When does it end, the doll acquisition stage?!

I ordered my first doll in October 2009. I recieved her in January 2010. I now have 2 full dolls home, a head that is out for a faceup, and a Pukifee on the way. By the end of this year I should have 4 complete dolls. If I don't buy anymore. It definitely snowballed for me once I got my first. I can already feel the "need" to buy waning though. I want to put the time and energy into the ones I have, and save up for the body for my head. Now I "need" to complete the ones I have... and maybe... order one for X-Mas... but that won't count until 2011, ^_^.

 

I went through a very slow phase, but the last year has been a very rapid aquisition, mostly as i have been doing a lot of trading through the MP and sewing to raise doll funds. I thought that once I had the band it would stop, or once I had the band and the elf family, well I am one short of the whole elf family, and I have the whole band, and I STILl keep wanting them, I now also have deities, and reindeer and werewolves! It is rediculous, but I can afford it and I am not putting myself at risk. I love and enjoy every doll I own, so i am not bothered, they are not just tings, but each one is special.

Right now though I have gotten to a new phase where I want to create, so I have started using cheaper dolls to do some heavy mods projects. This is really fun and I am enjoying it a lot, and they do pad my collection, but I don't care, i love them all.

 

This is exactly what I wanted to know... when does it end? Does it end when you get bored of dolls and leave the hobby? I'm worried that's going to happen to me... so I have two dolls and decided to stop, and see where they takes me. But I still find myself looking at more dolls and planning my next purchase...
There is also a set "family" of dolls I wish to obtain ... and since there's always new stuff coming out from companies, like someone mentioned... there's always going to be this "want =/= need" battle... I don't think it ever ends... at least not now, anyways. D:

 

the first year I got into the hobby I acquired them left and right..but now 4 yrs later I am more picky and have learned to let go of one to get another..not all the time but that's the only way I can keep my CCs from curling up and dying on me..lol and I am learning what dolls make me the happiest.

 

I am posting here again. I actually did quit buying these dolls years ago, for a while. Maybe a year or so. I had one msd and 3 tinies at the time and I was happy with that. I got discouraged in this hobby with the , to me, more expensive large dolls. One of mine fell and the face up was destroyed, and one came unstrung. I decided to quit bjd for a while. It worked. I, of course, went into other kinds of dolls though. I came back to this trying out the smaller dolls. I am now back and super hooked with the tiny size. No more being happy with just four and that is it.

 

I have small bursts of doll buying phases followed by a few months of dormancy. I placed the order for my first doll (mini-sized) either November or December of 2008. I was making a hybrid, and I didn't have her complete until February of 2009, I think. In between that time I acquired another doll (tiny this time), which had arrived first. By November of 2009, I've acquired, in addition, a Dimdoll elf head, a PukiPuki faceplate, an Unoa bust, a Custom House Ange Ai Uri, a Migidoll Yuri head, and a Felixdoll fullset.

So within a year of paying for my first bjd, I had 4 full dolls and 4 doll parts. I also had paid for a Supia Rosy that November as well, and she arrived January. While I had no definite plans for doll acquisition, I definitely got a bit giddy and bought things on impulse.

I've since sold most of them and now only have Uri, Rosy, Yuri (head only), and a Camellia Dynasty kitty. I've tamed the impulsive buys, but still constantly think about which dolls to get in the future. I have a clearer idea of what I want now, and that seems to have dammed my need to buy random dolls on a whim.

Most likely I won't ever stop desiring dolls, but I think over time and with more experience in this hobby I'll learn which ones will keep my attention over years.

 

I've said this a few more times than I care to admit, but I think I'm finally out of the "acquisition" stage. I kept thinking I was done, then I'd find another doll I felt like I had to bring home. But right now, I really feel like I mean it...at the very least, I'm on a long-term hiatus. While I love that acquisition stage, I am also so completely smitten with how my brood has filled that I can't imagine the need to bring anyone else home. I really want to devote my time to the ones here, not fixate on who I don't have.

 

Five years and still going strong. No signs of a slow-down yet.

 

IT NEVER ENDS. You must run now! Go back in time and stop yourself from ever even seeing one. D; TAKE UP COMPETITIVE SCRABBLE. ANYTHING ELSE! ANYTHIIIIIIIING!

... >< I will never stop wanting dolls. I am almost certain of this. It's very unfortunate. I stalk the marketplace... OFTEN.

 

For now I feel like I'm slowly settling onto a plateau, with only two main priorities. Working towards my dream doll and a body for Robin. I almost feel like having more than 4 could overwhelm me. This saying, I only have Kori and Paris complete with Robin's floating head and feeling quite comfortable.

I do have other dolls on my wishlist, characters I'd like to "see in the flesh" you could say. I don't have the urge to buy them though. Not to the extent that I've felt for said four at least.

This could all change in a couple years though :P

 

YES. Yes I have this problem XD XD

I liked the dolls for a year and when I finally decided to get one....I ended up getting a lot more than one...even before my first orders arrived in the mail...

I even got other family members and friends addicted...

CrushMyVelvet is 100% correct. The only way to stop is to travel back in time and stop yourself from buying the first one!

...or possibly find a new obsession. Try videogames? Maybe get into similar things like anime or other arts and crafts. Good luck!

God help us all XD XD

P.s. Have you ever found yourself relating the dolls to everything? For example, when I was given some jewelery as a present, I thought....this would look great on my doll too. Sometimes I even buy us matching clothes.

 

The bulk of my collection came from last year, my first full year in the hobby . This year I'm down to just two new additions, and won't really have the money for any more for the forseeable future. I do find I get less antsy to omukae at regular intervals now, so my obsession is . . . somewhat? . . . more under control? Maybe?

However, when I'm in a more stable situation all around, I have a feeling some of the bigger holes in the collection will start to get filled in.

 

I'm posting here for the 2nd time.

I went on a huge dollie buying spree in the beginning. I started to connect my original characters to dolls, and my mind (imaginitive and enabling as it is) would create characters for dolls I wanted, creating parts for them in the story. The list of "wants and desires" expanded exponentially and it WOULD. NOT. STOP.

Then I severed the connection of characters and dolls. I kept the two dolls that I liked the most, and am in the process of selling off the rest. Now I buy dolls only when I'm completely over the moon about them (stricter selection), and only when I have the funds to pay for them at hand (no credit, no loans, no debts).
Though they no longer house my characters; they allow me to recover a piece of my childhood I dearly miss: play. That means more to me than any other 'function' they could have. And the playing with dolls fuels my imagination for the stories I want to write. My writing and dolls are not completely seperated from eachother, but their roles in relation to eachother have been redefined, making both myself and my wallet a lot happier and more fullfilled!

 

Hmm, this will be my third year of buying them. However, I have come to a point where I realize what I like the best in dolls, and am planning on selling almost half of them. This half is mostly pukis, which I realized are simply too small for my clumsy hands to deal with, and two SDs, who are too big for my tastes. Turns out I like MSDs and yo-SDs the best. I also know what type of bodies I prefer now.

I think my doll acquisition will slow a lot once I get my hands on all the dolls I want from my favorite companies, Blue Fairy and Fairyland. However, it will take me about four more years to get to that point I think, so... Hehehe!

Anyway, as long as I enjoy them and can afford it, I see no reason to stop.

 

Last year was my first year and I acquired a lot of dolls! I'm currently up to eight and a floating head, whom I'm paying for a body on layaway for. I need them for making/modeling clothing and I still need a standard size MSD boy and a 65 cm. boy. Then I'll be happy for a while. But the fever for buying them has slowed considerably-I want to work with and perfect the ones I have now.

 

Ahh I'm at 9 (7 full dolls and 2 heads) and I'm over-dollied. I'm letting my Pipos Bao go, cause I just don't have the time for him..

But the spending will stop as sooonnn as I get my little carnie home - Iplehouse Lee (Droooooooolllsss)

 

Wow this was a while ago, but I'm posting here in solidarity for all us 'one-doll' owners out there. I've been active in this hobby for 5 years and interested for many more and I've still only ever bought one doll, my perfect Maudlin. I actually had the incredible good fortune to win a fullset Ringdoll Ashford at a meet and I am over the moon with him, I truly am. But would I have bought him if I hadn't won him? No, I would have admired him from afar, longed to play with him but would never have acquired him off my own back. I think this made it even more special when I won him. Now I cherish both my dolls, the longed for and the gifted and still have no desire to own more. I am happy to worship beautiful sculpts over the internet. I direct my spending to obtaining rare antique miniatures to furnish their abode

 

I thought for sure that I'd only need 1 and that would be it but, my solo doll looked so lonely and desperate that she needed a friend. 2 then became 3 when I fell head over heels in love with one of my friend's dolls and I was determined to stay at 3. Until of course, I happened to browse the marketplace and find my gorgeous Camine head that still needs a body.

Hopefully, this will be it for me! But, I still find myself browsing the marketplace and doll sites. My wishlist has 12 dolls in it now and I just have to keep reminding myself that I should finish the ones I already have or to save up my money just in case anything should happen.

 

Since my original post back in 2007, I've found I buy dolls in waves, with those "waves" getting increasingly further and further apart, until finally I got to the point that I thought, "Gee, I might be able to actually, y'know, stop. I'm pretty content right now. I don't need any more dolls."

Hah. Really, I should have known that as long as I actively looked at dolls, on DOA and on websites selling dolls, I wasn't likely to stop. Eventually, that drive for new dolls hit again, and this time I couldn't resist it or talk myself out of it. And it was worse for resisting for so long, I swear.

Realistically, I think that I will continue to acquire dolls as long as I actively participate in the hobby.