Do you ever speak of your doll-collecting hobby?

I've just started collecting and although my close friends are aware of it because the DDs I have happen to be of anime characters they know I love
or from videogames THEY like too, it makes sense to them (one is afraid of dolls though, like some sort of phobia I think, he won't give me crap or anything he just legitimately doesn't want to own dolls). In general I've always been kinda dense and aloof with hobbies I had i.e. loving anime and collecting a lot of merch+ figures.

My cousin that loved Sailor Moon and competed (one way competition btw) about who would have more merch, eventually told me (she's 3yrs older than me)
that I would stop liking Sailor Moon when I grew up like she did lol
Boy was she wrong and now she wants the pretty SM things I have x'D
My mom's side loves seeing photos of my things, my dad's side is more accepting/thinks it's "cooler" now since anime is more mainstream.
In general I just never really noticed or cared-- I was overly positive about the things I liked and if someone had tried to tell me it was weird I never noticed.

I bring this up b/c unlike anime (and still very similar prejudice or used to when I was younger) I actually feel some of the stigma people have against dolls.
I took photos of my 9S and wondered for the first time if I shouldn't share b/c I didn't want to see "That's cool! But also creepy" comments towards him
since I love both the doll and character so much :c
I also took some "nude" photos of him (above his nipples/cropped) b/c I thought the doll has a nice sculpt and I wanted to use his standard hands before dressing him up! (I studied art so a 'naked' human body isn't something sexualized to me unless in the context of it)
And for the first time ever I felt like I'd be judged if I uploaded those photos even though I thought they turned out nice.

Not so much b/c I think they are, but I just didn't feel like the potential comments were worth me posting them in 'open' social media.
So even though I probably will share photographs of my DDs since at this point my family and friends/mutuals are used to me taking photos of my "merchandise"
for the first time I've wondered "What if..?" mainly due to the backlash I saw on poor Y'shtolas announcement.

She's my first DD (that I bought/paid for) and it pissed me off so many ignorant twats couldn't just keep it to themselves and let people enjoy things.
When I personally think she's a gorgeous rendition of the character and that the fanbase is lucky to see her brought to life as a DD (something that I see as an ultimate collectible for any character/fan of a chara! IT'S A MINI THEM YOU CAN DRESS UP AND CAN KEEP YOU COMPANY FOR GAWD'S SAKE! Funny enough you have something akin to that in MINIONS that follow you around in the game, but I digress)

In the end I'm mostly worried about my family finding out how much each one of them costs and them seeing I bought 4 within 12 months lol..

Edited August 22, 2022 by Hazukami
Added some text

No...in fact I actively try to hide it now lol. The last time I talked about dolls was with a neighbor (she was trying to figure out which playline fashion doll would be the best gift for her niece) and uh well, ever since then she and now the whole neighborhood talks to me like I'm a little kid 😐

I know I had quite an in-depth spiel about it, but I was just trying to be helpful!

I'm afraid to find out how they would react to me collecting multi-hundred dollar dolls like DDs and the like as well...😅

If people ask what my hobbies are I will tell them about my collection. For me I am at a point in my life where I don't care what people think. I have been called weird before or gotten looks, but it's my life. Everyone's family looks different. I am married, and have a human child, a fur child, and my doll children.

I love hearing what people are passionate about whether it is "My kiddo go their first tooth!" "My puppy learned how to sit!" "I bought my doll a new outfit!" etc. My brother as an example loves care. I can tell you basic things, but I don't have in-depth knowledge. I love how passionate he gets talking about what he loves.

I'd like to be more confident and be one of the people that's comfortable talking about it anywhere with anyone, but alas I'm much too shy about it still. I even get shy about my figure collecting hobby in general, not just dolls. I've been made to feel weird about my Dollfie by people close to me in the past and it's made me feel like I'm weird myself. I keep quiet and keep to myself about it. I guess I don't know anyone else outside of these forums that are interested in this as well.

I talk about it more now because I'm also in that "idgaf" phase, but the extent depends on the person I'm talking to. I don't talk about it at all with my in-laws because they're of the mindset that money should only ever be spent on practical necessities. It's not doll-specific, they also think having clothes for aesthetic reasons is a waste of money so I don't take it personally. My mom will send everyone she knows pictures of anything I sew for my dolls and calls them her grandchildren so I only tell her things that I'm okay with everyone knowing.

Most of my friends ask to see them the first time they visit my place as a novelty thing. I did a little Doll 101 session for a few friends last time I had a group over because a lot of them were curious about things like swapping eyes, the DD inner frame, how strung BJDs work, etc. My weeb and artsy friends are genuinely interested and follow my doll instagram or ask for updates about their favourites. One friend's boss collects BJDs so she wanted an in-depth introduction to suck up to her boss lmao.  I used to be very ashamed of collecting dolls and hid it, so it was really uplifting to see how many people were nice about it. 

Some of my friends' friends and partners are rude. Most of my extended family is as well. But turns out that the people who are mean about my hobby that doesn't affect them in any way were already people I didn't like much to begin with (ex. I already thought they were petty or small-minded about other topics), so it doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would.

No, i dont really talk about them; mostly because my friends are not interested in the hobby.

i had one friend who is aware i own them she was into the hobby a long time but lost interest and sold her dolls long ago. If someone brings it up and would like to talk to me about them though i would be happy to share :3 although  most just think they are a waste of money.  I do have a friend who likes to collect expensive anime figures who I talk about our expensive hobbies with even tho they arent the same hobby.  

i do wish i had more doll friends but it is what it is. lol 

I'm old enough to not care. My phone wallpaper is one of my dolls 😆
 

I generally don't talk about my dolls proactively, but if it comes up I am happy to talk about them*. My desk at work also has two 1/6th play line dolls on it, and reactions to those have been very positive. It does help that many people at work have personal items on their desk, and for some that includes figurines. So it doesn't particularly stand out other than mine being very pink.

*this is true in general. For example I'm not someone who proactively starts a conversation on something fun I did over the weekend. But if you ask about it better strap in because I will share all of my excitement.

A good friend and my sister both know I have dolls, but I see them both rarely. When my friend visits I rarely mention them. The only time he asked about them was when one of his daughters mentioned she wanted a Smart Doll.

My sister however, will get a full update on the subject weather she wants it or not lol. She does often ask in her texts if I have 3D printed any new toys for them recently snd occasionally suggests things I could make for them. When she visits, she will bid them goodbye when she leaves and has made the effort to memorize names.

I'm sure they both think I'm nuts but it really doesn't bother me if they do.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Stupid_Hoomun

A decent portion of my relatives know. Some of my younger cousins are TERRIFIED by them and call them the "creepy dolls" and it's really funny. I think my dolls accidentally made one of my cousins afraid of big eyed anime girls as a whole. Some younger cousins like them and thinks they're cute. General trend is that girls think they're cute and boys think they're freaky. 

Other than children being afraid of my dolls I haven't really received much of a negative response.

I talk about my dolls every now and again around loved ones, but it's something I generally like to keep to myself. It's less out of fear of a bad reaction, and more so just because I don't want to bore them with doll jargon that doesn't make much sense to people outside the hobby. I can tell they don't quite understand it, but they're still very supportive and glad I have a hobby to devote myself to. The only bad reaction I've gotten is actually from my dog, he barks at them sometimes and my parents joke that they must come alive when we're not looking to taunt him. My boyfriend has been especially supportive and asks to see any face ups that I do or new outfits I get (although he does find blank heads to be a bit creepy, but that's understandable honestly lol)

13 hours ago, chantelle said:

I think my dolls accidentally made one of my cousins afraid of big eyed anime girls as a whole.

Yes!!! Terrify the children!!! This is goals 😈

On 8/21/2022 at 11:37 PM, Hazukami said:

...IT'S A MINI THEM YOU CAN DRESS UP AND CAN KEEP YOU COMPANY FOR GAWD'S SAKE!

Indeed. it's more-or-less the closest you can get to having the actual Anime person there with you,

with a realistic flexibility about them that no static character Statue or poseable Action Figure can begin to match...

 

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by Tasuke

While I do not actively go out of my way to talk about them (except to my boyfriend because I know he understands how much it means to me and helps me), I do post pictures of them on my facebook. So anyone who has me on there as friend knows I have them. I'm not that worried about it. My profile is my space to post what I want and if people don't like that they are free to either unfriend me or hide my posts. 

I do have 2 facebook profiles. One being my "personal" with my real name and the other being my cosplay profile. I honestly only have the first one to maybe find people back from school I have long lost contact with and those kind of things, but I never really post a lot on it, let alone even be on it a lot. So I do am posting all my doll stuff on my cosplay profile, which is full of other geeks and cosplayers who are already into Anime, Manga and similar stuff, which helps a lot in me feeling like I can share it without much worry. I do have some family on there as well and some friends who aren't into any of those things, but are still supportive enough so I count myself lucky in that aspect.

My parents had a bit of trouble with me collecting them at first. Not because of their nature and them being dolls, since I've always been a child at heart, never really "grew up" and kept being into things like plushies and toys throughout my whole life growing up, accepting these dolls was just "another one of those things" to my parents. What they did struggle with was their costs, and they were worried about me spending so much money on them. Which is definitely understandable. While I have always collected various things throughout my life, nothing in the past ever really came that close price-wise to these dolls, so I could understand their sudden worry. However nowadays they know and understand that these dolls generally do not lose their value as long as you take good care of them, and they have started to see them as some sort of "investment"/savings account all on their own. I even have a couple of dolls that were gifted to me by my parents. 🙂

I truly feel thankful to have such amazing support around me from all sides. I know not everyone gets to be as lucky in that aspect, so I do am thankful for it.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Roxanne

i dont actively talk about it with anyone besides my mom and my aunt. my mom has always been really supportive of my hobbies and she finds dolls & dollfies very cute!! she lets me talk to her about them and loves to hear about the cute clothes i plan to buy or make for them :^) and my aunt collects some dolls herself, mostly older, vintage and porcelain dolls and we are even working together on making doll clothes!!

my girlfriend knows vaguely about my interest and dolls and isnt judgemental about it, just not personally into it herself. we are both into very traditionally nerdy things like anime, video games/fighting games and she is suuuper into yugioh and collects cards, so she can understand having a niche & expensive hobby (though she jokingly claims to draw the line at me collecting kewpie dolls, lol )

I’m pretty open about my doll hobby just not to everyone. People close to me have been positive and supportive. Except they keep telling me to buy local and used. Which is impossible in my country. Plus I find a lot less of the items I want used in Europe. 

Everyone I know is generally very nice about my dolls, though my first doll (a knock-off bjd that I bought before I knew much about where to buy authentic dolls or even what the difference between vinyl and resin was) got a lot of comments about how she was creepy. My MDD and Tinyfox, however, have never gotten such comments and everyone that I talk to about them is at least polite, even if they have no interest in dolls.

My family and relatives are actually pretty interested in my dolls. My grandparents are very used to my dolls and have been referring to them as my "children" jokingly, probably because I "swaddle" them in padded blankets when taking them anywhere to avoid travel damage. My parents are also very accepting and have even helped me out with purchasing a preorder doll once or twice so I could order her before the preorder period ended. My siblings get excited when I get a new doll and like to watch me unbox it lol.

I've had a few experiences with people being rude about my dolls in the past, though the people who were critical of my dolls didn't actually hate the dolls, they just had issues with me. I'm grateful that I haven't had to deal with much crap overall though, as I know that a lot of others in this hobby aren't so lucky.

Edited September 24, 2023 by Frollywoggy

I don't really talk to anyone about my dolls, not offline, anyways.. 

I currently live together with my parents and two of my siblings and they are aware of the dolls to varying degrees. I'm not sure if my Dad actually knows/remembers that I have them as I don't speak of them unprompted. However, my Mom is actually quite fascinated by them. She's aware of the cost and I think it makes her a little queasy to think about 'how much money' I have standing on my desk. She never ever called them a 'waste' though and I'm really grateful for that. I plan to add a few more though and I wonder how she'll react seeing them suddenly multiply, haha.

She sometimes asks about them, or she just stops to admire them for a moment when she happens to come into my room. 

There's actually one of my dolls that I haven't been bonding well with. It's my Tinyfox Fibonacci. She's gorgeous, but her full-set is so huge and delicate that I can't really put her with me on my desk so she's kind of banished to a spot on my shelf where I rarely get to see her. I've been debating on whether or not I should sell her or invest into 1/4 clothing (She's my only 1/4) that would make it easier for her to join me on my desk. Anyway, one day my Mom came into my room, stopped, looked at her in reverence and said. 'Wow, she's gorgeous, Retro. She's the same like you, so.. contemplative.' So now there's no way I'll ever let go of her, thanks Mom. 

Then there's my sister who I believe thinks they are pretty neat? I don't think she'd really be interested in getting any for herself, but she can appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that goes into them. She watched me unbox my first custom head in the kitchen and perhaps seeing me shaking with joy and excitement made her feel a certain way as well..

 

I talk about and show off my dolls every chance I get! But I also sew for them so it’s also me showing off my work. Can’t get me to shut up about them half the time. They are a major part of who I am. 

I only really talk about the hobby with my friends who are in it or people I really trust. Sadly, a lot of people don't seem to understand the hobby. I am grateful for the few friends I have who will listen to me talk about it (the friends outside my doll friends).

I talk about my dolls whenever I can, I just don't have the energy in me to care about what other people think about them anymore. I post them to my regular FB account, some old people from my long-ago-church-going days love to comment on those posts- it makes me so happy that they see me and my hobbies and accept me for all my eccentricities! Dolls, Pirates, my political views. If you get to know me at all, you're gunna get the raw version of me.

The other day I showed photos to a lovely person who is going to be selling products to the bakery I work at. She literally averted her gaze, covered my phone with her hand and squeaked! "I can appreciate the hard work and artistry, but oooooh god the eyes are so scary!!" I couldn't keep from laughing. I find it hilarious at this point in my life! At least she was very nice and supportive about it. She gave me some ideas to help monetize my hobbies in the store. A fun interaction! 
My mom knows, but I don't think she understands. We don't live in the same state anymore, so I don't tend to keep her updated on the hobby. I'm pretty sure she would have a stroke if she knew how much my kids cost me a year...

My partner has weird hobbies of his own, he has no place to judge. He's just appreciative that I'm busy and happy. We're all artists in this house!

My work colleagues know I'm into anime stuff. I've shown them a couple of figures I have, but they're kind of more interested in hearing about what it's like to visit Japan (and I also lived in China and Thailand).

If they only knew about the scale of my anime doll collection 😲.

Y'shtola is on my long term want list... she's completely unique and a definite future grail.

There's a Kagamine twins collector on YouTube and her DD Rin + Len are by some mile the most eyecatching items of merchandise she has.

In terms of scary dolls... none of my DD have eyes as intense as Asuna (Titania). Maybe it's the horrors she experienced being trapped in that birdcage, but this girl is seriously scary at times.

I'm open about my hobbies. I'm too old to really care if people think it's creepy or not. My patience, time, and energy is limited and outside of obligations, the only people I want in my personal life are people who whole heartedly accept me and my hobbies regardless of how they feel about them. And I want people to also know I want them to talk to me about their weird hobbies. 

Like they don't need to understand, they don't have to like it, but if we are gonna be interacting I am going to enthusiastically talk about my hobbies as a part of my life just like I will enthusiastically listen to aspects of my friends lives I don't necessarily care about or understand. Getting to experience someone else's joys in life is my favorite part of talking to people  

So yeah, I really have no issues with testing the waters in that regard haha. 

Plus, I also love bugs and cockroaches. They can either hear me talk about dolls, or they can hear about my love of all things creepy and crawly. Most people opt for the dolls LOL. When you tell people you want to start a cockroach colony in a terrarium and raise millipedes, centipedes, and tarantulas, the dolls suddenly seem a whole let less creepy to people XD

*LAUGHS IN NARUPAJIN MIKU*

Reading here, I feel quite lucky that I haven’t had any negative reactions to my collection. It’s so weird that dolls can make people react so strongly. I get that its not for everyone, but some of the stories I've read are just wow. Maybe I’m just lucky and keep meeting the right people. I try to be open about my interests, though I don't just bring them up all willy nilly. I've spent too much time caring about others opinions and worrying myself about a hypothetical negative reactions, and I really just don't have the time for that anymore. I just had a realization that I was being much harder on myself than anyone else had been to me, so I just had to stop it.

I have yet to meet anyone IRL that is into the hobby, so I keep it at a minimum with my friends and family. I’ll only bug them about it when I get a new girl or a really cute outfit. Gotta show off to someone lol. The only other times I mention it is if its somehow relevant to the conversation. Like, when the question of what my hobbies are is asked. It also comes up when I mention I’m trying to learn how to sew, because they are what I use to practice on. I’ve noticed that talking about it with nerdier people is much easier as well. Makes sense though, you’re less worried about being made fun of when someone else is also sharing their nerdy/niche interest to you.

I’m open about it. I mention it in passing. It’s important to me and most everyone I meet had some weird hobby or another, most people are just like ‘oh, dolls? what do you mean?’ And I’m always happy to elaborate. Then people tell me their weird hobbies too and it’s very fun to learn about all the different ways people enjoy their time.
 

I’ve only ever met one person who didn’t like it, but he was like ‘your sewing looks great and not to be rude but that doll is terrifying.’ I wasn’t offended, totally understood where he was coming from. But I couldn’t not mess with him. Later on, I sent him a selfie later on where my doll was holding a knife in the background (he thought that was funny- I’m not trying to traumatize anyone for real 🤣). 
 

Haven’t met any fellow doll people in real life though, looking forward to it someday!