Ever wonder why MDD's and other 1/4 scale dolls are so popular?

Listen. I've wanted my fair share of MDD dolls in the past, from MDD Reimu and Marisa (limited edition) to a custom Flandre or Remilia doll. This has not limited itself to Touhou or even Volks, because recently I've had my eye on Azone's new Iris Collect Petit doll, Uyuri. I also don't understand why people make outfits for MDD's that don't come in regular DD sizes. I've been too scared to ask my family this, so I'm turning to the forum.

I was hoping from the title that it would have an answer already. 😆

If I may offer one - I suspect it's because it's the perfect in between size. Big enough to be impressive, small enough to still be portable. My favorite doll for traveling is my Obitsu 40, which is about the same height as an MDD. She's small enough to fit in most bags, and I even have a special doll bag for her that's big enough to carry easily, even in crowded spaces where room is limited.

They're also very childlike usually, so they get all the "cute" outfits that might look out of place on a mature-faced DD.

As someone who owns 1/12, 1/6 and 1/4 and 1/3 heres my thoughts. 1/12 are often so tiny nothing fits them making them not quite as popular and as well as the fact they're so small it can be a little harder to pose them. 1/6 might seem like a perfect size since its closer to barbies but the fact is so many 1/6 are wildly different in height that furniture and clothing compatibility can be a toss up. 1/4 actually is a SUPER convient size. Nice comfortable decently big size similar to the american girl dolls with a lot of accessory compatibility! Plus with the younger cute faces they have such a sweet quality. Mature 1/4 can be charming and nice to carry. 1/3 can personally be ... both hard to transport and sometimes hard to carry. Keep in mind though my perspective is based off resin dolls since I haven't got my first dollfie yet. 

I'll step up for this one! 

1/4/MDD are perfect for all the above notes posted, plus, there's also a lot more carry bags/backpacks out there that they fit very nicely in:

Risa is a DDS Marisa Kirasame. 

So, even being just short of standard DD size, she is a little tall for my 5.11 tactical backpack. 

 

Yukiko, (DDH01 on an MDD f3) seems to be just slightly below the very top of my bag in this pic.

 

Llenn (Rena Ryugu head/MDD f3 default body) came along with me yesterday to SabotenCon, and she stands up straight inside with room to spare! 

There's enough to actually fit three MDDs fully wrapped in pillowcases, and the front pouch held my Canon EOS 50 without any trouble! 

When I bought this pack, I did so specifically for carrying a few of the Kiddos aside from using it for my work bag, so, bonus points all around!

Edited September 4, 2022 by battrastard
edited Yukikos name

Personally for me, it's the proportions alongside the more convenient size. MDDs have cuter proportions (bigger heads, chunkier bodies) which I would guess are more generally appealing. I've always sort of seen 1/3 anime dolls as "bishoujo" style while minis are more "moe", if that makes any sense. 😅

Personally I am an outlier and prefer the bigger DDs, even in public, because their longer legs make them easier to grip if they sit on my arm. Also, I think it's kind of the same reaction as my love of miniatures, only in reverse. Instead of "look how tiny!" it's "look how big!"

But of course I also love MDDs for the same reasons as others- their cute proportions and adorable clothes being top of the list. They are just little rays of sunshine and since they take up less space you can have a few more of them before running out of shelf room. 

Disclaimer, I don't think this is anywhere near the majority, but I do think some of it is the whole lolicon phenomenon. Anecdotally, I've seen a lot of Japanese creators post kinda suggestive content of their MDDs and there tons of clothes that is more skimpy for this size. It's possible that these creators' popularity in online spheres may also influence other people to want similar dolls, but that's merely speculation. I did also notice Minifee we're really (and maybe still are? Haven't been on the resin side lately) popular and some of that popularity can be traced back to major faceup artists, especially ones in the western sphere, using them as models or faceupping heads for sale. However, take what i say with a grain of salt, since this is based off my own observations, which are in no way objective.

Edited September 5, 2022 by CeliathePikachu

In all likelihood, my entire collection will fall into the 1/4 range (40-50cm by my definition). The size feels just right to me, and I feel that in this range, the sculpts by large have this "moe" like feel to them that remind me so much of their manga or anime equivalents. In artist's terms, 1/4 dolls fall into that 4-5(ish) heads tall range that makes them inherently look cute.

Part of my motivation behind building out a doll was to, literally, bring my webcomic's characters to life in physical form, and when it came time to choose the format, while I considered all possibilities, I knew that 1/4 was the right choice for the sort of cute, youthful look I was after.

1 hour ago, chef_mai said:

Part of my motivation behind building out a doll was to, literally, bring my webcomic's characters to life in physical form

Can we see the webcomic? 

9 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Can we see the webcomic? 

I'll send you a DM about it!

A lot more compact, and in resin dolls cases, I've noticed they're much lighter and far more easier to pose.  

 

Also, a lot of MDD clothes are not in DD/SD sizes because they follow a different, more childlike and cutesy aesthetic.  Most people prefer cute thins on child-ike dolls as opposd to getting stares from having a child-coded teenager/adult doll.

a bit of theorycraft on my part, but back in ye olden days the only option head you could get off the shelf was the DDH-01, and that was what most high dollar custom heads on the japanese scene was based on typically with the mouth shaved off (actually leading to volks releasing the flat version of the 01, of which I forget the number).

This head being something that is most at home on smaller bodies (yes you can put any head on any body, but this is my opinion, you dont need to change it).

So this combo with a smaller body ending up something that people might aspire to.

amusingly this also being a time when a MDD body was unobtanioum unless you were YJA savvy leading to heads sold with outfits to go with them instead of full custom dolls.

And I also agree, the compact size does help if you want to lug one around with you.

I’m the type of person who thinks ‘it can’t be big enough’. 

But agree with that 1/4 scale has the perfect size for being an eye catcher and transportable size. 

But for 1/6 is more accessories available. (Despite the sometimes incorrect size) most of it in hysteric pink.

I actually think that 1/6 scale is more popular. Not because of the famous lady in pink that has her own title song. But because the amount of resin BJD’s available in that scale. Not to forget about some older anime styled dolls in 1/6 scale. And then there is Azone with the Pureneemo. 

I own a range of all dolls (from 16cm to 65cm), and my favorite is MDD (1/4 scale) because they are easy to buy/make clothes for, as well as light and easy to travel with. I think the size is perfect! Custom MDD heads are always the cutest, too.  

I also have a theory that MDD fit an age range and aesthetic a lot of collectors like. If you look at most anime, they are normally high-schoolers (oh how I wish there were more slice-of-life work/adult animes vs. highscool slice-of-life haha). MDD and even DDP better fit a lot of popular characters imo

I carried Miku around at a con this month and good lord, she is a handful. I can see why the little ones (MDD sized) are popular. Large enough to have detailed outfits and props, but small enough to be more convenient.

On 9/15/2022 at 11:49 AM, Rajke said:

I actually think that 1/6 scale is more popular. Not because of the famous lady in pink that has her own title song. But because the amount of resin BJD’s available in that scale. Not to forget about some older anime styled dolls in 1/6 scale. And then there is Azone with the Pureneemo. 

Indeed. situations such as that in which my Konomi Yuzuhara happens to be in,

where her old 1/6 Megahouse doll happens to be a far more spot-on character-likeness (YMMV)

than her even older-still lone (to date) VOLKS Dollfie iteration;

1/6 Megahouse/ALTER;

1/3 VOLKS Dollfie;

Original Art;

Edited September 18, 2022 by Tasuke