Favorite/Least favorite parts of the hobby?

Curious to know what people like and dislike the most about Dollfie since it's usually not seen as something challenging or rewarding. Do you like collecting licensed characters? Doing your own faceups? Do you dislike transporting them? Or how niche it feels?

For me, my favorite thing is definitely keeping them as company. Because I have two DDs, I like having them sit with me around the desk while I do things on my computer or whatnot. My least favorite thing has to be dressing them. I swear this is how parents feel with babies. Things getting stuck on sleeves or just generally are difficult to figure out since it's not going on yourself.

I'd have to say my favorite part of the hobby is a tie between the creativity it allows, and the "bond" that one can form with their dolls. 

Whether you're making your own character, or recreating an existing one that you love, putting them together really does feel like an accomplishment once you're all finished. Personally, I'm also rather sentimental, so I get really attached to the dolls and who and/or what they represent. Both Ludovicas have helped me cope with some pretty serious life events, and working on them/buying stuff for them has often given me something to look forward to when I'm dealing with just my everyday mental health stuff. 

My least favorite part of this hobby, on the other hand, has got to be how stigmatized, or at least misunderstood, by the outside world.

Granted, pretty much all "childish" hobbies have at least some stigma and shame attached, but stuff like video games and anime seem to have gotten to be a bit more mainstream nowadays, compared to doll/toy/BJD collection. To be honest, even within the BJD and broader doll enthusiast circles, the vinyl "anime dolls" that this forum is focused on seem to have somewhat of a bad rap. I've seen/heard quite a few comments about them being sleazy, or somehow a lesser version of their resin counterparts. Obviously, all dolls have kind of acquired a reputation for being creepy, but doll owners expect this, to some degree, from outside of the hobby. The call coming from inside the house, so to speak, might actually be worse.

My favourite parts have to be the the joy about having my favourite characters around as small 3D renditions of them. Doing faceups is another part that I enjoy greatly. And dressing them up, sitting down and getting them a change of clothes has something almost therapeutic to me, it's calming.

Least favourite when it comes to vinyl dolls in general has to be the risk of staining, I am always glad that I don't have to worry about this with my resin boys.

So I'm newer, take my opinion with a grain of salt.

For me, my favorite part of the hobby is how customizable everything is. I have ideas for multiple dolls, characters that never got any sort of licensed merch in the past, original characters, etc. I think it's awesome that I can create a doll based on my favorite niche character that never even had a chance to be featured as a figurine, plushie, or statue. 

What I dislike the most, again, as a newer person, is the expense. Especially when I fall in love with dolls that were made long before I got into the hobby. Yes, the customizability means I can make my own. But it's also frustrating that I was not able to support the original release, and now I'll need to drop a mortgage payment if I want that doll. Lol 

3 hours ago, Yeka said:

What I dislike the most, again, as a newer person, is the expense. Especially when I fall in love with dolls that were made long before I got into the hobby. Yes, the customizability means I can make my own. But it's also frustrating that I was not able to support the original release, and now I'll need to drop a mortgage payment if I want that doll. Lol

It's so funny that the cost wasn't even something that occurred to me when I was thinking of negatives, but yeah I definitely am glad I haven't gone down an older/out of production doll rabbit hole haha
 

6 hours ago, MoiBakaDesu said:

Least favourite when it comes to vinyl dolls in general has to be the risk of staining, I am always glad that I don't have to worry about this with my resin boys.

Staining is always a huge fear of mine even with stain suits on. I don't have a resin doll yet but I'd love to see the difference someday.

 

18 hours ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

To be honest, even within the BJD and broader doll enthusiast circles, the vinyl "anime dolls" that this forum is focused on seem to have somewhat of a bad rap. I've seen/heard quite a few comments about them being sleazy, or somehow a lesser version of their resin counterparts.

I'm a bit newer to the community so I haven't seen it first hand but I totally understand how people get that idea, even just with looking at the outfits Volks offers (or the Dynamite line as a whole). I do enjoy the anime aesthetic and some of the more revealing outfits, but I also enjoy some of the refined looks of resin dolls. I'd rather be open minded as a whole since as you said the doll hobby is already stigmatized in different ways. Hopefully more people will be open to seeing how it's just different tastes. ☺️

My favorite and least favorite parts both have to do with the fashion and dress up parts of the hobby. I LOVE dressing up my dolls and seeing other ones in super cute, fashionable, over the top, or niche outfits that I feel like I can't wear in real life (due to things like cost, comfort/sensory issues, social pressure/expectations, etc) and I love that doll fashion is such a fun, creative outlet for me! I feel like I can live my fashionista dreams vicariously through them!

On the other hand, sometimes the clothes can be a downright pain lol. Clothes not fitting correctly, having to take preventative measures for staining, buttons/zippers/seams/accessories breaking even with delicate use, fake leather peeling, subpar quality/construction for high cost, etc can be really annoying. Even just the process of changing their clothes can be so time consuming for me with the amount of work it takes to undress them, figure out a cute outfit and grab all the different stuff for it, redressing them without damaging the dolls or the clothes, and then posing and putting them back into place. Plus, I've tried making their clothes myself to try to be more creative and budget friendly, but I get frustrated because I kind of hate sewing and my skills aren't high enough to make the pieces that I would like, so it can be a bit frustrating.

The same goes with the photography aspect of the hobby as well. I love to see people take beautiful pictures of their dolls, but when I try to do it with my own, I feel like they never come out right. There's always hairs out of place, or dust in the background, or the lighting or angle or posing sucks and I feel too insecure to post them lol. I know both the sewing and photography skill issues could fixed with practice and time investment, but I also have a bunch of other hobbies that require practice and time investment as well, so those 2 aren't really high priority for me currently.

My favourite aspect is the way my dolls look, they’re all so beautiful I just wanna cry whenever I look at them 😭 

My least favourite aspect is how much space they take up. The boxes, their clothes and accessories, the dolls themselves. I thought I wouldn’t have the space for more after my first one and now I have 8 big dolls with a couple more in the works and I’m seriously running out of space for real now 🥴

If they were all ob11 size I would never stop, but alas…

31 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

now I have 8 big dolls with a couple more in the works and I’m seriously running out of space for real now 🥴

I have 87, it’s their house, I just live there and wait on them hand and foot.

 

For me the least favorite is the $$$, and the scalping. 

My favorite thing is how Dollfie Dreams and resin BJDs are hobbies that can accommodate basically any creative outlet you can think of. Bored of taking pictures? Try painting a faceup! Or sewing clothes! Or making eyes or a wig or props or furniture or writing about characters and stories or [insert ideas here]. The possibilities are only as limited as your interests, funds, and materials. It's a great way to try out new hobbies, too.

Outside of the cost (RIP my wallet), I do loathe the FOMO that comes par for the course in this hobby. Well-liked releases tend to skyrocket in price on the aftermarket, so it's generally more cost-effective to go for a girl when she's (re-)released. However, it's very easy to like a girl in promo photos just to dislike her in person, just like it's easy to dislike a girl based on promo photos but fall in love once owners start posting photos. It puts us in this unfortunate buy-buy-buy sort of mentality that just isn't sustainable, imo.

What drew me into this hobby was being able to bring her my comic's main characters to life in ways I could only dream of. Both of them sits on my desk in direct view every day and bring joy and inspiration to my life. 

<spoilering my drawing, so bots don't pick it up>

Spoiler

What do I dislike?

The stigma, not just the part about dolls being creepy or childish (for adults), but in some circles, particularly otherwise anime loving ones, they have an 'unsavory' reputation. I don't quite understand it myself since anime and fanservice go hand in hand a lot of the time, and plenty of figurines out there are uh, pretty questionable, so what makes dolls any different?

Edited Saturday at 09:55 AM by chef_mai

favorite is just how big 1/3-1/4 dolls are (big enough to feel "real" enough for my brain to see them as "human", not too big to be a burden to carry around / have in the house). seriously, the size is PERFECT, ive never felt a connection with "size" before in any hobby before this one. does anyone else understand what i mean?

also, i love how customizable they are. different eyes, a different wig, hell even swapping body parts can be the difference between a bond or not. i think that's really cool!

 

least favorite is, as i am a woman in my 20's, ive gotten the "are they supposed to be stand-ins for children" remark... sometimes put in a much *meaner* way 😠

thank god for the block button lol!

im sure male collectors get all sorts of terrible comments too, and they DEFINITELY have the bigger stigma against them being owners from outsiders... but in my experience, women get the "wow, that's a sad replacement for parenthood" comment a LOT (always the funniest when the owner actually DOES plan on having kids/has kids)

anyone who thinks that purchasing a doll equates taking care of a living, breathing human is a moron and honestly shouldn't have kids. i seriously can't believe people don't understand how vast the difference is in a non-living object that you CHOOSE to personify vs a decision that changes your life permanently... (should we make it illegal for doll owners to "get rid of" their bjds because would it be "abandonment"? lol)

Edited Saturday at 09:06 PM by denpagirl

3 hours ago, denpagirl said:

does anyone else understand what i mean?

Yes, I tend to anthropomorphize them, and I’ve never done that with figures. I know they’re plastic, but feel an emotional connection. 

On 1/9/2025 at 9:02 PM, Thespian said:

My favorite thing is how Dollfie Dreams and resin BJDs are hobbies that can accommodate basically any creative outlet you can think of. Bored of taking pictures? Try painting a faceup! Or sewing clothes! Or making eyes or a wig or props or furniture or writing about characters and stories or [insert ideas here]. The possibilities are only as limited as your interests, funds, and materials. It's a great way to try out new hobbies, too.

This is definitely one of my favourite things about the hobby as well and is a big part of what really keeps me in the hobby long term! -- Aside from the novelty of having mini versions of my favourite characters of course.

Originally my interest in dolls was just because they can be really beautiful and are kind of like pieces of art in a way, but that interest can easily be satisfied by looking at nice doll photography and not necessarily owning them.

The creative aspects are basically endless and are what always keeps me coming back after a period of waning interest (as many of my hobbies tend to be, I'll be super obsessed with them for a few months, then forget they exist for another few, then return to it and repeat cycle...)

Dolls are honestly what got me into sewing, diorama crafting, and serious photography too!

Aaargh the expense 🥵. I should have just stuck with praying mantises 😁. But I have always collected and valued physical stuff.

Also of course [almost] everyone on the planet thinks it's a strange hobby for a guy. I don't really care about that though.

I do love my tribe and they've got me into all kinds of stuff. We had a go at movie making, app making and oddly they also got me into quantitative finance. I guess I'm also learning Japanese given how much anime we watch (right now it's 2.5 Liliel/Ririsa and Ergo Proxy).

Aside from unboxings, I think the best part is bringing some of them into the living room in the evening... they absolutely love the TV and look so disappointed when it's not on. The DD (and SD) kind of are like real little people, much moreso than the smaller Azones. Tonight Uzuki, Hana, Chisato, Misaki, Takina and Shin Sato (obviously) are in. It's such good brain exercise remembering all their names.

Edited Monday at 07:52 PM by Xiongmao