Disappointment...

My first and biggest disappointment was with the very first resin BJD I ever fell in love with, it was a pretty cheap sculpt a Resinsoul Lian, but heavily modded and with the cutest faceup and gorgeous freckles all over, pinktezka did such an amazing job on her I was smitten, and best of all she would ship to NZ!
So I bid on her on Ebay, then someone fought me for her, eventually the price went so high, way more than a brand new one would cost, that I couldn't justify bidding any higher and I lost her. The worst part was seeing her up for sale again on ebay a month later with all her lovely freckles removed......and that person who out bid me refused to post her to NZ
I eventually bought a new RS Lian, but it just wasn't the same.... I still feel bummed about that doll when I think about it.

The second thing that was a huge disappointment was the crappy quality of some dolls from the bigger "more popular" companies.
Here's one of the examples and maybe my most disappointing one.

Years ago I saw pictures of Soom Lupin. That broody face, those gentle eyes and Oh....that mouth! I fell for that sculpt but by the time I even knew he existed he was long since sold out. So I did the usual stalking the marketplace etc, but they come up for sale so infrequently I never thought I would ever find one, then by chance I came across a head for sale on ebay and bought it!
When I got the head however I was completely horrified, the resin is sooooo thin in places you can see the light comming through, and where the face/head slots onto the headbase it's so thin it's almost holes, it's so bad I am afraid to handle him in case the paper thin resin breaks.

My third biggest disappointment in this hobby is that May-Yeo doesn't do faceups anymore just when I finally managed to own the dolls I'd love one of her faceups on, she has stopped doing comissions.

 

So I don't have some total heart filled story as some of you have here (I totally feel for all of you ) but I do have one that I'm still a bit upset about.

At the time I wasn't in the market for another doll, I only had one (my first). I was just browsing around on various groups and forums when I stumbled on a beautiful Luts Luwen! My gosh I love him so much, his face up is what got me. Since I didn't have much money and never really do, I bought him without his body. I figured I could always buy one later and just needed to wait a few months to afford one. Unfortunately my financial situation has only worsened (I can still afford necessities, just not doll stuff) His body was a pretty decent price and I should have just got it too. New ones are so expensive and I've grounded myself from looking at second hand sales so my beautiful boy probably won't have a body for years. I did buy him eyes though lol.

 

I had found a second hand doll that was reasonably priced and in good condition, after thinking about it for about a week I decided to order it. Not only was the person very hard to communicate with, but they refused to give me a refund when it never showed up. It really was partially my fault so I can't blame them to much but it overall was a big disappointment and major blow to my wallet.

 

If you can stand it that he is not a resin BJD for a while you could make him a cloth jointed body.
They really are not that difficult to make. You would have to keep him fully clothed, but at least he wouldn't be a floating head anymore.

 

I think I might have become a "lemons to lemonade" kind of person because of this hobby...

I was disappointed with my first doll when I first got him. Then I did an amateur hack-job on his wig and wiped his factory faceup to do my first-ever (also amateur) faceup, and even though he looked a little rough overall, he looked like he was mine and thus started the downward spiral into 34/37 full dolls (plus heads).

I was disappointed with the gorgeous Soom SG I bought; she was beautiful but she didn't work for me, for a number of reasons. But she was purchased brand new, and when I let her go was selling for a premium at a time I really needed some extra money for living expenses, so she helped me out that way.

I was disappointed when I found out a doll I had wishlisted for years had, during my break from the hobby, stopped being offered in the specific resin color I needed. I ended up, some time later, buying the doll secondhand and learning to dye a doll, and her color is wonderful.

I was frustrated and disappointed to no end with the struggle to get one of my MNM character heads. Wrong size sculpt, then the corrected one was never quite as good, then the GO organizer vanished, then when we finally got the heads from her, I didn't like the body I'd gotten, then I found a body I loved but the scale was off... and now the head sculpt is replaced, the MNM head lives as a display piece on a bust stand, and that doll is one of my absolute favorites.

I continue to be disappointed that I miss every single stinkin' wing event item from FairyLand! I adore their event wings, and don't have any of them. So I've decided I'm going to sculpt my own, and find out what it'll cost to get them cast through Haru so I can do a GO or sell some to other wing-hungry doll owners.

I was disappointed with how wrong one sculpt I got was for the character I meant for her. I reshelled a new character into her (and reshelled the character into a new sculpt) and now I have two beautiful girls who fit perfectly.

I was disappointed with the choices on a particular FL event for heads, and was just going to do one with no plans because "well it's kind of cute," until the people I was ordering with asked to have that one. It forced me to take another look at one I'd dismissed, and discover that I'd missed how perfect he actually was for my plans.

I was incredibly disappointed with the secondhand Delf I bought, who was advertised in good shape, and showed up filthy, unevenly yellowed, stained and with "rag doll" stringing. I spent a month on his body, sent his head to a modder for repairs, and now he's another of my favorites and I'd have a really hard time parting with him. (Then I was disappointed I couldn't find the other sculpt I wanted, and someone offered me a damaged head, so they're repair twins now, since the same modder fixed them both up for me.)

It's true that some disappointments are pretty tough to rebound from, and I definitely see some of those around here, but not all of them have to be that way, and even if they seem awful at the time, eventually you might find yourself in an even better place than you were when you were disappointed. You might find that wonderful limited sculpt again, or even one you like more. You might make something wonderful because you missed out on buying it. You might get someone offering you the perfect item at the perfect price. You just never know!

 

I'm still relatively new to the hobby (I got my first BJD a year ago), but most of the disappointments are my own fault. The major one I can think of is my face-up skills. I'm a relatively good artist, so when I started working on my doll's faces, I quickly realized that it's not as easy as it looks. The first face-up that I ever did was on my ResinSoul Mei. It looked terrible, and when I wiped it away yesterday, I found that some of the watercolor pencil had stained the resin. I had not added enough layers of coating before starting the face-up apparently. This really, really upset me to find out.

Editing to add that there was easily an 11 month span between putting the face-up on her and then wiping it away a couple days ago.

 

That's a great idea, I never would have thought of that.

 

While I'd wanted a BJD for many years, this was the first year I was actually able to get one (or at least when I realized that hey, I have a job, that's a thing I can work towards now). So I went looking for what would be my first doll, researching companies and whatnot... And found a doll I loved that had sold out precisely two weeks prior. Had I known about her a little bit sooner, I would have ordered her because the company does layaways so even if I couldn't afford her in full at the time I could still get her.

Still, like many people on this thread, that worked out for the best because as I was saving for a different doll from a different company, the same company from the sold out doll released a sculpt I fell in love with, and through a summer event I was able to get her fullset for roughly the same as the other one I was saving for would have cost bare. I was a bit worried while paying for the layaway that I might have rushed things (found out about that price difference on the last day of the summer event so I had to decide quickly and as she was a new sculpt there were no owner pictures), but she arrived super fast after I finished paying and I fell absolutely in love the second I opened the bag she came in and saw that pretty face. I no longer regret missing out on the first doll, as I love my Rain's face a lot more!

 

Luts even has a cloth body premade. I'd see if someone was doing a GO, get in on that, and save some of the shipping. Here's the link for boy bodies.

Welcome to LUTS - Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD) company

 

I know quite well about marketplace disappointment, everytime I tried to buy a full doll someone was already interested. I'm not someone that emotionnal or anxious (well, I used to be very anxious but I became excellent at controlling and calming down my anxiety), but one case in particular had been definitely hard.
The first one that I missed, and that I regretted the most not to have bought, was my absolute grail doll, that I found here for a very good price, a price I could afford for once. I sent an pm to the seller, spent the next day in absolute stress and joy, but mainly stress as I saw the seller went online a few times but didn't reply to my message. I eventually sent a second pm, panicked to the idea that she maybe didn't receive my first message, and she answered someone else was interested in the doll and she would let me know if the doll sold or not. I didn't heard from her anymore, but as I kept refreshing her sales thread, I saw one day later that the doll was sold, and obviously not to me. I just cried, thing that never happened about dolls ever before, nor after. I had spent three day between extatic joy and serious anxiety, and all that for nothing. I couldn't get my grail doll. I know this happens all the time, but I still feel bitter about all this, since absolutely nothing good came out of it. Even my birthday (because, while I would pay most of it my parents would pay a small part as my birthday present) felt sad because of that. I almost reached an impossible dream and then it all collapsed.
The other ones were not that "bad", I bought one I missed from the company, with another body I liked more, and for the fourth one (not a resin doll) I'll probably buy it in kit, even though this will be more expensive for me.
So, yeah. After all those failed attempts, I feel less and less confident about buying on the marketplace, I always feel that by the time I sent an pm, the doll will obviously be sold to someone else.

 

If there's anything I was ever disappointed about, it was how naive I was when I joined the hobby. Around 5 months ago, I decided I should get a resin doll 'cause Pullips weren't doing justice for me. The first dolls that I liked were from LUTS and they were SD size, meaning I wasn't ready for that price tag as a newbie. I then saw a post on Tumblr saying to get "starter dolls" from a certain list of companies that sold them under $300. Innocent me thought that was a good idea, so I bought a MK Lillian immediately. I just wanted to know what it feels like owning a doll so I didn't give it much thought. That's where I went wrong. Those three months that I've been waiting for her, I kept going back to LUTS' site, looking at the doll I really wanted. It made me a little sad because it wasn't the one I'm getting in the mail. I tried to ignore my feelings and hoped my thoughts would change when I got Lillian. It didn't. Don't get me wrong. She was a cute doll, I just didn't get attached to her like I thought I would. I was so sad the entire week because not only did I buy her, I also impulse bought another MSD to make him her sibling... but that plan fell apart too. That amount of money I splurged on both was enough for me to get my SDF Karis . They both were sold to the MP just a couple of days after I unboxed them, which relieved me a lot! I at least got some of what I paid for, so I finally bought my true to heart first doll; the one I've been admiring longer than the first two I bought. He's gonna be home next week, and even though it took a bit of a longer time for him to get here unlike Lillian, he was worth all the money and wait for me. Nothing beats getting the doll you love with all the hard work you put into it.

To cut the story short, I don't believe in starter dolls. If a doll you absolutely like is $100 or $600, aim for the stars and save up money for it if you can! (Unless you realized it's discontinued, then I can't really give much of an advice ahaha). I felt so awkward pretending I liked something genuinely, and I'm glad that my old dolls found a better and loving home than mine *snorts*. At least I learned a great lesson from this experience

I've never written something so long in this forum, so that was quite a mouthful. I hope I didn't flood the screen lmao.

 

Often it's because US people don't want to ship outside USA
I'm in Canada so I really do not understand why. Asian people ship worldwide and it's not a big deal.
My last disappointment was for a pupu pukifee fp....
the person chose to offer it as a gift with another purchase instead of allow me to buy it (even if I had accepted to take all responsabilites in case of problems).

 

When I as first browsing the hobby I fell in love with a doll. By the time I was able to buy a doll I found out the company didn't even exist anymore! And the doll itself had been a rare model to start with so I will never see that doll in my collection.

I also started crying when I opened my first doll because I had gotten a Volks MSD kit and it was not at all what I was expecting. It was overwhelming, but I eventually got it sorted. I re did her face up a couple times every year too, never satisfied. Finally I sent her off for a faceup and I think she is perfect. Only took like 10 years.

On a happier note, I had two dolls on my wishlist forever. One day I was browsing for a specific doll and found one of theseveral old wishlist dolls for an amazingly low price cause she was damaged/repaired and it was something that didn't bother me at all and is easy to hide. I snatched her up and a short time later I got the doll I had originally been looking for and the seller told me they also had a doll from my wishlist they were getting ready to sell. The price was too low to pass up and now I have two of the dolls I had been wanting for years and both were such great prices! They need a bit of work to get perfect, but honestly most of the dolls I get need work so that's not new.

Sad stuff happens but good stuff happens too!!

 

My disappointment is almost just like others described in this thread. I am new to this hobby and I recently purchased my first SD size. I was very excited about getting him home, after four months. He wasn't exactly my Grail doll but he was very expensive and my family saved some money to get him for me as a Christmas gift. Long story short, I spent the past two months trying to fix his uneven face, his resin is completely uneven on both halves of his head. I understand not bonding or not seeing the character or the doll being unappealing after a short time, but I really wanted to like this doll. I wanted to make him my own and now I'm dealing with a problem that wasn't my fault. I'm still trying to save him but the greatest disappointment for me right now is the let down I feel by the company and the artist that sold me this doll with a promise of a standard that they didn't live up to.

 

Luckily I've not (yet) been disappointed with sculpts I received... they always looked gorgeous to me even when blank.
And thankfully nothing has arrived broken in transit yet either!

I gotta agree with the limited and dolls being sold out though... it's frustrating that you kinda have to expect not being able to get what you want in this hobby. I see a lot of sculpts I like but cannot afford at the time, and when I go back to them a while later thinking "oh right! there was this awesome sculpt I liked before!" then they are long discontinued.

And I'm generally disappointed with SOOM and how they treated me after I spent so much money on one of their dolls. I can't help feeling bitter about how they make so much money (well, their sculpts are great) but then sends dolls with terrible webs/resin between the fingers and toes, ugly seam lines and even dares to be so rude when trying to talk to them about problems.
I'm sure it's other companies too but I cannot help hating how we have to shell out these big sums of money, then wait several months with often poor communication and bad customer service... like... you'd expect companies working with products of such a price category to be more helpful and caring.

 

Some sites I have found with the dolls I wanted appear to have them, there is no "sold out" listed but after the excitement I realize there is no button to add to cart like in some of the other dolls. So that must be their way of saying sold out. Sadness

 

I found the doll on my wishlist selling 2nd hand with an almost 50% lower price.
but it appears that it was sold out on christmas last year

 

I bought a doll second-hand and discovered I had bought the wrong doll when the money had gone . There was no help from the seller as she said the money had already been used. As this doll was discontinued a few years ago, I didn't realise what I was buying (and the seller misunderstood a straight forward question ). If I had known what I was letting myself in for, I wouldn't have bought it. A new head is on its way as the sculpt is not as expected either. All in all, it has put me off buying second-hand dolls. The end cost will make this doll as expensive as a new one. I just hope I'll warm to it at some point.

 

I've been wanting Dollfie Dream Fate T. Harlaown since she came out in 2009.

Every time she comes up for a decent price, I have no money--either I've been jobless (for a while I was a student, and at another point between jobs after getting laid off), or some expense has come up (increase in car insurance once, surgery on my face holes sinuses last summer). Every time I DO have fun money to spend, I only find her marked up by $200+ above recent averages.

The latest time a good price came up? Just applied for my first mortgage. AUGH.

I know that I'll get her EVENTUALLY, but not gonna lie, I'm feeling kind of burnt out on it by now. Next time I have money, I probably WILL fork out the markup just to finally HAVE her and be done with this hunt, because it stopped being fun a while ago.

 

Luts CP Delf Lishe was my grail doll. I fell hopelessly in love with her. I found one on a dealer's website that she was selling from her personal collection. She was beautiful in the pictures and had white skin. No yellowing showed up in the pictures and none was mentioned. When she arrived she was so yellow. Tried bathing her, magic erasure, even soaking her in Polident denture cleaner. Nothing worked. So she has been setting in a box in pieces for about 4 years now. Broke my heart.