Coming Full Circle

A few months ago, back on August 16, to be precise, I think that it’s fair to say that my obsession with obtaining one of the pretty BJD dolls to make into Ari first came to light. It began with a search on the Internet and eBay and, after much eyestrain and heartache, I found the sculpt for the Bobobie Mei elf girl doll which really spoke to me as the face of Ari as I see her in my mind. Looking at the price, however, kind of killed it for me at the time at $150.

But I continued to search. Aside from constantly checking eBay for poor little dollies without homes, I also found my way into the world of Obitsu, which is a “cheaper” alternative to the traditional resin dolls. Yes, they’re cheaper. They also hold their pose, are more durable, and have limitless replacement parts that one can buy to fix them. And, if you get a girl one, they can also come with a soft torso (as opposed to rigid, like a Barbie doll–not that this matters much to me but it was interesting).

Originally, I began to look at the 27cm dolls as a way to start making my BJD dreams into reality. However, if you look at a ruler, 27cm is only about 10.5″ tall. That’s about as big as a Barbie. That’s not bad… if you want to dress your poor little elf Paladin in hot pink and bikinis. However, I harbored dreams of being able to sew my own clothes for Ari. And 27cm is rather small.

So I began to dream bigger!

Next, I went up to the pretty 50cm size. This sculpt has the gorgeous, lithe, Anime body that I’m so fond of. And… *ahem*… she’s not very well-endowed, making her perfect to portray our favorite pally. But, the 50cm Obitsu is very special, hard to find, and rather expensive at around $250. So…. yeah… Oh, and the head was a special size which would have looked silly with the add-on elf ears you can buy.

So I dreamed bigger! Going up to the largest Obitsu size of 60cm meant that the price actually went down a little. Kind of. But at least the elf ears would look good! And you can find the 60cm for $210 on eBay!

A doll after my own heart...

But still… but still… it wasn’t the same. So every so often, I keep searching the Internet for that perfect doll, to no avail. Until tonight, when I accidentally (or coincidentally?) once again came across Mei. And, once again, it was love at first sight. I’m still breathless with the beauty of her sculpt and find that I think I had it right the first time in knowing that she was the one I really, really wanted. She’s a bit shorter than the Obitsus I was looking at, standing only 43cm (or 17inches) tall. She’s also more delicate, with her body being made out of resin. If I’m not careful, I know that red-type fabrics would bleed into the resin. And I would be hopelessly lost and confused if I ever had to restring her.

But you know what? I think that sometimes you need to follow your heart with what hits you first and foremost.

I have no plans on ordering at the moment (though I should do it soon, since I understand that many classic BJD are actually limited edition pieces). But it might end up being a very nice Christmas present to myself indeed to be able to finally ease my frantic Internet searching and give a home to what I think is the prettiest BJD out there ^.^