i'm sorry, i know you're more of an antique fan than bjd, but i don't really know anyone who's into dolls at all so i don't know who else to ask--do you know of anyone who sells happy-looking bjds? most of the ones i see online look sullen or sad to me, and i'm not really looking for a huge smile, just something a little more peaceful, i guess?
I do BJDs a bit! Let me see what I can think of.
(And I feel your pain re: wanting an uncommon expression. For me the trick is finding a girl doll that doesn’t look like she’s permanently aroused, to put it bluntly. Nowadays it all seems to be half-parted lips and half-closed eyes in a way that just makes me uncomfortable.)
I know the faceup can make a difference, too; some sculpts can be coaxed into a subtle smile with the right painting.
The Fairyland Shushu comes immediately to mind. That’s kind of an alert, happy-looking sculpt without having a rictus grin.
If you can find one secondhand, the Marguerite sculpt from Soom’s Rosette line has quite a pleasant expression.
Some of the more anime-esque dolls lean more towards little smiles, like Dollfie Dream. If that’s your thing, could be worth looking into.
I’m sure there are more out there, but those are the first ones I can come up with. Best of luck!
Resinsoul Mei/Jun has a smirk, as does Souldoll Joelle D. Not exactly smiling but still not sulky.
Charmdoll’s new limited Circe has a smile and one closed eye.
Dikadoll Amanda has a toothy smile. Peony is smiling too. Jean looks very pleased with herself. Mao Ji looks smug lol.
Doll family A Max looks smirky.
Doll In Mind did the frankly terrifying Miso who quite legitimately scares the shit out of me. DIM are no longer fully opperational but it’s a secondhand option.
Gravity dolls has a very happy looking boy.
Angel of Dream also have a terrifying grinning toon doll called Hui Ziang who comes in a pregnant version too and again, scares the shit out of me.
Supia has some open mouthed smiles which are substantially less manic.
Bimong I think have some smiling closed lip dolls.
Iplhouse have Eric who’s got a confident little smile going on.
It all depends really on what you class as “happy”. Do you want a doll that’s grinning ear to ear or one that just looks content? A doll that has a closed mouth smile or a big ol’ toothy one?
There’s a fair few out there who look more peaceful like you wanted, or at least content. I’d suggest loading up ACBJD.com and browsing, they offer a lot of different companies so you can look at a lot of dolls all in one place to get a feel for what there is.
to be honest, the majority of bjds i’ve seen have a more neutral calm expression, though a few have a slight smile with upturned lips. I only have a few i’d class as legitimately sulky looking. Dikadoll Finn is SUPER sulky lol, as are most of Doll Leaves’ sculpts.
And if you’re still learning about BJDs, please remember that “recast” is the deceptively polite term for “counterfeit”!
