LA Blythe meet

I went to my third Blythe doll meet yesterday in Los Angeles. There were so many dolls. Many collectors brought upwards of 5 to 10 dolls each; I only brought one. It was nice to see some collectors from previous meets there; and nice that we all remembered each other and could chat a bit. Doll get-togethers are always a nice escape to see familiar faces and meet new ones. What really gets me is how diverse the doll collecting world really is. There's not just one type of collector. In fact, coming from the fashion doll collecting world, myself, many of the Blythe collectors could not relate to all of the different dolls that I collect. Interestingly, many Blythe collectors discover Blythe via non-doll collecting means. Some are knitters and crafters, some collect cute Japanese things, and some just stumble upon Blythe without even trying. What's really interesting to me is that many Blythe collectors customize their dolls. That is so completely different from the fashion doll collecting world. Yes, we buy customized doll, but many don't actually do the customizing for themselves -- I can think of only a few fashion doll collectors that customize as their hobby without the desire to profit from it.

The one thing we all have in common is that non-collectors rarely understand our desire to collect dolls. That's why it's so nice to have a meet. Everyone already understands. Everyone already accepts. And we're all there to enjoy our love of dolls, discover new dolls, and bond with people to whom we don't have to explain about the dolls.

I thought it was interesting that I recently read a thread in one of the doll forums that went something like, " at what point do you tell the new person you're dating about the dolls." I thought it was funny because I've been there. We've all been there. I take comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. Doll collectors of the world UNITE!

This past weekend was also the 1st ever BlytheCon. It was held in Atlanta on Oct 17th. There's a cute thread in the Dolly Daily Community with some pix. Be sure to check it out.