What matters more, a doll's appearance or posing abililties?

For me it depends on the doll...Yoru is single-jointed and his posing is limited due to the stationary joint in his torso, but I loved his face so much I couldn't imagine not getting him. But for Nezumi I feel I have no choice but to make her a 50cm obitsu because the range of motion is really important to her character.

But like many have said, hybrids are just awesome. ^_^ You can get the beautiful head AND have a wonderful body to put it on!

 

If I were you, I'd take the first doll - the lovliest, right? But it's only my opinion, and another fact is I simply don't like how double joints are looking=)

 

This. I've only seen a few body types with more advanced joints that I liked the looks of. It's a shame, because I'd love a 60cm girl again, but all the newer bodies are just total turnoff to me.

 

I always go for the sculpt of the head first---the face and then , if I don't care for the body, I would try and sell that body and find one I like.
To me the character of the doll, the face, is the important part.

 

Actually both. If it looks good that's fine, but if it won't pose I can't do pic stories and main reason I have BJD is for the pic stories I can do.

 

With me it’s a face-first thing. Then I look on the joints and so on, but if the face is an absolute love fore me, I don’t give a damn about joints.
I think the body switch solution is the best if you really want it to pose better so I would go for the first one.
Then I have to agree with Kelear and AvarahModray. Wing is my next; his face and he’s slender tall on the top of it, but… ever saw his elbow joints? … This fact didn’t stop me from ordering just a little flaw, nothing more.

 

I'd probably go for appearance over poseability, simply because its the first thing I notice when looking at the BJD. If you were to not really like the appearance then good poseability probably wouldn't make it better and balance out the lack in appearance. If the posing is really bad then it can be fustrating... But restringing, adding kips etc can help improve the poseability and if it really a big problem then making a hybrid would also work. Also, I found that just because a BJD is double jointed it doesn't necessarily make the doll pose better, although it does tend to its not guaranteed.

 

It's a bit of both for me, but the face is really important as well. I also care about how the body is sculpted and the relation of the look of the body to the joints. But that's the beauty of hybridization (if the resin matches), one can get both a beautiful face + amazing body with great poseability.

 

When push comes to shove, for me a doll's appearance will always win out in the end. 90% of the time my dolls spend their time just sitting on their shelf or standing and looking pretty, so I don't really have the need for crazy, complex jointing.

I will admit though that I DO adore double joints in the elbows so the doll can reach up and touch it's face, it's probably my favorite 'extra joint' since it gives the doll that much more bit of realism even with him just sitting down. A close second is the upper thigh joint that allows the doll to cross its leg without the whole joint popping out. Also very useful for a doll that spends most of its time sitting down.

But even so, my favorite doll has neither of these extra joints and I still love home completely for just how gorgeous he is to look at.

 

Appearance first, posing second. Luckily/unluckily depending on how you look at it given how expensive my wishlist is, the dolls I like the look of tend to be decent at posing.

 

I have never had this problem, as most of the dolls I adore are FL dolls, who are pretty awsome for posing usually.

However, I really like the RS/BBB dolls, but they're not so posable, but very affordable and cute so I want some anyway!

 

Appearance, definitely. I like some poseability, although I find sometimes more joints takes away from stability as well as looking awkward.

 

For me facial features of sculpt and face up - What I like the most -, body shape, proportions of both of them,... go first. Posing skills go right after, but somehow with them. I always may get a different, better, posing skills making them hybrids when necessary, like I did about some few of my BJD, although not exactly, but also, for posing abilities.

Therefore, in my case, it is more about facial features than about posing skills.

 

Sculpt first, pose ability second. There are alot of things that can be done to improve how a doll poses, sculpt is more difficult to alter without risking the dolls original look.

 

I'd say equally, I take them both into account when looking at dolls. However appearance and aesthetics can trump posability for me.

I love posability and it's a plus, but I even if I loved a sculpt and has a super posable body, if the body was ugly looking I would not get it. I love the Soulkids, but I just don't like the appearance of the legs for the double jointed body, so that makes them a no-go.

 

I guess it depends on what you want to use the doll for... mine stand or sit around displaying their beautiful clothes and wigs so pose-ability isn't a big draw for me...(for the money we pay, I thinking standing and sitting ability should be the very least a doll can do frankly!). But I guess some people love posing their dolls in action scenarios and staging fights or whatever for photo-stories or other projects they are working on, if that's what you have in mind, then go for the second or third of your options.

For me, pretty wins every time and I even sold one very beautiful double jointed doll because she was so d*mn posable I found her difficult to deal with, I thought of keeping her head but then you have all the resin matching hoo-ha to go through! Good luck whatever you decide

 

Appearance, though I have to admit, posing plays a small role as well.

 

Looks are priority, face is top, body is second - especially if I have a few hybrid options, and posing is last. I've had dolls with really basic bodies and joints and dolls with fancier jointing and I enjoy working with both. In some ways my more basic jointed dolls were easier to deal with once they have some wiring and sueding. Changing a face or body sculpt is something I couldn't bring myself to try at all.

 

"Both" would be the ideal answer, I guess... but I find myself picking dolls for their appearance more than their posing ability. (says the woman who owns a tribe of Delfs, a couple of Soom SGs and a well-nigh-unposeable IH Akando XD)

 

Posing. Definitely. Body aesthetics comes a close second. [Which is why I love the SDGr so much] Posing dolls as lifelike as possible is one of my favourite activities with them, so having a doll that can't do that or some semblance of that, frustrates me. I mostly invest in hybrids anyway; part of the fun is finding hybrids