What single thing can you blame for getting you into BJDs?

I saw a link of Ringdoll on my facebook and got curious. Then I fell in love with one of their teenage dolls and Dracula. Since then I have been rolling so deep into this hobby and I can't stop myself from getting more of them.

 

I totally blame those pixelated "dolls" that were popular to make in the early 2000s. If it weren't for those, I'd never have come across @Loki and her Kitori, an Elf El. I was hooked from the first picture I saw of him. No regrets since!

 

Realizing that they would work perfectly as models to reference for my drawings ^^ I had tried to use one of the little wooden ones and it just was not working. Often times I would try and use a mirror and my own self as a model but it still was not as helpful as i would like I could never quite get the perspective i would like. Finally sometimes i would have my family or friends pose for me but they are not always on hand and even when they are that does not mean that they are up to posing in a position for any given time that day. So after one day looking at some BJD photos and how well they pose for those it hit me that they could be the perfect little models for my drawings and i just fell deeper down the rabbit whole from there.

 

On Instagram I stumbled upon caramelaw's custom Blythes and then from there found the bjd tag.

 

I'd blame my girlfriend. I discovered BJD's on eBay through that little "you may also like..." Feature. So I searched BJD on tumblr, and started sending pictures to her. I was expecting she was going to call me mad when I told her the price of the ones I wanted. Instead, she just kinda smiled, and went "so how many paychecks do we have to wait?"

The answer was three, though I did a huge layaway.

 

My friends who got into the hobby first.

 

I blame the internet. I was searching and came across the Volks website and was curious. Since I could not read Japanese I just clicked on the links and after about 5 clicks Ran in Harajuku came up and it was all over. I was hooked and had to have her. Now I have 2 of her and am waiting on a little "Draculria" doll which should be here any day now.

 

I always really loved dolls as a child, and always wanted the barbies that had the elbow and knee joints (not very common in the late 90s but now they're everywhere!). When I first heard of BJDs (I don't remember when or how, probably the internet in middle shcool or something) I knew I had to have them. They were so gorgeous and customizable I knew I had to get one. I got my first plastic Hujoo in 2012 and shortly after got 2 Mama Chapp dolls. But within the next month or two I will be receiving my very first honest to god resin doll and I don't expect to shut up about it for a very long time.

 

Rozen Maiden.
If it weren't for that anime, I would have no idea what BJDs were.

 

My friend gave me CD with anime (it was around 2005-2006), and there was directory with pictures of dolls. At first I thought it was paintings They were so beautiful and I started researching and was instantly in love, but I wasn't sure if I should get a doll myself, so I lurked around until in 2013 I finally got my first doll and Inever regretted it!

 

This.

I swore not to draw again after a particularly horrible experience back in college but years later, I realized I felt incomplete without it. Anyway, I wanted to improve as quickly as I can and ended up looking at various poseable figures. I found out about BJDs and, though it took me so long to finally invest on one of my own that I found another fig to use as a reference, I'm now in the hobby for the sheer enjoyment of it.

 

Anime convention

 

I stumbled upon a local doll forum that had all kinds of dolls x)

 

yayz ^^ i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one ^^
also i'm so sorry that you had to go through an event that made it so you didn't want to draw. i know how empty and listless i feel when i dont draw or at least create in some manner and i just wanted to say i'm so so glad you were able to push through whatever it was to start drawing again ^-^ and that you were able to find the BJD hobby in the process

 

I run an aesthetic blog on Tumblr and kept seeing them on my dashboard. Then my friend mentioned what they were, and I've been enamored ever since!

 

Boys. And, indirectly, Pokemon - for giving me an unending desire to assemble a collection of things that are all the same, but different.

 

google images and the internet? otherwise idk bc i have a bad memory

 

DeviantArt. Simply DeviantArt.

 

Sailor Moon! I was searching the internet for Sailor Moon pics and came across Aurore Black Cat's website, back when she was still doing a lot of fan art. I was following her career and one day she posted a link to a new site she made for her bjds. I was really interested in them, because I love dolls, so I Googled "ball jointed doll" and "bjd" and found Luts and now horde Delfs.

 

Same actually! I saw a really lovely doll and I asked the person who had posted the image about the hobby and there is where my bjd journey began :P

 

Well, when I was in college I found a blog where a person posted pictures of her dolls doing photostories. They were mostly Volks, and I remember that she had either a School A or a Black Cat Lucas (I think?), and a sleeping eyed one, and some other mold that I don't remember. I always thought they were so well done, and funny. I don't remember how I found them in the first place. Anyways, I lost the link and didn't see any for years. Then at the last lab I worked in, on break I heard a woman saying she was waiting on some eyes in the mail and heard somebody else say "Oh, for one of your creepy dolls!" Well, I saw a picture on her phone and started asking about them, since I knew they were the same type as I had seen years ago. She was getting out of the hobby and let me buy her whole collection except for one, I think! So I suppose it was both of those things combined. I'm glad I bought them though, it almost seemed like fate to see those types of dolls again after so long.

(I didn't realize just how big they were from those pictures I saw originally though! I have to say, that was sort of a shock.)

 

I'd give co-credit to Monster High Dolls and Nicole's Dreams on YouTube. I got really into her MH face up videos because I love her style and her voice and that of course led me to check out her other videos which made be star thinking and finding out more about BJDs. Like Monster Highs but even nicer, more detailed, more posable, and more customizable. And more expensive. You know I'd fall for 'em.

 

I actually never planned on owning any. I loved them for the beautiful company faceups first, and used them as inspiration for artwork. But eventually was sucked into the whole thing after looking up Ringdoll's website with my wife. I have to admit that it was still the faceups that tempted me to actually buy. Not because I could do them myself, but simply because they were the most gorgeous faces I'd ever seen on any dolls up to that point. They were positively dreamlike.

 

I had been reading Otome games for a year. I read Nameless:The One Thing You Must Recall which was a joint project with Crobidoll. So I looked up what in the world a BJD is. And here I am 6 months later with two (one on layaway).

 

My friend posting wayyy too many gorgeous pictures of her dolls I never really thought I'd get one, but one day I found myself shopping haha!!

 

2005-06 DeviantArt. Saw a BJD for the first time on there and started investigating them. The rest is history hahaa. XD

 

An article by Lynn Turner about her Customhouse dolls in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine, in the spring of 2004. One look at those beautiful CH boys and I was a goner.

 

It all started one fateful night, I had started listening to a few Vocaloid music videos on YouTube but I wanted to listen to more so I began searching for "Hatsune Miku" on Google. Low and behold, I found a picture and blog article about Danny Choo's customized Hatsune Miku (this was long before DD came out with Miku). I couldn't believe such a doll existed and suddenly I was in a whirlpool of a hunt to learn more - dollfie dreams and resin ABJDs. The customization was what really hooked me in. So I started slow, with Monster High dolls - I understood they were just articulated and not actual bjds. In a few short months I got my first Hujoo, and then finally a RS Dai. And the rest is history.

Side note: A DD Miku and at least one SmartDoll are of course on my dream wish list - could probably even call Miku my grail. XD;;

 

Mine was about seven years ago, and I was a part of an online role play group with my friends. I was looking on Deviantart for a profile picture for a living doll type character named Loki, and stumbled upon someone's BJD. Then every time I posted with that character I fell more and more in love with him and looked up BJDs. Unfortunately all I found were like Iplehouse and Luts and Volks which were WAY out of my price range (Especially being 17).
Over the past 7 years I'd been haunting eBay every couple months trying to find one second hand (because I couldn't even afford recasts, which I'm way happy about because at the time I didn't realize what a recast was and I'm happy I didn't fall into that), and found someone selling their Mirodoll body.
Six months later and I just got my third doll.
Thank god for teenage role play.

 

A guy I met/roomed with at an IFDC convention who was a sales rep for the US for Angel of Dreams....

 

For me it's when I joined a community for anime figures. I hadn't seen the dolls until then. That's when I discovered Dollfie Dream. This was about 10 years ago? I finally got my first doll a few months ago and now I already have 4. I prefer the anime-style vinyl dolls. Perhaps someday I'll break out of my comfort zone and try a resin doll. We will see. Some of the dolls of animals have caught my eye, though I clearly haven't done any research.

 

Doll boards and the internet. If not for being a member of doll boards and being on the internet I don't think I would have discovered BJD's at all. I always bought dolls "all put together". LOL I could not imagine changing eyes. It all sounded bizarre to me at first.

 

Every now and then I have an intense desire to create things for dolls. The American girl doll from my childhood benefited the most from this but I eventually wanted to sew for a less childish body. Many years ago I saw my first BJDs at an anime convention in Chicago. They were being carried around by the occasional Lolita. After some research, I saw the price tag . The idea went back on the shelf.

Years later, with my student debt paid off and a good job, I've finally taken the plunge. The amount of customization you can do with them really appeals to me.

 

Oh this is an easy one!
A friend of a friend of mine on facebook shared a photo of a Pullip and that was it.
I just fell head over heels for dolls that moment. I didn't believe there were cute things like that even existing!
And you know, Pullips aren't far from BJD's, so after sticking with them for a while I then got DRAGGED into BJD's and here I am...

 

DragonCon....which is where I first saw them!

 

I blame YouTube! I used to watch crafter videos and somehow I came across a pullip doll. Fell. In. Love. And then I did more research and found out about BJDs and ever since I've wanted one!

 

I wondered into a panel at NDK 5 years ago, they showed off their dolls and I was hooked. It took three years to get my first doll, but I never forgot them. I fell in love that day.

 

Pullip dolls got me started on bjds

 

I went to a convention and some of the crafters and artists had Pullips and BJDs on their stands... I absolutely fell in love! I started with Pullips since they were more in my price range, but my first BJD should be here this week *u*

 

Mami tomoe I saw the polygonia doll yeah the rest is history

 

I've always been a doll collector, but I have to blame my subscription to Haute Doll Magazine in 2005 for lighting the fire under me for these dolls. They ran a number of articles on BJD companies; Custom House, Volks, Soul Doll, Dollshe. But, it was this Doll Heart ad in the magazine that really cinched it for me! Who was this gorgeous boy? And, who was making custom, uber-cool clothing for him? I was totally hooked! From that moment on, I was on a mission to find out about these dolls and acquire one. And, believe me, the internet was not as user-friendly 11 years ago as it is today. But, I finally got my first boy, a Doll in Mind Persia, and I never looked back.

I still have my Persia! He will be 11 years old next month! *throws confetti*

CP/Luts Chiwoo in 2005 Doll Heart Ad in Haute Doll Magazine

 

I was collecting Nendoroid figures and happened upon hybrids people had made where they used a nendoroid head with an Obitsu 11 body, so of course I had to make one too. That was my gateway doll.

 

My first doll... Really, even though my friends introduced me to the world of BJD, if it were not for my attraction to my first doll, I would not have started collecting dolls. Oh well, I guess that means I AM the one to blame at lol.

 

I blame my favourite OC. For years I browsed BJD sites without being tempted to buy, but that changed when I found a doll who looked just like her. Well, almost exactly like her. Close enough that I stared at her photos and asked, "Antheryn, is that you?"

 

I blame my love of anime for getting me into BJDs, and my dolls tend to reflect this affection as they are more stylized.

The first doll I saw that made me really understand that I wanted a BJD of my own was the original fullset release of Fairyland's Rheia. I never ended up getting her, as I was a broke college student at the time she was released - and my preference had changed a bit over the years when I could finally afford a doll of my own. But this initial doll, with her big eyes and dainty features, kind of illustrates how my love of anime permeates my love of dolls.

 

It started when I saw videos of people doing faceups on youtube and I've always been fascinated by how beautiful and different a doll could become compared to it's blank state. However I still could never imagine spending so much money on a doll. A few years later I decided I wanted to try faceups and purchased a few practice heads...then I knew I wanted a full doll x,D goodbye frugal past me...

 

I think I was looking up tutorials or patterns for making cloth dolls when I came across the a little over a year ago. I've been fascinated since. At the time I never looked at prices and was somewhat shocked when I did see them. I decided to go ahead with it. She could be a wonderful sewing tool for designing my own patterns.

 

I have a friend who is big into the BJD hobby, and they'd post a lot of pictures of their dolls and talk about their plans for them, and I found it really endearing. But I didn't feel the urge to get into it myself until one morning my friend linked one particular doll..... He was GORGEOUS!! So that doll is what tipped me over the edge in terms of wanting to get into the hobby. (Ironically, he's not on the list of dolls I want to buy.... I wound up not liking his face sculpt that much. It was the clothes that got me?!)

 

i've always like american dolls and stuff, so one day i looked up dolls online and i find out bjds exist. the first company i ever saw was doll chateau and i originally wanted to get a doll from there, but my tastes changed as i got older and i wound up with my SWITCH hybrid girl

 

MySpace. I was clicking through MySpace profiles (11 years ago!) and someone had Dream of Doll company pictures all over their profile. I Google'd DoD and it was all downhill from there.

 

Emilie Autumn. I came across an excited new doll owner's box opening on her fan forum back in middle school and poked around on the internets to learn more. I don't even much care for her music anymore...

 

My journey began with doll customization in general, with BJDs weirdly being at the periphery of my scope. I'd always loved dolls, and there came a point some time in my late teens that I began wanting to create dolls based on my own characters. So I looked into that, starting with Barbies and similar fashion dolls, all in a quest to perfectly emulate my characters. But Barbie bodies, I felt, were very limiting. Rarely could I find a body with articulation that satisfied me. The limited color choices also frustrated me immensely. It was difficult finding just the right sculpt, too.
Ironically, looking back it felt like I was avoiding BJDs like the plague on YouTube. Whenever I'd look up faceup videos, I would IMMEDIATELY back out the moment I realized it was one of those, what I thought at the time, super weird doll heads.
I scoured the internet, looking for something that could suit my needs for my characters. Admittedly, I tore apart a lot of dolls trying to achieve what I wanted, but it was never quite right.
I was probably on Pinterest the first time I saw a Ball Jointed Doll in its entirety. I remember thinking it seemed to pose so nicely. But, of course, the pin I saw had no description of what the thing actually was, and the source link was broken. I shrugged it off and went back to looking at other dolls... as I'd browse, more dolls like that would pop up, of course, and in time I found my interest piqued.
The more I looked into BJDs, the more I started thinking how perfect they would be for my purposes. Of course, they were quite a huge sum of money (I'd been so used to spending $20-30 on my dolls at the most) and I had just quit my job to help take care of my dying father. So I put that on the back burner while life went on. I figured I could do it when my financial situation got a little better.
Here I am now, a few years older and pretty much done with school (at least for my primary needs for the foreseeable future, I do intend on taking random community college courses in the upcoming years to keep my brain going) While my finances aren't stellar, I'm finally in a position where I have extra money to save and do with as I please. And so I choose to pour that extra income into dolls, with a hunger years in the making.

 

My girlfriend is definitely the culprit :P She was always interested in dolls: blythe, dal, pullip, all of them! She'd send me photos and I'd hum along supportively. So for her birthday one year (I guess almost 6 years ago now) I pooled money from my friends and ordered her a Luts Kiddelf Aru after a ton of research. Seeing Aru in person definitely got me into dolls myself and thus our collection started to grow

 

My fiancé. Hands down. Before meeting her, I didn't even know that BJD's existed, but she had a few when we became a couple, and slowly but surely, I took a liking to her dolls, and eventually adopted one of hers, as she had not bonded with it since she bought it. Now, I have 2 full dolls and a floating head :3

 

I was at an anime convention walking through the artists alley with my friends. I turned and my eyes landed on the most beautiful doll I have ever seen. I made a bee line to the artist's table and asked her how much. She said: oh, this one is not on sale, but you can get your own online.
She proceeded to write some company names and that's how I found Fairyland and fell in love with my very first bjd. My minifee Seorin. I'm hooked since then lol

 

I've been collecting dolls my entire life so I was bound to discover BJDs eventually. I went from collecting American Girl to Pullip and am now branching off into BJDs. I've known about them for years, but now that I have a job I can truly take part in the hobby ^^

 

Surprisingly, sewing. I got a sewing machine when I was eight and into my teenage years I was sewing sheets, human clothes, pillows, and occasionally something smaller. Then I was packing up my old American Girl dolls and found some clothes I had made for them. I tried to remake the clothes and found I didn't have the doll size proportions right, so I googled doll clothes and most of the cool links for doll clothes I found went back to BJDs. And about two years later here I am with a huge doll wardrobe but not enough dolls to wear all of it :P

 

An artist I followed on Deviantart many many years ago posted a picture of the doll she used for posing refs. I fell in love immediately.

 

I blame anime. Another in particular.

 

In the end I think it all boils down to anime for me . I'd seen the dolls before, and just looking at pictures onlinw was fine by me. But one day at an Anime convention, there was a dolls section featuring the BJDs. There is such a difference in seeing them in person for me rather than seeing them online.

On lovely collector let me hold one of her YOSD's for a bit and something about the wieght and the eyes she had in, just made me fall in love with the idea of having them. Next year I went to the con, I had to get myself one.

Honestly. Anime. XD