Which do you prefer: Buying heads and bodies separate or complete dolls?

I think I prefer full dolls. I tend to only buy dolls where I really the head and body combo a lot. Although I will likely end up with a floating head soon thanks to an event. I might try making a hybrid with it, but I'm just a little nervous about making sure the proportions and resin color match.

 

I don't mind either way. If I like the complete doll then I'll buy it full, but usually I want a better/different body. Two times I've wanted to genderswap heads -- eg. I like a head that the dollmaker usually puts on a male body, but I want to put it on a female body instead -- so of course I had to hybrid.

There are also more dollmakers nowadays that make heads only, so hybriding is the only way. Thankfully those head-only sculptors have partnerships with companies that make bodies, so it's become much easier to pick matching resin colours and proportions than in the past.

 

If I like the full doll I will buy the full doll. Unless I allready have a full doll from the same company, bacause I like some variations in bodies.
My first doll was a full lati blue girl and not too long after that I bought another lati head that popped up second hand. Getting a different body for her was an easy choice and she ended op on a kid delf body. They were both NS and did start out a near perfect match but have since changed colour in different ways (the luts body faded into a pale offwhite while the lati head yellowed slightly and if anything is a tiny bit darker than it started out) but it's no worse than what can be disguised with some blushing. And I couldn't see her on any other body now, it has become part of her personality.

I have aquired a few more hybrids since. I have dika doll hands on a doll leaves boy, a miracle doll head on a dollzone body and a few dolls with off topic parts.
I have several dolls with all their original parts as well.
To me it is always case-by-case. Sure hybriding can be tricky and doesn't always work out, but it is part of how customizable these dolls are and that is what atracted me to BJD in the first place.

 

depends really, but in most cases it’s the first over the latter. Image of dolls in my heads always comes with particular character and clothes in mind and I rarely like combinations between company head and body because quite often it’s the teenager like faces with quite mature bodies (I’m mostly talking about girls since I don’t collect boys). Like Sartoria J girlies like Juliet and Jenice and Melissa could better fit less mature body and more skinny/fashion mod like bodies (like Dollstown 17), but at the same moment some of their sculpts do fit their original bodies (in my personal taste ofc! It’s all very preferential).

the only dolls that I find fit their company bodies perfectly are old Super Gem girls.

 

I have yet to find a head or body that I liked enough to get it without the accompanying part. Finding matches myself isn't something I'm interested in at the moment, though I won't rule it out in the future!

 

I like hybrids. Of course it's a struggle. But they are so unique!
It's rare that I like both the head and the body from the same company.

 

I like both but it very much depends on the skin tone. It's not the same trying to find a match for a white skin than a tan. If the doll has a skin tone that is similar or done by multiple companies chances are I might hybrid if I like the body of a different company more and if the head can be bought separately, but for dolls that have more special skin tones I prefer to buy the full doll, it's too much of a headache and I find tanning dolls and other magic people do with matching too intimidating to try myself.
For example, I bought my joydoll head in soom tawny on its own and for a while I tried to find a match. Bodies I liked didn't come in that colour or even remotely near and it was very difficult to find information on what matches that skin tone, so after so much research I went for the body that was used by the artist for that head. I saved so much time of struggle even if the body is not 100% what I would have liked for him.

As Lillith mentioned I also like different bodies for my dolls and I prefer to not repeat so if it's possible I'll always hybrid in that situation.

 

I prefer to buy whole dolls, but I can’t always afford it. Heads are a lot more feasible, and for now, rotating the heads on the bodies I do have works.

 

It depends, but I always prefer the option of being allowed to buy them separately. It's a little frustrating when you really want just a head and have to buy the full doll, or want just the body and have to get the head as well. I've experienced both of these situations since I like fantasy tinies and minis with a pref for more mature/taller minis. For Dream Valley's past release of Maurren, I found a split partner so I could get the head and the clothes, but for upcoming/currently releasing dolls, I want two of DV Ehecatl's heads. And on the opposite side, when Dollzone rereleases their 1/4 Yin-Long, I plan on splitting it with someone else so I can get the body and they get the head.

Like Lilith and Gynure, I don't like repeating bodies. Unless the characters are supposed to be super similar, I really prefer to have different bodies for my characters set in the same world. If the characters are from different universes, then it's ok for them to have the same body, I won't pose them next to each other anyway.

 

I mostly buy full dolls. The one case I have of a head and body that I bought separately are mismatched. You don't have that issue when you get the whole doll at once.

I also don't usually buy BJDs as much as I have in the past year...since last August I've bought 4 dolls, after having only 2 for years. When you only buy dolls once in a blue moon, it's easier to afford head and body together.

 

Buy as full set. If it’s possible. I rather wait half a year for 1 full doll than keep head wait for body wait for clothes. I could be dead before I’ll have full dressed doll… I know there is cheaper doll bodies & head is all that matters but it’s too much planing & waiting. And if I mess up & it won’t go on neck joint then what? Reorder another body? Have 1 headless? It’s too much

 

For me I prefer to buy all together. I'm always worried about matching sizes and colours, so I've never considered mixing and matching really. I love seeing people's hybrids though

 

I prefer to buy complete dolls so that I don’t have to worry about matching the resin colors. If a doll head really stands out to me, I’m willing to purchase it and try to find a body that matches it though.

 

Full dolls are easier, obviously but hybrids are way more affordable sometimes. I've put together dolls that were quite expensive originally for way less via hybrids.

 

It depends, I would love to mostly buy dolls with both the head and body but I often can’t, floating heads are a constant in my collection for both cost and availability reasons, some doll sculpts I love don’t even seem to have easily findable bodies so I just gotta bide my time and get them a body when it arises.

this also helps me with cost by getting an expensive head and a more affordable body to pair it with, more newbie friendly if you are set on an expensive head but want to save some money!

 

When it goes well, hybrids. I love figuring out the right parts and matching the head to the body in a way that suits a character better than the original necessarily would. But when I get blindsided by something like a curved neck that is actually wider at the joint than where it's measured [this has happened to me], I start thinking maybe I should keep to full dolls...

 

I vastly prefer ordering everything at once. The exception is trying to match dolls to a character, in which case it's nicer to make sure every part is perfect.

 

as a person who hasn't gotten their first bjd yet, buying a head and a body separately seems really scary!! i tend to gravitate towards dolls that i like as a whole package, at least in terms of heads and bodies. i might try out hybrids in the future once i have a bit more experience though

 

As someone who has spent (and wasted) a LOT of money on hybrids that don't work - I think you are very smart in choosing to wait. Also, don't forget the Photo Reference section of this forum, where you can ask other collectors if they have a hybrid of the doll you want (saving you time, money, and potential heartache).

Having said that, I am an all hybrid, all the time collector. Even when I buy full dolls (which is rare anymore), I end up swapping out heads and bodies more than half the time.
I buy bodies, and then I gotta scrounge for heads that I think will match. I can't explain it. I'm weird.

It makes me incredibly grateful to folks who decide to pare down their floating head collections, tho...

 

It’s probably less reassuring, but you’re only as weird as I am! I often buy bodies before heads. I have an angel philia body that I’m currently trying to choose a resin head for, and a Soom supergem body that needs a head, and i need to try make one of my floaters go on it, so I buy less heads to work on my bodies!