Looking for doll no-buy buddies

New At this point, I don't even want new dolls, I just wanna collect doll bodies grrr! Passed on the plus-size Black Ship body because of too small neck girth and now Devotion Doll's muscle girl is back, and I fell in love with Spirit Mist Doll's beefy 77 male body...!

But of course I won't afford to start hybrids if I don't have OCs for them. Then there's also the long-term problem of needing to clothe these big bodies. My Evil Kermit asks: Do they need characters? Do they even need heads or clothes at all? Bruh.

(I'm going insane)

 

New @sageyufi Ahhhh, I feel that pain so much. I've become less and less interested in head sculpts over time, whereas bodies constantly catch my eye. There are some companies/dollmakers who do good engineering and I'd like to add their handiwork to my collection. And there are other BJD bodies that I want to play with for a while, to enjoy the aesthetic or the posing, but I don't necessarily want to own it for my collection. I just want to explore a doll I haven't handled before, especially one that looks like it'll pose well (like the Oil Painting body). If only there was a "BJD body library" (a la toy library) that I can check out bodies/dolls for a little while and then return... I guess that's what meetups and conventions are for Anyway, I don't let myself buy floating bodies, but I'm so tempted to sometimes. And nothing's stopping me from putting it on my body wishlist in case I find a head that needs hybriding... that's how I've acquired some of my hybrids...

Slowly, ahah. My living circumstances are still altered so my mental space remains rather cramped, but I may have room to stretch out again in about a month. In the meantime, I'm doing things suitable for smaller physical spaces, mainly small-scale photoshoots and faceups (I repainted some of my dolls recently, and thinking of repainting a few more in time), while my bigger photoshoot projects just gonna have to wait until later in the year. And I just got off my rear to take another step on a crafty project on my BJD Goals 2026 list, I'll keep chipping away at this.

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A recent no-buy success, though I wouldn't call it a "win"...

I tried to take action on buying that second 1/4 doll that I wanted - I asked the dollmaker if they still had stock of my desired head sculpt (the preorder took place over a year ago). The answer was No. I've tried "ask and you shall receive" in the past and was able to buy the dolls I wanted from the original makers... but it didn't work out this time. I was looking for a sneaky, easy excuse to take on a new doll project, and got thwarted serves me right! I'm on doll no-buy!

But I don't know, I keep waffling about this ... on one hand I want another 1/4 to be a friend to the Anpiel (my only 1/4 doll); on the other hand, neither the Anpiel nor my collection feels like it's missing anything, so do I really need this doll? Or am I just looking for a novel new thing? No idea. I think I've harped on in this thread about this 1/4 doll idea for so long, that I should probably just be honest with myself and put out WTBs, lol. I am now idly watching the secondhand market, if the head appears and the price and conditions are right, I might jump for it.

 

New

I somehow went through the opposite last week, thinking I'd want to thin my collection out even more and just keep one slim mini. I was already mentally preparing the listing, thinking about pricing, kicking myself for just purchasing a wig with kind of that doll in mind... Then I realised I'm only going through those thoughts because there's also this little novelty spark of "I could get another doll in its place maybe this sculpt maybe that sculpt " in there. Anyway, played with the doll a bit, absolutely keeping it, there is no way this transaction would have not made me spend *more* than I would have gotten back, lol. And I also know so well how annoyed I'd be if a doll doesn't have a "friend" of a similar size, or if I had to spend all the time to set up a new doll again. Why is the brain so hard-wired into acquiring new shiny stuff???? There is simply no need. I think I'm just trying to game my 1-in-1-out system at the moment, even though I decided on no more new-to-me dolls this year.


As for my previous wiglemmas, I decided it's time to get some actual proper wigs for the minis (I can make them myself, but they're not always as good as I'd want them to be) so I no-buy failed that one. Maybe having a better quality stash will unlock some kind of "shopping at home" so I don't look to buying little bits like this constantly because I'm unhappy with what I have at hand? My storage box capacity is not doing too well, though

On a positive side, I took a look at my 2026 hobby goals and I'm not doing TOO bad - I've gotten to check some stuff off as "done" and I haven't really broken any of the set goals (maybe bent a couple though). I've been getting better at reminding myself that I can also buy dolls "next year" if I really want them, and it helps to take the urgency away. On the other hand, it is really only March so we'll see how things go

 

New 20 years ago (yikes!) I began this hobby with the desire to explore fashion. I set about devising characters to wear specific styles and then shelled them, and began researching and sewing their wardrobes. It was fun, it was creative, I became the fashion designer of my young teenage dreams (as a, by now, little old lady!) Little did I realize exactly how creative and all-encompassing this endeavor would be. This year I managed to shell my very last character (one I’d actually given up on ever finding years ago) and I’m revitalizing an old, decommissioned character (that it turned out I’d dearly missed) by ordering her a more appropriate body ( thank heavens I never sold her very unique and irreplaceable head!) And now, as I’m planning the last of the wardrobes for a small handful of these dolls, I realize that…yes…I’ve done it all, fashion-wise. I’ve successfully come to the end of my fashion exploration.

So when I’m looking now at my various hobbies (which are many and creatively varied) and realizing that something has to go time-wise because I just can’t do it all anymore, it turns out that it’s time to let my sewing go…finally…after 2 decades! And I’m ready. I’ve done it all. I’ve lived out the dream. And I’ll just finish out the few remaining outfits before year’s end. Next year will be all about enjoying the fruits of my labors by dressing up my dolls more often in their wonderful fashions and just enjoying all the characters I’ve created through 2 decades of effort. No more sewing= more time for other fun hobbies while still thoroughly enjoying this one. And best of all…no temptation to buy more dolls! Win-win!

 

New (Un)fortunately, due to amounts I've already spent and space limitations, I would rather be an un-aspiring collector lol

I have a doll I've waited 8 months for finally coming home to me this week whose body I will swap with Cori (muscle girl upgrade!) then sell.

Now I'm on the cusp of pulling the trigger on getting a different body for my new Iplehouse EID man despite being absolutely smitten with the doll's body sculpt.

This character doll I'm trying to shell is The Sandman's Dream of the Endless. Canonically, he has a traditionally masculine, chiseled face but also a lithe body: low body fat percentage, cut-toned, graceful-looking rather than physically strong... and in my vision, slightly androgynous. I really like his face and body contrast! Admittedly, that's what drew me to admiring LLT's Brilthor because he reminded me of Dream in that regard, but I digress...

I've narrowed down to Dika Doll's Less Muscle 75 cm body (narrow shoulders version). He is hopefully suitable since the EID head shares similar head and neck girths to the Soom head in the promo pic.

I don't like that I have to scale up from 70 cm to 75 cm, but on the plus side, he should have no trouble fitting into most ID75 clothes. And I'm going to need a bitchin' Andinsky dark fantasy fit one of these days. Also looking forward to greater poseability.

If my brain worms are still wiggling by the end of April, I'll commit to buying.

In the meantime, I'm praying for warm weather soon so I may finally get my girls' manicures done and return to doll photography.

 

New

I know this is a very late reply, but it's something I can't seem to stop thinking of?

I originally thought that time didn't matter, whenever I bought it would be good enough. But I am realizing it does matter, way more than I thought. I would be very happy if someone went and bought all the old dolls on my original wishlist, or at least my favorite, the iplehouse barron, and gave them to me, but I wouldn't seek them out now.

I still remember barron fondly, if I had bought him then I probably would have had a history of playing with a beloved doll (or been very disappointed by my lack of face up skills and sewing skills, certainly didn't have much money or patience back then, not like I have ton of both now but I'm relatively much better). It could've been great, or not, I'll never know now, but I no longer want to know now? My tastes haven't changed so much as gotten much more focused.

I do recall thinking way back then, when I first considered buying a bjd: if only they made fully anthro animal dolls (not just animal ears on a person) with melodramatic face ups... and I found one last year and bought it... twice. I'm very happy to make memories with these new fox dolls and a cool dragon that I found for sale too.

I do still really like the looks for human bjd's that I liked back then, bought a couple heads that I might make into full dolls later for that reason. They are less expensive and take up less space and they match my 1/4 collection (plus they could just be the human head version of my fox anthro characters, so not another whole doll).

I'm attempting a no buy year because last year, a few months after getting my foxes, companies started releasing more 1/4 canine anthros... and I bought one each (only two total but still). While waiting for them to arrive, I ended up totally bonding with the dolls I already have, not sure how many more I want to own. I do know I will want a girlfriend for one of my foxes eventually, maybe both. But do I really want to get partners for all of them? I like having a small collection. Don't really want to double it. When they all arrive I will have the opportunity to see if I bond with any of the others. Which is why I don't want anything new for a while.