Did you ever find dolls creepy before you got into BJDs?

I've always loved dolls for as long as I can remember, though I will agree I'm also not a fan of the Reborns.
Horror is my favourite movie genre, and I never understood what's scary in dolls. There's actually one movie that made it a little bit creepier, it had a plot of reviving the consciousness of a dead person inside of a life sized doll through human sacrifices. That was the first time I saw a movie that didn't use dolls just because some thinks they look scary, there was actually a reason.

 

That's interesting. I suppose gore in any kind of art elicits a strong reaction from people, be it good or bad. I think it's just that some people find beauty in it. When seeing it on a doll, you can either feel pity or worry about the doll, even if you know that it feels nothing, or think that it's a fascinating object. For example I really like l'Armoire de DanDan's Harlan sculpt, it would make such a wonderful photo subject. I also think that looking at something terrifying while knowing that it's not real can be strangely comforting. But maybe I'm just more concerned when something is not supposed to look scary, but still it does for some reason, like how in my country a lot of people thought that Buci Baba was creepy (it's basically a Cabbage Patch doll knockoff).

 

OK, yeah, Ventriloquism dummies (they aren't dolls in my book) DO skeeve me out a bit. It goes back to a TV spot for a horror movie where all you see is this V Dummy reciting a rhyme in front of a pitch black background. I have never liked them since.

Buuut, like I said, NOT a doll in my book.

 

I did not find them creepy at all. But the realistic ones took me a bit second to figure out they weren’t real people XD

 

Not really, I loved almost every doll. The old victorian ones ain't great though.

 

I gradually became interested in them. I was terrified of bjds during my HS years but in the last few years have gotten more used to them by seeing sculpts and artists do work that I find more pleasing, I guess? It's hard to explain but certain ones still scare me. If they look more anime or not like porcelain dolls I'm more okay with them!

 

Some of the more realistic ones weren’t my cup of tea but everyone likes what they like

 

Not in the slightest. I had a great-aunt who made porcelain dolls so I was always sort of fascinated with them. Fashion dolls, cloth dolls, etc. I have all sorts of dolls in my collection. Even horror movies/games couldn’t make me hate dolls. I actually really like ones with clown/jester aesthetics much to the chagrin of my family lol.
There are of course dolls that I don’t like or wouldn’t want on my shelf, but I was never afraid of them. There’s something in me that just wants to know the story behind the doll.

 

Not really other than the super realistic reborn baby doll.

 

I've never found dolls to be creepy, but I didn't have an interest in them until later in life. As a kid, dolls never interested me, even the ones made for girls my age. Instead, I was more focused on Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Littlest Pet Shop, and Webkinz. Dolls never bothered me by any means, but they also weren't things I'd think about at all. It wasn't until high school, when I discovered BJDs that I became really interested in dolls. After that I became so focused on dolls, especially their faces and every detail of them, that I would hone in on facial features of both humans and dolls that I found beautiful. These things really became like art to me (and BJDs are art, of course). I find dolls beautiful and intriguing and love how varied they are. Funnily enough, although as a kid I was never interested in the dolls made for girls my age at the time, I am now interested in the dolls made for girls today (their fashion is so much better and their designs are so much more varied and fun!)

A while ago I went to a museum that was full of supposedly haunted dolls (doubtful), and all I could think about while looking at them them and reading their spoooOOOooOooky descriptions were the individual features on them that I like and thought were pretty. One clown doll had really beautiful lips under the makeup, another antique doll had gorgeous eyes, a bunch had really pretty outfits and cute noses. There were some that looked a little unsettling, mainly the ones that were burnt or had the paint severely chipping, but I didn't find them scary, but rather intriguing. If anything, I felt bad for the dolls for being stuck in a dark, dingy museum with these goofy stories tied to them.

 

BJDs were actually what kinda opened me up to dolls a little bit more. I had a weird phase as a kid where I suddenly out of nowhere just hated them (porcelain dolls especially). Once I got on the internet, I discovered the varieties of BJDs that are little animals or creatures or that have unrealistic/ semi-realistic proportions and sculpts and found them charming. I still find more realistic-leaning BJDs to be unappealing, but I'm not outright scared of them anymore.

 

Never. I grew up with a collection of porcelain dolls that my mother kept on my dresser, so maybe I was just conditioned that way. The moment I saw a BJD for the first time, I was obsessed.

 

I think if you find dolls creepy in general it's hard to get attached to them. Though I like the idea of horror dolls, dolls that play with the fear of people. I really don't understand how anyone can find pretty dollies scary. To me they're nothing but lovely

 

I personally don't find dolls creepy, but my parents thought dolls and cats were creepy (i recall my mom often saying how gross looking a doll or cat was). They disliked dolls. When I was really little I think it was before 1st grade my dad did scare me once by telling me my dolls will come alive and hurt me. I think for a short time I did fear dolls because of that, but it didn't last long. He also told me Santa Clause would come and kidnap my sister and me. It was around the same time period as when he told me about the doll thing. There are some horror dolls I find scary only because it is horror themed, but the doll itself isn't creepy. Sometimes i do get nightmares about ghost dolls haunting me that's pretty scary because it's about a ghost possessing a doll. Anything supernatural related is scary, but sometimes entertaining.

Oh I think I do fear one type of doll. Those dolls that open their eyes on their own and close their eyes when you angle them a certain way. There is something dead looking about those dolls and lifeless. I don't mean the pullip dolls. What are those dolls called the ones you have as a kid that open shut their eyes? I think when I was really little I got one used from I think a church sale and that doll had a broken eye, so one eye was always moving and the other one was closed. Somehow that was really disturbing to me or was it someone else's doll that I am recalling? I had one friend who literally had so much toys it was like a toy store. It doesn't seem like it would have been my doll because my parents dislike dolls (toys in general) and I didn't have much dolls back then. It could have been her doll and i played with it or she could have given me the doll (she was nice and gave me toys sometimes to keep. Although i found out she was a little racist a few years later that ended our friendship)... I can't recall. I do remember though the eyes looking dead.

Would automatons count as creepy dolls? Recently while I was looking up antique dolls I came across something called automatons. They are creepy, but amazing. I find them interesting. I think of those things as dolls.

I suppose porcelain dolls are somewhat creepy, but I still like them because it's amazing how back then they can make dolls like that and the skills needed to make it. I find porcelain dolls somewhat creepy because people always claim they are haunted. It's that ghost element that really scares me not the doll itself. Ventriloquist dolls are I guess have a creepy factor because again i am thinking about it being haunted, but I like the look of Ventriloquist dolls too.

I guess I do find some dolls creepy because I keep thinking they might be haunted because of what people say about some dolls. It hasn't stopped me though from liking dolls because I know it's not really haunted it's just the idea of being haunted that's scary.

 

No not really. I never saw a doll and thought they were creepy. Or how some horror movies use children as scare factors. I never understood it personally.

 

I find the super realistic dolls to be creepy and much prefer the big eyed styled dolls over them. Especially reborns, those things are scary. No bueno.

 

Yeah... same. I'm fine with everything but the hyper-realistic dolls. Like I shouldn't have to stare at a doll for 5+ min to determine if it is alive or not a living thing.

 

I never liked dolls even as a child (except I wanted an American girl doll very badly for quite a few years) And I was actually worried that I would find bjds creepy before I got my first doll (luckily I didn't) even my family who don't like other dolls like bjds ^-^

 

I collected dolls my entire life, but when I first saw BJDs at an anime convention when I was 14ish, they did creep me out. I'm pretty sure they were some of the earlier Volks MSDs or SDCs as this would have been around 2006. Two years later, I brought my own BJD to the same convention (a Lati M)! These days I toy with the idea of getting one of the old SDCs because they're nostalgic to me now- they were my very first intro to BJDs, even if I didn't appreciate them at the time!

 

Originally I found a lot of the dream valley and dollzone dolls super creepy (Especially the horse one but with like human feet still think that ones odd) but honestly i began to kind of love more unusual dolls because they just feel like a breath of fresh air now. Also dollzone's mermaids completely changed my opinion because of how good the body looked.

 

I never felt fear or discomfort towards dolls, although seeing older dolls in very poor condition did make me uneasy. BJDs were always pretty or cute to me.

 

When I was a young child, I had this old doll that was placed on a shelf that faced my bed. At night I would stare at it and I wasn't scared of the doll itself but had the irrational fear it would be possessed. Lol Anyways turns out I have anxiety and I've noticed since I've taken medication that I no longer fear things like that coming after me when I sleep.

 

Well, to be honest I have this irrational fear of those old dolls that people often claim are possessed. You know, those baby/toddler dolls that are baby sized but have been played with/ have visible ageing. I prefer not to be in the vicinity of one.

But ever since I discovered ABJD's I was strangely not afraid of them. It's probably because I realized they are works of art and are not meant to be played with like Barbies or other fashion dolls. Not to say that Monster High dolls etc. are not masterfully made, but the emphasis does not lie with customization as far as I am aware of. At least not to the degree the BJD community is familiar with for the target audience of young children, in particular girls.

 

Nope, I like them from my childhood to adulthood

 

The only dolls I find creepy are reborns, simply because they are just too realistic for my taste. They're just too uncanny valley.

 

I feel like certain dolls have certainly been very creepy to me but only when they were exclusively portrayed that way ect. the Annabelle doll. But other than that I don’t really find them that creepy

 

I've always loved dolls since I got my first American Girl look-alike doll, December! I had barbies, but I didn't care for them much. I still have December and Josephina, I still love dressing them up!

 

I always had a thing for dolls since childhood and think that most of them are not creepy.

I do find dolls as they are represented in horror movies to be creepy as hell. Also not a huge fan of horror themed dolls for similar reasons. But that’s the intended purpose lol. So it doesn’t impact my own enjoyment of dolls.

 

I played with many types of playline dolls as a child long into my preteen years (much tobmy parent's strain). I even had one brand that you could draw their face and change their hair! It's no surprise to me that I fell in love with BJD when the time came that they passed my way.

American Girl dolls for some reason gave me the creeps, though.

 

Not at all and since I already had dolls before it's not creepy to me. I have reborn dolls which I'm sure people are either terrified of or is amazed at how realistic they can look.

 

I had a porcelain doll that my parents bought me for Christmas. At first I loved her, but I got scared after watching episode of X Files! I still keep her in the cupboard XD.

 

Yes, totally xD.
At first I only knew about the anime style BJD dolls.
I’m a huge fan of Japanese culture but this was too much for me.
My partner showed me some “Miku” BJD pics and I was like… that’s super creepy and it will hunt me at night.
But during the pandemics I found one account and I saw a hyper realistic BJD and that changed everything.
I still thinking that it will hunt me at night. But better a cute doll than a killer Miku.

 

While I may find an occational doll creepy, even when I was a child I thought it was silly to be scared of inanimate objects. I tend to find things that others find scary as charming or cute, (I'm the type who brings bugs out of the house instead of killing them) so I'd say my tolerance is quite high.

 

No never I have always loved all kinds of dolls since I was a kid. But I just own a few very loved dolls. They were expensive and we couldn't afford it, so now as an adult I can buy my own beloved dolls.

 

Nope I’ve always been obsessed with any kind of dolls since I was little till now as an adult

 

I've always loved dolls but was never really into Barbies or normal dolls that kids play with. When I was little, my dad would work on a farm owned by an elderly lady after he picked me up at school. I would stay with her in her house while he worked outside. She was an avid doll collector, mainly rare porcelain dolls. I loved her dolls; I was a lonely neurodivergent kid and dolls became friends that I could confide in. She gave me my first nice doll, it was a Madame Alexander doll. When I became an adult and found the bjd community, I was really excited to find dolls so customizable.

 

TBH, not that I can recall. My grandfather worked at a factory that shipped toys, porcelain dolls included, so I got used to them at an early age. Also, I find that compared to people I know, I tend to have a higher tolerance for the uncanny valley? It takes a lot to really unnerve me.

I think part of it has to do with my upbringing- I never feared haunted dolls or spirits because of my grandmother. When I was little, she would tell me that spirits can only harm those who are weak in mind or body, or those with impure intentions, so as long as I take care of myself and approached them with sincere intent I could never be harmed

 

I've always found certain dolls creepy, particularly antique dolls that are cracking, etc.

Growing up, I only ever really had Barbies, with the occasional plush doll. I did have a "fancy" doll a family friend brought back from their trip to Paris, but I don't remember ever feeling creeped out by her. I could play with her, she wasn't a "look but don't touch, let's put her on this stand on a high shelf so you can't get to her" toy. That probably helped.

 

Normal dolls. Yes. BJD? Depends.

I've seen some customized BJD that definitely fit the creepy list. I'm not a fan of certain types of body-horror mods so they freak me out. Most bjd I find really beautiful though. Normal dolls don't necessarily scare me, unless they are intentionally creepy or hit that uncanny valley of looking TOO real for me.

 

I have always had dolls of some kind, and have loved them for as long as I can remember.

I find Doll Chateau dolls creepy, but in a way that I really like. (I love horror, and weird, creepy stuff.)

Generally, the bjds that creep me out the most are either hyper-realistic, or have very wide smiles with highly detailed sculpted teeth (not just any open-mouthed doll with teeth). I respect the work it must have taken to create that, but I would not want one myself! XD

 

At first, I got a bit scared of it but after getting into the community and seeing all the other BJDs, I got used to it.

 

Not really I always found them really cool but then again in my childhood I’ve never watched any horror doll movies or seen the documentaries of haunted dolls so that could be a factor in it. That being said however I get hella confused especially if the faceup on a doll is so realistic I may accidentally while quick scrolling or not paying attention may confuse it with a real person. It happens a lot on insta especially when they photoshopped the joints out. So the comments of wow that model looks so cool is quickly followed by awkwardness.

 

I still am depending on the design of the doll....
ANABELLE

 

I really like answering those semi-introspective threads that make me slightly overanalyze the hobby!

Modern BJDs have never creeped me out, neither did my old vinyl dolls once I had them. I can’t now look at American Girl dolls though, nor at reborn dolls either. Too uncanny.

Also no to big, teeth-showing smiles and any resemblance to clowns!

BJD-wise, I was crossed on Doll Chateau sculpts and non-human dolls (insects, cephalopods, half-ripped bodies) as I found them eerily on the verge of horror, but still fascinating. DC are now my favourite company, I wouldn’t buy non-human doll though.

Overall, the more „artistic” the doll, the less uncanny valley effect it has on me.

 

All my childhood I despised a certain commercial doll's bland creepy face. Now I follow a repaint artist on Instagram who gives them such gorgeous natural looking faces. Now I want one! Bjds just have a certain life to them for some reason. The 18 inch 'girls' are creepy still. I wouldn't buy one for my own theoretical kid if she screamed day and night for an AG doll. I'd flip for a BJD and damn the budget, get a 'real' doll. Bland commercial faces are creepy.

 

Mostly only the ones that are meant to be creepy (horror movie dolls)
I've grown up with dolls since I was little (started with barbies of course ) and so I've always thought of them as familiar and more cute!

 

I do enjoy looking at creepy or horror dolls. But I don't like gory or messy dolls for my own. I favor more adult looking dolls instead of childlike dolls. Baby dolls are kind of creepy for me.

 

I have always found porcelain dolls unnerving, but never bjd. I've collected Living Dead Dolls for years, and been interested in bjd since my esrly teens, but it's always been the porcelain dolls that creep me out with their haunting eyes xD

 

I've never found vinyl Dollfies creepy. My first doll really freaked out my sister though... at that size they definitely invoke a response.

I acquired my first resin doll this month (see avatar). I have very mixed feelings about them. I kind of think that they're aimed more at women, although I know a lot of guys collect them. I'm struggling to describe what their faces evoke in me, but I think they have a more distressed kind of look. It's often more noticeable in male resin BJDs. I'm sure the German and Japanese languages have a word to describe this look.

I've actually been trying to make some scary doll videos. My first effort bombed on Youtube, but I'll try some more some time. I don't know if Mytyl will fit into the Miku Hatsune Empty Sekai outfit, but the results could be pretty creepy.

 

So, no, I was never creeped out by dolls (well perhaps the exception is when I was a kid and was given a cabbage patch but I told my mother I found it upsetting because "I couldn't possibly love something so ugly" how awful...) But I never liked dolls especially. I became drawn to bjds a bit randomly through a combination of liking to look at and create figurative art, and thought they might be something interesting to inject into my life.

 

I've never been scared of dolls. I've always liked them. There is obviously some sculpts I don't like (especially some from Doll Chateau and Doll Zone), but they don't scare me or put me off. On the contrary, I kind of see them as "reassuring", despite all the movies with hunted dolls I watched.

 

Yes.. thats why i started looking into them and eventually fell in love!!

 

Not really. I just didn’t particularly care for dolls until I saw anime styled ones. Was more of a stuffed animal person.
Well the exception would be me as a 3rd grader freaking out over Chucky with my peers lmfao but that doesn’t really count.

 

I wouldn't say I found them "creepy", but definitely a little unsettling, depending on the sculpt. It wasn't until I found some of the cuter anthro sculpts that I realized how cute they could be, and then gradually that opened my eyes to the idea that non-anthro sculpts could be cute or pretty as well, even though I still prefer to stick with a more animal-adjacent look. I'm still a little creeped out by dolls with very strong adult male faces, they're a bit uncanny to me!

 

i‘ve always loved dolls! It started with my grandmas procelain dolls that i love then play line dolls like monster high and now bjds.
But these reborn realistic looking baby dolls creep me out big times.

 

I have to admit—it's been quite the opposite of this for me. I'm absolutely smitten with the very strong male faces. It's been, as time has gone on, that the youthful, soft and child-like faces have become more uncanny valley for me. To give more to the theme of this thread in particular on my account—I especially find wide-eyed dolls unsettling when the irises are on the smaller side. It probably also ties into my discomfort with baby dolls growing up in general. Trying to make a super child-like face seem much more mature....it hits in a similar vein to reborn dolls for me.

(I do have a long history with having issues with eyes staring at me going as far back as early childhood, so I'm certain that plays a big part in that factor. Wide eyes have a harsher impact on this )

 

Nope, never found dolls creepy.
Might have something to do with my parents not liking horror, so I didn't have any exposure to horror movies/TV shows as a kid.
Most of my dolls are secondhand, so the idea of a doll being "haunted" doesn't bother me. Two of my MSD girls are wired, and one has kips in nearly every socket, so they were very cared for by their last owner! I like having older dolls that have a bit of history to them

 

I can definitely understand this, honestly! I’m a little weirded out by dolls with a very intentional “baby face” too (really pudgy cheeks, pouty lips, upturned eyes), probably for similar reasons. Childlike dolls are generally fine for me, but baby dolls are a different story. And I definitely get the iris thing; there’s a reason why my Mae has biiiig eyes, I think it’s so endearing, even if the people I know in real life find her big pupil-less eyes creepy!

 

Nope! Always found all of the dolls beautiful. Loved dolls as a kid.

 

bjds, no - I've played with dolls my whole life and I make puppets/love puppet theatre so neither the doll nor marionette likeness creeps me out. They're just too emotive! There's a lil spark in their eye that you never see in old-school porcelain dolls or baby dolls, for instance, and they're stylised enough not to fall into uncanny valley most of the time. Reborn dolls give me the creeps though.