Can dolls be too pretty?

My perception of 'too pretty' is a fashion doll such as a Barbie, its face is symmetrical, smiling, perfectly drawn but somehow expressionless.

I have owned a few BJDs where they were beautiful in this way, they were extremely beautiful but from all angles they looked the same, they had a blank and empty look, I just didnt see a unique beauty in them and so I sold them.

 

I'd never thought of it like this before, but now I think about it, I'd rather love a quirky "un-beautiful" doll, it seems very intrieguing. But personally, this sort of character would only fit well among a group of "beautiful" dolls, as it would make them stand out more and seem an odd one amongst those of such high beauty, allowing the characters to play off each other. However, I guess such little details would be difficult on such small scale...

 

I don't know if this qualifies as "unattractive," but I plan to give Evra the full snake-boy treatment, cutting the scales out of Chinese dragon temp tattoos and applying them over his face and legs. I'm still working out how much and where--I need to sketch more, and of course having him home will help immensely. Evra is a freak show performer, and I think he'd prefer his abjd avatar to be as distinctly "freakly" as he can be.

I've been agonizing over whether or not I want to give Larten his signature facial scar or leave him as a younger version, but after reading this thread I think I'm probably going to set my jaw and go for it! I was already planning on getting his vampire scars--marks on the fingertips--on him, and on Darren too. Sasha has a scar too (though he's not a vampire ), but because I'll be getting a child!Sasha he won't have it yet. If i ever manage a hybrid of the adult sculpt I like for him, he'll have it in that version.

I don't know about dolls being "too" pretty, but I would be more than willing to state that without the marks of the lives the characters have led--scars, tats, whatever--they're a little more doll and a little less character. Which is not as desirable for me.

As to the other matter, as a busty girl, little known fact: boobs are a hassle. I'm not jealous of my girl because of her build, as we're about equal--but I'm jealous that she doesn't have to deal with the back pain.

 

i don't think a doll can be too pretty, just because this hobby is fantasy, for me life is ugly and hard enough, i like the fact that my Elynna is pretty, and i do not think actually that everything is perfect about the dolls, for example, my sprite has rather large feet, she came that way, that makes her more real, you know, but i do not think i would want to give her spots, or a rash or anything.

 

I just thought of something... Sometimes I feel like very beautiful dolls look prettiest in rather unattractive clothing! I have this cute little hujoo girl, and she looks beautiful in a pretty dress... But actually she looks even cuter if she wears a pair of sloppy old socks and a long sleeve shirt that is waaay to big for her!

And it's the same with some other dolls... While hunting for a Unoa lusis I ran into several, beautifully clothed dolls with lots of jewellery and details... But I thought the ones in the torn, simple summer dress with no shoes, the one wearing a big sweater and the one wearing sloppy boy-clothes actually appeared prettier!

I think this might have to do with the fact that you can guess about their beauty, which is always more interesting than the beauty you can actually see (case in point: lingerie. Covering some parts is actually more sexy than a completely nude body). I wondered how everyone else feels about this (if it's necessary I can open my own topic, but I thought it was too close to this one)

 

Puppit i think that is a really good point, i think too that occasionally the more elaborate the outfits are the more hidden the doll's best features become, because it becomes too busy

Like, we think that alabaster statues are so beautiful, but when they were in the temples in Greece they were painted! the paint would hide the beauty that was the sculpture, but was still beautiful

i love my doll best in her underwear and tee, with no shoes, and her hair all mussed, she is so beautiful just like that!

 

I love the oddballs, outcasts, and strange. I will be getting an enyo doll when the maker is done. I don't have a single doll with a smile either, they all look like the wish they lived somewhere else. Some of my girls actully look feeble minded. Unidoll Chibi and my Castle Anne Beetle have no clue about the world around them, it kills me sometimes! I have a hybrid made from a BD Kuggi head on a Serindipity yosd body thet looks like she has had a lobotomy and I am crazy about them all.....yippeee

 

I agree with everything you said. I don't own a doll of my own yet (darn you, money), but am in the process of acquiring one and I think that half of the reason I wanted this particular doll was because he was pretty; pretty enough to embody the "spirit" of the character I'm making him into.

I have my own weight problems, and I get breakouts and sometimes I just feel ugly. It would be an additional pain to have to think about that with my own doll, in my opinion.

It's been said before in the thread, but since I agree with it, I'm going to bring it up again. I think some people try to create characters that are so imperfect, they become the anti-Sue. They're the depressed, emotional, can't-win-anything, tired, addicted, lost-cause, sad-souls that lurk in dark corners and can't catch a break to save their lives. It happens in fiction, it happens in dolls. I think people would have far more emotional dolls if they spent more time creating who they want instead of focusing on making something "different". Not everybody needs to be a "speshul snowflake", sometimes people can just be people.

Yes, I think dolls can be too pretty. I also think they can be too smart, too talented, too sad, too lost, too anything. Because they can, it all depends on their creator.

 

I definatly agree that people can easily overdo it on the flaws and push their characters and the dolls that embody them into anti-sue territory, but I don't think that having a doll with phyical flaws automatically does that.
Real people have physical flaws, giving a teenage bjd acne doesn't automatically make them anti-sue, dumping that on top of everything you listed might.
I think it's a silly assumtion that people who give their dolls physical flaws are trying to be different. A few of my bjds have physical flaws, and I have one I'm planning who definatly not going to be "pretty", but I don't make them that way to be different. I'm just trying to give them real human flaws, and if a few of those phyical flaws arn't very common, then I guess my dolls will be different, but that's not my goal.

Anyway, I think your last sentence sums it up perfectly. Too pretty, too ugly, mary-sue, or anti-sue, it's all on the creator.

 

No, I don't think that all people who give their BJDs flaws are trying to be different, some people have definite ideas for flaws that really add to one's character, but I think that there's an unfortunate stigma to certain things and that may be one of them; the notion that a flaw is just there to garner attention.
It's all on the creator, like you said. It can be done well, it can be done badly, it can be Mary Sue, Anti-Sue, too pretty, too ugly, too smart, too dumb, gay, straight, whatever. It's on the creator to make sure it's done well.

 

i am new to this hobby but i have to admit that i find many of the doll's bios depressing, i mean no offense here, and as norizay says, it can be done really well for the progression of the character, but i find it disturbing to read about angsty, bitchy self loathing dolls, that are either angry, or tortured, of full of hate, distrust, it seems like having some kind of anti hero doll is a badge of honour, i admit, it does worry me. in a world where people are searching so hard for acceptance, it disturbs me to read about all these characters that seem to want to isolate and wallow?

i admit i could just be over sensitive, but as i said in reading the bios over the past few weeks, the 'negative' attitudes of characters seem to out number the positive ones

is this because the dolls are so very pretty that people feel they must over flaw them to compensate, like noting pretty can be inherently good?

 

I'm in the process of giving one of my dolls some dark under eye circles and a big mole above his lip. If I could give him teeth they'd be really crooked, but oh well.

One of my other dolls have a few nicks in his faceup that left a tiny black mark, and it looks like a little beauty mark.

 

I totally agree with you. Real people in real life have flaws whether they be physical flaws or personality flaws Perfect people don't exist. Perfect people are boring and should have one of their legs sawed off.
X] Everyone in real life has some sort of characteristics or features that maybe unattractive at first but make them who they are.
Like Neville LongBottom from Harry Potter. Sure, he's far from perfect or model pretty. He's tall, a nerd and a huge klutz but I simply adore his character for what he is. And is the outside appearence all that there is to a doll? No! They have names and personalities, pasts and futures. So just because you don't mod your doll to have scars or stumps or acne doesn't mean that they don't have a flaw and are therefore less of a character that your friend's doll Adian who has one blind eye and no left hand.
Now true, if you want your doll to be a "Mary Sue Ember Raven Nightflower, she's the top in her class at everything, she's also a model living in New York and at night she turns into a cat and kills bad guys and everyone loves her" then go for it. Whose to stop you? But please realize that there are very few people in this world like that and you have no legitimate reason to call a doll ugly or unattractive just because they don't fit into your perfect world.

There is also BJDs owners' fear of MODing their dolls. I have a really cool character that I'd love to reincarnate as a BJD, and he has small scars covering his entire forearms. I want this in my doll, but at the current time I am not ready to try this on any doll because of how expensive they are. Yes, one day when I get adventurous enough I'll give him the mod but till then I shouldn't feel bad cause my doll isn't physically flawed.

(he's also going to be an albino. hooray for cool dolls with diseases!)
XD

 

My dolls are definitely way, way too pretty.

 

One of my doll's characters is supposed to be covered in freckles! Once I get adventurous enough, i plan to make that come true. But in the mean time, he's not too beautiful to be that character, and I feel the same way about him

 

It is a disease. A "disease" is a broad term that to refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted. It can be applied to both things caused by external factors, such as an infectious disease, as well as internal dysfunctions, like something you were born with. You are born with melanin in the skin for a reason, it has many functions within the body, so the absence there of is absolutely a dysfunction - for example, since Albinism causes problems like loss of eye sight (most people with albinism are clinicaly blind) and susceptibility to sunburn/skin cancer, it certainly can be refferd to as a disease.

 

Well this is certainly something I don't normally hear pop up among friends. Can a doll be too pretty?

Well first off I'd have to go into my own definition of beauty. Compared to my friends, my opinion of beauty differs greatly from them. I find art beautiful, rarely do I find a person (or personified object) beautiful. I do find some men and women pretty though, so I'll go with my thoughts on 'pretty'. First off let me say that I do not view people as 'entirely pretty'. Most of the time, when I first see a person, I focus on flaws and good points. Then, depending how I feel about said person, I will either point out their good points ("Oh! You have such a strong jaw line, I'm so jealous!", "You have such a cute nose," or "Wow, that shirt really makes your eyes pop! Wear that color more") or I will ignore them all together. On occasion, I will tear a person to shreds, but this only happens if they have hurt me or a friend (it rarely happens, which is good for all).

I believe some dolls could be too pretty, especially if they are in a generic outfit with a generic face up. Unless I can see that the owner of the doll put a lot of thought and time into how they look, I generally see most dolls in the 'Eh, so what?' category. What I enjoy seeing is dolls in a more mythical setting, with horns, demon/fawn/animalistic legs, and non-angel wings (the features of a fish strike me as intriguing in this category). Or perhaps a member of the Unseelie Court from the Faerie Realm. They are strangely beautiful, but scary and dangerous at a first glance.

Now when it comes to scars, acne, skin conditions, ect, I would love to see the like among dolls (not 'cool' scars like Squall from FFVIII has, like scars from injuries/accidents). To me, it gives character to the dolls and shows how much time and effort was put into them. I personally would love to see a doll look like they were stitched together from different pieces of skin, or see scales (not pretty scales, murky scales) on a doll. Imagine the story that would be behind them, and the love and care the owner put into making the doll look so magnificently different. However the thought of acne, blemishes, warts, dry skin, and the like (like freckles ALL OVER the body), would be just as great. It would make a modern doll realistic and would allow admirers to relate more, rather than just gawk from afar in fear.

But then again, I do favor male dolls more than females (strange since I think the female form is more pleasing to the eye than the male), so it would be very easy for me to make him 'strangely beautiful' rather than just 'beautiful'.

 

I don't like realistic dolls at all, so for me the concept of a doll being "too pretty" is kind of null and void because it would never even occur to me to compare one of my pretty dolls to a pretty person I see while I'm out; they're just not attractive in the same kinds of ways. I like for my dolls to look like dolls, and mine would all look pretty ridiculous as people.

As far as prettiness among other dolls goes, I do have some sculpts that I think would be considered a little odd looking. Most of the dolls I see out there all look kind of the same to me, so when I see one that is different I'm intrigued. I suppose this is a good thing, because otherwise I would end up with dozens of them. :P

 

I personally like the "flawless" look on dolls..it's what makes them look so gorgeous to me X_x