What doll got you into the hobby?

I was loosely aware of Asian BJDs, but I’d never been into dolls at all so I never even looked Into them. Then I found Marmite Sue/Doll Menagerie dolls, and my mind was blow and I instantly wanted one (I know hace 2). I’m still mostly a fan of that scale and the hyper-posable art dolls

 

Dream of Doll Ducan and Elf I-Ra, Soom Honeydew Topaz, and Dollzone Stramonium and Tulip. Never got my hands on them but they were what got me into the hobby.

 

I'm surprised to hear so many others were also lured in by Dream of Doll! In my dreams I had Ducan and Sha. But in the end I never got any DoDs, since my taste had evolved by the time I had the money to buy my first doll

 

It was all of Doll Chateau's dolls pretty much. I don't remember how I even found them, because I wasn't collecting dolls at the time, but I was so fascinated by their work.

 

My friends and I would purchase things on Y! Auctions Japan through proxy services over the years especially in the early 2000's. Usually it would be anime, manga, or video game related back then because we were avid collectors. I distinctly remember one evening surfing the auction site with one friend and seeing a Volks SwD Mimi in late 2005. And I was mesmerized! Doll collecting was much more limited then compared to now. I was lucky that Volks USA opened shortly after discovering dolls and could get more information that way! It took me three more years before I could purchase my first doll and I joined DoA the same year.

 

What a similar story to mine! But it was 2005 for me and SwD Mimi and on Yahoo Japan!

 

Definitely Doll Chateau and Switch. Specifically Switch Shiho and DC Mephisto and Bella. Shiho is a dream of mine to own

 

Dream of Doll Homme Kirill and Homme Ivan. The banner was iconic for me.

 

Dream of Doll and LUTS/Cerberus Project collab! I distinctly remember really wanting a Homme Duncan but never god him. I don’t remember the names of the L/CP but I definitely remember Luts being a tad funky after the split before they found their own distinct style.

The one that made me want to actually own a BJD (and start sculpting my own cause broke college student at the time) was SOOM’s Amber Pure Spirit, the very first release of it! Also never ended up owning her either because I handed her head on a male body to shell a very specific character. I was overjoyed and then heartbroken when they did release a male body version. Overjoyed because they listened to us. Devastated because they changed the head sculpt?! The ears especially.. it was a severe downturn on Amber and then they lifted the angle for the male one and It just didn’t fit the character anymore. They changed it too much for what I had rose tinted glasses at the time. I still think that OG Amber sculpt is beautiful but I know now it was more the style of photography they chose that suckered me in haha.

So I never got that one either but the bug was there and now I can’t stop it haha!

I sure do wish we had Dream of Doll still around.. they were highly influential and I don’t think we’d have half the artists in the hobby we do now if it wasn’t for them! Lowkey I hope the sculptors are still working on something doll related and are still in the hobby. I don’t know any of their names so I’m hoping it’s possible!

EDIT: how could I forget Iplehouse?! So many beautiful sculpts!!

 

I was vaguely aware of bjds from manga and anime mostly, it wasn't until seeing them the past couple years when they started really enticing me to actually get my own. I think it was Resinsouls Wei that finally hooked me, I just love cat ears