have you ever been disappointed?

Yes, my first doll order ever was a fullset Evangeline B. I was completely brand new, so I did all of my research and made sure I was ordering the one that came exactly as shown. She arrived after months of waiting and her faceup was damaged. The best they would do for me was tell me how to fix it on my own which they never even followed up on when I asked them to show me.

 

My big disappointment was back in 2015 when I got my Impldoll Azalea. They'd just started the Idol size, Azalea was a brand new release, and so there were no owner pics. When she arrived, I was so bummed to find that the Idol body was HUGE, a full 70cm, while the Azalea head was on the smaller side of the SD head size spectrum. It looked so, so absurd...especially since there was, at the time, only one breast size for that body--- and I swear her breasts were actually bigger than her head. She looked so ridiculous and pinheaded. And to make matters worse, I'd ordered her in "realskin" thinking it would be a light, soft tan, something like Iplehouse's RS option. Nope...it basically looked like a "normal" resin, just very yellow. Thankfully, this was the one and only time I have ever hated a doll upon box opening. And I've since put her head on a regular 60cm body and made her into a super cute doll that I like just as much as the rest of my dolls. But that box opening sure was an unpleasant shock...

 

I'd been dying for a Smart Doll eons ago when I was in my anime high school phase. They looked so adult and I felt that getting one would make me mature or something like that. My grandpa took me to this posh doll store near me to get one for my birthday and seeing one in real life made me do a complete 180. The eyes were so big in comparison to the face, it felt like I was looking at a bug! Even now, I'll think a Dollfie like Kos-Mos is pretty in staged photos but get turned off by actually seeing one. The BJDs I own/like look very human except for maybe the doll brand style corset waists.

 

I wasn't "disappointed" at the time because I was extremely excited, but I really should have been more upset about my DOD Black Elf Sha.

I ordered him straight from DOD and had a miserable time trying to pay. Their site said they only accepted credit card at the time so my mother and I spent days trying to fax her drivers license and credit card to them. After many tries and sending too much information to who knows who, they finally told us they accepted Paypal and we paid that way.

When I got him 4 some months later, he showed up with a chip on the inside of his knee and some other small mistakes. All of the issues were clearly done in factory and not during shipping. I didn't want to deal with them ever again so I didn't contact them to get it fixed. DOD dolls always look different in person to me as well. The photos are so well done and angled perfectly on their website, but in reality their eyewells are extremely deep.

I was disappointed enough by this arrival that I would never order from DOD again despite adoring their sculpts. I honestly don't even know the releases that happened between 2009 and their closure. I still love my doll, but this definitely ruined the company for me.

 

I was pretty disappointed by my first doll, actually! I had a particular look in mind for him, and the combo of doll + default faceup + wig just looked all wrong. I questioned hard why I'd spent so much money on him (and he wasn't a particularly expensive doll). After a week or two, just feeling like he'd been a waste so why not experiment a bit, I took scissors to his wig, wiped him, and did my first faceup, and even though the wig was rough and the first faceup was... well, a first faceup, he looked so much closer to my vision than he had before that it reversed my disappointment completely!

 

I am currently having struggles with an outfit from one of my favorite companies. I've ordered a few things from them and have always been happy...but this dress is doing me in. It won't stay buttoned up, it won't stay up period, and the sleeves continue to fall off the shoulders. The intended doll is currently wearing it, (and showing alot of cleavage... ) but I swear if I even breath on it the buttons will explode, the sleeves will slip and the dress will fall to her feet.
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Plus I think it's missing a piece.
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I'm going to have to alter it, fix it, do something with it. At least I have that option. I feel confident enough that I can do so without wrecking the style of the dress....it is very pretty.

 

Not about the doll, but about the author.
I've ordered two Dollshe dolls that autumn (2020), and almost half a year was hearing "wait one month" then "a month more", then "we have some problems, one more month please".

This week I gave up and asked money back, cause the dolls are not ready yet ((

 

When I was new to the hobby (so like 2006/2007), I remember REALLY wanting Nobility Doll LIE to be my first doll. I wasn't familiar with DoA yet so I heavily relied upon promo pictures in magazines and what I could find on the internet. Maybe a few years into being in DoA, I had the opportunity to see fellow members' pictures of him and I was so disappointed that he didn't match up with my idealized image of him from the promo pictures. I think it was too many years (haha, probably like 2-3 years) of dreaming of his promo pictured self ruined my fondness for him. He was still a beautiful doll, but I really wanted him to be exactly like how he was in promo pictures (face-up, outfit, wig, eyes, boots, and all) and none had that look. It kind of taught me to take promo pictures with a grain of salt and to rely more on what current owners say about their dolls, the pictures and videos they post about them, and if possible see them in person so I can handle them to really know what they are like.

Another time was when my then boyfriend/now husband brought me to the Volks USA Showroom back in July 2007. It was to get my first doll. I still wanted Nobility Doll LIE, but Volks was definitely a second contender so my husband brought me there. I didn't have much money then and so he wanted to surprise me with buying one. I didn't want him to spend much so I thought I would get an MSD since they were smaller. I was disappointed with the fact that I had to put the doll together, give it a face-up, and do all the work as back then (I'm so old) they came in kits and were not pre-assembled with face-ups already. I was a pretty artistic person back then but I knew my skills levels were no where near being able to do a face-up on my own. It was from then on that I knew to never get a faceless doll that didn't have their eyes put in and bodies assembled as I just don't want to deal with all of that. Luckily, I did get my Marie that same day (Volks standard SD10 Kun/F-22) with default eyes, face-up, and outfit, wig, and shoes we got at the showroom that day with the help of my boyfriend/husband and the Volks staff.

I remember going to my first doll meet (probably late 2006/early 2007). I was looking forward to seeing certain dolls that I wanted to save up for and buy direct from the companies but wanted to see how they compared to my one and only doll Marie as I wanted to make sure that all the dolls I purchased were about the same scale or at least proportional so they could share clothes or be part of a story that I was planning on shelling characters for. I actually saw one of my dream dolls at the doll meet (an Iplehouse Tania "Pierrot"), but I was devastated to see that her scale didn't correspond well with my Kun. But otherwise, the doll was absolutely perfect (amazing face-up, fullset costume, coordinating shoes, wig, resin quality, price range, everything). Since I was pretty determined at the time to do shelling of characters with photo stories in mind, I couldn't bring myself to buy her from Iplehouse as she wasn't the right scale for me. I now regret that decision as I don't care about scale or shelling characters anymore, but at the time I was living paycheck to paycheck and helping my family with bills and buying food, so it was the right decision in the long run.

At the same doll meet, I saw a Dollshe Hound and encountered the same problem where I loved the doll itself but it wasn't to scale with my current doll, the sheer size of the doll was too large for me, and I wasn't too keen on the resin quality (it felt too light for me and that was a concerning factor considering how much the doll cost). I'm a short person so it was really comical seeing me hold the Dollshe Hound and I was kind of embarrassed by that. The problem of too large for me because I'm short happened again when I had a chance to buy a Volks Yukinojo. It was at the Volks USA Showroom, mint in box. Again, I regret now that I didn't get him but he was so massive that I didn't know how I would display him in our tiny little living space/room. Later, I encountered a gorgeous Granado male doll. Like the Iplehouse doll, absolutely gorgeous and perfect in every way but again like in the case of the Volks Yukinojo my short stature plus his sheer size and weight weren't a good pairing. It was disappointing not because of the dolls per se but that my own human size made it difficult for me to fully want to enjoy such beautiful, tall guys. Haha.

 

I ordered a bunch of wigs recently and one of them was a size smaller than what I ordered. Not much of a big deal as most who were disappointed with their dolls. But still, I was a bit upset cause I liked how the wig looked online.

 

It's interesting how many stories concern darker skin tones. My two stories are about skin color as well (but with happy endings).

First story:
My first white doll kinda shocked me. I was a bit surprised at how unnatural it looked. And she was my first blank doll. Like I had ordered her blank on purpose because I had a faceup artist in mind. But at the time I hadn't fully understood just how much of a difference a faceup makes . So I was really wondering if I'd made a mistake. I couldn't see the potential in her that I'd seen in the promo pictures.

Now that she got her gorgeous faceup from theugliestwife I adore her. Her faceup makes her look exactly as desired .
And I understand now that I like white skin dolls only for fantasy dolls. I actually bought another recently. Mellowed which I hope I'll like more and she'll be a ghost character.

Second story:
I got an MDF Ani in rosy brown during Luts winter event. And when I opened her box I wanted to cry. She was rosy pink. Like a fantasy color and not a shade any real person would have. Honesrly if I'd ordered a pink doll I would have beeb way less disappointed. And her head was even smaller than expected.
That same box opening also thought me how hard it is to photograph darker resin colors.
On pictures she looked perfect and way less red though. On one hand I loved the pictures but on the other they just made me sad.

It took me a while and I ended up using her as a mannequin for some sewing projects because I wasn't worried about damaging her accidentally. But I think spending so much time with her made me get used to her .
And getting two more brown dolls helped too. Now she is one of four and because they all have different skin tones her resin seems more like one of the variants.

Now I like her too .



So all in all I was lucky that I managed to still love my dolls eventually despite the first disappointment.

 

A few times with like failed hybrids or in the case of when the head is not the size you imagine it. A big head disappointment I went through was when I bought a Granado Newton head. I already had a Jaden head from Granado that was pretty big but had been told that the new Granado heads were a bit smaller than that one so I thought "Neat" ........ turns out it was a lot smaller than I imagined despite reading the size of it.

 

Ohhh yes, lol!

With my first doll, the disappointment was how weird and super pointy and pig-like the nose looked IRL. They didn’t show any side-view pictures of the doll on the website, and now I know why.

There was also a time where I was very disappointed about the resin color. I ordered a NS doll, and the doll I received was no joke NEON ORANGE. Like that thing basically glowed in the dark! It was such an intense orange that I immediately sold it.

And of course, there’a always the disappointment about clothes, wigs, eyes, or shoes not working out.

 

I've had a few disappointments, but the biggest has to be my Dollzone Shoyo catgirl.

• She arrived while I was at a convention, and when I got back I was pressured into opening her around people who didn't support me in the hobby and they made horrible 'jokes' the whole time, really souring the occasion.
• I ordered her in NS-pink skin, having seen one in person and liking it - and when she arrived I thought she had been mistakenly sent in NS-yellow instead as there was no difference between her and my NS-y boy. I was then told they'd changed the colour range just before her order came up, had I known I would have went for WS instead.
• No amount of fiddling with her strings could make her hold poses - I had to prop her arms against things to make them look posed, and her stringing channels weren't wide enough for wiring.

I had bought her to be based on my PSU character, that didn't work out so I kept trying to see if I could make her fit. Although I still loved seeing photos of other Shoyo, looking at mine left me feeling cold and miserable. I ended up making a pro/con list and eventually sold her off, I gave her a few years so it's not even like I took the decision lightly.
I had done everything I could before buying "correctly", I guess - checking the resin colour, seeing one in person through a meet, and buying her things before she arrived and she still went wrong.

I haven't had much luck with my non-human Soom tinies, only my Hawa bunny, so clearly I should stick to human type!

 

My first doll was a huge disappointment. The company pictures made her look a lot more beautiful so that is why I bought her. When she arrived I loved her and cherished her but her body.... was so....ugh. I lost interest in the hobby because of this doll. For about 3 years I wasn't active in the hobby because of THIS doll. I decided to get my first minifee some years later and my spark for the hobby came back. Now my first doll is hidden away in a box and I don't know what to do with her.

I don't even want to sell her, the company is banned from Den of Angels. It makes me sad but it is the truth. Now I have this doll that I don't want and probably will never sell and I don't know what to do with her

 

My Luha doll's left leg seems super stiff like maybe it was strung too tightly. I know nothing about restringing dolls so I won't even attempt. I'm even more scared to send her to someone i know to try because if she breaks it's no ones fault but mine. I'm new to the hobby and shes my first minifee but maybe she is supposed to be like that.

 

@AidenEsparza : Hiya! If the leg is kicky, it may be strung too tightly! Personally, I like them a little loose, so I can easily change hands and feet. Perhaps try to ask around, there may be a DoA member living near you who could help out?

For my own disappointment story, I found an used and more or less damaged doll on Mandarake, an IOS Levi, that I liked because of his sullen expression. Frankly....His expression was the only thing I liked in his sculpt, so basically the area around the eyes, perhaps his mouth and nothing else. XD Still, I bought him, semi on impulse because my first doll did not get to me yet, so there may be a bit of frustration there. XD

But when he came...ahlala! His body did not pose well and since it was the only BJD back then I touched, I thought it was perhaps normal, the fingers looked way weirder than on the pictures, his head was quite a bit smaller than expected and did not quite match the body in color and his body had that weird smell that may have been the resin off-gasses? All in all, it was just...a bit underwhelming.

So I tried so many things on him to make him more "up to my expectations": he has been a wig model, I attempted restringing on him, I attempted faceups on him, he got a part of his leg melted by a product, he got stained, he got ill-matching resin attached to that part, I spray painted him and removed the paint, etc.

In the meantime, my Maskcat Yaël, who was the first doll I ordered came home. But she was so beautiful, I did not much with her, or at least, way less than I did with my IOS boy! Weirdly, all that time spent on trying to better my IOS boy made me really fond of him, flaws and all! (And I admit, it was hyper-funny to me that he would always look at my failures with the scowl on his face XD). I also discovered good points of his sculpt that I ignored: he has the best hand system of all my dolls, he actually wears most SD-13 clothes well, he's a good choice for a hybrid if I ever want to temporarily move one of my Maskcat heads on a boy body, etc.

After three months, I gave up on doing his faceup and commissioned someone. Thankfully, she did a wonderful job and I do love the result!

So...yeah. I was disappointed in the beginning, I sure was disappointed in my abilities, but spending so much time with him, even if it was to no avail, made me really fond of him. Basically, while the faceup artist definitely helped mold him a bit more to my expectations, I also had to adjust my expectations of him and accept that he was not what I expected him to be but he had plenty of other good points.

All is well that ends well.

 

yeah her leg seems really stiff and I’m kind of upset. I’m terrified she will break so I have her just sitting on my desk. I can’t really sit her down and cross her legs. Her send kind of “creek” when I bend them.. I’m just all around terrified…. To move her

 

@AidenEsparza : Too much pressure could cause the resin to crack, though I don't know how tight your doll is strung. How about getting her to stand on a dollstand in the meantime, where the elastic could be straight and reduce the pressure? It would be a little bit less nerve-wracking?

YMMV but I managed to restring my dolls even though I have notoriously weak upper strength (and I do like my dolls a little loose). It does involve me using my legs as well, but it's doable with a bit of ribbon and patience. Basically, if I can't restring it, it's too tight. XD Restringing is way more intimidating than it really is IMO. But if you don't dare (which I totally understand!) try to ask around! You may find that someone lives surprisingly near you!

 

So I've only ever had FairyLand dolls until one day I saw Doll Chateau Mini Bella and fell in love with this little clockwork girl in the cute dress.

When I received her and I found that her choker, anklets, and the key in her back weren't included; the idea of a wind-up girl was one of the reasons I had gotten her.

They even show the key on the site:


I don't want to glue anything to her so I'm leaving her as is, but it has bummed me out.

 

MHMM always with wigs, they never look as good on my girls