When you have officially 'joined the hobby'?

I put my "start date" when I became interested in BJDs. A friend of mine used to go to doll shows in Japan and share the pictures, and there was one especially that I longed for (Volks Tae II), so I set my "start date" from when she was released in April 2008. But I didn't actually buy my first dolls until 2011. Some of my collection is older since I picked up some used dolls on the Marketplace.

 

I consider the point when I was willing to throw my wallet at my computer monitor and search with 100% intent for a BJD to call my own the time when I officially joined the hobby. The day when I received my first floating head did reinforce more of an "official" feeling of being in the hobby, though.

 

I've always though that you've joined the hobby when you can express preferences for aesthetics, style, and carry a discussion about dolls without making up stuff.

 

I think that having an appreciation and a desire to participate with BJDs is enough to consider yourself part of the hobby. Maybe someone doesn't own a doll yet, but it took me years from discovering the hobby before I actually took the plunge and made a purchase. I collect dolls very sparingly, the sculpts have to really speak to me, but when I first started officially making plans to purchase my first doll, I was definitely part of the hobby.

 

I consider myself as officially joining the hobby when I clicked on the "buy" button of my first doll. I actually bought my first doll before joining DOA lol, although I got interested in them a few years before I got my first doll. To me, taking the plunge to buy and actually owning my own doll was the most defining and life-changing moment so I considered it as the moment I officially join the hobby.

 

When i first get my jobs i brought my first bjd
Which is 1/4 scale doll until now still can’t stop buying.

 

Somewhere between the moment I decided to buy a doll and the day I actually ordered my first one, I think. When I voiced my intentions to my friend who also has a BJD and we had a long conversation about sewing and faceups, I knew this would be a fun hobby!

 

I think you become a part of the hobby when you begin researching and looking at dolls!

 

I felt I officially first joined the hobby when I started heavily researching about doll care/maintenance, faceups etc. Then buying my first 2 dolls ^^. I may of discovered bjds 9 years ago, but I don't feel I was in the hobby back then, was just looking at pretty pictures of dolls and looking at their company sites. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to get one back then so I never looked into care videos or any of that, just images. How shocked 13 year old me would be to see that I ended up fully in the hobby with 2 dolls xD

 

When you realize one is not enough

 

Yeah, I think it's up to the individual as to when they figure they're "in the hobby."

Although I had see bjds earlier, my interest peaked pretty quickly-- I saw one or two that caught my interest, I started researching them on the internet, I found DoA, I researched more, I ordered my first and it arrived not long after. All this happened within several months in 2004. So it was pretty easy for me to pick a time-frame.

 

I guess when I made a DOA account, because that's when I really started communicating with people in the hobby and stuff.

 

I guess from the moment I started saving money to purchase my first BJD and began to search for info about the hobby.

 

For me personally,I feel like i wasnt actually in the hobby until i actually received my first doll. I feel this way because i had no experience with these dolls and never saw one in person before that. I did research thoroughly before, but i don’t feel like it’s the same as really interacting with the actual dolls. When i could actually put the things i researched into practice is when i
truly felt i was in the hobby.

 

Interesting question. For me, I've been interested for nearly a decade but I still haven't purchased a doll. So it's either 9 years or 0 years!

 

I didn't consider myself fully "in the hobby" until my first doll arrived. Before then I was just a lurker on the forum and an admirer of pictures.

 

I think that everyone interested in BJD should be treated like a part of the hobby. I just don't like elitists who say "You have to buy a doll to be the one of us", but on the other hand I think that you won't feel like a full member until you buy (or at least decide to buy) your first doll. It doesn't mean you are worse - it just means that you don't know the feeling of owning a BJD.

 

In 2013, when I bought my first bjd, Dolkot Yuna. I registered immediately on DOA, but I am shy and I didn’t write something

 

For me, it was when I got my first doll. I liked the hobby but didn't count myself as 'in' until I hit that buy button. Everyone's different though, no foul or harm on those who don't have dolls yet and consider themselves still part of the hobby.

 

I think it's when you know you've been actively collecting information on the subject-- care, keeping, the companies that make them, the styles, how they're made. I first learned and developed an interest in BJDs when I was young, and though I was aware the hobby was a thing that existed, I didn't start participating until I was much older.

This does seem to coincide with when you're planning on getting your first doll, though. Nobody ever seems to get that involved without it!