*cracks knuckles* Well, when I was 11-12 I collected Kelly dolls but kinda stopped when Mattel kept fucking around with Kelly's design and eventually gave her cartoon eyes of evil. I still have over 130 Kelly dolls around here somewhere.
Around this time I found a Todd at a yardsale for 20 cents and thought "Huh, this doll size isn't as scary as Barbie" so I began to slowly buy 1/6th stuff. Eventually I bought my first Barbie cuz I thought she looked like the perfect sister to my Todd. Theeeeeeeeeeeeen I bought an Action Figure, a Fashion Fever Kurt and a Super Star Barbie, all of which I customized and put on better bodies.
Then I realised that they needed friends and I yardsaled the hell out of my local area. I kinda forgot how much I accumulated back then but it was a lot to a 13 year old me.
Eventually I heard of this new fandangled thing called the internets. A bit of digging around, a bit of making friends, I eventually came across these interesting Japanese dolls called Volks and Obitsu. I think the only reason why I became as enamoured with them as much as I did was because I wanted my Todd to have actual friends his size.
So yeah, as a 13 year old, I didn't know much, my mum was against my collecting, but I was a boy possessed. Due to the generosity of the JS forums I got my first Obitsu. Then someone told me about money orders and... hell, THAT was a slippery slope.
Eventually I replaced my entire collection with Obitsu and Volks dolls. Lols, I was into hardcore story telling by this point, having written a crazy fantasy using my dolls and edging into the idea of gay relationships and how normal they could be.
So yeah, my dolls helped me come to understanding my sexuality and such.
At this, I had collected Momokos and even got a Fashion Royalty, cuz yeah.
I think because of this I edged my way into 1/3 scale cuz I got a REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY cheap Obitsu.
And that began my two year love affair with bjds and Obitsus. But even though they were pretty and it was nice knowing there was other doll collectors in my area, I couldn't do the same things I could with 1/6th scale. Plus with the community drama and such I couldn't stand it anymore.
Coincidently this was the point where Mattel, Liv and MH were coming out with CHEAP, PLAYLINE, POSABLE dolls that I didn't need to order online for. Plus with Barbie basics and such, the quality gotten really nice.
Add into the fact that for the first time in years I found a vintage Barbie, I eventually began to play less with my big dolls and edged back slowly into 1/6th scale. This meant digging up the dolls from when I was 13 up til my Obitsu phase, all of whom that survived my bartering and selling throughout the years. It's why you can see I'm excited to finally upgrade some dolls that had been waiting around for years to be completed.
Anywhos, I have a bunch of dolls from about 8 years of collecting and I'm pretty happy with where I am at the moment. These plastic things are part of me and I'll be hardpressed to give them up entirely.