Would a mass-produced BJD be negative or positive for the hobby?

I think it would be positive. All the people who want high-quality dolls can still buy the more expensive ones, and newer people or people who a curious about BJDs but don't have as much money to burn can buy the cheaper ones.

 

This is intresting! as if BJD where mass produced they would be of a lesser quality BUT it would make them cheaper (face-up practice victims anyone? XD)
But I still think the 'High end' companies would survive.
All companies have price ranges and fans and a place in the fandom (...are we a fandom? o,o)
I don't think it would ruin the fandom, it would open it up to a lot more people (which isn't always a bad thing) and the 'real' fans would stick around and the 'fair weather' ones would leave after they got bored and found the next 'coolest' thing to be into.
and one of the most important things about BJD is working on them, we make our own clothes, do our own face-ups and even mod dolls to our liking.
I am assuming that if it was aimed at a mass market the dolls they would sell would be full sets?
So i guess that means we would have more of a creative look to our dolls than the 'cheaper' ones

 

If a company* were to begin mass-producing a BJD, or marketing a new BJD as an affordable toy product rather than an artist-made collectible, do you think it would have a negative or positive impact on the hobby in general? Why or how?

Personally, I would feel like it would leave to a more negative impact. The dolls, as everyone knows, are (or rather can easily get) expensive. I believe their price includes the fact that they are hand-made and very unique. If the dolls were mass produced and kept the same price, I probably wouldn't buy them because the value of them goes down. Yes, the same resin, paints, etc. would be used, but if theres hundreds of thousands of the same doll... their originality, uniqueness and rarety would be gone and so would their worth. :/

 

I think it would be a positive thing! People who can't get more expensive ones will be able to get them and really, what does it matter if it's mass produced or not? It's still art. Someone is still sculpting and designing them. I feel like, the more people that get to enjoy them, the better the experience. So unless the doll wouldn't be able to be modified or was less detailed, there's really no issue.

 

This is actually a hard question for me!

I'd have to ask myself: am I willing to be OK with a sacrifice in quality for a price reduction. I'd have to say, no, I'm not. Even though I do aim to cut costs by going the floating head route (eventually), I'm still getting a decent quality head.

I feel it might be positive for more owners to get an authentic BJD, but overall, I still see it as negative.

This is mainly because of how kids factor into things. If these dolls are still good quality, at a lower price, the whole 'dolls are for kids' stigma might be exacerbated if they're marketed towards kids. People who don't really know about BJDs won't be able to tell which are expensive and which aren't. I think it might go the way Barbie collecting is seen, sometimes; some people understand why this Barbie is expensive, and other people just see someone collecting children's toys.

I don't know if I could consider a mass-marketed BJD (that is possibly aimed at kids) 'legitimate' to the more expensive resin variety. I think it would probably end up causing a divide between the BJD owner community. You'd have people who only want resin dolls, and some people who would go for only the mass-marketed dolls.

For me, the whole 'mystique' of resin dolls over mass-marketed dolls can take a back seat. I don't exactly see resin dolls as being something particularly 'rare' (not counting LE or older sculpts). If they made a great quality non-resin BJD - with quality that almost completely matched their resin counterparts - I might look into getting one. But most likely, this isn't the case, and I'd rather only buy heads if the quality is going to be pretty decent as opposed to a whole doll that just doesn't have the same 'look'.