2025 Doll Plans

It's that time of the year again, fine folks of DollDreaming!

2024 is coming to a close, the holiday season is upon us (here in the States, anyway), and a new year is right around the corner. Where do you think 2025 will take you and your vinyl dream family? Are you taking a break? Adopting someone new? Honing that craft you've been putting off forever?? Talk about it here!

I intended on doing a low/no-buy for resin for 2024 and ended up with both a new resin doll and three (!!!) new resin heads. Oops! 2025 is going to see me working on my resins to rectify some of my new sitting works-in-progress. I also intended on completing faceups and sewing for my vinyl girls this year, but it's taking us longer than anticipated to find a suitable next home, so I never got around to it.

Goals for 2025:

• Faceups!! Faceups for my faceless girls. They've been bare for too long!
• Sewing!! I have fabric set aside for kimonos/yukatas for several of my girls, so I'd like to start there.
• A true low-buy year! I'm aiming for no new resin and have tentative plans for 2 new vinyl girls, but I'm hoping to not expand much more than that.
• Attend local doll meets! My local community meets once every couple of months and I'd like to start attending those.
• Bodies/characters for my new resin heads

I haven't fully settled on which new girls I want to bring home next year. However, I'm on track to graduate with my master's degree and I'd like to get an extra special girl or two to celebrate such a momentous occasion.

Paid off her first outfit last month, so it's finally time for SW DDH-31. 

I don't thiiiiiink volks is gonna release anything that will murder me in my sleep, so I should be safe from fomo in the meantime.

My goals for 2025 are:

• Buy my first Blythe dolls, I will be buying from AliExpress because they actually are articulated there, rather cheap whilst still looking great !! and to gain experience changing their eyes and stuff without being afraid to break one of them, that's why I will be getting two from AliExpress !! I already went through the Blythe subreddit and have a decent wish list filled with items from reputable Blythe stores from AliExpress : )
• Try to build scenarios to take pictures indoors.
• Start recording videos maybe with the unboxing of the Blythe for example. Not voiced videos though haha just a background song and some subtitles.
• Go outside to take pictures in Europe (I only took pictures in Japan so far).
• Organize my dolls clothes and accessories etc and put things away in the new drawers I bought.
• Setup area for the scenarios and table to work on my dolls (Bought all the furniture today actually from IKEA just need to assemble it all in the next few days !!)
• Be less lazy and try to update my instagram more often XD
• Maybe attend the nearest convetion ? Will need to research about it though
• Get Disney Animator Dolls as well and change their bodies to a BJD one. They are really cute and cheap too !!

And I think that is all as far as I can recall.

Wishing everyone goodluck in achieving their goals for next year !! 😄

Edited November 27, 2024 by SillyGoose
Forgot to talk about Disney Animator Dolls

For Dollfie Dreams, I don't think I have any more plans! I already broke my "no new large dolls" this year by getting my Rina, which was a surprise since I always thought my limit for DDs was three, but she proved me wrong! Now I feel like my collection is just too big and I don't have enough space, energy, or resources to devote to them all in the way that I want to. I plan to sell off a bunch of my dolls and focus on getting or making them new outfits, and the only new doll I have in mind to buy is 1/6 Tinyfox Ode. My all around doll plans for this year are:

- sell my Imomo, APs, and several resins since I just don't gravitate towards them like I do for my other dolls

- either start sewing more, look into alternate bodies, or just sell my 1/4 Tinyfox because no clothes fit her properly and it's driving me crazy

- mayyybe enter the lottery for the new BTSSB SDgr, but I haven't made up my mind yet (Macha is so beautiful but she already looks pretty similar to my Lucia, so I'm not sure if she's worth the high cost for me, but I'm such a sucker for lolita brand collabs lol)

I plan to go pretty low buy for dolls this year, since I feel like I spent the last couple years expanding my collection too much and then regretting it. I might be open to possibly getting another resin doll since I've been really liking my SD, OR maybe getting another tan doll to fill the void of my Imomo and APs once I sell them, but there aren't many options currently (especially in the 1/4 range)

Time for another year of broken promises? This thread reminded me that I didn’t achieve many of my plans for this year, but there were also a lot of unexpected ups and downs and now I’m in a completely different place, mentally… I guess that’s normal, but it’s interesting to reflect on 🤔 

Anyway, here is my unambitious list of goals for 2025:

- Get the Sakura Miku reboot

- Get a tan DDP

- Get a tan ChimikkoDD

- Launch the doll jewelry business

- Take a doll clothing sewing class

- Sell some wigs, eyes and clothes I’ve been meaning to offload

- Organize ALL the clothes and accessories

3 hours ago, SillyGoose said:

Buy my first Blythe dolls, I will be buying from AliExpress because they actually are articulated there, rather cheap whilst still looking great !! and to gain experience changing their eyes and stuff without being afraid to break one of them, that's why I will be getting two from AliExpress !! I already went through the Blythe subreddit and have a decent wish list filled with items from reputable Blythe stores from AliExpress : )

Unfortunately, all of those are knock-offs. Blythe was only licensed to Takara Tomy (from 2001 to 2021) and Goodsmile Company (from 2022 to the present). The only way to get a reputable one is direct from an official retailer (only in Japan) or secondhand. The ones on AliExpress are invariably fake, and the doll community is really unforgiving to people who buy recasts and knock-offs, so I would tread very carefully here. You won’t be able to post pictures or videos or bring her to doll meets without a lot of blowback 😢

Edited November 28, 2024 by ragnamuffin
Added a goal

My turn? My turn.

● Customize my Minifee! I've finally decided what to do with her, so now I just need to make her a wig and give her a faceup. The latter will have to wait until spring, though...

● Start really sewing! Doll clothes are expensive, and I've already bought a bunch of really cute fabric, so the only excuse I really have is lack of patterns.

● Get Ludovica a new, nicer quality wig

● Touch up Chibi Ludo's faceup (her eyebrows rubbed off...)

● And maybe get a DDS, just to see if I can handle the 1/3 size. They're just so much easier to find stuff for...

Faceups I'm totally actually gonna get for realsies this time:

- Open-mouth smiley faceup for DDH-14 Ranka.

- Faceup with refreshed blushing for my first-run Miku who is looking alarmingly white next to my newer dolls (unsure if I want her mouth opened up or not).

- One closed-mouth and one open-mouth faceup for my two DDH-16 boys (still need to find someone who does additive eye modding because I want that done too....).

- A more mischievous faceup for my DDH-21 (I've been having trouble bonding with her and had her up for sale at one point this year, but she didn't leave so I guess she lives here forever now...).

- A faceup for my Frightfully Tall Draculaura, because she's secondhand and looks that way (derogatory).

New dolls:

- I want a 65cm Switch Doha in Milktea Rose resin.

- I want an Obitsu GGR. Gonna keep an eye out since they're being delivered now.

- I want an Anya. I will almost certainly cave and buy one before 2025. Edit: Okay I caved and bought her...

New bodies:

- A 2.0 body for Miku once the DDS ones get a general release.

- A DDSB body for the OG Ranka head.

- Maybe a 2.0 for Sheryl, but her DDIII is still in good condition so that's very low priority.

Parts:

- Always need more hands, ugh. I think I'm also going to just grab jointed hands for Kaito so I can paint the nails blue and be done with it. I also want one of my other boys to have black nails, so joined hands for him as well. 

- A Doll Things & Stuff chair for my 73cm resin boy, because he's too frickin' tall to stand on my shelf. He also needs jointed hands.

- More Grayforce and/or Asachanchi neck pegs. I got some Noemi + Alice ones this year to see how they were, and I realllllllllllly don't like them. They're wobbly and don't hold poses as well as the Grayforce and Asa ones.

- Eyes. I've been trying to find Roseden Neon Eyes in certain colours all year. I wish she'd do another run of them. Other than those, I think my Aisha, Lieselotte and 73cm boy all need new eyes. I'm probably going to grab them some from IntoX or Royal Romance on Taobao.

Craft plans:

- More wig styling. Both for my own collection, and on wigs I don't want anymore, but also can't sell, so they can sell lmao. I may or may not have 5 bins of doll wigs that need culling.

- I think I want to bring Sheryl and Ranka to Anime North this year, so I want to make them outfits. I'm either going to go with movie outfits or UtaMacross costumes, but I should decide asap. Maybe the Stella or Cheerful modules from UtaMacross???

- I want to make one of the runner-up 2025 Snow Miku sets for my Miku. The cute alchemist one. I already bought the fabric, I just need to figure out how to use my new Silhouette to cut the vinyl for the details.

Ball-outta-control plans:

- I have a new job with more vacation time than I've ever had before, so I REALLY want to try to swing a trip to Japan during a doll event. I went to a Dolpa in 2016, but I could barely speak Japanese at the time and knew n o t h i n g about doll events, so I couldn't enjoy it to its full potential.

Pre-2025 Holiday Plans:

- I want to make some Christmas-y stuff so that eventually, everyone will have something to wear. Santa, Elf, Gingerbread, Reindeer, etc. I don't expect to get everything done this year, but I'd like to start at least. 

Edited November 29, 2024 by la_

- Complete turning this Kaito into my own character. At this point that involves sending him off for his faceup and waiting for an Etsy purchase to arrive, then assembling the whole thing once everything has come to me.

- If I like the faceup I get on my Kaito, arrange to have my Aruna painted as well.

- Make time to sit down and change wigs and clothes around. I lucked into this Narcisse Noir wig, I should put it on a head!

- Maybe get this resin wig painted. And also... put it on a head.

• Upgrade Mai to a DDS 2.0 once it releases.
• Continue the downsizing I started this year. I'm a lot happier maintaining a smaller but curated collection set of outfits.
• Visit Japan, preferably when IDoll is happening. I wanted to do it this weekend (for the winter IDoll), but I've had a busy autumn and couldn't pull it together.

• Maybe another MDD, the new mochi ashi is just so cute
• If the Chimikko body becomes available seperately I'll think about grabbing one
• Faceups, a lot of faceup for all the blank heads I have by now. As soon as the weather is better and my life has slowed down a bit.
• there are also a lot of hands that still need to get blushed
• I want to slow doen a little bit in terms of new clothes and whatnot

My main goals for 2025, in terms of vinyl:

• Sewing!! Ever since I got a new torso for Nero I've wanted to sew a bunch of stuff for her (and I have tons of patterns sitting around for that) but I got busy and didn't have time to finish most of the stuff I started. I have a bunch of fabric too. Planning on some lolita dresses and lots of blouses!

 

• Character doll: I'm planning to save for a character doll of my OC. Not sure if that's considered a doll plan since I don't think I'll buy the parts for her in 2025, I'll probably save and wait until 2026, since I might be moving sometime and I don't want to have stuff in the middle of shipping and have to reroute it from an old address to a new one.

 

• Crafting: I really really want to get into making doll shoes! Boots and cute lolita short heels and stuff! It's been hard to find tutorials that aren't paylocked but I did finally get some leather to mess around with, so here's to hoping I try it and don't give up.

 

• Photography: I want to take more outdoor pictures! If I can, I'd especially love to take a picture of Nero in her fullset at this one local garden that has remnants of stylized architecture thrown around it.

I think my main goals are focused around saving (no buying!!) and actually getting around to doing stuff with the dolls I do have tbh!

9 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Unfortunately, all of those are knock-offs. Blythe was only licensed to Takara Tomy (from 2001 to 2021) and Goodsmile Company (from 2022 to the present). The only way to get a reputable one is direct from an official retailer (only in Japan) or secondhand. The ones on AliExpress are invariably fake, and the doll community is really unforgiving to people who buy recasts and knock-offs, so I would tread very carefully here. You won’t be able to post pictures or videos or bring her to doll meets without a lot of blowback 😢

I know !! That's the point. The official ones lack articulation and that is a deal breaker for me. The AliExpress ones are. And the Blythe community is very fake friendly as long as you don't try to lie about it !! So it will be fine don't worry : ) maybe here it is a different story but on Reddit and Instagram the Blythe community doesn't care at all if the doll is a fake or not as long as you don't try to tell people it's a real one with a custom face up for example you won't have issues. 😄

As for reputable, I meant reputable as in AliExpress sellers that sell quality fake Blythe. Eg. Good articulation, durable material, good assembly etc. Because AliExpress is filled with garbage as everyone knows but somewhere around the garbage there are actual legit sellers, I searched around the subreddit and everyone recommended 3 specific stores from AliExpress.

Oh and for customs people don't even use official Blythes at al 99% of the time because it would be way more expensive and it would be "ruining" an official doll when there are already so little being manufactured so artists usually buy fakes from those 3 AliExpress stores and then customize them.

I'd say the BJD community and the Blythe community is very different regarding the use of knock-offs.

Thx anyway for the warning : )

And at the end of the day what matters is what makes you happy in the hobby, what others think is worthless

Edited November 28, 2024 by SillyGoose

2 hours ago, SillyGoose said:

I'd say the BJD community and the Blythe community is very different regarding the use of knock-offs.

If it is, that is a relatively recent development, because the Blythe community used to be rabidly anti-counterfeit. Japanese doll Twitter was blowing up about fake Blythe dolls from AliExpress just yesterday, so the sentiment is still strong in some communities. In the end, do what you gotta do, but you probably won’t be able to post pics of her in the off-topic section here either, unfortunately 😔

7 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

If it is, that is a relatively recent development, because the Blythe community used to be rabidly anti-counterfeit. Japanese doll Twitter was blowing up about fake Blythe dolls from AliExpress just yesterday, so the sentiment is still strong in some communities. In the end, do what you gotta do, but you probably won’t be able to post pics of her in the off-topic section here either, unfortunately 😔

The international community doesn't care and that is what matters to me since I won't interact with the JP community at all lol

Japanese and International communities are veeeery different in all hobbies.

It's fine I was only planning on posting my Disney Animator and Blythe dolls on Instagram and Reddit anyway

Here I only post my Azone dolls : )

It'll be fine

I am getting my first Dollfie Dream, an MDD 2.0 with DDH-27 blank. I joined over a year ago when I was first dipping my toes back into the hobby after a 7 year hiatus. I went a bit crazy on the resin side, and I’ve been shy to try vinyl until now. My 2025 goals are:

1. Customize my MDD and probably do multiple heads, but do wigs, eyes, dressmaking, and shoes in addition to faceups, which I feel pretty comfortable doing now. 

2. I’m sculpting a custom 1/8-1/6 scale BJD that is about 75% done. I’d like to complete the project before I move on to sculpting custom heads.

3. Scale back my doll collection somehow. Finish blank 1/4 and 1/3 resin heads I have and find them new homes, and focus on MDD and Baby Kumako custom outfitting and faceups.

4. Interact a bit more with Japanese creators and use the language before I completely lose it. Maybe someday (not 2025) but in the future attend an iDoll event ☺️ 

I used to be very social in 2014, but I haven’t done a meetup or convention since then. I want more friends in the hobby, and I don’t want to be completely absorbed with work like I have been this year. I want to be brave and make beautiful wigs, eyes, and clothing, but it’s important to pick a size I think. I tend to bite off more than I can chew.

4 hours ago, SillyGoose said:

Japanese and International communities are veeeery different in all hobbies.

They actually behave quite similarly when it comes to recasts, which is why I mentioned it! 😂 

I used to be quite active in the English-speaking Blythe community (granted, this was a long time ago) and they definitely cared about whether a doll was fake or not, but if that’s changed, great! I won’t be losing any sleep either way 😉

I just started going down the whole doll rabbit hole this year (and boy what a wild ride it was), if I were to go back in time and say to January 2024!Kani that they now have a Dollfie they'd just laugh in my face LOL but here are my plans (in no particular order):

• Book a Dream Choice appointment for a DDB. Or two.
• Our sewing machine has been collecting dust so... Relearn to use it again!
• Do another face up. Maybe create another expression for my doll. (treating DDHs like nendo faceplate lmao)
• I also have a blank Canis head lying around, so I gotta get around to do its faceup too. And maybe get a 60cm+ body for it.
• Slow down on buying outfits (I can see my future self failing miserably at this) and focus on miniature stuffs.
• Learn wig styling.
• Get an Azone doll. Preferably Sumire or Q'z Kokone--but if I lose my self-restraint this might happen before 2025
• Get a Tinyfox doll. Every week I've been sort of visiting Kakaplanet just to look at Joshua like it's a pet shop...
• Get the Asachanchi frame from DDP or grab a spot to commish Ruru to convert the shell into a soft one. Leaning more to Asachanchi atp though.
• Play with my 1/6s more, I've been kinda neglecting them...
• So we have these shark and crocodile (?) nesoberi. They're basically our pet/family now so I really want to make my own smaller version of them so our vinyl dolls can hug them too!
• Sophie doll Sophie doll. <-the main reason I wanna relearn patterning/sewing

I'd be satisfied if I can just do half of this list tbh

More doll customs!! @rudebuster will be doing most of the faceup work with those, though. Now we have so many custom character ideas that I'm going to cry. This hobby will be the death of me, I swear. No monies and crowded by dolls. 😭

Let's see:

• Faceups, faceups, faceups (once I get Mr Super Clear UV cut in not-gloss).
• One flesh DDP body for the miko.
• Two semi-white MDD bodies, although I could also get the arms and legs for one of them because I already have a torso left over.
• Another white body for the DDH-07 head I picked up.
• More footwear.
• Magnetize more ears/tails.
• See whether I am skilled enough to make my own clothes. I want to make a slightly older Momiji Inubashiri wearing the Kourindou Tengu outfit. If I can do the clothes (I need to figure out how they work first), I need to figure out where to get fancy fabric.

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.

Not sure how much I'll stick to these plans, but we'll see what happens lol. I only really got seriously into vinyl dolls this year so I'm still figuring some things out.

- I'd really like to get a Smart Doll Mirai (or at least a character that uses Mirai's sculpt) in tea. They seem pretty rare on the secondhand market so I'll just have to hope one shows up when I have the funds for it.

- Aside from a new Smart Doll, I really want to focus more on MDDs! I think 1/4 scale is a perfect fit for me - they're really cute and easier to handle than 1/3. I'm also hoping to make a Dream Choice MDD next year on my Japan trip (that is, unless Volks adds the Chimikko body to the lineup)

- I want to focus more on clothes and accessories instead of buying new dolls. I'm already starting to run out of space. And I'm thinking of picking up crochet so I can make my own doll accessories 😊 I mostly do needlepoint and have attempted crochet in the past so I think this will be good motivation for me

I'm planning to take on a big project this year, actually (ᵕ—ᴗ—) I'm planning to put together a full custom of Dizzy from Guilty Gear, if all goes well.. It'll be my first time doing anything of this nature, so I'm planning to learn a lot and make mistakes! I'll need to get pretty crafty (and learn how to use a sewing machine), but I'm determined to see my fave come to life! ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊

I'd like to get back into vinyl. Sitting on my bookshelf is Taeko Sekiguchi's DD sewing book, and the pictures inside are almost exactly how I'd want to style a DD. Very soft and natural, like a fashion doll.

Right now I'm thinking of DDH 06 on a classic DD body. I love her big eyes and head size in proportion to the body - it's very anime. Also looking forwards to the ease of handling a DD compared to the geared joints Smart Doll has.

OH!! OOOOHHH!! 🙋🏾‍♀️🙋🏾‍♀️

I’ve got BIG plans for 2025!! I’m prepping my studio room as we speak. I just started a new job and my stress level has plummeted significantly and I finally have my creative soul recharged!!

Projects:

Faceups:

   - I have about ten various dolls that need face-ups but will definitely need to get reacquainted and practice first before I do them. Pretty sure my fingers no longer work the way I want them to it’s been so long. So first three months of the year will be doing faceups on stock dolls I have left over.

Dyeing:

  I also have an untold number of the blind box BJDs plus two imomo dolls that I plan to use for dyeing practice that I need to work with.

Sewing:

  My machine has been so lonely and I have so much fabric it’s ridiculous so lots of sewing of outfits is definitely happening.

LOTS of 3D printing and 3D modeling practice, making miniatures, building room boxes (I joined a makerspace earlier this year but have hardly been able to go)

Collection:

 - Finish my 45 Azone girl Piper’s transformation into a fox girl (poor thing is bald and only has fox eyes and her stock outfit currently)

- Finish figuring out bodies for all of my nendo”esk” type dolls and get rid of the rest of my standard nendo bodies (I’m officially out of the nendo game)

- FINISH my dollfie/imomo hybrid dolls of Riddle and Epel BEFORE the anime premiere next year

- I’ve had this idea cooking for like two years on how I want to introduce my dolls on my instagram, and I want to set that into motion beginning of the year. 

Dollfie Dream:

hoping to grab a  Chimmiko body if they do the body solo and make my cute dollfie mini me dreams come true

 

Lastly I’m really nervous but also excited to meet new doll peeps at NYC dollcon in March. 

Lots of things to do and I feel that I just keep giving myself more projects even though I already have a lot of incomplete projects...

-Post more to my doll blog. And maybe make a BJD hobby comic?

-Make the cape for a Tinyfox hybrid, no matter how difficult it will be, and make her halo

-Make all the clothes for my other Tinyfox hybrid, who has now been naked for over a year. At least he has socks now?

-Make the clothes for my OB50 male doll. I got an outfit pattern for him but it needs to be resized since he's longer, wider, and thinner at certain parts compared to a 1/4 resin doll. His wig also needs to be properly styled and trimmed down and since it's made of wool, it would have to be trimmed in a very specific way to look natural. His faceup also needs to be finalized.

-Get a tan DDB. I'm going to Japan in 2025, or at least plan to, and there's a Volks shop not too far from where I'll be at. In fact, everything I'm interested in is too close by. Volks, Mandarake, Dollyteria, Parabox, Azone (in the same building as Kotobukiya btw) all in walkable distance and in close proximity to each other. RIP wallet.

-Finish up my Otohime boys. Need to make clothes for one of them, and I need to make cat ears and tails for them both. Those skeletons for plushies seems like a better alternative than wiring for the tail, but the sizing will need to be determined. Also need to determine whether I will be wiring the ears or adding those plush skeletons in them. They also need better eyes since I just drew them on paper and stuck them to cachabons. Most art software will work for making their eyes since it will be simple but I'm very rusty so need to look up guides.

-Draft character concept for a imomodoll+pansdoll hybrid I have for a few years, an imomodoll+cfdoll hybrid, and work on a custom obitsuroid, although he would technically be resin since his body is resin. There's also a Harmonia bloom doll that needs clothes...I have ordered some clothes for him, but I'm not sure if they would fit since they're for 27cm and he's wearing 22cm. He could wear clothing for American fashion dolls, so maybe it'll fit? If not, looks like I'll be making some undergarments to pad him out and pinning back parts of those clothes.

 

And that's not even getting into my resin dolls (lots of incompletes and parts I'm waiting on) and plamo (needs sanding, decals, incompletes)