What’s something you wish you knew about some dolls before purchasing

You're so cute.

 

I wish I’d done some more research before buying my first doll so I’d have known about prices, wait times, and the possibility of bjds turning yellow.

 

I kinda wish I got less dolls in white skin tone and varied it a bit more. its easy to control skin tone with white base, (which was why I did it) but I never realized how lazy I was after the 3rd body blushing =w=) one of my ladies will never wear shorts or short skirts cause I just couldn't be bothered to take her apart and make the lower half match the top.

 

that they had single-jointed knees! that was mildly disappointing for me-- especially as this specific doll has double-jointed elbows with those single-jointed knees.

 

Somehow the fact that Minifee have magnetic hands skipped past me when I was getting him. I love him, but those hands have made me enormously frustrated at times because I'll simply forget or they'll snag on my clothes and pop off.

 

I wish i had known a certain dealer didn’t keep dolls in stock! It was my sister’s doll, but we had only bought from junkyspot up until then where everything is in stock and a different dealer didn’t make that clear. We waited 2-3 months and thought the doll would never come. This was in 2008, so there wasn’t as much info out there and I didn’t know about DOA yet. It was quite the shock!

 

I wish I had known what Soom's special "Coffee Black" resin actually looked like in terms of color before I ordered her. I was so happy they expanded the number available and that I was able to order one, but when she arrived... she's the color of grape juice, not coffee. I was a bit disappointed.

 

I wish I'd known layaway was an option! I just got into the hobby last year, but before that I'd never bought any BJDs because they were all so out of my price range. I was a high schooler, but I was also working, so if I'd known that I could put a doll on layaway and not have to pay all at once I would've been all over that because I was making my own money.

 

I wish that I'd known that tastes change and company photos can be deceiving, especially those with a limited number or preorder period! It's so easy to get wrapped up in FOMO and impulse buy dolls because they're limited, only to have them arrive and realize you aren't that big on them and now you have to sell them. I also prefer wildly different aesthetics than I used to (I mean, I bought my first bjd when I was 16!), which means some dolls I used to adore are now very much in the "no" category, while dolls I thought I'd never like have slowly creeped up my wishlist.

 

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I only wish I knew which dolls I would really love or not care for as much in person. I have learned that photos (even multiple photos from tons of different people) cannot really convey how I will feel about a doll at all!

 

@jenlovesdolls Yeah, I totally feel that. I've definitely been super gung-ho about a doll for a long time, and then never been able to find the picture that made me think it was so great ever again, and ended up deciding against it in certain cases.. which is weird to me. You'd think if an angle was really appealing that at least it would be pretty easy to still *sort of* feel the same way about the doll from most photos & in person.

The other thing I thought of lately is that I wish I knew... is how much it stresses me out to know that I've got floating heads. They don't even have to be out in the open. I got some for face-up practice so they have a real purpose in my workshop... but there's something that just like, makes me feel bad for them or something? Or like I REALLY should be working on them NOW all the time - because they're heads in particular? I seriously don't know what it is. LOL

 

Honestly, I'm glad to have found this place before really going in and making purchases. The high price tag has held me back, because I feel like it needs to be "perfect", but having other people's experiences to learn from have made things easier.

 

I wish I'd known the 'white' and 'beauty white' resin used by some doll companies would yellow into a lemon-ish color, which seems unnatural and alien at least to me. If I'd known that, I'd definitely go for the 'normal' or 'normal pink' skin tone.

 

At this point... I'd wish I'd known how long shipping takes sometimes. (Hi, China Post!) I'd been lurking around in various doll and BJD-related spaces enough to know about yellowing, basic size info, looked at a few sites, etc. I had an idea that the wait to make a doll took a while, not exacts but I knew it could be a while, but my only other int'l shipping experiences have been going through EMS in Japan for smaller dolls. Turns out that that speed and amount of updating isn't universal.

 

The length of time between ordering and getting my doll. For sure.

 

Not all dolls look as good as photos by companies.
That not all dolls pose well, let alone stand well.
That dolls by independent artists are harder to find then company ones.
That artists that make just heads aren't always helpful with giving you info on doll bodies that will work let alone match well.

 

For my first doll I wish I'd have known how much of an impact being a single jointed doll would effect my enjoyment of them. I didn't think I'd mind single jointed dolls when I bought my first but it turned out I couldn't stand trying to pose them, and have now gotten rid of all but one. Now I make sure when I shop secondhand especially looking at older sculpts that the doll has double jointed arms and knees.

 

Similar to others the length of time it takes from order to receipt.

That I can't buy clothes or wigs and assume 1 size fits all anymore.

How much space they will take up in my room and how to store them.

 

I wish I knew how much I hated Luts' Honey Delf Type 3 bodies. I don't know what it is about them but I can't stand them. I'd like to see their Type 5 body in person before I buy another HDF...