These bears are best buds :]

New follower sticker for: @frootsnak!

Omigosh your Final Fantasy collection is amazing! If I may ask, when did you start collecting and do you have any tips for beginner collectors? Also your page is sooooo pretty with the snowflake layout I wish I had the patience to customize my layout lol

Thnx ☺️ I did my page years ago so I can't even remember how to code it anymore 😂

According to the date on this I got my first ultimania in July 2020.

And my first piece of merch was my Cloud play arts Kai mini, but I can't find the post with just him, so he's joined by my Tifa mini cause I bought them as a set. She arrived in December, so I think I got Cloud in late November 2020.

I started collecting the books first cause I love reference materials and it just kinda spiralled from there 🤣

If you wanna start a collection then I think it's best to look at what's available and what sort of things you want. I don't just buy up every piece of merch around. Like, I haven't got Cloud's trading arts cause I hate the face on it, but I have Tifa cause hers is pretty ❤️

I also don't collect the big play arts kai as a rule, aside from dissidia Cloud and OG Tifa cause I really liked them, so you should decide what you want in your collection and how much you wanna pay cause these things run up pretty high if you're not careful.

Japanese sites tend to have stuff that's not stocked in other countries but watch out for shipping charges. I also hit up eBay a lot. That's where most of mine came from. I don't mind damaged boxes cause I don't plan to resell and a damaged box usually means a lower price, but with the remake stuff it's best to double check with the official store in case you're getting shafted. I almost was with my Cloud statuette until I double checked the retail price.

Sometimes I'll grab a random bargain. My Yuna statuette was a steal although I didn't plan on getting her, I just came across her going cheap and I like her so I got her. I impulse buy when I have spare money, but also bookmark a lot of things to see how I feel about them. My books end up bookmarked for a while before I get them because they're expensive and have high shipping charges, so I have to really think about if I want them. I usually do and even if the bookmarked one sells I can usually find another copy, so I don't really worry about not getting something immediately if it's not the right time/price. Collecting is supposed to be fun ❤️

I had Cloud and Tifa theatrhythm bookmarked for a bit but wasn't willing to pay too much. In the end I got lucky and found them both a lot cheaper than I expected, so everything usually shows up eventually if you wait long enough 😁

Also Etsy has some pretty fanon pieces. All of my pins and my cloti lamps are unofficial but they're great quality and very fairly priced, so a lot of time artists fill in the gap where official lets things down.

Main thing is to buy because you love it ☺️

Back to my Safari bookmarks! If you’re wondering why I’d make hundreds and hundreds of bookmarks from tumblr, it’s because I had anxiety and didn’t have a blog yet. Took me a while and eventually I just impulsively made it one night.

- awww ancient Stucky fanart

- several etsy articles that are no longer available

- “Oops! Website deactivated”

- many, many, many links to nothing, but also an array of super random tumblr posts, and when I say random I mean random

- this was when CATWS was fresh and people were like :O

- a list of recipes to replicate fast food from some American chains at home... ew why would I want to eat any of these things ew ew

- past me, please explain, why would you bookmark all this stuff. why so many bookmarks of possible iphone cases to buy. you did buy some eventually. why keep these b--

- horizontally cutting an apple and putting peanut butter inside it DOES NOT make it a sandwich, American person who wrote this article about sandwich ideas. Wait, “Apple and Gruyere Waffle Sandwich”? That’s even worse.

- you again?? No, using a tomato instead of hamburger buns DOES NOT make a hamburger. How am I supposed to bite into the sk... nevermind.

- awww a bunch of etsy links about products for babies! This is from when my nephew was born ^-^

- a 2004 essay about Dumbledore

- that manga about Jesus and Buddha in modern Japan

- pictures of blooming tea... I have purchased some from a Chinese reseller through Amazon a very long time ago, but the package is “in transit but late” :(

- Roberto Ferri’s paintings (those beautiful ones you saw years ago all over tumblr)

- pictures from the 1930s/40s in color

- super cute pet videos

- nothing says “Etsy” like kintsugi kits where you’re sent a broken object to repair (I didn’t want one, but the link showed me those)

- sure, pick a theme for your blog where microscopic text is written in beige over white background, I’m sure that’s a good idea

- do you think John Winchester apologists who get really intense when someone brings up literal canon still exist on this site or. Actually no I don’t want to know.

- I miss the Carver era meta guys

- an essay that reads the Iron Man trilogy through the lens of “cyborg feminism” but somehow the Iron Man trilogy seems to be a fever dream. That’s what happens when you make other 9472 terrible movies with Tony Stark in it when he’s always written terribly.

- Oh boi remember fanmail. I miss fanmail. They should being back fanmail.

- random stuff, broken links, random stuff, I’m deading, even Safari is suffering I had to close it and open it again asdfghjkl

- Writing Exercises (I’m not checking if it’s actually useful rn tho)

- this smol 2014 article about the Captain America fandom will make you cry now because we had such a good thing and they chose to punish us for it

- https://musicroamer.com and http://www.liveplasma.com

- oh man an essay on why it would be so important for many people if Johnlock became canon. I feel so sorry for the TJLC people, they deserved better

- damn!! Look at this Etsy store!! Look at this stuff!! I want!!

- that time Sergei Polunin danced to Take Me To Church

- the Supernatural soundtrack, episode by episode

- a twitter account that got suspended?? (But also ewwwww twitter shows me what’s trending in my country and ewwwww)

- Centuries Before Memes, There Were The LOLCats Of Japanese Woodprints

- there’s a broken link to a page inside the site “thetoast” and their broken link page says “Oh, bother.” and a picture of a burnt toast

- http://lexicity.com (The first and only comprehensive index for ancient language resources on the internet.)

- NASA Goddard Youtube channel

- omg this is so funny. An article about “awesome recycling ideas”. The objects to recycle? Include? A grand piano; a sea mine; an old boat; another grand piano; A BOEING 747 JUMBO JET ENGINE; another boat; sliced cars; multiple more pianos... thank you I really needed an idea on what to do with that stuff in my garage

- one of my first tumblr posts............. you really want to see it? do you? okay. But you need to be familiar with that famous Nietzsche passage about the announcement of the death of God. Yeah, I know. I can’t fathom how I got thousands of people to follow me.

- an amigurumi project I actually tried, with an acquaintance’s help and all, but I just couldn’t

- a folder of random stuff lebeled “bau” (“woof” in Italian, you know, what the dog says)

- more resources for my thesis I never used

- the map of the central building of my university (I always get lost in it)

- once upon a time, the most used word on the internet was “codependency”

- thanks, past me, for grouping all these links from tumblr blogs that changed their url all together so I can just delete everything with a single click.

- a folder “sherlock meta”. Blogs that deleted. (*touches the ground*...)

- discussions on the dismissal of the queer reading of Sherlock :’) I’m sorry guys

- it’s a good thing I didn’t have a blog back then. If I’d reblogged all the posts I’ve saved it would have been a mess.

- TEEN WOLF META asdfghjkl I routinely forget that Teen Wolf is a show I actually watched. Sure, I abandoned it at some point. Like everyone else did, I think.

- guys, we’re at posts from the first few days of 2014. We’re about to enter 2013. I don’t know what we’ll find.

- Destiel posts. These are all Destiel posts.

- a link to the Naruto manga on a manga reader site.

The Safari bookmarks end here, I think because for Christmas 2013, if I remember correctly, I got a new laptop. But there’s a folder with some bookmarks I imported from the old one... 

- some resources on disability representation, random tumblr posts, and the family free of the Julio-Claudian dynasty

- super random tumblr blogs?? including the demo.tumblr.com??? idek

- oh boi. A super mega amount of tumblr blogs. How am I supposed to open these?? If I open all the tabs I’ll make my laptop crash... I’m not opening them. Most are unfamiliar, probably fandom blogs that changed their url twice a month, but I can spot a few I still follow :) Congrats, I “followed” you long before I had a blog myself.

Well, this was anticlimatic. Apparently, past me already got rid of all the wild stuff. There’s not even a SINGLE Glee thing? Not one? From 2014? Wait, what was airing in 2014? Season 5? Yeah, maybe that’s a reason. Still.

NEVERMIND I FOUND THEM, they’re no longer saved in a browser, I had changed laptops or sth and I had copied my bookmarks in a email I sent to myself so I could find the links again (which obviously says I made a selection, who knows how many bookmarks were lost. I don’t want to know lmao). I obviously have no reason, time or will to open them, but I can tell you I had divided them in categories:

- uni courses; Japan/Japanese; manga; philosophy and academical stuff; recipes; mixed [oh boi there’s some weird stuff here]; very useful sites; quotes & lyrics [what for?]; videos; Glee stuff; Glee art from DeviantArt; Glee tumblr blogs; Klaine-specific tumblr blogs; Supernatural stuff; Destiel-specific; my most used sites; Deviant Art - fanart [not specified, so I’m betting this is manga fanart - correction from some urls I can tell this is yaoi fanart, yep]; Deviant Art - non-fanart; watercolor images; Deviant Art - food; Deviant Art - pictures of Japan; something very embarrassing I’m not admitting it [no it’s not porn, that would be less embarrassing]; assorted tumblr posts; Supernatural meta; other tumblr posts.

So yeah that was my 2013, how was yours?

Psssst do you happen to have any tips or beginners links for newbies who are interested in getting in to the BJD hobby? 👀

*SOFT SCREECH* ALICE COME DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH ME... /CLAMBERS FOR

This is a very slap-dash tips post, because a full fledged crash-course would take me much longer than a day to assemble. I think this could get someone started, but I can always answer specific questions if you have them in the future. ❤️

BJD 101: For a rundown of definitions, terminology, and origins of the hobby, I highly recommend checking out the Wikipedia article. (Warning for old vaguely spooky doll photos) I honestly wish I just read this when I got started, haha. It’s not everything, but it’s definitely a start.

Study! Read as much as you possibly can!! Especially terminology and maintenance. I highly recommend watching a bunch of unboxing and review videos- it might seem silly, but they're really helpful to get an idea of scale, how they function/pose, and how they look and feel when handled by a human. I also recommend trying to find owner photos of dolls you’re interested in, because sometimes the store photos are limited!

Join a community! Consider joining a forum like den of angels or a facebook bjd group like BJD Addicts! Exposure to the hobby is really helpful and you learn way faster. It’s fine if you’re shy, you don’t have to interact if you don’t want to- I like lurking DoA for the valuable tutorials and threads on doll brands I'm interested in. Tip: You can view some of DoA’s threads without an account by searching "[subject/doll of choice] den of angels" in google, but i got tired of that pretty fast. Signing up takes a few weeks to get approved but it's worth it for all the knowledge, even old archived stuff.

Window-shop until you drop!! I think the number one regret in the hobby is 'too many dolls, not enough time to love any of them'. So I HIGHLY recommend making wish-lists. These help a lot with avoiding impulse purchases and buyer’s remorse. There are a loooot of dolls out there, so if you've seen a huge majority of them, you'll be more picky.

For me, wishlists include both dream/grail dolls, tentative desires i’m not sure about but want to remember the name of, dolls I could never afford but feel validated writing down somewhere, and also cataloging info- measurements, wig/eye/shoe sizes, resin colors, price, current availability, dealer websites, etc. it becomes such a godsend when you shop for them. you’ll thank me later!!

I spent a lot of time browsing dealer websites like Alice's Collections, Legenddoll, Denver Doll, DOLK Station, etc- I linked some of those here. This is to see what my tastes are. Not EVERY doll company will go through all or any dealers, but it’s a good start!

If you’re the social type, going to conventions or local bjd meetups can help with getting an idea of your preferences! I accidentally walked by one at sakuracon last year and got to hold an MSD and an 11cm tiny, and that was REALLY helpful for me to realize I DID like those sizes. If other doll owners will let you hold theirs, I totally recommend it! (Always ask first, of course! Not everyone is comfortable with it!)

Go!! Slow!!! if you think you're taking it easy, go even slower. i'm so serious. it's so easy to get dazzled, over-eager, or totally overwhelmed by this hobby. especially if you have a habit of hyper focus/special interest tenancies like i do. 

Patience is a virtue anyway: If you’re not buying second-hand or in-stock dolls, you will be waiting a while for your doll. Anywhere from a few months to a year, depending on the company and how backlogged they may be at any given point. Dolls are usually pre-order and take time to be made.

Some people like to just buy sculpts and let a character ‘come to them’, which is absolutely valid so if you wanna just go on a feeling that’s great!! i totally can’t afford that route most of the time, so I spend a lot of time mood-boarding for my potential dolls using pinterest and my own art to see just how in love with an idea i am and highly recommend it. I’ll ramble about this in another post soon.

Budget! They are not very cheap like 10-20$ fashion dolls at wal-mart, so those new to the hobby may be shocked.This hobby is an investment and an indulgence/luxury, as with most Nice Things. But don’t be discouraged! There are affordable dolls out there, a lot of Dealer websites offer layaway plans, and the second-hand market is always circulating things!

Here is a DoA list of dolls that are under 300$. 

Note: Size of dolls often scale with price, so the bigger it is, the more expensive (and HEAVY) it will be. Some videos on BJD sizing here and here, but Flickr is crawling with height comparisons as well.

Craft or Not To Craft: Are you team 'i'm gonna sew/craft stuff/do wigs/eyes/faceups for my doll' or team 'i'm gonna buy clothes/props/faceups/wigs/etc from other artists!'? I know most people end up being a little bit of both, but these things both cost time or money (or both) so you wanna think about that in the overall price when you're considering a doll. It seems intimidating, but really, it’s the responsible thing to do. I’d rather plan for it than have a naked sad doll to feel bad about. Some personal recommendations below helped me get started:

Wigs: Monique Gold Collection wigs are affordable in the 20 dollar range, and have incredibly soft fiber! (You can find a lot of these available through ebay sellers as well)

Eyes: Lemonjellyshoppe and CandyKittenEmporium have some incredible eyes and also do custom orders!

Sewing Patterns: DGRequim on etsy and SproutyDoll have both been very nice to use and easy understand and modify to fit your doll!

When you’re savvy on the sizing of your dolls and if you’re comfy with secondhand sales, Facebook groups like BJD Addicts Sales & Commissions, BJD Lovers Sales, and BJD Adoption has a lot of people selling BJDs and accessories, oftentimes discounted for de-stashing or collection overhauls!

In addition to the other dealer sites I linked before, Dollmore (which also has an ebay shop) has a lot of options on everything! 

Rec@sts and the community- This is a veeery hot button topic, but you’ll probably see a lot of it the more you get into the hobby. I don’t want to talk about it a lot because of the negativity it attracts, but to sum it up: BJDs are essentially commissioned art pieces. They are hand sculpted by an artist or small group of artists, and then cast in resin and refined and strung by hand. There are people that will cast copies of them and sell them for a very cheap profit. To put it simply, it’s theft, and it effects the livelihood of people that make a living of their art. A lot of companies stop making dolls because they can’t compete anymore. Most official doll/art related conventions (LDoll, Resin Rose, etc) ban rec@sted dolls, as well as DoA and several of the facebook groups. Be sure to read all the rules of groups/forums you join them.

A lot of people come into this hobby unaware of this and buy a bootleg doll on sites like Ebay or Aliexpress, and then get turned away from the community without understanding why. There are understandable circumstances that cause someone to end up with a bootleg doll, but it’s also important to respect the artists and creators that share their art with the public.

On that note: Sometimes people will resell 2nd hand dolls as legit when they are not. Be careful about who you buy second-hand dolls from. Also, keeping certificates of authenticity (CoAs), receipts, and original packaging is must if you ever plan to resell your doll!

I... think that’s everything major I can think of... at least enough to get someone started? I know a lot of it is a bit vague, but if you wanted my opinion on a certain brand or size of doll or budgeting tips if money is tight, I’d be happy to give my personal preferences on that separately!! But otherwise, good luck and happy treasure hunting! ヾ(＾-＾)ノ

Let’s talk Buying and Selling

((This is one of those posts that has come about because of Flight Rising, but I’m going to be sharing it on my other blog as well.)) Anytime, you agree to exchange currency for a product or service, you are buying. Anytime you agree to give an item to someone for currency, you are selling. I don’t care if the currency is dollars, pounds, bottle caps, shiny rocks, or in-game, on-site pixel money that has no real world value, because it cannot be converted to RL cash. It is buying and selling. It is a business transaction. Communication is expected of both buyer and seller. I’m going to get on both buyer and seller tails here.

If you are pushing a “Purchase” button, you are communicating your intent to buy an item. Equally, if you list an item for sale, you are communicating that you want to exchange something for what you consider a fair amount of currency. If this is all the communication you can handle, self checkouts exist. Good luck with fast food (at least until the robots take the jobs). Flight Rising has an Auction House, where you just have to push a button, and have the currency on your account if buying, and your transaction is done. You never have to directly interact with another user for as long as you use the site.

BUYERS

Once you remove the third party of the Auction House, and directly interact with other users, you need to remember you are not interacting with a machine, but you are interacting with another human. If you are buying art, or a custom item off Etsy, you are interacting with another human. You have a responsibility here. Your responsibilities are: a) Be polite. b) Be honest. c) Be respectful. Be Polite I mean, actually polite. Please and thank you go a long way. Your parents weren’t lying. Rarely will someone anywhere in life ask for OviPets levels of “politeness”, with thank yous after automated transactions or they block you, but when you are working with a person? A “May I please buy/have a spot for” to open your request and a “thank you” at the end of a transaction goes a long way. Especially if your transaction has had a bump or hiccup in the middle. Along with this, don’t demean other buyers in the thread. If they can afford something you can’t, keep your mouth shut. If you can’t afford something, your “I would if I could!” comment isn’t wanted, unless you’re following up with “but let me link my friend/group/etc” Be Honest If you change your mind on a purchase, PM the seller. “Hey, can I cancel my order?” Not, “Can I have a few more days to pay?” when you’re not sure if you want to buy it. Not waiting until the last day, after you’ve promised to pay by then, then trying to resell the item in front of the seller. Be Respectful There is an amount of respect that you should give everyone. At the very least, you treat them like fellow humans. “Respect is earned, not given,” meaning you only respect someone after they’ve proven themselves to you is a load of horse crap and is a saying that needs to die. This goes along with the above: Be Honest. If a seller asks you for payment, do not attempt to guilt them. For any reason. Sellers do not care that you’ve been in a coma for 2 weeks because you saw a bag of kittens dropped off a bridge and you jumped in to save them. We just want to know: are you paying or not. You do not have to explain why you haven’t been able to pay them. If you aren’t buying, they need to know so they can move to a new buyer. It’s okay to ask to be moved to a ping list or a wait list. If a seller needs 5 of 10 pre-orders paid to run an accent, and you’re the 5th, you are the hold up. It’s rude and disrespectful. It’s rude and disrespectful to not respond to someone. If someone says “Hey, I need payment/info,” and you reply with anything that amounts to “k, brb” and never get back to them, don’t be surprised when they say they’re reselling your spot. If you need a refund, or to decline a spot, talk to the seller. If you’re buying art, and it has mostly been finished, don’t be surprised if you don’t get a refund. If the art is done and delivered? Do not ask for a refund. If you’ve paid via PayPal, don’t charge back unless the artist hasn’t replied to you, AT ALL (give people at least 24 hours to reply). That just makes you scum. In the end: The customer is not always right. Do not abuse people, anywhere, who are selling to you. I don’t care if they work in fast food, retail, a movie theater, or are selling online.

SELLERS

I’m not letting you off either. You have responsibilities too. Some of these, you’ll wish were in place before you started selling directly to people. Your responsibilities are: a) Be polite. b) Be honest. c) Be respectful. Oh, they’re the same. Be Polite Do not demean buyers. Do not insult them. Remain calm with them. If you need to rant, come here to Tumblr, go to DreamWidth or LiveJournal (if you want to risk the Russians), or Facebook. Remember, you can get banned on most pet and art sites for publicly calling out a user, even if they have screwed you over. Be Honest If you have an issue that will prevent you from fulfilling an order, tell your customer. Do not lie and say “Oh, it’s on the way!” when it’s not. If you will not be able to deliver it at all, and they have paid, refund them. If it will be a delayed delivery, offer the option of a refund, or at least keep them informed. I know that on Flight Rising, the exact date an accent or skin comes back can vary. The site says 5-7 days. Sometimes, you’ll have accents/skins rejected, so you have to edit them and send them back in. I know that sometimes RL can get in the way of doing art. Regardless of what it is, it is YOUR responsibility, if there is a hiccup, to inform your buyers. Those are your customers. Be Respectful Again, this goes along with the above. Be respectful to your buyers. Don’t suddenly spring rules on them. Before you begin selling, do yourself and them a favor and have a Terms of Service. You see this on Flight Rising a lot as someones “Rules.” Just call it what it is: Terms of Service. They are the terms of which you and your buyers agree to do business under, under which you agree to provide a service. Thus: Terms of Service. They need to be clear and concise. Keep it short, people, as a whole, don’t want to read. There should be no ambiguity. If you are doing accent pre-orders, someone’s payment is considered “due” from the point that they place the pre-order. But put a hard deadline on when they have to pay. For example, mine is now the day the accent is returned + 72 hours from the time I post the reminder/notification ping is the last of the payment period. Save yourself the trouble of someone trying to extend this. If you’re do art commissions, say you will only discuss details via PM. Say you will promise updates on art at this list of stages or at this set of times, which ever happens first. You might be thinking, how is this respectful? Because it sets up a means through which you and the buyer communicate. It’s a set of expectations for both parties. A known is better than an unknown. I made the mistake of not having a ToS when I started accent sales, because I was not expecting the response I got. Someone took advantage of this. It won’t happen again. All that said: don’t spring a new ToS on customers in the middle of a transaction. If you update or add a ToS, it should apply only to new customers, not your current ones. Also: Do not press someone for details if they need to back down from something. They are not required to tell you their life story.

So what does all this boil down to?

Don’t be rude to each other. Have some respect. Remember that you are dealing with another human. Rules are not all bad. Don’t complain about prices. Be friendly, even if you’re not friends. (Artists are not doing art to be your friend. Don’t befriend artists to get art. That’s rude.)