Your reasons for choosing your first doll?

I wandered around the internet looking at doll pictures for a couple years, and shortlisted my favourite companies and sculpts, but it eventually came down to me impulse buying the smallest, cheapest, and weirdest doll on the list because she was up for sale, I had the money, and I thought she was adorable. (She's a DC Ada.)
On second thought, that was a very silly thing to do, because she's flimsy, top-heavy, and almost too small to make clothes for, but she's precious, even though she's a brat and a pain.

 

I actually planned to stop collecting dolls when I became real serious about photography. Both hobbies were pretty expensive and over the time I fell in love with my camera more. After two years of not collecting, I stumbled upon Smart dolls on YouTube which got me curious about BJDs. I decided to check out the Fairyland website since I fell in love with the Minifees in tan. They just so happened to be having an event that was going to be over in a few days. I didn't know that they only had the tan option available during certain events. I put in an order for Minifee Chloe in tan a couple of days later. I didn't realize how lucky I was to purchase her at the right time.

 

I was at a doll show here in Houston, Texas. At that time I was only collecting antique dolls and was disappointed because I couldn't find one I really liked. I came to the the last row and the last few tables and was dumbstruck. There in a Boneka felt outfit looking cute as could be was a Kaye Wiggs Yosd Cinnamon. I tried to move on but kept coming back to stare, finally the seller told me if I wanted pick her up and look at her I could. So I picked her up and there went my heart. The seller explained to me about ball jointed dolls and after that I was hooked, line, sinker and bobber. Now I own many more bjds but I will never forget my first.

 

When I chose my doll it was hard. I had no idea what I was doing so I narrowed it down. First I decided I wanted a girl doll. Then I decided I wanted an MSD. After talking to my dad we both declared the doll had to be fully double jointed. And in fact we decided for my first doll to look for the chest and waist joints as well. Why pay for less when it cost so much and this was my first doll. This was really going to tie me into the hobby. So with all of that I had to decide where to buy it. I didn't know about Alice Collections at the time only Denver Doll and MintOnCard so I chose MoC. I then decided $300 was my limit. I then so happened to come across Angel Fantasy Alice and thought she was so cute. After much debating and not enough research. I finally decided to buy her and I have been so pleased since. I love her so much and she came to me in a way I had to learn some things. She was loosely strung so I learned to string her. Her head was floppy so I learned to use hot glue. She taught me a lot but she's al I could have wished for in my first doll.

 

*set the scene* *music*

So, I had recently fallen in love with Luts S65D Carmine, and nearly all of the other S65D boys but they were just too much money to even think of asking for. Also, I was a bit worried about their size but wasn't legitimately thinking of owning a bjd at that point. As I had just started looking properly into it after stumbling into DD's quite a few months ago but being told to forget about asking for one as they're so frekin' expensive. Though all the bjd's I had really loved had been male, so I really wanted to find a female doll that I really liked (except for DD's, and in a good price range) as I had seen a few that I had thought had been nice but not one that I had really liked.

So one day I was looking at Carmine and was just like 'I seriously need to find a girl doll that I like' so clicked off him and went onto the other doll catagories:
Senior delf: Meh (except for nihal, go figure)
Junior delf: Meh
Delf: Meh
Model delf: Meh
Kid delf: *was starting to loose hope* *scrolls down* *sees the new (newer) version of kdf Ani* *stops in tracks*

Me: *clicks* *sees pictures* *dies*


Yes, literally it was love at first sight, I immediately had to make up her personality and her name and everything. Though the awesome thing about finally finding a doll that I completely loved and knew I had to get it made me realise which other bjd's I also wanted to get, and which ones I only thought I liked because when you first start the hobby you seem to think you like everything that looks nice .

 

I saw my first doll (Pukifee Ante) on Etsy displaying some adorable cat ears. I messaged the seller and she was happy to tell me the company and sculpt of her doll. I knew I wanted a little doll, because for whatever reason I just tend to like littler dolls better. She's an awesome first doll because there's lots of clothes and wigs out there that fit her and because she's so little they tend not to be as expensive.

 

When I was sure I wanted a BJD I went into hardcore research mode and literally looked up all brands listed on the wiki! After weeks of going back and forth I eventually decided on DZ's Rosen. She's an affordable MSD that would look a little like me once I dyed her brown. Looking back now as I wait for her arrival, I wonder if I was overly methodical because I was entering a new pricey hobby.

 

I love dolls that are larger that 70cm, but such dolls tend to be very expensive.

At the time, I wanted to gage my dedication to the hobby, but I didn't want to spend a lot of cash.

I didn't want to buy an expensive doll only to realize that BJDs were not a hobby I would enjoy, so I looked at many companies.

In the end, I decided to buy a cheap 72cm ResinSoul Feng from Denver Doll Emporium, and I was glad to realize that I enjoy customizing BJDs.

 

I had always wanted a mini doll that looked mature enough so she could be a great poser/reference for me to practice drawing, but most bjd around me (or ones that I had known) were 1/3, and the other 1/4 were so young and chubby for my liking. And then I found out about souldoll soulkid, and then I made my decision almost immediately. It wasn't easy, I had to save up 2 months for her, but she was worth it.

 

I browsed online for about two months, with the guidance of a friend who showed me different retailers and taught me about different sizes and what all the terminology meant. I narrowed it down finally to a size (MSD) and gender (female), but was clueless for all the rest.

By chance, I came across the Spiritdoll Snowdrop, and was immediately in love. She's now here with me

 

Before I got my first doll, I remember browsing for months, and I even picked out my dream girl... who I still have not bought 8 years later, haha... weirdly enough my first bjd was yosd sized - a size of doll I'm not usually so interested in! I saw this really cute girl on ebay (she was also inexpensive which probably pushed me more to buy her), so I just bought her on a whim! After getting her, I loved her so much, I knew I had to save for an SD right away!

I ended up choosing a soom girl as my first sd doll because of the great price they used to offer on unassembled xmas kits, and I just had to have a big girl! Even though she wasn't my first choice, I love her so much, and in a lot of ways she feels like my best friend to this day but I do have to say it is a little intimidating to have an unassembled doll as your first large doll!

 

I was looking up bjds for a few weeks and then I seen an add on bjdcollectasy(?) and fell in love with the doll shown. It was a Ring doll Normal L 2.0, he was just absolutely gorgeous. It was like an imprint lol, I kept going back to him whenever I look for "cheaper" dolls.

 

I'm very picky with my dolls. It took me a few months of searching to find the one I wanted. I had to love everything about the doll. I looked through hundreds of dolls and nothing really struck me until I came across the Iplehouse r.Yur. But I wanted a smaller doll to start with, and I found the Iplehouse Tatiana. I sat on my decision for a few months and ordered a Tatiana. Owning her was such a pleasure I ordered a Yur before the month was out. I've owned my Tatiana for over a year now and she's still awesome.

 

I remember first finding out about bjds on Deviantart quite a few years back. People would take these awesome pictures of awesome-looking dolls. My interest was piqued, but I had no idea where they were sold. Fast forward a few years, and I found Angel of Dream. I wanted to have a physical manifestation of a character of my novel, so I was so delighted when I found their "Shi" sculpt, which is an adorable little vampire boy. I loved him so much from the picture that I ordered him right away. ^^

 

I usually choose a sculpt according to a certain character I have created beforehand. And that was the case of my first doll, she was my main character in a couple of short stories I wrote and I really liked her and wanted to give her a physical form.
So when I discovered the BJDs, I searched and searched for almost a year until I found an acceptable sculpt and bought her (a Little Elva Misora from DreamingDoll). It was a few months later I realized I had choosen wrong and I changed her sculpt for her current one (a Narae 412 from Bimong).

 

I didnt really know what doll i wanted when i first joined the hobby. So i just settled for one from dreamingdoll and i did love her but I eventually gave her away as a gift to my friend and she loves her so much which make me happy.

 

I can't really get into the idea of putting my characters into dolls since I draw them quite a lot, and I always see them anyway. I like starting off with a blank slate and seeing what sort of character develops from the character design I create. I find doing it that way for me is a lot more stimulating.

I have a certain aesthetic I like, so I'll usually go for dolls in that realm. I'll start creating the character design, and after I get a general idea, it's really easy from there. If I can't go through that process with a doll, I know I shouldn't get it.

 

Truthfully, I bought my first doll on a whim. She is a used doll and so I got her at a very good price. She is an Illusion Spirit Ying Ye. I was just getting into the hobby and didn't know whether I wanted a male or female doll but I knew I wanted a MSD. I ended up buying her and have never regretted my purchase. Although she is not new, she has no yellowing, no chips on her resin. Although she isn't from a more popular company like Soom or Iplehouse, I love her nonetheless. =)

 

Years ago when I found out about BJDs, I started looking for one that I thought would look good as my favorite original character, Teiwa. I decided on a Feeple65 Chloe and told myself someday I'd get one.

This year when I was talking to my mom about BJDs she mentioned I have a job now and that if I want one so much, why not buy one? I definitely had the means to save up. So I started looking into them again. I wanted to shell Teiwa first but wanted to make sure I didn't make a mistake so I looked through the entire list of companies on the wiki, picked my favorites, made a table with sizes, price, availability and "grades" on certain categories so I could be sure I was picking the right girl. I still picked a Chloe, imagine that, haha.

One of my finalists was an Angell-Studio Bai Ning, who I really liked but couldn't find owner photos of, but I then realized I only liked her from some angles. I was still unsure though so I constantly went to their site to check her pictures again. While I checked out AS' website one day, I saw they released Xi Shi and fell in love, even though she didn't match Teiwa. I told myself she'd be my second doll, but then AS had an event that made her fullset cost about the same as a blank Chloe so I changed my plans a bit, haha. I worried I'd made the wrong choice but when she arrived I loved her instantly. I'm working on getting her to look like another character of mine now, and also due to a nice coincidence ended up buying a Chloe, who I'll be picking up in the mail hopefully tomorrow.

 

Details and proportion are the most important factor.

Posability, color, etc is supportive.