Why Do I Collect Reborns? And Other FAQ.

 Why Do I Collect Reborn Dolls?

 

Well, for starters, this onesie almost made me cry.

 

    Well, let me start by giving a general overview of why a lot of ladies in the hobby collect such dolls. A Reborn Doll is an Art Doll that, due to how realistic they usually appear and to how realistically weighted they can be, can actually function both as a wonderful piece of tangible artwork and as a therapy tool. They are known for being able to help patients with Alzheimer's, Dementia, Anxiety Disorder and Depression. These kinds of dolls have also helped at least a few ladies in the community cope with some deeply affecting familial losses. Most though, collect these dolls simply because they think the art form is cute or because they enjoy baby fashion! If reading is a bit challenging, here is a video I found explaining the Reborn Doll collecting hobby for outsiders:

 

 

(Side note, I think Jess is really, really pretty and I love her channel.) 

 

I will also include a video here of one of my favorite artists, NLoveWithReborns, assembling one of these dolls for your viewing pleasure, it can be quite interesting to see!

 

  

 

    As for me personally, I have an anxiety disorder and depressive issues which my dolls sometimes help me to cope with, but those are not the only things that my dolls help me with, nor are they the reason that I got into the hobby in the first place. I actually got interested in the hobby when I was sixteen years old, after having been a doll aficionado my entire life before that. When I was a little girl, I loved playing with and cuddling my baby dolls and I often wished that they could pose more or look more realistic. At the age of twelve years old, my friends started to focus more on video games or hormonal behaviors, fashion, makeup... Teen girl stuff mostly. I, however, still just wanted to play with baby dolls. In fact, I remember one specific time when a couple of my friends were over at my house and when they just wanted to talk about boys, I just wanted us to take our baby dolls out in their strollers in the backyard. I never heard from those two friends again after that. It was clear that being into baby dolls was becoming socially unacceptable for my age group. So I forced myself to give up that interest and try to refocus myself on video games (and it did help that simulator games like The Sims existed for me to still find some way to play dolls, even with a video game). 

 

    However, I also, at that point, became interested in things like filmography, theater and animation. Most especially, Japanese animation. At the time, anime was on the rise in popularity in my country (USA), so a lot of anime conventions were cropping up across the map. Anime conventions are gatherings operated by and made for fans of Japanese animation, manga and video games, where vendors congregate to sell merchandise, artists show up to sell fanart, special guests from the anime industry come to talk directly to the fans and many show off their artistic abilities with brilliant cosplays. Now, this may seem unrelated to the topic of Reborn Dolls and it is, for the most part. However, it was at an anime con where I was introduced to the art form and the hobby for the first time. When I was sixteen years old, I attended a local anime convention as a cosplayer, as I usually did then. Something else I should add is that most anime conventions boast groups of people dressed in their best gothic finery, something that I have always loved to see as someone who felt she had a gothic heart but could, for whatever reason, not wear a gothic appearance herself. This convention when I was sixteen was no different when it came to that. I spotted a beautiful lady some years older than myself who looked almost right out of a version of Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" and immediately approached to tell her how pretty I thought she looked. Imagine my surprise when I noticed she had a big, luxurious, Victorian style, gothic baby carriage with her! Before I could say what I had wanted to say to her, I found myself curiously looking into the carriage and I saw something that was an even bigger shock to my senses. Did I just see an actual werewolf pup? It certainly looked like it! Noticing my reaction to the little in her carriage, the lady smiled and offered to let me gently touch the pup. I was in complete disbelief, fully, cinematically believing for a moment that I was meeting an actual werewolf. She explained that it was, in fact, a silicone doll as she held him up for me to examine, but my disbelief was still suspended for at least several moments after I had gently poked the soft "skin" of the doll. The silicone felt so real to the touch and the pup looked so realistic that it took me a minute to realize it was a doll, even after that had been explained to me. When I finally did have that sink into my brain though, I started asking the lady where it came from, how to get one myself, etc. She explained a bit of the Reborn Doll hobby to me and offered me her card, as she was in fact, the artist who had painted and rooted the werewolf pup which had so impressed me. I was really excited! 

 

    But that excitement did not get to last. After I arrived home from the convention that day, I went online to look at her shop, only to find prices that, at the time, I could only ever dream of affording. I was unable to have a part time job while I focused on school, so my only shot at getting such a doll at the time was to ask my family for one for my birthday or for Christmas and everyone I asked saw the prices and understandably told me no. It was during that time that I discovered Orange Grove Nursery, whose Edward Scissorhands became my favorite and most-wanted art doll. I would sometimes spend hours just perusing her galleries and daydreaming about what I would do if I had one of her dolls. But for me, at the time, Reborn Dolls were a long way off. I did not gain access to the monetary means to purchase my own Reborn Dolls for another fifteen years. So basically, the short version is that I got into this hobby because I really liked the art form itself. It was not until after I had already received my first Reborn Doll that I realized how therapeutic it felt to roleplay with them and cuddle them. When I hold one of my dolls or engage in roleplay with one, I forget some of my worries for a little while and it feels very nice. I find it very calming.

 

    Now, to discuss the other reason that I continue to be active in the hobby as a collector. My dolls do not just help me cope with my anxiety and depression, they also help me to cope with my own sense of loss. Personally, I have never even come close to being a mother in the same sense that a woman who has actually carried a child or a woman who has actually adopted a child has, so I will not pretend that my experience is even remotely the same. However, it is still a deep sense of loss that sometimes causes me to cry from the pain. This is where the onesie at the top of this page is going to finally be explained. When I was a little girl, I had two best friends- my lifelong BFF whom I have known since before I was born and my school BFF that still sometimes sends me random stuff online. When we were little girls, we made a pinkie promise one day at my house, all together, after we had a blast playing with some of my dolls. We swore that one day, we would all become mothers and that our kids would all get a chance to be the best of friends like we had been. I fully believed in that promise with my whole heart and for quite a few years, starting when I was fourteen, it looked like that future was unfolding for us, at least from my point of view. I thought I was just the first of us three to find the someone that they were supposed to spend their whole life with, the someone to have a kid someday with. Little did I know, that that someone would become fed up with me at twenty-one years old and take off with someone else after discovering that I could not do certain... adult things. Specifically, the very things a person needs to be able to do to have a child of their own. Instead of helping me through that heartache and having the patience to work with me, this person left me for someone else. I was devastated. I felt like my whole world had just been taken from me, and it took me an entire decade to heal from it. In the meantime, those two best friends both found someone else and had their babies. I have had to watch and cheer from the sidelines while wrestling with the idea that maybe being a mother was just not in the cards for me at all. I love my two BFFs like sisters and I really like my adopted nieces and nephew, but that does not mean that coping with that feeling of being left in the dust has been easy for me. I have had to go through the feeling of watching my maternal dreams literally just walk away from me, to go to someone else more than once. Every time, I have had to remind myself that it's probably for the best and focus on being happy for someone else, but the pain has persisted. The first time, I had to try to be happy in thinking that someone I loved maybe found someone they loved to have that dream with. The second time, though I nearly felt I was losing my "older sister" on top of it, I tried to be happy in knowing that she finally found someone she loved and that she would get to enjoy something I knew we all wanted. The third time, I felt I would lose my "school sister" but I was excited for her that she finally found someone she liked a lot after the absolute heartbreak she had recently had to face and that she would get to shower the baby she always wanted with the remainder of that previous love in her heart. The fourth time though was and still is the hardest for me to face happily. The fourth time it happened, it happened right in front of my eyes, to someone that I had had a romantic interest in. That someone happens to be related to my stepdad too, so I am treated to a front row seat reminder of what happened at every family function. It is also getting extremely uncomfortable for me, because I think the person that that person chose over me is... developing a liking toward me. Which reminds me a lot of the very first time I had to experience this sort of loss at twenty-one years old. The person that took my ex-person away from me also exhibited some NSFW desires toward me that I was not comfortable with. So as a result, I tend to rely heavily on at least one of my dolls when we have big family gatherings here. I run to my room, lock the door from the inside and just spend some time holding one of my dolls or if my mother feels I have not been social enough, I try to take one of my dolls out with me while I visit with the family. 

 

    So I have not actually carried or adopted a child of my own but I still feel a sense of having lost a future involving being a mother, involving having a child... and it is something that I have to cope with, as the desire to have that future did not just simply go away after I decided it was not for me. Reborn Dolls specifically help me cope with that for small amounts of time, because they allow me to pretend, at least briefly, like I am not missing out on that future- I can change their diapers, pretend to feed them, dress them up, shop for them, pretend to play with them, cuddle them, roleplay watching movies or TV with them and even read books to them and pretend they are listening. Admittedly though, it does get a little difficult for this coping mechanism to work properly for me when I am with either of my two BFFs and their real children. Most likely because some other heartbreaking issues arise when I am with them- I am faced not just with the possible future that I wanted but will likely not be getting but also with the reminder that this is not our childhood to make memories together with any longer. Also, bringing one of my dolls along with us is both a bit risky and sometimes also highlights, for me, what I wanted but will not be getting. Risky because their children like to mess with my dolls, which I am not always completely comfortable with and seeing my doll next to a real, living, growing little sometimes makes me focus on the fact that what I have is just that. Just a doll. But when it's just me here at home or me here at home during a family event, my dolls just make me feel pretty wonderful for a little while and to me, that's very worth it, regardless of the struggles I may still face with my friends.

 

Reborn Doll FAQs

 

1. Are Reborn dolls in any way harmful? I would not think so. As I have stated earlier on this page, they can actually be tools for therapy, for healing. Due to their realism, they can help people cope with quite a few different things, which include but are not limited to Dementia, anxiety and grief. They are also an art form, and art itself is very therapeutic for the artist!
2. Do women enjoy this hobby as a way of coping with the loss of a child? Yes, some do. I will not sugar coat it. But the real truth is that most people in the hobby just enjoy it for the art form that it is and it is also not just women who are in the hobby- some men also enjoy these dolls and I think that's pretty cool, as when I was a little girl, I always wanted a guy friend who would play dolls with me but could never find a guy who was willing to do so.
3. What is a Reborn Doll? I think the videos at the top of this page do a good job of explaining and showing the answer to this question but I will also try to answer it in my own words here. A Reborn Doll is, by definition, a doll whose parts have been painted or repainted, rooted or rerooted with hair, realistically weighted and assembled by an individual doll artist. The "textbook" definition is 'a doll that has been repainted or rerooted and weighted to resemble a realistic, living infant as closely as possible by an individual artist' but that definition leaves most of today's "Reborn" dolls out of its meaning, as most modern Reborn Dolls are assembled by artists from premade blank doll kits intended specifically for the purpose of creating a realistic baby doll. 
4. Where can I get a Reborn Doll? There are several avenues of acquiring a Reborn doll, some of which are more "affordable" than others. The main way of obtaining a Reborn doll is heading over to a site like Reborns.com or perhaps a specific nursery's (many Reborn doll artists identify themselves online as 'nurseries' as a sort of roleplay aspect in the hobby) website, such as Marianne's Reborn Dolls. From there, on some sites, you can browse babies that have already been created and who are posted for sale by their artists or you can directly contact an artist to have them custom create a baby for you, usually using a blank kit that has been designed and sold by an individual sculptor. Be prepared though, as this can be an expensive choice, with some dolls, depending on the materials they are made from and the artists' discretion, selling for $500 or higher. Another method which may be slightly less expensive is attempting to become a Reborn Doll artist yourself. Plenty of tutorials for painting, rooting and assembling these dolls exist on YouTube, Reborns.com and Etsy and most of the materials can be found at your local craft store, with the exception that you may need to venture over to Macpherson's or Bountiful Baby to acquire a blank kit from a sculptor. The most affordable ways of acquiring Reborn dolls though are both pure luck. You can either go on YouTube or Facebook and search "Reborn Doll Waffle" to see if any artists or collectors are offering a raffle to win one of their dolls or if you have any friends who are themselves an artist or a collector, you might have the luck of them gifting you a doll (but never beg or ask for this, it is considered extremely rude in the community). Alternatively, if the price is too high, you do not feel confident in your art skills, there are no waffles and you do not have a friend that would gift you a doll, there are still a few things you can try. One is eBay, though it is strongly recommended to watch out for scams on that site especially when it comes to these dolls. Many artists and collectors sell dolls for a much lower price range on eBay but it is also swarmed with companies from China that have cheaply duplicated sculptor's kits and refused to pay for the rights to do so, so many collectors strongly do not recommend buying from them. (Personally, to me, as long as the doll makes you happy, that's what matters. I'm just providing you with a bit of the social climate in case you are preparing to enter the hobby.) Another viable option is to acquire a doll that, may not exactly be considered a Reborn Doll by some but can still be fairly realistic and serve the same therapeutic purposes, usually at places like Paradise Galleries or Ashton Drake.
5. I am looking for an artist-made doll. How do I avoid getting scammed? The first step to avoiding scams is sticking to websites that are considered to be more reputable within the hobby. Reborns.com, Etsy and individual artist's sites like Marianne's Reborn Dolls, Dove's Nursery, Irresistables or My Heart Is In Vermont are your best bet for this. The next step is, no matter what site you are searching for dolls on, you need to try to locate or ask the artist or collector if you can see a "safety photo". A "safety photo" is a photo of the doll in question, with a piece of paper stating the kit name, the artist or collector (optional) and the date that the photo was taken. Finally, you're going to want to see the doll's identification. That is, the doll's COA or Certificate of Authenticity. This is a little slip of paper that gets issued with the purchase of a blank doll kit from a sculptor and features information, such as the sculptor's name, the kit name and the kit's identification or serial number, as well as whether or not the kit is part of a limited number release. Fun fact, I myself have a doll that was limited to a total of 1,200 kits ever produced worldwide and one that was limited to just 750!
6. Are there any risks I should be aware of when handling a Reborn doll? Yes, unfortunately, there are a few. One is that oils from skin and from foods or drinks can damage the doll's artwork over time, so it is highly recommended by most collectors to wash your hands before you handle your dolls. Alcohol based disinfectants and many kinds of perfumes are also not recommended for use around the dolls, as these can leach and remove a doll's beautifully painted colors from their vinyl. Speaking of color leaching, it is also highly recommended to wash any new clothing or blankets and accessories for your dolls before first use, usually in hot water to remove excess dye that may bleed into the vinyl of the doll. My personal recommendation is to wash twice with hot water, putting the clothing and accessories in the dryer or allowing them to completely dry each time, then the same process again but this time, twice with cold water, to help seal in the remaining color and prevent it from staining your dolls. Also, it is very tempting to use hair clips, hair ties, hair brushes and little hats with dolls that have rooted hair but try to minimize this, as clips, ties, brushes and hats can pull on their rooted hair over time. When changing doll's outfit, I recommend first placing a clear plastic baggy over their head and tucking it under their onesie before you remove the outfit that they are wearing and keeping it on until you have changed them into their new outfit, as changing outfits can pull on hair and eyelashes as well as rub off the beautiful paintwork on their little faces. The plastic bag will help protect them from damage. Also, to prevent staining from blankets or crib mattress covers, keep their little hands and feet in scratch mitts and socks and place plain white fabric underneath them, between their vinyl and the mattress. Even some dolly accessories can be damaging with use over time, namely bottles and pacifiers. To help prevent damage from the use of bottles and pacifiers, try not to directly touch baby's lips with a bottle's nipple and always make sure that the bottle you are using for roleplay is either empty and dry or completely sealed with either plastic wrap inside or caulking in the nipple and as far as the pacifiers, make sure the magnet is installed in a small pocket made of cotton or an ultra soft, white fabric. Also, avoid letting your doll get wet with regular water or to stay wet. If they do get wet, pad them dry as soon as you can and if you have to wash anything off of your doll, gently pad a damp towel soaked in distilled water and immediately dry them off just as gently with a dry towel. Also, if you plan on having both vinyl and silicone dolls, it is recommended not to let them directly touch or let them "share" clothing and accessories, as the vinyl and silicone ingredients can chemically react to each other.
7.  Which is more expensive, vinyl or silicone dolls? I know the vinyls are looking more expensive now than ever but they are still generally the lower priced option of the two. A silicone doll is like paying for a new car in the hobby. Most vinyls range now from $350 to $1,500 but a silicone, which is usually what gets used in TV and movies to create realistic baby props, can be $2,000 or higher. In fact, I saw one the other day that was priced at $13,000. I think it had been done by a well known artist in the Hollywood industry. 
8. What are some activities you would recommend involving Reborn Dolls? Ooh, this is a fun question! There are a lot of things you can do with your Reborn dolls! Besides the regular at-home roleplay of diaper changes, outfit changes, naps, feedings, playtimes, story times, watching movies or watching TV, you can also take them on a lot of great outings. If you have a car seat and a stroller or a baby backpack, you can go out on brief walks around the neighborhood or the yard, you can visit the zoo or the aquarium or you can try the very common favorites in the hobby of going out to eat and shopping. In fact, in some towns, there are actual groups of enthusiasts that gather with their dolls to enjoy such outings together as friends! Alternatively, there are also all kinds of conventions you can take your dolls to, including doll shows and conventions near you. But there may be one rule that you will have to be aware of when taking a doll to a doll show: there may be bouncers at the showroom floor entrance that will ask you to show identification for your doll and if you fail to show a legal ID for them, you may not be allowed in with that doll. This is supposedly to prevent theft of any artist's works being sold on the showroom floor but I have seen them stop people who were coming in from outside the showroom over the dolls that they were taking in with them, too. Another fun fact about me here, I have around five or six dolls that I could possibly legally take with me into a doll show out of the eight dolls that I currently own.
9.  Does everyone in the hobby make up characters for their dolls like you do? No, actually. I am actually an anomaly within the hobby to a degree. I know plenty of Reborn dolly parents who have come up with themes that they frequently apply to their dolls' wardrobes and accessories and who name all of their dolls individually but that is not quite the same as what I do. No. I do what I do, usually because I create a character in my mind for something that I am into, often long before I get a doll of that character. For example, William Duckson has been a character that I have been writing and working on since at least around 2015 but I did not even start collecting Reborn dolls until 2023 and I got my doll of William in 2025, a whole decade after I had first thought of his character. As for Christopher, Vincent, Cain and Anne-Marie, I think Christopher was started for me in 2015 as well (doll version commissioned in 2023 and arrived in 2024), Vincent came about around 2021 from a random event in a Sims playthrough before I found the doll, Anne and Cain started to be written in my mind in 2020 once I got into Texas Chainsaw and their doll versions were, well... Anne was found on eBay already created in 2024 and Cain was custom made for me starting in 2023 and came home for the first time in early 2024. As for Ariel, Babi and Casper, they are fictional characters that I found already existing in media that I was a fan of and I happened to find dolls that looked exactly like them or who were created to be them, in Ariel's case. So their personalities in my mind are dictated by the pre-existing fictional characters from franchises that I enjoy. (Example, I would make a photo of Ariel examining a fork and maybe thinking of it as a "dinglehopper", because that was how she percieved forks in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (1989).)
10. Are there any taboos in the hobby when it comes to roleplay? Yes, there certainly are. Personally, I find it a little sad that in a hobby based on dolls, people have to be limited to what they are allowed to roleplay, when that seemed never to be the case when we played with them as children. But I can understand why we limit the creativity as well, from an adult perspective. Because too many people out there unfortunately will abuse roleplay freedoms to do or say things that reflect badly on people of different backgrounds or who have different disabilities in the eyes of others. There is an ambivalence in this for me, as I am diagnosed with a form of autism that was once called Asperger's Syndrome. So on the one hand, I feel I should be allowed to roleplay my Asperger's through my dolls but on the other hand, the way that I do it could possibly offend others, as no two experiences with a mental disability are exactly the same. So it's a very fine line. This also poses some interesting challenges to me, personally. Because, as I explained in the previous question, most of my dolls are also OCs that I have been working on for years beforehand. When creating OCs, most people do not react to disabilities as "taboo" and it is, in fact, considered to be a valuable part of character development writing. So, I have a few OCs who have mental disabilities and two of them are in my doll collection but I will not say who, as I do not want to ruffle anyone's feathers. But I will tell you that I have had a difficult time with talking openly about them within the online dolly groups. The most difficult one for me is my OC that shares my own diagnosis, as since I actually have Asperger's Syndrome, it can make it a little hurtful for people to tell me that I cannot roleplay that or write that into my characters. As a result, I have started avoiding it all together, usually by not even mentioning that any of my characters in my nursery have it.
11. This might be a little off-topic but I am curious. Where did you find Bongo? Yes, you may have noticed by now that Bongo is most definitely not a Reborn doll. But he is a type of art doll, nonetheless. He is what you would probably call an OOAK Realistic Animal Doll. "OOAK" stands for "Original One of A Kind" or "One Of A Kind", depending on your preference. This tagging means that Bongo, unlike most Reborn dolls and definitely unlike any other doll in my collection, is not made from any sort of mass produced mold or blueprint in any way, shape or form. He was individually made by the talented Olena Batii and there will never be another Bongo on the face of this Earth, he is the only one in existence, even if the artist attempts to replicate him for someone else. I discovered Bongo one day while perusing a site for artist teddy bear enthusiasts, Tedsby. The moment that I laid eyes on him, I felt a very powerful thought telling me that he would make a great character for a children's book series, in which the photographic illustrations could be inspired by a childhood favorite of mine, I SPY. The author in me *needed* him as her companion and he is now waiting in the wings here in my nursery for me to be able to begin work on his first book. I also notified Olena right away that I would like to use him for a book series and she consented happily as she sent him home to me after the purchase. 
12. I see some Reborn doll collectors using bottles with fake formula and pacifiers that stick. Where are they getting these accessories? Oh, that depends. Not many actual stores sell such accessories to scale with Reborn dolls. If you were to purchase a doll bottle on Amazon for example, it likely will not be to scale with a Reborn doll. More than likely, the collectors or artists that you have seen with these props probably fashioned the props themselves out of real baby bottles and pacifiers. For a bottle, all you have to do is buy a regular baby bottle and seal the nipple with silicone caulking or stretch some ceram wrap over the "neck" of the bottle, screw the nipple cap back on and cut off the excess wrap with a pair of scissors (after you have filled the bottle with fake formula). To make fake formula, you can use fabric softener, a little water and some food coloring, you can use fabric softener or water and lotion with food coloring or you can cook up a corn starch recipe. If you decide to use a fake formula though, make sure your bottle is well sealed before you use it with your dolls. As for the pacifiers, well... Those are a little tougher to do than the fake bottles, on account of how difficult it is to completely and smoothly remove the silicone nipple from the plastic guard. There are very few manufacturers that sell just the plastic guard and handle parts, so most collectors probably just use a pair of scissors to snip off the nipple and try to remove as much of the silicone as they possibly can. Then, they either cut a small cotton round in half or they take some light colored fabric, cut out a small circular pocket and sew or fabric glue the two halves together. Finally, they glue the cut round or fabric pocket to the spot where the silicone nipple used to be, let that set for at least 1 to 3 days and then place a magnet inside the pocket if their doll has a magnet in its mouth. For dolls that do not have magnetized mouths, collecters often remove the silicone pacifier nipple and stick on glue dots or vinyl-safe putty but the more recommended route is likely to partially disassemble your doll, use a wire and some E6000 glue to attach a magnet to the inside of your doll's head, let it set and in the meantime, purchase or create a magnetized pacifier. After the magnet has set inside of your doll's head, use a ziptie and some scissors to reattach the head to the body and there- now your doll should take a magnetic pacifier, which is generally regarded, I think, as safer to use on their paintwork and vinyl than glue dots or putty.
13. Do Reborn Dolls fit regular baby doll clothing? Generally, no. Most manufactured baby dolls are not only made with less realistic proportions than a Reborn doll but they are also usually made in smaller sizes as well, so that they fit easier into little children's arms for playtime. Instead, if you want to dress your Reborn dolls up cute, you'll have to shop for actual baby clothing and if you're a first time Reborn collector with no parental experience, this is going to be confusing at first, so I will try to help here and be as clear as possible. Generally, if a Reborn doll says it is usually a 19" to 23" doll in length when assembled, that doll will fit in 0-1 months (NB or Newborn) sized baby clothing and their shoe size, depending on where you are purchasing, should be 0-1 month, NB or Newborn if you are shopping at a well known store like Walmart or Target but if you are shopping online in places like Amazon or SHEIN, their closest shoe size is going to be around 3.5". A 17" to 19" inch doll can usually fit 'preemie' clothing sizes and their shoe size can go up to 3.5" but will often be smaller. A 24" to 26" long doll will most likely fit 0-3 months and 3-6 months clothing sizes and may have a shoe size up to 3.9" on those other sites. To give a rough example, my William is a 17" long baby who only barely fits preemie clothing, my Christopher is a 19" long baby who fits snugly in preemie and perfectly in 0-1 months or Newborn (with a 3.5" shoe size) and my Cain is a 26" long baby who fits perfectly into 3-6 months sized clothing, with a shoe size of around 3.9". 
14. Are Reborn dolls ever used for anything other than collecting or therapy? Yes, actually. Many Reborn dolls are purchased from artists, to be used as clothing models for people that create and sell their own lines of baby clothing and Reborn dolls are also often used in TV and film in place of real babies, because working with real babies in film can be a difficult task. There are also unfortunately, apparently some possible terrible uses as well but the community does not claim such people. We sometimes hear stories of artists being asked if their dolls have certain features for undesirable reasons and it is incredibly offensive to us as a whole.
15.  Do you have any personal recommendations of Reborn Doll related channels to watch or follow? Heck yes, I do! Tori's Reborn Babies is a favorite of mine for her soft-spoken tones, as well as how she continuously breaks the 'hobby stereotype' of being a childless woman due to the fact that she is, in fact, NOT a childless woman and yet still enjoys doll collecting. I also always love her reviews of the baby stuff she finds in stores when she takes her Reborn dolls out shopping with her. My second recommendation is nlovewithreborns2011 because watching her do the artwork and explain the process is mesmerizing to me. ShellBellsChannel is actually a favorite of mine partly because of her interest in the Reborn doll hobby but mostly because I just enjoy watching how intelligent and inventive she can get. KitsToCradlesNursery does a really good job with shopping haul reviews and anecdotes. RebornsOfJess does fantastic rebuttals and explanations for hobby outsiders. MelissaValentinesCozyNursery is great for making us deep think about a range of awesome and interesting topics while we cuddle our dolls. TheCountryCottage is my final recommendation, based just on how sweet and open-minded she is. CountryCottage and nlove both helped me see a broader picture during the 2024 fiasco regarding stolen sculpts and consumer spending limits. RIP also to LisasLittlesLoves80s, her channel was one of my favorites to tune into when the hobby took my attention and I do not know what happened to her channel.
16.  You mentioned IDs. Does this mean that all Reborn dolls are legally protected? That would be so nice but no. Unfortunately. The problem is, the IDs sort of backfire in a way that allows companies to steal sculpts. All they need is access to one single doll's ID and then they have the information with which to create tons of identical or similar IDs that will "legalize" their versions of the kit within the court systems of their own countries. The only system I have heard of that actually protects an artist's Reborn Doll sculpture artwork is nlove's security system, where an ID sticker is placed inside the head of the doll, containing a code key that links the doll's identification back to her specifically. For this reason, I personally do not share my dolls' documentation anywhere online, nor do I share photos of the backs of their necks, which is where the sculptors' signatures or marks are typically located. I do not want to help provide the information necessary for companies to steal sculpts. (Unfortunately though, someone else in the last year was not so careful apparently with their Charlie kit, so now my favorite sculpt in my collection, Joanna Kazmierczak's artwork, has been stolen. Sigh.)
17. It seems like you are against the stealing of sculpts. Are you involved with the RAA at all? No. If I was, I'd be kicked out promptly. I simply sympathize, as a fellow artist myself, to a degree, with how it feels to get your work stolen. That said though, I am also on the side of nlove. I feel that if an artist truly does not want their work stolen, they should try to come up with a system that actually protects their work. I am also in defense of people who love realistic dolls but do not have the budget for most 'real' Reborns, I feel they deserve to experience the things that make them happy as well, just as much as anyone else does. After all, I know myself what it is like to want a Reborn doll so badly and not be able to obtain it for myself because I had to deal with that for fifteen years of my life.
18.  What is the RAA? The RAA (Reborn Artists' Association) is, on paper, a group that seeks to elevate the artform of the Reborn Doll hobby to an awards association or museum level status. Achieving that level of elevation and respect is a good thing and I can say I do agree with the RAA on that end goal, it's a great one. But this situation is not black-and-white. Everyone should be allowed to enjoy the dolls that they like, I believe and I also believe that that could have been achieved or maybe still could be achieved while avoiding getting sculpts stolen. The reason I would say I do not completely align with the RAA is that some of it's members in the community have treated others like they do not deserve to enjoy the realistic dolls they want to enjoy simply because they do not make enough money to do so. It is moreso those people that I disagree with than the RAA as a complete whole, I suppose. I am all for protecting artists' works but I am also for accessibility.
19.  Is it common to see Reborn dolls based on movies, books, video games or TV shows? Yes and no. I do not think that the hobby has ever gone very long without at least one artist contributing a new fanart in doll form and in the spaces I hang out in, I do commonly run into them but in the wider scope of the hobby, no, they are not very common. To be more clear, if I hang around Etsy using specific keywords like "Mad Hatter Reborn Doll", yes, I will always see quite the handful of adorable little Johnny Depp dolls or if I linger on Reborns.com under the "Alternatives" tab, there's a solid chance that I will be seeing Dobby or Harry Potter for quite some time. But when socializing in the larger online groups, talking and sharing dolls, only rarely do I ever encounter someone else who has a fictional character in doll form. Usually a Wednesday Addams or a M3GAN at this point. Sometimes, a Child's Play Chucky. 
20. Are you a Reborn doll artist? If not, are you planning on becoming one in the future? No, I am not a Reborn doll artist, just a collector. I am considering eventually becoming a Reborn doll artist to some degree though, as I do not want to be completely helpless when something eventually may happen to one of my dolls and I do not want to have to rely on sending any of my dolls off in the mail to be repaired by an artist. I have heard too many stories about Reborn dolls getting lost in the mail when that happens. I would worry very deeply about any of my babies being apart from me because of that.
21. More Q's Will Be Added Later!