First Doll: How much planning went into it? Plan success or foiled plan?

I am still planning for my first doll. Fell in love with the Yoendu mold of CH. Only problem was I have been putting it off because CH is having sort of a bad rep streak for the last few months. That and the fact that I am broke and saving money.

 

I think my doll was sort of an impulse buy as well, but not quite. Lol.
I had the money, so I bought her. But this was like 3yrs from when I first saw one. And after so long, I found a doll I really, really loved and wanted! So, once I had the money to get her, I bought her. Without any planning. Lol. She had no clothes for like weeks. XDD

 

I'd wanted a BJD for a while, but never thought I would let myself spend that much money on a doll. I used to collect Pullips and My Little Pony, and one day I thought, well I can sell some of those to buy a BJD, kinda like swapping one collectable for another But I was still unsure about spending more than £100, so I only looked at cheaper brand MSD size. I knew I wanted a girl, and my AOD Rao was the only girl in my price range who I liked the look of. That was all the planning. Even though she's not something I would buy now, I'm glad I started out with her, it gave me time to get into the hobby without committing myself with a huge purchase straight away. Then my second purchase was a complete impluse, a good deal on ebay that I just went and bid on without thinking too much lol. He's now my fav boy!

 

Not much planning went into me buying my Mimi. I had just recently found an interest in BJD after seeing my friend's Soom Beryl in person. I didn't have a character, name, personality, nothing. I bought Mimi because I thought she was adorkable.

When she got here, it was a total surprise how well I bonded with her. At the time I didn't even know what I was doing was "bonding", not until my friend got me to join DOA and I saw so many people doing the same thing. I was like "oh, so this is normal? xD..."

When she arrived here, I had absolutely nothing for her to wear. No wigs or eyes, either. I was waiting to buy them for after she arrived, and I'm glad I did.

But it was definitely a success story.

 

A TON of research. I swear I looked at every single head available at the time.
Due to financial considerations, I settled on a BF Kyle. Showed him to my husband, who instantly and emphatically declared NO, NEVER.
He was so mean and nasty about it, that it was months before I seriously looked again.
I stumbled upon the IpleHouse boy body shots while at work one day, and it was instant love. Enough so, that I went over my husband's protestations and bought my Soo Ri three days before finally breaking down and telling my husband about it.

I scoured the market for the perfect wig, and finally found the perfect eyes later on... he's an utter joy, and I love him as much now, nearly three years later, as I did that first day. Total success, I'd say.

 

Let's see, here's the story: Around this time last year, my friend Kchan_teh_great introduced me to BJDs, and when I first got into them, I was only really interested in the antro dolls, namely the Pipos. I had yet to see a human doll that I liked. Then, one day, as I was poking around the Luts website, I came across their KDF boy TTORI. I fell in love with him immediately, and decided that someday, I would buy that doll. This past semester, my parents promised me that if I pulled up my GPA up a certain amount, then they would buy me the TTORI. I worked and studied my butt off all semester. I even pinned a picture of the doll on my bulletin board over my desk in my dorm to motivate me. Well, my GPA was a little short of my goal, but I didn't give up. I had the money saved up to buy the TTORI, so I went and talked to my parents about buying him, and finally, after a year of being in the hobby and wishing for this BJD, Dad and I sat down and ordered him last night.

So, yeah. My first plan to get the doll kinda failed, but my second plan was a success, and I can't wait 'til he gets here.

 

My first doll was semi-planned. I was just looking for an inexpensive BJD, so I went for a Bobobie because I wasn't about to pay more than $200 for a doll. Since I didn't buy her because I was in love with her... I only liked her for about a week. Now, somehow, as weeks have passed... I've sold the Bobobie and spent SO much money on dollies I actually like and I couldn't be happier
My first one got the BJD ball rolling, and it helped me figure out what I ACTUALLY like in a doll (so far from anything Bobobie!).
I think planning and looking around first might have been a better idea!
Part of me just wants me to refer to my first dolly I bought and loved as my first doll... but I guess I can't

 

My first [and only at the moment!] BJD was definitely an impulse buy. I collect Taeyangs & Pullips so of course I'd thought about getting a BJD, but never really looked into it very seriously. When I had thought about it before, I always thought I'd just get a boy if I ever got a BJD, since I mostly buy boy dolls. But then my friend mentioned she might be selling her AOD Zi Yuan and.. when I saw her, I had to have her! So no real planning went into it, but I never even thought about getting a girl BJD before that moment. But I'm very glad I did! I love her.

 

Antaliya was really just an impulse buy, of course so was Amadeo, guess that's just how I roll.
With my first doll I was really only looking at the Luts site. I fell in love with the miniFee Marcia, and I really wanted to get her. Then the miniFees were switched over to FairyLand of course, and when I tried to buy her, my credit card was declined. 1. I can't purchase over $500 worth of stuff in a day 2. For some odd reason the credit company thought FairyLand was in Singapore...
Anyway, so I had to stop and ponder a way to buy my beloved Marcia, but then Luts announced that they could take Paypal, so I ended up ordering my other beloved, Lishe, who turned out to be much bigger than I had anticipated.

 

I'm still in the planning stage. For over a year now I've been planning to buy a Luts Moon, but I got laid off and had financial problems. Now that I'm working again, I'm ready to buy my first doll -- but I'm really torn because I'm seeing pictures of other dolls that I like even more than Moon. This is such a big investment that I want to make sure that my first doll is going to be the one I truly want.

Right now I'm spending a lot of time looking through the galleries and searching the net for pictures of various dolls with different face ups and customizations so that I get a better idea of what all these dolls look like.

 

My friend bought her first doll and she showed her DOC Bee-a to me. That was a couple of years ago. When I saw her, it was too cute to resist. In the end I went with a DOC Tender Yen. I ordered him together with a set of clothes, wig, shoes and extra eyes, so he will be completed when he arrives.

Throughout my waiting time, I did a look out for more doll items that look useful and add them to my collection.

 

I have been sculpting dolls from polymer clay and went to newsagent to buy a new doll mag to get some ideas,and found HAUTE DOLL i saw BJD and fell in love. From that day on I started by more and more books even on how to make my own...all in japenese that i couldnt read,but loved the pictures. After 2 years i decided I HAVE TO HAVE ONE. So I set off making up my dolls and selling away till i have enough to bu a 1/4 msd didnt care what sort,just wanted a AOD and a girl. I planned her to have red hair and green eyes and would dress her alice in wonderland type /punk goth costume. I found one ,she was blank but had eyes.The day she arrived i just sat and starred and thought,how on earth am i going to get the head off ? how do you paint the face? what do you use?
so it was back to net and read everything i could find. I now have the most gorgeous red haired girl named ARIEL,her costume is on it way and I love her to death!

 

My first SD sized doll also came about because of Junkyspot. Previously I just had Dollfies... the 27 cm kind. They were shut away in a box because I lost interest in making them into characters. Anyway... Yaoicon 2008 I happened by the Junkyspot booth. I had seen them before because they're usually at Fanime with a huge pile of Obitsus. I really started looking at the Sprite BBBs. They weren't THAT expensive... in fact they were only like $120. I'd always seen dolls on ebay for 5 times that amount! So I took a business card.

I was looking for a cheaper BJD to make and sell clothes for Artist Alleys I have booths for. I checked out Junkyspot and found BBBs! I fell in love with BBB Weylin and he wasn't that expensive... He was my first big doll. He was soon followed by a mature body BBB Sprite (Neela) and a BBB Elena (Pualani). I'm aiming for having both genders in both MSD and SD sizes to make pattern drafting easier. But when I first ordered my Weylin (his name is Julian), I looked at every single doll on the site and kept my browser page open for days with him in the shopping cart. Finally I thought... "I may as well do this... I need a model to make clothes for" and pressed the button.

Besides my models I also have 3 Hujoos (2 female Claudia and Clarissa, 1 male Ian), 1 BBB Isabella (green... bought her at Fanime 2009, same as the OP, named Elphaba). I also recently bought a hornless BBB Nissa from a fellow doll person (no name yet). My first doll I bought without pattern drafting reasoning was another female MSD... a BBB Ariel, exclusive to Junkyspot (Evangeline). Plus I have a whole bunch of obitsus. And I really want my MSD male to be a BBB An.

 

I was bitten by the first Haute Doll Dollfie issue a few years back and thought 'I HAVE to get a Volks' because according to Volks all other companies dols are knock offs and I was scared to buy cheap crap that would fall apart. I wasn't even aware there WERE other companies- although I think there were only 2 at the time CP and CH.What I REALLY wanted was an FCS doll but you could only get them in Japan. Then I thought, I like Kun from the magazine. The later that year I went to the doll panel/meet at San Diego comicon and saw Delf El and Lishe! I decided Lishe was the girl for me! I had a friend of mine help me buy her from the Luts website and she came in a decent amount of time.

 

In 03 or 04 a friend got a Volks limited doll and I thought it was pretty neat. Then I met up with her later on in 04 and she had the doll with her and I thought it was the COOLEST thing ever. I had thought about getting one from the time I first saw pictures of it, but I had pretty limited options at the time because I was studying abroad (noooo money) and my mom would get any credit card statements.

I did think long and hard about it for a couple of months and went with a standard MSD from Volks. She's no longer available, so I'm glad I did get her when I did.

I'm the sort of person who gets really obsessed with some idea for a few weeks and will really PINE for something for that period of time but if I use self control and let it stew instead of indulging, the feeling can easily go away. When I go clothes shopping I can pick up a garment, try it on (hey it looks nice, I should buy it), carry it around the store for about 20 minutes and then put it back because I can't justify buying it. I don't like to make impulse purchases. The only doll of mine that was sort of an impulse buy was my SD Mark, and even he was a well-thought-out impulse. As in, I had wanted him since he was first released and did a sort of, "Well, I want a boy and I have the money so why not?" thing. The only thing I really buy on impulse is ... gum. I plan and weigh just about everything else.

And right now between the Luts summer event, Soom's MD, and the Volks after event, I've had to do a LOT of weighing and planning. Hopefully I'm making the right decisions!

 

lol I wanted one for a year or so before I managed to get my first :3

I tried to go on websites like DOD and DM but I had no idea what makeup, body blushing or body sanding was meant to be XD

So I went on Ebay and looked for premade BJD being sold UK
and I came across my Sweet Wind Memory Asha and the bidding was ending in a matter of minutes!
The pictures were so beautiful that I took the chance and bid on her!
When she arrived she was even more beautiful than in the photos and we bonded immediately
So I don't regret the sudden decision at all!

If I had put more thought processes into the choice I think I would have ended up with DZ Megi first...but after I had gathered knowledge of the lingo I got him anyway

 

I can't remember the first doll I laid eyes on, but I know it was a Volks doll. I had originally intended to buy a SD Nono from Volks, when I started looking around at other companies and other dolls. I had discovered another doll I was super ecstatic about on Ebay, but I couldn't bring myself to get her.

I think it had been a couple of years until I looked at BJD's again and I met up again with a highschool friend that was into BJD's. She showed me a picture of the one she had and we had a fabulous discussion about BJD. I had then chosen to buy a doll from Latidoll (not on the site anymore and I can't remember what her name was D; ) or Luts (KD Ani). My mum and friends convinced me to go with Luts, I had picked out a wig, two outfits, shoes, the works. But alas, my dad convinved my otherwise and I got a laptop instead.

Finally 3 years later, I picked up on BJD's again and (with my boyfriend's support) put in my order for my first (FINALLY!!!) BJD (a Luts KD Ani) -squee-

So... I think it was a plan success =3. It only took 6 years, but hey, I'm finally getting my baby .

 

I kinda wanted a BJD when I saw them years ago, but didn't have a job and was appalled at the price XD
Now that I have one though, I could get one... but I didn't want a huge expensive one at first, so I got a li'l Elfkin. I figured I should start out with a little tiny one at first just as a sampler, haha. I got all of his clothes and a wig on the way, so as far as planning for him, it went through!
I plan on my second doll being Luo, though... I'll uhh, let you all know how that goes. XD

 

It took me nearly a year from discovering these dolls, to finally getting my first.

My friend Ashael introduced them to me last year around late December/early January (I think). I forgot about them until February, and eventually joined DOA. I had been casually browsing dolls, trying to figure out which should be my first and constantly jumped molds and companies...

Until I accidently clicked the Kid delf section on luts. (I was set on having an SD as my first lol.) It was head over heels at first site. Saving for my Bory took several months, I researched everything about the hobby, bought him clothes, stalked doa (rinse and repeat.)

I eventually was able to order him on November first with the help of my dad. I got him exactly one month later

So yea, I went through quite a bit of planning, prepared for anything. What I wasn't expecting was how spoilt he is lol. *shrugs* But it happens...

 

I was planning on buying a dollmore kid miro for my first doll.
That went on for weeks and i was getting so close to having enough money to get her. I could of bought her within one more week! Then all of a sudden I saw these vampire girls on D.I.M I fell in love with Benetia, I thought about it for a day then I went and put her on layaway! haha