Which do you prefer? “Cute” or “Hot” dolls?

It depends on the personality of the character I am shelling.

 

More cool than cute lol, that does depend on face up and most of the my girls' faceups are from the same artist who actually paints a lot 75 mans.

 

This pretty much sums it up for me as well!
Except that the BJDs I currently have are all kids, so I guess I do somewhat prefer cute.
The word "hot" sounds weird to me in relation to dolls, honestly. Probably wouldn't call them that.

 

I can definitely attest to that my bjd collection have a preference to being cute. So whether its fantasy, gothic, futuristic it needs to be underlying cute.

 

So many good and thoughtful answers and a good topic query, OP!

I always tend to dremel down my girls' chests and try to minimize their sexuality, but I do try to, in sculpt choices and face ups, and also in their clothing, capture and highlight some quirkiness vibe, or a melancholy vibe, or pensive one, or beauty and aloofness, or humor or ennui or whatnot, an expression that is, as a whole, full of tension.

I don't shell characters but a doll needs to radiate an interesting "personality" presence, that grabs me and keeps me interested in how they are eternally displayed there in their glass display cabinet.
However, even if mature, they are never sexy or hot. Sorry, Mr. Sigmund Freud.

 

I prefer cute dolls for sure. I think that even if I had a doll that was supposed to be "hot" I would still just go "Aww little guy" at them anyways lol

 

Haha... same. They are still dolls to me and my dolls are just cute.

 

Most of my dolls are child or adolescent types, so by default, I lean towards cute.

 

I think I would very seldom describe my dolls as either, to be honest. The cute aesthetic holds no interest for me, and while there’s been debate here about what constitutes hotness for a doll and whether it’s sexual or not, I don’t think I would ever call any of my dolls that. My taste trends more toward dolls I think of as beautiful, dramatic, or even ethereal. I do tend to prefer a more mature look over something childlike, though, if that answers the question!

My favorite body in my collection is that of my Enchanted Doll, because she reminds me of ladies in medieval paintings: small, high breasts, elongated limbs and torso, hint of a potbelly. It’s a body type I had never seen in BJDs before and I think it’s really unique and artistic. But hot? No, I definitely wouldn’t describe it that way.