Does your doll "smoke"? Why?

I dont smoke or like it when people around me smoke either...but I might someday still have a doll that smokes cause one of my personal characters smoked for a while, and if I ever had a doll of him, it seems fitting that he would smoke.... As much as I complained to him when he originally picked up the habit (and I did..)

 

So is eating with your left hand, and a butt tun of other things I won't mention depending upon your culture.

I find it interesting for the western world is so focused on forcing their morals on the rest of the world. Tobacco is addicting, so is caffeine. Native Americans use tobacco, smoke it too, so is this religious exercise "filthy, disgusting and antisocial"?

My grandfather smoked and died at the ripe old age of 94, his wife dying 3 years later, neither from smoking related issues. Ironically, my lungs are severely scarred not due to anything related to tobacco. Cigarettes cause cancer because of the additives that the tobacco companies add to increase the level of available nicotine absorbed and to cause the tobacco to burn evenly.

What if the dolls smoke cloves or pot? For pity sake, it's a doll concept. Back to the OP question, Does my doll smoke? None of them are old enough in my state to purchase / possess them. My DD Avesha says "yuck", My orientdoll So Ye refuses to answer until I name him. My naripon Avena, well you know naripons I'm more worried about her finding the matches than getting a hold of cigarettes.

Mods: the purpose of this post was not to incite conflict or to ridicule others, my point is to ask people to look outside their lives and realize that their values are not held by everyone and to be a bit more circumspect before assigning harsh judgements

 

I agree with the bulk of your point. Cigarettes are absolutely disgusting and do terrible things to your body, but I also agree with the commenting members here that say it adds an ambiance to the photo. And it also has to do with their character.

I don't smoke; never have, and never will, buuut I'm thinking that if given the opportunity and tiny cig, I'd give it to my doll for a photoshoot, since his character suggests that he does try it (doesn't like it too much, though).
And I guess the whole subject of the matter is really an opinion for others...Some people might consider it "cool" still, even if the repercussions of it aren't.

 

Kome smokes. It's in his character. He took it up to be accepted and to relieve stress. Eventually it just stuck. And he's pretty adamant about not quitting too 'cause it's like his blankie. A comfort thing.

I smoke occasionally and I've lived with three smokers all my life. The only thing that annoys me about it is the coughing. Luckily, Kome doesn't have lungs. So he doesn't wake me up by coughing.

 

I'm not that into cigarettes either, but I think I'd make one doll smoke. Even if just to have another beat them on the head and say "That's a dirty habit" D|
But I have to admit, a lot of fag-shots are cool. :3

 

I hate cigarettes, really i do. I've had a family member struggling with trying to quit for years . . . then they will quit for awhile, but it never lasts longer than a few months. I also have friends who smoke (and i hate it when they do it around me), To me it is a human vice, an addiction . . . and it can add depth and dimension to a character. The character of my future doll has many vices, some defeated, some not. He probably won't smoke on a regular basis, but the occasion relapse?

 

Jake smokes. It's weird because I am absolutely 100% against smoking, as a childhood cancer survivor it irks me to no end. But Jake is a character in my novel and he happens to smoke. When I first put the doll together I could just "see" that he's a smoker. Now granted if the doll were smoking real cigarettes, he'd be forced to quit xD But they're fake and harmless, obviously. My new Moon smokes, too. Bad boys.

 

I'm left-handed :P Asian culture deems it evil and my grandmother tried to force me to use my right hand (but I can write with my right hand if need be).

ANYWAY~ on topic, I have one character that smokes, but I haven't found the right sculpt for him (he's tanned). My other boy once in a while will smoke - but it's hard to find a decent real life cigarette that isn't always sold out by the time I get to it XD~

 

Selecting a particular batch of heroin, for her, is no different thumbing across books in a book store. I get that it's a serious lifestyle choice and I take it personally, irl. But she's a doll and that's just how she is. I'm not apologizing for it. I can't be held responsible for how my art may affect you. I'm sorry to hear that about your friend but it wasn't flippant - and if it was interpreted as much then that's my fault.

Some things hit close to home and they can incite feelings in us we'd rather not deal with. But it shouldn't allow us to criticize the art of someone else merely because it offends us. My doll doesn't reflect my personal views as she's her own creation. To her, cocaine, heroin and absinthe are passing fancies. She's an addict and not the type of book one can merely set aside. She's heavy, like the things she imbibes and injects.

 

Elliot's (future) boyfriend is supposed to be a smoker, but that's because it's a part of his character. In my mind he's this laid back kind of guy who's been through a lot and smokes when he's stressed out or in a really bad mood.

I'm not a smoker myself and I don't like being in the same room with people who smoke, but if it fits the character of one of my dolls then I don't really see a problem. It'd be wrong to remove that part of him just because I'm against it. He has a different attitude towards these kinds of things and I feel that I have to respect that.

I know I think too highly of dolls in general… I mean, they’re only dolls. But their personalities and differences are all very dear to me, and I can’t just change a character like that.

 

i don't smoke too but i don't discriminate anyone who smokes, it's their lifestyle and they have the freedom to choose how they live it. Same applies to dolls, i had one or 2 dolls that smoke because of their personalities, but they r not frequent smokers, they only smoke when they are stress/ frustrated and need a form of release.

 

She's not. She's your creation. Take some responsibility for the art you're creating and putting out in the world. You might be doing this through a dolly, but you're the one doing the creating. Your doll is an inanimate shell for whatever personality you dream up - she's not working with you because she is not real, it's not some collaborative effort

Topazrain, I also want to state that I am in no way trying to upset or force you to change a character that clearly you love to bits and have spent a lot of time working on. This topic is obviously as close to your heart as it is to mine (otherwise you'd be ignoring me) and although I really don't share your views, I can respect that you have them and you're willing to communicate and clarify them. I do agree that true art has the power to move people; my friend had the very same hedonistic 'character' as your doll, moving from whim to whim and drug to drug, and it was awful watching that tear her apart while she didn't care. I'm not in the right mental place where I could read or see photostories featuring that kind of subject matter. It's too raw for me, even though it was actually a few years ago now.

Agree to disagree?

 

My doll doesn't smoke...lol.
I have no problem with it though.

 

Charley smokes because he does. Simply put.

 

eh, I know its not about smoking but my Race boozes the hell out of him from time to time (not to mention some other nasty habbit, its very odd he doesn't smoke) I think if he would smoke it would probably be more drug related , like a joint, he likes to 'get away' from life anyway.

its all just part of the owners character, even if I would let one of my characters/dolls smoke, it says noting at all about me. Why ? cuz I don't smoke, I'm 23 and I have never toughed a cigarette in my entire life, and I'm also not an alcoholic ,lol. The only reason I'm not an Straight edger is cuz I like a drink from time to time HAHA XD

 

Sorry for jumping in the middle of something, but I do have to say this--though my doll's characters are my creations, after awhile it feels a lot more like they are working with me. They do sort of develop a life of their own, and there are some things that I can't force on them as it would be outside of their character. It's a little hard to put into words--I know that they stem from me, but at the same time the creative process for me is not some kind of cut and dry I will force character X to do this or that...it's more organic somehow and less strict, and that's increased by them having doll bodies for some reason or another. Yes technically I have control, but it would feel very 'off' to exercise it all of the time. I do have total control over what I want to actually share with other people, but I don't feel that I control every single aspect of my dolls' personality and what their characters do--or at least not in a conscious fashion, perhaps? Again, I may not be expressing myself very well, and I hope this makes some kind of sense.

People really relate to their dolls in very different ways, and the process of creating/developing characters/personalities isn't the same for everyone. So while to you it's all about what the owner wants the doll to be, it isn't like that for everyone else. Sometimes characters and stories unfold in unexpected ways. You do hear a lot of people buying dolls and then having their characters/personalities not turning out to be what they had originally intended or had expected so I don't think I'm completely alone on this. Also, even if someone does feel they have total conscious control over every aspect of their doll's character, their characters can be very different from their owners--art doesn't always imitate life quite that directly.

Anyway, I know this little discussion had nothing to do with me, but I wanted to jump in, because I do find the process of abjd character development to be interesting.

 

I really want to go further into this topic, (I agree with you and then I also disagree with you), but I don't think here is the right place...it's kind of nicking someone else's space :s Is there a debate like this? Or would it get closed because it's not strictly BJD related?

As for on-topic comments...erm...my dolls still don't smoke!

 

my question is what would they be smoking? Glitter? Sparkles? Fairy Dust?

 

I think Taco is right saying they seem as though they develop their own character. Daishiro smokes, I personally don't, in fact I think it's quite an icky habit, but one of my dolls does. It just seems that way for him. I am sure my dolls build their own characters before their very eyes- particuarly Daishiro who is ever so expressive and one day he sat the all humped over- as Saints tend to do- and I just felt he was feeling the need for a fag Crazy, but he did hehe

 

Its really interesting to read everyone's reasons for why their dolls smoke, the explanations are almost alive with detail. I suppose it might be hard to justify an addictive habit for dolls who's lives and reasoning are entirely molded after their owners.

For me, my dolls have no back stories much less any form of reasoning behind anything they "do", I can only describe them as my companions. I'm a heavy smoker (I don't smoke in my house, only outdoors and mostly at work) and have been for years, and truly, I have what most consider an anti-social personality. Actually, I purposely took up smoking to distance myself from most people. My dolls "smoke" only because I do, and because there are warm summer days when I can't help but feel like taking a doll with me to my back yard smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.

(Yes, I've heard that smoking around your dolls can cause them to yellow or lower their re-sale value but they're my dolls and I know that I'll never ever sell them. All negative consequences incurred because of my behavior, to me is simply the price I have to pay for the bond that I share with my dolls.)