Do you sometimes miss your favourite BJD owners?

I honestly miss the people I used to go to meetups with. I used to have such fun going to them, but after awhile things just... shifted. I won't go into personal details butt I just wound up not going anymore altogether. I don't know if that group still meets up or not, I'd love to attend again, at least one more time and see who's still coming around.

I don't remember anyone's users it's been that long.

 

Before I got into bjds, there was one Youtuber that I really enjoyed watching. Her dolls made me happy and she as a person also made me happy. I never really commented on her videos but I felt that when she talked about her dolls, she really enjoyed bjds. A little while ago, she said she was quitting the hobby which broke my heart. I was really sad and I really loved and still love her dolls. Her dolls were so unique and they were different from what I always saw. She also gave so many tips to newbies and she was and still is very kind! I just really miss her doll videos.

 

I think I know exactly who you’re talking about and I feel the same exact way!

 

It does make me sad when someone I really like leaves the hobby, but I recognize that for whatever reason, that was just the best decision for them. I still get sad when a Swandzz video comes up and I see Wren, Eddie, and Azu together again. I was really invested in their friendship. I know it’s silly, but it makes me sad that they’ll probably never see each other again.

 

Wait, I just wanted to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. But has Swandzz quit the hobby? I really liked her body review videos, and her dolls were really nice too):

 

Yeah, she made a video about it she still has a couple of dolls (Azu and Ashure I believe) but she’s not actively in the hobby, which sucks because she was my favorite doll youtuber! Such a bummer, but I respect her choices and reasons obviously!

 

Aww, that's so sad. I'm going to miss her and her dolls. Her enthusiasm for the hobby was really infectious! Thank you for the update on her! It's sad to see her leave, but I hope she will continue to be happy with her new endeavors!

 

I have one such person I followed on DeviantArt back in 2008. I don't remember the name of the person but I do remember the doll (even if I never actually knew the sculpt). I lost track of the person over the years and I can't find them again. But that doll was the one that got me interested in the hobby and what gave me the push to get one of my own.
Other than that one person, I haven't followed specific owners. Now I really want to find that doll again... I think those DA posts have been removed though

 

I noticed a decrease of YouTube hobby people since the trademark issue and slowly before that. I think the monster high customizing craze also diminished bjd crafting on YouTube. I miss some of those famous ones in the hobby. I learned a lot from watching some of my favorites.

 

My friend Iris first introduced me into the BJD hobby. She has never been that active in the community, and only owns two dolls, but she is very passionate about the hobby nonetheless.
We lost contact after she graduated high school 2 years ago. I finally added her on FB just a few weeks ago, and found out that she has sold her dolls and left the hobby. She said that she cannot afford it, and does not have enough time to look after her dolls.
I was very sad to see her go, as she is the one who got me into the hobby in the first place. Without her, I wouldn't have known what BJD is!
I don't know if this is what the thread is asking about, but I really miss my friend. ; A ;

 

Yeah I miss one of my favorite BJD youtubers, but she sort of seems like she fell out of the hobby. She’s taking on other endeavors which I’m happy about but her dolls were what I really loved about her channel

 

I met a lot of folks through meetups that I miss, have and had a lot of good friends through it all. Many dropped out of the hobby eventually for a variety of reasons, or at least the social sides of it. Another many prefer smaller, private forums or various social media sites or the like for most of their doll related posting, so I don't see them as much here or feel like I'm having as much discourse (Instagram heavily feels like a way to post things and avoid talking to me, but eh).
There's a lot of folks in general I miss seeing around, but I definitely miss a lot of the people I've met through meetups.

 

Oh my gosh, yes, I so miss several doll owners who have disappeared out of nowhere or some who left the hobby because they're happier that way, some of these people have even deleted their past content so I can't even look back and be nostalgic or be inspired. There were some doll youtubers/flickr owners/etc where if I watched a video or saw their photos I'd feel excited and motivated to do doll stuff, and I find that there just aren't people like that these days in the hobby. What's funny is that some of these people their content is so old they didn't really do anything special with their dolls what with the kind of access we have now to creative means, but there was something about how they expressed themselves through the dolls that made it age well.

 

Yes!
I started the hobby in 2008 and as I didn't have a BJD I really enjoyed looking at other people's dolls on here and other smaller forums.
Lots of the people who's dolls I loved have stopped being active in the hobby and sometimes I wonder what they're up to and what their dolls are like today.

 

Definitely! I fell out of the hobby for about 10 years and only just came back in August last year. To see how much it changed in those years was pretty mind boggling, as well as trying to track down some owners I used to admire so much.

I remember people by their dolls I fall in love with, and one of my favourite owners whom I still look up to owns the Dollshe Bermann I fell in love with back in the mid-2000s. When I came back, I realised that she was not as active anymore, but managed to track her down on Instagram. She briefly posted for awhile a few months back but has since stopped again.. Sometimes real life just happens, I guess, but I was lucky enough message her for a bit to tell her how much I love and missed her crew She remembered me too, which was soooo nice...

 

Yeah. I very missing Swandzz and her crew. Especially Eddie. I learned very lot from her videos. She had a nice light hearted personality. She was great inspiration.

 

Oh, definitely! I really enjoyed watching Swandzz, too. She was so open and welcoming to newcomers, and she had such great advice and tutorials. Her dolls always looked so cool, as well. Some of her old BJD videos seem to still be up on YouTube, like the sculpting 101.

Quite a few of the YouTube crew seem to have dwindled away lately. Probably because of the new guidelines that hinder a lot of the doll community from posting, just because their algorithm targets toys. They don't get promoted on the front page, and people don't get notifications of videos. They can't communicate in the comments, as they're automatically turned off.

It's a big buzzkill to the community. Thanks a lot, YouTube... Really, thanks.

 

In the years I have been in the hobby, I really enjoyed watching YouTube videos. Lately, I noticed that there are not many people who do more - how shall I put it - more advanced or serious BJD videos. E.g., I really enjoyed Swandzz' videos, I followed her process from being a newbie to her beginnings as a sculptor - and then she stopped with BJDs. Sure I understand she is an artist and BJDs were simply just one way of expressing for her. But still...

But there were also several DoA members whose contributions I did enjoy a lot. But I learnt the hard way that real life simply gets in the way. I also took a rather long break. Since my mum got so ill, I slowly lost all energy. So I also lost track of DoA. Sometimes, getting back is also a bit of a struggle.

That's just how things go sometimes. Maybe for some people who do amazing things, the pressure and the expectations we have get too much for them? Even if we do not mean it at all like that. We want to encourage and motivate them. The difficult thing is, people may take that very differently.

 

I took 3yrs out after, I guess, something of a hobby burnout. I immersed myself in all that I could without doing all that much for my first guy, and I just fizzled out. I came back about 4yrs ago, and I've taken my time coming back. I still end up taking a month or two here and there. To prevent that old burnout again.

But, a lot had changed in just those 3yrs. So many of the acquaintances I had made had left or taken a step back from public sharing. Many of those I had watched on YouTube, for advice and a sense of community, had fallen quiet or out of the hobby. Platforms had altered in popularity; e.g. Instagram took over from Tumblr, and Facebook had gained a bigger presence. DoA was different, too. I had pretty much left everything, ignoring it all, and so I have to build it back up now.

I even sometimes wonder, very occasionally, if people miss my old Tumblr [I've forgotten the name of it now] or my first guy [a Ringdoll Sol I called Alex].

 

Yes, life goes on and sadly people move onto other things. It happens, and there’s nothing to do but wish them well and happily hold onto our nostalgic memories. I’ve been here on Den of Angels since 2006, and things and people are always changing it seems...but every experience has enhanced my life and for that, I thank all of our members, present and past. One person I really miss is DenaliWind. She also had a YouTube channel, and I absolutely adored her videos. Her dolls all had such amazing and unique characters, they seemed so alive. And the worlds she created for them were so rich, they were utterly inspiring when she would talk about them. My life, my own collection, and my heart was definitely enriched by this amazingly creative person. Myliex, Goat, Kapu and Jane will live on in my happy memories forever!