How did you first get into Dolls?

I've had one kind of doll collection or another since I was born - my grandmother was a doll lover and maker. My serious doll collecting where I was buying dolls for myself didn't start until I was in college and then was spotty due to lack of funds and trying to decide what I really loved. Serious collecting of Himstedt dolls started in about 1994 but I've always been open to a wide variety. I saw my first bjd when someone on one of the Himstedt forums shared hers. I started noticing them in some of the magazines and then discovered that I lived within an hours drive of the first dollectable expo (now gogodoll, I think) back in 2007. I bought my first girl there and became hooked.

 

A friend at University had an SD doll and some pullips. I wasn't particually impressed but thought they were cool in their own way.
Decided to give it some research anyway out of curiosity and fell for a doll on Dollzone. And thus I was hooked =3

 

I loved Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls when I was little. I also collected LaNewborns and had some Furskin bears that I loved. I always liked dolls that were special or unique. It's apt that I fell in love with BJD's when I found them.

 

One of my friends got one (From a different friend), and linked me to Junkyspot, since it was in the US, and she also liked Obitsus and thought I might want one for a drawing model. (I was in my first year at an art college).... Welllll.... I browsed the site, saw that they were having a sale for the debut of AoD, fell in love with one of their boys, and promptly bought him.
He was naked and faceless in a box for a year before I really picked up the hobby and named him, gave him faceups, etc. Still wasn't as enthusiastic about dolls as my friends, and didn't really "get it" until I bought a DoD last spring (My first doll was two by then) and INSTANTLY became a crazy doll lady the moment I opened his box. It's only got worse since then XD

 

I discovered junkyspot, and then bobobie, then soom in that order. A friend was showing her doll, an SD... I had to get a a 27cm after that.

 

I first saw them almost 2 years ago on a fiction forum (someone used them as avatars) and was very interested without knowing anything even what they were called. Later my brother visited a doll fair where some bjds were shown and he took their pics for me.

After that, we’d browsed many websites for their info and after many months of hesitation we decided to order our first kids (Iple Evan for my brother, and Luts KDF Hodoo for me). And from starting with our first 5-6 months ago, now I have two (with the third in the near future), and my brother has three.

 

I haven't even got one *yet*, but I discovered them through a friend. She is borderline obsessive with customisation (she sticks tiny lil plastic diamonties EVERYWHERE) and I thought she was crazy about how much money she spent on doing up her dolls.
She got a lil sick last year, of course money got tight, and she got miserable, so I ordered her a wig from an ABJD site to cheer her up after seeing her photos in her LJ. That kind of got my attention - the photos from collectors, it was amazing seeing the detail and attention they give to their dolls.

So I have my first doll in 'preparation' from Latidoll. I know it's going to be a long wait (been following some unhappy collectors on Flickr, so preparing myslef! ^^) But I can't wait!

 

I saw my friend with hers one day but I wasn't really interested in them yet. Then, the forum I frequent opened up a section for ABJDs. I just like to look at the nice photographs the forumers took but never thought about owning one.
Until I saw a mass order thread and I saw this girl. Fell in love. ºAº

 

I came across a few photos of them on a forum (I can't even remember which one) about five years ago, and adored them. After that I went and looked at various different doll sites, but though I wanted one even more seeing the variety available, even the smaller ones were well out of my affordability range (I was too young to have a proper part-time job and got very little allowance from my parents). I came across them on the internet multiple times which kept me casually interested, until five years later I finally found myself in a position to be able to afford one I wanted and now I've let it develop into a fully-fledged hobby.

 

I was searching for custom fashions for my then doll passion which was the 16" fashion Gene dolls. I found this incredible artist and in viewing her gallery there was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen and I knew then I HAD to know more! I contacted the artist and she was kind enough to provide me with some details and the search was on at that point. The BJD I noticed on her gallery page was a Volks SD Megu, which I acquired in 2000 and she was my first bjd. I was lost forever after that........

 

I had seen them in an online blog many years ago...but the blog was in Japanese...I was just looking at the pics and thought nothing of it.
Two years ago I was at a Convention and there was a table full of them, I was instantlt intrigue when the sellers told me about the adjusts that one could make...and I left with a head full of ideas.

Now I'm finally on track, with one at home, one on the way and two on layaway

 

Dolly Pringles Rulez!!

I personally blame deviantART for my sudden obsession. I was browsing there and saw some really weird looking dolls. Because I'm curious as hell I HAD to inspect what they are. So I came across DoD, but didn't really liked their dolls. I started searching again and discovered Souldoll. I was amazed by their Human Chiron from Zenith line, but after I saw the price...900 bucks for this??? No way...I knew I couldn't save up this much and parents didn't want to hear anything about it.
Then I joined DOA and literally drowned under all those photos of customized dolls and finally learned basics like: what's the face-up, how to restring the doll and so on. I was surfing the forum every day for half a year and then I discovered SOOM.
I was lost.
I was still searching for a perfect first doll and that time, SOOM released Sphaler. I was 100% sure, that he was THE ONE so I started persuading my parents and finally outbargained them. I could order him as a X-mas present. I was happy and...the rest you know

 

i got into BJD because i saw T-ZEN in a magezine many years ago, and a few years later, i was searching information on the internet, i thought, why don't i search information for bjds. and bang! i found fei, she's beatiful and cheap enough that i was able to afford, so i got her, yet got into the BJD world.
now i have fei, T-ZEN, SWD nono, all of them are my beloved dolls.

 

A friend of mine at work bought one and started bringing him to work. I hemmed and hawed for a few years about buying my own, since I really liked her doll but wasn't sure I wanted one myself. I met more people with dolls at anime cons, and started to seriously consider buying one.

I finally found one that called to me, and my collection has grown from there.

 

first info about bjd I've found on m&a forum. later I was on few cons where were dollfies, and then I've first saw them in person... and how it's started. Few month later I've found Polish Dollzone site and I've bought my first cutie~

 

I ran into one on ebay when looking at some anime hats. The rest is history...

 

My friend took hers to class~ I hadn't seen any and didn't know anything about bjds at the time so when I saw him, I was in awe and HAD to find out more. I went home and got on the site she told she had gotten him from (Dream of Doll) and I that's where my love for them began and grew

 

*sigh* After weeks of walking past the computer screens of some people in my Japanese class, saying "Are you looking at those ugly dolls again?", I eventually fell into their little coop of BJD lovers, and am now hoping to get one once I have money (this should take a while).
In all honesty, it isn't their fault (yeah right -_-), it's when we visited the volks store in Japan that I first acknowleged the dolls due to a certain unknown doll who I called vampire dude. This vampire dude (let us call him that for the sake of arguement) made me ever so sliightly interested in the dolls. But, I still called them 'the ugly dolls'.
Then I saw Ducan, and began browsing the DOD site. Then I found Sha and thought yeah he is cute. But seeing a Jaejoong and Reita DIM kind of made me spazz out and decide that I must get myself a doll (I don't know how). So now I am determined to get myself Sha XD

 

If I remember correctly, I was looking at music videos when I saw one call "Walking on Air".
It featured A bjd.
I got hooked.
Looked it up, and love happen

 

Well with BJD's when mouse and I moved in together she took me to some meets and we had some at our apartment. With dolls in general I used to collect GI joes and star wars action figures.