Best Doll Experience!

Ooooh gosh that's a tough one. I feel so blessed that I haven't had a lot of negativity since discovering BJD's...Probably when my mom listened to me prattle on for the better part of an hour about my Vala's backstory and how I want to publish her story as a book with her photographs illustrating it.

(She doesn't know I plan to get the rest of the main cast of the story too yet but she already loves Vala and thinks that having her around will help me write that story.)

 

I've had a lot of great experiences, and met some great people, too! I think my best doll experience happened a few years ago. I'm a huge ShinyDoll fan and when I started collecting, Doi Shin (ShinyDoll's creator) only made SD and Yo sized dolls. His fans (me included) asked him for a mini sized girl and he made one for us! Not only that, he made a thread showing the sculpting progress & asking for our input. It really felt like we were part of the doll making process! As soon as they were available I ordered one, and she is a very special doll to me. I've heard other stories like that; fans asking for a different kind of doll and companies listening and making what their fans want. I think it's great that with smaller companies, often you email and chat back and forth with the actual doll maker him or herself, rather than a dealer or representative. You get a more personal level of service and get to know the real person who creates your favorite dolls. It's a great experience!

 

I never really had negative experiences, only positive once.

The best experience I've had was opening the box of my own sculpted doll who was just send home to me from the casting company. NOTHING can beat that feeling.

Another great experience: finding a Williams head on Y!J with the original face-up in pristine condition for half the market value. It was so worth waiting for him for over three years!

 

Restoring a damaged 2010 Fairyland MNF Rheia, she was so damaged I could only manage to save her sleeping head which I had modded to OE and realizing that eventhough I never intended on having to do so much work or put so much money into a doll, that she is truly the doll I've been waiting for.

 

I'd say my best doll experience was when I first joined the hobby. I had just gotten my first doll and posted my first disorderly, amateur "box opening" photostory. Looking back that was so embarrassing... But soon after I posted it, someone messaged me on DOA. I still have that PM saved, from way long ago! She said that my photostory brought back memories of when she got her first doll and she wanted to thank me for it. So as a kind of like a holiday present, she sent me a package of goodies like clothes and accessories. For as long as I had that size doll, some of the clothes she sent were my favourite pieces!

That was definitely my best doll experience. She really showed me how kind the people on this site could be and I hope that one day I'll be able to pass on the good feelings and make someone else feel as happy and accepted into the community as she made me feel.

 

That' very nice, aikohaku

I also had great times with other members. I bought my CP Chiwoo head from the MP in 2006. I was still pretty much a newbie, I was too young and I didn't have a CC. I just mentioned that I had to find out how to get a Delf body for the head but I was so in love with the head that it didn't matter and then the seller offered to help me get the body from Y!J and send it along with the head.

I was so thrilled! my best experiences involved nice people from this hobby.

 

I'm only very new to the hobby, my first girl arrived with me in April and my second in September but for me the best experience hasn't been an event but more a change in me. I have always been really creative and spent hours drawing, painting, sewing etc as a child. I took Art and textiles subject through school, A levels and collage courses and then went on to study Fine Art at University. My degree turned out to be a huge disappointment, the tutors were unprofessional and hardly ever turned up to lectures or tutorials, they were also extremely negatively critical of the students and didn't seem to understand how to offer constructive criticisms but were instead just downright cruel. I found it a huge struggle to make it through the three years of the course and it was such a frustrating and unhappy experience it completely destroyed my enjoyment in my work and I ended up with what I referred to as 'artists block'. I just couldn't find any pleasure in working on anything and couldn't bring myself to actually do any of the things I used to love so much, this lasted for over 3 years. Then earlier this year one of my oldest friends started talking to me about how she had begun collecting dolls, hers are off topic for DOA but I had been interested in BJDs for a long time and finally decided to take the plunge. I ordered V with a dress and wig but a mix up with the company meant that she arrived without them and I decided to make her something to wear and that was it, I'm now finally working on things again and have my inspiration back and so far i'm really enjoying myself

 

Probably my doll experience was when I actually received my doll finally! But after that, going to a doll meet and having my doll admired felt really nice. I always worry my doll is a bit plain since he dresses casually but when people admire him and say he's handsome, I feel more confident in picking me. He makes me very happy ^_^

 

Before I got my doll I joined a couple of facebook doll groups where I met a lot of very nice people. One of the girls mentioned she couldn't go to a meet up because she didn't have a car so, I offered her a ride. She does face up commissions and when I got my first doll, she did his face up for me for free as a Christmas gift. It turned out beautifully and I still stop to just admire his face up. I've met a lot of really nice people in this hobby!

 

Ohhh I'm so happy for a positive thread like this to show up!

It might seem a little silly, but my best experience was when I realized that a friend I met through the hobby changed what I thought I wanted in life. I never would've expected that I'd fall in love with a girl!! She has been so much more than I could have ever known to want in a relationship. Without her support, I would've given up on most, if not all my dreams.

On a smaller scale (lol), The best experiences are finding that perfect doll after having trouble finding the right sculpt. Then, when others admire your doll too!

 

My best doll experience: sending my 6th-grade niece an Only-Doll Hong Xiu for her birthday. She absolutely adores her, and has made a little room for her (and has cut up one of her mom's silk slips to be the doll's covers ... because the doll is a fairy princess and can't have any old covers on her bed!).

 

My best doll experience ever had to do with the need to re-shell a character. Initially I purchased a tiny little Fairyland Realpuki even though I didn't have a persona for her yet (which is something I never do.) After she arrived, a character for her sprang to mind out of nowhere and just began to grow...and grow...and grow, like it had a life all it's own! Soon, I sadly realized that this grand character (that I was falling head-over-heels in love with) had somehow completely outgrown her tiny Realpuki body. This had never happened to me before, so I was quite shocked by the turn of events. I wasn't aware of any MSD sized doll on the market that would fit my image and was at a complete loss about what to do. But almost immediately Dollzone suddenly released their shockingly artistic planthro sculpt, Anson... and it was my character to a "t"! But she was pretty pricey, so I realized I would have to sell the Realpuki before I could possibly even hope to put her on layaway.

I immediately went straight to the Marketplace to research putting up an ad for her and stumbled upon a WTB ad (put up only 30 minutes prior) where someone was wanting to purchase that exact Realpuki in the exact same skin color. I sent the person photos and she PM'd me back immediately and sent paypal payment just as fast. Amazingly, I had the car that day as well as packing supplies on hand...and the entire transaction (from initial contact to final shipping) took only 1 hour and 45 minutes! And by the time I'd gotten back from the post office, DDE had just put Anson up on their order page, so I was able to order her immediately. It was just the best whirlwind "monumental decision, monumental sale, monumental order" day ever! Within only a couple of months, it turned out Dollzone had difficulty producing the intricate sculpts and suddenly discontinued them...and those few who were lucky enough to order one in time had to wait months and months for theirs due to sculpting and packaging issues. But because I had ordered so quickly, mine arrived in only 7 weeks...and somehow the company had surprisingly included double the gift dolls with her too, so I was able to sell one of those to recoup even more of her price! It was obviously one of those "dolls that are destined to be" situations that you sometimes read about. To this day, it still boggles my mind.

 

My two grails, which were limited editions or out of production, are being rereleased. So it's great that I can now buy them; just kind of terrible for my wallet. lol

 

My best doll experience was when I went to Korea this past summer and got to visit the Iplehouse showroom. I got to see and hold one of my dream dolls and other amazing dolls that I never thought I would ever see in person. It reaffirmed my love for the doll(s) I wanted, the company itself, and my love for the hobby.

 

Oh wow, taixonay, that's awesome! I love seeing everyone's 'best's.

For me, in terms of a straight-up experience, it's hard to beat the excitement of a box opening, and finally 'meeting' the doll you worked and saved for... but I also love how supportive my family has been. My brother is the one who first told me about BJDs, my sister is a doll collector and brought her first resin girl home before I got my boys, so I got to learn a bit about the hands-on experience while I was saving and waiting, and even several older relatives have been very cool about 'this is a worthwhile hobby even though it is expensive' attitudes (some of them have been toy/doll collectors themselves). I love when I'm getting ready to visit family for Christmas and I'm asked if Vince will be there, or finding his name on a package under the tree.

And, I've also noticed some changes in myself. When I first started going to doll meets, I would spend almost the whole time all but hiding behind my younger sister, and it took me a very long time to come out of my shell. It was worse before I had a doll of my own, but even after I got my first boy, I was very shy at meets, in spite of having a very friendly and welcoming local group.

Now, I find it much easier to talk to people I don't know, and even to let the conversation wander into other areas of mutual interest-- it always comes back to the resin, of course, but for me, it's a really big deal to be able to carry on a real conversation with someone I've just met. So I love the new confidence that I've been gaining, and the way that simply having a doll brings a little more of it out. I know there's at least one surefire topic that I can agree on with everyone there, and it's made me less of a complete wallflower.

 

It is just nice to see such a sweet and gentle face sitting next to me while I'm working, or on my computer, and being so excited about all the possibilities of creativity for hopefully many tomorrows. She is like a friend or family member giving me a smile day after day!