Ball-jointed doll

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A Super Dollfie ball-jointed doll: Nono 10, Juniper. The wig is color chocolate from Poshdolls, eyes are 22 mm Gray from Volks, face-up (makeup painting) by owner.

Ball-jointed dolls (BJDs) or Asian Ball-jointed Dolls (ABJDs) are realistically proportioned dolls, usually manufactured in east Asian countries (primarily South Korea and Japan). These dolls are fully articulated with ball joints at the appropriate locations on their bodies.

These dolls are fully poseable and customizable, with removable wigs, eyes, hands, feet and heads. Many different variations are available. Clothing, shoes, jewelry, and other accessories are also available. Much like collectable porcelain dolls, BJDs are often collected by adults and are often anatomically correct.

Ball-jointed dolls follow a traditional Asian view in their aesthetics. The designs are diverse and range from anime-inspired to the hyper-realistic. They are often considered to be collectors items.

Many owners assign their dolls to a certain personalized character, and they are sometimes used as subjects of artistic works, such as photography. Photo stories are popular on doll web forums.

[edit] Vinyl and resin BJDs

Most BJDs are hand-cast from polyurethane resin, resulting in a doll with luminous skin tones and a similar appearance to porcelain whilst being more durable. Unlike porcelain however, resin will tend to yellow over time depending on exposure to UV light; sanded dolls will yellow faster unless protected by a UV sealant.

Some BJDs such as the Obitsu 60 cm and Volks Dollfie Dream/DDII dolls are made of vinyl. This leads to a lighter doll that is often cheaper than an equivalent urethane resin doll, as resin dolls have to be cast by hand instead of machine-made as is the case with vinyl dolls. The original Dollfie Dream is strung like a resin doll; however Obitsu 60 and Dollfie Dream II dolls both have a soft, flexible vinyl skin over a hard vinyl internal skeleton. This arrangement results in a strong, resilient doll with superior posibility. "Hybrid" dolls consisting of a resin head on an Obitsu or DDII body are becoming increasingly popular due to their greater range of movement and affordability.

Tiny (9"/23cm) to MSD(17.5"/47cm) sized dolls range in price from $180 USD to $400 USD. SD sized dolls are can be sold from $500 up to $1,000 USD. Prices often include eyes and occasionally a wig, but do not usually include face-up, or clothes. Second hand SD doll prices can range from $500 to $10,000 depending on the demand for particular head or body molds.

[edit] Paper Moon dolls

The construction of Paper Moon dolls is slightly different from other BJDs due to being life-size (1:1); they are cast in resin, but have specially constructed joints that are superficially similar in appearance to normal balljoints due to the particular difficulties inherent in attempting to string such a large doll with elastic in the conventional manner.