How did you discover bjds?

An artist/cosplayer I followed on deviantart posted a pic of them with their DoD Ducan and I asked her about him and immediately searched for him, saw the price tag and figured I'd never be able to afford one and would just admire them from afar and settle for and be happy with playline dolls. Now even though Duncan in his fullset eluded me, I still managed to collect ten not including my off topic bjds.

 

I saw them on DeviantArt! I don't remember what category exactly I was looking at, I think I was more generally trying to find plushie/playline doll sewing patterns and the like, and stumbled across bjd patterns and photography. I remember there was a definite like, scene phase going on with a lot of the dolls, but they looked neat. Even considered trying to sculpt my own (despite how disastrous that would be) until I realized the material cost wouldn't come up much below buying one...

 

I too discovered them due to Rozen Maiden haha. But I didn't know where to buy them. I slowly saw them as art refs on art sites over the years but still, no idea where to buy one. Then my friend messaged me saying she bought one and she dragged me into this hole lol.
I still love Rozen Maiden but laugh at how inaccurate they are. Like, them coming in suitcases with only ONE pillow for protection?????????? Oof

 

My friend told me about dolls. When I first saw It I said "Wow! This is not dolls, this is real people". After I tried to find some information about it, and I fell in love with it

 

I was involved in collecting vintage dolls from my childhood that I missed out on and one of the collectors posted in an OT section about bjd. I didn’t pay much attention to them because they were mature fashion dolls. This was back in the early 2000s so there was not a lot of selection then. Then another member posted a Lati Yellow in the thread and I learned that bjd weren’t just mature dolls. Even though I could not afford them at the time I remembered the name and came back to them last year.

 

I'd seen dolls being carried around occasionally at cons, but never felt comfortable/invested enough to go up and ask about them. Then a couple years ago I got into the series Mo Dao Zu Shi. I went full hardcore fan fast, and started scouring the internet for merchandise. Then I came across the Ringdoll sale pages for the two main characters. It was love at first sight, but both boys had sold out a few months before. I was heartbroken. But at the time I wasn't sure if the appeal was the characters themselves only, or if I liked dolls in general. But dolls were now on my radar. I started poking around and discovered that the BJD had a strong secondhand market, so it theoretically possible to get my hands on the boys. I dug deeper and deeper out of curiosity, and just started falling in love with BJDs as a whole. I discovered Smartdolls around the same time, due to following doll customizers Dollightful and DollFairy.
I still don't have my boys, and they are my grail dolls to this day, but the connection between the series that pointed me in this direction and the first dolls I fell in love with shaped my aesthetic. There are a few exceptions, like my scifi couple and my LittleFee, but most of my dolls look like they could be characters in the Mo Dao Zu Shi universe. Meaning my tastes run primarily towards Asian presenting dolls in historical or fantastical hanfu. Which makes buying clothes and accessories for them a challenge lol.

 

I heard it from news when I was in high school. I just thought they are so beautiful. So I looked a lot of information and fell in love with it

 

YouTube recommendations. I started by watching MyFroggyStuff’s repaints, then found Dollightful and Hextian. After a while, these pretty new dolls started to be recommended to me and I had no idea what they were. I clicked on the video, watched a few more off her channel (Nicolle’s Dreams), and was amazed.

 

I was in middle school, when my sister who was in high school at the time. Brought a friend over and she had a bjd. I was captivated instantly! From that moment on I started to do research and discovering the world of bjd! I saved up myself and got my first doll in like 7th or 8th grade. I didn't make my first friend in this hobby until a few years later! I am very glad to have found this hobby! I have been in it about 11 years now.

 

This.
My Mom collects reborn dolls and ordered doll magazines from everywhere. This specific one was casually hanging out by her bed one night and it caught my eye. I was completely hooked, utterly confused as to where I could acquire one of these dolls from, and obsessed with the idea of having one.

 

I really never knew about bjd dolls until I searched after many years of having in my head a pic of a doll I saw on a purse when I was younger many years ago. That picture got stuck in my mind and for many years I wanted at least a purse with a similar picture! I did my research for a long time and figured out they were BJD’s. I fell in love with them thru that one pic and I never thought I would own my own collection of this beautiful dolls. now my heart is happy but my wallet is crying

How cool!

This sound like me. Instead a magazine was on a purse. :-)

 

That's really interesting! On a purse?!
I can only imagine "WAIT, I NEED TO SEE YOUR PURSE! NO I WON'T STEAL IT!"
There was also an article on the original Hound sculpt in one of those magazines (I BELIEVE it was Hound) and I was in AWE at how realistic he looked after only ever seeing the anime styled dolls. It's so funny to think about now when we have such hyper-realistic sculpts everywhere and Hound is now on the more "semi-realistic" side.

 

I saw them around Otakon a few times & my mom loved them, but they creeped me out a little. Then I saw a mention of Japan Ai by Aimee Major-Steinberger in Shoujo Beat (I think?) in 2007, sought out the book because it sounded interesting, and within it she wrote quite a bit about Volks. I think she mentioned DoA in the appendix, I came here because I was intrigued, and I was promptly hooked. Saved up a bunch and bought my first doll (a Lati M) in 2008! I've come and gone in the hobby a few times since then, but I still have him

(Also am I remembering right that she was actually one of the founders of DoA? It was so long ago that I don't really remember clearly & I have no idea if she's still active here anymore).

 

I know right? But for real I even wish now I could have a purse just like that one with a pic of my grail doll on it … or all my dolls on it

 

Dude. I did a character reference search on Pinterest and discovered the most beautiful bjds. Punk rock, geeky and goth. They looked like real people but they were someone else's characters and that someone was chronicling their lives through photos.

I had to have one. BUT THE MONEY. I made myself promise that I would get one as soon as I had the money to spend on frivolous things. Which I didn't. I wrestled with this for a month, thinking about it so much that I literally dreamt about it. Then, one day, I found Mystic Kids and there on the net staring out of my computer into my soul was Kaito's face. He was made up to be adorable but I could see the set of that sultry mouth and the underlying soft boy sadness in those big greyish greenish eyes. Surely he must be at least £500 but no, he was only about £250, the cheapest legitimate doll I had seen and he was the ONE. AND HE WAS ON SALE!!!!

The rest is a descent into glorious bank account destroying madness. I bought a Doll Family A Max from Alice's Collections today because hey presto, there was Hayden and again he was AFFORDABLE.

 

Hii everyone Im pretty new to the hobby and was curious as to how everyone here got into collecting BJDs.
When did you start? How did you get into the hobby? What was your first doll?

As for me i just recently bought two dolls, Vincent from charmdoll and a second hand little sophia, Im really excited to meet them and cant wait for them to arrive. As for how ive gotten into the hobby I've alwayse loved figurines and for years ive always liked the idea of owning a bjd but never really dug deeper into it until now.

 

Welcome and congratulations on both of your dolls hope you share their photos

As for me I bought my first doll back on 2018 when I was in Tokyo and she was a smart doll infinity as I loved to collect anime figure as well. Yet didnt know anything about bjd
I later did more searching and found about bjd and and fall in love with resin doll as well. There where my obsession started

 

Second hand site in my country's forum?? (2013)?

Got cheated into buying a [Bleep]
So my first "legit" doll is a angel of dream chen then volks rengenmaru

My current team is 2X mia babylamb & ginger
Which bunch of incomings i will end up selling off
It took me 8 years to finally found a doll that i really fell in love with... I never understood how people "bonded" with their dolls till i met her ❤️

 

In 2017 I was knitting a doll for a grandchild and wanted it to have moving joints , a photo of a smiling real puki came up in an internet search for how to do that... and he became my first doll.

 

On DeviantArt back in 2005 or so, I saw this amazing picture and spent the longest time trying to figure out if it was photograph or a digital painting, because the “person” featured didn’t look quite like a human but the picture looked way too real to be a painting. Finally asked the artist what I was looking at and they told me it was a BJD from a company called Luts and his name was El. Went to the site and nearly choked when I saw the prices, put it out of my head because no way was I spending that much on a doll!

Early 2006, I see another picture of one of these BJDs and remembered how pretty they were and finally caved and got my first boy, a Luts Delf Moon. I ordered my first girl right after he arrived, a Dark Elf Soo. It’s been a downward spiral ever since.

 

Welcome to the hobby.
I personally got started 14 years ago. I was collecting other kinds of dolls but was not loving what little I could do with them. Then a friend in UK invited me to a doll forum that allowed all kinds of dolls and collectors. That is where I found out about BJD and after chatting online with the girl who shared her photo stories I was off and running. Sold all my other dolls and purchased the first bjd from Denver Doll, a Elfdoll Wu. It was love for the hobby. Now here I am after 500+ dolls bought and sold over 14 years. I am hoping I am finally settling in the hobby to where I am buying less and deciding what I do in hobby with them. I want fewer dolls that I do more with them each.

 

7 months ago when gem of doll robbed me for Gladys and Brock because my heart could not say no.

 

Welcome welcome!
I would say I got exposed in 2007ish. I got my first one second hand on here around 2010ish. Just a small Soom Mini Gem Idrial. Then in 2015 I got Nenad I think - again second hand here. In 2016 I got Soom Elf Dia and then their little Rick and I've just acquired ever since. I will say that I bought the most dolls during the pandemic - I had too much time to browse doll sites and go "Oh I want! Buy now!"

I also collect a lot of other figurines so I guess collecting things is just my hobby haha!

 

thank you and wow your collection is impressive!

 

Hi! Welcome! I got started in 2019. I was watching YouTube videos of Doll repaints by Hextian and got inspired to start a pandemic friendly hobby lol. I ordered a Feeple65 Angela faceplate off Mercari to practice on. I started researching artist sculpts and slowly began collecting and building my army of dolls. I found it very addicting and Faces were fun to dabble in.

 

I first found out about the hobby around 2002/2003, but I wasn’t able to afford my first doll until 2008. Until then, I just tried to satisfy my need for custom dolls with Barbie, Bratz and much later, 1/6 Obitsu. My first doll was an Angel of Dream Chen, and I still have him! He just turned 14, and though he is yellowed and has a few scratches by now, he’s still in good shape considering all he’s been through! He’s white skin, which looks more like a lovely creamy normal yellow now.

 

Actually I have Bought & Sold 500+ I only have 7 here at home finished somewhat with 3 heads waiting on bodies and one full doll waiting on as well.

 

I switched schools and my classmate who at the time had 2 introduced me to bjds and I immediately fell in love and purchased my first doll a few months later in june 2016.
My collection grew rather slowly but now that I moved out and have money of my own its growing rapidly haha. But Ill have most of the characters I want to shell now

 

Welcome to the hobby!
I was introduced to the hobby back in early 2010 by my best friend. Then, around August, I got my first doll, a Customhouse Ange Ai Gaby. (Actually, it was a twin project that me and my friend came up with. We bought them as a twin but I got the girl and she got the boy. What a fun experience!) Since I was an 8th grader then, my mom wasn’t happy about my hobby that much because she knew if I was passionate about something, I would spend too much money on it. (But I earn my own living now, so she doesn’t have to worry about this anymore lol)

However, I decided to let my first doll go because I wanted a bigger size. I wish I could have her back in the future though.
My second doll is a Luts KDF Maska. He just turned 10 years old in May and is still with me until now!

 

I'm a lifelong doll collector so (sometime about 16 years ago) when I learned that BJD's were an Actual Thing (instead of just the dream doll I'd designed as a nine-year-old, abck in the 70s) by seeing a second hand BJD for sale on a website selling clothes for a different type of doll. I started hunting around online and found a little local doll forum, where they explained the terminology to me, and I began hunting for my own BJD to buy. My first was bought second hand from eBay because that would mean I would see pictures of the actual doll and faceup I'd be getting, not just some generic company sales shots of a doll of that sculpt. Plus, no issues of dealing with a company in a country where English wasn't their first language - just in case the language barrier caused problems with my order... And no long wait for the doll to be finihsed and sent.

I went from thinking one BJD would be enough to having four by the end of the following year. Sixteen years on, have over fifty of them rangibng in size from just under four inches tall to just over 31 inches tall.

So my house went from being full of dolls to bering really overcrowded with dolls.

Teddy

 

I found the hobby in 2004-ish, I think? Joined DoA here soon after it became an actual forum, and bought my first boy, a DoD Wi, in 2005. I'd never had an interest in dolls before, but seeing all these cool guy dolls just excited me! Bought a SD size boy soon after my first doll meet, a Customhouse Chamomile. I still have them both, plus some fifteen or so! I made up for some lost time last year as I'd fallen out of the hobby for almost a decade.

 

I always collected and owned dolls, from when I was a baby, up to now. I was always tempted to customize them, because I saw Barbie repaints as amazing -- they seemed too small for me to try. Then in 2003, I saw my bff's collection of Volks (fashion doll line) Dollfie, and went to look for them online. I was excited to learn there were already blank dolls that were meant to be customized, but I stumbled across Volks' Shirou Tachibana instead, which was a LE Super Dollfie, already sold out at the time but I could still see his price tag and I went a bit crossed eyed. Lol! My first doll of "this kind' was a Volks DDI hybrid, with a CP/Luts VDES head sculpt -- I got the body first, in late 2003. I originally only wanted one vampire male doll, but those were super rare, or LE releases back then, with very limited options and aesthetics. I never got an actual vampire male doll, but I did get my fourth doll to be the vampire prince I always wanted. I only own six full dolls and nine floating heads now, and I don't have any plans on adding more (unless I am able to get a mature tiny before they discontinue them, I keep hoarding OT figures, dolls, and random toys). I'm happy with the ones I own, and haven't purchased any new ones in the past eleven years or so, and I feel like I don't have to (I still hoard dolls, but I have no real interest in adding more resin BJD ones to my collection). (:

 

I first learned about BJDs back in late 2005/early 2006 when I found "Haute Doll" magazine at a local book store. I introduced BJDs via magazines to my best friend who in turn found DoAs. Told my boyfriend/now husband at the time about BJDs and he bought me my first one in July 2007 at the Volks USA Showroom back when it was in Torrance. He got into the hobby after that moment and got his first one about one year later.

For me, I've always been a collector of something (antiques, books, stationery, Star Wars memorabilia, stamps, etc) and my family on both my mom and dad's side are also collectors of various things, so it runs in our blood. I think though it started with porcelain dolls and Barbie but I struggled finding a doll that looked similar to my family members and myself. ABJDs were the closest I could find back then. Now, it's amazing to see the variety out there and it makes me happy to think that my own nieces and even my best friends' kids could have dolls that could represent them when it wasn't that long ago where nothing represented what I looked like.

 

I had been a casual doll collector for years, and was vaguely aware of BJDs and I thought they were beautiful but assumed all of them were way out of my price range, since I didn't know much about it.

It was around the end of 2020, I had sold off a bunch of stuff from a different hobby so I felt with that bit of "disposable" money I might be finally ready to take the plunge and get "just one" BJD to try it out. It was during lockdown and seemed like a good indoor hobby, too. Customizing my BJDs got me more into character creation and made me realize I actually really like doing faceups, and now I do playline doll customs as well, so BJDs helped me love my entire doll collection so much more.

 

Hi and welcome!!
I saw a dollightful video on YouTube in 2019 and started consuming an overwhelming number of doll customising videos. Some of these creators had an overlap in bjds (Kosomolski Dolls, dolllynx etc.), so that's where I first discovered what bjds were.

I started customising MH dolls, but didn't like their unrealistic proportions and limited posing. So decided that saving for a bjd would be a better option. When I saw Doll Chateau's baby doll Gail, I knew I had to have her

 

I've always had a fascination for dolls growing up, specifically the porcelain ones that both my mom and grandma collected and had 2 of my own (and some more now). Then there was the anime Rozen Maiden who just added more to my love for dolls.

I first got into the BJD hobby back in early 2011 when one of my friends got her own doll and I was so fascinated by it. Think there was also this Shojo Beat magazine I bought around that time that had a small story about this hobby also that probably also sparked my interest. My very first doll was Qian from Angel of Dreams. And about 6 months after I received her I got my second doll a Grey Murong from DikaDoll. Took a long break for about 6-7 years and then got back into the hobby by my other friend in early 2019.

 

I've been observing the hobby since maybe 2015 but wasn't able to afford getting into the hobby until last year. At the time I was only 15 and didn't have the money to prioritize it. I was kinda discouraged for a while because the few times I ever mentioned it to people I was laughed at for it or made to feel weird, but as I've gotten older I stopped caring what other people think.

 

lol I remember them popping up on my tumblr feed once like 6 years ago and it was just a rabbit hole I fell into

 

I want to say the first time I saw them was in the Gothic and Lolita bible, or something along those lines... somebody was holding a Volks doll, unsure of the sculpt, in a matching coordinate and needless to say I fell in love

 

I think I must have seen pictures of dolls on deviantart in the mid 00s, like, moody photos of dolls with thick glasses and black band shirts and chunky sweaters. I hadn't ever seen anything like them and I thought that they were beautiful! I lurked around the da doll community for a few years before I actually got my first doll.

Oh that's so fun -- my first doll was an AoD Rao at about that same time! I've been considering trying the dezombifying serum posted here on him although the yellow he's turned is quite cute.

 

I discovered bjds through Pullips in about the middle of 2010. At the time I wanted to collect all the Rozen Maiden Pullips then I saw and clicked on this video on Youtube:
I was so enchanted by the dolls in that video to say the least (heck, I sure didn’t forget that video either and it’s been over ten years!) And the rest is history as they say! Lol

 

I don't exactly remember but I think my cousin had asked for a Pullip Doll for one of her birthdays and I remember really liking them. I later bought myself two. During that search I found that many pullip collectors also collected BJD's and I think I fell in love immediately with Fairyland dolls.

 

I used to go to many Visual Kei and Anime conventions and saw BJDs there.
I became interested many years later within an art project at university where I suddenly thought I should try sculpting one.
But what got me into buying one was that again many years later when I was collecting 1/6 scale hottoys figures (mostly Marvel) there weren't any Supernatural dolls.
I wanted to have Dean Winchester and found his BJD head. I bought a Dollshe body then. It arrived one year later and I had changed my mind, realizing an OC instead of Dean.
What got me in the hobby completely was being able to get a doll I didn't ever dare to think of.
My love for him made me want to have more dolls.
I was a slow burner, but today I can't get out anymore. It's my no.1 hobby and the dollamount increases ...

 

Dolls were my gateway drug to...well, more dolls.

Almost 100% sure I first saw a blurb in Barbie Bazaar magazine around 2002-2003. (They used to have a tiny section introducing other dolls and I am fairly positive Volks Megu was featured there.) Joined DoA in 2003 when it was still a Yahoo! group, found the Volks website (all in Japanese, of course) and was shocked at both the price and how difficult it was at the time to purchase a BJD outside of Japan or Korea. Gave up the idea for two years until I had a steady source of income (I was still an unemployed high schooler back in '02-'03), rejoined DoA (now as a forum!), and found that BJD dollmakers were beginning to sell to the States. Purchased my first in 2005 and haven't stopped since.

Thanks, Barbie!

 

browsing the internet for I think photo references and I came across them and after I saw the price I said "NOPE!" And never looked back at them until several years later when I moved to Colorado and made a friend who had them and then purchased my first two dolls.

 

Crap. Thats so many years ago now (i feel old all of a sudden)
I saw one at a japanese pop-culture con maaaaaaaany years ago (think more than a decade ago)
It took me a few years before i finalyl decided to get my very own though. I've had my first doll since i was 18 by now.

 

Someone on a music forum I followed in middle school had one! I was in awe, but obviously as a 12-year-old I couldn't exactly order a fancy expensive doll on my own.... so I waited until college, when it occurred to me that nobody could stop me from ordering a doll if I could afford to do so.

Which I could. I have accepted my fate as a Crazy Doll Lady. I have dolls All Over The Place. I regret nothing.

...well, okay, I slightly regret not carefully vetting a couple of them carefully enough. But they are still good dolls. I regret almost nothing.

 

I’ve always loved dolls. I like playing with them and collecting them, just everything about them…

One day I was doing an internet search for my ideal doll. I had decided my ideal doll was jointed, maybe antique, so that left me with searching wooden and bisque dolls. Finally, I just happened to stumble over an image of an old Volks dolls.

I was immediately surprised with how it seemed to be my ideal doll, the doll of my dreams. I remember that I didn’t even know what resin was at the time I still remember how shocked I was to learn that there were different companies and doll sizes! I even remember swooning over the clothes and wigs (I didn’t even know you could change doll wigs). And then, I took the BJD plunge and learned everything I could!

 

I was 11ish and browsing DeviantArt when I came across the story account of a BJD owner. She had multiple dolls that were interconnected in an elaborate story, which got me hooked as I was definitely in my story telling phase and they just looked so cool! My favorite was a Pukifee that she had, but now I prefer Lati Yellows

 

An anime magazine had a short article about them. I immediately had to go online and see what they were like. It took me years to admit to myself that I really wanted them to myself.

 

I was on a Sims forum in 2006? 2007? And someone asked about a BJD skin - which lead to a BJD discussion thread, which lead to me seeing pictures of peoples dolls and going "WHAT ARE THOSE". First dolls I saw were Dream of Doll. I looked at the price. I closed the window. And kept going back to look at them. Eventually made my way here, where I was looking at so. many. gorgeous. dolls. Until I finally gave in and bought one.

 

When I was in college I used to do character commissions for people on flight rising, and one of my commissioners recommended me to a friend of theirs who had a character they wanted me to draw that was based on a bjd they owned. I remember being really curious about the whole thing then, but not investigating much into the details, though it did make an impression on me. Finally, years later, I decided to order a nenderoid doll of an anime character I really like, and then that sort of stirred up memories of bjds and how cool I thought they were back the, so here we are at last haha

 

Resinsoul Ya was the first bjd doll I saw on the Internet (2014). Those days I didn't even know the classification, then I found Alice's collection site and discovered the whole new world of them.

 

I was at a comicon in 2005 or 2006 (I got a free poster for the film The Science of Sleep) and I was very small and had a lot of difficulty coming to terms with my sexuality, so I consumed any media that had the faintest whiff of same gender attraction. I saw a man with a Super Dollfie that was shelled as Yomiko Readman from R.O.D and promptly lost my entire mind. I got directed here and I hung out wordlessly for a very long time, long enough to see the birth of Doll Chateau at least. It was an interesting culture then.

 

As a kid I've always liked dolls and always wanted "nicer" ones since, so it seemed almost natural that I had eventually discovered BJDS. I had seen images of BJDs here and there and have heard of them through anime and otaku culture but the first time I saw one in person was when I was in college and an old friend of mine had brought one in to class. Seeing the pose-ability and finding out the customization options had drawn me into the hobby. About a year later I had purchased my first doll and I still love her to bits ^^ Throughout college I had used her to help me with poses and helping understand space with a figure in a composition and while I wasn't super into the hobby at the time in the "traditional" sense, it kept me interested up to this day and now I can say I'm here and back to stay :'3

 

I was like 15 at the time when I first got into BJD's... thats many moons ago considering that I am now 30. However I have always been into anime/manga/etc. I believe I was on ebay looking up something related to Lolita fashion brands based in Japan and stumbled upon a Volks bjd with a Lolita outfit. I don't remember which doll it specifically was but I was hooked from then.

As someone who also got back into the hobby I got reintroduced to BJD's from looking at my old photobucket account and lo and behold I still had some pictures saved from when I stopped collecting and I was like yeah... I remember that niche hobby! I should get back into that! I miss dolls!

 

A person I followed on social media posted pictures of her dolls and turned me on to Luts. This was... a year ago now?

 

I think I was looking at decora makeup on Pinterest and I saw some dolls that were painted by elfgutz (on Instagram) and I thought they were so amazing. That pretty much started an obsession with bjds and I found so many amazing artists that just made me love them more. That was a while ago and now my small amount of free time is spent working on dolls.

 

I have a Barbie Instagram page and I saw a doll on someone's post and was blown away. I can't recall what doll it was, but it was so poseable and had such a great face, I had to find out more. So I bought two used dolls and am getting a new doll who will be here in a couple of months.

 

tbh, the first impression when I saw my cousin's BJD was negative. I thought only seven or eight year olds would want those dolls. It was a slap in my face when I discovered Enchanted Dolls! Although their eyes seemed a little creepy to me at first, I was fascinated by the level of detail Marina put into them. Then I got into more research and found a new hobby!!