Death, Reincarnation and Rebirth of BJDs

Abstract

Ball-Jointed Doll (BJD) is a category of dolls that are exclusively collected by adult doll collectors. These fully articulated and customizable dolls possess a distinctively significant place in the collector’s life. The collectors form an affective relationship with their dolls often animating them. This paper looks at this instance of contemporary animism from a neo-animistic paradigm attempting to dissect the subject–object binary and hierarchy.

1. Introduction

Dolls have been an integral part of history, intricately woven into the cultural fabric of society. They have been crucial in shaping socio-cultural practices. Throughout the course of history, dolls have transitioned from being ritual objects to children’s playthings and are often viewed as juvenile artifacts. The scope and use of dolls is not limited merely to a child’s toy but a wide variety of dolls are also collected by adult doll collectors. There are different categories of dolls collected by adult doll collectors and the category explored in this paper is called BJD (Ball-Jointed Doll). This paper examines the various ways in which ball-jointed doll collectors form an emotive relationship with their dolls and animate them, thus surpassing the subject–object binary established by rational materialism. BJD collectors and their BJDs comprise a complex and intertwined relationship that is encrusted with emotional investment and meaning. A BJD transforms from being a mere inanimate being to an animated being for its collectors in various ways. When the BJD refuses to wear a pair of clothes that their collector has decided would suit them or flings out the prop the collector thought would be fitting in a photoshoot, the doll sketches out its own personality. Sometimes the collector ensouls the BJD and sometimes they perceive it as having an intrinsic life essence/energy, soul/spirit. The BJD collector and their interaction with their BJD becomes an interesting space to observe how contemporary animism operates.

The data for this paper come from numerous extensive semi-structured interviews conducted in person and online with BJD collectors from Europe and the USA over a period of two years (January 2022–January 2024). There were 65 interviews conducted for the entire project, 30 of which were specifically used for this paper. The data also come from questionnaires filled out at several doll conventions in Europe, including Dolly Day held in Barcelona (10 June 2023), Play and Party held in Prague (4 June 2023), Candy Carnival (22 April 2023), Wonderland of Play (5 June 2022) held in Bruges, and Big Eyes Doll Show (19 and 20 March 2022) held in Amsterdam. Being a participant observer in several BJD meets1 has also contributed significantly to this paper.

BJD meets are gatherings organized by local BJD collectors to meet each other and socialize, photograph their BJDs together, craft accessories and discuss their dolls. These meets are a window to the relationship that the collector shares with their BJD. In one of these meets, while a collector was photographing her BJD, I suggested the doll could hold a food prop and handed the hotdog food prop lying amongst a number of other props; the collector immediately told me that Namu (name of the doll) is not fond of hotdogs and if I could pass the strawberry parfait prop instead. In another instance, a collector was changing the clothes of her BJD and was struggling with it since the doll kept falling off the collector’s lap. She was convinced that the doll resisted wearing this set of clothes, she then tried a different set of clothes and this time the doll stood still and the collector smiled and said “I knew you wanted these, you never want the ones I chose for you anyways”. They talk about their dolls and their inner lives with excitement and enthusiasm giving them a vivid personality and presence. These little snippets show how the BJD collector animates and enlivens their doll.

This paper begins with a detailed explanation of the category of BJD and the diverse range of characteristics associated with it, like the BJD customization process, pricing and differences between company and artist BJDs. It then provides a brief history of BJDs and explains what exactly the BJD community is. The part of this paper that discusses in details specifications about what a BJD comprises, including its history and community, provides the necessary context for this research. This paper then goes on to summarize the scholarship on BJDs. It then analyses how a BJD is animated through the archetype of neo-animism. This is then followed by an investigation of the analytical categories of death, reincarnation and rebirth of BJDs. After that, the agency entailed by a BJD is described, ending with a conclusion.

2. BJD and Its Various Characteristics2

BJD is the acronym for a Ball-Jointed Doll. BJDs are dolls made of ball-and-socket joints which are typically strung together by a thick elastic. These dolls generally have joints in their knees, elbows, waists, ankles and wrists, making them highly articulated. The material most commonly used in making a BJD is polyurethane synthetic resin, however, less common materials like porcelain, wood and ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), which is a thermoplastic polymer, are also used in making BJDs (Den of Angels 2022; Guo 2018; Ignacio and Cupchik 2021).

2.1. Company vs. Artist BJD

BJDs are handmade dolls divided into two wide categories called company and artist BJDs. Company BJDs are made by a small group of artists forming a company and artist BJDs are made either by an individual artist or a pair of artists. Since these dolls are handcrafted, they are produced in limited quantities and not mass-produced as commercial dolls. Most BJD companies are spread across Japan, China and South Korea, and BJD artists hail from different parts of the world like North America (USA, Canada), Europe (Spain, France, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania) and Asia (Japan, Republic of Korea and China). Some of the popular BJD companies are Volks (Japan), Fairyland, LUTS, Iplehouse (Republic of Korea) and Loongsoul, Dollzone (China). Some of the popular BJD artists are Popovy Sisters (Russia), PashaPasha (USA), Atelier Momoni, Irreal Dolls (Spain) and Lilycat, DustofDolls (France), amongst many others. Every company and artist launches pre-orders for their dolls for a specific period of time. After the pre-order ends, it takes from about two to six months to make a complete doll and ship it to the collector who ordered it.

2.2. Size

BJDs vary in their size. The size of a BJD can range from a doll as minuscule as 5 cm to as humongous as 120 cm. They are constructed in a variety of proportions, sizes and scales. However, there are certain standard sizes used by most artists and companies while making their BJDs. Three of the most generic sizes used for BJD’s are SD (Super Dolfie), MSD (Mini Super Dolfie) and YOSD (Young Super Dolfie). The SD, MSD and YOSD are different sizes of BJDs made by the Japanese doll company Volks. Since Volks is regarded as the first company to produce and popularize contemporary BJDs, these terms are now used as blanket terms for different BJD sizes.

Dolls that are between the 55–65 cm height dimensions are called SD-sized BJDs. These dolls are also termed as 1/3rd dolls. MSD-sized BJDs range between 40 and 50 cm and are also called 1/4th BJDs. BJDs between the height range of 25 and 27 cm are called YOSD or 1/6th dolls.

2.3. Customization and Character Creation

A BJD is highly customizable. Everything about a BJD can be customized depending on how the collector envisions the doll. The wig, eyes and clothes can be changed, the faces can be painted and even the heads and bodies can be swapped and altered. BJD’s are sold in three ways, as a full set, as a blank doll or as a kit. A full-set doll is a complete doll that comes with a wig, eyes, clothes, shoes and faceup3. A blank doll is a naked doll without a wig, eyes, clothes or a faceup. Most collectors buy blank BJDs so they can customize them themselves. They choose what wig, eyes, clothes and shoes the doll would wear. A doll kit comprises all the body parts of the doll that would have to be assembled by the collector themselves. The most important part of the assembly process consists of stringing the doll. Apart from stringing, the other parts of a doll assembly process could also include sanding or sueding, and sometimes even making modifications and hybridization.

Stringing: BJDs are put together by attaching their different body parts with a string threaded through the head, torso, hands and feet of the doll and tying it up tightly. The most commonly used string for this procedure is an elastic cord because of its stretchable and retractable properties. This helps in keeping all the doll parts secured and also provides better articulation to the doll. There are different tools that are used for stringing a BJD, including s-hooks, crotchet-hooks, forceps and so on.

Sanding: In certain cases, especially when the BJD is 3D printed,4 the different parts of a BJD would have bumps in it that would require smoothening before assembling it. This process of polishing is called sanding and is performed with the help of sandpaper.

Sueding: If the joints of the BJD are loose and this creates difficulty in its articulation and posing, the sockets of the BJD are glued with suede or suede-like material so that the parts that are touching can have better friction enabling improved articulation and posing. Another popular method of sueding is using hot glue inside the sockets instead of suede-like fabric, and this is termed hot-glue sueding.

Modification: When the face or body of a BJD is reshaped, the process is termed modification or modding. Most modifications are unalterable and are called subtractive modifications. These include changes like reshaping different parts (eyes, eyelids, nose, jawline) of the BJD. Modifications that are reversible are called additive modifications. Additional ears, like elf ears to create fantasy creatures, sculpting an eyelid to close an eye, piercings and tattoos are common additive modifications.

Hybridization: When a BJD is created by using different parts from different companies, it is called a hybrid BJD, and the process is termed hybridization. Generally, the head belongs to one company and the body to another. However, sometimes different parts of the body belong to different companies.

Character Creation: Character creation is the process of creating stories and personalities for dolls. In the BJD community, many collectors create backstories and personalities for their dolls. Based on the interviews conducted for this study, there are two methods of character creation that can be observed in a BJD community. One entails the process of creating the character in the collector’s mind and buying a doll based on that character and the other is creating a character/personality after buying the doll.

2.4. Pricing

BJDs differ from factory-produced commercial dolls like Barbie, which is produced by the giant toy company Mattel, or Bratz and LOL dolls produced by MGA. BJDs are entirely handcrafted making them extremely expensive and, consequently, these dolls are mostly accessible to adults. Hence, the average BJD collecting demographic is female adults between the ages of 25 and 55. The average price of a company YOSD would be between USD 250 and USD 350, an MSD between USD 450 and USD 550 and an SD above USD 700. The price would vary significantly if they were made by artists. Generally, an artist BJD costs much more than a company BJD.

3. History of BJDs

The Japanese artist and sculptor Akihiro Enku made the first commercially produced contemporary BJD for the Volks Company. He sculpted a 57 cm doll modeled after his wife and, in 1999, Volks commercially produced the first Super Dollfie (SD) dolls based on that design. The first SD series had four variants with the same head mold but different customizations to choose from. The four variants were called Kira, Nana, Sara and Megu. Akihiro Enku’s creation of the first contemporary BJD was highly inspired by the German artist Hans Bellmer. Although articulated dolls made of materials like clay and wood with limbs joined to the body by a wire have been found in Rome and Greece dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries (Elderkin 1930), Bellmer was one of the first popular artists to create contemporary ball-jointed dolls and to photograph them. These photographs were published in his book “The Doll” (Die Puppe). After the success of the first BJD, BJD companies started growing in East Asia, especially in Japan, Republic of Korea and China. Customhouse and the Cereberus project were the first Korean companies to produce BJDs, followed by a series of other Korean BJD companies. Some of the most popular names amongst them are Fairyland, Luts and Iplehouse. Initially, China mostly produced recasts of the popular BJDs but, in 2006, a Chinese BJD company called Dollzone produced its first authentic BJD. Soon after that, there was a mushroom growth of Chinese BJD companies with some major names like Loongsoul, Angel studio and Ring Doll (Guo 2018).

Since BJDs were first manufactured and mostly consumed only in Asia, they were termed Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls (ABJDs). However, with BJD collectors spreading to different parts of the world, especially the US and Europe, ABJDs eventually started being termed BJDs.

4. BJD Community

BJDs come with an option of being fully customizable, which enables collectors to enhance and expand their creative outlet and create a unique bond between themselves, their dolls and other BJD collectors. The aesthetic appeal, artistic opportunities, bonding with the doll and community creation are important factors for the steady growth, acceptance and admiration of BJDs. BJD collectors are extensively involved in their hobby and, hence, the popularity of BJDs is growing and expanding across the globe, creating a close-knit BJD community. One of the initial and biggest BJD internet communities is the Den of Angels. It is a forum where BJD collectors come together to discuss different aspects of it, converse about new releases, share photographs and bond over their common interest and passion. The forum also provides extensive information on BJDs in general. As of June 2024, Den of Angels has over 60,000 followers. Apart from Den of Angels, there are numerous Facebook BJD groups, like BJD Addicts, BJD Adoption, BJD-UK, BJD Addicted Europe, BJDs in Austria and so on. As of June 2024, BJD Addicts has 17,900 members. Facebook also has numerous groups to buy, sell and trade BJDs, and there are also fan groups of different categories of BJDs (BJDs created by specific artists, fantasy BJDs, etc.). The BJD community is also active on other social media platforms like Tumblr, Reddit and Instagram. As of June 2024, Instagram has 1 million posts under the hashtag bjddoll.

In China, there are various social media forums where BJD collectors congregate to discuss about their BJDs, share pictures, exhibit the work of different faceup artists and sell and trade BJDs. BJD Bar (BJD ba 2008), BJD Sales Bar (BJD jiaoyi ba 2011) and BJD Tsukkomi Bar (BJD tucao ba 2012) are some examples of such online platforms (Guo 2018).

Apart from online forums, there are also a number of international BJD conventions, like Dolly Day (Barcelona, Spain), UKBJD Con, IDoll Japan, Ball Jointed Doll Collectors Convention (BJDC) and Modern Doll Collectors Convention (MDCC), USA, that are held regularly. Thousands of collectors worldwide attend these conventions. A number of BJD artists and companies sell their dolls, wigs, clothes, eyes, shoes and other accessories at these conventions. Apart from that, there are games, workshops and, sometimes, panel discussions by different BJD artists that take place at these conventions. These conventions also provide an opportunity to meet other BJD collectors and for people to connect over their hobby.

BJD collectors also form smaller groups in the different countries and cities that they stay in and organize regular doll meets to discuss their dolls, go for photoshoots together, craft for their dolls and connect with each other. In this way, there exists a tight-knit, impassioned and devoted BJD community (Ignacio and Cupchik 2021).

5. The Study of BJDs

Scholarly work on BJDs is extremely scarce. BJDs have been studied from a psychological and therapeutic perspective by Ignacio and Cupchik and from various aspects of Chinese society and the Chinese BJD market by Guo (2018). This section is a succinct overview of their works. Ignacio and Cupchik (2020, 2021) studied the complex correlation between the BJD community and that of play, fantasy, artistic interpretation, therapeutic advantages and the representation of the self. According to Ignacio and Cupchik (2020, 2021), doll play that includes customization, photography, extensive character creation and storytelling, which most BJD collectors partake in to establish a relationship between themselves and their dolls, might be a reflection of the collector’s sense of self. If the doll play portrays childlike themes, it depicts a secure sense of self, and if it demonstrates childish themes, it establishes an insecure sense of self. Their work also indicates that the topic of the stories created by the collectors might echo their unsettled life experiences and that, through doll play, the collectors embark on a journey of some form of self-therapy. They call this process “regression in the service of the self”, where the collectors engage in childlike behavior like doll play to delve into the exploration of life accounts that remain unresolved. This process in the BJD-collecting community could be both intrapersonal (exploring one’s own self) and interpersonal (interacting and creating a social network amongst the BJD community and bonding between the collector and their doll). The therapeutic journey of doll play was further discussed by Ignacio and Cupchik (2021) when their study showed that collectors developed a positive or negative coping mechanism depending on how they viewed and employed doll play. If doll play helped the collectors in navigating their emotions positively by finding their interactions with the doll meaningful and finding the process creative and healing then it illustrated a positive coping mechanism. However, if doll play was used as a means for the desertion of their emotions and tumultuous state of mind, it specified a negative coping mechanism.

Guo (2018) worked on a number of aspects of the Chinese BJD community. Guo’s work explored various facets of the Chinese BJD collectors and the depiction of their self and identity, the consumption specification of the BJD market in China that also explained the Chinese socio-cultural mindset, the composition and comprehension of Chinese cultural identities and the BJD collectors and their understanding of gender and sexuality. Guo conducted an elaborate study on virtual spaces in China that were particularly designed for the BJD community. These were safe spaces where the BJD community could come together to discuss their hobby, create doll content and present themselves without any fear of judgment or stereotype. According to Guo, these spaces enable the collectors to liberate themselves from family pressures and expectations and other forms of societal norms including strict moral and legal codes. In terms of the consumption specification of the BJD market, the Chinese BJD collectors are obsessed with white-skinned BJDs that determine the socio-cultural and racial perspectives of Chinese society. Since China is a large BJD-producing country with a big domestic and overseas market, Chinese BJDs also sometimes become ambassadors of Chinese traditional culture whilst also embracing global popular culture. Guo’s study further probes into Chinese BJD collectors’ conceptions of gender and sexuality where BJD collectors play around with queer concepts in the story-building and character creation of their dolls. The collectors sometimes also explore spaces of sexual fantasies and themes that can be explicit. In this way, some BJD collectors in China challenge the traditional norms of gender while many others stick to it by performing maternal roles towards their dolls and by also excluding and stereotyping male doll collectors as perverts since doll collecting is a feminine domain and against masculine gender norms.

Apart from these three works, scholarly work on BJDs in English cannot be found. These three works are commendable contributions to the fields of psychology and sociology. There is some work on BJDs by a few Chinese scholars. The exponential growth of the Chinese BJD market, its financial aspects, the particularities of the Chinese BJD market and its distinctive aspects are discussed by scholars like Liang (2008), Zhou (2008),Yu and Li (2017) and Pan (2014). The psychological aspect of the emotional bond between BJD collectors and their dolls in a modern consumerist society is studied by scholars like Zhu and Du (2016) (as cited in Guo 2018).

As will be demonstrated in the next section, the growing BJD community and the affective relationship that they form with their dolls is a significant example of contemporary animism that requires scholarly interest and engagement and provides ample space for academic research across various disciplines.

6. Animating a BJD: Bonding and Ensouling

BJD collectors have a very special relationship with their dolls. Their dolls are not mere objects of aesthetic value and appeal. The collectors are deeply invested in their dolls. They interact with the dolls, form connections, their dolls become sources of healing and solace, their lives are entangled with that of their dolls, and it is through their dolls that they understand themselves better. As Marenko says, a relationship with objects is never neutral, “[i]t instigates passions, desires and obsessions. It can describe eccentric orbits. It provokes, it flares, it coagulates affects, all the while carving paths of identity” (Marenko 2009, p. 241).

In the several interviews conducted for this paper, BJD collectors spoke of their dolls with distinctive passion and emotion. Sometimes, the collectors even became teary-eyed while describing an anecdote about their dolls. The collectors perceive their dolls as living beings that they have animated through the relationship that they have created with them. In the BJD community, the affective relationship created by the BJD collector and their doll is termed bonding. The BJD collector and their dolls bond with each other through several processes such as customizing the doll (face up, wig making, sewing clothes), photographing the doll, changing their clothes and so on.

The process of bonding is important for the collectors to be able to form a connection with the doll. Whenever a collector cannot bond with a doll or loses their bond over time, they generally sell, trade (exchange dolls between collectors) or giveaway their dolls hoping that their dolls can be rehomed and loved by another collector. A doll collector from Barcelona interviewed during the Dolly Day (BJD convention) held in Barcelona on 10 June 2023 said “there was a doll that I really liked and I was thinking for many many years that I really like her, it was my grail doll5 and when I got her I felt no connection with her. And I felt really bad because I wanted her for so many years and I ended up selling her because I hope that there will be someone else who feels that connection with her”.

However, sometimes it can be incredibly difficult for collectors to sell their dolls and they wait hoping that they will bond with their doll again. A doll collector from Austria interviewed during the Play and Party (doll convention) held in Prague on 4 June 2023 said “The doll was in my heart when I ordered it, but once it arrived the feeling was like mmh you are not exactly what I had in my head when I ordered you. Then I put them in my cabinet and I wait because it is hard for me to sell them and till now I haven’t sold anyone because I feel like one day I will bond again. With one or two I know deep down that I will not bond with again”.

For some collectors, once they stop bonding with their dolls, they perceive it as a symbolic death of the dolls as they hold no meaning for them; for other collectors, they would not term it as death since, after the dolls are sold, traded or given away, they still live on in their new homes.

“I think it’s like a friendship that fades over time. Not really dead but it becomes a stranger over time. If I sell the dolls then may be someone else will give them a new future. Because I am not able to give them a future, they will only sit in the cabinet and collect dust and I will do nothing for them, sometimes I am not even looking at them, may be someone will look at them”.

(doll collector from Austria interviewed during Play and Party, Prague)

“My dolls are like small beings for me, like little people, my friends… the moment I decide that I have to clean my collection and send away those that doesn’t give me the connection that I crave. Maybe I haven’t found their soul so they seem kind of dead or not being the tiny person that I really want to have around me and that is why I make the conscious decision of sending them to other people who would enjoy them and find in them what I was not able to”.

(doll collector from Romania interviewed online)

The majority of BJD collectors consider their dolls to have a certain life energy, essence, soul or spirit. Some collectors believe that BJDs have an intrinsic life energy/essence, spirit/soul, and some believe that they acquire it through the interactions between the collector and the doll.

“As soon as I receive a new doll and place my hands on her, I can feel a bit of the personality from the doll although I have not created any stories or thought of anything as yet. I have a doll who I haven’t even named yet but the moment I opened her box, I knew she was a sassy one”.

(doll collector from Romania interviewed online)

“I think as the Japanese do, they also have a special name for the soul (interviewer: you mean tama/tamshi). Yes, exactly and they also have special celebrations during spring (interviewer: yes hina matsuri). Yes yes, they say every object has a soul and I think it’s like that. I think everything has a purpose and that purpose pulls out the energy. Sometimes you give a doll a certain face up or wig, eyes and she doesn’t like it, then you try it again and she doesn’t like it, then you try something totally different, you don’t even think of it and it fits and then I say o you have your own personality”.

(doll collector from Vienna, Austria interviewed in person)

“I think the dolls do have a soul and it’s a good way of thinking, that way you take care of them, like other humans. I think if you take care of them well and stuff, they feel loved probably”.

(doll collector from France interviewed during the doll convention called Play and Party, Brugge, 4 June 2023)

“I think they have a life essence, one that I gave it through my imagination and my creativity and then I feel they have something of their own”.

(doll collector from Barcelona interviewed during the BJD convention called Dolly Day, Barcelona, 10 June 2023)

During the event of Dolly Day Barcelona (BJD Convention), 50 questionnaires were filled out by BJD collectors and 62.5% of the collectors responded affirmatively to the question, “Do you think your doll possesses a life energy/life essence/spirit or soul?”. The responses above show how BJD collectors assign agency to their dolls and communicate with them by ensouling, enlivening and animating their dolls. This example of contemporary animism can be studied through the framework of neo-animism.

7. Neo-Animism

The term “animism” was first introduced by Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917). Tylor identified animism as the process of ensouling all material and non-material beings by “primitive cultures” and wrote a number of papers between 1866 and 1870 that developed into the book Primitive Culture. Tylor (1871) classified animism as the most rudimentary form of religion. Animistic thought and practices were characterized as infantile and erroneous. This modernist construction of the term “animism” was carried forward by the works of many 20th-century scholars endowing it with a negative connotation and colonial context. This is termed “old animism” by Graham Harvey which he then distinguishes from the concept of “new animism” Harvey (2006). Subsequent scholarships commonly refer to the term “new animism” as “neo-animism”.

“New animism” refers to the understanding that the world is not human-centric. Rather, the world constitutes a multitude of persons, only some of whom are humans, and the primary concern of neo-animism is the interaction between humans and other-than-human persons that deconstructs hierarchy and enables a mutualistic relationship between them Harvey (2006). Neo-animism can be understood as a concept where process, relativity and multiplicity are given precedence over substance, distinctiveness and duality (Hecht 2015). Hallowell’s research (Hallowell 1964) on Ojibwe (i.e., an Indigenous community of North America) ontology, worldview and behavior became the starting point for discussions on neo-animism. In the conceptualization of neo-animism, Nurit Bird David (1999) provides a highly insightful perspective.

In her study of the Nayaka (i.e., an Indigenous community of South India), Bird David developed the concept of animism as relational epistemology. According to Bird David, humans do not predispose every inanimate thing with a soul, however, animation takes place in a relational framework. The technology (computers, mobile phones) one uses, the vehicle one drives or even the house plant one grows is animated because of the relationship one has with it: “what they do in relation to what we do, how they respond to our behavior, how they act towards us, what their situational and emergent behavior (rather than their constitutive matter) is” (Bird David 1999, p. 78). This relationship here is between humans and the other-than-human person who can constitute any material or non-material being. There is communication and reciprocity involved. The communication is explained by an example about “talking to trees”, where the interaction is a two-way process of understanding and comprehending. “It is expecting response and responding, growing into mutual responsiveness and, furthermore, possibly into mutual responsibility” (Bird David 1999, p. 77).

When animism is perceived in relational epistemology, the other-than-human person/being is composed of the relationship that they entail (Hecht 2015). Therefore, it is within the framework of the relationship that determines one’s personhood and surpasses the subject–object dichotomy (Willerslev 2007). Animist relationality provides ample ground for a unique ontological aspect that can be derived from the encounter between a person and an other-than-human person (Whitehead 2018). A BJD collector’s relationship and interaction with their doll is what animates the doll. It is an animism grounded in congruity, development and immersion among the collectors and their dolls. For most BJD collectors, it is the dolls that they play with are the ones that are animated. This aspect of play consists of the process of customization and character creation. Through the customization and character creation of a BJD, they are “ensouled” and they then sometimes go through a process of “reincarnation”, “rebirth” and even “death”.

8. Reshelling, Reincarnation and Rebirth

Most BJD collectors are involved in the process of character creation. The process of buying a BJD to embody a character pre-existing in the collector’s mind is defined as “shelling”. However, when a collector buys a doll to shell a character, many times the doll does not accurately represent the character in their vision and sometimes it evolves or even ages in the collector’s mind and hence the sculpt, the body, or sometimes the entire doll might not suit it anymore. In that case, the collectors buy a different sculpt, body or an entirely new doll to match the character. This process, of changing certain parts (sculpt or body) or purchasing an entirely new doll befitting the character, is termed “reshelling”.

Collectors spend a considerable amount of money and time customizing the doll with detailed faceup, accurate eyes and wig and the finest ensemble that exactly replicates the image of their conceived character. The doll then becomes a palpable representation of the collector’s internal world and vision brimming with fantastical stories and elaborate characters (Ignacio and Cupchik 2021). This process is also termed “world building”6 by Heljakka and Harviainen (2019).

This is a detailed character creation of the BJD called Valentine aka Val by Elisebth Suelli (See Figure 1). She is a 34-year-old doll collector from Austria. Elisabeth is a talented faceup artist, better known as Iza in the BJD community. She has a degree in illustration and was introduced to the world of BJDs in 2011. She lived in the US for 17 years and then moved back to Austria in 2017. She now lives in Vienna with her many exquisite BJDs, a wife and two cats. Val is a character that she created along with a friend of hers when she was 14 years old, and it has been with her since then. The character has gone through many changes and evolved over the years.

“Valentine or Val is a vampire lord. Val was not always a vampire, neither did he ever want to become one. He was happily married to his childhood sweetheart and had a son together. One day the village they lived in was gruesomely attacked by the second highest ranking vampire lord. Val could not reach on time to save his wife and found his son buried under a rubble. The vampire lord then turned Val into a vampire just because he fancied him and wanted him around like a pet. Val became a fledgling vampire (vampires living under the free will of their sire who turned them and only having a certain degree of freedom). After about 20 years Val got hunted by a vampire hunter only to realize that the vampire hunter was his son James who survived in the rubble. James did not believe that Val was his father and wanted to kill him. Val knew that he could not convince James to believe him and that’s why he evaded 10 years. At some point Val’s sire came to know about what was happening and compelled Val to kill his son against his wish. Val was so enraged and infuriated by this order that he could overcome the control of his sire and kill him, which not only made him a free vampire but also gave him the position of the second highest-ranking vampire lord that his sire previously had. Val is a kind vampire with a high moral compass. He takes in people who have lost direction and purpose in life and helps them back in their feet. He goes back to University every couple a decades to get a new degree. He often goes all the way to acquire a doctorate. He has so many degrees at this point that he could probably plaster his wall with it if he chose to. Val is about 600 years old now. Val is kind of a character that I adapt to fit into any world and different story verses that I have created but his core stays the same.”

The first doll she bought to embody Val’s character was a doll from the company Dollzone in 2011. After a few years, she wanted Val to be able to pose better, and, in 2015, she bought a different body for him from the same company. After five years, in 2020, she wanted to see if a more realistic sculpt would fit him better so she bought a different sculpt for him from the BJD company Doll Family. However, soon after that, in the same year, she bought another sculpt from the company Simply Divine and felt that it fit his personality the most. In 2023, she upgraded his body again from the company Doll Family and she feels that the current version is pretty much the precise expression of the Val in her imagination.

Iza reshelled Val several times and these are her thoughts on reshelling him.

“Val has had 3 heads and 3 bodies but each version looked like him Val is a character that’s been with me since I was 14 years old and he changed so much with time, that I was like his sculpt does no suit him anymore. So, I decided to change his sculpt with different features, than the character evolved again, and I changed his sculpt again, but each part of him felt like him, a different part of his life, his story, his reincarnations.”

Most BJD collectors who shell and reshell their dolls always feel that, although the doll has gone through several changes, their essence remains the same. Every version of the doll is a reincarnation of the character. The doll is re-embodied but its character, personality and backstory remain the same.

“I would describe the reshelled one as a reincarnation of the same doll, sort of like that, like it’s the same doll and the same essence, it might be weird but that’s how I think about it.”

(Lavinia, doll collector from Romania)

There are several threads on the popular internet forum on BJDs called Den of Angels where collectors have discussed extensively the process of reshelling (Den of Angels 2023b). These are some of the responses.

“Its [sic] possible to reshell your dolls and keep that same aura and soul in them as in the original doll”.

(Belladriel, Den of Angels)

“Every character has a soul that exists beyond the existence of the doll, so maybe they will die physically, but its “spirit” will haunt me till I find a new body for them, I don’t know if you can understand… I have a lot of characters, and I wouldn’t kill any of them”.

(Kyokawiccan, Den of Angels)

Reshelling of a BJD includes the process of either changing the sculpt or the body or sometimes even the entire doll. The question here is then what happens to the previous sculpt, body or doll. There are threads on Den of Angels called “reshelling guilt”(Den of Angels 2023c) where the collectors feel guilty about the doll that needs to be reshelled since the character does not fit it anymore.

“Do you ever have this problem? The doll I have doesn’t embody the character I had planned for him. So I [sic] am buying a new head and body to redo the character. But I still love the original so very very much. I plan on using him for a different character because I just can’t bear to part with him. So now he is nameless. But I love him no less. Do any of you feel guilty when and if you do this?”.

(Daiyanissa, Den of Angels)

“Exactly! I promised him this character but it doesn’t [sic] fit. I would never get rid of him though. I just need to figure out what to do with him now. So now I need to find a whole new character for him. Which is fun in its own way. I just feel so bad for him”.

(Rubydoll, Den of Angels)

Many BJD collectors in this case create a new BJD by using the entire doll or the older parts of a BJD that they have reshelled. In this way, the older BJD is born again in a different body with a different character and personality. This can be termed the rebirth of a BJD.

Sometimes they also sell the body, head sculpt or the entire doll of a BJD to be reshelled so that another collector can breathe a new life into them.

Iza, the doll collector from Austria mentioned before, who reshelled her doll Valentine, used one of the head sculpts to create an entirely new doll with a different character, personality and gender.

“One of Val’s head got a new lease of life, I gave it a new character and a female body, not only did the head change character but it also changed the gender completely. So, I am like you are no longer Val but you are a different version”.

(Iza, doll collector from Austria)

In the several interviews I conducted for this paper, the terms reincarnation and rebirth were used several times when the collectors talked about reshelling their BJDs. Reincarnation and rebirth are two categories that are used synonymously in the BJD community. However, there is a difference between them, and they can be used as two separate analytical categories.

Reincarnation is the transmigration or embodiment of the same soul in a different body. However, the concept of rebirth, especially in Buddhism, negates the existence of an eternal, transmigratory soul embodied in a different body. Rebirth refers to the continuation and amalgamation of one’s physical and mental energies into a different form after death. Rebirth simply refers to the idea of being born again in the cycle of life and death Perrett (1987).

In the case of BJDs, the reshelled doll with the same character, personality and backstory as the previous one can be categorized as the reincarnation of a BJD, and using parts of a BJD that was reshelled to create an entirely new doll with a different character, personality and backstory can be termed as the rebirth of a BJD.

9. Death of a BJD

When the character creation of a BJD occurs after buying it, a lot of the process of creation also depends on the doll itself. Sometimes the collectors envision a certain customization process and personality for the doll before it arrives but, after it arrives, the vision entirely changes. Most collectors say that the doll did not agree with that personality and exuded a character that is entirely different from the one imagined by the collector. In this process of character creation, the doll seems to have a certain agency in the development of its character and personality. The dolls here do not have an backstory, their story develops and progresses along with the journey they embark on with their collector. The collector in this process develops a very deep bond with their doll and cannot imagine replacing it with another one. In this case, the doll is not reshelled, since it is entirely different from the first process of character creation where the character becomes embodied into a doll. In this case, it is the doll that slowly embodies a character and a personality, and the collector bonds with that. Here, if the doll is lost, damaged beyond repair or destroyed in a fire, the collector would not be able to replace it even if the exact same doll is available to be bought. The collector in this case agrees that, under these circumstances, the doll would actually be dead.

Rosa, who is a collector from Vienna, Austria, generally creates the character and personality of a doll after buying it. She describes the personality of her favorite doll Lumia (See Figure 2) as follows:

“I did not perceive of Lumia like this. I thought of giving her a completely different personality but when she arrived and I saw her, she did not agree with that personality and I gave her something completely different. I think I feel really connected to her because I think we share lots of personality traits. I think she is kind of crazy in her mind but she does not show a lot. I think outside she is calm, has a creative mind and a very good heart. She needs time to warm up. She likes music, food and appreciates small things like looking at a flower for a long time or some other small detail.”

When asked if she could recreate Lumia if something happened to her beyond repair, her response was “no, no no no, no way … I would not even be able to use the same name or similar character on another doll … no, no, no, definitely not, it’s a hard no”.

Another BJD collector from Austria talked lovingly and excitedly about her favourite doll Charlotte and said, “if something were to happen to Charlotte, I could get a similar looking sculpt or body of course but the feelings and all would not be there and I would not be able to relate to her like I do now”. While talking about the characters and personalities of some of her other favorite dolls, she said, “sometimes you start with a faceup or wig or clothes and think to you yourself o that will be nice but then the doll refuses everything and says no, not happening and then you buy a different outfit and she says yes, that’s mine, you let that on me, keep it, buy me shoes, buy me everything that fits and now yeah, they have their own personality”.

These are some of the responses from Den of Angels under the thread “Are your dolls replaceable” with the question “Would you reshell a BJD without a pre-existing character? What if the BJD is damaged beyond repair or destroyed in a fire?”. (Den of Angels 2023a)

“To me, kai is the little dolly man who sits in my room on my desk, content to wait for me to give him attention, occasionally jealous when I’ve played with someone else for too long, and possessive of his clothes. So, if something happened to him that I couldn’t fix or I lost him, I’d be devastated and wouldn’t even want to TRY to replace him”.

(Neonraver247, Den of Angels)

“Even if I bought the same sculpts over again, got the same wig, the same eyes, everything, it just wouldn’t be the same. I’d always KNOW that the second version was a replacement and it just wouldn’t feel right. To me, every doll is different and no two will ever be exactly the same”.

(Celtic lady, Den of Angels)

“Some of my dolls are not “being a home” for characters. They are dolls upon which I have built ideas and concepts. Those are more difficult to replace, because if the doll is gone, a lot of the concept is gone too. If one of those would be lost, I could replace them with a new doll to build a new concept, but I don’t think I will be able to recreate what was lost”.

(Muisje, Den of Angels)

The BJDs go through a process of animation through these various categories of reincarnation, rebirth and death. In all these categories, it is the relationship between the BJD collector and the BJD that animates the doll. The doll relates, responds, acts and behaves relative to their collector, creating a relational epistemology of animism.

10. Agency

In the process of character creation of the BJDs, the dolls acquire a certain agency. In the case of dolls that are being bought to embody pre-existing characters in the collector’s mind, the agency is that of cathexis, and, for dolls whose character/personality develops after they are bought, the agency is that of resistance. According to Gygi (2018), on a scale of animation, cathexis and resistance/recalcitrance are two positions from which an object can seem to acquire agency. In terms of cathexis, the objects are manipulated by the user’s will and they become “agents of one’s own agency” and, with regards to resistance, the objects are not manipulated by the user’s will. The object defies the will of the user, enlivening it even more.

When the BJD is the shell for the characters developed in the collectors’ minds, the doll becomes an extension of the collectors themselves. The doll becomes a mediator of the collector’s inner world, imagination and fantasy. The doll is infused with life by the collector and, here, the doll and the collector transcend the person–thing, subject–object divide, diffusing into each other. “Person, thing, subject and object melt into each other and create a new emergent system” (Malafouris and Renfrew 2013 as cited in Gygi 2018).

According to De Landa (2002), agency is relational and not something that the object possesses. It is the interaction between the object and the environment that results in an emerging agency. However, the doll in this case does not operate only as an agent of the collector’s agency and, although their agency evolves because of the interaction between the collector and the doll, a certain autonomous agency of the doll is also recognized by the collector. The sovereign agency of the doll is acknowledged by the collector when there is remorse for the BJD that was reshelled and, therefore, reincarnated. The remorse then leads to the rebirth of the BJD by their collectors into a different character and personality.

In the case of the dolls that obtain a character/personality after they are bought, and their story develops gradually, the dolls possess more agency. The dolls sometimes do not agree with the characterization conceived by the collector, displaying recalcitrance. They are also impossible to replace if they become completely wrecked or lost because of the life they have lived alongside their collector, the stories they have built along the way and the emotional connection developed between the doll and the collector. In this way, the dolls demand and acquire their autonomous agency. According to Bennett (2001), objects attain agency when they disrupt the will of humans and transform into forces with their independent direction and disposition. The dolls, by displaying resistance, do the same.

11. Conclusions

The relationship between a BJD collector and their BJDs is a complex web of emotional investment and entanglement in which the BJD lives, dies, becomes reincarnated and goes through rebirth. The collector in this process sometimes merges with their BJDs and becomes one with the BJD, and sometimes perceives them as autonomous beings with their own trajectories worthy of living their own lives and even providing joy, solace, healing and guidance to the collector. The relationship with the BJD enables the collector to navigate their comprehension of the world and their position in it. The hierarchy between the collector as the subject and the doll as the object is removed, and their positions are relocated, as suggested by the neo-animistic paradigm.

Neo-animism is a reminder to reassess subject–object, living–non-living, human–non-human dualities and compose non-hierarchical structures of de-centering humans and re-centering relationships of humans and other-than-human beings. In this way, the human and other-than-human person can “co-constitute, co-mingle and co-create” (Whitehead 2018, p. 85). The BJD community, in their affective relationship with their BJD, does exactly that.

This paper shows how contemporary animism is situated in the BJD community through the communication and interaction between a BJD collector and their BJDs. The animism that emerges through the relationship between them continuously strives to renegotiate the position of the doll and the collector, generating new realities and landscapes of thinking beyond the scope of binary relationships between humans and other-than-human beings.