Doll Names : Orginality vs Characters

Both of my boys are character dolls. I definitely do not feel constrained with them, partly because their fandom doesn't cross over with BJD owners at all so they don't have a stigma attached to them and because I've been RPing these boys for so long that they've become my own. I know the generalization is that character dolls are "limiting," but I find that very untrue. They're as limiting as any doll with a personality is. A character is a character, regardless of whether you made it up or someone else did. If you will push boundaries with your original doll, you'll push them with a character doll.

My guys are modern kids living in New York City or New Jersey or whatever AU I feel like putting them into. They dress is whatever I'd like them to wear, so they have no fashion constriction. I don't have to make anything specific for them. They own some jeans and shirts. I love it that way.

Honestly, I have virtually no desire for an original doll. That's just not me. I find a doll I like and I immediately try to find a character for it. I love the challenge of working and stretching a canon. There is too much freedom and wishy-washiness for me to invent characters. Coming up with characters has never really suited me. It'll work for a few weeks and then I grow tried of the mess I created.

While reading this thread, I don't see any of the cons of having a character doll really fitting for me and my guys.

 

All the dolls I plan to get are OCs.
Anwar and Silver are my OCs I made specifically for dolls (I stole their names from video game characters, but they don't look like them), and Alair is my friend's OC from her manga in the making. I think it's more fun to think up of a doll's character and stuff, or to base a doll after your own character than to base it after a famous book/movie/cartoon/whatever character.

 

I kind of get the original question but here's my take.

- Dolls of Franchise Characters: This does not appeal to me personally but I can see someone preferring a BJD of a character over an action figure. It's also a fun challenge finding the right clothes.

-Dolls of Owner's Original Characters: For me it's a wish fulfillment to have Dolls of my favorite characters that I have created. Many of them have become my 'Mickey Mouse'/mascot characters that can fill any role. And I still have the challenge of finding the /right/ sculpt-wig-eyes-outfit for them. The challenge to me is fun.

-Dolls that become Characters: To me this would just give me the excuse to buy any doll I want and I really need to limit myself. :3 I fear this would set me up for impulse buy. But that's just me. However, I also LOVE discovering new characters and building a story world around them.

 

The doll i own and any other doll i will get will be based of one of my OCs. I think my OCs give me a basis on which to create and customize the dolls. I find it very fulfilling when i see something that has been living as an imaginary thing all this time being converted into physical form, also their style gives me a goal and what to buy/make for them.
Copying is a matter of opinion i think

 

I have yet to obtain my first doll, but I have his character planned out for him and everything already. I would love to just have an original doll that builds a character of its own, but the OC I had in mind would just make such a perfect doll, you know?

 

Personally, I love looking at character dolls, and I have several in the smaller off-topic side, but I don't know that I'd get one in the larger size. Mostly because I've found that character dolls want to bring the rest of their cast with them, and I don't have that kind of money. (Seriously, Amy, I'm looking for a Rory!)

On the other hand... most of my characters are not that original. Dess is named after a roleplay character who was named after a character from a book I like, and a lot of her witchcraft is heavily inspired by Terry Pratchett. Alice, my floating head, is a robot maid who was modified by the gov't to be an assassin, but had her memory wiped, so any number of anime can be referenced there. Cal, the boy whose head I'm going after right now, is a roleplay character of mine (Genius, which is a mad science template for WoD). They are, technically, original characters, but they draw pretty heavily on other people's works.

And for the ones I have planned for the future... one is a Black Ribbon vampire ala Discworld, one is a ripoff of River from Firefly, one is a Vulcan, and two are also roleplay characters (D&D and Serenity, so a fandom one and one that's basically a fandom). Plus, since Dess is a huge sci-fi fangirl, she already has one cosplay outfit, and will probably want more.

As a fandom roleplayer as well as tabletop, and someone who likes to combine the two, I don't think that character dolls are necessarily more limiting. They certainly can require a lot more work, especially if you're going for extreme accuracy. And there's something that's just awesome about being able to have your very own version of your favorite characters.

Edit: On the topic of names... I have one character (who I do intend to make a doll of) named Tira. When I first came up with the name, I was completely convinced that I'd made it up. Then I reread a series of books, and discovered that there was a minor character with that same name. They were nothing alike, almost complete opposites, but for some reason, it stuck with me.

 

Usually, when I choose a name for a doll, I do it before the doll's home, when I'm creating the story. In matters of characters based off/resembling already existing ones, Castor and Phobos, for example, are both some odd characterizations of the hero/god their counterparts in ancient Greece were. I had wanted an Abadon ever since I saw his pictures, so when I got him, the name Castor just stuck, and stories were created. In his case, it was his brother Polux who died, and he's looking for his assassin. For Phobos, he's lost his memories and is looking for his brother Deimos, which is the only thing that sounds familiar. I wanted two characters with interrelated stories, and these two just came to life.

As for original characters, Xionesse and Willow, for example, they were created a long time ago. Xionesse's character is actually a tad more than eighteen years old, and her name was different before. In the end, I just played with letters until I came with her name. Willow was a character in Xio's story, and actually was a girl at first. When I found Ivan I though he looked like Willow, only male version. So, Will underwent a sex change, but the name remained. I named him after the tree (he's an elf), then remembered the famous movie, and Buffy's friend Willow...

All of my other dolls are named by the simple method of looking for names on the net, and choosing the ones I liked the most.

 

I think doll names should be chosen to suit the doll or story and as someone has already mentioned, one can't put a lock on a name. Children's names are chosen for lots of reasons and one can't control that either.

 

I think names are just names. But if i saw someone with my dolls name and dresses like her too i would be freaked out a bit

 

Two out of three of my dolls are based from personal story/Roleplay characters. I would be pretty damned upset if someone 'stole' Valista-- but the character herself is copyrighted and published. So.. Well.

 

The way I see it is that if you spend the money on the doll then it should be your own choice as to what you want that doll to be.

 

My dolls are all character-based

Resinsoul Mai - Commander Spock of the U.S.S Enterprise
MNF El - Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S Enterprise
MNF Shushu - Rose Tyler from Doctor Who
Asleep Eidolon Shine (on order) - Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who

I'm not sure why I have them exactly, I just love having dolls based after my favorites characters...especially where I slash Kirk and Spock and ship Rose and the Doctor. It means I can put them in positions like hugs, kissing, holding, ect and go all fangirlish on them

I haven't had any of them go original on me, though I'm sure there's slight personality quirks that have developed that are exactly true to the characters, but is more a reflection of the molds I've chosen as well as the clothing and accessories I've managed to gather for them. For example, Spock seems to be more gentle then in the series or the new movie. Kirk is pretty much how he's portrayed in the new movie, but with a hint of some fanfiction Kirk I've read and Rose is pretty much Rose, except I think the longer hair I've given her has mellowed her a bit from her series counterpart. That could also be that my Rose is actually a little older then her series counterpart, but whatever

 

Well, I always create characters for my dolls, but I'm not sure about the originality of their names. My little girl is named Ophelia Goodchild, my guys name is Dorian Williams. Both names are from stories I read, but aren't based on the characters.

 

I enjoy original dolls because they are entirely mine, and they are entirely themselves. I don't mind similar names, maybe for I'd be suspicious for a moment but at the end of it, the name is a name. There is no one unique name unless it's entirely vowels or entirely consonants or something unpronounceable.

 

The two guys I currently have on layaway are character dolls. I don't feel like I'm less creative by having them-- for one thing, I kind of like having a 'mixed' family of original characters and favourite characters. Plus, these two I've written fic about, and I'm looking forward to recreating those fics in photostory form, making their clothes accurate as possible... They're characters I identify a lot with (what that says about me...), so there's that, too.

I think (non-original) character dolls offer a slightly different set of opportunities to be creative, but that doesn't make them less of a creative endeavour. A lot of fandom involves creativity, after all.

=^__^=
Anneko

 

Choosing a name for the doll is usually a very hard thing to do (at least for me). A name is given once, so I usually think carefully, before giving a name to anyone (to a doll or even to a game chara). I also noticed that I like a lot of dolls, but to my soon-to-buy list goes only those to whom I can give names. I know it is strange, though it is easier to decide which doll is "yours"
I have 2 dolls now (only 1 at home though)

My first doll wasn't a ABJD but Pullip - Dal Maretti. I laid my eye on her and was already used to the name Maretti. "Maretti is so cute", "I want to buy Maretti" and so on. So when she came home I couldn't imagine to call her any other name than Maretti xD

When I came to BJD hobby I fell in love with DOC Petsha. I was calling her Petsha for a long time. My friend asked me how would I call her when she would be mine, I replied that the name Petsha is nice, and when my friend told me that every BJD need her own name I told that if she didn't shut up I'd name by doll Barbie xDDD
Half a year passed, and my parents decided to allow me to order Petsha as a New Year present. Before ordering I suddenly understood that she must be named somehow, that she is MY doll, not just Petsha.
A name came into my mind when I pressed "pay for the order" button. Aquatrica. The history of this name is quite funny, I have a neope t- faerie xweetok (on neopets.com I mean, maybe someone knows this site) his name is Aquatric. I have written some stories about him and characters of that stories usually noticed by neopet's bright blue eyes. Petsha's eyes reminded me of him, and I decided that Aquatrica fits her perfectly. I think I can count this name as a original one.

Speaking of characters I have already decided what would be the name of my next doll - Saya, from the game Saya no Uta, but this is totally another story

 

I could say lately I've been taking up both. Dolls for characters and dolls for "originality challange". These latter come from images that came and are gradually becoming part of storylines
Anyhow, I could say I strongly prefer character based dollies.
Both are really fun to name, it is one of my favorite parts of making characters and dolls ^^;

 

Seeing that I only own original non-character dolls I go with the "up for grabs" approach. A name is a name, everyone and everything has one or more without it changing or affecting what/who they are.
Also, I don't think there's really anything original about names, unless it's a random cluster of even more random letters created by those silly name-generator-thingies. True, fantasy names are rarer but when I see two similar or identic names I'll think "hey, they like the meaning/sound/spelling of that, too" rather than "hey, that's mine (or whoever's)".

Exhample:
Before posting this I actually googled one of my so called original names and found out that it is a real name, just differing slightly in spelling and sound. The meaning is obviously completely different.
Nivaan is a normal name of persian, indian and irish descent with the general meaning of holy(soul).
I use my own Ni-Vaán meaning my lord/master and the short form Ni-va/Niva as a regular name.

 

Though I don't own one, I like seeing people's character dolls; making a character doll is an art form in and of itself, if you ask me.
The doll I do own is an origional character. The poor guy has a name that's usually given to girls. XD
Like Rillja I looked up the name of my character, and as expected, it's perfectly real. Although his name is based on two syllables from a language I created ( "Au" is "beautiful", "ri" is "creation/birth", so "Auri" is the result) I know it's a common name and I certainly don't claim to have invented it. All I invented was a different meaning for it. It means something unique to me, whether someone else uses it or not. There's a big difference to me between using a name you like and claiming someone else's character as your own.

 

I don't have charactors for my dolls, but I do name them after people that I like. For example I have Xiah, YuuChun, and HeeChul, named after my favorite Korean singers.The only two that I made up the names are of my bobobie Akiyo, and My luts summery RS hybrid HoMin.