Meaningful/Interesting Stories of Acquiring BJDs

Soom Sphaler: When I first saw him in the promo ads, I liked him, the promo ads were not well taken, too much photoshop effects which distorted what I thought was a very beautiful face. I am an evangelical Christian, very conservative and strict. I know I am not allowed to own a doll that is half human half beast especially if the beast parts are related to the oriental dragon. It was a great struggle, I did not know what to do. I only wanted the doll in human form, a beautiful man designed in that style. The leader of my BJD gang (Volks Isao Nanjou) is keen on having Sphaler as part of his team. He says Sphaler is a colorful character, different from my other dolls and will add variety to my collection. If I do not order him, I will regret. I've lost Volks Ryoya Konoe in the Volks lottery, I cannot lose Sphaler. Ordered Sphaler, that I did. When he arrived, I was so happy; I forgot to eat lunch and for a moment, forgot to breadth. His faceup skillfully done on white skin, a doll like nothing I ever had. Different from all the others. He is beautiful, ugly, gentle and fierce all at the same time. I wanted to sell his non human parts or throw them away because my faith won't allow me to keep them. Knowing these destructive thoughts will split the full set doll, I quickly wrapped up all the non human parts and kept them away out of sight and forgotten. I intend not to touch them. Those non human parts came with the original doll, they are for future owners to enjoy. I refuse to split Sphaler although I cannot keep his non human parts. I have him human form only. I treasure him a lot, he is most likely the only Soom MD I will ever have in my lifetime because all the others are too dark for me. One interesting point, I dressed him in his Sunday best and took him to church!

 

Wow, this is such a great idea for a thread! I have two of my dolls that came to me pretty much by a wonderful chance, and a third that has something special about her.

My MNF Woosoo Vamp Elf girl:
I was at the Austin BJD convention, and saw Denver Doll Emporium's booth. On the top shelf of a display were three MNF girls-a Miyu, a Lishe and a Woosoo vamp elf. I am short, though, and there were things in front of the shelf, so I couldn't grab the Miyu (one of my dream dolls) without risking knocking stuff over. So I waited. The person from DDE was on the phone, and there were a few of us standing there. She didn't get off the phone... So I walked around the showroom once, and came back, and waited a few more minutes, then did that again. The third time, I'd decided to just risk it and was in the process of reaching up for the Miyu, hand out... When a woman who was taller walked over and just grabbed her.
I was heartbroken! So I picked up the Woosoo, who had the (then) grand-new A-line body, and thought that I could trade the Woosoo head for a Miyu. Now, it's important to note that I was looking for a new 'shell' for my girl Lia. Also, the promo pics of Woosoo are NOT very good, in my opinion. So I wasn't expecting much when I picked her up and brought her down to look at. I immediately was amazed! Her faceup was really, really beautiful in person. I immediately knew that it was the perfect doll for Lia. On top of that I'd happened to buy an outfit for a mini girl the night before, so I dressed her and had a spare wig for her to wear, and proceeded to spend spare time at the con playing with her joints and magnetic hands. XD

My Unoa Lusis:
This is still the amazing one to me. I've wanted a Lusis for years, she's my second dream doll (I had three, School A, Lusis and Miyu and have the first two now). So when I had almost enough for the preorder coming up I was thrilled! I put one of my LittleFee up for sale, stating that I wanted to sell quickly to get the preorder. I was shocked, to say the least, when I got a PM saying that someone wanted to trade me the LTF plus cash for a Unoa! She had a Sist and Lusis and was willing to trade one, but she wasn't sure which. She ended up deciding on Lusis, for an incredibly good price, with extras and a wonderful faceup. And now I can't stop taking pictures of her. XD;;;

And now for a slightly different story, but it fits I think.
My PukiFee Ante:
I had a LittleFee Ante, but wasn't loving her. I put her up for sale, with me open to trades for PukiFee. I got an offer for a trade for a PukiFee Ante, which I took up. Now here's the fun part... I knew she came with eyes from the same company one of my other dolls had. They were eyes I'd looked for for months to find the perfect ones. The Ante came with the exact same eyes, in her size! She has elf ears too, which my other doll will have, and so she's now cemented her place in the household as his surprise daughter.

 

My Migidoll Ryu: I had always wanted migidoll ryu to be my first doll, he is probably my dream doll, but I got him back when I was still a noob. I mean, noobier than I am now, at least. I knew that migidoll tended to have very far apart ordering periods, and when I finally had the money for him (and a body, because at that point I was considering nobilitydoll's boy body) but I thought the next order period would be in several months, so I was going to wait. But then I was on ebay (I CONSTANTLY browse ebay for doll sutff, even when I have no money) and I saw a cheap Elfdoll Soah for sale! While not actually on my doll wishlist at the time, I had always thought Elfdolls Soahs were extremely beautiful, and I knew that they had been sold out for quite some time, and it was a pretty good deal. I knew I'd have months so save up for my ryu again before the next order period, so I bought her. She arrives, I'm ecstatic, She's my first doll, I love her, and then days later, I check the migidoll site and they had just released a new head (I forget which one... Jina maybe? or Yujin?) and were having a sale on ALL OF THEIR HEADS. So I was like '.........shit.' I had just spent almost all of my money on Eleana (That was her name) and would have to save up another hundred dollars in less than one month! I should mention I had just turned 13 at the time, thus unemployed. But I did it! But when I went back to the site it said that the ryus were SOLD OUT! I was devasted, but then I saw the notice that said migidoll would continue to make heads for as long as the ordering period lasted, regardless of current quantity. So I placed my order on the LAST DAY of the ordering period, (the 22nd of whatever month it was, I have a really bad memory), only to notice that on the board it says it's the 23rd (in korea, obviously). OH CRAP. AGAIN. So I sent her a message, saying roughly 'um, In the US it's still the 22nd, will my order still be valid?' and it was! It was like a doll roller-coaster!
YAY! AWWW...YAY! AWWW...YAY! AWW...YAYY! And in the end, I LOVE HIM. GOOD GOD. I LOVE HIM SO HARD.

Of course, the tale of his body is a completely different story. Not as interseting, mainly just a bunch of drama about the resin match, and then being surprised by how perfect it was. I got the migidoll boy body just this year. Poor Ian (That's his name) has been a floating head for more than a year!

I feel bad for Eleana. She is still amazingly beautiful, so I know I'll deeply regret selling her, but I CANNOT bond with her! I never made a character for her... I feel so bad! If I get a bunch of work done on her and I STILL don't feel anything, maybe I'll put her up as a feeler.... I dunno. Poor Eleana. She deserves better.


I don't know if the story of my Littlefee\Beyla hybrid is good enough but,
My Littlefee\Beyla hybrid: I had this character in mind, a little woodland creature tree girl thing named Moss, and I knew I wanted to turn her into a doll, I just didn't know which doll. Eventually I settled on a human soom Beyla after I saw one with a faceup I really liked. That particular one that I saw had been on the markeyplace as a feeler, and was twins with another beyla, who was on a littlefee body, which I would never have thought of on my own. I LOVE littlefee bodies, and I knew I needed to have one, but the littlefee body had already been claimed in the split. Still, I found an OE beyla head in the marketplace a few days later, at a better price, and I bought it. I didn't expect her to have a body for quite some time, but then, a few days later, (AGAIN), I saw ANOTHER Beyla\littlefee hybrid, this time with the unicorn head. I offered to split, and they acepted, and even sent me a free pair of extra hands! It's amazing how perfect that resin match is. My mother, still amazed by my doll's prices, is an artist, and often steals her for posing. She's in love as much as I am! Then I found the perfect eyes on ebay, and I am in the middle of buying her the perfect wig. I am going broke, but my god, this little girl demands to be finished. She is the fastest doll to get 'put together' of any of my dolls! (Then again, I only have three dolls. But the other two, Ian and Eleana, are both naked after all this time. Eleana's wig is ALL WRONG, and Ian still doesn't have a faceup. Jeez.)

 

I like this thread! Every doll has a story of how they came home, it's so interesting to read about them.

Volks MSD F-06: Anais/Tae was the first Volks headmould that I ever liked (it's still one of my favourite Volks), but she was LE and way beyond my budget at the time. The MSD F-06 head is essentially the same sculpt in MSD size, and available in FCS. At the stage I was just planning to get 1/3-sized dolls, but I put F-06 on my wishlist with the thought of getting her one day if I couldn't find an Anais that I wanted and could afford. But then the perfect deal came along: an Australian seller at the Faireground BJD forum was selling her F-06, with lots of extras, for a much lower price than FCS MSDs typically sell for. I had money in Australia, so I was also able to avoid PayPal fees and conversion rates. Even though my first doll had just arrived and I was leery of buying a second so soon, I decided to jump at this opportunity. Alérion came to me around September of last year, and she's the darling of my doll family. She may be the only MSD I'll ever get, but I'm glad I bought her instead of the larger Anais sculpt because she fits in perfectly with the others. I love her to pieces!

Crobidoll Lance girl: This was one of those "MUST have, NOW!" sculpts (thankfully this doesn't happen often to me! ), he shot to the top of my wishlist the moment I saw him. But I wanted the sculpt for a girl character, so I started looking for the head on the DoA MP and put a WTB notice. Given how popular he is (and there weren't many Lance heads on the MP at the time), I thought I'd be waiting a while, but then someone contacted me about splitting a Lance for sale because she wanted the body. Furthermore, this one was in the limited soft white resin. So I was able to get my Lance head in white! The body also took a long time, especially since it was very hard to find resin matching info. I agonized over many bodies and resin colours, but finally settled on the Dollstown 15yr girl body in freshskin, which I also bought from the MP. Turned out that all the research paid off, because the resin match is almost perfect. My girl Syr is now complete, and I adore her -- everything about her is so beautiful, and I like how she's quite unique. If I had to sell all my dolls and keep one, she's the one!

 

im in this hobby for only an year and half, and till now i had more than 10 dolls. until this spring i had that feeling "they're too much!" and i sold some, so who are still with me means that i've bond with them. my history is not "intesersting" but, since i have nothing to do this evening, i write XD


my first love was the soom sard/dia, but was not the first i bought (actually was the third).
my white dia boy came pretty fast after 3 weeks of waiting.
i've spendt 3 days to try to explain what kind of custom faceup i wanted soom to do, they lost the info 3 times and i had to explain them again, and again.. but when he came, was love.
im not really fond with white skin, but i bought him in this color because i wanted to give him the heliot hooves, but i ended up to buy an Heliot too, so in the end, i kept the heliot with his hooves. i still have to blush him because im keeping him as the last one i'll do, so my tecnique will be better (after blushing all the rest of my crew).


another love was the Chrom, when i saw him i could not take off my eyes from the page, and i bought him without thinking. that was my first looong wait (almost 7 months x.x ) he got caught and LOST by customs, so another month of wait and barzillion of telephone calls to the office until one day they said "oh we're sorry we lost your package in the warehouse, but we found now."
i still don't understand why so many people is reselling him, he's so particular, he's my wolf and i would not ever try to sell him. he's also my Dia companion. i think they do a nice couple. two different sculpts, masculine and feminine, so perfect.



a great pain in the ass was my limited Huika in tanskin. half gift from my BF, ordered in august, arrived in march next year!!this poor guy had very annoying story, casted in november and kept hostage by HZ makeup for the rest of the time! the excuse? "we're not able to do a propher faceup, we're tried 4 times so we will give him to Heise to do it." i mean, 2 months to do a makeup?????? then, when they finally shipped, he got caught by custom.
an exasperating wait, and again, barzillion of calls to the customs, and after 3 weeks they called me to ask me papers.
they declared only 30 usd for this took so long, after they told me multiple times, we won't ship with less value any package. you can imagine what i felt when finally i got this doll, a mixture between hate and love. but, lucky for him, love won.
now im looking for a companion for him. since those doll are so particular with small face and tight body, he doesn't fit very well with other boys i have, so im thinking to get another one of same brand, maybe white skin as a contrast, but im scared to buy again with this company. =_=



then i have my beloved MNF karsh. i wanted to try a MSD size, so, the only one was fitting my tastes was the Karsh. not too big eyes, not too babyface either, normal body cuz the muscolar i think is too much. i bought him blank. he came after 3 months. with the first arm event.
i tried twice to do a faceup on him, but the result was ugly. so, one sunny day i tried again. and he came a beauty. i was so happy that i wanted to complete him.
when FL did the second event, i managed to buy from a girl the other arm, so finally i was able to complete him. i blushed all his body and painted both arms, and he's my best work till now. he's so utterly cute that people always ask me to bring him to the meetings. he's so small compared to all my SDs but he's still my first and only one (MSD).
it's true that when you paint and customize your doll he become sort of "your creature". im proud of him and i would never part with him.


my SD17 Hijikata twins: and i was the one telling "i swear, i would never buy a volks doll, they're so expensive!" but when this one came out, i fell.
at first, i was unsure how to get at least one for me, i waited for the lotteries, but in the lottery usa i was not able to get in. so i started to stalk YJ and after some battles, i was able to snag one.
i was very happy but a lot of money! i won't buy with dealer again! the thing i didn't knew was that my BF and my friend tried to get in the other lottery for me, and one won! so i got the second Hijikata.
since the lottery one was more special (to celebrate the big lucky ass), i've tried to sell the first one to get back at least the money i've spendt, but after one month, i was like, omg, what im doing, it's so haard to know to have a beautiful doll in a package at home and can't play with him.
one wasn't enough XD . so i decided to keep both. they're same mold but they're so different! the minor differences in their makeup give them different personalities and im happy to have kept both. surely those golden twins are my wallet ruin but looking at them toghether is priceless.

 

Loagaeth: I told a friend about my concerns about the doll while in church. She said she did not think the doll, it's fantasy parts and box are issues. They are objects. Since he came to church, he's now a christian made new without a past. Sphaler did not get the "oh! Can I hold him, what a beautiful doll" reaction from the ladies like Volks Isao Nanjou. Probaby, Sphaler's faceup is indeed "fierce", he's hauntingly beautiful. Not the cute cuddly type. I got very serious looks instead. I did not dare to introduce him to the pastors. Anyway, he did survive church.

Tosh....you waited 7 months for Chrom..... That must be one long anxious wait. He is worth the wait.

 

I love reading this thread! Someday I'll gonna write my own true story. Right now I'm currently still trying to get my parents permission..

stargazer_i ..I'm the same as you! I love SOOM Glati..but my father is very anti to half goat things.. I think I'll just get him as human. Well..not only half goat..even vampire is a no no..sigh..

 

stargazer: my chrom wait is nothing compared to the wait for my Hui-ka, that was more stressful and problematic x.x

 

I've got two stories. One is about my friend's doll and mine and the other is about two of mine.

Friend's Dollcatch Benjamin and my Dollzone Ulli
While I was looking around for my first SD size doll I was on Dollcatch looking at theirs and out of curiosity I took a look at their tinies. I thought Benjamin was adorable but I'm not really a tiny person so I knew I'd never actually want to own it. However I knew my best friend was pining for a tiny doll and since the price was pretty low for a BJD I toyed with the idea of getting it for her birthday + Christmas which were both coming up. However I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable by buying her something so expensive when she wouldn't be getting me anything near that costly. While I was playing with the idea I off-handedly sent her a link to the Benjamin. She flipped out and proceeded to tell me it was the most adorable tiny she'd ever seen. Separately from this I'd been ogling Dollzone Ulli but convinced myself I would never get him because I couldn't justify buying a doll that was so different from my collection, an anthro and in a size I never saw myself being keen on. After showing my friend the Benjamin I jokingly suggested we do a tiny gift exchange with the Benjamin and Ulli for b-day/Christmas since we're both born around Christmas time. To my total surprise she agreed immediately! And so I bought the Benjamin and she bought the Ulli and we gave them to each other as gifts. I thought it was just an amazing coincidence that the random doll I wanted to get her unknowingly turned out to be the one doll she adored the most, that an off-hand joke turned out to be a serious idea and that I ended up getting a doll I never expected to get. And by the way despite all my attempts at reasoning for not getting an Ulli turn out to be for nothing because he's made it perfectly clear he's perfect for my doll family and tastes. ^^

Resinsoul Dai/Dollzone Mo
I love how my stories usually combine multiple dolls. ^^ Just recently I fell for tan dolls (Resinsoul Dai in particular) and decided that I needed another MSD sized boy. Since it was a bit of a tall order to try and satisfy both of these all in one go I came to the conclusion that I'd have to do only one for the moment. I put up a WTB ad to see if I could get one of the specific tan dolls I liked. I had not real expectation of getting any responses and was completely prepared to accept ordering one from the company but thought I might as well put one up while I waited to be able to order. At the same time the same friend from the Benjamin story had a practice head (Dollzone Mo) she was done working on face-ups with and offered to loan it to me to practice modding on. So I took him home and then after a little playing suddenly discovered he was growing on me. Since I had been thinking of getting a MSD sized boy anyway I asked if she would sell him to me. She said that she would for $20 out of the credit I’d developed with her! And so I ended up with the head for my desired MSD boy for such a steal! Back on the tan doll train after a little while of bumping my WTB thread before my decided ordering date I got an PM from Fishcake here on DOA saying she was willing to offer me a BBB tan body for just the cost of shipping (only $30! ) since she really didn’t have a use for it and it required a bit of TLC. I of course jumped on that totally unexpected offer and “bought” the BBB body. It was then that I realized that because I now only had to buy the Resinsoul Dai head my funds had been freed up enough that it meant I could get a body for my Dollzone Mo! And so I then bought a second hand body for my Mo and ordered the Dai head I wanted for my tan girl. Through this strange turn of events when I only expected and intended on getting one of the dolls I wanted I ended up being able to get both! So now I’m eagerly awaiting my Dai head and have my new Mo here to play with while I wait. ^^

 

Only one of my dolls has a sort of story to her, all the others are practically saving away then buying on layway.
So as usual I was broke but I was really interested in getting an msd girl, I liked the unoas but something about the faces wasnt working for me, plus they are hard to find sometimes. Eventually I set my sights on a unoa 2.0 and it was love! I searched the marketplace for ages looking for one but everytime i did I never had the money. Then I saw "the one" in the mp with a gorgeous faceup and she was practically calling my name. I went crazy offering trades to the person but they told me someone had wanted to buy her before I pmed. I watched her sale thread dissapear and I was heartbroken. Even still I started searching the mp, every day, for weeks hoping she would show up again because now it had to be that one. And would you believe it? she poped up again! Owner didnt agree with her so she was back up looking for a home (higher price though) once again I was out of money and offering trades for every spare dollie part i had lol I was declined. I decided to sell one of my dolls bodies to pay for her, thinking it wouldnt work, but in minutes of posting my ad someone bought my doll and paid me! I couldnt believe my luck that day, I really think she was meant to come home to me

 

Soom Sard This is my story of how I finally brought my grail doll home.

Like so many Soom fans, I discovered the monthlies a little too late to aquire a Sard in the original order. In fact, I believe I was only a month late and it was Onyx for sale by then ;_;
This was very frustrating, the more I looked at his pictures and the pictures from owners on DoA the more and more I wanted him and knew that he was my dream doll!! In fact Loagaeth, I believe it was your Tarot that made me realise just how special Sard was.

So anyway, a year and half passed where Sards came and went at varying prices on the market place. Meanwhile I was determined and was selling various heads and dolls to gather together some money. My CP Nanuri 07 head, my CP Luwen "Gull" and his vamp head and my CP Juri went as I scraped together money for him. Along the way, Soom brought out Heliot. He had hooves horsey hooves and I leapt upon and ordered him even though I had that sick feeling deep inside that I was just buying him as something to fill the gap where Sard should be. Sure enough, when he arrived in his pale unicorned glory I was initially excited and tentatively named him Ripley but then he just lay in his box as I wasn't happy with him. His face wasn't to my taste, he was too paper white and the hooves were...weird (in my opinion). I sold his sleeping unicorn head and his normal head remained blank and was never painted. In the end, I had to accept it. He wasn't Sard. So I sold him off to someone who adores him and has had him painted up to perfection. He has had his happy ending ^_^
So, Sardless AND Heliotless, I had a near repeat performance with Chrom but thankfully only ended up with his Firelord head and clawed hands (although I am now in the process of collecting the rest of him ;D).

Then, Soom announced that they would be having a lottery for their past monthlies! Excitement gripped me and I entered, praying for a Sard. Soom then annouced they would be releasing 8 normal skin Sards and I knew that just had to be ready for that! If I could have changed anything about the original Sard it would be to make him Normal skin!!! So then the day came for the sale and I was up at the ungodly hour to be ready and then or course, the site crashed with the amount of people desperate for Sard. Soom tried again a few days later and, of course, I was at school that day and missed it. Missed the sale completely, didn't win the lottery, that was it, back to the market place to try bidding in more auctions.

Then a saviour reached out and answered my marketplace plea. They had received one of the 8 normal skin Sards, had requested him blank and decided that he wasn't to their taste at all. They wanted to sell him to someone who would want him and make a bit of money along the way as he was so rare. I leapt at the oppurtunity, cautious and barely believing my luck. Apart from the raise in price it was just too good to be true. My father even offered to help me finance him. So, along with the money from my sold Heliot and other dolls and a little extra from my parents, I brought home my Sard in his hooved perfection.
He has now had his hooves, face up and horns exquisitely painted by a wonderful artist and I found his perfect wig and clothes. He now just waits for me to finally get around to drilling through one of his hooves (curse you Soom!!)

Sorry, it's a long story but it amazes me what we put ourselves through for our dolls, hehe. I love my Sard, he's not quite finished yet but he's getting there. I will never sell him, he is my magical grail doll and he was worth every penny and I am eternally grateful to the kind soul who granted my wish, as well as the dolls who I sold along the way to bring him home ^_^