Did you grow up with fashion dolls and did it fuel your interest in BJDs?

I was never really interested in fashion dolls (unless they had lots of articulation, like Action Girl who had lots of secret-agent adventures so was less fo a fashion doll thanhappened to be fashion-doll sized) but grew up with lots of dolls, and bears, and stuffies, made porcelain dolls in my teens and have sewn cloth dolls pretty much all my life. Pippa dolls were technically fashion dolls too (half the size of Barbie - marketed as "pocket-sized"), but again I was attracted to her more because of the articulation (jointed knees) that other dolls of the type didn't have back in the 70's - the same with Active Sindy (who was Barbie sized but not waif-thin around the middle and without the manic stepford-wives smile).

Barbie was a bit of a non-runner, for me, she always seemed too pink-and-frilly-in-heels to interest me - Action Girl's default outfit was a jumpsuit and flat-soled ankle boots, so she was ready for action and adventure right out of the box (mine was named after Sabrina Duncan, the character played by Kate Jackson in Charlie's Angels).

I've always liked and played with (rather than actvely collected) dolls. My house was already full of them when BJD's came along and filled that gap in my doll-cravings, that I'd had from an early age, for better articulation in dolls.

When I was around nine (so, 1976 ish) I drew a range of artculated dolls that would be my ideal doll - my "dream doll" as it were. Looking at the pictures now - I'd basically drawn BJDs. They had all the joints and everything. Back then it was based on the ball jointed bodies of antique porcelain headed dolls I'd seen in books and museum collections, and the few jointed plastic or vinyl dolls that were around at the time, of course.

Teddy

 

I had a lot of Barbies growing up as well as some MyScene ones. The Myscene ones were the first time I wanted to collect something but in the intervening years of life and moving I lost most of my childhood toys.

I learnt about BJDs through an old show talking about Japanese stuff when I was 16 and got completely enamoured at the fact they were completely customisiable.

Did end up getting my first BJD at 18 though atm she's not currently with me and due to money issues I never could do much with her.

I started to collect EAH dolls than Rainbow High over the last decade and got back into BJDs because I realised for the money I spent on them, I could buy a resin doll who I could deck out to how I want and have a more emotional bond to.

 

I grew up on Barbie, I was never into baby/child-looking dolls -- I did (still kind if) collect plush toys, cars and model kits. I still own all my childhood Barbie and still collect some lines and other fashion dolls. I never stopped collecting toys and dolls, due to old age.

Having said that, Barbie wasn't what fueled my interest in these dolls. I was already a grown adult when modern BJD became a thing. I learned about these in 2002-2003, due to my bff's collection of Volks fashion doll line called Dollfie. I always wanted to customize my own dolls, but felt intimidated by it, despite my traditional art background. Dollfie were made to be customized, so I felt less like I was going to ruin the dolls (they came blank, but were my preferred non-resin, hard plastic).

I still own all the BJD I ever did, but I lost interest in owning more. My limit was ten a thousand years ago, and now I own seven full dolls (plus too many floating heads). I rather hoard collect anime/Japanese-video game (scale or non-scale, or even better) one-sixth-scale figures, and other mass-produced toys. I don't sell my toys, so...DX

 

The only fashion doll I ever had as a child was a Midge, but she wasn’t purchased until I was 12, had no clothes, and was soon outgrown. But I’d always loved dolls. Sadly, I returned home from school one day to find that all my childhood dolls had been sold without my knowledge! And that was pretty much that. Fast forward to the age of 40, my children were mostly grown, and I was yearning to have dolls in my life again, so I joined a local doll club and began collecting. It was a healthy and happy pursuit…but…I could never really settle on what type of doll I wanted to collect. There was always something that didn’t quite work for me and none of them stuck. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed the process, and I loved researching each type and trying them out from antique, to 50s childhood dolls, to china dolls, to Crissys, to modern fashion dolls. But in the end, I would become disenchanted for whatever reason and sell them off to try something different. It was a fun learning experience to be sure, even though I was never completely satisfied with what I collected. But then someone at the doll club gave a lecture on resin ball jointed dolls and I knew…I mean, within minutes of her opening her mouth, I just knew! That was in August of 2006. I went straight home and joined this “Den of Angels” she spoke of, and I’ve been here everyday since. Today, all these years later, I finally have the perfect doll collection I’ve always longed for.

 

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I actually got into collecting special Barbie dolls and realistic fashion dolls when I was a teenager. Still have some of them. Strangely enough, I disliked Barbie dolls as a child. Go figure.

 

ParlourGoddess, Some of those taller fashion dolls of the 50s/60s seem like a more direct ancestor of bjds! My sister’s Uneeda Dollikin is exactly why I was drawn to bjds! She had so much articulation!! I envied that doll my entire childhood and would sneak into my older sister’s room to pose her. ! I later collected them after she finally gave her Dollikin to me when we were adults.

When bjds first came out, the articulation got my attention. The 19” Uneeda Dollikin set the bar for me as far as the level of articulation the perfect doll would have and bjds were the first dolls to make that a standard feature.

At the time, no other dolls were really articulated aside from the odd, one-off gymnast Barbie. I really think the rise of the bjds in the doll world got a lot of doll companies to make fully articulated bodies a standard feature.

 

I've been thinking the same thing.

Teddy

 

100%, Teddy!!

The Action Girl was one of the 11” versions of Uneeda Dollikin. I believe Action Girl was sold in the UK, while a similar doll, with a different hairstyle was available in the US as just “Dollikin.” I had those when I was a kid! The articulation was where it was at for me!!

As an adult collector, I couldn’t find that level of articulation until bjds.

 

That's right, Action Girl was basically the same as Miss Dollikin except she has side-glancing eyes where Miss Dollikin's are looking forward, and Little Miss Dollikin was the 6" version. I have some of those too, as friends for my Pippa dolls (Pippa was the UK equivalent of the American doll Dawn). I don't think we got the 19 " Dollikin dolls over here, although I have seen one for sale on eBay recently, so some must have made it over.

Interestingly, although I was never a fan of Barbie, the recent diversification of body types, head sculpts and the introduction of much mor earticulation to the range has caught my interest so I now have several of them. Whether I shall play with them as much as I do my BJDs is anybody;s guess, however.

Teddy

 

Teddy, those new Barbies are stunning! But, yeah dolls you pull out of the box and they’re kind of “done” aren’t as much fun as the ones you can play with and customize!

Uneeda made a little Dawn/Pippa doll sized Dollikin! I bought one for my bjds so they could have an “SD” sized doll of their own!!

 

Yes, that's the Little Miss Dollikin I mentioned. Miss Dollikin/Action Girl is 11", Little Miss Dollikin is 6"

Action Girl, Victoria Jane, Marie, Sarah Louise, Little Miss Dollykin (a.k.a. Triki Miki), Mandy, Pete and Tammy.
Action Girl

Teddy

 

Definitely!

I have loved dolls since I was a little kid, started with baby dolls and other little girl dolls, then on to Barbie, American Girl, Bratz, celebrity fashion dolls...pretty much any doll I could get my hands on. But I always longed for more variety in boys besides Ken and the very limited other fashion dolls. Around age 11, I started making cloth boy dolls and painting them with t-shirt paint, first to resemble my celebrity crushes, but then also creating new characters from scratch. At most, I think my sister and I had around 400 fashion dolls and 150 cloth dolls. It was unreal. We actually ended up selling most of those fashion dolls to get our first BJDs! Currently, I have 15 BJDs, one Barbie, one 1/6 scale Nightcrawler, an 18" Babysitters Club Jessi and American Girl Samantha. Everything else has been sold, donated or scrapped at this point. After getting my BJDs, the other dolls just didn't hold my interest anymore.

 

I wasn't a doll kid, more into stuffed animals and small figurines... but my grandmother gifted me a few over the years-- she was an avid collector, she had quite a few Barbies and a couple other fashion dolls, as well as her porcelain dolls and at least one old kewpie.

My middle sister was Thee doll girl, though. She had a wide variety of playline fashion dolls growing up, and my stuffed (and Sylvanian) animals and I were a part of her vast doll world when we were little. I found BJDs through art doll sculptors, and she found them through doll collector circles. I may have discovered them before she showed me the ones she'd fallen in love with, but I probably wouldn't have gotten into collecting if she hadn't been so enthusiastically all in. It felt like the grown-up version of playing with toys like when we were kids.

 

I have always loved dolls. My parents gave me a doll every Christmas growing up. Being the only girl in our extended family, I was the recipient of my Aunt's childhood dolls or anything remotely feminine as their son's weren't interested and my collection grew. I was more interested in making clothes for them than actual play from about age 6 or 7 and that has been my life course. When I went of to college I got rid of all but 3 dolls, my Midge, Chatty Cathy, and a generic 8" plastic doll that my grandmother had crocheted an elaborate gown for from variegated purple cotton yarn with a silver metallic thread.
Fast forward, as an adult I began to collect any doll I liked, making cloth dolls, doll wardrobes, and restoring vintage dolls. In searching for a wig for a doll restoration I can upon resin ball jointed dolls and became obsessed. It took about 2 years before I purchased one.

 

Oh man, I wish I was allowed to play with Barbies growing up! She was forbidden, because my parents thought she would push unrealistic beauty standards on me and my sisters, which I can appreciate now looking back. My mom instead would buy us the occasional porcelain doll off QVC or baby dolls. Maybe that's why I only like dolls that look like kids? But overall, as kids, my sisters and I mostly played with Beanie Babies or Breyer Horses.

 

I have been a barbie girl my whole life. I was getting into building sets and photographing my barbies when I discovered BJD's a little over two years ago. I still love barbies and have a tonne of clothes and shoes and dolls.

 

In my case fashion dolls have been around me from as soon as I can remember and are still the kind of dolls I own the most today and still enjoy. I owned many types but barbie has always been my favourite. It's actually thanks to them (the Fashionistas back in 2009-2010 that I found out about collector dolls : I was following a YouTube back then making little stories with her Fashionistas dolls. One day, in 2012 she started talking about Pullips and even filmed her unboxing and that started it all. She seemed so happy to have her doll that I immediately wanted to know more. From there I discovered other kinds of dolls including BJDs, Anime Dolls and FBJDs. So to me they are definitely the base of my passion for dolls today

 

I had liked fashion dolls as a kid, but I was generally more interested in plushies. As a teen, I discovered one sixth scale action figures and became enamored with the customization and posability aspect. I never actually got into collecting as it's a bit hard to find things that aren't based on tv/movie IPs, and I never felt strongly enough about one to justify the price tag (although I still do have a 1/6 project or two kicking around in my head.)
My interest shifted to bjds pretty smoothly from there!