Hey! After 5 years, I bit the bullet maybe a little too hard...

Yo, I'm Codie, an Australian who has been interested in these dolls for around 5 years and I finally made the jump from fully articulate dolls to BJDs.

I enjoy young adult dolls with boyish charm and expressive faces either angry, joyful or sad. I like 1/4 since they are easier to travel with. I only collect male dolls.

I have a lot of collections and creative outlets, so I use my doll for photography, display, and play that involves dressing up and grooming. I'm currently creating a little area on a big shelf for them with a closet for their clothes and hopefully furniture in the future.

I only intended to get one but unfortunately, life had other ideas.

I would always check Alice's Collections every 6 months but never thought of committing to something so expensive. I figured it was a faze but it indeed was not, lol. As an Anime figure collector, this just seemed like a natural progression.

First Doll:
Luckily, Ringdoll just came out with Zhao Yun 1/4. He fitted everything I wanted in a doll, not only was he from Three Kingdolls, but his sculpt also fitted a character I wanted him to double as (Another Chinese methodology-inspired character), he's in the scale I wanted since I prefer smaller portable dolls, he has narrower eyes that makes him look angry, and he has monkey ears!

He's perfect.

So, I got the full set of him.

Other Dolls:
I picked up another 1/4 BJD who's by an independent Chinese company which my Chinese friend was able to help me translate and get (Bless his soul). He's an animal-like one but he only has unique ears and sculpted eyelashes.

I also got into the smaller BJD blind boxes since they are cute and cheap.

Holy Grail:
I did not expect it to happen, but I also managed to get a holy grail of mine right after purchasing my first two BJDs.

I wanted a Monkey King BJD since around 2020/2021 (If you know why, no you don't). I never really vibed with the Angell Studio one so my only other option was the Luts limited release that came out over 10 YEARS ago. Only one has ever sold online on Mandarake so I thought I was fresh out of luck.

Until I randomly checked at 2am on the 7th of August and found one has been listed (I assume that day was only an hour prior due to Japan Time). I have brought limited things before but I've never been that stressed trying to buy something as quickly as possible.

It seems someone had sold their full collection of Luts into Mandarake and he happened to be a part of the collection. He doesn't come with his outfit but I really don't mind. You can still check the listing on Mandarake if you're curious.

I'm happy to say I'm the proud owner of a Luts Zuzu Delf MONG - MONKEY KING Limited.

Current Holy Grail:
Of course, my first holy grail with always be the Volks x Dollfie Dream, DDS Kagamine Len Reboot, which I unfortunately missed. I wanted the original since I was first introduced but it's always nice to have something to work towards. I've already gotten so lucky in my BJD journey and I feel truly blessed.

TLRD:
First Doll: Zhao Yun 1/4 (Fullset) | Ringdoll
Holy Grail I managed to purchase: Zuzu Delf MONG - MONKEY KING | Luts
Current Holy Grail: DDS Kagamine Len Reboot | Volks x Dollfie Dream
I also purchased an independent Chinese BJD.

I feel very lucky to have started the hobby the way I did and it's been a wonderful introduction. I hope this community continues to get young blood (It's fun to see it expand into TIktok). In the far future, I hope I can become knowledgeable enough to help other newbies to pay back for all the helpful resources I was able to find when I started my BJD journey.

 

Thank you for such a warm welcome! Happy to be here.
Mandarake is truly the goat. I think I'll need to keep checking it regularly now and who knows~

I do have some photos from a quick photoshoot I did with my new boy! I'm excited to share and improve.

 

Thank you for the welcome! I'll be sure to take a bunch of photos and expand my photography. I honestly wanted these dolls so I could expand my photography to more than just stagnant figures. (Pinterest BJD photos have a chokehold on me).

I'm tossing up what to do about outfits but snagging his outfit would be the dream. Commissioning seems like a fun idea to get him some unique outfits or have his accessories done. Maybe I should expand into sewing as another hobby.

I got scared off by the $1000 price tag as a teen and almost completely gave up on him. I'm shattered I missed his re-release but hopefully, his market price dips a bit now. I'm pretty tight about paying for Japanese times due to my figure collection hobby so I'd be hard press to pay anymore than his retail price. Maybe I'll just have to wait around for another re-release in five or so years.
(But I know I'm going to stalk those websites now, thank you )

 

That gives me more confidence then, if Miku as the most popular can go down then I'm sure Len will too (I'm guessing he's not as popular due to being a male doll). Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it. I would definitely prefer to buy him for cheaper and be able to spend more on accessories and sets.

Ahh, thank you. I'm glad you liked my photos, that means the world to me!