To those who left the hobby and then returned....

for me it is financial issues and family problems. I can't enjoy my dolls while my life is a mess so I stopped playing w them and take a big break, then I come back when I'm feeling mentally better.

 

Funds and drama. Originally I was really excited to save up for my first doll. I was just out of high-school and had saved up enough over a summer job for what was and would be my only doll. I've never been a collector kind of person so choosing which doll to get was a really big deal for me. Even at the height of my obsession I knew that at maximum I would ever want maybe 2 dolls.

When I finally brought my boy home, I knew the expense was worth it but I wouldn't be able to buy new clothes or shoes for a while so I felt a little disconnected from the community I was a part of on livejournal. After starting up university I had no life, no time, and no money so eventually everything just fell by the wayside.

I'd occasionally pop back onto the forms just to see what was new, but it wasn't until D.o.D. went under that my interest really renewed. See, way back when, I was dead set on obtaining the Camine model from D.o.D. but just as I had neared saving up enough they released the limited edition Kalix and he completely swept up my imagination. I promised myself I would one day return for Camine (I had already bought him boots and an outfit after all), but when I saw that D.o.D. was done I knew that I'd lost my chance. It sucked but it did renew my interest in BJDs, and the doll I have has surely benefited from that.

 

I got into the hobby two years ago, and then almost immediately left it. My health has always been bad, and it took a dramatic downturn. I had neither time nor funds for a hobby like this.

Happily, my health has improved and I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things.

 

I actually won my first doll in a raffle at a Japanese convention. I was aware of BJD's but at that time only collected other doll types. I used to look but not participate much here, but stopped because I didn't collect per se, and I think I found it a bit difficult to navigate at the time. Then I had children of my own and stopped collecting dolls altogether. Now they are a little bigger and I've started to become interested again and will soon have three BJD's.

 

Recently, I've been thinking of leaving the BJD hobby. I'm in a bit of an unfortunate financial situation that might lead to me listing my dolls for sale, even though I don't want to. Have you ever left the hobby, and if you did what made you leave? What made you come back, if you left?

 

Years ago I left the hobby, because I no longer had the money I once did and looking at all the wonderful dolls I knew I would never own just made my heart ache. So, I stopped looking at any doll things online and then eventually lost interest in doing anything with the dolls I did have. A few years later, my new hobby of writing brought me back when I decided to write a story about a BJD that came to life. I wanted to do some research which brought me to finally joining DoA and, happily, I just got sucked right back in to it all and am doing a lot more with the hobby than I ever did before I quit. ^_^

I still can't afford to buy dolls the way I once did, but I've learned not to worry about things I can't have and how to save up for the things I can.

 

Sometimes I leave the hobby to better concentrate on other matters. I still love BJDs, so I come back when I'm in the right headspace.

 

I left the hobby in 2012, I want to say, if not early 2013. At that time I was moving around a lot, always renting a room and never really having my own space, so I finally said "eff it" and sent my dolls home to my mom for storage. They were just too much to move around every single time. Then after that I just kind of lost interest, found other hobbies, started school, and more or less forgot about them. Even when I got them out of storage, they just stayed in their boxes for two years. I considered finally selling them - what's the point in keeping them if it's been five years and the spark isn't there anymore?

Honestly it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago, when a friend came over and was fawning over one of my dolls, that the spark kind of got re-lit. I don't have the big plans I used to, and I still might sell a few of my dolls, but I'm excited about the hobby again in a way I haven't been since, well, 2012!

 

Like others, I kinda left the hobby when I couldn't financially keep up with it, anymore. I never got rid of my dolls, but I stopped focusing on them. I think depression also had a hand in it. But I kept coming back to my dolls and taking pictures of them. I just didn't go to places where I could see all the wonderful stuff everybody else was buying. Recently, I settled back down after a lot of moving, and decided I wanted more inspiration. I opened up a PixFed account, it's like Instagram but has more privacy, but I didn't see any dolls photos except mine. So I came back to DoA. I still get a little jealous at all the amazing stuff people have, but I try to ignore it and just make the best of what I have.

 

Money was one of the reasons I left too. I came back after seeing a friend post her dolls. I was just going to take a look on DoA convince my self that I wasn't that interested and bury it. Then I poked on the market place and found several of my grails listed for a heck of a lot less then when I was originally in the hobby.
It can be an expensive hobby. If you need money it sometimes has to go. But it's gotten a lot more friendly, so it's a heck of a lot easier to get back into!

 

I love this thread... I started in this hobby around June 2005 (when I joined DOA), got my first doll, a DOC Hoo (whom I still have!) a few months later. After that, I fell into the hobby quite thoroughly for about 5 years. I was buying and selling dolls and doing custom face-ups and mods for money. When I finally graduated, I fell out of the hobby due to life, internships, starting work and I just did not have the time to be as fully immersed as I used to be.

I came back in very briefly when I found out that Fairyland had released a MNF Yder event head and I snapped him up from the Marketplace and almost immediately dropped off again even when I had some friends who were still posting about their dolls every so often.

It was only recently (about a month ago) that I decided to go for a dollmeet that my love for dolls suddenly came back in full swing! I've spent the last month trawling DOA, Instagram and every social site I can to update myself on his amazing hobby. I recently put in orders for 2 Dollshes and a LLTDoll. I've also been obsessively following different face-up artists because I intend to give my dolls a makeover. It's a daunting prospect to revamp them but I'm really psyched to start! It's what makes this hobby so fun for me~

 

Honestly, I had to focus more on my business! I run my own company (nothing as large as Google but y'know) so my doll hobby sort of fell by the wayside. I still kept my dolls, but then I had to move and they got put in boxes and then I had to work and life and adulting...

But recently, my friend went to a doll convention and asked if there was anything I wanted to buy/sell because she knew I had dolls and we chatted over dolls sometimes. As I pulled everyone out to just see what I had and what I might want, I just started to remember what I liked so much about my dolls in the first place.

So I'm back in! Dolls back on display in different outfits, refreshed and bright eyed. Feels like I never left and yet so much has changed!

 

I left because the person who I was enjoying the hobby for years with was very toxic and abusive to me. Because of that I associated the hobby with her and decided to stop engaging in the hobby (I almost sold all my dolls). I came back because I've cut ties with her and I want to start this hobby anew and find new passion in it!

 

Maybe this is just me being a bit nosy since I didn't start this thread, but good for you for reclaiming the hobby for yourself!

 

LOL Nahh you're good! Thank you so much though! I hope to have a better time this second time around!

 

I have been partially off for almost two years, mostly due to moving to another town for some time and my life changing a bit but even during that time I still checked this forum and tried not to totally abandon the hobby but I didn't had the time or the energy to play with my dolls and they were kept in boxes.
Several months ago I started paying them attention again, I changed the hair and the face-up (as part of her personality) of my first doll and bonded again with her which led to bonding with the whole lot as if it was the first day.
I think now I have a different perspective of the hobby. I don't feel the need to research so intensively for new dolls, clothing or stuff to purchase and I simply like to enjoy the ones I already have.

 

I’m in the hobby since 2012, because a rl friend introduced me to the big dolls hobby and help me since. I had just one girl until 2014 and the newcomers were one Volks lottery doll and one of my friend’s doll. They were all three happy and by 2016 my bf and me traveled to Japan as a 10th anniversary and I set foot in Akihabara dollpoint. That visit was marvelous and even though I didn’t buy a doll there, I fell in love with Anastasia DDS they had on display for preordering. When the travel came to an end, I fell so poor for being near all those beauties and returning empty handed (and also the travel itself was expensive from Europe). When Anastasia got released from customs the hiatus on the hobby started. I was really sad, got unemployed, I stopped taking photos of my girls, just using the phone and not making any of the effords I took earlier...
Now at 2019 I’m feeling more like a lurker, I still keep updated with new dolls but I still have problems cutting my wig collection or outfit collection. I never solved them, so dolls almost have more clothing than me and I’ve got 30 wigs in different styles of blonde.

I felt that particular ache so many times during the years, I even got jealous of my friend because she got dolls and dolls. Also, the idea of living in Japan near the dollpoint where every week had new coordinates wanting to be adopted and touching your soft spots...sigh, I would love to visit it weekly but at the same time I don’t know how could I survive in a place like that.

So, to sum up, I never completely left the hobby but I wish I had the capacity of downsizing. My first girl is still the most precious to me, I managed to get my holy grials and a couple of floating heads, but I hope to refind the spark of doll photography.

 

I purchased my first "BJD" in 2015. I was a newbie then and I still consider myself one now. I was burned from having my first doll as a second-hand recast and not really knowing that was in existence at the time. I after I did learn about them and parting ways with that doll, I was pretty bummed about it and it made me not trust in any doll purchases. I left and decided to push this hobby far from my mind. Over time, and other doll hobbies, the idea of BJDs crept back up into my thoughts. I always wanted a BJD and I wasn't as fulfilled with Pullips or Blythe dolls like I knew I could be. After much more education on the hobby, what to look out for and how to safely shop, I finally made my first official doll purchase in February of this year (2019). I'm happy I gave it another chance and didn't let my fear get the best of me.

 

A bit late but this hit home. I joined the hobby about ten years ago I think? And left it about 2014 after my little brother died and the recast drama got crazy. I was ashamed of the fact I was a big recast promoter and buyer, and I lost a lot of friends during that time as well so I just...shut down. I don't think I so much as touched a doll until a few months ago, when my five year old begged to play with my Miyu. My Hamin got me through my grieving, and I've sold off several dolls in that time as well.

So a combination of life just being too much to handle and working all the time took most of my energy. I'm also a volunteer with a nonprofit global costume club that takes a lot of time and money as well, so that meant less doll stuff.

However, I bought a minifee body not long ago and scored a Sircca head I'm currently waiting on, reconnected with one of my most beloved friends in the hobby, and it feels good. I'm enjoying it again.

I feel like I have to relearn everything, and it was like a treasure hunt rediscovering all my doll things I had hidden away. I'm glad to be back!

 

I left the hobby back when I had a falling out with the only local friend who was into dolls. We did all doll-related stuff together and after they weren't part of my life anymore, I just sort of... drifted away from dolls, since having just online hobbyist friends wasn't enough.

And, unsurprisingly, when I got together with my then-girlfriend now-fiancée, who has quite a few dolls and has been into the hobby from mid-00s like I have... that rekindled my love for dolls, because I finally had someone to do all the doll stuff with again! So to me it's really important to have someone I can sit down in a room together and style our dolls and take photos and make clothes and just talk about our plans or doll stuff in general. (And since I'm pretty socially anxious, I can't even imagine going to a doll meet on my own, but now I have someone I can go with and meet other hobbyists occasionally!)

And I really hope I won't have another falling out again, considering this is my future wife I'm talking about. :'D