How did you discover bjds?

I ended up getting into them after reading the Angelic Layer manga. Finding out that there were actual dolls that looked like that was such an exciting thing. They don't move like in the manga, but they aare just as beautiful

 

I also found out from Angelic Layer! I always wished our BJD could do battle. But I was always fascinated with it ever since I was a child and it drew me towards this community.

 

I was young, maybe fourteen or fifteen, and my mom found the Enchanted Doll website and showed them to me. They were so beautiful that I wanted one then and there— of course, those ones are $3k+ and nigh impossible to get, haha. But from then on, I watched the hobby from afar, always wanting one.

 

It was around 2005 or 2006 for me I believe. I had just made a DeviantArt account because I wanted a place to share my art and I also wanted to find other art and artists to follow. One of the artists I ended up following had a collection of BJDs and they often shared photos they took of them. My mind was blown at how amazing they were, at first I didn't even realize they were dolls because they just looked like people in the photos I started researching them after that, but wasn't able to make any purchases because I was still only 15-16 at the time.

 

When I was younger I used to watch let's plays on YouTube a lot and stumbled across a youtuber playing a game called Nameless: The one thing you must recall. The plot was about a girl who collected bjds and they suddenly come to life one day and you get to choose which one she falls in love with lol I believe Crobidoll actually took part in the game and some of the characters were based off of their sculpts. After discovering the game, I took interest in the dolls and started researching them and wanted one ever since. I was too young back then so I couldn't buy one myself but now that I have a job, I was finally able to afford one!

 

Wow, someone else whose first exposure to BJDs was through Nameless! I remember really loving the game and looking up the dolls to see them! I still get happy when I see people sharing pictures of Lance~ (Though my favorite was Yeon-ho and the new Yeon-ha sculpt has been tempting me...)

While Nameless and Crobidoll were my introduction to BJDs, it wasn't until yeeeears later that I gave in and actually got a BJD...because Ringdoll released Xie Lian, and I ended up falling in love with a different doll on the main page!

 

I was searching through dolls on Google Images, and I stumbled across images of full set Soom Idealians. Looking at the price this was a not in my budget. The auction for the full set retired doll was close to $3000, I mean he was beautiful, but for just starting to look into these dolls? No way. While I really hope that Soom eventually re-releases the doll I first saw, so that I can get him at a decent price, I am not going to hold my breath.

It was quite awhile later when I decided to look into the dolls again, and I found Dollzone Carter. I mean he is seriously the cutest! Also the price closer to $200 was far better then $3000. Dollzone Carter will always be a favourite of mine. I always jump for joy when I see other people's Carter's as well.

IMG_8249 by Rabbid Bunnies, on Flickr

 

Was first exposed to bjds on Deviantart back in 2006. There was an artist I followed who began posting her doll, who I believe was a CP Luts boy. I was interested enough that I talked to my mom about learning to sew clothes for dolls, but of course I did not know what to search to find them and even if I had I would not have had the money to buy one.

Then a few years later I discovered that my best friend collected them, lmao. Not only that but one of my other friends had gotten into them, too. At that point I had a part time job that I was able to save up money with, and I bought my first bjd.

 

When I was in middle school, I was looking for Hatsune Miku figures on the internet (I had just gotten into mangas and figures, so I was curious about how much they cost) when I found out about Pullips. A few months after that, I went to a manga convention. There was a booth that was selling Pullips and Pullips accessories. But they also had second hand BJDs for sale. I was super broke and so was my mom. She was ok to but me a figure but no dolls, especially after seeing the prices of those BJDs ( I was about 13 years old, she considered me a bit too young for that kind of expensive dolls). We still asked the person in charge of the booth what those dolls were. I had never seen dolls that big in my life before (I've always liked dolls but was more accustomed to Barbies, antique dolls, and such). They told me they were BJDs (the one I liked was SD sized). When we got home, I started searching for them on the internet, and that's how I got into the hobby But I had to wait until high school to get my first one (present from my mom, a Mirodoll, they were pretty affordable and I didn't want to spend too much into my first doll because I didn't know if I would like "playing" with them or not). I was about 16 or 17 years old at the time. I'm 25 now and still very much into them, I don't regret it !

 

It was around 2009, I was browsing the web as a kid and found a blog post about BJDs. I never knew I'd continue this hobby for more than 10 years!

 

The first time that I came into contact with BJDs was when I saw a doll-making video where someone made this eye-catching doll that looked like fine China (with the blue and gold designs). I forgot all about it until I went to a BJD panel at an anime convention. Seeing so many different dolls that the panelists brought in was breathtaking, and they were so friendly! They encouraged people to hold them, and they were really passionate about the hobby. I've always liked dolls and toys in general, so I knew then that I wanted to find out more. The customization possibilities is one of the things about this community that amazes me.

 

I am going to be honest, I did not read every posting here, but I did think that the way I found BJD's was quite interesting. I was looking at some really pretty photos from some one way back in 2004 or maybe early 2005 on Myspace, and I didn't know that I was looking at a doll. I sent them a quick hello and told them how much I loved their photo of the pretty girl in the big fluffy winter hood, lol they sent me a hello and thank you back and told me the craziest thing !! They said " I will tell my doll you liked her photo". I was confused and asked what they meant by that and they sent me a link to Elfdoll, and I was done for , there she was Soah....I had to have her, and yes I did get her and still to this day find her so lovely

 

Since this was about a decade ago, my memory of the exact circumstances is kind of fuzzy. For the longest time, I thought I had found them by chance in a YouTube video on my recommendations (since I'm a huge anime nerd it wouldn't be unheard of for BJD to get thrown into the mix). But the more I thought about it, I don't think that's correct and I think I finally remember what actually happened. It was through The Sims 2 custom content.

While browsing through the modthesims website, I came across a full sim post/download that was of Dream of Doll Elf Ducan. I believe the post had all of the custom content that was used linked individually such as the skin, eyes, hair, and clothes that were all specifically made to look like a BJD. I downloaded all of it, including the full Ducan sim, and enjoyed making my own BJD sims in create a sim. At the time, I didn't have much knowledge as to what BJDs actually were, but because I liked using the specific custom content and playing as the Ducan sim in the game, I was curious enough to eventually look up "BJD Ducan" or "Ducan BJD" and found the actual BJD the sim was based on along with the Dream of Doll website. I was immediately enamored by these beautiful dolls and sought out more information from there. This was about 2010/2011 and it took about a year to get my first BJD

 

I am into drawing so I was searching for that silly wood doll to practice posing...then on a google search, some other interesting related dolls started to appear andngrab my curiosity. First was the Phicen 1/6 scale with silicone and then, the ball jointed and then, I was looking into bids!

 

This! I was also doing the same, using some cheap wooden posing dolls as a kid, and i saw BJDs and i was like "NO WAY I NEED ONE??" but of course, who could afford one as a kid xD?! But now that im an adult, im S T U C K in deep ;u;!

 

Back in 2014, I got into pullips.. I was 12. I was scrolling through japanese blogs and stumbled upon Pullips, which led me to scroll through Pullip blogs.
And through them, over time, I discovered BJDs, and I got my first BJD in 2016.

 

I actually forgot about how i discovered them, but remembered it seeing the blog post that began all ! I was looking for fan sculptures / figurines of my favorite fictional character and found a post about somebody painting / planning faceups on a shelled bjd of him. I didn't know this kind of doll existed so i was quite curious and excited ! in the end i didn't find much other shells of him and let the thought go. But a few months later seeing a rec post on youtube i remembered that the very little research i had made on bjd was cool and interesting, and i went further into knowing more about it ^^

 

I found out about them through Dollightful when I was in 5th grade! I always loved dolls, but seeing her unbox a Myou doll made me fall in love with the idea of BJDs in particular.

 

I learned about them a few years ago when I played an otome game called Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~. I wasn't at all into dolls when I was a kid, but I found BJDs so pretty

 

Funny really. I was already collecting other dolls and just happened across them while searching.
I oopsied into this whole new world because of it back then. When I found out what companies were ones I stated at constantly I vowed I would own them. Haven't found a few of them because it was before I stumbled OR they just became hard to find. Still not going to stop my hunting.

In fact, since other dolls got me into BJD from a search, I was hugely ecstatic to see something I could finally customize. Then I watched a ton of horror movies with them and I definitely didn't want to go back.