what makes people leave doll/anime hobby??

For me I was never super into anime/manga as a hobby anymore than people who watch TV shows do that as a hobby. But with that said, I consumed a LOT more in my youth, and nowadays I'm much, MUCH pickier about what I consume because I don't have much time. Currently I keep up on YGO and I watched Sarazanmai and that's it really? If I'm not invested in the first episode I'm probably not sticking with it, haha. I also tend to find one thing I like a lot and absorb ALL THE INFORMATION about it. I know way too much about Fate and I am obsessed with YGO VRAINS these days lol. With that kind of enjoyment experience, there's not a lot of time to watch other anime!

I have moved away from the doll hobby a bit, but that was largely because the Tumblr community for BJDs dissolved into spam bots and discourse and I'm not a huge fan of Instagram for community stuff. So in that case, it's mostly the people!

I don't really leave hobbies so much as get to a point where I cycle through things I'm interested in. 

I may stop buying dolls for years, but I still enjoy the ones I have.  I never really get rid of anything since I don't ever completely lose interest in my hobbies or collections, so by now I'm having to be pickier about what I buy and have to set cut-off points sooner than I used to so I don't become a hoarder lol. 

My hard cut-off now is that I have to have a specific place in mind for new items.  This has slowed down my collecting hobby quite a bit and now I'm much choosier about what I ultimately purchase.  I'm picky about my displays looking neat and tidy, plus my husband isn't into this stuff -at all- and although he never complains or anything I don't want to take over the whole house with stuff that only I'm interested in.

I find it interesting that a lot of people said they lost interest. Which, personally the same happened with me (along with the financial aspect + gaining new hobbies.) But a key factor was my social groups, the people who I hung around all slowly stopped watching anime/collecting. With that said, I branched off to experiment new things, abandoning my collection and what not. It was only a couple months ago I got back into reading + watching anime because a few of my friends were talking about some apps they used and I thought to check it out. 

But that's just my experience coming down to my social circles.

I feel I've kinda drifted from the anime sector as I've grown older and had changes occur- For example not enough time to sit down and blast through a season, however that was following up on just not having any interest in what was being put out. I watched the occasional show here and there but overall, I've just had a rather serious drop in interest and it leaked into my figure/doll collection as well as I had no emotional connection to the characters anymore. Plus, lately, I've been coming to terms that I'm going to want that space so I've slowly been learning to be more selective and take quality over quantity in where if I find something I don't like about a doll or figure, it's just instantly a no-go... Which is part of why my current wish list is so small in addition to the loss of interest 🤣

 

tl;dr Not enough time or interest in finding new favorites to focus on. Also wanting to focus on overall collection quality

Edited October 22, 2019 by Conuresans

On 8/20/2019 at 8:29 PM, Riesz said:

I don't really leave hobbies so much as get to a point where I cycle through things I'm interested in. 

I may stop buying dolls for years, but I still enjoy the ones I have.  I never really get rid of anything since I don't ever completely lose interest in my hobbies or collections, so by now I'm having to be pickier about what I buy and have to set cut-off points sooner than I used to so I don't become a hoarder lol. 

My hard cut-off now is that I have to have a specific place in mind for new items.  This has slowed down my collecting hobby quite a bit and now I'm much choosier about what I ultimately purchase.  I'm picky about my displays looking neat and tidy, plus my husband isn't into this stuff -at all- and although he never complains or anything I don't want to take over the whole house with stuff that only I'm interested in.

Same with me. I don't really ever leave hobbies/fandoms (unless they get really annoying or I wasn't that interested in the first place), I cycle through them. There's a lot of manga and anime fandoms that I don't actively look at at the moment, but it still makes me happy when I see cute fanart and stuff from it.

I got into bjds over a decade ago, but I was in high school at the time and couldn't justify continuing to spend that much on them. I was into Monster and Ever After High dolls for a while, but didn't have the energy or experience to customize them as much as I would have liked. I finally got back into bjds this year and have been giving my kids some attention after just leaving them sitting untouched on a shelf for so long, and I finally have some income I can use on them.  

As I age, I find myself more picky with what I watch or listen to. Lately I'm stuck in enjoying the nostalgic shows. Though this year Demon Slayer was pretty good. Last time l liked an anime show was One Punch man.

For me, part of what made me cycle out of my hobbies has been fatigue from the last couple of (American) elections. I'm not going to start controversy, but it genuinely feels like we've been facing another national or international crisis every other day for the last couple of years, and I just haven't had the energy for a lot of the things I love because of that. All of my spare attention went to finishing my degree and trying not to fall into the melancholy of the 24-hour news reel, you know?

I'm poor. I had a resin guy ten years ago. Due to a terrible experience with a friend, I no longer have him. (or that friend)

Losing a doll that cost me a total of $700 discouraged me pretty damn hard, and I was never in a place financially to try again until recently. Even now, I'm playing with obitsu and hobby dolls rather than big ol' art pieces like before. I'd like a resin boy again, but it's going to be a while.

I also have trouble fitting in with social groups around dolls. I have a hard time socializing and knowing how to speak to people appropriately. I also have a hard time knowing how to work on that. It's a work in progress.

I leave when I get super bored. With Anime it started to get hard to find something I actually wanted to watch that could grab me for more than 2 episodes. 

Nothing I found that I liked had merch really either. So it just kinda drifted? Idk...

Dolls just got numerous and I had more to style than I knew what to do with. Back into it now though and it’s getting fun again.

Japanese Anime still doesn’t really have my attention, but Chinese Anime is really grabbing me lately so I may just hang out over there for a while. My DD will have some very elaborate outfits in the future xD

I left anime little by little because I felt I have watched all animes worth watching already and couldn't find anything which would go together with my strict criteria. I'm too lazy to wade through tens of animes to maybe eventually find something addictive enough. I have actually never been passionate anime fan or even watched series regularly, so I just watched them less and less and then one day anime just stayed away from my hobby list.

I collected Pullip dolls some years ago, and reason why I stopped this hobby was that I simply lost interest to "play" with them. Their head vs. body measurements started to look unattractive to my taste and they were difficult to pose because of their massive head. Like many other people here, I found new hobbies and interests as well, so it was best to get rid of those less interesting.

I left cosplay because I transitioned to collecting dolls instead. I found it much more fun to dress up my doll rather than myself. Another reason was I just didn't have the time to attend conventions anymore after college since I had a full time job. Managing dolls was way easier for me. ^^

I guess I never really left the doll hobby proper, but in the almost 10 years since I first got into vinyl and resin dolls, there were several years when I sold almost all my dolls and would only look at doll sites a couple times a year. For me the leaving/hiatus was because I had trouble connecting to my dolls and developing characters for them. I've solved that now by mostly getting dolls to make into my fave anime/videogame/tv characters.

Never taken a break from loving anime, that's been consistent for well over 15 years now.

Its more losing interest because we feed off of other people. Sure, we do it for ourselves, but we also do feed (share) content to other people because its a social hobby. We share what we love to other people we interact with. When people love what you do then you share more, if they don't then you share less.....A good example was figure.fm before all of that hype and jazz died off. 

I'm always going to be an anime fan because it taps into what North American media fails to do, or is also fearful of doing. Its why Japanese media shall win over anything with or without my bias noting this. Manga is outselling Marvel stuff, that is however just me noting things neutrally. Google it as well. Anime may see a low point for me at times but that is because life tends to intervene when someone passes away, work, exhaustion, and etc. Anime tends to do everything I love while everything being top notch. The characters, story, music,.... Everything, especially when anime tends ot have messages & life lessons, such as Saekano. I loved how Saekano S2 hit me like a bus with its special message of challenging yourself so you can keep improving, & etc.

Busou Shinki has been strong for me, though also tends to share the same similarities with Dollfie Dream's ups and downs because of how social it is. The golden age for Busou Shinki was between 2010 till 2016-ish.... For me personally it had a severe pause in 2017 because I had a falling out with a Dutch person causing me to lose my creative spark, trying to get it back year-after-year with extreme agony and frustration. I announced on my Twitter I'd give up on figure photography seeing people just up and leave without objections. Seems like people wanted me to quit, or so implied.... What made it worse was seeing Dollfie Dream individuals leaving my twitter without feedbacking me. Only ONE person told me how I screwed up and we mended our differences, and it wasn't Dollfie Dream nor the Dutch person. 2017 was a brutal year which caused me to jump onto VRchat to fill in the void that drama caused. 

Been with VRchat from 2017 till now, and I still respect it. I may still get sidelined by people though still love seeing how creative people are. I'm also on this forum because I was seeing if anybody was still in tune with Busou Shinki fandom while also lightly curious to see how this forum is doing. It seems fine, I am however highly frustrated with Dollfie Dreams because of how people silently sidelines me without telling me whats wrong. It makes me curious..... My arctic foxy 'Vara' is in hibernation, also because 2020 dealt me a bad hand of my father passing away forcing me to move. It nudges me more into the Busou Shinki & VR realm more and more as I turn it into my own persona. I love VR, and have since late 2017. Being in a new world doing whole new things..... Yup. Seems far better than being told (or implied) you amount to nothing in some form. 

Having watched Saekano S2 recently I blogged about it on my main blog because it gave back that necessary spark that I need to keep challenging myself if I'm a content creator. I need to set proper goals instead of bailing like Tomoya had in Saekano. I want back in the Busou Shinki community, properly this time without the horrible clout-seeking individuals. I want actual people who are genuinely interested in Busou Shinki, not fame hunters. That is what tends to ruin communities; I do call them out but then I get villainified. I'm frustrated it took me so long to snap back to the Busou Shinki realm, but I have yet to take figure photography again having to wait till sometimes in July to start snapping images once more for the whole fun of it. People need to be neutrally challenged while also happily engaging with others with what they naturally enjoy.

If people want to still hold grudges against me then that is on them. I would love to simply enjoy the hobbies I/we enjoy.....

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I don't expect people to admire or praise my posting because I'm trying to speak neutrally and honestly. Just a late night post trying to seek out a Busou SHinki/figure photography thread while frustrated, yet eager to take figure photography images again. I'm simply speaking honestly as the topic desired. I had to sideline Dollfie dream AND my specially, Busou Shinki, because of frustrations & other elements noted above. I haven't posted anything Busou Shinki & Dollfie Dream related when "we" tend to clash in some form, when people can't enjoy their hobby while clout-farming, or even sidelined others with no feedback. People need to be neutrally told they screwed up or else they won't learn. When you're constantly shunned you tend to just fade away, and that may be the point with the whole 'cancel culture' on the interweb when you tend to enjoy. Combination of fame hunting, canceling others, and favouritism while shunning others.... That is how hobbies die. 

One has to enjoy what they enjoy genuinely.

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Edit: I don't expect people to understand it, especially when given the confused emote......Its hard to word movement on social media.

Edited June 27, 2020 by ArcticKitsune

I already commented once on here a year ago, but here I go again. Still staying in the doll hobby, but leaving one brand behind, Smart Doll. The reasons are many, but also just because I feel more drawn to DDs after not liking their faces for a long time (funny how our tastes change). I will say this though, I'd probably leave the doll hobby entirely if I wasn't interested in DD. The owner of a company and their business practices are one way to kill your love of a certain hobby.

I think the common thing I heard is lack of interest or after the high of getting something new.  For me, I left the hobby some years ago was a bit of lack interest (college life) and peer pressure from friends who wasn't into dolls. It was hard juggling college, entry job, and always hearing people say I'm wasting money on dolls. Of course, I'm been back in the hobby for a few years now because I have a better support system in my circle and money to put away to keep this hobby fun and rotating interest.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Aireoko
typo

Ooh.

I feel like this topic pertains to me! Time is a big thing for me.

The things I used to love are still close to my heart. But after just so many life events, it's so hard to find personal time for me... let alone my hobbies.

For the most part, I've kept the most special things... and I always hoped that there would be more time in the future. I guess that's why I've found myself lurking around this forum at the moment. 

 

i've been a hardcore OTAKU since around 1995, and have remained so to this day.

Mecha model kits got me on board back in the day, and it very gradually expanded into Character dolls right around the onset of the 2000's.

today, i carefully pick and choose my Anime and associated merchandise, focusing primarily upon MACROSS, GUNDAM, and a variety of 1/6 OBITSU BODY-based character dolls of favored characters spanning the last 20-odd years...

On 8/21/2019 at 2:29 AM, Riesz said:

I don't really leave hobbies so much as get to a point where I cycle through things I'm interested in. 

I may stop buying dolls for years, but I still enjoy the ones I have.  I never really get rid of anything since I don't ever completely lose interest in my hobbies or collections, so by now I'm having to be pickier about what I buy and have to set cut-off points sooner than I used to so I don't become a hoarder lol. (...)

It is very similar for me.

I tend to go through phases in which I focus on one or two of my interests, or even aspects of my interests (such as a particular type of doll, or a particular Playmobil theme, or a craft project), while the others go onto the back burner.

I´m still interested in them all, I still enjoy what I have - I just don´t actively spend much time on them for a while. I don´t clear out any collection entirely, but I do keep re-evaluating what I have and sell off things I´m fairly certain I won´t miss while being picky about new purchases. 

While I don´t feel I have really left any of my hobbies themselves, I have drifted out of specific communities, mostly when the overall atmosphere changed in a way that I no longer enjoyed even lurking there (e.g. I left some true crime discussion boards because one had an arbitrarily oppressive style of moderation and in another, conspiracy theorists took over and teh crazy got too wild).

I only once made a conscious decision to not come back, usually, it just happens that I no longer check in - whereas groups/boards/communities I feel good in keep me coming back even if the hobby in question is not the one I´m currently focusing on. I can enjoy my interests all by myself, but a good community can be an important aspect that keeps me sticking around, too.

I have also found that some media franchises that I cared about enough to count them among my interests/hobbies have developped in a way that the newer installments no longer hold any appeal for me. (Same goes for certain dolls where there was a drop in production quality, or a drastic change of design). In those cases, I still care about, and enjoy, the earlier installments - but have no interest in any of the more recent ones. 

Trying to get a tl;dr sorta general statement out of it all, I guess a shift in personal interests/priorities may be the most frequent reason for leaving a hobby.

But changes within the hobby itself (so it loses its appeal/no longer gives you what it used to), or changes within the main community one frequented (so you no longer feel comfortable there), may also be possible causes.

Reading through the responses to this topic has been interesting! For me, I was really into manga in high school but was too busy in college to get invested in any series, and then after college just wasn’t interested in anymore? I’ve gotten recommendations of new series to try, but I would get bored after an episode or two. My favorite manga ever is Azumanga Daioh from way back so if anyone has suggestions like that I’m all ears! I still go to anime conventions since there is a local one that I enjoy yearly (except this year of course) even though I don’t recognize most of the characters. 
 

Resin BJDs has been more of a one and off hobby for me. I basically ignored my dolls for years in college like anime, but unlike anime I was happy to come back to them when I had more time. Sometimes I just don’t feel like doing anything with my dolls for a while and that’s ok, they will wait. Like has been said elsewhere in this thread, I think it’s super important to never force a hobby on yourself. Hobbies are supposed to be fun and relaxing! 

In my case, just like some peeps here, I just cycle through my hobbies. But, I can't seem to shrug off doll hobby bc it stems from childhood (although my childhood dolls are mostly barbies, tastes do change over time, same category, different quality). Resin bjds and vinyl anime dolls are equally interesting to me and it keeps my interest going. Especially with the variety the market has to offer nowadays and an experience of a lifetime I do not want to miss. Even at times when I don't do anything with my dolls, I still feel the need to keep them, and want them, i'll surely pick 'em up someday when i'm free and inspired enough.

Sorry about my previous posting and this one I'm posting. I strongly though feel certain thoughts were true, if highly jumbled in my previous posting. I want to note the 2020 side of things because I've seen more examples of a double-edged sword...

I haven't gone back to the Dollfie side of things because of social pressures, work, and now seeing those in the Anime/Dollfie hobby are heavy in politics ruining the whole fun factor. I'm seeing those who wanted to assist me with my Dollfie causing damage and harm on Twitter making me further shy away on something that should be fun and enjoyable. During local doll meet ups all I'd hear about was Canadian politics and it was a major downer. I don't want to be too vocal, though what killed it for me was how politics has to be in everything to the point you start unfollowing people on Twitter (them unfollowing you; Them unfollowing me) just because I'm not into BLM, or anything major going on in USA. I want none of that nonsense while just wanting to admire anime, Dollfies, and such. I miss when I could attempt to converse with people in the hobby, even if I was awkward and such. Real life obligations now preventing me from touching Dollfies unless I find someone who is equally as interested in the hobby as I am. For now I'll be hiding in video games because that is where I feel the safest.

I miss the Figma, Busou Shinki, and early Dollfie Dream days. Now its just not as fun, and I can say the same to VRchat when you don't have friends because everything has to be political.  I don't want to bring politics. I'm just highly depressed everything in 2020 just funnels into politics, though relieved I'm not seeing any in this thread. I've noticed various people STILL boasting how they'll unfollow others if they vote or support Trump, or how people should single-mindedly follow BLM. 

I'm not here for politics........I'm here to admire the Kitsune Dollfies, the Azur Lane dollfies, KanColle dollfies, and whoever just wants to have fun. Since people forgot how to have fun I'm now being forced to go to Hololive shying away from anything touching politics.

I'm posting this here because two or more people I've observed have ruined their own hobby so I want this to also be a general warning to keep politics out of your hobbies. I screwed up in 2017, though what they're doing in 2020 is far more damaging than myself. This is supposed to be an escapism, not a stressful occupation. 

 

Sorry, and continue. I'll shush. If you guys enjoy Dollfie Dreams then more power to you. Enjoy things genuinely and naturally.

Edited October 9, 2020 by ArcticKitsune

There was a period of 2.5 years where I stopped watching anime, after 6+ years of hard following it. In that time, I was so focused on fitting-in and socializing that I told myself anime was silly; I even contemplated selling all of my figures, manga, and plush.

By the end of that period, I had a falling out with some friends that left me in a deep depression. I returned to anime, and it helped me through many sleepless nights.

It's ok to take breaks with your hobbies, it's ok to change. It's ok to like things other people don't.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Veravey
grammar

I was very interested in anime and manga in high school and uni, but I think getting into workforce has forced me to be more picky about what content I want to consume 😅 That, and oversexualization of female characters and fanservice. It's actually some Western comics (not Marvel) and cartoons that I find more interesting now - although I have to admit, I don't really compare Western and Eastern based entertainment content when it comes to quality, it's more about specific creators and genres for me. I do buy some Nendos and figures occasionally, but I prefer to save the money for dolls.

I had a long time reading break when it comes to books too. I think nothing was interesting for me for a while, and I really only read scifi and fantasy. Fortunately, I have managed to find some series and novela that blew my mind and made me excited tp read again.

Sorry for rambling. I guess that I would not call manga or comics my hobby - I own them, I read them, I follow some titles - they are more about consumption and thus easier to "leave" (but really, I was never "in"). I feel doll hobby is much more engaging, for me at least, and that's why I am more inclined to name it such.

I can’t say I’ve fallen out of love with anime by any means but I’ve slowed down a lot on my consumption of new shows. I find myself rewatching my favorites and just not caring about the new seasons. I think my disinterest comes from my job. When I was in high school I could endlessly watch 5 or 6 hours of anime after school with no care in the world. Now I finish work and I’m exhausted. It’s hard to work up the energy to watch something I don’t even know is enjoyable or worth my time. For my other hobbies of collecting dolls and figures, I do what a lot of others do and go through cycles. For some months I’m really into figures then I switch to dolls, the back again to figures. I never truly leave but I think the breaks help me reevaluate my collections and let me breathe a bit.

Hm, let's see. I have yet to completely leave either hobby but have taken looooooong breaks from them because... life. I can no longer binge watch / read anime / manga like I used to back in high school and middle school and am pickier about what I do on my free time.

A better example of a hobby I left would be the resin BJD hobby. I still have a few precious resin BJDs left but I don't believe I will ever back in that hobby again like I used to be. I first came into the resin BJD hobby in 2005 and enjoyed it much until around 2015 when recasts came into the market and destroyed it. The issue with that wasn't just the presence of recasts as it was that it undermined the secondhand market and I could no longer sell dolls that have been photoshopped into oblivion by companies and was not what I thought I was getting at all. Hence the reason why my only remaining resins are a Volks and a Bluefairy. Because with those, you get what you get lol. Add to that was a intangible sense of frustration in what narrowly defined a ABJD in a certain big forum. I started questioning these requirements, like ex. what makes a BJD a BJD? The jointing? The style? The material used? The "Asian" aesthetic? So, if that's the case what about Iple and their dolls that have "western" features? What about Popovy's Little Owl that's modeled after Devon Aoki? What about dolls with painted eyes? (I could go on and on). I also believe that it was fatal to remove the artist section in the forum because it caused people to get a disconnect from the actual artists who made BJDs and therefore gave a rise to pro-recasters who encouraged an us vs. them (doll companies) mentality as an excuse for a right to legitimize owning recasts. The forum eventually brought the artist section back but it was too little, too late.

I got into BJDs because of an anime called Rozen Maiden back in middle school and I believe my doll obsession started there. After leaving the resin hobby I did a 350 and got into vinyl dolls (why I'm here), antiques (cuz Rozen Maiden), porcelain dolls (very expensive) and have a perpetual fascination with Japanese art dolls that I could probably never hope to obtain. I came here ultimately for the community. I don't talk much and like to lurk a lot but it reminds me of tight knit communities that the anime and BJDs communities used to be before it got big and brings me some measure of comfort.

So yeah, leaving a long-term hobby is complicated for me and not one that I take lightly. I still go to anime conventions but it's definitely a different crowd these days. I'm not for gatekeeping and don't want to stink of entitled hipster but I see bros trying to pick up girls at a con party but can't name even one Pokemon or Naruto character and I feel a certain way about it. Or girls who make a nerd themed OnlyFans because it's cool nowadays to do. I like the fresh blood and like a lot of the changes that came about when anime and stuff became mainstream but some changes... not so much. I like places I can safely nerd-out without being judged or fetishized over. Hope I don't sound elitist or anything.

TD;LR :  I'm a doll maniac and that will never change. 😎