Soon to be doll owner

Hi everyone.

I am a seasoned anime collector but in manga. Decided to start adding some glitter into my hobby and looking at starting out with volks products as I love the characters.

But I also have no idea what I am getting myself into haha.

Anyways because of my lack of knowledge after hrs of google certification I decided I still have no idea where to start and decided to purchase a first timer practice doll for 200$ from a girl in Japan.

It's a DDS doll older model she says it was actually a DDS akira or something alike to that, it has a miku like face up and some body stains. Aka starter doll for a great price/ future parts peice. I would cry if I broke it but not as much as with a 600$ one LOL hence the used purchase.

So im here for tips for proper identification and doll cleanup information and maybe peeping some ideas for how I will dress her up one she arrives some weeks from now.

Welcome. If she has stains then human acne creme containing 5% benzoyl peroxide works wonders... See before and after below. Instructions are in a thread elsewhere on the forum.

This is Kirika Towa Alma btw. See below photo for what she looks like a year on from the stain disaster.

So pretty this one I'm receiving is so discounted because the eyebrows are stained dark dark blue it's gonna be some work but she has no other issues so she should be worth the effort. Or ill find some blue theme to match we will save her haha

Just wanted to post an update. I've fallen down the rabbit hole lmao. After I received what I now know is a adorable 1st edition akira. I learned about places like mandarake. First it was just buying some clothes here n there. But then I kept noticing sales on retired dollfies that needed homes. Or just cute ones I couldn't live without that I had learned about. Now I have 2 dds 1 dds and two spare character dd heads. I have 3 "dream dolls" I plan on buying during tax returns in 2 months. XD is this how it went for everyone else. I am just obsessed now.

4 hours ago, moody said:

is this how it went for everyone else. I am just obsessed now.

Basically, yes. This place will also enable you further. You can’t escape.

Thanks for the update. It's hard to believe but I went 18 months from 1 doll to ... uh...

The slow start was mostly because it took my first (Towa) a whole 18 months to decide who her first sister would be.

Fortunately a large and unexpected redundancy package paid for a good number of the new arrivals, but this hobby is addictive and costly and maybe I should have stuck to collecting cacti and praying mantises 😆.

I only really have 1 "vintage" DD - Erica Fontaine from (I think 2013). She's not really that old either. I do think the earlier DD have a really nice aesthetic, particularly around their eyes.