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

My first doll was a Littlefee Chiwoo. I really liked a lot of the SD sized dolls which is why I started to consider the hobby but I always thought they'd be too big for me so just to ease myself into the hobby, I ended up with this little guy. (Plus I have cats so I didn't want to put them somewhere the cats could easily get to) I said at the time he'd be my only doll (which was a complete lie) and I'd never get anything bigger but after being in the hobby and bouncing around this site I saw that the characters I really wanted for my own were in the SD range and I couldn't really achieve what I wanted with a LTF. So I guess he was sort of an impulse because at that time, I didn't want to wait 2-3 months to get something in a hobby I wasn't even sure I'd like. I can't say I was disappointed with him because he was beautifully made but he just wasn't what I wanted from the hobby.
I eventually sold him in favor of two Kid Delfs and several other MSDs but I fell out of love with them too. :/ I have a ton of OCs who are all teen+ in age and I was really looking to have a few dolls based on them.
I really bit the bullet late last year after hearing that Luts was going to re-release their Delf line. I was just curious to check it out because I like browsing company sites to see their newest additions and I was completely floored by their Delf Claus... in brown skin, too. I thought he was absolutely gorgeous and looked fairly identical to one of my OCs but the size thing was still off-putting. Eventually I just said heck with it and ordered him and figured I could get over it because he was spot-on perfect. >w< While the other dolls in my life came and went, I feel like he is actually the first doll I've been happy with. So not necessarily my first, but he is my most treasured.

 

Is this the most common way to view your first doll?
I don't think there is a common way to view a first doll. I think everyone is different. ...but the poll might have solved that question!

If so, did this feeling last a lengthy period of time after the doll was received?
I bought my first in 2004. I still have him. He is still a favorite whom I will probably never sell.

How many people were completely disappointed with their first purchase and rehomed the doll?
Not me.

How many regretted rehoming the doll afterward?
N/A

Or was your first doll a completely different situation than what I described?
No... pretty similar. But I was very careful and picked my first doll so he would be as perfect as possible--as if he were the only one I would ever get (which is what I originally thought he would be!). I had a hard time getting him home (doll company sent the wrong doll and he was limited, so they were not sure they had another one to send me). I had never seen a bjd before so getting used to the resin was interesting. I had no clothes or the right eyes or wig (doll items were harder to find in '04!). The faceups were a bit sketchy (company ended up firing the faceup artist and stopped offering them for a time!). So... he was perfect--but took a little time to bond. But I have loved him ever since.

Over the years, styles have changed, bjds have changed a lot. My own tastes have shifted... but I still like what I like (I am not very fickle when it comes to what I like), so although I like other styles now, I still like my first doll. He is getting yellowy, but he is still wonderful... kinda classic, really!

 

My first doll was a Crobidoll Yeon Ho, who I still have and is currently my only complete doll. &#10084; I love him to bits and always will. He's special for the fact that me and a long time best friend spent years saving up for our first doll together and I actually got to open him with her before she moved so he's definitely special. I don't plan on ever selling him, even if I do leave the hobby.

 

My first doll was a Fairyland pukifee Ante and since I only got her a month and a half ago, I still have her My first bjd was a surprise gift from my mom who is also a bjd collector. I plan on keeping my first doll forever because she has sentimental meaning to me. And no, I was not disappointed in my doll at all!

 

My first doll is an Iplehouse SID Eva. I spent months saving up the money for a doll. Originally, I wanted something only around 12 Inches or so, because the larger dolls seemed so unwieldily. Also, the smaller dolls were cheaper so I would be able to afford them easier.

The character I had in mind just refused to come to life in any of the smaller dolls that I looked at though! So I started looking at larger dolls, and I began to fall for Luts Senior Delf Kara, with a type 4 body. (Liz has huge knockers) Unfortunately, Luts doesn't do double jointed bodies and the single jointed kind just look hideous to me.

I found Iplehouse after spotting a photo of Luna Tamer that someone had posted. I fell in love with her and some day hope to own her! But I started looking around at the Iple girls, and finally settled on Eva. I wasn't sure at first, but no matter how many other companies I looked at, I kept coming back to her!

When I did order her, I decided to not order her wig through Iplehouse, but eventually regretted that. I paid the doll off sooner than anticipated, got the wig in a group order, and had to wait an extra two weeks for her wig to arrive. I almost didnt open Liz when she arrived, because I was scared I wouldn't like her if she had to sit around bald, however, I couldn't resist opening her.

I didn't k ow for sure how much I love her till I got her wig though the wig really tied the whole character concept together for me and I love Liz so very much! I need to suede and wire her though because her hips are floppy as heck and I have even restrung her and tied her elastic tighter!

I won't ever get rid of Liz. She is a character I am thoroughly attached to. If I some day found a body that posed better, had bigger boobs, and matched her skin tone I would be willing to hybrid her. But for now she stays.

I have more characters in my head that I want to shell, and they are all pushing and shoving to get out first!

Here is a snapshot of Liz. It's just an iPhone photo. I'm really not into photography, I just like to enjoy my doll myself. But I figure I will share my first love.

 

My first BJD was Volks SDC Kaede and I still have her. I had been looking at BJDs for sometime before I saw the full page ad for Kaede in Haute Doll Magazine. I liked the idea that she had a more mature figure than Volks MSDs and yet she was about the same size. I liked that she was somewhere in between anime and realistic looking too. Kaede was supposed to be my only BJD, since I didn't think there was any hope of my first love Madoka being re-released...but how wrong I was! In the beginning, I took Kaede traveling and ended up buying her lots of Friends 2B Made clothing, which was plentiful and inexpensive compared to other doll clothing. Eventually though, I turned my attention to both larger and smaller BJDs, and Kaede got a little lost in the shuffle, being an odd size. She's still sort of a stand alone, but she hangs out with my singular FCS MSD Boy and my Yo-Tenshi. I admit that there have been times recently when I've considered selling some of my BJD collection, but I'd probably keep Kaede because she was my first and I still enjoy her, even if I don't play with her as much as I used to when she was my one and only.

 

My first was a Pukipuki Pipi about two and a half years ago now! I had only found bjds through some pictures and the like about eight months before I got him and it was roller coaster of being unsure if I would like dolls, what one I'd get and money saving. In the end though, just before Fairyland put Pipi and several other pukis on temporary out of stock, I decided on him. Originally he was going to be a pukisha! And female before he even showed up he went through changes. It scared me, though I had clothes and a wig, and I was worried I'd not only be out the money but I'd never live down ordering a doll from my parents.

In the end, I opened his box for the first time and was utterly smitten with him. He ended up with a different wig, and a totally different clothing style, but I love my Set - he's perfect to me. Though he was not the actual first doll I had in mind, I think I like that he was first. His size was good for me, he traveled to and from school with me well enough, and I could find some stuff for him without delving too deep into a shallow wallet XD It was like the perfect learning curve for me. I think he totally pulled together when I got his mismatched eyes. It was like something clicked. So far, eyes have done it in all my dolls I think...

Now he's not the only puki in the house and I just really love my dolls!

 

I've heard that over half of BJD owners end up selling their first dolls, but I can't imagine selling my first boy - even though lately, I've found more realistic dolls to be more pleasing to my eye.
I feel that even if I lose interest in this hobby, sell all my dolls, move, lose all my money and all that - I wouldn't sell him (or at least would find it extremely hard to do so [but this situation would be only if I had no money -thing going on]).

I looked for him for months and chose him out of many other dolls I also liked and never regretted it! I even have a thing where I get extremely exited to see the same mold as him with other owners - much more than seeing same molds that my other dolls are - so I figure he's a really special snowflake

 

I chose my first doll (AoD Qian) as she was the first 'friendly' looking doll I'd seen (I hadn't done much research!) rather than a miserable face (which I now kind of like!) I wasn't on the forums at all and hadn't looked at many dolls - I just saw her on ebay 2nd hand and liked her, so bought a new one, as it wasn't much more new than used price - I waited a month for her to come from happyhouse dealers in China, and adored her! BUT then I joined the forums and started seeing so many more dolls than I could have imagined - and my tastes changed dramatically - and she fell out of favour poor lovie I sold my other 2 dolls I'd bought around the same time after ruining their faceups and trying to restring them (had no choice with my bobobie as she just fell apart in my hands one day!) oh the trauma - it put me off them. I decided to sell my Qian too, having kept her head in a box for months with her body for another head, which I gave away. So I fixed her up again for her ebay photoshoot, got her box out, and tried to put her in it - BUT she held onto me!

No just kidding But she did kind of hold onto my heart a tiny bit - even though I'd gone right off her, I found I just couldn't sell her at that moment, so I decided to sell her 'one day' and put her on a shelf and tolerated her for several months - I almost hated the sight of her as she was so different to what I had grown to like in a BJD. And now to my surprise, months later, she's kind of like family. We don't get along perfectly - we annoy each other sometimes - we clash - she disapproves of me - I find her boring - but we are family, so we stick together! She's grown on me Although I bet I still annoy the heck out of her

 

Damian was my first bjd and I was thinking I would only get one. How wrong I was! He is a Doll-love Brian with a company faceup. I loved him at first sight and had to get him a friend so I bought another Kael who is a Doll-love Luck. I have learnt a lot since then and my tastes have become more specific. I never regret getting him but I look at my Iplehouse, Ringdoll and Soom boys and like their head shape/sculpts better than my first dolls. That being said I can't see myself ever selling Damian. I have considered selling a couple of others though.

 

My first doll is Almee, a Resinsoul Mei , she was the first I fell in love with the sculpt of her face , and even if I have found other pleasant dolls too ( Fairyland...) , she's beautiful to me I love her and I know that she'll always be my favorite !

My sweet one:

[/URL][/IMG]

 

I sort of forget that I had a BJD before my Volks Kun. I consider her my first because she was my dream doll when I first became interested in BJD eight years ago. I had a Serendipity Sharmin first and I got her for her smaller size (slightly closer to dolls I collected before that), better price, and to get an idea of what BJD were all about. I thought I'd keep her, too, but after I got my Kun, she just didn't compare and she's since moved on. I don't miss her and don't regret selling her. My Remedy "feels" like my first doll because of how obsessed I became with getting one. I'm a lot less romantic about my hobbies than I was in the start, but it just wouldn't feel right to let her go. She'll be my pillow if I end up homeless, haha.

 

My first doll was an AOD Chi. At the time, I didn't have a lot of hobby money and I'd never seen a BJD in person. I had no idea what I really wanted, so I just picked something that was cheaper that I was mindly interested in. When I got him, I was disappointed, only because he didn't have the particular aestehtic that I was interested in at the time. I'd bought him as a project doll, one that I could basically do everything for without buying anything extra.

It was kind of a disillusioned goal, and I quickly found out that he wasn't really working for me. The character I had in mind was quickly becoming more mature and big than the MSD form he had, and I realized only a month in or so that I was going to have to reshell him. I bought my AOD in September 08 and got my DOD DOI in May 09, so it wasn't even a year after I'd recieved the original doll that I reshelled his character. I ended up selling the MSD and at this point, I consider the DOI as my first doll. He perfectly embodies my first character, and if I ever left the hobby, I'd keep him over everyone else.

 

My first doll was a Distant Memory Peroth, which was a surprise to everyone, everyone being me primarily. I discovered the hobby through a series of increasingly confusing deviantart pictures which mostly ended in dead links to this den of angels place that supposedly held the answers to all things bjd. After a few weeks of clicking suspiciously through an amazing number of sites, I gained access to the 'den of angels' and decided my first doll. It was to be, an iplehouse luna.

The next day I bought some random doll I've never even heard of before, and I've loved him fiercely since.

 

I have a love hate relationship with June. She is a D.I.M Marianne with a mature body. I got her because she was easy to afford at the time. The transaction was smooth and I kept in touch with the previous owner. She was blank and since I never saw company photos of her I had no "vision" aside from my own. She had 3 faceups in the first year I had her, her nose was smashed in from my dropping her, I learned to string a doll with her etc. The reason why I hate her is because she's got hips and large bust. It's hard to find clothes that fit her. I've put her on the market twice and each time I take her off because I can't get rid of her. In the end deep down I know she's staying...I just wish there were more clothes that fit her...

 

Mine falls into "The Most Treasured" category

My first doll...*sighs contently* Kyoshi is my first doll and he is my pride, my angel, my cutie pie! (excuse all the cheesyness XD can't help getting like this when I talk about my Kyoshi) I'm serious when I say that I have a special relationship with him, he is everything I want in a doll and I would NEVER sell him, he is forever mine. needless to say, he is my favorite.


So, this is how I got Kyoshi, I was DESPERATE to get him: When I came upon someone else's doll (a DOD Zen) my heart was stolen and his cute face told me "I am the one". Mind you, I was a poor jobless high school girl at that time and my mom would never give me more than $5! but my mom had an admirer^^ and he would always take us to places (in order to win my mom's heart but he never did lol) and one day, he took my little brothers and I to a baseball game, after the game he invited us to dinner and when he was going to pay I saw his credit card and my mind immediately screamed " $__$ KYOSHI" XDDD

I'm not the kind of person who asks for money and let alone to strangers (he was a stranger to me) but I'm also the kind of person who does what she needs to do to get what she wants! I asked this man if he could lend me his credit card to order something from the internet and that I was going to pay him as soon as I get a job, to my surprise, he said yes!!! when we got back home, I ordered my Kyoshi

And now, time to look for a job! I got a job cleaning offices and bathrooms (worst job ever) and the manager was very mean but I had to keep working because I needed to pay my debt. In the end, with a hard-working job like that, I couldn't pay him...my mom helped me pay fast(to my surprise, again!). And when I got all the money my mom refused to take it and told me to put it in my savings for school. *sniffs*

Kyoshi is special to me because: 1. the strong bond we have, 2. in the end, he became a gift from my mother, 3. this one doesn't really count but I find amusing that we are the same zodiac sign XD and he came on May 21, my mom's birthday is on May 20 and I was born on a 21! plus 21 is my favorite number. After 8 years and many dolls at home (some found new homes) kyoshi remains my #1.

 

My first doll was a second hand mushroom peddler rat bjd. I love him so much. I found the auction by chance on ebay. The seller had good feedback and was so quick with replying to my questions about the doll. I wasn't planning on shelling out the money for him right then, but I knew I'd never ever see that sculpt in perfect condition ever again. For a decent price too. He came and was exactly as he was supposed to be. I was so elated. I don't think the seller even realizes how much it means to me that he's mine now. I did thank her over and over. She realized it was my first and my fav sculpt like that. I had been in love with that sculpt for so long and when I first saw it, it was already sold out gone. It was a great first bjd experience. I didn't realize either how much I would feel like he's almost like a pet or a child. I didn't realize I'd have such a strong emotional feelings toward him. I know other dollie owners talk about this, but I had no idea what they really meant by bonding and with it being "not alive" ya know?

 

The first BJD I ever wanted was a limited Leeke World vampire with all his clothes, and wig, and shoes. But he was nearly $1,000 total! No way could I afford that. So my first is a Soom tan Mini Gem Uyoo, who I got blank as an X-mas kit last. She arrived this past spring. She still has no face-up, and her wig is not the color I ordered. But I love her as she is. I have three BJDs now and am waiting for a fourth. She's extra special to me because I put her together and will eventually do her face up myself, even though I have zero experience with that. I have no intention of ever parting with her. And I agree with citrushearted that BJDs are more "alive" then people think. Blaze refuses to wear pants. Not a great picture, but the best I have:
[/URL]

 

My first doll was a SoulDoll Sharics sculpt. I was so excited to get him and, as I ordered him (unknowingly over the monsoon season, I took a good 4/5 months to get to me. I was overjoyed to hear that my parcel had come but when I opened him - he just wasn't what I expected him to be. I was heartbroken. I sunk a good $470 into something I thought I loved. He had too small of a head for me. It almost looked off (though the sculpting on the face and detail was just amazing). Also he didnt seem to have extra knee joints so when I bent the knees, they just had a huge gap where the kneecap should have been.

This experience put me off dolls for a good year until I fell in love with a Luts Chiwoo Elf and brought me back into the hobby. You can't let a sour first experience bring you down!

 

My first doll is Volks Michael. When I saw his promotion photo for the first time, I just fell in love and I decided to buy him right away. giving time and money unsparingly to get him is toilsome, but It was well worth the effort.
since then many years passed(almost 12 years), but he is my lovely doll as ever. He is even more and more beautiful to me. I'm one of them who say that their first doll would stay with them even if they left the hobby. He is definitely a treasure for me, and this feelings never fade away with time in my mind, not even once. he meant the world to me and will always be with me.