Price Aside, what intimidated you about BJDs

Then: Stringing

Now:…stringing
(and now also yellowing. I’m afraid to get certain resin colors in fear of significant color change)

 

Best cure for that is to educate yourself about what causes yellowing and fading and about different companies and their history of how their colours change over time. That way you can make educated decisions and you know what to expect and there will be less need for fear.
A slight tonal shift over time is unavoidable, but it's unusual that it goes as far as to beome unsightly. My oldest doll is well over a decade old and she has gone from a stark paper white to slightly off white, for example. If I didn't say she used to be lighter, no one would ever guess she had changed at all.
Uneven and and drastic changes can often be prevented by making smart decisions for display and storage.

Radical colour changes such as the old Iplehouse Tan turning green (due to red pigments not being as light fast as they are today) or the now (in)famous "Beauty Green" (due to oxidization) are not common and even less so in more recent years, as the materials are better understood and casting techniques constantly improving. Not to say that it's entirely impossible, but it is extremly rare.
So by all means, be aware, but don't let it limit your enjoyment of the hobby.

 

for me I think it's maintenance and yellowing that were most intimidating - and restringing tbh. I already managed to chip a tiny bit off of my boys wrist when adding kips ( I didn't hold onto the hand as well as I should have, and the hook snagged on the resin) and it has me paranoid about next time lol.... hopefully won't have to think about that again for a long time yet.
my boy is very new, so I'm still in the discovery phase for a lot of stuff, too. I did so much research but actually doing things with a real doll has certainly changed up some of the things I was worried about vs things I hadn't considered prior to receiving him!
but for the most part it's a lot less intimidating now that I'm getting some hands on experience.

 

An item that is a deadly combo of large, heavy, expensive (plus customs), fragile, and made-to-order, travelling across the globe after months of waiting for it to get made... It's so stressful.

 

When I started, I was in awe by all the artistry involved in the hobby. Loved all the custom face-ups. Eventually, I bought a blank doll head and a cheap one for practice, figuring I'd give it a try. A decade later... said head is still blank, and the practice one looks terrible.

It's a bit intimidating, seeing all this great art stuff, because I can't really contribute. But it doesn't bother me much: I'm happy just collecting and looking at everyone else's awesome projects.

In the beginning, I used to be really, really scared of yellowing. But after 10+ years my dolls look fine to me. I guess keeping them in a dark space really works. (Still a bit scared, so I won't ever change their storage.)

 

@brickcat It's a bit hypocritical of me because I'm getting new dolls with faceups done, but when it comes to other people's dolls I always end up liking the ones that look like they have a history of being owned by someone the best. The squeaky clean professional side of the hobby is great, but the dolls I love seeing the most always show trial-and-error, restoration efforts, custom jobs, sometimes even damage or defects. My favorite doll photos were obviously taken with a phone.
Doesn't mean I like faceups scribbled in with a sharpie, just that love and dedication have a presence of their own even when the end results aren't as polished as what you see on the internet.

 

The posability! When I first started, I was enamored with the dolls with strange sculpts, like Doll Chateau dolls, or Island Doll's Alice, and while I quickly got over the price and fragility because a friend had introduced me to the hobby, what I was NOT expecting was how kicky or floppy or just plain difficult to pose these dolls could be. I was used to Monster High, and the fact that sometimes these ones couldn't even sit was really discouraging. I probably would have quit entirely if my Dearmine girl wasn't so well engineered, or if I hadn't found vinyl dolls in time.
Nowadays I'm very careful with which resins I pick up. They have to really wow me, and I have to take a close look at how they're engineered before I'll even consider them...which is why I seem to go for small or animal resins, these days, because they're sturdier and less likely to fall and freak me out. Modding magnets into their feet (an idea I got from Obitsu dolls!) has also helped immensely - at least now I'm confident they can stand upright!

 

Makes sense to me! I kind of feel the same, actually. I don't just appreciate the perfect/pretty stuff.

I guess it's easier to see the good in other people's work. Love and dedication, as you put it, really do shine through. (My own work makes me focus on the flaws too much, but I'm always happy with the factory face-up.)

 

Now that I have one, it's definitely fear of damage. Today I was changing eyes and while I did make sure to be over somewhere soft, I realized my thumb was squeezing on one of the ears while I was pushing the eye putty in, and I got the cold sweats (I had moved my thumb away from the cheek's face-up a second before). Then while I was trying to close the gaps in the eyes and adjust the line of sight I felt the "grind" against the resin and realized I was pushing too hard. I got really paranoid that I might have cracked something. I am rationally aware there's a ton of pressure from string tension going over much thinner pieces but I constantly expect to see cracks and resin chips flying as soon as I handle her with a little more force. I can't wait until this feeling goes away, which is partly why I decided to remove the head and change the eyes on day 2 even if I really didn't feel like it.

 

Ok so mine was just buying in at all. I always have buyers hesitation so the traditional pre-order system constantly lead to me never buying a doll. Ive got to have weeks to think, it has to be right and I never owned a bjd so how was I meant to know if I would like them? The magic of the second hand market allowed me to find project dolls and sculpts. Found out I do indeed love bjd’s

 

Restringing dolls. I haven't done it with any of my dolls yet, but I know I will need to eventually. It's also the reason why I avoid certain dolls. I see all the extra parts and joints they have for better posability, which is great, but then I think about how difficult it might be the restring them.

 

As a new collector, the major concern for me is decision paralysis over too many aspects of customization. Like do I buy this wig or that one, these cheaper clothes or that gorgeous expensive full set, that sculpt or this other one? Will I still love this doll once I have it, or will I end up disappointed with some aspect of it and instead find myself drooling after a new sculpt that shows up?

Hopefully the longer I go with the hobby, the easier this will get for me. (Also not spending too much early on and overdoing things is legitimately a worry.)

I probably don't know enough yet to be afraid of restringing, but I'm sure my time for that will arrive, lol. Or else I naively assume my crafty husband can handle that for me, which is hopefully something he doesn't mind doing. But he does woodworking and some blacksmithing for fun, so I suspect he'd find the physics of restringing a fun change from what he usually does.

 

Wigs and faceups! I'm still learning

 

This is going to sound strange but, buyer's remorse. I have had several other hobbies where I've made impulse purchases and regretted it. I've gotten a lot better, and the price helps stop me from impulse purchasing. But I've been afraid of getting a doll and then realizing I don't like the hobby.

 

Restringing sounds terrifying. Especially my doll with a ton of joints. I worry that I would put something back incorrectly and cause stress fractures in the resin. I hope I don't have to restring her for a long long time.
I also get intimidated by taking "nice" photos of my dolls. I am not the best photographer and sometimes worry my photos "aren't good enough". What does that even mean!? LOL. I always try to remember that as long as I am having fun, that's all that matters.
Lastly, I am also very scared of breaking a finger. The fingers are so long and thin, I worry they could easily get bumped and break off!

 

Kind of related to the price, but I thought since they cost so much they would also be super fragile. I was also not sure how I would display them (I was use to seeing mostly 60cm+ dolls). Now that I have one and discovered the MSD size, that isn't a concern for me anymore. They are just the right size to display and I'm not at all afraid to handle my doll.

 

Strangely fingers don't scare me at all. Even when I'm using jointed hands which are definitely fragile I just feel like being a little more careful. Actually the ears scare me more because I tend to push on them sometimes when I'm putting on a wig or taking off the head. But when I accidentally touch a sealed area around the brow with my comb or a finger? TRAGEDY. HORROR. DEFCON 1

 

The cost and size, at first. As a kid, my fav doll size were the 6" Sailor Moon dolls and other small dolls like that; I kinda had to get pushed into mature 1/6 scale because I wanted to make OCs and at the time, Obitsu and Volks offered blank mature 1/6 dolls whereas good and accessible 1/12 offerings from stuff like Figma, Revoltech, etc didn't exist yet. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do SD or MSD and I didn't want to blow a ton of money on a size I didn't want (especially since the head I've been considering for an OC of mine wasn't available in MSD until late last year). Occasionally seeing BJDs at meetups and cons didn't really help push me one way or another either - I needed to really be able to just interact with/cuddle/sew for a doll on my own time and terms rather than just kinda seeing them for a couple hours.
But then I realized I could 3d print an SD, and that if I made him a pumpkin man, then he's a Halloween decoration if I hated his size. I don't hate the size, but I kinda hate how much fabric it takes to sew for that size and he's still big enough that I'm not wild about the size, so that helped me finally land on MSD being the main size. I still like him though, and with my crew being mostly fantasy creatures so far, him being bigger than the rest works fine.

Now I mostly worry about ears and faces getting damaged; one's got elf ears and my DollZone MiYou's fox ears are magnetic and sometimes fall off/get knocked off.

 

YES! YES! YES!

 

-They're relatively delicate sculptures. Staining and chips and breakage can be common, so I am always paranoid about where I keep them. Can't having them sitting down on dyed cloth for long, etc.

-ANY sort of modding chops down the resale value by lots. So I am always put off from extreme modding my dolls

-No garage kits whatsoever this is what gets me the most. All other customization hobbies I participate have garage kit culture... just not here somehow?? It frustrates me lots. I would be a much more active buyer if companies offered garage kits. They're great, affordable and raise the bar on creativity for artists

-The recent aesthetic for male bjds is big buff muscle man. Not my taste, so I've been out on a lot of recent body releases

-The communities can be a little.... strict. That's all I'll say on the matter.

-Importing drama. Gods... where to begin? It's always a stress everytime. Until the doll is in your hands, it is at mercy of whatever warehouse person bounces and kicks the doll box around. Sometimes I'll refuse to buy from a company solely based on the shipping methods they employ (even if I might love the dolls)

-Like others mentioned, I also really dislike stringing a doll. It's such a hassle and kinda hard to do alone. I always postpone it the most I can

 

Some independent artists do garage kit bjds, but they're usually 3d printed so they're off topic for DOA (though not always off topic in other places).

 

Yes, I saw those. I really like them! But I wish more shops did.... Iplehouse does those sales of "defect dolls" under a lower price and it's vaguely similar, but not exactly the same as garage kits

 

When i started the hobby, what intimidated me the most was the shipment: i was sooo afraid that my order would be lost somewhere, nowhere to be found.

Now, what i fear the most is recast. I was scammed few weeks ago by someone who sold me a recast doll as a legit one. Even if i am a lot more distrustful now, i fear to be scammed again.

 

Can you do something about it in this kind of scenario? I assume you should be able to claim that as fraud and get your money back?

 

Thank you for your concern ^^ The case is in progress, i've done all that can be to prove the scam. I just have to wait for now and keep my fingers crossed. I should have some news soon ^^

 

@Lady Gabrielle I hope that solves in your favor. I confess the idea of this sort of situation happening isn't even in the back of my head.

 

For me it is definitely the fact that I was scared into being to careful with my dolls, which ended up with me barely taking them out of the box

 

Interestingly, the opposite of this was part of what kept me out of the hobby for so long. That and price. I was a Lego kid and believed that all dolls came unstrung (why shouldn’t they? So much easier for shipping) and I was confused on how to string them. If they were so expensive, what would happen if I received it and couldn’t put it together?

 

Doll nudity! I was brought up in a modest and conservative household, and though I knew they were anatomically correct, I was still daunted from getting my doll for some time. Subsequently growing up as an artist, the fright of nudity has died down, but I still feel awkward toting around my nude doll whenever someone else is around and I'm occupied at the sewing machine.

What worries me the most now is how unreliable the postal services are post-covid (pun intended). It doesn't help that a recent package I received was open, but luckily, no item inside had fallen out or been stolen.

 

I've been fighting this too. I've even considered using gloves to handle my doll at some point but I don't want to be so aseptic, so I just wash my hands.

 

The etiquette of the hobby intimidates me. I don't want to show off my doll inappropriately to anyone or post the wrong thing about her either

 

I would say: either restringing a doll, or doing their faceup yourself. I'd be very afraid of breaking or ruining my doll.

 

For me it was caring for the dolls! I'm always scared it would need restringing, de-yellowing or any kind of damage due to aging. Strangely I'm also nervous when I do face-up for my own collection

 

It didn't intimidate me, but I put off getting a doll for so long because I was worried it'd be just another thing adding clutter. I was worried I wouldn't love them or ever actually do anything with them.

 

I feel that! I had the same doubt but when I changed her outfit and took the first photos of her, I fell in love and is a vital part in my everyday life now.

 

The size was the big one for me, I was worried that they would be too large to easily handle and I wouldn’t do anything with my guy, but now that I have my msd guy getting a SD is increasingly tempting lmao.

 

That's precious I'm glad I'm not alone in my worries, and that they were completely unfounded for both of us!

 

For me it's yellowing ! Most time they just hide in the shelf, and I also avoid buying dolls that yellow quite quickly..

 

Im still very new to this hobby but I was scared of them being fragile. My only experience for expensive dolls were porcelain so I always assumed expensive meant fragile. And watching videos of people unboxing or doing faceup with gloves “confirmed” they must be so fragile human skin shouldn't touch them for too long.

I know they are more durable but it was a major reason I didn’t invest in one until recently.

 

I was scared that I'd get addicted. I get obsessed with things and go nuts. I have about 50 dolls now so that fear was valid! I also worried a lot about resin matching when I first started in the hobby and was buying heads and bodies separately because I couldn't afford full dolls. It still worries me! I have a Leeke Arien head that I want a new body for and I'm just like ugh.

 

Hahaha resin is relatively durable but sadly the makeup is not that durable especially the body blushing

 

definitely the stigma surrounding dolls, i got into bjds as a pretty young teenager. but i was at the age where i wasn't supposed to "like" dolls or toys or whatever anymore.

i had a lot of trouble accepting that its okay to like them (and i still do), but i try to think of it a bit differently now. i try to think of it more like "sure, this may be an uncommon hobby. but you like it, and thats perfectly fine"

it also helps getting friends that love and support your interests! that helps a lot with that stigma

 

Other than price, I was intimidated by their fragility (which I now know I greatly overestimated), the number of things I'd need to "complete" a doll (the right eyes, wig, clothes...), and honestly, just opening the door to a very expensive and potentially overwhelming hobby. I was also worried that I'd lose interest after buying a doll, because the dolls themselves don't actually do anything. But since getting my BJD, I've been much more motivated to do crafty things for her; in fact, she's the very thing that got me to finally start sewing. I've also had enough hobbies over the years to know that interest/engagement in a hobby can ebb and flow over time, so even if I do go through a period of lower interest in dolls, I know it'll come back to me eventually, so the money I've invested isn't a waste.

 

Outside the price was that they were breakable (resin) or they stain/yellow (vinyl). Nowadays I have both kinds of dolls and no longer care lmao. The initial costs are also rather expensive considering I am not artistically inclined so I always pay for full dolls (clothes & makeup). I also don’t know how to string a doll so I definitely don’t want no assembly required.

 

I think the fact that I lurked so long and found so many horror stories (clothes staining dolls, dolls breaking, faceups melting...) that made me afraid to buy one because I tend to be clumsy. So far I haven't had any issues, though.

 

Yellowing! And also restringing, my first true resin dolly is going to be in my possession in just a few weeks! He’s secondhand and I’m a tad worried he’ll be very yellowed as his photos didn’t display a consistent skin tone due to different lighting, I’m always scared I’ll accidentally expose a doll to a yellowing agent and not realize until it’s too late!!!

 

It's funny because there are still things that intimidate me about BJDs, but they're different now from before I got them.

Before:

• The yellowing: Bothers me much less than I thought it would.
• The judgement: Turns out I can deal with it just fine.

Now:

• Handling my dolls in general. They're not even close to being 'finished', but just looking at them or making plans for future projects is enough for me right now. No idea why.
  
• Maintenance: Restringing, cleaning etc., because I'm still scared of breaking them / doing something wrong.
  
• Noticing so many new things I want to learn (making wigs / clothing for example) and be good at instantly stresses me out. It's like I'm having a hard time enjoying a hobby / the process of creating without putting pressure on myself. Ugh.

 

Honestly this thought still intimidates me - after making the plunge and buying the first doll when do you stop? There’s so many makers out there and they’re constantly pumping out sculpts and I fall into the completionist mindset of “I need all of these dolls from this maker or I’ll explode.” Do you stop collecting when you run out of space or do you rotate your collection and sell/buy/sell/buy in a neverending cycle I’m probably thinking too hard about it but that’s what intimidates me about the hobby lol

 

To be honest, there were a lot of things - restringing, what if I did something to make it go yellow fast or what if I stain it with the clothes I'll be getting.

And there's the, what if I want another doll, but I'm not too sure if I can focus on having a lot of dolls at a time ><

 

I remember seeing some older dolls that weren't maintained well, the owner never washed their hand before touching the doll or anything. They treated these super expensive dolls like the fashion dolls you can get for 10€, which was crazy to me. Anyways, the dolls ended up being super yellow and shiny due to all the grease from years of touching them. I found that disgusting and I was sure I wouldn't want an expensive doll to end up looking like that. Luckily it turns out your dolls can stay beautiful, clean and matte even after many many years if you treat them well.

 

When I first discovered them, it was how complex they seemed overall. For example, when I first came across Volks, they sold standard models as "kits" which you had to string yourself; a few years later when I was actually ready to buy a doll, I was totally lost as to how all the customization worked. I remember desperately googling "how to change bjd eyes," "how to put on bjd wig," etc. Just simple things that I take for granted now. But just seeing pictures of them, you don't necessarily know, for example, how their eyes are secured inside their head (eye putty), or how their wigs stay on (silicone caps, putty, or a prayer LOL). They just seemed extremely complicated! Luckily everything becomes clear quickly once you interact with one in real life though.

 

All the different sizes, companies and sculpts. I remember thinking "where do I even start!".

 

I think what intimidated me most about the hobby was how delicate they can be. The prices were definitely a factor in me waiting over a decade to buy my first doll, but how easy it was to damage the resin and faceup was the key factor in convincing me that I wasn't ready for one just yet, until I could be certain the doll would be handled and stored properly to minimize damage. If I was going to pay that much money for a single doll, it would be a massive waste if it just ended up cracked, dirty and heavily yellowed a year later. Even now I'm still pretty clumsy, and have dropped Teasel's face enough that his sealant has started to crack, but I have a much better grasp of how firmly to, well, grasp the doll, and I've got a nice shelf in a dark corner of the living room where he sleeps in his box, ready to play but safe from UV damage. Eventually they'll get a nice upgrade to a wooden cabinet with doors that will store their boxes, but for now, the shelf works just fine.

 

Maintenance, at first, yellowing, and also size.

Before I got my first doll, I went to a BJD panel at a convention, and I was allowed to hold someone's Soom boy- can't recall if he was Super Gem or Mega Gem, but he was LARGE! I was so horrified. He was so heavy and unwieldy. Then my first SD ended up being a Super Gem... (well, DiM head on Super Gem body). Guess I got over that quickly.

I also got over my fear of maintenance when my first doll immediately required a cleaning, restring, and repair. It was scary, but I was willing to learn for his sake. He was also around 6 years old when I got him, so he was already yellowed, but he still looked great (and still does). So that helped put to rest my fears about yellowing.

 

I can honestly say the things that first intimidated me about BJD when I first started still intimidate me many years down the line. Being in my mid 50s I come from an era where as a child you were told repeatedly to treat everything with the utmost care because you’d get into real trouble if you broke it. My mother was also overly precious with things so I have a real fear of damaging anything to this day.

Fragility: yes they’re tougher than you think but also behind a hard substance they can chip quite easily especially where the resin is thin regardless of how careful you are.

Size: As much as I love looking at pictures of these fabulous 70cm plus guys that’s too big for me. I’m short and can be clumsy, the thought of wrestling a pose out of something that big scares me. I’d only overcome this if the doll in question was something incredibly special to me with a design I felt at ease handling.

Body blushing: Rather surprisingly for an artistic person I find this very intimidating for several reasons. I’ve had to pass on so many dolls I really wanted because they had or would require blushing.
Main reason is ruining all of that hard work by handling (my hands sweat, especially if I’m nervous) as I’d want to take photos.
The second reason is applying it in the first place! Ideally you’d want to take the doll apart to get the best results and while that doesn’t bother me the putting it back together does. Very small tinies you get away with keeping them strung but anything bigger or complex would need dismantling ideally.
Lastly is space and time. Due to the weather where I am and lack of both work and display space it can take months for me to even complete a faceup, trying to blush various parts sprawled everywhere just isn’t practical. I’ve tried it and the poor thing years later is still in various parts, some of which have now badly yellowed.

Restringing: This intimidates me the most, the thought breaks me out in a cold sweat! Only ever attempted it once on a 1/12 tiny where the elastic was like string, I did it but not without a lot of tears and panicking. Having hyper mobility added to the problem as my fingers twist, lock or generally tend to move when they shouldn’t. Not fun!
Damaging the doll is what scares me.

 

Customization and maintainance, and then once I got my dolls, creating characters for them were and still are all intimidating for me personally!

 

Mostly the yellowing and price, and fear of ruining a face-up. I'm still fairly young so the first time I ever saw a BJD irl I was in second grade. I almost fell on my butt lol. The owner of the doll taught me a lot and answered all of my questions in detail which I'm still grateful for. I found it really scary to even hold the doll (bless the owner for being so kind), especially after hearing how expensive they are. Now I honestly prefer dolls that are a bit yellowed (aesthetic preference) and pre-loved. When I got my first BJD I didn't let myself, or anyone else for that matter, properly touch it for like a month in fear of staining it or ruining it. And like a few others said, I was afraid of people seeing it as off-putting or as something shameful.

 

I still don't restring my dolls. There was one doll that needed to be restrung and I brought her to the Volks USA store back when it was in Torrance and they did it for me which I am forever grateful for.

I also don't do face-ups or mods to my dolls. I'm still forever traumatized from residual resin poisoning back when my friend did face-ups and mods so I only purchase dolls with factory made, default face-ups. If my dolls ever need their face-ups retouched or some sort of other dolly service, I'll just wait until the next time Volks has a Dolpa nearby and have my dolls services by their Dolly Doctors.

I'm also still leery of purchasing from companies that neither my friend or I have handled their dolls before in real life. I like going to in-person events to see and handle dolls from different companies to give me an idea if I have a reaction to their resin or materials used (again, still traumatized from resin poisoning exposure), the quality of the dolls, and general experience from other owners over the years. There's like two companies where I might buy a doll from as I didn't have a bad or strong reaction to, but there are a growing list of companies where I just seem to have an allergic or asthmatic reaction to. Thus because of the having a reaction part, I am still intimidated with buying dolls from different companies.

I tried sewing and it was hard. I have better sewing skills now compared to when I first started, but I prefer pre-made by BJD companies and other talent people as opposed to sewing for my dolls myself.

 

Restring my dolls. Don't know why, just thinking that as a big proses, too big for me right now. I do want to learn, so maybe one day.

Mods to my dolls. add or remove things to the doll it self, and do it smoothly seem like too hard of a project.. At least fo now

 

Honestly almost everything intimidates me! I fear the day I need to learn to restring or suede. Doing faceups and blushing also intimidates me as I don't have any makeup or artistic skills, so I will always buy blushed/heads with faceup.

Another thing that intimidates me is sunlight and yellowing, my baby currently is in a dark room in a closed case! I know it won't hurt to take her out in the sun for some photos but STILL...