where do you see BJDs in 50 years?

mine would be a relic...i don't think i'd sell her unless i needed the money for food...

otherwise, if i couldn't play with her anymore, she'll rest happy in a protective case where i can look at her whenever i please.

 

I think in 50 years they'll be walking on their own...DOLLY MINDS! A sort of weird Indian in the Cupboard sort of thing i was thinking about. Mini non-people, people if that makes sense...sorry people think i have an overactive imagination^.^

TC

 

Very interesting thread, with many thoughtful and intelligent posts!

Personally, I don't want to think THAT far ahead!

That said ~ my hubby & I buy and sell all sorts of antique and vintage collectibles for a living, including dolls. Many of them are in remarkably good condition, especially considering their great age (think over 150 years for some items). Needless to say, the rarer the doll, the better its condition, and the more original the doll (ie. original facial features, eyes, wig, clothing, original head, body, and limbs), the more money and attention they command from the collecting world. (this applies to any collectible by the way, not just dolls). Wear and/or some damage is acceptable on an antique or vintage doll (depending on type of doll, of course), and as was said up-thread, some look of "age" just adds to the romance and patina of an antique or vintage item (they somehow don't look "real" if they look "too" new). Antique and vintage dolls are made from many different materials, resin, of course, not being among them, as it is a relatively new material for dolls.

Now, as has been mentioned upthread, resin is pretty durable, and except for the darned yellowing problem, resin dolls will probably retain much of their original beauty and appeal. Yes, they'll have faded and/or missing face-ups, scratches, chips, and broken fingers, toes, etc., but that's just like today's current crop of antique / vintage dolls, and that doesn't really stop collectors from loving and buying these dolls.

There will probably be all sorts of new developments in this hobby as to resin dolls, but there will always be folks who long for the "good old days" and will seek to possess a bit of that old time charm through "antique" bjd's. And of course, there will be some historical value too, especially with regard to the various companies (some of whom may or may not still be in business in 50 years). That, of course, will just add to the rarity and allure of the "hunt" for "antique" bjd's in the future.

It should be very, very interesting for the future's collectors! (Geesh, this reminds me of the old SF magazines and their "50 years in the future" stories! ) ~ In the meantime, my advice is be very zen and live in the moment, and just enjoy and love your resin bjds in the "now"! Have fun, stay centered and positive, and the rest, as they say, will take care of itself!

Best wishes,
earth.spirits

 

I really think that BJD are just a fad thing and might not even be around in half that time. I mean, really, $XXX (or more) for a doll? I mean, literally, yes, there will be a few floating around but... I mean, look at dolls of the past. I see dolls all the time on antique roadshow that were "hugely popular" in the 1920s or something and now, eh, $100 because the hair is still in good condition and you have both shoes. Is my Elizabeth just losing value every day? Probably. Oh well. Who knows if I will be around in 50 years so I am not gonna think about it much. I like it now. Good enough.

 

I don't know about the future of BJDs in general... but I think my dolls will be sold by the time I am 66 years old... I wish BJDs could last longer and not yellow so much... if the dolls stay in near perfect condition (or at least close to what I bought them) they would probably stay with me.

 

I think they'll still be around. Not sure that they'll be "worth" a lot more, maybe to some specific collectors. As people have said it also really depends on how the resin ages. These dolls will probably be chesired for their played in condition and accessories. No minty mint dolls here LOL.
Nancy

 

If the resin lasted that long... they'd probably be sitting on display somewhere in my house. Who knows, if I had kids and grandkids by then they might have inherited them by then. :3

 

And then I pop onto eBay and see vintage Shirley Temple dolls and Lencis going for one grand, two grand, and beyond. And the French and German dolls from the 1800s beating that price. So anything can happen really.

 

Is there anyway to keep them from yellowing? I'd love to keep my baby.... yellow-free..... I take him out all the time.... -scared-

 

YES! That was my immediate thought when I read the title of this thread. Next up was MSD-sized persocoms *^^*

 

i feel that people have been collecting dolls for centuries and this will not stop. i'm not entirely certain how much worth our MSDs will hold. it's possible that the market might get over-saturated. but i don't really think it's the point here. i didn't buy my dolls with concern for their resale value. i bought them for the value that they hold for my own well being. they're my muses, and they make me incredibly happy. and that's a wealth that exceeds a monetary one.

 

I'm doing my best taking care of my dolls right now. My F-15 doesn't look a day older than when I got him, although I may not notice a change since I see him every day, there's still nothing readily evident. I'd like to keep my dolls unyellowed for years to come. I hope I won't ever have, or want, to sell my dolls, but I can't say what the future will be like. If I do sell my Super Dollfies, I will probably still buy regular dollfies or another Volks line of dolls/figures since I've loved many types of dolls my whole life.

As for whether they'll still be in production..ABJDs are currently 8 years old, less than a decade has gone by and there have been so many changes. Companies have come and gone, or are fading out right now. I predict most of the current ones not lasting the test of time, and a few remaining strong. I highly doubt the same companies will expand into robots, they're really nothing like dolls or figures.

 

in 50 years, i'll be dead, and my best friend's twins will inherit a plethora of brittle and yellowing resin beings. and they will wonder what on earth to do with them. i hope they figure it out.

 

I believe they'll be more popular, but i like the vast majority of society not knowing about BJD's, that's what makes it special, unique. ^_^ I'm praying a company or someone can find a solution to yellowing, if not, all my dolls will be tan by then, lol, I'll be painting them all! I can't really think 50 years into the future, kinda scary though, I'll be like 68. ><

 

Hmm, at current inflation rates the price of a Bermann will be over 200K in 50 years. LOL

 

Volks already makes robots. XD; Robofie! Haha!

And tut tut Mamo! What you're seeing the anime market is not a peak in popularity, it's an over-saturation of a relatively limited market and it no longer being EXCLUSIVE to the realm of nerds and weirdos. It's becoming more where it is in Japan--it's a thing for kids and teenaged boys, but anyone over the age of twentysomething who's still really into is pretty much a hopeless loser. (And by really into it, I mean the 23-year-old wearing a Yugioh shirt. No insult intended if anyone does that here--I still have BSSM memorabilia that's probably almost a decade old.) ^_~

But seriously! ANGELIC LAYEEEER. XD Haha! I said once, and I'll say it again! I want dolls that I can make MOVE WITH MY MIND. XD

By the way, yellowing, eh, not so bad. My mother collects aforementioned Bryer horses, and really. They don't look too bad.

 

This whole yellowing thing was one thing I missed while doing my research was wondering what the whole UV thing was about.

In 50 years time, if the whole world is not covered in water, I believe they will turn into collectibles as much as all other old toys do when they become old and something you remember from when you were a kid and could not afford them.

Hope they never do go full-scale commercial though, feel it would make them loose the appeal and the rarity that makes them so special. Small companies making small runs makes them so much more unique and collectable in the long run. Even if they do turn yellow by time.

edit: Just ordered Angelic Layer on DVD ><

 

Yellowing is not such a problem as brittle would be - have any of the old dolls gone brittle at all? the thinner bits of resin like the fingers and eartips for instance?

OT hey nice to see some breyer fans here - some ARE resin and they do not yellow but that is coz they have a paint layer over them. Its the tenite plastic that yellows and only on the lighter colours - which is an interesting point, I suspect that any doll either treated with the UV MSC or that has been blushed will ultimately age better than a doll that has not. I don't know enough about the UV coating to comment on that - but my guess is dolls that have been left with clothing on will get 'tan lines' regardless of UV or no - its just the level of yellowing that will vary.

 

I've heard that French Resin can become brittle after only a couple years! But i don't own any french resin dolls, so i wouldn't know. I want to sculpt my own BJD, so i'm not sure about where i'd get regular resin. LOL

 

I'm a little cynical, so I think a lot of people here impulsively jumped on the trend because it's something cool and new to them, but I see those same people a year later in the marketplace either downsizing or completely getting rid of their collections. There are a lot of teenagers here, and trust me, more than half of the stuff that interests you as a teen you won't give two squats about as an adult past college. I think there will be new trends and crazes and products that will pull away our attention, and the fandom will shrink down a bit back to collectors who are interested in the dolls for the long haul. I mean, think about something like the My Little Pony market before the G3s were released.

I can't see so many companies as now sticking around making a profit on these. The market is already starting to flow over with newer and newer dolls. You guys may have noticed the marketplace has some stellar deals and variety lately... Something to note also is that people who don't feel into the hobby anymore typically don't just put the dolls away but sell them, either because they want to give their dolls better homes or because, hey, they're a lot of $$$ just sitting there! Which makes it much less likely they'll return to it down the road.

Certainly the products in their current incarnations are temporary. If we do have ball jointed dolls in the future, they may be made of something different with some kind of amazing mobility and attachments and extra options.

I'm not even going to go into the kind of stuff that St. James proposed. We may have had WW3 by that point but I'd certainly rather not think about it...