What's more important, the HEAD, BODY, or BOTH?

Head is most important to me. Body is next. Even if the body doesn't quite fit the character idea you dress them up so you see the head more. I still try to get with body up though so it is still important.

 

It has ended up being both for me, in a way. Of course the head sculpt is the first thing I fall in love with most of the time, and often the body it happens to come with is not very important, as long as I like it enough. There are some dolls I love the head and body sculpt of just about equally. Then there are those few body sculpts that I love quite independently of the heads that are available for them. They go on my wishlist as separate items, that I might buy a head I didn't care much about just to get.

 

Both are pretty important to me but I find the head sculpt is usually what sways my choice in the end.
The face is what I focus on most when it comes to a bjd and if the sculpt isn't really what I like in a doll, I find I won't get attached to it at all.

 

To me, of cause the head is much more important, because it's the face attract me exactly. I also care for the body. They don't need to be perfect in every aspect, but at least they have to match the head in proportion. Yes clothing may hide some body flaws, but I don't like too thin or too muscular body.

 

The head is what catches my attention, and the body afterwards. I don't usually do hybrids as I'd prefer to have a doll fully assembled upon arrival. In that case, both are important factors in deciding and finalising my purchase.

 

The head sculpt is most important to me. But I tend to buy whole dolls at a time, I rarely change bodies, so the body is also important. I am investing a lot in the whole doll, so I would prefer to have a head and body that I absolutely love.

 

It's both. I tend to fall in love with the face first, because that's the focus of most photos (be it from owners or they company). But I'll opt out of buying the whole doll if I don't like the body. I'd rather just buy a floating head and then find the body. Honsetly, I'd rather do the work to hybrid and get the result I'm most happy with. So I guess I think of them as separate entities that work together.

 

I was going to say both, but thinking more about it, I think the body is more important to me. No matter how much I like a head, I don't even consider buying a doll if I don't like the body, and I've never considered hybriding (I'm alternately lazy or very busy with other things). Maybe it would be different if I were looking at dolls to shell a particular OC, where the face would be most important, but since I usually buy dolls to look pretty... I want a doll with a body sculpt I like too. Which is ironic, because the body would be wearing clothes all the time anyway!

 

Most of my dolls are hybrids because I’m never satisfied with head+body combinations that companies provide. The head usually comes first, defining the character, then I start searching for a suitable body. I’m very picky, can’t have an ex-soldier with a body of some high schooler or slutty sex bomb. And since my dolls are part of the same story, they also need to look good together, so it’s all just one big headache. XD But I guess it’s part of the game.

 

Historically, I had a tendency to follow this pattern:
1. the head. Do I like it?
2. the body. Do I like the look of it? Great emphasis is put on the look of the joints. If the joints are bad looking, I won't buy the doll.
3. Does the body pose well?
4. Do they do tan? Or a fantasy colour? (this is a recent requirement)
5. Is there a dealer or not? This is not a deal breaker: I'd rather a dealer but if I have to buy through the company website I don't mind as it is usually faster to buy direct.
6. How long is the waiting time?

More recently (since my Venitu), another pattern has emerged:
1. I like the body, I can cope with the look of the joints and it is said to pose well (THREE conditions. If one is bad, I won't buy).
2. Which head do I like best? I NEED to like the head. I usually will go with a nice smiling head or at least a sweet and sensitive one.
3. Do they do tan? Or a fantasy colour? (VERY important to me nowadays).
4. Is there a dealer? Do I have to buy from the company website?
5. How long is the waiting time? For instance, I would probably buy Dollshe's Adonis with his downcast expression if it wasn't for the waiting time. BUT the facts that the sculpt is not a smiling one and the waiting time can easily reach 1year and 2 months, have put this boy out of my wishlist. Which is a real pity. I would probably accept the waiting time if he was a smiling sculpt. Thankfully for my purse, he is not.

 

Both, but the head sculpt is slightly more important to me than the body. I hardly ever do hybrids.

 

I buy both heads and bodies separate whenever possible because I can't stand displaying a head on the "wrong" body for the character. A doll isn't complete or display worthy for me unless it has both the right head and right body.

...I have a lot of hybrids.

 

Head, because the body can wait especially if the sculpt is limited and you dont have enough budget to buy the full doll, just go for the head and worry about the body later. Theres a lot of hybrids out there

 

To me, the head is more important, I can find a body from any company that matches the head

 

The Head is more important for me.

 

It used to be the head, but now I'd say both are important to me. Although the first thing I love about a doll is the face, I realized I couldn't bond with it if it didn't have a body I liked too. Maybe I got pickier or that's because I shell my OCs but I will only buy a doll if I like the body's aesthetic, how it poses,... I already sold a doll because I didn't like its body.

 

Both, absolutely. I tend to start with a vague idea of the kind of character I want to build and the head gets chosen first, but the body also needs to fit the aesthetic I have in mind and pose well enough for photography without always having to lug stands around. I’ve been super spoiled by a couple of my faves and new dolls have to rise to their standard now.

 

It may be the head that attracts me first to a doll, but I care about posability and aesthetics of the body, too. It's not always easy to find heads and bodies from the same company that please me, so I think that's part of what makes hybridizing so addicting. I feel like I can have it all, I guess.

 

The head always comes first for me, because the body is usually covered by clothes anyways. I still prefer some good posing, but man. It's not super necessary, just preferable.

 

I don't know why but body is more important for me than head. I can buy doll with a perfect body and with strange face. Maybe it's opinion from the past when I worked as a stylist. Good makeup can change everything=)

 

I can honestly say that when i first started the hobby, I was really focused on the head sculpt. This is because I was looking for a specific character. Even when I was shopping for other dolls I kept the face sculpt first and foremost. There are some companies , however, that i find the whole doll aesthetically pleasing! I don't think I could ever hybrid a Twigling or a merry doll round and still love it the same! Sometimes a doll is just so well executed it doesn't need to be swapped! My first bjd ended up being a mirodoll hybrid. So I completely understand both sides! I guess it just really depends on what you're looking for in a doll.

 

Both, absolutely. I don't mind spending $600 on a doll. Hey, if the doll is gorgeous enough, I wouldn't mind spending $1600 on it! I just won't spend that kind of money on a doll I'm only halfway in love with, though. I love the creative aspects of this hobby, but hybriding is just not something I want to do with resin BJDs. It's a lot more difficult than it is with other dolls and I'd rather put my time/energy/money into other parts of my dolls' customization.

 

The head, because you can usually give it a nicer body if you want.

The first doll I wanted to buy was perfect visually: he had got incredibly beautiful scuplt. But in the end I decided to buy a doll with a body I don't like or I thought I won't be able to like it. Now I think I love my baby more because of it.

 

Hello everybody. Naturally, when you look closely at the doll the first thing you remember is his facial features. if you liked the doll, it will not go out of your mind for a long time. for me, probably the top priority is the head. so I have several characters sometimes diverting on one body .... although it may not be right.

 

Definitely the body for me. I like buying full basic dolls because I'm far too lazy to put the time into matching resin, making sure the scale matches, etc. So if I see a face sculpt I like enough to buy, I immediately start researching how well the company's bodies pose. I haven't failed, yet! I could just be lucky, though. XD

 

Both. I want a body that is flexible to pose, and a head that is cute.

 

I think head is the most important because you can change everything but not head.
And for me I buy doll because of head and make up

 

The head. I do take some movement into consideration. If the doll has an adorable head but a body that doesn't move or pose well, then I probably wont get it. The face is what I am going to see most, so that's the most important to me. The body is going to be wearing clothes.

 

For me, it’s also the head that is most important. If I can’t bond with the face, I won’t be happy with the doll no matter what the body is like.

 

I find I look for the head more than I do the body. I have yet to order my first doll, but I am so excited to soon. There are a lot of sculpts that I love and so many to choose from. Although I do think both the head and the body are very important, because I think it can be, personally at least, what ties certain personality to a character.

I agree. If I can't bond with the face, I won't be happy with the doll no matter what the body is. I find it difficult when a character looks a certain way in my head, but it doesn't match what I see.

This is true for me too. If I found the perfect face and fell in love with it, I can manage with a strange body, but not quite the other way around. There's more connection in the head and face for me.

I plan to do this too when I get my first doll. I love the Iplehouse faces, but I love the body of other's even more.

With all my characters, I have the same issues when looking for the perfect head and body. I need a slender male who is tall, but most sculpts I find are either too short or too muscular and bulky. I was thinking of modding a female body and just shaving down the chest plate. The clothes will cover it mostly anyway though, so I'm debating about this.

 

I will prioritize the head. A doll attracts me because of his face. Then I choose the right body.

 

It was definitely love at first sight for the head-sculpt for me. That, and the fact that heads tend to sell out/become discontinued a lot quicker than bodies.

 

I'm like you, I don't really care about bodies. I'm easy to please in that regard, except that I much prefer double joints.

BUT.

I am crazy exceptionally picky about face sculpts. Most of the time, I'm bookmarking future projects for characters, and if I don't find something EXACT, I'll skip it.

 

Due to me new to all of this I can't say for sure which one I think is more important. But as of right now I think that the head is the most important to me. I mean its all in the face/head that draws me to it. With the body you can see so many on the same head that can work. But with the face you can see so many different ones that can make it or break it.

 

I normally find both to be important. However, with my first doll it was the head. She's a Bobobie Sprite, and of course the bodies aren't made to be as easily posable as other bodies. Luckily, after much research, I was able to find a body (AoD) to match her skin tone.

 

Head is more important for me, especially the limited ones because once they are sold out, it could be hard to get. The bodies are usually not limited, and you can find replacements. For example, some heads can use two or three different bodies, so they have options.

 

Both... Some month i havn`t head, only body, but it has a personality! And I almost came up with a character. And when the head came, then everything fell into place and became harmonious

 

For me i like to find a sculpt that i like/fits the character i have in mind body is next the thought but it really just depends if i have a character i want to have a certain body type, or size. If the company already has a really nice body sometimes i'll get both in one go!

 

I'd say both but heads always tend to be so much more expensive cuz bodies are mostly standardised. I don't really do hybrids so both are equally impt >_<

 

I'd say both are really important to me, but I lean towards bodies being a little more important. If the body doesn't have an appealing shape to me, then I definitely wouldn't want that doll. Heads would only be main priority if I'm looking to create a certain character.

 

For me the head is more important. I can order body from other companies. Some companies offer bodies with skin color of other doll companies. My favorite body is Volk's body, but they are expensive and hard to buy anyway.

 

I would say both. While heads are probably a lot more important to me as a whole, a head isn't much without it's body. I am still relatively new to the hobby, but I don't feel like I would have too much of an issue combining different bodies if I felt it suited the doll as a whole. But seeing as how I've been looking at a lot of dolls lately, I am probably going to more often than not keep a head and body within the same company unless I feel the doll would benefit from a different body.

 

I like the head... the body takes up space...

 

Both! I'm a sucker for beautiful faceups and abs. Having thigh joints is also important for me and i learnt that the hard way

 

For me its definitely the head. I shell a lot of OCs so its important that their faces look accurate to their characters. I do prefer a body that can pose well though and I will not buy a body if it has huge breasts.

 

Head definately, the face is the only thing that I base my buying on.
I'm relatively new to the hobby still, and only own two dolls so I'm still learning what type of bodies I like, other than the bigger the bust the better.
I'm also terrified off even the thought of hybriding

 

Both are important to me, I need to love the face because that is where most of the character is, but I also really like playing with and posing my dolls, so they have to be good at that too or I get frustrated with them.

 

Both. The head is what lures me in, but I have a list of like 20 things that make the body a deal breaker. After many years and holding many dolls, I'm super picky on stylization and jointing mechanisms. Hybriding feels like more effort to me than it's worth so I just cross out any head sculpts that I dislike the body of.

 

For me—both.

My crew is very character-centric, so having just the right head sculpt is top priority.

However, they also need the right body to match the character. Each OC/existing character requires a specific body type, which leads me to be picky about the body's sculpting. Beyond aesthetics, there's poseability. The body needs to be able to achieve a certain level of poseability—a higher range for some OCs.

If either of the two is an ill fit, it throws off the balance. In order to maintain character harmony, all the components need to just right.

 

I have found that it is both because...I have heads that I adore, but without a body....they aren't a doll...

Weirdly in the instances that I found myself with a body and no head for it at the time, I still found ways to take photos of the body using other items for the head (such as flowers), but I have not had as much luck doing things with just the heads when no body matches them. So maybe I even lean toward the body as first!

 

100% the head! The body is also important, but to me it's not completely necessary as I find the heads the prettiest, blank or painted.

 

Head is the priority. I don't have large room to store many bodies, so some of my dolls share same body.

 

Both. Head is usually a priority for a new doll, but I'm a little picky about body aesthetic. And I'm like @Lady Ravenswood , a head without a body is not a doll

 

The head and face are most important to me. When I look at a doll, that’s what I always see first. If a doll had a beautiful face but a “meh” body that poses like crap, I can still make it work. As long as they can sit on my shelf, it’s good enough for me.

if a doll has gorgeous body and a very generic or just ugly face, then they probably aren’t even on my radar, because I’m not interested enough to look twice.

I don’t do floating heads anymore though. I had like over 30 at one point, and it was stressing me out so much, so I sold them all, and refuse to have another again. If I order just a head from an artist, I’m ordering a body somewhere else at the same time, so I don’t fall into that bad habit again.

 

First view is face than body

But if the face don't fit with body, it doesn't work for me. (for example a very young face on a body with very hard muscles)
Both should be fit together very well for a nice combination

Most times the body wears clothes, so you can't see the muscles, but you know that here are some XD

 

I’ve always been utterly fascinated by faces, so of course that is what draws me to a doll. That’s where I’ll recognize my character, and their personality will begin to “speak to me”. I’m pretty nonchalant about bodies, and can pretty much make do with whatever they come with as long as it’s of good quality. The only thing I’m really fussy about is that I prefer the body and head to be from the same company, so I naturally choose to order complete dolls. Of course there are always exceptions to that general rule, when you stumble upon a perfect head being sold without a body and you just have to wing it. Since I don’t do floating heads at all, I’ll work very hard to come up a body solution as soon as possible to make them a complete doll. This has only happened a few times in my collection…two heads that were only offered by their artists as heads, and a Dollzone Star whose original partial and skeletal body simply would not work for my character. Fortunately I was able to find excellent body solutions for them all fairly quickly to avoid the uncomfortable angst I experience from owning floating heads.

 

As it turns out I think Had is most important to me, bodies can be easily switched out and modded-- and while I guess you could say the same or heads I feel like the head part is the one that--- now hold on with me here bc this is going to make like 0 sense. I think its about they eyes since-- while technically untrue-- are the windows to the "soul".

 

They're both pretty important but I think I have to go with the head. That's the most noticeable part of a doll, the center of its personality and look. That being said, a great doll head on a bad body is really frustrating.

 

I usually focus on the head/face sculpt since most of the time I'm looking to shell my original characters. Since many companies offer the same body types without much variety, which is a different discussion enturely, the body is kind of an afterthought unless it doesn't fit my character. I also don't really play with or take my dolls out much where posing is super important, so that is a factor too. One of the only things that bothers me is when a body has awkward measurements. By that I mean when they have several measurements that are one or two cm off from the standard measurements of their size range. It can make finding clothes that fit harder!

That being said, there have been plenty of sculpts from companies with bulkier bodies (Iplehouse, SOOM Mega Gem or Idealian, etc.) where I really wish they had other body options, and from there I might consider a hybrid. But overall, face definitely comes first and is the most important!

 

I agree with most so far, who have said the head is the main thing. I figure, the body is going to be covered with clothing.
Most of my dolls have the bodies they came with, so it isn't much of an issue. I do have 3 hybrids, but with one of them I am waiting for the company body he was intended to be on. What matters to me with a body, is proportion and of course skin tone. The body has to look proportionately correct for the head.