How did you discover bjds?

I saw a BJD for the first time in a little doll shop when I was about 16, but wasn't really interested until I saw them in Haute Doll. I'd collected fashion dolls for several years, and found BJD's faces enchanting. It was Fashion Doll Quarterly's Fantasy issue that first led me to Soom, and I ordered my first doll, a Mini Gem.

 

Way back when, in 2013 when I was in middle school, I was obsessed with VenusAngelic (YouTube) and watched dozens of living doll channels. I wondered what kind of dolls they were imitating, so I looked into it and lo, found myself on the Fairyland website. I never did get a Minifee Mio (Sorry young me!) But in 2018 I got my first BJD! And I've been a revolving door collector ever since.

 

I discovered BJD looking on Flickr in about 2006 when I collected Blythe. I ached when I saw them and had a failed attempt with an iplehouse 1/3rd doll. After a while I bought elfdoll Yumi and discovered 1/4 dolls were for me.

 

I have been trying to pinpoint it, so I will do a bit of a timeline.
I am almost positive it started with Haute Doll magazine that had a Sooah in it and I thought she was the prettiest doll I had ever seen. I could not figure out for the life of me how to get one though. Any website I went on confused me and I didn't understand the terminology and I gave up trying to get one. Over the years I searched the internet trying to figure it out and little by little I started to catch on.

My first resin dolls aren't considered bjd by this forum so going by that my first official bjd was an Iplehouse Dexter. I pined over him for a LOOOOONG time and finally caved. I was in shock by his size when he arrived. He was gorgeous but I could not find a wig that didn't look awful on him, and the clothing I got him was very basic because everything I really wanted was sold out on the website. I tried finding things that I liked for him and wasn't having luck. So that combined with the fact I almost dropped him a few times on my hard concrete floor made me not want to touch him.

I ended up selling him for way less than he was worth because I just wanted him gone. It was depressing and I vowed never to buy a resin that big again. I ended up loving the tiny dolls like Lati Yellow and Pukifee and bought a few of those, and while I do love them they were just a bit TOO tiny for me. I then was into Meadow dolls, and I loved the size but wanted more mature dolls.

Now I have Atelier Momoni in the Pitusa size and THIS is what I have been wanting. I am very happy with the size and posability of them. Shoes are a bit tricky but I have been able to find plenty of shoes that work, and clothing options are almost endless since they can share most regular Barbie sized stuff.

 

I had a similar experience to the OPi n regards to being too young to participate then much later realising I could afford more now I'm an adult. But only started watching rosen maiden this year... I've been asking myself when I first heard about BJDs. It was probably from an anime-adjacent forum, but I cannot for the life of me remember. It's sad, I miss the early-2000s internet where I found so many cool niches I was passionate about. Now it seems very sterile and impersonal. I don't know where I look for the obscure anymore.

 

I saw some people mentioning Rozen Maiden here Me too I discover BJDs because of this anime. Though I join the hobby like ten years after because I was too small to be financially capable. One of my friends introduced me to the hobby and took me to a dolly convention held in my city, that was how I officially started the hobby

 

I can't say I know specifically when I saw them the first time in any kind of media, because of my phobia I have been ignoring any kind of doll in media in general. But in 2015 hubs and I went on honeymoon to Tokyo and we went to Akihabara and they were everywhere, causing me to having mini panic attacks left, right and centre.
Standing outside an Azone store (I think) I told my husband that I wanted to work on my phobia and eventually get a doll, just so I could appreciate the craftmanship going into these dolls and not be terrified of going around my otherwise favorite part of Tokyo. He just asked me if I realized how expensive they are, but he did agree that working on the phobia would be a great idea. We went back two years later in 2017 and my fear was significantly less, I wasn't having panic attacks, and my interest was piqued. But the price tag was my big hold-up, and I was still not convinced the dolls wouldn't murder me in my sleep.
So I still wasn't ready to bring home a doll.
Last year though I was ready and got my first - an Iplehouse KID Lonnie. I enjoyed the size, but was more interested in a more mature look, so a few months after I jumped on an in-stock sale of Lillycats and got myself a Chibbi Newt. Shortly after that there was a pre-order for Atelier Momoni Pitusas and I got to participate in that one. And then in January I ordered a pukifee. So I am making a tribe now.

I still have panic responses to some dolls. But not my own. I love them.

 

I discovered Dolfie Dreams from an episode of a show I used to love called Japanology and so I looked them up on YouTube and found Denali Wind's channel and saw her boy bjd and thought he was the coolest doll I'd ever seen and thus I fell down the bjd rabbit hole.

 

I saw a bjd selling in my local posts and I searched for bjds for curiosity, later I bought that bjd because I really liked bjds and her

 

I saw them for the first time in 2006, in an anime convention. I was fascinated by them and inmediatly decided that I needed one (and then two, and then three...)

 

From collecting Pullips, and watching and creating videos about them, which led me to collectors that also collected BJDs. I had known they existed for a long time, but was never interested in them until I started watching doll videos on YouTube.

And I got into Pullips in 2016 because of a thread about them on a Monster High forum.

And I got into Monster High after a thread about them on a My Little Pony forum in 2011.

And I had loved the My Little Pony series as a child, and still bought G3 versions occasionally just because they were cute.


So I guess I got into BJDs because of my childhood love of My Little Pony?

 

It started with my friend showing me an off-topic doll she bought at Anime Expo. She then started explaining them to me when I asked why she was so excited about this doll. After the convention she showed me pictures of the doll she really wanted from Luts.... and I saw the price tag. I was like, 'girl, are you crazy?! it's just a doll! why is it so dang expensive?!'

But I wanted to be supportive so I'd listen and chat with her and browse the sites with her.

Still didn't get it.

A few months or so later, she was going to a doll meet and asked if I wanted to go. I figured, 'eh, why not?'

Y'all.... I don't need to tell you how beautiful and impressive BJDs are in person.

We're riding home...it's quiet....

'Kore, I hate you.'

'Why?'

'.... I have to have one.'

And now I own SEVERAL.

 

I first found out about BJDs at an anime convention around 2003-2004 (I wanna say at ACen? Maybe Ohayocon?). One of the attendees had a beautiful doll, and after I worked up the nerve to ask her about it, she basically sneered at me and said “they’re too expensive, you don’t want one.” Like ok you don’t know me, and challenge accepted

I’m pretty sure it was a Volks doll because that’s what I started researching. I happened upon DoA and... well you know the rest

 

I totally read challenge accepted in Barney's voice from How I met your Mother and My response was "yes!"

But wow that is so horrible and presumptious of the attendee. What a way to promote and introduce someone to a hobby/community!! So glad you didn't let the comment deter you and not stop you from something you now love. I am not sure if I would have wanted to get involved in a hobby if someone was like that to me for just being interested. Really hope that many are not like that but as yet I have not met anyone in person in the BJD community.

 

I first saw a BJD in 2013ish but it was brief and I didn't think too much of it. It was a smaller BJD (and I was also a child), so I had just assumed it was a fancy plastic doll. However, in 2018, BJDs resurfaced somehow on my youtube! It was an unboxing of someone recieving their first BJD (I can't remember the brand for the life of me) and the doll was gorgeous. That, and seeing how happy the girl was who was unboxing it, made me that much more interested! This is where I can confidently say I truly learned what BJD was and why they were so pricy. I was immediately in love and wanted one of my own! I did a bunch of research but since I wasn't involved in the community, I didn't know many trustworthy locations to purchase one and I wanted to make sure I was getting a legitimate one so I lived on Alice's Collections and settled on my very first doll. I do not regret! My first discovery of BJDs was uneventful, but I'm glad to have discovered the hobby.

 

Fortunately the elitist snobs are a very small minority in this hobby! Several of my real-life friends are people I met at doll meets (including my boyfriend of eight years!) As in all groups, you get good and bad of course but most of my doll people are my favorite people

 

Ah good to know and really glad to hear that aww so sweet about you and your boyfriend. Hope I can one day find someone who understands me and my interests lol

 

I was 14 and I had a friend named Kevin who brought his bjd to school one day! The doll was styled super emo with the hair and the faceup- it reminded me of swandzz style of faceup? Overall a very unique doll for someone who isn’t in the hobby, and at the time I adored that style.
I was so enamoured with the idea of big dolls with cool joints that were completely customisable. I asked him about it, and he helped me know the scaling system, pointed me in the direction of alices collection and told me about hybrids and what not.
Looking back on myself and what I would say to him, he was probably cringing because I kept getting basic things wrong. I figured it out eventually though!!

 

I have been an avid collector of animation artwork for more years than I care to remember - cels, sketches, backgrounds and concept art. Of course I was a member of a corresponding forum (this one was aimed at anime in particular, so yeah Asian art), and several years ago, a few of the members started talking about these dolls. Of course I had to look, but was financially thankful at the time that the male sculpts - which held the most interest for me - were all very feminine or, at best, androgynous, with scrawny, spindly bodies. Lovely, but not really my thing. So I kind went 'meh', with some regret, but also kinda sorta kept an eye on things...until Soom came out with their ID line. There was Branon, big, beautiful, and decidedly male. End of story. Dolls one, me, nothing. I was hooked!

 

I have a collection of old dolls that need some restorations, actual toys that my mom played with, and some that I did, and I wanted to find some tips on how to remove stains from them and supplies I need to re paint the faces, so I was browsing through different repaint artist blogs for tips... And turns out that good doll artists tend to branch out - quite a few that do re paints althou do BJD faceups So I stumbled on some absolutely breathtaking dolls that I need to learn a lot more about... Was hooked ever since
And no, my old doll restoration project did not really go anywhere - motivation came and went... But I'm gathering up the materials for faceups atm, so who knows - maybe once I'm done with the face up I may try my hand on repaints, since the materials are all there now