What originally got you into BJDs?

I got in bjds by getting into Barbies and Monster High dolls. I watched I few faceup videos for Monster High dolls, which featured some bjds.

 

My daughter. I totally blame her She showed me videos of people doing face ups on other dolls, which led to research, which led to talking about Blythe dolls (I had one of the originals when I was a kid, but guessing she is long gone somewhere ) which led to more research, and then BAM! Now I'm done for

 

Aesthetics. Pictures of them were around since I was little but I didn't really know what they were until some time in high school (I think it was a forum post on some website that mentioned 'BJD' and I was like what's that). After googling them I was hooked and started saving up

 

I saw a post on Instagram by elfgutz and I saw how cool bjds really are and how creative you can be with them!

 

I started with other dolls like pullips and azones until I discovered Bjd's and fell in love with them. Also, Sighthoundlady drove me to Lillycats

 

You know, I'm not quite sure.

I seem to remember seeing some years before I started looking in earnest. But, I really don't recall how I got into the hobby five years ago. I guess I was driving myself to distraction from the terrible news we had just received regarding my mum's health; I headed online and, I think, I was driven by those first few I saw some years previous to search them out again. But, I hadn't made a mental note of what those dolls were; they might have been BJDs, I didn't study them, just admired them. I didn't even recall the company. Then, five years ago, I somehow stumbled on bjds again, at a time of great hardship, and picked out Alex. Apart from a minor hiccup, regarding almost packing him off to a new home, I've not looked back.

 

My grandmother had two asian geisha dolls that were jointed, but not made of resin. I'm not sure what they were made of, but they were soft. They had beautifully painted faces with delicate eyelashes and very intricate clothing. They were the prettiest things I had ever seen and I adored them. My grandmother used to let me hold them and pose them. I have no idea what happened to them after she passed away, but those two dolls played a big part in my young life. Thinking of them eventually led me to pictures of dolls, BJDs in particular. I loved how detailed and customisable they were and I was immediately drawn to them. The rest is history.

 

I remember seeing some amazing Soom boys years ago, and then found out about two years ago that my amazing coworker actually had a few lovely guys. She ended up talking them up quite a bit and I thought they were lovely, so now I'm searching to get one for myself. I'm already a figure collector, so why not add a BJD or two (...or more) to the group!

 

I got interested in BJDs years ago, when I was 13-14ish?
I would be on DeviantArt, and I loved seeing people post images of their dolls and all of the face-ups and modifications they would do to make the dolls there's.
Then I got busy with other hobbies, like collecting nendoroids, and I forgot about BJDs for a while.
I finally took the step to join the BJD hobby last year, when a some-what friend/person I followed on DA started talking about ordering her first doll and getting into the hobby.
I asked her about it, and we talked about various sculpts and companies, and before I knew it, Opal was ordered

 

I went to a convention and there they were: a ton of beautiful dolls. If I had known their prices, I would have walked away immediately.

 

I wanted to flesh out my characters to physical forms. After trying to make clay sculptures of them and failing I almost gave up. So a search on google for highly customizable dolls brought up pictures of bjds!

 

back in high school i saw a picture of a pretty bjd on the internet. i think it was a Dream of Doll bjd and she was really pretty. Ever since I always wanted to own one but I sort of forgotten about it until years later when I went to a local cosplay/anime event and there was a BJD display. I told myself then that I would buy my own bjd when I got off college and I did!

 

First First time when I learned about BJDs was some random encounter on DA but back then I only thought that they were pretty dolls, nothing to write home about.

First time I actually saw a doll and learned a bit more about them was through my Cosplay hobby (that was "surprisingly" sparked by my massive love for anime and manga) in uhmm... -05? -06?- I'm not sure anymore if I first learned about them through Anime magazine (article about them) or at my first convention (there was a girl in full lolita getup and she had this antique stroller where they had two(?) dolls) but it was definitely the moment when I actually became interested in them. Of course when I googled them up and found out about prices I was turned away as cosplay was way more interesting for me and I didn't want second insanely expensive hobby :'D

...Aaaand then in 2010 I ordered my first doll straight from the company and maybe a month later I bought my second doll so "she wouldn't be lonely" that ended up arriving sooner (she was second hand) than the one I ordered first :'D

 

It was a long while ago that I saw a BJD called Moon by I think Luts. He had these really pretty robes and silver/white hair iirc.
I don't remember the manufacturer or how I came across him but I remember he was simply beautiful. It was my first time seeing a BJD at that. I didn't think dolls could be so detailed and cool and above all, not creepy af.
However, back then I was very young and there was no way I could have afforded it. Since then, I've just sort of lurked and every once in a while would sneak a peak at what Luts had on their website. I didn't really look further beyond that because I couldn't afford them. It wasn't until recently when I did my usual random sneak peak at Luts and BJD's in general that I learned that there are soooo many more options. So now, armed with this knew knowledge, I am searching for my first bjd.

 

For me it was the Rozen Maiden anime xD That's how I first heard about the dolls though it was many years ago and then I kind of forgot about them? But I was so surprised and so happy when I found out that those dolls actually exist...

 

I had seen a few pictures of them passed around a bunch of ~aesthetic~ tumblrs I followed a few years ago and was totally fascinated. I spent an entire summer researching and thinking about which one I should get, and then forgot about them completely for the rest of highschool- mostly because I did not have the money for what I really wanted. I only got back into them within the last few months because I finally had enough of my own money to afford them ^__^

 

A friend of mine is heavily involved with the hobby since many years back and had showed me her dolls and whatnot, but it wasn't before I did my own research and stumbled upon the gorgeous Iplehouse YID Gentle Freezia that I got really hooked.

 

What got you to like BJDs?

 

My mother until a few years ago had been gifting me porcelain dolls for Christmas every year. She slowly changed to other types of dolls until the last few years she has given me Pullip dolls. When I was around 13 I first saw BJDs and loved them but never was able to afford them until this year. At first I wanted to mostly do Pullips, but then I started watching Andreja's channel on YouTube, and she reminded me of how awesome BJDs are, so I decided to research it now that I'm 24 and was able to finally buy my first one! ^_^ I mostly want to get into it for the crafting and customizing aspect. At first just clothes, but then got into faceups and such as well!

 

Rozen Maiden back when I was in middle school, haha. I was obsessed with the manga and after the anime got popular a lot of companies began making dolls for the characters and I was in love with all of them.
When I learned you could customize them that just spurred on my urge to have one! The idea of being able to have a physical version of one of my characters really appealed to me because its the closest thing you can have to a human version of them. To this day, I still really want one of the suitcases the dolls in Rozen Maiden come in.