Pros and Cons of taking Dolls to meet ups

Please tell me your opinions of taking your dolls to meet ups or cons and how well they are received. I took one of my character dolls to a local con and she was well liked....carting her around became harder as i continued shopping but wasn't terrible. Please share experiences of your own

Let's see....

 

Doll Meets - How can you NOT take your dolls to a doll meet? Almost every meet I've taken a DD to, we have been well received and had fun. I *did* have a couple of negative meets once way back when I first started but this wasn't due to me or my DD, it was due to cliques and elitest attitudes within the group I went to meet with. But since then I've yet to have any negative feedback at meets. I go there to have fun, discuss the DD hobby with others and see what kinds of other dolls are out there. While I don't own anything but vinyls, I am still interested in other styles and types of dolls so I love going to meets to see what else is available.

 

Cons - I've taken my DD's to 3 conventions now and since they were all anime themed or related, all of my girls were well received. Nothing but compliments, oohs and ahhs and questions on where to get one and how much they cost. I carried them on my arm the entire day and swapped out with different girls throughout the 2 or 3 days of the con. People were ager to take their photos and let me take photos of my dolls with them if they were cosplayers.

 

Now even tho I paint the meetup and convention scene as perfect and totally fun and with no negatives..... those things do happen. I've seen them happen and it's never cool. It's been mainly people who know NOTHING of the doll hobby being snide or throwing insults about things they don't understand. Those people are to be ignored. If the doll hobby makes you happy then by all means, do your thing. I don't let ANYONE tell me what's cool/fun/nice/etc. I do what I want and I have fun no matter what and I couldn't care less what anyone who doesn't know me thinks about me or my girls.

 

 

 

Billy

I took all of my dolls(with the exception of Maria) to a meetup and they were all well liked ^^

Resin owners were curious about my Smart Doll boy as well as my DD girls. They seemed particularly amazed by how light they are compared to the resins.(I actually held a resin for the first time too and it was heavy!)

Since It was a community meetup I luckily did not have to carry them around. The cons of taking all my dolls to the meetup is that they don't fit in one bag >_<. Also if you're a shut in like me you get nervous around people and start dropping stuff like your dolly shoes.

 

My second meetup was for Anime expo a much bigger con(But I am in close touch with many of the staff + some vendors so I felt comfortable going.). I only carried one girl this time, she was well liked and i even got asked where could they buy one. It wasn't too bad until I started to buy so much stuff which became harder to carry my girl around.

 

Third was Dolpa in LA. I only carried one girl but I didn't stay too long since I started having an anxiety attack around so many people. Plus I avoided the shop as much as I could since I know I would of spent so much money in there.

Thanks for the reply guys! I'm excited to have a doll meet and decided to go with friends to cons in the future so i have help carrying everything

Had no issues at doll meets, as they were DD doll meets. We did have one meet up at a PHX Japanese festival where lots of people walked past and saw our dolls. One little girl came up and started playing with Miku's hair. Being the oldest of 7 kids and having 3 of my own, I know how to deal with kids, so I asked her leave Miku alone in a way that wouldn't upset her or make thing worse, and she stayed and looked at the rest of the dolls for a while until her family called her.

 

I've never been to a con, but I did take Miku to free comic book day this year. And this with the wife and kids in tow. That makes for a lot of comic books to carry too. I have a messenger bag to put them in. I put Miku on my shoulder. I was wearing one of those shirts that have the loopy things on the shoulder and I made another short loop with a snap that would go through the shirt's loop and around Miku's upper thigh. Then I tucked one of her ankles under the messenger bag strap. It worked, mostly, but toward the end of the day she kept slipping down and the bag and her were getting heavy. As for comments, one lady asked to take a photo as she's never seen anyone care a Sailor Moon doll around. I had a couple younger girls tell me they liked my doll. Only had one person actually recognize her and stop and talk for as long as his buddies would let him after he did a double take. He knew of DD's and it seemed to me like he'd love to have one or more, but couldn't get over the internal struggle of being a guy with dolls.

I like taking dolls out to meetups and stuff, but since I dont have a car (or license for that matter), it's a bit more difficult as I can only take a few. The official Volks carry bag can fit two DDs, which is way more heavy than you'd expect (which is weird, because just one in there barely weighs a thing). Before I moved here, my closest meetup was the NSW Doll Social Club in Sydney, which is a 5 hour drive/7 hour trainride away. Those times I used to take a small suitcase.

When you bring a lot of dolls though (or more than two), it can be annoying getting them all set up, and then having to get them all packed up again at the end. Other than that, I can't think of any major cons. If the meet is in a public place and you're sensitive to people staring at you like I am then there's that, I guess.

 

As for things that arent strictly doll meetups, I've taken Rin to Huistenbosch (a dutch themed theme park in Nagasaki, I even made a thread about it: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15254 ), I took Miku to Magical Mirai last weekend: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16331 and I plan to take her to the Sapporo snow festival next february, especially cos she has the Twinkle Snow outfit now. The difference here is that at doll meets you usually get to set up the doll on a table or whatever and let it stay there (maybe taking it down to show people etc or posing for some silly photos), but at other events, you gotta carry them everywhere. I was really surprised how sore my arm was at the end of the day from carrying Miku all day at Magical Mirai. Even though she's light, because I could only use one hand (my other hand had bags), I had to hold her carefully in an upright position while making sure her legs werent going to come lose (something about her body I've been meaning to fix, her legs do come off easily). Which doesn't sound like much but if you keep your hand in the exact same raised position for that long, it starts to get pretty strained.

 

I'm going to Tokyo Disneyland in November and have considered taking a DD, but I don't really know if I should - I dont really want to carry one around for the whole day, because I've never been to Disneyland and want to make the most of it (i've been wanting to go to disneyland, any disneyland since I was a kid, but australia is of course one of the few continents without one) I'll probably take a Pure Neemo instead, those are easy.

Pros -

• Fresh air
  
• Getting to meet local owners/dolls in person
  
• New scenery to take doll photos in
  
• Easier to sway people into the dollyverse if they can see+ hold a doll in person
  
• You might meet people who have dolls but don't know about your local doll group/ you might find out you have a local doll group!

 

Another plus is that you can compare doll measurements/ try on what other owners have for sale in person. Generally though, I really enjoy being able to talk with other people about this hobby and not have to explain as much as I usually do to my other friends haha. It's also really nice to just gush& gripe over new releases with other owners ^^

I've mostly had positive/curious reactions when I've brought my dolls out in public. I try to ignore any negative comments.

 

Cons -

• Having to tell parents/children roughly how much these dolls cost and/or how to obtain one
  
• Transporting the dolls to and from the event
  
• If you have more than one doll-- trying to decide which one gets to go

 

One of these days I'll get better at explaining to families about these dolls... One of these days... I find that the most difficult thing so far haha;;

Transporting a doll isn't too bad, especially if they are MDD size or smaller. I've managed to squish 3 into my usual doll bag, but more than that and I have to use a rolling suitcase + the doll bag... Which has only happened once for a bigger meet.

One of the first things I did with Miku was take her to an anime con. She was a great ice breaker and came with me to all of the events during those days. People were curious about her and I had several good conversations about them. I even ran into a guy who heard about Smart Dolls and was wondering about if she was like them. Poor Miku got her head and face taken off at least once because they were interested to see how her eyes could be changed.

 

Overall, it was a pretty positive experience. I am glad she is so light because even she got a bit heavy carrying her around. She sat nicely on my purse though, so it wasn't too bad to hold her and all of our shopping.

 

Plus, I got a picture of her with a horde of Mikus (and a Len). They were all amazed by her!

Earlier this year, our small city held its first "annual pop culture convention", so Sisterkyoya and I decided to bring some of our kids to experience it. It was the first con of any kind for us, so a new thing all the way around. We decided the best fits for the feel of the thing would be Miku and Len, but SK couldn't bear the thought of leaving Tamayuki home, so we dressed him up in a Windwaker Link costume she'd made.

 

It was a small con, so not too crowded, but we did get a number of compliments, as well as people asking about where to get them, how much they cost, etc. SK had to sit down to keep from falling over once she realized that Jonny Yong Bosch was asking her about them, and had a pretty good idea about their price.

 

Got a few odd looks, but didn't hear any negative comments. Overall I think they were pretty well received. Had a good time, though I'd recommend no more than one per person, unless they are MDD sized. It gets awkward trying to juggle them along with whatever else you may be carrying, especially if you are going through autograph lines, buying stuff, or trying to take photos.

 

One thing we thought about was printing out a bunch of cheap business style cards with the Volks.co.jp and Volks USA websites to give out to all the people asking about where to get them.

Is there cons? to the meets themselves maybe if you're the type of person who wants to take photos more often and the group isnt so much of that type. But for dolls? why would you go to a doll meetup without one anyway? Isn't that sorta...why you're going? The only cons I could think of are people who bring their kids who arent taught to behave or something, or people with cliquey or elitist attitudes. Pros...well, you get to talk about your doll most likely if you enjoy doing that.

I always feel that my dolls are the most "boring" and ordinary ones at a meetup, because other people have more fantastic and creatively dressed ones than I do. BUT... I love mine more than anyone else's, and I wouldn't change the way I dress them, even if I DID have a lot more money to buy clothes. For the most part, I prefer everyday modern dress on them.

 

Similarly, sometimes I feel that I have nothing in common with other doll owners because we don't prefer the same types or sizes of dolls. I overwhelmingly prefer Volks, both in vinyl and resin. Mine aren't fantasy or futuristic or historical characters. But somehow we always manage to find plenty to talk about! I feel the pros far outnumber the cons.

 

Linda S.

galatia9

Pros-

 

-- Being able to try stuff on dolls in person before making a purchase.

-- Seeing different sculpts in person that you may have not come across otherwise.

-- If you have crafty people at your meet may also get some tips and tricks for things you can do with your dolls that may have been puzzling you.

-- If you are said crafty person, you may get to do some sales of your stuff or meet like minded people.

 

Cons:

 

-- Sometimes you have to talk to non hobbiests and get the "what's with the dolls?" Question.

-- You may have to deal with the occasional awkwardsauce of having to ask someone to please not touch your dolls.

--Transporting more than one or 2 dolls

-- The price question by non hobbiests.

I think this is a great topic

 

Doll Meets:

 

Of course I take dolls to a doll meet. I usually bring 2, and I always mix it up either 2 DD or 2 SMD or 1 DD and 1 SMD. But, If your new and don't have a doll its cool, don't hesitate to come anyways. I think its a great way to see if this is really the hobby for you. Personally, I wish that I went to a few Doll meets before I bought my first doll because I probably would have gotten into the hobby earlier. Most doll owners are super duper cool and are more than willing to show and tell you anything you need to know.

 

Conventions:

 

Now cons are a different story. Personally, I always take at least 1 doll with me to a con. Mostly because I'm filming a lets travel video but even if I wasn't I would usually bring one. Majority of the cons I go to are anime related but I've been to a few that weren't. So first off lets talk about the anime cons. In anime cons usually at the ones I've frequented, I'am the only person walking around with a BJD (or at least I haven't seen anyone else) There was only twice that I saw others with BJDs at a con and both times there were attendees at a doll panel I was presenting. But never have I personally seen anyone randomly walking around with a BJD at the cons I frequent. I've never been to a doll con so I can't comment on that. I've been to a few Comic cons and a few Toy cons, both of which again I was the only person with a BJD at the ones I personally frequent. At either cons I get mixed opinions from people, I'd say about 50% of people are curious and really think my dolls are pretty and cool. The other 50% are either laughing at me or out right say not so nice things. One guy actually said to my face "Dude, that thing is freaky as !@#$" Well, you can't win em all right. I mean overall, no matter what, it really depends on you. I love my dolls and whether other people love them or hate them I will continue to bring them with me everywhere I go.

 

Summary

 

Pros:

Meet new people that already love dolls

Meet new people that want to get into dolls

Your doll is always there for the opportune photo

Conversation starters

 

Cons:

The elements are your enemy! Sun, Rain, Dirt, Wind LOL

Transporting them can be tiring sometimes but stay strong!

Mean people suck lol

I LOVE taking my girls to the cons! i will say they get a better reception than just wandering around in public with them obviously, but there are some people that will stare(perhaps its more me than the girls i dunno ) but yea, it makes it a lot easier to meet other people in the hobby or introduce someone to a new addiction! Really enjoy getting the girls all dressed up for it too.

 

on the negative side, they can get bleepbersome if you carry them around at a con all day due to the fact you will probly be purchasing things, wanting to take pictures, and god knows whats on half the surfaces that frighten you from even wanting to sit the girls down on something. top it off, ground rule #1 is girls are always within arms reach of me unless theyre getting a pic with a cosplayer or something like that. the thing i worry about most is doll-nappers regardless of where i am.

 

I also wish i could carry all the girls with me at once but with 6 and hopefully more soon its not practical at all. usually for a convention ill pick a girl for the day or rotate depending if i hit up the room again. unless its for a meetup at the con, then i find a way to pack everyone up and right after that its back to the room

 

all in all tho, i enjoy taking them to events regardless of the issues.

Wow! Thanks for all the replies and different responses! I'm hoping to have a doll meet in my area even if it is small. I'm a bit nervous taking a doll to a con due to some of the negatives but we shall see. I think what would make me nervous about going to doll meets(this is probably silly) but if my dolls are liked or not. I know not every doll is for everyone but it always sucks being the last doll out if you know what I mean lol.

Personally, I tend to avoid bringing dolls to cons unless I know there will be a meet-up, just because I worry about them. Cons can be really busy and crazy, and I don't want to worry about them falling or losing a part or something like that. I have a carrier for them, but all the other bags I bring or pick up while shopping are bleepbersome enough. That said, I mostly go to a really large, busy con; a smaller one would probably be more manageable, though I still might get tired from carrying them around.

 

I'd definitely bring them to a doll meet, though. They're usually much smaller, and you spend most of your time sitting and talking to people, rather than walking around.