Company Instruction Manuals for their ABJDS?

I think Iplehouse is one of those rare exceptions that include manuals with their dollies. Alchemic labo is also one other exception. I guess it is quite useful, if you're one of those first-time bjd owners that don't know how to restring their dolls.

However, if you've restrung your dolls multiple times before then I suppose the instruction manuals are rather redundant, since doll restringing techniques are quite similar and applicable for most kinds of bjds?

But well, if you want to request for a manual from the company, your safest bet is to message them via their FAQ board, most companies tend to respond quickly there~ XD

 

Dollmore, Iple, Luts, AC and I believe DIM certainly have put restringing guides in with their dolls in the past. Dollmore include them still with every doll I think, certainly all their kit dolls anyway, so it's not that rare but certainly not every company has them.

I don't think the booklets are really necessary at all tbh, you would have had to be online to buy the doll, which implies a knowledge of the internet and therefore that you could just google "restringing a BJD", hit the PLETHORA of videos and tutorials out there and be done with it. Same with maintenance.

I think Fairyland has online tutorials for their dolls? That's a far more sensible idea, wastes no paper, always available when you need it.

It's nice when they include such things, but it's not essential by any means.

 

I'm pretty sure it is every doll with DM; I know I have one from my LE Model boy. It might be marginally more useful if I could read Korean (no translation in it), but the drawings are fairly self explanatory. (This can be taken as an answer to the third bit-manuals are only really useful if the illustrations are good and/or the booklet is written in a language the owner can read.) I'm trying to remember which other companies might have them, but I'm drawing a blank. I think FL sends or used to send some kind of info sheet with Pukis, at least, but it's been so long since I saw my Chichi's one that I can't remember what was on it. In any case, I believe that if a company even makes a restringing guide,t hey would probably include it with the doll. If not, they yes, I think you could ask about getting one via q&a board or email, whichever they seem to respond more quickly/regularly to.

I agree, really, there are many, many restringing tutorials floating around, and if you know how to restring one doll, you can pretty much restring any doll. Unless your doll has some sort of complicated mechanism in it or is strung in an odd way, once you do it the first time, a restringing guide would be fairly unnecessary. To be perfectly honest, if you're dropping the cash for one of these dolls, I should think that you would already be doing the research to find out about how exactly to go about performing basic maintenance, including restringing.

 

I know when I got a Soom kit a awhile back, he came with directions, though I'm not sure if it was in English or not. It's not something I've ever given any thought about, because once you can restring one doll, the rest aren't usually all that different. The restringing process can seem daunting to someone who has never done it before, but it's really pretty self explanatory if you pay attention to how the doll is put together as you're taking it apart. To me the most difficult part of restringing is just getting everything pulled tight enough if there is no one else here to hold the doll for me -- it's a case were I could use a third hand.

 

Should ABJD companies provide instruction/basic maintenance/information manuals for their dolls and about the dolls themselves under BJD Supplies/Tool/Miscellaneous items?
I think there's enough information about restringing and maintenance on the internet. Also you could just look at your doll and see how it's strung to get the idea of restringing.

For those of you who have these manuals what do you think of them? Were they helpful? Could they be improved? State your opinion on them if you would please.
My ninth and tenth dolls had a manual included. By that time I already knew how to restring dolls and what I could use on them and what not to do to them, but the effort was nice nontheless.
I think it's not that hard without manuals, since it's a hobby that requires people to figure out much for themselves, what goes with them and what is possible in the area they live in, since shops are still not that common.

 

Yes. So many other objects do so why not? If they aren't physically included then they should at least be made avaliable online. Not everyone does extensive research before buying these. Not everyone knows where to start even if they do choose to do it. All my dolls that I have bought directly from the company have had a guide (volks, iplehouse, soom) and only one of the fairyland dolls I got through a dealer had one.

 

Anything condusive to the maintenance of a BJD should be included without question by the BJD producers. I received a pamphlet explaining how to assemble and disassemble the first and thusfar only doll I ordered, and get the doll to assume various poses. I've only ordered one doll directly from the providing company, and as I said, an instruction manual was included. However, the Unoa Lusis faceplate I ordered also included an image depicting how to attach the faceplate to the body.
I agree, the manuals can be extraneous, but not every BJD owner has access to the internet (it's possible they acquired their doll through other means), so relying on the internet for tutorials regarding the assembly, etc. of your doll may not be feasible for some.

 

My DM Kid came with a little manual, which was helpful to some degree. My BBB didn't come with any instructional. I will agree that, for those companies who don't send manuals, there should be a PDF or page on their website where you can see a manual.

I was glad that Volks did this eventually with some of their products. I couldn't understand what some of their products did, and I was especially confused about applying decal eyes. Now, they have a handy tutorial with the steps and materials, so no one has to wonder.

Especially with newer dolls that have slightly different mechanisms, it's important to have something.

I'd never ask for one, specifically (if my doll didn't come with one) because I wouldn't need to. Even though I didn't get a manual with my BBB, there were plenty of BBB doll owners who were able to tell me how they were strung. I think someone even drew a diagram because I'd heard that you'd need to thread the elastic through the hands and feet...

 

1. If you were to purchase a doll from the company and wanted a manual,do you have to specifically ask for one?
And if so, how would you do it? (Via notes, email...?)
I've never had to ask for one but I did receive a restringing manual from SoulDoll when I got my Paris and a
user manual from Fairyland when I got my Chicline Rou.


2. Should ABJD companies provide instruction/basic maintenance/information manuals for their dolls and about
the dolls themselves under BJD Supplies/Tool/Miscellaneous items?
I have been in the hobby for a while and never needed a manual for maintenance any of my dolls in the past.
There is so much information already out there about BJD and in this forum specifically, that I don't think
I would need one about general doll maintenance. Although I believe that with dolls with more modern joint-system
or ones that are engineered vastly different from "common" BJD, then I think for companies to include at least a
restringing manual with their dolls would ideal. Most other toy companies include a manual with their toys even when
it seems unnecessary (*cough*basicBarbie*cough*).I think it would be too much if you actually had to pay for a restringing manual,
again considering most other toy companies include one with their toys regardless of how uncomplicated their product is to assemble/play-with.
.


3. For those of you who have these manuals what do you think of them?Were they helpful?
Could they be improved? State your opinion on them if you would please
The FL CL manual could certainly be improved, while it has good basic information it does not explain how to restring the doll
which to me would have been a lot more useful than the rest of the information included. From what they themselves told me,
it is an ordeal to string their Chicline dolls, so it would have been useful to include a step by step manual with the doll about how
to go about doing that instead of just saying it's so hard even their staff have a hard time. XD I don't see myself restringing my CL
in a while but I can't send him back to FL every time I need him to be restrung – I hate to think about the cost of him going back and forth.
Although most of my other dolls didn't come with a manual and I managed to un/string those, I have to admit I feel a bit intimidated by the way
the Chicline are made – it didn't help that Fairyland affirms how difficult it is to string a CL, yet offer no information on how to go about it
to their clients. ^ ^;;


- Enzyme

 

IMO, if you purchase a "standard" BJD, you can get restringing tutorials otherwise.

But if there are some technical differences, a manual may be very useful. E.g., my Iplehouse SID has some kind of "hip hooks", which I did not know exactly how to resinstall after disassembling her. So the manual was really useful.

 

If you were to purchase a doll from the company and wanted a manual, do you have to specifcally ask for one? And if so, how would you do it? (Via notes, email...?)

I think I've received quite a few from Soom, but really, all dolls are strung roughly the same way, and it's not hard to figure out once it's in your hands, so I haven't even glanced at the manuals?

Should ABJD companies provide instruction/basic maintenance/information manuals for their dolls and about the dolls themselves under BJD Supplies/Tool/Miscellaneous items?

Nah. Post a photo tutorial and link it somewhere obvious on the site. No more problems.

For those of you who have these manuals what do you think of them? Were they helpful? Could they be improved? State your opinion on them if you would please.

They're a waste of paper. Companies should give the option of not receiving them. :\

Stringing dolls is really not difficult at all. It's really not. I never realised there were instruction manuals sent out with dolls, and I never missed them. One of the first things I did when I received my first doll was look at it and then tighten him on the spot. Second doll? Unstring in a shopping centre to change his neck piece with nothing but a length of string. /shrug It's seriously not hard? Who needs manuals?!

 

I've never gotten a manual with any of my dolls... It would only cost some 5 cents in paper so it would help some people.

That said I WISH I had gotten one for MY DOMUYA!!! She has a weird inner piece in her abdomen that she's strung through and she's so damn confusing! Not to mention the company is gone now and there aren't any owner resources for stringing. No one seems to mention it and almost no one owns the doll I do. Assuming that stringing will be easy (that all dolls are alike) or that there will be owners talking about it is not always going to be correct, and a manual would fix that.

 

1. I have bought a fully assembled bjd from Dollmore. I haven't asked for a manual, but I have received one.

2. It is possible to find this information in internet, but it would be nice if abjd companies could provide information manuals for their dolls.

3. My manual is in Korean, but it has many self-explanatory illustrations. There is some useful information about how to restring a doll, how to open its head and change its eyes, how to change its hands, some information about the wigs.

 

Okay So If my doll could come with a manual I would like to know the items below:

1) How to clean them if they get dirty.
2) Quick and easy way for restringing the doll back together again.
3) How to put in eyes with your doll (Half and Full eyes).
4) The size of wig your doll can where and their eye size.
5) Step on how to do a basic face up

I think ABJD companies should provide instruction/basic maintenance/information manual in the doll section. Hopefully tied with the doll. So when you look at a particular doll you see that they have a manual too and vice versa.

None of my dolls came with manuals