Character Dolls (based on fictional or other preexisting characters)

I'm not sure if it counts but I'm hoping to be able to transform my Tasha into different characters as I become more confident with my sewing. Granted, she'll still be Tasha but I'd like to dress her up as different characters

 

I actually just bought an outfit for a character doll today. I'm going to be making Snow White. This is a very personal project for me, and I'm really excited! I'm planning on making a Prince Charming for her as well... I also kinda want to do an Alice in Wonderland doll, just because I find that Alice dolls are always really beautiful.

 

Awww! They'll be so cute! You'll have to show us pictures when you're done

 

I don't have a tribute doll exactly but I do enjoy recreating CLAMP characters with my tiny girl Pearl. I took her to the last convention dressed head to toe like Kobato, ioroygi included. I'd like to try my hand at Cardcaptors or Tsubasa RC next.

 

Cardcaptors has someone terribly cute outfits. Do you have any pictures of your Pearl in cosplay?

 

I dont have mine yet, but my Ringdoll Sol is destined to be my most favorite Character from an old Anime, albeit a modern version as his clothes.... well .... I cant sew worth a crap... not on the level of his clothes. So far, as I know, he will be the only BJD like him in the whole world!

I also have a Ringdoll Special Event Annie doll thats going to be a human type chibi Fluttershy. (From My Little Pony, dont hate. She has that uber sweet shy look to her. )

 

I love the movie The Last Unicorn and want to own a sculpt that could be Amalthea. This time I would keep her with her prince!

 

For me personally, I do not have any desire to have a doll based on a character I like from a manga, tv show, movie, etc.
If I really wanted to pay tribute to the characters, I would just buy more of the mangas, watch more of the tv shows they're in, or watch the movie with them in it again. Now if I was superbly duperly crazy about the character then I would just buy a shirt, necklace, or some other merchandise to sponsor it and/or pay tribute to it even more. But, considering them as a character for one of my dolls, I just couldn't do it. I like to keep them original and I like the creativity sense in making them original. Overall, I really love the creative side in the BJD hobby and to make a doll based strictly off of another manga/tv show/movie character, just wouldn't seem right. Now, if the manga/tv show/movie character inspired myself to make another character that has some of their traits, then that's fine. But, strictly based off the character to look like them and everything, it kind of creeps me out/makes me uncomfortable and the creativity is very limited to a certain extent.

So, overall, no dolls strictly based off characters from manga/tv shows/movies (& etc) for me~

 

An Amalthea doll would be lovely... And I guess what I hope for my boy Miles is that he'll be something of a chameleon - able to morph into the character I need him to be while still having a distinct personality otherwise... If that makes sense XD

 

I honestly disagree that there's "no creativity" in creating a character doll. Yes, you can go and purchase fully assembled characters from companies like Volks, but that's really no different from someone buying a fullset from any company. In actually creating a character doll, however, you have to put in quite a bit of effort to find just the right parts to match your personal vision of them. If I'm doing a character doll--let's use a hypothetical character named "Bob"--I can't just go out and buy the perfectly executed Bob sculpt from a company, then get a set of Bob eyes and a Bob wig, and top it all off with an order of Bob clothes and some Bob shoes. It's nowhere near that easy in real life. Finding the right sculpt, the right eyes and wig, finding or making the right clothing, even finding the shoes, all of these take a lot of work and, ultimately, result in a character doll that's a reflection of the owner's vision of that character, not the doll itself.

I've spent weeks, months, even years looking for the perfect sculpts and wigs for my characters. There's nothing easy about it, and it's not any more of a "lack of creativity" than buying a doll just because you like the look of it, then buying eyes and a wig because you like how they look on the doll. Both have their own aspects of creativity, and neither is "limited" in any way.

(And taking it a bit further, there's a huge amount of creativity involved in anyone attempting book characters, where you have no artwork to reference, and have to go entirely off text descriptions and your own mental image of the character. I'd love to see more interpretations of literary characters!)

 

I agree wholeheartedly with you, vicemage. I also never really understood what people meant by a character doll being "limited". Once you've decided what your character looks like and acts like, you're just as "limited" unless you didn't want a consistent character.

 

I own one character doll who is supposed to be Casca from the Berserk manga. I thought it would be fun to have a doll of her since she's a great character, very pretty and I happened to find just the right doll with the right skin tone for her. So yeah, my other dolls who are based on my own work have one friend who is from a manga

 

I haven't logged on in quite some time but I've been looking at dolls again (it's a curse).

I have a BJD planned out that I want to design as one of my own original characters but now, I'm thinking of a second doll design based off of a fictional character (specifically Daria from the animated TV series). I wasn't sure if a lot of people made dolls based off of characters that weren't their own. To me, it would be sort of paying homage to one of my favorite series of all time.

Do more people tend to lean towards original designs or already established characters?

 

This discussion has cropped up a LOT on this forum; there's probably a dozen threads devoted to some variation of this. Here's a particularly lengthy one.

I wouldn't say "more" or "less". Everyone has their own tastes, and no one style is better than any other style. Some people prefer original characters; some *hand raised* like fan dolls. There's plenty of both around here, and both have their merits.

Do whatever you'd like to do with your doll. This is a big sandbox, and everyone can play however they like.

 

I think character dolls are a wonderful way to pay homage to a character, just like cosplay on real people. And it just takes as much effort like building an own character, especially when you plan to do every detail of the characters outfit. I myself plan on doing a fan doll of a Kaito moule from the Vocaloid PS Game Project Diva F and I don't care what anybody says, I will do this and make myself happy and that's the main goal in this hobby, isn't it? Though I must say, I wouldn't want all of my dolls to be fan dolls but if someone else wants to do that, sure, go ahead =)

 

It is all about having fun! I don't have much of a preference either way. I'm more excited about seeing my original concept come to life but I know working on the character doll will be just as rewarding once it's finished. As you said, a lot of work goes into both.

 

I personally think it's fun and that everyone should do what they want with their dolls. Most of my collection are original characters, but I also currently have 3 dolls based on some of my fav characters of all time. (Namely Cato and Clove from The Hunger Games and Eric Draven from The Crow.) I also have another doll in the works that is based on the idea of The Crow but is still my own original character. I do personally see it as an homage to those characters created by someone else and I don't have a preference over original or fan based dolls.

Not sure if people tend to lean more towards original or fandom dolls, but I certainly have a mixture in my crew and I see mixtures all over the forums as well. No matter what anyone says or does, always do what you wish with YOUR doll. If you want a fandom one, go for it! If you want an OC, then go for that! Just do what you want and what feels right and have fun with it. It seems to be fairly common to have either around here and it's fun any way it happens I think. XD

 

BJDs are so customizable, it would be kind of strange if some people did NOT try and make dolls that were an homage to their favorite characters. So yes, there are quite a few bjds around that are based on fictional characters. Just do a search... I'm sure you'll find a bunch.

Personally... I don't tend to get dolls to shell fictional characters intentionally, but I have bought dolls that are pretty much something like that!

Soom MD Ender -- He's basically Anubis from ancient Egyptian pantheon of gods. Counts because he's not my invention. I'll make up the rest of the history, though, so he's an Alternate Universe version...

Soom MD Beast -- definitely inspired by Beauty and the Beast fairy tale by Soom and I have kept him pretty much like that with not vastly different background or personality. Another alternate-universe version.

Ringdoll Frankenstein ('12) -- Ringdoll obviously was inspired by the fictional Frankenstein's Monster. My Caliban has a different name (from another fictional character from Shakespeare) and does have an alternate (more original) history... but he's still looking like he could be Frankenstein's monster... or at least Ringdoll's version!

Crobidoll Sinbi One-off -- Is inspired (very much so) by Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone With the Wind" (film), wearing the famous curtain dress. I'm not bothering changing her history at all.

 

Personally, I use my dolls to shell my OCs. I roleplay them, and wouldn't want somebody else's character that I couldn't RP.

That being said---I LOVE seeing other people's dolls of existing characters/people! I have seen an absolutely amazing Sephiroth and Cloud, as well as a gorgeous Billie Joe Armstrong and a very well done Tom Hiddleston. So while I have no interest in owning them myself, I completely love seeing them owned by other people!

 

XD I have plans for certain fictional character dolls, but mostly of just OC's FROM those fandoms. Like I'm trying to come up with a good sculpt to look for to make a Divergent BJD (Not based off of Tris or Christina) but I'm having trouble deciding on a sculpt