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

I've been more of a stuffed animal person as a kid honestly. Maybe I found dolls creepy to some degree? But when I got older that went away almost completely. Now most doll sculpts (even the horror ones) don't really freak me out. The only ones that really do nowadays are the standard ones that have expressions (smiles usually) I find creepy.

 

Never. I grew up loving dolls. I was never particular what brand they were, I had lots of different Playline andAG dolls growing up and my mom had collected a handful of porcelain dolls for me before I was born.

 

Yes I did find them creepy especially those baby doll and those vintage ones with the Victorian dress. And sometime barbie. Mannequin for me are the creepiest especially those old ones in the museum that looks lifelike. When I got my very first bjd from iplehouse he didn't have any hair or clothes I got creeper out fir a while lol.

 

My mom had a few porcelain dolls of grown women in beautiful Elizabethan era dresses and they were so pretty I never thought of them as creepy. My sister does have a small porcelain girl doll in a dress and a music box in her, she is creepy to some standards but I always found her "creepiness" enjoyable. I also have a collection of porcelain Jesters, they are quite pretty and have vibrant outfits and the cute hats with bells. I just find it amusing when people mention that they're creepy, and they are a bit, it's kinda the point. Something between beautiful and unsettling is interesting to me.

As for BJDs though, first one I saw was a photo on pinterest and I thought he was absolutely gorgeous. I didn't find out until years later what he was and how much you can customize them. After learning that I jumped head first into this hobby. There have been a few sculpts I find unappealing or weird looking. But while I have an aversion to certain textures, no doll has ever heebie-jeebies creeped me out.

 

The only dolls I find creepy are the reborn babies. I admire the craftmanship and such, but I just want to run the other way if I see one

 

I was never creeped out by dolls, but I didn't get the appeal of Barbie when I was young. I blame the fact that my mom refused to buy me Barbies "with jobs," even though that was the only kind I wanted.

Something about Blythe heads gives me a bit of a chill, though. It's not even the fact that the heads are huge, because I'm completely unbothered by Pullip.

It always feels weird to me when someone is freaked out by my little resin babies. They just look like sweet little children to me, not creepy at all.

 

When I was little, my mother bought me a baby doll and I was terrified of it so they never bought me another doll again. I still don't like a lot of dolls with factory paint, but I like the style of BJDs and warmed up to them when I found Luts in high school.

 

In my experience, it really depends on the doll. There are the obvious ones I find creepy and stay away from, like Chucky and Annabelle dolls. There were the few times I found dolls being a bit uncanny, but not really creepy. I have three porcelain dolls, two I inherited from my grandparents and one I got from a classmate in high school. My parents and other viewers found the dolls creepy while I found them to be cute and pretty. When I entered the BJD community and hobby, I always thought the BJDs I was looking at were beautiful, cute, the good cartoony, or the good realistic.

 

I wonder how much of the creepiness is just bad lighting

 

Never have. A few exceptions with dolls made specifically to be creepy, not creepy theme bjds, but like, gorey baby dolls...
From people I've talked to who were scared of dolls most commonly they said they didn't like the eyes watching them. I always found it comforting and still do prefer that my dolls and plush are "looking" at me from my usual viewing angle. Most dolls have a good energy to them so the stare feels like that of a guardian

 

I only found porcelain dolls a little bit off when I was a kid, but every other doll was just fine. I can't feel the uncanny valley thingy, it seems interesting though...

 

I think the gory Living Dead dolls are pretty creepy. I do have a few non-gore Living Dead dolls though, as some of them are also cute.

I have always found baby dolls unappealing. They were ugly to me when I was young and they still are as an adult. That being said, I'm also not a fan of actual babies, so that may have something to do with it. XD

 

Creepy for me is a good thing in most cases. I always adored old porcelain dolls and the like. My collection is supposed to be a little unnerving too. I can see where they could be creepy, the in-set eyes and the dolls are rarely super expressive. So I guess I kind of find them unsettling but it adds to the charm for me.
However baby dolls are...uh...not my thing. I really dont like them ahah.

 

There hasn’t been much in terms of dolls that have scared me, maybe Chucky when I was a kid ^^; I collect other types of dolls outside of Bjd, including things like Ldds so not much scares me in that sense.

 

I’ve liked dolls since I was young, so there haven’t been many dolls that I found creepy. The only ones that come to mind are those super lifelike baby dolls.

 

I like most dolls however I find baby dolls creepy especially realistic looking ones. Just not my cup of tea.

 

Personally, creepy appeals to me. I grew up with all kinds of dolls, from Barbie, Bratz and MyScene to Porcelain dolls. Early on, I learned that there were collector dolls when my grandmother showed me a store with the Dolls of the World Barbie Dolls and I was particularly awed by the Princess of South Africa doll.

That said, dolls have never been creepy to me. I'm more concerned whether they're aesthetically appealing or not. I can't say I mind Reborn dolls for the very same reason, and I think that some of the intentions behind them are rather sweet.

 

Not really. I've always liked dolls and while I don't really have an interest in the creepier sculpts, they don't scare me. I'd rather not sleep with my dolls staring at me though, creepy or not

 

Not really. But the prices are. I thought it would be insane to dispense hundreds of euros on a "toy", but now I think they're my company and the price wouldn't drop too much when I have to part with them.

 

They just weren't my thing. I preferred animal toys and plush. Some family had dolls all over the house that scared people but I just thought they were aesthetically unappealing instead of creepy.

 

I don’t find them particularly creepy and never really have, but I cannot have human/humanoid dolls in the house. For some reason I have a reoccurring nightmare (only if dolls are in the house) of them crawling off their sitting spots and coming to get me.
I like looking at them when they’re not in my house though!

 

Not really! I've been a doll person since I was a kid. I outgrew my Barbies and Bratz at around 10, decided I was too old for dolls, then promptly fell back in on BJDs/Monster High dolls when I was ~13-ish. I find some porcelain/bisque dolls and baby dolls (particularly reborn dolls) to be a bit creepy, but I'm pretty impervious to the creep factor otherwise.

 

Yes I fell for the trope and found them super creepy as a kid. Probably from how they are always protrayed in the media. What started to open my mind was Rozen Maiden, but I still wasn't entirely converted until I started to see professional level photoshoots of BJDs.

 

I wasn't really into dolls as a kid and my mom was really into horror films. So yes.
I mostly outgrew that, but some can definitely give that 'uncanny valley' feeling.
Of course, then I went to this in Japan.
Universal Studios Japan receives letter of protest over haunted house using Shinto shrine’s dolls
Horror renewed. Lol.

 

@yukiri to be honest I would be annoyed as well if something I donated to a religious institution were loaned out to an entertainment studio as a tourist attraction.

I was creeped out by a bisque doll in my mother's house as a kid. Couldn't sleep with it in the room. I went looking for it lately but couldn't find it...

 

Yes. my mom had two wax elves, always on display in the living room around Christmas. they where around SD size, "happy faces", old looking with wrinkles and all that.... don't know what there was with the two of them. but I always felt they were looking at me, no matter where I was in the room.. but then again, I had lots of barbie and was even gifted a porcelain doll ( no joint) on a stand, I loved those. Still hav the porcelain doll and one barbie doll. today there is still some type of doll I'm having a little hard time with, but most bjd are fine

 

The only dolls I've found creepy are baby dolls like reborn dolls, I've collected dolls like barbie and other dolls since I was a kid, I've always loved dolls.

 

I only find kinda creepies the porcelain ones. it's like they have a weird vibe to me.

 

I've never found dolls creepy; at most they're unappealing to me. I don't like antique porcelain dolls or Blythes for example. As a child I found animatronics terrifying but I wouldn't count those as dolls.

In fact I've always been fascinated by miniatures - which first started with Schleich animal models - then Nendoroids, anime figures and now BJD. Even today I gravitate towards smaller sizes like yoSD/MSD.

 

Funny enough I used to be SO scared of dolls when I was a child, enough to get night terrors for years because I had seen Dolls '87 and Child's Play (my family has always been fond of horror movies, it didn't bother me until the doll horror came around).
My grandma had a big collection of porcelain dolls and had to hide them all when I came over her house so I wouldn't panic lmao

BJDs actually allowed me to reconcile with dolls because suddenly I found them beautiful instead of creepy. Thanks to them I'm now cured of my doll phobia

 

No, not creepy, but some are ugly enough I wonder how people can stand to have them in their house. I wouldn't say it's a creep factor as much as an ick factor.

 

I agree with @hospitalitydoll, I find some incredibly ugly rather than creepy.

I know there are plenty of horror movies, stories, legends and such that have been around for years involving dolls but it never really affected my view. For me this is highly unusual as all my life I’ve had problems with certain things repeatedly triggering terrible nightmares.

 

Nope. It was only after getting into the hobby that I first saw Blythes and their eyes. Though after years of coming across them regularly due to some hobbyists I follow on Flickr having some in addition to the BJDs I follow them for, I've gotten mostly desensitized to them by now.

 

I have always been into dolls are a young girl. I find them to be cute and endearing. Yes there are some dolls that I would say look creepy but that just means they are not my esthetic and that’s ok. I don’t need to buy every doll. I love being able to customize my doll to fit my various moods. It allows me to have an avenue to express my creativity.

 

Nope! I've always felt neutral to liked all kinds of dolls. I think it helps I worked at estate sales with my family my whole childhood, so I was used to the idea of vintage items? So even vintage dolls I tend to be endeared to.

 

I've never found dolls creepy. I don't like the look of baby dolls but I don't really enjoy looking at actual babies so I don't think the issue is doll related.

 

A small selection of reborn dolls creep me out a tiny bit, but other than that, no not really. Even dolls that look creepy or "haunted" on purpose don't really creep me out.

 

Creepy- nah. Though looking at dolls like cabbage patch kids, I 100% understand how someone came up with the idea for Chucky definitely uncanny valley.
But yeah I don't think I've ever been scared of dolls or any toys for that matter.

 

Most dolls that are meant to look a bit creepy are not to me.
The porcelain dolls that some people find unsettling were interesting to me as a kid and I never found them creepy either, but when I first saw Reborn baby dolls... no. Not my cup of tea. Just too uncanny valley for my taste.

 

I guess I wasn't exposed to a lot of creepy dolls, when I was younger? Or maybe my thing is, dolls that were meant to be cute but seem to have a pinch of creepy will drive my "that doll's a bit creepy" reaction, way more than a horror themed dolls do.

 

I grew up in the era of baby annabelle and the like. I was quite creeped out by those dolls and used to get freaked out if I went to another kids house and they had one of those dolls. But honestly I am not creeped out by dolls at all, before I had BJDs I had Living Dead Dolls and other horror themed dolls.

That being said not so very long ago I did hear a ghost story that involved dolls which because of my overactive imagination did end up causing one of my bigger dolls to give me a fright in the night

 

No. I had no thoughts or opinions about dolls in general. However, I knew so many people who said that dolls creeped them out, but I always saw it as a projection from popular media. People repeated the same thing based on common superstition, and it just always sounded so lame and unoriginal.

 

No, I don't think I did. But I did find out about BJDs at a young age. Like many who have responded to this post, I don't like reborn style dolls. Not because I think they are creepy, but baby dolls just aren't my cup of tea. Or, at least I felt that way before my amazon feed came up with this absolute gem. Go check it out! It's titled "iCradle 17 Inch Handmade Reborn Elf Baby Fairy Doll Girl Reborn Fantasy Art collectible Angel Baby Dolls". It looks like an off brand Harry Potter house elf. Egads! This is the kind of thing you don't want to sleep in the same room with.

 

I was always fond of dolls and was never scared of them growing up. My parents were, which unfortunately led to many back and forths when I asked for BJDs for my birthday and my parents would say no.

 

There was exactly ONE doll I found creepy before getting into BJDs:

For my 3rd birthday, my mother bought me a porcelain flapper doll. I felt like her face looked like the evil queen from Snow White and didn't like her.

It's also taken a while for me to look at Blythe dolls without getting creeped out. IDK why Blythe did this to me but not Pullip. Different eye shapes, I guess.