Opinion on Fairyland, over hyped or not?

I have two, a Fairyline60 Miwa and a Feeple60 Chloe. I love them both but I am also not super impressed with them. Miwa is my beloved trouble child. Moments after opening her a piece of her neck broke and she needed a torso replacement. Even with the help of fellow collectors, her stringing has never been great and she remains floppy. Every time I do much of anything with her she falls apart. I will never ever sell her but she’s also my most frustrating doll. My Chloe is beautiful but I feel her posability is limited and I kind of wish I had invested that money into another doll.

I do like the magnet hands and feet, very cool design that makes it much easier to change their clothes. But I won’t be purchasing another Fairyland no matter how much I enjoy their stock photos.

 

Part of the "hype" of Fairyland is in their history.

The neck system is entirely their invention. I think the magnetic hands (and later, feet) were their invention as well. Hell, before their neck mechanism, good luck if you bought a shirt without fasteners.

Before Minifee, the only mature MSDs on the market that I recall, were Unoas.

So, the first Minifee I bought, back when Cerberus Project was still under Luts, was essentially unclothe-able. Even Unoa clothes were (and now definitely are, since MNF have been slimmed down over the years) too big. And sometimes Unoa-sized clothes were difficult to find. Volks MSD clothes were the standard sizing.

Now? I can barely find clothes made specifically for my Unoa, but by golly, MNF sized clothes are ubiquitous. And that, if nothing else, says something about their popularity.

 

I've been noodling this for some time. I have come to the conclusion that whether FL is overhyped isn't what I think about. It's how much doll am I getting for my money? For me, the ideal doll is going to have certain posing and a certain aesthetic. I'm not super picky, but I know what I like and don't like.

The reason I ended up selling all but one of my FL bodies is mostly because of the posing. If they could slouch more (like if the pelvic joint on the A-line bodies wasn't just for decoration) and if the mobility thigh joint was capable of popping out so the dolls could pull their legs up to their chest, it's the plain truth that I would have been much happier. At this point, if I'm going to put $500 into a 16 inch doll, it's gotta be able to pose like a living thing (side note, I have a $100 off-topic doll that poses infinitely better, so I started asking myself, why am I putting the money into FL at this point?)

That's about where I've come down on FL -- if they were less expensive, the lack of posing would make more sense to me. Putting $319 into a Souldoll Soulkid on their new body, for instance, makes more sense to me because their posing is so much more diverse and it's even a larger doll. The only FL body I have at this point is an A-line boy body, and I only kept him because he slouches like a dream.

Bottom line: FL is great when their dolls are what a person wants. As for me, I figured out through trial and error that I want something different. That doesn't make them bad dolls. They're just not for everyone.

Sorry for rambling, I just think I finally got all that straight in my brain.

EDIT: I thought of one other point. Fairyland bodies would not seem so over-hyped to me if they'd been updated more over the years. Who else has a mobility joint that you can't pop out? Who has a pelvic joint that only slides a tiny bit from side to side? These were two of my biggest complaints when I had FL bodies, and I wish they could release updated versions of some of their bodies to compete with the newer industry standard.

 

One of my biggest problems with Fairyland is the feel and weight of their resin. It's lightweight and feels to much like plastic. It's probably a design choice to make them easier to balance and pose but...You just can't compare their resin to Volks and Iplehouse. There's a huge difference in quality and has lead me to purchase my dolls elsewhere. It almost makes me feel like I'm not getting my money's worth. I know I may seem harsh but that's just my honest thoughts. I love their fullsets. Their dolls are beautiful and own about 6 or 7 dolls from them. However, my preference has changed and I would rather have a higher quality doll than a beautiful fullset that my dolls don't even wear!

 

They did update the hook system to magnets at some point which was a major move, but true - I also think often why they haven't made the knees double-jointed at the very least. It's funny though - somehow I don't mind the Unoa bodies being the same for years at all, yet with Fairyland it feels so odd to not have upgrades.

 

Ahh magnet hands. Good times.

I think the lack of upgrades feels strange partly because the sculpting on FL dolls is incredibly tight. That makes them very solid in their posing, but significantly limits it at the same time. I can't just manipulate the joints to do other things as easily as I can with my other dolls whose pieces aren't so tight and fitted to each other. I'd imagine restringing them looser might help with that, but I never tried it to find out.

I can't help but think of Souldoll here. They actually listened to customer feedback after they redesigned their Soulkid body. It had a piece inside the chest joint that limited slouching, so people were modding it a lot. They literally looked at peoples' mods and fixed their own sculpt so that it wouldn't need to be modded anymore. That's the kind of interaction I enjoy from artists in this hobby.

I know it sounds like I'm bashing FL, and though I have had gripes over the years, I still love their dolls. I just think if the posing hadn't been quite so limited like I mentioned in my last post, maybe it wouldn't feel like they needed to be upgraded before now.

Ahhh I do agree about this. After owning some different brands (Loongsoul especially, but also Crobidoll and Souldoll), I've noticed that my newer FL dolls were quite light. My Event '14 Soony is quite hefty, but all my others are significantly lighter. That's one reason I noticed that you can't manipulate their posing much. With heavier dolls, their own weight can hold a joint popped out of place for the sake of a pose. As far as overall quality, I shall spare you my essay on FL's quality control, and just say those other companies I mentioned have opened my eyes to true quality.

 

With Fairyland I think they're an easy-to-love company because of their beautiful aesthetics and sets, but after handling so many other dolls, they didn't have what I wanted: a nicer posing body. I liked CP's sculpting for faces a lot, and when I finally was able to invest in the hobby FL was at peak hype and I kept hearing about how minifees have the "best naturally posing body".

My first mid-size doll was from Doll Leaves, and she posed with incredible variation, so my expectations were through the roof, especially after watching a few BJD youtubers who owned them with nice customization and photostories. Of course upon receiving mine, she was charming... but the body frustrated me so much to the point where handling her at all made me anxious, and I ended up selling her. Perhaps I'd own heads in the future, but hybrided onto more pose-friendly bodies.

 

I say Kinda - I don't have many dolls but FL was one of the companies I desperately wanted a doll from when I first started out in the hobby, particularly MNF Shushu. I knew nothing else about BJDs besides "I like this one because it's pretty". Now that I've come back to the hobby after a decade, I'm shocked at just how many sculpts they've churned out over the years. I've bought a few MNF because I love the faces, luckily ones that are unique looking (or are unique looking to me). But reading everyone's comments about the posing difficulty and resin issues, it makes me nervous to handle mine with anything but kid gloves - I'm glad that there's so many collectors who can speak to their experience with FL dolls, so I can learn stuff like this and be better informed when purchasing new dolls.

 

I think they’re well-loved, and some people over-hype them. If you’re talking about comparing Fairyland to other makers, there are plenty of others who are just as good and who offer more options. The people who are saying they aren’t overhyped, but artists are under-hyped— I think that is the sentiment I agree with. Fairyland is great at what they do, but they definitely don’t hit the mark for certain things for me, like fantasy dolls. If I want a fantasy doll I’m definitely going to a company that offers fantasy tones, more readily accessible elf ears or other alternate ears, etc.

I have two Pukifee which I adore soooo much. They pose pretty well (though they can be top/head heavy without sueding) and the amount of joints they have and what they can do for their size is amazing.

I didn’t think any Minifee really spoke to me until I recently found a Lishe head on the secondhand market that I couldn’t refuse. I’ve seen my friends’ Minifee in person, and the body isn’t necessarily my favorite…it felt a bit cheaper compared to other resins I have, and the stupid hip/leg cap things are a painnnnn. But I will probably still get her a Minifee body because I like to have variety in my collection, and I don’t have one yet.

 

I checked the "a little" box and I have one feeple girl Her magnet hands and feet are awesome... however fitting other companies' shoes on her is painful.

The body is moe-line and it poses decently, but I'm not into doll acrobatics. If it can sit and stand without falling, i'm happy. It could use some sueding, not gonna lie. Probably some restringing? I'll get to that, I promise

As for the aesthetics, it's just a regular sleeping head and I'm a sleeping headed doll junkie. Give me all of them any time. Nothing super exceptional, just as sweet as any other. That said, her hips and belly are magic. I love their shape and proportions. Her breasts are cute too, though I'd never been into large-breasted dolls. but I like hers, she's got a very soft, feminine, huggable-looking body.

Also, i'm not into MSDs, but theirs are super cute: Marcia, karsh, Mirwen... oh come on And the new ones too Also, Feeple Alan (sleeping) is my long-time BJD boy crush xD

 

Honestly... if you asked me whether or not Fairyland is overhyped.......... Yeah???? They look lovely, but like....... they're still super popular to the point of "you see them everywhere" levels, especially MNF Chloe for a lot of people, myself included.... While I'm not SUPER interested in posing (as long as they can sit and/or stand I am satisfied), the fact that they don't have the best posing in the world can be a turn off for some people. That, and the sculpts I tend to gravitate to are typically fantasy sculpts, and yeah the main FL dolls I was into were fantasy BJDs. And in terms of personal taste I tend to like Doll Chateau looking sculpts (lanky and Burtonesque) as well as anime sculpts more....

 

I feel like the second hand market is FLOODED with fairyland dolls. I also feel like most items (clothes, wigs, etc) are for fairyland slim MSDs. They all look the same to me, aside from the new fairy girl and Juri 08. I cannot tell most of the sculpts apart and I feel that the company has 'same face syndrome' pretty badly .
I swear I see like 8 Chloes a day on facebook listings. I think their bodies are nice, and I see some girls and understand the hype, but I'm sort of tired of looking at them all the time. Everything is for them!

TLDR; Me and my big girls and boys are sorta left naked compared to them and they've over saturated the market.

(They can be quite cute if styled correctly/etc and i've seen some lovely fairylands, so no hate if they're your thing... I understand it!)

 

Yes.
And I gotta say, I hate the outfits across the board. I got big girl vampire carol and I was ready to chuck that dress in the garbage.
BUT (theres always a but)
if mika/mir get a 65 version i may had to buy it. that was the first fairyland doll i ever had but it so small i just didnt care about it and sold it.

 

I decided on "kinda" because I do feel like they are just EVERYWHERE and for a while a lot of people were convinced they were the best posers and the best sculpts out there, but I just can't get on board with that. They do have some BEAUTIFUL sculpts, but a lot of them look too similar to me. That said, the new F65 girl is GORGEOUS, but I also cannot stand the F65 body for posing, so I'm REALLY hoping for a F60 or MNF Nuia.

 

Admittedly...I said yes, they're over-hyped. Even as someone who eventually cracked down and bought one—I stand by this sentiment.

For years I remember Fairyland being touted for their poseability, magnetic/exchangeable hands and feet, and the popularity of sculpts like Chloe, Mirwen, etc. Even now I see them littering my Facebook feed, insta-spamming Instagram (sorry, couldn't resist) when straying from my curated list of followings, and amongst a good many people's favorite companies (alongside the likes of Volks, Smartdolls, and the occasional other). It's only been as of recent that I've been seeing more complaints regarding their actual poseability (or lack thereof, something I've learned through my own personal ownership—my girl cannot, for the life of her, sit demurely without looking like she's trying to pop a squat, with her rear end about an inch above the ground and nowhere near having her thighs rest against her calves—and don't get me started on how it's easier for her to sit like a dude instead of a proper young lady) instead of them being praised as the best.

On the subject of magnetic hands/feet—I have some rather personal gripes with them. It hearkens back to the days of Pullip collecting, where I had one girl on the type 2 body who's hands were constantly popping off. With my Mika/Mir, it's a pain to take her shoes off because it's the same issue. Yes, there's convenience in magnetic hands/feet, but it's oftentimes a double-edged sword where I face the sharp edge on the wrong day as much as I avoid it on the right one.

Also, lots of folks seem to hold their resin to this high standard. I'd have to beg to differ after I put my girl through the dye vat. Blushing and getting creative offer a wonderful coverup, but underneath that faceup—she's got a lot of freckling and discoloration going on. In other words—she didn't really take smoothly to the dyeing process (even after going through the proper motions of preparation), and, if I weren't okay with dealing/working with those imperfections, I'd have been banging my head into a wall over the results.

And, honestly—I've never really been all that interested in their fullsets. People seem to go gaga over ever single release (believe me, there are always group orders placed by the dozen showing up across a good many buy/sell groups out there for them), but for me they're...meh. Cool for anyone who is into them, but I've seen so many other talented artists/companies come up with fullsets on par, or even better, than the ones Fairyland releases.

I admit—their sculpts (or a vast majority of them) do seem to suffer from that same face syndrome: big eyes, pouty lips, cherubim/rounded face, and small nose. The girl I have, Mika/Mir, seemed to be one of their few exceptions, and, honestly—if they released more sculpts like that—the same face syndrome thing wouldn't be as much of an issue. Yeah, sometimes the eye shape changes, but the faces are always shaped the same, and that's a turnoff for me.

Yeah, some of their event heads have cool expressions/additives, but they're the exception—not the norm. Plus, they're often a lot more difficult for someone to get their hands on without having to buy the default face/body/fullset along with it—

So...I won't tell anyone to stop loving what they love. If Fairyland is somebody's jam—cool. I just honestly wish I'd either see less of them, or that they change up the formula for their face-sculpts (shape-wise—I'd love to see longer faces with narrower eyes coming out from them like Mika/Mir instead of the usual moe-inspired aesthetic that seems to be their bread and butter. [moe in anime is pretty much "innocent, idealized youthful female character", which is something I'm not remotely interested in regarding bjds]).

 

I have resisted fairyland for a long time. Most of the sculpts are too cute and don't really fit into the style of my group. I do however got a minifee body and am thinking of buying another one. They are not as great as many people say or at least used to say in terms of poseability, especially if you look at other bodies that are just chefs kiss. Minifee have some issues with one leg being slightly longer than the other, which can get frustrating if they don't want to stand up straight, so consider a doll stand. But they are just so beautiful and the still very many poses you can achieve look very natural. That's one thing other bodies often wouldn't compare well with. The lines of the poses seem much more natural than many other imo. Plus, they don't really loose their value and if you ever decide to sell them you will easily. For me thats a big plus, since I like rare sculpts and less liked companies, but damn, if you decide to sell them it takes ages if you are lucky I got one beautiful head from Mayakdolls that's almost impossible to sell. You won't have that problem with Fairyland. Also, most clothes are made to fit minifee, so it can be easier to find nice outfits and accessories.

 

I voted for ‚kinda‘.

In my opinion they deserved the fame and hype in the past. They (Cerberus Project/ Fairyland) were one of the first companies that brought us mature slim minis. Their sculpts were special. You could easily recognise a CP doll, but at the same time they were very distinct from each other. Their double jointed bodies (speaking for Minifee Active Line and Feeple70) were beautifully designed and the dolls could do many poses.
Now they aren’t that special anymore. Many companies sell slim mature minis, do offer double jointed bodies, let you choose different hands, feet, busts and so on and so on.
Unfortunately the design of the Fairyland sculpts doesn’t appeal to me anymore. I think that changed after the release of the Minifee Chloe sculpt. This doll was very beautiful and hugely popular (I have one, bought the Fullset ). But later released dolls looked so similar and not so unique anymore, it got a bit boring.

Qualitywise they were never that special.

 

It's funny that you say that, because just today I was testing this with my Minifee boy. My favorite msd girl body at the moment can easily sit on her legs and look really natural doing so. I tried to emulate the pose with my mnf, and it wouldn't have been horrible except that his hips would not hold any in-between poses. So because his calf won't bend far enough to sit flush against the back of his thigh, and his hips won't allow any pose but a 90-degree angle to his thigh, he is left kind of crouching while bent forward awkwardly. Which doesn't even matter, because he's bent so far forward that his own weight makes him face-plant, rendering the whole pose useless.

I'm not trying to bash FL by this, it's just what the body does. I've had four FL bodies, three of which were different lines, and all of them were like this. It wasn't a priority for me when I first started the hobby, but I must admit that if the hype hadn't been so strong at the time, I probably wouldn't have gotten one as my first bjd.

I appreciate this perspective a lot. I wasn't part of the hobby yet back then, so I don't have a firm grasp on what it was like. It's so interesting to hear about how much everything has changed. I wonder if some of the hype today is kind of left over from those days.

 

The human dolls never appealed to me. But I do love their little "Alice in Wonderland" full set caterpillar, Absolem. He's amazing.

 

Omg how cute!!! I didn't even know lol

 

Not me learning right now this is a wide known issue and not the doll I had being defective...
I chose overhyped in my case because I see them everywhere, because it's of the first companies to be recommended to everyone for anything and because I always see news of Fairyland whereas I don't read about news of other companies as often. Many people keep up with them and share everything the company does.

I did own 6 Fairyland dolls at one point (two minifees, one littlefee and three pukifees) when they were becoming a lot more popular but they weren't yet how they're in more recent times. In fact my first doll was a Cerberus Project one, so in a way it was Fairyland too.
When I originally got them they did pose better than other bodies I had and I liked their size, and that's the reason they were getting so hyped, reasonably so. Basically everything Godzilla said in their post above I agree with.
I also agree that changed for me with the Chloe boom, after that I started to see that every new sculpt they would introduce would look very similar to each other to me, I lost interest and I moved on from considering Fairyland altogether.
One of my minifees had the leg problem, the other didn't, the overall resin quality was a bit disappointing when I got most of them (and I'm talking around 2011 here, I don't even know how it's these days), my littlefee at the time was from 2009 if I remember correctly and she had better quality resin than the 2011 ones, the difference was very noticeable.
The only thing I miss is the magnet in the hands, it was very practical despite the hands potentially falling at some point or another (in mines it was very rare to happen though and it was mostly with the minifees), and I also liked the neck system in minifees.

 

I have one fairyland. I was disappointed when I opened it because it didn't look as nice as my other dolls. I felt like it look kind of dead instead of alive when I opened it compare to my dolls that still need a face up. The default face up wasn't worth the money. The outfit felt cheap compared to SartoriaJ, Volks, etc. The doll wasn't as pretty as the promotional photos. I didn't think it was worth the money or the wait. It's extremely hard to sell it. I'm thinking about losing money on the sale to get it rehomed. The moment I opened it I felt bored at looking at it. It's the only doll I felt like that.

I think there is an abundance of Fairyland dolls I see on my instagram feed. I get tired of looking at Fairyland personally because there is something about the dolls I just don't like. I thought I liked them until I opened my doll and didn't really like the quality. The accessories are nice though. It's a good deal for all you get but I feel like you are buying quantity of items compare to quality. I only own 1 fairyland, so others would be better for reference for quality.

Really? My experience with selling my one fairyland is it's really hard to sell it for the cost I paid and it's taking forever to sell it, but mine is a male doll. I notice the females are more popular. I also notice people seem to like minifees over feeple60.

 

Really? That's interesting. Yes I do agree that minifees are much more popular than feeples. Although I prefer feeple. Well, I think atm every doll is hard to sell as long as it's not the most popular sculpt right now I have dolls for sale and I know the struggle. And yes, as long as its not a special event doll you'll never get your full money back sadly. :/

 

I can see larger dolls being harder to resell for the original price. Especially if it's in stock on Denverdoll or another dealer.

 

Kinda,

I thought they were cute when I first saw them, but I honestly have trouble telling most of them apart. I am actually glad I don't have any dolls from Fairyland.

I've seen way too many people be disappointed after they got their dolls, whether the quality wasn't up to par, or they posed badly, or the joints were uneven, I've even seen warped legs come out of fresh box openings.

They are cute, but they are just not for me.

 

Overhyped Now.

Back in the day - you know, the dark ages when everything was 1 piece torso and single joints - they were super worth the hype. They were innovative and shaking things up and changing the standard. THAT was when they were considered great posers.

However since then? They have not kept up. Everyone adapted to the bar CP/Fairyland set - and kept going. While Fairyland stayed where they are. Anytime i hear someone say they are great posers I roll my eyes because it's no longer true and it just gets repeated because of how visible they are.

The faces all pretty much look the same anymore. I can't tell nearly any of the new releases apart. It's a problem that started with Chloe/Celine but there was still some variation in releases then for a time, but not anymore. And the quality has also tanked.

It's such a shame because they were my favorite company for a long while - I started in the hobby collecting the old CP Delfs via Luts, and followed over to the Fairyland separation. After delfs I got into Minifees and even have had puki pukis, pukifees, and littlefees. I LOVED Fairyland. And now - I have some of my old school delfs still (or rather, again having bought them back), and I have 3 minifees (my old mirwen boy I've had for probably 10 years and will never part with, my juri 08, and my nanuri 19.2). But I don't even bother looking at them/their releases anymore.

 

A month after I posted that Fairyland Minifee weren't my thing, I found an in-stock Fairyline Jiyu at DDE in limited blue resin, and ordered him. I adore him. He's my most expensive doll, and the only one with four sets of hands due to Fairyland's magnet system. I still think many of the faces look similar, but the Fairyline body has good posability and stands easily. I don't want an army of them, but I do love the Minifee I have.

 

Yeahhh, gotta say I think they're pretty overhyped.

Minifees were what got me into the hobby, and I'll forever be grateful to them for that!
And I do really love my Niella! He has such a sweet little face, and I've bonded with him in a way I never did with my other Minifee, Eva. I'll likely sell her when I get around to it . . . I'm sure I won't be able to sell her for anywhere NEAR the price I paid for her lmfao, but eh! C'est la vie! She's uniquely gorgeous amongst MNF sculpts, in my opinion anyway! If I don't sell her, I may just get a male body for her and style her as a very pretty boy

My biggest issue with my MNFs is that they JUST don't wanna pose!
My first non-MNF doll was my little baby, DollZone MiYou, a YOSD I impulse-bought and fell in love with. I was impressed to find how much BETTER his lil body is at posing for me compared to my MNFs' bodies!
MNFs definitely don't like to HOLD poses either, even if you manage to pose them almost the way you want . . .
I'm planning to hybrid Niella at some point, give him a different company's body . . . I'm sure that'll prove to be a massive pain considering the head/neck mechanism for MNF vs other brands. But EH! There are always ways!

I do think Minifees are beautiful little dolls! And they DO have certain features I LOVE and would like to see more often from other companies! Their magnetic hands and feet in particular!
They're not bad or poorly made dolls at all, imo! They're lovely little works of art!
I just think there are other companies out there that are more deserving of the type of attention Fairyland gets!

 

I like Fairyland, and don't find them to be particularly overhyped, but also, it's possible I'm missing out on some of the hype. I am not into photographing elaborate sets, and so the lack of poseability doesn't really affect me much. I love some, but not all, of the old Delf sculpts, and some, but not all, of the new Fairyland sculpts fit in with my Delf collection, so I buy them when I like them. The concept of "is it worth the cost" doesn't really seem to fit with how I approach the hobby. I don't buy dolls to own a random doll, any doll. I buy dolls when I like the sculpt, unless I can't afford it, in which case, I don't.

 

I only have one minifee because most sculpts look almost the same to me... Maybe Im doll blind but I really have trouble telling them apart. I also feel bored looking at them because fairyland is everywhere. It gets old fast.

 

Having owned a few Fairyland dolls, I have to say... kinda? I've had a lot of issues with visible through the resin magnets, weird posing problems, and general odd design choices. I love the dolls I do have but that's more for their characters and less for Fairyland and their production methods.

 

I voted 'a little'. I have two minifees, I still love them and can't wait to photograph them again. Getting back into the hobby, I was so excited to look them up and see what I've missed, but was unfortunately disappointed by what I saw. The concepts are a bit too extreme for my current tastes and I find myself drawn to volks more now. They're popular for a reason and ZombChan said it straight, they were innovative, but now there's a huge playing field. I'm glad they've stood the test of time, and I'm still enjoying the two I have, but I'm not sure if I'll go after anything current from them.

To be honest, with all the comments being of similar thoughts, I wonder if they really are overhyped anymore. Maybe they were once, but now it's died down.

 

I find MiniFees to be overhyped, but I think their Feeple65s are gorgeous and their PukiFees are so cute (I'm neutral on LittleFees and RealFees because I generally don't like that size). For me, Minifees just look so generic and boring. There's nothing wrong with them, they're beautiful, but I'm just not personally a fan.

 

Echoing what many others have said:
They used to be great before they discontinued the older sculpts and bodies. But now the bodies are just not as nice, the new sculpts have a tendency to look very much alike, quality control is hit and miss, customer service is straight up terrible at times (people being told "that warped leg is normal").

I also find it funny they never sand seamlines when companies like Resinsoul do at a much lower price point. Though that was an issue since CP was with still with Luts, and a good chunk of my dolls are from CP/Luts, so I cannot say it was a deal breaker for me.

That said, they still manage to pop out some interesting things once in a while (the recent fantasy colors offered was nice, I would have jumped in if I could have gotten a LTF in those colors.

 

Just for clarification I don't own a fairyland in any capacity.

When I was discovering the hobby as a wee lad I very much enjoyed the repainting videos of Nicolle's Dreams on yt and I will genuinely say at the time I really wanted a Minifee Chloe, truly.

As I am now an adult with adult money and adult responsibilities I will now say my tastes in dolls have changed dramatically. I do know there are other sculpts and some of them are genuinely cute but none of them are really worth the pretty penny in my eye.

 

This is pretty much my exact same experience and thoughts, down to also wanting a Minifee Chloe. I too, am no longer interested though for the same reasons.

 

Voted kinda.

I think they're pretty, I am one of those many, many souls who does like the Chloe sculpt but I've only ever been close to buying a factory painted Rens because she is my absolute favorite. I also like that they're popular in America because there are so many clothes options for them, something I struggle to find with my other dolls sometimes, but I have to agree with what others have said. The similarity, the price, and concerns over some recent quality assurance issues have kept me from going all in.

But I'll continue to enjoy the lovely fairyland dolls others have. They're very pretty!

 

Definitely overrated to a degree, and I'm saying this as someone who has three of them; the amount of same face in the MNF and F60 lines is baffling large—if you've seen one, you've seen just about all of them. Never had quality control issues, though (for reference: my newest of the bunch are two F65 Angela Type 2s, the oldest an early F65 Chloe), and their bodies are some of the best designed in the hobby, or at the very least, I can't think of any other 62-65cm doll as well-engineered as the F65 girls.

 

A bit overhyped but they also have some good stuff.

 

To be clear, i don't like fairyland. i don't like their aesthetics and i don't like being afraid of the quality issues i heard about (which are probably not widespread anymore and have probably been fully resolved).

BUT a lot of people really, really like them. Who am i to judge? i really love Unoas. i know someone who hates them. i don't think any company can be "overhyped" if there are people that love them (barring shipping//scam issues like dollshe).

also... i DO have one pukifee. i don't want any more and honestly i probably wouldn't have gotten this one if she wasn't part of a trade, but i don't plan to get rid of her either. */shrug*

 

I'd definitely say they are kinda overhyped. I have one MNF boy that I got in 2016 and he was my first doll, so for a while I didn't have any other dolls to compare him to. While I do love him very much, and I will say his presentation right out of the box was outstanding, I don't feel like he offers anything special in terms of quality or posing compared to my other dolls. Luckily I wasn't struck with any severe quality control issues when I ordered him, just the regular weird seams--but the fact that that was even something to worry about should say something. The engineering of his joints makes him honestly kind of annoying to handle, and until I sueded him he was always wanting to throw some weird exaggerated pose.

Other people have mentioned the same face syndrome of their sculpts, and I agree. The sameness of their sculpts is what keeps me from really wanting to add another minifee to my collection at this point--I sort of feel like now that I have one I have them all, LOL.

Combined with all of those things, I think the main thing that makes me feel like Fairyland is overhyped is the price point. Fairyland is considerably more expensive than many other dolls with similar or better quality and posing. For that I really want their dolls to be standout! (Some folks have said that back in the day they used to be, but other companies have caught up with them since--I came to the hobby a little late to witness that but it makes sense.) I love to browse their catalog once in a while but at this point unless one of their dolls was a grail for me I don't feel like I'd want to spend that much on one of them, especially when I could get another lovely doll from plenty of other companies for a lower price.

 

Well, when I first started on the hobby (about 12 years ago) I had this girl straightforward telling me my doll wasn't as good as hers because she collected all Fairyland dolls and they were the best in the market in ever sense, so maybe I've conditioned myself to not find them in any way exciting, but I think they are definitely a bit overhyped, though maybe not so much as they used to in the past, I feel like. I remember seeing a lot in my local community at an early certain point in my life as a doll hobbyist, then the focus started to shift a little towards other companies. And I didn't even know about some of the quality issues O.o

 

I’m not a fan of the minifees but I absolutely love my FEEPLE60 Celine. She is my favourite doll and I really love her body and poseability. The sculpt is basic yet you can make it really original and beautifull. My grail dream is actually a Centaur type of doll from Fairyland. But for an european who makes roughly 700€ per month is kinda hard to save

 

I personally hate Fairyland yet I have 5 FL dolls and counting.
I always told myself Id never own a minifee because they were uninteresting to me at the time and compared to most other companies I found the posing to be pretty lacking- especially compared to dolls in an even lower price range. I can't lie though, It's a love hate relationship. Minifees are so versatile and simple it's hard to say no. I especially love some of the older "retro" sculpts. As a company, I think it's quite pricy and quality control is far too lackluster. All in all, think FL is like a drug and it is overrated but who cares

 

I'm a big fan of Feeple65, especially the old boy body is great. The new one...well...not so much. It seems really tense and the muscles are too pronounced. I liked that the old body wan't mascular. It was one of the reasons why I liked the Feeple line.

However, I'm not crazy about MNFs. They are cute, but same-ish and not for me. We just didn't bond. I had one and ended up giving her to my mom who really likes her. But I like there are so many MNF sewing patterns and clothes on Etsy! They fit my DearMine boy just fine.

I never had any quality issues with their dolls or any other problems in difference of...well...let's not name names.

Maybe they are a bit overhyped now a days, but they legitimetly have a lot of fans!

 

Fairyland introduced me to the Littlefee version of the classic Delf El and I love him to bits. They were also the reason why I was able to find a better body for my floating El head via the Feeple 60 muscular boy body (not too fond of the default Luts 60 cm body sculpt with no chest joint).

In the current state...I have no idea Fairyland is considered over-hyped, hahaha. The current sculpts they produce no longer calls to me as strongly as when they had the classic CP sculpts.

 

Apologies for necro-ing the thread but I have some additional cents. I can understand why people would like the sculpting style of FL, yeah, but thinking a bit more I realized I don't really like their Minifees very much style-wise (1/4 scale is my preferred size despite me having more YoSDs, so that's why I single them out), my favorites being the elf vampires, and more so the round faced sculpts with the big eyes. I think it's mainly due to me not being keen on mature MSDs in the first place, but I also like my MSDs to look young and cutesy to some degree, considering that I find Luts' Kid Delfs more appealing to the point of temptation even when they aren't fantasy sculpts. Plus I mentioned before that Doll Chateau-esque and anime sculpts are more up my alley than FL's style as well. I think style preference contributes to me finding them kind of over-hyped as a result, likely more than the somewhat ubiquitous feel of Chloe does. Mature MSDs just aren't for me I guess.....

 

Reviving this thread because of a few discussions I saw elsewhere about Fairyland. It mentioned a few things like how a lot of BJD newbies feel like they have to get a FL as a first doll or nothing at all, and another discussion about needing FL to “fit in” with the hobby.

Back in 2009, the “fitting in” used to be said a lot about Volks, but the majority of collectors then obviously didn’t have one. Due to the nature of forums, anyone could have their doll seen regardless of brand so I don’t this this effected people as badly then. I spent time in the hobby both with and without a Volks doll, and no one treated me any different during either of those times.

With Fairyland it seems to be a little different, the perception seems to be that unless someone has a Minifee, their doll doesn’t get seen at all. I wonder if this is a problem with social media algorithms. If so, I find that sad and maybe explains the all or nothing attitude?

Anyway, with my familiarity of FL, I would not have considered them to be overhyped, at least when I had been most active in the hobby. I can’t speak of the reported quality issues now though. Minifees were around $350 then (they are around $400 now), which was a fair price point. I thought Souldoll’s resin was nicer (for $300), but MNFs definitely posed better.

I only owned a MNF for a brief time, but a friend was a big collector of them so I would say I was pretty familiar with their quality and a variety of the sculpts. They definitely would have been worth the $350-400 price. If the quality really has gone down though, I think that’s an off putting price though.

 

I'm too new to BJD in general have any idea how popular Fairyland is, really, but having glanced at their work a few times, I was... underwhelmed, I suppose? They're beautiful, don't get me wrong, but clearly they're not my style, because there hasn't been a single "must have" for me yet. For the price they command, I feel like there's a better option for literally almost everything they offer.

My favorite Fairyland designs are of course the "creature people", like merfolk and centaurs. I think their horse half sculpt is the most beautiful one I have seen so far, actually, it's the one time I would say Fairyland has the very best take on a particular thing. Except that I'm not in love with any of the human halves of their sculpts... something about the style just isn't quite to my preferences. Even though the engineering of my Resinsoul 'taur is objectively not as nice as a Fairyland centaur, I prefer his overall aesthetic, and I definitely prefer the price I can have a whole herd of those for the price of one Fairyland doll!

I'm not sure if it's a case of "same face" or if it's simply that I don't like the style of the faces very much. But hey, if people want to clamor over Fairyland stuff and leave more of my favorites for me, I'm not going to complain! Have at it, I like being able to get the stuff I prefer without a struggle!

 

They were the first dolls I saw that got me into the hobby. I can see how it can be overhyped, but since I am interested in them, I like it when people talk about them.

 

Speaking of overhyped, they actually were during the early 2010's when the classic CP sculpts were sold on their site (after separating from Luts). But when the classic sculpts were no longer continued, so did my interest in them. It also didn't help that FL is now veering towards realistic proportions for their taller sculpts.

I miss my big head CP sculpts

 

Ive loved the 4 mini fees I have had , they are cute . The company is good at marketing them which is 100% the battle for good sales. Still im hesitant to spend 400 dollars on doll. Its a lot of money

 

I’ve already commented on this thread but feel I need to say something else as it’s becoming more of a bandwagon “let’s trash Minifee because everyone else is doing so” conversation. It has become that old faithful of ‘Now that something is popular we have to tear it down so we appear to be individuals and not following the masses’. It happens to everything and anything over and over again. People are still following the masses, only now they bash instead of praise.

Firstly this thread is labelled ‘Fairyland’ however it’s predominantly revolving around Minifee. They do other ranges you know and I’ve noticed the few (including myself) who have dolls from those ranges seem to be quite happy with them over all. I’ve also noticed any comments mentioning as such get largely ignored as they’re not fuel for the fire.

Secondly I will state that although I have a lot of tinies and a couple of Minifee myself I buy particular dolls because they appeal to me and if I find the work of a company satisfactory then yes I will be a return customer, same can be said of anything. To a degree I have a kind of brand loyalty but not in a blinkered way.

Thirdly I know the difference between personal opinion and genuine criticism. They’re not the same thing especially when it is just purely a matter of taste. We all have different preferences, we all see things differently literally and figuratively.
“I don’t like their faces” is not a factual critique or flaw, it’s just personal opinion, remember that. You’re allowed to have it but it shouldn’t be used to influence others.

Now there are always in any hobby, fandom, society or just in general life going to be Elitists and Snobs who look down on anything that isn’t what they like or isn’t a particular brand or whatever. Sometimes these people are genuinely so Narcissistic that they think their opinion is law but also sometimes they’re actually people with certain conditions who are just hyper focused and have difficulty expressing themselves or seeing a wider picture. They are going to hype up what they’re interested in as that’s what their brain is locked onto.
The nastier narcissist types will also hype up and try to force their choices onto others too usually by bullying but either way always remember you have a mind of your own so use it. If it’s not your thing walk away, the world isn’t going to end because you didn’t buy someone else’s choices!

In this hobby yes Fairyland’s Minifee are popular but the same could be said for quite a few BJD makers these days, doesn’t mean you have to like or buy them. For those new to the hobby they may be their first introduction to it and a starting point to begin researching and discovering, nothing wrong with that at all….we all had a starting point where we saw something and said “Wow what is this, I must find out more!”. In my case over 20 years ago it was a Dollshe Saint, doesn’t mean I had to buy one though even if they were considered a ‘must have’, it was purely an introductory discovery!

As for the ‘same face syndrome’ argument folk keep using in this thread I’m actually wondering what people expect. Of course they look similar, that’s the particular style of the sculptor or sculptors. It’s the style they’re known for and is instantly recognisable as Fairyland. There’s only so many adjustments you can make to human type features before things begin to look alike and the more ‘sculpts’ you do the more likely this is. If they did anything drastically different then no doubt you’d all complain that it wasn’t Fairyland any more. You can’t have it both ways. Yes they’ve updated certain parts of their ranges partly due to changes in taste but also due to technology advances and on a more sinister note because of the scourge that is recasting.
The vast majority of BJD companies have sculpts that look very similar some even more so than Fairyland including those who do more realistic sculpts. Go and look or will that damage your crusade?
It’s down to the particular style of those who do the creating. Do you criticise a particular singer because their voice sounds the same on every song they sing? No because that’s their style, their voice. Do you moan about the way Van Gogh painted his most famous works? No because those distinctive brushstrokes were his style. Instantly recognisable.
Completely changing the appearance of your range in order to fit in with what’s popular and abandoning your distinctiveness (sounds very Borg) is an entirely different matter and one I have complained about as then yes ‘Same face syndrome’ applies and companies just blend in to a sea of unoriginality and blandness where anyone would be hard pressed to distinguish who made it. Currently this is not something Fairyland are guilty of.

Genuine grumbles over posing and recent quality issues are valid complaints though. I’m not so fussed about the posing aspect of Minifee mainly as I’ve not had many MSD or larger dolls to compare them with. I’ve had some really dreadful posing dolls over the years so to me Minifee are satisfactory.
Their tinies are great and if anything I find it hard to keep other makes of tinies now as they rarely compare posing wise or facial character wise. I’m not so enamoured with Littlefees though, they do have an awkwardness about them which I personally don’t like but that is purely my opinion and not a fact!
Thankfully I’ve not had the quality issues others have had but it has put me off of buying a body I need for now. I’ve had some artist cast dolls in the past that were rougher than a badger’s arse, you kind of expect that though sometimes and with the best will in the world mistakes happen but when major established companies chuck out flaws repeatedly then yes that is a huge concern! I agree totally there.
They appear to have learned from this and have temporarily closed production of most of their ranges due to the workload so we shall see if this helps with that problem.

I will also fully admit to absolutely hating the new Minifee head cap system. It’s dreadful, had to get my hubby to take it apart and all the while I was stressing in case he broke it as he’s not used to handling dolls. Again I can understand them trying something more secure and new but let’s just say that experiment is a colossal failure and should never made it to production!

So again do I think they’re ‘Overhyped’ …… No, as it’s not like you’re seeing massive advertisements for them everywhere or their name in flashing neon lights on every street corner or Minifee cluttering every store window and shelf nor are there newspapers/ magazine articles singing their praises, buses passing on the street with doll posters plastered across their sides or talk shows on TV banging on about them. To me that’s what Overhyped actually means.
Are they popular and therefore seen more frequently when you look up BJD on social media sites…..Yes, that is purely down to owners though sharing how much they love their dolls though nothing more.
Do they all look the same? ….. No and Yes as has been explained. The additional factor of similar faceups again is purely down to owners liking the way a particular faceup artist handles those sculpts and wanting that too. It has nothing to do with Fairyland themselves.

Personal preference will always be purely that, it’s not a basis to go around pointing fingers or shin kicking, try to be more objective about it if expressing it to others. Opinion is also not the same as hard fact either, you’re allowed to have it but always remember some will think differently and neither is wrong.
Hard facts about flaws, damage, incorrect assembly, structure issues, etc are the only real concern anyone should have when it comes down to it.

Those are my opinions on the subject and yes you are allowed to disagree if you so wish but don’t take things out of context or twist words, that then makes you just as bad as those you began criticising in the first place.

 

It depends. Pukipuki is the best tiny I've had at that scale, and the use of magnetic hands and feet makes the dolls easier to dress. I just wish more companies would have the face separate from the head, instead of a head cap. You can change the eyes without having to remove the entire head.