Please help - Quite a few questions!

Hi, I'm hoping to get my first DD later this year and I have a few questions.

 

-What would I need as a "starter kit"? I live in the UK so are there any stain treatments you can buy here?

 

-Are there reasonable prices for certain DDs?

I'm particularly looking at Rina Ogata, Sakuya Izayoi, Nanoha, Fate, Sakuno, Mariko and Cirno.

I'm Really looking for a fullset but in the case of Rina just her with her original wig, eyes and faceup. I hear she is very expensive.

 

-Custom DDs?

Where do you buy all the bits and pieces? How much are you looking at on average for a head and body (Specifically DDDY or DD2/3)?

 

-Where to buy clothes?

I'm really looking for Volks outfits, but on the secondhand market they seem very expensive. I've also seen some outfits on Dollheart, does anyone know how the fit is on them? Are there any other selers I should look at? Are there other brands that fit DD?

 

-Ebay?

Is it a good idea to buy a doll from Ebay? Can you get them for reasonable prices? Can you name some good sellers?

 

-Normal or white skin?

What is the difference like? Are white skin more prone to staining or harder to take care of?

 

-The "best" proxy service? It's my first time not buying directly from Japan so I'm looking for good communication and decent prices. Shipping is kind of a grey area because is she is packed well and trackable I'm willing to wait longer.

 

-Other places to buy DDs?

I know about DoA, YJA, Ebay and Figure.fm but i'm not sure where else.

 

I'm sorry if this is a bit too long I just want to make sure I know as much as possible before buying so I don't make a mess of things. If there is anything else you think I should know please put that in as well.

 

Thanks,

Lucy

- nothing at first. If You're cautious (right clothes etc), Your DD may not have stains at all for a very long time. Usable things are metal wig comb, magic sponge, maybe eye putty...

- there aren't reasonable prices. Everything is more or less expensive ...or rather

- all the bits are from Volks, directly or second-hand. There are rare exceptions (SQ-Lab heads, for example)

- tons of SD sized clothes and shoes fit DD too. With DDdy there are more "size" problems. On our forum there are already many threads on this topic.

- ebay rarely has anything interesting, imho, and "frequent" sellers don't have good prices. In many cases, the prices are absurd.

- skin is a matter of personal preference. Both are lovely, but different. One is pink, other very light but also pinkish.

- good proxies are - for example - ShoppingMallJapan, Rinkya, Celga - but there are many. I'm using SMJ.

- our forum, DollfieWorld, other BJD boards. Not much more places.

 

I'm sorry if this is short but I'm not that good in English

-What would I need as a "starter kit"? I live in the UK so are there any stain treatments you can buy here?

Any acne cream that has benzoyl peroxide as its active ingredient will do, heck, I even had some on hand without knowing (Spectro Acne Care @ 5% solution, though I live in Canada)! That said, don't worry about stains, honestly, people make a far bigger deal about them than they really are most of the time. Unless your girl ends up getting stains on like...their face or the back of their hand or places where the outfits you have on them tend to get exposed, then its not a big deal. Then again, you can usually find good 2ndhand deals BECAUSE people are so obsessed over nothing (i.e. Tohsaka Rin from Mandarake can be found for less than usual sometimes because she has the typical wig cap stains you never see anyways )

 

-Are there reasonable prices for certain DDs?

I'm particularly looking at Rina Ogata (1200-1500$), Sakuya Izayoi (~1000$), Nanoha (1000-1300), Fate (1500-1600), Sakuno (800-900), Mariko (not sure) and Cirno (~1000). The prices are about what I've seen for them, or seen people getting them for, your milage may vary, the exchange rate doesn't help either. :/

I'm Really looking for a fullset but in the case of Rina just her with her original wig, eyes and faceup. I hear she is very expensive. -- Not as expensive as Yuki Morikawa :p

 

-Custom DDs?

Where do you buy all the bits and pieces? How much are you looking at on average for a head and body (Specifically DDDY or DD2/3)? - DD2 bodies are about 240, DD3 about 350, DDDy not sure what a new DDDy3 body is. You would normally buy the bits and pieces from Volks International (or USA or Korea), but good luck getting a DD3/DDDy3 body from there right now, they just had a restock which is all gone now. Heads will be about 40-45ish (the prices before didn't include the price of a head), unpainted.

 

-Where to buy clothes?

I'm really looking for Volks outfits, but on the secondhand market they seem very expensive. I've also seen some outfits on Dollheart, does anyone know how the fit is on them? Are there any other selers I should look at? Are there other brands that fit DD? - Usually you can get away with clothes marked SD (not SD16 though I think), so that opens up for a lot of places really, nightfallwalker, SW&J Doll, Alice Collections, Coolcat, etc.

 

-Ebay?

Is it a good idea to buy a doll from Ebay? Can you get them for reasonable prices? Can you name some good sellers? - I don't normally see deals to be had for DDs or doll stuff on ebay that can't be found anywhere else. People usually either are resellers or are ppl who value their stuff more than its actually worth.

 

-Normal or white skin?

What is the difference like? Are white skin more prone to staining or harder to take care of? - White skin is more prone to staining, otherwise I don't know of any difference other than the colour.

 

-The "best" proxy service? It's my first time not buying directly from Japan so I'm looking for good communication and decent prices. Shipping is kind of a grey area because is she is packed well and trackable I'm willing to wait longer. - Try FromJapan, flat 5% comission Fee

 

-Other places to buy DDs?

I know about DoA, YJA, Ebay and Figure.fm but i'm not sure where else. - Other than Here as well, those are the main ones yea

 

 

Enjoy, and welcome to the death of your wallet! If you have any other questions, ask away!