How long did it take before you settled on a doll you liked?

Looking at blanks is so interesting - for me, I cannot properly like mmm 'conceptualize' a doll without a face-up of some kind. I don't know what it is, but looking at blanks is REALLY hard for me, and I often can't tell sculpts apart as easily if they're blank vs with some kind of faceup. I envy you that ability!

Also I had a feeling you were trying to shell your icon/FF14 character lol (heck yeah Miqo'te!). I think I'd drive myself crazy trying to find a sculpt that was 'perfect' for my miqo'te boy, but he'd be fun to have as a doll! And he's also very tan-skin, and it can be really hard to find dolls in tan resin! It used to be even HARDER in the way back times, when tan-skin resin was only just starting to come out! I'm really curious which doll and body you've tentatively chosen, if you don't mind sharing? I'd also like to hear about your character too if you don't mind sharing

 

Haha yep, I love my Miqo'te boy! I haven't been able to play in an age because my gaming computer kicked the bucket some years back, so I miss my cat son

Ohhh I hunted down that post so I could see, and Yido is surprisingly close! But Enzo is also very nice, and already has a tan option so that's always a plus. I've never really read into trying to dye resin, but more power to you if you want to try it out!
I still think it's amazing that so many dolls now have tan as a skin-tone option, and across numerous companies. I got into this hobby back in like '07 and I remember tan being the new rage, quite a 'limited doll' sort of a thing, and that it had a lot of problems still - uneven color, sometimes brittle, unsure how it would discolor with age, trying to sand seam lines without discoloring it too badly, etc.
Ahh that Doll Family body is really nice too! I have a Doll Family body in my wishlist as well, they have some nice designs. As far as a darker tan...I'm thinking that you'd probably have to go with artist-made dolls, if I had to guess. I think most of the bigger companies don't go much darker than the 'latte brown skin' like Migidoll has shown, that looks to be about as tan as I've seen around other companies as well.

Man now you've inspired me to maybe look at sculpts for my own Miqo'te lmao

 

Good luck to you, I hope that the color comes out well!
Ahh yeah so one of my complaints about the BJDs is the lack of body types available, there's really not a lot of variation (again, outside of artist/small batch dolls). On the one hand, having somewhat more 'standardized' sizing/shapes makes it much easier to make/buy clothes and the like. But on the other hand, I'd really love to have dolls with different body types! Also the fact that the more muscular a body, the bigger it often is (like, 65cm and up. 70cm dolls in particular usually have the most muscular bodies available).

Sadly I don't really have any artist-made dolls I can share off the top of my head, I just know I've seen them around. The wiki pages here on DoA have a lot of information, and I'm pretty sure there are threads about some of the smaller doll makers too. I haven't really had a chance to look into the like instagram/social media side of the hobby now that I'm back, but it's possible you'd find more options there too!

 

To pick my first, it took me....maybe 5-6 years? Mostly because there was just no way I could afford one while in school and starting out on my own, so I had a lot of time to research and look around. It was also 2002-2008, so there weren't nearly as many companies to look at. But once I saw the one who would be my first doll, I knew at first sight. I fell hard for him, and when I checked out owner pics, I actually cried. I'm not one to cry easily, but I just knew with him.

But just because that was my experience doesn't mean it should be yours. Maybe it'll take 5 years, maybe a month. Maybe you'll cry when you see them, maybe you'll fall in love, maybe you'll see your character or maybe you'll just see that one of them on your "maybe" list goes on sale or pops up on the secondhand market for a great deal. Maybe you'll plan the doll for ages, every little detail. Maybe you'll have a list of possibilities, then accidentally find The One by mistake. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to find your first doll. I think you know when it just "feels" right, no matter the reason. My only advice is to get one that really calls to you, and not settle on one you don't love because it's cheaper, easier to get or offered to you.

 

Choice paralysis is real and an issue I'm currently dealing with for a character I want to shell! For his partner, it was a bit easier to decide on which doll to get for a base because I kept coming back to that one over other options. For the one I'm trying to sort out now, there's not a good head+body match i like enough to buy outright, so I need to limit myself to ones that I can buy the head separately, and a lot of the ones I like don't allow that. I'm trying to decide now if I go with an option that I maybe like a little bit less but is close enough, or suck it up and essentially pay twice-one to get the full doll so i can get the head i like and second to buy the correct body for the character. I'm not in a rush, since I just got the doll for his partner this week and need to do all the customization, so I'll take that time to figure it out. Some of the sculpts I'm considering are only available second hand now, but if the listings sell, then they weren't meant to be. For that doll it was about 6 months before I bit the bullet and ordered him, and 6 months for him to arrive.

 

For my first doll, I think it took me about a year of searching, saving pictures of different sculpts on my computer and even doing a comparison checklist to be able to decide on one I thought I really wanted (almost the same time I needed to save money for it) though I ended up not bonding with her at all.
On the other side, my third one was an impulse buy I made when I was thinking of ordering another doll from the same company and this one was just released so that decision took me a minute.
I guess the process is different for each person and each doll but in your case I would advise the same as others, don't settle for the second best, save more money if you have to, and make sure that you won't regret your purchase.

 

I had gotten most for the 16 inch fashion dolls I wanted and a friend of mine showed me the Iplehouse FID line and all the face sculpts and skin tone options that were able to choose from. So I order a FID.

 

The first sculpt I fell in love with is Dream of Doll's Kirill and it took me about 5 years before I decided to buy him and get into the hobby. This is mostly cause I was still in junior high and couldn't afford it. After reading many accounts of others buying dolls (especially impulse buys) and ending up not liking them, I feared it would be the same for me. When I finally saved enough to get my first doll, I went with DOD Kirill cause it was still my favourite sculpt even after so many years.

For my first 4-5 dolls, I got them first before creating characters for them so I guess in that sense, I wasn't as stressed out about finding the right sculpt to fit an existing character.

I currently have one existing character that I am searching for a sculpt for. It's been months and while I have seen a few potential sculpts, there isn't one that I particularly am drawn to yet.

My suggestion would be to take as much time as you need, especially when you are looking for a sculpt for a specific character. Choose a doll that best fits your character. If you have to save up a bit more to afford "The One" then I think it's better to save for a doll that you genuinely like rather than settling for the second best.

Good luck in your search and I hope you find the doll you want

 

It took me some time, and for reasons I completely didn't expect.

See, I started in the hobby with a plan of shelling existing characters -- these were OCs that I've had for many years, I've invested a lot in them and they've become very close and dear to me. But they've only existed on the written page and in my imagination. So when I first got into BJDs, I thought it would be amazing to give these OCs physical doll form, and that's what I did for my first doll -- looked for that sculpt that seemed perfect for my nearest and dearest OC. I settled on Dream of Doll Lahoo.

It didn't work. Firstly, the sculpt wasn't perfect -- and I mean, absolutely 100% matching my imagination of my OC. Lahoo was pretty, but as time went on I got more dissatisfied with him. But more importantly - and I don't know how to describe it - my OC refused to be shelled. It was like he was resisting it: I couldn't see him in Lahoo, or imagine him being a doll. I got the right clothes and hair that matched this character as best as possible... but none of this was absolutely perfect, and it didn't work. (And I didn't have a lot of money to spend on commissioning the perfect clothes etc.)

Eventually I gave up and realized my OC was telling me that he didn't want a physical form. Or put it another way: I realized I just can't shoehorn an existing character into a doll. And I think I had so much invested in my OC (he's been with me practically all my life) that the stakes were too high: the doll shell needed to be absolutely 100% matching my mental picture of my OC. And that kind of perfection is never gonna happen!

So I ended up abandoning my original idea of shelling my long-standing OCs. (And sold Lahoo pretty soon afterwards.) Now my approach is the opposite: I let the sculpt speak a character to me, then mull over it and see if the doll/character fits into my current crew and their world. If it does, I don't have to worry about "is this doll perfect?" because in my mind, the character and doll shell are one and the same. It took a bit of trial and error to figure this out, and several dolls came and went, but over time I've been more successful at getting sculpts that I will keep and not grow dissatisfied with. I got my current crew this way, and indeed they've all been perfect for the characters who inhabit them.

 

I'm not sure how helpful my answer is going to be, since I haven't decided which doll to get yet. I discovered this hobby about two/three weeks ago and joined DOA a week ago. It will be my first doll which makes it extra scary.

I am strongly thinking about getting Mei from Resinsoul, either with her body or with Rong's body.

I know I want a girl with elf ears and grey skin tone, since she's going to be a dark elf.

My only worry is that the grey skin tone is too light and the dark grey too dark. And that I might not love her when she gets here. But in the worst case scenario I can sell her.

Reading this thread also eased some of my worries.

 

It's very overwhelming, yes! There's so many companies and websites to choose from..

I have also been thinking about getting a SD doll. But I can't really grasp even the size of an MSD, so I think that's a better place to start. For me at least.

I've realized I prefer the more cartoony/slightly cartoony dolls rather than the more realistic dolls. I like big eyes!

 

Getting an SD doll sounds good! I like them because I find them the best to dress in fashionable clothes from the Chinese and Korean marketplaces, and are very "huggable" too.

I bought my first doll on impulse because the sculpt was rare and popular, but couldn't bond with him and had to let him go. It took me a whole year of buying several dolls and playing around with them, then ultimately keeping the few that would put a smile on my face just looking at.

Choosing your first doll is going to be a tough decision to make, it'll take time and patience to settle with your first. For some it may be one or two sculpts that would linger on their minds, for others it may be sculpts that somewhat (but not entirely) fit their imagined character, and it'll take time to find one that will click perfectly.

 

I first became interested in the hobby about 6 years ago but I was too young and didn't have any money to buy a doll so I forgot about it for some time. About a year ago, I came across some dolls and began looking into bjds again. I only seriously started looking this month and recently just bought my first doll so I guess it didn't take too long if you don't count the years I couldn't get one! Lol Anyways I thought I would get a semi realistic looking doll and I was also looking at gender neutral dolls. I thought I wanted one at around a 1/4 size but I came across a specific mold that struck me with inspiration for a character. It was a female anime doll at 1/6 size so pretty far from what I thought I wanted at first! lol It didn't take much time for me to decide but I feel confident in my choice. Don't rush your choice though. I know the idea of having a doll can be exciting but take your time. If you're not completely sure you want a doll but feel the urge to buy one, just think that it's going to take months to arrive anyways so what's waiting a little longer to make a decision!