Do You Have a Character You CAN'T Shell?

@CloakedSchemer I was going to get an Island doll Noah for my chubby eunuch Makarios...I kinda like the soft roundness of the body even if it's not nearly plump enough for him (and he's also a big chubby teddybear of a guy and NO ON is sculpting chubby male bodies that I know of).

@purple_monkfish ... All the characters I want to shell and surrently can't are my non-white women (with the exception of my Summerbird lady. She's perfect as she is) !!

Most of them are Indigenous or they're from the Middle East or Southeast Asia and just...no dolls look like them. All the dolls that sort of match also tend to be very exotic and stylized and uber-sexual and that really doesn't fit these women. None of them are what you'd see in an Iplehouse or Raccoon doll.

 

Okay. I'll give you one name... Iwai Durga. The man's been impossible to shell. I swear to god the doll for him just doesn't exist. Of course it doesn't help that the Durga is a colossal half Japanese half Indian so I'd need the right face structure, a big muscular body and for the doll to come in tan among other things... Did I mention the man is in his fourties? Just a messy situation no matter how you slice it...

 

The sculpt doesn't exist. That's the problem!

 

Yes! I have one that I don’t think I’ll shell just due to his character being in his 30s and I like msd’s best (ugh!) I also have a character I cannot stop shelling... I want to have a million versions of him xD

 

I have at least one, maybe two or three. The one who I don't think I'll ever find something suitable for, even with all of the wonderful anthro sculpts out there, is a DnD character of mine who is a giant crow man. His proportions are big and then there's the head. I'm thinking it might be best to simply make my own head and then do the body with some creative costuming... I've found exactly 1 anthro crow and he's not exactly what I want. He's also described as "plastic" and no word if this OOAK doll is the artists own sculpt or what body it is that was customized. I don't want to buy something I'm unsure of even if it is customized the way I want it.
Another that I have may be a little too...ugly and gaunt to find a proper head for (not going to stop looking though), and a third has two sets of arms and two sets of eyes, as well as black skin. There's a doll that comes very close to what I would have in mind for her and she is, of course, an old limited I saw as a teenager who I have never seen again on the second hand market. Oh, and I have a giant girl who would be easy enough if my planned dolls weren't going to be SD, but the sizes larger than SD that I've seen are A) too big for the space I have honestly and B) childlike bodies and my giant is a body builder. Muscle women are already hard enough to come by! If I do shell her she's not going to look right standing next to anyone.

 

Some of them are too distinct in terms of face or other features, others are complex and would require intense modding. I have many middle-aged and older characters. Characters of all ethnicities and body types. Fantasy-featured characters and futuristic robots.

There have only been two spider bodies in many years of hobby; I would have to build an SD-scale dryder from scratch. We are slowly getting better about plus-size females. Still no plus-size males. And where are my muscular ladies? It feels like every time a company comes out with one, there are either sharp visual or posing flaws, or she gets discontinued shortly afterward.

 

Several. For several reasons. Either because there's currently no face sculpts that match the image in my mind for them, or because I just won't/don't have the space for them all. Even I was to narrow it down to main characters, there'd be too many dolls. So, I limit myself in that sense. I have a recently created story full of Korean characters, but there's a limited supply of Asian sculpts available at present. And, those I come across are often too far out of my budget at $600-800+, or they're discontinued/"sold-out". So, budget is another reason for not having some characters.

I am also looking at limiting my crew size to 6 full dolls, and it's currently on... 6 full dolls and a few floating heads, with 2 full dolls and most of the floating heads earmarked for sale. I have my sights set on a body for the sole-surviving head of the cull, so that's one full doll added back in, leaving space for one more. And, I've already picked out a potential candidate, if the company release him in the format I want him [or simply re-release him with the opportunity for a lengthy layaway], for a character I would love to have in doll form.

 

Yep, I'm in need of a thickly muscular MSD guy with a rugged expression that poses well and looks like he's in his 40s. I've seen Iplehouse and none of those really match what I'm looking for. Though considering that I'm currently selling what would've been his counterpart, I don't think it's really a problem anymore lol

 

Yeah several of my D&D characters. I’m currently making one, a tiefling with a long tail, horns and thicc ass. I also want a green merperson with gills, fins and webbed digit and a big orc girl with tusks and muscles.

My biggest most ridiculous grail though is a 1/4 scale 8-legged monstrosity of a drider, like a spider centaur, but I know if anyone ever made something like that I could never afford it anyway.

 

So there is one particular 'character' that I have an idea for. I see different parts that I think would be nice for her. My issue, however, is this. None of these parts are from the same company! I've seen people 'Frankenstein' dolls together, but let's be real here people, those are mostly 'frankensteins' of 2 different brands at most, whereas it would seem that my character would either need to be 3+ different brands/companies, OR I'd have to HEAVILY mod that thing myself, neither of which I feel like I'm all that competent with rn

 

BJDs are my main hobby and I love them dearly but they're pretty useless for shelling original characters. Most dolls are youthful, fairly attractive, and come in shades of peach, pink, yellow, or white (if they even have that much variation!). The tremendous amount of time and money it would take to mod, dye, and commission age-appropriate face-ups for many of my OCs would render me incapable of enjoying the finished product because I'd be crazy and broke. Of course I'm being slightly facetious here, but not much.

I learned long ago that in order for me to enjoy my BJDs, I need to let the doll suggest a story or character to me rather than the other way around. There's no stress in which sculpt is going to best suit a character or what will happen if I fall in love with a doll and try to shoehorn him or her into an existing narrative. I just love my dolls as the dolls they are. They still spark my creative side, but give me the freedom to love them as separate creations.

 

My “impossible” girl is a current mod project. She’s jet black with a purple undertone. 7 feet tall in game, very muscular, and has horns, wings and a tail. I’m modding the heck out of a 75cm male sculpt. It’s kind of daunting, but I really care about her character.

the truly impossible one to shell would be her dad, who comes in at 13’, cherry red. Horns, wings, and a tail. To be proportionate to his daughter, he’d have to be 140 cm. This would make him 4’7, and I’m 5’3. It’s alright though, because I don’t like his character. He’s theoretically the least possible doll of all the characters o have though. (Asmodeus in his human form, if anyone was curious!)

 

This is why a load of mine are custom commissions. However, that option is very expensive. I love my bunch of middle aged men though... I agree that we need more body types and faces that deviate from youthful perfection. I guess they make what sells in bulk. I recently got two ‘grails’, one in particular I’ve wanted since I started in the hobby. Basically, impossible to shell without going custom.

 

I have two characters who I've had for about ten years that are impossible to shell. One is a young man, but he's short so finding a relatively small SD sculpt that still looks mature is difficult. I also need it to look slightly sadistic while having an air of royalty. So far, the closest I've come is Doll Family H Su Sha. The other is almost the opposite, taller but needs a more innocent face, yet strong. I know I'm being super picky about them, but I don't want to end up getting multiple dolls in the attempt to shell them.

 

I just had a situation like this where I tried to shell a character and he just didn’t pan out. I’m not sure if it was his character or the doll wasn’t right exactly even though he looked perfect. I just gave up on it to focus on my tinies instead, but it was a really eye opening experience for me. I had no idea that was a thing until him and now I’m a lot more weary of my purchases.

 

I was wanting to shell a skunk but there are none i was hoping to make flower.

 

I had this character in mind but decided to drop it off cause I think I'll never be able to shell her the right way.
She is a young woman (around 30) but she serves in the army so she is quite the muscular-type and that is something hard to find in MSD size. I also have a clear view in my mind of her face details (some a little masculine I would say) and I haven't even been able to find a head-sculpt who looks like it. Besides that, she should fit with the rest of my MSD crew who are similar in aesthetics and that is also a big handicap when considering sculpts.