Reborn Dolls

About

Reborn Dolls are baby dolls painted to look as realistic as possible as well as given realistic features like a soft body, proper weight, breathing and heart beat simulators. The dolls which were invented in 1989 became most popular with women who had lost their own child in some way or have been unable to conceive. Reborn "mothers" have since been a topic of conversation do to their unusual behavior of actually mothering the dolls. Images of alternatively painted and designed reborns (such as werewolf and zombie babies) have circulated subreddits dedicated to strange or creepy images or videos.

History

In 1989, nurse and ordained minister Joyce Moreno began making reborn dolls with Berenguer brand dolls by taking them apart and repainting them.^[2] Since then, many people have begun making and selling their own reborn dolls. YouTube has since become a popular platform to watch reborn roleplay, unboxing and tutorials. On May 11th, 2011, YouTuber The SMN Show uploaded one of the earliest unboxing videos which has accumulated over 261,000 views in eight years (show below, left). On September 17th, YouTuber Love Me Tender Babies (Reborn Princess) uploaded a video in which they show off their doll to mall-goers who think the dolls are real (shown below, right). The video gained over 478,100 views in eight years.

In 2013, many YouTubers began uploading reborn roleplay videos in which they play, dress or attend to their "baby". On July 27th, 2013, YouTuber nlovewithreborns2011 uploaded a video in which they attend to a crying reborn doll (shown below, left). The video garnered over one million views in six years. On December 2nd, 2017, YouTuber Kelli Maple uploaded the most popular reborn roleplay video titled, "Reborn Babies Laura and Landon Go To The Park! Reborn Skit | Kelli Maple" (shown below, right). The video received over 21 million views and 60,000 likes in two years.

Reception

Although the thousands of reborn dolls are sold every year, mainstream media has continued to label reborn collectors strange. On July 6th, 2008, Reuters^[8] published an article titled "Attract, repel: lifelike dolls are collector cult" and in 2011 Jezebel^[3] released a list of the "10 Most Horrifying Reborn Dolls." Images of alternatively designed reborn dolls have been shared on various subreddits. On May 14th, 2018, Redditor littlemeowcat posted an image of an "intricately-made conjoined-twin reborn doll" to r/WTF^[4] (shown below, left). The image received over 460 points (89% upvoted) in a year. On September 14th, 2019, Redditor Louie5563 uploaded an image of reborn dolls designed to look undead to r/RebornDollCringe,^[5] a subreddit that boasts over 35,500 members (shown below, right). The post accumulated over 500 points (99% upvoted) in a week. As of September 2019 over 36,600 reborn dolls sold on eBay^[6] and over 16,000 items relating to reborn dolls sold on Etsy^[7] for between $70 and $5,000 dollars.

Impact

Reborn dolls and the concept of a doll as a replacement for a child has found its way into television shows. On February 1st, 2012 Adult Swim reposted the Tim and Eric Awesome show "Cinco Boy" skit to YouTuber which garnered over 411,400 views and involves a doll being advertised as a replacement for a dead child (shown below, left). In 2019, High Maintenance also addressed reborn dolls in an episode. ^[12]On February 13th, 2014, Vice released a Fringes documentary on "Reborn Babies" (shown below, right). The documentary gained over 2.9 million views on YouTube. Many publications like Fast Company,^[9] Splinter News^[10] and the New Yorker ^[11]have written pieces on the psychology of the "parents" of reborn dolls.

Fandom

Reborn collects gather on forums such as Baby Banter,^[13] The Baby Room^[14] and many others.^[15] They also gather at conventions and events like the Rose International Doll Expo.^[16] On July 18th, 2018, The Woody Show uploaded a video of interviews had at "The "Reborn" Doll Convention" to YouTube (shown below).

Related Memes

Jace Ingham Reborn Doll

Jace Ingham Reborn Doll is a limited-edition replica of the infant child of British YouTubers Chris and Sarah Ingham. On March 28th, 2019, the Ingham Family YouTube channel published the video of their child Jace. Within six months, the video entitled "EMOTIONAL LIVE BIRTH – LABOUR AND DELIVERY!" received more than 550,000 views (shown below, left).

Several months later, on July 19th, YouTuber posted a "very special secret," announcing a doll designed in the infant's image. The post received more than 148,000 views in less than three weeks (shown below, right).

Shortly after, the website MaryShortle.com^[1] began selling the doll in a limited edition run (shown below). According to the site, the doll includes "3 Outfits, Hat, Dummy, Dummy Clip, Nappies, Birth Certificate, Gift Bag & a Pen." The doll costs between £279.00 – £344.00.

Search Interest

External References