Non Fantasy Dolls vs Fantasy Dolls

I prefer humans only, no built-in fantasy parts at all, don't want vampire teeth or elf ears either. I find humans much more versatile for the kinds of photos and doll playing that I enjoy.

I do love feathered wings though - it's the only fantasy part that I'll buy. I still prefer the wings to be a separate feature from the doll sculpt, so I can add or remove them easily.

 

The first two dolls I bought are elves. The rest are 100% human with the exception of my bunny son and my freakishly white KJ Kiki. The only reason I'd buy another fantasy doll would be if reshelled my bunny son in SD10 size (DO NOT LET ME DO THIS)

 

For a time I felt against buying fantasy sculpts but I changed my mind for no particular reason. I've got an elf and soon a vampire.
That's just the heads, though; no hooves, centaurs, wings, mermaids or whatever. I love all of this but I like all-human bodies best. I did not want to get the Coral Reef mantis girls and mantises are one of my favorite animals, so if they didn't do it for me I doubt anything will.

I would love hands with longer nails though, not really claws but sharp looking?

 

I only have one fantasy character, a vampire, the rest of my dolls are human because I'm not into fantasy dolls. I prefer "realistic" dolls

 

When I started collecting dolls, I had no plans for fantasy dolls or characters, only realistic-looking ones with everyday stories. Now, no one's more surprised than me that, after 13 years of collecting, all my dolls have ended being fantasy dolls in a way.
For starters, the 3 anthropomorphic animals, which are very obviously fantasy-looking, head and body with their tails and ears and such.
Within my human-looking family, even if they have no specific fantasy-looking doll-parts, they have fantastic characters: a vampire, a sorcerer and, hopefully very soon, a (WIP) atmokinetic mutant.

 

I like both human and fantasy dolls. However, when it comes to resin color, I dislike all fantasy colors aside grey. I even don't like a lot white skin, even if I own quite a lot of white dolls (don't look for logic here).

 

I like a mix of both, but I prefer my fantasy dolls in fantasy colors, and I see no room in my collection for a fantasy color human doll. I have plenty of fantasy OCs, and not many humans, so as it stands now my tastes lean more fantasy heavy. I also am veeeery picky about the aesthetic of a human doll, whereas I might make more sacrifices on my tastes for fantasy sculpts (mostly because doll shopping and character creation often go together for me!)

 

I plan to shell OCs, and most of my OCs are fantasy... so I have to say fantasy, even if most of my fantasy characters are still humanoid.

Looking forward to challenging myself with some demi-human type sculpts, though! And anthros. Glad I came in at a time where there's more adorable anthro sculpts!

 

I collect fantasy dolls exclusively for BJD. They look so cool and can be so creative. One of the things I love about art (and BJD as art in this case specifically) is that there are so many amazing ideas other artists can have that I would never think of. It's interesting seeing other people's perspectives as a way to make the world a little bit more fantastical.

Plus it gives my space a nice sense of whimsy.

 

I like fantasy sculpts, especially anthro dolls, like Gem or Doll Andrea. I also like a lot of the Resinsoul/Bobobie sculpts, especially the deertaurs, I hope to get one someday
I own humans sculpts mostly because most of my ocs are human. I guess I like them equally

 

I had to do a quick tally, but I've got roughly 43 fantasy dolls and 58 human dolls. This is strictly regarding the physical sculpt, and not the character attached to it, otherwise it'd be a near even split. I do love a good fantasy doll with cool legs/hands/ears etc, but I really enjoy variety the most, so having a little of everything is what brings me joy.

 

I have a little bits of everything. Human. human in fantasy color. some with wings, that are solid or movable. with beast feet or/and hands or even few with beast head. and have two who are fantasy creatures ( Dream Valley Dawn and Whale Tower Rafayeh)
So for me, it it the doll it self, and what story I can se with it, Be it fantasy/beast or human is not important at first. many of my doll also have a connection, despite not being in the same main story. there are endless possibility and I love it

 

All my dolls are humans so far - I think I'd like to get a fantasy skin tone (probably gray) and maybe a set of long elf ears in the future but I have no interest in fantasy bodies (centaurs, mermaids etc) nor anthros. I find humanoids a lot more versatile for what I like to do with my dolls and I was never a huge fantasy media fan to start with It's cool that there is so much variety, though!

 

Seeing that I am at 12 non fantasy dolls and 5 fantasy dolls I guess I can say my current preferences is the non fantasy dolls but that has been changing this year because there is only so many human face sculpts out there before they all start looking the same.

 

The majority of my dolls are just human. I always thought it would stay that way. But some dolls just can't help slipping into my collection.

I am not into full faced and bodied anthro or fantasy dolls at all. They are fine to look at, but not my style.

I do have a number of little fox eared boys that have worked their way into my collection. I think little fox ears on top of heads are cute. I particularly like the ones with sharp little fox teeth. I'm planning on ordering another human based fox doll next year.

I also have had vampires slip their way in. The first BJD that caught my attention and dragged me into the hobby was a vampire. So I shouldn't be surprised that I eventually added vampires to my collection.

If I add that touch of supernatural element into my dolls I still like them to blend in with the humans. I really love looking at creepy horror based dolls as well, but I also don't have any of those. They wouldn't work with my very human doll story.

 

Fantasy (nearly) all the way! For me, there's only so much I can do with regular humans, since I've never been a fan of dress-up (it's my least favorite part of designing characters that I can't get away with leaving nude) and don't have any interest in modern design/fashion. One great thing about fantasy characters like merfolk/centaurs is that they need minimal (if any) clothing, so I can lean more heavily on my painting, sculpting, and drawing skills and not have to be too concerned about the fact that I can't sew (yet)

That said, the first BJD I really fell in love with was a "normal" human (LS He Yi), and so were the first two I ordered (LS Bai Ya and Mie Meng), but defense of my original statement, two of those were for the purpose of building out a jiangshi character of mine, and Bai Ya is a face-match for a ningyo (merman) character I've had a while. They all have more of a fantastical element to their fullsets, too, so I consider them a solid exception. They'll also be very much in the minority when all my ordered-but-not-received dolls arrive!

 

All of my girls are human, but for male dolls, they have to be cryptid or monstrous in some way. Skull heads, snake bodies, claws, hooves, all of those are good for males! I think because I like the more masculine/ripped bodies, and most of the human heads for boys are too effeminate to match that for my taste.
For girls, elf ears are the farthest I’ve gone for fantasy. I wouldn’t be opposed to making a hooved faun or dragon girl though, if I could find the right female body type. But mostly I’m fine with the girls looking human and having a more paranormal edge to their stories and having their monster husbands bring the full fantasy in.

 

I like fantasy dolls. Human dolls aren't my thing, but that's my personal taste, as I've admired many human and realistic dolls. I've always loved magic and sword and board style fantasy settings.

So far the most human of my crew is my vampire and witch girlies.

 

I just have humans, but I'm really interested in the more unique fantastical sculpts like a giraffe centaur I saw once!

 

If I really think about it, I prefer fantasy sculpts. However, only one of my girls has faery/elf ears, and the rest are human.

Fantasy sculpts, as much as I prefer them aesthetically, have usually cost more than I’d wanted to spend on a doll at a given time. My other issue with fantasy dolls is that they usually aren’t the sorts of fantasy creatures I like the most — or if they are, there’s something else I don’t like enough like the face or body. It’s easier for me to find a “perfect” human doll, and much harder to find a fantasy doll that grabs me enough to want to have in my collection. I’ve mostly enjoyed fantasy sculpts vicariously through the collections of others.

The one fantasy doll that was “perfect” to me was Souldoll’s Hanged Man Kyle/Amon. Easily my biggest regret in this hobby was missing out on him. (I actually had started a layaway, but it fell through due to a lot of life issues at the time).

Lately I’ve been thinking about getting into sculpting/doll-making, and if I do, it’s to make the kinds of fantasy dolls I feel are perfect to me.

 

I'd say most of my collection is human, with a few fantasy sculpts/colors. (I love a good fantasy color, especially pure black or pastels. Transparent resin, too.) I do enjoy seeing the fantasy sculpts that come out, but can't say I'm interested in owning many of them.

...Because yeah, I feel this so hard. A human has to match the resin colors, size, and facial/body features I like, but a fantasy doll has to do all that and also have an execution on the concept that I like and want to bring home. Even small things can be a deciding factor - I don't mind little elf ears, but vampire fangs, not so much. Let alone the big stuff. Centaurs are cool, but look like a lot of space and also they limit the sewing I can do for them, which is a lot of my doll play. Same with wings and anthro head sculpts.

I think my eternal hunt for Just The Right Robot Doll exemplifies how easily all those factors can disqualify dolls I otherwise think are cool. I love robots and would love to bring a robot or cyborg doll home, but on the rare occasions I do see a robot doll, they're just not the right one. I've seen a couple small artist dolls that are too small and too retro-themed. Dollzone's Ji-Zero? I don't like the lumpiness of her head. Their robot ballerina? Wrong size, don't like the perma-heel feet, not fond of bendy tube limbs. The Ex Machina dolls? Not my vibe on the face or much of the actual robot sculpting. Coral Reef's ONE would have been perfect with more humanoid legs. They're all cool dolls! They're just not quite what I'm looking for with the concept of a robot doll.

And therein lies the rub - my idea of a concept and an artist's idea may be totally different, and they really gotta convince me that theirs is the one I want to go with. Easier for some concepts than others.

 

Most of my dolls are 'fantasy'; elf ears, vamp teeth, hooves, horns, weird coloured skin etc. No offence to anyone (doll or human otherwise), I find 'humans' very boring. This is also reflected in games I play, chosen fav books/films and off topic dolls/figures I own.
The dolls I do have that are human sculpts, are generally not 'human' characters. The 1 exception is my first bjd. Aeryn (dm flocke) is a human in character aswell as sculpt. The fact that shes my only humans makes her more 'special' in my mind (i know how stupid that sounds xD).
But yea team fantasy all the way

 

My collection is mostly human, with just one fantasy sculpt so far. Since most of my story ideas revolve around human characters, I haven’t explored fantasy dolls as much. I wasn't planning to collect fantasy sculpts, but the one I currently have was an exception as I fell in love with the head sculpt at first sight. Now that I think about it, I actually have another fantasy sculpt on order. And if IG Devil.Hades and IG Angelos.Johan count as fantasy sculpts, then I might have more than I realized! o.o

 

I definitely love both!

Vince isn't a human character, but he IS a standard human doll, along with Pete, Billy, Jack, and Deanna... and now Marty!

Marigold, Party Martian, Bambi, Robin, and Sherlock are VERY much fantasy dolls, being a deer girl, hot pink elf, catgirl, green, and a deer-deer.

 

I have more human dolls, but I really love fantasy sculpts! Most of my OCs are set in an urban fantasy universe, but its usually a lot easier to find shells for human OCs than for preexisting fantasy ones.

 

I don't mind either type actually. However, I seem to be drawn to anthropomorphic animal dolls. XD

 

I adore fantasy dolls through photos, but I never buy any fantasy characters for myself. I like to be creative with my dolls in other ways (dressing them up, hairstyles, photography).

 

Big love for fantasy dolls, I only own 4 human dolls currently out of my whole collection! I have gnomes, fairies, elves, and even gelflings (unfortunately off topic due to being porcelain).