Ball-Jointed Dolls

Initial Impressions

My first encounter with ball-jointed dolls was entirely by accident. I stumbled across what I thought were photorealistic anime pictures only to realize they were elaborate photoshoots. Although I was fascinated by the art involved, the doll owner's aesthetic--androgynous punk rockers, complete with ripped jeans and mussed hair--didn't appeal to me at all. At the end of the day, I wasn't interested in owning one myself.

In 2008, I made friends with a person who owned several bjds. They were as pale and elegant as Roman statuary. She often posted images of them in natural locales, dressed in hand-stitched gowns with lacy headdresses. I was enchanted and immediately began asking questions. Still, although I found the dolls beautiful, I couldn't imagine owning one myself. They were very expensive and required more money, time, and space than I was prepared to give. More than that, I found the anime aesthetic irritating, and it seemed to be the only style available.

One day, I began searching on eBay and other sales sites for bjds. It wasn't because I was window shopping--I just wanted to make fun of them! I hated the combination of fish-eyed anime faces on top of realistic bodies and was mystified that people would pay so much money for them. As I scrolled down a list of dolls, groaning at the tortured facial sculpts, I suddenly saw a Planetdoll Mermaid Aqua Limited (seen at left). It was love at first sight, and became my first bjd. Soon I joined Den of Angels, the world's foremost bjd hobbyist forum, and the rest is history.

My Current Status

I currently own fourteen bjds and a "floating head," or a head that doesn't have a body. Most of my bjds are considered either MSDs or tinies. The head is SD-sized and lacks a body for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that I can't find a body that pleases me.

Most of my dolls are "fantasy dolls"--in other words, dolls with fantastic sculpts, such as robots, elves, centaurs, or anthropomophic animals.

My current challenges are face-ups. Because face-ups are so small, it's easy to overplay your hand and give your doll a bad case of clown-face.