Your First Doll Stories- The Most Treasured, a Disappointment, or Something Else?

My first doll was a gift from my boyfriend and will always be staying with me. She's different than other dolls i had looked at, most of them were male and 70cm tall, lol, they were all also from LUTS. Hoshi is a doll-love alice we found on ebay, i wasnt super excited about the brand, but she was within the budget he set and was the right size range. As soon as i opened her box and saw her face in person however, i ADORED her. I love all my dolls but she was new and i have this odd love for pre-loved dolls so they tend to be more spoiled but SHE gets shown off more XD
She's also one of two dolls i have meantioned in my will (so far, need to update it <w>). She and my reaa both have planned homes in case of my "moving on" where i know they'll be treasured :3

 

My first was my genderswapped Bobobie Sprite. Back when I'd toyed with the idea of BJDs, I'd mainly looked at SDs and Volks... because, to be honest, I wasn't researching very hard at that time, and didn't know there were other options! While I do think Volks dolls are lovely, what I could find wasn't anything that appealed to me enough to want it, especially not for the price being asked. My Sprite was actually a fairly impulsive purchase; my roommate at the time and I were both doing a lot of cosplay and Artist Alleys at conventions, and she had the idea that we could each get a doll and start making clothes for them to sell at our tables. She really got into the idea, doing a lot of researching for hers, while I just sort of sat back and said "Hey that's a cool idea, maybe..."

Well, in the process of her searching, she called over to me, "Hey, I found your doll!" Now keep in mind... at this time I still wasn't all that serious about getting into the hobby. Until she showed me the pictures on JunkySpot's site of Sprite. I'd told her what I wanted in a doll (a shell for my primary OC), and she'd found a near-perfect match at a price I could actually justify! The only catch was that my OC was male, and the doll was female, but Emory at JS was very kind and had a spare body he could swap the head onto before shipping him out.

But when he came... I actually had the opposite reaction of most people. I just didn't like how he looked, I didn't like how his wig looked, or how his eyes were sitting, or his faceup. He fell apart when I was tightening his strings right after opening him! It was just a mess from the start, and he sat dejected on a shelf for a couple of weeks, until I decided that I may as well take a shot at liking him. I chopped his wig, wiped and redid his faceup, and THEN I finally fell in love with him. Even though my first faceup wasn't the greatest, that and the wig style began to make him my character, not just a doll. That reluctant start has since transformed into a dozen "complete" dolls (more or less), two partial dolls, one on order and three more waiting for a good company event to be ordered! And I still love my Sprite boy just as much as I did... not when I got him, but when I made him mine. To be honest, I don't think I could part with any of my dolls, even if I left the hobby... there's a couple who would be "maybes," but the rest are very personal, and whether they were impulses or heavily planned out, they've all been made or are being made uniquely mine, and I can't see myself rehoming any of them.

 

My first doll was a Dear Mine Shadow Skull, a limited fullset of which there were only 20. I'd only found out that I lover BJDs about two weeks before his release was announced, and until he was released, I stalked the company website. I was obsessed; he was the most beautiful thing! The very moment he was released, I snatched him up without thought, and then had the most agonizing wait of my life. When he came home, I cried, I could hardly breathe! I opened him up with baited breath, and, well...


...he was everything I'd ever hoped for - and then some. I could never imagine he'd be so perfect. That was a year and a half ago. I've since gone through and bought/sold about ten dolls, and only a couple have remained with me, but he will always be one that I keep. The thought of getting rid of him has never crossed my mind, not once. He's my first and most favorite, and always will be.

 

My first doll was originally intended to be my only doll... He was a CP/Delf Shiwoo Special; a late Christmas gift from my husband. I'd just gone from working in a very busy office with a very noisy, very tightly-knit group of co-workers to freelancing from home, and he'd heard me complain a little about how weird it was to suddenly be working all by myself all day after spending six years in the middle of a horde of chatty journalists. Harumatsu was intended to make it seem a little less like I was alone all the time.

As a CP Special, I knew he was going to come with two different heads... an open-eyed one and a dreaming version. I honestly thought that the second head was just going to be an alternate; something I kept in a box and only pulled out when I wanted to change my little guy's look. 'Trouble was, as soon as they arrived I took one look at that dreaming head, with its very different face-up style and much darker colors, and knew there was no way they'd ever pass as the same individual. My first "one", it turned out, was actually two. I went to the marketplace here and bought that second head a body and he became Harumatsu's twin, Tien Jen.

I loved them both dearly. I still do... Seven+ years after FCM and I ordered them, they're sitting here together, with their sister Chidori and their friend Kitsumaru, not ten feet from me as I type this. Even if I someday sell off the majority of my collection (as I strongly suspect I will somewhere down the road-), those two are going nowhere. They're among the handful of dolls that I intend to keep for the rest of my life, and after I've gone the way of the dodo, I hope they'll end up with my god-daughter, or my niece or one of my nephews.

 

Well~ my first doll is kind of a long story uvu I researched the hobby thoroughly for several years. The first doll I ever wanted was a boy but I quickly forgot about it and desperately looked for a girl doll to shell my original character in. It took me about four full months of researching during the final stretch of choosing the right doll for me and certainly enough she was perfect! I was so sure I had everything right! And then on the day I went online to finally purchase her, pay for her and all that, I saw a doll I've never seen before from a company I had never heard of. That doll was Doll Leaves' Wish, as a matter of fact they had "just" come out with their first two MSD sculpts, M and W! It was love at first sight and from the moment I set my eyes on him I knew there could be no other doll for me.

Fast forward a few years later, he's still my most favorite doll. There are times he drives me absolutely crazy (getting a pair of eyes that was both the right color AND fit was more than a simple challenge and he received over ten faceups before something that really worked could be achieved) and there are times where I compare each and every doll to him and still can find no better! He was the first doll I fell so madly in love with and from that love stemmed something else. I'm not as crazy about him anymore but I love him even more than the first day when I opened his box. I learned to love him for his good parts, his beautiful face and his unmatched poseability and all he represents to me -the start of a wonderful hobby without which my life wouldn't be the same as it is today, and the onset of a beautiful story co-written by myself and my best friend that I hold most dear to my heart- and accept and work around his quirks.

If it came down to it I could never sell him; then again I could never imagine selling any of my dolls either. Perhaps there is a very small number from which I could part very reluctantly but I think I would miss them a lot afterwards. But Nowe? Him and a handful of others aren't going anywhere if I can help it.

 

Hm, well the beginning of this hobby for me was a good year of just me and my first doll, an Iplehouse YID Silvia. I didn't know anyone in person who owned BJDs (though I learned of their existence by seeing someone holding one) and I wasn't a part of any forum either. DoA is so full of dolls: new dolls coming out, dolls in the gallery, dolls as projects, dolls in discussions, dolls everywhere, which is exciting, but that period of ownership was different for me because it was just my one girl. Everything I did in the hobby was for her, research, sewing clothing, finding props, taking photos, working on her character, everything. So it was a different experience with her than with any of my other dolls in that way.

That said, the hobby has evolved stylistically since that time and my own doll preferences have also adjusted. For a while, I became much less interested in my first doll because I was far more interested in bigger, more realistic dolls once Iplehouse started coming out with their EID line. My first girl was always around, but she was in the background. Not too long ago I looked at her again and realized that I still find the head sculpt to be really beautiful, so I purchased a new body for her, one that is more in line with my current aesthetics. Now I've been spending much more time with her again.

Perhaps it just goes in cycles. I can't honestly say that I don't enjoy any one of my dolls. I bought each one for a reason and BJDs are so beautiful that it seems silly to me, if I really stop to think about it, that I should get tired of any of them. I've never actually sold a doll from my collection, I'm not sure I ever will.

 

My first doll was something that I waited years for!
I'd known about BJDs for a few years before finding out about and joining DoA, back then I knew I wanted a doll but I had a super long wishlist of dolls that I'd like to have someday
then one day someone posted a pic of a Four-sisters (it was a YoSD Nana but I can't remember the username of the person) and I fell in love with her and knew I had to have one (this led me to the VOLKS website and since I knew I wanted an SD and the YoSDs were limited anyway I decided my first doll would be an SDG Megu)
I had some money saved up for nothing in particular and I continued adding to that and when I had enough saved asked my parents (each parent separately) if I could buy a BJD
at first they said yes, and after I told them the price (even mentioning that I had saved enough and didn't expect them to pay for it) they both said no - _ -;
life happened and I had to give them the money to help out at home but I still wanted my BJD and had enough left to order a pair of hands for her so I ordered the hands thinking that if I had a part that I'd be able to get the rest of the doll sooner (so totally wrong)
fast forward about 5 years later, I had slowly saved up the money for my doll again and randomly decided to ask my mom if I could order her and to my surprise she said yes! O.O even after I re-explained everything about the price to her since she'd completely forgotten about me ever asking for a BJD she still said yes
so I happily ordered her, super excited to finally be getting a BJD (and one of my grails no less!)
thankfully I didn't have the long waiting period most people go through since I ordered her from VOLKS USA, but I still stalked the tracking info every single day until she arrived (after she had shipped my mom realized just how much I'd spent and freaked out but it was too late to cancel the order)
once she arrived and I opened her box I knew the most perfect doll in the world for me, she was even more beautiful than I had expected (she even won over my mom and grandma that freaked out at the price)

she's adorable, beautiful, amazing, I love everything about her and I know that she'll always be my favorite and stay with me even if I leave the hobby (not likely to happen)!

 

My first and only doll is a Luts ARU. I was interested in the hobby for about 3 years before deciding to commit, and I had in my mind for the longest time that I wanted an elf doll. I looked and looked for an elf sculpt that I liked, but I could never find one that quite suited the character I had in mind.
Eventually I stooped looking at just delf sized dolls, and took a look at the kid delf size, and oh my did I fall in love! I came up with a new idea, that I could dress this adorable doll in lolita fashion like me! We could even twin!

So I decided I would purchase her, and saved for her for 6 months. During that time I was very very back and forth about if I wanted her to be a white skin doll or a normal skin, and in the end I decided to go with white skin. Even after I ordered her I was freaking out and looking all over for references on white vs normal skin to justify my decision...

Now, I still love her sculpt to death but I really wish I had gone with the normal skin! Over time, I have decided that I don't like how the white skin looks against white clothing at all, and just wish she was just a bit more pink! I also wanted her to have pink hair but it looks silly next to the white resin!

I did toy with the idea of selling her and re-ordering a normal skinned girl, but I just can not get myself to do it! even with that little gripe, she is still my first and favorite doll and I can not imagine being without her! eventually, I think, I will get up my goat and just dye her and she will be perfect.

So to directly answer your question, I think she is a bit of both!

 

ImaginaryAlice - You could try yellowing your Aru on purpose. Stand her completely nude no wig or clothes or even panties in sunlight for awhile.

 

Leah was a complete surprise! Well, her sculpt, anyway. I'd sent my mom to the BBB MSD page on JunkySpot and told her to pick one doll for my winter holidays present. I really wanted a Mai. Really really. But come the morn of present-opening, I pulled this hugely heavy box from under our coniferous tree corpse and opened it to reveal a BBB Ariel!

I love her loads. She's a great doll, and I later found better options for shelling the character I wanted to shell as a Mai. While Leah's difficult to pose, her wig doesn't fit right, and her headcap refuses to stay on, she's an amazing doll. I don't have any other full dolls to compare her to, at the moment, though. Would she be the first doll I sell? No way. But I don't think she'd be the last to go, either.

 

My first resin was the first doll I held in person (as my memory serves). An AoD Chi, called Lestat, dressed like the Aristocratic god that he is. The sister of one of my mom's co-workers was working at AKon and my mom stole a friends pass to go check out the dealer room with me to find this woman. I saw him, and I got a very funny feeling all over and honestly couldn't breath. Basically begged my mom. She knew I wanted one and it was my senior year of high school, but she didn't have the money. When we left the dealers room I did start to tear up and I checked on him every day of the con. First thing I told her when I got in the car after was "He's still there". She talked to her co-worker, who talked to her sister... And I saved up every dime I got as a graduation present. I'm 100% positive I overpaid for him. Couldn't care less. At the moment he's being ignored because his finger broke... and I'm scared to break him more/make it worse... But he'd never go. I haven't even looked into getting his tiny nose dent (he fell face first onto concrete) because I don't want his faceup to be wiped, no matter how amateurish it is. I've gotten him clothes and things, but his wig, eyes, and faceup will stay. As will the rest of him. I don't plan on selling any of my dolls (they are all firsts in some way usually... My first Uber Limited, my first SD, my first hybrid, my first tiny, etc) But he'd stay for extra sure.

 

My first doll was Luts Lishe and she was pretty much everything I'd hoped for. I eventually sold her, so I'll have to buy a new one from Fairyland if I want to replace her. But I was in no way disappointed. She was a quality doll and she was beautiful!

 

Ah, the first doll.~

As of right now, my first doll is my most treasured, even though she isn't the most beautiful doll. There's just something about her and the sentimentality about her being the first makes me not want to get rid of her ever, even if there are more beautiful dolls out there. My first doll was an impulse buy and she has never been a disappointment, she definitely is my most treasured. Every doll after her has been a disappointment.

 

My first BJD is Iplehouse EID Carina. I have never heard about BJD till 4 years back, I found their pictures on internet by chance while looking up other owners of Tonner Dolls - I was absolutely amazed and started searching info about BJD. Then one day I found Iplehouse pages and liked very much their EID women sculpts as they were so realistic and looking more adult than others. I had no intention to buy one though. The breaking point happened when they released Carina - I started visiting their pages every single day for about one and a half year . I was tempted but still not willing to invest such amount into doll, actually it was my sister who pushed "the wheel" into motion. She knew I love Carina but I considered her to be too much expensive, so she talked to my parents and they decided to give me part of the price as my birthday present. Severina (that's my doll's name) is very special to me because even 30 years later from now when I look at her I will remember my parents and my sister wherever they are. I will never sell her and even when I buy more dolls (there are actually two more on their way home) she will be my most treasured doll forever.

 

My first doll to arrive was a Lati White Belle and I had no idea how light and tiny the Lati Whites were! The pictures others take always make the BJDs seem larger-than-life and I was so taken aback when I received her, and found her both precious and delicate. Needless to say, I fell in love with both her and her teeny world and coming from fashion dolls, it was a breath of fresh air to have literally a pocket-sized dolly who could see the world from a totally different perspective. When I took my dolly hiatus, I regretfully sold her and I do miss her so very much. When Lati releases the teeny tiny whites again, I would love to adopt her once again.

 

My first BJD was Dollmore Lilis Liv, a beautiful, gentle creature. I was amazed by the company's pictures of her; especially the profile of her face. But, as you may guess, I let her go. Due to a decision to change my living place and other personal reasons, I sold her this year. I do miss her, she was a very special doll indeed. I liked her more than the second one I bought after a year. But she was too big for me - I could never get fully used to a 2 ft tall girl.

 

The first doll that I had at home was completely impulse. I had ordered an MSD at the end of April of last year, and thought that he'd be the only one I had for a while. I had been looking at BJDs for at least 3 years and had done a fair amount of research on them for a university paper. So in May - 3 weeks after I ordered my MSD - I went to an anime convention and decided to go to the BJD info panel. While waiting for the panel to start, a lady had set up two SD boys and people were taking pictures of them. She mentioned that one of them was for sale and I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get a look at his face. Initially, I didn't really care for him. I hated the outfit he was wearing, and he was really big. At the end of the panel, she stood him up on the front desk, and the way she had him standing had him facing me fully. I immediately fell in love with his eyes and asked her how much she wanted for him. We agreed that she'd bring him to the convention the next day, and I'd give her the money since I don't usually carry more than $100 around. The whole time I was driving home I had a slight sinking feeling which didn't go away the next day. When we met up she opened his box to show me that it was him, and what he was coming with and that sinking feeling immediately went away. He was more beautiful than he had been the night before, and I was really happy with him. I kept opening his box the entire day, and showed him to my cousin and friend (much to my friends annoyance - he doesn't like dolls ^.^') He's sitting on my printer right in front of me, and that is not likely to change anytime. I do wish he had a less plasticy-looking body, but I still love him as much as I did after seeing him in his box for the first time.

 

My first doll was a Lati blue Shaina.
When I first foun out about BJDs and started to research them she was the first one I really felt i had to have. I have been interested i dolls my whole life, so I was quite comfortable with the price. It isn't really that high compared to art dolls or some antiques, after all. So I pretty much made up my mind that as soon as I felt I had the money I would buy her.
By the time I finally got around to it though she was sold out. I did soma additional research and found out she would likely be in stock again sooner or later, so I waited. About a year later she was back and this time I didn't hesitate and ordered her.
There was a brief moment when I considered buying a Cara instead, as i loved that sculpt as well, but Shaina was the first I fell for so I decided to stick with her.
It took a long time for her to get here, but when she arived she was perfect.
I have not regretted it for a moment.

Now I have four bjds and she is still my favourite (and I did get a Cara second hand later, she is lovely too).

 

My first doll was a Luts Soo. I only own two dolls even though I've been in the hobby for a couple years (took a break there) and yeah she's still my favorite. Though that's hard to say because I really love Fish (my merpuki) and she goes every where with me.

How I got my Soo was an interesting story. I was part of a guild in an MMO and we all had fun this was like back in 07 or 08 or something and I think I was around 14 or 15. My friend who was good with photo shop took a bunch of photos from different bjd websites and shopped different heads onto outfits and adjusted make up all digitally to use for representation on the website she made for our guild. The one she used for me I fell in love with and I saved all the pictures. A year or two later we all went our separate ways but me and one friend stayed in contact and we had been turning some of our game stories into a fantasy story we wrote on together. After another gaming friend got me into dolls i decided I wanted to turn my main character, Windlea, who at the time was loosely based off my role from our guild in the story, into a doll. So I started looking around and I stumbled across Luts. I hadnt found a match for the pictures yet, I didnt really know how to tell molds from the other when they had different make up and hair yet, but I had decided I loved the Soo so much I didnt care so I would get her. So once I decided on her and went shopping for wigs in the Luts store and found the exact picture my old friend had used to make the picture sin the first place. I knew it was fate so I got the wig, got the doll, got her a nice pair of eyes and clothes and ordered her in a group order with two other friends. She arrived on my birthday and I loved her from the minute I opened her. I love to have her out and just set her on my desk, and I always love having her on my lap when I'm writing or working on school stuff. Currently she's in a box though since school has forced me to put her into storage (she's an SD and doesnt travel as well as my puki) but I'm always glad I bought her and even if I get out of the hobby again I'll never sell them, I'll just continue to enjoy my dolls and the memories she in particular brings back to me.