How did you discover the BJD hobby?

I got really into dogmas and stumbled upon Dollfie Dreams (i really wanted a Sasara) which eventually led me to BJDs. Actually, the first company I fell for was Luts but I can't remember the exact sculpt I wanted.

 

I stumbled across the Volks store (in the old Radio Kaikan location) in 2009, not actually ever having heard of Volks before, I wasnt even really looking for anything in particular, just wandering up the stairs of a building to see what I'd find....well, then I found the store and the rest is history :p I didn't buy one that day, but I certainly went home from that trip with a pair of cute little 1/6 volks dolls~

 

I collect Blythe first and found out these adorable BJD dolls from my doll collector friends

 

I first saw BJDs on deviantart when I was in high school. An artist that I followed would occasionally post photos of her dolls [though I cannot for the life of me remember who the artist was] and the pics made me curious. I did some research and thought 'these are really cool!' but omg so expensive, so I sort of just admired them from afar for a VERY long time.

 

I think I first heard of them from going to conventions. At the time though, they actually scared me. They did up until about a year ago. My partner had been wanting one for years now but was being very respectful of my fear of them and resisted the urge to get one. Over time, I started to come around and it came to a point when I told her, "you can get one if you want, but I need to approve of it first because I don't want to live with one that's going to terrify me", which she thought was fair. So we went through months of her showing me a doll now and then and I'd either shake my head no or give it a shrug and a maybe...

Eventually, I started liking the ones I was seeing and for her birthday last year she received a large sum of money from a late grandparent who wanted her to treat herself, so she picked out a doll that I had liked that she was in love with and ordered him. Then seeing her getting excited and seeing the world that she was jumping into, I started to feel the urge to get one myself and found myself looking at different websites and about two months later I ordered my first one. And now I am a victim of the BJD hobby. Haha.
I think it was the customization of the hobby that really got me. I'm the kind of person who could spend hours tweeking a character's appearance in an RPG if it would let me.

 

The first time I ever saw a BJD was at a convention, I saw it in passing and only now do I actually know the sculpt of the doll I saw (a Volks Nana!) and I was interested in what it was, but I didn't ask. There were also a few BJDs at a table in the Artist Alley. I didn't have the courage to ask what they were. At the same time I was watching things about American Girl dolls and there was a video of a BJD in the recommandations and I clicked it. It started from there, I researched them for months at a time and it came to me quickly that I liked them and I started to plan for my own doll soon after. Ever since, I've been drowned in dolls.

 

Haha, this brings back memories~ I was reading ShojoBeat and they had an article on BJD's. I remember showing my mom and telling her how cool I thought they were

 

I found out about BJDs through a doll magazine in Fall of 2009. I was intrigued by the BJDs but soon forgot about them after I moved from North Texas back to Southeast Texas. After I moved, I became focused on other things. Then in 2011, I got another doll magazine from a local bookstore and began the obsession began. I wanted to know everything about BJDs. I eventually bought two books about BJDs because I wanted to know anything and everything about how to get a BJD. I eventually took the plunge and bought my first BJD in 2013 through one of my favorite websites. The reason it took me so long to purchase a BJD was not financial but because I kept changing my mind about the sculpt, size, and company. This hobby has a vast selection of dolls and makes you want to buy, buy, and buy.

 

I saw pictures of them when I was in high school and thought they were cool but when I saw their price, my eyes popped. Also, I lived with my sister back then and she's terrified of big dolls so there was no way I could have gotten one.

Recently, I was trolling the web and "discovered" them again. Now I have a stable job and I've moved out. I also live in a one-person room so no one to stop me now. I did some research and realized it could be something of an outlet for me.
Faceups - requires painting stuff - check.
Clothes/wigs - requires styling things other than myself (YES!) - check.
Setting dolls up for photo shoots - window display - check.
Photos - photography - check.
Drawing - doodling stories about my dolls and using them as storyboards for photostories - check.
Couldn't be happier.

 

I've seen dolls around on fantasy fairs and such, but didn't really know anything about them.
A friend of mine started collecting and I got heaps of information from her and had fun getting to know her dolls and she linked me to a Dutch forum and websites. I was fascinated, especially with the face-ups and it looked like something I would like to do. Another friend of ours started collecting dolls too, so I had someone else to talk about it too. Eventually the first friend had a doll which she traded with me for a 3DS to get me started in the hobby. I found I loooove doing the face-up and also loved designing him and his clothes.

 

Back in 08, I was researching how to build proper armatures, and articulate, my regular poppets, and art dolls that I make, and wanted to also make full standing large size porcelain dolls, so in searching for an online class, or workshop etc...I found bjd, and have been in love with them ever since then..

 

Searching in the Internet for something else
I saw a picture of an Unoa
She was so beautiful
I began to search informations, community ....
It was too late ... I was addict ^^

 

Well, it was year 2008 and I saw these girls with their dolls at a con, and I thought that they were really cool looking. After I got home I started to seek out any information from Internet and finally found companies, forums and what not. Because I was still a teen I didn't have any chance to get a doll, until many years later.

 

A friend introduced to me ^^
And we all got our first dolls together
It's nice to have friends with the same hobbies!

 

I've always been big on making OC's for shows and books that I love, even since before I knew OC's even existed. But with the discovery of Deviantart when I was 15 and manga/anime when I was 17, I became very fond of the magical girl/slightly doll-ish animanga stuff.
So it went like this:
Tokyo Mew Mew (from my childhood)
Chobits (because it came up in a "what manga to read next" quiz)
DearS (because it was said to be like Chobits)
TV Tropes, searching stuff and found the Sailor Earth trope, fell in love with the idea because I had finally found a name for my habit and in the list was Rozen Maiden.
The next thing I know, I'm a BJD obsessive.

 

A friend of mine introduced me to the doll hobby and since I like to collect miniatures and re-ment stuff it was like perfect =)

 

I initially heard about them from my cousin back when I was in grade school. She showed me pictures and I did find them charming. I was immediately discouraged, however, after learning their price. I just couldn't justify their price and never thought I'd get one up until a year ago... but here I am now, waiting on a doll I've just ordered.

 

The very first I'd heard about them was from an internet friend(ish) who talked about them in 2004 or 2005, not sure which. I looked at pictures just in passing, thinking they were BEAUTIFUL but classed them into the 'never going to get one' category because at the time my finances were so limited I could barely grocery shop. There was a few years where I didn't think about them at all and then suddenly I started seeing them everywhere. Passing interest, desire to have one, but I always put it off even though the interest and desire kept GROWING all the same! Took me a looooong time to take the plunge but now here I am!

 

I saw them on deviantart loooong time ago. Of course I wanted to get a doll and I collected information, but they were so expensive and I couldn't pay them ._.

Few years(!) later I saw the again by accident and I wanted them again! Ok, there was a beautiful DZ Shoyo on ebay and I was bidding ^-^
Sadly I didn't have won the auction, but fot the price I would have paid I also could get a new Shoyo! So I bought my first doll

 

A friend decided to show me one in mid-high school, and at that time I was like wooooaaah too much money. Then I came back after graduation and decided it was a hobby I wanted to pursue.