How did your 2020 doll plans go?

I don't tend to make many plans for my year as far as dolls go because I always have to anticipate some sort of limited coming out I'll pine over and that usually means someone else isn't coming home. My ongoing goal is always finding bodies for my floating heads. Pre-lockdown, I managed one body this year. Then I fell in love with Arc Doll Zilang, so he's on layaway. And Luts released a new body and had the Maska sculpt as a head option, which has been a backburner "if they ever put him out again I'm getting another" sculpt (I have one. I adore him so much I needed another lol). Then Shoushou Goudan and Niko happened... I also doubled my off-topic doll collection this year... My coworkers are all having "quarantine babies" so I guess these are mine To be fair, I got a lot of they-didn't-call-it-hazard-pay-but-it-was-totally-hazard-pay bonuses early in the pandemic, and without being able to go out shopping or eating at restaurants or travelling as I usually would, what else was I going to do with it?

I may have also gotten another head or two...

I have more floating heads now than at the start of the year, oops. No regrets.

 

Sew more clothes: Failed. I haven't sewn much.
Do more face-ups: I did do face-ups
Maybe get one more Chubby Baby: Did not. The doll head I wanted to use just hasn't been speaking to me artistically so holding off on that.
Sell off 1 to 3 dolls for shelf space: I did sell a few.
Start sewing for the SD BJD Con without cram sewing the end for once: Cancelled due to COVID, so I succeeded on a technicality. Can't cram-sew for something that is not happening!

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who came back to the hobby due to lockdown. I've not lived in my country of origin for 5 years now and I was planning to sell my BJDs, but time and curiosity to see what Iplehouse was up to made me discover the 50cm man F.I.D line I so long was hoping for... Saw they only ha one F.I.D. Baron available on the site and took it as a sign (this was before knowing they actually have all F.I.D. available every other month...). So now I've got two more BJDs and one of my girls is soon getting shipped from back home!

 

Well, in 2020 my whole world literally got turned upside down. Not so much because of the Corona-virus. But my mum was not great since my dad's passing in 2018. She got worse and worse. Since October 2019, she pretty much was in hospital, with short breaks. In January, I got a place for her in my hometown in a retirement home, where she passed in February this year. So I had really not time and was not in the mood to prepare any plans.

The intentions I had got pretty much crashed. E.g., I really wanted to work on the upper half of Raphael's armour. But it was impossible, because of our workshop got stuffed with the tools and materials from my dad's workshop (we had to clean out my parents' house). On the other side, I finally gave in and started to put together Lucifer from the series, because both the actor and the character in this form deeply fascinate me. As only the head is in my hands, nothing happened there after it. Another work in progress.

Some of you may follow my big BJD horse project, which is still not finished yet. The technical things are mostly sorted by now, his shiny golden coat has arrived, but still a lot to do to make him pretty.

What is left of this year will be used to finish projects, same theme for next year. Let's hope I can do it...

 

My dolls had to remain in storage this entire year so far. I actually just pulled my tiniest one (islanddoll luo luo) out of there. The face up and body blushing of that one hasn't been started. I've made no new clothes. My search for a fairyland torso for my seahorse parts has been nonexistent (literally just out of mind and out of money due to covid). I think I may have even fallen out of love with my boy...

If i can even start on my islanddoll before this year is up, I'll be happy about my progress. Even if it's just to restring them!

 

Well... lets see....

I mainly stuck to my plans. I got a body for one of my heads so one more doll is now complete!
Buuuut... I bought another blank head. At least she has a body on the way.

I also made that wig I was talking about and was very happy with how it turned out!
I picked a pair of eyes for her as well, but they sold out.. so now I have to wait to see if they will be restocked.

And... I kinda bought two more dolls... one just gob smacked me, the other was one I wanted for a long time, and I found her on Y!J for less than half of what she would have cost me new, so I could not say no to that!

 

I don't tend to make/stick with plans since my creative inspirations usually come in waves that I can't predict, but I certainly couldn't have anticipated this year, so that's probably a good thing. I am definitely ending 2020 much happier with my collection. At the start of this year, most of my dolls were MSDs, and I was at a creative loose end with several of them - I bought more at the beginning of this year (adding more characters fixes everything, right?) but was still ultimately dissatisfied. I ended up rehoming several with a friend and felt much, much better reverting back to my original concept starting with my first MSD: that they are spirits the actual size of the doll who "live" in the human world. I did end up adding a third to the two I kept because I really like the idea of having a trio of them. I am doing my best to keep that group from expanding again.

This was also my year of size extremes, as I acquired my (currently) largest and smallest dolls. I've achieved with the larger dolls what I struggled for with the MSDs - a cohesive cast of characters living in a fantasy setting. I am hoping to stick with four (I have two at home and two on the way) because I feel this is all I can comfortably accommodate/afford, and while I certainly have a million other characters I could shell, this will hopefully keep each scale in its own story/world (hahaha I say this now but watch me break my own "rules" in the near future). Edit: "Rule" already broken...I just paid for a fifth. No regrets.

I've finally arranged my fantasy tinies in a way that I like as well. I found a bookshelf with a "roof" on it at Goodwill, and I've got a couple of little scenes on the different "floors" (shelves). They're potentially in a few different story worlds (I toy with ideas every once in a while but aren't as focused on their characters as I am the larger dolls), but mostly they're just cute and ignite my sense of wonder. I achieved my goal of getting 1:12 or dollhouse-sized dolls, too: I have one (I think off-topic technically, but still a resin ball-jointed doll with changeable eyes and wig) in a little fairy library in a lantern I put together on my desk at work, and my Felixdoll Brownie is soon to be joined by a PukiPuki so that they can have adventures together.

I've learned that I really do like all sizes and am grateful that I finally branched out this year. I'm also hoping to take a break from adding any new dolls to my collection and instead only buy any clothes/wigs/props that I need to make my dolls/scenes more complete. (I should theoretically have enough on hand for when my last incoming dolls arrive, but there's always the chance that something won't fit/work out as planned.)

 

I never really have any solid plans. It's basically just ordering things when they're available and play the waiting game.
The only "plan" was that I had ordered a Huajing Doll crab monster at the end of last year, so she was bound to show up this year.
As far as "unplanned" purchases go, I got a Delf El and a LittleFee Shiwoo (both 2nd hand), and a Soom Ondiin from the goodbye summer event. But I also sold a full doll and a doll head. So I'd like to think it was kind of a downsizing/evaluating year of what I still wanted and what I didn't want any more.

 

Ah, my plans went really well! I've been eyeing this hobby since I saw some posts about BJDs on tumblr around 2013, but have been actively participating in forums and groups since mid-late last year. So I did have the sole plan of buying my first doll this year.
Aaaand today I just ordered my first ever BJD! ^u^ Its a character I've always wanted to shell, and the doll I got is so sweet and perfect for them! Now I'm just playing the waiting game, with how late in the year I ordered them it probably wont be here until next year. But that's ok! I'm happy I can finally start participating in the hobby outside of just talking in groups and forums :]

 

2020 for me was the year of "make it work". I got maybe two of the goals I originally had planned, but only by accident really.
My big accomplishments were using what I had to make dolls, as opposed to buying new stuff. I pieced together Punchline and the Scarecrow (both DC characters) and I'm very happy with them, a witch character I've been trying to get to work using a head I've had laying around since 2014 and most recently I switched around two Granado heads I was going to replace onto different bodies and they work better than before. I've also just done a mod on a body I wasn't using so I can use it, and am currently blushing a head I already had a faceup on to match a tan body. Over the faceup it had because I wanted to keep it and I don't want to have to buy a new body for said head. I WILL NOT BE STOPPED especially not by me.

I have bought a few dolls - I upgraded my favorites body and his old one will go to a floating head I have. I bought a body for a doll I wanted and ended up getting the exact heads I wanted for it later on (SQlabs - they're on order now). And Punchline stole a body from an OC I still wanted to have as a doll so I ordered a full doll from Iplehouse to be her - she's arrived and worked out exactly how I wanted her to, and since I wasn't happy with her before, and very much am now, I think that was still a win. As a whole, the money I saved this year by using what I already owned to make the dolls I wanted is crazy. And I still have a drawer full of parts! Which is good because I bought a head that will need a body when it gets here XD

 

I'm actually getting back into the hobby cuz of all of 2020. No doll official doll plans but I'm starting to browse and finalize on what I want.

 

I left the hobby years ago but 2020 brought me back in. I guess "leaving," isn't the right term as much as "selling all of my dolls and then standing out the outskirts of the hobby wishing I never did," is the better phrase.

Regardless, 2020 left me with a lot of time and some decent extra funds to sit with. I joined a few resale groups on facebook and found a sculpt that reignited my passion enough that I'm sitting here waiting for my first new doll in around six or seven years.

 

My plans for this year were to get my F-17 his little brother (a kid Delf Ani), and to finish my Journey to the West main quartet, both of which I managed! For Pigsy I was planning on getting a Luts sculpt anyway, so when they brought out the new sd65 slender body that I knew would be perfect for Sanzo I grabbed a Carmine head with it. Sandy was much harder to shell, as I couldn't settle on a sculpt, but then Volks came out with the Dollfie Icon's with fantasy ears right around my birthday, and since Sandy is supposed to be a water creature I talked myself into getting Clover (if i hadn't won her I would probably have gotten a tan sd16 fcs gal instead).

On the other hand: I didn't do as much sewing as I would have liked to, I didn't get bodies for my Carina and Yvonne because I decided I need to cut down on sd-sized resin dolls and they're too realistic compared to the rest of my crew, and I was gonna make a dark mirror fairy but the head I ordered never came and I kinda lost interest in shelling her. In fact, I've been trying to cut down on a lot of my plans for shelling characters I don't really need shelled because it was kinda getting out of control - I've decided if I need extra characters for a photo I can get my nendoroids or fashion dolls to play them.

Next years plans are, vaguely: shell Dorothy Gale and possibly Wendy/Peter Pan to go with my Alice (I'm planning a modernish fairy tales/fantasy verse? Not sure what you'd call it.), shell more sd-sized characters in vinyl, figure out what sculpts I actually want those characters as (and if the ddh16 I ordered will actually work for any of them), figure out which one of the Dollfie Dreams I want to make in-person at DollPoint when I go to Japan in 2-3 years and which ones I can out together now, maybe get a zuzu delf Lio in one of the new limited tan resin colors...but the first half of the year is probably (possibly/hopefully) going to be spent paying off Elsa, so we'll see what I actually get done in 2021 and what will have to wait until 2022.

 

I was away from this hobby for several years. Last year, one of my friend was excited about the re-release of Volks-Luna. We started to talk a lot about BJDs again. We ended up with going back to this hobby. I have couple dolls stay on my wishlist for a long while. Michelle is on the top of the list. I started searching Michelle and finally brought one from YJA last Sept.
Then, I sent her to Volks for trade exchange and waiting for the faceup commission. In the meantime, I thought Michelle will be the only doll I receive for 2020. But I ended up with buying over 10 dolls and sent some old crew out for their new faceup.
Some of these dolls are still with my friend. I am holding the shipment because I am waiting for the last faceup commission to be completed. Then my doll family will reunited.lol
Now I just have Shinku on my wishlist. But I have enough dolls to play with. She will be a long term plan for me.

 

Ended up with a few things flipped. Link to my original plans, posted Nov 16, 2019.
My top priorities were
New faceups and blushing two of my oldest dolls (My Soom Chrom and my Soom Galena/Vesuvia/Breccia mix), lack of access to filters suddenly made this difficult. I had one extra set, so my Soom Chrom got completed, the second doll's face (Galena) got completed, but the body/tail/paws are still waiting. I did face-up and blush a new acquisition though.
Sculpting - ah, with a lot of things, this one got put on the back burner for a bit and I'm just now starting to reapproach him and hopefully will get him made sooner rather than later.

The lower priority?
Clean-up - My workspace got cleaned up....for work from home. It looks good now and reasonable on Zoom calls, but my sewing machine is not out and my regular worktable has had over half of it dedicated to my work computer.
Clothes - I did successfully buy a number of things...most of my dolls are wearing new clothes right now. As predicted...my unabashed favorite has gotten her mitts on more clothes than anyone else.
Photos around town- lol nope, avoiding people as much as possible, took some in my own yard though.
Acquisitions - Ah, big fail here. I wanted to get the girlfriend of one of my dolls, in which I originally wanted Withdoll Vera. I entirely overlooked the re-release...and ordered a Dream Valley Qing. Since then...I picked up Vera's non-limited release, and also picked up a Fairyland Littlefee Cygne. Vera and Cygne are here and I'm super happy with them. Qing is not yet and I'm not sure what I'll be doing with Qing, lol.


On other notes, I got more into plastic models ( gunpla / megami device mostly) and have been having a blast making them a good alternate to my itch to repaint everyone. I've also picked up a lot more RPG reading.

 

It's been an interesting year... I was mostly good and stuck to my last year's goal of not doing too much and sewing more for my dolls. I was unemployed for almost half of the year so things definitely stopped for a bit. To continue into next year, I want to improve my doll sewing and make more things. Eventually, all my dolls will have a personalized holiday (New Year's, Christmas, Halloween, etc).

This year, 2020:

1. 2B and 9S finally arrived
2. Bought another vinyl doll that I had planned
   
3. Got a MDD mochi ashi because I could not resist
4. Unplanned Yo-SD Kanon, but so glad I did

 

Strangely, I had zero plans for dolls this year, and I have spent more on dolls and sold more dolls than I have in the last three years! XD This bizarre time has inspired me to whittle my collection down only to those I 100% feel a bond with and that make me happy, to spend time with and take photos of and maintain those dolls (I restrung a doll for the first time!), to make things for them (I learned to sew doll clothes!), and find joy in them. I even bought a two new dolls I never expected to want as a part of my collection: one is a MiniFee (only one I have ever owned) and one is a vinyl BJD (last one I owned was over ten years ago)!!

 

@DemonMiko I just got a Mochi-Ashi too!!! I am sooooo pleased with her. She just arrived yesterday! And I also have been sewing for my dolls (I am just learning to sew, though, so my stuff is pretty... "rustic" but I really want to be able to provide more for my dolls on my own)!

 

I didn't have clear cut plans- I just started the hobby... but I ended up spending a little bit on creating a small Christmas setup for my current doll. Which is surreal because I normally don't enjoy or have great anticipation for any Holidays anymore.

 

My bjd plans came out pretty good this year. I finally bought a little YoSD and his head with a face up artist right now and will be coming home this month! I bought a 1/3 SD Supiadoll head with diva red makeup and two 1/4 MSD heads from DiM that will get face ups and hopefully bodies in 2021!

They were all on my "wish list" before 2020. I just wasn't expecting to have them all before the end of this year! The reason why is because I had a hard time deciding on what sculpts I'd like to shell my characters!

The only thing that didn't do to plan was doing more dolly photo shoots! My family, friends, and I have been healthy which I am grateful for, but just hearing the news and things going on around my town made me super stressed out and also dealing with side effects from my medications so I didn't feel like taking pictures of my dolls as much.

Hopefully 2021 will be a better year for all of us!