Wow! I've never really understood some people's relationship with dolls. Or the panic that causes legislators to consider banning something that's uncommon and harmless. FWIW the more realistic baby dolls from the article don't creep me out nearly as much as my grandmother's collection. A whole room lined with extra shelves for dolls to sit and stare. I suppose the sheer numbers of glassy eyes staring out had something to do with it.
posted by Emmy Noether at 2:07 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

politicians across Brazil have tried to pass bills banning the dolls from public spaces.

Possibly the purest form of vice signalling yet invented
posted by BungaDunga at 2:16 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

I learned recently that some memory care homes have these dolls available for residents.
posted by Archer25 at 2:17 PM on June 11 [4 favorites]

My Instagram algorithm serves me a lot of arts and crafting content, and I've had a few videos from a creator (no idea who, sorry) who makes these dolls. Sorta. From what I gathered from the handful of random videos, she's a painter who only recently started painting these reborns, something she's trying out as a way to hone more skills in hyperrealism or something. Fine. She bought a bulk lot of doll blanks on Ebay and gave it a go. Fine.

The internet, as you can imagine, is of course super normal about this. The comments were full of SCREEDS from people scolding her for, as I recall, only painting white dolls or giving all her dolls blonde hair or some such. The last video I saw was the creator being like "I bought a random pack of doll blanks, I have made two in my whole life, y'all need Jesus." Anyway.

Not a doll guy but like Emmy above I think I do prefer these to the glassy eyed creeps (especially en masse, just waiting to do you a haunt).
posted by phunniemee at 2:50 PM on June 11 [3 favorites]

A thousand glass eyes were staring
In a cellar full of antique dolls
I found an old piano
And sweet chords rose up in waxed New England halls
--Joni Mitchell
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:11 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

As a former childcare provider who has spent plenty of time in public spaces with children, the number of times I’ve seen adults do bizarre and/or traumatic stuff with actual living children vastly outweighs any imaginable harm from people adopting dolls and publicly treating them well, for whatever reason.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:20 PM on June 11 [8 favorites]

And there's the creepy doll (and there's the creepy doll)
That always follows you (that always follows you)
It's got a ruined eye (it's got a ruined eye)
That's always open
And there's a creepy doll (and there's a creepy doll)
That always follows you (that always follows you)
It's got a pretty mouth (it's got a pretty mouth)
To swallow you whole

-Jonathan Coulton
posted by doctornemo at 4:08 PM on June 11 [2 favorites]

In my general area of Salt Lake City there's a frequently seen man, appearing to be unhoused, who wanders the neighborhoods carrying a doll wrapped in a blanket. My wife and I call him the Doll Man.

It's none of my business.
posted by Lemkin at 4:25 PM on June 11

I’m fine with this so long as no horrible pranks are played because those dolls are incredibly lifelike to the point where I’d like run into traffic to save one thinking it was an actual person.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:49 PM on June 11 [1 favorite]

I remember seeing lifelike newborn dolls in the pull out adverts in magazines back in the day. Yours for 4 easy payments of $12.99 or something like that.

I still like stuffed animals as an adult, but got bored of the baby doll thing pretty quick as a kid. My husband’s grandmother was super into dolls though. Modified them, made clothes for them, even restored old prams for them. Nothing like the intricacy that goes into some of the ones in the article though. As much as I wouldn’t want one, I can respect the craftsmanship.
posted by eekernohan at 5:46 PM on June 11

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