Guys and Dolls: Who and What Got You Started in the Hobby?

I tried finding this topic on search but could not find anything. If there is a similar topic, I apologize and Mods, feel free to delete please. Anyway, here's my question.

 

What got you started on taking the plunge towards getting your first DD? Like the title says, I'm really interested in the male perspective since I am thinking that for guys it takes more, should I say, courage? to go into the doll hobby. I'd love to hear your stories on when you first encountered the DD. Who, if anybody 'enabled' you to get your first DD? and did you ever think (and if you did how did you overcome it) "I'm a guy, guys don't collect dolls. But she sure is cute! And she reminds me of... Sheesh, what would my friends/family say if I got one?! Also, how DID your family/friends react when you did get your DD and how did you deal with it?

i saw aoi pics on google and wanted to learn more. at the time i was lucky enuff there was a lottery going and i got my haruka there. nobody knows i has dd. they do know i has figures and theyre ok with that

I remember a similar topic on DoA.

 

I actually started in resin. In my case it was a simple case of just bumping into a random photo of a BJD and becoming curious about it. I thought it looked really cool. I actually forgot about them for a time though, till I bumped into it again a year or two later. When I decided to actually try to buy my own, I think it was the supportive community (DoA) that actually helped make me feel comfortable about it.

 

When I got my first girl home, I was really nervous, but my family and friends have been pretty cool about it overall. Even though they have no interest in it, they have asked questions and such along with the occasional tease. They all have their own hobbies so I think that helps.

 

I got into DDs about a year or so after my first resin girl. By that point it wasn't really a "thing" anymore as much as just "more".

 

I think that, as a guy, it can feel a little strange depending on how you were brought up. But, let's face it, the world around us does tend to like to put things into nice little "boxes". It's hard to step out of those mindsets sometimes. It's also easier for some than others. Even today I can sometimes feel a little silly playing with dolls around others. I think this might be because I didn't get into this hobby till my 30s. I think that's why it's important to find people that share the same interest. It's also helpful to surround yourself with friends that are supportive of you no matter what -- true friends.

 

Family is different, of course, since you can't pick them. That's hard to deal with, of course. Especially considering the cost. Hopefully, if they know it's something you care about, they will support you, or at least not tease you too much.

 

This is another reason I started this site, to help people realize there are others out there that share their interest and, hopefully, give them the courage to enjoy something they are interested in instead of possibly feeling alone.

For me really, it was just a normal day browsing the dark recesses of the Interwebs. I was researching something for a character in an anime RP and happened to find something about dolls that some Gothic Lolitas carry around called 'Dollfies'. That lead me to the Volks Website where I found the Super Dollfies. I was intrigued but wasn't sure about how they looked. Delving further into this new site, I happened onto the Dollfie Dream page. It was almost instantly that I knew I must have one. "I can make my own anime doll to fit my own design?" I thought. The price made me cringe and I thought there was no way I could ever shell out that much money for something like this. A few days later, after the thinking about the DDs and letting the urge to get one fester in my brain, I searched around again. That brought me here. After a few posts here and there, I found the marketplace. Bingo! I contacted a new member who was 'downsizing' his girl from a DDdy to a DDII. I knew at the time the bodies were selling like hotcakes, so as soon as I saw his post, even before he had put it up to sell, I asked him if he wanted to sell it. 3 months later, body is paid for and his wife even agreed to do the faceup of the head I bought. He even had the very wig that I had planned to buy and was able to get a good deal all around on everything. It was really good luck and perfect timing all around. Early December, she arrives. I had her shipped to my Grandmother's house because I live in the country and the address sometimes doesn't show up on the postal service. With my Grandmother watching, I pulled her out and got her all pieced together and dressed up. And there she was. Just a perfect as I had imagined. Now I am required to bring her to my Grandmother's house every so often for 'visits' XD.

Being an anime fan in general, I stumbled upon Dollfie Dreams when I was searching for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha merchandise. Followed a Google link to the Volks International lottery for Nanoha and was at first reluctant due to the cost. However, as I researched more into them I decided the cost was worth it as these girls were quite customizable. Was interested enough to even get Ilya from the same lottery!

 

As far as being a guy and collecting dolls, it's never bothered me really. I've always been the type of person who marched to a different drum so to speak. My girls are just another fascinating quirk that makes me me. Of course my famliy thinks I'm a bit odd for having this hobby but that's just adding to my list of oddities throughout my life, hehe.

I was wandering around myfigurecollection and was instantly hooked

I just thought they looked cute, beautiful and pure.

It's that damned Danny Choo's fault!

 

I was into anime figures for a while and I randomly found Figurefm thru Danny's main website. While looking around there for pics of figures, I stumbled upon DD pics.... and was amazed. Here were the perfect action figures! Big, beautiful and easily styled in any fashion I wanted.

 

Unfortunately, the only place I knew at that time to look for these girls for sale was EvilBay and pricing there is beyond stupid. So I figured I'd NEVER be able to own one at those type prices.

 

I kept looking at the pics of DD's for a long time until I finally saw there were classifieds on FFM. One click into that area showed me something that I instantly feel in love with..... Manami. She was gorgeous, pretty, beautiful and just perfect in my opinion. And she was also for sale not too far from me! So I messaged her owner, we talked and then the rest is history.

 

 

 

Billy

Laughs... Like Baldylox, it was Danny.... sort of..

 

Several years back I was looking for animation puppets, and someone pointed me at Volks. After cringing at the price, I ended up at the Parabox site and ended up getting a pair of 27cm Obitsu's. Due to not being able to do a proper face-up, I shelved the whole thing and set it aside.

Then after joining FFM, I was seeing Danny with his Saber and was quite taken by her.. After finally paying off the Mortgage, I had funds to, piece by piece, put together my first musume, starting with the head..

I now have 3 customs (2 x DD-Dy, 04 heads, 1 x DD-II, 06 head) and recently added DD Sakura Shinguji, my first limited, to the family. Oh, and the Obitsu's? They got a face-up by a local girl who's totally awesome at doing them, and are in the family too..

 

My real family, brother and sisters, figured I'm weird with my anime stuff, so just role the eyes and don't comment.. Although one sister did make me an awesome Goth dress for Glenda. When she saw the DD-Dy dress dummy I sent her, her response was "Honestly, those boobs?!?" ^_^

One late night when I was 14 I came across this photo on Da and now I have my own Obitsu/DD cross and a hole load of other girls and plans for more.

 

Dolls

For me it was a combination of a lot of different factors. I've always been a figure collector, back when I was young it was TMNT, Masters of the Universe, etc, but the figures that I always liked the most were the female figures. As I grew up I moved away from "action figures" and more toward 24mm miniatures, and then through my 20s I moved to anime figures, again principally female figures (including the miniatures, go Sisters of Battle!). I'm sure there's some deep psychological reason why I don't really like male characters, but I'm not interested in analysing myself that deeply, I'm happy with who I am.

 

I first encountered Dollfie Dreams years ago just browsing the intarwebz, and really liked the look of them, but didn't really think about it any more than that for quite some time. I didn't start thinking about aquiring a DD for myself until after I visited Anime Expo in 2011, where I saw a couple of them in the exhibit hall and being carried by attendees and I thought they were really cute. At that point I sat on it for about 15 months, checking them out online and seriously considering purchasing one. Then I finally saw Nerina at a convention here in Australia, inquired as to the price from the vendor, and came back to purchase her about 4 hours later. Fortunately she was still there.

 

In terms of dealing with collecting dolls as a man, it's a complex issue. My friends and family know that I'm a geek and have some pretty "unusual" hobbies (even though most of them are very mainstream these days). My Mum wasn't surprised in the least when I told her, and she offered to teach me to use a sewing machine (I hand sew already) and a few tips to get me started with making some stuff for my girls. My mates just took it in stride. There's a couple of them that aren't particularly comfortable around them or discussing them, but that's okay since none of them think any less of me for it.

 

Where it gets tricky is discussing it with people who don't really know me. A lot of people have preconceived images of "masculinity", many of which I definitely challenge. I've started to collect dolls, and I'm often happily employed cooking at home, or repairing/modifying my own clothing. I take plush toys with me everywhere if I'm likely to be away for more than two or three days. At the same time, I'm a martial artist, a decent shot with a rifle, handy with paint and powered tools and I love my sports.

 

A lot of people struggle to reconcile what they perceive as "different sides" of my personality. I just give them time. The people who are worth knowing will get over it. The people who take exception to it are people that I have no interest in spending time with. Life's too short.

 

When I was younger, it would definitely have bothered me. As much as I've always tended to be very self-assured and happy to go my own way a lot of the time, I still tended to seek approval from peer groups a lot more than I do now. I think it's largely a phase that we go through as we mature.

 

Whoa, wall of text. Sorry.

  SchroedingersCat said:

 

Whoa, wall of text. Sorry.

 

Hey, no worries. I love reading about how everyone started in the hobby and I admire each and everyone of you guys for taking the plunge as I know this can be a difficult thing for others to understand, more so if you're male Heck, I'm a girl and I'm hard put to get people to understand why I collect figures and dolls. I can't imagine how it would be for guys especially as you say, people have a preconceived notion of what's 'macho' and what's not.

I've never really been much into figure collecting. I had 3-4 Star Wars figures and a couple Transformers over the years. I've pretty much always had a couple of teddy bears that were really special to me. But then I met SK, and we started dating, and she started inundating me with stuffed animals. I've always had a soft spot for cute things, so I couldn't turn them away (That and they were gifts from her...).

 

Then my sister got an American Girl doll, and SK just loved it, so I got one for her, then another, then another, etc, and she decided that it would be great for us to be able to play together so she got me one. Next thing you know we had at least 9 between the two of us.

 

Then, like Baldy, I saw Danny Choo's show, one where several guests had brought their own DDs. That was it. I showed it to SK and the rest is pretty much history. Our next tax return was completely shot getting Tamayuki and Yuriko. Also, one of the excuses I used to justify it to myself was that it would help me learn to sew, and the sewing would be something we could do together, as well as helping us both improve our photography. The sewing has always made a good excuse when trying to explain things to family. Most of my family still doesn't really know about our DDs, though. I just never know how to explain the cost, considering we are not exactly overflowing with money.

 

 

The "being a guy" thing has never really been a big factor. My family was never very big on traditional gender roles. Mom is an almost militant feminist, and both my parents have a large number of friends of various genders/gender preferences/identities, etc. so being a "manly man" was not only not pushed, it was almost discouraged.

Two words: Rozen Maiden.

 

or Suiseiseki to be precise, for some reason, even not having watched a single episode, or read a single volume of the manga, I started to toy with the idea of getting a Suiseiseki replica just based on images that had popped up on imageboards about the series. (Although my most favorite, and desired alice contestant turned to Suigintou after watching all of the animated series.)

 

Early on I was researching 60cm dolls, and browsing volks came to the conclusion that a dollfie dream would be perfect, and didnt really look into the resin side at all.

 

If I had, I probably would have stumbled across the SD13 replica Suisei, and Sousei that were released around those times, that would have solved the main problem wich was the outfit, and wig...

 

After putting the idea on the back-burner, I think I toyed with the idea for a year before actually getting my first doll, wich amusingly was anything but Rozen maiden, but was Feena wich catered for my other fancy, that is craftsmanship. And feena's default outfit is pretty excuisite.

 

Being based on Bekkankou art which I collected at the time was also beneficial. I think the picture of Feena's DD form popped up on some image forum, and started to research where I could find one.

 

I do have to admit that I probably thaught of my early doll purchases as just bigger, posable figures, and not really "dolls".

 

There never really was any personal problems, or mental hurdles buying the doll, probably because of the previous fact.

 

I dont really feel too embarrassed about having 18 dolls around the house at the moment, although it has been amusing in my daytime work wich is basicly a metal work shop (we work with carbon composites though) if my hobby pops up, but the main reaction seems to be more amazement atleast with the folks that have found out.

 

But its not exactly something that Id go talk to anybody or everybody, of course.

 

Due to mostly my overall collection of stuff I had to move and get a house of my own, when me gramps decided that the attic loft I was living in was too cluttered (despite being well out of sight to anyone.)

 

My dad is probably not too impressed, but he was a very quiet boy when he lounged through my livingroom the other year wich is a "small collection" of anime figures, DVD's, and the dolls, instead of his usual very loud and outlandish manner.

 

Me mum is probably taking it with more or less excitement, though she's more worried about costs I think. We've had a few jabs about them in the lines of, "why are they only girls?", where I've answered: "Oh, Should I be into guys, then...?"

 

Although I think she's having nightmares that her buying me my little ponies as a kid had something to do with this....

 

--

 

I think the biggest personal issue with my lady lair is something that I jonkingly posted on my blawg once, and the possible relationship issues they could cause, mind you combining anime, dolls, and a penchant for being a weekend mechanic is probably devastating in that sense, so havent exactly bothered with that in a active fashion to find out in reality.

  finnleo said:

I think the biggest personal issue with my lady lair is something that I jonkingly posted on my blawg once, and the possible relationship issues they could cause, mind you combining anime, dolls, and a penchant for being a weekend mechanic is probably devastating in that sense, so havent exactly bothered with that in a active fashion to find out in reality.

 

Nah. Just gotta find a fellow otaku/nerd and it works out. When I first started dating my now husband, the first time I visited his apartment, I saw his walls covered with anime posters, figures all around, anime VHS on the shelves, video game consoles hooked up to his TV... And since those are my interests too, it was an instant reaction of even more interest in him.

  DJStarstryker said:

  finnleo said:

I think the biggest personal issue with my lady lair is something that I jonkingly posted on my blawg once, and the possible relationship issues they could cause, mind you combining anime, dolls, and a penchant for being a weekend mechanic is probably devastating in that sense, so havent exactly bothered with that in a active fashion to find out in reality.

 

Nah. Just gotta find a fellow otaku/nerd and it works out. When I first started dating my now husband, the first time I visited his apartment, I saw his walls covered with anime posters, figures all around, anime VHS on the shelves, video game consoles hooked up to his TV... And since those are my interests too, it was an instant reaction of even more interest in him.

 

LOL. I agree. Having similar interests does make it easier. I enjoy being able to share my hobby with my husband and you don't really have to need to explain why you paid so much money for a figure (or DD). Mind you it can get expensive because I end up bribing him with Gundams when I feel especially guilty for making an unplanned DD purchase.

Let's see....

Without the "wall of text", I grew up in a mostly female household, so, while I had my G.I. Joes, (1/6 scale, Old School Style) my cousin and aunt had Barbie Dolls. My mother made the clothes for all of our doll/action figures... Moving to the present day, I found out about DD's thru a twitter account that led to Danny Choo, figure.fm, and DD's... From there, I volunteered my craftiness to making glasses for poofiemus' Agatha and totally enjoying Billys stories with his kiddos on FFm... from there, I figured I'd need a volunteer to help me craft anything else for the DD community... (which I'm doing at the moment, but I'm not saying what it is, or who for.. ) so, along comes Tana...

As to other folks I work around who might find out, well, I am who I am, and I think I'm old enough to do what I feel like doing as long as it doesn't harm anybody... They can accept it or move on, I'm not too concerned at this point in my life...

The folks I live with, they tolerate it.... I appreciate that..

It's good to find a site like this that accepts folks for the things we have in common, than pick you apart because you're different.....

Again, to try and give a short(ish) version...I have collected dolls all my life. Fashion dolls. That eventually lead me online to doll forums, ebay to shop and other sites.

 

I also began playing video games with my husband and my first one was Xenosaga III. I was hooked. From there, I went into anime and lots of Japanese culture. I began trying to make OOAK Xenosaga dolls from my Barbies and found 1/6 Obitsus and then figures. A whole new world opened. Obitsu led my Ebay searches to Volks and Dollfie Dreams.

 

I think the first ones I ever saw were the Rei/Asuka maid combination and the price scared the juice out of me. But then (like many others) I saw Danny's site (before his show, I think) and he had just gotten his doll and was talking about them and how to obtain them.

 

I knew right then that one day I would have one.

 

My husband also got into collecting dolls when I began making character dolls. So the DDs really held an appeal for him, too. His dream was a KOS-MOS. I cannot believe that it will finally happen. That was the very first doll he ever had - a tiny OOAK I made for him from a Barbie of Kos.

 

Anyway, it took a few years, but on our 10th wedding anniversary we exchanged 1/3 scale dollies. He wanted an Obitsu and I wanted a DD. We thought one each would be all we wanted or needed. I have some Obitsus now, too and he has a lot of DDs. It was our beginning. That was 2 1/2 years ago. We are currently up to about 70 vinyl daughters together.

 

I blame KOS-MOS. and Shion and M.O.M.O. And Danny's Aoi. And Maid Rei/Asuka and Escalayer (the first DDdy I saw when browsing online and still one I would swoon to have). And Miu, of course. The first DD I bought from Volks. And Misheru - my first DD ever, the custom 01 I got while waiting for Miu to arrive through the lottery.

 

Mostly I blame Volks for making such beautiful dolls that are so much fun.

I'm sure i've seen a subject before here

 

Anyway, i actually blame baldylox & his Yoko that got be caught up in this hobby

 

It was\while researching this my 2011 trip to japan that i came across the named above person and was hooked, but couldn't justify the price, so i decided to do a custom first and this became Akimoto Sae

 

Along the way i made friends with Mitsuki here who's been my guiardian angel in this subject and it was she, who made it possible, almost a year later with Yoko being sent to me as a body and head (original eyes included) and she's been kind enough to get me various outfits

 

Mitsuki also is sent me a Kitsune (who has yet to appear here)

 

Last year I returned to Japan with Yoko & Asuka (another unexpected arrival) and the 3 of us rescued Saber Extra from Jungle

 

I am now in the process of obtaining Mari form a fellow here on the forum

 

So how many do i have - How does 11 grab ya, yes 11 and you only know of about 9 or 10 of them

Baldylox brought his to a meet. All I had at the time was resin dolls, so his and AsianEd's were the first I had seen in person. I had found VolksUSA's page of them and thought them pretty but it wasn't until I saw them in person that I wanted one. I ordered the 04 head but I haven't done a thing with her. She has a wig and eyes but that's it.

 

Now I came here just a day or two ago and saw the 05 head. Instant love. When I can afford one and she's released, blank, I'll grab one!

  finnleo said:

Two words: Rozen Maiden.

 

or Suiseiseki to be precise, for some reason, even not having watched a single episode, or read a single volume of the manga, I started to toy with the idea of getting a Suiseiseki replica just based on images that had popped up on imageboards about the series. (Although my most favorite, and desired alice contestant turned to Suigintou after watching all of the animated series.)

 

Early on I was researching 60cm dolls, and browsing volks came to the conclusion that a dollfie dream would be perfect, and didnt really look into the resin side at all.

 

If I had, I probably would have stumbled across the SD13 replica Suisei, and Sousei that were released around those times, that would have solved the main problem wich was the outfit, and wig...

 

After putting the idea on the back-burner, I think I toyed with the idea for a year before actually getting my first doll, wich amusingly was anything but Rozen maiden, but was Feena wich catered for my other fancy, that is craftsmanship. And feena's default outfit is pretty excuisite.

 

Being based on Bekkankou art which I collected at the time was also beneficial. I think the picture of Feena's DD form popped up on some image forum, and started to research where I could find one.

 

I do have to admit that I probably thaught of my early doll purchases as just bigger, posable figures, and not really "dolls".

 

There never really was any personal problems, or mental hurdles buying the doll, probably because of the previous fact.

 

I dont really feel too embarrassed about having 18 dolls around the house at the moment, although it has been amusing in my daytime work wich is basicly a metal work shop (we work with carbon composites though) if my hobby pops up, but the main reaction seems to be more amazement atleast with the folks that have found out.

 

But its not exactly something that Id go talk to anybody or everybody, of course.

 

Due to mostly my overall collection of stuff I had to move and get a house of my own, when me gramps decided that the attic loft I was living in was too cluttered (despite being well out of sight to anyone.)

 

My dad is probably not too impressed, but he was a very quiet boy when he lounged through my livingroom the other year wich is a "small collection" of anime figures, DVD's, and the dolls, instead of his usual very loud and outlandish manner.

 

Me mum is probably taking it with more or less excitement, though she's more worried about costs I think. We've had a few jabs about them in the lines of, "why are they only girls?", where I've answered: "Oh, Should I be into guys, then...?"

 

Although I think she's having nightmares that her buying me my little ponies as a kid had something to do with this....

 

--

 

I think the biggest personal issue with my lady lair is something that I jonkingly posted on my blawg once, and the possible relationship issues they could cause, mind you combining anime, dolls, and a penchant for being a weekend mechanic is probably devastating in that sense, so havent exactly bothered with that in a active fashion to find out in reality.

DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU DESU

 

DESU aside,since young i love dolls cause they represent perfection a girl wants in them. the beauty. i love how beautiful dolls are. but dollfie dreams are just awesome. i got to know them through DC, and i get to know DC through a figure collecting site's chatroom. The moment i see saber is the moment i see how awesome dd are...

 

that aside, rozen maiden also pushed a decent amount of motivation. the moment i get Suigintou SD is the moment i stop this hobby

I think what got me started in the hobby was interacting with the anime community and seeing the different hobby interests within that community. It is funny how things come full circle, when I was younger I was into collecting action figures and creating stories. Now that I am older, I find myself pursuing similar interests. My tastes have merely evolved and matured. I have also learned to branch out and try new things. Dollfie Dreams attracted me due to being a physical version of the anime art style, it makes the medium feel more tangible.

 

My family is a relatively geeky family, so they accept my hobby interests, even if they might think it is a bit quirky. I see it as an extension of my creativity and enjoyment of the anime subculture. Dolls in general and Dollfie Dreams, are a unique form of artwork. I just like appreciating art and creating my own.

Edited February 19, 2013 by Guest

I saw DannyChoo's post on Dollfie Dreams and I knew I just had to get a DD of my own!

Is it wrong that this thread title makes me think of this?

  misskale said:

Is it wrong that this thread title makes me think of this?

 

Not really, I was under the impression that was what the title of the thread was deliberately making a pun on.