Was your first doll a doll you wanted?

My first doll was/is a Dollzone Annie, which is one of the first sculpts I ever really fell in love with. Ever since I saw the sculpt it had my heart, and honestly I thought I would never get the chance to get one since they were discontinued. But after finding a few Annies secondhand, I decided to take the chance to buy one, and that's how I have Ian!

 

My first on topic doll was Yuna, who is a Luts or Withdoll. I bought her from a korean bjd cafe so I could not understand which she was, as I do not speak korean. I fell in love with her on first sight and had to have her, no matter the price. She came naked and I chose a lovely victorian lolita dress for her and made her a ghost. She is, in my opinion, the most beautiful doll in the universe, with the loveliest personality. Sorry, I'm being a proud mommy again arent I haha.

 

I don't buy stuff I don't want.

 

Dangit, @Khell, you beat me to it!

 

Yes, all of my dolls are ones I've wanted.
My first doll was a Resinsoul Mei and even though cost wise is a less expensive doll, it was more about being a price point I felt comfortable working with than it was a matter of settling for a cheaper doll when I wanted a more expensive one.
Once I saw her I pretty much fell in love at first sight.

 

The first doll I actually purchased was a doll chateau Agatha, who I liked the idea of but 3 months into waiting I had a change of heart (especially since she was coming in blank, I really hated my faceup skills at the time.) The first doll I brought into the house was doll chateau carol. I loved her so much when I got her, but not her body so I ended up selling her. I'm a lot more skilled at making hybrids now, and would probably grab one if I see one again for just that purpose.

 

I didn't want *any* doll; I wasn't interested in getting "a" BJD. I got into BJDs because I happened to come across one that I ... well ... recognised as one of my characters, and I just fell in love with it. So I bought that specific doll (Dollzone Scarecrow Hal). It's only later that I went off the rails and wanted to get all sorts of BJDs because I discovered that I love these dolls as dolls :P.

 

The first doll I ever truly wanted was Iplehouse Isar. I had rediscovered the hobby after a few years of forgetting about BJDs and wanted to finally start saving up for one on my own. Unfortunately, she was super out of my price range and became more of a grail doll. I got three dolls over the period of a year and Isar finally came home to me as my 4th doll when I was a freshman in college.

 

I did want the first doll I bought. I think most people do.

But I didn't go for the doll I wanted the most; rather, I went for cheap but still cute. I don't regret it, but my aesthetic's changed so I don't play with her anymore.

 

Yes! He's based on my second ever made character named Adrienne!

 

Yes and sort of yes... Haha.

The first doll I ever BOUGHT was a doll I really loved, so I didn't really focus on the price too much. I didn't have any long term character plans or anything, but I loved her and was very excited.
While waiting for that doll to arrive, I had an opportunity to buy my Grail of that time. I jumped on it, and because it was second hand she was delivered first! So, either way, I did get a doll that I really truely wanted as my first.

Though it's hard to say which would be my true first... Is the doll that I had the experience of ordering first the true, or is the doll I held first the true? Dun dun dunnnnn!

 

I loved the sculpt that became my first doll even before I bought her. I could call myself fortunate that she was still on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

However, ever since my second doll arrived, I realized that my tastes were changing. I kept seeing the style discrepancies between her and the newer doll, and soon I knew it was time to reshell/revamp her one way or another. She's probably going to end up more expensive than what she originally was, but it's not because I went with the "starter/cheaper bjd" route. It was in the line of "a more fitting sculpt" came around.

 

The first doll I ever set my eyes on was Volks Isao Ver 1 (2004) when I saw his picture in the Volks database. Only 2 dolls stood out for me from that database - Isao and Reisner. Both were long sold out by that time (2008), I gave up hope. Then one day, I saw Isao on eBay, a full doll in box with original faceup and hot glued eyes. I was hesitant to buy because there were many bootlegs and I did not know the seller (a DOA member). I could not sleep without thinking of Isao's eyes.....I wrote to the seller asking for more pictures and especially the head plate. I love those eyes. The seller lived close by in the next city next to mine. I finally clicked on Buy It Now on eBay and within 3 days, he arrived in a cold, wet Canadian Autumn day. I cried when I saw him, his eyes....soft cold resin and faceup. I've never seen a doll more beautiful. He came in his box naked. Luckily for me, he is authentic. I got to know the seller, she is a respected member of this forum.

I subsequently found another seller (From Malaysia) on this forum who sold me Isao V1 full set outfit and accessories including his boots. Someone from Japan helped me find his wig. So, my Isao is a full set doll complete in box with accessories.

Till this day, I never removed his hot glued eyes. I remove the eyes of every other doll except the eyes of Isao and Reisner. Reisner was acquired only recently directly from Volks and not the version I originally saw in the database back in 2008.

 

This was exactly what I was thinking. These dolls, even the "less expensive" ones are pricey. I wouldn't invest $100 in something I didn't want. I can completely understand why anyone would be hesitant to buy their grail if they never owned a doll before. It's a big leap. However, I don't think anyone should buy a doll they didn't want. It's sure to lead to disappointment.

 

My first doll was Dollzone Hid. I actually fell in love with him many years before I actually bought him. When I first found out about BJD's I was too young and they seemed too expensive. So I forgot about them for some years. Back in 2010 I got more interested again and remembered that one redheaded ninja doll, which had caught my eye. I spent much time trying to find him and at the same time learned more about this hobby. I finally found him again and bought him in fullset with face-up. Even though he was on the cheap side, I didn't buy him because of that. I looked at many other dolls at that time too, but nothing compared to him.

 

@Saltcat Good, more Borys for me.

In all seriousness, Bory was the first sculpt I truly fell for, even though I love most of the aesthetics I see. I wasn't planning to get my Bory when I did but he's a popular sculpt (methinks) and I lucked in on him second-hand at a good price so I got him. I have other dolls I want badly (Impldoll Tony....) but I'm happy to make do with some more affordable dolls in the meantime, and I know I'll love them when they arrive. I've got my eye on a few Resinsouls/BBBs and seeing how flexible they are aesthetically, I'm confident if I get a RS ahead of my next "WANT" doll, I'd be able to appreciate it even though it's not what inspires mad passion. I agree it's better to save for the doll that inspires mad passion in you, but if you're just passionate about the hobby, or you've got very broad tastes in dolls, it's also ok to get a doll you're curious or merely intrigued by, especially if that doll is affordable. Sometimes tastes change and it can be good to have dolls with very different lewks...you never know what will appeal to you in person until you've got the doll and live with it.

 

My first doll was a Souldoll Sweeney, and he was absolutely what I wanted. However, there were no "cheap" companies when I started collecting BJDs, so I couldn't be seduced into buying a "starter doll". I have also learned that buying something that I don't want 100% won't work for me, it makes me feel sad.

 

Nope, I really wanted an irreal doll Nur but I settled for a Hujoo Freya.

 

Yes, yes I did.

Now for me price IS a factor because I have a terrible time with spend guilt. It means that I just can't "love" more expensive sculpts because the guilt and anxiety I feel about owning them outweighs my ability to enjoy them. I am just a little bit broken I think.
Anyway, because of this I knew I had a price limit. But i also knew I wanted a doll I would absolutely love. That inspired me, that brought me joy, that was worth the money.

So of course I agonizingly searched the entire "dolls under $300" catalogue of links and honestly, the majority left me feeling cold.
I kept going back to the ones that had inspired me to want to buy a bjd in the first place, the Resinsouls.
Now of course their stock photos suuuuuck, but looking at the blank sculpts just... something about their cartoonishness appealed to me.
A few people later on have pointed out that they look very much like how I draw, so maybe that's it?
A sort of existing familiarity?
Whatever the case, I love me some fantasy sculpts and colours too.

Anyway,

I already had an MSD sized Hujoo, who being ABS not resin, is totally off topic, but he'd introduced me to the size and I quite liked the scale because it felt different to the fashion dolls I usually collect, a little more ... deluxe and special to have a whole new scale you know?
So then this idea started to form...
as often happens with me, I can't create characters or dolls in isolation. oh no, they end up becoming part of a bigger world, which I slowly inhabit with more dolls.
So because Arthur the Hujoo was a D&D based doll (he's a tiefling ranger), I decided my first resin dolly should be part of that world too, so they could hang out on the shelf. Arthur looked so lonely being the only big dolly.
but my brain being my brain, 2 characters didn't a D&D party make. No, you need 5 or 6!
So I sat down and worked out the standard party formation. Your fighter, your second tier fighter (ranger, druid etc), rogue, cleric/healer, magic user.
And so a party formed.

Arthur the Hujoo already filled the second tier fighter role being a ranger. Which left me with 4 slots to fill.
Characters started to vaguely coalesce:
Nhar the fighter, Oisin the cleric, Auriel the thief, Sigrun the mage.

And because i'm me, if I get the chance to do anything D&D, it ends up Planescape.
And if i'm given the option of fantasy colours and non human characters, i'm gonna embrace it.
So they all got assigned fantasy races too. Basically I picked out the sculpts that I could assign a D&D race to lol.
Genassi, Satyr, Aasimar, Bariaur...
A Gith would have been fun but you just can't get yellow skinned ghoul-like dolls very easily lol.
Anyway,

the big choice I had to make was WHO did I purchase first?

The Bariaur I knew would be the one i'd have to save hardest for, being an Impldoll and a centaur doll she was going to cost me at least twice what the others would.
So it was out of the other three.
I sort of felt like I probably SHOULD shell Auriel first because in my half formed story he was the one who'd befriended Arthur and brought him into the party, but I couldn't decide on a sculpt for him and was, at the time, considering shelling him into a Hujoo as well.

So it was between Oisin and Nhar.

A satyr or a water Genassi.

I liked the Jun sculpt i'd selected for Nhar better than the Ming sculpt for Oisin, so I decided on that. Smirky smug face and fin ears, come on!

Now was colour. Ooo the agony.

I kinda had this real want for my first doll to be bright green because I love green and green dolls are always my weakness but the green was just too grassy and not really watery enough for the character as he was rapidly forming.

So instead I was advised by others to go for a blue or a custom colour. I wanted him to be aqua really, it felt appropriate.
So as it turned out RS do custom colours no problem and don't really charge that much for it, and then I found out they did transparent resin too and the chance to have a water elemental character with fading transparent limbs was too cool.

So I ordered a doll in a custom colour with transparent limbs. A colour, I hasten to add, I wasn't sure would turn out as I hoped because I just sent a digital swatch.
I had very little idea of what to expect.
yes, i'm probably a bit crazy hahah.

But while I was waiting for this doll to be made I started getting nervous.
It was a lot of money for me, even for a cheap company and I was starting to question if i'd made the right call. Was resin going to be really fragile feeling? Was I going to be scared to play with him? Was it going to be really hard to paint on the smooth resin surface? What was the elastic stringing going to feel like? would he be too heavy?
ARGHHHH

I started to do what I always do when I spend money on myself. I started to doubt my purchase.

Then I noticed a doll i'd kinda been watching on Ebay had been relisted.

She was also a Resinsoul, in a fantasy colour (sky blue) and she was under £100 which was well within my "i can justify this" price bracket. She had eyes, a wig, some clothes, she even had a factory faceup. All she needed was a bit of restringing apparently.
I'd never restrung a bjd, but I had restrung vintage action girls. Videos didn't look that hard.
I convinced myself I needed a test doll, a doll to ease my anxiety for the next 6 weeks while I waited for Nhar to be produced.
I was pretty sure I would love him, but I just needed to convince that last part of me of this.

Honestly I don't know what I intended to do if I didn't like the feel of resin or whatever. It never occurred to me.

I bought the doll.

She arrived within a few days, my second bjd purchase but first to actually be handled.

She was love at first sight.
I opened the parcel and just gasped. The colour was so striking, she was so smooth to touch, the detailing on her little hands was lovely. Coming from a fashion doll background, she was so much more detailed than I had ever handled previously. No seam lines, no marbling, just smooth gorgeous stormy blue resin.
Ooo so nice.

She was floppy as all heck, her wig didn't fit and her faceup was a bit faded but she was mine and I loved her.

I restrung her and played with her a lot for those weeks while I waited. She got me used to the feel of resin, because she needed some tlc I quickly learned not to fear touching her or indeed being quite rough with her.
She took away my anxiety and replaced it with absolute excitement over Nhar's arrival.

Was she a doll I wanted? yes. She wasn't a doll I planned, but I bought her not just because I wanted her, but I kinda... needed her. I needed to convince myself i'd made the right decision, i'd purchased the right thing. It worked and I do actually still love her. I think I always will because she's a stroppy little diva who's developed her own personality (this happened as soon as I put her new wig on her in fact). She slotted seamlessly into the world I was already building, so much so she feels like she's always been a part of it.

Since then i've bought most of the D&D party... and a few extras... i'm just missing that Impldoll now and I keep talking myself out of it. I think she's just that little bit too expensive for my stupid head to justify. I keep finding excuses. It's infuriating because in the meantime I still buy other dolls so it's like.. wth brain?
I think my head can cope with 2 or 3 dolls costing nearly £300, but a single doll? Nooope.

It's SO ANNOYING.

I'll get her eventually. But now instead of a party of 5, she'll have a whole cast of characters to interact with hah.

I've never settled, each and every one of my dolls, cheap or not, has been selected because they inspired me. Then hours of love has been poured into their faceups, their character, their world and their story. Each of my dolls is a character, not just a doll, and that means that each and every one of them means a great deal to me.

I don't see the point of settling, I just think I got lucky with my "test" doll and had she not come up on Ebay, I probably would have loved Nhar immensely still, but spent much longer being anxious and stressy. (also doesn't help that he arrived broken, adding to the stress. So having an intact doll I could play with while I waited for a reply from the company helped ease that hurt a teensy bit too)

But I won't buy something just BECAUSE it's cheap. It has to be something I feel inspired by or really adore. The cheapness is just the extra shove I need to buy it lol.