How did you discover the BJD hobby?

I found them through a couple of my favorite lolita bloggers. At first I was creeped out by them, but then I realized that I loved how they looked. I liked that you could change the color of their eyes the best. It didn't take me long to be hooked. So, I found them through the internet.

 

I found them through my other dolls. A few years ago I got into American Girl dolls which quickly led to Pullips and then while looking at Pullips on the internet I came across them. At first I HATED them but of course I fell in love with them and now I want one xD Now I have to save and save and save!

 

The first BJD I ever saw was at Anime Central 2006. I thought they were outright gorgeous and I sort of wanted one, but the price discouraged me at the time; I didn't want one that badly. That was before a friend of mine at the time told me that these dolls were customizable--very customizable. For many many many years now I've been writing/planning a novel series with many characters that I care about. I always enjoyed drawing pictures of them, but as soon as it was revealed to me that I could customize dolls to look like my dolls...the price just didn't matter anymore. The friend who fed me all that info about ABJDs also had a doll of her own, and that was the first doll I got to handle--a Luts Delf El. Then I knew I HAD to get at least one doll of my main character, Hikaru. As soon as I got him I knew this is the hobby I want to be involved in, so I got another and anotha anna notha.

 

My sister's male doll was my first look at a BJD. I thought it was kind of weird, but then I started looking around more at the other dolls and saw how pretty they were. Then I went to a Con or two with my sis and saw more BJDs. I was amazed by 1) how normal the collectors were [again, coming from complete ignorance about the hobby], and 2) how beautiful and customizable the dolls were! A couple years later and look what happened. ^_^

 

My situation is basically the same with you
But my frist doll is from my boyfriend!

 

I was looking for Super Deform Pictures of Get Backers many many many many many moons ago (I think this was around 1999 or 2001, so i typed VolTs SD and somehow my search returned Volks SD. I was like WoW anime like girls/dolls/figures (Hey i was a kid). Then i saw the price and thus they were shelved in the deep deep recesses in my mind.

 

I discovered them purely by chance. On a forum for the Sims games, someone had uploaded a skin which made Sims look like BJDs, the jointing was done beautifully. I remember wondering about these dolls that I had never seen in any shop. Then, on the same forum, someone started a discussion thread for BJDs, and I got really fascinated. At the time I was convinced that they "weren't for me", because of the price and the fact that I didn't "play with dolls". Then someone put up a link to Iplehouse, and I discovered Tatiana & Tania. It was love at first sight. I still thought I'd never get them, though, and it took almost a year before I looked at the site again. Last summer I wanted to see more pictures of dolls and get some more information, so I decided to sign up on DoA (which I also knew about because of the thread on Mod the Sims).

 

I was at Otakon the first time I saw a BJD. I remember asking a friend what they were. Many months later, She got her first doll. I was soooo overjoyed to hold it, since I have always liked dolls. We were at a friend's birthday sleepover and I bombarded my friend with questions. She invited me, and another friend to join DoA, and I have been (somewhat obbessively) reasearching and I now have some money for one. It only took me seeing her doll one time to decide that I wanted one. My first experience holding one happened in March of this year, and now, I have about half the money for the one I want!

 

I first looked into OOAK dolls like custom made fairies and mermaids on the internewt and how to make them when I stumbled upon a tutorial to make your own ball joint doll. I must have forgotten, but it came back to me a year or so later.
I got curious to see if other people had made any, googled it and thought 'HOLLLYYYY CROOWWSS NEST!?'
I was amazed! After much researching (like, 6 months) and a bit of saving I had enough for a cheaper but beautiful doll; a NS BBB Isabella.
Now, after 2 years I'm in love with Aurora and her mold is gorgeous, and now waiting for a Brownie Sugar Nene to arrive, EEP!

 

My friend had a couple and introduced me to one in particular, who I loved ^^ He showed me some sites, I liked the look of the LUTS one the most. When I saw the price I knew with a bit of saving I could afford my Kid Delf Bory ^^ That was ages ago now.

 

I saw them on Deviant art, what I thought was a person skateboarding when i clicked on it it didnt look right. reading the description I deviantSearched BJD and got a SHITTON of results. Then I found Lulu's family of Greys and did even MORE research.

I kept getting alerts from Deviantart and looked and faved a few hundred of them...then I forgot about it for awhile before coming back to it and started saving in March, before settling on a sculpt I loved.

Im still working on saving for him. A Camellia Dynasty Windrac

 

I had of course seen the dolls before, one doesn't have a vague interest in anime and lolita without glimpsing them. But all I had seen were Volks and, no offence, Volks sculpts were not my cup of tea. I've always been a doll person and my large stash of Barbies kept growing. Then other companies came out with more articulated playline dolls, with wigs even, and while looking for knitting patterns for the non-barbie sized ones I stumbled on the ABJD group on ravelry, so many enchanting dolls. I'm forever grateful to people who posted the company and sculpt name of their dolls, giving me something to look up and of course someone eventually linked me to DDE making it all to easy to buy my first darlings

 

I was looking up begoth dolls and was reading an article about different dolls and I found bjd's. The first website i went on was souldoll. I absolutely fell in love with the yoSD's right away and have never glanced at a size bigger than them. But now I'm getting a DollLove yoyo.I've been obsessed with them for a year now and I'm finally getting one

 

I got into them through dA. A photo of one had made the front page (it was of Key, an El who belongs to Onnawufei ^^). I hadn't seen anything so exciting, and the more I read about them, the more I liked. The part that appealed to me most was how customizable they are. I'm a strong believer that dolls are meant to be customized to appeal the most to their owner's taste.
That was about two and a half years ago, though it seems only a few months! Now I have six dolls, all of whom have been modded in some way, and all of whom have been highly customized to my taste. I couldn't imagine being without them!

 

I found out about them via a facebook advert lol been obsessed ever since

 

I first encountered them years ago when I was obsessed with the anime Rozen Maiden but dismissed them as too expensive. I forgot about them for about 5 years until I left school and joined a new circle of friends who were only too happy to bring that seed in the back of my mind into bloom xD

 

New York magazine had an article about conventions in Japan and how the Japanese were spending obscene amounts fo money on these 2 feet tall dolls that they were treating as if they were their own children. The article showed pictures of Shiro and Jun Tachibana as examples. I thought nothing of it except that I would never spend that kind of money on a doll. (ha ha ha.....)

Then Toyfare had an advertisement for Doll Peddlar in the back of their magazine. It advertised Domuya's Van the Death-Bringer and Viktor the Puppet-Master. I fell hard, not realizing they were the same type of dolls that New York had talked about. My father wouldn't buy me one as it was "too expensive, and ridiculous".

A few years went by, and at the release party for the last Harry Potter book I met someone who had a Hound, and after I never looked back.

Funny thing is, all those years after my father refused to buy me a Van, I own over 60 dolls (floating heads included, and the list is growing) and Van was the 5th doll I wound up buying......

 

I saw the first BJD at Denver Doll Emporium when I went years ago to do some Tonner Doll shopping. I bought my first one there that day. I don't have that doll anymore, but have many others. It was just exciting to be able to manipulate a doll like that and change looks with wigs, eyes and so forth. The clothing fascinated me too, because it was just so well made.
I liked the question.

 

I was surfing the Internet a few years ago and I found some pics... I looked for information about BJDs, but I didn't like them to be so expensive. Then, I found a pic of the DOD Black Ducan and I "fell in love". I automatically decided I wanted a BJD.

 

I found pictures of a Volks doll on someone i was watching on dA. From there i really liked how cute it looked. I did a bunch of research on Volks dolls mainly. Then started to look more into all the other kinds of dolls and really couldnt stand just looking at pictures. Just had to buy one.