Anyone wish they had got into the hobby sooner ?

Not really for me.
I first started casually watching BJDs at the start of university but wasn't interested in owning one until after I graduated. Which is fine because I seriously could not have justified purchasing anything when school was constantly depleting my savings. I also hear that there is a lot more information available online now which is so important to me when considering a new doll. I love to look at owner photos, unboxing videos, face-up tutorials, and research potential mods.

I am not familiar with how the BJD hobby has changed as far as sculpts and styles go but I feel that the sculpts available now suit my preferences

 

Yes! People are keeping them! Also I feel like there are a lot of scalpers on the market who just sell them for double or triple the original price. Volks made their Cinderella release only in Japan which surprised a lot of us. They just don't make it easy at all! Most special releases are lottery only and thats the ability to buy it...

 

I just wish I "got in to the hobby" 2 month before I did, than I'd have my first doll here in my hands by now Instead I'm going to sit and wait for another month+... And try REALLY hard not to vine about wanting a doll to everyone in the vicinity every chance I get

 

I am not sure actually. I think maybe getting into the hobby at the beginning of this year was the right time. Obviously with how 2020 has turned out it means that I can research and look at different companies and sculpts. It has meant that I haven't rushed into buying anything- which is what I always do when I get interested in something new so I waste money on things that then just gather dust in drawers.
But I can also see that I would have been interested in past sculpts that I may have loved to have. But for me I try not to dwell on what could have been and instead focus on things I can control.

 

I had been really interested with everything doll related since I was really young. I had been collecting Monster High dolls since their release and a few years later custom Monster High dolls became very popular. I remember finding BJDs by looking at MH face ups and seeing BJD faceups in my recommended feeds or on the same channels. I wanted one so badly but at the same time I was way too young to justify owning such an expensive doll.

Fast forward 6 years and I finally own a Little Monica doll and a very old Luts Juri05. As stoked as I am to be in the hobby now, there were so many limited dolls that I would have loved to own (even old cp dolls before they left luts) that I will be unable to own unless I hunt for them second hand. It always makes me wonder, I wish I was born a few years earlier to be able to experience this hobby with all my favourite sculpts available.

 

Yes and no. On the one hand, I would have loved to have been around before some sculpts were discontinued, but on the other hand, I grew up below the poverty line and would likely never have been able to afford a doll any sooner (I bought my first doll the year I graduated high school). By the time I saved up enough the doll probably would have been discontinued anyway, haha.

 

For me, I think there's definitely sometimes I've said to myself "oh man, why couldn't I have been born earlier so I could have been in the hobby a long time ago!". I officially got my first BJD last year after saving a lot of finances from work, but I've loved BJDs since 2009, though I was just a kid and there was no way I could have owned a BJD back then.

I actually think the main reason I feel I wished I got into the hobby early was mostly just a nostalgia factor. At the time I was admiring everything, a lot of BJDs had certain styles/faceups (I still LIVE for that visual kei aesthetic and miss seeing the scene dolls, haha), and the hobby seemed much bigger to me and constantly updating via deviantart and flickr, where I used to browse a lot. I think now that I'm actually in the hobby, I don't have any close friends and I miss that community aspect that existed on deviantart that I fondly remember. Logically though, I know that the community exists in other places since the times have changed. I also remember hearing so many people talk about meetups and making friends while meeting up, and I've always wanted to get to know people locally who own dolls, but I still have yet to go to a meetup (thanks to 2020...lol). But at the same time I try not to get caught up on the what ifs, because I'm really happy with how things turned out, and I've only been in the hobby for officially a year, so I'm sure I have plenty of memories to make of my own.

 

Yeah, I wish! Or I wish I had known more companies (and what direction my resin family was gonna take) when I started because those first couple of years Dearmine released some animal sculpts that nowadays I can't find anywhere, not even in the second-hand market. I cannot change what is in the past, but I can enjoy this hoby everyday even if I'm not that active ^w^

 

I do and I don’t wish I had jumped in sooner. I started when I was financially able to handle the splurging this hobby is, I think I also avoided a lot of mistakes by not buying before I interacted with the community. Now to keep my eyes open for the older sculpts I drool over

 

I'd been interested in BJDs ever since I was maybe thirteen. I spent a lot of time on DeviantArt and I'd see BJD photography every here and there. I was so amazed by them because I'd never seen anything like them and had a hard time believing they were even dolls as all I'd experienced growing up were Bratz and Barbie dolls. Eventually I found Monster High customs which ended up leading me to BJDs on Tumblr and Instagram and I just enjoyed them vicariously through online collectors.
I wasn't able to afford a BJD until I was seventeen but as soon as I bought my first doll, I never turned back lmao. It still takes some saving up and I buy within a narrow budget but if I had the means, I would've purchased my first doll sooner. Late is better than never though.

 

I sometimes do,having this creative outlet a bit earlier in life would have been nice.

 

I also got into the hobby late… My friend introduced me to BJDs back in 2014 or 2015, before that I didn't even know they existed. I always said I would buy one of her dolls (she makes them) but waited until december 2019 to buy my first 2 BJDs from her. I feel I should have encouraged her way sooner!

I've been in the hobby for about 10 months now and I already own 11 dolls (plus 3 in preorder)!!!! I feel like I'm getting back at all this time I lost!

 

I'm so glad I waited until this very year to finally get my first doll, despite admiring the hobby for over a decade, because my absolute dream doll just got released a few months ago ^^ I had never seen a doll so perfect for me until now. I'm still waiting for him, but in the meantime purchased another doll out of excitement... It really does snowball quickly, once you pull the trigger!

(I'm also much more stable financially, being a full fledged adult and not a pre-teen. Go figure!)

 

Somewhat? I would have loved to started in high school or earlier in college. During those times I was still living at home. So my only bills where filling up the gas in the car and getting my own meals. So saving and spending money is pretty easy and guilt free. Now, there's bills and adult up stuff.
But on the other hand I feel like I started in the hobby at a good time. I got into it in the around 2006 - 2007. At that point there were more companies coming out. Many of the big sites had "English" websites translated by Babel Fish. It wasn't such a big task to figure how you suppose to order.
Really, what I would like to realized sooner that big dolls were not for me. I literally tried to make the same doll four times just in smaller bodies each time. lol.

 

I don't because I keep hearing that the hobby was full of drama back in the day, now most people seem nice. But also I missed a lot of nice sculpts that were discontinued

 

Yes and no. I first discovered BJDs through a friend when I was around 14 and although I pined after them for a few years, I'm glad I waited until a few months ago because I got to thoroughly research the hobby and all aspects of it instead of going in blindly.

 

i'm 100% sure i don't want to find out about this hobby even sooner than i did, shopping overseas and online were all very new, and the shipping alone turned me away from this hobby way back then. now that i'm pretending to be an adult, along with a stable income, there's also a fairly largish group of collectors, and a healthy amount of information online, this is a much better time to hop in.

 

not very much! i liked browsing bjds online for years before i bought my first doll. in hindsight i wish i had gotten involved in the local bjd community earlier, even if just the limited panels back when i attended anime cons, in order to learn more and meet people. that's something i've been missing lately!

otherwise, i'm happy with when i joined!