Do your dolls reflect your own ideals of beauty?

Here is a scenario. You have had a character in your head for years now and you finally decide to make him into a doll. However, this character is someone you find immensely unattractive.

My first Minimee (also called Guide) is exactly this- an immensly unattractive character in doll form, and I am stupidly proud of him! I would not say that he has 'become more attractive' becuase I adore the character, as part of what I love about him is the insane ugliness. It's just part of who he is.

As for the more general question, 'do your dolls reflect your own ideals of beauty?', I would have to say yes and no.

Some of my dolls do, definately, but only in so much as a picture or cartoon drawing would. I find it hard to see BJDs as reprisentations of real people becuase they have different body proportions and facial structures to real people, making them more stylised. They are very beautiful, but they do not completely reprisent 'real' beauty to me. I do not look at, say, my Tan Lishe and feel that she is the benchmark standard of beauty that I would like to see in all women (same for my massively busty DDDy- real life women do not need breasts like that to be stunning, but I still like them on a doll). I don't look at my El and then decide that all gamer-geeks like him are ugly just becuase they don't have flawless white skin and giant eyes!

At the end of the day, my dolls are an expression of one kind of beauty- an etherial, and not-quite-real kind. It's a sort of fantasy world, and while I use some my dolls as a way to express these ideas, I don't apply the same 'rules' of beauty to the real world at all.

 

My dolls will definitely reflect what I consider beautiful and what I'm attracted to in real life. In fact, the way they look in regards to my preferences is exactly why I'm interested enough to purchase them. My ideas of beauty are conventional and non-conventional at the same time. I guess physically they probably fall in line with the majority (excluding race, since european beauty is touted as ideal but I find all races equally gorgeous), but clothing wise I prefer more counterculture and fantasy looks.

I don't do the story character thing, so I have nothing to add in regards to that.

 

I agree with this, I tend to look for the same qualities in head sculpts, to me, if I'm paying for something so expensive then i want it to look beautiful for me. what other people see in a doll is different , and sometimes i look at their dolls and think why would you buy that doll, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me resembles quality.

 

My dolls are as follows:
a pair of cheeky imps
a pair of nimble fauns
a lilac elf princess
a blue-haired tranny boi

what does that say about me?

 

They're my idea of beautiful objects, nothing like what I'd be attracted to in a real person!
Having said that, I'd love to have dolls that reflected my ideas of human beauty but I don't think any companies are going to make anything that odd!

 

Oh yes, my dolls must be my perfect ideal of 'beautiful' or out they go!! ^.~ I've gone through several sculpts, and can't be satisfied with 'good enough' or 'that's *almost* right' until I found the one(s) I thought were 'perfect' without hesitation.

My sister is more open---if something isn't absolutely beautiful to her, she may still love it/keep it just for who it is if she bonded with it. She is a 'that's good enough' type of collector---and may love something cute, pretty, 'so ugly it's cute', etc.

I guess I'm very stringent as I can't bond with anything that I don't think is gorgeous in my opinion. :laughs:

 

My dolls absolutely reflect my ideals of beauty. What's the point otherwise? My Sist turned out to be a Deathrocker and my DD is more of a romanti-olde school Goth. Both things I hold dear in my heart and that inspire my own style IRL.

 

Hmm gotta admit they are modelled after certain people/characters that I like.
And as for the molds...despite of the character, the molds I nominate for them are half lidded cept my first who has the biggest eyes of the bunch oTL

 

I tend to like beautiful but slightly quirky dolls, it keeps them from being boring.

 

Yes, I think so. I only have one boy right now but all the dolls I plan on having I plan on making what I believe to be my view of beauty. It may differ from others, but yes, they do project my personal ideas ^^

 

I would say I'm half and half. I like the traditionally "pretty" molds but if it were to fit a character, I wouldn't have a lot of issues with them be unpretty... for example, my current boy is undergoing some mods and repaints that may leave him scarred, emaciated and sleep deprived, while his future "big brother" has some nasty facial scars and a third character will have both a huge scar on his throat and on his chest.

As I'm typing this though, I'm realizing that all of my female characters are "pretty" while all the boys have some kind of scarring or general "ruggedness" to them (even the very shy, somewhat effeminate boy). I definitely think that says something about my beauty standards ._.'

 

yes - i like weird looking people. >< or should i say...unique - in real life, and in imaginary (doll) life. i mean, i like all kinds of looks, more standard beauty, to what others would consider ugly maybe, but i am definitely much more interested in unique looks. at the moment i have a notdoll girl, a dollzone mini, and an alice in labyrinth boy, they're all pretty much in the "unique" catagory. definitely not the general standard of beauty. but to me they are GORGEOUS!

 

Of course they do.

For a long time (collecting different kinds of dolls, from Barbie to American Girl, to Mme Alexander), I've had a rule that if a doll doesn't make my heart stop when I first see him or her, then I'm not buying it.

This is especially true for BJD's, because they're so much more expensive, but it also works a little differently, since so much of the hobby is about customising your doll.

Either way, though, I'm automatically less interested in a company if I don't think their face sculpts are pretty.

 

I definitely think so that they are modelled after the ideals of beauty (young girls and boys) in my mind, a lot of which comes from the types of characters I would like to write about in my stories too.

 

hmm... maybe a little. but i dont expect humans to look as flawless as dolls

 

hmm well, this is kind of a hard question. Im going to say both, because no matter what they'll always be beautiful to me. My dolls are really a part of me, like the more 'head strong' side, and the more 'cutsie' side of my personality. They are what im scared to be, bold, and really very very soft. ;0;

The Scenario:
Ermm, hm, if i made a character who i loved very much and he was unattractive... i dont think that he would be, because everyone has their own eye of beauty, like you said. : D
but i think i would really make the best of the doll, and maybe change a few things about him, a different hair style, or
contacts' could be out into use(:

 

Of course, my dolls will reflect my idea of beauty as soon as I have the ability to get all the things I need for it. That may take some time, but it will happen. My idea of beauty is that grungy, bohemian look. I ADORE it. There is just some sort of appeal to me. Maybe it is the rawness of it, or maybe it is the earthy quality it contains. But my dolls will encompass that look.

 

Speaking for myself, I think my dolls for the most part do reflect my ideals of beauty, how ever I do have two that I love for their whimsical and mischievous personalities, rather than looks. They are both rather goofy looking.

 

I really do think that the dolls I like do reflect my idea of what is beautiful. I know I'd love to look like my dolls and I like wigs and eyes based on what I think is beautiful. But at the moment that is because I'm just starting out in the hobby and I'm not a roleplayer so I don't really create characters in my mind.

 

I normally like dolls who aren't just "beautiful" but are also "interesting." There are enough drop-dead gorgeous BJDs out there, I would want my own dolls to have a little something more. That's why I like Soulkid Miribyeol. She has big round eyes and a pointy chin and a little pouty mouth: beautiful, yes, but also funny-looking in a way that makes her stand out. As far as boys go, I think they would have to represent my ideals of beauty, which means no femme boys for me. I like manly men.