Just some blather about companies I like and dislike. Isn’t this fascinating?

I like Cerebrus Project. BJD #2, Sardonix, came from there. Overall I like the body sculpts: mature, expressive, but also delicate. CP also deserves credit for popularizing vamp heads, sleepy heads, sleepy vamp heads and the types of expressions that I like most. They also regularly come up with new and interesting sculpts / stock, and they’re relatively affordable.

I dislike Custom House, interestingly enough, even though BJD #1, Zephque, came from there. I find their prices ridiculously high. Their dolls also have wrists and heads that are much less poseable than other companies’ dolls. Plus the resin has an unappealing yellowish tone. Finally, I found the sculpt on my CH boy too blocky for my tastes.

I have ambivalent feelings about Dollshe. I like their easy availability, but I find it weird that there’s no real official Dollshe site. The variation in body types [from gangly Haund to plump Sarubia] is appreciated. However, the non-standard size of Dollshe dolls makes finding clothes and shoes for them difficult. Furthermore, their taller dolls suffer from skinny legs, poppable pelvises and small feet, which makes standing them a challenge.

I like Soom. Their dolls have liquid, expressive eyes and nicely sized noses, not to mention basic, but well-formed, bodies with great hands. Plus they have enough marketing genius to pioneer Uyoo, the BJD who fits in Barbie clothes so you don’t have to spend another doll’s cost outfitting her.

I dislike Dream of Doll. I’ve heard too many stories about long waits for my comfort. Plus I find the DOC and DOT heads too large, eyes too saucer-shaped, for my tastes. Plus the DOC body looks too skinny and the DOT body too unwieldy to me.

I have ambivalent feelings about Volks. I appreciate them as the pioneers and as the purveyors of FCS. However, most of their sculpts are just…uninteresting to me [although individual dolls are interesting, especially if customized]. Plus they beat out CP in their number of limited editions, so they have a huge variety of stock in dolls, wigs, eyes and clothes OUT THERE, but, much to my annoyance, very little of it is available at any one time.

I have ambivalent feelings about Dollstown. They’re relatively cheap and you can buy parts separately, which is good, and I really like the headsculpts with the pronounced noses, the plush lips and the “teeth” options on some [O Estella, how thou art coveted]. On the other hand, the bodies are too stalk-like for the heads. Voluptuous heads deserve proportionate bodies.

I like Elfdoll. Well, more specifically, I like the Elfdoll 60 cms. The tinies are cute, but the poseability of something that small ain’t so great [unless you wire it so it can hold poses]. But, anyway, the 60cms manage to balance between realism [smaller eyes] and elegance [lithe limbs]. I dislike that you can’t order parts separately [sleeping Ryung, anyone??].

I’m ambivalent about Notdoll. I like the fact that they pioneered the vamp doll and that she’s relatively inexpensive. On the other hand, completely round eyes and exaggeratedly pouty mouths put me off.

I like Serendipity because they pioneered the 43cm with a mature body [Sharmin].

I feel ambivalent about Obitsu because I appreciate the extremely inexpensive plastic alternative to resin. Unfortunately, the weird proportions [sadly small hands and feet] make clothing them difficult.

I feel ambivalent about Narindoll because they popularized the faceplate option, which is good, and took the sleeping head idea to its logical extent: eyes open to differing degrees. That’s also good. They were also the first company to offer the full current range [extra-white, default white and tan] of skin tones. I also like the fact that their dolls have smaller eyes than most BJDs’. The open mouths and square chins turn me off though.