The Magical First Time

My first time seeing one was when I got my own! It was so special to see a BJD for the very first time AND be able to call it mine.

 

The first time that I saw a doll, I was on DeviantArt in 2008.
It was artistic and beautiful. I had no idea what it was so I looked it up.
A world unfolded around me.
It was like WHAM. I really really want one of these.

In 2014, I got my first doll. It was a Kid Delf Yuz.
He's perfect, I love him to death.
In a matter of months, our collection has quadrupled.

My girlfriend is the owner of a Rindoll Andrew and has a Delf Jun Ha coming from Luts.
I have my Kid Delf and a SoulDoll Morse.
Two of which have been spur of the moment things!

I'll never forget them catching my eye but it seems like they grabbed my wallet and won't let go! (just kidding!)

 

My first time was on a gothic and fantasy event. I told my mother to look at these gorgeous dolls, but that price tag! Later I saw a thread on a fantasy forum about a stolen naked bjd and I couldn't understand why anyone buys a naked doll for such a price (doesn't justify stealing of course). On a lolita forum I encountered some dolls and liked them, but I didn't catch the bug until I was able to hold one. My friend (made through the lolita forum) had several and showed me her Minifee Shiwoo. So gorgeous! I kept asking her about her dolly purchases and everything. She must have seen potential dolly ownerism in me, because she allowed me to have one of her dolls to stay with me for a while. The first was a DZ Lola and it wasn't for me at all. I specifically asked for the doll she was least attached to, because I was afraid anything would happen to it. Later I was allowed to borrow her LTF DES and when my friend asked for her return, I noticed I missed the doll. That is when I knew I wanted one for my own. It took some encouraging from my friend through msn to finally click the buy button. She assured me it would be easier in the future. She had never been so right. xD

 

I caught the bug from a friend of mine who has really beautiful little kid dolls, sie really gets how they should look and pose and be painted so they convey the real moods of being a kid. I admired those a lot--I still do, and I think everything you do with them, from clothes to faceups, are more demanding artistically there--but it was not where I wanted to get started. I found I liked fine details to be in scale and I wanted more realistic proportions, less stylized, veering away from anime looks. What I found grabbed me were the adult dolls that might fit as characters I was writing about. Shelling a character is where I started, and of course I picked an odd one who famously likes to fling his socketed hands and feet across the room. (!!! Yes, there were posts about this trait...) Not magnets, even, this was before magnets! Volks SD13s were just starting to be available, later on SD17s,and various other companies started gambling on dolls that looked increasingly adult in proportion. I had no idea when I started that we'd end up with amazing things like the Iplehouse giants--which I guess are now getting dwarfed by things like the really big Granado body builder guy.
I was taught by this first doll, and his new friends (of course he wanted friends, don't they all??) that I fall more on the adult Iplehouse-Granado-realistic Minimee head end of the spectrum. At the time, among his peers, he looked like a grumpy adult punk in a leather jacket. (Side-note, it's funny, but now he looks pretty stylized in comparison to current standards, just not *quite* as stylized as old-school Volks or Dream of Doll or Dollshe sculpts did.)
I still remember staring at those first auction pictures, collecting everything the company posted about this doll, and tracking the auction itself, bought by my friend at a time when I couldn't afford him at all. Later on, I was able to buy him from them in a very long layaway, and I felt extremely honored to be able to take him home. We're talking a strong sense of obligation, as with a family sword or an art scroll or an antique tea set.
What startled me was how different it was between seeing a picture and when I was handling the actual doll on my own.
It was more childlike than I was expecting, to begin with, and has since matured from a very teenaged silly feeling to showing a more young-adult one. That's a strange transition, one I wasn't really aware of while it was happening. That change became plain to me when I reviewed my pictures changing over time.
That first day, the weight was also surprising, and the areas where it was fragile and where it wasn't. It's a responsibility, working with a doll of this kind, and it has a distinct, strong (I would even say an *opinionated*) presence. Similar to puppets and masks, it's not just a blank object. It doesn't matter whether you are projecting your beliefs about what the sculptor was thinking, or if it's just your preferences whether this set of clothes or that better suits the aesthetics of the artwork and the mood you're trying to set. I wasn't expecting any of that when I started!
Oh yeah--and he really, really didn't want to go back in the box that first night, either. It also hardly matters whether it was my own reluctance to stop looking at him, or just my sense of the character getting prodded with new inspirations, or just getting way too wound up to go to sleep!

 

My first time seeing a bjd in person was when I got my first doll and I was...

...disappointed.

The glorious photos and beautiful face-up that sold me on the doll were bland and boring in person, there were issues where the doll was missing parts of its fullset outfit, I didn't like the fact that there was little to no definition in his sculpt, I hated the fact I could see through his fingers. I was so upset that I'd spent $500 on something that I didn't entirely love. I had read about other people's experiences with BJD and mine was so different I wanted to cry.

And then I found out that this sometimes happens to people, even when they've bought heaps of dolls in the past, so I decided to give it one more go.

Instead of just buying a 'pretty doll' I decided I was going to find the doll that fit my favourite OC - my boy Lief who has been in my character list since I was 14, and at the time I was 18 and really relating to him because of him being the extention of what I felt myself to really be. (Writing through him was catharic and he became one of those "What would Lief do in this situation?" characters that gave me a lot of self confidence and strength.

But haunting in the background was my first doll and how I'd felt about him, so I decided to play it safe and just buy a head and a wig and eyes and go from there. So I bought my head from a now-debunked company (Buddydoll) and when he arrived and I opened the box... BANG! There it was! The feeling that I thought I'd have from my first doll but didn't. Love and adoration. It was Lief! His face! His sulky expression, his hair (when I finally got around to beading the wig and brushing it out.) So I knew I had to get him a body, and I saved up and did. And that was the moment that I really fell in love with BJD.

And now, even though there have been some bumps in the road, I have a very sizeable collection and more incoming.

(Also, Lief is still my absolute star in my collection.)

 

The first time I handled a resin BJD in person was when I got Avalon, I was SO worried I wasn't gonna be attached to him (I had nightmares all through out the layaway involving him somehow being tiny, made of wood, stolen, arriving broken, in one dream I didn't get him and got sent a blue Mei in another my best friend of all people smashed him and set him on fire...There was a new scenario every night almost of something bad happening to poor Avalon) but when I opened the box and slid him out of the bag I was in love...Utter.Love. And after a re-stringing incident (though I had to learn eventually) he became my baby and is still one of my favorites. He was the first MSD and one of the most spoiled.

 

A few years back, I had a friend tell me about her bjd and I got curious. A quick Google search later I discovered the Dream of Doll website and I curiously explored the site. A few years later, another friend and I went out into the city for a day and she brought one of her bjds with her. Halfway through the day she handed me her doll and asked if I could carry her for a little while. I was gobsmacked. I knew how expensive the doll was and I was honoured that he trusted me to look after her doll. A couple of years later, it finally hit me - I really like bjds. My first arrived in January this year, and the second arrived a month later. I should be getting my third within the next couple of weeks and I'm really excited about that. I love their personalities and how no two really have the same vibe. They're wonderful!

 

Yeah I never even knew they existed until I came across one on eBay! I was immediately hooked :P I'd never seen one in person until my first doll arrived, and he absolutely blew me away.

 

I originally fell in love with BJDs through the old eLuts and Dream of Doll websites. Everything was in a non-us currency and I didn't really understand what the pricing meant, except I knew it was extremely high if converted. I enjoyed just staring at the pictures, even though I knew at the time, it was way,way out of my price range. I only got my first doll about a year and a half ago. I didn't immediately fall in love, but as I got things for the doll, I became very attached. So no one magical moment, just a series of events that led up to me being hooked on the hobby, LOL

 

The first one I saw in person was my own. He was gorgeous, even blank. The company photos couldn't even compare! I was totally smitten

 

It was back in 2004. I'd only just found out about bjds... only a very few were on Ebay at that time... usually customized heads that popped up now and then. It was nearly impossible to just order one (all sites were in Japanese or Korean, only a few releases at a time). Anyway, the first one I saw was when I bought one.

Got to say--not really all that magical. For one thing--the company sent the wrong skin tone. It was a limited doll and they didn't know if they had one in the right skin tone. I had to send the one I got on to someone else in the US who had also received the wrong doll (and it wasn't the one I was missing). There was a month that passed before they sent out another doll--because someone in Korea had not picked one up!!! So that alone had me freaking out for all that time. I hadn't been so sure about spending so much in the first place! And we had to send things through bank transfers. No Paypal and no credit cards accepted at that time. It was a nightmare!

Then... the faceup was a bit sketchy (people complained and the company fired the faceup artist for their next release and only sold a blank doll! But they also sold through Luts, which had just put up an English website--and Luts had their own artists--but dolls sold out in seconds and there was no option for other than normal skin.

And--I had asked for faceup on the extra head--and they didn't do it. They had to send me cash to refund me because there was no Paypal or CCs used then.

I got a white skin doll and it was creamier (more yellow) than I thought it would be.

I had no clothes for him. I didn't have a wig I liked (I had bought a fur wig and it didn't look right).

Resin seemed a lot more plastic-like than I thought it would be.

It took me a while to tinker with the faceup a bit, to find some eyes I liked, to find some wigs and clothes (clothes weren't that easy to find back then!), and I was falling more and more in love and getting over the stressful time of his arrival.

Then I knew I was thoroughly bonded! And despite thinking I was only going to get ONE, I ordered another!

Thankfully, things went more smoothly after that!

And I had joined DoA and started going to meetups (S. Calif. was one of the areas that was most active early on)... I found out that people I knew also had bjds and I wasn't the only crazy-person paying so much for a doll! And I'm still crazy (crazier than ever, really) about bjds to this day. --And I still have my first boy and probably always will.

 

i wish i could remember when i first saw a bjd. i feel like i've always known about them but it wasnt till this year that i finally broke down to get one.

i can not wait to see my girl in person. she isnt coming until later this month and it's killing me. the first item i got was her wig and even though it wasnt what i thought i order (i thought the wig was styled short but it's just long) still it was just so cool. the quality is so great and inside of the wig is so strong and solid. it really sold me on it and got me so much more excited.

 

For me the first time I saw a BJD was... anything but magical.
I was at a friends shop, and another customer had been talking about her dolls, one day she brought two of them with her.
She had them in a baby bag, and I thought of it as a very neet idea, to protect them, and carry around manny things. She even let us handle them a bit, but... it was just a chunk of plastic in child form. They were Soom Tinies, limited I think, but I don't remember the sculp.
I must say, until then very few dolls ever hold my attention, and they only did because of the occation I got them, not the doll per se.

Ok, so they were nice, and had nice clothes, and then she told us how much she payed for them, and how much the clothes and the shoes were, and that she spend more money on those outfits, and bought even more of them, than she spend for herselve.
I handed her the doll back and decided I would never, ever spend so much money on a doll.
I'm very proud that I have not done so until now.

The one who hooked me was the doll of a friend. When I first saw him, I did not connect him with those tiny expensive child- dolls. He was a doll, and he was utterly cool and lovable and I fell in love. I could not stop myselve. (I use "he" on purpose, the moment I saw Ayame, for me he was alive)
I even went as far as being his official girl friend for a while.
I tried to weasl one out of my parents at that time, but it was a rotund no.

I moved on with my live, I never really forgot Aya-chan, had pics of the Fotoshoot I did with him hanging around my room, but never really thought of getting him. (too expensive)
And one day the moment came when I said: I want a doll. I had some savings and went on an ebay search, found a cute elf and bought him home. Was he my Ayame? No. Other size and other company, but lovable enough.
From the moment I had my first doll in my hands, even when I said I would not buy more than one, I had set my eyes on that first sculp I loved, I planned on having him. It was set in stone, as much as it was set that I would not pay the companys price for him. And so, my market place hunt begun.

Just so you know, I got him home as my third doll.

 

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to include pictures in this thread, but I actually have a photo from the first time I saw a BJD! I'll include it as a link, I hope everybody can see it.

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t31.0-8/664964_10151419625088814_1273859081_o.jpg

My first boyfriend had just broken up with me so I was a major mess and it was lovely to see one in the flesh. (If anybody is curious, he is a Doll Leaves. I don't remember the sculpt, but I can find out if anybody wants more information.) This was about two years ago, time flies! I wanted to sleep with him but my friend wouldn't let me. I did have fun putting him in silly and awkward poses and my enthusiasm for getting a doll was major hyped up since then. When I was incredibly suicidal, my friend let me sleep with his yo-sd. It really helped my mood.

Wow, deep story, sorry! I know I've said some of this to you already chanarivka -- but this is why I'm so excited for my first dollie... Even though I've been waiting half a year for her already!

 

I knew that I wanted a bjd the first time I ever saw them online years ago. I must admit, it was hard understanding about bjds because I had never seen one physically. It's not easy to understand what resin is or what it feels like. It's hard to determine size. Even with a tape measure, you don't understand the sheer size of these dolls. There is a certain presence about them that can't be measured. Although, I had a ton of questions and was unsure of certain aspects I knew I had to have a bjd. I had those nervous excited jitters about seeing a doll in person. It's probably because the first doll I would ever see and handle would be my own. That moment when I received my first doll was pretty magical. She came right before Christmas, and there was no way I could wait to open her. I wish I could describe the feelings exactly. It was wonderful, almost like I got caught up in a moment of admiration. I remember examining her thoroughly and trying to pose her in as many different ways as possible. I immediately loved her. She was perfect. I loved how heavy she was. I loved the smell of resin. Her face up was perfect. I think the only problem with that moment was having to put her away and go to work. I almost called out sick...

It's funny because since then..I still feel that way about dolls. Seeing them gives me such a rush. It's always a good feeling. I love all of my dolls and when I'm having a bad day or if I'm feeling down, they immediately help me feel better. What's funny is that even when I went to my first meetup and was able to see dolls other then my own for the first time, was pretty magical. It's really eye opening. You get to see so many dolls you wouldn't normally buy. I really admire all dolls. It's so worth seeing as many as possible in person.

 

I had heard of customizable dolls before and loved the sound of them. After a terribly rough year (multiple losses of loved ones) I decided to go for it and purchase one. My first were off topic 3D printed dolls whom I adore! Through the companies interactive forum I encountered some nice doll folks from the UK who showed me the magic of BJDs. I loved them and finally when I found Pearl, my Planetdoll mini, on ebay for a very reasonable price I went for it. She amazed me with her details and attitude. I knew I would have more and four resin friends later I've been proven right. I'm slowing down now and making this my last purchase year before my wallet goes on sabbatical though. My little doll family really makes me happy. I never regret buying them.