What originally got you into BJDs?

I have always loved dolls. I learned to sew doll clothes at the age of six. Even during my "I am too old to play with dolls" phase, ages 14-20 I never shook the habit of looking in the toy section in any store I was in. I collected a few porcelain dolls in my twenties. I got into doll houses and made a couple of huge Victorian ones, very elaborate, and peopled them with the X Men. Then one day I was browsing a fabric store, and ran into a friend, Aimee Rose Formo, who had her doll with her, a Lydia by Elfdoll. She was GORGEOUS! I had never seen or even heard of BJDs before and I was much struck by her large size, poseability, and the ability to stand on her own. I WANTED ONE. They are so much more beautiful than any other dolls ever made. I didn't know how to use a computer back then. So, some weeks later, Aimee helped me order a Mir Elfdoll from Denver Doll Emporium. Thanks, Aimee! I just found out yesterday that they are shipping my Iplehouse Carina this week, so the dolly joy just goes on and on!

 

I saw someone with them and absolutely fell in love with them after that! I had to have one!

 

I first saw BJDs on deviantArt, too. I don't remember how I stumbled across that first image (or even what the first image was) but I was captivated and was soon watching a bunch of artists who uploaded beautiful photography of their dolls. I was into photography myself and was drawn to that aspect of the hobby, though really the largest attraction was how original characters could be realised in such a solid, tangible form. I can't draw anything non-abstract for toffee and was always frustrated that I couldn't realise my characters that way. BJDs represented an alternative.

I seem to remember the prices putting me off actually getting a BJD myself for a long time, but I did eventually. I never saw one 'in the flesh' before Luc arrived but it had never really crossed my mind that that would convey anything more to me than photos and video already had (and I don't think it would have either; I met with no surprises when he turned up).

 

I don't remember what I was looking for, but i stumbled upon a flickr account full of these beautiful dolls that I had never seen before. I quickly learned lots about them ( and how freaking big they are!) and it was all downhill from there.

 

I was (and actually still am, but to a lesser degree now) terrified by dolls. But one of my closest friends is into BJDs and she often comes here to stay over night. Lately (2012) she's been bringing one of her dolls along every time. And since her dolls are handsome and are usually properly dressed, not showing the joints and all that, I gradually got accustomed and more comfortable with seeing dolls.

Then, this friend took me to a doll fair because she wanted to look for items for her dolls. I fell in love with tan/light brown resin and thought about making a doll to match my character from a game (namely FInal Fantasy XIV). So, it took about 4 months after that fair, that I had decided which size of doll to buy. And 2 more months later, Soul Doll happened to re-release sandy-brown skin, and my friend found me a very nice sculpt which I fell in love with. So we ordered my doll like that.

 

I read a book called 'Japan Ai A tall girl's adventures in Japan', by Aimee Major Steinberger. She introduced me to the world of BJDs and it kind of evolved from there.

 

I think it was in just before 2003 when I was looking for doujinshi (Japanese fan comics) art on Japanese websites, particularly about Harry Potter, and one site I visited also had pictures of gorgeous dolls dressed up as Harry Potter characters (movie versions). It was the trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione, in their long black Hogwarts cloaks and grey school uniforms, holding wands, and Harry also had his signature round glasses. The dolls had the right haircolors and hairstyles, too. At the time I didn't know they were actually Volks' Super Dollfies, I've never seen dolls like that before in my life. I just presumed they were sculpted by the owner of the website because she was a Harry Potter fan and drew cute Harry Potter comics. :-) It didn't even cross my mind there was a company out there selling the dolls.

I don't know how exactly I stumbled upon Volks then but it was in 2003, probably through livejournal, the main "fandom" place before Tumblr LOLZ. When I saw pictures of Super Dollfies, I recognized them as those Harry Potter dolls I've seen before. Indeed, as far as I can remember, Harry and Ron were actually SD13 Chris and Lucas, and Hermione one of the girl molds (probably the four sisters mold). The owner must have made the clothes herself. Like every other beginner, I was stunned by the high prices but that didn't make me want the dolls any less, because the moment I realized they were available for purchase, even if I had to rely on the secondary market to get them, it was hard to think of anything else! It took a lot of planning and money saving. Luckily, I've found DOA, it was still a Yahoo group at the time where members could communicate via email. Sounds like the stone age now LOLOL but it felt wonderful to be among people who craved and were fascinated by bjd just as much. When we grew too big for Yahoo groups, DOA opened this forum.

Sure, in the early days we only had Volks and a handful of other companies - one was Custom House - and getting anything doll related was a pain in the butt (some folks don't realize these days how truly spoilt we are in the bjd hobby, with hundreds of dolls at our fingertips, just a click away!), not to mention getting the dolls themselves. But that made the dolly hunt even more exciting! I could only get my doll on Yahoo!Japan, head and body separately, but, hey, I got one! The handwringing and stressing was part of the experience, no different than it is now. And everyone hounded the same websites, like Domuya, for clothes and shoes (remember when AJUMAPAMA used to be BIG? They had hardly any competition!) and the websites were always sold out or sold out within minutes. The silicone Masterpiece and Eyeco eyes were some of the best eyes you could get. Everyone knew who Aimee Major Steinberger was. When she actually went to a real physical Volks store in Japan, it felt to me like she visited the Moon - Volks seemed so far away then, even after I got my SD13 boy! Lots of people had livejournal accounts and I lived vicariously through other bjd owners who were more experienced in the hobby and had several dolls.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS. \o/ I never could have anticipated how big this hobby would become! But it's pretty awesome.

 

The first time I came across anything BDish was through some friends who owns a couple of dolls. I thought they were amazingly beautiful - and so expencive so it almost frightened me xD The high cost made me forget about the dolls, 'til we and the already mentioned friends went to Paris and JapanExpo. We went to artist's alley, and there was soo much BJD stuff around (Noble Dolls were there, for example)! I was even more amazed by the dolls and everything - the furniture, their clothes, the different kind of sculpts, etc.
Since I first saw my friends dolls I've followed them on Flickr and swedish Dayviews (a photo diary, kind of) and I've always wanted a doll. And, in october this year, one of my friends had a doll for sale - and I couldn't resist any longer, so I bought her! And I am so pleased, and glad that I actually did it - if I hadn't BJD's would have been a thing I would have longed to start with, but not let myself to. So I am very glad.

 

Back in 2008 or so I stumbled over Saaya-chan's DA and her aPPlejaZZ boys and fell in love with the entire thing. From how gorgeous her boys were, to how customizable the BJD hobby was and all the amazing things you could do with it. I was simply overwhelmed with a desire to get my own dolls, shell out my rp characters and create my own photostories / little BJD world. It didn't go exactly as planned, I'll be the first to admit that, the price was a huge set-back for a sixteen year old girl barely hanging onto school, much less having the capacity to work and earn doll money on the side... I resigned myself to that I would probably never get one of those resin wonders, but lo and behold, a little over a year later I got my first doll- and promptly fell off the face of the hobby for 3 years due to school, and health issues keeping me from fully enjoying it. -__-''

 

It was late 2009 I believe when I saw my first BJD and I never even realised it was a doll. It was only when I happened on Danny Choo's site and then from there I stumbled on Alodia and saw her BJDs, that I started scouring the internet for them. You could say, that triggered the whole thing for me and I started out with an MSD, which grew to 2,3,4,5...6. Sigh. Then I saw what was to have been my grail doll. Saber Lily. That armor. I still kick myself that I did not enter the lottery for her (mind you I was new and couldn't justify the cost at first). When I found her again, I had to pay aftermarket prices for her but she is so worth it. Now new girls just keep getting added and more boys. There are now 18 of them at home. 21 if you count the three MSDs I am planning to rehome since I much prefer the bigger dolls. I don't really myself slowing down much.

 

It was my second time at a anime convention and I saw this girl walking around with this small thing. I couldn't clearly see what it was so I just pushed the thought aside . Later that day I saw her again and I saw she was carrying a doll! It was gorgeous and it looked so delicate. I went up to her and asked what kind of doll it was and she told me it was a bjd. After that I did some more research and I ended up really wanting one for my self. And now I have my first bjd on the way 3 years later ouo.

 

i went to an anime convention when i was 16 and they had a booth with bjds. i asked about them and the ladies told me a little bit about them. but at that same convention i got an issue of purple sky( an english jrock magazine) and it had a whole artical about bjds in it. after that i was hooked and promised myself that i would buy one no matter how long i had to wait

 

I was browsing through the doll section on Etsy and I was struck by the adorable dolls that were modelling the tiny clothes for sale. One of the sellers on Etsy happened to advise the model of doll wearing the clothes as well as where the doll was from (it was a Pukifee from Fairyland) which was fantastic for me, as I had never seen or heard of BJDs before so I wouldn't have known where to start looking without this information. I then googled all I could find out about them and became hooked! I think I ordered my first Pukifee about a week later

 

If you look at my username, you will find an anime name. I watched Rozen Maiden and looked up picters on Yahoo. Someone made a bjd to look like a character. From that point, I have loved them~

 

I'm a member of a different forum for American Girl dolls, and on the OT doll section, there were pictures of some BJD dolls. I fell in LOVE with the littlefee and pukifee dolls!

 

I first found out about BJDs when I was browsing DA one day. I finally decided to buy one for myself when I realized how much I could learn through this hobby. Since I bought my doll, I've started teaching myself to sew and I'm learning more and more about photography as I go. It's loads of fun.

 

Saw some well maintained and photographed on LJ and fell in love with them. I thought I would never be able to afford them, but now I have 55...

All because of those pretty babies I saw.

 

I was creeped out by dolls when I was younger, but while I was looking up an anime show on Google images I saw my first bjd ( It was Storm from Iplehouse), and after that I was determined to buy a bjd.

 

Definitely THIS guy.

 

One day, a friend took me to her house. When we were watching a film in her room, I suddenly noticed three little things (I didn't know they were Yo-SD xD).
She told me they were an angel, a demon, and a human. Then she told about the photostories she made, and showed me forums and different BJD from different companies that she was going to bought... and I started to search one for my own and saving for it ^w^