Getting back into the hobby after a long hiatus?

I got my first BJD as a teenager in 2016, but the intimidation from the price tag of the doll as well as my more pressing interest in playline fashion dolls at the time caused me to take a break from the hobby from roughly 2017 until 2023 after I graduated college. It was actually when I got my first doll out of his box to prepare to sell him that I started playing around with him a little and remembered how cool I thought these dolls were. My partner noticed how I lit up when I showed them the doll and encouraged me not to sell him and to give the hobby another try!

My tastes had changed a lot since I was a teenager and I ended up getting him a completely new wig and eyes, and completely rethinking his style and character to reflect my new preferences. Since then I've added a lot more BJDs to my collection.

As far as getting back on track with companies and releases, I just got back into the habit of spending a lot of time on DoA/Instagram/BJD Discord and the information kind of seeped in that way. I had a big wishlist of dolls I bookmarked back around 2014-2016 and it was fun to go back through those as an adult and decide which ones I still liked and and wanted to pursue getting and which ones were no longer my style.

I've found myself trying a lot more things and getting more deeply involved in the hobby now as an adult than I ever was in my teens, and it's been really fun! I've gotten to practice faceups, mods, restorations, and sewing, and I've been more involved in the community than I was before. The highlight of my return to the hobby (besides the dolls themselves) has been getting to go to Resin Rose these past two summers and spending time with other collectors in person!

 

I've been out of the game for almost 10 years now and recently just started thinking about dolls again!~ I'm a bit lost where everyone hangs out now. Does anyone know where the community actively posts photos and connects? I was part of the Flickr crowd and that has long since died

 

The two most active places seem to be Instagram and Discord! There's a huge BJD Discord server that's very active, here's a link: Join the BJD Discord Server!

 

I took about a years break once I went back to school, and now getting back into it I am just as in love with my dolls as I was before I left! The Discord server has been awesome for getting back into the community and having somewhere to post about my dolls

 

Could you update/message me the link? This appears to have expired?

 

I was curious about this too so I googled 'bjd discord server' and was able to find a live invite link! I think if I relink it the invite will still work: here? Otherwise it was a top result when I googled.

I've joined and it's definitely still a nice active community space!

 

I actually left the hobby for a few years and I think I might be rejoining now. I am on the discord and all the tutorials there are making me want to do create things again (like wigs etc.)

 

I got into the hobby in 2015-ish but then I focused more on my career and rehomed my dolls. Got back in and remembered I had a DOA account and managed to log back in with the mod's help. By then I had only remembered some companies namely Iplehouse and Soom.

I feel like the bjd hobby has changed, I think the users I recognize have left(?) but there's also a lot of new stuff, because there's a lot of creators on ig who I don't know and they have tonnes of clothes, sculpts, accessories but everytime I look, a lot of their items are sold out or they are Chinese/Korean creators and I have no idea how to contact them!

I managed to order a Telesthesia Buroy for myself (ah! lyaway!) and got him some nice clothes so I'm waiting for him to come home. I don't think I will be too active but will be nice to take some photos of him and to dress him up lol.

 

I left the hobby for a while because I just stopped liking dolls. Then the pandemic happened, and I went into the hospital twice over the course of 2 years. After I left the hospital the second time I decided to get back into the hobby, but only because I decided to sell all my dolls and through handling them all realized there were two I was still really interested in.

Obviously everyone's going to experience getting back into it differently, but for me it happened really slowly. I redid the faceup of one doll and gave my SD boy a faceup. Then I finished him by buying him a wig and eyes, finally. After that I was in the hobby again, like, semi-permanently. I don't know when I'll lose interest again, but atm I feel like I'm in it for the long haul.

 

Like many people here I took a long hiatus from the hobby. My interest was already on the wane and then the pandemic hit which put dolls and most of my hobbies on the far back burner.

This last two years though I’ve started again- mostly with clothing and I just got my first full doll in about 10yrs. I plan to sell a lot of heads and really hone my collection down to the dolls I truly want and have a strong interest in.