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I remember when...

Sep 27, 2005

    1. I remember when DOA was just a tiny yahoo group.
      I remember when Volks wouldn't ship to the US and everyone had to go through errand-running services.
      I remember when you'd go to Ebay, search for "super dollfie" and get maybe 10 or 20 results.
      I remember when Volks was like.. the only company out there. Then Rasendou and CH showed up...
       
    2. Gosh, I think the oldest I am was I can remember when Elf Lishe was being released, and was only 180 for a head <3 I'm not too old, I guess >>
       
    3. I remember, the day my family got its first computer.. It was my turn to use the internet. Being 10 years old and a crazy hardcore sailormoon fan, naturally it was the first thing I put in the search.
      I remember seeing a japanese page with a wonderful doll (sd megu I believe), dressed as a sailor scout! The only words I could make out were "volks".
      I remember thinking, "I have to have one of those!"
      I remember the other day, I realized, wow... that was eight years ago!

      I soo remember the yahoo DoA!!! I was about 13ish.. and I got my first doll through a member there!! I wonder if they are a member here now...
      It crazy how everything started out..so small. Now look at us! We are a huge community and it keeps growing every day!!
      *jen
       
    4. *Ashamed* I remember when VOLKS USA opened. Of course, I only got into this in June of last year.
       
    5. I've only been in the hobby for a year now... but I remember seeing a doll page about 2-3 years ago and thinking they were GORGEOUS. But, of course, it was in Japanese.

      I also remember when I said I wasn't going to get anything BUT a Volks doll...

      o_O';
       
    6. I remember when DOA was a yahoogroup and everyone was freaking out over the CH Ai "Sia" and "Choa" dolls.

      I guess that's not that far back, but, yeah.

      La
       
    7. Aww, this post gives me hope for the future :3 What's to come in the world of BJDs? It feels like an exciting time to be a collector... XD
       
    8. I remember when there were only the first molds and no FCS's.
       
    9. I remember when the "Fairy Land" link on the Luts page didn't really lead to anything much.

      ^^' I haven't been around long. lol
       
    10. I remember DOA as a Yahoo Group with 400 members.

      I remember when Forever Doll was closed down.

      I remember when there were only about 10 items on eBay for Dollfies.

      I remember surfing the web for hours and hours looking for any mention of Dollfies and coming up with only a couple of hits.

      I remember Helene's photo of her SD with the blue silk dress and white mohair wig. I still want that dress!

      I remember seeing Custom House dolls from a website showing dolls from a Doll Contest before CH had a website. (I was able to get King from that Doll Contest!) I have the first Custom House doll ever in the USA (I didn't buy it originally, - Hyun-Mu)

      I remember seeing Shirou somewhere on the web and only could read the word Mikey (the artist that painted him) so he has kept the name ever since. I had contact Doll and Hobby about him and they had no idea who he was at the time. It was pre-release picture. Waited months and months for him to be finally released.

      I remember when I bought Priest from Custom House and received an email from Heavy Bomb thanking me for loving him as she was afraid no one would want him because of the blood.

      I remember when Chrisy and I bought the original Bermann and everyone else thought they were really ugly.

      I remember when I first started selling Masterpiece Eyes, they had no idea what a Super Dollfie was. They asked me how I was planning to hold the eyes in and couldn't figure out why any one would want to change the eyes so often. Their eye business is now 2/3 Super Dollfie sales.

      I miss the hunt for these dolls. I think it was more exciting and part of the hobby. It was such a feeling of accomplishment when you finally figured out who you were wanting, how to get it and the arrival.

      Karin
       
    11. I remember when DoA was just a small Yahoo group.

      I remember when we could only use shopping services like Sienna or Liria for LUTS Korea.

      I remember when Volks didn't ship internationally.

      I remember when the original 77 Bermanns were released on YenTown and wanted to order one but didn't

      I remember when Lishe and El were released

      I remember when Chiwoo, Shiwoo, Ari and Soo were the only dolls on the LUTS website

      I remember that Custom House was the first website I ever saw...that was 4/5 years ago.

      I remember when browsing ebay you were lucky if you had 2 full pages with BJD stuff XD

      I remember when Anu still worked for Custom House.

      I remember the old Happy Doll dolls {the little elfs} and website.

      I remember the old Angel Region doll versions.
      I remember when browsing for these dolls, most owners were either Korean or Japanese


      -------------------

      There must be many more things that I could remember, but I can't at the moment.
      Yes a lot has happened in the 4/5 years that I've been in the doll community ^_^

      Sabriell
       
    12. I remember when Kira, Nana, Sara and Megu were the only ABJD, and there was no boy dolls.

      This was when the only way to get a ABJD was to order it through Crescent-Shop and pay an $80 markup not including shipping. There were no online ordering sites or stores you could go to unless you went to Japan.

      I remember when there were so few people in BJD-fandom and dolls were SO hard to get that every time someone got a new doll, pretty much the entire fandom was excited for them.
       
    13. I was thinking today, Wow, i've had Snowdrop for 2.5 YEARS already, and i've been a member of the BJD community for probably about 3 years. That's longer than i've been involved in any other hobby, and this one in particular has changed so much!
      I'm wondering what other people remember from the time they started this hobby.

      - There were two main BJD chat groups, Den of Angels and Our Silent Friends. They were both Yahoo egroups.
      -There weren't many companies around. Volks started accepting international orders a couple months after i got into the hobby. Before that Doll and Hobby or a buying servce were the only ways to get a volks doll.
      -Cerberus Project dolls were only available through a private distributor.
      -CustomHouse and HappyDoll were the other two most accessable doll websites.
      - most people had to wait MONTHS to get their dolls from any company, and there was a lot of worry about weather a doll would even show up. Buying a doll was much more risky.
      -Most of the collectors were older, who had gotten into BJDs from other doll fandoms. A few were gothic lolitas who had found the dolls that way. There were very few younger members at all.
      - The most popular dolls were Nono, 4Sisters and CP soo.
      -Later, when i bought Snowdrop, Unoas weren't that popular. They were kind of new and just starting to be noticed, and only a few people had them.

      Now getting a doll is so easy, most companies accept international orders. There are also so many more companies to choose from, and a lot more young members of the fandom.
       
    14. when I first got into it there was almost NOTHING in the way of info on them.

      -Volks did not ship internationally, you had to use shopping services.
      -CP had to be gotten through a private person, they didn't have a website for ordering like they do now [and the Elves were all the standards then, so I never realized they'd be limited.. I know it said that in everyone's pages, I just never paid attention because there was virtually no information on CP then]
      -there was some controversy about CP, I think they got sued by Volks for the Ari [?] headmold <-- said to be a copy of Nono I think
      -the only groups were the Yahoo groups, I remember signing up for the MSD one accidentally *_* so I kept getting news on MSDs when I didn't want it.. haha
      -there were very few owner pages on them, and it took a long while to even find out what a super dollfie was
      -when I ordered Megumi, I went through a shopping service [again, cause you had to] and paid about 250 more for her because of fees, customs, taxes and the like. I had to wait nearly a month to get her]
      -about a few months after I got Megumi, Volks finally opened up international ordering [god, I was so pissed >_<] <-- go figure
      -I remember when Volks went from something like "your Child" to "Visitor from another world" motto [or visa-versa] -lol

      there's been alot of changes in the hobby since I first got into it. Alot of younger peeps into it now, the dollfies themselves are so easy to attain these days, especially compared to back when they were so exclusive to Japan and Japan alone O_o
       
    15. My hat is off to you "pioneers" who jumped the hurdles to get your dolls. I wasn't interested in BJDs then and am so appreciative of how easily things can be obtained now. I don't even go to YJ because I don't want to deal with translation or a buying service!

      I've only been into BJDs for a year but I have seen many changes in that time; more US dealers carrying BJDs, new companies and new dolls almost every week.
       
    16. Hahaha! I remember the first time I know about BJD is seeing Volk's Heath XD
      We were fangirling Heath back then like stupid XD And we even laughed at the Hounds and the Bermanns of how weird they are XD

      But turns out that now me and my sis prefer the Dollshe boys than the Volks ^_^
       
    17. Same here lol. :lol:
       
    18. i remember that the first time i saw a dollfie i didn't like them one bit and couldn't see myself owning one.

      Then i saw Helene's dollfies and started to like them.
      Then i remember joining the yahoo version of DoA and reading every post made on it every day an experience the joy of more people joining but the horror of having to read more than 150 posts a day.
      I remeber Soula beeing the only hit on dutch google for dollfie and wanting to meet her so badly but never saw her on the board and not daring to ask her :) and we were the only two dutch people on the board.
      I remember Helene having a prize on her site for the 1000 vistitor etc (and me winning the one for the 7000 visitor iafter haunting the board, i still have the mail i sent :) )

      i do remember the first time i tried to buy a msd from frill frill and having to wait 4 months because volks had just started to put in the metal plates. So after a year of saving and talking to my boyfriend it still took me a long time to get my doll.

      The first time i went to ahoy with my dollfie in 2002 and people looking at my scary doll (really noone had heard about them on the biggest doll and bearfair in the netherlands back then)

      i do remember a lot more but some of the other people have quoted that before :)

      floor

      (i do also remember me putting an explanation for my name under every post i made :))
       
    19. I remember having to wait months for Volks to stock their dolls. In Japan.

      I remember Volks's first version of international shopping-- trying to navigate through their Japanese page and emailing the order in to imos @ volks . co . jp. I remember once having to pay with an international money order.

      I remember when Luts was a magical Korean doll mall that wouldn't sell internationally, and I was so upset because I really wanted an outfit they had listed.

      I remember when DOD actually did clothing styles other than goth.

      I remember thinking that while I loved looking at these dolls, I was NEVER going to own one because they were so freaking huge. Heh. ^^;