I went to my first ever “Doll” show at Royal-T in Culver City. I’ve heard people call these dolls “elfdolls” or “ball-jointed dolls.” Well, it wasn’t just a doll show, it was also a gathering of lolita cosplayers. I have to say that I was surprisingly impressed with what I saw. When I first heard of the event, I was expecting to see just regular looking dolls like Barbie and such. But these dolls were so much different. And NO, it’s not just for girls. Scott, the owner of Valley Of The Dolls, who co-promoted the event, is an avid collector.

We decided to cover this event because one of the collectors, Betty, invited us. Betty is an avid doll collector and told us that she would bring a doll that is worth $1000. This is an expensive hobby and I thought to myself, “I have to see if these dolls are worth their prices or not.”

Mini-me, you complete me!

When we got there, the tables were already set up. I was a bit excited to see what the big deal was about the ball-jointed dolls. People were hovering in front of me, so all I got was a glimpse of the dolls. My first impression was that these dolls were tall, definitely taller than I expected. Some dolls were probably 16 inches tall, giving them the nickname “elfdolls.”

Tallest dolls I’ve seen.

After the crowd cleared out, I went in for a closer look. Based on the faces and the hair-styles, the first thing that popped into my head was anime. These dolls are heavily influenced by anime characters. One of the doll-makers told me that these dolls are very popular in Korea and in Japan.

The shape of the faces are smooth and feminine. They look pretty but they’re suppose to be guys, just like those Final Fantasy characters. The headsculpts are great, they are very well made. The eyes are big and realistic-looking. Sometimes, it feels like they’re staring right at you.

By the way, these figures range from $75-$1000. Yes, you read it right. And sometimes, it’s just the body, meaning that you’d have to buy the accessories separately. Why so expensive? Well, first is that these dolls are very well-articulated. You can pose them however you want. They are big. The headsculpts are of very high quality in terms of material used (resin) and design. The costumes are very detailed and clean, made from real cloth. They are also limited, elfdoll.com stated they only produce about 50 pices per doll. That’s because each one is hand made, from the painting to the clothing. You can even change the dolls eyes by opening the back of the head. These dolls look very realistic, but it’s not. It’s hard to explain but they look alive, but they’re very stylized so they only loosely resemble us. However, the quality of the dolls and the size makes them come to life, which is both amazing and creepy at the same time.

Most of the collectors I talked to are artists as well. They got into the hobby because they get to decide what kind of costumes their elf wears. Realistic-looking costumes, unlike Barbies. The costumes were very intricate. Some were wearing 18th century outfits, while others wore cowboy-styled clothing. I was also told that accessories can be purchased separately.

One collector I talked to was Ally, she showed me two of her figures. I asked her where the appeal in collecting these figures came from. She said it’s because you can create your own characters. Ally is an artist and also writes her own stories. Her elf doll characters came from her stories. Her figure was really cool looking, everything was fascinating from the hair style to the converse-looking shoe; to the skull-designed belt buckle. The hair was spiky and big, and I think it was blue, with a pair of goggles sitting on top. A lot of the figures had goggles, since it was also a steam punk themed event too.

Ally with one of her dolls.

Ally said she had about 7 figures in a span of 3 years. She told me it’s a hobby, and hobbies tend to cost money no matter what. A true statement, but she informed me that she knew people with 25-30 dolls. Damn, that’s down payment for a house. I won’t name names but a certain collector openly admitted that she hides her dolls from her husband.

Some collectors dressed up as Gothic Lolitas and Steam Punk Lolitas. The guys wore top-hats and 18th century style clothing. The cosplayers were fun to watch. Some people made their costumes from scratch, which is really impressive. Where do people get the time and inspiration to do all these things?

Betty, our friend, was wearing something that reminded me of the movie Dracula, the one with Gary Oldman. Everything she wore was dark and sophisticated, including her glasses. It was one of those round old-fashioned glasses, like the one Ozzy Osbourne wears. It’s hard for me to describe fashion because I’m anything but fashion savvy. All I know is that as an artist, all those costumes impressed me with the creativity and uniqueness involved in the design.

Betty is the one with the glasses.

Overall, a great showcase of dolls. There were a lot of cosplayers dressed up along with their dolls, making me feel like I’m inside a Tim Burton movie, since some of the figures greatly resembled Edward Scissorhands. The people were friendly and the atmosphere was just fun. There was even a DJ on stage playing Jpop and Jrock. Cricket and Spartan were up there dancing their lives away with the gothic lolitas.

Dancing with the cosplayers.

If you’re an artist, don’t let the name fool you. These dolls aren’t just for girls anymore, they are more catered towards artists. It’s expensive, but from the looks of it, it’s well worth it if you have that kind of money. However, I don’t think that I’d want one of those dolls staring at me at home all night.

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