Has one doll ever changed your mind about a company? (to good or bad)

[aka_spooky]

Something kinda weird happened to me the other day right here on Resinality. I thought I'd see if anyone else has a story like this to share.

I adore ABJD (obviously) but I'd always felt a bit bad cause I didn't like Volks sculpts and I always try to patronize the originator of whatever I"m into.

I can't quite explain it but they just never grabbed me. Too immature I guess.

i didn't even really like the SD13's. Reisner was the only boy who'd ever really appealed to me (and a big part of that was the gorgeous body)

Then I saw this thread:

http://www.abjds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2526

and -swoon- all of a sudden I saw volks in a new light.

I started to research FCS and saw that about half of the head sculpt options were absolutely GORGEOUS! Now even the sculpts I didn't like before are starting to grow on me and I find I click on all the Volks threads and I'm planning my FCS SD13 boy.

I think a big part of the reason I'd never warmed up to Volks is that I wasn't clicking on the FCS or SD13 threads because I knew I wasn't fond of the MSD's and SD10s I'd seen. Just takes one thread to turn it around.

Anyone else experience something like that?

[captainkyo]

I was exactly the same way..
When i first got into this hobby..
i really really really disliked volks..

Now.. honestly.. I pretty much only want to own volks..
ive just fallen love with so many of their sculpts.

my dream boy, happily sitting next to me, is Volks. xD

Its so weird isnt it?
how tastes can change so drastically..

Im not sure if there was a particular doll of someone's that i may have seen,
that got me looking to volks or something.

but holy wow, when i think about how much i used to hate them..
and now i love them like crazy.. xDD

[KeiVendetta]

I've never really liked Volks to begin with. They just weren't my cup of tea. Although my mind has changed a lot about after seeing Li Xue's F-16 Jack, I never knew that a Volks mold could have such potential till I saw him. I've also seen a few Volks molds at a dollmeet and they do seem to look a lot better in person than in photographs.

[KeiCai]

I'm a Volks-a-phile personally, but my story is rather different.

I'm very partial to Volks, Unoa, and Dollshe, with a bit of CP (I'm also very partial to artist's heads, but I'm not counting them). I never really planned to own a doll that wasn't by one of these four companies until DoD released the DoI line. The Luke mold was perfect for a character I've had for years and, suddenly, I found myself with a Non-Volks, Non-CP, Non-Unoa, and Non-Dollshe doll. I've liked DoD's molds in the past, but never really saw myself owning one. Now that I have Luke, I'm much more willing to look at other companies' dolls as potential 'to own' dolls. One day I would love to own another DoD sculpt as well.

[MieAga]

When I first was looking at dolls I hated the extreme look/exagerated features of NotDoll and KoDoll/MSDoll. I was really into realism and they looked much too weird. Then ArcaneMuse introduced me to her NotDoll and Dollstown girls at my very first doll meet. They were much better than the dolls I'd seen online. I got curious and started looking at the pictures more seriously. I started to really fall for MSDoll's boys. Then ArcaneMuse and I met up for a small dolly outing and she brought her Belledonna with her new punky faceup. She was amazing! She is still my favorite NotDoll and she totally showed me the potential those exagerated features have!

I didn't hesitate to pick up a MSDoll Tely when the opportunity came up. I love him soo much! I am so glad I overcame my adversion!

[verilens]

I used to love Dollshe BEFORE I got a Dollshe doll ^^; Not that I don't enjoy looking at them, but I would never own one again. I got a Hound several years ago and he was not an "out of the box" doll in any way. I couldn't pose him, much less make him stand. For people who are hardcore customizers, that's alright. For those of us who aren't as talented, not so much. I sold him pretty soon after :/ The great thing about ABJDs for me is that you can customize as little or as much about them as you want...even if I plan on customizing in the future, I want dolls that I can still play with beforehand!
Maybe Dollshe has made some improvements since then, or maybe my doll was atypical, either way...no more Dollshe for me!

[Lugi-moo]

I wasn't a fan of notdoll lab's girls with their freakishly puckered lips. But then my best friend's mom got a Belladona and I'm rather fond of her. She looks like she has a tummy ache. :D She can't pose at all, barely sit up, and standing/raising any limp is out of the question. We call her our little cripple. One of these days we'll find a wheelchair her size.

I kinda agree about the dollshe. I love em. but...I don't want their bodies. XD

The most recent change I think is Leeke's 60cm additions. I'm not crazy about the faces...kinda stoned looking. But HOMG, when I saw Mihael...I almost whacked my face into the screen. He looks like a japanese artist doll...he's so gorgeous...I'll get one eventually...XD

[Taco]

When I started out, I wasn't that interested in Volks dolls. However, after seeing some in person at a con, I decided I really liked their girl head sculpts. Later on when I decided I really wanted a girl doll I ended up buying an SD13 Four Sisters head.

I love Bobobies--but again, it wasn't until I saw them in person at Resin con. I couldn't believe they were the same dolls as in the company pics. I bought a Tony and have a 60cm on the way.

I've found that company pics often don't do dolls justice, so now I look at as many owner pics as possible--and of course doll meetups are great places to see different dolls in person.

[Calli]

I was never fond of Dollzone until i saw the tan Yuu fullset and the Hid fullset. I got the Hid as a christmas gift and I'm completely impressed with the doll. He's the first doll I've ever gotten that is a perfect poser right out of the box. I expected a lesser quality doll considering the price, but was okay with that because I really liked the mold. However, his quality is really up there with my volks, dollmore and dollshe dolls. Nice resin, beautiful sculpting. I've definitely changed my mind about Dollzone~!

[derilan85]

I really fell in love with Volks and I have had several since starting in this hobby, first was Chris 3, then Rio and Sienna Unoss, and finally a Sweet Dream White Pureskin Nana, Isao 2 which all of them are no longer with me. I still admire Volks, but I don't think I will ever own another one. It's not the facial molds that turn me off, I just can't put my finger on it, but I tend to love more mature looking molds, which is probably why I have mostly bjd's from Korea (Dollshe,Hypermaniac,Narae,Supia,Bambicrony,Bobobi e) and China (Domuya Fin and Zen):sweat

[Wotan]

Volks seems to come up a lot, doesn't it? Well, I'll jump on that bandwagon. :dance

When I was poking around at getting into the hobby, Volks wasn't even on my radar. Okay, the first doll I got was a gift-- a CP Lishe head on a Dollfie Dream 2 body. I admired the sculpting of the DD2 body, but my enthusiasm didn't extend to their strung dolls. I didn't like the attainable headsculpts (Madoka's gorgeous, but... sheesh); I didn't like the bodies; I didn't like the pains (both financial and logistics) of trying to get a Volks doll.

Then I saw the SD16 girl body. :cry Beautiful, mature, and tall without being unreasonably so (I'm obsessive about maintaining the scale within my doll collection). I lucked out and managed to pick one up, and was even more impressed in person. It poses like a dream; it has exquisite details and subtleties of sculpting; it's a very well-made doll.

I'm still not on board for most of what Volks offers (they can take all their Sato exclusives and shov... ahem :blush) but I do appreciate the quality of Volks products much more now.

[Kim]

Volks were the first dolls I saw and to this day are the company that makes the most dolls that I want to own. Almost all of my dolls are Volks dolls and that's never changing. The second company I fell in love with was Bluefairy, and after Volks they are my favourite doll makers. They're still just as lovely to me today as they were several years ago.

I think I am definitely more in the if "I like it, I like it always, and if I don't like it, I'll always dislike it" league. There are several companies who make dolls that I simply cannot stand to look at, and after seeing owner pics, company pics, and the dolls in person, nothing is going to change my mind about them. The overall aesthetic is just never going to please me and that's fine.

[Osaka]

My first whole doll was a Dollshe, and while I love him and will never part with him, I'll never get another Dollshe. He's a wretched poser, poor lad, and while he has beautiful hands and a pretty enough torso, the sculpting of his legs makes me frantic--there's no detail whatsoever. ^^; I didn't feel so strongly about him until I got more whole dolls, and whoo, did my opinion change!

CP's Delf bodies have also given me a rather poor opinion of those dollies too. They just aren't my cup of tea at all.

And, the more Volks dolls I see in person, the better I like them. :D My Link is probably my favorite, and I am excited at the prospect of getting a SD13 girl.

Bodies seem to be the big deal-breaker with me and my dolls. For me, it doesn't matter how pretty a doll's head is--if that body is a difficult poser or an unappealing sculpt, I'm probably not going to get that doll.

[Wotan]

Bodies seem to be the big deal-breaker with me and my dolls. For me, it doesn't matter how pretty a doll's head is--if that body is a difficult poser or an unappealing sculpt, I'm probably not going to get that doll.
*cough cough Customhouse cough cough mittenhands cough*

Sorry, got something in my throat there. :p

[Lugi-moo]

Oh yeah, I thought of another one. Couldn't stand souldoll at first, hated the bodies and they couldn't stand at all.
But...then they made Li jun kee...and I just about died.
*heavy sigh* Oh how I want him....

[Jme]

Personal observation for me with Volks is that their default faceups on basic dolls are a bit...... meh. Which totally turned me off when I first got into the hobby (and had a hard time navigating their site to start off!), since a faceup is one of the major factors that makes a headsculpt distinct/unique, IMO.

Then of course I saw a custom faceup of a Williams and that just blew me away. It probably helped that I've got a very unhealthy obsession with doll lips, and Williams has some smexy lips too! :XD That prompted research, and boy, was I hooked. It hasn't made me turn to a complete Volks follower (as there are still sculpts I don't like), but I -am- more open to what they've got to offer.

Plus, their resin quality can't be beat! ;)

I wasn't a fan of notdoll lab's girls with their freakishly puckered lips.

Oooh, same here! And then my friend got a Notdoll Aletheia, which she's brought to a few meets, and she just grew on me; her lips look heaps better in real life, and I think she's an old soul. :)

[Bobster]

Oh, my. One doll did it, but at the time I did not know who made her I was so new to this. Most of what I saw at local meetups initially were not Volks. There were a few things that sold me on them. I went to the store in LA and got to handle the full choice parts behind the table. The lady let me touch and feel them to my hearts content. I picked up the 2 small SD books. The staff warned me before I purchased them that most of these were not available anymore new from volks. In those photo books I saw my dream dolls. I also recognized that one of the dolls I had loved at an early meetup was a volks. I guess seeing Kaede in person and being so taken with her did indeed sell me on volks. Elena and Mimi13 have sold me on the quality aspect of the volks products.

Bobby

[puri]

The dollstown line of bodies completely sold me on ABJD. I had seen other people's dolls and had just thought wow those are lovely but not for me. I saw the incredible posing and detail on the body of the dollstown and my wallet cried XD

[kawaii_mon]

I'm the opposite way with Volks. While I never thought they were great, I had no real problem with them. Their headscuplts just aren't my style.
One of my dolls is on a Volks body, and I experienced the dreaded knee snap of the old SD10s. The general unhelpfulness of Volks in my endeavor for replacement parts has just turned me off them completely.

[Cold.April.Sky]

I didn't like Dollshe dolls at all. I thought they are ugly :) But then one day I found out that I might like Saint. So now i'm waiting new release of them... cause I don't like old bodies. Hope new body gonna be better to pose....

[lin]

I've never cared much for Volks dolls; their faces always have seemed either too anime or too bland for my taste, but I do like the one ethnic doll they made (Ruby). I don't like her body, but I like her face very much. I also never liked the big Notdoll girls, but lately I've been looking at a few owners photos of them and I may have to have one of them. I probably should not be surprised because I am usually drawn to odd dolls.

[nena]

I didn't used to like Dollshe doll bodies, or Bermann. I'd found Hound much more appealing than Bermann initially. But what can I say, Bermann can change a girl ;) I did fall in love with my SA.

[Amet]

I have to add to the chorus of people citing Volks dolls here. I find them a lot more attractive in person than I did just looking at pictures, which is really the fault of a meetup friend's awesome School A boy. I still can't quite see myself owning one, but I understand the appeal of them a lot more after getting to play with them at meets.

[girlwholived]

Like many others I was uninterested in Volks when I first got into the hobby. I thought that the unlimited dolls over at eluts.com were expensive enough, but Volks' price turned me off big time!

I fell in love with Heath and decided I wanted him. So I began to research him and in the process took more time to look at other Volks sculpts. I find that I want only Volks. ><!

[harlowe]

When I first came into the hobby, I just loved Unoa Quluts - both Sist and Lusis. Now I really don't like the style at all and am not very impressed with how Alchemic Lab sells them. Though it's a lot better than how Bermann was handled over the last year.

[Brightfires]

Hmm... I don't tend to wander very far when it comes to picking dolls. I have my favorites, and I usually stick to them, but there have been a couple of exceptions. Some were successful departures from my "norm", others weren't.

I briefly had an Angell-Studios Gabriel... Her resin was light, plastic and agressively PINK. I hated her hand sculpts, and though her face was cute, it was also completely lifeless.

I can look at my Shiwoos or my Hound or my Amakusa and at least see some sort of expression in their faces, but the Gabriel was a complete blank. There was just nothing there... Looking at her was like looking at a Barbie, even though she seems to be one of the more expressive-looking sculpts they make. So, no more Angell-Studios dolls for me... I learned my lesson with Little Miss Pink. o_O

Seimei, my Hound, is another one that hasn't been a total success. Though I don't have any intention of getting rid of him, I'd never consider another Dollshe... Their excellent profiles and those beautiful hands just can't overcome the awful posing and bizarre body sculpt.

My Amakusa, on the other hand, was a good addition to the collection... He's pretty much defined the upper limit for the size and weight of dolls that I can easily handle, and even though the SD13 boy body's posing isn't the greatest, I like the solidity of it. I honestly wasn't sure what I would think of the Volks bodies until I had him in-hand and could spend some time tinkering with it, but he's convinced me that they're okay.

My Banji, Issun, was also a success. He was my first Tiny, and was the doll that convinced me that I really could have and enjoy something that small without worrying about breaking it every time I picked it up. Prior to him, I was wary of even handling very small dolls. So, while he didn't change my opinion about a brand... he did change it about a size catagory.

[Voodoo]

I'm in the 'had a dollshe, sold a dollshe' gang. He was just sooo gangly, always sat or stood with a sort of Mr Burns stoop. He just had to go.

I also used to really like Iplehouse sculpts, but then I found they began to look very samey and a bit vacant to me though I still want an Aaron, one day.

A company I really like the dolls of now would be Hypermaniac. At first I found them to be too miserable looking, but their expressiveness grew on me. Too bad they're all limited and only sold once in a blue moon, if ever.

[Raouken]

I never liked the mature mini's like Unoa and Narae, they were too small for me, too cute, I thought Narae looked like a dead fish and Unoa like a hooker XXD But somehow, I don't know how it happened, I found myself clicking threads with Unoa and Narae more and more often, they were getting so popular and I wanted to see what the big deal about them was..and the more pretty pictures I saw..the more I liked them..then I saw a Narae IRL and I was sold. She didn't look like a fish at all, she was delicate and beautiful and her small size seemed to suit her..so there's definetly a Narae coming home here. Or two. I'm still not completely sold on Unoa but I saw two IRL now and they are very much growing on me. I think it's the french resin that wins me over to the Narae camp though, they're so delicate, I love it.

I never liked Dollshe, but that changed after seeing a few irl and now I definetly want one xD I like my dolls extremely floppy so I don't think I'll have too much trouble handling him. I thought the Senior Delf body was so-so when Luts released it, now it's my favorite body ever, the details, the posing, the slimness..I guess I need to see things in real life before I can really judge it ^^;; I've always been a Volks whore though XD I love their sculpts, the more realistic and the anime ones, they're all so alive and every part of them screams 'quality' I like that :3

[ShadowAura]

When I first started looking around for dolls, I wasn't very interested in Volks dolls. I think it was the default face ups that turned me off. ^^; It wasn't until I seen Volks dolls owned by others that I started to like them. Now, ironically enough, I'm hoping to own one sometime soon in the future. :)

[Hobbysue]

I've been surprised a few times. I ordered a Sabik from Soom and their customer service was awesome, I'd happily deal with them anytime. I wasn't keen on some of their sculpts but now I love them all. I also bought a Dollzone body and was amazed at how nice the resin was and how well they posed. I'm getting a Tan Yuu next and probably a Tan Linlan. I'm also ordering wigs and shoes from them as they're so much cheaper than most places for the same quality. Luts - hmmm, my SDF Annette is amazing and poses really well and the sculpt is so much nicer than the pictures show, but with all the delays etc, I'm not racing to order from them again plus I posted a question about the heeled feet that Annette originally came with and the response was verging on rude.

I got lured into the hobby by all the custom Volks dolls I was seeing in Haute doll and the basic ones have been a little uninteresting by comparison, if and when I get a Volks doll, the first thing I'll be doing is getting her a custom face-up. The only dolls I started off not liking then grew to like is Dollstown. I kept seeing the Dollstown girls on ZoZ and finding them more and more attractive, now I desperately want one of my own. I can't wait until I get one. I'm saving madly now.

[mxiong]

I liked Soom dolls a little when I saw their site. Namu was a cute boy doll but I never had the need to get him. But now that Spinel and Mecha Angels came out, I LOVE Soom. And I don't have anymore interest in Namu. I'm fond of the super tall dolls. I wouldn't ever own and MSD I don't think. Personal preference.

The same happened with the Dollstown bodies. They looked sickly and thin before. But now with the new SD15 bodies I am in love. The bodies are more muscular and stockier which makes them look proportionate and more realistic. I will order when they are in stock. Go Dollstown!

[Dramadoll]

Add me to the list of those who under-appreciated the Dollshe boys.

As a fashion doll collecting transplant, I used to dislike anything too "unrealistic." My first three ABJD dolls were Rainman sculpts - they suited my expectations of lovely dolls to dress and play with. That kept me happy - oh, for about ten minutes....not too hard to see why I shunned those tall, gangly, skinny guys, who always looked pretty far-out according to my ultra-conservative, ultra-limited standards of beauty.

But then I became enamoured with character development and story-writing and soon found I needed dolls with a lot of character in their sculpts and bodies capable of a wide range of expression.

Enter my first Hound. Purchased on impulse when I was desperately seeking a love interest for my favorite Elfdoll girl, I loved him immediately, shortly thereafter adding to his family until I now have two Hounds (plus an extra sleep had for my first) three Saints, one Van and a Bernard. These guys have become my absolute favorites. The only sculpts I do not own currently are Husky, and I plan to add him someday, and Bermann, who I will probably never be able to afford.

Yes, they can be difficult to work with. Yes, they can be a pain to outfit. And yes, now that the company is making changes, I am worried a bit that I will either not like the new dolls or like them so much that my older ones will suffer. But I simply can't imagine life (or my stories) without them anymore - and would not want to.

[Aruri]

I know I used to rabidly dislike DoD.... put them off as childish and sugarpop......and then they came out with the DoTs and it definately changed my mind.... :kisses

although I rally really wish they's make minis as pretty at the big ones....
the littles are so.... babydoll.... and I don't mean that badly, I know there are people that love them to pieces, they're just not my thing....

[chai_fiend]

i had first come across the volks site when they were still into their sculpts that looked like anime in real life- a look that does not appeal to me. asi began to get more involved in the hobby, i still never cared too much for Volks until i saw a Williams head on yj auctions. it prompted me to do pay attention to some of their newer dolls, and i discovered my dream f-31 head and now i look forward to the FCS experience. i gained even more of a respect and love for Volks after attending dolpa nyc 2.

not a specific company, but mnf shiwoo and blue fairy tiny kyle made me change the way i think about 43cm dolls. i used to fail to see their appeal other than the fact they are easy to carry. eventually, their cuteness became irresitable and i now want three of the little ones.

[ocean-girl]

The bigger dolls never appealed to me until Carol came and some of the Elf doll beauties...I tend to follow the artists. CH was my favorite company until their (IMO) best artists left...I haven't felt the tug nearly the same since then.

[MelWong]

I frankly didn't have any interest at all in the big dolls. I liked my SD13 scale one just fine.

... and then SOOM releases Lupin and I'm desperately trying to scrape up the money for him.

Curses.

- Mel

[ravendolls]

When I first got into bjd there was a huge fad for Notdoll Naripons going on. I could *not* understand the appeal of them and would mentally run screaming from photos of them!

Then I saw one in person.... I was like... "Oh okay, I get it!" It's just that they were SO tiny and SO stylized that they looked freakish in photos. I eventually got one of my own, though I no longer have her (not an extreme tiny fan).

Raven

[Duae]

For me, I don't think I could ever own a Volks. I don't like the basic sculpts and I don't like the idea of making customers jump through hoops for the other sculpts. So I think that would affect any relationship I would try to have with a Volks. There are too many other dolls out there that I like that don't have the Volks association.

Also, I will have to add my 'oh wow, Bobobie actually look GOOD in person!' I hated the pictures of them, and then a Weylin was my first impulse buy.

[Aquido]

I personally never really cared for Elfdoll. But then the Elfdoll Red was released. and OMG. I fell head over heels.

[clem_and_mikas]

after I got my fcs girl (who I love so much) I fell out of love with dream of doll, when I started the hobby they were by far my fave, it's kind of sad that I've just grown away from dod.

[Maverynthia]

Two companies actually. Volks and Domuya.
For Volks I was ordering some eyes for the little dolls so I decided to pad out my order since all orders start at $10 (for shipping) so I tossed in a dollfie.
For one thing the RED eyes I ordered were PINK and looked nothing like the picture and the dollfie was loose floppy and the seams weren't sanded down or such. If this is the quiality control that Volks has, no thanks. I don't want to spend all that money on a bigger doll that I'll have to sand down and still have it floptacular.
EDIT:
I also ordered some Blue Green micro eyes...and guess what...they were a light grey color with the only real color being brown around the pupil. DO NOT WANT

Domuya on the other hand gives lousy customer service. I bought a doll (Domuya Limited) from a US retailer and apparently his hand was broken and fixed before they sent him out. (So the dealer says, but it gets better) Not only that, he didn't have the boots he was supposed to come with for his fullset. Well to make a long story short, the hands that I was sent from domuya to replace the broken SPECIFICALLY say that they are ONLY for the Perennial doll. The limited I have is a D-ONE 60 NON perrennial, thus the hands are too small and don't fit. So this expensive doll I bought is still broken and missing parts. (I did get replacement boots but they aren't the ones that go with the fullset). So from then on out I have sworn off buying ANYTHING from Domuya.
Also the Domuya Flexi D-ONE are floppy as a dead fish. I'm hoping to make my poor guys less floppy with a restringing...we'll see how that goes...

[Lokita]

I used to think DoD dolls were gorgeous until I started seeing owner pictures and realized how company pictures don't always really show you how a doll will look like in person >.< Sometimes I'll check out the DoD website and fawn over the pictures but remind myself to not order a doll because I don't want to be disappointed when it doesn't look like it did in the company photos.

When I was only looking at the Volks standard molds, I thought they were too animeish and weird but then I discovered the FCS and LE molds and went :o What a huge difference!

[haku23]

Like many others: Volks. I still don't like a lot of their sculpts except for the FCS ones and the Okita Souji XD Also Dollstown dolls weren't my cuppa but when I saw Ganga I went "WANT!" so cute! ^^ Also...I really don't like Dollzone sculpts. BUT then I saw Floy with a modded upper lip and now he's a possibility for a future doll. And I discovered I do like their 60 cm dolls just...not 70cm or their MSD ^^;

[Icy_Sunset]

I don't like Volks. It's comforting to hear that from other people, actually. >>;
Not to knock anyone's babies or anything, some of the FCS heads are gorgeous but not enough of them to interest me. And other people's Volks dolls? Gorgeous too.
( I would snap up a School C in an instant, though. So pretty. I might even be able to mod a more realistic nose. )

I wasn't too big on Souldoll/MSDs/girls until my gf started looking at the Soulkid Miryu and I fell in love when she came home. Shes' not super detailed and she looks so soft. But my MSDs have got to be mature looking sculpts. I don't do that whole baby-face thing.

Also did not like the Bobobie molds until I hunted for better pictures. Apollo = <3 (gotta sand his nose like woah).

Noses, if you can't tell, are a huge factor for me, as well as OMG-huge eyes. *shudder*

Another note, on the pet-dolls. I never liked them for myself. I like a few here and there but was never 'must have NOW.' Until Dollzone released theirs Gotta look into user opinions but seeing the elephant in Indian garb flipped my entire opinion about pet dolls. I want two, one for my Aunt who spent years in India and loves Ganesh and one for myself.

There's my two-AM two cents. I shouldn't be allowed to comment without sleeping first.

[nakitama]

CH was my favorite company until their (IMO) best artists left...I haven't felt the tug nearly the same since then.
YES!!! I totally agree!! *que huge rant*

I used to be a certified Customhouse fanatic. I loved everything about them. I bought one of their event dolls and was totally sold. Their customer service was top notch, they were punctual with shipping and limited releases, and their dolls were solid! I loved it.

Then they went through the great overhaul. They got rid of their old artists(I think some of them went on to form the new company Rosen Leid), changed the resin color, changed the bodies, made limited heads standard, and made their own messed up FCS!

Ceebee and Jun, once coveted limiteds, are standards now. Even some of their limited event heads like Nyll, Chammomile, Zero, and Hyun became standards! A lot of people were happy about that, but to me they looked like shabby copies of their former glory. The faceups now look run of the mill. Don't get me wrong, they're gorgeous, but they're too perfect. It's one of my biggest qualms with my new Sram. I haven't the heart to wipe his faceup because it's the most detailed faceup I've ever owned, but... it's boring!! :tantrum

Then, their FCS thing where you could get any doll head ever made by CH, in any skintone, with any faceup. Now, this is great for some, and bad for others. I really like that I could someday get a Fennel. But I don't like that someone could get a doll that looks just like a Unique that they missed out on. They're called unique for a reason: because they'll never be replicated by the company. How can they ever release a OOAK doll and call it a unique ever again, if they can turn around and make that same doll for another customer through this service?

I ordered a renewal CH Sram at the end of December of 06. It took him 10 WEEKS to get to me. 10 FRICKIN' WEEKS! This is CH we're dealing with, not DOD!! What happened to my beloved company?! :cry

They did do one thing right, and that's the redone the boy hands. But I dislike the new pinker skintone, and the girls body looks really blech. :mad Look, I can understand needing to keep up with the changing BJD market. They needed to update themselves to reel in newer collectors. But I feel that the trade off wasn't worth it.

CH turned wishy-washy, and I don't like it. My Sram changed my mind about them from good to bad. I'll hunt out their older dolls on the marketplace, but I have serious reserves about ever buying from them new again. :dead

[repulsive333]

I never liked Elfdoll. I always thought that they were too mature looking for my taste, until i saw Sooah... She has such a beautiful eye and mouth shape. She is definitely on my wishlist now!

[scrollbrush@hotmail.]

First time ordering from Dollzone -Spain.
Very good Customer Service and prompt reply to questions. I compared prices from other companies in Europe , Doll Zone -Spain has the best prices.
I was thinking of sending my second Doll from somewhere else but their new Doll
" cosmo " caught my eyes and it was love at first sight.
Have you all seen their New Dolls from Dollzone ?

[Leenah]

I used to dislike Volks at first as well. I thought their site was so difficult to navigate, and their standard dolls look so unattractive in their promo pictures. I also think that nearly all Volks default face-ups make the dolls look much worse than their potential. This gave me a sort of biased feeling against their dolls as a whole, and the only one I liked was Suigintou.

Well, this past summer I saw a Volks Mimi, and she posed beautifully. However, the sculpt just wasn't to my tastes. Then at the same meet-up, I met a girl with a Suiseiseki, and I really fell for that doll; the girl who owned it was so nice by letting me hold her. I have my own Suiseiseki now, and while I'm still not a die-hard Volks fan, I have a high appreciation for the versatility of their sculpts, and they have some of the nicest resin I've seen. The only downside is that the bodies are not as pose-able as I would like.

[LotusMoon]

Soom's Spinal. I never paid much attention to this company, and when I first saw him, I was intrigued. And now of course, their MDs pretty much have a huge chunk of the bjd population's money. They've put out a lot of beautiful dolls recently. Which has swayed me away from Luts, who use to be my favorite. I still love some of their sculpts though.

[Mellybeans]

I've never really liked most Volks molds, honestly, but some of their limiteds (that I probably will never afford :'C) are absolute love. I would kill for an Okita Souji or a Madoka. On the other end of the spectrum, I adored nearly every DOD mold on the site in my early BJD days, but after seeing owner pictures of them, I was not at all pleased. :x

[ellynor]

On 2 occassions, I have changed my mind. I have purchased from a company, but all of a sudden I started to notice changes and I can say that I am not tickled with the changes. These changes may have something to do with factories or employees (change of hands). I also notice changes when a company becomes established. They have an excellent production and you "get used" to their quality and then, they change the body and/or joints. AnnMarie