Why I Did It

I came accross this post in Flickr, thought it was a fun idea and here we are!


How did I became a BJD collector? I was in the last few years of my university studies when I came across PVC anime figures. I loved how they looked and the amazing photos the reviewers took of them. After a few months I was definite I wanted one (for starters). After a debate with my ex about spending money on plastic I ordered my Non-Non, the amazing sword-swinging pink-gowned lady.

Through the figures I found many new anime shows that I'd have missed without them. Haruhi being the most important one. After seeing the countless Haruhi/Miruku/Yuki figures I just had to find out what it was about. (This'll be important later on, just bare with me.)


As I was celebrating my Master's degree, my figure collection was starting on new dozens. I ended up in a job, where I hadn't got much to do but browse the internet and while browsing figure sites more and more posts about Dollfie Dreams popped up. I was at first a bit fascinated about a very big figure, that could move! I checked their price though, was a bit put off, and didn't find a way to order one to Finland so I gave up on them for a while.

But the thought of a big piece of plastic on my shelf just kept nagging me in the back of my head. But there were so many! And what kind of a wig/eyes would I get for one? Who would I want on my shelf towering half a meter? --> Haruhi! Of course!


(My Haruhi Extravaganza PVC figure)

In the end I didn't like Volks' DD version of Haruhi, she just didn't look enough like her anime counterpart (unlike the figures like above did). But searching for her took me deeper into Volks' website and I came across the Super Dollfies. I didn't like them one bit (it's the lowsy promo pistures and default face-ups that suck), but I was interested to see what was the thing about dolls that pricey.

This finally lead me to the national forum for ABJDs. I clicked on a link to Dream of Doll's site. I was sold! They were beautiful! They were graceful! Their wigs! Eyes! Face-ups! I fell really hard for E-an... But she cost 600$, I didn't have that kind of money at hand (my job didn't pay that much and I had a wedding coming, my ex had been an ex for some time now and this was with Valentine).

I drowned myself in that BJD forum and the BJD sites, planning what kind of dolls I'd want. At this point I had also realized I could put my old RPG charaters in doll shells, which just elevated my enthusiasm. I wanted DoD E-an (to be just gorgeous in her fullset, and she'd be called Regan). I wanted DoD Kirill (to be Fyrd). I wanted Leeke Mabel (to be Audrye/Manna). I was currently just saving up for one when I went to a meet to see them in person.

In that meet a Soom Glot was put in my hand.

And I fell in love with her size. It was so manageable. She was a cutie (although I wasn't sold on her face and hooves). I had briefly browsed Soom's page but the over 1000$ big MDs definitely weren't in my price range atm. When I got home from that meet though, I went there again for the tinies. In the MD section Bygg and Beyloa were still on sale and I really loved them. I still couldn't think past the company fullsets though And it was a bit too much stuff that I knew I wouldn't really need. (I didn't know about splits that much.)



And I clicked mysel to the regular Teenie Gem section. And there he was! Soom Sweet Angel's Message version. He was so cute, smiling at me gently, with his puffy hair. Unlike any other doll before him, I knew I just had to have him! He didn't fit any of my character plans, but I din't care. I'd make up a new character for him. And once his name, Hippu (meaning something very small in Finnish), came to mind it was definite. Not long after he was ordered with compnay face-up (and he was supposed to come with his default wig/eyes, I also got him the pink pupiless eyes for an 'alternate' look). While waiting for him I got into a GO to get him a pink wig again for the 'alternate' look and bought an outfit set.

He came home. The eyes and wig Soom sent with him were the wrong ones, so he got stuck with the pink wig / pink eyes combo. I got so used to them that once his right wig/eyes arrived, they didn't suit him anymore :D Since then Hippu has evolved a bit and now has the fluffy hair. He is still my most beloved one.



What kept me in the hobby? Well, I always knew Hippu wasn't going to be an only child. Once Soom Ai went on sale, she too just screamed at me to buy her. Like Hippu she didn't fit any character I had planned, they just simply gave me a story of their own. After that though, I started to buy dolls to shell a few major characters. Éire (Fyrd), Manna (Audrye) and Nikki (Nigel) are now here too.

But we can still come back to the Haruhi. Once my story with the small dolls (as I now call them) came to an end, I once again could look at dolls for their beauty only, not just to shell previous characters. At this time I became more and more fascinated by the SD size and after finding many gorgeous repaints of Volks' dolls I had to rethink of my previous disgust of them.

I also wanted to name dolls differently from before (all the small ones except for Éire have cutesy names, most with a double konsonant in the middle). And since I had always loved Final Fantasy, a thought came to me. I wanted a Haruhi-like character, named Eiko, who would stir up trouble, and a calmer big sister for her, named Vivi (both after FF IX characters). I had always been intriqued by Souseiseki and her catlike smile and she just struck me as Eiko from the start. And luckily for me Volks also was about to publish SD versions of Alice and Lorina. Lorina (in her fullset) was a perfect calm Vivi.



Once the lottery for Lorina drew closer, I had become terrified of the sum of money these two would cost me. After looking at Lorina more closely I found that I could actually merge the two characters into one, thus saving me from buying the other. If I won Lorina, she could be Eiko, with a mixed personality of previous Eiko and Vivi. I won her :) She was a darling! But in the end, I just couldn't pass up on Souseiseki... And since she definitely would be more badass that Eiko ever could, I had to find a name for her to suit it. Vivi was now out of the question. And who in the universe of FF could be more suited to top the impish Eiko than the backstabbing thieving Yuffie! (I loved Yuffie's character to bits, even though she drove me nuts stealing my materia...)

To somewhat counter the huge cost I came up with the plan of making a deal with myself. I couldn't buy her unless I lost my extra weight. And after much hard work, I did it!.




For about fifteen years I haven't had the motivation to lose my extra weight. But a doll did it.

These dolls make me push myself. I try to better myself at sewing, painting and photographing. I made a full story with them (and usually I never finish any story I write). And now they've helped me to stick with my weight-loss plan.

Why on Earth wouldn't I want to stay in this hobby?