Dolly curses/superstitions?

I don’t know if it’s a superstition or not, but I can’t go to bed/sleep if any of my dolls are in an uncomfortable-looking position. They have to look nice and posed before I can actually fall asleep or else I’ll wake up a lot throughout the night.

Thankfully I haven’t had any horrible ‘curse’-like shipping issues....yet.

 

I dont know if it's considered superstition but I have to make sure all my dolls look comfortable. Like they're sitting down nicely and nothing is cocked weird on them. I know it's kind of weird, they dont have feelings and they're not alive, but I like to think they can so I try to make them as comfortable as possible like if they're feeling good it contributes to the good vibes of the rest of the room I guess haha.

 

If i buy a doll of one size, I have to buy a second one at that size, so the first isn’t “lonely”. Also, I mostly buy from just one company (Blue Fairy), but the few times I’ve branched out, I feel like I have to buy two of the other company’s dolls— again, so they don’t feel lonely or too “different” from my other dolls.

On the other hand, when you have two dolls the same size (i’m thinking of my 19cm tinies here), it feels like it’s less stressful to shop for— the perfect wig that finally arrives... and doesn’t work for the doll you bought it for? Usually, it works out for the other one! (Hopefully lol)

 

Sharing some folk traditions related to the curse topic. In my country, some people are superstitious and thought the doll might be possessed by spirits during this time of the year (Lunar July is considered the Ghost month). In order to prevent ghosts from possessing the dolls, it is said that tieing a red thread to the waist of the doll would scare off the ghosts. Another way is to bless the doll with incense from the temple. I never did any of that to my dolls I prefer to treat them like vampires and place them in boxes, away from the sunlight would be good enough.

 

Wow, that's really cool! Folk traditions/superstitions are always interesting.

My background sort of has the same kind of superstition. A doll might be a host for a wight (basically a spirit that protects the home but can also be "unlucky" if angered) or other spirit, and so dolls should be treated with a degree of respect. Not sure how much I believe it, but I figure treating a doll with respect doesn't hurt. In any case, it keeps them from getting broken!

 

I heavily relate to this! I like being able to have my dolls share a wardrobe and I hardly ever buy items with only one doll in mind. Can't have just one of every size

 

I have a weird thing with setting my doll’s eyes - I can’t have my dolls looking straight ahead, they have to always look to one side or the other. Maybe I just really, really hate eye contact?

 

I don’t know if this counts as a superstition but I can’t leave my dolls in my living room overnight. I have to bring them back to my bedroom. In my head the bedroom is the safe place. This makes no sense because I live alone so all my flat should be “safe”. I tried to leave my Soony’s body in the living room recently when I was using it for a sewing project and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had to get up in the night to retrieve it

 

No curses, but a few superstitions. The main one being that, because they are vessels which I invest my imagination into, they function as extensions of me and (I don't remember if I derived this from my ethnic culture or another one or if I made this up entirely) since they are dolls, they serve to protect me. Not in any manner other than dream- or energy-wise, anyway. So if I have a doll out and about, they're deliberately facing my bed to ward off nightmares.

The second part ties in with the idea if you're good to them, they'll be good to you. It's all about the vibes; how you feel will be bounced right back. I know fundamentally these superstitions are exactly just superstitions, but they make me feel better to operate under.

 

I don't really believe that my dolls are haunted or alive, but it's become habit to apologize to them when I accidentally do something that might "hurt" them, like letting their hand kick back into their face, or not noticing that they've been stuck in an unnatural position. I even apologize when I have to take them apart for maintenance or to swap heads or whatever.

I guess if they ever do get possessed I'll be relatively safe, but I think maybe it's just because they look like people that I instinctively treat them like it.

 

This topic reminds me of Thai 'luk thep' dolls. I vaguely remember someone posting on a local forum years ago that they spotted someone using a BJD as a 'luk thep' doll when they were in Thailand or something.

 

This may sound a little strange, but I was raised in one of those "New Age" hippy cults that got started in the '60's, and one of the things that it teaches is that everything has a consciousness of some sort. Everything is made of energy, consciousness is basically the movement of energy, so everything, even apparently inanimate objects such as dolls, has a consciousness of some sort.

What this means with my dolls is, I feel like I'm letting the doll down if I give up and sell them. This is especially bad with second hand dolls, because they almost feel like orphans that I "adopted" and therefore I have a responsibility towards. I know it's not literally true, but the fact that they can look at me really doesn't help.

 

I can definitely relate

I've been on the hunt for one of my grails this year and I keep stumbling on "orphans" in need of adoption and it it so hard not to get stuck into buying every gorgeous doll I feel a connection with. And when I do adopt i feel like I have to spoil them more then the new ones I purchased.

 

I have to have eyes, wig and clothes ready as soon as the doll arrives home, and I have to do the face up within 24 hours. Even if that means doing it at night in the rain and redoing it later. If a doll isn’t complete within at least a week, it kills the bond for me.

 

All my dolls have to be surrounded by items that speak to their individual characters in elaborate displays...they absolutely have to be living in their own little world somehow, independent of me. I cannot bear to have them simply standing alone or with others on a shelf, or stored away in boxes. I know it sounds silly, but It would be like I was denying them their own lives or something! That would just feel wrong to me.

 

Same.... although now I have dolls in lots of sizes, so I guess it is not as important as before.

I usually always have to give my dolls some moles or beauty marks when I do faceups, because I need them to look like their imperfection is natural or something... and it helps hide dust caught in MSC.

I do feel a little superstitious about my Fairyland Rona, who was bought from a dropoff to Goodwill that was discussed about on here. I feel like, since she was auctioned off with a lot of other BJDs so haphazardly, her original owner might have passed or lost her under bad circumstances, so I want to keep her faceup the Fairyland original like the original owner did.

 

This is the same exact thing for me. If I have a doll on order, like I do now, I do a lot of researching on the sizes and whatnot, making sure I have everything from the wig to the shoes all sorted and in hand. When the doll arrives, I like to get them all dressed up. There's just something about a doll sitting around blank for an extended period of time that doesn't sit well with me. I did that with my very first doll, because I didn't know any better, and I just never really connected with the doll.

 

I have what I call the "new doll curse." Over the years, I've finally had some exceptions to it, but nearly every doll I buy new (as opposed to secondhand) has something wrong with it/the order. It can be parts that should have a right and a left that I've gotten both left of, or cracked eyes, or rusted s-hooks. A couple have had chipped parts. One doll ended up in a mix-up at the dealer where I got someone else's doll and they got mine. Looking around the room, I can count on one hand the number of new buys that haven't had an issue, and if you look at my "at home" list in my profile that'll really speak volumes to how often this happens

I try to buy secondhand when it's a viable option now

 

I do the same! I also always want to apologize at least mentally if I do something wrong with the doll
(when tightening them for example, or drop parts).
Talking about strange circumstances, when I ordered pants for one doll, at different times and from different stores, all three pairs of pants got lost along the way. I was very annoyed. But that was a few years ago, when the tracking of postal items in our country was not all right. Still not ok. After this things have never been lost in such quantity. And in general I had a lot of problems in order to buy clothes for this doll.

 

Shortly after I bought one doll, I had a restringing mishap and bled on her. I took this to mean she is well and truly mine.

 

I'm not sure if this counts, but I feel like I sort of 'called' my doll into my life. I've wanted one for a long time but for some reason never seriously thought I could have one? Like, it was a hobby for other people? The weird thing is that as soon as I realized that there's literally no reason I can't get into the hobby too, I started noticing that my distant acquaintances were selling their dolls left and right, almost like the universe wanted me to buy one. Maybe confirmation bias? I don't know. But after a few weeks of seeing them everywhere, I stumbled across a boy who was not only in my price range but had the same name as me. That was the point when I decided I deserve something nice.

 

This is turning into one of the mist interesting discussions lol
Was just wondering what rituals or superstitious people have when bringing home a new or adopted BJD if any?

 

A superstition I follow (unsure logically why I do) is that I won't play/dress/maintenance any dolls after 8 or 9pm in fear that increases the chances of wandering spirit at night processing my dolls. I even have quartz/charms in their heads as just in case. I grew up in a strange house where I've experiences things I couldn't explain and always had weird vibes. So I take extra "precautions" in the house I'm in now and figured it wouldn't hurt if it's all in my head.

 

I won't buy YoSD or tinies unless they're from Fairyland. This is not a preference issue. I've bought 3 non FL tinies and they just gather dust. One of them I do plan on keeping, but otherwise I think the Fairyland Fairies have got me.

 

My superstition is that I only announce when I got a new doll after I've already opened the box and have it in my hands. I'm afraid that if I get too excited and talk about it too much before I get it, it will be lost in the mail.

 

I suppose I have a few superstitions when it comes to BJDs.

I dress my dolls to the season that we're in. If its summer, they wear summer clothes, otherwise I can't look at them without feeling uncomfortable. When you have more than 20 dolls, dressing them becomes quite the adventure!

I will not leave a doll standing farther away than an arms-length. It seems that whenever I go any farther away, they will fall over, even if there is no wind, or we're indoors.

When I take them apart for restringing, or even changing a wig, I kiss their little heads and apologize to them. If I need to take off the back of their head or faceplate, I tell them "go to sleep," like they're being anesthetized.

Like it was mentioned before, I can't have them in an uncomfortable/unnatural position. I have a few that have jointed hands, and they can not have "Emergency Room fingers." Their fingers have to be in a natural position.

Everyone must have at least hair and eyes. Even if they don't have a faceup, or they live in The Headbasket, they have to have hair and eyes. If they have a body, they must have clothes on. No nekkid dolls around here, unless I'm making them something. If I'm working on an outfit for a new doll and I have to leave them overnight, they get a blanket on them, in case they get cold.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Oh man, I never realized exactly how superstitious I am when it comes to my Crew!

Ryu

 

I try to never mistreat my toys and dolls, and I apologize to them if I accidentally do something wrong (like if they fall over while I'm fiddling with them). Since I was a kid I thought toys had a kind of life in them, and my mom encourages it by believing the same (she even has her own toy room in her house, I love it).

Plus I think watching too many movies where toys murder folks had me on my toes. Be good to the toys. Or else.

 

Hahaha. Omigawd, I'm the same way as a lot of other members have mentioned.

I've been thinking of branching out (I'm exclusively Volks at the moment). However, I've been eying Luts and was thinking to myself that I need to get two since I don't want the first Luts doll I get to be lonely as she's "the adopted one" or whatever. I know they are dolls but I would feel bad if the Luts one felt "ostracized" by the Volks dolls. Hahahahaha.

Oh, I don't take out or rearrange the eyes. We only realigned one doll's eyes as they were a bit wonky (the original owner put them in that way), but other than that everyone else's just stays put. It's the whole "the eyes are the windows to the soul" thing so we don't want to mess with that just in case it changes the doll somehow.

I also don't like it when a doll sits alone. Like, if we arranged the dolls a certain way around the house, I can't stand it if one is sitting all by herself in the living room so I have to have another one sit with her. Same thing with any dolls left inside their boxes for whatever reason, I feel bad for keeping them in there even though it's probably for convenience or safety or space. Once I take them out, even if it's a floating head, I apologize profusely.

Oh, and I agree with some of the others in saying that if you are good to your dolls then they are good to you. We're great with our dolls so I feel there are good vibes with our dolls. We usually are the first owners of our dolls too so I do get a little uncomfortable when I get a doll from the secondhand marketplace. The first doll we got from the secondhand marketplace we actually met the seller in person and you could feel how much she loved the doll so I didn't feel anything bad. But the others I always think in the back of my mind, "Okay, so why are they selling this limited edition doll. Are you haunted?" Hahahahaha. Secretly hoping that my doll and teddy bear army will keep any bad spirits away, but don't tell my husband that. Hahahahahahaha.

I think too this is another reason why I don't alter my dolls too much once I get them. Most of them are default everything (face-up, wig, eyes, outfit, shoes, etc). Only rarely have we changed the wigs and outfits permanently for some as I feel that we accepted them for who they are and if we did changed them somehow was to just have them fit their personalities better. That being said, even though a lot of them can share clothing and whatever, we kind of designate certain items for certain dolls (like these are definitely Marie's clothes and those are Naomi's and this teddy goes to this one while this teddy is shared with these two, etc).

And I know this is a bit silly, but I try not to bring my dolls to any places that are potentially haunted or hand them to a person that has negative vibes. With the degrees that I have, I know logically I have nothing to worry about. But you know...just in case...

 

I can't leave any of my dolls undressed for more than a few minutes. They seem like they'd be uncomfortable or make the other dolls uncomfortable!

 

I've always been the type of person who gets emotionally attached to inanimate objects, so of course I do the whole talking to/apologizing to the dolls. I also usually keep them near the other dolls that are in their little "story" group (siblings and couples), and I'm uncomfortable leaving them in clothes or accessories that don't match their "vibe"/character. And if there's a doll who's character has someone important to their story that I don't have shelled yet, I feel like I need to work on finding a doll for the other character so they're not missing that person.

It's interesting to hear about other people's superstitions that are different from mine though; like, I've never felt any differently about dolls that are secondhand versus new ones, and I've never worried about my dolls becoming haunted - not for lack of believing in spirits or "creepy" comments, it's just that I think of them so much as the characters I've created or extensions of my own imagination that the thought of another "thing" in there that's not mine just doesn't occur to me. I feel like they have such strong personalities that they would be more likely to fight off evil spirits instead.

 

I have a doll on order that I’m Very Excited about, but I’m also a somewhat superstitious person and very picky with my dolls/collectibles and their vibes. However, I can’t judge vibes from across the Ethernet about a doll that has yet to be made! Here’s to hoping I don’t open her and feel like I opened a carcass instead of a doll

 

Sorry for necroing this! I was just thinking about it and I think it's an interesting topic to dig out again.

I feel like I have a new wig curse Second-hand wigs are fine, making my own wigs out of new materials is fine, but if I buy a new wig straight from the maker it never fits my dolls and ends up unused. Dott is the only one who is currently wearing such a wig but it has a bit of an iffy fit so I can see how it is also enforcing the rule.

As for superstitions, I've come to realise I should never change a hybrid's body after the initial hybrid attempt because I'll just "fall out" with them somehow after that, even if it's a better fit aesthetically and I love how the doll looks more. It's happened a couple of times by now and I see a pattern, heh. I also refuse to leave my dolls hang about naked or not in an outfit I don't love them in - it feels like violating their opinions

 

Ah, wig curses!
I often find myself subject to the "first wig curse" – if I put a wig on a doll's head, even if I don't think it looks perfect, most likely the doll will want only that wig from then on. Any less than ideal wig has to be removed ASAP before the doll gets ideas!

Saki was sold as a one-off with blonde curls? Nope, I put the black cyberpunk bob on her and she headbutted me for attempting to make her blonde again.
Ayame's default wig is too long to easily manage, but no other wig looks right on her.
The dolls know what they want, despite all my planning!

On other doll curse/superstition notes, I have had people ask me how I can sleep with all those glass eyes staring unblinking in my room, and the answer is completely fine

 

A friend from work was helping me install a window ac unit, and I didn't know he has a doll phobia. I mentioned, as one does, that the reason I have such thick curtains is because my dolls are sensitive to light. He said that that proves they're evil, because they can't stand the light.

 

Head swapping is considered taboo in our doll household.

Here's an example but we've not done it in more than 2 years (this is Dollfie Dream Towa head on MDD Rena Ryugu body).

 

Never to identify too closely with the doll because you might end up possessing it after you pass or getting harmed. I mean, getting to the point where you can't differentiate referring to yourself or the doll. (Instead of controlling a character, you're channeling yourself through the doll.)
"That pose that I'm about to put this doll in, given a situation, ...isn't that also how I pose when I'm in that situation?? Wait...DO I move my hands like that?"

I don't care about anyone's beliefs in spirits; you'd still have to agree that [in the least] that it's not good for your mental health.

 

Not so much a curse as it is a superstition, but I find that my dolls name themselves and that the naming process is a deep, intensely personal experience. I cannot force a name, it must come naturally. Dolls that have been named incorrectly do not typically last in my household, and how important the doll is to me is inversely proportional to how long it takes me to name them. Aiyu was nameless for well over a year, while Ingrid named herself within days.

I've also learned I have to name my dolls before someone else names them. My husband once called my Littlefee "Caillou" as a joke, as she was bald for some time, and it ruined my bond with her completely. He's no longer allowed to comment on dolls until after they have been properly named.

 

Developing a joking "superstition" that every time I have a new doll I want to find a wig for... it WILL turn out to be horrible and I will end up having to make the wig myself. Especially if I went to any trouble to acquire the storebought wig. It'll be nice, but the wrong size, or just plain huge on the doll, or too poofy and I can't thin it, etc. It's been YEARS.

The only times in like the last seven or eight years I have managed to buy a doll their own wig AND have it fit that particular doll.... Yeah that's been like twice the whole time and never a doll who had no wigs. Only managed to buy a wig and have it work for dolls who already had one from ages ago.

 

A bit of a sad one- I had a housefire in 2023 and lost most of my dolls. I was at work when it started, and I hate that I left my dolls for the last time without saying a proper goodbye. So now, before I leave for the day, I always acknowledge them and tell them I love them (usually with a "see you later!" instead of "goodbye," just for the energy that, well, I'm coming back). That way, if anything happens while I'm out, they have my love all the same.

I know they're inanimate, but...it just feels like it matters.

 

The Toy Story movies had a huge impact on the way I see things like dolls, plushies, etc. The most impactful scenes for me were the toys coming to life to get revenge on Sid, and the song “When She Loved Me”.

I’ve attempted many doll customizations over the past couple of years since I’ve been active in the hobby, and all of them ended very badly. Everything from simple restringing to hybrids to modding the body with clay. I know that to be good at something, you have to practice and it’s not always going to turn out well.

But in this hobby, it feels less like I’m working on an art piece or a “toy” and more like I’m doing inhumane Frankenstein experiments.

And due to the thing about my Toy Story superstition, I’m terrified to even go near the dolls I’ve worked on to try to salvage them. I’m afraid that they’ll be vengeful and angry with me for ruining their once-perfect faces and bodies, and that they’ll be upset with me for throwing them into storage whenever things didn’t pan out.

So, now I’m starting my collection over again. I already have my newest doll on order, and this time, I’m determined to keep her “safe” from my own desire to perform “experiments”.

This time, there will be no hybrids or modding allowed, and restringing will only happen if absolutely necessary, and with the proper tools and elastic. Things like blushing, faceups, sewing outfits, etc. are allowed, because I’m not too shabby at those things. And they’re kind of basic necessities for dolls anyway.

 

Every. Single. Time. I restring a doll, I end up bleeding.

At this point I just think that my dolls require a blood sacrifice to take the stringing transplant.

 

I have really strange luck where if I am searching for another doll secondhand, I randomly find the very first doll I ever wanted. I already have this doll, which I bought many years later.I just laugh it off. It's a curse at this point.