Does any doll you buy have to fit a story?

Hi Clouded, thanks for asking!

I hope to attain the goal of never selling any of my dolls. I become very attached
to things that I've grown with, that I REALLY think of what I will really do with
something before I commit to it. I bought my first boy with more universal looks
that I could easily experiment with, being new to the hobby and all.

I was afraid that if I got too specific of a doll sculpt, then either:
1. He wouldn't fit the rest of my later doll collection.
or
2.I would never know 'really' how something looked and made
a lot of 'buyer' mistakes.

I'm a worry wort so, I'm sure others are braver than me.
And since there are some things that only experience will reveal
I have to choose my bearings wisely, as this is quite the expensive
hobby.

I really wonder about monthly/limited dolls and why and how do people come
up with the decision to buy them, so you're not alone!

 

My doll collection doesn't have one cohesive story and never has! When it was smaller, even the dolls with more filled out concepts and stories didn't interlink - they all had their own little universes. Now that it's larger, I find that there are small groups whose concepts intersect. I don't have a preexisting story that I try to fit my dolls into, but I just get a feel for their concepts and occasionally the surrounding scenarios. Sometimes it happens before I receive them, sometimes after.

At this point, I'm trying to make my collection as cohesive and compact as possible, considering its current state of disarray and the fact that I'm moving across the country soon. Sadly, I'm having to part with a several dolls in the process. Its odd for me, but I would much rather have the dolls that don't "fit" somewhere they will be appreciated.

I think its quite nifty when people have fleshed out stories their dolls fit into! My brain just doesn't work that way, haha.

 

Nope!

When I have my heart set on a doll, I let the character develop on its own. Certainly I have thought out some stories or characters in advance, but I don't let that that rule my final want for a doll. Realistically, what would this concept serve me specifically? I don't make photo stories, I don't write about their characters... Not that I have anything against those who do that in this hobby (in fact, I love seeing pictures of dolls that show a story), but it's just something I don't do because it's not the sort of creative outlet that I feel especially drawn to at this point in time.

This definitely has helped me to really enjoy this hobby much more, because there are dolls where I have had characters loosely in mind before they arrived which really did not work out in the end. It's really nice to be free of that sort of potential disappointment! That's not to say that I have never thought of characters before hand, but usually that's only when there are an abundance of pictures available. Sometimes it works, and that too is quite satisfying.

If a doll doesn't fit a character I have in mind, or doesn't look quite right with my other dolls, I still hold onto it. One of my dolls didn't really have much of a "personality" until lately; patience helps.

 

With one exception all of the dolls I buy have to fit a character. I have made the mistake of buying dolls on impulse because I liked the sculpt and inevitably I would wind up selling it down the road because bonding never happened. My lu-wen is the exception and I think that only worked out because I had major doll lust for that doll. The sculpt did vaguely fit in to an existing "world" I had going as a minor character and I eventually further delved into his character. I waited a long time (close to a year) before giving in to my dolly lust and buying him. I don't know if he would have survived if I hadn't managed to build his character though. There was the case of my Angelheim Luka whose mold sparked the idea of a new character and then had to come home (and helped with the building of my lu-wen's character at the same time) but as a rule all of my dolls existed as character's for quite a while before being shelled as dolls. This is just what works for me and how I enjoy the hobby.

 

Speaking as someone who's researched BJDs for a couple of years before buying one (which is a common thing), I originally wanted a more 'mature' doll - one that looked like an adult - but they cost too much, so I went for a less expensive, immature doll.

I see a lot of writers on DoA, and as a writer myself, though I can see why they'd do it - like, if you're gonna get another doll, it would be 'best' if he fit a character of yours - I don't see myself doing it.

Believe me, I tried - I tend to write about adults, but children seemed hard to do. Still does. And I tried to see if she could be a character in a new story. Nope - not only could I not think of something she could be, I couldn't think of what she'd do. I guess the writer in me was hell-bent on doing all those fun character prompts they have on DoA.

Even now, I wanted her to first be a kid in Tudor England; then I thought what about Versailles during Marie-Antoinette's time? Then, I watched the BBC series, Emma (where only her name comes from) and decided she'd be from the Regency Period.

But like unborn children, you have a lot of plans for them and their future before they arrive - most of which go out the window once they're born. And I guess, now that mine's here, my plans are sort of being left by the wayside for now. As I said, her name's still Emma, the clothes I sewed are too small for her, not particularly sure if she's 10 or 12, nor am I sure at all that she'd fit in the Regency Period.

And I've decided to just see where things go. Perhaps she'll eventually wear a Regency dress - or the most she'll have is a pair of jeans and a tee? She's a sweet, little girl, that's for sure, and actually having her in person makes me not want to force my ideas onto her, because I think it might've ruined the bonding.

So, I bet a lot of people who bought a character-based doll might've done the same. I've heard of people altering their characters to fit their dolls.

Even though mine's been here for only a little more than 24hrs, I like the fact I've decided to see where things go. I might bring her to school one day (though I'm gonna have to smuggle her, because I doubt my parents would let me, knowingly). I'm going to buy her awesome stuff that's her size.

I also doubt I'm going to sell any of the dolls I get. I think letting expectations go might help owners bond better. But that's just a thought. Even if I fall out of the hobby, there's no way I'll get rid of them. Emma's like a little, voiceless entity to me.

I'd hate for someone to pass up a doll that they like just because it doesn't 'fit'. Maybe he doesn't - but if you found a story for all your others, couldn't you find one for this guy, too? I'm open to getting any doll that I like - be it an animal, tiny, or normal - they don't have to fit because that puts limits on me that I don't want.

 

Eight dolls that I currently want fit into a story together, although it's a story that I created after seeing their sculpts and falling in love with them (seven are from the same company). The same thing happened for another group of five dolls (all from the same company). Other than that... I'm trying to avoid thinking of personalities and stories for dolls I see so I don't get too attached because I already have a baker's dozen of dolls to buy xD

 

If you has asked this a month ago, I would have fallen squarely in the camp of never buying a doll who didn't already have a character waiting. For me it was mostly a matter of money -- I don't have all the money in the world, so I can't buy every single doll I want. Limiting my purchases to dolls that suited characters I really wanted to have in doll form seemed like a good way to keep control over my spending.

Except that I keep coming up with new characters who just HAVE to have dolls.

And except that at the end of August I bought my first doll for whom there was no character waiting.

So now my position is something like this: I prefer to have characters ready and waiting for dolls, because it does impose SOME small limit on my spending (and it's just really, really fun to hunt down the perfect doll/wig/eyes/etc. for a character who is already forming in my head, and then to see how the character in my head and the actual doll influence each other), but if a doll comes up that I really must have and that is in danger of selling out before I have a character, I wouldn't feel too terrible going ahead and buying that doll.

 

None of my dolls have backstories or pre-conceived personalities. I bought them because I liked the doll and wanted it. They grew into their personas, in a manner of speaking, after they came home.

 

So usually I like to have a plan for the dolls that I get. At the beginning, I didn't have sets of stories really. Now that I have some back stories and some characters, pretty much all of the new dolls I get can fit into one of them. If they don't fit, then it does make me re-evaluate the purchase. Like for instance, I really wanted to order the new SOOM limited (the centaur) but in the human version. But I couldn't make him fit in anywhere, and he just isn't special enough to get to come home even though he doesn't fit. I think the last one I got that had no character, no family, nothing waiting for him here, was my Glati. A friend of mine let me play with her Glati and I fell in love with him. So I had to get one. And so I did. He ended up getting a sister; my friend (she lives in Canada) got a Glot and now they are siblings!

Long story short, the dolls I get pretty much always have a back story, siblings/other family members, and/or a name before they get here. Sometimes I break my rule, but it has to be a seriously special doll for that to happen.

 

I was just thinking about this recently. There are a TON of dolls that I really do want, but won't/haven't actually contemplated buying them eventually because I don't know of any character they'd fit with.

Though I found that I actually do like to plan what dolls I'm getting and whatnot. So far, they're going in the order of appearance in the story I'm planning around them.

The only doll that this is an exception to is one I recently put on layaway. ffff soooo excited < 3

 

I've lately gotten into the habit of buying my "adult" dolls because I just like them. I let their stories kind of happen and don't pick any specific doll just because it will or won't fit anymore. The only time I'd really do anything around an actual storyline is if there was a couple with a pre-existing relationship and one of the dolls was too different in size to the other, in the case of my Lati Aida/ MD Ryu pair, where the Aida had a smaller 5/6 head and the Ryu has a more standard 8/9 head. I'm currently replacing the Aida with an MD Yuri, who shares the same head size and therefore looks more natural next to the Ryu. The other time I'd choose a specific doll for a story would be in the case of children. If a doll is to have a child, I go to great lengths to find a child that largely resembles their parent, so much so that someone who was never even interested in dolls, let alone mine, could look and say, "That must be his kid."

 

I don't buy dolls to fit into a story. The story I've developed is flexible - it's a bookshop and meeting place of like minds. I buy dolls I like and they merge with the story. I never intended to say goodbye to a doll, but I'm giving one to my daughter and he'll be leaving soon. But I'm sure he'll be visiting the *bookshop* from time to time. I've got sizes from 70cm down to 1/6 and they are a mixture of realistic to anime looking.

 

My dolls don't from the start. I buy a doll I like and then see afterwards what he/she'll be like and what the relationship to my others are etx. For some dolls that doesn't even happen after a year, but that doesn't make me like the doll less.

I got dolls in all different sizes, facetypes, gender etx but still, I guess I prefer the moody type of guy xD

 

Well, I haven't received my first doll yet since he's still on layaway. But I guess I already do have a set character for my doll when he comes. Actually, I'm eyeing about 5 other dolls that I have already developed characters for. Plus, I have names for them already. I have written this story, you see, with six different characters and I guess I want to bring them to life.

Hmmm...thanks for posting up this thread, it made me ponder on things.

 

Yes. I'm currently selling/have sold all dolls unrelated to one particular storyline. I figure it's an easy way to curb spending/collection size, as there aren't too many characters in it I like enough to shell as dolls.

 

I've found that most of my dolls do have their own story or fit in other doll/characters stories. Dolls that I fall in love with, but don't have have a set story and/or character, soon get a story or character.
This way nobody gets left out.

 

I have sort of two leagues of dolls, neither better or worse than the other, just different.

League A:

Dolls that I buy simply because I like them and then make a character to put into my stories.

Or league B:

Characters that I create and then need to find the perfect doll for.

Sooo no. Currently however, most of my dolly purchases are for League B except for the KIZdoll Saiy which I plan to buy when I can afford him. I'm buying a lot of my pre-planned aka League B dolls at the moment so that I have a decent amount of characters for the stories.

 

My dolls don't have characters.
All of them I bought because I liked the way they look.
I will infer certain personality types or traits sometimes based on the way they look or what clothing, wigs, etc. I think they look good in but that's about as in depth as I get.