How do you view your dolls?

[Jeanette M.]

Originally posted by AsianAG:
I have an emotional investment in each, as well as the financial one.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well said, Robin; that expresses my feelings exactly. Having started "gathering" my own AG girls to fill my empty-nester emptiness, each of my girls owns a piece of my heart. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[Felicity_Fan85]

All my girls own a piece of my heart too. They are all special to me and I like making their personalities unique!

[judiaci]

That is an interesting question. I don't think I will sell any AG dolls ever, but my daughter rarely plays with her 23" My Twinn. DD is 11 now, and I got her the My Twinn when she was a sweet kindergartener. The doll is perfect, and I could probably get a good price for it, but the thought of selling it tugs on my heartstrings. It is almost like selling a piece of my DD's childhood. So, the doll is unlikely to ever get sold.
IMO, sellers enjoy the idea that their former dolls will go to a new home and bring some happiness. I think that idea helps sellers part with their dolls. It has more to do with the sellers feeling good about bringing joy to a child or a collector, rather than that the idea that the dolls' feelings will get hurt.

[I*love*dolls]

I definatly worried about Molly going to a good home! Ebay was a LAST resort (thankfully I didn't need to use it!) because I was so afraid if she would go to be used as parts or some collecter who (unlike you ladies) never changed their clothes and just kept them in a case on stands. I wanted her to go to a girl who would love her. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[mayergirl]

I have no intention of ever parting with my AGs. But, I do understand wanting my things to go to a good home. In fact, I doubt I would sell any of my things if I thought they were going to a bad home. It's not really about sentimental value for me, it's about the idea of respect. This is why I could never own a store. I don't think people who won't take care of something deserve to have it. I know it's hardly my business what people do with their things, but I'd just hate to see something I had valued sitting out on a curb trashed. So, I guess I have a different perspective, but I think that if you're going to spend money on something, you should be willing to take care of it. (things like trash bags excepted, of course [img]wink.gif[/img] )

[american_girl_forever]

I treat them like people. I give them sleepovers, take pictures of them, play with them, throw them parties....I love my dolls. I too believe they have feelings. It'
s just.....you know, you says you don't want any more dolls but when you look at them....they're beautiful dolls.

[ponydreamer]

I have some dolls that I'm really sentimentally attached to. Some of them I could never sell, and some I really don't care about. In fact, I am planning to cut my collection back, soon.

I think of my dolls as dolls, and while I am attached to some of them...I do not think of them as people with feelings.

I completely understand how some people could feel that way about their dolls, I just don't.

[wiccacat]

I went to an animal shelter to adopt a dog. I picked out the one i wanted and they just handed her over and asked for 80.00. They didn't ask any questions or even give me any advice. It shocked me that they were so carefree about the whole thing. A while later i went to a doll shop to buy a Magic Attic. The seller made a big deal about how it was retired and asked me all sorts of questions about how my new
purchase would be treated. Where would it be kept, would i give it to a child or play with it myself ect. I really felt intimated since the lady was sort of aggressive about determining if her doll was getting a good home. I almost didn't buy it and the whole experience left me feeling kinda bad. In my opinion both "sellers" were wrong. The animal shelter should have made some efforts to ensure that the dog was going to a good home since a dog, like a child, is helpless and needs to be protected. Megan was vinyl and as long as i had the money to pay for her the doll shop should just have handed her over without the interview on what type of adoptive parent i'd be. But i do agree that a doll should be treated with respect since it is valuable. I don't like to see kids abuse their dolls just because i know that parents work hard to buy them.

[13Pumpkins]

Originally posted by FarmhouseGirl:
I admit, I believe my dolls have feelings... [img]redface.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm with you! To me their little people, that I love. Maybe it's stressful for some poeple to think that way, but I guess that my head has some threads of childhood left in it........ But to each his own.

P.S. I don't think it's anything to be embarrassed about, or mentally instable to love a doll and think their real, the way children do. Isn't that why people treasure childhood so much... because there was endless magical possibilities.....anything was possible, until some boring adult came along and busted the bubble or the peer pressue of pubelecsent coolness dissolved. it?
But that's just my thoughts.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

[img]smile.gif[/img]

[Katie148]

Well, for me, believing, or at least pretending, that my dolls are real little people with personalities and histories all their own is what makes them fun and special. If my dolls were just pretty things that stood on a shelf, no different from an attractive vase of flowers or some other decorative object, I wouldn't enjoy them even half as much as I do now. Sure, I'm an adult and I know (or at least, I'm pretty sure [img]wink.gif[/img] ) that dolls are not real and don't have feelings, but it's much more fun to pretend that they do. And when I take the time to think up a story/background/personality for a doll, I do tend to get an emotional attachment to her (some dolls more than others, I will admit!) and I don't like to think of one of my dolls being sent off to be used for parts or abused. Because I put time and effort and imagination into her, I would want her new owner to do the same.

originally posted by *The*Paranoid*Pumpkin*:
I don't think it's anything to be embarrassed about, or mentally instable to love a doll and think their real, the way children do. Isn't that why people treasure childhood so much... because there was endless magical possibilities.....anything was possible, until some boring adult came along and busted the bubble or the peer pressue of pubelecsent coolness dissolved it?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think that's a beautiful way to put it. Thanks so much, Paranoid Pumpkin! [img]smile.gif[/img] My childhood was about a million times more fun than adulthood is, and I miss believing in those endless magical possibilities. I miss being able to just slip away completely to an imaginary world and not feel silly doing it. My dolls help me to remember some of that old feeling. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]