happens to me. I also have many other collectible dolls in storage from growing up and they will be passed down. Some may be sold.
20 years is too far in the future to even consider. I prefer to focus on the now and enjoy them. I didn't think I would come to own 20+ dolls or be active in the BJD community when I first owned my first 2 dolls nearly 7 years ago, heck I didn't know there was a community or let alone so many different dolls then!
I can only see a year at a time, then again, last year I had no idea I would be getting 8 new dolls this year alone! That'a the most I have ever done. I thought I was done last year, but I was so wrong!
20 years will surprise you no matter what you think. ^_^

 

Plastic and resin seems to last a while, it might yellow or fade, but on the whole I should imagine they'll be fine.
I have a few vintage fashion dolls here, the oldest of which was made in 1962 and she's MINTY, seriously. Her hair has dried over the years so it's a bit wirey to touch but she's still brightly coloured and perfect as the day she was deboxed.
I expect if stored and kept well, BJDs will be much the same. Only things I can see happening are elastic decay and fading of faceup sort of thing. Wigs may dry out, eyes may discolour but all these things are fixable and unlikely if the doll is still handled on a regular basis. It's being stored in an attic or whatever that seems to cause the most problems, as issues aren't caught before they become bigger.

But yeah, I intend to keep most of my dolls till i'm dead and burried. Then husband can sell them, keep them.. whatever. He actually said he's reluctant to sell the ones i've painted or designed myself because they're too much a part of me lol, silly man. but yeah 20 years, I think i'll still have dolls. In fact, the kids should have moved out by then so I might finally have a DOLL ROOM! Whooo!

 

Don't know if I still have all my dolls but some for sure.
I want to save them for my grand children

 

I hope I'll still be enjoying my collection in 20 years. Like purple_monkfish, I'm planning on turning my son's room into a doll room, oh, say, within 24 hours of when he moves out. I'm really looking forward to having a dedicated space where I can create for and enjoy my dolls. I think it will be a new phase in my life as a collector.

In the much more distant ( ) future, I hope to have a granddaughter or two to bring into the hobby and eventually pass my dolls down to. When my own grandmother passed away, I inherited a little bit of money, but I would rather have had something tangible, an heirloom that I see and hold, something she loved that I could love as well. I hope to give that to my own grandchildren.

 

It's hard to say for me, I assume I'll probably cut back to maybe 2-3 dolls by then, but it really depends on how involved I stay in the hobby and what else is going on in my life. I am known for rotating my crew frequently, so even if I still have the same number of dolls, they'll probably be different from the ones I have now, other than my first doll and maybe my Grail doll.

My grail is already about 11 years old, so he's past that halfway point! He's yellowed and his engineering and posing aren't anywhere near today's standards, but he has a classic feel about him, and I like that. I think in 20 years, there will be a lot more options and cool features, but he'll still be special. Just even more yellow. XD

Now for the morbid part--I take after my mom and grandma's side of the family, and life expectancy there is...kinda low. So there is a chance I won't even be here in 20 years, though I'm only 33 now. IF that should be the case, then I've told my husband to keep whatever dolls he wants (if any), then give the rest to my sister who is in the hobby and let her do whatever she wants with them. I assume she might keep a few who are in roleplay relationships/friendships with hers, then maybe give the others to my other RP partners or local friends, or offer one to my niece if she's interested and able to care for one, or maybe sell them. Any of those choices are fine with me.

 

Hahah, i'm already planning the dioramas and dollhouses and I have another 10 years before eldest is outta here!
He'll go off to uni and i'll just be like "see ya, I gotta go build some dollhouses" *priorities* lol
Okay not really.

Just a little bit <_<

I also add that much like CloakedSchemer, my life expectancy is yeah.. husband hates for me to mention i'll probably go before he does but with all my health issues it's pretty damn likely. He's healthy as anything, i've got a good dozen things wrong. Funtimes. But hey, just more reason to live each moment right? And nobody's taking my dolls away, rargh. When i'm gone they can sell em to pay for my mariachis (yes, i've demanded mariachis at my funeral okay?)

 

In 20 years my dolls will still be wherever I am. ^__^
I don't envision ever parting with them. I intend to keep them beautiful and well maintained because that's just how I've always approached this hobby. Hm, I do worry a bit what will happen to the elastics in their wigs and such though. Over time that will degrade as all elastic does...but I try to take care with all my doll things and I still have even the first wig I ever got and it's proudly being worn by a doll this very instant. Things such as faceups I've done myself, so they are easy enough to maintain. I am interested to see how repairs continue to evolve for these dolls as time passes and we loose more companies and direct options.

Hehe, also in 20 years I should have some space back in my home (eh heh, raises hand and joins the waiting for children to leave the house so I can fill it with dolls club ^_~) and I hope to have some beautiful displays and crafting space again.

 

I started in this hobby at the end of 2005 and own a doll that was released in 2003. All my dolls still look really good. They have 'mellowed', but at some point resin stops yelllowing, so the color they are now, is what they will probably always be. To be honest, I actually prefer the color they have now.

In twenty years time, my dolls will still be with me, as they have been with me for the past 11 years. Hopefully, all of them will look the way I envision them now, and I really hope that the dollhouse I'm building for my puki-sized dolls will be finished, but time is and will always be an issue .

 

I never know where I'll be in a year's time, much less 20, but if I'm still alive, and barring any disaster, I should still have my collection. I would love it if I could have a room to display my dolls (in cabinets), but we'd have to have a larger house, and I don't see that happening, LOL.

 

Oh, that's really hard to say. I should first note that I am one of the cynics who believes that bjds are a poor investment and will not retain their value after a certain amount of time. Just look at how low some once-coveted old dolls go for now that they are out of fashion, yellowed, and their single jointed bodies have been outpaced by the new standards of double jointed poseability. I do not think they will have much value as a collectible item.

And the hobby/fandom as it is may die out too, or be siphoned into a as-yet not even invented form of customizable doll collecting that we cannot imagine right now. 20 years is a long long time.

I think that 3D printing technology may become mainstream and refined in the next 10 years, and so in the future bjds may come in the form of downloadable 3D print files (in fact, there are already free bjd files for home 3D printing right now - though the results I've seen are, for now, not exactly on par with the quality standards of the typical resin bjd, what with the striated 3D print lines and all). Or maybe there will be bjd software that helps you to create custom dolls at home, similar to how many video game character customization tools allow a non-artist user to customize their character by toggling the length, size, placement of features. I quite look forward to this - but I also think that in such a future, again, it's questionable how popular the bjd hobby as we know it today will remain, and how valuable the resin bjds will be.

As for myself and my dolls in particular, well, I am not especially sentimental about dolls. I am pretty satisfied with my choices right now and can't see myself selling them - but hey, tastes can change a lot in 20 years! I just sold a bunch of my anime figure collection, in fact, because many of the figures I loved 2-3 years ago now no longer strike my interest. And I completely got rid of my Monster High and Ever After High dolls without a second glance. There may come a day when I purge the bjds in the same way. Change happens, and it's not necessarily sad, nor does it negate the enjoyment I had with those items that I ultimately did not keep.

That said, I think it would be nice if I ended up keeping all my current dolls and still liking them 20 years in the future. By that point, if I've had them that long I think I really would have a sentimental attachment.

The one doll I am likely to keep forever is my Glorydoll Louis. I do have a bit of sentimental attachment to him, I've modded his body significantly, and in any case he is fairly small and would be easy to tuck away somewhere.

 

In 20 years I hope to have a collection anywhere near as good as what some of yours sounds to be!
I only have 2 dolls (1 resin, 1 vinyl), but I hope in 20 years I will have more and I will still love the hobby and have my original.
By then I also hope to have perfected making clothes for them, and have started doing my own faceups/mods and stuff!

 

I've loved dolls my entire life, so I doubt I'll somehow magically grow tired of them in the next two decades, when I've already spent nearly 30 years obsessing over them. That said, I think it's safe to say that the hobby as a whole won't occupy the same place in my life that it does now, because it doesn't occupy the same place in my life that it did only *6 years ago* when I first started!

Practically speaking, I think my collection will probably change. I'm pretty sure a number of the dolls I have now will end up with my nieces, and others will just be sold. There are a few dolls I own now though that I'm pretty sure I'll own for the rest of my life.

 

For those deniers thinking somehow BJDs are not going to become collectibles (ie not a 'good investment') - perhaps many of the dolls will not increase in value. AND it certainly matters what the timetable is. Can I just point to BARBIES!!!!???? I mean, cheap plastic vinyl dolls. Well, honey. Some of those dolls are worth a pretty penny right now. And they decay a lot quicker than resin does - lots quicker.
I foresee that it will take decades for this to manifest (except for certain dolls which already are holding their value & increasing it - looking at some Volks right now). But the grandkids will undoubtedly benefit.
I myself intend to sell off most of my collection when I get aged (20 years or so), just keeping a few which I will pass on to my children etc.

 

Hm, no. I have no illusions that my collection will be a secret stash of funds always appreciating in value. I have dolls now that have lost their value significantly already in just the 8 years I've been in the hobby, but I bought them because they were the dolls I wanted and not for their resale value. Haha, I joke that my collection is a black hole because dolls come in but never come out.

In all honesty, the hobby has already evolved soooo much since its inception. It will be quite interesting to see how it continues to change. I doubt it will look anything like it does today in another 20 years. But in some ways that's the fun of it all. Seeing the differences and maintaing your own love for these dolls in your own way. I still find my old, now depreciated/out-of-style dolls beautiful, sometimes even more-so than newer dolls. Actually, I find I'm collecting more and more of the dolls I once loved but missed from when I first started in the hobby! But that is also balanced by some new, and really different dolls that I've purchased that I also am amazed by that just never would have existed in the hobby before. So I can stand my old YID Silvia (my very first doll) next to my Pathos Tale Pan and just be blown away by both of them. And that is really neat to me. Hm...not sure how to put it. I love that I have been in the hobby long enough to see both and appreciate both, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And I'm excited and curious to see more. Hehe. Perhaps that's too sappy.

 

In 20yrs I'll still have them, maybe not all of them but I will have them on display in my house!