Ball Jointed Doll Guide

You might see phrases in ball jointed doll terminology including BJD Size Chart, BJD MSD Size, BJD Sizes, BJD Doll Size Chart and more when researching on ball-jointed dolls. Here’s our guide to BJD doll sizes. — Ed.

Confused about large dolls, minis, tinies? What do the abbreviations SD and MSD mean? Ball-jointed dolls have their own unique sizing system. I’ll address them here.

The most familiar are the Volks brand name sizes:

  • SD or Super Dollfie. This brand is actually a Volks brand of doll, and refers to the line of dolls which are  55 cm tall (almost 22”), but were originally 57 cm (about 22.5”). Sometimes this size is referred to as SD10.
  • SD13 or Super Dollfie 13 are another Volks brand and have mature bodies. The girls are 57 cm (about 22.5”) and the boys 60 cm (about 23.5”) tall.
  • MSD stands for Mini Super Dollfie, and these immature, more child-like bodies stand about 42 cm (16.5”) tall.
  • Yo-SD come from the Japanese word for “infant,” and are even younger looking than MSD dolls. They stand 26.5 cm (10.5”) in height.

Ball-Jointed Doll Advice Mailed to You: Subscribe to DOLLS today

Many manufacturers will use Volks terms to describe the sizes of their own line of dolls, even if their measurements are slightly different.

To describe various sizes, collectors may group their dolls into the following sizes:

  • Large. These dolls range from about 50 cm – 70 cm (19.5” – 27.5”) in height.
  • Mini. These dolls range from 36 cm – 49 cm (14” – 19.5”) in height.
  • Tiny. These dolls range from 9.5 cm – 35 cm (3.75” – 14”) in height.

In addition, many BJD manufacturers have small or large bust options for the female dolls, allowing you to customize your doll from a child figure to a more womanly shape. Thus, you can have an immature- or mature-bodied girl.