/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>44421883
>>44421861
Some people make clothes for them, some paint their bodies or faces, some create props or dioramas for them -- a lot of different hobbies converge onto dolls as a sort of agent of expression for whatever they want to do. It's rather lovely. There are people who have operator dolls like this one, people who do cosplay with them, I personally use mine as photo props, and others just simply enjoy having them sit around and brightening their space.

As for the market, it's small but dedicated- a real cottage industry of small artists crafting goods by hand and selling them to others in tiny batches, everything from customized doll heads to one-off outfits to hand-made eyes and more. While there are some mass produced goods (cheap canvas shoes from aliexpress that everyone owns,) a vast majority of stuff in this hobby is made with care and delicate work by one or a small handful of people. It's why the bootlegging issue in this hobby is such a contentious one -- you can find these dolls on ebay, amazon, and the other mainstream webstores, and mostly every listing is a bootleg version of a doll made by taking the original work and pressing it into a mold to make a copy of it. Despite the high cost of these dolls, the profit margins are narrow because of the time and effort that goes into them, so especially when newly-released dolls get copied over, it cuts into their bottom line in a significant way. It is a delicate balance of trying to make art, make a living, and not be so expensive no one can afford your work -- and not all creators manage to keep afloat, unfortunately. It definitely does not help that a lot of dollmakers are good at making dolls, not websites, so their official websites look like they're hosted on angelfire circa 2001. (A lot of SEA websites tend to look like this, I've noticed, so it well could be a cultural thing for all I know.)

Talking about the bootleg issue in most spaces erupts into flame-wars pretty quickly, but I know how hard it can be to find information on these things from the outside looking in, and I know, as well, that biting the ankles of people who did start here with something they found on Aliexpress won't help matters, either. By and large, I'd rather people would ask questions and choose voluntarily to support artists than run them off by antagonizing them.

Overall though, it's a pleasant hobby. Incredibly creative people making cute, lovely things for dolls of all sizes, from the very small to the very large, just because they think it's fun to do so. I feel the world could stand a little more whimsy like that, so I'm happy when someone new takes an interest in dolls. Welcome to the thread, anon! And hello to /toy/ as well.

>>43516166
TL;DR "I'm cancelling my other projects to make to make the fat body even though I know it won't sell because it's the Right Thing To Do." Why is he so insufferable, christ.

How did you get into this hobby, anons? It was these threads that originally dragged me in. I saw a doll thread once while I was looking for another thread, and I never really left. It's been a few years since then, and I've fallen head-first into this hobby. I wouldn't change a thing, though. I'd like to hear your stories, too.