What doll got you into the hobby?

Loongsoul's Wei Yue Yan (Dan)! I'd been interested in BJDs years before but it was seeing that sculpt that reminded me how much I'd wanted a doll and she was too beautiful to resist!

 

I don't remember what sculpt the two dolls who got me into the hobby. The first doll was probably a Volks MSD though I can't be sure. I was walking through an anime convention and she was sitting neatly on an artist's table. I was so shocked by how pretty she was that I asked my then boyfriend now fiance what the doll was. He laughed as he knew I'd be interested in it and told me what it was. Later that weekend there was a panel about ball and jointed dolls. Sitting in the audience people came in with their totes and dolls on their arms. My mind was blown.

Then the woman next to me sat down with a Luts boy and she asked if I wanted to hold him. I was hooked as soon as I touched him. I learned how much they were, but also how much of a community there was. I signed up for this forum, saved up and bought my first doll... and, now here I am.

I think it's funny I never bought a Volks or Luts. They might have gotten me into the hobby but they weren't the sculpts I was attracted to.

 

one of my friends actually got me into the hobby. I had first seen some dolls online but I thought I would never spend so much for a doll, no matter how pretty (boy was i wrong). But when my friend got her first doll and i saw it in person i had to have one xD eventually she left the hobby but i fell in love and have been in the hobby on and off for awhile. I just recently got back into it again because I found a second hand doll that i really loved and so here i am once again lol

 

Wow, that was so long ago…way back in 2006. I went to a lecture on ball jointed dolls hosted by a local doll club. The speaker passed around a Luts msd girl (although I no longer remember which one) and once I held her, I was hooked! It was the way she moved and the weight that got me. I went home and immediately signed up on Den of Angels, and I’ve been here every single day since.

 

Luts CP Delf Yder is the doll I credit with getting me into the hobby in probably about 2005--that was the first BJD I ever saw in person, owned by a friend who let me pick him up and carry him around for a bit. I was 100% sunk after that.

 

Lati Red M & DoD Camine. They were the first 2 I'd ever seen and as a general dolly person, I couldn't help being interested in a new (to me) type. Many moons, dolls, and $$$ later, I'm still completely in love - tho I've never owned either of the two that got me started.

 

It was sort of a string of dolls that got me here-- none of which I own the same sculpt of.

First it was seeing Bishonenhouse doll photographs on deviantart. Then at a convention with my sister, she got FULLY on board when we saw other doll owners in person for the first time (could not tell you the doll sculpts or companies, but they were certainly all cute!), and then it was handling her Shiwoo that won me over completely.

 

Volks Tokyo Boys Story Shirou Tachibana was my enlightenment.

 

I don't know which doll it was anymore, but someone on different hobby forum posted a photo of one of the little Lati White dolls. I believe it was a limited series, in a red kimono. That was the first time I've ever heard of BJDs, and I was smitten. I didn't get that doll though, but I did get another Lati (MSD sized) as my first doll.

 

Obitsu was my gateway drug. First with the smaller dolls; then when I saw how much fun my online friends were having with their SDs and MSDs, I bought a 60cm Obitsu.

It was all down hill from there...

 

For me, it was another doll hobby that was the gateaway to BJDs. At first, I was into pullips; and slowly, BJDs were more and more present into that community, until I was sold.
But the way I got into the doll hobby at all was by sheer.. luck?
I was bored, scrolling through blogs about Japan, and pullips came up a few times- maybe 3 to 5 times before I started investigating.
At first, i though they were creepy. Then, I wondered why I saw them twice already; after the third time, I was curious.
And i got into pullips; and then, as I said, people that were into Pullips started collecting BJDs too, if they hadn't already; and I just made the switch after a few years.

 

Minifee. For me, it is all about Fairyland.

 

My first BJD was a Resinsoul Wu. I still love him to bits.

 

Soom Humpty Dumpty, I knew about BJDs before then but my friend had a Humpty Dumpty and I loved him, so I looked up Soom and found The Gem and Idealian websites, it was definitely love at first sight.

Oddly though the first BJD I got was actually a Dollshe Bernard…

 

First doll I have bought is Dal Sakura, but my first bjd is Dollzone Mini Shoyo (or Shyo? haha). Still have both of them

 

My Maddy Bear Elle!!

I was lucky enough on the very first preorder in 2021 to snag her in Golden Hour!! She was my first doll in the hobby and my first preorder doll ever.

 

My BFF got me into the hobby. I realized that Square Enix was never going to make a action figure of my favorite Final Fantasy VII character, which they did after I given up. I realized the possibilities and potential of a BJD being any character that I wanted and I was hooked. After looking up different companies and what different dolls were out there I decided on DIM minimee service, basically a custom head of any character as long as there wasn't 10 already out there of the character. So I jumped on the opportunity and got my favorite character done, Rufus Shinra.

 

Back when I first started in the hobby (circa 2006) I had come across a Volks SWD Nana while searching for anime things on ebay. That was the doll that made me start researching into the hobby and triggered the obsession! I couldn't go back! It was her face sculpt that did it for me!

 

Resinsoul Su <:3 I was sculpting my own art doll and looking at a lot of videos about doll customizing for tips on painting/sculpting and sealing, and a few of these youtubers had vids on BJDs, which reminded me that they exist (I knew of them but didn't really think I wanted such an expensive toy if given the chance)

Out of curiosity one day I looked up info on "affordable" companies and Resinsoul obviously came up, went to check out their site, and was struck by how reasonable all the prices were. Then I saw Su... and realized, with her super long elf ears, a pointy nose, she could probably be styled to look like one of my Warcraft ocs! And I was obsessed with the idea for days following, during which I feverishly researched both the hobby and the specific doll. I was concerned I could barely find any pictures or reviews of her as opposed to Mei, a more popular and smaller sculpt, but I was so enamored with Su... I decided to pull the trigger and buy her.

Then I found out Resinsoul will mix and match doll features for you upon request??? And that was the beginning of the end (said with love)

 

The very first ABJD in my country: Volks Tsukasa Konoe by the name of Uno (pretty sure my fellow old-school BJD owners know who Uno is and what band he is a member of ) was the one who kick-started my interest in anything and everything BJDs (circa 2007). Initially, I thought only Volks creates these beauties but eventually found out that there are Korean companies like Luts and Dream of Doll (now discontinued, unfortunately ).

Although I do not imagine myself owning a Volks doll anytime in the future, I'm beyond content that some of the characters I created in my head can be brought to life via BJD's of other brands.