Are your dolls characters?

The simple answer to this question for me is no. My dolls are not characters. For me, I'd say my dolls would be more accurately described as avatars of characters. The characters existed long before the dolls, and would keep on existing even if there were no dolls to represent them physically. Generally speaking, I choose dolls who could be a good physical representation of a character, and each character is represented by a single doll. I have way more characters than dolls and I don't feel the need to represent every character with a resin avatar.

 

oh yes, most certainly my dolls are characters - I specifically created those characters to fit the dolls. I wanted a theater/cosplay troupe to act out multiple other characters (mine & others).

 

The dolls I'm waiting for are both characters of mine. ^-^ Adriana (who will be here in a few days) is relatively new, while her mother Regina (layaway) has been a character of mine for about 10 years! Boy does time fly. o.o But I plan on completing that cast of characters to eventually make a comic. :3

 

I've created a character for my Dominic and a doll I'm preordering will be in his story as well. This is a story specifically made for the dolls. Another doll that I preordered will fit a character I've had in my head for years, a character I used to roleplay. When I saw her, she looked just like I invisioned the roleplay character to be and I had to have her.

Only my Linnaeus doesn't have a character yet, but I haven't decided on his final design either. He was my first doll and not planned or sought for. He was just available at that time and a great intro for me into the hobby. I'm practising face-ups on him too and toying with his clothing and wigs. One think I think I finally decided on are his eyes.

 

For me, it's little of both yes, and no. Kyrian is the only one in my planned family of 4 whose voice, design, persona, and backstory existed long before I discovered BJDs. But the other three? Their characters are steady works in progress, with personas that stem from what I personally see in their sculpts. They do not have voices yet, so Kyrian's doll will take priority in the planning department. (Of course, I'm typing this as I buy clothes for Arra instead. My excuse that I can't decide what mindset I want Kyrian's doll to have since it also determines personality, voice, and clothing style. This is my punishment for having two versions of him. xD)

 

I've tried buying dolls to fit characters of stories of mine, but it really didn't work - in all cases I fell out of love with the dolls completely, and in one case also the story. So now I buy dolls I like and create characters and stories afterwards. There is one sort-of exception to that, and that's when I saw one sculpt and realised she was perfect for the girlfriend of another doll (who was still being called by her sculpt name at that point as I couldn't settle on name or character).

They do now all exist in the same multiverse, which I've been creating to account for all sorts of sizes and types. I don't know yet how much any of their stories will cross over. There's a few groups that are together, but beyond that - still making it up as I go

 

Yes they are characters, making characters is my greatest fun and I can't avoid doing it. I make each character different depending the media that will be used to represent them, on dolls I can say it's divided on two parts. My first dolls were most because I liked this sculp and chose what would come to them according to my taste, didn't had any defined plans specially on the first. After they arrived is that I started to work on them. Now I know what kind of universe to create and what type of charcaters I want to work on it, so while I'm picking the sculpts I also taking in consideration what type of characters each one could be and how I will dress and customize them. I don't get interested in full sets for this same reason, unless I like a lot the wigs and clothes that come with them.

I do write their info from background and life now, to secrets and world building. Like you would do to write any novel and that is my objective. I already decided to divide the bjd stories on two universes also because the dolls sizes would make hard to make the MSD dolls be adults compared to the SD. I like to join the stories on universes that they exist together ever if they never meet, that way I can create more complex stories where their actions impact each other.

 

For me... well, in a reverse sense yes. I buy dolls to shell specific characters. Most of the time those characters have existed in advance for quite a bit of time, and even though sometimes I might move the dolls around, or sell and change them because I feel they don't fit as well as I've imagined, the character remains the same. All the dolls' characters also belong in a single story that spans a cohesive multiverse system that comprises of five worlds and two more which allows them to be as varied as they are. Originally I thought I'd be unable to reshell dolls and that it just wouldn't be quite the same but I found out that it was quite more liberating when I found myself restricted by their doll form. I want the dolls to look as close as possible to how I imagine the character to be in my mind which more often than not creates a big problem when I set out to look for them, but I keep telling myself it's worth it...

 

Mine are primarily representations of existing characters. I have a few different groups, but only one is entirely dolls bought without specific characters in mind, and it's the smallest one (three, when the third arrives, and no more than 4-5 total). I've got a large set of OCs for whom I'm pairing up the sculpts that most represent what the characters look like in my mind, and a couple of secondary groups that are based around some RP-based existing characters. I really find it fun to look through sculpts and try to find one that matches the best, rather than just looking at every "ooh pretty" that comes along (which, let's be honest, is every doll that comes along).

 

Yes, my dolls are characters. Some of them are pre-existing characters that I decided to create a doll version of, but most of them I decided to make characters because I liked the doll so much. Creating a character is one of my favorite parts of buying a BJD, because I've always been into writing and creating characters out of BJDs just came naturally to me. I love figuring out their style, what type of personality they will have, and finding the perfect eyes and wigs to bring the character together.

 

I am waiting for my first BJDs to arrive but I do not have characters planned for them. I assume I will attribute personalities and characteristics to them as I spend time with them but I don't have a world or story for them to fit into.

 

I find that my dolls are a mix of being a shell for a particular character, coming up with a character for the doll, and being pretty things to have. Kat is a shell for my D&D character, I have crafted characters for some of my others, and still more are beautiful objects. I find that I tend to keep dolls that I have created characters for, while I often sell those that are just aesthetically pleasing.

 

I agree with the avatars of characters. My dolls change and get reshelled but the characters don't change, y'know? So they represent my characters but are not actively the characters.

 

I don't know...... My dolls tell me who they are. I mean, some stuff I could imagine for my first boy before he arrived works and some things are still coming to me. My big guys are roommates and work together at Wal-Mart. So, they don't have big epic adventures or anything like that. They are just regular guys. I have trouble making up fantasy characters because I want to create a whole fantasy universe and I just can't let my mind wander that far, I might loose it. LOL! So far, my dolls are mine because I really like the doll. I have thought of making my favorite doll keep an online journal as a way to write down things about their lives. I have a tiny and he's just a little cute 4 year old and that's about it so far. Sometimes I think it would be fun to get a tiny and make him grow up in real time! Then as he gets 'older' he could have different shells since he would 'grow'. One of my friends does this because she role plays and I wonder if I ever tried it, I would just want one character to keep for a very long time.

 

They're characters all right, but not from an ongoing story. I don't have a world they're built into, but they are building their back stories as I get to know them better. Perhaps in the future I'll write about them, or do photo stories, but for the time being they're just enjoying being themselves and getting to know me and each other.

 

I'm a backwards collector.
I buy a doll because the sculpt "speaks" to me, i.e. The sculpt inspires a character.
That is also how I know when to buy a doll.

 

Yes and no.

Some of mine are avatars for favorite roleplayed MMO toons. (Kestrel, Cardinal, Palrah and their chibi counterparts are based on much-loved City of Heroes characters, for instance-)

Many are avatars for old-school, pen-and-funky-dice tabletop RPG characters. (Yeru and Lir, Vincent or Scribe for example-)

A couple are avatars for characters that I've written about. (That would be Oracle and Mender, who were based on a pair of sentient machines from a short story of mine-)

Those were all chosen with the specific characters in mind. I knew exactly "who they were" before I ever hit the BUY button.

A few of my crew do exist as "doll characters only" and have no gaming or fictional counterparts, though. (That would be most of the Turtle House cast.... Harumatsu, Tien Jen and Company-) For the most part, they were dolls that I liked first and who picked up their details after they arrived.

... And there are a few here who simply don't have any characterization at all beyond their name and a particular 'look' or general impression. (Artemis, Jade and Ser are in that camp-) I bought those dolls because I liked the sculpts. I had no other plans for them.

I'm honestly more of a collector than an artist or a story-teller, even though admitting that in this hobby used to draw a lot of disdain from other owners. Luckily, that seems to have faded somewhat. I don't get the evil eye nearly so often these days when I say "Nah. Doll X and Y aren't anyone in particular. Their only role in the crew is to sit there being adorable." Since I'm not into writing "dolly fic" or roleplaying with my dolls, I just don't feel the need to assign a detailed character to every single one of the gang. Being cute is enough.

 

I day dream all the time before I discovered bjd i never though of making my characters come to life. So yes I buy a doll and make a character around them. Because I don't always have a clear picture of what their looks.

 

For me it's both. Not all my dolls have characters, so they do just sit on the shelf and look pretty and I'm fine with that. For the ones that do have characters, so far only one of them was planned and the others slowly develop after I got them. I do find it easier to create characters for them after seeing them in person