Do Minimee dolls of celebrities/real people ever seem weird or creepy?

Oh yes, that's exactly me and my Raccoon Doll Nina, right now. With every bit of outfit or accessory I add to her that makes her look more like Alice from the Resident Evil movies, I mentally squee with delight. And it's amazing just how much of a likeness I've already achieved without stuff like a custom face-up or custom wig or trying to exactly replicate one of her movie outfits. That moment you pull a wig out of its box and put it on the doll and you're like "Oh my gosh, that looks SO RIGHT!!!" ...

 

I would love to have a doll that looks like Cha Eun Woo or a number of other very handsome Korean actors. I usually collect vinyl (Dollfie Dreams, etc) so I would truly have no clue where to begin. I have looked at some regular sculpts that are on the market and none even come close because Eun Woo is so handsome and has such a lovely warm smile. Even if it was just slightly close, I would be happy. My girls need their K-idol. XD

 

I think it's not so creepy if the head sculpt is more inspired by a celebrity than it being a carbon copy of them. But it's a slippery slope of what you end up doing with the minime, because I've seen some photo progression of owner dolls (Adam Driver minime doll for example) and it went from being "oh neat!" to "oh god I need eye bleach!". The intentions of the owner are what really impacts it overall.

 

I think consent is the big one. As long as the person being used as a model:
1. Has given their permission.
2. Is fairly payed or have some other agreement for compensation.
3. It is within all other licencing agreements etc. if the doll is made based on not just the actor/model but also on a specific character.

Once the doll is made and in the hands of the owners it's up to each and every one to decide for themselves what they want in their collecton and what to do with it.
Once the dolls are out there in the wild you have no more control over how the dolls are used and that is what makes consent so important. You can dislike what other owners do all you want, but you can do nothing to prevent it and it's way too late to say things like "as long as people doesn't do X with the doll, it's ok." Those arguments are fine for the single collector and their own interaction with the dolls, but if you buy a doll made without the models consent you will have also supported the people doing the things you would consider improper, wheather you like to aknowlege it or not.

 

I have no interest in dolls of real living people, but I did name two of my dolls after special beloved family members. They don't look like the family member, just the name. Both of those family members have passed a way a long time ago.

I am a huge fan of Final Fantasy VII, and have "pixel crushes" on a few of the hottie guy characters. I have wanted to have dolls resembling them for a long time. But I can never find the right head sculpts to do it. However, I am in the process of putting together a doll of Rufus Shinra. His head sculpt was fairly easy because he has a very classically handsome face. Nothing unusual. I actually have everything I need - doll, clothing, shoes, wig, etc. Now I just need to get his faceup.

 

I don't think it is creepy. I've seen figure collectibles of many kinds of bands. I don't think it's uncommon for collectibles like these to be made for fans.

I wanted a figure set with all the members of Mötley Crüe for a while. But then I realized I wouldn't have anywhere to put them as I only have room for my doll, crystal, tarot/ oracle cards, and gaming hobbies.

It's not any more different having BJDs of some of your idols than it is to have any other kinds of idol collectibles.

 

I don't find it creepy at all. Would you find portraits / artwork done by fans creepy? Same thing.

I have several Minimees as I jumped on a number of group orders when it was all kicking off, Doll in Mind was very busy in those days!

Majority of the heads I have is due to the facial features being interesting/quirky, attractive or a fan of the show(character)/band...

 

A lot of companies make dolls based on celebrities. If the celebrity is living and knows about these dolls and they don’t mind it then what is the harm? There are and have been so many action figures, Funko Pops, wrestling figures and so on and a lot of the celebrities are letting companies make these figures. I’ve seen articles with pictures of celebrities with the figures of themselves on their desk and they seem pretty proud of them! So no I don’t find them creepy, it’s more like a fan figure, but I can understand that they’re not for everyone.

But if the celebrity has passed away and companies still continue to produce dolls with their likeness, I do find it more sad than creepy. The companies are still trying to profit off of them even though they have passed away and something about that just doesn’t seem right?

 

I don't find them weird at all and would quite like to own a few of my favs as BJDs. In fact I've wanted to ask for recs for BJDs that could resemble a couple of famous people I would like to create but have been to scared to for fear of being told it's not acceptable here. I have a couple of real action figures in my doll collection that have been sculpted to look like the actors that played their characters. I adore them. I'd love to see some photos of the BJDs mentioned. I find it quite hard to navigate the BJD world as it's so vast and I don't have the time to do as much research as I would need to.

 

Don't be afraid ask, many people in the past have put up posts to ask for sculpt recommendations based on which look like an OC or celebrity/actor/singer, etc. Some bjd companies base them on such too, even if it isn't explicitly stated. Here in DOA the place to do that would be 'photo reference'

 

This is basically how I feel about it.

I personally I don’t like my bjds to look super realistic, but I can admire the craft that created it.

 

I know they're on the older side, but some of the replies in this thread are... really upsetting to read, considering the doll of mine that means the most to me.

 

I feel about that the same way I feel about explicit fanart/fanfiction. It's for your own personal enjoyment, and the person being represented will likely never know about it, so it's fine.
The only thing that could be creepy would be to force the person on whom the doll is based to acknowledge and react to that, especially since a lot of people are uncomfortable with dolls.
I'm not saying asking for permission is wrong. It's definitely preferable of course! And mentioning to a celebrity that a doll exist based on their features would probably be fine too. The creepy factor would really be in demanding a reaction from them, or in continuing to bring it to their attention if they expressed discomfort (again, the same as is considered good etiquette for fanfic/fanart!)

 

This is a very interesting thread.
I think in the BJD hobby character dolls are normal.
I see many dollcompanies basing their sculpts on real life people. Especially korean idols and chinese actors are a trend as most companies come from these countries and want to respond to their audience wishes.

I'm guilty in crime, because I own many dolls based on real people and my aim is to make them look lively and come as close to reality as possible, but I will also play further on it.

It happens that the more I like someone the more dolls I have of him. Of my favourite actor I own three dolls, each of them presenting a different facet of him. They represent some of his roles as well as his real life personality.

I sometimes get comments saying 'I wish one day he could see your creations' and that of course triggered my imagination. What would he say to such a doll of himself?

I think it depends on the person you like.
In my case he's into fashion design, he knows what the emotional and physical challenge of creating costumes is, because he's sewing too.
He's also into painting and art - he does all these things and he's easily impressed by people who are able to do it just like him or even better.
So in my case I am almost 100 percent sure he would be appreciative and even inspired by it.
He's already mentioned he likes fan edits / paintings of himself... so I don't worry about this at all.
I bet that one day in his life he will begin collecting his own dolls as he also likes plush dolls etc.

But with other celibrities (don't care so much in this case because I'm not as attached to them) I'm sure some would raise an eyebrow or find it weird, because they can't understand the deeper meaning.

For me this reaction would be problematic, because I'm proving my love and dedication towards a person by exploring him further.
My art is a way to express my feelings of respect and appreciation towards that person. I will probably never be able to see or talk to him in real life, but my doll gives me a piece of this person.
He will accompany me and be there for me, while the real human being will always be far away.
To me this is very comforting.

The problem is just: when you lose that love for the celebrity one day, your doll will also be less important to you.
In some cases this has happened to me, but luckily these ones were pretty enough to establish own characters and are still a part of my collection.

 

As a general rule it seems to me that mimee's of celebrities are a form of fan art, and no more offensive than other forms of fanart. If it makes you happy, then go for it!

Personally, I find them a little off-putting and wouldn't want to own one. The closest thing I'm interested in are anime character inspired dolls.

 

I have 2 character dolls so far with every intention to do more. None of the sculpts were made to specifically look like the actors. I just picked ones that I thought there was some resemblance. And their clothing is made to look like what they wore on the show or movie. When I did Sandor Clegane I got some blow back from some Rory McCann fans on how the doll didn't look exactly like him and I was just like it's not meant to be Rory McCann it's meant to be a character he played. I also got an incredible number of DMs asking for naked pics of the doll (No!!) So I think they're just jealous that they can't run out and buy 9ne just like him.

 

Hmm, I think it's a tough question to answer. I'd say it's different than, say, a Nendoroid of an actor because the company would have to ask the actor's permission in order to create it as a product. On the other hand, if you customized a BJD to make it a replica of an actor, they have no way to express discomfort with it.
I don't think it's inherently creepy, though! I'd say that it should be fine as long as the person is okay with it.

 

Not at all. I started out collecting action figures and celebrity barbies. It's flattering to most to have mini representations of themselves. I think it's almost a given that sculptors in some way base their art on real life.

 

For me, it's really up to the intent. I personally have no problem with minimees or bjds based on celebrities or other real life people. If somebody has a deep love for a character somebody played and wanted a realistic portrayal of that said character, all the power to them. Same goes for other real people people are inspired by, or have a deep respect for.

The line gets crossed when the intent is for something on the more unsavory side. Creating a likeness of a celebrity to make them a personal...um, playmate—yeah, that's where it would get creepy.

But I feel like the majority of folks that make fan-created likenesses of specific celebrities or the characters they play do it for a deep love or respect for said character or celebrity. I don't have any bjds based specifically after real-life individuals (I have some based on existing characters, but they're from an animated series), but I do have an OT Taeyang done up to look like Jack Harkness (with some resemblance to John Barrowman, the actor who played Jack), so I personally see nothing wrong with the concept.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about minimes, if we consider minimes to be dolls that are supposed to 'be' the celebrity they are modeled after. However I don't think wanting dolls that look like celebrities is so out of place in a hobby that is all about aesthetics and beauty. I mean, appearances are a huge part of celebrity success and many fans first come to enjoy a certain celebrity because of their looks. So in a hobby where we want to create beautiful dolls, its not strange to want to use a face you're already familiar with and find attractive as the basis for your doll.

For example, I have two sculpts that were modeled after celebrities. But they have their own names, one has my own faceup, and they have wigs, clothes and eyes that don't resemble their human inspirations. So they don't really look like the real humans they were modeled after anymore and they are not supposed to be minimes. But I did buy the sculpts because I think the humans they were modeled after are handsome. I can be hesitant to tell people, "This head is supposed to be so-and-so." because I don't want to come off as some kind of crazy obsessed fan, especially since lots of people don't understand dolls to begin with. But I think the chances of people flat out recognizing the celebrity likeness behind my dolls is very low unless I style them in very specific ways, so I'm not too worried about it.

So I guess I see a difference between having a celebrity minime and making new characters out of a sculpt of a celebrity. However I don't really have a problem with either, kinda depends what you end up doing with the doll.