Just For Fun Turning 13, the Teenage Years

The dolls I was dealing with during all that awkward period were Barbies. I mean that both literally & figuratively, since I learned to sew with Barbie dolls LOL As far as BJDs, I really didn't have much of an 'awkward' period with them - except that my list of needed characters kept growing LOL & I figured out that I really can't do face-ups any better than my own make-up! All the stuff I do with BJDs is stuff I've done for years (ie photography, costuming, story-telling, collecting little stuff....).
But that growing list, oh my! I STILL find myself thinking about adding characters ie dolls! I guess I did figure out that heinous need for 'just one more' around the time I'd gotten about 12-13 dolls LOL

 

The first doll I remember choosing myself was the Pink Princess doll from the Babes in Toyland movie. But I loved my Kewpie and my troll dolls more. A few years ago I discovered Monster High dolls when I found a girl centaur at the local Walmart. One doll leads to another. When I told my sister about my little Centauress, she sent me links to centaur bjds. Wow! I was blown away by those dolls! She very generously gave me my sweet Choco-Kitty, too. I have a wishlist of about six dolls now, and constantly refer to DOA to research those dolls, especially to see how they can be modified, and to get ideas for clothes, shoes, etc -- and of course, to enjoy everybody's pictures. I am awed at the talent and artistic ability here.

 

I've only been in the hobby for over a year, and I guess I'm still in that awkward teenage stage. Not quite newbie, but not totally experienced either.

Did your collection go through an awkward teenage period?
I make most of my crew's clothing, and while I did have practice on smaller vinyl Obitsus, sewing for the larger resin SD sizes (and the realistically proportioned ones at that) posed their own set of challenges. My girl had the unfortunate honor of being the receiving end of my trial runs. Bunchy seams, uneven lines, ugly edging, robes that won't close -- you name them. I guess I've improved, but am still far from being an expert.

I was also a stickler for color matching during my newbie stage. However, since the dolls in my collection ended up having hybrid parts one way or another, I became more forgiving about resin color differences. Better-fitting parts was now a bigger factor to me than a perfect color match.

Did your doll characters or story or doll plans hit a rough patch as your collection grew?
My second doll was a hybrid. I did do a lot of research beforehand to see if it will work or not, but his head ended up being smaller than the other references I used. It nearly threw my plans apart, and I sat there for a good number of minutes thinking "Geez so now I'm stuck with this huge body and a head that looks too small for it". I managed to save the hybrid through wig arrangements and careful wardrobe choices, but it did provide me a scare!

 

I didn't have dolls at that time but I sure wanted one. I was watching photos like crazy on Deviantart and absolutely wanted to dress BJD in visual kei / gothic clothes. xD
I'm a very fresh newbie but all I can say is I'm not going into this way finally. x)

 

Back when I was 13, I suppose I was first introduced to BJD's. There was a classmate who had a few and showed them off during a presentation. It made me fall in love, but I forgot about them as I had no money to buy a doll. Later on I had a friend who had one, and it resparked my interest. Now I have 2 dolls, and my third is on the way. I suppose right now is my awkward puberty period. I still have a lot to learn, and I still make some really weird mistakes sometimes! But it'll get better eventually

 

Since I've collected dolls since I was a wee small child I didn't have an awkward teenage phase - I've always collected just the dolls that appealed to me - so never got stuck on that having-to-get-every-doll-in-the-range thing. Individual dolls have come and gone but I pretty much have the same broad range of dolls today, wooden, porcelain (antique, repro, and modern), vinyl, cloth, fashion, child... etc. that I've always gone for.

All BJD's did was add to the number of dolls in the house.

Teddy

 

My teenage-type angst in this hobby came from the collecting phase rather than the artistic phase. I started off trying out the different sizes, then selling off all but SDs fairly quickly...only to find that SDs were too big for the displays I wanted to create. So I sold those off to focus on MSDs and smaller...only to find that I really didn't bond well with most tinies. And don't even get me started on the floating head thing...I found out it really drove me crazy just having them around! I've also moved on any "realistic" style BJD I've ever tried, because I found I prefer a slightly more anime look. It has taken me many years to learn what works for me in my BJD hobby, but happily I've discovered the pattern of my own personal aesthetic along the way. And now, funny enough, I have examples of all three sizes once again in my collection. What a learning curve it's been and thank heavens for the DoA marketplace!

 

@PoeticSoul your hobby teenage angst describes mine exactly. Just the experimentation of different sizes and trying to find my aesthetic. Finally, I can say I've settled down and have a better grasp on what I want and am happy with my crew.

 

I didn't own BJDs as a teen because...well...BJDs as we know them weren't really a thing when I was 13. But I did own many other dolls, and I loved them so much, but the popular girls at school picked on me so much for liking toys, that I'd try to shove them all in a closet or under my bed when anyone would visit. It was really hard for me, because I was struggling between being myself and trying to be cool. Then...I found out my crush's mom collected Barbies, and she was one of those young, awesome moms, so I felt a lot better after knowing that! By the time I was 16, I was best friends with my former crush, and when I'd visit, his mom would let me check out her dolls.

I was in my early 20s when I first really got into BJDs, and even so, they did go through a really cringey phase of terrible faceups, sock clothing, cheap ill-fitting eyes and bad wigs, but at the time, those two first boys were supposed to be 19, so I just claim they had their own dorky poser-goth phase. It's kind of like looking back at pictures from high school and going "What on earth made me think that outfit/hair/makeup looked GOOD???" XD Those characters are now 28 and 29, married and have kids/stepkids and have really become their own. I have learned so much since then, from sewing to faceups to styling to character development. My characters now have some actual depth and personality, rather than "pretty goth boy with tragic past".

 

I actually missed my awkward teenage doll years! I took a 4-5 year hiatus, and for whatever reason, I guess just because I matured, when I came back, my doll style and even things like my photography, crafting, and sewing ability were just plain better. I really couldn't believe it the first time I made an outfit when I came back to dolls. Everything just worked and looked the way I wanted it to, and I was shocked! I had tried some stuff before and it was honestly terrible. And I hadn't been doing any crafting or sewing in the meantime, so...I dunno why it happened! Plus I had all new likes, dislikes, and characters to shell, so my collection went in a whole new collection that I really love.

So newbies, don't get discouraged if you can't do everything you want immediately, or if your dolls don't necessarily look the way you envisioned! You'll evolve and grow even without trying. (But you can't beat practice!)

 

The first sewing projects, the first faceups... oh yes, awkward indeed xD since it's been such a steadily gradual process it feels more like clumsy childhood than awkward teenage years though, but I did have a bit of a low when I bought my second doll and figured out it wasn't right for me, so maybe that was kind of like puberty :p

 

My 13th year wasn't awkard, neither when it came to dolls or myself : ) The only sad change then was my two best friends were growing up as people would expect them to - leaving the dolls and toys behind - so I just continued on my own for a while. But that was back in late 90s when I never even dreamed of a BJD. And I wasn't collecting toys either, just kept the ones I didn't want to part with.
It took almost a decade till I could afford to start doll collecting - BJDs included! : )

 

What were your terrible teens like as a doll-owner--that time between newbie and growing into the more experienced owner you are today? (Or that time between when you knew nothing and now, if you're still a newbie.)
Definitely the first two years (2008-2009). I was still learning everything so my dolls always looked...bad. Bad wigs, bad clothes, bad eyes. Horrible photos. Most of them had default faceups which, while not a bad thing, was never my style. When I finally started getting better at picking things that really worked for my dolls the whole collection just looked better.

Did your collection go through an awkward teenage period?
YES 2010-2011. I sometimes like to blame it on that 14 month Dollshe wait lol but in that (exact) time period, I was just buying a lot of random dolls that eventually didn't work in my collection and I would end up selling. I also sold a lot of dolls, some of them I regretted. It was a weird time. My group probably more than doubled. 2012 kind of stabled my collection and I started really deciding where I wanted it to be and by 2014 all was well with my dolls.

then...

Did your doll characters or story or doll plans hit a rough patch as your collection grew?
I think that is happening right now.

Two years ago a lot of things happened all around the same time. I had a massive art block and drew nothing for a year. I was working on my comic at the time, that most of my dolls characters were based on. I also went to Doll-A-Kon and met Ringdoll for the first time, which isn't so important except that I started following them on various social media platforms....My cat of 18 1/2 years died suddenly and my main OC was heavily tied to him. My Dad was in and out of the hospital...things were bad for like, a year.

During that year at some point I got it in my head that I need a Hot Toys Joker, but since they were all long sold out the second-hand price ranged from 4-700 and I was not paying that. So I decided to turn my DZ Carter into the Joker. Several other DC villains followed, all dolls I already owned. I got frustrated with my other dolls, and sold a bunch off. Then I made the (bad. very bad) transition from Mini DC villains to SD in the 70cm range DC villains.
Back to my other issues, art block and Ringdoll (not really an issue lol so much as a factor). This killed me because my dolls are OCs based on my art, which I couldn't do anymore, so I started to lose interested in a very large collection of 60cm dolls. I couldn't really draw, but I was doing some pen doodles in a 50¢ composition notebook. A lot of the doodles were of a guy who looked exactly like the "in progress" photos of Ringdoll K. The photos I only saw because I was following them on instagram (See? it meant a thing). I almost died. I ordered his head the second I was able to and in the (almost) two years that followed I've sort of become obsessed over him the way I used to be with my other dolls. Good news is I killed the art block finally, but I can't seem to go back to my old stuff, I can only draw John (K) and a handful of Batman fan arts.

So you might ask the point of all this...basically I have a handful of dolls I am over the moon with and probably 50 or more that I am still emotionally attached too, but haven't touched in a long time. Dolls I can't bring myself to sell because almost all of them are made of discontinued parts and I will never see any of them again if I change my mind. Or I have special attachments to them. Dolls I'm afraid I'll regret moving on. Yet they're in my way. They take up space and I feel actual guilt over them. It bothers the hell out of me and I am constantly wondering who I could sell and coming up with nothing.

So that's my rough patch. The roughest patch my dolls have hit in over 9 years in the hobby and I have no idea what to do to fix it. All I can come up with is "wait and see what happens"....which sucks. It's all we do in this hobby XD

 

Seeing as I got into BJDs when I was 14 and got my first BJD for my 15th birthday/xmas , I got to go through my teenage years with my dolls. I went through a rough patch with my OT dolls and early faceups via some Gaia/DoD bullying, which almost made me quit the hobby. My dolls sat without faceups for a while. It was not a good time...
I got around one a year by spending what I earned as a summer camp intern. So by the time I graduated high school, I had gotten four full dolls (Shiwoo, Yukio, Ashe, and Izzy) and two floating heads (Cebby and Yun, Cebby stole Izzy's body and Izzy's head moved on to a new home).
I slowed down after that and only got one doll in my college years iirc (Shu, head first, body later). Since I'm pretty picky about the sculpts I want and am pretty conservative of who and when I buy, I've only moved on one head and one body. Luckily I don't regret either of those (though the body's sale was a nightmare).

 

Newbie Years: Cerberus Project and Luts 1/3 Elves in Beauty White and some Volks.

Awkward Teenage Years: More and more dolls and companies and types of dolls after having so little to choose from at the beginning! Went a bit crazy over every new doll and style and size that came out.

Mature Years: Trying to cope with 13 years of bjds and NOT buy every new thing that comes along. (And failing.)

 

Yeah, kind of. I was never seriously into dolls before this hobby, so even the idea of owning dolls again as an adult was awkward. I was not pleased when my mother started blabbing about them to anyone who would listen. Trying to figure out how to use a sewing machine again for the first time in years was an issue too (still haven't done much with it).
Also, I started out with a handful of more stylized dolls (beginning with a Dollzone Yuu) because there weren't a lot of other options at that point. Then I discovered Iplehouse (right near the beginning of their NC series), and that started a pretty major shift in my collection. I've sold almost all of that first group now, but somehow my AoD Qian is still hanging out in the 'kids' gang.
Of course a number of my dolls are still unfinished, so you could say the awkward stage isn't entirely over yet.

 

I'm a pretty big newbie (haven't even had a full doll for a year), but I've learned a lot. Learned what I like, did a few things like buy on the Marketplace and join a GO, and now have a half complete collection. The only rough patch so far is I don't have the money to complete my current dolls.

 

I was full into 18" dolls I still have one and the other one I gave to my nephew with a haircut and new faceup to make it more masculine. the one I still have is named "Leah" and she is a redhead that I gave a short bob and she has a broken arm sadly. She was a "Tolly toys" that they sold at walmart for $20 and it was what my mom got me instead of an american girl which I desperately wanted. I thought it would be weird to be 13-14 with a doll like that and receiving american girl catalogs and pouring over them every month when other girls were looking at fashion magazines but I had gotten my best friend into them too and she had her mom go out and get her one and we would trade doll clothes and look over those american girl catalogs together. We even took them to school and like she was cool enough that other girls started getting them and bringing them too and have them sitting on their desks during class. It was pretty wild looking back on it. I guess I was pretty lucky in that way. I eventually put them in the closet with my barbies and pulled them out to play with only when I was alone.
I had always had tons of characters and stuff growing up. I would make comics and stuff and I'm glad that I never made a doll with them because it was all a fusion of lord of the rings harry potter and anime back then and the over the top mary sueness was bad. It would have been a mistake to throw money into that. lol

 

My awkward doll owner adolescence actually coaligned with my actual teenage years, go figure. I discovered BJDs when I was 14-15 and I came into the hobby pretty open and ready to learn. And then for some reason during the mid-years, my collector's blood started rising and I just couldn't stand hybrids for some reason. I was fine with other people's hybrids, but for me--no thank you. Everything needed to be in pristine original condition. Original box, original COA, original body. I'm still a bit like that but I've hybrided my first off-topic doll recently so I've mellowed out.

My wishlist also went through a crazy hormonal phase. Back in 2010 there weren't that many companies so I literally went through each and every company link on DOA and picked out all the dolls I liked and added them to my wishlist. It was very, very, very, long. The only thing that saved me was that I'm kind of picky.

My stay in the hobby is a bit of a strange case, though, as I've had to leave the hobby for a few years twice in a short period of time. So my collection and stories haven't had time to hit an awkward phase. Maybe next year. xD

 

I feel like I may be in my 'awkward' phase now. I only have two dolls so far and one doesn't even have a head! They are wearing simple gauze shifts and loin clothes because I have no clothes for them yet. And I'm in the midst of making a very special prop for the headless one which is a learning process itself.
I've been into dolls my whole life, of every kind. From Barbies to more 'boys toys' like the transformers. One of my favorites as a kid was my talking Chip Hazard doll from Small Soldiers. In my teens and early twenties I got into anime which of course provides more avenues and options for a figure/doll enthusiast. Things like blind bag figures, collectibles, and models.
I'm currently collecting Hot Toys sixth scale figures too. My interest and hobby just feels like it keeps growing (and sucking money from my wallet)

 

It only took two years or me to hit my awkward "teenage" phase. XD You know, there's that sticker shock when you're first shopping around for BJDs. At first, I managed to talk myself into getting the dolls I really wanted, as opposed to a cheaper alternative from less expensive companies. Good for me. But I wasn't willing to shell out the cash on their stuff. I bought inexpensive clothes and cheap glass eyes for all of them. Some of their wigs were kind of nice I guess. I don't remember what came first, but I did finally cave and buy something really high quality... it was probably an outfit. Seeing the craftsmanship in person, I totally understood why the expensive stuff was expensive. I bought a few more nice things, until I reached this point where it seemed too overwhelming to replace all of my dolls' accessories with higher quality versions. That was the awkward phase.

Ultimately I decided that with the hassle of replacing everything, and that my characters' story was feeling a little stale, I sold 99% of my dolls and their stuff and started over! After that I was more choosy about my purchases, which led to a better collecting experience.

 

Still sorta in my awkward phase. In that I have a couple of dolls but I haven't managed to do much with them in the couple of years I've had them. Time, space and energy have all been at a premium lately so I still haven't managed much more than some photos here and there of the one who has an outfit and faceup.

Add in my tendency to worry too much about my first attempts turning out less than perfect, or that I've wasted my precious little artistic headspace and energy. And I haven't done much in the way of props past a wire-wrapped pendant and a couple of doll sized paintings. :/

It's going to change soon, in about a week or so one of the bigger responsibilities in my life will be done with. Suddenly I'm going to have a lot of resources freed up that I can hopefully focus some of it on my dolls and not be so awkward about everything.

 

I have always loved dolls. I just never grew out of playing with them. When I started collecting BJDs I had a close friend who had ordered a Narae before I got really interrested and she helpd me out A LOT. She had done a lot of research so she knew a lot for a newbie. I have never had much patience with such things.

I did have an awkward periode. Among other things I got three Bobobie dolls that I later regretted getting and sold. All the dolls I have sold have been dolls I bought within the first year or so.

Luckely it wasn't nearly as bad as actually being 13 years old. That was very very bad. If any of you are teenagers I can asure you that things do get better with time.

Dustbunnie

 

What were your terrible teens like as a doll-owner--that time between newbie and growing into the more experienced owner you are today?
I think I'm working on coming out of this phase. I learned to do a lot of things that I didn't know before I had bjd's and refined a lot of other things. Face ups are something I'm still working on getting better at as I like to do my own, and sewing... my first patterns I did myself were less than amazing, but I think I'm getting pretty good now, especially with pants.

Did your collection go through an awkward teenage period?
It's there now. I have twice as many heads as I have bodies. Also, some of the bodies don't match the heads. I'm slowly working on it. Hopefully, they'll all have heads and bodies that match fairly well in a few years.

Did your doll characters or story or doll plans hit a rough patch as your collection grew?
Not really, unless this counts having to add a character because I fell in love with a sculpt I had no character for. I wouldn't really say that was rough though. In fact, I think it made the story better, and was really fun to come up with something for him.

 

Well, I'm a total newbie in the dolly hobby, and by dolly I mean both resin and pullip family dolls. I've been collecting for a while though, so I guess I can still speak on this.
My terrible teens moments came from my habit of buying impulsively; I'd see something I like and have to get it with no concern for costs. While in my newbie stage( which I am still in), I had a learning curve with prices. I needed to balance my wants with the costs, and determine how much I was willing to spend on a doll.
Which means I have dollies that I bought that do not fit anywhere in the vision I have for my collection and dollies I bought simply because I liked parts of them, rather than the doll as a whole.
I can say that I'm a little more mature in my spending because I've been eyeing a doll for two months, even though I have the money to buy it and its a beauty! I've been creating a character profile, so I could design the perfect background, so that when I start shopping for his shell, I'll have a good idea what I'm looking for.