#doll types

[the-bjd-community-confess]

The only reason most people care about the technical definition of a bjd is because different types of dolls require different care and maintenance. For example, if I say it’s ok to use acetone to wipe a faceup on a bjd because I’m thinking of a vinyl or resin doll, and the owner of one of those abs dolls takes my advice because they believe in their heart that “it’s really a bjd” they’re gonna melt their doll’s face off. You can use boiling water to reshape warped abs, but if you do the same to a resin doll you risk discoloring them. There are dozens of examples.

Being imprecise is a problem not because it forces people to look at dolls they don’t like or because we’re being snobby and we don’t want to let the “wrong” people in to the community—the REAL reason it’s a problem is because it runs the risk of ruining people’s dolls. The people calling abs dolls glorified barbies as an insult and implying we don’t want you here because you’re not good enough or because your doll isn’t expensive enough are jerks, and they don’t even care about the REAL reason it matters what you call your doll. They’re not on the side of the bjd community or the wider doll community because they don’t care about the REAL issue, they just want to put others down to make themselves feel better.

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Does anyone else feel like they kind of entered this hobby through, like, a side door? When I discovered BJDs I was actually debating purchasing a nice “regular” doll (like American Girl or something), and the first BJD I saw was a cute, toddler/kid, AG-size artist doll. I was blown away by the doll’s detailed face and posability compared with AG, started googling, and discovered what BJDs were. I did notice that just typing “BJD” into Google images got me quite stylized sculpts, often slim and mature, not really like what I’d first seen, but I didn’t think much of it. Instead, I found a Fb group for that artist’s dolls, and slowly I branched out into groups for similar style dolls that people also collected. I’m talking Nikki Britt, Kaye Wiggs, Meadow Dolls, Connie Lowe, those kinds of dolls.

Then I branched out a bit more, to DoA and Insta, and discovered everyone else seems to be approaching this hobby totally differently. Loads of people only have much bigger dolls, or mature dolls, or male dolls (not so common for the above artists). Discussion revolves around the bigger companies like Volks, Fairyland, Soom, etc. that I’d never even heard of at that point. Even when it came to tiny companies and artist dolls, all the buzz was around totally different artists like Sh33py or D0D or Cu1ur, or (for non-mature dolls) Irr3aldoll or something. I came across concepts I’d also never heard of before like “shelling” a character, and now I feel like I’m weird because I just bought my dolls because they’re cute and amazing works of art and not because I have detailed stories about them.

This isn’t a complaint, it’s great that there’s so much variety in the hobby, it was just kind of disorienting you know? Like I thought the hobby was one thing then it turned out to be very different for most people. I don’t know any doll people irl and now I’m worried that if I meet someone they’ll be all omg, check out my Loongsoul whatever and Minifee whoever, they’re a couple, the guy is a transman with trauma from rejection by his family but he is an amazing artist and finds solace in his creative side and my Minifee is like this scientist punk she’s 27 and obsessed with gourmet coffee what about you??? And I’ll have to let them down with uhhhh here’s my Ellemenno, he’s adorable and does nothing but pose for photos.

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I know the HJD ask was meant to be snide and the comments were meant to be insulting and mean about the people who are upset about the BJD/Hinge joing/ABS discussion (and if it wasn't then it entirely came off that way)... but I actually like the idea?  People get upset if you tag them as BJDs because they are not BJDs and they dont wanna see the mass produced Doris dolls in the tag, and having a tag like HJD actually sounds cute and fun : )

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

These confessions like “so what if it’s not a BJD by definition?? that doesn’t mean it’s BAD! Stop being ELITIST”… if you actually follow the discussion, NO ONE is saying that hinge joints are bad, or that BJDs are better, or that a doll has to be classified as a BJD to be worth anything.

The point is literally that “BJD” describes a certain kind of doll and not other kinds, and the complaint about tags etc are because different kinds of dolls have different markets, customization techniques, aesthetics, collector communities… yes, you CAN enjoy multiple kinds of dolls, but some people only collect/want to see one kind, and when the tags or groups are a free-for-all it becomes very difficult to do that.

Look. “Definitions” are, by definition, exclusive. They separate things into categories based on qualities they do and don’t have. That’s how language and words work. But saying “A is a ball, and B is a hinge, and a hinge and a ball are different things with different forms and functions, therefore A and B cannot be conflated or interchanged” is not a VALUE judgement on A or B. It’s an observation of reality. “Ball-jointed dolls and hinge-jointed dolls are both dolls” is an accurate statement; “ball-jointed dolls and hinge-jointed dolls are both ball-jointed dolls” is not.

A statement like “I only collect BJDs because they’re the ultimate doll and all other forms of articulation or just cheap knock-offs, so get your cheap mass-produced toys out of my tags” is elitism. A statement like "dolls with hinge structures are not BJDs because they don’t fall under the definition of a BJD, so please stop tagging your non-BJD dolls as BJD and trying to add them to BJD groups because they belong in different categories" is an observation about words and their meanings.

If being told “hey, your MH doll is not a BJD” makes you angry and offended… rather than stubbornly insist that it IS a BJD and it’s mean and elitist to say otherwise, maybe spend some time reflecting on WHY it makes you feel that way. Are people around you ACTUALLY being mean and snobby? Find another, more supportive group–there are communities for EVERY kind of doll, and some that just like “dolls” regardless of sub-categories.  Do YOU secretly feel deep-down like your less-expensive dolls are inferior? Don’t, roses and daisies aren’t the same but they’re both beautiful and fill different roles, accept what you like and enjoy it to the fullest.  Do you actually recognize the differences, but you just hate being told “no”? Check yourself.

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

i'm so frustrated with the abs/resin debate. i have once again received an unsolicited comment on how my hujoo isn't a "real bjd". this isn't doa, stop policing what i can or can't call my BALL JOINTED doll. people treat plastic bjds like they're worth less than recasts and i'm so sick of it.

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Petition to start calling abs hinge joint dolls “HJDs” because maybe having a fancy special acronym will legitimize them in the eyes of people who think dolls need a fancy special acronym to be cool

~Anonymous

[the-bjd-community-confess]

this is one reason why it’s important to call things by their correct names. These jointed dolls can be bought on aliexpress for around $50 + shipping. They are rather nice but monetarily they are not worth the same price as a BJD of the same scale. Someone new to the hobby might buy the ebay listings and be scammed out of hundreds of dollars because they bought something that was labeled incorrectly.

~Anonymous