That first doll....

My first doll was a Soom Wolf which I bought on impulse (like most of my dolls...). I still like the sculpt very much, but I already sold him because there were other dolls I liked better.. There was a problem with the body too, but that wasn't a big deal since I managed to get a replacement part.

I have bought and sold a few dolls but I never regret buying any of them. I'm very happy to have owned such lovely dolls, but it's just that there are other dolls I like better now. Just take your time in deciding, I think that as long as it's a doll you like, there shouldn't be any regrets (: Good luck on searching for your first doll! It can be overwhelming with all the choices

 

My first doll was a tough choice. I had to choose between Crobidoll Lance and Little Monica Kliff. I fell in love with Kliff's melancholy expression and Lance's androgynous beauty. But in the end, I went with Kliff because the company was having their annual Christmas sales. And two years after Kliff, I got Lance. They're both still with me and I love them very much. I have yet to regret my doll purchases.

 

The first Doll I bought was an Iplehouse Rex EID in old special real Skin. It was back in early 2011...
I loved the mold and had him for some years but sold him to a friend because I started to love Fashion sized Dolls and sold all my SD Dolls... but I never regreted to buy any of them
Now as there are Fashion sized Dolls from Iplehouse I bought a Rex F.I.D in Special real xD

 

The first BJD I ever owned is my Dollzone Cherry (2008) and she was a gift, so I didn't spend any money on her. I'm not a huge fan of her facesculpt but she is my first doll so I love her.
The first one I've ever bought for myself was my Angel Philia Suzune, who actually just came in last week. I love her to BITS. She's by far my favorite doll I own and I regret nothing about getting her. I'm actually thinking of maybe getting another Angel Philia after her.

 

I still haven't received the first doll I ordered yet, which is a Doll Chateau Snow Nymph and I absolutely don't think I'll regret my choice once she gets here! I've seen other owners pictures of her and she's gorgeous pretty much no matter how she looks! I just love her face sculpt.

I'm so excited to get her~

 

I was actually thinking about getting a doll chateau as my first doll, too!

 

My first doll (11 years ago!) was a Minifee Soo from Luts. I still have her today and still love her just as much.

What I DO regret is that when I first got her (I had just turned 16), I didn't have a lot of money so I let someone that was just starting out on doing faceups use my doll. I would receive a free faceup and body blushing and she would use my doll's pictures as an example for her new business. Ended up being a terrible experience. She kept my doll for months and I had to constantly harass her to give my doll back. She "accidently" lost my doll's hand. It turned out that other people had sent their dolls to her and pieces of their dolls would mysteriously go missing too.

But, months later I finally did get my little girl back, handless and a chip in her ankle. The body blushing looked terrible on top of it! The sealer was way too thick or something and she was just gross.

 

My first doll was a hybrid of a modoll head on telesthesia body. He's 72cm, which is huge for a first BJD, but I was limited by the head sculpt because I really, really wanted a toy Thranduil! Since there weren't many toys of him, and I stumbled across the modoll head I decided to get him. I'd never considered a BJD before!

So Thranduil was what got me into the hobby. I still have him,and I have no regrets other than he led me to wanting more dolls and they're so pricey! XD

 

I think I vacillated on sculpts for a good several months before finally throwing that all to the wind and just buying a Boy & Girl Eleanor. I knew that there were other sculpts that I preferred, namely Soom and Asleep Eidolon girls, but Eleanor was much more affordable.

When I finally received her (that first wait was painful), I thought she was pretty enough...but since I wasn't sold on her sculpt to begin with, the things I perceived as "flaws" were even more glaring - her coral-colored lips, her slightly rounded nose - these bothered me to a somewhat irrational degree.

As a result, I perused the marketplace here on DoA, and got a great deal on an B&G Aurora head. I loved her much more with the new head.

This was way back in...uh, 2007 or 2008? Since then, my preferences have changed pretty wildly (and frequently), but I definitely don't regret my first purchase. She didn't necessarily stick around for a long time, but I think it was still a valuable learning experience.

 

My first doll to arrive was a tiny Dragon Doll girl - and the first one I ordered was Iplehouse EID Dexter. I still have them & love them both (they are father & daughter)

 

The first doll I received was a Mirodoll Yaya.... At this time Mirodoll was just becoming a bit popular, so i went ahead, and did it. Probably one of the worst decisions of my life. A lot of people who have ordered from this company have had nothing but excellent experiences, but mine was poor. In fact, when I received my doll, this was the first doll I've ever owned, the first piece of resin ive ever touched. She had a HUGE glob of resin that lay on one of her nostrils, and a huge drip embedded into the right thigh. When I emailed them about this, their only response is "Just sand it, should be okay." But when I explained the severity of the project, they ignored my messages and never contacted me back.-- They have worst customer service. I don;t know if I was the only one, and I know she was such a cheap doll, but honestly I was a little upset that they would "OK" a doll with such faults on her to go to its new owner.

 

My first doll and still my only one is a DollsTown 13 body and AO head. Do I regret my choice? Oh absolutely not, I adore her. Rather than spend on another I've recently bought loads of new clothes, wigs and eyes so that I can 'optimise' her before laying out money on a second. My next choice would be another DollsTown or the Iplehouse Soo and I think the appeal for me is the downturned pouty lips.

 

My first was a B&G Triya, and I have a complicated relationship with her. I really can't say I ever regretted getting her, but I was pretty new to bjds at the time, and don't recall spending a lot of time researching them. She was nice enough that I took a liking to her and ordered her through a dealer on ebay (Jeeryama).

I do, however, consider selling her a lot of the time. I'm not a huge fan of MSD scaled dolls, and don't know what exactly to do with in regards of the rest of my crew. But...something keeps me from letting her go. Will she continue to stay with me for a long time? Maybe. Will I eventually let her go? Who knows.

That's my story anyways

 

I really didn't know what to expect since I have never seen a real BJD before and just couldn't imagine how they will look in real life. Until when my first head arrived, he was so small and cute even though it's an SD head It made me feel glad that I took the plunge to get my first BJD cos just looking at that little hard-boiled egg makes me smile

Only my family and a close friend know about my BJDs and they didn't look at me differently except I am spending even more money than before I already have an anime figure collecting hobby and they probably just think it's an extension of that.

 

Yep. That's me. First of all. The first thing everyone should do is join here and learn to know how and where to buy a doll and what to avoid. I bought my first dolls first and joined the fb bjd groups after that and heard about DoA in there. And sadly found out that I did everything wrong and had bought recasts. So now I've learned my lessons and am buying my dolls the right way. A second hand doll from here and a new one directly from the company. And yes. I do have _everything_ ready for them and I know I have to do it all over again when I get them. But I guess it's part of the fun to make ideas before you own any dolls.
I haven't told my friends about my dolls that much. Some friends know that I like bjd dolls, my mom knows I'm buying a doll when I can afford one and my boyfriend knows I'm weird anyway. So no changes there.

 

My first doll is still on the way, a handsome Soom Isha. This only marks the beginning of collecting, but i tend to fancy the more fantasy stuff. DOA has been great for learning about dolls too. It's been so great being here. What I didn't realize is just how big some of them are!

 

My first doll was a hand me down from my sister. She got it for her birthday from some friends but never really did anything with her. She basically just sat around in my sisters room naked for a couple of years. I would make outfits for her doll and other thing's but she hardly would even dress her. Basically BJD's was an impulse hobby for my sis that she didn't care to invest in, and mostly probably just tried it to look cool in her friend group (A few had several BJD's). She came to me asking If I wanted to to buy her off of her for a lower price then she costs. I jumped on it.

My first actual purchased doll was asleep eidolons lemons (girl). Which I am very happy about that purchase. I already have been tailoring clothing and things for her so when she gets here she won't have to be nekkid lol

 

I was happy when I bought my first doll, but I suddenly lost interest while waiting to make it. In the meantime I bought other dolls, and when I finally got the first one I sold to someone else.

 

What a sweet story! I’m saving money to get my fisrt doll now. After I looked at your story, I realise that I need to do some research on make up as well! Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

What differences did you experience, before you got your first doll and after? For an example, did you have this idea of owning a particular doll built up the whole time you waited, only to find that everything changed?
I got pretty lucky, actually. I wanted a particular doll, and when he arrived I still wanted him. He was everything I wanted, and he was perfect for a first-time owner.

Does family and friends look at you differently?
My family was already used to me wagging a doll around with me everywhere. At the ripe old age of 27 I still was in the habit of carrying a Barbie or an American Girl around in case a photo op struck, and when I got Johnny things weren't really any different. I received more warnings to be careful since my family knew Johnny could break, but otherwise nothing changed much.

Is there anything that you wish you did differently, or wish you knew before taking the plunge and getting that first doll?
I wish I'd gotten a chance to handle a resin ball-jointed doll so I'd know what resin felt like. I'd bought a "test doll" that was made out of ABS so I had an idea bout how to place eyes and restring, but ABS joints move differently from resin joints.

I have heard stories of people making whole character bios before a doll arrived, only to find that the doll just doesn't fit with that idea.
I knew I was taking that risk when I ordered Johnny, but again I lucked out major-league. Johnny fit the personality that I had set aside for him perfectly, and when he got here I was even able to add in some interesting things. One could say that his personality and backstory changed a little, but not a lot.