How picky are you?

[Kalavista]

Not picky at ALL. I snag the first doll on the shelf but I've been pretty lucky so far! the only flaw i've gotten was a missing fang on my Scaris Clawdeen - easily fixed with a bit of paint and my smallest paintbrush!

[serena 219]

Pretty picky.. I will not buy a doll any of the following things occur on the doll:

If I see the doll's scalp while she is in box
If paint is missing
If paint is where it shouldn't be, this includes eyes printed too high or too low
If one eye looks smaller than the other
If her clothing has obvious tears or loose seams
If her knees show signs of splitting
If her plastic is deformed

I look for the exact same things.  I'm probably even picker though, because I also check the clothes to make sure they are sewn as perfectly as possible, with all the seams straight and buttons lined up, and everything symmetrical.  Even if I pick up a doll that looks good at first blush, I still check every other doll to make sure there's not one that's better.  If I'm spending $30 on a toy for myself, you bet your bippy it's going to be the most beautiful one on the shelf.

I had a dilemma recently when buying sig. Venus - one had perfect clothes and the other had a perfect face.  I opted for the one with perfect clothes, since I can always repaint the face or get another version of Venus down the line, but the clothes are unique and not reproducible.

I too am very picky and look for all of the above.  I was looking for the green eye shadow Venus SC and in BIN on ebay I purchased her.  When I received the doll on the right cheek was factory paint splatter.  This was not visible in the selling picture nor mentioned in the description.  I tried to contact seller to no avail.  In the mean time always on the hunt for dolls, I found Venus SC in a local buyout store. for 1/2 the price I had paid online.  Bottom line was I filed a complaint with ebay and today received a full refund for the original purchase. 
 A happy ending. 

Opinions needed here.  Do you think it would be ok to sell her here since there are many artist in this forum who might not mind redoing the face?

[octocorn]

I'm not picky at all.  I never see eye wonk, like ever. As long as the eyes aren't printed on their forehead I'm fine. If I notice that their lips are smeared on the packaging and there's another one I'll grab that one, but it's not a dealbreaker for me if I want it, I have paint.

[Dorriebelle]

I'm semi-picky. If there's only one, and no noticeable major flaws - paint is waaaay off or missing, limbs rattling around it the box, props missing - I'll happily carry it to the register and be out the door with it. Half the dolls someone says has 'major eye wonk', I just don't see it. I do like to make sure a print with a definite up/down orientation is going the right way, but that's not a deal killer most times.

But if there's more than two, I'll line them all up, and see which one 'speaks' to me. Never fails.

Hm. Now that I think about it, it's more likely that I'm just weird, not necessarily picky !

[saply]

I used to be really picky when I first started "seeing" the flaws for the first time, but now unless there're two left hands or something I just don't care. Faces irl are asymmetrical anyways!

[Zombelina]

Faces irl are asymmetrical anyways!

This! Sometimes I notice flaws, sometimes I don't, but either way I don't really mind unless there's something major like an arm missing or super crazed Picasso face or whatever I do check a doll out thoroughly (lol) before I buy, but any wonk I do notice isn't often a dealbreaker. If the doll "speaks" to me, like Dorriebelle said, then I'm good. Flaws = personality, and they make my dolls mine. I worry about everything else (ugh anxiety), but my dolls make me happy. I don't need to carry any worry over to them

[SALTY5621]

not at all. in fact, i prefer deformities and factory errors

[elonni]

I'm a bit picky, but not horribly. I don't mind small imperfections that would normally go unnoticed and many times I'm oblivious to wonky eyes, unless they are quite obvious. However, I always check to see if the paint is in all the right places, if there are smudges particularly on the face and whether the hair is messed up. I might consider slightly messed up hair if it is the last doll in the store and if it is hard to find.

[Shahaila]

Opinions needed here.  Do you think it would be ok to sell her here since there are many artist in this forum who might not mind redoing the face?

I think it would be perfectly fine.  Just discolse the issue with the paint splatter and take a pic of her and post her if you can.  As you can see from this thread there are several people that would not mind that little pain splatter and someone might want to pick her up to make a custom.

[PonySeeker128]

I'm pretty picky. I need the eyes to be straight, no balding, no weird paint problems like smudges or blurred paint. I don't mind a paint rub cause I can fix that myself. My biggest issue aside from eyes being straight is loose limbs. I HATE loose limbs and the fact that you can't see that when the doll is in its box drives me nuts. Usually when I am buying in store I check all of the dolls to find the best one. When I was looking for the Costco coffin bean I went through probably a good 10-15 sets to find the best dolls.. then I got home to set it up and couldn't get the counter to connect to the shelf!   just my luck!!

[operaghost]

I'm very picky. When choosing the best doll, I line them up on the shelves and compare them, to decide. I drove my mom crazy trying to decide which Abbey had the best glitter coverage  .

[LuvlyMelody]

I do a process of elimination when going through dolls in the shelves.

Go through all them and separate the good ones from the obviously flawed (paint chip, unaligned eyes, lip smear) ones.

From there, go through that pile and separate the more noticeably flawed ones from the better ones, rinse and repeat until I get to the last and final one, that comes home with me.

[serena 219]

Opinions needed here.  Do you think it would be ok to sell her here since there are many artist in this forum who might not mind redoing the face?

I think it would be perfectly fine.  Just discolse the issue with the paint splatter and take a pic of her and post her if you can.  As you can see from this thread there are several people that would not mind that little pain splatter and someone might want to pick her up to make a custom.

Thank you again Shahaila. I will try to upload picture and post her.

[justkitter]

There are two things I look for, wonky eyes, and perfect hair plugs.

Listening to everyone complaining about their dolls eyes has made me more aware.  I wish I was still oblivious though!  I seem to see problems with every doll now   BUT that may be Mattel's fault!  I went through all my older dolls during my move and only found one that was wonk eyed.  I have quite a lower success rate with the newer dolls.

I think the hair is MORE important to me though.  I had a heck of a time finding a good Sig. Rochelle (and to be honest, I don't think I EVER really did.  I think I just gave up in the end)  I want my Frankies to have even black plugs!  A clump of black will not do!  Scaris Frankie is terrible for uneven hair plugs.  Lagoona has been getting on my nerves too.  Sometimes some of her blue plugs go farther back into her hairline, and aren't as noticeable.  Sometimes one side of her face will have a lot of blue, and the other not so much.

Because I obsess over these two things, I often forget to look for anything else!  Hell, I NEVER check to see if my dolls have one left hand and one right. 

I did buy a RM Lagoona once, and her yellow top was sewn so that the print was upside down.  I catch that sort of thing now.  I guess you just have to make the mistake once to watch for it.

[ApertureScience]

Extremely picky.  I look for perfection in paint, outfit, and hair.  It's even crazier when I want to keep them MIB; I once sifted through at least ten Catrine De Mew dolls looking for one that had 100% perfect paint and hair that wasn't in the slightest bit messed up.  I probably looked like a wacko.