Are your dolls characters?

My dolls develop their character after they get home. You can plan one thing all you want, then your doll comes home and is completely different. That was a pricey mistake. Not doing that again. My dolls just wanna be themselves!

 

[MENTION=67403]Espurr[/MENTION], hours is nothing, honestly. Almost all my dolls are existing characters; I spent about a month hunting for the right fit for one, two for another, and I lost track of how long for a third before he suddenly "fell into my lap" as an event head. I've got a couple others I've been trying to hunt up for a while now, too. Fitting an existing look adds an additional degree of patience to the hobby; but it also lets me see a lot more sculpts and companies as I go on the hunt--two of the three I mentioned above came from companies I hadn't even heard of before I started searching for them!

 

It all depends on the doll for me. It's great to have a surprise when they do arrive home and fit a character perfectly. Otherwise, they slowly come into their own and develop into a new character. I have a bad habit of committing to a character, getting the doll and realising it just doesn't suit them at all... >.<

 

When I got my first girl, she didn't have a set character or plans, but while I was waiting for her, I slowly developed a character and story. The longer I have my dolls, the more their worlds and stories expand. I have plenty of character who will eventually be shelled and now it's a matter of deciding who's next and who will probably never be more than a sketch.

 

Generally, I buy dolls to shell my characters.
I've been writing all my life, but my dolls are all from a story, I feel very passionated about.
However, the characters are not exactly the characters from the story in reality. The original characters exist in a fantasy univers, while my dolls' characters exist in an AU, that is set in England. This was done for two reasons.
1. I wanted to be able to share my dolls a bit more with my best friend.
2. I found it too troublesome to look for the stuff I needed for my characters.

My doll characters have the same name, personality and a lot of the same-ish background as in the story, but some things have had to be changed.

 

I can see myself hunting for months for clothing, It takes AGES to find something that fits my girl and since I don't have the patience to sew for now (no machine and shaky hands). But oh man, I'd cry if I couldn't find a head after a month. You have the patience of a saint haha.

 

I used to buy dolls with specific characters in mind, but none of the dolls really worked out for me in the end for a variety of reasons. So now I just buy dolls based on how much I like them, and I don't bother forcing backstories or personalities onto them.

 

I don't tend to start off with anything other than love for a sculpt, after that I start thinking of names and building personalities and thinking about who they might be, but they don't fit into any stories and I don't intend to write anything for them. It's more of a 'headcanon' type situation, I have a couple of girls, I know their names, I know they have a brother, and I know that they work together in a bakery that the older one owns, and I know how they feel about the situation. Outside of that though, there are no plot-lines in their lives ^^

 

I bought my first doll because her character kept telling her story and I had to get used to the thought of getting her, as well as writing down her stories. She also told me about her girlfriend and her girlfriend's baby, and rather recently her sister and a child that I still don't know much more about, as well as two new names with no faces. I own her girlfriend and the baby, the sister is on her way.
Of course I know that they're dolls, or characters, but as with most inspiration and stuff I come up with, the ideas and impulses come when I'm sleeping or relaxing, not as a result of conscious thought and make-believe. I've always had to trust more in intuition since I've always had a somewhat challenged short-term memory, so this way of coming up with ideas is nothing strange nor magical for me, it's just the way I work and I'm happy that I have a brain that surprises and entertains me. ^^

 

I think dolls with characters can get you to really 'bond' with your doll and get a 'connection' with them, you can get pretty attached to your characters as well xD

 

I'm a firm believer of buying the sculpt you love and letting them tell you their story and character when they arrive home to you That's what happened with both my boys, and I couldn't have imagined the personalities and stories they have without meeting them first.

As a result though, I don't think I'll ever have the problem of re-shelling a character. To me Sowon is Sowon, Kai is Kai. They are their own personalities and changing a significant part of them like their heads or their bodies would mean they're no longer that character.

 

For me I want them to be characters but my problem is I bought my dolls before I formed concrete characters and now they sit on my shelf waiting to come alive but I have so many ideas for characters and I cannot decide

 

My Dawn is the younger sister of my Iplehouse Sierra (her name is River). I think it'd be really boring if my dolls weren't characters that I had come up with.

 

I bought my doll before I had her story in mind, aka I didn't "shell" a character through her. However, her story quickly unraveled in my mind as time progressed. Now, if I ever get another BJD they will always be apart of Naya's story. Naya will never be sold because she is such an important character and such an important doll to me, I'd sell my entire house before I'd sell her! (jokes...kinda)

 

My dolls need to be characters in order for me to enjoy this hobby. More specifically, I don't create characters for dolls, rather, I buy dolls that will represent already existing characters that I have created years ago and want to bring to life.
I honestly don't think I could gain any enjoyment out of collecting dolls just for their aesthetic value, because I feel I'd become disconnected to them after a while and end up selling them. I know many people DO collect for aesthetics only and that's cool! Each to their own

 

My dolls are slowly becoming characters. I buy the doll because of the sculpt, but I have to handle the doll first before I can think of their name and decide the outfit.

 

So interesting to read the replies. I love how the dolls look and I use them as models for when I want to sew new outfits. No characters or backstories though

 

A lot of my dolls are characters I had already made. Sometimes I make a character just to fit a certain doll, but usually not.

 

No, I don't have a character. I most likely won't ever, who knows though.

 

I'm having lots of fun developing characters for my dolls (though most are based on existing characters) I do this a bit for the cloth dolls I make, but not as in depth as my BJD. I didn't really plan on giving them personalities, but Tripp started to develop one very quickly. I didn't notice it at first, but my boyfriend noticed the change in how I referred to her. Now I'm planning out all their musical tastes :P I find it adds to the fun and helps me with scenarios for photoshoots and outfit planning.