What's something new you learned about yourself as a collector recently?

Maybe a bit silly, but I learned that I restringing my dolls isn't as scary as I thought and I should definitely do it more often! I had to learn recently since the second hand body I purchased came in and was super floppy, but I was glad to learn how to do it myself!

 

Thank you! I'm glad to hear that my post gave you encouragement! I had to read/watch several tutorials, and it took time but it's definitely something I feel I will get better at with time!

My tip is to take photos of your doll as you disassemble it for your reference! It helped me stay organized while my brain was focused on learning the whole process haha

 

It might sound dumb but I learned that dolls are much sturdier than I thought. This was the first time that I had to change hands on a doll and the amount of force the poor doll could take was impressive.

 

@Hannya When I wanted to change a foot the first time I went very delicately and thought something was stuck... Nothing was stuck, it just took a lot more force than I thought to pull the elastic ... I'm amazed with how much pressure is resting on the joints.

 

@Hannya @lutke Trust me, before long you'll be putting them under your leg, between your thighs, kneeling and sitting on them, to restring them. Humiliating? Perhaps, but if they want to pose and stand sturdily and not be a floppy mess, a bit of humiliation is worth suffering!

 

@aihre When I took off the head the first time I muttered "oh no" and "I am so sorry"

 

I've learned that I actually DO like boy dolls. I just hadn't found the right sculpts for me!

 

"Remember, it's worth the suffering!" is something that I'll tell myself over and over the next time I need to change anything on my doll Maybe that'll make me feel less bad haha

 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that is constantly apologizing to their dolls

 

I come from 1:12 figures and model kits... I never thought I'd care, but it matters a lot that BJDs are a lot more unique. Even with the same company face-up, my doll is different than someone else's doll. There's no way you'd put my doll along with someone else's doll with the same sculpt side to side and I wouldn't be able to tell which one is mine. The stuff I owned before, there's no denying it was industrially made. Everyone else who owns the item has the same item as mine, and there are thousands out there probably. I never thought it would matter.

 

I learned that I'm more tolerant of resin colour mismatch than I used to be. I have a couple hybrids where the undertones of the head doesn't match the undertones of the body (pinkish head vs creamy/yellowy body), and ... seems that I'm chill with it? I may not be able to unsee it, but it doesn't vex me as much as I thought, and I can overlook it most of the time. It helps a lot that those two hybrid bodies are fantastic in all other ways: I like the physique, jointing, handling, texture and weight/feel in my hands, and the proportions work well with the head. The hybrid is excellent, the colour mismatch is literally the only downside. Of course I'd like my doll's head and body to match in colour, but it seems like all those other positive traits can outweigh this one negative.

 

I used to only want very realistic looking glass eyes in my dolls, but this year I have found that I actually do quite like some fantasy-ish eyes. Not sure why it took me so long to try them out because I’ve always really liked them in other people’s dolls.

 

It's unfortunately something one can only learn by touch, but I've found that sanded/sandblasted/"soft finish" resin gives me an intense ick, which I never would have known to think of. Dolls are a very haptic thing and buying them online makes it a gamble sometimes, because you can never tell what the resin feels like. I think I just got incredibly lucky with some of my earlier dolls that it never crossed my mind, but several years later I feel like resin texture can become a dealbreaker for me.

 

@cobaltconduct I can understand this. To me my Little Monica feels way off from my other dolls. It's not a deal breaker for me, but the resin just feels weird to touch. It's very course, and make my fingers feel very dry just to touch it, It's difficult to explain.

I like the doll it's not a deal breaker for me, but until I got the doll, most of my resin dolls felt very similar to each other. This one just feels very different. I got her years ago, maybe Little Monica changed up the resin now.

 

I used to think that I would only like dolls with realistic skin types - fantasy colors just didn't seem to appeal to me because it felt unnatural or I might have a harder time finding clothes that would suit them. Then I took a chance and bought a Peak's Woods and I've since fallen in love! I'm definitely open to the idea of getting another doll in an unusual color in the future.

 

I've found, though this is oddly specific, I like dolls the best that I can pick up and comfortably hold with one hand.
For myself, the heaviest I can do this with is 1/3rd.

I have one 75cm doll who definitely needs more care when moving him about, and the largest in my collection, and though I adore him, he's a lot!

I've had the lovely opportunity in my local doll meets to handle dolls of all different shapes and sizes, from little 15cm tinies to ones that are like the size of a large dog, and they're all amazing, but I've found I really like a doll that I could shift about easily if I need to move them to a different place or pick them up to dust or redress or whatnot. I've also had a chance to handle a variety of vinyl dolls, and though I own one vinyl myself, it's still wild to feel the sheer difference in weight and I'd love to put together a Dollfie in the future with the floating head I have.

I uh...man, I might consider having another 75cm in the future though despite this because despite being a lot, I do still like the presence and one headsculpt I really like only comes in that size, ahaha..

 

I just learned that I like more realistically proportioned dolls than I thought I would! I'm pretty compulsively attracted to the late aughts/early 2010s style of big eyes and large heads, so I've pretty intentionally leaned into that as the basis for my collection.

However, I finally unboxed my Maskcat Astrid for the first time and, oh my goodness, I find it hard to look away from her. She is exquisite! Her face holds such a different presence than what I'm used to and I'm positively charmed.

 

I started off with mature tinies, and only more recently got slim MSD sized dolls. I've realized I like handling and sewing for MSDs better.

 

Generally speaking (with the exception of my Dollmore Lusion Pino and some other Dollmore dolls I may get later on), I tend to like the 2000-2010's style of doll. The larger head with a more stylized face (Volks, CP Delf, etc.). I also realized within the last couple of years that I really like dressing my dolls in mainly black clothing, black boots, etc.