Help from bjd owners (new questions on page three)

[WeepingPiano]

I am sort of considering buying two bjds... The thing is, I don't have alot of money to spend on these things.
 
I need suggestions of two basic non-big headed bjds that will not break the bank.
 
And the biggies: Clothes, and random accessories (like books, jewelry, trinkety type things for scenes and stuff...)
 
Any help would be much appreciated

[Taxel]

Maybe Pukipuki? I've heard you can get them pretty cheap (around $150) used, but I've never bought or looked for one.

[SuniMoon]

Bobobie/ResinSoul dolls are around  $155 for 1/4 dolls, around $200 for 1/3.
They're pretty nice dolls, and on the low end of BJDs.

[okapishomapi]

Bobobie/ResinSoul dolls are around  $155 for 1/4 dolls, around $200 for 1/3.
They're pretty nice dolls, and on the low end of BJDs.

Are they on the low end quality-wise too? I really want a ResinSoul but not if they're crappy quality?

[SailorEarth]

I had the same question as you when I was wanting to buy my first bjd and I will impart the same wisdom on you as another person did for me. If there's one doll in particular that you're dying to have (kinda sounds like you have one in mind), you should save up for that one instead of settling for something else just because it's less expensive. You'll be happier in the long run that you got the one you really wanted. Trust me on this one  *snuggles Volks SD Nono*

As for the clothes and other bits they will be a never ending project so there's no need to buy that all at once. You can find some decent prices on the secondhand market (Den of Angels) and get in on group orders to different companies so you're not taking a huge hit on shipping. Etsy and eBay can also be good sources for clothes and sundries. Depending on what size doll you end up with there are even fashion dolls of comparable size in stores that you can snag clothes from.

Good luck and congrats!

[Knibitz]

Bobobie/ResinSoul dolls are around  $155 for 1/4 dolls, around $200 for 1/3.
They're pretty nice dolls, and on the low end of BJDs.

Are they on the low end quality-wise too? I really want a ResinSoul but not if they're crappy quality?

"crappy" and even "quality" are subjective
I personally find resin soul/bobobie low quality, and in general unattractive (no offence to owners of these dolls, there are some that I find stunning as well, but it's uncommon)

where quality is general lacking is proportions (their bodies are a bit thin and tiny), awkward sculpting (in my opinion. I find their bodies really unattractive - both companies, tho resinsoul looks better in my opinion), lack of symmetry with facial features (eyes being different sizes and shapes), and then their posing isn't the best.
You definitely pay for what you get for when you're going that low in price.

HOWEVER I have met many a owner who own dolls from these companies and love them. To each their own.



Also, what is "breaking the bank" for you?
500$ and we can set you up with just about anything in the general pool of bjds.

under 300, gets a little harder.




Also, answer these questions will help us help you:


What size do you want?:YOSD and tiny (30cm and under), MSD/mini (~40cm), large/SD (~60cm), 70cm+
What age do you want your doll to look? (baby, child, teen, adult, etc)
What Gender?
Human? Fantasy (centaur, elf, mermaid)? Animal(dog, cat, rabbit)?


Rank importance on the following:
Posing Ability
Realistic looking (human proportions and facial features)
Price
Ease to find things for it to wear (some size dolls are company specific, and thus hard to find clothing and such for)

[WeepingPiano]

Wow. This hobby is way out of my league   It would take me a year to even begin to afford what I am looking for, and that is without buying anything else at all.
 
I think I need to settle for something much less expensive that I can customize to my liking and spend tiny (comparitivly) amounts of money buying accessories and clothing to trick them out to my liking.
 
I just love the delicate faces and detailed eyes that some of the higher end bjds have.
 
Also, answer these questions will help us help you:


Though the answers to the above questions are:
Larger sized (so specific, I know... [and more expensive])
Young adult
One male, one female
Human

Rank importance on the following:
Posing Ability - Fairly important
Realistic looking (human proportions and facial features) - very high
Price - I guess it is what I would have to save, more than what I can pay.
Ease to find things for it to wear - I am pretty much planning on making custom clothes for them

[Knibitz]

Supia sounds like your go to company for your girls http://supiadollz.net
GORGEOUS ladies!

I owned one for a short while a few months ago, but bills came crunching and she had to go.

I owned a supia Rosy on a type one body.

This was her:

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The type one body poses rather well, but it's a bit funky... once you get the hang of it is poses alright.Type two body is going to pose a million times better (being double jointed; aka, having a joint at their elbow/knees that allows them more movement)To see prices for supia, you need to create an account and log in.I believe they're prices around around 600 for a large girl with her face painted, including shipping.Second hand, they run around 500-550. I sold mine, with face up for 475+ shipping and she was sold almost instantly.  They're very popular dolls.


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(my same girl, just a different look)

Supia also carries boys, but they JUST started carrying them, and I don't beleive that anyone owns them yet.



Boy wise, for realism...I'd say iplehouse... those are some sexy men
http://www.iplehouse.net/index.php

YID is their standard SD sized line at about 60cm  http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step0.php?b_code=B20021125011548&c_code=C20021125011601
SID is going to be 65cm and a little more buff http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step0.php?b_code=B20100407022838&c_code=C20100407023257
EID is 70+ and very similar to SID http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step_submain.php?b_code=B20080426021929

I've only ever owned a JID sized iplehouse, but she was a fantastic doll, very high quality. But I just fell out of love as my tastes changed.

  does that start you off OK?[/img]

[WeepingPiano]

Thank you so much for all the advice. This is a great starting place. I really appreciate it.

[okapishomapi]

Knibitz you are the freakin Dollhouse hero.

[WeepingPiano]

Knibitz you are the freakin Dollhouse hero.

I concur

[Knibitz]

  aaaaaaaaw
;A; I JUST REALLY LOVE BJDS!!!! *cuddles my dollies*
I've also owned a ton of them over the years and know my ways around the block. I definitely don't know everything, I wouldn't even say I know even close to everything, since there are so many different things you can do with the dolls, but I feel pretty solidified in the basics, and I know the popular companies that people often go to (have owned dolls from most of them) and just love sharing the information with people hungry for it, since it is a HUGE hobby and it can be overwhelming when you first start out oAo It's still overwhelming for me at times .... dear lord doll shopping when I don't have a specific idea in mind makes me dizzy.

and I just also get so excited when new people want to get into the hobby becase they're SO MUCH you can do with it! and I just get really excited to see what plans people have in mind!
I'm pretty dang boring with my army of 20something year old humans who all live in the united states and most do some sort of job related to different art industries.

But seeing what other people come up with! Like one of my old friends from dA has post apocalyptic dolls that I am OBSESSED WITH. oAo ugh her characters are so awesome! OnO too bad she fell off the face of the earth a few years ago and hasn't been seen again *sob*

It's nothing I could ever come up with!

so it's just that there's so much potential with every new doll owner, there's so many ideas that they can bring to the table, so it's just like OMG LETS GET YOU A DOLL! LETS GET YOU STARTED! LETS SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!



.-. I like this hobby too much *rolls around*








ETA!
OHOHOHOHOH! one thing I didn't think about!!!


Now, I don't know how well you can hybridize (put one head on a different company's body) with supia and iplehouse BUT! It's the biggest way I save money


I have some super cheap bodies. 1/3scale Fantasy doll body that cost me 165+shipping, and I once bought an entire soom Gem (just a plain gem) doll on the DoA marketplace for 200$ shipped. Both are decent bodies. Not terribly attractive. Honestly the gem hands are tiny and downright creepy, but I put different hands (luts delf boy hands) on the body instead and they look 10X better


So that's always an option for saving money


another realistic boy company that I LOVE is migidoll and they sell just heads that look fantastic on the gem and fdoll bodies.


(I'm so sorry this photo is huge) This is my Migidoll Ryu head on a Gem body:
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His head I bought from a friend painted, it cost me 160$, his body is the gem body that I got, that cost me 180$ (I had the head painted, cost me 80$ and then I sold it for about 100$, so with math that makes the body 180)


wig was super cheap (fur wigs are always an easy way to cut cost, Sunnys Wonderful World on ebay sells them for 10$ shipped each and I absolutely love them), I think i got it for 5$ shipped used. Eyes came with him, but they're just generic glass eyes it seems, so 15$-20$


total he cost me.... 365$ about... give or take especially for shipping.
Tshirt he's wearing was 12$ from KuroiCarousel, shorts were made by me out of a pair of my dad's old pants so those were free!


Sammy (my blue haired one that I've spammed everywhere was even cheaper)
His head was only 55$ [he's a luts winter event head from 2009, very plain looking, so not very popular], my friend painted his face for free, his eyes were 15$ and his wig was also 15$, his body is a fantasy doll body and was 165
so he comes to about.. 240?? cheap dolly is cheap


Fiasco is kinda the same, his body an Angel of Dream 1/3 body cost me 200, his head cost me 130 it came painted, eyes came with another doll I bought as a freebie, so those were free, his wig also came as a freebie with something I bought so he cost me $330




NOW that being said! this doesn't all come out of pocket! almost all of my dolls were purchase with money I made selling other things. My first BJD's I bought with selling MLP convention exclusives, I was lucky enough to have 3 bay breeze ponies and I about 300$ selling all three (one MIP, 2 in played condition [as they went to my little cousins, I later got them in the mail from my aunt])   I was into pullips for a little bit and sold those to afford a lot of dolls, Fiasco was purchased almost completely with money from pullips.


And nowadays, if I want a doll, I sell one and get another! I take rather good care of my dolls and...without trying to sound like I'm full of myself... people from deviantArt know my dolls, and in most cases would buy them (I've run polls on this and about 75% of the votes said they would buy my dolls if money allowed them)  So that's how I afford it now. A sale item is only as beautiful as you photograph it, and that's especially true with BJDs that I've found.


or I wait till my tax return 8D  *sits patiently*

[WeepingPiano]

I have a very specific idea of what I would like to do. I have two characters from a story I am working on (and how many times have we heard that ^-^) anyway, I really love these characters and I am actually going somewhere with them (really heavy duty back stories and future plans for them, maybe a real book someday) and I would love to cobble together bjd versons of them. It will take alot of time and money to get them just right though, so I think I am going to have to set up milestones that once I reach them, I can reward myself with doll goodies (bodies, heads, clothes etc.)

[Knibitz]

I have a very specific idea of what I would like to do. I have two characters from a story I am working on (and how many times have we heard that ^-^) anyway, I really love these characters and I am actually going somewhere with them (really heavy duty back stories and future plans for them, maybe a real book someday) and I would love to cobble together bjd versons of them. It will take alot of time and money to get them just right though, so I think I am going to have to set up milestones that once I reach them, I can reward myself with doll goodies (bodies, heads, clothes etc.)

;3; omg! start writing now!
Writing for my characters what the best think I ever did for my dolls! It's made them become so more vivid, and so much easier style and, in my case, photograph.
;u; when I started writing is really when I blew up in enthusiasm for the hobby and never looked back!


And milestones is fantastic
(If you didn't already catch, I added more to my previous post talking about how much my dolls really cost and where the money came from)
Just keep saving! It's totally possible and one good thing about saving, is that you have time to wait to see if something better comes a long! Being new to the hobby, you have a whole WORLD of dolls you haven't seen yet, and maybe you'll be saving towards 600$ and one day you'll stumble around a new doll that you adore that is going to cost less (best feeling EVER)

so maybe if the word saving seems daunting, we can just call it "waiting for the perfect moment"

[WeepingPiano]

Darn it you! I am already picking out dolls and eyes and wigs I either need to work more or get a better paying job. Curse me and my expensive tastes. I am having trouble locating a good red wig though... hrmm.
Yeah, I like to think I am good at saving. I put aside a few dollars a week and before I know it, I have a good chunk put away. (That is how I justify Scarby purchases. Yay RenFaire!) I think my problem will be that even if I save enough to get exactly what I want, how can I justify laying out that much money for a doll? Not to put down any one that does, but, I mean, I could buy a laptop or (with the money I am looking at between the two I want) a car. Not a new car, but still. Between a beautiful resin doll or a car... *flail* how do you people do this? Oh! I've got it! I will take your advice and start activly trying to sell my custom MLP and put whatever extra I make (over the cost of the initial product and the materials) to the side and use my hobby to pay for my dolls! That way, I don't have to use any of my "hard earned money" (not that ponies are easy, but, compared to a job-job) *squee* Now, *cracks knuckles* who wants to buy a custom pony?