What Sets BJDs apart for you?

That's a very good question, I never asked myself!
When I was a child, I collected porcelain dolls. I didn't have many, maybe 6, but I loved them. I didn't play with them, they decorated my room.
As a young adult, I became interested in little apple dolls, bleeding edges too. That was before I discovered BJDs. I was amazed by the possibilities that BJDs offered (and by their price too). I tried Pullips before I could afford my first BJD. It was a leap into the unknown! He came naked and without a wig, so I had to find a wig and sew him some clothes. I, who had only had ready-made dolls, was in for a long journey.

When I begin to collect BJDs, I stop buying other dolls. Maybe because I couldn't afford too much expense, maybe because I found BJDs more interesting (in terms of customization possibilities). I'm not sure. There are plenty dolls I found lovely, but I buy no longer other dolls than BJDs. Well, I have some Pullips and some Monster High too, to say the truth. But I'm more used to work with resin, so I prefer BJDs.
Anyway, even if I would love to see more diversity in terms of body shapes, I like the diversity you can find in terms of faces.
For BJDs, I learned to sew (a little), to paint makeup (a lot), to craft wigs and other things. I enjoy working on BJDs. I like to gradually bring out a character from a blank BJD. I think that's why I'm no longer interested in ready-made dolls.

I also think only doll making could make me leave BJDs for other dolls. I've seen very nice rag dolls, I think I could enjoyed making some. But currently it's not planned.

 

For me it's the artistry, bjds are so beautiful and all the little details fascinate me. They're more similar to sculptures then Barbie dolls to me! Not to mention the art of the faceups, wigs, clothes, shoes, etc it's all so wonderful to look at and see the differences in style from every artist

 

100% the articulation, the quality of the materials, and the customization!

 

In other dolls, you more or less have to fight them (their original state) to customize them, to make them into something they were obviously not meant to be. BJDs were made from scratch to come alive only through your customization. Sure, there are fullsets to be bought, but the original idea was always to be the owner's canvas.

That's what sets them apart for me. That and also the SD+ sizes, handling dolls that big that do not represent children and still are posable was a revelation to me

 

I loved fashion dolls as a kid as well as game characters. As I grew up and got into gaming, I absolutely loved games with character creation. I will spend hours creating my character before even playing the game. I also jumped into Second Life just to build my avatar and go clothes shopping for her lol I also made some basic clothes for her.

I admire characters in games and I absolutely love and admire all the different BJD's, I love realistic dolls as well as the cutesie, almost cartoon style dolls. I love their clothes, wigs, eyes, shoes. I love their bodies and most of all their faces and faceups. I love dressing up myself too, I just love everything fashion, makeup and hair so the idea of having dolls to do it with too I just love haha I'm not sure why I am this way, I just am and always have been

 

This is a great question! I’ll preface my answer by explaining my foray into doll collecting. Once my children had all grown and left the nest, I decided I wanted to collect dolls. I joined a local doll club to explore my opportunities, and started off with an introductory level antique porcelain doll. I loved fashion, so I explored making antique clothes for her with antique fabrics. But I couldn’t afford to expand my porcelain collection much from there, so I grew bored and sold her. Then I tried out antique china head dolls and making appropriate civil war era gowns for them. It was fun, but I eventually grew bored of the antique style entirely, so I soon sold them and moved onto mid-century plastic and vinyl dolls, making outfits for them from vintage fabrics. But I still felt somewhat stifled. I gave 1970s Crissy a try, and found customizing them with rerooted hair was a thing which I enjoyed. But again, I felt stifled by the limited era clothing. So I sold them and gave the larger modern fashion dolls like Tyler Wentworth a try, learning to do faceups on them. But, meh…they just didn’t have enough character and substance to maintain my interest for long. I tried re-borns, which were fun to shop for but I eventually grew bored of shopping for baby clothes too. I was constantly re-cycling my doll money, trying one kind of doll after another, and had begun to despair of every finding the right long-term fit for my creative dreams.

And then…AND THEN!… someone in the doll club gave a lecture on ball jointed dolls. She passed around a Luts kid delf, and once I put my hands on that doll I knew! I mean, I just KNEW this was the hobby for me! I went home that bright summer day in 2006 and joined Den of Angels right away, and I’ve been here every day since! For all these years I’ve just been happy and content being right here on DoA and slowly collecting my BJDs. In truth, I’ve never looked back. This hobby gave me what I realized I’d always been searching for…complete customization and character building…the ability to create an entire fantasy world of my own making from scratch. I’m no longer limited by one style, I can create fashions in all sorts of different styles, so I’m never bored. I love the weight, substance and articulation of bjds which makes them endlessly posable for creative display opportunities. My dolls can have all sorts of looks and genders and species and sizes, fully embracing the creativity and diversity my soul had so long yearned for.

 

I had Barbie dolls as a kid, though their limited posing and weird proportions irritated me as I got older. As a teenager got into Tonner dolls. I liked them, and still and like own most of those I acquired. They pose far better than Barbies, but all come predefined by clothes and hair and faces. I've sewn a few things for them, but ultimately felt restricted by them. Fashion doll magazines like Haute Doll and Fashion Doll Quarterly led me to BJDs.

Their articulation, detail, and customizability, along with the variety available is what sets them apart from other dolls for me. They are evolving, interactive art objects as well as being collectable. I've done much more sewing, crafting, and writing than I did for my fashion dolls.

 

the way they feel in your hand... its just unlike any other doll. they truly feel luxury and its such a treat to own them

 

100$ seconding articulation.
I've owned many different types of dolls and the limited posing really starts to grate. When there's only so many poses you can put the doll in, there's only so much enjoyment you can get out of it. But bjd have a lot wider possibility

 

Maybe it's strange but I genuinely don't know exactly what sets them apart for me, especially considering I never previously liked dolls and enjoy some others so minorly in comparison. But the factors such as these are big:
Customization is possible and reversible and repeatable
Extreme modification is not very hard either
Tailoring the anatomy with hybrids is easy, and there is more selection of bodies and head appearances than other types of dolls (in my opinion)
Articulation which allows lifelike photos and a pleasant dressing and interactive experience
I can get them larger than fashion size which I like more in almost every way
So I guess it boils down to that I find them an artistic media that is well suited to my expressive interests. There is also the fact that I feel a more emotional relationship with them compared to any other doll or toy, and I'm not sure exactly what causes that but feeling this connection has been why I really loved the hobby.

 

I never even knew about the customization aspect until I started digging into getting one. But I knew I wanted one decades ago when I first saw one. It's only ever been pictures, so it wasn't the articulation or the posing. They just...they don't look like any other type of doll. I'm talking about the "classic BJD", more semi-realistic, not the cartoony/anime style or super realistic ones. They have a feel that's uniquely this style of doll, and that's what drew me in and keeps me here.

Also, at least for me, it's the clothes and the accessories and the props. Even the dolls themselves. I'm autistic, and I think this is fairly common for people on the spectrum - but I'm fascinated by small versions of bigger things. When I had barbies as a kid, I spent more time being mesmerized by her clothes than the doll itself xD. Not dressing her up, just. Looking at her clothes. I've always loved doll houses because of the props, but not had the urge to get one of my own, as they somehow feel empty and lifeless. But BJDs hit that sweet spot for me. Just...small, detailed versions of bigger things.

 

My wife collects more conventional dolls and she sews for them so over the years
we've attended various doll meets. I frequently photographed her dolls or other dolls
in diorama settings. One day I mentioned to her that photographing the dolls was fun
but really wished they posed better and she said "Well you can get jointed dolls, you know"
A friend of hers loaned me a pair of MSD sized Angel of Dream dolls, Fei and Min and I
was mesmerized. These were the models I'd wished for! I think I have 23 now and a
studio in our garage where I photograph them.

 

I have collected many dolls through out my life: Bratz, Barbie, celebrity fashion dolls, American Girl, baby dolls, Baby-Sitters Club 18" dolls, stuffed animals and many more. The one thing these all had in common to me were that they tended to all look very much alike and not have much variety, and also not nearly enough male dolls--most of the ones I collected either had no boys at all, or were the standard "stereotypically muscular tan handsome guy" look. Boring! As a kid, I would sometimes paint over my dolls' faces (or in the case of Ken, hair) just to have something that wasn't blond/blue eyed or brown hair/brown eyes. I had been saying since childhood that they should make a line of dolls where you could pick the head, body, hair and eyes and maybe makeup, but I never thought it could really happen. When I found BJDs, it was like a dream come true!

This was all in the 90s when I was having trouble finding variety in fashion dolls. I know there is a lot more now, especially with Barbie, and others include the ability to swap hair, but they still don't do it for me. Some are really cute, but they just don't have the weight, the size, the realism or "soul" that a BJD has. Although a lot of things have improved with fashion dolls since my childhood, I do feel like the quality has gone way down with cheaper plastics, hair that isn't as easy to style, and the clothes for a lot are just printed designs on cheap fabrics. Some even have painted or sculpted on clothing, and that really ruins the fun. I like that BJD clothes are often the same quality as human clothes, sometimes even better. I'm not putting down other dolls, they all have their place and serve their purpose. They just don't give me the same feel as a BJD.

 

The option to customize in the default version. I mean, you can customise all kinds of dolls, but usually you're then going against what the sculptor had intended. With BJDs it's advised to go against it: the doll artists often participate in the community and like seeing different versions of their creations.

Besides, the general quality. The sculpting is usually detailed, the proportions aesthetically pleasing. Hardly are these dolls e.g. bubble headed or alien-eyed *when* the intention is to make them 80-100% realistic. Often when you have eg a fashion doll, where the head is realistic, the body is too tiny - consider most collectible barbs of celebrities...

The bjds seem to have more quirkiness and personality to them. With BJDs it's not 'just about the looks'

I also collect Barbies and I love sewing for both Barbs and BJDs. I appreciate it that Barbs don't need too much fabric to create just anything and are smily. But when I want something detailed and realistic, I realise my potential best when sewing for the BJDs.

I also love it that you can mix and match various companies, thanks to the standarized sizing. You don't usually have it with other types of dolls. So I have my favourite place to shop for wigs, another for shoes though.

I also like the variety and varying degrees of realism. I like 80% of realism, so with nearly humanlike proportions, just heavily idealised. So, e.g. a layman would ask if those are humans.

I like the community's openess for gender non conforming dolls. With others you usually have strongly genderly typified dolls. I like small-chested girls with boyish faces and girly guys with angelic looks.

While other dolls may offer one of the above features, to my best knowledge, it's only the BJDs that combine them all

 

I love the variety! The height differences, different body types, different resin colors, widely different facial features and completely customizable eye and hair color. Playline dolls just don’t have those things. Pullips, which I collected before BJDs, had the customizable hair and eyes, but all the same headsculpt and body. I love that my BJDs all look like individuals!

 

I collected two main brands of vintage mass produced dolls and while there is an even number of boys and girls I still didn’t feel there was enough variety. Now with bjd there’s no more searching for the rare red head or color combination, I can make my own. Also my vintage dolls were my way of healing my inner child, bjd are my way of moving on.

 

I've always loved dolls and each doll always has had a different character for me. I also enjoy writing and character creation in general so that part of the community has really drawn me in. I also love how articulated they often are and how much goes into creating one.

 

At one point I faded to the edges of the BJD hobby and focused on OT dolls. That community's idea of customization was very limited compared to what's common in the BJD world, the dolls have less articulation, and not much in terms of face mold variety. I was considered an oddball for not wanting dolls with the same face molds. In terms of bodies, there were only 2 choices at the time, and to get the second body took hunting and ingenuity.

On top of all this, the DIY aspect of OT collecting was heavily downplayed in favor of a " BUY! BUY! BUY!" mindset. There was a big push to get the hot new things, to the point you were considered suspect for not playing along.

I love BJD articulation, the sheer variety of dolls, and the joy of creating the hobby encourages.

 

The first bjd I purchased was Eshe as Isabella by JAMIEshow. I purchased her because I loved her outfit, the entire look. When I unpacked her I fell in love with her quality and the weight of the resin.

 

So I'm the last person you'd expect to be in the BJD hobby. I was never interested in any type of dolls as a kid and adult, neither was I into related hobbies such as figurines, plushies, toys, Nendoroids, etc. I have a few figma and plushies but they're more like novelties than actual collections - if I'm collecting anything with them, it's dust.

Case in point: I recently told a friend about my return to the BJD hobby. Now, I took a very long hiatus where I stored my dolls away and literally forgot about their existence, and while on hiatus I became very good friends with this person, so she knows me quite well. My friend wanted to guess what my new/rediscovered hobby was, and after going through a bunch of guesses, she laughingly said "those dolls I've seen in Akihabara?" (She's lived in Tokyo.) And was astonished when the answer was Yes. And said, "I NEVER ever expected that answer from you."

So yeah. I'm not the kind of person who'd be into BJDs. In fact, even though I've had BJDs for around 14 years now, I haven't been enabled onto other kinds of dolls, figurines or toys. They simply don't interest me whatsoever!

But BJDs do - very, very much. I was drawn to their aesthetic (the perfect mix of realistic and ideal/fantastic that I liked) and versatility/articulation in their jointing. A BJD has that somewhat blank canvas quality where you can make it a completely distinctive character. Yes they're dolls, but they can become their own persons.

Most of all, I was drawn to their potential to embody my OCs. Another story... When I first encountered BJDs around 2003-2005, I thought it was a thoroughly weird hobby and brushed it off. But that was because I saw them merely as toys, nothing different from Barbies and playline dolls I already knew about and had zero interest in. But when I started researching more, and discovered that BJDs had the potential to embody my OCs -- the switch completely flipped in my head and I became captivated.

I've always made up characters for imaginary stories and worlds - my OCs have "life" in my imagination, and I occasionally represent them in art and writing. All my dolls have their own characters too, but unlike my other OCs they actually exist in material space. Yes, my dolls are toys, but they're also much more than that: they're my imaginary characters given physical form. I'm convinced a bit of the "life" the character has in my imagination somehow gets transferred to the doll shell too. No other doll or toy can embody my OCs with the same kind of liveliness and realism, and this is the main thing that sets BJDs apart for me.

 

I wasn't interested for the longest time. But, when I discovered BJD centaurs, it was all over for me. I love their posing and cute faces. Eventually, I branched out into more human looking dolls. Yet, my centaurs still rank as one of my most precious possessions.

I own many, many playline and fashion dolls too. They're all their own little characters and I adore them.

 

It is definitely the customizability that stood out the most to me. I encountered the hobby while looking at ways to practice art on dolls, and BJDs are by far the best for almost everything: sculpting, painting, sewing, etc. The possibilities with even one doll are endless, let alone all of the different sculpts from every company! Looking at others' interpretations of already-created characters as well as their takes on their own characters is so much fun. BJDs are just really special in that they allow everyone to make their own unique creation.

 

For me, what is comes down to is mostly the tactile experience. There are other types of dolls that have beautiful paint jobs and faces, and other types of dolls that are excellent at posing. But a strung doll with joints that click into place is just...immensely satisfying. I like the sound and the haptic feedback. It's like having a fidget toy that's also shaped like a friend.

 

The options and the customizing. I got into them when I started looking for ideas for customizing fashion dolls, because there's a sad overall lack of anthros in the fashion doll world. Googling for inspiration brought up lots of BJDs, and eventually, I caved. Which led to look up more BJD stuff, finding more fantasy options, and having those options spin off ideas. While it's way more expensive than buying a ready to go doll, there's something really satisfying about getting all the parts of BJD together and making your own characters. Being able to change out eyes and wigs on a whim really set them apart, too-lots of options, less dolls taking up space.

 

The thing that drew me in 15 years ago was the standard level of meticulous detail in the dolls. Not just the sculpts themselves, and the face-ups with real eyelashes and such, but like... The outfits, which were expected to be removed, so they looked like a real outfit (down to the last ribbon on the socks), instead of those fashion doll or Barbie outfits where you realize that it's just for show on the outside, but is just bland light cotton extending under any of the outer details.

What made me stay was the sheer variety of aesthetics. To this day, I don't have a single mass-produced doll that I can look at and say "yeah, you totally fit what I want to look at". When I was a kid, I desperately wanted male dolls, but they were all either Ken (and therefore, an accessory to Barbie) or action figures and I hated how "ugly" and angular they always made their faces. Now that I'm the appropriate age to actually find angular dudes attractive (), I don't mind, but it was a breath of fresh air as a teenager 15 years ago to find male dolls that appealed to my teenage tastes.

And I guess that's still true to this day - even more so than when I started. There are so many different sculptors and visions out there - you're bound to find SOMETHING that matches your tastes. And face-ups can always be used to accent or diminish certain features to make the dolls look exactly how you want them to look, so even within the owner group of the same dolls, very few look alike.

(I also really REALLY liked shelling my characters when I first started, because I was too afraid to actually write or draw the stories. But now that I actually make the narrative content featuring my characters, the drive to find a shell for them is significantly diminished, and I just find dolls for their aesthetics).

 

For me, it was the articulation, the realism of the faces, and the realism of the clothing that is produced for them. I used to collect fashion dolls, and the ‘Barbie’ aesthetic just did not do anything for me anymore. I wanted something that looked more realistic.

 

It's absolutely the art quality and customization ability for me. I can make so many of my characters and ideas.

 

I've always loved dolls My toy and doll collection is not all BJDs, but BJDs are my treasures! Made in small batches by artists in many different styles, designed to be customized in every way! It's like owning a piece of art, but even better because you are meant to interact with them! You can feel the perfect sculpting at your fingertips, add your own stamp to them with a new wardrobe or custom makeup, or curate perfect full sets posed just as you like It's a luxury adult hobby that also appeals to my childish obsession with cute toys

 

I collected Barbies as a kid in the 90s and I believe it was Gen 2 MLPs after that, and out of those that I still enjoy it'd have to be the ponies. I tried collecting Barbie, Rainbow High, Monster High, and early LOL dolls more recently, but none of them can match BJDs. (I have not tried getting back into MLP, so that might change.)

Hinge joints don't appeal to me at all. Even the new jointed bodies for Barbie dolls don't work for me. I think part of it might be the pull of tension you get from the strings in BJDs being a much better tactile feeling to me? It's kind of similar to the silicone legs in old Barbie dolls, with there being some give there. For this reason, hinge-jointed dolls feel less "alive" to me, if that makes sense, so maybe that's why I can't connect with them.

In addition, there's the customization with being able to change out the hair and eyes. And while you can get it with some playline dolls you have to do more work to get there, especially with rooted hair. I've got bad executive dysfunction, so being able to "cut corners" anywhere I can is often what I need in order to break through it to do crafting stuff. Like, I can't get around executive dysfunction to paint a playline doll's face for some reason, but I can start and finish a BJD faceup without issue.

 

I use to collect pullips before moving on to BJDs.
They also stand out more than any other dolls to me; the reason might be because of their realism and the freedom of how customizable they are, even if I send them to artists and don't do the customizing myself.

In comparison to pullips, blythes and other dolls in that genre, the fact each sculpt is unique I think just appeals to a wider audience in that they aren't all the same under the makeup?

 

I started by collecting other type of dolls, mostly Pullips, Licca, porcelain dolls, some Barbies and immediatly fell in love with BJDs. I saw a picture of one when I was actually searching for pullips on Google, and then I saw one in real life at a convention and was very impressed and also quite intimidated by it. It was an SD size. I knew nothing about them, so I asked the seller what was this doll exactly but her explanations weren't very helpfull (as she was actually selling pullips and the BJD was just here for decor). So I decided to look BJDs up on the internet and what I found outstanding about them was the fact that they were fully customizable, and also very big and "heavy". When I got my first doll, I really liked the fact that I could feel him, feel his weight in my hands, I wasn't scared to break something while moving his arms etc. like it sometime happens with vinyl dolls. I also liked the fact that there is a huge variety of sclupts, skin tones and morphologies so that we can make our dolls unique.

 

I think the culture around BJD sets them apart for me.

Consider the take VOLKS has with the doll being a very special companion you're welcoming home. I think it's rooted in Shinto animism, which is something I've practiced in my own way long before I knew it had a name. I've found that in art dolls and Build a Bear slightly but how BJD owners refer to their dolls tends to be different from them being only a collectable.

To be less emotional, BJD are fun and big. I can see the details better and worry less about my cat eating them.

 

As others have said, BJDs are 100% customizable. My favorite part of the hobby is purchasing clothing and accessories that other artists have made. The sky is the limit, and I love that! I don't use BJDs to shell original characters, but the BJDs themselves become their own character to me.

 

All the options, styling and customizing! It’s amazing to have a doll that’s exactly how you want it. As a kid I didn’t really like dolls because they weren’t really how I wanted them to be in terms of style etc, however I LOVED playing games like The Sims 2 and with kisekae dolls and other similar dressing up games on the computer because there were so many possibilites with them. Having BJDs feels very much the same to me… they also feel much more “real” to me than a lot of other dolls I had in the past did. I don’t have characters for my dolls but I like styling each one of them in a specific way.

 

The variety of sculpts and level of customization definitely is what caught my attention! Specifically though I've been obsessed with some of my original characters and I got so excited at the idea of making a "real" version I could dress up and carry around with me. I described it once as being able to make merch of my own story just for myself XD

 

Customization freedom for sure!!!

I was raised with both Barbie’s and Bratz but didn’t like that I couldn’t change their look. My mom didn’t see my vision when I would cut their hair and use markers on them lol, but now as an adult I understand why, their value was what she was looking at future wise.

Being able to customize each doll to look how I envision them is absolutely the selling point for me!

 

Like many others here I will say the ability to customize the dolls to such a high extent and the fact that customization is the norm, not the exception. I love that I can look at fifteen examples of the same doll and not two are alike.

Related to that, this hobby tends to attract creative people and that is always a plus for me. It makes me feel very at home in the BJD hobby.

 

Like others have mentioned, BJDs are attractive to me for their posing ability, quality, and variety of options for customization. When I was really young, I would create my own 'dolls' (usually various animals and fantasy beasts) with just paper, scissors, and scotch tape. Despite the flimsiness of paper, I had much more fun with my paper dolls than my Barbie dolls for example, which felt very limited in what I could do with them at the time. Now with BJDs, I feel that same sort of creativeness as I did with my paper dolls during childhood, but with better materials. Resin is far more solid and durable! xP

 

It mostly boils down to size and materials. Before BJDs I fell in love with the more modern articulated figures (figma, etc.) because they were so posable and expressive. I don't like anime or the other themes these usually go for but I went in anyway. I found that the scale and materials do poorly for play. Joints start to wear out, in some cases the repeated stress on a joint that's a bit too tight from the factory would lead to cracks, and so on. I got really tired of doing maintenance on these figures that I recognized were made for display. They're more like anime statues than dolls in my opinion, except you choose what pose to leave them in when you put them in the glass case. Sculpted hair and clothes often get in the way of movements. I really wanted dolls but I always thought doll = barbie, monster high and I was even less interested in those.
I can't remember if I saw Dollfie Dream before I learned about BJDs but in any case I wouldn't have committed to that since I don't like the aesthetics and I assume the frames have the same issues with wear as smaller figures.
Strung resin BJDs were everything I was looking for so I was bound to make the switch. It took me a while to decide but in the end I cancelled all preorders I had pending. Best decision ever. I have tried to pick up the 1/12 figures again lately and I can't stand to touch them anymore, BJDs are so much better in every way.

 

I grew up playing with a handful of Barbies and creating all sort of wacky stories with them. After that, I decided the dolls weren't as attractive to me as were the stories, so I switched to writing full time and gave up on dolls. That is, until I discovered BJDs.
One thing that always felt very limiting about other dolls to me was the lack of customization or, in terms of other customizable dolls like MH and such, the amount of skill and supplies you needed in order to customize them yourself (or the money required to have it done) as well as the smaller size and weight. And even with those other customizable dolls, I felt that once you got them customized, it was done, and you could display them but that's that, you couldn't change them anymore and they didn't have a wide range of motion.
With BJDs, I feel most of these issues don't apply. I'm able to change wigs, eyes and clothes with ease, getting a doll completely different even if I don't change the face-up, which feels exactly right to me. I can pose them easily too, and mine are big enough to be handled comfortably while still feeling a little bit heavy in my arms which gives them a certain presence, a certain realness, that plastic dolls don't have.

 

My personal reasons before I read the rest of the thread:

• It's the closest thing to "anime"/fantasy coming to life. 2.5D. I love just looking at how beautiful my doll is and how she exists in my world and environment.
• Unlimited customization and creativity. I like how she feels mine. Putting a doll together myself appeals to me more than fullsets. I'm normally sensitive around OCs and "have" to design / draw them initally myself.
• "Real" hair as opposed to plastic molded hair with figures.
• Poseablity and the option for different hand / body parts. Custom parts. Custom eyes.
• Clothes made out of real fabrics rather than plastic pieces.
• You can constantly take pictures of them and create things for them.
• My doll just feels very personal. It's why I want to move towards making all of the clothes, styling the wig myself, and doing all the faceups myself. I'm not completely opposed to commissions, but I just want complete control. The control and OOAK elements strongly appeal to me. I know my first faceup isn't really great at all, but I like how she's mine at least...

 

I used to have Barbie’s and monster high, and I got frustrated with the lack of articulation and the difficulty to make clothes for them because of how small they were.

Bjds seem perfect because you can pose them however you want, and my msd guy is so much easier to make clothes for so far since he’s a bit bigger than a fashion doll.

Being able to swap eyes and wigs is also nice since you can customize them some very easily too.

 

BJDs are basically everything I love about Pullips but bigger and better!

• Poseability / articulation. Also, sometimes poseability and stability don't go along, but Pullips can be... even more fragile.
  
• BJDs come in so many different sizes. In my opinion, MSD or bigger-sized dolls are easier to handle.
• The HUGE variety of face sculpts available and the detail that goes into it.
• Customizability. Making a doll my own. So many options. So many chances to be creative. It's crazy how two people can make the same sculpt look so different depending on their tastes and preferences.

 

This question is so thought-provoking, and I love reading everyone's responses! It's interesting to see what drew folks to BJDs in particular and how exactly folks got here.

My thoughts:

Articulation/Poseability

I first learned about BJDs in middle/high school, before the MTM Barbies came out. I liked playing with dolls as a kid but was frustrated with how few had elbow and knee joints, and none of those were double joints. I was also starting to get into photography as well as writing, and kept seeing toy comics and story photos online. The BJDs I saw had the most articulation of any doll I'd seen, and all of them had knee and elbow joints!

Nowadays, the options for articulation in playline dolls are much improved, with double joints and even thigh cuts popping up. And, of course, not every BJD has double joints, nor do their joints necessarily work well. But still, that was the initial draw.

Customization

Oh my god, what a pain it is to cut out a Barbie or Monster High doll's hair to do a reroot! Then sitting there doing the actual reroot... And you had to deal with factory paint, decide what to do with the original clothes (which, yeah, quality on that's been kinda garbage lately), and you might have to work around molded-on clothing or underwear. BJDs might have fullset options, but basically anything can be purchased as a blank slate. Or, for me, a fullset is more like a starting point than a "complete" doll! Everyone needs more clothing options!

The Artists

I enjoy that there's so many smaller companies and individual artists in the BJD space. It makes the hobby feel more personal, and more on the art side than the consumer side. Kind of like going to a local yarn shop versus a Michaels or something - you get to know people in your community, the work behind what you're getting is put forward, you know the story of it, and yeah the product may be a good sight pricier but it feels more like paying the dyer, farmer, or in this case sculptor or faceup artist or what-have-you, for their hard work, versus passing a few bucks to a corporation aiming for anonymous predictability more than personality.

Taking Time/Bonding

Ties into the above, but I enjoy the time a BJD asks of me. Time to think over their wig, eyes, general style. Take care of them. Make them things. They're not quite "rescues" the same way I'd grab a Barbie with a scuffed face, messy hair, and a chewed-on hand at the thrift store to fix up, but they need some one-on-one time and attention nonetheless. It's nice to put the doll together and to work with my hands to make it happen.

The Size/Feel

Varies of course, but they're nice to handle! Good weight to them, and I admit I love fiddling around with all their sculpted details, especially the hands! They can be fussy sometimes, but it's nice to engage my mind in working with them.

 

I've always been a storyteller, even as a small child. I was also an only child and an only grandchild, so what I lacked in peers to play pretend with, I used Barbies as a vector to tell those stories. Like most kids, I grew up and eventually outgrew the dolls of my childhood in favor of visual art and the written word. I came across BJDs when I was around 13, which was also when I started getting really into fanfiction and anime, and they were part of the groundwork for what would eventually become my adult personality.

What sets BJDs apart for me is that they are a league of their own when it comes to creativity. No matter what medium I wish to explore, I can do it through BJDs. My dolls' characters are like their own little people that occupy tangible, meaningful space in my head. It allows me to create grounded, interesting stories. It allows me to invest deeply in my characters. There is no limit other than my imagination for what I can do with them. That lets them stay actively interesting in ways that other dolls simply cannot.

 

I love BJDs deeply, because of their beauty, their posing, the amazing community, and the fact that the BJD hobby is an umbrella hobby that lets me use all of my artistic skills, while learning new ones.
Like to paint? Face-ups, body blushing, tattoos galore.
Like to photograph? The hobby lives for pictures of dolls.
Fancy a little sculpting? Resin is thick and can be carved, sanded, or you can make your own parts out of hard air-dry clay. You can also make your own props out of clay, paper, whatever the muse whispers to you.
Do you like to sew? Perfect hobby for you - the numerous body sizes mean that it may be difficult to buy clothes, but you can make them!
New dolls come out with engineering that just blows my mind - like Dream Valley's Moth doll, or Impldoll's new 1/3 female body. Oh, and jointed hands - those are astonishing to me.
Every time I receive a new doll or a new outfit, a big part of my enjoyment is scrutinizing all of the clever details that went into the creation.
This hobby is comprised of so many talented, smart people working to create beautiful dolls. I can't imagine another hobby as amazing as this one.

 

What sets bjds apart for me is definitely their flexibility. I am going to be honest that there is a lot of cool and cute dolls out there and that part is not exclusively held by bjds. However, for me I cannot find another doll on the market that can sit crossed leg other than one artist bjd I own. That is honestly mind blowing for me how flexible this line of bjds are. I honestly am going to collect the whole line of them because I love her work so much.

 

How animate they can look. With their mobility and appearance they feel like living sculptures.
They just feel so much more alive to me then other dolls.
I love how unique they can be, no two dolls even with full sets are quite alike.
I love their size and weight, I am into the larger dolls, and they just feel amazing to hold.
They just look so dynamic in pictures, as if they are breathing moving entities.

 

In my collection viewing and fashion doll studying, I found that nothing quite stands out to me the way Ball Jointed Dolls do. Do you feel the same way? And if so, that makes them stand out to you?
Or, did your interests in BJDs stem from collecting other types of dolls?

My youtube algorithm is absolutely cursed and I will watch any doll related content, not just BJD stuff, to otherwise avoid the crap they push. As that’s been the case, lately I have been exposed to a lot more individuals who collect all sorts of dolls.

I feel the same way you do about other dolls versus BJDs though! I do find a lot of these other doll hobbyists to be charming to listen to and I love seeing their collections or new dolls, but I don’t have any desire to collect them myself.

In general I like dolls, but nothing quite does it for me like BJDS. The aesthetic, the customization, the quirks that come with each one of them. I agree with what the person above said about how they feel more alive and that even the same sculpt as a fullset will still have subtle differences.

The ease of customizing these dolls makes me enjoy the community more too. Sometimes I see sculpts that I own that are styled in a way that doesn’t fit my dolls, yet looks amazing and fits so well on the dolls that they own. It really makes each doll feel like it has a whole lot more personality.

 

Three words: adaptability, liveliness, poseability.

 

Agreeing what a lot of people said above. I love the diversity of the sculpts and skin tones BJDs have. I love the range of aesthetics that each BJD company brings. The poseability, customizability, and again range BJDs come in. For some of my dolls (well, maybe more than some), they ended up being a good investment even though I have no intention of selling them. And BJD owners as a community are so diverse too that you can easily find little niches to fit into or admire from afar without feeling ostracized as there is something for everyone here.

I originally was a collector (casual to beginner level) of Barbies and porcelain dolls. I cannot see myself going back to collecting porcelain dolls as I've had my heart broken too many times whenever a porcelain dolls breaks in such a way that isn't repairable. But at the time, both Barbies and porcelain dolls were more accessible as entry level hobbies so that in itself is not that bad. I think both still have a place as hobbies for me, but I rather stick with BJDs with an occasional Barbie now and then if I really want them. I also collect other things that are more off topic, but I generally tend to have a collector mindset than an artist mindset when it comes to BJDs and my other collections/hobbies.