Did you play with dolls as a child?

Yep! I collected Barbies and American Girls. My best friend got me started on American Girl Dolls, and we both loved them and played with them unfortunately, she doesn't think she would have the time to take care of a BJD properly, so we can't have bjd parties together, but we still have American Girl parties!

 

Yes I did, I had all kinds of dolls: Baby Born, Barbie, MyScene, Bratz, Plushie Doll (rag doll?) etc.
My favorite toys were dolls and plushie toys.

 

I did play with dolls as a kid. I let go of them when I turned 13 thinking that I was too grown for it lol. Nowadays I find it hilarious that I love them all over again.
When i was 2-4 it was mostly barbies, then later at like 9,10, 11 years old I went through a ridiculous Bratz phase.

 

I actually disliked my dolls as a kid, but I really enjoyed the accessories and furniture and things that would come with my Barbies. My friend used to collect Barbies but would never take them out of the box. I was thought it was strange but we ended up playing with my dolls and mine mostly ended up in scientific experiments. Such as: how many balloons would it take to make one float away or how many times one could be launched from a potato cannon and parachute down via shopping bag.

 

I did! I think my favorites were either bratz or teen trends.

 

I love Barbie when I was young, and then i started my love in blythe, then I fell into BJDs cause a friend of mine share this to me and we share all the time.

 

I loved playing with dolls as a child. I loved barbies and baby dolls and paper dolls. When I got pregnant I was so excited to find out I was having a girl, because we could play dolls together. But my daughter was totally NOT into dolls as a toddler. She loved animals instead. She had 30 Care Bears in all different sizes. I made a bunch of barbie clothes during my pregancy and they were never used! So sad. Luckily now that my daughter is 13 she turned me onto BJDs. It's a hobby that we share together. I suppose it was worth the wait!

 

I played with Barbie, Sailor Moon and Diva Stars when I was little. Now they have gone off in other hands.

 

I've collected dolls as long as I can remember-mostly Barbies. I was really shy and socially awkward when I was little, so I had more adventures with my dolls than with other kids my age. I appreciate these experiences all the more now, because they helped me become more imaginative and to think creatively. From a young age (long before I discovered OOAK artists and bjds), I wanted a doll that I could customize and design to my heart's content-eyes, hair, makeup, the whole works. When I found out about bjds, that childhood dream became a reality. I still have most of my Barbies, and occasionally stage photos and play around with them, but my bjds are worlds more important/interesting to me.

 

I played with dolls for as long as I can remember.Barbies mostly I had a house and all the furniture and I would play as if directing a movie. Probly alittle over the top. I like bratz for a while not a lot of baby doll. The most inportant doll for me is my Crissy doll named after my dad. She's an 18in doll which I treated very much like I treat my bjd only then I couldn't make clothes I think I finally put them all away when starting highschool.
Bjds are like the ulimate doll I had seen them toward the end of high-school so I think it just made since for me to get one. Everything about them is like what I would have liked as a child. Now though when I have all my doll stuff out I get nervous for my father inlaw or friends to see. I'm sure ill get over it. Its just hard when people don't understand that dolls can be an intriguing hobby that requires time and hard work. For me its an artistic outlet.

 

I wasn't too fond of dolls either as a child and like you, I had relatives who insisted on buying me dolls.

I think that my interest in BJDs stems mainly from their versatility. I am fond of fashion and dress up and with sds they are versatile enough that you can achieve on a small scale what you may not otherwise be able to do on a human one. You can continually reinvent them and give them personalities and make up backgrounds for them. My aesthetics for bjds lean more on the side of realism. I like the fact that you can alter them in such a way, and in the right settings, to make them look almost believable.

 

...I played with Barbies by beheading them. The heads popped right back on, though?

On the other hand, my sister was perturbed by this...

 

When I was a very small child, I preferred stuffed animals, so my parents gifted me plushie and dolls to my sister. When I was a little older, I played with Barbies and had a great care of them, but I didn't like all the ones with a molded teeth-reavealing smile (and I still don't like them). Another thing I didn't like was the scarcity of brunettes (maybe because I'm a brunette?) and handsome men... Ken was never my ideal man -_-
I had an old shelf in my parent's garage that my father let me use and I transformed it to a rudimentary doll house for my Furga-like dolls (they even have a stable with my Little Pony clones!) and it resembled a lot the actual disposition of my BJD and action figure in my bookshelf... ^_^'

 

When my sister and I were little my parents made us these two big doll houses that filled up a whole wall. We had like 40 Barbies and they were all in families and stuff. We also had a huge collection of My Little Ponies. The ponies and the barbies would have wars. We still have all of them and no one can ever taken them away from me. D:<

 

I always played with dolls of all kinds, and I started collecting barbies and things when I was very young. My mom always taught me the difference between the "play" dolls and the "collectable" ones. As I got older my collection has just evolved to include many types of dolls. I was introduced to bjd's by some friends who also collected reborns and became very fascinated by them because to me they're like a grown-up fashion doll of sorts. I guess I'm just addicted to dolls! Lol

 

I went through fazes with dolls growing up. When I was really young (probably around 2 to 4?) I had two dolls I really loved. One was named Mikey who had a pacifier (that was more like a sword since it was so long and pointy...) and when you took it out of his mouth he would cry. Years later when I found "him" again it turned out "he" was a "she". Really long eyelashes and a pink onesie pajama set. Oh well he was a great doll.
The other was a water baby, the kind that you would fill up with water and she would look and feel more like a real baby.
After that I only really ever played with stuffed animals. I had soooooo many. I had around 70 Beanie Babies and lots more stuffies (mostly cats).
Then, very randomly, when I was 12 for one summer I played with one Barbie I still had kicking around. All I ever did with her was brush and style her hair.
I think what I love about dolls the most is styling them. Either their clothes, hair or customizing their other features.

 

I played with barbies and i still have 2 in boxing..my mom wouldn't let me open them XP

 

Yes!! But my favorite dolls were the ones that bent at the elbows and knees. Like the jointed barbies or my scene dolls. Those were awesome back then.

 

Yes, I religiously played with dolls when I was little. Ironically I was always really annoyed when they couldn't move their joints. So the BJD hobby is basically a childhood dream come true!

 

While I had some dolls as a child they weren't my prefered toys. I much more enjoyed my plastic dinosaurs, stuffed animals, trucks & playing army. So to become a dollaholic as an adult came out of almost nowhere. I had bought some doll-like Christmas ornaments & when it came time to put them away, I really missed them. So I started looking for dolls that were similar. At the time I was dealing in general line antiques & it finally hit me that there must be antique dolls too. So I started to look for those & was amazed by their beauty. For quite a while I only collected those then decided I wanted dolls I could play with so onto fashion dolls & artist dolls & finally BJDs who turned out to be the most "playable" of all. Now most of the others are gone & only the BJDs plus a few OT dolls remain.