Still partial to your first doll's attributes?

regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

Yep. I still like SD (70cm ish), mainly boys, realism... elf ears XD. I like good posability too. My first bjd was a hybrid (odd?) so his head is modollbut his body is dragon.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

Not really... he’s very skinny, which works for that character but I’m not usually into very slender bodies.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

Probably. My main interests, aesthetically, in drawing and sculpting are much the same!

 

Hand position. Lol one of the hands is so weird that every time I look at it I want to buy a new hand and replace it.

 

I still own my first doll, he was a gift so I will never part with him. I will always love my perfect, ordinary, Bory. I still get a little smile when I see Borys out in the wilds of the internet. There's something about those big, Doe eyes and that sweet little pout...I've noticed a few other dolls with the similar face shapes, eye-shapes and outs get the same reaction from me. There's something about that expression I like. I've noticed it's true no matter the doll's size, as I have a tiny and an SD+ with similar pouting, melancholy faces and I love that about them.

I love and adore LUTS but some of their Senior and Super Senior faces don't scale up as nicely...the proportions are ever so slightly off, it makes an adult-sized doll appear childish. Plus, I really dislike the lack of detail in the KDF hands...they're not nearly as elegant as the rest of the body. They can be in childish proportions but still have more definition and sculpting.

I'd seen BJDs before I saw my first doll, but like with how an instant attraction is, I was immediately drawn to the sculpt, which means I definitely had the preferences all there. So yes, my preferences were already set and simply needed expressing.

 

Yes my first doll was an SD, and that’s what I mostly collect. I like the size. Also my first doll had a pouty/sad face. Which I love very much so I tend to look for sculpts that have that look to them.

My first doll resin color was white resin. That was the only thing I didn’t care for. But unfortunately it was the only resin color for her available at the time. Now whenever I purchase a doll I don’t get white resin, it’s just hard to avoid yellowing.

Yes

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

I still mostly have SDs, most in semi-realistic style, and mostly hybrids. I like double joints and multi-part torsos and several secondhand parts.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

I wish he posed a little better, but really there is still no body I've seen that is as good a fit as the one he has now. Unless a make him taller. I do wish I had a bit more height variation. And while I don't avoid them I am still surprised that the girls will soon outnumber the boys. I was so sure it would be the other way around what with me mostly looking at male sculpts. But I've hybrided or done up many as female.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

Yep. It reflects my taste in art as well.

 

My first bjd was either Doll Chateau Carol or Dollzone Carter, depending on if you think DoA's classification of Carol as "off-topic" is bogus or not. I do, so I'm counting her.

In most ways she's completely indicative of my current taste in dolls. I still adore Doll Chateau (almost more than any other company) and similar Chinese doll companies. I like creepy, heavily stylized dolls. And if you count Carter as my first BJD he 100% still embodies my taste in dolls.

Since buying Carol I have realized that (with a few exceptions) overtly "fantasy" dolls and small dolls are not for me. Now I'm pretty solidly in the 45-60cm range. The experience of trying to restring a doll with such tiny channels as my FIRST restringing attempt may have discouraged me from tinies, but I think I would have arrived at the same conclusion no matter what.

 

My first doll is SD sized, and so most of my collection is in this range. I also tend to go for realistic to semi-realistic aesthetics for multiple reasons, the first being my personal preference and because I wanted all my subsequent dolls to look as though they are from the same universe.

My first also set the trend for me choosing more saturated skin tones. This is also related to the realistic aspect and I lean towards fleshier and more tanned resin colors that are outside of the "normal skin" tone.

I think that regardless of my choice of first doll my preferences would have largely remained the same, only with more "learning experiences" along the way.

 

My first doll was a tiny cherishdoll alley, unicorn. My next doll was a mnf Ryeon. And I have to say, I don't think Ive strayed from their aesthetics at all. I'm not much for the realistic looking dolls. Oh, i think they're gorgeous but I'm content just looking. I've since sold/traded both, but my tinies I have now are pretty much the same style just smaller and much better posers! And CP has always been in my heart since the I first learned about them in length in college. most of my dolls are from fairyland, luts and CustomHouse.

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

My first doll was a DOT from Dream of Doll, and I’m forever in love with the 60cm size. I still go for that more stylized than realistic aesthetic, and I still have boys with the androgynous long-haired look he had.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

He had huge eyes and a much rounder face than I usually prefer once I had him in person (most of my favorite dolls have very obviously heart-shaped faces), and his single joints weren’t very cooperative. (Granted, back then double-joints were an emerging thing, so that just was what it was.) I’m utterly obsessed with dreaming eyes and heavy lids, so my dolls these days are slanted in the other direction from his features now that I have a better idea of what I enjoy.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

I don’t know where he fits into the continuum of figuring out what I wanted. He definitely taught me to check out owner photos before buying a doll when possible, because DoD shot his promo photos from certain angles that made him look different to my eye than he was in person. I like a lot of things after twelve years in the hobby that I said I didn’t when starting out, just by playing with dolls and figuring out what actually works for me in person.

 

My forst doll was from the most represented company in my collection: Ringdoll. I have 4 (probably 5 soon) dolls from RD—3 Fullsets and one that I would have gotten as a fullset if the seller had her fullset outfit. Some things about him that drew me to him were the complexity of him and his accessories, but over time I’ve come to love the way RD’s bodies pose. Their resin also feels amazing! I have not really left1/3 in terms of size classification, because all my dolls are supposed to be from one main storyline and need to look good together. One thing that really interests me is that he was male. I have make dolls but I always seem to do more with female dolls, and I seem to write female characters better.

 

Regardless of whether you still own them, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

My first doll was a Slim 1/4 scale doll, and that's definitely something I still love today!
Other aspects she had that I continue to look for: double jointed knees and a two piece torso.


(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?
She had single jointed arms, I hated it. :<

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?
I definitely think I'd develop these preferences regardless of my first choice yeah
I like the added posability of double jointed arms and knees, and I really dislike 1 piece torsos (although I have a doll with one now and she's beautiful, but I lament the loss of posing)

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

Double joints, two piece torso, and I've been disappointed by posing in a few dolls I've gotten since - I think he sort of set my standards in the posing department. Double joints that work or get out. I absolutely fell in love with his little elf ears to the point of wanting to ignore character accuracy to add them to other dolls. I also really liked how his resin felt, but without being able to actually touch dolls irl before purchasing them, it's hard to make that judgment call before buying one.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

I don't think it's ranting to say I don't prefer Fairyland for my own collection, especially considering I bought the doll in the first place thinking I'd love him and I still enjoy FL dolls from afar. I actually have to remind myself not to buy another one because they're in the "love to look at, but don't love to own" category for me.

My issues with my pukifee were: excessively stylized proportions (I love the monster-type eeriness of Doll Chateau, but FL is more very, very cute, which is really not my thing), issues with sitting, and size. Tinies and I don't get along, it turns out.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

The elf ears? I doubt it. Everything else, probably. I think one of the big mistakes I made was getting a tiny even though I had serious doubts about whether I'd like them - if I had held an SD in person, I never would've looked back.

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today?
I still gravitate towards MSD girls with small busts.

Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?
I look for less animesque dolls, ideally with non-Caucasian features.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?
I've been in and out of the hobby for over a decade. I'm more interested in variety than things staying the same.

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

My first doll purchase from all those years ago was a Luts CP El head, which I later sold on...but that perfectly amazing stylized androgenous aesthetic has definitely stuck with me ever since. The quality and heft of the resin and the overall wonderment of a particular sculpt simple enough to be absolutely anything and everything appealed to me so much! I swear it was like looking into the perfect blank canvas, and I’ve never forgotten that feeling. While admiring the more realistic sculpts certainly, and the improved bodies as well, any doll that doesn’t look and move more simply just doesn’t find a home here.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

No, I own many dolls from different companies but I remain totally mesmerized by Luts. They are still pretty much the benchmark against which I measure other dolls.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

Probably...in my mind, my personal stories were always going to be a sort of urban fairytale, so a more androgenous slightly anime look was always going to work best for my characters. But that first
Luts head really set the tone, and although I experimented with other styles, I always knew exactly what to come back to when they didn’t work out.

 

I'm loving the breadth of answers to this; what an interesting question!

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?

Oddly, no. My first doll was a Batchix Mini Machina, who I still own, but she remains my only tiny. She doesn't pose well, sadly, which is one of the things I now look for, and other than her I only have one girl doll. But she was a robot, and as I exclusively collected robot toys at the time she was the excuse that got me into bjds. So regardless of how my tastes evolved, none of it would have happened without her.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?

I had to buy another doll to confirm this, but I avoid single joints now like the plague. Her arms, thankfully, are double jointed, but her legs are single, and since she also doesn't really have ankles her legs are very limited in their posing (her sculpting is so cute, though!). The next addition clinched it for me as it's totally single jointed: good posing "for being single jointed" just doesn't quite do it for me. I like my peanuts.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?

I think so, yes. A lot of uncovering my preferences (and this seems to hold for a lot of us) was trial and error. If I hadn't bought my Delta, I wouldn't have gotten curious about MSD and larger dolls (because if a tiny isn't overwhelming, maybe an MSD would be okay?). And without my Atik I wouldn't have gotten to compare single jointed to double jointed bodies, and without my Tremmell I wouldn't have gotten to see that, actually, the stylized look is pretty good and maybe my whole collection doesn't have to be just mature minis, etc...

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today? Size classification, pointy noses, resin feel, proportions, jointing styles such as double/single or number of torso pieces, ability to perform a certain pose, etc?
My first doll was an Unoa Lusis, and I still have her although I prefer SDs now. However, I love how she looks more like a teenager than a child, and that's something I'm still going for when I look at MSDs. I also prefer stylized dolls to realistic ones, and have a soft spot for opened mouths. Besides, I like her body shape because I find it well-proportioned, and that's a common feature of all my female dolls.

(Without ranting about a particular company; please don't make anyone feel bad about a doll they love.) Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?
Single-jointed knees, definitely. Unoa's knees are known for being fragile, and mine has a broken one. Another thing is that she's unable to sit down properly. That's something I try to avoid when I purchase a new body.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?
Yes, I've never felt very comfortable around realistic dolls and my drawings have a similar aesthetic.

 

Regardless of whether you still own him/her, are there attributes of your first doll you still look for today?

I do still own him. He's an AoD v1 Chen. Some things I still like about him and like in current dolls would be the detail in the body. He has very sculpted muscles and back that I still like. He's sort of in the middle between stylized and realistic, and I still like that. He's a decent poser, and I still require my dolls to be at least decent posers, if not great.


Are there attributes of your first doll that you now avoid?
Yes. He's MSD and I'm not interested at all in this size range anymore, it's all SD for me. He also had large eyes, and I prefer smaller now.

Do you think you would have eventually developed these preferences regardless of your first doll choice?
I think so. When I started the hobby, I was very interested in video games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts and liked that aesthetic. I'm not so into that look at all anymore, so I think regardless of my first choice, things would change.