When all your dolls become LEs ...

I started with one doll, which was an MSD kit.  I had her assembled and painted by Volks, and she arrived to me posed in her little silver box.  She was the same cookie cutter sculpt with the same cookie cutter paint job that anyone in Japan could buy, but I thought she was lovely.



My second doll was a limited edition doll.  She was the second model of that doll, but she came with an outfit and wig unique from the first, and since she was an LE I had loved whenever I saw her in the showroom, I had to have her.

Since then I've gotten a few more dolls.  Mark was a regular model, and so was Dali and Muffin.  Chrom was LE, but Saiph was also regular, and Chika was a Volks YoSD (which are technically always LE).

The difference between a regular model and an LE is mostly availability.  A lot of LEs get repackaged and resold later, like my second doll.  "Limited Edition" doesn't mean they'll never sell it again, but it means that you'll probably pay more for it on the second hand market and that you can't just hop online and get another one.

And that ability to just hop online and get another was always something I liked.  Of course the companies are usually pretty good about things like repairing a broken doll or ordering you a replacement part, but what if something truly devastating happened?  When there was a big earthquake in Japan, Volks was good about caring for the broken dollies, which is a genuine concern if something you paid $1000 dollars for gets damaged in a natural disaster.  You want to know that if something truly devastating--natural disaster or a fire or a theft--happens, you can replace your doll.

But something weird happened.  Marry, the MSD model I first purchased, was taken off the market.  Suddenly those first two dolls became dolls that were unavailable, instead of just the second one being limited in nature.  My Pipos doll ... I can't even find it on their website anymore.  One of my Soom dolls is LE anyway, but another, the Mecha Angel, was recently discontinued.  And even my other regular SD10 Mark was discontinued by Volks.  Volks discontinued all of their regular line of dolls.

So basically I'm left with one doll that could be re-purchased if need be, and she's not my mostest favoritest (although I like all of my dolls).  Owning rare things that no one else can buy has a certain appeal to it, but at the same time it's anxiety-producing.  Every 6 months or so I have the Bad Dream where dolls--ones I never actually bought in real life and that probably don't exist--melt or get damaged somehow.

I have an LE on its way soon.  I'm still paying her off in installments, and I consider her my "last doll" even though I think I'd like a YoSD centaur too.  Or another doll her size (Dollmore Elysia is nice).  Or maybe I could cap it at some number like 10 (wait ... no, this one makes 9).  But it's weird how this has become like the end of an era, with Volks no longer producing their standard line and Soom getting rid of the Mecha Angels.  Pipos has changed to producing lots of humanoid sculpts in addition to slightly more anthro animals than the one I own.

Poof.  Now most of my dolls are LE.

Except for one.


Edit:  I'd still like an Iplehouse Asa.  Actually, I feel like these days I'm really branching out to different companies.  I have a majority Volks, but I do have Luts, Soom, Pipos and then Dollmore waiting on my $$$$.  It's kind of fun to sample different body sculpts.