Things that annoy you... *Rant Thread* - pt.2

The very reason that most of my SD dolls are hybrids... and most of them are on the same few flat or small-chested bodies I've found up over the years.

Same here plus the fact that I mostly want Victorian styles for them so there are even leaner pickings.

Teddy

 

I need to go back and read some of the posts I missed, but I really want to get this off of my chest.

1.) Why is finding boys clothes in colors other than black, white, beige, grey, or blue so difficult nowadays! I've found some, but boy's clothes of all different colors used to be everywhere when I first joined this hobby! Now, you have to scour so many different websites to find any kind of colorful clothes! And speaking of "different websites,"

2.) ...why are there so many girl clothes on etsy and DoA, yet almost no modern boys clothes?
I have five girls, and their wardrobes are basically finished (the advantages of being in this hobby for over a decade), but clothes for my newer boys are nearly non-existent! I get that this hobby undergoes changes, and even that right now, girl Minifees are "the popular dolls," but please, someone, anyone make clothes for boy Minifees, LittleFees or SD boys! Boys need clothes too!

3.) And that's not even mentioning not being able to find clothes for my Kid Doll Chateau boy. I would be willing to pay for someone on etsy, or even here on DoA to make reasonably-priced boys clothes that aren't blue, grey, black, beige or white!

4.) Also, no one seems to make clothes for boy LittleFee BJDs either! Am I the only one that's still active in this hobby that buys LittleFee boy clothes? The idea of making any clothes for a doll smaller than a MSD terrifies me.

5.) Leggings, leggings everywhere! Doesn't anyone want their dolls to wear actual pants anymore? The only difference from all of these MiniFee clothes sellers are the patterns on their leggings. BORING!

6.) No one seems to have any imagination anymore. For the most part there are no rock star clothes, Visual Kei clothes, bright colored pants, printed t-shirts, suits, (including ladies pants suits), capes, vintage/retro clothes, fantasy clothes or ever futuristic clothes being made anymore. No chains, studs, vinyl, pleather, feathers, or even wood anymore! Does everyone nowadays buy their dolls clothes at Ye Olde Navy or Da Gapp? Again, BORING!

I think I liked it better when pretty anime-style, rock star, imaginative clothes were popular. Oh, and GetOffaMahLawn!

Ugh, its 5 in the morning. I think I'll go to bed before I get myself in trouble. Sorry if this rant offends anyone.

Ryu

 

Literally everything you said is 100% me xD It's so hard to find boy clothes in a variety of options/colors in ANY size. Even my tiny (1/8) boys end up having to wear skirts and dresses cuz there's mostly dresses

 

Finding fantasy clothes for my boys has been very hard. Once I do find some, it's a few months of saving to be able to afford them.

 

I think what I find annoying is mainly my post office keeps messing up my packages and I have to get my doll back. They don't label things properly and send things back earlier than they should. When asking for a specific package I am missing they say it's not at the office for weeks when it should be there then I find out they sent my package back soon afterwards.This happened a few times. Another annoying thing is when I am given my package, but for some reason the entire box is soaked from the outside to the inside when it wasn't raining.

 

This so much, and everything else you said. The girl dolls are all back to mini skirts and leggings only, it seems (if they are Smart Doll or Minifee sized, if not, you have lost anyway), and if your boy dolls do not dress in Idealian sized K-pop boy band or Ancient Chinese style, the air becomes very thin as well, so to speak...

 

I suspect the proliferation of leggings and skirts/dresses come from a) their rise in people fashion and most importantly b) that stretchy legging and skirts/dress can fit a wider variety of bodies. Since there are so many different bjd bodies out there, it's just safer, as a seamstress, to cast your net wider by offering things that will fit a greater range of clientele (and probably save you from answering hundreds of "HEY CAN X FIT MY DOLL?!?!" questions after you've already carefully listed the measurements of your model on the listing itself... no I totally don't work in customer service, why do you ask?)

That being said I've absolutely noticed that all the guy clothes have gotten super boring recently. You can barely even find historical stuff (aside from Chinese clothes - likely again because a) there's a lot of Chinese companies willing to make stuff from their heritage and b) the fit of the clothes makes them more forgiving across a greater number of dolls), which used to be much more prevalent... now all I see on first glance is plain dress shirts and (inexplicably) torn and/or tight pants. Those don't even go together!!

The thing that surprises me is how resistant the BJD hobby has been to standardization. Obviously there's some artists out there who just wanna make weird dolls and that's totally fine, but if you're making a more or less realistic/semi-realistic mature mini, or, like, muscular man doll... wouldn't it be beneficial to your sales to say "oh by the way, my doll was designed to fit X popular company clothes?" That way you can start seeing these sorts of "islands" of compatible dolls and that hasn't really caught on, for some reason. I don't know if this annoys me though - on the one hand I am ABSOLUTELY annoyed by how hard it is to find dolls that fit well with each other and/or can be shopped for in terms of clothes easily. But on the other, uh... I... like the weird dolls and all the options, and I'd hate it if they didn't exist because they weren't standard.

 

Yeah, wanting diverse, unique artistic takes on the human body in doll form and wanting standardized clothes sizes for dolls is like wanting to have your cake and eat it too, right?^^

All I know is it's always been like that... my first girl in 2005 was a size way out of the realm of the then standard Volks SD10/13 girls, but her company had the decency to offer clothes for her, as did other brands producing odd sized dolls, LOL. A lot of companies have reduced or dropped their clothing lines to cut costs since (Iplehouse, Soom, Souldoll...) Independent seamstresses would naturally turn to the most common and trendiest doll sizes only.

I also think the lingering resistance against standardization has a lot to do with this hobby having been almost exclusively about customization and DIY in the beginning. This has changed somewhat, though it's still important to many hobbyists, of course. It was taken for granted that things wouldn't be all ready-made anyway, in the beginning.

 

I think the leggings thing is that they're high demand because they're popular in human fashion as well as cheap, fast, and easy to produce. Leggings are pretty much guaranteed to look flattering on a doll body. I rarely even see young women wearing jeans where I live so of course I'd expect to see dolls in leggings as well. Next stop: Northface jackets?

If you look at dealers in Japan, there are people making extremely frilly girly dresses in SD10/13, and Gr sizes. Some of these dresses are incredibly detailed and expensive because of it. I really don't see many Western collectors willing to spend a whole doll's price for a dress. Same with eyes. There are some dealer brand glass eyes that cost around $200 and I would never expect to see someone over here with a pair in their doll. They're totally gorgeous but I think I'd want to at least see them irl before dropping so much on them.

It seems like in Hong Kong there's a lot of really cool clothes makers but it is hard for Western collectors to get a hold of them. Some of their prices seem really reasonable too! I wish that kind of creativity was common over here.

I don't pay enough attention to boy clothes to see if there's anything interesting there. Can't say I'm super interested in the kpop look. I'd really like to see some hakama though!

I think the ancient Chinese trend is fun but I don't really see it much with Western collectors. I don't want to own any but there's some interesting to look at and detailed outfits out there.

 

I actually really appreciate what iMda doll does - they don't carry clothes beyond the limited sets released with dolls, but they do have an entire database of free patterns and instructions. All the simple articles you may need (underwear, shirt, pants, etc) plus a couple more fun outfits that you can mix and match pieces from. Simple and cost-effective, since you don't need to be a sewing genius to cut out patterns and follow instructions that have detailed photos while you wait for your doll.

I have actually seen SO. MANY. puffy down jackets in all lengths and sizes recently. I think they're cycling back into the "fashionable" in various Asian countries so there's a lot of them getting made for dolls now.

Also it's funny you mention costs because that's what I was gonna rant about...

Not because I think the stuff is over-priced, necessarily, because I get that it's skilled artisan work and I AM willing to respect and pay for that. But still, like... I bought my girl in 2020. This month I finally had enough energy and health to start putting her together, and between two outfits, a couple pairs of shoes, eyes, wig and face-up, I think I easily spent 150% of what I spent on her originally. And this wasn't even top-of-the-line stuff!

I think this is what's ultimately keeping me from being able to really rejoin the hobby as an adult... Like I could maybe even convince myself to fit in a doll between all the other expenses, but I KNOW that the cost of the doll is only the price of admission to a very expensive fair and there is no way I can afford what's inside, so... what's even the point?

 

To me, the point is enjoyment. After being in this hobby for almost 13 years, I finally obtained a doll that I truly wanted to spoil, rather than a doll that was a mark on a checklist. I found the reason why people would buy $400 dress sets and $200 eyes. I could have never comprehended it before! Yes these things are ridiculously expensive but I want my doll to have nice things.

It's also okay to save up and wait. Your doll isn't going to hate you for not finding them shoes for 3 years. It's also fun to create your own things, which seems to be something this hobby has lost a lot of over the past 10 years. Nothing will look good at first but there's a lot of fun in trying.

Sorry for posting positive things in the rant thread. Don't tell anyone!

 

I can not second this enough. It adds nothing to the hobby, but make people avoid it. My friend has been on it, and it was horribly cruel to see what people said. People just use it to tank the reputation of people that they don't like and I've noticed it is mostly artists getting ruined. If I didn't know my friend in real life, I probably would have avoided the hobby altogether.

 

I've only ever bought dolls I wanted to spoil in my 14 years in the hobby, so I'm no stranger to spending hundreds on eyes and clothes (well, I never had a doll that necessitated several hundred dollar outfits, but I spent a lot on clothes). The thing is back then I was a dumb teen with no expenses so I literally just spent whatever money I had, saved up whatever I had. Now... I have savings, car, housing to pay for... even vacations and such for mental health to me >>>> doll stuff. Granted I'm injured now and I can only work part-time, so I'm not rolling in cash, but even thinking back to when I was working full-time, I don't think I would have wanted to spend that much money even though I had more of it around.

Also, I certainly wish I could create my own stuff, but being injured means I get 4-ish hours of pain-free work a day and I'd rather put that into my freelance art aspirations than doll stuff. It sucks, too. I was good at crafting as a teen, made my own dolls and stuff. I actually got back into dolls because I felt like I needed another hobby other than work, work, pain. Then I realized sewing and cutting little doll items is still pain so, uh... I guess I got taking photos. That doesn't hurt too bad.

My other rant, to keep this on topic, is I wish that doll meets weren't in the middle of the day on a Saturday or Sunday. I don't have a lot of seniority at work + as someone who has to be part-time due to injuries, I end up having to work every Saturday+Sunday. Like, even those days but a bit later in the day would be okay (say, 4-8), I could still make it to a part of the meet after work. Maybe one of these days I'll have the energy to organize a meet on some other day.

 

I'm on a very limited budget, so I definitely understand. One thing I've been doing since I got back into the hobby is looking at outfits that I'm interested in and deciding if there are any parts I can skip. Often there's an undershirt or something that's barely seen— so I make it myself or use one I already have. And then that's another twenty bucks or whatever to put towards the other standout pieces. I'm building wardrobes slowly. Until then, I'm getting my enjoyment from posing them around my house every day.

What annoys me is that I would absolutely save up for an expensive outfit, but I never see any that really thrill me anymore. Especially since I have no interest in kpop or military outfits... There used to be a bit more variety, I think. And any of the outfits I do see that I kind of like are usually for 70+cm, which won't fit any of my dolls.

Another issue I have is with the lack of clothing measurements on some of the sites too. I've literally seen jeans listed as fitting 3 totally different sizes— which is it? Can I get a hip measurement? I don't want to buy $50 pants that don't fit over my doll's butt.

 

I will say this for that Tumblr - I initially showed up there to come to the defense of a friend. I stayed once I figured out where the gold was amongst all the dirt. There are a few highly toxic (and incredibly insecure, in my armchair psychologist personal opinion) people who have a tendency to monopolize the confessions. And there have been confessions that were caught out-and-out lying to create drama.
I am sorry to hear that artists feel that the blog is hurting them. I know I've discovered many new doll companies I enjoy (and have added to my "to-buy" list) courtesy of confessions - but that's also probably a quirk specific to me, since I find Instagram to be difficult to navigate.

You are describing my life right now. I have a pair of "1/3 scale" pants. They don't fit my Resinsoul or MiroDoll 60cm bodies - too wide. They don't fit my Iplehouse HID body - too small. I now have pants in search of a doll, lol. (Maybe the ImplDoll body?) So as much as I agree with everyone else that leggings are boring, I also agree that they do tend to fit everybody.

 

There is nothing positive about a blog designed to let people anonymously trash some one and ruin their reputation because they dont subscribe to your personal philosophies.

Everything about it is trash, and it should be deleted.

I can find all the companies on the numerous other sites and forums. There isn't a single reason to patron that site other than to encourage the trashy behavior.

 

That's actually beautiful, I think.^^

But what @Lelite has said about doll expenses really reinforces the point that newcomers need to be informed about the more hidden, secondary costs of BJD collecting. Of course it doesn't stop with the naked doll, and a +600$ doll's accessory market is not going to be cheap either.

I understand the anxiety that BJD confession sites cause - but they are almost ridiculously easy to avoid, right? Of course they will exist. There is no office/ workplace in this world where co-workers will not talk bad about the random one that's just out the door, let's be honest - but it helps to remember that there is no reason at all why these people's opinions should matter to you, especially if they cannot even say it to your face?

 

It's really sad to see all the drama started on the confessions page, I agree that it's always artists getting hated on and it absolutely sucks. Honestly that page holds me back from releasing my own doll because I already have my own insecurities and I don't need anon hate... But yeah, if I had seen that page when I started the hobby I probably wouldn't of started a social media for my dolls at all.

 

Yeah.. And it is kind of a gateway for racism and other types of hate since they aren't being held accountable for their words.

 

I didn't realize the BJD Confessions site still exists, although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Very easy to avoid it though. The best revenge is being oblivious.

 

I bought Citadel Purity Seal years ago, and did some of my dolls face-ups using it. I'd had it so many years since then that I realized I should throw it away and buy new cans, but it longer seems to be available! MSC isn't recommended for tan resin, and a lot of my dolls are tan, so what will I use instead?! Hopefully DoA's Workshop can give me an alternative. I've got so many blank dolls...

 

Citadel rebranded it under the name Munitorum. I've used it for my own faceups, and it works well. You can probably also find other's opinions by searching for it on the forum searching under the new name.

Let's see, a gripe of my own to post—
*Not a lot of female sculpts with defined cheekbones. I love me a mature lady with some good cheekbones, and so many of them out there are the rounder, cute, wide-eyed girl next door type. That, along with more built females in general. wispy waifs are fine enough, but I like a strong personality or built woman. (This might be why I'm mostly drawn to male bjds...)

 

PREACH! You are singing my song.

 

Thanks @jade-eyed-cat ! I ordered a new can so that I can hopefully get most of my many blank dolls painted this summer.

And I found a new annoying thing in this hobby- working with Milliput. The Super White is a good color and is fine textured enough to work for filling dents in an artist cast white doll, but its so sticky its super annoying to work with. It stuck to my fingers and to spots on my doll I didn't want it. At least its water soluble, but not as user friendly as polymer clay or paper clay.

 

1- When you have a tiny doll and you try to position the eyes just so, and finally get the putty to stick. Then you close the head cap and pose it for the photo. And for some reason, despite feeling like it shouldn't be a thing, the tiny S-hook in the head swivels just enough to knock one of the eyes either off pose or loose in the head altogether.

Like... It's a tiny head with barely enough room for the eyes in the first place. How is it physically possible for the tiny S-hook to move in there, let alone make an eye go wonky?

2- RingDoll clothing. Out of any of the secondhand clothing lots or Alice's Collection orders I've ever placed, a RingDoll Teen sized uniform I got second hand has been the most confusing sizes I've ever had the displeasure of encountering. It's the only RingDoll clothing I own and I refuse to buy anymore if I could help it.

The pants fit a 70cm butt, but the length of the pants are for a 65cm male doll. The white button shirt fits a normal 59cm girl, and is a tight fit to busting open on a 62cm slim boy (it won't fit on the 65cm boy I have), and the sleeve reach over the hands. And then there's the coat. It drapes kinda alright on a 65cm boy, but the sleeves look like they should fit a 70cm doll. I can't decide if I want to alter it or just hand it off to someone who owns a RingDoll it was obviously tailored for. Because it is not other-brand friendly at all. (I'm rather curious and scared of the RingDoll male body proportions because of this outfit XD)

3- Finding promotions that sell tiny pets with the condition you have to buy a larger doll to get them as a "freebie". And no option to buy the pet individually. (Looking at you, DreamValley! Why must you torment me with cuteness I can't have!?) It's not always the case, but when it does happen, I certainly get grumpy. I just want the cute tinies! Let me have the little pets!

 

Haha. So sorry, that blog just makes me so mad.

My rant....Taobao....I can handle not having it in English, but the mandatory log in now is annoying, and international buyers can't seem to register.

 

BJD Bhiner is the best. For whatever reason, I can't log into Taobao anymore either (it says I've tried too many times, even though it will be weeks between tries).
You can put Taobao links into BJD Bhiner's search bar, and if Google Translate fails you, they are lovely to work with. They have been happy to answer all of my questions (on China time, of course).

 

Of course my first actual post is whining, how typical

Anyway
Finally when I have energy for this hobby in a long time, then I feel like I cannot do anything!

Faceups? Lol turns out that my sealant has run out and the local craft store that sells MSC asks hefty money per can imo. I get the prices are high here in general but * sigh * and thanks to shipping costs buying elsewhere wouldn't save me any money.

Shipping costs in general are the bane of my existence, I would be very okay for paying a bit more for a nice set of eyes or a wig, but when the shipping costs can climb in the same price range as the product itself: HARD NO.

Shopping overall? I get overwhelmed with the amount of supply tbh.
+ in my absence many companies have discontinued things I've wanted, many Etsy artists have quit their shop/things are sold out and I don't know if they're moved, and if so, where?? I tried googling usernames but results were 50-50.


Also finding shoes: soon my Pipos Charlotte can go bare feet forever for all I care!! Multiple times during the years I've tried to search what other Charlotte owners have bought or said, but either I'm exceptionally terrible at searching, or there just isn't spesific info. Not helping that I want her to have more mature/older lady look, and most YOSD shoes I've seen are very child like.

Last thing is my own impatience: now when I finally have energy to busy myself with dolls I just want everything right now! I get frustrated when I have to think, budget and priotitize things: I just want to destress with my dolls, not think hard stuff >:^( I need to learn how to chill, and not just burn my energy and motivation all at once but it's a forever project of mine /__\

 

There has been a few things recently...

I still can't get over the new EU VAT for every. single. tiny. thing I order from outside of the EU. It's something like 23% of value added on top of the price, and Etsy charges it on checkout, so I also have to overpay for their high Paypal exchange rate. Sometimes customs office charges the same VAT again (because I guess the seller didn't list it clearly that it has already been paid?), so I pay double! It makes this hobby even more expensive and annoying. I also need to have an unknown amount of cash at home to pay for these packages, because postal workers here don't carry terminals.

And for some reason putting in eyes has never been more frustrating to me. The white tack just refuses to stick I'm tempted to use something softer and more sticky, like putty-like ear plugs, but I'm worried of possible stains... So the struggle continues.

 

I've always had great results with Testors model masters Flat, even on darker tans. Just apply lightly.

 

My new minor annoyance: how hard it is to find jewelry that isn't yellow-toned. There's so much gold, and never enough silver.

 

I unearthed a dress I sewed and dyed myself. It has a moth hole, despite me living over seven years without an infestation.

 

My other pet peeve. The stalking and harassment.

I am beinging to think this isnt the hobby for me....

 

Have you tried silicon ear plugs? Something like this. They don't stain, they're easy to put in and take out, and they don't get hard, even years later. I use it in all of my dolls.

All I can recommend, @lucylanger, is to avoid negative sites. TBH, I haven't been on tumblr for years, partially because I'm sick of the drama. Try the BJD subreddit on Reddit, other than DOA, its where I sometimes hang out, and everyone there is pretty nice. Most people don't want drama on social media, its only a very vocal few.

My current peeve is not being able to find tall/calf high brown men's boots for my Doll Chateau Kid that don't cost $50! UGH, he's a MSD, NOT an SD! Why do I have to pay the same price for a smaller doll with smaller feet?

Ryu

 

Pricing. I'm looking to downsize, and sometimes looking for a ballpark is hit or miss, especially with fullest outfits.

 

I feel all of this on a spiritual level lmao. I have boys who need visual kei/jrocker clothes (including a LittleFee). I have a boy who needs pastel clothes. Which, that wouldn't be as much of a problem if he weren't an Iple SID XD I have boys who are smaller than your average SD, so SD13 stuff is still too big, but then I have big beefy boys who are too big for average 70cm clothes (got a lot of pantsless boys around here cause their thighs/booties are big lol). I haven't been able to find anything for my Narin, cause all the slim mini clothes are for MiniFee girls, including the patterns! orz

But to add my own things...

Spending lots of money on shoes/clothes, just to have them flake/deteriorate :'D

Buying things secondhand and them arriving smelling weird. Got some stuff that has a kind of mildew smell and we still haven't gotten rid of the smell after several washes, even using vinegar. Clothes, wigs, and shoes. Of course, can't wash the shoes due to the material, so they're just hanging out in a large tupperware with some baking soda. It's been almost two weeks and they're still stinky

Getting a doll secondhand and the eyewells/inside the head is practically caked in putty. It's especially annoying when it's super sticky and has a strong chemical smell. Please clean the eye putty out of the dolls you sell, your buyer will appreciate it.

 

@LupusDarkmoon - Ugh, I'm allergic to a lot of scents, so I understand the struggle! One thing I've found that helped is to buy some activated charcoal odor-removers and keep them by the objects for a while. That really seemed to help with a too-strong resin odor, and ought to help with other things as well. They "recharge" by being placed in direct sunlight for a few hours, so you don't have to keep buying new ones.

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about:
Robot or human?

Edit: I don't know why that link says "Robot or human?" - it's just a WalMart link to examples of activated charcoal packs.

 

This probably isn't a great place to be, either. As we've all learned, you can get away with just about anything on this forum, up to and including SWATing a dealer, so long as you're buddies with the mods.
You and me both, @lucylanger - you and me both.
I await my ban.