What was the worst mistake you made when you first started the hobby?

This mistake took me a couple of years to escalate this far.
I got lost on the search for the perfect doll. There was a couple of dolls I’ve instantly drawn to. But I was a super newbie and neither doll was “perfect”, so I started exploring creating hybrids and forgot about the first two dolls. Well, I could’ve afforded one of them if I didn’t spend the whole money on struggling making hybrid to achieve the perfection. Now I really want one of the said dolls and he’s not mind blowingly expensive but I cannot afford him anymore

 

The biggest one I only realized recently (and I started in 2007...) - aiming for perfectionism. I wanted them to be like, the perfect, fancy versions of my characters. But they're not. They're someone else's vision to start with, so short of me sculpting my own dolls, they'll never be perfect. I should've just let them be fun instead - buy the dress that fit my aesthetics, rather than trying to find the perfect character outfit. Get historical fashion (even though my characters are modern-to-sci-fi - I have no historical stories) because it looks cool. Get less expensive face-ups so that I'm not constantly worrying about getting it ruined (I've sent a bunch of my early dolls to a particular face-up artist in Korea who, among other very fancy things, installed eyelashes individually and charged a good $200 per face-up. Gorgeous work, but I was TERRIFIED of ruining the eyelashes). These days I keep the characters in the comics, and the dolls are just vaguely inspired in terms of the palette.

 

My mistake was buying what I could get cheaply and not getting what I wanted. Like I love all of my dolls and have zero regrets for the dolls themselves, but their wigs are all hand-me-downs from doll meets I've gone to, and their clothing is also hand-me-downs. I'm still getting them things that will look good and that takes time and skill. Currently, I'm challenging myself to make them better clothes, starting with knitting some sweaters for my boys.

 

My first doll was a Dollfie. I thought that that was the perfect doll for a beginner like me but I totally underestimated how easy these dolls can get stained by dark clothes/accessories. I had heard of this problem but I thought, that I could easily let her wear some black stuff for at least a couple of weeks without having to worry about it.

Long story short, she had stains on her after a single day. I was so angry at myself for not doing better research beforehand.

 

This thread has been super informative; thank you all so much for sharing your stories. As a beginner BJD collector, I want to take as many precautions as I can while delving into the hobby. One thing that I am afraid of personally is perfectionism. It is so difficult to stop what you’re doing and say, “I’m a beginner. This is the best that I can do right now,” without feeling extremely discouraged. The process of creating things is therapeutic on its own, and while the end results are satisfying, the process itself should be considered valuable enough to be “worth it.” It is so hard to remember that sometimes!

 

My best advice for that is, if it's something you're paying for, be as picky as you feel you can so you don't pay for something and then hate it. But! If it's something you're making, everything is a learning experience. You can always redo it later and it will inevitably be an improvement from when you first started. (Easier said than done, I know, but it's true!) Good luck!

 

That is great advice, thank you!

 

My biggest mistake was waiting so long and trying to buy other dolls instead. Not bootlegs or anything like that, just buying Rainbow High or dolls from flea markets that were almost like BJD. If I just saved the money from the very beginning it would have been enough to buy a cheaper BJD in the first place. But that's okay because I finally have one.

 

My biggest Not protecting my first doll, and her tan resin, adequately from the sun poor girl will need some extra layers in her face-up to hide that her face has faded to green.

 

I realized another massive faux pas that I've been continuing to do - NOT taking pictures of full set outfits.
I think Volks is the only company that sends a photo with the doll's outfit. Everyone else - you either save the promo photos for future reference, store the outfit together in one bag to make sure nothing gets separated - or you are an agent of chaos like me and just throw everything willy-nilly into one box/tub/drawer.

It never occurred to me to care, until I offered an outfit I didn't particularly like to a friend. I think (?) I sent them everything, but honestly, I'm not sure.

So last night, I FINALLY started taking photos of clothing sets before I unbag them and put them on my dolls.

It took me three years to figure this out. I'm not the fastest car on the racetrack...

 

Not sure if it's the worst mistake, but a mistake that I have made, and that I sometimes fall back into making again - buying too many dolls too quickly. Not taking the time to bond with and spoil and love each doll before chasing after another.

Oh, and another (can I have two?) - being unable to bond with a faceup and immediately giving up on the whole doll as a result and selling it, instead of just... trying a different faceup. I've sold so many dolls because the faceup wasn't working, only to buy the same sculpt again later

 

Dipping my toes back into the hobby for the first time in a VERY long time, and...wow there's so many things. I think back then I was so excited with the concept of having dolls that it was very much a revolving door of which sculpts I wanted and weighting affordability vs what I loved. Now I'm eager to get back into it with a clean slate, and not repeat that mistake.

 

Aot of people are saying perfection and as a new member, I have definately found myself endlessly scrolling through dealers, IG and the like trying to find the perfect sculpt for characters and the like. I just want to have to do minimal mods for what I have in my head...

But so much of this info is good. I hope people keep sharing.

 

I took my doll apart for the first time and freaked tf out because I had difficulty getting her back together again. I did, eventually; now it's a piece of cake to restring these things.

Second time is me having a hell of a time trying to get the wig I bought on my doll for the first time (same doll as above). I eventually learned the technique, but I was so annoyed that this was so difficult for some reason.

 

I was much younger than I am now when I first got into the hobby. Mistakes, like everything else, are subjective so this might not be one to someone else.

I think I should have thought about what I wanted out of the hobby and my dolls. For example, did I want a couple of dolls I could dress up and change the appearance of as my mood changes? Did I want to create specific characters and leave the doll that way? Did I want a whole house full and would collect anything I could get my hands on? When I really sit and think about it now, it’s somewhere within the first two.

Before, I would just try to get something “cheap” for the sake of having a doll and ended up buying quite a few that ended up finding new homes rather quickly. Unfortunately the sculpts I tend to be attracted to are more expensive (because of course they would be) and the dolls I ended up with never fit my idea of what I really wanted, and so they would go to new homes and I eventually got tired of the hobby.

I took a break for a long while and have returned after falling down a rabbit hole on Instagram that rekindled my interest, and I’m trying to focus on what I really want out of my dolls and not just buy the first affordable thing I see.

 

I did a lot of mistakes and still do them I guess but here's some of mine:

My very first doll was a huge mistake all around. I had heard of BJD's seen few at conventions and thus knew there was company called Luts that sold them. Yes, in my head they were the only company out there I didn't search any other options at all. And I wanted one so I went to Luts, browsed their dolls and fell in love with Junior Delf Terra. He was gorgeous to me - but too expensive so instead I started looking at their other dolls and eventually found another one I liked: Minifee Chiwoo (this was back then when Luts still sold them) and after thinking about it for a while I ordered him in white skin since it looked like a pretty pale human skin in the pictures. When he arrived he was not white, he was ugly shade of greenish yellow and I immediately regretted getting him at all. He was also strung so tightly that his head never stayed looking straight, it was always yerking over to some direction and his legs were very kicky and it was just downright impossible to pose him at all. I had also gotten him without a faceup since I figured that I'd 1. save money, 2. paint him myself to make him unique. Well I ended up never painting him since I didn't have the materials but somehow lucked out and won a faceup from lottery and sent him to get painted like that. Finally he was complete... and I still hated him. I just didn't enjoy him at all so he laid in his box for years forgotten. I still wonder what would have happened and I would have just gotten the Terra I fell instantly in love with. I still love his sculpt and am happy to own the Model Delf sized Werewolf version of his head, one day I want to get the normal MDF version too and make them twins.

Sometime around 2020 I got the itch again to own a doll. This time I did my research and found lots of different companies, compared tons of dolls, their prices, posing, cute little faces, colors.... I actually did my homework and then ordered True Love Alisa with makeup and some clothes. Couple weeks later I was browsing LegendDoll again and they had True Love Ivan in stock and I couldn't resist and ordered him too. Then local auction site had Luts KDF Ani (current avatar actually) up for sale and I couldn't resist her either and so suddenly my first doll was actually three new dolls, they even all arrived within the same couple of weeks so there wasn't much time between them. Then Luts had KDF Romantic Madeleine available and I wanted and ordered her. Then rolled in the Luts winter event and I ordered Model Delf Avalanche and the Kid45 body for the MDF WereWolf Terra head I bought from someone second hand on Instagram so the doll count was already six. Fast forward to now and I think I have 20 dolls? I literally don't even know if it's over 20 or under 20 and I'm too scared to count. Oh and I have three heads on the way too but I'm trying very hard to not buy more dolls this year, maybe bodies for these three, nothing else. *prays for no 'must have' limited dolls to pop up this year* The mistake? I bought way too many dolls way too quickly. I haven't gotten around to customizing even half of them and haven't bonded with almost any of them. I feel like 10 dolls would be the perfect count or maybe 10 MSDs and my three tinies since I love the tinies but I don't know...

I keep thinking about selling some of them but the idea of having to take the responsibility of shipping them over it so stressful that it's putting me off. I also don't know which ones I'd even sell since I kind of like them all even though they're such varying styles that they're kind of jarring together.. Well okay few are clear: the two SD boys and the SD sized Demit Necta head. Turns out that SD sized dolls are way too big for me to handle. They're absolutely gorgeous but even the 64cm is too much for me to comfortably handle so these two big boys are just resting in their boxes just like the poor, now sold, Chiwoo did. I guess this is also one mistake I made; don't buy so many dolls that you feel like you need to sell some away, it's a lot of stress unless you find local buyer who can come pick it up personally!

For me personally it was also a mistake to order doll with a face up. (although with Chiwoo that might have helped since I was too afraid to do anything to him) Yes, I'm talking about that True Love Alisa I own. He's pretty but I can't bond with him since I fear I'll mess up his faceup somehow if I handle him too much. I could wipe it and paint him myself, but what if I decide to sell him? I feel like he'd sell much better with the professional faceup than mine. And sure, Ivan by the same company with my crappy faceup looks as amateurish as you'd imagine from someone who had no prior doll painting experience BUT he's my mess and I love him. So I handle him a lot more because of that and feel more connected to him. I also really love Lily (my Kid Delf Ani) since I'm not afraid to mess around with her face and try different styles on her.

Sorry for writing a whole novel here.

 

Sudeing a doll with leather suede, and a permanent glue.

 

Would you mind elaborating? I was thinking of doing this.

 

I've been a toy collector for most of my live now, I never stopped collecting dolls just because I grew-up/old. Because of that, I knew that these dolls weren't regular mass-produced toys, once I learned about them more than twenty years ago. I did a lot of research, I spent a lot of time literally reading other owner's experiences, failed and success stories. So, when I got my first doll of this kind with limited info about them back in the dark ages. I didn't do anything that would permanently damage the doll. I used all the suggested materials for painting, and modifying although I did fail at doing a "decent" face up, and I still fail at that even now. I never stained, broke, or damaged any of my resin BJD. My first one was a Volks DDI hybrid, so there was risk of staining because she's a mix of hard-staining plastics like soft PVC and hard ABS, and both which do stain pretty bad, even just by winking at them. However, I already owned a lot of other dolls that are made of the same materials, so I didn't do anything stupid at any time, even back when I was just a newb BJD owner, I had already owned many other kinds of dolls to know these were very different, and at the same time exactly the same. (;

Although, I guess it's up to me to decide whether I ruined some of my dolls from my permanently modifying some of them. I feel like I never did anything that could be called a newb "mistake," just me failing at doing a good job at painting miniatures because of my shaky-old-person hands (that were shaky from birth, I am guessing, because I was in my early-to-mid twenties when I discovered these dolls!). I am lucky otherwise, that dolls (toys) have always been my achiles heel. DX

 

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned is the importance of thorough research. I had initially set out to acquire an SD girl but ended up with an MSD instead. Despite the size discrepancy, I was fortunate that my girl turned out beautifully. Nevertheless, I realized that this mistake could have been avoided if I had exercised more patience and delved deeper before impulsively clicking that "Order" button.

Another mistake I made was purchasing a doll during a period of deep loneliness. Back in 2016, I found myself in a new country, completely alone with no friends or family nearby. Desperate for companionship, I made the decision to bring a new doll into my life. However, as time went on and I had the opportunity to reconnect with my original beloved dolls, I found that my interest in the new addition had waned.

Reflecting on these experiences, I've come to appreciate the importance of making informed decisions and not allowing temporary emotions to cloud my judgment. These mistakes have taught me valuable lessons about patience, research, and the true meaning of companionship.