How did you first start out?

It's interesting to see how many people got introduced to DD's through Danny Choo!

 

I enjoyed reading through everyone's stories (Mitsuki I am jealous that you have DD Yuki from white album - her face is to DIE for!) and I wanted to share my own! I'll try to keep it short.

 

I've always been a fan of collecting, when I was little it started with My Little Ponies, Littlest Pet Shop, Playmobil, and Transformers (I know, an interesting combo for a girl!) And through highschool I started to really get into anime (thanks to my older step-brother and Pokemon!) and soon I was collecting Shonen Jump, Pokemon Toys and cards, and amassing a huge amount of Anime artwork through the internet. Then I got very busy in University and was moving around a lot, so I had to keep my toys mostly packed up!

 

Now that I've been out of school and working full time I've finally had money to spend. And so about 2 years ago I started to collect figma and nendoroids, which progressed into PVC scaled figures. My fiance and I combined have a very impressive collection! We also have 1/10 Scale RC cars (the prices for these are about the same as a DD) and for a long time I just kind of admired Dollfie Dreams from a distance. The community surrounding DD seemed a little bizarre to me with its terminology (adopting daughters, etc) and so I had hesitated...

 

Then we broke down and decided we would get Yukino from VolksUSA! Yukino evolved into Elle slowly as I tried out different eyes and wigs. (Elle is my experiment, forever ongoing!) Not long after we got Yukino, we found out about Saber Lily DD and since I am a HUGE Saber fan we decided to try our luck as it would be cheaper than trying to get an original Saber or the brutally expensive Saber Alter.

 

I very much enjoy this new aspect to my hobby, it's so different from my figures! I find myself ordering less of the figure releases now and wanting to spend more energy on my DD's. Which is fine because it saves me money (though the next few months are going to be interesting because of the release schedule changes due to the disasterous tsunami!)

 

Now we have our third DD on her way and I'm on the lookout for a regular DDdy Alna on YJA as my fourth.. We've decided maximum DD purchases per year will be two, and I've actually become a lot more interested in working on my own projects and customizations than in the characters Volks releases. Though I guess my holy grail DD's will be White Album's Yuki and also Nia from Gurren Lagann. Maybe one day I will be able to own them. ^_^

Well I must admit that long before I adopted my first girl I had spent may hours looking through Danny Coo's sight myself, still do...

Hey, Plastic Fantastic.... you have RC cars? So do I! Been running them since the mid 80's!

 

PM me so we can talk RC stuff! I don't want to go off topic in this thread and all.

 

 

 

Billy

(Mitsuki I am jealous that you have DD Yuki from white album - her face is to DIE for!)

 

Thank you. It was a really long wait to get her. From the time the first photos were released on the DD blog announcing the project to the time she finally arrived was one year. I am so happy to have her though. I hope you can find a Yuki someday.

Hey, Plastic Fantastic.... you have RC cars? So do I! Been running them since the mid 80's!

 

PM me so we can talk RC stuff! I don't want to go off topic in this thread and all.

 

 

 

Billy

 

I will PM you when I've FINALLY reached 20 posts! I already have a message to respond to and I can't! So frustrating! ;_;

 

Thank you. It was a really long wait to get her. From the time the first photos were released on the DD blog announcing the project to the time she finally arrived was one year. I am so happy to have her though. I hope you can find a Yuki someday

 

I can imagine how brutal that must have been. The prices for Yuki on YJA are so high that I don't know if I'll ever be lucky enough to own her, but I certainly keep an eye out as best I can.

Like many people here, I first saw a DD on Danny Choo's site... and I hated them! The joints creeped me out, and I felt like their faces were a bit too realistic. At that point I was collecting mainly kaiju and US vinyl, so Dollfies were pretty far away from my "normal" type of figures.

 

From vinyl, I eventually started collecting PVC figures as well (of which I have a TON), and I slowly got used to joints. I must admit, it took me a LONG time to get over looking at them, I had several hundred static figures before I would even buy figmas! But the more and more I collected, the more Dollfie pictures I would see. And then one day, it just hit me. I was looking at the promo pics of Mari and something clicked in my head. I NEEDED her, more badly than I'd ever wanted a figure before. Sadly, I was completely broke at that point and all my money had to go towards pre-orders. I mourned not being able to get her, but I trucked on.

 

Then Marisa went up for pre-order, and by that point I had my boyfriend wanting a Dollfie as well. We decided to go for her, and she was *technically* my first Dollfie. But before she arrived, he surprised me with Mari at Chrismtas! I screamed when I unwrapped her, I was so excited. I remember being awed at how gorgeous she was, much prettier even than the promo shots. I think she will always be my favorite, because she was the first one I ever wanted and actually getting her was such an amazing experience. Funnily enough, Saber Lily actually ended up arriving before Marisa, so in terms of order, she was girl #3!

 

From there things kind of spiraled out of control... if we get Nellis and Airy, we'll have 8 in total, and considering that we pre-ordered Marisa in September and I didn't get a physical doll until December, our collection is moving pretty fast! But what can I say, I'm addicted to these beautiful figures. I've also gotten rather fond of resin anthro dolls recently, I managed to get in an order for the limited Pipos Charlotte a few weeks ago. Doll collecting is a dangerous, dangerous game!

It's so nice you guys remember how you got into the hobby. I liked reading everyone's story. Between all the sites I run and the several ongoing creative projects I have, I can barely remember what I did last week. So I don't really recall exactly how I got involved. I don't have any friends in this (doll) hobby. So it wasn't that. I tried to get a couple interested, but no luck thus far. They probably all think I'm a little nuts, but they don't say anything bad.

 

I've been an anime fan since the early 90s (even though I unknowingly was a fan of some as a kid - Voltron / Robotech / Transformers). So I probably, naturally, found out about them through an anime related site several years ago (it might have even been Danny's site). I looked into them, but for some reason I didn't get into it enough to buy one. After that I kinda forgot about them for a while.

 

Most of my anime interest was in the form of just buying anime/manga and making my own (I draw a lot and have been in the webcomic scene for years). So I never really got too into the whole collecting figures etc side of it until...

 

Sometime early last year something just clicked and I rediscovered BJDs/Dollfies and started looking at figures and such. Several months later I got my first resin BJD. It was quite an experience. I was so sidetracked from my usual projects. I spent so much free time surfing doll sites and buying doll clothes. I even bought a DSLR just to take nice photos (though I still suck). My father probably thought I lost it (still does. especially this month). Most certainly when I started talking about buying dresses. Haha (I'm a 34yo male ^_^) At some point I rediscovered Danny's site as well and it was all down hill from there.

 

I now started buying figmas and I got my first DD late last year. I still love my resin girl to bits and I have another one on its way this month. However, my first DD (a DDII with 04 head) is still incomplete. I haven't had time to work on her. I guess I'm not that cut out for the "do it yourself" dolls (and I draw for a living). But I have won both Dolpa 25 girls and I'm really excited to get them and hopefully spoil them.

 

A lot of my plans have changed since I got into this hobby. This site is one of them and I have many more still planned (like a webcomic with my girls representing characters from it). They've become my muse of sorts and have inspired me to get into all sorts of creative things lately. I totally blame Danny Choo!

 

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sorry it was kinda long (wall of text crits you for 1000 damage). Yes, it's true, the admin is pretty much a Dollfie noob.

 

(Totally OT - I too got into RC cars years ago. I have an old RS4 from HPI. Haven't touched it in years)

This thread tells me that Danny Choo has a lot of explaining to do, lol...

 

I actually did not come to Dollfie Dreams through Danny's website. I've been a BJD collector for about 10-12 years now and I got into them through... oddly enough... repainting My Little Pony dolls.

 

The girl who sat next to me in college noticed I was repainting vinyl toys (just MLP at the time) and asked if I'd heard about Volks or BJD... to which I said no.

 

She brought in a doll the next day, and admittedly, they totally creeped me out. I never played with dolls as a kid, I was always the girl with all the plastic animals... but then she brought in more dolls, and kept talking to me about them, and showed me a Volks brochure, and I realized how customizable they were, and I was hooked.

 

She never really introduced me to Dollfie Dream (which is funny since she talked about Dollfie (the Barbie sized ones) all the time) so I didn't pay them much attention... plus, way back then, they were strung with elastic and seemed to have a few issues... then when the peg joint system came out, everyone seemed worried that the pegs would be weak and give out... so I waited.

 

Then I had an Artist Alley table one year at Acen, and the woman across from us had just the most stunning dolls... and guess what... they were Dollfie Dreams.

I began looking more closely at them, and bought a MDD used (oddly enough, from the girl I saw at Acen)... but after a few years I decided (SO FOOLISHLY) to get out of the MSD/MDD size, and sold off all of my stuff...

 

But I always felt a little sad about seeing her adorable little face go... so I kept an eye on the Dollfie Dream scene... and then Alna came out... and I was doomed... and now... Alna is here and I've two more on the way.

 

I still have a rather extensive Resin BJD collections... but since having found my Resin Holy Grail (the SD16 Ami Ayase), I really don't have the urge to buy or spend more on Resin that isn't her... and thankfully, she can share clothes with Dollfie Dreams XD

However, my first DD (a DDII with 04 head) is still incomplete. I haven't had time to work on her. I guess I'm not that cut out for the "do it yourself" dolls (and I draw for a living). But I have won both Dolpa 25 girls and I'm really excited to get them and hopefully spoil them.

 

 

Aww! I hope your 04 girl gets done before her new sisters arrive! You can't have your first not be ready for them!

 

 

 

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sorry it was kinda long (wall of text crits you for 1000 damage). Yes, it's true, the admin is pretty much a Dollfie noob.

 

 

I think it's great that you consider yourself a noob. Just look at what you've accomplished with this site. So many people come here for help, for conversation and for fun. It's a great community and I am glad you did it despite not being a know it all. I actually prefer you not being like that, it keeps things on a more level field and puts you at an advantage by having people be able to relate to you more.

 

 

 

(Totally OT - I too got into RC cars years ago. I have an old RS4 from HPI. Haven't touched it in years)

 

 

WOOT! Another RC guy! Nice!

 

 

Billy

Okay my turn! It's been so fun to read stories about how people got into the hobby ! I was collecting BJDs for 4 years now and I never heard about DD or just vaguely. I saw a few pictures but I remember telling myself that they looked too "anime" and not realistic enough for me, which was stupid...

 

Anyways. 4 years went by and one day, I was on DOA and I opened the Dollfie Dream database by mystake. I scrolled down and was hooked. There was something about those girls I didn't see before. I don't know exactly what but they were special and beautiful and original. I went ahead and ordered my first Mini DD with a number 3 head, which I'm still waiting!

 

(the delivery guy came today but I was not here so they are due to deliver her again tomorrow, which I hope will happen because I don't want to go pick her up in the suburbs, very far away from my appartment. Also, as they wrote on the notice I got in my mailbox, I will have to pay custom fees for this girl u_u, first time it happened but I guess it's bound to happen once in a while...) !

Anyways. 4 years went by and one day, I was on DOA and I opened the Dollfie Dream database by mystake. I scrolled down and was hooked. There was something about those girls I didn't see before. I don't know exactly what but they were special and beautiful and original. I went ahead and ordered my first Mini DD with a number 3 head, which I'm still waiting!

 

 

Now, are you going to keep all your Resin BJD, or are you going to switch over to Dollfie Dream entirely? ... and I hope she makes it to you safely! I hate when they're so close and it's a badly timed postal drop that keeps you from getting them!!!

WOW! I'm surprised at how many replies I've had here, I'm really happy that everyone is willing to share their stories.

I think it's great that you consider yourself a noob. Just look at what you've accomplished with this site. So many people come here for help, for conversation and for fun. It's a great community and I am glad you did it despite not being a know it all. I actually prefer you not being like that, it keeps things on a more level field and puts you at an advantage by having people be able to relate to you more.

 

Thanks! I'm glad you guys enjoy it here. Hopefully in a couple months I won't be such a noob. I can't wait to take and share photos along with everyone else.

Danny's big a big help to the DD cause, for my i had seen this one person's DD Nagato Yuki and she was so sexy and pretty. Yet i still thought of them as "creepy" it too me a while to get over this once danny started posting more of his and i started seeing more DDs and how they were just like giant figures. I didn't think I'd ever get one since i'm such a die-hard figure collector I thought "keep my collection to just scaled figures and you'll be fine." then Gurren Lagann came out, I was a huge fan from the start and adored Yoko and knew i had to get my hands on all the figures of her out there. Then they announced DD Yoko, I knew one day i would be stepping into the world of DDs but the price was just too high for me. But eventually i found the Yoko that was destined to be mine and with the help of my friends and family I now have my lovely Yoko! Once i got Yoko my first thought was "I'm just gonna have yoko, no other DDs!" While I still only Yoko after seeing more and more DDs I know that my family will grow, I just need to focus on spoiling my Yoko first before i go and get another girl!

Once i got Yoko my first thought was "I'm just gonna have yoko, no other DDs!"

 

I think everyone swears this to themselves XD

 

I can't believe I never knew about Danny Choo's site until a few months ago!!!

I knew about his site for a while before I got my first. But, he's really not too blame... Well at least for me... When I was saving I wasn't sure if I wanted a Obitsu or a DD, my cousin told me a good starter would be the obitsu. But, I just couldn't get the Aoi out of my mind and started to save for another... Granted I still do enjoy checking out Danny Choo's site from time to time...

Once i got Yoko my first thought was "I'm just gonna have yoko, no other DDs!"

 

I think everyone swears this to themselves XD

 

I can't believe I never knew about Danny Choo's site until a few months ago!!!

 

I've been following his site since when he first did figure reviews years ago, so I saw how it started with the first few that he got and how it grew and grew. He did an awesome job of promoting them too, he would go to wonfes and look at doll things and show them off, he would take sexy pictures and would promote other doll owners and it just went crazy from there.

 

I've been following his site since when he first did figure reviews years ago, so I saw how it started with the first few that he got and how it grew and grew. He did an awesome job of promoting them too, he would go to wonfes and look at doll things and show them off, he would take sexy pictures and would promote other doll owners and it just went crazy from there.

 

I really admire what he does and where it's taken him... I'd love to be able to do something like that with my dolls... I always sit around and think "How can I do something meaningful to other people with them? How can I introduce more people to the joy of owning these guys?!

 

I love DDs and, I think what it boils down to is, I'm always looking for new ways to play with them... and to me, Danny has done it right. I LOVE his mascot, and the fact that he's got a DD of it... although I have no idea if the DD came first, or if the mascot did XD

Gotten my first girl when I see her being leftover from the afterevent in VOLKS website. I love her a lot so I bought it without question haha. Will post an introduction of her later.

Well, for me.. as a child living in Hong Kong and growing up during the late 70's and 80's, anime, manga, and super robots was a VERY big part of my life. So I have been a collector of all sorts of scale models, robot toys, anime(from VHS-> Laser Disc-> VCD's-> DVD's-> Bluray's), manga, and various animation goods since young, until I got older, have a job and and afford those expensive PVC's and Garage kits. I have been scared of dolls all this time too, the eyes really get to me, and I didn't like the exposed joints.. until the release of figma's which released a few "must have" figures, and I eventually got used to the joints. I was still freaked out by dolls even during then, but that's because I didn't even know DD's exsisted... I only know of real person looking dolls (which I'm still scared of by the way). Until I came across a certain forum who I clicked into a Dollfie dream post by accident, but BAM... there she was Rin Tohsaka... love at first site.... until I saw their price tag

 

and after many hours of overtime work... I now have a family of 8 girls

Well, for me.. as a child living in Hong Kong and growing up during the late 70's and 80's, anime, manga, and super robots was a VERY big part of my life. So I have been a collector of all sorts of scale models, robot toys, anime(from VHS-> Laser Disc-> VCD's-> DVD's-> Bluray's), manga, and various animation goods since young, until I got older, have a job and and afford those expensive PVC's and Garage kits. I have been scared of dolls all this time too, the eyes really get to me, and I didn't like the exposed joints.. until the release of figma's which released a few "must have" figures, and I eventually got used to the joints. I was still freaked out by dolls even during then, but that's because I didn't even know DD's exsisted... I only know of real person looking dolls (which I'm still scared of by the way). Until I came across a certain forum who I clicked into a Dollfie dream post by accident, but BAM... there she was Rin Tohsaka... love at first site.... until I saw their price tag

 

and after many hours of overtime work... I now have a family of 8 girls

Your family is growing really fast...

The first half of my story is in the "First visit to the Volks store" thread. But a few months after that, I was introduced to Yoake Mae Ruri Iro na (August) by Guuchan of the Rizon IRC network. So I was into that series and all, but I was still of the mindset I would never actually buy a DD after seeing their price in Japan. For reasons I don't quite remember (it was the middle of october, so I was probably insanely sleepy at the time), I was not paying attention in Introductory Biochemistry 200, and looking up something or other on my laptop. Then for some reason, the link for DD Feena came up, and I was like OMG OMG inside. I spent the remainder of my following 2 hr break afterwards finding a volks auction and a middleman supplier, and basically bid and bought her immediately that day. So yes, as you can guess, this was an insane impulse buy for me at the time (rarely if ever do you see me spend so much as 5$ without thinking about it to put it in perspective). Turns out I only had to bid once or twice to win, and thats about it.

 

A similar story to Kud, needless to say an even more expensive impulse buy....Only that is a case of non-buyer's regret. I didn't buy when I could have entered the lottery, but I didn't want to buy another expensive DD at the time...months later I was randomly reminded, and ended up buying her of yahoo auction anyway ~_~....

I started collecting dolls when I was a little girl and my grandmother gave me a porcelain doll and a 3ft tall vinyl doll with a pink and cream silk dress. Then the American girl dolls came out and I could never decide which one I wanted (between Samantha and Molly) so I ended up collecting Barbies and Madame Alexander dolls. But they still don't fill the desire I had to have one of the old French dolls.

 

Run forward to 2005 and I see a picture of Heath from the Hometown Kyoto 3. I go to the website to look them up. After trawling through the website I see the Dollfie Dream and fall in love. I find out that yeah, my international student's budget wouldn't cover getting one. So, I buy the closest thing I could afford at the time, which was a Dollfie Plus. Of course a friend at university managed to snap her hand off and then managed to melt it trying to glue it back on...

 

But I have wanted a Dollfie Dream since then, even more so with the DDS body. So, I started buying the parts to build a body since I knew I wasn't going to be able to win one ever. I get about 2/3 of the body done and then I get the note saying I won Millhiore. Then in my giddiness, I sold off nearly all the body parts I'd bought at a small loss.

 

The wait for April will actually kill me.

I did not know Danny Choo before, and I had only very few japanime figures. I was more in the resin statues thing.

I am also a cat sylvanian collector, and one day I was on ebay looking for some rare ones. I found some in a store from HK, and begon to check it very often. I finally discovered this seller was selling those dolls called Dollfie dream.

I always love comics strips, and especially japanese animation and manga since I was young. I dreamed to draw my own ones. At this time I wanted to go to academy but I have BIG stress problems with everything related to school, and it was impossible to do.

And so WOW this big japanime figure can take poses! I need one to make pics and to draw easier. You can even customize them! So I will be able to make my own character as a figure, just as I was really a mangaka. I NEED this doll...

Sorry if it sounds pathetic

That's how Natsuki has arrived in my life.

BAD me. I did not know I had just discovered the worst evil in my life... Volks!

( now I have 5 complete DD, and soon another one, 3 SD and 3 yoSD )

I have to blame Baldlylox & his Yoko

 

Although I have stopped watching Anime and the last Manga i read was Silent Mobius from Viz comics (own the complete comic run) I was still building the odd anime figure kit that I had pushed from E2046.

 

Finding that this was getting boring and opting to buy the 84 weekly part-work of the James Bond Aston Martin I needed to find something to keep me going, so while researching my trip to Japan for last year, I ended up on Figure FM and then came across Yoko

 

Yoko is a grail/unicorn doll for me and I still look for her at a decent price.