Hi again!
I know. I just left. But I'm back, to share some pearls of knowledge that I found helpful back when I didn't know squat about the hobby and felt too much like a nubcake to ask. Let's start with terminology, and what it means. You know... all those funky abbreviations, wig references, etc, that everyone in the hobby takes for granted, but forgets how annoying it was when we didn't know either.
Sizes
This was my big thing. I kept seeing SD, MSD, YO-SD, Puki, Little, Mini, SD-13, SD-17... I was expecting a micro at some point that was small enough to balance on your fingertip. Here's the scoop on those sizes and what they mean:
SD - Your standard SD size reference is anything between 57cm and 65cm. They were considered the largest dolls, but in recent years, larger ones have been showing up. 70cm is also common now, as are 73cm and 80cm. If you go looking around, you can also find 105cm and even a lifesize BJD that stands 5'8" tall! Sorry, I'm not having a doll that's taller than I am, it just kinda takes the Uncanny Valley and strip mines it.
SD 13 and SD 17 are just varying sizes of those, and are mainly used by the doll company Volks. They are designed to look like young teens and older teens, respectively. 13's are on the shorter side, around 57-60cm, and 17's are closer to the 65cm mark.
MSD - This seems to be one of the more popular sizes. MSD's are right around 45cm, give or take, and are a very convenient size if you like taking your dolls with you to conventions or other places. Your SD's can get heavy after a bit... YO-SD's and smaller sometimes have parts that can get lost (magnetic hands, etc).
YO-SD - YO-SD's are the kids of the group. They can range between 25cm and 29cm, and are generally used for child characters. There are some exceptions to this rule, but I don't know enough about the Obitsu and Dollfie Dreams to really make a comparison. There are adult-proportioned YO-SD's, but for the most part, they seem to be child based.
Then you get into the smaller ones. Fairyland has a series of 'Puki' dolls that range from small to REALLY TINY. Latidoll also has colour-coded dolls that can be really small in size. I don't know the exact specs on those, as I don't own one, but trust me when I say they're small. If you have a cat, they're toy-sized.
Wigs
This was the part that confused the bejeebus out of me when I got into the hobby. You have a doll whose head is measured in centimetres, but the wigs are sized 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8, etc. FINALLY someone explained it to me. Doll wigs are sized in inches. So... you take your doll's head measurement (usually can be found on their order page, or you can measure their head from just above the ears), and either convert it to inches... or look at your tape measure.
If the doll's head is, say 8.4 inches, then you need a size 8-9 wig for them. Because your measurement falls between 8 and 9 inches. If your doll's site says their head is 24cm, then you'll need a 9-10, because that equals out to about 9.5 inches.
It's easy once you know what the heck you're looking for!
That's the main bulk of stuff that was confusing for me when I first started. I'm sure I'll come up with more later... or feel free to ask! If I don't know the answer, I'll find out!
Cheers,
Kit
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