1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

Can dolls be too pretty?

Jul 22, 2011

    1. Honestly I don't think anything can be too "pretty," especially dolls since I consider them art. The only problem I might come across is not being able to stop looking at it, because it's just too nice too look at or being around so many dolls I get Stendhal syndrome. But yeah, if a doll is well sculpted I think I can appreciate the doll anyway even if it's intentionally "ugly" it can still be aesthetically pleasing.
       
    2. No way! I love looking at pretty men IRL, and I love looking at pretty men in doll form. :chocoheart Real life is full of plenty enough ugliness to balance things out.
       
    3. I think it depends on the owner's reason for the hobby. Some people are into it for aesthetic art, a sort of reach towards perfection humans can't reach but out little resin manikins can. Others might be in it for something like companionship, sort of like having a delicate pet like a mantis or fish, those people would probably prefer a more natural, human or at least organic doll to the sort of distance the purely or more beauty-centric dolls have. It's one of those cases where beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
       
    4. Dolls were made to be beautiful. I buy dolls because they're pretty, and I enjoy looking at their perfect faces and bodies.
      If I wanted to look at something uglier, I would just looking the mirror (haha).

      Some people like to add these things to dolls to make them look unique, it's really their choice. Dolls have many purposes, some people want to have characters, but I just want to look at them. :D
       
    5. Some dolls/lines of dolls I find too blandly pretty ... that is, to me they come across as beautiful but somehow static or "splendidly null". I like a bit of weird, a bit of quirk, a bit of off-balance in my beauties. In fact, I'm considering offloading one of my dolls because I have never been able to coax an expression from her other than "I'm a pretty girl!"

      My current darling is my Dollmore Ryu Miu (see avatar), because she has got this freaky little, haughty little Lily Cole face (and, like Lily Cole, has got million-mile-long legs). If anybody else on DoA has got her, too, I sure haven't heard about it. Too offputting? But as I say, she is my darling.
       
    6. Yes, well, I agree- I think some dolls are too pretty pretty and they end up looking the same.
      this stereotypical pretty upturned nose , little mouth, little bottoms,big boobs, skinny legs. It's OK, but I find it hard to relate to a doll that looks like a more sophisticated barbie! I like quirks, sharp looks, a different gaze, some "meat" to their shape.
      Saying that, I prefer human dolls and female versions. If there is something I can take less than a pretty female doll is a pretty male doll..

      not too fussed for warts and pimples though, can do without these...
       
    7. As a newbie, I can appreciate that the 'pretty pretty' (as above) ones look nice, but also agree that to me they look quite similar and don't really stand apart... I like taking photos of mine, so enjoy them being aesthetically pleasing / visually interesting - but this doesn't have to be pretty or beautiful as such, it's more about having character...
       
    8. I appreciate the dolls that are beautiful and pretty, but I find myself more drawn to the sculpts that are a little off and weird. I find the concept of imperfect dolls fascinating, i have a couple who have scar modifications, and intentional skin discoloration but hadn't thought about pimples or moles. I feel like most people like the dolls because of how unrealistically perfect they are, and companies figure who would buy a doll with pimples.
       
    9. I would love to see more realistic characters, interesting feet, fuller figures too. A sculpt can communicate an expression of beauty within, communicating something good that's real. A sculpt that says only that I am cute, pretty or handsome is sad. One thing I would want to remain the same is a simplistic content expression, expressing good character and kindness. I think I have a special connection with whom ever sculpted the face that I have. I appreciate her, she gave me a part of her.
       
    10. I think it would be very interesting to see something like that on a doll! It makes them more real and gives them character, especially if they actually are based on an OC or real person. I always find myself drawn to dolls that have features like that, I think they're more fun to look at!

      I definitely do think it's possible for dolls to be "too" pretty, though, and I don't think it's from a lack of imperfections but simply a sculptor putting too many "pretty" features on a face without really thinking of how they fit together, or a face looking perfect to the point of it being creepy.
       
    11. I think my doll is pretty but his features certainly have character. I have the Lyell doll from DIM and his nose, for example, is arched outward. It's not exaggerated but natural and really has character, I love it. His expression is almost kind of sad or sullen but not depressing. I think that also contributes to his overall appearance. I just think he's really interesting.
       
    12. This is just lovely! I had not thought of it this way before.
       
    13. There's a difference between way-too-perfect OCs and dolls, but yes to both. Dolls that are too pretty lose character for me, and OCs that are perfect means that you really have no story to tell other than what makes you happy. It's not anything an audience would be able to connect to.
       
    14. To me dolls r artistic representations of something idealistic. I think a doll can have a " story" and part of her story shows in her appearance. So there could be what some would consider flaws....this is part of the art of dolls. However, I generally prefer for my dolls to represent my idea of perfection...even perfection in an elf or alien. I choose dolls who r beautiful to me and like with people, we all have different ideas of what beauty is....
       
    15. I don't really think that dolls can be too pretty. Do I like dolls all perfect and in long flowing frilly dresses? No I don't, but a lot of people do. Like most things "pretty" is a relative term. We each have our own opinion on what's pretty and what's not. I may find something "too pretty" while some one else thinks the same doll/person isn't pretty enough. I will admit that the slightly crooked nose on my DZ Annie is just about the cutest thing out of all my dolls, but I've seen modded versions of Annie that have a straight nose. Soo what I thought was perfect someone else did not.
       
    16. How did I never see this thread before? Caution, incoming wall of text :lol:

      It's been mentioned already, but it boils down to the definition of "prettiness", I guess. What I consider "pretty" is a rather natural look, so if we consider "top model beautiful" to be the standard then yes, I think dolls can be too pretty. (I do consider my girls to be exceedingly beautiful, so looking at them gives me my daily dose of beauty, but I don't think an all-dolled-up sugary-sweet fullset doll would have the same effect on me. I also don't do fancy clothes much, I like my dolls best when they're looking their normal, every-day, doll-next-door selves.)
      I guess that's one of the problems I have with finding male dolls I like - I just don't do bishounen, and most mature-looking male sculpts are in the 70cm range, which doesn't quite fit in with the rest of my crew. It's fine if the character in question is unusually tall, but I'm looking for a normal, average-sized guy, and most guys in the 65cm department are pretty boys. Don't get me wrong, they're nice to look at, but I wouldn't buy one because, for the characters I'd want them to portray, they are definitely too pretty.

      Regarding "imperfection mods": As a rule my dolls aren't body blushed (except for my Felix who came with blushed hands and they, too, are a bit on the "too pretty" side - for a guy I'd've added a torn fingernail or something at the very least, dude looks like he'd just had a manicure) because considering how much I play with them and sew for them and generally handle them a full blushing would probably get damaged very quickly. Consequently I didn't add "blemishes" either because as someone mentioned already it'd just look weird, in an icing-without-cake kind of way. I just imagine that part, just like I imagine them looking more realistic (= blushed). Niamh does have a birthmark near her eyebrow, her wig covers it sometimes because those darn Iple bangs have a habit of hiding half the dolls' faces, but it's there and I love it ... should I ever body blush my dolls, there will be a few "imperfections" there as well. They're OCs from a story, they're human in the story, so even in doll shape they're not supposed to be "perfect" all the way.
      Regarding boobs ... I'm not particularly well-endowed myself and I tend to go for the smaller cups with my girls, too. The ginormous ones just look off to me ... I have one big-boobed girl simply because I always imagined her to be more "mature" in body type, but actually when I'm sewing for them and see her nekkid next to her fellow SID with the smaller option, I prefer the smaller. (I wish SIDs came with a "medium" option, that would have been perfect. Like this with a choice between small, large and glamour I had to go for large ... it's fine for this character, but a bit less wouldn't have hurt.)

      All that being said, I guess the bottom line is that I like "realistically pretty" dolls best. I'm not that good at faceups yet so I guess I'm not always able to achieve what I'd like to do (partly because it's hard for me to actually visualize things as a rule - dolls help me with that), but I find myself drawn most to dolls that are beautiful, yes, but could - by doll standards - still be someone I could run into in the street.
       
    17. Dolls themselves can't be "too pretty". Like, how can that be? But they can be too pretty for me to buy them. It's really personal. Imo dolls are like people, they can't ever be flawless, and if they are in some weird way, than it's damn boring!
       
    18. I don't think dolls themselves can be "too pretty." Even if they are gorgeous and wonderful, there's always a little flaw or two, just like humans and every other thing on this planet. Nothing wrong with it, and I mean...it doesn't really take away from the beauty. If anything, it adds to it.

      However, I do think that people outside the hobby think they're "too pretty." When my mom first saw the dolls I was looking at from Luts, she said the boys were very pretty, and she meant in an effeminate kind of way, which bothered me. I wanted to buy a boy doll, and she kept referring to them all as "she" (and my future boy doll was for a character that didn't identify as "she"). When I fell in love with the Hound sculpt, my mom still thought he was quite pretty, and he is, and it did take some getting used to for her to realize he was indeed a boy and not a girl. I think it helped to show her the body, haha, she seemed to refer to him less and less as "she" once she saw his nice bod. :lol:

      But I've had quite a few people think my Hound is a girl. Perhaps they just assume since it's a "doll," it's a girl? It's not like my Hound even has long hair, "girly" clothing, or anything that's considered stereotypically "girly." Soooo...I just wonder if BJDs being too pretty has something to do with these situations.
       
    19. For me, dolls just have to have character - an interesting physical appearance that I can build a story around. They don't have to be 'pretty' in the conventional sense. I don't think a doll can be 'too pretty' though, nor do I think that dolls are by default more beautiful than human beings.
       
    20. Yes, I totally agree with the OP - I love beauty defects in both people and dolls. That is also why I have such trouble with american tv-shows, people in them are too perfect. It makes me gag. Perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect teeth, muscular/skinny bodies, argh! Can't stand! That's also why I'm so bored by perfect dolls. There's nothing beautiful in perfectness for me, no intrigue, nothing there to keep me looking. My dolls have beauty marks and freckles and scars, just as the characters in my novels are never good boy scouts but instead have flaws and are often very rude and unlikeable. That's how people are. No person are only good or only bad, however much Hollywood want us to believe that. And imperfect makes perfect in my book. More ugly dolls to the people! :D