"Graduating" in the Hobby

I've gone through changes, but I wouldn't call it "graduating", because people enjoy the hobby in so many different ways, that we don't all do it in the same order. I don't think there's a more mature or final step.

For me, I started out only wanting one or two dolls and to complete them. Then I wanted a couple more. Then I went through a phase of getting more dolls, ANY dolls, that I could, for cheap. Even if I didn't love the sculpt, I just wanted to hoard them! After that, I wanted a specific crew to fit together and I did a lot of buying, selling and trading to get it right....then I wanted to upgrade the entire MSD crew to SD.....then another phase of "as many as I can get!" except I was pickier that time. Now, I'm going through a phase of wanting a smaller crew focused around the favorites and their closest family or friends. I only want to complete the dolls I've started, then just get clothes and accessories for the ones I have. Though that could always change again!

 

I feel I have found my aesthetic taste over time, knowing exactly what I want in a doll and what I want it to look like. I used to wonder how people were so confident in picking normal skintone over white, for example, but now I just kind of know. I also felt like I was in a hurry to get all of the dolls I wanted, and that I would get them clothes and accessories later. That didn't work out so well for me, and I felt disappointed that I had dolls that were sitting incomplete for months while I bought more resin. I've learned to enjoy what I have, and buy what I love.

 

I've found to some extent in the two years since I bought my first doll that what I like/want is different than I thought. I liked the anthros I saw on company sites in in owner's photo's but have realized I don't want more than two or three of them. I thought I would want 4 or 5 Real Puki, and am now sure that two is quite enough. I collect mainly mature tinies, who tend to be rarer as few companies make them, and those that do sometimes discontinue them pretty quickly, presumably because they don't sell as well. I've made a few slightly impulsive purchases because of this. I think major progress for me would be buying the respirator and sealant I need to start painting my growing number of blank dolls.

 

I have noticed some evolution in the things I'm interested in, how I interact on DoA. When I first came into the hobby, I only visited the Gallery. Then it expanded to the Galleries, News and Database. Now I pretty much go all over.

My buying patterns changed, too. When I first started, I bought mostly clothes. Now I seem to be addicted to wigs and eyes.

I'm sure there has been other changes. Evolution is natural in life.

 

I've been around for over 10 years, so things have definitely changed and so have I!

As a bjd-lover who has been around for a while, one of the biggest differences is that I am NOT impatient for dolls. I have many dolls that I love already, so I sort of dread finding a new or second-hand doll that I might actually want!!! (same goes for doll items and clothes, etc.) Those who complain about not liking new releases just amuse me. I think--just WAIT until you are trying NOT to buy stuff!

I used to focus/limit the kinds of dolls I was looking for... size or style or whatever. Now, anything goes.

But the main thing is that I'm totally relieved and even kind of ecstatic when I don't have to buy the new releases or stuff on the Marketplace!!!!

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I think there's no danger of my graduating OUT of bjds after all this time. I might be forced to do it if suddenly bjds stop being made and this forum and other places die out... But until that happens, I think I'm safe! --I've never even had a proper hiatus! Maybe stopped looking on DoA every day for a few weeks, but that's about it!

I have been into other hobbies before and gone in and out of them. I still LIKE them, just not crazy-obsessive. I think that will happen with bjds. But I do hope they'll stay popular for a long time because I really enjoy the social aspect as well as the dolls!

 

This is one thing I'm afraid of happening to me. I'm a cosplayer and I have somewhat quit already to focus on BJDs.. but then the idea of graduating from the BJD hobby as much as how I left cosplaying bothers me.

 

I have moved to the many different stages in my BJD hobby within 8 years.
Here is the synopsis of my stages in BJD hobby:
1st stage: SD boys > Outfits for SD boys > Wigs for SD Boys
2nd stage: SD girls > Dresses for SD girls > Wigs for SD girls
3rd stage: MSD girls > Dresses for MSD
4th stage: YOSD girls > Dresses for YOSD
5th stage: Outfits for Lati Yellow sizes > Lati Yellow dolls
6th stage: Wigs + Eyes + High Heels for BJDs
7th stage (now): BJDs + Outfits for BJDs (mostly are female)
8th stage (future): *Maybe SD boys? I'm not sure yet*

I could still remember that DOD Sha with his unique outfit design is the one who got me hooked on BJDs in 2007. That's the reason why I joined DoA forum here in 2007 to find and gather more information about BJDs. This reminded me of something funny that I even sworn myself I'd never ever get female BJDs and smaller than SD sizes because SD boys were my only obsessions at that time.

I used to love seeing the "Opening Box Threads" to see how they opened their packages and mostly browsed "Gallery" section at that time...As a result, I was starting to fall in love with female BJDs after a few years. It's because the ways they styled their female BJDs with wide variety of wigs and clothes amazed me. Again, their female BJDs got me hooked on SD girls...haha! For me, it's kind of funny that I already bought some outfits for Lati Yellow sizes even before I owned Lati Yellow dolls yet. After that, I have been going through different stages as listed above...

 

after not playing w dolls for two years... I come back again lols..I do enjoy doing face up and taking pictures for dolls very much..

 

You can definitely change within the hobby, and I do agree that the hobby itself has changed quite a bit. I ordered my first doll just over ten years ago, and I think how I treated the hobby then to how I treat it now that I've taken a break and come back to be quite different. Different sculpts tend to draw my interest, I'm more inclined to browse the marketplace for good deals on just about anything, and I think my dolls "personalities" have matured with me. I think it's only natural as you get older to change slightly.

I think back then, many moons ago, it really was something unique that very few people knew about and were interested in, and it's blossomed into something bigger, that, while still not mainstream, has a larger presence than it once did. The variation of types of dolls these days is fantastic, and I think in a sense that cut down on people stalking every single opening and new product announcement. Now there are just so many, it's better to go at your own pace, rather than obsess over every new/limited doll out there. It seems more relaxed to me, in a sense, than it did many years ago.

 

I also had to take a hiatus from BJD due to Life. (Thank god I did.)
Looking back, during my beginning stage of the hobby, everything was new and exciting.

It was all WANT TO BUY BUY WANT WANT WANT!! I wanted tons of doll of varies size and brand. And TONS of Clothes. I wanted Everything. It's like the more I have the better.
Some of my purchase really reflect that. Clothes. I'll buy it. But NEVER even use it!

After about a year or two of feeling out the hobby, I figure out I prefer 1/4 smaller dolls and no longer feel the need to have a doll closet bigger than my own. I prefer a few set of clothes that are unique and very characteristic of that child/girl/boy. I always enjoy doing faceup and photographing, so this summer I look forward to making a return to the hobby, finding a girl and giving her my all. I can't wait.

 

This is my first post on the forum in years. I was pondering about this exact topic but I relate it more to an evolution. I started this hobby in 2007 and since then my life has gone through many changes as well as my doll line up. I have owned every size except 1/2 scale but now own MSD's. In the past three years I have lost much of the enthusiasm I had in the beginning due to the stress of college, full time jobs, and toxic relationships. Now that I have recently graduated college and am in a very good spot in my life I find myself wanting to get back into the hobby but I'm unsure whether or not to continue with my long abandoned MSD plans or to try out larger dolls again. I only have an attachment to my first doll Lucan so selling or trading the rest feels like a definite option.

Its also strange to look at the forum and to see not many usernames I recognize but I'm eager to try and immerse myself in the dolly world again since I have found such joy in it in the past. Makes me wish I had some doll friends to bounce ideas off since my boyfriend while supportive is mostly meh when it comes to me asking his opinion about them.

I hope that I make some decisions soon about my resin crew.

Curious to see more replies ^^

 

"Gonna try to get another boy" was my battle cry for two years now.

Boy was I sorely mistaken. Avalon, Riven, Kaname and Yuichi are my only boy dolls and they seem to like it that way. The ladies have taken over.

 

My tastes have changed over the years, to be sure. When I started, I was so happy and hyper to buy all the shiny I went a little crazy and bought too much at once. So I slowed down and really thought about who I wanted to join my brood. I once swore I'd never have SDs since they're too big for my tastes but oh look - I now own two. I bought one from a friend of a friend and eventually he demanded a friend. Now I'm moving more towards the tinies, and that size never appealed to me much either until I happened to fall in love with one over the summer and she magically made it over to my house. No idea how she got here...

My clothing tastes too have changed, I'm finding I'm more picky in what my brood wears. I can browse sites like here and etsy for weeks before I settle on something whereas before, if I saw it, I'd buy it. I guess my dolls are evolving, just like I am.

 

I have only been in the hobby for a few months now, but already I can feel that things are changing. Though its not necessarily a bad thing. In the beginning I felt like I was in a frenzy, wanting to buy every cute doll I saw as if a timer was counting down and I had very little time to make any decision. Everything was now or never. Of course it isn't true, and I'm glad that initial newbie excitement is finally dying down. Luckily for me, this frenzy occurred during the holiday months when my available cash was limited or else I probably would have a roomful of dolls on order now.

I managed to escape with only owning one doll, and having a few more on order. Now I find that my interests have shifted mainly to just buying clothes, accessories, and furniture for what I have instead of scoping doll company sites, waiting or events.

 

I'm trying to get back into the hobby as well. Last purchase I made was nearly 6 years ago and after that for about a year I tried to make meet ups and the like and then I just stopped. I went from running/hosting meet ups at the large local anime con and doing panels to basically nothing within a few months. It wasn't that I didn't care, one I didn't have the cash which helped and two nothing really looked interesting enough to purchase. Sure some sculpts have come and gone that I wish I had gotten, but rather than feeling sad about it like I would have earlier I just accept it for what it is now. The phase I've moved into is getting the few I still would really like and think I have a chance at getting and buying high quality outfits and keeping that number low. I'm not interested in multiple wigs, eyes, shoes, clothes, owning every pretty doll I see. So now I just want the social aspect back and just buying the ones I truly want.

 

I guess in a way I have, but it's less about the things I do and more about the attitude I have. Like you said, it was just a big rush to get a doll in my hands when the hobby first started for me. After that goal had been achieved though, it was a matter of getting other people to like my dolls as much as I did. I wanted people to be wow'd by them and approve of them and I got so caught up in trying to post all these pictures to different groups I just... Really burnt myself out because I was so stressed about it. Then I sorta got back in a year or two later and it's more about what I want. If people aren't as stoked as I am, it's fine. I really didn't realize how much that affected me until now.

I have changed in other ways, though. My preferred aesthetics changed, my comfort level with my dolls has changed, and I feel like I'm more into actually doing things with the dolls than just setting them up for photos. As a whole I suppose I'm more content with what I'm able to do and less focused on wanting to be as good as everybody else. If I'm gonna get there, it'll be in my own time.

 

I might say I've gone through a phase or two. In the wee beginning, I assured myself that I was only ever going to buy ONE doll because they were so expensive. That landed me my first MSD, a DZ Mo. x3 But it wasn't long after that I started reaching for more dolls that were character driven. But my second boy was a hybrid, and so I dove into the world of partial buying and resin matching...! I even modded an MSD girl body by sanding down the chest (baby's first mod).

After getting a couple of MSDs set up and a little wardrobed (cue clothes hunting and baby's first attempts at sewing) I started on photostories. Did *tons* of those and really had fun with that. :3 This was the time when I bought the most and even ordered two MNFs at once (so much for "so expensive")...! Though I really only ended up with about five.

Of course, all during that time, I was learning and figuring out how to do face ups, and after a while figured that out pretty well.

After a while, I wanted to see what I could do with an SD size, since the sculpts could look so much more like my characters. I've upgraded two of my fellers, and with the larger sculpts, I've been fine-tuning my face ups. But now that I've upgraded, their size makes photostories a bit more difficult to pull off. So now I've gotten myself into a photography and portraits stage. I am kind of focusing on tweaking their looks with clothes and trying different eyes and such, and I'm kind of prepping to get another SD that I'll try to do some body art with, and that I'll consider my next phase. xB

 

This is an interesting topic. I think as people get older they're priorities change. This that were SO important to you seem fickle in light of other things that are more important. I understand what you mean about feeling like you've "graduated". You've matured is all and your perspective of things is different. It's not wrong or bad or leading you out of BJD land, it's just different.

I also agree with CloakedSchemer, that people enjoy the hobby differently and there is nothing wrong with it evolving so to speak.