Do your Dolls stay with a theme?

If you don’t want to buy another doll but want both options, you could have them as a fairy who disguises themselves as a human to play games every now and again as a way of “relaxing”! That way you still only have one character but they have two different looks!

 

In my opinion a theme should serve to inspire you and not to hinder you.
I think it's totally fine to have her be both a Sakura Fairy and a gamer.
But not always does every vision fit every doll so it doesn't hurt to have other brothers and sisters to play with if that's something you want.
For me I have a themes for each of my dolls but they end up changing at my whims.

 

I spend enough time on the custo of each of my dolls to keep them in their theme. But do what you're comfortable with!
When I was starting out with BJDs, they sometimes didn't want to stick with the idea I had for them. It was surprising and fun, and I ended doing what the dolls "told me". Now, with more experience, I do what I want of them. Or maybe, I know immediately what's the best I can do of each doll. So I no longer change their theme. I will rather sold them than redo their custo.

 

Most of the time, my dolls are fully fleshed out role play characters, and they keep the style that fits the character. If the character wouldn't wear it, I don't put it on my doll.

However, my incoming girl, Twyla (Iplehouse Lahela) is a roleplay character of mine, buuuuut....her character is able to jump through time, dimensions, universes--if she can imagine a world, she can teleport into it. And when she does, her appearance changes to fit the world. Like in a water world, she becomes a mermaid. In an Alice in Wonderland world, she ended up dressed in a red version of Alice's dress. One of her friends is from a strange desert world where everybody wears gold dresses or robes, so that's what Twyla wears when she's there. This doll in particular is a lot of fun to me because of the freedom! She has her main outfits that are her style, but she can also wear literally any outfit I find and like for her and it wouldn't be going against the character (even if her character hates it. )

And then there are the tinies....they get a pretty basic style (goth, pastel, frilly, etc) and wear whatever is cute that fits their basic style.

 

Once their character has emerged, that's who they are.

Most of my SD sized dolls, for example, are members of a LARGE extended-family of Victorian siblings, half-siblings, and cousins. Each has their character and slot within the family group and dynamic, most of them have favoured colours for thir clothes (if it's orange, it must be Sara's, if it's pale blue or white with a small floral pattern it's probaby Cressida's etc)as well as their own style variation preferences (if it's extremely ruffled/floofy/extra it is probably Nettle's, less so, probably Edith's, fashionably stylish - Nesta's, plain/unfussy and/or messy - Hannnah's)

Some of them do (though rarely) dress differently or more modern, because some of them are elves/half elves so can travel between the Human world and the Elfwoods, which allows them to pick their re-entry period in the Human timeline, but for the most part they don[t get furthe than the Elfwoods so their modern clothes are pretty much unused and many of them have been claimed by the few other dolls who have more modern characters/backstories.

For the most part, I get the dolls, and their character and backstory emerges as I "get to know them."

Early on, I did once have a preselected character all picked out for one doll (slick, fashionable, and stylish, secret agent type) but from the moment I opened the box, she was a laid-back hippy, so the original character character conept has never been realized and I went back to getting to know the doll one I had them in my hands.

One doll did turn out to be a character from a book - which caused issues because I then needed to find a doll who would work as her ister, and that involved buying several heads until I found the one that was happy to be that sister (and then, of course, I had to find bodies for the head who dind't take on the role and insisted on their own character instead).

Teddy

 

It depends on the doll, the character and my mood. I mostly own dolls that I created as fanart versions. I keep most as that character, so most stay on theme. However, as a fashion doll hoarder collector, that happens to be a huge-old-weirdo, I always loved the idea of fashion dolls but always treated all of mine as collectible action figures (just displayed to look nice, never touching nor unboxing the bulk of them! Never redressing, never "playing," just as beautiful display/collectible pieces, because I am a weirdo, and this was all when I was young child! I haven't outgrown that!).

So, when I discovered BJD a million years ago, I thought it was my chance to "play" fashion dolls, because I never treated my fashion dolls as that. I kind of enjoy the idea of dressing my favorite Japanese video game/anime characters in different outfits, (but also enjoy never changing my full-set action figures, unless I get multiples/parted-out-pieces, that I can then kitbash or customize somehow into alternate versions). However, most even if I don't change their "default" outfits or change them into different things the characters wouldn't wear nor be caught dead IRL, I still try to keep it mostly in theme -- which for the most part is darkness itself (black clothing all around!). Most of my fanart dolls are based on darker characters, which is what I love IRL, and also what most of the characters I love would "probably" wear, if they were real people. So I kind of stay on theme in that vein, but also the BJD I own that are based on fanart versions, I haven't finished any of their proper outfits so, I kind of don't have a default outfits for any of them to stay in character anyway (mostly my fullset 1:6 action figures are the ones that keep their default character outfits and never get different ones, unless I own multiples or multiple head sculpts/bodies to dress up in different clothes, other than default outfits)... DX

Sorry, it's 4AM here. This is probably an unreadable rant, but as an insomniac I feel I must share my amazing thought-provoking well-formed sentences right his minute... or else I'll forget, and my award-winning commentary would be lost to humanity forever! Lol!

 

Most of them are dresses up for a photo story and wear the clothes that suit the character. It's every day clothes and they share the wardrobe.

I did have one 69cm girl doll, that wore a 'make up' and dressed all fancy, she played a stuck up mother to one of the dolls.
Her personality isn't like that at all, and I won't need her for that role any longer, so I stripped of the faceup to give her something more natural and put her in easy relaxed everyday clothes.

While she did look the part of the role I needed her for, I just feel much better about her this way.

 

Same here, although they must inspire that character before I buy them. My main purchasing rule is “no character, no doll”. (Only one doll has ever jumped character on me, and that was definitely an anomaly.) And they are all purchased with a specific wardrobe style in mind, since one of the reasons I got into this hobby in the first place was to explore my love of various fashion styles. But then I’ve never been a less-is-more type of person…I’m definitely a more-is-more kind of gal!

That being said, perhaps the most amazing thing about this hobby is how individual it is. What’s right for your collection is entirely up to you. While I would create another character entirely to be my switch gamer (perhaps having the sakura fairy be a special friend she met in one of the games) you may instead prefer to have her to play a dual role. It’s your unique collection, and it’s up to you to build it however you want. We’ll all applaud you for it!

 

For me, they don't really stick with a theme. I don't shell characters (although some kind of characteristics definitely do emerge from the dolls after a while) so I'm free to choose how to style them as my whims go. After all, the stylings are so easy to change and also easy to change back, so there's hardly any risk in trying out different things! My dolls share their wardrobes for the most part and some wigs as well so it's all a mix n match situation mostly. It's also nice because I yearn less to get even more dolls

 

My entire house is decorated to match perfectly, so that the "illusion" of style is not broken. I do the same with my dolls. I like a certain style, feel, mood and look to my dolls.
But that's what makes me happy. I love imagination to feel complete. I don't do role play, I do not imagine them to be people. I just love esthetics. So it really depends on the underlying reason why you are into dolls.

 

Yes, my dolls are all dressed in theme. I shell characters, created a story world for them, and am telling "stories in realtime" with my photos... so they kinda have to be all in theme. Their world does allow for a few different kinds of clothing styles -- I deliberately worldbuilt that way so I can have some flexibility and dress them in different outfits too, haha. My current clothing themes are kimono, modern casual, and formal suits, with a little bit of sci-fantasy thrown in. And if I want to dress them in outfits that don't fit in their story world at all? That's fine too -- my characters are now living in an alternate universe. I hope to get/make everyone their AU cyberpunk outfits someday.

The important thing for me is that the entire crew has to be dressed in the same type of clothes, so if I decide I want one of them to wear kimono for a while, I have to change all of them into kimono too. Which is kinda laborious since I have more than a handful of dolls now, so ... they tend to wear the same clothes for, quite literally, a season. (Yes, I might change one into a different outfit to take photos, but once the pics are done I'll put them back into "current season's wear".) What can I say, I like everyone to be coordinated.

 

Do your dolls stay with a theme or a character or do you change them as you please?
I want to say that I like my dolls to stay with one character because that's what I primarily do, I create characters then find dolls for them and that's the way it has worked best for me in the past. I completely revamped my two main doll characters two years ago, though, so there's room for change if I think the character's don't mean the same to me anymore but I want to keep the dolls.
Right now, I have like two main worlds right now within my crew and the dolls that belong to a particular world stay within the same theme (in terms of sculpt size and style, clothing trends, story line, etc.), so they look right next to each other in pictures and such.

How do you happen to consolidate having visions for a doll but them going in another direction?
That said, as a writer, I know that characters are sometimes... kinda mischievous and won't like doing exactly what they're told, so they tend to stray from the path you had envisioned for them. Within time, my experience tells me that it's better to let those characters be what they want to be and forget about what you had planned because they won't like it and they won't look right even if you manage to impose your will over them.

 

Most of my dolls do have a set character and their own style based on that.
The bulk of my collection are mature minis and wear contemporary clothes. They don't all have the same style, but neither have real people, so I still think they fit together in a cohesive group. I try to make sure that their outfits and accessories are somewhat in the same scale and have roughtly the same level of details. All of their caracters are connected in some way and any new doll I get I will fit into that.
But I do have some alternative outfits for some of them. Those outfits are not quite canon, they are their own thing. I rarely keep my dolls in them, but I use them for photos sometimes and I mostly made them for the joy of making them. It's all about having fun, so at the end of the day I just do whatever I want.

I have a few dolls in other sizes where things are a bit more loosely structured.
I have a little Maskcat Joy who gets to dress up in a lot of different styles. Most of the time she is in medieval-ish fantasy, but she does have modern clothes and a few odd standalone outfits as well. Her character is also much more loosely written than my bigger dolls. I think it is in part because most of my other dolls her scale that she interacts with are not on topic for DoA, so even if she is part of a group to me, I can't really show her off in that context here, so she gets a lot of solo photos. That kind of lessen the importance of cohesion, for better and worse.

One interesting take on it that I've picked up from other hobbyists, is to see the dolls a bit like actors.
That way they can have many different roles that they play without any conflict.

Phone rings at 3 in the night. Writer friend in panic: "Help! My main character just jumped through a magic portal and I don't know where he went!"
Don't worry, it can happen to the best of us.

Jokes aside, though, Dolls do this all the time. I too find it best to just roll with it.

 

I don't know what it is but I absolutely need a cohesive theme or trend among my dolls! They all have to seem like they're from the same universe- even if they're not. Otherwise, It doesn't sit right with me. Sometimes I try to trick myself by putting them into categories but I always want them to have things in common about their look. In terms of picking a theme for one doll and sticking to it- I also tend to be pretty strict about that

 

I say my dolls choose their own identity. I've tried inventing characters for dolls, but that usually ends up with me being frustrated and having to massively overhaul them at a later date because something just doesn't click if I try and force it. I don't have a cohesive theme across my collection, but each doll has their own theme that they stay generally consistent with based on the character they become. For example, my Marcie "decided" that she is a country western horse girl. I'm not into country western generally speaking and I have no country western doll wardrobe pieces, but she feels "right" this way, so accommodate it I must.

If sticking to a theme seems too restrictive for you, though, there's no harm in having a doll fill multiple roles! The joy of creating is that the rules exist to make you more creative and that you can discard any that aren't working for you.