Do you ever just miss the chance to purchase a doll?

UGH I litterally just did with the Dream Valley Halloween event. I'm sad I missed it but I just couldn't afford it

 

The last "temporarily" discontinued heads still haven't come back and probably never will; while MNFs in general are popular, some of the heads aren't, which is why there's somewhat of a rush to get orders in. As for the CoA, FairyLand didn't use them until only a few years ago. My oldest MNF doesn't have one at all, and event heads likewise don't have them. A CoA is just a piece of paper, anyway, that's easy to duplicate. There's other ways to tell if a doll is legit or not.

With it being in a separate account, it really helps with impulses, because it's not as easy as "okay, spend it!" It has to be transferred back to my main account first, which slows me down a bit (the transfer time is within the payment period for most orders, and the rest I wait until the transfer is complete). Much harder to say "ooh but I like this thing I wasn't originally saving for."

 

That's good to know. I was under the impression that any legit doll would have had a COA at one point or another, so it's helpful to understand that's not as big of a red flag as I thought.

Do you know of any resources for how to tell if dolls are legit? I have seen some discussion of the head plates of course, but determining the look of head plate fit in a head I'm not familiar with still feels subjective

I keep looking for a "quick" reference (more, a guide with all known info about how to tell what dolls are legit vs not that can be searched easily), but haven't found too much out there other than kind of asking around each time. Maybe I'll try to put together info I find over time! It would be beneficial in a discussion like this, since so many people seem to be interested in dolls that they missed and would only then be able to seek out secondhand....

 

It varies from doll to doll, and from recaster to recaster, but a good starting point would be this article in the Wiki: https://denofangels.com/doawiki/index.php?title=Information_about_recast_BJDs

Other options are to post in Ask the Moderators (not anywhere else here!) to ask for help there, and to trust your gut--if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. With experience, you'll start being better able to spot the signs of a recast (keyword spam, "new from China," missing sculpt names, etc), but CoAs (which still not all dolls necessarily have) and head plates (which are also something only some dolls have, with less frequency than CoAs) aren't a reliable way to tell. It's tricky, but you'll get better with time.

 

I totally regret not getting Aengdu from Luts during the summer event as I changed my mind last minute and I got Kale instead. (Which I do not regret at all I just wish I could have afforded both.) So I guess I will have to try the second hand market but I am super nervous about it . And even then I am pretty sure I won't be able to find the skin tone I wanted (tan) and I do not believe she was a very popular sculpt in general.

 

A rare doll I like once in a long while pops up but I just can't afford the second hand prices. Fortunately I have my ultimate doll that was not difficult to get nor expensive. I will be making my doll plans around him.

 

I did miss the chance to purchase two dolls, and one head sculpt. The first doll, I was still in college and he was a bit expensive -- it was the "sleepy-eyed" version of my first BJD love, and a sculpt I adore and cherish in my collection. The sleepy eyed version was called Haughty Paris, but SoulDoll didn't sell heads separately back then. I wasn't able to afford the whole doll, and SD discontinued the doll shortly after its short release. I did try to find a split partner, but SD was never that popular, so I wasn't able to get the sleepy eyed version of Paris. Later, I learned another doll I owned was being discontinued, and once again the creator of the doll didn't sell heads separately. He was the most expensive doll I ever purchased, but had been greatly reduced by the. However, I was still in college and couldn't justify close to $600 for another doll of the same exact kind just so I could have an unmodified version. The last doll, or head I missed was the DollZone Mo-Wen, which I also own, but modified like the second sculpt I missed. I however had been absent from any BJD related forums and news, so I didn't know he was being discontinued. I would have been able to afford the sculpt, because DZ did sell his head separately, I just didn't know. All of them were super frustrating, but the DZ was even more so, because I had the funds, I just missed the chance. DX

 

Nabarro Wally is one head I wish I had known about sooner. It's very rare, Nabarro doesn't do re-releases, and I have seen people offering to pay $300-$1000 for a Nabarro head! Fortunately, Wally isn't my The One. Like I would have liked to get him but I'm not so in love with him that he is my Holy Grail.

Anna-Queen Laya was one I missed, but Anna-Queen did a v.2 of the sculpt which I did pick up.

I didn't miss it in terms of the doll no longer being available, but I am full of deep regret that I didn't get the closed eye version of David Kuncci back when Dollshe had a short wait time when I got the rest of my David Kuncci. =_= I'm so annoyed waiting for this head and the resin tones have changed so it might not even match my doll and I just got a bad taste in my mouth overall about Dollshe. Great sculptor, world's worst logistics guy....

 

Ugh I did it again!! I was seriously considering a Peakswoods boy from their sale. I’d been eyeing several of them, and I would have been happy with any. Yesterday there were a lot still available. Today, every one of the dolls are sold out. I’m probably going to seriously regret missing the sale. I’ve wanted a PW boy low-key for years.

 

I regret not buying a Fifth Motif Venitu before the sculpt was discontinued but hope to get one secondhand eventually. I always intended to buy a Miracle Doll SD Jing sculpt but suddenly they were gone! Luckily I’ve just bought a Jing head secondhand and it should arrive soon.

 

Literally all the time.

 

I absolutely share your view here. I need the time to think about sculpts and whenever I can justify having it as a character or not. I do not have tons of storage/display space for larger dolls so I have to really limit my selection. I also collect a few smaller offtopic dolls for display so that gives me less to collect. There is also a matter of being overwhelmed with stuff. So I really need to take it slow.

Two times I have impulsed bought dolls. My first was a Soom MD and I no way regret it. He will stay for forever in my life. The second was in this year! it was also instant love because of her elf ears and her size. So I am excited to experience if I did the right choice again xD

I once had a teenie gem soom Ai fullset, I regret selling her but back then I needed the money to pay rent. I was in a very low place with anxiety and depression, so I needed to get quick money (it was on a different forum in my country). Now that I go back to Soom, I can see they have released her again! and I´m like 3 years late! damn.. I believe I also missed a good change to buy a Unoa lusis which has also been on my wish list for many years.

 

Some dolls I get the buy it now spark immediately, but then there are a few I like, but figure I’ll get it one day as it’s not a limited. Then the company goes and stops making the doll with no chance of ordering one!

This happened with Fairyland and their Pukipuki, and Realpuki. I had always intended to get one of each, but kept putting it off for other dolls. Then FL stopped making them for? No one knew! The secondhand prices were steep if you could even find one. Then last year, FL did a special release of Pukipuki Pong (grail) and Realfee Obi. I have both and count myself fortunate.

 

I recently found out about Angelogue dolls and headed to their Instagram, only to find out they're made by a Korean indie artist and only accepts limited pre-orders for each upcoming sculpt so I missed the opportunity to purchase Eunice unless the artist decides to make another batch.

 

I like realistic looking fashion BJDs. YES, I lost my chance all the time purchasing the doll I want, due to not having done enough research, too much hesitation or just being unlucky.

But one doll I miss big is one from the Phoenix Doll, whose makers are a mother and son team from the UK.

I have been following a doll for half a year and planned to buy close to Christmas 2020. Unfortunately Phoenix Doll closes their business in Spring. .. until this day I am still not sure if that is permeant though I really hope it's just temporary.

 

Back in 2015 when I first saw a bjd I wanted to buy it so bad but it was just too much money

 

As far as I can remember, I was never unaware of or forgot a preorder for something I really liked. But I have missed my chance due to it just being a bad timing a few times. When BJDivas suddenly dropped the last preorder for Venitu out of the blue (in 2017 I recall) I was a minor and had just spent my savings on another doll preorder, my first SD doll. Venitu was my ultimate grail, and if I could, I would have cancelled that other doll order right away and bought Venitu with the money. I scraped up what little I was able to get elsewhere, sold some stuff from another hobby, and managed to convince my dad to let me use his PayPal to buy a head only. I still have him, and happy ending, he has a body now.

I wasn't able to take part in a bunch of other preorders I would have wanted to, either, mostly during my time of being underage and not having a steady income. I know my parents would never have let me start a layaway on a doll, and to be honest the idea of taking a layaway to buy dolls still makes me personally feel uncomfortable, so it was what it was. These days, even if I am still in university's final year, I'm lucky to have a steady enough income that if there is a doll release I want badly enough, there's no chance I could not afford it if I wanted to. Nowadays all of the times that I miss a preorder are when I just don't feel like the doll is worth the money and wait in the end. Usually if I don't buy a doll I am on the edge about, my excitement dies out in a couple of weeks after the preorder ends and I notice I would not really even have wanted to buy it. I can say I regret the decision to buy a lot more often than the decision not to buy.

As for the second hand sales, I cannot even count all the times I missed a sale simply because someone else was faster. I am in a completely different time zone than most of the folks in US for example, so when they list their sales, I am usually snoring in my bed happily unaware lol. But luckily, it was never the biggest grails that slipped past me this way, that would have stung.

 

Unfortunately, for different reasons it happened quite often and some of that fails turned into grails like missed Pathos'Tale Pan Faun. I'm deeply in love with this girl from the very beginning. When her brand opened preorder my choose in dolls fully depended from my mother's agreement or disagreement as my parents payed for them. So mom wasn't sure enough about faun because she doesn't like fantasy dolls and I missed it. Now I deeply regret about it and want to find this creature one day and create her promo look

 

Feel that. I really regret that I haven’t started collect earlier because I feel like all the sculpts I really like where sold ten years ago but at that time I was like 12 and couldn’t afford them of course.

 

Definitely. I mainly collect dolls from 5 Star Doll. They don't add new dolls very often, but I have really been wanting another SD from them, as I love their bodies as well as everything else about them.
A year ago all of their SD size sculpts had been discontinued except one. I wanted to get him, but did not have the money at the time. The next time I looked, he was gone.
I email them at least every other week begging them to issue more dolls, but never get a reply.