Ball-Jointed Dolls

A ball-jointed doll (often shortened to BJD, though ABJD, for asian ball-jointed doll, was commonly used as well) is any doll that is articulated with ball and socket joints and strung together. They are also usually designed to be easily customizable by the doll owner.

A majority of BJDs are handcrafted art toys created and casted by either individual artists or small businesses. Due to the nature of casting resin (the most popularly used material for creating copies of these dolls), mass production on the scale of playline toys (such as the Barbie and Monster High doll brands from Mattel) is not attainable and/or viable for most doll creators.

A promotional image of BJDs from VOLKS.

There are many within the community that also include dolls with internal frames and vinyl shells (often referred to as vinyl dolls; Dollfie Dream and Smart Doll are examples of these) as BJDs. There is some debate about whether they should be categorized under the BJD moniker or are their own type of doll. In regards to this wiki, we have a focus on the definition provided at the beginning of this article.

BJDs were predominantly manufactured in asian countries (Japan, South Korea, and China in particular), but in the current-day market there is a large variety of dolls being produced by companies and individual doll artists alike from all over the world.

A doll size chart from VOLKS.

While these dolls come in a variety of sizes and shapes, the most common sizes available on the market are:

• 60cm (~2ft)
• 40cm (~16in)
• 25cm (~10in)
• 15cm (~6in)

For more detailed information about doll sizes, please see this article.

A majority of BJDs are designed specifically to be easily customized by whoever owns them; eyes and wigs can be swapped out and dolls are often sold blank so the customer can either paint the doll themselves or commission a faceup artist to paint the doll for them. Due to these design and sales choices, the BJD community is very open and accepting of owners modifying their dolls (including limited releases) and sharing the results.

Super Dollfie is often used as a generic blanket term to refer to all BJDs regardless of manufacturer (and within the community it is most used to refer to dolls that are in the 55-65cm height range). However, Super Dollfie is a registered trademark of VOLKS (it is the name of one of their doll lines), and Dollfie is the trademarked name of their line of Barbie-sized 1/6 scale vinyl dolls, which are more akin to fashion dolls than ball-jointed dolls in how they’re constructed.

History

The history of ball-jointed dolls is many centuries old, with European and Egyptian articulated dolls made of wood and other materials dating back hundreds of years. The modern era ball-jointed doll history began in Western Europe, particularly France and Germany, in the late 1800s.

From the late 1800s and to the early 1900s, French and German manufacturers made ball-jointed dolls with bisque heads and strung bodies made of a mix of pulp, sawdust, glue and similar materials. These dolls were sized between about 20-40 inches, and they are now collectible antiques.

Die Puppe (german; translates to The Doll) by Hans Bellmer, 1934

During the 1930s the German artist Hans Bellmer created dolls with ball-joints and used them in photography and other surrealistic artwork. Bellmer introduced the idea of artful doll photography, which continues today with Japanese doll artists, as well as the BJD fandom. Bellmer’s dolls were an inspiration for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

Influenced by Bellmer and the rich Japanese doll tradition, Japanese artists began creating strung ball-jointed dolls. These were commonly made entirely of bisque and often very tall; sometimes as tall as 4 feet. These dolls are art, and not intended for play or even the hobby-level of collecting usually associated with dolls. They cost several thousand dollars, up to several hundred thousand dollars for older collectible dolls from famous artists. The art doll community is still very active in Japan, and doll artists regularly release artbooks with photographs of their work.

The history of commercially produced asian resin BJD began in 1999 when the Japanese company VOLKS created their Super Dollfie line of dolls. The first Super Dollfie were 57cm tall, strung with elastic, and made of polyurethane resin; similar to garage kits, which was VOLKS’s main product at the time. Super Dollfie were made to be highly customizable, to create a female market for garage kits.

Around 2003, South Korean companies started creating and producing BJDs. Dolls made by Custom House and Cerberus Project were among the first Korean-made BJDs to be marketed internationally. In 2005-2006, Chinese BJD companies started creating BJDs and selling them on the international market (DollZone being one of the earlier companies to open). Since then, doll companies and independent creators have cropped up all over the world.

Modern Ball-Jointed Dolls

Modern BJDs are fully articulated and highly posable. Most have ball and socket joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Some are double jointed, with two joints at elbows and knees for example, and some also have one or two joints in the torso, and more rarely even in individual fingers. Body elements are held together with one or more thick elastic cords that attach to hands, feet and head, creating tension and friction between the parts.

Haru Casting Neul.

BJDs have comparatively large feet, contrasted with fashion dolls like Barbie, and many BJDs are capable of standing on their own, without a stand or other support. The designs are diverse and range from highly anime-inspired to hyper-realistic.

Most of these dolls are readily customizable. Wigs and eyes are easy to remove and replace, as well as heads, hands, and feet. A doll may even be a hybrid of parts from different companies. Some BJD owners or customizers even re-shape existing parts by sanding, drilling, and/or carving, as well as adding details on top of the existing pieces by applying epoxy putties.

BJD face paint is usually referred to as a faceup, to note that it's not just make-up, but all the facial features that are painted and customized, including eyebrows, lips and blushing to enhance features. Some BJD are delivered without a faceup, leaving it entirely up to the owner (or a customizer they commission) to paint the doll. Faceups, even from large companies, are always painted by hand, and it takes considerable skill to do professional level faceups.

DollZone Tarot Series The Empress fullset.

The dolls are sold as anything from completely blank and nude dolls to complete fullsets. Most Korean companies sell BJDs assembled but it is up to the buyer if they want the company to apply a faceup before delivery. Fullset BJDs are often, but not always, limited and come fully assembled, painted, and with clothes.

A few companies sell BJDs as kits, which are just the bare parts, similar to a garage kit. Sometimes a wig or eyes are included, but neither is attached to the doll, which have to be strung together, painted and dressed to complete it. BJDs can also be bought in parts. Some companies sell heads and bodies or other parts separately, and separate heads and bodies are often available on the secondhand market. A few doll creators sell just heads, in size and skin color to fit with doll bodies from other companies.

BJD Culture

Some dolls can be considered collectible (such as limited editions, or skillfully customized dolls), and can fetch prices much higher than the original in the secondhand market, sometimes as much as USD $5000.

Angell Studio Lan with company’s photographer.

However, the customization and personalization aspects of these dolls are usually more emphasized in the BJD hobby. Even collectible limited-edition dolls are played with and used as props in photoshoots, and even dolls that are no longer in mint condition can command high prices in the secondhand market if they’re highly sought after sculpts.

BJDs are usually named by their owner, and sometimes assigned individual characteristics and personality traits. Many collectors will often purchase specific dolls to represent characters they have created (or character from pieces of media they enjoy).

These dolls are often used as subjects of artistic work, such as photography or drawing.

There is a sizeable international online community dedicated to BJDs. The largest English BJD-centric forum, Den of Angels, has over 64,000 members as of June 2023. Drawings, photos, vlogs, and photo stories are shared in online spaces, such as forums, Discord servers, Facebook groups, Instagram, YouTube, and more.

BJD hobbyists also organize offline meetups and conventions.