How did you find out about BJD and how did you get the first doll?

I had friends who had some so I got to see them in person. I also saw them at some anime conventions.

My first BJD was second hand. I posted a WTB thread here and the seller reached out to me. These days I still buy second hand but I also buy direct from companies or use dealers to buy from companies for me.

 

It was back in 2013, (I am Belgian so you may not have my references lol) but I was in the pullip world back then (did not own any, but wanted to find as much information as possible about them) and that's when searching fabout them on Skyrock back then (I have no idea if this existed in the US, but it's a blog hosting company), and I found a Minifee Chloe by Saylline, a doll collector who left the hobby now I think, that I fell in love with the hobby. It was precisely on the 13th December 2013 (I even wrote the day down to keep the memory).

In the end, my first BJD was also a Minifee Chloe much later, in 2020, but unfortunately I did not keep her, I was not a fan of the face and tried to remove some details myself and ended up ruining the makeup, and I thought that MSD were too big for me, so she's not in my collection anymore but I am still in love with other collectors' pictures (and the Chloe sculpt still has a special place in my heart)

 

I discovered resin bjds through dollfie dreams, which I initially strongly preferred. They eventually grew on me and I became obsessed.

My first doll was my Island doll Ivy, which I bought new from a dealer. It was a long time before I bought any more, and all but two others have been secondhand. I really like secondhand dolls because I'm less likely to be overly prescious about them.

 

I discovered bjds on Ebay! I'd never seen one before I came across them there listed second hand. I'd always been interested in anthromorphic animal dolls and figurines and I somehow I stumbled across bjds. I was fascinated by their posing abilities! My first ten dolls were all purchased second-hand on Ebay. I still remember how nervous I was when I used PayPal to purchase a doll directly from the maker for the first time as a pre-ordered doll and then I had to wait 4 months for it to arrive!

 

My introduction was by doll customizers on YouTube like Moonlight Jewel and Dollightful! In the same vein, I went down the rabbit hole on reviews for dolls like Rainbow High and a reviewer in passing mentioned that they were similar to Ball Jointed Dolls (how true that was I am not sure.) But them mentioning dolls I had not heard of piqued my interest so I started googling them and found this amazing hobby.
I admired from afar for about a year, saving up for my first doll intended to come from Alice's Collections (Dollzone Little Snow) but chickened out. When that year passed my partner asked me what I wanted for Christmas and my mind kept coming back to Little Snow. I checked ebay and there she was! A_Zuri here on the forums had her up for sale (Cross posted)! And thanks to her we were able to work out a sale and now I have my first ball-jointed doll
Funny how serendipitous it was to hear someone mention BJDs in passing for a review I watched at 1 am haha.

 

I discovered BJDs thanks to DeviantArt back in 2009! I followed someone on there for her little flash game dating sims and she produced a series of "lol so random" visual novel-esque games following her Figmas. At the end of one of them, she showed her Dollfie Dream Sasara, who I thought was the prettiest doll I'd ever seen and that I just had to have one of my own.

I bought my first doll in 2013, a Luts Kid Delf Cherry directly from the company.

 

Way back around the early 2000s, I accidentally found Volks on ebay. I was desperate for some unique dolls that weren't boring playline same-old-stuff (Barbie and other fashion dolls did not have the diversity then as they do now), so I was looking for repaints and reroots and such. After searching "ooak Ken" and "ooak Bratz Boyz" and got very little, I tried "ooak guy doll" and found a Volks Neo Go Guy who was stunning! So started searching more, found the Volks website and their Super Dollfies, and just fell in love. Unfortunately, I was a broke student not even able to afford a place of my own yet, so I had to wait awhile. I kind of put it out of my mind for a few years.

My first gateway doll was a 1/6 Obitsu from Junkyspot, mostly to test out how I felt paying so much for a doll (he was like $50ish, and that was a lot for me at the time!) and how I liked customizing. I got him in 2006. Finally, in 2008 I took the dive and ordered an in stock Angel of Dream Chen from Junkyspot, back when they offered a lot more companies. It was love at first sight. Next week marks 16 years since I ordered him, and I still have him!

 

I can’t say exactly when I heard about bjds but I learned about them when I was starting to get into Lolita fashion back in 2021-2022. I used to collect Monster High and Ever After High dolls when I was younger, but I never really liked the lack of possibility so it wasn’t something I kept up with when the lines ended.

I just ordered my first doll who’s from Telestesia and Dragon through Alice’s collection. He’s the 1/4 boy body with the Mu YunJun head and I’m very excited for him to arrive.

edit: I decided to buy him specifically because I think I’ll like the mature mini size, I didn’t look around for second hand dolls a ton but I didn’t happen to see any.

 

I first saw a BJD at a manga/anime convention in 2010 but I thought it was a figurine if some sort, a very beautiful and big one (it was an SD), but I didn't learn about the customization part of it. A year or so later, one of my high-school friends invited me home and introduced me to the handful of Yo-SDs she had. She explained to me the basics of the customization part and the sizes and gave me a comprehensive list of websites and forums to learn more.
When I finally purchased my first doll (after a lot of research and I even attended a meeting of the local hobbyists), two years later, it was directly from the company.

 

I discovered bjd by coming across Dream of Doll site (yes, I too belong to the ranks of Ducan lovers)! Then I continued to inform myself, discovered Iplehouse as a second brand.
Then den of angels and facebook groups finished informing me, now it's 15 years!
My first bjd was a head, Flowne from Doll In Mind! The next year I also got Laia and Larina heads, also from Doll in Mind, before the manufacturer closed.
They are still bodiless, poor things, not being able to afford to get them one, but now (that I have a job) I am slowly making up for it, so they will get the love they deserve!
The first whole bjd I had (and still have) was Lati Yellow Lea, taken only a few months after starting work.
I'm happy I can finally afford to get the dolls I've dreamed of for years

 

I discovered BJD through a friend who colleted and customized Volks Dollfie, their 12" fashion line, she gave me their website address. I saw a sold-out Shirou Tachibana sales page on there, and thought he was an overpriced 12" Obitsu. After fully researching what type of doll he was, I wanted a giant vampire male one. Long story longer, the first doll of this kind I got was a Volks Dollfie Dream I (1st vers., 2003), I got from a long defunct Volks dealer in Florida. A bit later I got a CP/Luts VDES head sculpt to hybrid on it, directly from Luts. My first non-hybrid-full-resin BJD was a SoulDoll Paris I got as a Christmas gift in 2006.

Old fart Déjà vu feelings... but seriously, when a forum is this "old" and "big," discussion topics all start sounding the same, after a while. There are a few other threads that are still actively going on, on this side of the forum, if you want to read a lot more replies. Most are not that old. (:

What doll got you into the hobby?

How did you discover bjds?

What was the first face mold you fell in love with?

Your first doll

There's probably more loads more on here, but I'm too azy to keep searching right now...DX

 

I got really into collecting vintage dolls (think Effanbee and Madam Alexander from the 70s and 80s) when I was a young teenager -- so, around 2012 or so. Facebook was still pretty popular, so I looked around to join some doll-related Facebook groups to help nourish my new budding hobby, and I found The Junky Spot's Facebook page that way!

It amazed me how beautiful and realistic BJDs were, and I was hooked! I only collect BJDs as an adult. After years of pining, I bought my first BJD secondhand off of Facebook in 2021, a Resinsoul Xun. I have seven BJDs in my collection now!

 

Yes I feel like, in the french-speaking community, there was also this kind of transition from Pullip to BJD (people still collect both, but until around 2012 it was all about Pullips and it's only afterwards that BJDs got more interest from collectors, or at least that's the feeling I had about doll community back then ahah)

 

I came across my first BJDs at Otakon in 2001 and was immediately fascinated. When I found put their cost, I thought I would never own one because I was in high school at the time and spending so much at once mind of blew my brain.

It was year later when I stumbled across the hobby again- I honestly don't remember how. But I was post college, working and saved the funds because I was just a little obsessed with an Iplehouse Carina when she was released. I think I about had an anxiety attack when I first ordered, because she was through their custom doll system and you couldn't do layaway on them!

 

I found out about BJDs back in 2006 through Dream of Doll website. I have no memory of how I came across the site, but it was love at the first side. At the time my English were terrible, so I couldn't really understand what BJD were, I thought they were, like, Barbie sized, made of plastic and had no clue of why they were so expensive.

As my english improved and I found out there was a Brazilian comunnity, I got to understand better what BJDs were and, with the help of a friend, got my first doll in 2012, a DoC U that I ended up selling a couple years later due to his size, I'm more into big SDs.

On a side note, it's funny to think that I met some of the greatest friends I ever had and even my girlfriend in this hobby. I could never imagine that would happen when I first got into that DoD site!

 

I found out about BJDs a long time ago back when I would search random Japanese forums looking for pictures of anime figures and drawings. I'm not sure exactly how that led to me finding BJDs, but I do remember specifically looking at the Luts website and wanting a doll but not being able to afford it as a middle/high schooler.
I ended up buying my first BJD, a Luts Senior Delf Blue, in 2021 once I had my own income and could finally afford one, and I've enjoyed them since!