BEST Doll Experience Ever

Thank you for this. I've seen nicest comment threads, etc, but only 'WORST' doll experience threads. ;_____; Those were very sad/frustrating.

Back when I started this hobby, I really wanted to meetup with others. Our meetup groups started as only the four of us, and then slowly we found more and more people and more and more dolls. Every time we meetup together people always send us super nice comments on our meetups and people we meet in public places give us great compliments.
We've all become really close friends.

Recently at a meetup my boyfriend was eyeing a doll that one of my friends had (obitsu body, but off topic). Because of this, he has now joined the doll hobby which I am so grateful for. I think the best thing ever is watching him comb his girl's hair and call her cute. It's adorable.


Also, there's nothing quite like ordering your unicorn/grail doll after eyeing them for a long time! >w<

 

I think that my best doll experience was when I realized how comforting and meaningful these dolls are to me, they are not just pretty little things for me to look at and play with but I didn't know that until...

I suffered from sleep paralysis since I was 13 years old (you'd think you would get used to it but not me) my experiences were so strong and horrible that I even became afraid to sleep by myself so from time to time I'd sleep with my mom. I also hated being alone in the house by myself because due to the sleep paralysis' experiences I got horrified and nervous very easily, especially at night.

But the day to live by myself came and it happened last year, I never mentioned to my family that I was actually terrified to live by myself!! but it was something I had to do. The first day I stayed at my own apartment by my own was when I got home at night after spending the whole day at my mom's packing my last belongings (which contained all my dolls). That night I remembered I opened the door from my apartment and I immediately froze after seeing all the dark and stillness of the house...after a few seconds of terror I went straight to my room, and for some reason, I got a strong urge to see my dolls....when I unpacked them...just by touching them and having there with me made me feel completely safe, relieved and I wasn't afraid anymore!! my dolls gave me such comfort that day that...it is hard to put into words ^^ but they saved me that night (from another nightmare and a heart attack hehe) I see my dolls with different eyes after that and they're even more special to me than ever. Also, I stopped having sleep paralysis after that day and I've been sleeping normally since then with all my dolls on a bookcase in front of my bed where I can clearly see them everyday.

Now I can sleep by myself and I love living alone^^

 

I think what I might file as my "best" experience so far is one that jut recently happened... Not long ago, I bought a doll off the secondhand marketplace, who showed up with some undisclosed, severe, uneven yellowing, along with some unsealed blushing. I've been able to clean up most of the discoloration (though I'm still working on that), and the head was largely saved thanks to the layers of sealant. Unfortunately, the hands took a large portion of the sunlight that caused the uneven yellowing, and there was just no way I was going to be able to repair them, so I'd resigned myself to heavily blushing them to help them blend in, instead.

I made an offhand comment about this (as I'd been doing along the way with my experience restoring this doll) in the company thread for him... and another user replied offering to send me a spare pair of hands from her own collection, to replace the damaged ones! They arrived just yesterday, and are absolutely beautiful compared to the stained, discolored old pair--and an excellent match to the pieces I've sanded down and repaired, as well. I've honestly been unable to express how grateful I am that another person would offer a replacement piece like that, and just blown away by the kindness... even though I've actually done the same myself, years ago! It's still so reassuring to see that the same thing happens now, and that, in spite of all the problem transactions, the scammer announcements, and the "worst" threads, at its heart this is still the good community of good people I found when I first joined the hobby.

 

When I realized that a head I'd been admiring on the Marketplace for a while had been bought to be unmodded, I was sad. So I went to the discussion thread for that company, and asked people if they knew of any other sculpts (of course that head was a rare sculpt that I was not expecting to be able to find another easily) with the same basic facial shape so that modding it to look the way that head did wouldn't be too hard. Within an hour, I got a PM from another user offering to sell me another head of that sculpt, and a body that is basically exactly the body I would have gone to look for for the head, for a severely discounted price. I was overwhelmed by how nice people in the community are.

Also getting a little chibi drawing of a Taco saying "thank you for giving me a home" with the Taco I received the other day made me smile. Even in the face of problem transactions and scammers, there are people who love their dolls and care about making sure they are sold to people who will love them.

 

I think my Best experience was when a Fellow dolly friend fixed a crack in a back of one of my Dolls. i was really scared to do it, but she dd such a wonderful job, i was so happy! also Friends whom have given me discounts on clothing! specialty at a recent met up! it made my Daughter's day to have her doll have it's very own outfit! and the local Doll people being wonderful when I've had to bring my little ones to meet-ups with me! It's wonderful and the chidern love it when they get to share their dolls with others! specialty my son!

 

Wow, I have so many good experiences, I don't know where to start!

Probably with the time my husband bought me a doll because I had an awful week at work, and he asked me what would make it better. I was just pouting and said "BlueBlood Draven".....totally not serious because we don't often give each other gifts for no reason, but he shocked me and said "Ok, how do I get him?" A week later, Heath was home. That was 2 years ago, and I'm still surprised by that. A "surprise" from him is usually going out for coffee and pastries, or maybe a small item I find interesting when we go to the mall....under $10, not $400!!

He also made me super excited for my birthday/Christmas gift a year and a half ago, when he got me my grail doll's head. Never thought I'd get my hands on a Soom Ender, but when the head popped up on the MP, he told me to get it as my holiday/birthday gift.

Other than that, I've had great experiences with learning new things at doll meets, making new friends, writing rp stories with other owners, trades I didn't expect being offered/accepted, friends sending gifts for the dolls....too much good to list it all!

 

I've had a lot of great doll experiences!

2004-- Hunted around for the perfect doll and was in time to get a CP Delf Elf El. Getting him was a bit of a horror story, but I was happy to finally get him home. But--I thought I was one of the few crazy enough to spend so much for a doll--then discovered I had several friends with bjds!

2006-- Went to one of the Volks L.A. Mansion Tea Parties and got a One-Off (Shirou Tachibana).

2006-- A friend gives me her Volks Cyndy 2 (fullset). (My friend knew I loved bjds and she tends to give away her dolls when she moves on, rather than selling them. I know it's unusual! I'm just lucky to know her!)

2010-- I win a CocoTribe Jerry 2 One-Off fullset at the Central CA BJD Con.

2012-- Same friend gives me her Impldoll Vivien.

2014-- Same friend gives me her CP Delf Miyu.

2014-- Went to the KBJD Show and got a Crobidoll One-off and a BNB Doll One-off. Plus gifts of doll heads and eyes and doll items. Met the sculptor of Be With You Dolls (YG), and amazing faceup artist Nornen and the people behind Oscar Doll Eyes, and PeaksWoods and many more.

2014--Went to Dollism Plus US in Buffalo with one of my friends who is also into bjds. First time seeing Niagara Falls!

I've had free heads and shoes and outfits and hats and tons of great stuff from Meetups and and Doll Parties and the BJDC and other doll events. I've been really lucky.

Plus, just getting dolls home is a wonderful thing. And items for dolls. It's all good.

 

I was speaking on another forum about my disappointment in not being able to locate a specific version of an OT doll. Another member PMed me and offered an extra one to me for free! (I offered to pay for postage since seriously: she was doing me an amazing large favor!) I was even more amazed when I opened the package to discover that she'd also included a wig and an outfit so that my doll would arrive "complete." I was so humbled by her generosity.

I've seen many acts of generosity on various doll forums I've belonged to--I think people in this hobby tend to have very large hearts.

 

I think my best experience so far has been with my friends who aren't into the hobby. I took my first doll who is a Soul Doll Juhl to my friend's house and they all thought that he was amazing. Some of them wanted one for themselves but were shocked to hear the price and that I would actually spend that much. I told them that there are dolls that are less expensive and that they should look around if they were really interested. It was so much fun seeing them play with his wig and move his arms and legs. One of my friends was kind of shocked about the anatomically correct part

 

I've also had the pleasure of 2 people I've met through the BJD hobby give me the gift of OT dolls. They are really special to me!
The first time this happened I made the girl who gave her to me an outfit set and got her some bjd props. She was touched by the gift (like nearly in tears) but it was well deserved since she gave me a doll!

Also I was very happy when my mom (who seemed a little taken back by my recent Unoa purchase) said that she couldn't stop staring at my girl's face and that she was so beautiful.

 

Its hard to talk about, but I have severe anxiety. I've loved BJDs for years, and while I only own an OT doll for now, I'm saving up for a resin baby. Anyway, I was really nervous to go to a local doll meet, but my parents convinced me to go and so I did. When I got there, everyone was so warm and welcoming, telling me its fine I didnt have a resin doll, letting me play with theirs, just talking and merry making. I was in tears outside in the car, but once I calmed down and went inside where everyone was, I wasn't anxious at all. I can never thank the Carolina BJD group enough. After that day they really helped me get over some of my anxiety and encouraged me to go on with the hobby. Love to everyone there

 

When I was incredibly suicidal, my best friend let me cuddle her little Yo-SD to sleep. It really helped comfort me and pull me through the night.

Angelesque was there for me through all my nagging of my first doll and made sure she arrived safely and updated me as to every single thing. She was so patient with me!

 

I have another one. I brought my Akagi Doll (he doesn't even have a faceup yet) to work today and everybody loved him. I even got some comments from patients. And since he was sitting on another desk, I would hear things like "look at that" or "that's really cool." It was nice to hear others liking my doll even though he's not yet finished.

 

A company gave me a free doll. It was because I did a review of their new line on youtube and tried to help people that had questions about the one doll I had from them. It was such an awesome gesture. I wasn't expecting it at all.

 

Well there is a really long backstory to this one.

About three years ago I was scrolling through another forum I've visited for years (and still do they ladies there are some of the loveliest people I've had the pleasure to meet online.) And I saw a doll. In particular it was SapphireStargazer's Special K Paul way back when she first bought him. And I thought he looked kinda cool but not really something I would own myself. I did a bit more research and came across dollndoll and absolutely fell in love with their Bonny sculpt! I spent three years saving (I was only thirteen or fourteen at the time and using birthday and christmas money plus what I could get babysitting my cousins.) But everytime I got close to having enough something came up and my parents had to "borrow" money to do things like pay the bills and make sure we had food. They didn't seem all that big on paying me back and I was disappointed but kinda okay with it because having a place to live and food to eat is important and we didn't have much money. Time passed and dollndoll stopped selling the Bonny sculpt and that was a huge disappointment to me. Then this past year my dad got a second job and a big raise at his first job. And he had remembered all the work I had done to save up for that doll and asked me "You remember that doll you were saving up for? Do you still really want it?" I picked my jaw up off the floor and just kinda jumped up and down squealing! So we ordered Miss Fior and I finally got the doll I'd been dreaming of after three years, endless disappointments and eventually figuring I would never get her. I was terrified that everytime I looked at her I would think of all the issues with getting her here but all I think of is the feeling of excitment and disbelief when I opened that box! I love her and I'm so glad I have her!

TLDR: Started saving up for a doll I really wanted and stuff kept being an issue for years. Then finally got doll after pretty much giving up and absolutely loving her!

 

About a year ago now, I bought my first doll. After browsing the internet and doll websites, I found supia. I absolutely fell in love with the minisup Yan, but wasn't fussed on going through the rigmoral of ordering and waiting again.
Then, by chance, on the marketplace, I saw one for sale! I didn't think that I would want to get a pre owned doll, but I saw her and fell in love! I pm d the seller, and she was so helpful and kind! She was very flexible with me, and a month or so later Yan came home!

i do not regret this in the slightest, she is a beautiful doll, and every time I look at her, I fall in love again! I would do it all over again!

 

I've had a lot of good experiences.

I've met a few people though local meet-ups that I really love. I lost touch with them when I was pregnant and now my son just turned 2 and i've started collecting dolls again and it's really nice to reconnect.

I've met some really great people on this forum during the whole Dollfair fiasco of 2012.

But the best thing has been that my 2 year old really loves the dolls to. He likes it if one is sitting on the couch with him when he watches mickey mouse or elmo. He's too young to be trusted to not break them or rip eyelashes off, but i think one day this could be a hobby he likes to share with his mom.

 

This thread is awesome, so I'm bringing it back from the past in hopes other people will contribute!

Personally, I don't have any amazing stories like everyone in this thread, but I think my best experience would have to be simply getting my first big guy (and by big, I mean EID sized) after getting only tinies for my first year in the hobby. I just love the bigger size since I'm quite tall myself, and tinies feel so fragile in my huge hands! It was so great to be able to hug him without fearing I'd break him! And the fact he embodies one of my oldest and dearest characters really adds to how much I love his beautiful sculpt.