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

I didn't realize there was a stringing style other than S-hook, as that was all I'd ever seen until that point. My Noble Dolls Raspberry has the O-ring style, and I honestly have no idea how to restring her properly. I don't even know if O-ring is the right term. I haven't been able to find a restringing tutorial. She's in one piece and can stand/hold a pose, so I guess whatever I did was good enough haha. I also didn't realize restringing required like...strength. I was so worried about hurting the doll. It's ME taking the damage here!

 

I'm in a similar pickle. I have had it stuck in my head for about 5 years that I want a doll of Reno from Final Fantasy VII. Gradually I have accumulated everything I need for him - black business suit, white shirt, shoes, wig, goggles and even a body and head. It took me most of that time to find a head mold that fit his facial features as close as possible.

Besides his weapon, which I plan to make, the one thing I really need is a faceup. I keep hesitating to commission someone to do his face, because I am picky about how I want him to look exactly like the character in the game. I already asked a few people, and they all said they don't think they can do him justice. If I had known how difficult it would be, I would never have bought all that stuff before making sure I could actually get him painted.

 

I wish I realised that a lot of BJDs are limited and/or unique to a season. There are a few designs I really love from DearMine that released as little as a year ago! I could have bought them if I knew and saved up a bit of money, but now I'll have to hunt for them on the second-hand market or pray they get re-released.

I put off buying BJDs for a long time because I just didn't have a lot of income and I viewed BJDs as this super expensive, luxorious purchase that I couldn't justify buying. Instead I just kind of looked at BJDs on Instagram and other websites, dreaming of what it would be like to own one, while buying cheaper figures like Sylvanian families to make accessories for.

I kind of wish I saved the money I spent on those many little purchases and instead saved up for a BJD. But I didn't realise at the time, I think part of me thought that (unless it was from a single creator) once a design is released it would be available to order at any point.

 

I wish I had known in the beginning of covid that no, the shipping prices from Korea that suddenly rose to 100 usd per doll won't be coming down in a while but will instead rise further. I thought I'd wait it out and ended up paying 280 usd for two dolls' shipping a year later when my patience ended and I just wanted them before it will be $500.