Chatting about BJDs!

After a bit of discussion in another thread, we've decided there should be somewhere here for us to talk about our BJDs and other dolls, so let this be the place!

Feel free to post pictures of your collections, talk about what other dolls you have, and share anything you like really!

So let's get chatting and have fun!

Since having my son I've been learning to love the little dolls again, (which is funny considering where I started and never really bonded with YOSDs) but BJDs rekindled my dolly love. I only have SDs now, but most of them are heads as I sold all their bodies for moneys but I couldnt sell they're heads as they're all either discontinued or limited. My only full doll currently is a Dollfie Dream Dynamite Mai Shiranui (that I changed out the bust for a normal Dollfie Dream large bust). 

My Iplehouse Freezia will be stealing her body though and I'm hoping to get a Ye Luo Li body for the DD. I've decided all future resin heads will be getting DD/YLL/Obitsu bodies as I love the solid posing, except for one who I want to mod into a dragon girl and be 70cm.

My collection is all over the place now as we're hoping to move house eventually and still have most of our stuff packed to save time later so I can't take a big 'family' picture yet.

Breakdown though

BJDs
DDdy Mai Shiranui
Iplehouse Freezia (head)
Luts Nanuri 07 (head)
Dollshe Van (head)
Dollzone Ying (head)
I have quite a sizeable wishlist though, so the list may well grow. I now feel I need a Puki Puki in my life

Pullip Shinku 07
Dal Tinkerbell

Monster/Ever After High
Wave 1 Frankie
Wave 1 Draculaura
Wave 1 Lagoona
Dead Tired Frankie
Dead Tired Draculaura
Ghoul Spirit Venus
Ghoul Spirit Spectra
Clawdia Wolf
Madeline Hatter 
My MHs were mostly bought to try out customising so not all of them will be keeping their original styles, but after watching the cartoons I don't know if I can bare to change some of them I kinda like the characters.

Makies
Classic Pistachio girl (nicknamed Ragtag, but want to try and find a gobliny sounding name for her)

I have some other miscellaneous dolls from my earlier days (I didn't actually stop my first wave of doll collecting until 15) so I still have a few Barbies and other randoms dolls too, like Violet from The Incredibles, Kim Possible and some Bleeding Edge dolls too)

Ahh, a fellow Madeline Hatter collector! She was my lead in to collecting dolls, since I love Alice in Wonderland, and also share a first name with her, even spelling Maddie the same way when shortening it! So I have three of her dolls. Unfortunately, both Legacy Day and Mirror Beach Maddie dolls didn't make it to the UK. I got so impatient waiting I actually emailed Mattel and they said they won't be releasing them over here, so I can't get them in the shops. Sad times, since I saved up vouchers to get them, and can't use the vouchers online so I'm a bit stuck really! Hmph.

Anyway, Maddie led me on to Makies (via reading lots of doll blogs) and then from there, BJDs. I looked at them a lot, admired them... and then was lucky enough to win one in a competition, which is the most amazing thing. She arrived just last week. She's a Fairyland Littlefee Shue in the Alice full set (noticing a theme, anyone? :p) and she is STUNNING. I am in love . Funnily enough, I remembered a blog post I'd seen a long time ago of a BJD I'd really liked but couldn't remember the make or sculpt, so I went to find it again... It turned out to be a Littlefee. I really seem to like Fairyland :p. I'd actually quite like to get a Pukifée and a Puki Puki too :p.

So as you can gather, I'm really new to BJDs. I've admired them for a while but I didn't expect to be able to own one any time soon. I'm really enjoying having Liddy, posing her is such fun . And she gets on with my Makie, Annie, of course! :p.

Sounds like you've got some solid plans for your resin crowd Arkinlae, I look forward to you getting all the bodies and taking some photos!
What else is on your wish list apart from the Puki Puki? I have a feeling we may have similar tastes as that's on my wish list too .

So, I've been collecting BJDs since around 2004 - 2005, when I first dipped my toe in the BJD waters by purchasing a 1/6 Customhouse Petite Ai. Even though I was less than pleased by her lack of any torso joints, and I found her to be a bit too chubby and baby-ish looking for my tastes, it didn't stop me from plunging in head first! I promptly went and purchased four more BJDs, 1/4ths.... the next size up, this time.

Made sure they were all definitely boys too, wasn't going to make the same mistake of purchasing a supposedly "genderless" little doll who absolutely refused to be turned into the beautiful little boy I wanted. ^_~

Those four Volks boys turned out to be everything I'd hoped for and more! <3
Now here I am, some sixty plus dolls later, and I'm still going strong. ^_^

MadWild, you said you'd be interested in seeing a photo of all my same sculpt dolls together. Well, it's not everyone, because most of them are currently hanging out upstairs, in anticipation of a major reorganizing plan. I'm planning on turning most of the upstairs into a place for my BJDs.

However, I do have seven who happen to hang out on the top of my headboard shelves, and I made Lue join them, so that at least gives you eight out of my thirty plus F-14/Kohaku/Hisui clan to compare.

Here is a group photo.

Reading from left to right you have: Lucifer Jones aka Lue, Saishuu and his brother Kiyoshi, then there's Tokumaru,next comes Kotsuki Sama, Lung Tien Mei Sama, Shigure Shiori Sama, and his devoted bodyguard Salem Brown.

I'm going to post this now, and then post a few close ups in a new post. For some reason my iPad thinks it funny today to make the entire post I've typed out so far, disappear while I'm retrieving the next photo. 0__o

Close up of Lue, Saishuu, and Kiyoshi.


Lue has an original default Kohaku face up. He is the only one of all my Kohaku/Hisui demons that has had his ears modded into proper pointed ones. His left ear is also pierced.
Lue is one of the first four Volks boys I purchased, and since they were all purchased and all arrived around the same time, I count all four of them as my "second" BJDs. One of the other Volks boys was an SDC Arashi, and after seeing what the SDC body was like, I quickly obtained one for Lue.

Saishuu, which means final or last in Japanese, is an F-14 FCS. He has a face up that was designed and sketched out on paper by me, very much in the style of the default face up, and painted by the talented face up artists at Volks. Saishuu is what Volks calls snow skinned, so his skin color is white.
The reason he is named last or final, is because he is the last F-14 FCS I was able to make just before Volks completely discontinued the F-14/Kohaku/Hisui sculpt. This makes him very precious to me. He also may very well be the last FCS doll I do as well, unless Volks decides to release a new stylized FCS sculpt, and it's one I like. They are on a more realistic face sculpt look right now, and since they consider the MSD to be the equivalent of a five or six year old, all the head sculpts they've released for the U.S. online FCS have rather baby like, fat, pudgy noses.

Kiyoshi was purchased second hand, and I believe his face up was done by his previous owner. He is technically a Hisui since he originally came on a girl body, but as he was obviously a boy, I quickly aquired another SDC boy's body for him as well. Both Lue and Kiyoshi are what is considered a normal flesh toned skin color.

I'll post the close up of the next three tomorrow, since it is getting quite late here and I need to get some sleep. ^_~

Wow, they really do look different don't they? I can see why you love the sculpt so much, it's really quite a sweet look with the little nose and not-quite-smiling mouth. It certainly fits with looking more mature as you wanted, too. Thanks for sharing the pictures!

In comparison, Liddy is very young looking, but then of course she is smaller too as she's 1/6 size. I really love the look that Fairyland dolls have about them though, that slightly pudgy, cute thing they have going on :p. I haven't yet encountered another company whose sculpts I've liked as much, although I've seen the odd doll here and there that has taken my fancy on tumblr (there's a great 'dolls to wish for' blog that introduces me to lots of companies and sculpts), but I still don't find myself browsing on any other website as much as I do on Fairyland's :p. That said, I have only seen what I've come across on Tumblr, so please do recommend other sites if you think there's ones I should be looking at!

By the way, as DoA users, do you find that the marketplace is a useful resource? As in, are there often bargains to be had?

I do, for one thing, many of the people who are selling in DoA's Marketplace are doing so more because they wish to rehome a doll for whatever reason, rather than because they are simply looking to make a profit or because it's the way they make their living. It's sort of like the difference between a person who buys concert tickets because they really wanted to go see the group in concert, then needs to sell their tickets because they aren't going to be able to go...... As opposed to the scalper, who buys up a block of tickets, waits until the box office is all sold out, and then starts offering their tickets at double or triple the price.

Often these days, when you see a doll for sale on eBay, for what seems to be a really cheap price, unless it's being sold by the actual doll company, or a company representative, you run the risk of buying a recast doll, or falling prey to some other scam. Also, most DoA members who still list their dolls on ebay as well as in the marketplace will tell you so in one or both of their listings, allowing you to cross check.

A recast doll, by the way, is when a company buys one limited edition or hard to find doll, say a Volks SDGr Okita Soji. They then take the doll and disassemble it, so that they can make molds of the various pieces, Then they start casting copies of the doll using the molds they've made, and they list these copies as a new or mint Volks SDGr Okita Soji doll, only instead of costing the almost $2000.00 that a REAL new or mint Volks SDGr Okita Soji would, they sell them for around six or seven hundred. Most of the time their specific listing doesn't tell you that the doll is a recast, so people buy what they assume is a real Luts or Volks doll, thinking they've gotten a real bargain, and instead they end up with an illegal copy, often poorly cast and made from cheap inferior resin.

DoA actively discourages these companies from advertising or selling on DoA, and I believe they will permantly ban any member who knowingly tries to resell a recast doll in the marketplace.

DoA's marketplace can be a good resource, for determining what the current secondary market value of a doll or doll part is, simply by browsing the listings. It's a good source to find older dolls, and doll sculpts that are no longer popular, as well as newly released dolls that didn't quite live up to the current owners expectations. You definitely can find some good bargains, hard to find Grail dolls, rare limited edition dolls, etc.

When I'm looking for a doll, or even just looking to kill some time, I'll go check out the marketplace. ^_^

Mad Wild Fairyland and Latidoll I think are the best for child like dolls. They definitely get the little chubby cheeks down.

I could never bond with any childlike 1/6 until having my son I could never visualise any characters. Now I feel he not only needs doll versions of him, but I need a girl to lavish all the pink and cute things on

I just loved Maddie's outfit. I'm not an avid Alice fan but I like it well enough, but now after owning Maddie I feel I need to get Lizzie Hearts and Alistair Wonderland. I've also planned to make a Monster High into Alice from Alice Madness Returns and I have a Hujoo bunny for my White Rabbit

I'm totally gutted about Legacy Day I just wanted her shoes! I might have to see if a friend in the US could send her to me. It's so unfair I was wondering why I was only seeing Apple and Raven on the shelves.

I'm very tempted by Hunter and Ashlynn now too and I want an Apple White to turn into Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time. If I could I'd love to try turning all EAH into OUAT counterparts...but not quite sure how I'd do Rumplestiltskin (he's my fave character)

JRyu -

That pretty much sums up the reason I'd like marketplace access - it seems a safer way to go shopping for bargains!

I just want to say, thank you for being so kind in writing explanations of things I might not know. It's really nice to see someone so willing to teach things about the hobby rather than just telling me to google it, as seems to be a lot of people's response. I actually found out about recasts quite early on, and I'm glad I know to avoid them, as I really think it's a shoddy (nearly swore then!) thing for people to do - it takes the money away from the people who did all the work, when they so deserve it for creating something beautiful. I know the prices of some BJDs are high, which is the reason most people seem to give for buying recasts, but personally I'd rather wait for a secondhand (legit) bargain or save up my money to shop with the company than have a fake, and not be actually supporting the artists who created the very doll that I so desire. If that makes any sense, I may now be babbling, sorry!

I think I definitely need to get onto DoA and get marketplace access so I can start keeping an eye out for those lovely dolls that I'd so like to own :p. It's invitation only though, isn't it? 

Arkinlae -

Funnily enough, Latidoll are probably second on my list as dolls that I've seen and liked! They are little cuties .

How sweet that now, through your son, you have a way to connect with the more childlike dolls. I'm sure you will create some lovely characters.

I'm having to resist the temptation to collect all the Wonderland characters. I have to limit myself to Maddie dolls only, otherwise before we know it I'd have Kitty, Lizzie, Alistair and Bunny! I've even seen Kitty on the shelf in Sainsbury's, the temptation was immense! Lizzie has some amazing outfits. I'm getting a Hujoo nanorabi to be my white rabbit for Liddy, as he'll be about half her size. But I ordered from Angelesque and after waiting for a while, I emailed to ask when it would be dispatched and she said that she'd actually sold more stock than she had, so I have to wait until she gets more from her supplier. I'm not too impressed, and just hoping it doesn't take AGES as I'd really like to see him in person to work out if I can make him a little waistcoat or not! 

It's so disappointing, isn't it? Her legacy day outfit and shoes are stunning. If you're happy shopping online, there is a site called Bentzen toys that has her in stock, and they're based in the UK, so it saves having to get her from the US. I'm hoping to trade in my vouchers for cash with someone so that I can have the money to buy her online, since I can't use them to buy her in store. Although I hope that Way Too Wonderland and the baking line will come here and I can use some of them to buy the Maddie dolls from those lines. Wishful thinking with Mattel's recent release decision though, methinks!

Oh that sounds like an interesting project. You'd have to do some serious head-modding to get Rumplestiltskin's look, but I wouldn't think it would be impossible, and it could be a lot of fun! You should give it a go .

My birthday BJD arrived!
I finally got my Okita Soji, one of my Grail dolls! He is one of my favorite Japanese historical figures. ^_^

Volks has released three variations of this doll, over the last few years.

The first was released right around the time they came out with the Graffiti body, and I totally missed out on that one. I didn't even find out about him until after the international lottery, etc. was over and done.

He's hard to find on the secondary market, especially as an untouched full set. When one does show up, it's usually for double the original price or more! Mostly, all you see is his head, because people bought him for the new SDGr body, which wouldn't be so bad.......except, the person has usually wiped his default face up and given him a totally different looking new one!

The second Soji Volks released just recently, was the Romantic Version, which has the half closed eyes. The R.V. Okita SDGr full set has been easier to find, although again he usually sells for around his original price or a bit more.

I'd been going back and forth about getting the Romantic Version full set, even though I don't usually care for dolls with half closed eyes. Not counting sleeping heads/faceplates, I think I only own one possibly two dolls with half closed or closed eyes. They have to be incredibly beautiful and really appealing to me, which The Romantic Version is, before I'll buy them.

I'd just about decided to go ahead and get the Romantic Version, when I happened across the lottery for Volks third version of Okita Soji.
When I saw him, I was so glad I hadn't purchased the Romantic Soji yet!

The third version is simply gorgeous, as well as younger looking, to me anyway, than the first version and possibly even the Romantic Version. Plus, his eyes are nice and open, so you can really see his beautiful eyes! ^_^ <3 <3 <3

Lol, now you are probably thinking I must have won Volks lottery chance to purchase him......
Nope, I didn't win!

However, I went and checked out a certain seller on eBay, who also runs a Japanese shopping service for BJDs and related items. She goes to a lot of the Volks Japanese Dolpas, buys what dolls and limited outfits she can, and lists them on eBay for what I consider a reasonable mark up. Knowing a little about how much she is having to pay to travel to and attend the Dolpas, the time and effort spent in order to get a chance to buy the dolls and limited outfits, etc., I think she totally earns and deserves the small amount of profit she makes.
^_^

Anyway, she had two of the third version full sets listed on eBay, for only a couple of hundred more, so I immediately snapped one up!

Here he is, he is the boy on the right. The other boy is another favorite Japanese historical figure of mine, Date Masamune. The little boy who is sitting on his lap, is actually a younger version of himself! ^_~ Lol, I just call them Big Masa and Little Masa, because my tongue usually get all tangled when I try to pronounce Masamune!

Ah, I meant to reply here ages ago and forgot. JRyu, I'm so happy for you that you got one of your grails, how wonderful .

Anyone else got any BJD news? We should keep this thread more active!

I'm really excited about the new RealFees Fairyland are releasing, so I've been listing stuff on ebay and selling things on facebook in an attempt to raise some money toward ordering May. I just think she's gorgeous, and I love the interchangeable rabbit/human legs. Plus with the event on, if you get the fullset you get three gifts effectively, and it seems to work out a better deal than getting a basic as once you take faceup and the non-human parts into account, a fullset is only $11 more but then includes sleeping face, wig, clothes, shoes and the extra gifts. Seems good to me! So, I shall keep gathering my pennies and working toward getting one. If anyone wants to buy Lil' Zelfs, Lalaloopsy tinies or papercrafting supplies, feel free to buy my stuff on ebay! :p 

So much for me saying that these dolls were too expensive for me to ever consider buying one, eh? From now on, I'll never say never. They're just too lovely to resist .

Just curious...can a person getting a BJD doll chat here?

Of course! Welcome to the conversation

yess... Now i have on clue what ot say x.x

well, I'd love to hear what BJD you are getting, and which company he or she is from for starters! ^_^

Do you have any specific plans for your doll's character and personality, and do you have a name picked out?....... or are you waiting for the doll to arrive and let you who he or she is, and what they are like first? ^_~
That's what I do, since I find that BJDs, just like Makies, seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to who they are and what their personality is like.

Also, if you have any questions or concerns about their care, etc., please feel free to ask away! I'm sure one of us will be happy to and able to answer your questions, address any concerns, and/or point you towards helpful websites and tutorials. ^_^

I am looking at getting the smart doll ebony :3 I have hopes of making her a selfie doll for blogs and photo shoots so I I dont have selfies of me everywhere haha.

Ohhh cares yes, will def need to know that.

I have plans of commishing someoning one ot od her face since i have never done anime style paint up ^^:

Cool! ^_^

I really like Danny Choo's work and his attitude, I think it would be so neat to be able to meet and talk with him, see the dolls being assembled, etc.

Myself, I'm waiting for him to finish the boy doll, Eiji Seiun. I'm hoping that when they start taking pre-orders for Eiji, the timing will be right, and I'll be able to pre-order him. ^_^

He will have to be a very early birthday present, because I just ordered my two Christmas present dolls from Luts last night, lol! ^_~

Luts re-released one of my Grail dolls, the elf version of Kid Delf Maska, as Hades. He is a limited release, so I had to buy the doll now. It is the same with the other doll I ordered, he's a special limited edition of Zuzu Delf Mir, a little anthropomorphic dragon, as D'artagnan from The Three Muskateers.

He is so adorable, I thought he would make a cute servant/companion for my Hades. ^_^

I agree, and so would I haha.

 Well she is gonna be a late one, but once I have her she'll be going all over the state with me ^^;

So... after much (years of?) dithering, at the end of October I put in an order for my first BJD - Resinsoul Ya, on the Rong double-jointed body. I spent ages debating with myself about it, but honestly I've wanted one for years. I should have known when I got a Makie it was a slippery slope!

Then I spent ages looking through the Flickr group for Resinsoul to see who caught my eye, and 90% of the time when I liked one she turned out to be a Ya or a Mei (same face, different ears). Though I do like the Song in fantasy colours, they just look more serious.

Now I'm wondering - the site says she has a 17cm head and a few people said she takes a 6/7 wig. Anyone know if she could take a Makie wig?

It certainly sounds like she could.

My MSD Lue's head is like 20cm and he wears the next wig size up, which is the most common size for 1/4 BJD, but there are a few who do wear 6-7 size. So a Makie wig should fit her just fine. ^_^

BTW, out of curiosity, I just measured the head of one of my Makies without a wig, and got 18cm.

JRyu wrote:It certainly sounds like she could.

My MSD Lue's head is like 20cm and he wears the next wig size up, which is the most common size for 1/4 BJD, but there are a few who do wear 6-7 size.  So a Makie wig should fit her just fine. ^_^

BTW, out of curiosity, I just measured the head of one of my Makies without a wig, and got 18cm.

Thank you. I triple-checked the wig situation because "MSD" wigs generally seem to be 7-8s, but it looks like she's just got a small head for a BJD. (I was a bit stunned at her matching the Makies while being so much taller, but that makes sense looking at the proportions.)

Now I just need to narrow down which wigs I want. I was going to wait until I know for sure what eye colour she'll have but I suspect my ideas will stay the same, and to be honest where Makies seems to be lagging badly with orders, I don't want to wait too long.

Yeah, most MSD sized dolls are meant to portray very young children, so they have heads that are a bit large.

Volks especially, they consider MSDs to be about five or six, I think, barely past the toddler stage.

Although their new SDM body is supposed to be a bit older, maybe seven or eight. However, they still have the same pudgy baby hands that the MSDs have.

That's one reason why I prefer Volks SDC body, since it's meant to be older, like a preadolescent or tween-aged child, but still basically a 1/4 sized doll.

Resin soul has some lovely sculpts, I hope you'll post pictures of her here when she arrives. ^_^

*nods* Ya (Especially on the Rong body) is definitely meant to be older. I worked out scaling up the measurements - she'd work out at 5'6, and around 27-20-30 figure. Which is pretty damn skinny, but not impossibly so, and definitely "grown up" proportions.

I'm really looking forward to being able to sew for her - I tried some for the Makies but it's definitely easier the bigger you go. And I have a tonne of small beads for making jewelry and all that.

"I'll just get the one," I said "Something fairly big, so I can sew/knit for it without too much trouble", I said.

Then my housemate (looking over my shoulder) fell in love with the Real Pukis, and I found one on ebay. So there's been this teeny tiny little pixie creature in the house this week, and she's adorable.

Three guesses who's now ordered a PukiPuki (Sugar) on eBay? It'll take a while to get here from Russia, but not as long as it would take to get here from Fairyland.

Now all I need is to work out how to knit 14 stitches to an inch.

Whoa! I've seen hand knitted and crocheted 1:12 scale miniatures, as well as clothing for Pukis, so I know it's possible..... I'm really impressed!

Lol, of course I admire anyone who can actually knit and crochet soft pretty clothes and things in any size. All I seem to be able to knit are real solid and sturdy pot holders.

I could probably knit some pretty darned good chain mail if I used steel wool.

I just can't seem to relax enough to keep the knitting loose and soft, and my crocheting is even worse..... And that's with using the biggest crochet hook I think they make.