What originally got you into BJDs?

I got into Asian Ball Jointed Dolls when I went to AWA, (Anime Weekend Atlanta), in 2007. I had no idea about bjds; so there was no way I could have find this place...it was FATE!!! I say this because I was having problems find my way around this convention, (I went by myself), then I saw this small room place that was in the corner. There is no way you would have saw this room unless you knew where to go! Anyway, I walked in and saw this amazing doll!!!!!! I did not touch the doll!! I just felt the awe being around this beautiful doll! The owners was fixing his hair and he was in this kind of jrock-ish outfit. He was amazing and tall!! I don't think he was 70 cm but he was tall. When I could finally talk, I ask her what he was and find out about bjds then. I walked around seeing other dolls and one person gave me a informatiion booket on some websites and talked a bit about bjds to me. There was three sites on the sheet and I had some troubles with the first two; so, I decided go to the last one which was the dream of doll website!!!!!!!!!!! That is when I saw excellence!!!!!! I felt like I found a dream put into physical form..... YES, INSTANT FAN GIRL FOR BJDS!! After seeing that website and see a bjd up close, it was just instant! I knew these were the dolls I have been searching for! =3

 

One day, I went over to my friend's house to talk about anime, watch TV, and stuff. She wanted me to see something she found (I don't remember how) on her computer. She pulled up the Volks site (which will explain why my OT dolls are dollfies) and I was hooked. Of course, I wanted one, but they cost $600; I happily settled for less expensive ones, and now, I've saved up for an actual BJD from Dollmore!

 

I was nine and searching for gothic dolls on google. Google spewed up some pretty pictures of dolls, so i clicked on google pictures to see more. Among the strange and macabre, I saw a beautiful boy doll, with white porcelain-like skin, long black hair, and narrow red eyes. He was dressed like a model for Hot Topic, which was then and still is my favorite store, and I was intrigued. I found out he was a BJD, and for the next few years I sporadically checked them out, with little serious interest. About a month ago, I was looking at a BJD wiki and saw a BJD website link. I clicked on it, and was immediately mesmerized. I am now hooked and trying to desperately save money for my first doll.

 

I used to roleplay a lot on GaiaOnline, and through a mutual friend, was introduced to a nice lady, who asked me if I wanted to see some pictures of her dolls. Not knowing about BJD at the time, I said, "sure". She linked me to her website where she had tons of pics of her dolls up, and I absolutely fell in love with them at first sight. I wanted one with a passion, but I was underage, and my mom wouldn't want to pay for something so expensive. So, I put my first love on the backburner for a few years. But, a couple months after I got my first job, a random internet search brought up a pic of a BJD, and I was floored once more with the love I felt for such beautiful dolls, and off I went traipsing to ebay.

 

I had seen pictures on GaiaOnline and DA of these beautiful dolls which were acting out life stories, or modeling clothes, or just being loved by their owners. I got curious did some investigating and found Volks and Souldoll first. The prices were way out of my range at the time so I pushed it to the backburner, a "someday" sort of wish. Not to long after I started making 40 cm cloth dolls who are about the same proportions as BJD, I was having issues locating the proper synthetic hair for the dolls and the idea came to me to go look on the BJD websites I had bookmarked all that time ago for wigs that might fit. While browsing I came upon several new sites which lead to my discovery of Doll Family and now my Linfeng is going to be coming home!

 

My best friend is a huge barbie fan and started buying some of the smaller Dollfies because shes more of a anime fan than a barbie fan. I always liked dolls hehe and seeing her dolls made me look up dollfies and stumbled across Super Dollfies. They always amazed me and I always wanted one so I looked up as much info as I could and over the last 5 years or so I have been obsessed with most BJDs. Mostly I like the Dollfie Dreams becuase I will probably never afford the more expensive ones.

 

I first got into them in 2004 or 2005 when my friends and I were playing Unknown Armies. And Jay had this long backpack that she set on the table while they waited for me to put the finshing touches on the game. So we play through and we just joked around for the next few hours and then it happened. Jay opened the bag and pulled out her 1/3 dollfie. I was shocked at how beautiful he was I could barely ask her what it was but from that day on I've been in love with them.

 

Actually, seeing some in person (up close) after running into someone who had some at walmart!

Over the years, I'd seen TONS of pictures on deviantart, and I never knew what the dolls were called, much less what they were. I'd even seen some around at conventions, looking over artists tables and what not. I admired them, from a far, though I didn't know anything about them. I didn't know how I could go about searching for one or looking up what they were. I didn't think much of it either.

But after seeing them up close and being told about them, my friends and I sort of jumped into it! I never could have imagined myself getting into this hobby about a year ago, but here I am!

 

A year or two ago, my best friend showed me a couple pictures that she had found on DA. I didn't find them that interesting at the time (can't even remember why, lol), but when she re-discovered them last November or December, we were both hooked. And now I've got two floating heads in my closet, waiting for me to find a job so I can actually afford bodies for them.

 

I remember, that i was just looking up pictures on photobucket a few years back when i stumbled across this photo, i had no idea what it was, i thought at first, it had to be computer generated, because it looked so real. Not long after i made my DA account, i discovered a picture on the Featured page, of this thing that looked stunning. I clicked and found it to be a BJD, so i did my research, and that's how it all started. (:

 

I was taking a Maya course back in 2004, and me and some classmates wanted to create a short film. We all agreed our characters had to look animeish, so one of the guys googled something and showed me BJDs pictures. By that time it was Volks and DODs, and I found them so ethereal and beautiful and everything! But it was impossible for me to get any by then, so I just forgot about it -living in a 3rd world country does not help at all-. So years passed, I moved, and again in 2008 my sister reminded me they existed; I actually had a job and I started saving for my first one =)

 

At the start, it's because i wanted to make great pictures of my BJD, and after that i wanted to create things for her, like miniatures, dollhouses, furnitures... And now i'm trying to make clothes for her, that's funny but herder than the other things ;-)

 

Photography!

I saw some pretty awesome picture some years ago and fell in love, but was put off by the price and never thought of it again....
In 2008 I found some new pictures and that was love at *second* sight and I just started getting information then and there and here I am now :P
Though I wish I could take pictures as pretty as I've seen... xD

 

I remember about a year ago I was looking through some images on Google, trying to get a new wallpaper for my computer screen and I kept seeing these dolls posed all over the place. After a lengthy search on Google I found out what they were and checked Wiki for information. I always said they were too expensive for me to be able to afford one but this year I finally have the money! I'm hoping to take some photo's for my own wallpapers when I have mine.

 

Haha, well, for me, I was looking through the photosgraphy thread on Gaia Online, and I found the crappiest photos you've ever seen of a doll [meaning the lighting was wonkey and it was blurred and hard to see]. But I just went nutso over the darn thing and ever since then I've practically been a doll hound. It was actually kinda funny, cause I jumped into the hobby so quickly after that, and now I knew that that was a huge mistake.

 

Euclase.
I seen some pictures of him, generally well taken ones, and his feet drew me in! SOOOOOM! *shakes fist* And now my friend has a Chrom. And seeing a Soom MD in person only makes me want one more. Too bad I can never hope to get an Euclase though!

 

My sister. I wasn't very interested in them at first but I started getting jealous and wanted one too. xD;

 

Over the past couple of years I would see random updates on deviantart or sheezyart. I thought they were interesting but never went past the preview pictures. It wasn't until a few months ago when I finally did look past the previews and fall in love XD
The thing that really got me to want one was the fact that I could pretty much change the way it looks.
Now I'm currently waiting for my first doll to come home ^.^

 

There were some blighters selling Souldolls at Anime Central 2005. Little did I know as I gazed into their glassy eyes and was slightly creeped out that BJDs would eat my wallet for years to come. XD

 

When my girlfriend and I were in the ~courting~ stage, she once, briefly and kind of embarrassed about it, showed me pictures of BJDs. She didn't own one, just hoped to have one one day. It was a serious secret dream of hers.

Nearly a year later, we started looking at pictures of them again on dA, and then she joined DOA, quickly followed by me. As soon as we had marketplace access, we had our first three dolls on the way