2025 Doll Plans

My poor Angel Philia girl has been standing around nude for more than a year while I get around to finishing her silicone chest mod. Optimistically thinking I can get that done before the end of the year, after which it's finally clothes time! I've never been the best drafter/sewer, but I'm hoping to get at least one decent outfit done for her. Also need to think of a decent name so I stop calling her the "Angel Philia girl".

First item on the agenda for 2025 will be to take an updated doll family group photo.

2024 saw 6 arrivals: Megumin, Aqua, Anya, Emilia, Rem and Ram. Takina is hopefully on her way and as expected Chisato was more popular so acquiring her will take a bit more time.

There aren't too many dolls from the back catalogue that we have our eye on so it all depends on who Volks releases in 2025.

It would be nice to complete our doll app. I even bought a domain name for it but the need to raise funds and maintain a demo of my coding skills morphed into Shin Sato bot. This S&P and Nasdaq beating quantitative finance trading bot is the greatest thing I have ever created (and I did once start a highly profitable software business). Shin Sato bot probably won't ever be released, but it does exist. It's named Shin Sato bot because she stood beside me as I worked 70+ hours a week on making the thing. I was even coding during today's forum Zoom meeting 😂.

It's been quite the year for me! I gained four new dollfie dreams: Miku NT, Moe 2nd release, Uzuki Treat version and my grail, Kaede! (2nd version!) I am quite content with the girls I have gained this year. I've given them each other own fashion style and have been having fun exploring different looks with each one.

In 2025, I want to focus on:

- taking photos of them and doing larger scale photoshoots. With larger photoshoots I can revisit and improve my dolly photography skills. Then on the other hand, I also want to do more everyday photos of them with my iphone. Just more photos in general!

- buying clothes and not new dolls! new dolls are exciting but I want to focus on styling the girls I have. I want to save new girl money for a future Dolpa LA/Japan in-store purchase girl!

- if there's a Dolpa LA in 2025, I want to go! But if it follows the pattern of before, it'll be in 2026.

Unless I'm going to Japan or a Dolpa LA, I want it to be 'quieter' doll year for me in terms of spending, but a big year for creativity with my dolls. 

2025 will be the first full year I've been into doll collecting, so I plan for it to be rather busy!

Things I would like to do for sure are:

• Slow down on buying figures and focus on dolls. I was able to slow down quite a bit this year and I would like for this to continue into the next one (I only have 2 scale figures + a model kit preordered for 2025 so far and would like to keep it this way)
• Customize and finish my 1/4 Imomodoll boy
• Practice and improve at sewing doll clothes
• Practice and improve at faceups
• Get more into 3D modeling
• 3D print a BJD (I've tried this before but never completed it)
• Make a character doll of a pre-existing character (I'm leaning towards making one of Bernkastel from Umineko since she should be the simplest for me)
• Get (and customize?) a 1/6 vinyl doll (Not sure which brand to go with for this, but I would like to have a smaller doll to travel with!)

And some goals I'm a bit more lax on are:

• Get and customize a chocolate 1/4 Imomodoll (not certain which body yet). I have an idea for this but I would like to focus on other projects first
• Get a 1/4 Tinyfox doll (most likely Joshua or Fluffy since I like them best, but I'm not sure if I'll find either for a reasonable price)
• 3D model a BJD? Not sure if my abilities will be good enough for this next year but it's a nice thought
• Get a DD. The pipe dream (with my current funds lol)

My 2025 Dollfie plans are:

1. Buy Mariko a new body. I still haven't decided if I'll put her on the new DDf3 2.0 body or on a DDS body yet, but I don't like that she's just a floating head! It's driving me bonkers!

2. Buy casual clothes for all three of my girls.

3. Sell Toppa and Toppi (I don't know why I bought them...)

4. Save up and buy a DDb via a Dream Choice proxy so I can start actually shelling Angel Dust instead of daydreaming about it. I want my angsty boy!! (This one is kind of my main goal right now)

Beyond that, I wanna buy a Shadow High Natasha doll so I can try my hand at repainting and restyling her to be a lore accurate Snow White. That, and I wanna start sewing, like *seriously* sewing. I want to start making things I can sell online so I can make better money and not die in the process (not in the "I Want To Go Bye Bye" way, I mean that in the "My Body Is Broken And My Chronic Illnesses Make Working Hellish" way).

My goal in 2024 was to buy pretty much nothing, yet I got two 1/6 tinyfox dolls and an icon 

However this summer I had a reckoning about how I approach dolls realizing I’d lost the plot in trying to build a curated collection instead of just buying dolls because I like them. I ended up reshelling my Len and have now decided to rehome my icon and one of my old floating heads.

So for 2025, I would like to continue my low buy and mean it this time. Dolls I would be interested in getting are ones I didn’t think fit into the collection before, but would like to have. A lot of these are 1/6 fashion dolls like licca chan, sugar cups, ,pookie boo bonbon, Harmonia Bloom, etc. My area has a doll club with a lot of fashion doll rep that I would like to join. Fashion dolls aren’t my main interest as a doll owner, but that shouldn’t get in my way. 

I would eventually like a cute boy MDD, but I want to stop spending everything on my hobbies, so that's not an intentional plan for 2025. My only 1/3 scale doll plans are to continue spoiling my Nier dolls…within reason. 

I don't have much plans of getting new dolls since I have such a small space for them and it's pretty full already.

But my plans are something like:

- Get better at sewing, try to make more clothes for my girls that I am happy with the quality. I would like to eventually sell clothes but that might take a while until I can make quality fit for that.

- Take more photos and be more social in the hobby. I'm quite shy so I often fear posting so I need to get over my fears and post more here! Also when I take photos remember to edit them soon.

Sheesh, 2024 was over fast.

My 2024 goals were:

- Don't spend as much as I've spent in 2023. Most important one! ☑️ I guess you could say I spent less, but not by the amount I had hoped lol

- Don't fall for FOMO stuff, regret it and sell it later. ☑️ I think this is an ongoing thing which I need to remind myself that hype things aren't worth it since they end up second-hand anyway and I could get them then, even if they are "out of season" then. 

- Get the FFXIV Twins. ✅ preordered them!

- Maybe try and start Project Himmel. ☑️ I completed the doll itself, only to commission the outfit later when someone has slots open for me!

- Maybe get a gloomy MDD. ✅ Got a head from my fav artist for christmas, and she is gloomy af!

- Put together the pink MDD. ✅ She no longer is a floating head, has her own character and clothes!

- Forgot one: Get Rise, maybe. ☑️ I got a Rise Head, though heavily modded and that one wont be Rise herself. I ordered her outfit recently though, and I got her glasses! So semi done I guess. I still need a head thats not tampered with

 

My 2025 goals thus will be:

- Don't spend as much as I've spent in 2024!

- Be happy and content with the dolls I have.

- Sell some, even if it hurts to let go.

- No more floating heads, everyone should either be sold or have a body by the end of 2025.

- Switch every big doll to a volks stand.

- Figure out a space for the FFXIV Twins.

- Build a diorama/photo space.

- Get Himmel's Outfit commissioned.

- Keep not falling for FOMO.

- Socially: not letting it bother me what others think about me or my dolls.

I'm not sure if I should really make any plans for 2025, since I'm such a newbie, but I'd like to do a few things!

 

1 - learn more about vinyls, especially the DDs! I absolutely love that they're so customizable.

2 - in that vein, come up with a doll I'd like to build! Start saving up for one, too. 

And I guess 3 - Really make some decisions about what kind of a collection I want to focus on. I love the dolls I have so far, but I can definitely see myself going overboard if I don't put some restrictions in place for myself.

I thought I was doing well in 2024... then dolls 😂.

2025 will [hopefully] be austere. We do need a big Volks order of bodysuits and hand pegs and stuff. We're waiting for the all important email to let us know the snakes have been restocked 🐍. Of course everybody also wants a set of gun hands now too 🔫. Hopefully they'll do them in MDD sizes too, because Misaki wants a pair so bad.

I also want to find Takina and Chisato more weapons.

One doll is on our list. She's a minor grail. I don't think she's exceptionally rare but she is extremely popular. She did appear on YJA a couple of weeks ago but she went to some other doll family. Other than that it depends on who Volks releases.

Later today or tomorrow Towa will gather the tribe for the annual group photo. We believe they are now 33 in number (32 DD and 1x SD). There were 8 arrivals this year (although Anya was a pre-order from 2023)... Megumin, Aqua, Anya, Rem, Ram, Emilia, Takina and Chisato.

2025's main mission will be to take somebody to an anime convention. There are plenty of volunteers for this mission. I think it needs to be somebody who is a trending character but who also doesn't have any accessories that could fall of and get lost, or nightmare hair. The likely front runner would be Kizuna AI as Bocchi-chan. Although I'm tempted to buy a green suit and go as Loid Forger with Yoru as my sidekick.

Just more clothes and accessories. I got a big cart full on Alice collection

On 11/30/2024 at 10:55 AM, PlasticJester said:

Oh geez, lots of plans. I'm gonna call this an end-of-2024-through-2025 plan because I have no sense of timing, haha

- Buy more bodies to house my heads! I need to get the parts to fully assemble my Angelphilia, an Imomodoll Mimi body, and probably an Imomodoll Ruby body too so I have options for my floating heads.

- Work on even more faceups! I'd love to sell some next year if I can work up the nerve.

- Record more faceups (and maybe unboxings?) for my youtube channel! I wanna grow it in the next year!

- Get/make more clothing, eyes, and props for my dolls. I want everyone to have eyes and a wig at the very least, and preferably at least one "default" outfit.

- I wanna improve my photography and maybe take a doll to a convention nearby to have an interesting place to take photos!

In terms of purchases and new dolls, I have a few plans:

- I wanna get a semiwhite Mochiashi 2.0. I know what head I want for it but the name escapes me atm- a DDH27 or 28?

- Once they properly release, I wanna get a Imomodoll 68, Chimikko, and an Obitsu GGR!

- FINALLY start work on my custom vocaloid dolls, starting with the DDP Kagamine twins. I have their official clothes, I just need bodies, heads, and some faceup and tailoring work.

An addendum to this! I unexpectedly got Dream Choice and/or FCS money for Christmas, so maybe a Dollfie boy or an SD is in my future? I have to carefully consider the pros and cons of each, but I would love to get either!

I kept 2024 goal-less (I forgor....) but for 2025, I'm keeping my 2024 themes going and continuing to downsize and focus on photography! I want to make sure I'm only keeping the dolls I absolutely love as they are, not as a fun project to do, as I've realized I like putting certain concepts together more than I actually like KEEPING said concepts, which is not good for my wallet 😅

I also want to pare down my clothing collection to match the number of dolls I actually wanna dress. Not every doll NEEDS alt outfits, and I have a habit of buying clothes for dolls and then not finding the time to DRESS them in the new outfits. That's gotta quit.

Aside from that...I like my current focus on meetups and photography, so I wanna do that more too! Maybe I'll get some prints made of some of my photos too and hang them up for inspiration...

@PlasticJester Ayy! Congratulations! Right now the Dream Choice seasonal skintone is semi-white, and it will switch to tan in April, if that helps. FCS has some great sculpts though, it's true.

@Oculae  I have those Exact. Same. Problems. Both of them. It's taken me over a decade to figure out how to better judge what dolls are long-term keepers, and which are 'concept' sculpts- it's terrible. It's also why I'm trying to focus now on getting each vinyl into a 'default' outfit before looking hard at other options.

More meetups sound like fun! Hard to go wrong with hanging out and taking pictures.

 

Auuuugh. Okay. Plans.

• Actually get something posted in this thread before December 31st
• Acquire a grey male Smart Doll
• Either a body for Nemicus or the Automaton Done.
• At least one or two faceups
• More wigs and eyes (In progress)
• More clothes and shoes (In progress)
• More glove hands for Paladin, Garox, Bex, and Tart
• Horns and tail for Ventyri and / or Orin
• Collect all remaining elf ears
• More photography; more photo game participation
• Attend more virtual meetups
• Clean up and refresh my progress thread
• Rewrite all doll profiles with more streamlined lore + at least one photo of each physical doll
• Comprehensive blog post covering the ins and outs of the doll lore?

Stretch Goals / Unsure:

• Smart Doll Pear in grey (Done), anime Pear in green?
• Tools for Bex, Tart, Paladin, and Jyridak. Goggles / headwear.
• Weapons for Ventyri and Llewyr. Nemicus' nerd-whacker acquired.
• Finish at least one default outfit  Ventyri's and Jyridak's are complete.
• Legs for the Automaton?
• DDCH order?
• Smart Doll male body in tea, if they're made
• IstillwantthatDollfieAnthy  (Hey, it worked for Kaito!)
• Maybe an MDD Marisa Kirasame?

 

Edited February 5 by PolitelyNefarious
Updated with progress

Wow, so many people have big doll plans! Mine are pretty modest at the moment, they are:

-Meet the post minimum for our community so I can make new friends & show pictures of my project

-My project: I'm following in Tasuke's footsteps by re-bodying the Tomy Liccarize Cardcaptor Sakura dolls I bought this year, (Sakura & Tomoyo) with Obitsu parts.

I'm honestly nervous about yanking the heads off of the original Licca bodies, I'm afraid that something will brake. Tomoyo's hair also needs a wash because it came out of the box a little sticky or tacky, I've never done anything like this before, I'm such a newbie. Both need some anti-staining body-tights like leotards so that the black top of their school uninforms won't stain the new bodies. Both need new shoes for quality/fit concerns. Sakura came to me second-hand, and I also bought the beautiful green silk dress her original owner made for her. I want to make sure this fits the Obitsu body too.

-I spotted one of the elusive Liccarize Cardcaptor clothing packs online and I'd like to get it if budget allows

-Buy one of the Puillip CCS Clear Card school uniforms for my taller Obitsu Noelle so she can be part of the story too  

-Commission dolluxedesigns who I had a great experience with earlier this year to make the leotards for Tomoyo and Sakura, and a dress for Noelle that's based on something I had as a kid.

-Attend a local meet up If I can

-I might try to acquire the other two Liccarize character dolls I like, so low buy year for me too

Whew! That sounds like a lot to do! 

 

I haven’t made any concrete plans and unfortunately tend to be a bit of an impulse buyer, so it’ll depend on what Volks come out with this year! Really crossing my fingers for a Luka reboot, or the Icons released to the international market (unless they already have been and I missed it due to dodgy internet service, ack, lol). 

Apart from that, I have two new girls coming in next year with DDS Alisaie and TinyFox Huifre so I’ll be spending a bit getting them a wardrobe and wigs to match the characters I have in mind for them… which I might still be working on, ehe. 

in addition I’d like to:

• Learn body blushing, to do finger nails and insert eyelashes well. Have all the supplies, just need the courage! And time, lol. 
• Get the courage to change Stoli’s (a Y'shtola DD) face-up a tad, such a darken her eyebrows and changing her lipstick. 
• Try to get a start on learning how to do face-ups. Intimidating but should feel very rewarding!
• Photography! With effort! My girls all deserve some proper screen time. 💖
• Get some custom(?) cat ears for my Stoli that hopefully look a bit more natural than her plastic ears in a couple of different colours to match the wig colours I like to put on her. I’d like to find some actual ears or elf ears to put on her too, her lack of any human ears or otherwise limits wig choices a little. 
• Probably get way too many DD clothes. Getting to the point where my dolls dress better than me, haha, and I really like clothes! 
• Get some ski/snow gear for Stoli and try to make some realistic looking skis for her so she can join me when ski season pops around again. Don’t worry, just photos only! I won’t throw her down a slope, promise! 🤭
• Probably get at least one more TinyFox depending on how I bond with Huifre. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble at all which means trouble for my wallet, naturally!
• This year might be the year that I cave and finally get a large resin girl. They’re just so beautiful and I’m finding it increasing hard to resist!
• My ultimate stretch goal, which fits in with my above goal, would be to be able to enter the lottery for one of the BABYSSB SD girls, preferably Yumpei, but I doubt I’ll have the funds. Hopefully I can nab one of the dresses though! 

Thanks for the topic, it was really fun to read what people plan to do in the hobby this year! Will be curious to see how everyone’s plans turn out! I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season, and here is to the new year! x

1 hour ago, Skygirl said:

I'm honestly nervous about yanking the heads off of the original Licca bodies, I'm afraid that something will brake.

Steam is your friend! And since they're the small fashion girls, you can take a microwave-safe mug and heat it until it's gently bubbling. (I usually do about a minute and a half) Then hold their head and neck area close over the heat. They'll get damp, but you don't have to actually dunk them into the water, and they should dry out fine after. You can use a timer or feel it out; the vinyl will become more pliable with the heat, and easier to wiggle off the neck mechanism without breaking anything.

For these fashion dolls with the rooted hair specifically, I do not recommend using a blowdryer, as I once fried the hair on a vintage anime girl trying to behead her for a better body. Steam is much safer.

This should work on harder plastics as well. It's used in action figure customizing frequently to partially / fully disassemble.

On 12/29/2024 at 8:49 PM, PolitelyNefarious said:

I have those Exact. Same. Problems. Both of them. It's taken me over a decade to figure out how to better judge what dolls are long-term keepers, and which are 'concept' sculpts- it's terrible. It's also why I'm trying to focus now on getting each vinyl into a 'default' outfit before looking hard at other options.

I also have this problem! I'm a character creator by nature, so it's really easy for me to go "ooooh!! shiny!!!" for new character concepts and end up spending too much time/money on dolls that I'm pretty "meh" about owning once completed. One thing I've found that helps is that I let the character concept simmer over a longer period of time (2-3 months) before making the jump. I find that tends to be long enough for my infatuation to wear off, which weeds out cool passing fancies from characters with sticking potential.

I'm still debating on which DDs I want to add to my family. I've been pining for a MDD mochi-ashi in tan for some time, so that's certainly a strong contender. I'm hoping to add a mature lady to my collection at some point (not that there's anything wrong with cute anime girls, but I'm absolutely inundated with cute anime girls over here!) and I'm still holding out for the perfect shell for my childhood kitsune OC. Of course, if I see Sasara come up for a reasonable price or she gets re-released, she will upend all of my other doll plans. She's the doll I got into the hobby for in the first place, so adding her to my collection in 2025 would be very chef's kiss.

I do not have much in mind currently however;

- Finish working on my imomo doll custom

- Get my first MDD body for a custom I've been itching to work on since JUne

- Replace my old sewing machine to a newer model to make some clothes for my dollies

- Sheryl Nome dd...need her so bad, first in the list to get before looking for the nanofate dollfies

- Replace my first custom's dd f.3 body to a f3 2.0

- More casual doll clothes to mix and match

- Meet more doll friends in my area 

Finally, to pay my first custom's outfit off fully. She's almost done besides needing her outfit she wears. 🥰

The plan is to stop....

Even after getting new "girls", I still spent almost all my time with my favourite... 
Recently I have deployed my other "girls" to invade my wife's critter houses so at least they are "doing something"

Every time I say no... a new one comes in...

But I am restraining myself to only get the characters or body types I don't have when I visit Mandarake or Dollyteria.

Currently missing :
1) 1/3 Parabox ( but I can't get into the features... )
2) The remaining Azone Iris Collect Characters
3) a DDP
4) a Dddy? maybe... but its too huge...

I already have 4 of the Iris Collect, AP (Type C), Ob50, GGR 1.5, DD, DDS and my wife has a AZ45. 
Am I missing any other Dolls produced by Japanese producers?

10 hours ago, HongBee said:

The plan is to stop....

Hmmm... now that's the difficult part.

Although we appear to have almost everybody now.

There are definitely favourites here. Shin Sato is beside me (again). Was there ever a more underrated DD?

I'm really warming to Chisato too.

The tribe have definitely inspired me out of post-covid slump I was in.

On 12/8/2024 at 5:09 AM, gj581g said:

My poor Angel Philia girl has been standing around nude for more than a year while I get around to finishing her silicone chest mod. Optimistically thinking I can get that done before the end of the year, after which it's finally clothes time! I've never been the best drafter/sewer, but I'm hoping to get at least one decent outfit done for her. Also need to think of a decent name so I stop calling her the "Angel Philia girl".

Perhaps Celeste? It comes from a Latin word that means "heavenly." 

A little late and already partway through my one plan of taking my dollfie out for fun as I just bought a carry bag for her. But other things:

• A big wish would be able to reunite my DD Natsume with DD Moe (20th anni versions). She was the doll that got me into this hobby, so I'd love to get her friend to go with her.
• Take more photographs of my dolls in all their outfits.
• Maybe buy a few more outfits. I did get one to match the bag but I would love to have more seasonal clothes or special occasion outfits.
• Find one outfit for my custom head I'll be receiving much later in the year.
• Definitely find more shoes and socks.
• Get jointed hands for the both of them. Mostly for posing since I do have an official pair for holding props.

1 hour ago, control said:

A little late and already partway through my one plan of taking my dollfie out for fun as I just bought a carry bag for her. But other things:

• A big wish would be able to reunite my DD Natsume with DD Moe (20th anni versions). She was the doll that got me into this hobby, so I'd love to get her friend to go with her.
• Take more photographs of my dolls in all their outfits.
• Maybe buy a few more outfits. I did get one to match the bag but I would love to have more seasonal clothes or special occasion outfits.
• Find one outfit for my custom head I'll be receiving much later in the year.
• Definitely find more shoes and socks.
• Get jointed hands for the both of them. Mostly for posing since I do have an official pair for holding props.

Blanked on my own doll's name, thats *Natsuki, lol. Love her to pieces but my flimsy memory is showing.

I have overcomplicated annual goals in the past so with 2025 I have one goal: complete my current doll family and put new additions on the back-burner.

What that ultimately means is I've had a less-than-good habit of increasing my family and collections rather than finish the profiles, portrait photos, themes, outfits, and backstories of the ladies in my doll family. I'd like to complete that this year and finally bring them to life like they deserve. What projects (learning to faceup finally, practicing sewing more, drawing, scrapbooking, comparison guides, etc.) result of this effort are all valid. In previous years I would make goals more based on skills so I want to take a different approach now and prioritize showcasing and bonding with them.

I'll also be selling a lot! From fullset dolls or blank dolls (vinyl and resin and playline), clothing, wigs, eyes, and more. Please look out for my marketplace posts~ (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

I'm really looking forward to 2025!

Edited January 7 by Veravey
grammar