Doll/Toy history

For me, right now in my life there is a lot going on. It's very busy and hectic and I'm temporarily living somewhere which means I don't have a lot of my personal belongings with me, that includes my dolls and toys. At 26 you would think it's not so important. But I've been recently thinking I really really miss having them around me. I'm actually pretty bummed out I can't get one off the shelf and look back nostalgically at them.


I was a very stereotypical princess girly girly when I was younger. Growing up I had many different toys, one that stuck out that I remember were the My Little Pony collection I had and I'm very sure it must have been my favourite thing.... I had the Castle, the Ballet School, the Wedding Parlor and not one but TWO of the Pony Cottage (I didn't believe it until I saw a photo??) Then I had quite a few of the ponies themselves. My favourite was a baby pony in hot pink with yellow hair and a yellow sun stamp. (Which I am to find again one day!) When I sold all my pony things I remember keeping this one, but I lost it due to moving around so much as an adult. I also had a lovely collection of play animals which my mum has informed me she still has in her possession so she'd kept them back to give to me.
I quite liked Barbie too and one of my favourite pieces was a Barbie camper van, again another thing I regret leaving behind.
My mum also gave me several dolls when I was a child that were hers as a child including a Pippa doll which I still own today. I also remember binning a Strawberry Shortcake doll because a bug was crawling in her hair....

However when I was about 10/11 and my younger brother Billy was born I wanted to "Grow up" I became more interested in clothes. I was allowed to have a bleached streak in my hair and I started watching a lot more TV like Beyblade, Dragonball Z and Pokemon (I ended up collecting Pokemon cards like most children of my generation)

By the time I was about 12, Toys and Dolls didn't interest me so much anymore, I started playing my SNES playing with Lego (and for a while I actually went outside to play a lot?!) Then the internet and PC games came along and it was well and truely forgotten apart from the few I had actually kept which were put away into a box.

When I was 17 however things started rolling again. I had thrown myself head first into Japanese Fashion and Music and through this I had discovered the existence of Ball Jointed Dolls, And because I had a job, I could actually afford this hobby. I bought a brand new head but got a cheap body on the second hand communities. This hobby really appealed to me because I could finally bring to life properly all the characters I attempted to draw, it was a downwards spiral and I ended up buying and selling a lot, And as I finished university I had two left. And due to financial strains to a low wage job, I couldn't warrant keeping such expensive dolls when I needed the money, I sold my last two remaining dolls and completely left the BJD hobby again. Buying cheaper Monster High in replacement and getting a lot of second hand fashion dolls for customization as that was what really appealed to me about BJD.

However last year I got a decent job again, one I'm actually pretty damn happy in, I feel less stressed and I've been reminded of all the happy memories from dolls and toys as a child. So I decided to collect things I grew up with (And ones I always wished I had!) And recently I've been able to get back into the BJD hobby which honestly I'm so happy I did too.
Highlight of the past year have been: Having one of my toys featured in an article on Buzzfeed , Getting my best friend into BJD (I'm not sorry Katie) and just having all these wonderful feeling from the past back again.
I'm actually currently on the hunt for my own apartment, So once I'm finally in one and have all my belongings back I'll do some posts on my current collection. Sorry this is just a text post but I really wanted to write about it, mainly for me to look back on! Thank you if you read it