What kind of doll collector are you?

[Radiance]

I was never really a Barbie fan when I was growing up in the 80's, but I did have a Spectra doll- anyone remember Spectra? She was made of shiny metallic pink plastic with a vinyl head and was very highly articulated. She was so much cooler than Barbie. I still have her! Around 2005-2006 I started getting interested in BJD but was content to just look at other people's pictures. In 2007 I bought my first BJD and it's been a wild ride since then! BJD collecting opened me up to collecting some Blythe dolls & Pullips. I also collect vinyl Dollfie Dreams. I prefer dolls that are stylized or have an anime aesthetic, so I have several Volks BJD as well as Dollfie Dreams. I have some Marmite Sue Angel Egg dolls as well. Most of my BJD collection is resin, but I have 2 porcelain BJD- my first was a Forgotten Hearts girl, one of the very early sculpts. My other porcelain BJD is a Marmite Sue doll, made from Moonglass which is a type of luminous, shatter resistant porcelain the artist invented with the help of her father. This doll is my Ultimate Grail Doll! I saved up & spent a lot of $$ for her then waited almost 2 years for her to be completed. She is much more than a doll to me and is worth every cent & every minute waiting

Some of my dolls:
Dollfie Dream Saber Extra
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A custom Blythe
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Marmite Sue Angel Egg Una
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And my Grail Doll: Marmite Sue Moonglass BJD
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[DazzleKitty]

I am more into ponies than dolls, so my doll collection is quite tiny as compared to the ponies. So I guess.....a modest collection.

Like, I collect Lady Lovely Locks, but I don't want every doll from that line. Just the ones I like.

[Jocelyn]

I'm a very sporatic doll collector. I have about 80 Monster Highs (I got swept up in that craze) and a few Disney dolls. But until recently, I haven't really gone out of my way to get dolls. As a kid, I was way more interested in toy animals than mini people. Although, I did have a few - My favorite is a Baby So Beautiful I got for my third birthday. Her name is Michiko and she's like my little sister, haha. I also had a Jenny doll and a generic little boy doll that went with Jenny, but that was pretty much it.

Right now, I'm lowkey into porcelain/toddler dolls. I recently went to an antique store and found a toddler boy named Lantau from a company called Dolls by Pauline, and that was love as first sight. He was the most I've ever spent on a doll! So I feel like I've crossed a threshold...

[karrie91]

I'm a very sporatic doll collector. I have about 80 Monster Highs (I got swept up in that craze) and a few Disney dolls. But until recently, I haven't really gone out of my way to get dolls. As a kid, I was way more interested in toy animals than mini people. Although, I did have a few - My favorite is a Baby So Beautiful I got for my third birthday. Her name is Michiko and she's like my little sister, haha. I also had a Jenny doll and a generic little boy doll that went with Jenny, but that was pretty much it.

Right now, I'm lowkey into porcelain/toddler dolls. I recently went to an antique store and found a toddler boy named Lantau from a company called Dolls by Pauline, and that was love as first sight. He was the most I've ever spent on a doll! So I feel like I've crossed a threshold...

I'd love to see pics of him!

[Jocelyn]

I just took one for you then!

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He's on the right, next to my childhood girl. I just think he has the most precious face! I didn't realize how stylized my childhood doll is until I put them next to each other.

[karrie91]

Oh my goodness their both so adorable! I would have ended up coming home with him too!

[Dreamer]

Since I don't have money and space for a large doll collection I only pick my very favourites. I'm a "weird doll" collector, and I like non-human dolls and creatures with brushable hair (like Monster High, Novi Stars or The Zelfs). I tend to gravitate towards blue/purple/green, but there's quite an amount of pink there, too. In general, as long as the colors look nice, I'm not picky about them. OOAKs are great, but as I said, I can't afford customs, so I go for mass-produced (although sometimes I try to make customs for myself). As long as the product looks good, I don't care for the company. I like articulation but it's not a necessary requirement for me (my favourite Novi is Una Verse and she only haves shoulder joints  ), but i don't like articulation to be taken away from me (looking at you Monster High!)

[kakenterprise]

I was never into collecting dolls as a kid.  People would occasionally buy me barbies but they just sat in the the box.  I fell in love with Monster High Dolls when they first came out.  I was actively collecting but at some point I was overwhelmed with all of the releases and I stopped buying any.  I realized when I didn't miss buying the new ones that I was over collecting new in box dolls.

I like odd dolls but I don't go out of my way to actively collect anymore.  I was hoping Pinkie Cooper would have done better but no new dolls means no spending(so its good).  I'll pick up a Novi Star if I find any, second hand.  I have a really sweet bull terrier doll from some strange doll line, I'd collect them if I could every remember the name of the line.

[karrie91]

I was never into collecting dolls as a kid.  People would occasionally buy me barbies but they just sat in the the box.  I fell in love with Monster High Dolls when they first came out.  I was actively collecting but at some point I was overwhelmed with all of the releases and I stopped buying any.  I realized when I didn't miss buying the new ones that I was over collecting new in box dolls.

I like odd dolls but I don't go out of my way to actively collect anymore.  I was hoping Pinkie Cooper would have done better but no new dolls means no spending(so its good).  I'll pick up a Novi Star if I find any, second hand.  I have a really sweet bull terrier doll from some strange doll line, I'd collect them if I could every remember the name of the line.

Pinkie Cooper is adorable but I'm sad it didn't really work out. I can't collect dolls NIB myself. It just doesn't have the appeal. I'm really trying to slow down my collecting right now. So I'll probably just focus on buying clothes from now on.

[Duenia]

I was never into collecting dolls as a kid.  People would occasionally buy me barbies but they just sat in the the box.  I fell in love with Monster High Dolls when they first came out.  I was actively collecting but at some point I was overwhelmed with all of the releases and I stopped buying any.  I realized when I didn't miss buying the new ones that I was over collecting new in box dolls.

I like odd dolls but I don't go out of my way to actively collect anymore.  I was hoping Pinkie Cooper would have done better but no new dolls means no spending(so its good).  I'll pick up a Novi Star if I find any, second hand.  I have a really sweet bull terrier doll from some strange doll line, I'd collect them if I could every remember the name of the line.

Maybe someone here will be able to ID the bull terrier so you can collect them?

[Cswift]

I'm a bit different from a lot of other people in this thread in that my interest was chiefly in human and human-shaped dolls. I really will take home anything that strikes my fancy and fits into my budget, but I started out with Pullips and currently have a not-insignificant number of Blythes, BeGoths, and Monster High dolls.

Honestly, though, I think 2016 was an awful year for my doll hobby. The Monster High reboot happened and just...completely killed everything I found interesting about the line. Makies announced that it was moving to America and then promptly dropped off the face of the Earth. Pullips haven't interested me in years. The quality of Blythes has recently been dropping while the prices have inflated, and CWC has made it very clear over time that they care very little for their Western base, which makes me reluctant to buy from them. I suppose there are always customs, but these are usually way too far outside what I'm able to spend. Tonner recently killed all of its lines that were even slightly affordable and seems to be moving into overly-expensive resin with Phyn & Aero. It's all really put a damper on my collecting.

It may be a blessing in disguise, to be honest. Part of the appeal of G1 ponies to me is that they're already vintage items, so the line can't exactly be "killed" the way currently-running ones can, and because they were intended to be children's playthings in the first place, I feel like I can handle them without forgetting to breathe. It also helps that they're reasonably small, which is definitely a plus since I don't have all that much room left.

Also, because ponies are generally a lot less expensive than most of the other things I mentioned, I can get my "hit" a lot more often LOL

[Storybelle]

I used to love collecting dolls but several things happened that caused my interest to drop. I even sold most of my collection recently, keeping about maybe ten dolls, in and out of box? I kept Ghoulebrities in Londoom and the MH Scary Tales girls because it took me forever to get them and I still love them. I also kept a few assorted EAH dolls. Part with my Cerises? Not gonna happen.

To be honest, I'd still buy EAH if they released decent dolls. I so badly want a Ramona but all we get is crappy budget dolls...

I also want a Bratz Meygan (my favourite from when I was a kid) or the Winter Ball Beauty Cloe but it doesn't look like that'll happen any time soon.  So it seems like my doll collecting is on hold for the time being.

[Wardah]

It's a mix for me. I actually started with smaller dolls like SSC. Those I was fine with if their articulation wasn't much since they were small. In the meanwhile I often drooled over BJDS tho they were way out of my price range. Then MH came along and I fell into the world of fashion doll scale dolls. I joined some doll boards and learned about making hybrids which helped me find new appreciation for Liv and Moxie Teenz. My most ambitious hybrid to date is an 18in BFC Ink and Beauty Cuties hybrid. I haven't really been doing as much custom work lately and been mostly closing gaps in my want list.

[01mlplover]

Just a couple years ago I started collecting monster high dolls. It started with one catching my eye and I said I was just going to put her with my pony collection. Well that didn't last long and I started collecting the different sets of them and I've got a huge collection now but I stopped collecting after awhile. The new releases of the same dolls over and over just got old. Now I check the doll section when I'm out shopping and will pick up a new character if one has been released.

[Shy Violet]

I used to collect collector Barbies MIB when I was a late teen to early twenties so I have about 50 of these in storage that I don't really want any more. Some of my favorites I've displayed in my daughter's room and we kinda shared them. I let her unbox a few too and play with them. I'm torn on whether to keep them in case I get back into them at some point or sell them.

I mostly collect 80's toys so my doll collection is focused on Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Moon Dreamers, Lady Lovely Locks etc. These are what I've been actively collecting in the last 2 years to work towards completing my collections. I also has a large Monster High collection and a good amount of Ever After High. I still love my dolls but the reboot killed it for me so I haven't bought a new MH or EAH in a long time. I recently caved in and bought some Star Darlings. They are so pretty I couldn't resist and I think they temporarily filled that need to buy something in the store since MH sucks right now. I really hope SD continues a little longer, I'd love more characters but I haven't been able to find much release info on them.

All in all my doll collecting has slowed down a ton. I don't have a place to display them until we are done developing the basement. Hopefully by the end of the year it will be done and I can finally unpack 15 years worth of collecting and enjoy my dollies and toys. I will also be able to assess my collection finally and decide where to go from there. Most of my collecting lately has been thrift store finds or deal hunting on ebay. Luckily I have a home business that supports my collections so I haven't ever had to use credit cards, I can see how that would zap the joy out of it for some of you. I also don't collect for resale value, I think that would be disappointing when it came time to sell. I collect what makes me happy. Smaller lines I'm more completionist and the larger ones I only buy my favorites.[