Why are so many boy dolls so girly?

I had this problem too - I wanted my guy to look handsome, but not girly. Masculine Handsome, you know? I found what I was looking for at Iplehouse, thankfully, but it was really frustrating for a little while. I think it'd be nice if we could embrace the 'manly & handsome' -Mansome, anyone? - side of dolls as well.

 

I like pretty boys, beautiful men, so the abjd companies really cater to my preference. I've been like this since little, I'd watch Japanese anime in bishojou style. As I grew older, I switched to bishounan and mecha. Always love the artwork.

My mom prefers manly man. She says that a boy cannot be too beautiful because beautiful man brings home trouble. They are no good.

However, my mom said that manly men are by nature not so beautiful, their features not as fine as girls, if doll companies produce manly looking men dolls that look like men, people won't buy because they're not beautiful. This is why the boy dolls look like girls.

Now, I have always complained that my F38 from Volks look like a girl, he's always been mistaken for a lady. However, my mom thinks that between Isao Nanjou and the F38, Isao looks more like a girl than the F38. Then, she would accuse me of bias and explain why she thinks the doll companies produce boy dolls that look like girls. She will continue her nagging why beautiful men are no good in real life and why I should avoid them

 

I think is a cultural thing i see a many orient boys and are very cute really i think some times that are girls xD but not are men, and when I see a doll generally I see a girl xD but when I check on gender type I read boy, but the face sculpt are perfect for a girl body and pass are girl XD, for some exits cross headers XD.

More that one time I wish a boys heads for a make them a girls XD

 

I agree with the theory that the Asian aesthetic is more androgynous than most. I personally like androgyny so it doesn't bother me that my boy might be mistaken for a girl.
I can see why this could annoy some people. However, I think that as the interest in bjds as grown, so has the selection. There are more and more companies that are coming out with manlier molds. I doubt that most iplehouse EIDs get mistaken for girls XD

 

Yeah, I think the Asian aesthetic has a lot to do with it as well. I would like to see boyish boys rather than handsome men though. Lots of the MSD size boys really just look like girls. To the extent where I've seen some boy faces and want them badly for a female character, but they're on the wrong gender body. It's tough to make a scrappy little boy character!

 

It is exactly why I don't like joung bjd. I preffer the bigger ones, they look like men, not like girly teenagers.

 

I found this very early on. My first BJD was MSD sized and a girl and as soon as she got here I knew she needed a guy to sit with. Then began the hunt. It was almost impossible to find a boy in that size that didn't look either feminine, or too little. (Like young teens when I wanted a man.) It didn't help that when I was showing my boyfriend the few contenders I had found, he asked if they were girls or boys...

 

It took me ages to like boy dolls in this hobby - and while I have found lots I like, more than two thirds of them are 'oh man, he would look so pretty in a dress!"
My partner also sees this as a really big loss for the dolls; he likes to spend time with me, and my dolls, and has his favourites with them too, but he always says that if he wasn't going to get an army of pukipukis, he would want a man doll, not a boy or a girl. They are all so thin through the shoulders, making them look too willowy for me. I have found one so far that to me didn't scream 'man-girl', so I am saving for him!!

 

my SDF Abadon keeps getting mistaken for a girl every now and then and he's a dark brooding vampire in one story / and a singer in his other story. :/ okay sure he is based off of a real person/singer Japanese singer Asagi from the band D. who is very much a MAN, but is pretty....still... he is very much MALE even in his topless images i did of him blooded in the snow, topless...you know showing lack of breasts but pecks? somebody STILL called him a 'she' >:///////

id understand if it was my bright bouncy sparkly friggin glitter obsessed multi-coloured Oshare-kei boy Itou who is constantly called a girl i think HE THINKS he's a damn girl half the time XD . NOT dark brooding very much a MAN Ruka seriously i know clothing can cover them up some and be deceptive, i think the girliest item of clothing he owns is a long jacket with lace frills all over it what is modelled and made for MALE dolls XD bloody-hell! D:<

seriously :/
here is the image that was mistaken for a girl.....


and i directed to an image in the same shoot...


seriously....that amount of muscle and chunky man-goodness....how.......female....?....what?! >:{

based off of this singer

 

I fidn that there are plenty of masculine men, it may be just me though-- for example lots of the Iplehouse boys are masculine, sure there are a few that are cutesy, and like it has been said, unidoll is good for manly sort of men, the dragon dolls really look masculine to me, ecspecially on the uncle bodies they have (70cm bodies)... You also have to keep in mind that although tthe companies are catering a lot to the western community, but the original intent was the eastern community, where I find girls are looking for the prettier boys, in Japan I noticed a lot of guys that were more cutesy were more popular, and the masculine ones had the out. Also as much as it bugs doll owners, the community is very immersed within the anime and manga community, and if you look at anime guys almost all of them have a feminine essence about them, lets take one of the more popular shojo out there, Ouran High School Host Club, even the biggest character (Takashi) is a feminine character, there is only one remotely manly character in the show ant that is Ritsu, and he's a thug, unpopular and scary to most characters in the show.

If you want a manly face you can always pull a minimee head, they I find with male heads are very masculine when they copy human features like that.

 

Well I thought it was a cultural thing too. As someone said before look at all the j-pop, k-pop males and say they're not pretty~
But I have seen some manly men around. I guess you have to look around till you find it.

 

edit: uuuh.. nvm

 

well oo.. girly is cute u-u what else?

by the way, amazing pics over there ...
girly is cute.... sexy is...well...sexy! XD~~

 

Personally, I like the feminine male BJDs. They're just too cute, really~

 

It's probably because (mostly the Japanese brands) most of them are based off of anime, which has many feminine boys.

 

Asagi so can pull off a woman though :P. 3

 

I think it is because that BJD started with girl dolls but I might be wrong. The make-up is important in the look of the doll.

 

It's odd, I love androgyny in dolls because then I can dress them basically however the heck I want. My SD16 girl will however always be very girly because I can't exactly bind her chest. XD In real life though, I'm mildly freaked out by really androgynous people - especially when I work in retail. I never know to call them sir or ma'am and I don't want to offend them and I freak out. If I clearly know the gender of an androgynous person (because they told me) then I am no longer freaked out and I don't care what they wear. Honestly, I'm not sure any of this makes much sense as it is early on Saturday for me and I'm half asleep. ^^;

Somebody brought up the subject of manly women and it reminded me of a passage my father showed me yesterday from his religious studies class about how fierce the Amazon women were, with knives strapped to every part of their body. I can't remember which text it was from, though I want to say it was from the Qur’an. You don't really see a lot of masculine girl dolls on the boards. It really is much harder for a girl to cross dress than a boy.

I think my boys are fairly masculine, though I used to put my Unoa boy in dresses ALL the time. Reisner's body is far too manly for him to get away with a dress, though I think I will find a nice tartan to make him a kilt. My sleepy school A boy sometimes gets some frilly clothes, but my SDC Arashi pretty much lives in his h.naoto outfit which has a skirt over the pants. Really I don't think it matters if the boys are girly or not as long as people are happy with how their dollies are dressed.

 

I have many problems with doll boys. I like manly BJD, not androgynous, but I suppose their face up can make a whole difference although their fine features works against with it. Otherwise, it's more than clear that it's a cultural thing, it's more than obvious that the biggest market of this market is asian so their aesthetics standars rules over the western's, as it has been said previously, but there are other options right now. I'm quite happy with my F-38, he hasn't been mistaken with a girl although he doesn't wear (at least, right now) standard western manly clothes.

 

I agree with the people who say it's a cultural thing, but I also think it could be a result of the key feature of these dolls that makes them so special: customization. A sculpt that can successfully be either a boy or a girl will cater to a wider audience, and that will of course lead to more sales. This sucks for those in the hobby who want manly men, but it's good for companies I would imagine. However, the desire for more burly dudes is growing, and I've definitely noticed the doll companies adjusting themselves according to that. There are a great deal more lumberjacks amidst the sea of girly boys than there was a couple years ago!