100 Questions for BJD owners

New and improved for 2022!

Completed on October 10, 2022

Eggnog (tentative) and I worked together to create a new silly questionnaire for you (YOU!) to fill out! Here is a link to her answers as well as the blank.

  1. Name?

    Francisco P. Hatter, CEO and Owner

  2. ASL?

    永遠十七歳/kawaii/WA

  3. Collection basics:

  4. How many BJDs do you own?

    11 full resin BJD, 1 Vinyl (grandfathered), 1 ABS Kikipop who absolutely is not a BJD, but I will count because I love her. 0 floating heads. Did you hear that? ZERO.

  5. When did you get your first BJD?

    I purchased my first, Rio, in December 2008, and recieved Olivia in March 2009. Rio arrived a week later.

  6. Do you still own your first?

    Yes! He's still here and still smiling somehow ;a; He is so strange but I have no intention to sell him at this point.

  7. Why did you buy your first BJD?

    I really fell hard for Dream of Doll when I discovered BJDs. Homme Ducan? Elf Ducan?? Oh hell yes. My mom was not so okay with me owning a "bedroom eyes" boy and convinced me out of Ducan, but I also loved DoC Petsha's fullset. I was so close to buying her, but I was obesessed with the idea of owning a large expensive limited doll. Petsha was only a mini and unlimited. Kalix and Delphine were released while I watching, but I didn't like either enough to buy. Black Elf Sha was released in December 2008 and I had somehow gathered enough cash to pay for him. I DO like Sha's sculpt, but I didn't realize how bad he looks on the DOI body. I wish he was on the DoT body. I bought him though and ~4 months and $740 later he arrived at my house.

  8. How do you store or display your BJDs?

    Currently, Rio is in his box in the closet, my 4 largies and Praline are in a wooden hope chest in the front room (for easy access), my 2 minis are in the box I bought for Hina, and 2 tinies are in a box under my bed. Olivia is in my grandma's wooden toy box in my room at my mom's house along with my mom's 2 BJDs.

  9. Do you keep your doll boxes? If so, where do you store them?

    EVERYWHERE. There's a few in my mom's house; I have some under her bed and in my headboard of my bed. I have 2 in the closet of my apartment and a few stuffed together under my bed here too. I wish more of them fit inside each other!!

  10. Do you play favorites? Who is your favorite doll?

    My darling little Hina obviously!

  11. Do you have a least favorite?

    Probably my Littlefee Leah. She really doesn't mean much to me. Before I got Cheby a body, it was him. He's moving up steadily now.

  12. Do you have any dolls that you forgot you owned?

    I had left my dolls at home when I left for college and hadn't seen them for quite a while. I think Verona and Grassy Knoll may have slipped my mind during that time. Cheby's head was definitely rediscovered in a box years later.

  13. Have you ever sold all your dolls and restarted your collection?

    Never! I doubt I ever will.

  14. Who is the oldest doll you own?

    Toss up between Cheby's SD13B body from 2003 and my Unoa, Hikari, from between 2003 and 2005. I'm not sure who is older but Cheby also has a newer head from approx 2007.

  15. Do you own any dolls without headcap magnets?

    A few actually! Sochi's headcap is held on with a small rubber band from when I had braces. Unoa uses a magnetless faceplate system. Technically my Dollfie Dream and Kikipop have no magnets either, but none of the DD or Kikipop heads do. They're also not resin...

  16. Who is the newest doll you own?

    Hina! She beats out Praline by about a year. Everyone else is old.

  17. Who is the cheapest doll in your collection?

    I got my SF Hana, Grassy Knoll, for $100 plus shipping. I have no idea why BlueFairy dolls hold no value on the secondhand market.

  18. Who is the most expensive?

    Hina beat everyone else out by hundreds of dollars. And then add in her extra hand and feet parts....

  19. Who was your hardest doll to obtain?

    Hina!!! Lieselotte is such a high demand limited doll with insane secondhand prices. I would never have paid her secondhand prices and wasn't lucky enough to win her lottery in 2013. It took me so long to get her.

    In second place, Unoa. They're plentiful now, but when I decided I wanted a Lusis, it cost at least $700 for a mini and it was a battle to get one in a lottery through a proxy. Most people were settling for hybrids with 3rd party headbacks. I grabbed her off Dollyteria just as Americans found out about the Japanese 2nd hand doll shops, which wasn't hard but took a few years after deciding to get one.

  20. Do you own any hybrids?

    Two! Migidoll used to only offer heads so you were forced to hybrid them. Hybriding gives me major resin match anxiety so I dislike doing it.

    Unless Sochi counts? Her body is a year older than her head and the resin batches did not match at all. Same company though.

  21. Have you taken a dolly hiatus?

    No, not really. My obsession has waned at times, but I have never completely lost interest. I have lost interest in the communities and was not able to purchase anything for a long time, but I've never quit.

  22. Do you have a limit on how many dolls you want to own?

    Few enough that I can adore as many as possible. At some point, you kinda forget what you own and they merely exist.

  23. What are you doll plans for the future?

    I would love to get Liam a new body! I also plan to enter for the next VolksUSA holiday greeting RG Williams one off. I'm also trying to decide if I need Kinoko Juice's unreleased 1/3rd girl.

    I want to mostly avoid getting new dolls and spend more time sewing for ones I already own. I also seriously need to find somewhere to order new eyes, wigs, and shoes from.

    I would like to repaint both Cheby and Verona at some point. I'm not so confident in my skills, but Verona's faceup is SO plain and boring.

  24. What is your favorite aspect of the hobby?

    Probably photography! I own a camera that cost more than most of my dolls indiviually so I'm a little invested in that part. It's really fun to show the world the beauty of your doll!

  25. Your relationship with your dolls:

  26. What is your definition of bonding? Do you bond with your dolls?

    Adoration maybe? I'm very emotionally invested in most of my dolls, so much that I wouldn't replace them with the same doll model if something were to happen to them. They are just plastic figures, but they feel like so much more than that. I do have some dolls I don't feel bonded to. Don't tell anyone but I've (happy) cried over Hina multiple times.

  27. Wet or dry?

    100%ウエット!!!!

  28. Are your dolls shells of OCs?

    Verona and Liam are 2 OCs I made back in middle school. They had different names and also looked like middle schoolers in my head at the time. I drew them so much and gave them a tragic backstory that I am taking my mind eraser to. At this point, the characters mean less to me than the physical dolls, but I can't change who they are in my mind.

    Hina and Cheby are starting to grow their own OCs. Somehow Hina is turning Liam x Verona into a love triangle. I like to imagine her as Liam's future ex while Verona is his true love!

    Rio had some fallen angel BS story written for him that I don't feel any need to remember.

  29. Do you buy dolls specifically to represent OCs?

    Verona was unintentional. When I found Liam, I realized "holy shit they are ____ and ____!!!" I was shipping them before Liam even arrived.

  30. Do write stories about your dolls?

    I'm not much of a storyteller unfortunately.

  31. Do you own any dolls that are shells of characters that are not your own or real people?

    Cheby's full name was stolen from a Russian mathematician, but the similarities end there. I feel like owning a doll based off a real person you don't know is creepy. I'll make exceptions for people close to the owner, but not vtubers. I do want to own a character dollfie dream, but the idea of owning a physical representation of someone else's character is getting stranger to me with each day.

  32. Do your dolls "interact" with each other?

    I don't know how this keeps happening!!!!!!

  33. How affectionate are you with your dolls?

    Each one gets a lil smooch ♡

    The bigger ones are all hugged constantly. Their little hands are so fun to hold.

  34. How do you decide on names for your dolls?

    Named after songs, places. I felt like my Unoa should be named Sunlight while I was painting the oyasumi faceplate. I had to take it to the next weeb level though. A few of them just have names that fit enough. Liam's name is just because I really like the name Liam. Praline was from Ryan mumbling about some Dostoyevsky character's name. I spent a lot of time deciding Hina's name. It's just cute though. Cheby was me joking with my mom about naming my next doll Chebyshev for months and then I did it.

  35. Have you or would you twin with your doll?

    I have a shirt that matches a shirt I made for Rio...

    But really I would love to twin with my dolls! It's so cute!!

  36. Do your dolls wear underwear?

    About half are wearing some at any given time. It's not required and they get stuck in the joints anyway.

  37. Does your doll hate you because you're gay?

    My doll hates me for making him gay.

  38. Preferences:

  39. Do you have a preference for level of realism?

    I don't care for realistic dolls like Granado and Dollshe. I love hyper stylized to reasonably stylized.

  40. Do you prefer aesthetics or posability?

    Aesthetics. Get that ugly jointing outta here!!

  41. What is your favorite size?

    1/3 by far! Perfect size to hug.

  42. Are you picky about resin?

    In terms of yellowing, even yellowing does not bother me. In terms of smoothness, it needs to have some tooth so it isn't shiny, but not so much tooth that it feels like a late customhouse doll! Those felt like sandpaper. So I guess I am picky.

  43. Do you prefer cute dolls or beautiful dolls?

    Cute girls and beautiful boys *____*

  44. Do you prefer closed or opened eyes?

    I like open eyes more! Closed or SWD eyes can be very beautiful though.

  45. Do you prefer teeth showing or closed mouth?

    I will always choose a sculpt with an open mouth smile over one without. Especially for girls.

  46. Single torso or jointed torso?

    Sacrifice the joint for a beautiful torso! It's not worth it!! It really is so pretty to not have a big joint there.

  47. Do you own any asexual dolls?

    I can't remember clearly, but my Bambicrony may not be anatomically correct. Wait is this about doll sexuality?!

  48. Do you own any dolls with fantasy parts or an unusual color?

    Praline's white skin is definitely a fantasy tone. I have 2 with elf ears.

  49. Do you prefer owning many BJDs or fewer?

    I don't think I want a collection of 50+ but who knows what I'll do when I own a home. I definitely want less right now.

  50. Maintenance and Customization:

  51. How comfortable are you with handling your dolls on a scale from white gloves to cheetos dust fingers?

    Hot cheetos fingers. I will never wear gloves while handling my dolls.

  52. Have you restrung your doll?

    Not all of them! Most of them, yes.

  53. Have you damaged any of your dolls? i.e. broken finger, chips

    Not yet. *prays to mother SD*

  54. Are your dolls sueded or wired?

    Hina has KIPS which I think help a lot! I think Liam had both sueding and wiring when I got him, but all of it has been removed since. I highly dislike the feeling of hugging wired dolls.

  55. Do you prefer customizing your own doll, commissioning an artist, or buying fullsets?

    Every doll I customize myself feels that much more special to me. I'm too cheap to commission another artist and I dislike owning dolls that look exactly the same as every other fullset doll in the release.

  56. Have you done a faceup?

    Many times!

  57. Do any of your dolls have body blushing?

    Liam's feet are blushed by his original owner. The rest of it I have removed.

  58. Have you or would you assemble a doll kit?

    I assembled my Unoa 1.0 and I would love to do it again! Please, BJD companies, offer these options again!

  59. Do you sew or create things for your dolls?

    I mostly sew! I used to be really bad at it, but I'm "decent" now after many years of practice. I've branched out a little into eye making for Praline. I haven't tried making wigs or shoes yet.

  60. Have you ever modded a doll?

    My bobobie that I no longer own had a genderless body due to my sandpaper.

  61. History:

  62. How long have you been interested in BJD?

    I discovered them in July 2008.

  63. How did you discover BJDs?

    According to a very old DoA post, I found them through a club on dA rip off "MangaBullet". My memory tells me it was from a photo of a Ducan on deviantArt though. I'm not sure if I believe 2008 me or now me.

  64. What was the first doll you fell in love with?

    Dream of Doll Ducan convinced me to start it all.

  65. How long did you wait between discovering BJDs and buying your first?

    About 6 months of mopping floors and searching for loose change.

  66. Purchasing:

  67. Who is your favorite company and why?

    I'll have to go with Volks in first, Kinoko Juice in second. Volks keeps pumping out such beautiful releases with consistently good quality. I'm not a huge fan of their lottery and clickwar system though. KJ is a much smaller operation with a great and fast sales system. Codi creates such cute girls and Kame is so sweet! They just don't have any 1/3rd scale dolls (yet). Gentaro Araki is my favorite sculptor but I've never communicated with AL and it's difficult to buy them again after Unoalchemy closed.

  68. Are you loyal to a company or do you buy from multiple companies?

    Not any company, but I seem to be loyal to Japan since 2013. I probably wouldn't buy a Chinese doll at this point, but I'm not against another Korean one.

  69. Is the company you've purchased the most from your favorite company?

    I have 2 from Migidoll, 2 from Volks, 2 from BlueFairy so I'm not even sure I can even choose which one is the "most". Both Volks girls were brand new from company though while all the other multiples were secondhand.

  70. Do you own any fullset dolls?

    2! My Littlefee Leah and SD Lieselotte. You'll never see Hina in her fullset though.

  71. What is your favorite fullset across all companies?

    SD Lieselotte in my closet room ver. She stole my heart. If I had this release, I would keep her in her fullset.

  72. Is there any doll you love that you would never buy?

    Feeple 65 Chloe. I refuse to support Fairyland after their QC dip, but this sculpt is so pretty. She has elf ears too which I'm not into.

  73. Have you ever purchased a doll in person?

    Yes. I did hand a friend a check in exchange for a box of Sochi's unassembled parts.

  74. Have you ever done FCS?

    No!! ;a; someday! I would really love to.

  75. Describe your dream BJD! (feel free to make a cross company hybrid)

    PS Bisque Lieselotte on the SDGrG yumetenshi body, fully blushed. I will not be choosing Volks for the faceup artist, but I haven't decided who has painted the cutest Lieselotte. Volks will be forced to resin seal in the faceup though! Actually, since this is a dream, I'm going to have them resin seal Ever Beauty for me.

  76. What is the biggest blessing Mother SD has given you?

    My darling Hina!

  77. Do you have a grail doll?

    I originally said I don't believe in grails, but I think Hina was as close as I'll ever get. I have no new current "grail".

  78. Do you own your favorite face mold?

    Yes, all 5 of them...

  79. Have you had to borrow money to pay for a doll?

    IIRC, I borrowed $150 from my imouto to pay off Liam's layaway early. I'm pretty sure I had that contract taped to my wall for a few years even after it was completed.

  80. Have you ever cut back on other expenses to be able to purchase a doll?

    Yes on impulse buys of crap I didn't want in the first place.

  81. Do you purchase dolls on layaway, or save up and buy in one go?

    Save up!

  82. How often do you buy dolls?

    Whenever one steals my heart, which is luckily not often anymore.

  83. When will you be done?

    When the cows come home 😎

  84. What was your longest wait time?

    9 months of hell for Hina.

  85. Have you given or received a doll as a gift?

    I won a Mirodoll Mika and gave away that same Mirodoll Mika to an aspiring doll owner.

  86. List your favorite places to buy wigs, clothes, and other accessories.

    I love Leekeworld wigs! They're not shiny so I keep coming back to their products. My nine9style clothes from forever ago are really nice quality and I'd go back to them if I liked the current styles. Old dollheart was really fun too, but I don't own much from them.

  87. Have you purchased anything for your doll that costs as much as any of your dolls?

    Does my camera count? I didn't purchase my camera though. Hina's hands cost more than one of my dolls.

  88. Selling:

  89. How many dolls have you sold?

    1 doll, my Bobobie Espree

  90. Have you ever wished to buy a sold doll back?

    If someone sold him back to me for $50, I would do it. He was such a badly designed doll though so I don't feel like I need him back. I did have fun with him though.

  91. Do you know what happened to any of the dolls you sold?

    He was immediately relisted after he arrived at his new owner's house and sold again for half the price. I tracked down who the next owner was, but they hadn't logged in for years at the time.

  92. How would you feel to receive updates on your sold doll?

    I would love it! Is he sitting in a closet? Is he loved? I really don't know.

  93. Where have you sold your dolls?

    Den of Angels marketplace only

  94. Interactions:

  95. Have you taken your doll on a plane?

    My Littlefee Leah went to Hawaii with me once! I also took unassembled Mirodoll Mika on a plane to give to my friend. I don't think TSA gave me trouble for either.

  96. Do you let others hold or touch your dolls?

    Depends if they are a brute or not. Careful people are welcome to hold any of them.

  97. Are you open about being a doll collector?

    If you ask, I'll tell. I don't bring it up with most people though.

  98. What does your family/roommate(s)/SO think of your dolls?

    Ryan is not a fan. My mother loves my small girls, but dislikes my boys. My sister thinks I'm nuts.

  99. Have you ever hid your purchases?

    >_>

  100. Has your mother ever expressed disappointment in your shopping habits?

    "Quit buying boys!!! Why don't you buy more wigs instead of another doll?" but she was pleased when I finally got Cheby a body.

  101. What doll community do you enjoy interacting with most?

    The Super Dollfie WebHandHold.

  102. Where do you post photos of your dolls?

    Den of Angels, 4chan, and here. I used to post them on Twitter but I got even less response than I do here now. Eons ago I posted them on tumblr and deviantart.

  103. Have you convinced any friends to buy BJDs?

    Both my mom and bff have BJDs because of me

  104. Do you attend meetups?

    I did for years when I first started! I haven't in a very long time now. I would love to again, but no one wants to talk to me.

  105. Have you been to a doll convention or expo?

    Yes! It was not worth the ticket price! Japanese/Korean/Hong Kong events with actual dealers would probably be worth the price though.

  106. Misc:

  107. If you could do anything different about how you first got into collecting, what would it be?

    Hold out for the perfect dolls. I made too many impulse purchases and made purchases out of FOMO. I think Ryu would have been a good first doll, even though Ryu was a pain to obtain in those days. Lieselotte wasn't released for a couple more years, but I refused to look at Volks. I wish I hadn't striked Volks off my list of options so quickly. Verona should have been a Volks boy and I am far too attached to this physical object to change him now.

    But! I applaud myself for never getting SOOMed.

  108. Are you going to send these questions to anyone?

    GRIM, if you are reading this, you are obliged to fill this out as a member of the Super Dollfie WebHandHold.

    I'll send it to my bff to but where would she post it?! Where will anyone without a webpage post it? Social media does not make this easy. Dollers rise up!

  109. Express your love for dolls in one sentence.

    God Bless America.