What doll got you into the hobby?

Oh gosh, yes! I remember my sister finding the 'Haute Doll' magazine at our local bookstore and picking it up. We fell in love instantly, but the ones that drew us in were the Souldoll Limited Seon-Mun with the 1,200 pearls on his outfit, and the Dollshe/Tenshiya Valentino (?) Bermann (and I've just super dated myself with those sculpts lol ). While we own neither of these dolls, they were a gateway for both of us into the hobby. My sister ended up acquiring one of the Dollshe Haute Hounds and I fell in love with Dream of Doll's Elf Ducan. We own both of them and have never looked back

I love that Yumeo! He is such a stunning doll.

 

I started with Volks Dolfie Dream series. First model that was ever brought to my house is DDS Shimamura Uzuki. Still own her until today.

After that my friend introduced me BJDs so I kinda gotten into BJDs too. But still studying since it got so many sculpts and details. But mainly on Volks products since I love their services.

PS. I got to admit I love Yumero's expression. Ringdoll sure got a way to made their doll looks extraordinary charming/stunning.

 

ringdoll jade was mine, she was just SO pretty! i hadn't cared for the aesthetic of the bjds id seen before i got into the hobby, but jade just hit all my checkboxes

yumeo is absolutely stunning as well!

 

Seeing a Dream of Doll Bee-A in person for me was what did me in

 

For me it was a Dream of doll. I think it was a Lahoo but I'm not sure. What's funny is that I never owned one.

 

Luts' Delf Yder, way back in like... 06 or 07, lol! Never did wind up getting one, but it got me into the hobby!

 

I don't remember the first doll I ever saw because it was in an Andreja face up video. I just remembering googling ball jointed dolls afterword's, one of the first I ever saw was fairyland Cloe.

 

When I was a teenager I was surfing the net and casually found the term "bjd": among the results there was the DoD website, still active. At the time those dolls were too expensive for me but only one really picked my interest: Delphine.
She was sold out, so I tried on ebay and google to see if someone was selling it but to no vail (I only found a cosplay lol).
Fastforwarding to 1 or 2 years ago (so more than 10 years have passed) I found the doll on DoA (the fullset nontheless) and I bought it!

 

The one that got me hooked was actually F60 Elf Soony, but then, I found the original CP Delf Soony, and fell even more in love with that variation of her! Now I’m a happy owner of one!

 

It was a Dollmore Zaoll, I think. In boy version

 

The first BJD I ever saw was a minifee chloe and since I was young I have always loved dolls with lots of joints for great poses. But what started off the hobby for me was my Harucasting Maji. She was the first doll that I got and really fell in love with and overall I just love Harus dolls a lot today. But Maji made me get into the hobby It was quite a surprise to me that I started with such an expensive doll tbh but I knew it would be worth it.

 

I got into the hobby when I decided I wanted to commission an artist to shell one of my OCs on a doll. The artist introduced me to BJDs as an option for shelling. I chose a Dream Valley Vine and now here I am!

 

The dolls that got me into the hobby were Luts CP Delf El and Dollshe Husky. I saw El on deviantart, which made me research BJDs, then I saw Husky on Luts and Iplehouse (though the Iplehouse version was my favorite, wish I still had those pictures lol). I have them both, but I didn't get El until 5 years later and Husky 9 years later. El was secondhand and Husky was direct from Dollshe when he had renewed them. I'd still love to get an old Husky one day, though.

 

The doll that got me interested was Sooah by Rainman. I remember seeing her in Haute Doll magazine and falling in love with her. I went hunting for her and found it too complicated to figure out at the time. I never did get one, but she is the one that started me looking at BJD's and eventually getting one.

 

The first BJD I ever saw was on a website, it was the first release of Volks Shirou Tachibana. He was already sold out by the time I stumbled across his sales page sometime in fall of 2003, on Volks Japanese website by accident. I was looking to purchase their Dollfie 12' fashion line, but on accident discovered their Japanese site instead of the English one and I clicked on Shirou's page right away. I thought he was an extremely expensive fashion doll, didn't realize how tall he was, or that he was a "BJD," or why dolls of such were so expensive back then. I own a Volks DDI (and a few of their OT Dollfie, and CFK), but I was never into Volks resin Dollfie, so I never wanted to own Shirou. I do feel very nostalgic whenever I see photos of the sculpt or even more so the default "Tokyo Boys Story," first release Shirou with all his default set, because that's the first BJD I saw. If he had been 1:6, I would have probably want to own him, but I'm not into child/pre-teen looking larger dolls. (:

 

I was browsing Deviantart as a teen and saw a picture of someone's E-an from Dream of Doll. From there I fell down the rabbit hole and fell in love with Soom's sculpts. However, I did purchase an E-an as my first doll. Turns out she wasn't for me, I sold her and took a small hiatus from the hobby. Now I tend to go for the more 'realistic' companies and own a few Souldolls and Dollzone with plans to purchase a few Iplehouse as well.

 

The first BJD I remember stumbling across online was not a human doll at all but one of Aileendoll's dragons. I didn't get into the hobby until years later when I went looking for a representation of a character and found the more humanoid BJDs, but I did eventually acquire dragons as well.

 

Dream of doll company was my first contact with bjd world. I used to look for the photos and wish to buy one of them one day.

Tender shall was my dream doll for a long time and even today I still love the aesthethics of this doll. Unfortunally, back on the day I could't afford her and now that I m back on the hobby DOD close.

 

Dream of Doll's Petsha was the first for me. I liked a lot of their sculpts and how they had fantasy themes/clothing. Her fullset was so pretty to me. I didn't get my first bjd until many years later though. At that time, I fell for a lot of Luts sculpts and opted for one of them instead of DOD. I'm bummed they're no longer around.

 

Oh my god the 15-year-old Photobucket images are still live... I got to carry my sister's project doll around Otakon one year, a Delf head on a DD1 body. She was very sleepy-looking and I thought she was cute despite my previous impression of dolls-are-creepy. Online... I think I was most interested in Dollshe via Tensiya, because Anu's craftsmanship and photography were so beautiful.

 

I collected/Collect Anime Figures and saw a BJD and thought it was a kind of Figure. HA (noob!). Also I've been playing the Sims since the very first game ever and I like being able to have a sim I can customize and change looks etc. So for me it is like "real life" sims. (to a point of course... )

 

I don’t remember how exactly, but I came across some pictures of the Ringdoll White Rabbit and absolutely fell in love.
I wasn’t able to get him as a fullset since those had been limited, but I have been able to find some other outfits and dolls that I love as well.

 

Volks Unoss Aika! I was a huge fan of Milkshake Melody who customized 1/6 Dollfies, and while I knew about SDs, I was never impressed until I saw her Aika. Then I began researching and fell hard for Dream of Doll Shall.

 

For me it was Lillycat and Twiggling. I looked and looked but I kept finding myself really loving both doll artist dolls. I have not turned back since.

 

Mine was Little Monica Dyuke, I saw pictures of him online and loved his face, I am lucky he’s already here with me since then I’ve found a number of dolls I absolutely love and buying different wigs and clothing has really made me love this hobby so much

 

Volks old F-28 (current F-16) was the one I first saw and fell for and I did eventually get him, lost interest, and sold him. But the one that stole my heart and made me cry from his beauty was Angel of Dream Chen (the first version, not the current one) and he ended up being my first doll.

 

A friend introduced me to bjds. The first ones I really fell for were the Limwha Luna and Mano. I also loved Bermann. Don't have any of them, but I have plenty of resin family!

 

The first BJD I ever saw was one of the Dream of Doll msds (I don't remember which one), it piqued my interest enough to do some looking around and I eventually found myself on the old Luts website. They used to sell Dollshe sculpts back then, and the one that really got to me was Van. I was very young and broke then, but I made it a goal of mine to get him one day!

 

VOLKS F-01 was the one for me and to answer your questions, yes I own her. I actually love F-01 so much that my entire collection consists on only F-01 in different forms.

 

I don't actually know what doll it was, because the owner refused to tell me anything and walked away.
But at least I knew that dolls that looked like giant anime figures existed. A year later I finally found out what they were and started searching. I still never would have bought any if I hadn't found Dollmore's Kara Klum, which is the doll I give credit to for getting me in the hobby, and was also my first doll.

 

I was first introduced to BJDs in 2003 with some of those early Volks SD dolls. I didn't really care much for most of the early Volks sculpts until they released the Heath sculpt in 2005. I knew I wanted a BJD after seeing him. Then a year later in 2006, I was at a summer camp and two other girls brought their MSDs to camp. I didn't know they were MSD size at the time, but I might have gotten too excited seeing BJDs in person. I want to say they were Luts Kid Delf sculpts, because they looked a lot different than the Volks BJDs that I was used to seeing at the time. So I would say Volks Heath and those two MSD dolls were what really got me into the hobby.

 

I used to sort of work for an anime bookstore back when I first started college back in 2007. We had a booth at AnimeExpo that year and I helped monitor the booth. I saw a few people walking around carrying these gorgeous dolls. I'm pretty sure the first one I saw and asked about was a Volks doll dressed in lolita (may have been Nana??? I honestly can't remember, it was so long ago. Definitely one of the original sisters). I was instantly in love. I did some research and saw Soom Sard and I was obsessed with him but he was already sold out. I got my first one, DollZone Hid, the next year and have been collecting ever since

So Volks Nana and Soom Sard were the start of my obsession

 

The first BJD I ever saw that I loved was the Popovy Sisters. I cant remember which girl specifically (maybe Landy?) but their dolls made me look into BJD's more. Hands down, the doll that got me into the hobby was Dust of Dolls Appi Coti. she had the cutest most pouty face I had ever seen. And their dolls are just stunning... unfortunately Coti made me realize that pre-orders existed and they arent forever available c: so I got Kore

 

I wanted a Chii forever! I collected some anime fashion dolls and other toys over the years, but just got into BJDs, prices and plushie addiction kept me out a while.

 

The first one to really make me fall in love was an Iplehouse Ryushin I saw on DeviantArt. I don't have one; I couldn't afford a doll for a while even after deciding I wanted one and he was discontinued before I managed it. But my first doll, Dream of Doll Si, still holds a beloved place in my collection.

 

Had to comb through my embarrassing old LiveJournal posts for this one, oh man. I think it must have been the first time I saw a Volks Nana on Aimee's website in like... 2009? In 2010, my family took a trip to California, and I got to visit the Tenshi-no-Sumika in Anaheim- it was all over from there, haha. 10 years later, I have my first Volks doll, a Yo-Tenshi Yuki. It was fun looking through old websites and thinking about this.

 

I honestly think everyone could fall in love with this hobby, it just takes that right doll. (A coworker of mine felt the same was as OP, until she realized Anubis BJDs were a thing..now she is forever in-hunt for the perfect one Lol)

The girl I fell in love with that got me interested in BJDs was LUTS Kid Delf Ani. I have been a die-hard LUTS fan ever since. Once I browsed the website though, Muhwa stole my heart (sorry, Ani!) Muhwa was my first doll sculpt purchase.

 

The first time I saw the Dollmore Youth Eve Lillis Liv and, ironically, I have never owned her.

 

I don't know what the first BJD I saw was - I think I first found out about them looking up doll sewing tutorials on DeviantArt! It must have been like, late 00s, early 10s. Every once and a while in my doll sewing searches, these cute, strangely realistic dolls (compared to fashion and fabric dolls) would pop up. I didn't know any sculpts or anything, but I poked around at the idea of getting a cheaper one or something similar in a different material for years and years.

Then like, last year or so? I heard of Impldoll, looked them up, and Avery was just so cute! I decided he'd be my reward to myself for paying off my student loans.

Now I just need him to ship...

 

I first saw Mui Chan by ixdoll. I bought her and regretfully sold her. I don’t see the resin ones anymore. She did have weak magnets and a meh face up which all could have been fixed now, but that was so long ago.

 

For me it was the Volks Dollfie Dream Sirius. Many years ago I found the Volks Japan website while looking at firgures. I stumbled into the doll section on the site, and the rest is history

 

Dollfie Dream Sasara! Back in the late 00s, I used to spend hours playing Pacthesis dating simulators on deviantArt and decided on a whim to check out some of her other stuff, which included a few images of her DD Sasara. I fell in love immediately and have been hooked on the hobby ever since. Unfortunately, I think owning her is going to be forever out of my reach, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for being the gateway to this huge part of my life.

 

Don't remember exactly where I first saw it, but the doll that got me into the hobby was the Soom Heliot -God Master- fantasy doll. Never owned him yet but if the chance comes, I'm definitely scooping him up!

 

I wish I could remember which specific sculpt I saw first, but the one that inspired me to me to actively join the hobby was the Luts Delf Art Anarchy in Heaven Dark Soo. She was sold out long before I saw her and with a LE of 5, I knew I would never own her, but I do own a LTF DES and have a MNF DES on the way, which is close enough for me.

 

Haute doll magazine for me too, musedoll Re-Che on the cover was the first bjd I ever saw. I finally got a Re-che a couple years ago but now I can't figure out what kind of character to make it

 

It was Migidoll Ryu for me. I saw one on DeviantArt back in 2008 and knew I had to have one. I didn't end up getting one as my first doll - I went for a Miho instead for some reason - but I have owned two Ryus in my time (both of them sold now). I'd still really like to have one, even though they are a little too much on the realistic side for me nowadays. It's just a really nostalgic sculpt for me, and gives me all the feels

 

The doll that got me into this hobby I cannot say because the artist is not DoA friendly.
But since then the artist actually just announced she won't be making any more of the doll.

 

For me it was Volks old F-28, owned by a friend from school which I saw at her booth at a cosplay/Japanese pop culture convention back in 2002 or 2003. It was my first encounter with bjds and I was blown away by their beauty and how their appearance could be changed with different wigs and eyes. I never got an old F-28 or F-16 as I subsequently realised I preferred the similar yet slightly sharper features of Lucas/Chris, and my Chris has been with me since 2008. But the old F-28/F-16 sculpt will always be special to me.

 

For me, I think it was Iplehouse in general that really drew me into the hobby. I think I had just finished watching the Angelic Layer anime, and google showed me this company somehow. I was amazed by the realism of the sculpts. Years later, I do not own any Iplehouse dolls yet, but I did recently get my first bjd.

 

Dream of Teen Homme Ducan!! I saw Ducan when I was 12 and absolutely fell in love!! I didn’t ever think that I could afford him but I kept hoping and hoping that I could. Finally, 10 years later, a lovely woman was selling him and I was able to buy him from her on layaway!! I was so joyed and I’m still joyed that I have him to this day!!

 

For me it was LUTS KDF Pine! His cute eyes and small smile are what really drew me in! I've yet to get him since I was unsure which OC to shell; I've gotten other LUTS sculpts, but he is definitely my next LUTS purchase!!

 

Volks Tae 2, although I didn't manage to find a full-set one until 11 years later. My first dolls came from Bluefairy (Emily and Tommy).

 

The first pics I saw that I liked were of the Volks SD13 girls, both the original 4 Sisters and Yori. I also really liked Dream of Doll DOT Shall and E-an and would get the fullsets of both if I had infinite money. The sculpt I ended up buying first was CP Delf Miyu. I still have her!

 

I've adored Yuki dolls, but they are too big for me (I like adult looking dolls up to 30 cm). Therefore I don't own one of them, but luckily the author of Yuki dolls has collaborated with Studio Milim, and now I own that 27 cm cutie

 

My friend in high school introduced me to Volks dolls- I thought they were pretty cool, but couldn't imagine spending that much money on one. Another friend had some BJDs that were cute but I didn't feel anything for them. Then I saw a Delf Moon. Until that point all BJDs I'd seen were very... adorable, but Moon was more serious and intense. He was so amazing! That's when I was first able to rationalize the money

 

I remember looking at Bjd on DeviantArt during middle school and liking them, but the doll that made me really go “oh man, I want to own that” was Granado’s first release of Uriel in 2017. I didn’t start collecting until I could evaluate my finances and decide that this was something I could afford, but I was able to finally bring a Uriel home (and a gaggle of other dolls).

 

Soom Sabik was the guy who drew me in the first time years and years ago. Didn't have the money and forgot about them for awhile. Then discovered Ringdoll Red King....somehow a few years ago and I've been doomed since.