No.145
Hey /dolls/, seagull here.
I know this wouldn't really fly on a faster board, but since it's slow here, figured I'd post.
If it's not, just ignore me.
Anyway, I've been slowly getting interested in bjds, but hesitating because lolita is eating up all my money, and I have no idea where to start.
So do you have any tips for a beginner? Are there any things I should avoid buying/doing? Things you wish you knew when you started?
No.146
Honestly if you're already into lolita you probably have a lot of the main stuff down. Don't buy cheap stuff just because its affordable because you'll usually find its not up to par, don't jump on an omg great deal on Ebay/Ali/Taobao because its probably bootleg or shit, its worth it to have some basic sewing skills for fixing things and fitting things. Also secondhand shopping is a pretty great way to get some decent stuff. Obviously limited things will be ridiculously expensive secondhand but the more popular basic dolls will be a little cheaper (like Minifees).
I'd probably suggest buying your first doll with a faceup, just because its easier to dive right in when your doll arrives already painted. If you really want to try doing it yourself, get a blank head from a cheaper company to play with and leave your factory finished doll alone until you feel happy with your own skills.
Also, like lolita, theres kind of a standard size and then a lot of outlying sizes all trying to fit into that same size. Nearly everything is vaguely based off the Volks sizing system, so nearly everything will be labeled SD, MSD, YoSd. If you're planning to buy a bunch of clothes for your doll, definitely compare measurements and find one that fills that average. My first doll was an old Dollzone and the pain of trying to find anything that actually fit properly was awful. Some dolls (like Fairylands and Unoas) are popular enough to have sizing categories on their own.
No.158
No.159
Oh lord, I can talk about this shit forever.
If you're getting into dolls, do it because you like dolls. A great majority of drama in our 'fandom' or whatever you wanna call it is due to people wanting ATTENTION and not actually liking dolls. After many years in the hobby, I can spot someone who is going to wash out pretty fast. The original owner of DoA (Aimee, bitch has a ED article on her, check it out) washed out of BJD into lolita. You may know her. Hate to say it, but when she left, so did a lot of the drama. The reason DoD came around isn't as needed now as it was a few years ago, thank god.
If you genuinely like dolls and want to put time and effort into them, you will be rewarded I think. If you want people to pay attention to you, this isn't the money = attention scale you want to be getting into.
While still somewhat true the old adage of "you get what you pay for" still stands, but there are a lot of lower-priced beautiful BJD out there right now.
No.162
>>159Thanks! I'm definitely just in it for the dolls. Whenever a doll thread popped up on halfchan cgl, I got so excited because of how cute they are.
Money looks like it'll be my biggest issue. I'm a poorfag who can hardly afford burando. I'll save up for a while and get one eventually though!
No.163
Well OP, what specific stuff in dolls do you like? Maybe we can recommend a few brands for your budget.
No.165
>>163This is a tough one! I really like sorta realistic ones? I also like smaller ones (I just don't have the room for a big doll!)
No.166
>>165You might like Chiclines then. They're a little between scales, not quite as big as a 16" fashion doll but not quite as small as a Barbie, and with a decent balance between realistic and regular doll look. Plus you can get a little bit of body variety. I have two and they're pretty fun little things, and can fit a lot of fashion doll clothing (some with minimal tailoring)
No.169
Not OP but total newfag dolls-wise.
What's the best site to get information on different companies? Is the denofangels wiki good?
I haven't decided if I want to get into BJDs yet (as gorgeous as they are) so I wanted to get as much information as possible and trying to find the right one.
No.170
>>166Thank you so much anon! Those are really cute, but pricey on the store, so I'll keep an eye out for a used one!
No.171
>>169DoA wiki never seems to get updated lol.
There isn't any one particular site that I know of. You either slog around for hours or ask someone for advice for looking for particular items (and maybe cost range) or spend a lot of time doing it yourself. I think there might be some sites that might list however many doll sites there are out there, but there are probably well a few thousand now, some around, some not, some dolls easy to get on secondhand, some not.
No.173
>>171I thought that might be the case, especially since there seems to be a huge amount of choice.
Thanks anyway.
No.174
>>173Which is why usually people ask, whats your cost range, what kind of style do you want, maybe pictures that show things you like and want to own, maybe we can help suggest things then. Otherwise, the options are huge.
No.221
>>174Sorry for the slow reply.
I'm still not completely certain on what I would like to own, especially size-wise. Really I was just thinking a male doll but otherwise I'm just looking around for inspiration to see what takes my fancy (obviously not just going to buy anything I like but looking around to figure out what I want).
No.222
Honestly I think MSD might be one of the better sizes to go with for a new person. You can go child-like or relatively mature (like Minifees or JIDs), the clothing is pretty plentiful, its easier to find furniture in scale since MSDs look pretty decent with American Girl scaled things, and they're not too much larger than dolls that can be found in stores so there isn't that size-shock.