Price Aside, what intimidated you about BJDs

I didn’t restring a doll until I’d owned them for 14 years… To be fair, there was a long hiatus in the middle and, had I stayed active, I probably would have had to do it sooner, buuuut it was terrifying. Now I’m not scared of it anymore (other than on my tinies), but it’s just really annoying trying to get the elastic through the small channels, so I still procrastinate on it

I think for me it was partially just owning anything that is both expensive and breakable. That still unnerves me & I try to be super careful, but I’m less paranoid than I used to be.

 

Sewing!! I started my collection in late 2000s. And I was a teen then and it took a long time to save up for clothes that sometimes didn't even work out. I first tried to sew a decade later, but I was confused and discouraged, because I did not really take the time to research what I was doing, and just kind of winged it.
I picked it up recently again, now that I have more patience and less anxiety, read some books and so on and take my time to learn it. Although it's not good quality, I'm seeing progress and feeling positive.
Now if only I could go back and slap younger me and tell her to stop worrying about everything I'd have a lot of pretty doll wardrobes by now. Even if you're intimidated, try to do the things you want. Just remember you'll make mistakes and be patient and kind to yourself while you learn.

 

When I first got up close with a BJD I was terrified to touch it in case I broke the fingers off. I didn't realize they were so sturdy even though my friend told me I could pick up her doll and not to worry about it.

 

Restringing isn't too bad after the first couple times! Unless you do 4 in one day. Don't do 4 in one day.

I really wanted boys when I was 14 and I was scared of what people would think about me owning anatomically correct male dolls. I got over it mostly, but I still share them less with irl people than I do my girls ...or just don't tell them my dolls are male and say "thank you" for any compliments they may kindly scrounge up for me.

 

I was so afraid of falling in love with 70cm dolls because of just how BIG they are! Storage-wise, holding them, everything. Buttttt.... I now have four and more planned.... welp.

 

The wait. Pre-orders take months - you throw money at a company and hope for the best that a doll comes out of it There is so much that can go wrong with made-to-order dolls somehow and it's a very tense time until the package finally arrives.

The other thing that intimidates me are customs and shipping as most dolls come from quite far a way and a lot of damage can happen in transit. Not to mention how much it adds to the cost

 

For me, when I first got into BJDs, I was intimidated by their look. I thought they were creepy when I saw them at anime cons in the late 2000s. Then when I finally took the plunge, I was determined to stick with fashion doll sized BJDs. Then Soom Elf Dia came out and I was so in love with his sculpt but a doll that big?! Luckily, my friend who lived nearby that also collected BJDs had dolls of various sizes and let me hold and explore them. Now I have dolls in all kinds of sizes!

I am still too scared to try wiring or suedeing my dolls. I am not too worried about restringing but need to get the supplies. I am also still very intimidated by the 70+cm category of dolls. I have admired some sculpts but can't convince myself to commit to getting one.

 

Size and customizing. The options are endless and unfortunately I like doing things the hard way by making/customizing things all by myself. I knew there would've been a huge learning curve, but that pays off when ever I get to show off things I've done or talk about the process with my friends.

 

Ordering from outside my country.

I first started seriously looking at dolls around 2005ish. At the time, I had barely bought anything online, other than stuff from eBay from other US sellers. Way back when eBay still had an option to send a check in the mail. The mindset back then was still kind of in the end phases of "don't share anything personal online", I was even still a little uneasy with PayPal having my bank account number. Feels weird thinking back to a time like that, but it was a huge factor in me getting a doll. There was also the fear that if anything went wrong, with laws being so different in different countries, I felt I'd have no protection if something did go wrong. Once I discovered Junkyspot and Mint on Card, I started out only buying in stock dolls, and then only US from dealers. But it limited me so much! The first time I preordered a doll from a company without a dealer, I just gave all my money to my online friend and she ordered him for me in person. She lived in the same area as said doll company, and picked him up in person once he was ready. After that, I realized that giving my money to a trusted doll company with tons of positive feedback really probably wasn't any more dangerous than giving it to a friend to buy for me. I loved my boy once he was home, and after that, I really opened up to other possibilities! I'll buy from pretty much anywhere now, so long as I do my research first and have a good feeling about the seller and country it's coming from.

 

Face ups are 100% the scariest bit for me. I've done sewing, I've done sculpting (for props; no way am I ready to try making my own doll), I've done fiber arts. I've also done painting, and am horrific at it. I really, really want to try face ups, but keep putting it off because I mostly enjoy realistic ones and have never been good at realism in art. So far I've only commissioned them because of that.

 

Sewing gave me the deer in headlights the most. I threw caution to the wind modding open or closed eyes and airbrushing, but using a sewing machine was so intense that I gave it away when I started the hobby. I would only hand sew (badly). Now I am following tutorials (my machine has an entire youtube channel showing exactly where everything is and how to thread). I am loving the process. I am still a beginner, but if my machine gets stuck, I know what to do, and I don’t panic. I actually enjoy using it.

 

The first time I ever saw a BJD was at Katsucon in early 2004 (which was also the first convention I attended), when a nice girl was standing with one in one of the crowded areas. I had complimented her and the doll, and asked what kind it was, and if they were selling those at the convention. She told me the cost of her SD-sized doll and asked if I'd like to hold her doll (it was nearly two decades ago and I can't remember her name or the doll's gender unfortunately). I balked at the price and politely declined because I was terrified of dropping and breaking such a pretty doll, but suddenly had them plopped into my arms.

I've never held so statue-still before or since.

But that was the moment I knew I needed to buy one for myself. Just one. She wrote down this website and I practically stalked it, learned everything I could about bjd and eventually joined once I was ready to finally get my own in January of 2006. And as we all know, you can never have "just one".

 

I want to learn how to do my own faceups for a number of reasons, but I find the whole process incredibly intimidating! I have a difficult time estimating distances, so even doing a few base coats of MSC to get me started feels insurmountable, let alone learning how to use the materials effectively to get the look I want to achieve.

I purchased a BBB Apollo head a couple of years ago with the intention of using him to practice faceups on so that I (hopefully) wouldn't feel too bad if I "ruined" him. I'd like to get back around to trying that once we transition out of winter again here in my neck of the woods!

 

I don't think I ever felt intimidated enough for it to put me off the hobby, sometimes very discouraged. That would be when I felt like I didn't have access to whatever I needed to execute an idea I was passionate about.
I did have specific dolls I found intimidating sometimes and then I kind of neglected them out of fear of disappointing myself until I lost passion and sold them usually. I didn't feel that way with most dolls or my first so it didn't stop my hobby.
It is my personality that I don't feel intimidated much. I can understand the concept but I definitely think you can conquer a lot of these fears of doing something daunting with research and practice

 

The maintenance! I bought a Volks SD10 boy body from 2010 a couple months ago and I just now popped it in a Polident bath to soak overnight to try and lighten his mellowing and (hopefully) make his body match his head (which is 5 years younger).

Restringing him is going to be nerve-wracking, I just hope I don't get pinched too much!

 

Doing anything to them: customizing, cleaning, restringing, etc. They seem so delicate and pretty and I was terrified of damaging them. I got over it eventually. I also had no idea of resin properties at first and was very nervous around handling this material since it's different from the other resins I'm used to, or at least a resin object held together by strings.

 

Ordering abroad and having to deal with customs. Also their price, but that was more a hassle than intimidation Overall I was pretty relaxed about the dolls itself, the stuff surrounding buying them annoyed me more. And lack of condensed information, even as a forum person you sometimes just want a guide that tells you everything from the get go (so I wrote one ).

 

The idea of restringing them, and also ordering them. I mainly heard about bigger name dolls when i first learned about them (Luts, Volks, Fairyland, etc.) so I was also kind of, not quite intimidated, but hesitant i guess because I didn't necessarily like a lot of the aesthetics of those brands (at least in the early 00's/ 2010's), so I didn't really venture into bjd spaces for a looong time.
I am still a little worried about breaking them, even though most of mine are 68cm+ hefty boys xD
Funny enough, I've been intimidated by some of the more intense levels of customization (dying, mods) but somehow managed to psych myself out of it enough to just go for it, and once I did that the idea of doing them again isn't so intimidating (except maybe mods, but that's more that I'm frustrated by how they're turning out and how tedious it is). Dying a doll turned out to be kind of fun actually!

 

That happened to me too! I thought they were way too large but then I ended up with a lot of larger celebrity heads so they were bigger dolls and needed bodies. And a few other companies happened.