Back then and now...(Nostalgia Thread)

I heard about that one, but I don't think I ever saw a picture of the head. Did anybody here save one, perchance?

 

Yess that was it!. LOL omg I almost forgot that- yea, those were the days.

 

Haha, yes! I was just thinking about this topic. I joined the hobby in early '07, then I fell out of it in '09. I've had to reacclimatize since returning last year. So much new info to absorb; more things to consider. Of course, I found that I had changed quite a bit as well.

Over all, I really like the place that this hobby has come to. In another few years we'll be reminiscing about today… Sitting in our rocking chairs, wishing how we knew back then what great eye putty our denture glue makes. XD

 

I, too, remember the El army and Hound craze days... I've seen Woosoo *heads* sell for over $1000. It was also way before the re-releases of Luts Breakaway, so a Breakaway also cost over $1000. An Elf Shiwoo was also a grail doll... I barely see them anymore.
I took a break from the hobby for a couple of years, and came back after the big "global economic crisis" to find out that A LOT has changed... The prices dropped on my of those old "holy grail" dolls, and the size range grew dramatically. I remember when the first 70cm dolls were released, and people thought they were HUGE... Then Dollmore released their Lusion dolls, and it seems like the current direction is that "the bigger- the better". It seems like the dolls just keep on getting bigger and bigger, lol.

 

krystina: this is the link to Caress of Venus:

http://caress.sub.jp/g-top-yui.html

edited to add: and i remember when we all stayed up all night over the excitement of Soom Heliot being released. We *squee'd* our way into the early morning hours. we were sure we had never seen anything so wonderful .

 

Thanks Cat^..^ Even after so many years; they still leave me mesmerized

 

I remember purchasing my just-released Dollshe Saint from the Luts site... they also sold a handful of other company's dolls. Serendipity doll was one of them. Dollndoll I believe, bought their molds.... but they've gone away again. Iplehouse sold Dollshes as well. Right before they disappeared, I bought my tan S.A. Hound from them since it was the only site that allowed you to choose the skin tone from a drop down menu! Every other site had IM Hounds default set to tan, and that was that.

I remember the staggering lack of realistic dolls back then, when that's what I was always looking for!

And how the Dollfair debacle basically ruined my chances of ever buying an SD Narin Charisma.

 

AHAHAHAHA OH GOD WISTERIA. That doll. THAT DOLL. THAT DOLL is why I'm in this hobby. I remember a rather incredulous "You're spending HOW much on WHAT???" followed by "oh shit son he's gorgeous" followed by "me wanna" followed by "DZ mini get!".

Now that, right there, is nostalgia.

(I remember when that SA Hound came in and he was one of the newer tans, instead of that cinnamon-y tan Dollshe had been doing up until then. Glooooriously beautiful doll.)

 

LOL. Tez, that's both doll AND personal nostalgia! Can you believe that was 2006? I dug through my email and found my payment confirmation for him. Shows how often I clear out my email.

How about this? The first doll I almost bought was a Soom Namu. A friend wanted to split the 'Voice of Angels' with me, and it was roughly $400 for each of us, and I remember thinking that it was way too much money at the time! All but two of my dolls cost that much, a couple of them were double that!

Does anyone remember the Souldoll Celeste? It was that androgynous doll with the leafy feather things carved on it... it was on a very tall body for its time... 68cm I believe. It was on my wishlist, but it wasn't popular, and now you can hardly even find owner pics.

 

Oh yeah, Souldoll Celeste. She reminded me of an Ent from LOTR, with her lanky body.

@Tez: SA Hound is a beautiful doll, no matter what colour.

 

ukelala -- hahahaha, I remember the first time I got my hands on him. All I could think was OH MY GOD THIS THING IS HUGE. And oh yes, I think I recall that. I remember thinking $200 was a lot...then I dropped $400 on Shirou...then I spent almost double that on Katen...and...and...oh god it's an addiction. At least I already know exactly how much my next one will be.

Silk -- oh god yes, tell me about it. I saw pics when that particular SA Hound came in; apparently Dollshe had already switched over their resin colors before making him, so he ended up being what I think was the new (at the time) dark tan. It suits him gloriously, Tzariel is a stunning doll. (Hell, all the dolls at ukelala's house are stunning. I may be biased.)

 

I remember my first SD (Feb. of 1999 I think it was). I had fallen in love with the photos, but couldn't bring myself to purchase a doll without seeing it in person first. So, on my trip to Japan, I went to Akihabara, to the Volks store there. The people were so so nice and I brought home my very first SD Nana (there was no real online selling of dolls at that point other than secondhand). It was a moment I will always treasure, the first time I held one in my arms.

 

When I first came into the hobby it seemed as though everyone had either a Shiwoo (SD or Minifee sized), Soony or other CP doll. And Volks SDs were more popular and at times harder to get.

I also remember when I first found out that Volks did welcoming ceremonies in Japan for their FCS dolls and went to look it up on youtube only to find a video where they played a very awkward and romantic song in the background. And the mother SD statue

And when Notdoll Lab came out with a Naripon, Toadstool (I think that was the name) the one with the angry face.

 

Does anyone remember the Elf Yder release? I remember everyone assumed he would be sold out in no time-like Elf El and Elf Lishe had-and so everyone refreshed the Luts page over and over again until he became available for sale, but at some point-while refreshing and waiting-someone in the thread mentioned they had to pee, and everyone was like 'Don't! He'll go up for sale right at that moment! ....Darn, now I have to go too.' and before you knew it, everyone in the thread was hopping on their seats, having to pee but not wanting to leave the computer. Then, he finally went up for sale, everyone bought one(as he turned out to be less limited than the others!)and then...it was quiet for about ten minutes as everyone rushed off to the bathroom. Then they changed their signatures into P.I.V: Pee In Victory!

Even though I don't have an Elf Yder myself, I thought that was just awesome XDD But I do have to say that, while I love my oldskool style dolls, I also love the larger variety of sculpts nowadays, and mainly the artist dolls and non-Asian dolls. So for me, the hobby didn't get any less enjoyable. But this is a really fun thread

 

I really like this too. It's fun to browse the internet and see a new doll made by an artist sculptor. It's also nice how BJD's aren't just Asian anymore, but people from all over the world are sculpting them. The difference in style is very interesting, I think!

 

The days of Luts' releases & the El army were all "before my time". So it is fun to hear these stories. A friend had told me a similar story of refreshing for ages while waiting to order the Lishe she had fallen in love with. Now that I own second hand Delfs, I love hearing stories of how they were first sold.
I have a Y'der who I dearly love & now understand that he must have been modified somewhere along the way as he has open eyes & vampire teeth. He was a gift from a friend who couldn't find anyone to buy him! It is interesting to watch styles of dolls go in & out of fashion. And it is also fun to meet folks with similar tastes who have collected many of the same varied dolls that I have collected.

 

El & Berman's
Owning DOD Too (who i still miss)
Way fewer companies.
Way fewer members on DOA
Defending DZ, after they cam out with legit sculpts.
Soom BLOWING UP the fantasy concept, i remember the EXACT moment of seeing Sard. Oh he is more glorious in real life!
The impossibility of finding 70cm clothing
The initial Horror of Bobbie Dolls
The intimacy of the forum...i do miss that.
Someone said before, updates on clothing
NO non ABJD discussion
Remeber when anthros came out!?
Or Pukis!?
When we used to do splits for clothes and not dolls.
Being 10 years younger!!! LOL

 

I remember when:
* Soom only made silicone eyes and Iplehouse only made doll furniture.
* Tensiya sold Hounds and Bermans.
* Volks f-16s and Cerberus Project Els were the most popular boys on DoA.

On the other hand, it's still traditional to take a picture of your pet in your doll's box during unboxing, new limiteds are always exciting, some of my favorite companies from those days are still going strong, doll-folks are still some of the nicest people online and DoA is bigger than ever.

 

Has anyone else noticed how the standard for photography has increased significantly over the past 5 or so years? Nowadays everyone is a splendid photographer and I can't keep up!!