Name an item you wish you got before it was rare or not as expensive

Ringdoll's Yume100 collab dolls...

I'm a big fan of the game. I had long since known about BJDs when the collab was announced. But I wasn't collecting dolls yet and neither of the two characters are my favourite or even in my top 10. So I didn't bother. "I don't want one," I said.

... I was wrong. I want oneeeeee lmao

But I've never even seen owner pics so it's even more unlikely to see one for sale. The game isn't available in English so it's very unlikely to find someone in the Western BJD community who even knows of it, let alone likes it, let alone-alone likes it enough to have bought one of the collab dolls

 

I still regret not snagging this specific OOAK dress for my doll, though I'm happy for whoever bought it.

 

Volks Saber Lily.

 

Even though I ended up finding her after much obsessive searching, Dollzone Tabitha. Because I could only find her in gray, which is gonna be impossible to find a proper match for.

Also, this is super obscure but certain BOBMI outfits/shirts are borderline impossible to find outside of Xianyu. Short run indie outfits in general.

 

All the fairyland elf heads. I wasn’t in the hobby when most were released, only got in this hobby when it was jiyu being shipped so late 2019? I think so. Something like that.

 

There are some dolls (like a VOLKS F-03 in tan) that I wish I would have gotten but for the most part it's definitely clothes.
I had the opportunity to buy the H.Naoto set that came with the original release of Kurumi for just $80 and opted to not do that because it wasn't quite what I had pictured for my first doll's style. Now they're impossible to find and when they do pop up they are very much in the hundred of dollars...
Also would have gotten some other VOLKS sets and of course some of the famous DollHeart Fer dresses.

 

Volks suigintou

There was a time when I didn't enjoy this hobby, but I want to have the dolls that came out then. Especially, I want to have dolls such as Suigintou and Anais, but they became too expensive. The dolls that are being released now are pretty, but I'm just sad that I didn't win the lottery.

 

A dearmine doll siamy T_T
I was planning to get one and always told myself "later, it's not limited so no need to rush". I think I could find one second hand but I never did...

 

I would love to get my hands on a Dream of Doll Sha. Out of my early doll dreams, I think the only one missing is a Sha. But then again, I wouldn't have been able to afford him back then, I don't think I can afford him now with all the inflated prices...

Accessory-wise, this one surprised me a little bit. I recently bought a set of second-hand Oscar eyes for my Volks girl. I never thought I'd be a fan of Oscar eyes, what with the fancy jewels and bling... then my opinion changed completely when I put them in my girl's eyes. It's like her whole face lit up. Unfortunately, Oscar eyes are no longer in business. So... I'm going to go on a hunt for more Oscar eyes (well, in the sizes I need, anyway). How did I not see this before?

 

I am totally obsessed with optional doll parts or outfits that include armor parts, but most of them are time- and quantity limited, so getting, for example, SartoriaJ or Black Saturn outfit on aftermarket for me is like a dream, those are extremely rare and expensive, of course.

 

I have the Human Zero from Dollzone, but I kind of wish I had the original version as well. I didn't have the money at the time, sadly.

 

Like many others, I wish I had gotten Dream of Doll sculpts back in the day, but I couldn't afford any dolls back then and can't afford the inflated second hand prices now. I'll just look at the good ol' full set pictures and make my peace with it.

I think they were also produced by DoD? But does anyone remember the Mary Jane shoes with cat faces? That's what I truly regret not getting and I wouldn't trust buying them second hand because of how pleather dissolves after a while. I always thought they were super cute and I'm sad that no shoemakers are even making a similar version any more.

I've learned that I do not like the minifee body but I wish I had snagged a shushu head when it was still available. I hope they bring it back as a remake like they have with the other classic ones!

 

If I'd been in the hobby back then, I would've loved to get a CP Delf Soony. Unfortunately, I was 11 in 2005.

 

Also adding onto the long list of people wishing that they had gotten a DOD doll back in the day...Si was the first BJD I wanted when I discovered the hobby but I never ended up getting one!

 

I wish I started collecting juuust a little bit sooner so that I could get the earlier Coral Reef dolls. Luckily I recently got a second hand Iracebeth, which I absolutely thought was out of my reach, but I wish I could have bought their beautiful moth mask. It was so beautiful and so up my alley. It's hard to find stuff like that out of Coral Reef, Doll Chatou, Dream Valley, etc.

 

She's not grail-tier, I simply won't bother, but I really like the Lady Oscar sculpt from Volks. Wish it were not as crazy difficult to get as it is.

 

For me, it would be the discontinued Quetzal mold by the Popovy Sisters.

 

They might make them again in the future, but still: Unoa girl heel feet. I can live without them, but they'd still be nice to have!

 

Pretty much any old Dollshe doll. I can't justify getting one now, and I wouldn't want to support the scammer anyway even if they somehow weren't banned, but even secondhand, I just can't consider getting one because they are now a very finite quantity and I feel like they should go to people who would appreciate one more than me. For me, they're just pretty sculpts, but some are very pretty, and if I had been lucky enough to have ordered one before the whole scam fiasco and have had one become a favorite, beloved doll... well, that won't happen now, and I don't want one now, but I sometimes think of the period of time where people were actually receiving their orders and such, and think that if I had the financial freedom I do now, back then, I probably would have bought one for the aesthetic and they would have developed into a beloved character. They were definitely a style I would have loved and coveted were I not a broke teen. So it's a little bit of wistfulness even though it might also have never come up. They are definitely pretty, though.

Also, Ringdoll 1/3 Mechanical Hand... I don't have the funds to seek one out and my priorities are on other things, but damn that was such a cool design. I wanted one for my Ringdoll Spencer, but I never got one before they disappeared from the site. That and the 1/4 one. I wish mech hands were more common, but it seems to have gone out of style. Also I guess most of the older Ring Teen sculpts tbh... Petter and Markus and the like. I know now I'm not a big fan of the military style look (some of which are definitely questionable in retrospect) but the sculpts were also very pretty. I'm glad I got Caitlin, my Spencer, at least- she was my Grail for the longest time, when I was a broke teen and a $600 non-discontinued sculpt could be a grail for me.

I think Miracledoll Ian was almost this but apparently he's still available?? I need to save up fast, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm so nervous he'll disappear from New Clover Singing before I have the funds. He's basically as close to a grail as I can get right now. But I definitely thought he fell into the category of I-wish-I-knew-of-him-when-he-was-first-released-but-now-he's-gone before I saw, miraculously, that it still may be possible to bring him home after all.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, DollZone 1/4 girl jointed hands! I should have grabbed some for Laika when I got her, but after saving for my first doll I didn't want to spend any more money for a while. That was 12 years ago... I'm not finding em ^^;

That and the DollZone Annie fullset... it's all pleather so I'm sure I'd never find it intact even if I was actively looking. But I love love love that look, and I almost decided to get her as my first instead of Laika... I'm happy with Laika but I do wish I could have gotten Annie as well- I had a name for her, Kenzie, but alas, it did not come to be.

 

Getting Soom SG girls in their golden 2009-2009 era, with additional Breccia of 2010.