How did you discover bjds?

Many years ago my sister was searching for a doll that would be able to pose like a real person, and that's how we both discovered bjds. Of course they were far too expensive for us at the time. It took four or five years before we were able to save up and get our first minifees.

I remember seeing a photo way back then of an Iplehouse Carina wearing an ultra-realistic Renaissance dress, and I thought she was so amazing. I've been dazzled by bjds ever since.

 

I discovered BJD’s through instagram! I was already actively posting my off-topic doll collection and then came across some photos in one of the ‘dollstagram’ tags. Once I did some research I ordered my first doll pretty quickly and never looked back lol.

 

I was in a forum around 2004-2005 about these doll figures and someone put photos of their new Luts Ani in the off-topic section. I loved the jointed body and became fascinated. I started researching and lurking around for info and photos. I joined my first BJD forum in 2005 and took me a bit more than a year to be able to get my first doll (I got first the head and later the body).

 

I found an Jun Planning Ai at Goodwill one day and left her in my shelf for a few years before doing some more research into this type of doll and a few more years later, here I am.

 

For me it's a rather boring story I always collected dolls and in doll forums I saw some bjd pics searched it and here I am!!

 

I was perusing periodicals at a newsstand and saw Haute Doll magazine.I was intrigued by the Volks ads but it was the article about bishies with Dollshe Haute Hound and Bermann that pulled me into the hobby.

 

I had a friend who was into the hobby but was slowly falling out of it. She brought them up in conversation about crafts and I had never even heard of them before. The more she told me about them the more Interested I became and the more I wanted one. My Dolkot Abel came in the day I went to a convention and I was lucky enough to have someone drive him to me so that she could unbox him with me. I think seeing me open my first doll (even secondhand) resparked the hobby for her, and I’ve been collecting ever since in waves.

 

My great interest in anything and everything BJD's started with them way back 2007, when I watched their music video for the very first time from a local cable channel :



The year after, attending a local BJD meet further fanned the flames to the point that after coming back home, I finally took the plunge and ordered my very first resin dorrie.

 

My interest in BJDs... I got into the doll hobby properly through Monster High - like many people did - and I followed some blogs who posted a lot of that. One of them posted this beautiful doll - Dream of Doll E-An - and I was enchanted with it. Since then, BJDs have been in the back of my mind as a potential, and it took me a while to be able to get my first.

Very glad I did!

 

Through other dolls. I used to collect Monster High dolls, and people were talking about how "I love BJDs but they're so expensive!" I already owned a Pullip at the time (talk about expensive--and it's a pretty bog-standard vinyl doll at that), so I decided I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

Then I spent my 2014 tax return on Lucrezia and haven't looked back.

 

Danny Choo

 

Someone posted a picture of Iplehouse Aaron on Livejournal back in the day and I thought the doll was so beautiful. I started looking at other bjds and that got me into the hobby! TBF I have loved dolls since a child, and was actively collecting anime figures at the time, so bjds wasn't much of a stretch from that.

 

I've always loved dolls (Disney Dolls, Pullips and so on). My other hobby is collecting figues. It was because of this hobby that I found out about BJDs, as quite a lot of figure collectors also tend to have Dollfies. I wasn't too fond of Dollfies at first but then I found out that those are only the tip of the iceberg and that there are so many more different kinds of BJDs out there. Since then, BJDs became my main hobby/interest.

 

I've watched this YouTuber called Dollightful for a while and when I saw her video on customizing a Hujoo Freya and Hujoo Freyr doll, I was immediately hooked on BJDs. I wanted to buy the dolls myself, but now it's been harder and harder to find them. I never bought them in the first place because I was broke and now I'm saddened by how few there are to find. Hopefully, I'll find them someday.

 

For me, I was always someone who loved playing with dolls as a child. I loved dressing them up, and posing them, and acting out stories with them. I don't think I ever grew out of it, so it was easy for me to get into BJDs. I'm still saving up for a doll, but I still love browsing through all the dolls on different websites, and looking at the dolls other people have. Even looking at pictures of BJDs makes me really happy, because they're all so pretty. Now I'm curious how other people discovered this and got into this hobby.

 

I've always had dolls, as a child I drew pictures of my "dream dolls" which didn't exist at the time (1976-ish) which were highly articulated (I drew in the joints and everything - as well as my nine-year-old's drawing skills would allow) and continued acquiring dolls.

It wasn't until around 2004 that I happened across a picture in the second-hand-dolls-for-sale section of a website for Sasha Doll clothing that I realized my childhood dream dolls were now a reality. I asked about the doll (Dream of Doll, if I recall correctly) in the picture and learned of BJDs, found a little local (UK based) doll-forum that included BJD's and the people on there explained the bewildering terminology. Then I I started shopping around for my first BJD (he's the one in that little picture to the left of my post), a Luts CP Delf Chiwoo (the Elf Shiwoo I first latched onto was already sold out).

I still have a house full of dolls of all sorts, but now there are around 50 BJDs among them.

Teddy

 

I got into BJDs because I used to paint resin garage kits. Mostly anime characters! Then I started developing love and interest on figures, painting, characterisation, etc.
I saw two girls in a manga con in my country carrying their SD dolls around and I was fascinated! I approach them respectfully and they were super kind to me, explained a bit about the dolls and gave me a few websites! That was back in the 2006 I reckon? Long time ago! I'm still here

 

I wasnt too much into dolls when i was little, but as a preteen i was rewlly into Japanese culture (mostly anime back then)! So I was bored and Scrolling through blogs about Japan and anime, and pullip dolls popped up a few times. I thought they were weird and creepy at first, but after the 3rd or 4th time I decided to investigate and eventually I got one of my own. And yeah, from there I learnt about BJDs and got one at age 14.

 

I've always been a doll lover. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with porcelain dolls, and I learned everything about them. I had planned to start making them when I got older, but as it happens, I fell away from it as a teenager. I learned about BJDs when I was in college, but it wasn't in the budget. Now, many years later, the stars have finally aligned so I have the interest, money, and time for them. So, here I am!

 

My mom is Japanese so I've always had one foot in Japanese subculture. As a teen the EGL fashion movement was *just* beginning to gain some attention overseas with niche groups on BBS' and livejournal. From there I found Volks and the world of BJDs. Though when I started there really wasn't the variety there is today.

 

I started collecting vintage play dolls to replace my childhood ones. In 2001 I found out about bjd in the ot section on a forum for other dolls, they were still very niche back then I think so I did not look into them. 20 years later I was at a point of having my collection of other dolls complete, so I started looking for something else and remembered bjd.

 

Wow! I aspire to have a collection that big one day!

 

I'm an odd man out here. I was never really into dolls, so this hobby took everyone, including me, by surprise.
A dear friend of mine at the time got into it, and I try to know at least the basics of all my friends hobbies so they have someone to talk to about it. When researching, I came across faceup tutorials on YouTube and the customization aspect. I thought "hey, I could do that," borrowed a head from a friend, and lo! I could! That lead me into collecting my own dolls, and, after a lot of trial and error, I found my hobby love in collecting and customizing mostly semi realistic SD+ dolls.
I really like how this combines many hobbies, from sewing to photography, and that's probably why I've stayed hooked.

 

Like you, I’ve always loved dolls too and never really outgrew them. My sister heard of these dolls before I did and then I saw more at a convention and wanted one.

 

18 years ago a friend invited me to join a UK based doll forum that had sections for all kinds of dolls to be shared and discussed. One of the women had a daughter who was into BJD and did wonderful photos and stories. I was smitten and asked her lots of questions. In less then 5 months I had all my reborn, OOAK and similar dolls sold and I ought with those funds my first 3 dolls from Denver Doll. In stock Elf dolls. 2 girls and one boy. Thus began the adventure and after most likely buying and selling 600 most likley I have been in this hobby for 17 years and still love it.

 

I started drawing a lot more seriously as a teen once I had really gotten into anime - naturally, I also ended up on deviantArt to show off my digital drawings And from that, it was just a short stone's throw to BJDs as someone's images trickled through my feed... probably it was an image of DOD Shall or Ducan? I also vaguely remember a pen pal from a pixel art forum owning a doll. Although I was really obsessed for a few years, I never managed to save up enough and kind of forgot about the whole thing.
It was only in my 30s when doing a puppetry-related project that I remembered BJDs when looking for jointing references for marionettes... and then I bought a doll and joined DoA and then bought a few more and now I have 5 lil dudes chilling on my shelf. I feel like my teen self is really happy now haha!

 

{laugh!} You might want to balance it against how much space they take up.


I'm lucky my husband is also a collector so is fine with the amount of space that collections can take up. He reminds me I'll need to find space for any new doll I get, and I remind him whenever he's looking at a new sword or laquer box (and we both despair over space for bookshelves and artwork):

Teddy

 

When I was younger, I saw Dollfie Dream and thought they looked beautiful! (specifically, Beatrice and Maria). But I never bought any until recently

 

I was twelve (I'm 38 now), and I saw a brief advertisement in Barbie Bazaar about Volks' Super Dollfies. At the time Megu was the most popular, and when they described her as dark-haired and fair-skinned I wanted her. Oh, I wanted her. She reminded me of my mama, who at the time also had dark hair and fair skin (her hair is silver now, LOL). I'm no longer dead set on on owning Megu, but she was the one who taught me what ball-jointed dolls are.

 

Hey, I’m new here! I actually discovered BJD (Ball-Jointed Dolls) through a Photoshop speedpaint video of Miley Cyrus from around 2013. It was the first time I saw a BJD transformation, and it really sparked my interest in the doll community. I’ve been looking for the video ever since, but it seems to have disappeared! Have any of you come across similar edits or speedpaints?

I’ve been trying to track down a speedpaint of Miley Cyrus being turned into a BJD. It was on YouTube and probably posted in 2013. The video was edited with Photoshop and had a sped-up version of “Wrecking Ball” in the background. I thought it was amazing and it really made me dive into the BJD world. Anyone here know this video or similar content?

I’d love to hear how others discovered BJDs or any interesting videos or edits that inspired you to get into the hobby. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

For me it was also angelic layer!
After reading that manga i wanted a doll just like that and discovered BJD.
I couldnt afford them at that time but recently remembered them. Now that I own one they really have the same magic to them!

 

Hi! That’s so cool, I totally get that excitement! BJDs really do have a magical quality to them. I’m actually trying to find a YouTube speedpaint/timelapse from around 2013 where Miley Cyrus was transformed into a ball-jointed doll (BJD) — it was the only person turned into a doll in the video.

It’s been so hard to track down, and I’d love any tips or memories you might have if you ever came across similar edits back then.

 

Hiya, it's been so long I struggle to pinpoint exactly where haha but I assume it was a culmination of the below!
I started off with classic dolls like MH, Barbie, plushies etc. and naturally fell into the rabbit hole from there. I was also big into anime and manga so got around to reading things like Chobits, and badly wanted figures. I think Popovy Sisters had popped up on my recommended at the time too and it completely changed my perspective on what my original interpretation of what dolls could be.

From there I dug deeper, through mostly Youtube craft videos with face-ups and clothes. I eventually began to watch more and was amazed by how much there was to the hobby, especially the intricacy and beauty of it. Character customisation had been a big thing for me since browser flash dress-up games so BJDs really touched a part of me in seeing that become physically possible rather than just pixels on a screen.

 

Weirdly, by accident, I was looking for something better than an art mannequin. I stumbled upon Volks Dollfie Dream. Exploring more, I found their BJDs and was instantly captivated by them. Learning more and talking to my friend, she also liked the concept of BJDs and how customizable they are. We talked about making them into our OCs. So we eventually found Dream of Doll. We got the money we needed and bought our first dolls Bee-A and Too back in 2005.

 

I discovered BJDs from customization videos on YouTube. My favorite YouTubers are Moonlight Jewel and Dollightful

 

I can't really remember the details, but I'm pretty sure it was DeviantArt around 2009-2010 (I stopped using dA c. 2012).
I had some old pictures of Dollmore dolls, mostly the tattooed Glamor Models and Mettaa, and DoD dolls – I remember E-an, Camine and Shall – on my old laptop. My first BJD was from Dollmore, bought at around that time (Liebe Klum), but I never did much with her. I can't even remember exactly why I ended up going with Liebe for my first doll – my best guess is that the bigger, pricier Glamor Models were out of my teenage budget.

 

I also came to BJDs thanks to DeviantArt in the 2009-ish era. I was a middle schooler and big into the flash game dating sims on the platform at the time. One of my favorite game makers also had a flash visual novel-esque series where she made silly little shitpost storylines with her and her brother's figma collection. At the end of one, she featured a picture of the most beautiful doll I had ever seen in my life. In a haze, I stumbled down the bunny trail, desperate to learn who this doll was and how I could come to own one.

That doll was Dollfie Dream Sasara, and she changed the course of my life. Naturally, learning about Dollfie Dreams led me to Volks, which led me to the broader world of BJDs in general, and I've been here ever since!

 

I really like dolls since I was young. It is one of my dream to have a doll like that.

 

I adore dolls, always have. I obsessively watched youtube videos about vintage dolls and antique bisque dolls, which eventually led me into watching videos about doll customization. So I naturally stumbled across ball jointed dolls this way. And fell in love with them. I was about 10 at the time, I got my first bjd when I was 16!

 

So my first exposure was a rp on the pet site teripets! The person who started the rp was apparently heavily inspired by rozen maiden and used the official images from dream of doll tender E-An for their character, but since I'd never heard of either of those I found it incredibly creative and inspiring. Even though the rp didn't last long, it inspired my first two and most used rp characters for a while. I was a very young adult at the time and it inspired me to look up bjds, I remember falling in love with the iplehouse barron of the time for his realism and more adult look, and the soom ender anubis with the dog head, but there just wasn't many large anthros back in the day, he was really the only one I think? Anyway I ended up not getting any bjds because of the expense, I didn't have a job, I was in college, etc. Didn't get any actual dolls until last year, have full time job now which helps, and my most expensive was fullset that cost around as much? I think? as Barron, who was of course a lot cheaper than the limited anubis. I like the larger selection of the msd sized anthros available now, and the many cheaper options for the face up and sculpt style I like, so having to wait wasn't entirely a bad thing. More like serendipity.

 

I can't remember if it was Deviantart or Livejournal that led me down the BJD rabbit hole, but I remember seeing DOD's Homme Kirill and falling in love.

 

About 3 years ago (circa 2023), the lack of official merchandise for my favourite fictional characters made me get into customizing Nendoroid-OB11 hybrids. This was my first foray into doll anything and it was a lot of fun. I even made hybrids with 1/12 non-resin BJDs -- and this was just before the rise of blind box BJDs.

A few years later, I started creating new original fiction and fell deeply in love with my OCs. At first, customizing fashion dolls seemed like the obvious step up if I wanted more detail. I had told myself I would never consider resin BJDs just because of their price point.

I'm not even sure why I decided to join this forum in the first place. Maybe I thought I only wanted inspiration for my fashion dolls or to see what real BJD collectors see in something so expensive. But I stuck around to learn about the community and various doll companies. Up until that point, I might have seen a few BJDs in passing, but I wasn't interested in any anime-adjacent aesthetic larger than 1/12. My OCs in mind are less stylistic and more realistic. I took to finding their shells like a casting director.

Then discovering the likes of Iplehouse, SartoriaJ, and Raccoon Doll is when I finally started paying close attention. A month later, I found the my first perfect shell in SartoriaJ and another a month after that. I've since become a proud BJD owner and someone truly invested in this community