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

Deviantart for sure lol. I remember being like 14 and stumbling across BJD's for the Anime Bleach someone had made. From there I was enamored lol. Took years to get my first doll but that post stuck with me

 

I found a YouTube video of someone reviewing a Luts doll. Then I found their website and saw they had a style of doll I really liked. Before that I had seen the Super Dolfies on Volks but they weren't really the style I was interested in so I didn't think of getting one.

 

A friend xD I had seen a BJD once before in a anime/manga convention, but didn't know what it really was so I didn't think much of it. When she invited me to her house and introduced me to her army of tinies, I was amazed and she sent me down the rabbit hole with her whole list of BJD companies to research!

 

Surely it was 2000s deviantart I did a lot of oogling back then but took the plunge much later in life, in an intense whim of teenage nostalgia I guess

 

Rozen Maiden for me, I was OBSESSED with it as a young kid!

 

The first time a saw a BJD was on tumblr. I saw Elfgutz‘ Comet and i fell deeply in love. And five years later i bought my first one

 

A certain vinyl OT BJD that I still collect and am still crazy about she was totally a gateway doll for me. Once I had a few of her I wanted to see what resin BJDs were like and I ended up here on DOA...

You know the thing is though that I soon learned that while collecting BJDs can be an awfully expensive hobby there are real bargains to be had and even people with limited funds can afford them.

I buy dolls used, older and usually very cheap. I make a lot of things for them and sell the more expensive stuff to make my doll purchases more affordable. I craft a lot and sew a little and that helps a lot with keeping it reasonable.

There are brand new dolls that cost thousands of dollars and people who will buy them. But there are used dolls that are resold for $100 that are not that hard to afford.

There's a range for everyone in this hobby and it's totally possible to afford BJDs on a limited budget.

Buy used, buy older, be willing to put some work in on a less than perfect doll. That's what works for me...

 

oddly, a meme instagram from like 2016? i saw (1) picture that the poster had of a dolls and fell in love immediately

 

It was all over when I discovered it's possible to own your own personal visual kei boy

 

There used to be this silly meme going around Tumblr back in like 2014 of the Soom teddy that I was obsessed with. After googling to figure out what it was, I was hooked!

 

I was curious and looked through the whole thread, and Rozen Maiden series is responsible for getting at the very least 18 people into the hobby (and 3 people who discovered it through Rozen Maiden doll releases)!

 

I can blame my other hobby (wearing lolita). I went to a lolita Halloween party and someone brought their bjd with them. I was so fascinated because I haven’t played with dolls since I was a child and this was clearly not a barbie doll. I started conversing with her and learned so much about bjds through research and have been fascinated since.

 

Rozen maiden (and a little bit of Angelic layer). I didn’t even know the words for what the rozen maiden dolls were but I really wanted one. I came across a post on a blog about their fan made bjd version of one of the dolls and was instantly in love.

 

While browsing on Pinterest, I came across a photo of several amazing dolls dressed in fantasy costumes standing by a rock wall covered in giant icicles. I'd never seen such life-like dolls before, so clicked "visit the site" and was transported into the magical world that is Antique Lilac. The rest as the saying goes "is history". A huge thank you to Martha for introducing me to these wonderful dolls and the pleasure they bring into my life

 

A cover of a doll magazine that I got at a craft store when I was in seventh grade. That certainly blew my 12 year old mind! I also learned about this website from that magazine issue. I think the magazine was called Doll Crafting and Costuming, which is most likely out of print, and the doll on the cover was a Minifee girl, but I forgot which sculpt.

ETA: it’s Doll Crafter and Costuming, though I still can’t find the exact issue from a google search

 

It was a long time ago, but I think I first saw them on deviantart back in the late 2000s (can't believe that site still exists).
I remember saving images from Dream of Doll and Dollmore on my old laptop...maybe one of these days I'll have to add a DoD doll to my collection to relive my teenage nostalgia

 

omg so there are pili/thunderbolt BJDs????

 

The love of dolls as a little girl, I just loved dolls. Then social media happened from DeviantArt to Flickr and YouTube, and now Instagram, and meeting people at events like doll get-togethers and conventions.