"Joining the Village of the Damned" by Tom. Photos by Traveling Valentine

About one year ago, I didn't own a BJD (Ball-Jointed Doll), I didn't want a BJD, I didn't give a damn about BJDs. So when Victoria showed me her dolls Cosette and Eponine, these dolls reminded me of the children from "The Village of the Damned." Their pale skin. Their blank stare. And the way they hypnotize their owners into buying new doll clothes and additional dolls.

These dolls are scary.

But after a year, I changed my opinion of BJDs slightly. It was during the shooting of "Cosette and Eponine" where the dolls highlighted their advantages over living actors:

1: They're a lot easier to work with than living actors. They don't talk back or show up late for filming.
2: They're a lot easier to pose than living actors. You won't believe the number of complaints living people give me when I tell them to pose a certain way. Attention , actors: If you can't turn your head 360 degress, LEARN!
3: They don't require sleep unlike real people. When there's a sudden idea to shoot at 3AM, I don't have to wake anyone up and deal with the angry aftermath.
4: BJDs don't eat. Have you ever eaten with an actor? They're animals.

So after weighing the advantages, I bought my own doll and named him Yo-Joe. Now hanging around during doll meet-ups doesn't feel so boring. And I can see the many ways people customize their dolls.

On Friday, Victoria and fellow doll enthusiasts Kate and Kelly held a BJD panel for an audience of BJD owners. Telling BJD owners about BJDs felt as redundant as translating "How to Speak French" into French since BJD owners would already know about their own BJD. But providing the history and evolution of BJDs and allowing BJD owners to mingle with fellow doll enthusiasts was a nice way to socialize and learn about the hobby. Fortunately, the panel was more of the latter. While looking through a visual timeline of the simplest BJD to today's BJD and then watching a couple vids of Japanese doll owners (who seem a little more gung-ho about their dolls than my comfort level), I shot dolls and their owners. Cosette, Eponine, Sherry/Scarlett, and Yo-Joe sat among the panelists.

Traveling Valentine ended the panel with a video of Cosette covering last year's Dollectable, a convention dedicated to the BJD that I attended when I wasn't a fan of the dolls. Using Cosette's ditzy point of view, the video provided humorous commentary while showing off Dollectable's features. We look forward to this year's upcoming Dollectable.

After witnessing the panel and subsequent doll meet-up, I thought I'd be done with dolls for the rest of the con. I mean, how many ways are there to compliment the same person holding the same doll? Lo and behold, a new day meant a new doll and/or a new outfit to show off. And we found an MSD Mika, the same mold as Cosette. It's fun to see how two people can imagine the exact same doll two different ways.

Sunday: More dolls. Those things are everywhere now. Now combine doll gatherings with cosplay gatherings to kill two birds with one stone. Now dolls can cosplay as well. I dont know how many birds are getting killed with this one stone now. Sherry dressed up as a Mismagius giginka and Yo-Joe had a couple costumes to choose from.

Even the final day of Fanime revealed more doll owners. This one was stringing one up in order to give it a body, head, and limbs. Looking forward to seeing the completed form at another con or meet-up.

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