How Prepared were You When You Got Your First Doll?

In theory I was prepared. I had been eyeing bjd's for yyyeeaaaarsss but had never actually held one in my hands. By lurking in various doll groups and communities and being an overall curious person I had learned quite a few things. My first purchase was an inexpensive used DC Kid body which was a semi-impulse buy. I took the leap thinking I'd get what my other dolls at that time didn't offer, like sturdiness (compared to Pullips and alike), detail, finer sculpting and in this case, bigger size. I probs never would have bought an expensive new doll or an SD, first being a somewhat financial risk and second being the possibility of ending up dissapointed with a much heavier and hard to handle doll. I was and still am very happy with this.

 

Just gonna say my doll is still in bubble wrap... I never planned to get him, it was an beautiful, impulsive accident. Once life gets less busy, I can dress him and take photos.

 

Not prepared at all. I had no clothes or anything. Thankfully she came with clothes. Fast forward to today and I buy a bunch of clothes/ wigs/ eyes/ etc. before the doll arrives.

 

I wasn't anything ready I had only hair

 

I was as prepared as I could be. I'd played with a friend's doll for nearly a year before I decided to take the plunge. Since I wanted immediate gratification I looked around at all the dolls online stores had in stock & found one that I'd really liked since she was released. So one night I couldn't wait any longer & called Dolls & Friends & bought her. I immediately started looking for wigs & clothes & about the time she arrived her first things were on their way.

 

My first doll was a complete surprise to me. I wasn't prepared at all despite my looking into the hobby and dolls. I also unfortunately wasn't able to give her the love and attention she deserved when I first got her. I feel pretty terrible honestly, and at one point I got her dressed up , still without face up, and put her on display to remind me she exists. But this coming year I plan to get her some new clothes, learn to do my own face ups, and try to give her a face up, new wig, identity, and attention she deserves and hope to have a blast while falling deeper into the depths of this hobby~!

 

Incredibly prepared I had been obsessing about them for months, watching every video I could find on YouTube and making (terribly made) clothes for her from measurements I found online

 

I like to think I was pretty prepared, I had watched a lot of videos and tutorials as well as just generally having been interested in the hobby for months prior, so I had a pretty good collection of faceup materials as well as some leftover hair from cosplay wigs that I could cannibalize for wigs and such

 

I remember I took an opening-box video and clean my hands lol. I think that was three years ago.

 

I got a general knowledge of dolls, before I bought my first doll. Then I prepared clothes, wigs, eyes and shoes for it.

 

He was a bit of an impulse buy. So I wasn't ready at all. :-)

 

I got a few clothes and a wig for my first bjd, but that' s pretty much all, I did the faceup myself after I watched many youtube tutorials

 

I had wigs, tops, and eyes. No pants or shoes though. I literally just got my first complete doll his first properly fitting shoes yesterday after two years. The girl whose head arrived first but body came much later got shoes before him.

 

I believe I thought I was well-prepared. I'd been a DoA member for a while, had done plenty of research, purchased the supplies to go with the doll, etc. I'd also been a doll lover of all kinds and had quite the collection of various non-BJDs, some of which had already been customized by myself or others.

In reality, handling a BJD is very different from handling most dolls. They don't necessarily move in ways that make sense half the time. Joints pop out, tension is sometimes just utterly wrong, fingers get pinched and noses kicked...they're generally very badly-behaved little beasts. I was 100% unprepared for that!

 

I’m pretty sure I had the hair, eyes, underwear at hand.
I remember taking him apart to dye him the second day in! I painted him fairly quickly after.
However it took months before I could afford clothes

 

Not prepared at all!
A long, long, time ago, I picked a second hand Soom Kyrie (Gem) as my first BJD. She had the company face-up and Soom eyes. Very elfish looking. She also came with a Blond Monique wig. I hadn't bought anything else for her, but glad I waited for her to arrived to see what she would need. Blond she was not, so she became a dark brunette and I up sized some patterns and made her an outfit..
I sold her to a friend who is now selling her back to me. Can't wait to bring her back home.

 

I bought an outfit and wig for my first doll looong before he ever shipped. I was totally unaware of the long wait times before they ship so I was certain I had been gyped and was going to receive no doll at all. Until my mom came to visit me at work on my lunch break and there he was. But other that knowing what materials they're made from and how customizable they are I had no clue about anything. I still always make sure any new doll has something to wear before they ship.

 

I saw a few videos, I first got introduced through a documentary on doll collectors of all types ( reborn, life sized, barbie, ect.)
I would say my first was an impulse buy because i only pondered it for about 2 days, though I don't regret it. First taking her out and holding her was amazing. I didn't know much about care and that resulted in minor staining but i learned as I went.

 

I was prepared in a sense, in that I did research about handling dolls and how the resin would respond to certain things.
However, I wasn't really prepared for 1) actually having them, as I still don't have gloves to handle them with, 2) I wasn't really prepared for the *cost*, this has led to me having bits and pieces of the dolls I want while having no completed dolls, and 3) I wasn't prepared for how hard I threw myself into the hobby. I spent several months talking about nothing but BJDs and I strongly believe that's why I joined here, but disappeared shortly after. I'm now a bit more mellowed out and I'm not over-extending myself with my plans.