Heya From Australia

Hey! Also an Australian, a heads up that our dollar is better against yen right now than USD so for some places that are Japan based it might be better to order direct from them rather than through a proxy that uses USD

 

Welcome welcome! There's a lot of information to digest when first entering this hobby, feel free to take your time and ask questions!

My advice would be to get a 'cheaper' practice head or two if you want to work on face-ups without worrying too much about costs and potentially messing something up.
However when it comes to the actual doll you want to get, it's not a bad idea to save and get the one you really want! There's nothing worse than spending money on something and being disappointed when it arrives.

As far as pricing goes, for conversions and especially shipping - if it turns out to be really bad (I know it all depends on where you are + where the manufacturer is) there's always the option of buying from fellow doll-owners in your home country. This is a bit harder to do here on DoA now that there is an application process for the Marketplace (more of a waiting game than anything lol), but some people host their personal sales elsewhere too.

On another note - what sorts of games do you like? Do you mind expanding on your spirituality? I'm curious, but feel free to answer (or not) as you like! XD

 

Hey ! I'm also relatively new to BJDs . I got my first doll back in April. I ordered sun ce military version from ringdoll ! Now, since the price conversion was ridiculous (from USD to CAD) I decided to go straight to their Chinese site and order from there (saved me a few hundred dollars) my wait time was not very long, once we got shipping figured out I took a couple of days to get to me .

He's beautiful and I love him so much ! The site was a bit of a pain to navigate but well worth it in my opinion.

I have just ordered another doll (through Alice collections, a doll leaves doll) and I'm also antsy on the wait time. I think I got a bit spoiled by ringdoll in that sense lol !

 

Oooo very cool! I love that when someone says 'gamer', it could be any number of different types of games. I do also play games! I primarily play anything that's heavily story-based, such as JRPGs and visual novels. Some of my favorites are Final Fantasy games (unsurprisingly lol), the Persona series, Pokemon, Hades, and various VNs.

Thank you for being willing to share! I know those sorts of things can be more personal, so I appreciate getting to see your viewpoint.

 

Welcome!
And hello from almost the opposite side of the planet : D

Being in Australia may help with shipping costs from some doll artists, companies, and distributors.

Slightly related fun fact: An older term for this hobby is "ABJD" meaning Asian ball-jointed doll. This is from back when the large majority of the dollmakers were based in Japan, Korea, and China. Now there are dollmakers all over the world so just BJD is what people tend to use when talking about the hobby as a whole.

Anyway. The point is that you should have cheaper shipping than western hemisphere people ordering from distributors like Legend Doll, and companies like Soom and Iplehouse, and a bunch of other dollmakers and companies based in Asia.

Welcome again and good luck with researching what doll/s to get!

 

If I could order all of "the order of the devil conquerer" doll series from ringdoll, I def would lolol. But for now sun ce will have to do (ngl I want to purchase his other version so bad though)

The doll leaves doll I ordered is "Matthew" he caught my eye because of, well, his eyes. Leilia is cute ! Her deer version is def cuter than the other version.

Ordering a mature doll was what I wanted to do for my first also, it hyped me up and was so worth it. I like the weight of the doll too.

 

I ordered matthew with the company faceup, I actually ordered his full set !

I also ordered the ringdoll full set, so with the company face up and its very nice

The photo doesn't do it justice really, but I'm very happy with it !

 

Hello to a fellow Australian (and video gamer)! I got into ABJDs a long time ago and have a few dolls home, but have been on hiatus for almost 10 years... until earlier this week(!) when the spark reignited. I'm kinda on a similar route of researching -- or in my case, rediscovering the ABJD world again. It's changed a lot since I was last involved, haha.

Best wishes for your research - I can't help much as my knowledge is very outdated and I've forgotten so much about the hobby. But maybe we can compare notes along the way.

Doll size seems to be the first point of decision... have you decided on what size doll you'd like? Large (55cm +), mini (30-50cm), or smaller? (10-30cm) Personally I like large dolls in the 60cm range - I dabbled a bit in mini dolls, but that size just doesn't do it for me.

 

I'm not sure. In the past I've logged into DoA maybe once every 1-2 years -- and only because I was spring cleaning my password manager, haha. But never really stuck around or thought about my dolls.

Maybe why this time is different, is because I'm currently in a slump from my main hobby of visual art/drawing, and my mind must be looking for something else to do while I'm having an art slump. I visited DoA a few days ago while spring cleaning my password manager (yes, really), and this time started thinking about my dolls. I thought about it so much I actually pulled them out of storage and set them up in my room -- and it was really fun! Here's hoping the dolls don't distract me too much from my art, I need to get back to drawing haha!

Many reasons... I like older (teens and adult) doll faces too, most of my favourite faces were -- and still are -- in this size. Then I fell in love with their physical weight, and their presence in the room. Their size just feels so substantial and assertive, you can't ignore them -- they seem almost like real people in that respect!

I bought a few mini BJDs because I liked their faces, but discovered that I didn't love them like I love my big dolls, they just don't have the same physical and mental presence. I'm gearing up to rehome my two mini dolls: after they're gone I'll be sticking strictly with 60cm+ ones.

Supia Dolls have been around for a long time in the smaller-but-mature space. I think there are more options for smaller-but-mature ABJDs now, than there was 10 years ago! You might find something, especially amongst the more niche/independent sculptors. The downside to indie sculptors is that they can be expensive. Definitely ask around in the "Medium Sized Dolls" discussion forums - there's a wealth of knowledge here at DoA.

I'm keen on getting into face-ups myself -- was never interested in the past, but now I'm interested because I'm doing visual art. It looks like fun.

 

ABJD meetups - that's a great way to meet other hobbyists and see a ton of dolls and aesthetics, and even get a chance to hold them if their owners allow. Unfortunately the Meetups forum here doesn't have anything - the Aussie community might've moved off DoA to Facebook groups or elsewhere...

Thank you. ^_^ We'll see how far I get with faceups - I'm good at making plans but not ultimately acting on them, yike... Best wishes to you too on your BJD explorations.

 

Welcome from a fellow Aussie!
If you're looking for smaller mature BJDs, there's lots of options around in the 45cm range these days. Meetups are definitely a good way to see dolls and ask any questions you might have. A lot of them are organised on Facebook these days, I don't have a FB account so I'm not sure of the group names, sorry!
I hope you find a doll you love.