Cryptid's Doll Room

This is a blind box doll; a doll you buy in a sealed box that contains a random doll from a set with no option to choose which one. It is one of the cheapest legitimate BJD you can currently buy outside of the second hand market. Not all blind box dolls are BJD, and not all BJD have "ball" shaped joints. What makes a doll a "BJD"? BJD's are often art pieces with hollow bodies and held together with an elastic string from it's neck to it's ankles and wrist to wrist with giant beads for joints. Traditionally there are joints in the neck, shoulder, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. Modern BJD have joints in the elbows and sometimes in the waist. The "ball" that allows these parts to move is sometimes ball shaped; "peanut" shaped joints allow for better poses and is the most popular shape these days. Some blind box dolls which are mistakenly called "bjd" are mechanically jointed rather than strung with elastic. This means their parts use a peg and hinge system instead. You usually see this in action figures and dolls like Monster High. This allows for more stability in terms of posing but with few exceptions (but there ARE exceptions!) certain "ball jointed doll" communities do not view these as true BJD. Blind box BJD can be considered designer toy art; that is a piece designed for display as much as or instead of for " play" (customizing is considered play). While "art" is subjective, the idea is that a BJD should be created by an artist or artist team as a unique object or in small or limited batches. They are usually designed for adults or mature collectors. Blind box BJD can be for those as young as teenagers but due to their very tiny and breakable parts are definitely not suitable as toys or for children! BJD-only communities dictate that for a doll to be considered for the community it must be designed as a work of art and to be able to be fully personalized; not only the clothing but the eyes and the hair should be able to be swapped out. This usually requires the doll to have a bald head with a removable section to access the doll's open eye sockets so that the eyes can be changed. Some blind box dolls have painted on eyes and their hair is sculpted which is viewed as being less able to be personalized. However some blind box dolls have the same customization options as standard BJD.

(top left: Penny's Box Antu Dreamlike Teaparty: Hazy Dreams face and hair. bottom left: Penny's Box Antu Cute Beast Magic: Woody Sheep's face and hair without ram horns. Right: Penny's Box Antu Cute Beast Magic: Wood Sheep body , showing the inside of her face with the removable eyes, next to Hazy Dream's hair) Here are two heads by the same designer with interchangeable parts.

(Excuse my messy desk! I've put Woody Sheep's hair on Hazy Dream's head, and her hair on Woody Sheep's head in the background! Hazy Dream is a centaur - that means she has a human head and torso on a horse body. She can stand up on two back legs! There are joints in her knees, ankles and even the middle of the horse body. It allows her to hold all kinds of poses! ) Blind box BJD allow someone new to the hobby to experiment with personalizing their doll this way! Some vendors like Kikagoods even sell optional eyes and clothing, but when buying these please read the descriptions carefully! Some clothing , eyes, doll scalps and optional parts are only designed for certain models and sizes! ₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚ What Do People Do With BJD? People like to personalize the dolls by changing their hair, eyes and clothes. More advanced techniques involve modifying the doll through paint, dye and sculpting techniques. However the most fun, popular and accessible thing to do is to pose and photograph the doll! For some simply collecting is enough and for others, finding a community to share these with is. Seeing other people's dolls is interesting too! There is no wrong or right way to enjoy your BJD! ₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚ I find these blind box dolls to be an affordable and inclusive way to enter the hobby. They're well made, adorable and easy to play with. Some models also highlight some of the frustration of BJD including difficulty with strung dolls (like string tension, wiring, difficulty posing ) and customizing. Resin dolls can cost above $100USD which is just not feasible depending on your age or budget or what you're comfortable spending on hobbies but these tiny blind box dolls often retail for around $30 up to $50.

₊˚ ✧ ━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━ ✧ ₊˚ I hope this has helped in some way if you're new to the hobby or just curious! If you have any questions about these please feel free to ask!