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Hooves, Why Do We Like Them?

Sep 16, 2009

    1. What's the allure to BJDs with hooves?

      Is it just our persona of the character or a deeper influence?

      (I've ordered Soom's latest tinies, Bygg & Beyla, and got to thinking about it...)

      My opinion is either they are aesthetically pleasing or are a fitting description of one of our partially anthro characters.

      Also, why do some people bash the thought of "more hooves"?
       
    2. Im actually kind of tired of hooves.. Nothing wrong with them, they are really cool. But Id like to see some paws or something at some point.
       
    3. Well, I personally liked hooves before I got into BJDs. Cows are some of my favorite animals so a long time ago in my active RPing days I created a creature heavily based around oxen, so it only seemed natural to give him hooves along with his tail and horns. And now that he's in BJD form I have every intention of giving him hooves once I have the resources.

      It had really very little to do with Soom or Souldoll or whathaveyou, but I could see that as possibly be a reason for the 'bashing' you might be seeing. I know I myself do at times get rather annoyed that my work I created on a character long ago might be taken as bandwagon jumping-I know I am not the first person to come up with the idea for hooves or anything like that, but I suppose thinking up something that for ME was an original idea rather than seeing it done elsewhere and then creating my own version is important to me, to know that I was being creative by myself instead of copying what is now the current trend.
       
    4. I like hooves, and I ordered a Bygg for myself, but I'm REALLY hoping that the next Teenie Gem MDs are taloned... they'd match so well with Euclase :)

      But to actually be on topic, I think that people like hooves because they're so versatile. There are so many hooved mythological beings that the imagination can just go wild!
       
    5. ordered a Bygg%)
      I don't like hooves. I must admit they might be fun. And it's the one anthro BJD part that really turned out nice - the other ones by Soom weren't quite as fancy/well-though.
      I would like to see nice animal paws/claws done by a BJD company someday, not just hooves :3

      And I also am confused by the popularity of the hooves...although, as I said previously, I find them fun too.%)
       
    6. Personally, I find them to be aesthetically pleasing. Plus, I feel like I have all of the human dolls I want, so the hooves are a nice change.
       
    7. I don't like hooves. It's a neat idea and really cool but with so many by Soom to me it's over done. I rather they do the paws or claws again. But I was never fond of the 'pony' thing when I was younger so I don't get the appeal. Of course this is my opinion and I know there are loads of people who like them, I just don't.
       
    8. I like the hooved dolls, but I really think it's been overdone by Soom now. They have 9, and probably 10 with the last 'god' doll coming out. This is counting each of the tinies as a seperate doll, even though Glati and Glot are the same mold as are Bygg and Beyla.
      They are very appealing to look at, but I'm kind of hoping this is it for a while from Soom. I would like to see more full centaurs like Chiron though, preferably in an MSD size.
       
    9. I'm not into hooves, but I don't care if a company puts out nothing but dolls with hooves and horns because it just means one less doll to put on my wish list. There are plenty of other companies out there that make dolls more to my taste and the hoofed doll may be something that dies down eventually like many other trends in the hobby.
       
    10. Initially, "it is something different". Even now that it's been done a few times, it still isn't exactly commonplace. Even if the popularity of the hooved dolls means we're seeing a lot of them in the galleries, it doesn't necessarily make their numbers enormous as compared to many other things we see.

      I grew up on mythology. There are a great lot of things in it with hooves. I'm also a fan of modern fantasy, fantasy, and the modern horror fantasy genre. Hooves fit in there rather well, too.

      I think the 'more hooves' thing comes from seeing similar themes repeated. The concept made a big splash when it first appeared, and got a lot of attention. An amazing amount of attention, if you ask me. It was enough attention to shift Soom from a company I could barely find much information about as a newbie looking to buy one of their sculpts as my first doll to a company mentioned alongside Volks here and there as one of the brands people collect for prestige points. (Personally, I don't believe in doing this and really doubt many people actually do that, but the perception seems to be there -- ramble through some of the debate threads about limited editions and it's all over the place. :lol: ) That's a lot of power packed in those hooves!

      Thing is, I think people are expecting the next 'big wow' like the hooves were the first time they appeared. When it's 'more hooves', no matter how lovely, no matter how much fans of hooves whip out the wallets (ow ow ow), the people not looking for hooves, but instead seeking the next 'big wow', aren't finding it, as we've seen hooves before. 'Different hooves' is not enough for the 'big wow'-seeking crowd, for obvious reasons. Hooves are last year's 'big wow'. This year's? Gah, who knows.

      I don't see the hooves as being as much of a mindbender in the tiny and anthro collector's groups as they are in the large dolls group, though I could be wrong about that one. Large dolls with large-scale fantasy features are still something that looks -relatively- unusual. Elf ears, other fancy ears, and vampire fangs had been done, some dolls came with wings as part of a costume, but large fantasy limbs for larger dolls aren't something I've seen much of before early last year. (I may not have been around terribly long, but I've actually looked for older dolls that fit this criteria, and not found much.) In the tiny anthros, hooves and snouts and wild animal ears are par for the course, to some extent. It seems a little more common for fantasy parts to be made for tinies in general as well, from molded resin wings to tails to animal ears or hands or faces. Hooves specifically? Don't know. But it wouldn't surprise me to find some going back more than a year or two.
       
    11. Well, I think the appeal of hooves is similar to the appeal of elf ears and such things... fantasy creatures. If you want to bring to life (in resin form) a demon or satyr or faun or Centaur then hooves certainly serve to bring authenticity to the character.

      I personally was very into the fantasy creatures when I first got into the hobby, but I seem to be very much into human kid dolls now.

      It's fun to have a lot of different things out there. I don't mind if it's just a trend because someday I may get back into fantasy dolls and maybe by then they'll be unfashionable and inexpensive, haha!

      Raven
       
    12. The first time I saw a hoofed doll, I thought it was pretty neat. I think it was Soom Amber.

      It seems like so many of Soom's dolls have hoofs now that it seems a little redundant. While I realize that they have other types of dolls too, it would be nice to see a little more variety.
       
    13. Personally, I liked the hooves at first because they were so new, unique, and well-executed. I ordered a Soom Beryl when the doll was first released because her digitigrade legs with hooves just blew me away. I hadn't seen anything like it on a doll before. Later, I bought a Glot to go along with her as a set.

      To be honest, I've noticed a distinct trend in the hobby of hoof-frenzy lately... but on the flipside of that I've also noticed an "anti-hooves" camp developing. There will always be a "current doll trend" and for now, fantasy sculpts seem to be that trend (with hooves as the frontrunner). And any time there is a current trend, there will be an anti-trend group as well.

      For me... if I hadn't gotten my Beryl when I had, I doubt I'd ever have gotten a hoofed doll. After the first few, the novelty kind of wore off, I suppose. I absolutely adore Izzy (my Beryl) and her little sister (Glot), but Soom really has kind of flooded the whole hoof market. The dolls are all beautiful and I love seeing the different ways they have engineered the legs... but I would love to see them explore more dolls like Vesuvia or Euclase.
       
    14. I adore the hooves. If Soom were to release nothing but hoofed dolls, I'd rejoice and start just sending my paycheck to them. :lol: Ever since I was a little girl I've loved humanoids with large animal feet (especially hooves) attached to "double-jointed" legs. I remember always imagining people with dragon claws, or paws, or hooves for feet and how powerful they would be, how quickly they could run, and the feeling of the earth shaking beneath their massive steps. I always found the hooved dolls to have a a powerful presence, and I would give anything to bring one home.

      I know many people are saying they're overdone. However, I think that some people are leaving their once excited love for the hooves behind because they don't want to "jump on the bandwagon" or do what's popular. What was once unique and special is now common and people don't like being common. I don't care what's in or out, or unique or common. If I think it's awesome, then it's coming home. :lol:

      Many people may truly not like them because they are old news, but I think beautiful old news is still beautiful.
       
    15. I'd like to see more paws and claws myself. Hooves are nice, but how many dolls can have hooves? I sent Soom a drawing another DoAer drew of a dragon doll and I'd love to see that doll made! I dunno what else can be linked to hooves, unless they do a cow doll. They have done a deer, unicorn, and I am not sure what else. Change please, it's all some of us ask. ^_^
       
    16. I've always liked hooved anthro characters since I became aware of Mr. Tumnus from Narnia. Also, the hooves just add to the cuteness of Soom's Bygg and Beyla. I think a Kirin doll could be really cool too.
       
    17. Seeing as I really just got into the hobby, the hooves are still new to me. And admittedly when I first started to browse through the soom MD's the gut reaction was 'OMG HOOVES MUST HAVE!' And so I've bought a Heliot second hand. I would love to have a sard... Amber, I thoguht was adorable, I loved the faun ears on her, but wasn't so impressed with the way her hooves/legs bent? And I really didn't get her having antlers since...only males have antlers! But beyond that.... I have always had a thing for hooved human-esque figures. Fauns and other fae type species in particular, so I'm very excited to receive my Heliot and will look for others if they go on salein the future or if new hooved dolls come out from Soom. If it is just a trend, I suppose I'll have to be happy with what I have, though I personally would love to see more... Really though, it seems only the extremities are morphed to fit fantasy creatures.... do you think anyone would go so far as to make or want dolls that have MORE features? Like, in the case of a faun..not just sticking a cute little tail on her hiney but changing the shape of all her legs, and bottom half of the torso to appear more goat or deer like?
      Or what about fully posable ball jointed wings on a dolls back?
       
    18. I personally really don't like hooves. I don't see the fascination in them and I love mythology. I prefer paws or claws over the hooves. I just think that the hooves are odd looking to me but that of course it my own opinion. The Soom hooves look nice on some dolls but then I saw Souldoll doll and really didn't like the whole...body being a horse. It's interesting to say the least but just not for me.
       
    19. I notice that a ton of dolls in the gallery are the hooved ones, but if you actually look into what people actually OWN, they aren't as popular as they seem (El and Lishe are still the most owned and popular). I think the people who own them are just the more active ones, haha.

      I personally think they're cool. I like to see them in the pictures, and I think Amber's hooves were the best made so far. I also loved Euclase's hawk legs, because bird feet are awesome -- I'm kind of sad people just lump them up into "hooves" though. They're bird feet! One of a kind. The fact Soom dolls can be changed into regular human body dolls is a plus for how popular they were, also -- many people bought Amber, Heliot and Chrom soley for their heads. I personally only own Amber (and a pair of Euclase legs) and will not buy any more probably, I just liked amber's sculpt as a whole, and she was my sign so it was special I liked her so much. It wasn't just "OMG HOOVES" for me.

      I think the initial allure to them was they WERE different -- it was something no one really saw before. I think if companies started to make even more anthrophomorph molds to the point where they could NOT be changed back into regular dolls, it would bring about another wave of popularity with those dolls. But, it's probably very hard to do and still call it a "BJD". Souldoll Chiron looked really cool, but it just didn't do it for me because it was obvious it was just a regular human doll slapped onto a horse body -- his torso didn't integrate well. I, personally, would love to see some squish or octopus-like doll come out. No human option changes -- just a doll that is what it's supposed to be.
       
    20. I have one pair of hooves on a doll, but that is purely because I wanted him to have hooves, he's a unicorn. However I do not have a fascination with hooves, and if Soom hadn't made tiny hooves on their Glati, I would have found some alternate way of getting hooves on him because he happens to have them. Now I have my unicorn, hooves interest me no longer. I like horses a lot, yes, but I only want one horse-y doll to be my one horse character and I have him.