My pet peeve in this hobby is the elitism. I don't understand why people will spend the ridiculous amounts of money to buy Volks, simply because of its brand and I don't understand the importance of price in the desirability of the doll.
I remember my second meet up - the first was different, mainly because it was presided over by a delightful woman named Carol who loved all dolls regardless and had a simple irreverence for cost or price or stuff like that. My second meet up had been organised by LK and me because we wanted to meet some of the doll lovers around. And we need meet some nice people, but at the same time we met some that I was not all that impressed with.
At the time I had one doll - Marcheline, who is of course a DollCatch Stella, a company which went out of business less than a year after I purchased her. LK had three dolls - Sabine, her Goodreau; Callisto, her Elfdoll Catsy (who wasn't sold at the time) and Minu, her RS Mei.
The meet up was held at a place called Madam Brussels' which wasn't all that big. Some of the doll owners placed their dolls at one end of the table and they sat there (with their owners standing in front of them) for the entirety of the meet. When I walked around to see the dolls I went down the end and was introduced to some of the dolls.
It was something like this: - this is a _____ its head is worth $400 and is REALLY rare. This is a _____ its worth this much... etc etc. (ironically the most expensive head was released later and that gave me a bit of satisfaction, I admit.) - but then none of those people asked what my doll was, just looked at Marcheline like she was a cheap piece of crap. The ironic thing is although Marcheline was probably one of the cheapest dolls on the table that day, I doubt any of the people there would have recognised her unless I told them.
Another time I came up against this was at another meet that LK and I organised in which we said before hand that we didn't mind if people touched our dolls - picked them up etc. We were attacked by another member and their partner for daring to suggest that people would be allowed to touch THEIR expensive dolls. It made me a bit sick to be honest. They seemed to be suggesting members of the hobby would mistreat their rare expensive dolls... etc etc.
There have been other times with people who hold onto their dolls with death grips and don't let anyone touch them etc etc. I honestly think that those who spend as much as many in this hobby on dolls would be caring enough to treat my dolls with the respect that I would show theirs. I have no problems if they say "Oh, I just wanted to have a look, can I?" - I don't mind them taking my doll up the other end of the table to compare them to the one they already have.
Often I ask people to have a look at my collection and if there is something there they want to see, I will bring them along - what's the point of having these dolls if you don't let people look and compare and consider them?
But yeah, that's the thing that I most dislike about the hobby.
That's such an interesting answer to the question... I think I've been lucky and not been around too many of that kind of collector... The worst I get is thinking the tinies aren't as good as the SDs.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand people who only think of their dolls in terms of money and what they're worth... it's something I try NOT to think about with mine! What's the point in going to a doll meet if you don't want to share your dolls and enjoy other peoples... unless it's just to brag about what you have... ick.
I can't remember coming up against that particular response - but I have often had the one where someone will only collect a doll if its rare enough or expensive enough or ugly enough. And there's a certain amount of contempt if you have a doll that lots of others have. (It's one of the things that stops a lot of collectors in Melbourne coming to meets we've found).
ReplyDeleteYeah - I mean I have spent a lot of money on my collection and I will admit it if asked, but that doesn't mean that I'm afraid to take my dolls to meets or let others touch them, that would almost seem like I was wasting my money.
But then again, there's a lot of peoples attitudes that I really don't understand.
I feel really lucky not to have come across any sort of elitism in the hobby so far, although I have seen threads on the forums where people are complaining about people who like Fairyland. It's that same attitude you mentioned about people having contempt for popular dolls.
ReplyDeleteI know someone with the attitude that if its not rare enough or (in my opinion) ugly enough, she won't buy it. For me its like the idea that you buy your dolls to stick in a cupboard not to be touched - why bother?
ReplyDeleteI think some of the people who complain need a justification rather than simply enjoyment, which most of us will willingly admit to.
I have enjoyed meeting your dolls (especially pukifees!) at meets. I think my Noah(Volks YOSD Tanpopo - my only Volks doll) had a photo with one of them. I have been to meets where ALL the dolls were Volks apart from my poor Rin (Domadoll Goni). She was essentially ignored for the whole day - perhaps also as her clothes were handmade by me, not ornate or expensive.
ReplyDeleteEqual opportunities for all dolls!
I do suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder tho! I hope you never mistook my shyness for rudeness. =)