First doll stories!

Funny, I was just thinking about this a little while ago. I first heard of them around the same time in several different ways, if that makes sense. I'm pretty sure this was my first encounter: a friend mentioned BJDs to me, but the examples she showed me didn't appeal to me at all (won't name company names). Within the same year, I found and bought Armeleia's book Japan Ai, which of course mentions BJDs. I was like, "oh yeah, those," and started to look them up. And found some BJD photography. And got obsessed.

Less than a year after becoming interested, I joined DoA and hung around reading like one possessed until I could buy my first doll from the MP - which was a horrible experience. The doll (the original run of IOS Osiris, pink skin + body) came to me with head damage, I was upset, a problem transaction was opened, and it ended up unresolved when the user who sold it to me jumped ship to avoid accountability. I bought a replacement head from IOS with my own money, but I was too upset by the ordeal ($800+ worth!), stuck the new head in a box in a drawer, and stuck the doll in a closet where he's stayed ever since.

Fast forward six years, and here I am again. It's a time of huge change in my life, and my interest in dolls has reignited. I started by buying a nice outfit and shoes for my closet guy, which turned into a bunch of layaways for other dolls I've been wanting. Now I'm impatiently waiting for three more full dolls and a couple floating heads (unwise, but I've been wanting those sculpts for YEARS), along with a handful of accessories. Doll hobby, full speed ahead!

/long wordy post

 

My story isn't quite complete, but I found out about BJDs from an artist I follow on IG a year or two ago. They sparked my interest and I researched them a bit, saw the price, and forced myself to forget about them. Few months later, I came across them again, and followed some BJD people. Didn't really think of buying one, just admired. A bit later, around the time I started really developing and writing about my OCs, I saw some in my feed and realized I could shell my girls with BJDs. Became pretty obsessed with the idea, which leads to now- I'm about to buy my first! Gotta wait a bit for my next payment though, sigh...

 

I was on DeviantArt and I first came across this person's art, after I followed her she started to post doll pictures and I followed her doll account. Almost every one of her pictures was in my favorites but I don't know why I loved her doll photography so much. So, I decided to start digging around and I found LUTS, and a doll that I still want to this day. I didn't know if I really wanted to be in this hobby so I talked to my friend and she said it was weird so I just sort of let it fall away, plus I was in high school so there was no way I could afford the doll anyway.
A few years later after I graduated I think I was on Ebay and I ran across a BJD for sale but by the time I found him it was too late since it was almost Christmas. It was actually better this way because I later found out he was a recast. So I became obsessed from then on and I finally got my first BJD, a Popodoll Ramiel, last month and my second, an Iplehouse Akando, a few weeks ago.
I'm so glad now I didn't listen to my friend that thought it was weird, I don't care what anyone thinks because my boys make me extremely happy uvu

 

Hmm..I think it all started when I stumble upon a picture of Homme Ducan from D.O.D

I thought it was actually a drawing! As I start my research and soon found out about BJDs--at that time, I never knew there were so many other BJD companies other than D.O.D! :O So I only admired D.O.D dolls and wished to own one of them... I was only around 14 at that time so I didn't know much about googling and searching uwu

As once I started college, I befriended with a BJD enthusiast which leaded me back to the memories of my fangirling towards Homme Ducan And after a few months of meeting her, I immediately bought my first doll, which--fortunately or unfortunately be a DollZone Hal!

I am happy to come to this far and it's really nice to read and share stories of these to many other BJDs enthusiasts!

 

I first discovered BJD's by accident at Anime North a couple of years ago, as there was a seller in the wrong building selling Blythe dolls since they first came out. It really freaked me out! So I purposefully stayed away from BJD's for a while.

Then, an instagrammer I followed posted a BJD face-up that she thought was goals, and I researched the BJD community on instagram, before falling head-over-heels in love at Doll North this past year.

 

Well I first found out about BJD kinda indirectly from collecting Blythe dolls, but other than admiring their beauty I didn't care too much about them. Also as I was a young teen at the time, the price seemed almost impossible to me and I never thought I got own one. So I kind of forgot about them.

But then one day I was walking down the high street with a friend when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a doll I thought I recognised. I noted it and the next day came back to the shop window to look again. I was pretty sure she was one of those dolls I had seen online. So I went in to see how much she was. Only £30! Though at the time I didn't even have that much money hahaha. So I asked the lady in the shop to hold her while I went to ask my parents for the money to buy her ~
Later I went and took her home ~ After joining DOA and a lot of research later, I found out what company and sculpt she was ^^

I'm very happy to have found her, especially as she came at such a difficult time in my life ~ And now 6 years on I've finally bought her a companion ^^

 

My first time seeing a bjd I was at a convention with my dad. There's doll was so pretty we just stared in awe. Then I was in and out of looking for a long time then I went to a convention and met a friend who had bjds. She told me all about them and I was in love with the creativity you could do. I like to make stuff and craft so this looked like a great outlet for art. I could make wigs clothes do their faces make stories do photography it was great. So I got my best friend on this crazy ball jointed dolls search and now its been a year and I'm still here and loving my dolls.

 

For me it started when I was in my early to mid teens. I hadn't had an interest in dolls for awhile, but two of my friends who were 2 and 3 years younger brought their dolls over with a bunch of clothes one day. I still had my old Barbie stuff and broke it out. I actually had a lot of fun and started shopping for a nicer doll. I found a doll of one of my favorite characters ever, and bought it.
As time went on I kinda disliked how little posing she was able to do and set out to find a body more poseable. I wound up finding Obitsus and Junkyspot. From there I found DZ Yume and knew I wanted that doll more than any other. After that I was pretty much sucked back into the doll hobby.

 

I learned about ball-jointed dolls from Barbie Bazaar magazine, which ran a spread about Volks. However, I didn't start looking seriously until about six years ago. In the spring of 2011 I broke my ankle and was laid up for the customary six weeks. During my convalescence I browsed websites for lolita clothes and stumbled across Anna House, which at the time made dresses for SD-sized ball-jointed dolls.

Over the next five years I browsed sporadically, learning the do's and don'ts of the hobby. My tastes changed, and now I was actively searching for an MSD boy instead of an SD girl. I didn't find Mr. Right until halfway through 2015, when I saw Angel of Dream's Tao Hua Dao. He had the perfect aesthetic for the character I wanted to shell. I hemmed and hawed for the rest of the year before asking Mama for permission to buy (we share the bank account). She gave me the go-ahead and I joyfully ordered.

Two months later, in March of '16, Johnny came home. Mama and I both fell in love, and we're still in love today. Mama has become something of an enabler, in fact. She actively encouraged me to buy two other dolls and helped me buy a load of clothes for them all. So my first year in the hobby has been a positive one.

 

The first time I ever came across ball jointed dolls was while doing a search for Lolita fashions in Japan around 2004.

I still remember looking at the picture of a smiling Japanese teen dressed in a flowery Lolita dress and holding a lithe and tall 1/3 male doll.

At the time, bjds were barely visible in the United States of America, so it took me a while to know what specific kind of doll he was.

And so I became enthralled by 70cm ball jointed dolls, but looking at an $800 dollar price tag for one doll put me off from buying them for years.

I would occasionally search for ball jointed dolls until I bought my first one in the spring of 2012. In 8 years, the hobby had grown exponentially and there were different choices and much cheaper prices, so I decided to get a 70cm starter doll from ResinSoul to test my commitment.

Almost 5 years later and I am still enjoying the hobby so much.

 

I had baby dolls when I was a kid that I played with and barbies that I didn't play with but loved to make clothes for. My great-aunt who I adored had a collection of about half a dozen assorted dolls that I loved and I would sit in her bedroom for hours sometimes just looking at them (couldn't touch). She always said and the whole family knew that she wanted me to have her dolls. When she died of cancer her husband gave them to a woman that they went to church with and then her married her less than 6 months later. Apparently they had been seeing each other the whole time that my poor aunt was sick and dying. I always wanted to have a small doll collection but never really got around to getting any, just admiring them in shops, magazines, and the internet. Then one day I just decided I am just going to do it and am just starting out. So far, I have one doll, (no head yet) I really enjoy this this site and getting to read what experienced doll owners have to say about their doll experiences.

 

Oh man, it's been so long I don't really remember exactly how I discovered them! But I do vaguely recall browsing Volks' website around 2002 or 2003 and seeing the dolls on there (I think there was one called Link that I liked?) and wanting one. I didn't start really getting into bjds until a few years later when I joined this forum and began researching them as much as I could. I wanted either Luts El or Dream of Doll Homme Ducan as my first doll but they were both too expensive for me. At the time, there was a doll from Angell Studio I seriously considered getting as my first because it was cheap and I wanted a doll so badly. But, thankfully I didn't go through with buying it because a gorgeous Ducan popped up on the Marketplace and the seller was kind enough to let me do a long layaway. I was able to get the doll I wanted most as my first and I still have him today!

 

I was looking for something to represent my D&D characters and found a BJD head while looking for "elf figure" on ebay. I fell in love with the concept of being able to change the eyes and wigs out to change characters. Got my first doll... and like potato chips, I could not just stick with that one.

 

I have been admiring BJDs since many years ago when I stumbled upon BJD pictures on the net, but never have the urge to own one because of the price tag. So I used to save a lot of beautiful BJD pictures on my pc and I enjoyed looking at those pics from time to time. Well, to be honest, sometimes I imagined how wonderful and how fun it is to actually have one of my own and to create stories of my own. But again, I pushed away the thought of buying because I couldn't justify the cost of them at that moment.

Besides, I know myself pretty well, I am the kind that gets bored easily...I may be obsessed about one thing for a period of time, then suddenly the interest would die down slowly and lead to total abandonment eventually (like I have for so many of my other hobbies)

Then it struck me...I haven't been bored with these beautiful dolls, all this while only collecting their pictures...and I have so many ideas in my head of what I can do whenever I see the pictures. Well, I guess one doll won't hurt...right? To see if this hobby is for me...if it isn't, well...it's only 1 doll...So I research and discover DoA where I got possessed to wanting more dolls than I originally planned for So many inspirations! So many interesting things to do with the dolls! The possibilities are endless...needless to say, I'm already hooked.

So I decided to jump into it, ordered my first doll (which happened to be a limited and already discontinued doll) not knowing when a doll is discontinued, it can't be bought from the company anymore. Emailed the company inquiring about him anyway, and after a few emails back and forth, by some fateful miscommunication, the company agreed to produce one for me. After this incident, I feel all the more like it's meant to be!

That said, I couldn't be happier! No regrets so far!

 

It is just a progression for me really.

I like collecting doll-like things. I have a bunch of Nendorids, scale figures, Pullips (and other Groove/Jun Planning dolls), a Tonner doll, and even a few reborns.

They are all a different form of interactive art, it just takes a bit to psych yourself up enough to spend so much on one piece.

Plus I also like photography, and better posability just makes my life easier and gives more possibilities for pictures. I have more ideas than I have time to photograph, but it is fun to do occasionally.

(The slight caveat for this post is that my resin BJDs have been ordered but haven't actually arrived yet. I do have four Ai PVC BJDs, so they kinda count even if off topic...)

 

I was searching for a particular Barbie outfit one day and I think that I got frustrated that there were too many <$1 entries for crap. I switched the sorting to Price: Highest First and was shocked to find entries for a couple thousand dollars. I wondered what could be sold for a doll that was that much money, so I clicked the item and found that it was a BJD.

I googled them online and came across a DOD Dreaming Shall. (I have no idea what the doll on ebay was.) I stalked images of Shall for years, but I was in gradeschool, so I had no money for dolls. Eventually, in late middle school, I got into action figures, obitsu, volks neo, and Pullip for a while (6ish years?).

Eventually, in late high school, I bought a couple off-topic BJDs, and eventually moved on to my first on-topic BJD my first year of college--I think. I think I've only been a part of the on-topic hobby for 3 years--when the doll finally arrived (and on DOA for 2?).

 

I wondered into a fabric store where a friend worked, we chatted for a moment then she brightly remarked , " Have you met Nell?" I was expecting her to introduce a co-worker perhaps, but she pulled an Elfdoll Lydia out from under the counter. My first thought was, Hmmm...the perfect person to sew for: does not loose or gain weight, would always be available for fittings, looks fabulous in everything. Yep, I will be getting one of those. I blanched when I learned the price. I had to learn to use a computer to buy one. Not easy as I am a bit of a Luddite. I spent all my free time for months dreaming over dolly pictures, until I found THE ONE. Some nine years later, I still have that first doll, and he has acquired a few friends along the way.

 

I have always liked dolls. My mom had a small collection of porcelain dolls in a glass case. She would allow me to brush their hair and dust their faces off when I was an older child. I also got into clay art and making my own miniature clay art as a teenager and was searching information of those when I came upon BJD. Of course as a teenager I couldn't afford them, it wasn't until college that I went back and purchased two off topic BJDs. At the time I became busy with graduating, getting married, and having kids.

Now I have time to actually look at BJDs more seriously, since both kids are in school and I work from home. Currently I'm waiting for my first resin BJD, and I am looking over tutorials on how to make my own. I'm a creative person, whom loves all types of crafts and artwork so I really want to learn the art of making a doll for my own personal use.

 

I actually got interested in the hobby through my roommate. Out of curiosity (mostly), I went with her to the Dolk store. And I met a Tiny Fairy I simply couldn't walk away from~
Since then, I've been to two doll conventions and am enjoying watching my money trickle away! ^^