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Did you see a doll in person before buying it?

Oct 4, 2017

    1. I did that with my first 2 dolls and since they never disappointed me I also started buying online :drool
       
    2. For me it's the other way around. I tend to buy my dolls from the pictures online, but in the past I have visited a BJD store a couple of times and ended up coming away with an extra (unplanned) doll.
       
    3. Yes I saw some at a convention several years ago which started my curiosity.
       
    4. Luckily I live really close to DDE so I dropped by for both of my girls, asked if I could see them before purchase, and then bought them and haven't regretted it since.
       
    5. I only saw photos on the website before I bought the dolls.
       
    6. I had never seen one in person before i got one! But i did watch a lot of reviews/box openings/general doll vidoes which just fueled my need for one of those gorgeous BJDs LOL
       
    7. Yes

      I have a sister that has a big collection of ball joint dolls maybe around 150 or more

      I did not like them. I did not think of them because they looked very expensive with their big dresses and hats and I thought it looked fragile. I do not like fragile things because I do not want to ruin them with my mistakes. Also I never think dolls were fun, I did not even have action figures as a child because my father saw them as dolls also, he was a little bit strict haha

      I did not think of getting one until I saw a kit, unassembled with blank face and then after I saw the ball joints it was really cool to me, the hair was a wig, and the eyes were changeable and the face can be painted in my expression, its very interesting. it was a blank canvas and I see there is no certain look a doll has to look, no mistakes.

      After that I check online and see people with the OC and the profiles so in depth, it was like a create a character and that appealed to me very much

      It is a lot different than what I thought of them, also after handling one, I 100% wanted one
       
    8. I also never had the chance to see a BJD in real live before purchasing my first one. I always thaught that they looked so wonderful on pictures and I really wanted to own one myself, but I was scared by the high prices and so it took me quite a while to finally make a move on buying my first BJD. And since I knew that it had to be a doll around 70cm, I was absolutely overwhelmed, when it finally arrived here. I think I just kept on staring on it for about half an hour and could not believe how amazing it is. Never regretted to blindly jump into the hobby, especially now when my dream-doll is nearly finished (Although I never thought about hybriding in the beginning it turned out to be perfect for me XD)
       
    9. Nope! I grew up in a small town in northern Minnesota and I think the closest meetups at the time were in the twin cities and young Z wasn't nearly confident enough to make a 4-5 hour drive into a large metropolitan area.

      I was certainly surprised at just how big an SD sized doll was when I got my first one though. Even taking out a measuring tape and holding it up to my leg at about the 60cm height mark just couldn't prepare me for the sheer size and weight of a 1/3 scale doll.
       
    10. To this day I have never seen other BJD's in person. I have been to anime cons a bunch but have never seen sellers or owners there. I've been friends with a girl my boyfriend worked with for a few years and we want to take pics soon. It'll be nice to see someone else's dolls for once. :whee:
       
    11. I personally couldn't justify buying as SD without personally experiencing how big they are, and once I did get the chance to hold one I was glad that I'd waited. :eek: It's hard to tell from pictures how big they are, and I found the huge size really creepy. And not in a good way, lol

      As for specific dolls, no. I wish I could make it to Denver and take a look at the DC Jason DDE has in stock, but I live too far away.
       
    12. Nop, I have to buy it to actually see it.
       
    13. Never, can't even see a doll in real life T. T
       
    14. Prior to buying my doll, I'd never actually seen one in person, just in pictures. I've never had any doll friends, and I couldn't find any meet ups around me, so I jumped into the hobby blind, so to speak.
       
    15. Nope, I bought all my dolls without being able to see them in person beforehand. But all the pictures online and browsing doa has helped me a lot to identify which companies and sculpts I like the most.
       
    16. Only ones I bought second hand from a friend and at a doll convention.
       
    17. When I first joined the hobby I was (am, up to this day) pretty much the only one here, so it wasnt after years 'cause I became a faceup artist that I got to see other dolls in real life :sweat all the dolls I've bought I've only seen them through pictures. :kitty2
       
    18. Usually, I have to go by the photos I can find online, but I have purchased a doll or two at meet-ups, and once I did a local doll trade in which we were both able to check out the other doll before fully agreeing to trade. On another occasion, I was able to see a doll that was from the same company I was planning to order from (thus had the same body). I find it helpful but not necessary.

      There are a couple of dolls I wish I had been able to see before I bought them, but overall, I've done well with looking at owner photos and reading reviews.
       
    19. I saw two different dolls from a distance at the renfaire I work at. But at the time I just shrugged and went "dolls"
      I didn't come across them again until years later, doing a photo search for something entirely different. It Was like falling down a rabbit hole. It wasn't until this question that I even remember seeing those to dolls.
      So without handling or seeing any doll in person I bought my first doll from mint on card online. I was shocked at how big and heavy sd boys were :)
       
    20. Yes, my first doll SDMidi Mako and that's only because I bought her straight out of the Volks store which I went to last year in order to pick out a doll for my b-day present.