BJD? Dollfie? What are they?
Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls, BJD or ABJD for short and also commonly called Dollfie's. These are well-articulated dolls , often very realistic, influenced by Asian culture young and old. They are usually made of polyurethane resin, a dense and though plastic, and strung together with elastic string. The jointing is often very innovative, making it possible to pose them naturally, and get them to keep the pose in most cases. Due to their weight, many weigh in excess of two kilograms, it is recommended to use stands when displaying them, even if they seem to be able to stand on their own. Normally the minimum set of movable joints are neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hip, knees and ankle, but often they have additional joints in the torso and waist, complex hip and thigh joints, as well as double joints in elbows and knees to improve their posing ability and make their movement more natural. For even more realism it is possible to get fully jointed hands where every finger joint is movable, Ren and Opal are example of dolls with such hands. To add to the versatility many dolls come with extra hands for various gestures, and feet to fit high heel, geta or sandals (one of my dolls was delivered with normal feet for shoes and wide feet for when she is barefoot or ware sandals). In many new dolls strong magnets are used to connect hands and feet to make exchange easy, magnets are often implanted to hold horns, wings or other extras in place as well.
The dolls are manufactured mostly in Japan, Korea and China, the most famous company being Japanese Volks, with their brand Super Dollfie, their name (Dollfie) is often wrongly used as a term covering all modern BJD's. Most modern dolls have a strong manga and anime influence, most noted in Volks Dollfie Dream series, of vinyl dolls with strong anime influence, even if these are not considered as BJD (being made of soft vinyl and having an internal skeleton for articulation). Japanese and Korean dolls are famed for their high quality craftsmanship and production, which tend to be quite pricey, while Chinese companies often makes cheaper dolls strongly influenced by, or even copied from, well-known companies in Japan and Korea (there are however several good and innovative companies even in China. The dolls presented on this site are almost exclusively from Korea.
Customization: BJD's are highly customizable: if not otherwise noted they are delivered blank with no face painted, no eyes and no wig. The owner can then make their own face-up, or send them to any of a number of artists doing face-ups per description, get the eyes they want, and select a wig of their choice, and in the process get their unique doll. It should be noted that most companies offer a default face-up and usually send a pair of random eyes and wig with the doll, but if you buy a blank doll you should also plan and shop the eyes and hair you are looking for at the same time.
Having told this we should mention the full-set dolls as well. Many companies make full-set dolls, with a set face-up, eyes, wig, sometimes full-body blushing and clothes. Many of these sets are limited and offered only a short period, and in the case of Volks, you may need to join their lottery for a possibility to buy a doll. By experience I know that it easy to fall for these full-set dolls, but can also say that even these often get customized and become one of a kind dolls.
They come in roughly four sizes:
SD (Super Dollfie, a Volks registered term) are dolls about 60 cm height (normally between 55 and 70cm) that roughly equals a one-third scale.
MSD (Mini Super Dollfie) being about 40 cm in height, either as young children compared to SD or (most usual) being roughly quarter scaled adults.
YoSD are dolls of 20 to 25cm height and often depicting babies or young children
Tinies are dolls less than 15cm.
In addition there are one-sixth scale BJD's as well, even if they are rare, the 30cm adult doll range usually have some other types of joints (hinge joints).
I am partial to the larger dolls, most of my ladies being around 65cm and Ren being no less than 80cm tall. Tsuki is an example of a YoSD doll being around 25cm, and Shinju is an MSD, although extremely slender and long.
The cost...
This can be a sensitive area for most collectors of BJD's, the cost for a single new doll can range between a few hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars. Rare and popular dolls can become extremely valuable on the secondary market and fetch prices that are staggering. Some rare Volks dolls can fetch much over 500.000 Yen on auction today, and popular Dollfie Dream dolls can be found shortly after their release for more than trice their original price.
Clothes and other accessories can be costly as well, you can get kimonos made from ancient silk for your doll, if you are ready to pay the price. Many collectors probably have a larger budget for doll clothes than for their own wardrobe. The real charm is in making them yourself though, and it is great fun to let your creativity run wild, and if you need help there is a large community that includes seamstresses and artisans to help you.
I would warn those of you who think they are great investments, they do age... Resin and Vinyl is sensitive to sunlight and heat, and will deteriorate and change colour over time. With some luck they will age gracefully, but they will age just like most of us do. And what fun would it be to keep them in the dark (like throwing them in a dungeon)?
Then why collect BJD's?
Because it is fun... There are those who collect them in glass cupboards, and those who use them to play, I think they are made to play, model and pose. They are both works of art and playthings.
For more information I can recommend:
Wikipedia and BJD _WTF are good pages for more information on Ball Joint Dolls.