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

I'm not sure where or when I first saw BJD's, but I'm betting a couple years ago online. I have been browsing and saving pics since then so... My first purchase was when I was recieving a tax refund last year. I knew how much I could spend, and unfortunately most of the dolls I was obsessing over were of course in the $600 - $2000 limited edition range. But I knew as a new doll owner (and kinda a klutz as well) that this just wasn't feasible or a good idea. I found that bobobie and ResinSoul were the most economical though had a bit of a stringing problem and were a lighter resin, which I could deal with as they were still very beautiful dolls. Plus I liked all the options (elf ears, horns, claws, colors, etc). So I found a doll company in the states which let me do a payment plan. I was also planning my wedding at the time and missed a payment or two and almost lost the doll, had to get a slightly different face color. I am happy with my Bobobie Weylin, although I'm still working on getting him strung better and his clothes are a mess....and although I am getting him a little brother from LUTS... he will always be special to me.

 

I got into this hobby because of one specific doll: migidoll ryu. I was 11. At the time, not many people seemed to have one, but I was in love. He was going to be my first doll and he was going to have an Iplehouse body (I didn't know about resin matching back then) but then, after about two years of saving up, I'm window-shopping on eBay and BAM, there's an Elfdoll Soah with eyes and a faceup and at the time she wasn't being sold by Elfdoll anymore, so I snagged her impulsively. She wasn't on my doll wishlist, but I'd always found her beautiful and I didn't regret a thing. (At first)

The thing was, I was riding a dollie roller coaster. The reason I blew all my money on this impulse doll was because migidoll still had those weird order periods and one had just ended so I figured it would be a while before the next one and I could make enough money in time to still get my Ryu head, so YAY I still got a doll! But then OHNO, migidoll released a new head (I think it was either Jina or Yujin, can't remember) and they were having a 'sale' order period the month I'd bought Soah! I was FREAKING OUT and I felt awful for spending all of my money on this other doll who (even if at the time I didn't realize it) I wasn't really bonding with. But SOMEHOW I managed to scrape together the money in the nick of time and I placed my order! YAY! But I had placed my order on the last day of the order period and then I realized the time difference meant I'd placed my order the day after the order period ended! OHNO. But after contacting migi about it she said the order had gone through, and I was getting my Ryu! YAAY!

Still though, it was my Soah (Eleana) who caused all the drama, and Ryu (Ian) didn't have a body for another year, or a faceup until this summer... Even though I bought Eleana first Ian FEELS like my first doll, because he was supposed to be, and I fell in love with him the minute he arrived, without a wig, eyes, faceup, body, anything, and I just keep loving him more with every addition to his character. Meanwhile, I've been waffling over whether or not to sell Eleana for about a year, but I've decided to keep her, partly for sentimental reasons, partly because even if I'm still having trouble bonding with her, I AM, just really slowly. I did sell her body though, for money and 'cause I didn't like it very much. But I won't sell her head, the part of her that's HER, y'know? She's my first doll. (She does need a replacement body and a new faceup rather badly but we'll cross those bridges when we have the funds)

And that is my longer-than-it-should've-been story of my first doll and the plans it screwed up. ^ - ^


I love all my dolls so much.

 

Honey (RS Bei) pretty much just fell in my lap.
I had been looking at bjds for awhile, well before I knew about DoA or BJD collectacy, seriously I actually have no idea how I found about different companies back then. I found Bei and I fell head over heels for her, she was just the perfect size for me, and so cute! I also had no idea about the 'bias against RS/BBB', I'm glad I wasn't scared off of my dream doll (actually I'm not sure that exists much anymore, no more than a bias against any other company anyways). Well I started saving up, but I didn't ever think I would get her as I didn't have a card to pay with and my parents were pretty angry already with my choice in hobbies. So I let myself wallow in the fact I didn't have much of a chance to ever get a doll for some time, if ever.

So I went to Ohayocon '10. Wouldn't you know it they HAD HER THERE (with a dealer), it took me no time flat to buy her, a wig, and some clothes. I actually bought her on my (not quite yet) boyfriend's birthday too, it was a weird trip. Snowballed into a lot of things.

So uh, tl;dr absolutely no plan. I'm still surprised it worked out so well, and it was nearly two years ago.

 

While I have a couple "grail" dolls since the get go, I figured it would take me forever to save for them so I was happily going along thinking "Someday I'll have that ~$1000ish I'll need" when I came across an eBay sale for a bjd that was super cheap! The seller new what it was, DZ Fei, but I think had no idea of the value. He came with a face-up, wig, eyes and a couple pieces of clothes. I figured I'd give it a try even though I wasn't gung-ho.

Guess what? I got him for ~$150 including shipping!!

And that's how I got my first doll

It was a similar story for my second doll, a AoD Rao. She came blank, naked, and I got her for ~$160 including shipping. Strangely enough, she arrived 2 years and 1 day after my first

 

My first doll was planned. I planned on buying Johnny for over a year before actually buying him, and I searched for a perfect doll to shell his character for several years before then. When I finally did place the order I planned even more, buying him clothes and shoes and wigs and props. It was worthwhile, because when Johnny got here I didn't have to wait an extra one or two weeks for things while he sat around wigless and in his skivvies.

Alistair, my second doll, was an impulse. I fell in love with Dream of Doll's Elf Kirill head, found one on the marketplace for a good price, and bought him. All that occurred within a span of 24 hours. Both have worked out well so far.

 

Lots of planning went into my first dolls--but I had to buy quickly because there was a limited sales period.

I've bought dolls since that were more "impulse"--but I still feel that I really need to absolutely HAVE to have THAT particular doll, because these dolls are expensive, and I hate re-selling plus there's no guarantee to get money back, much less time... so I try to buy dolls that I MUST have and are worth the price.

I haven't ever had major regrets (I've had two dolls that were French Resin and one changed color within a few months--I didn't know they were French Resin when I bought them--the company didn't say!--but I still like the dolls), and most of the time it's been fantastic!

 

Amir was very much planned. XD

I had been interested in BJDs years before, but I didn't know about DoA or where to even start, so I was just going by ebay and google and found Volks. I wanted a Volks boy, any of them, but could not justify $500 on a doll, and I was not in a position to even save that much realistically, so I put it out of my mind. In early 2008, I got serious about it again and started doing lots of research. I found AoD Chen, and fell in love with the company pictures at the time (the sculpt has been changed twice since then...) and owner pictures were so beautiful I literally cried. I knew he was the one, so I saved up and got him. No regrets, ever. He was an excellent little doll, and pretty good quality! Even if he no longer fits in with my current crew, he's still cute. I've had him out all week working on him. He's almost 9 years old now, very yellowed, a few scratches, but still in relatively good condition, his original string is even still good! Now that's a miracle!

 

My first doll was not planned at all. I actually had just started my first part-time job, and was getting paid reasonably well. I think it was only my fourth or fifth paycheck that I finally decide I wanted a doll. At that time I was not very familiar with a lot of the companies or the sculpts. I was familiar with only a handful: Mystic Kids, Doll Leaves, Fairyland, Soom, and Luts. The only reason I went with a Mystic Kids is because they had very positive reviews and were regarded as good for beginners. Once I joined DOA, I was made aware of more sculpts and companies. So yes, I kind of bought her on impulse (she was also on sale at the time and I'm a sucker for deals and pre-orders).

 

Now that I think of it, my purchases have been "evolving" in terms of compulsiveness. My first doll was completely unplanned and impulsive, the second purchase was completed "by mistake", since I didn't know how layaways worked and ended up paying the full price up front. The third doll in my collection did have some sort of previous planning, but still had a bit of an "unnecessary eagerness" to it. Oh well... ^_^'

 

I knew I wanted a bjd and had cruised them for a while on ebay. Starting checking a few of the brands and found a Luts there that was the one that said "take me home!!!!!!" Got her and that was the start of a way too busy road. Moved over to Iplehouse, and well, let's not go into that! And there is the Dollmore on order, and now some Angell Studio ones I am drooling over. It never ends.........

 

So a decent amount of planning went into my first doll. (Spent a month or so researching the doll, which body style, which sculpt, and which resin color, etc.)

I had planned to use her as a "test" doll, for painting practice. Unfortunately, my painting plan didn't work (dye resist worked better) and the resin wasn't tan enough. So I dyed her.

Even though she turned out nothing like I planned, she's still very special to me, and has accompanied me to places I won't bring my other, bigger, dolls.

 

I was planning my first doll for about 2-3 years, looking at various sculpts, comparing prices, trying to find what best suited a character I had in mind. Finally, I decided on Luts' Abadon, especially after seeing his limited Dreaming head. However, he was not the first doll I ended up getting. My first doll was my Dollshe Husky who was pretty much an impulse buy after Dollshe announced he would be bringing back his old sculpts.

My second doll, Dollzone's Miss Kitty was an impulse buy too. The same pretty much goes for Dollzone's Gray, who I have on order now. Poor Abadon, I have his head, but he is still waiting on a body X_X

 

I saw bjds online for a long time and didn't know what they were. Sometime (I think on tumblr) someone started to talk about it, and that's when I knew I really wanted to get into the hobby. Spent a long time saving up, however, before I bought my first doll, my friends pooled together some money and got me one for my birthday - I was super surprised I think it was a Aidolls Uriel (twas a while ago).

 

When it comes down to it, mine was sort of half impulse, half not. I had been looking at a few different sculpts over the months while waiting for my tax return to come in. I juggled a couple Ringdoll MSDs, Doll Zones, Doll Loves, Little Monica, etc. Finally I stumbled across the Little Kliff sculpt, which I'd for some reason passed over so many times. I fell in love with his adorable factory faceup (silly newbie thing to do there,) an thought he was just perfect. There were some bits I didn't plan for, such as understanding how his joints worked, understanding how body blushing worked, and understanding that faceups certainly aren't permanent. But realizing these things only helped me learn and grow in the BJD community. It got me excited, especially about the faceups, because I'm an artist through and through and love to draw facial portraits. I did, however, plan for his clothing, and got him enough outfits to relax, although the shoes I bought him are insane to try and get off his feet once they're on, so he doesn't wear them anymore. Next time I'll go with zipper boots instead of laces.

 

I had been eyeing BJDs for a about a year before I finally purchased one. One of my friends had a horde of them so I knew what they were. What finally convinced me to buy one was Luts releasing the Delf Moon (back when Luts still carried CP Delfs). He was /perfect/ for a character I had been writing/RPing and after a lot of discussion with my wife, I was lucky enough to purchase him directly from Luts. It only took a month in those days (good old 2007). It wasn't a lot of time but I do remember my friend with the BJDs sent me both shoes and a Kingstate sofa as a "Congrats! Welcome to dolls!" I remember getting the shoes and looking at my wife a little stunned because intellectually, I knew these dolls were going to be bigger but it didn't click until that moment.

I managed to get him an outfit off the marketplace before he arrived and he came with a wig and eyes. So he was more or less set. I, of course, broke my promise to chill and bought him another outfit about a week after he arrived. XD

As far as dolls go, I try very hard to at least have the basics when I buy one - wigs, eyes, a set of clothes and shoes. That's not as hard as it could be given that my collection has gotten much larger now. It gives me a place to start out before I can branch out with whatever individual style any newcomer has.

 

My 1st doll was an impulse buy.
I had my heart set on getting a girl first... but the boy I wanted was on sale so I decided to buy him first.