Doll not workout for character (AKA: Resin Identity Crisis!)

I had something similar happen with Andy, my only girl so far. The original character she was supposed to be had different hair, outfit, and personality than she does now. When I tried to find a wig for her in the style I originally wanted, nothing worked and it seemed off somehow whenever I put the various wigs on her. Finally, I just put one on as a vaguely frustrated joke and it was utterly perfect. Her character grew from there.

She's different than I had planned but I can't see her work out any other way. I might give my original vision of her another name and shell that character someday but I'm not sure.

 

Every single one of my dolls have turned out to be completely different than what I planned for them. It has gotten to the point where I just gave up trying and went with the flow. Haha

But I don't really mind it much because I don't exactly have characters to shell. Most of the time, it's just specific personalities that I want to add to my doll family. When they arrive and turn out to be (sometimes) the polar opposites of what I originally wanted, I'd usually just go with the flow. My story just evolves around them eventually. It keeps me on my toes, and forces me to think of ways to bend the story; which is something I prefer really.

But if you really want to try shelling her as the character you have in mind, you could always give her a new face up and see if that works.

 

So much this. There's been a lot of "Nope, I'm gonna look ridiculous in all these clothes and you can't stop me" and "check out how my nose looks totally different in person and I have that goofy shallow chin, I punked you so hard. Now what the hell are you gonna do with me?"

They don't turn out completely different but I've given up trying to have a really rigid plan. I don't know why I thought this would be so different from other types of art and that I would be so methodical and organized about it, I was totally wrong about that, haha. Some are definitely not going to be the characters they were originally intended for.

 

Or the worst kind, where you just buy a head and they're all "Oh you wanted me to be a boy? Well too bad, I'm a girl! Oh, and don't even think about putting me in those ridiculous frilly dresses I know you have been eyeing."

Thankfully, this have only happened once, and it actually worked out pretty well in the end. :'D

 

yeesss this happened to me with my impldoll ziv, ben. i always pick sculpts to be pre-existing characters. i initially wanted him to be my character finley but it was all wrong when he arrived. so, i shelled finley into a zaoll luv boy and my impldoll ziv is now named ben. i just had to play around with his look a bit to figure out who he really was

 

I, thankfully, haven't encountered this problem yet. My current doll, here, I bought her and developed a personality around her. I have two dolls coming in that have predetermined personalities so we shall see how those go, but I await the day that I buy a doll for a character and it turns out to be incorrect.

 

This happened with my very first doll, Haruka. She was originally going to be Teiwa, then I changed my mind before she arrived, then when she did I thought maybe she'd work as Teiwa, then changed her to Rain and reshelled Teiwa. She stayed that way for a while, and she looked pretty as Rain but it never felt quite... Right. So I bought a random wig just because I loved the color and it was available in my country (second hand). Put it on her and fell in love. I tried giving her a brand new character and named her Claire, but the name didn't stick. Then, as I did some planning on a different doll I thought of including her in that story and naming her with the same theme and so she became Haruka, aka Haru. And well, so far I'm happy!

 

Yep, twice now I've had this actually. Funnily enough, both were supposed to be the same character, but neither of them worked out for him. First was my Leekeworld Lionel, intended to be a character from a book actually (not one of mine, from The Hunger Games,) I loved the head and it definitely looks like the character, but the head just never quite looked right with his partner, too small and very yellowed so he stayed (my partner has now stolen him to be one of his OCs) and I bought a Ringdoll Kay to replace him and be Cato.

Sadly, he also didn't work out, he's beautiful and I love him dearly, but since his girl is very realistic and he's not as realistic looking and he's also far too slender for the Monster of District 2, so despite him again looking a lot like the character at least face-wise I just didn't bond with him. So I changed his faceup, and then changed it a little more, planned out something else and now he's my original character Jinx and he's great for that, I adore him completely. And I finally just went with my original plan for Cato and got an Iplehouse Luo for him and everybody is happy. So it all worked out in the end! But yeah it was hard and incredibly frustrating when I was trying to do everything to make those first two heads work for my beloved boy and they were both just going, Nope! I'm not that character! And then I threw a different wig, eyes and clothes on them and bam suddenly we were all super happy.

It's annoying, but it happens I guess. *sigh* I never had any problems with any of my other dolls they all became exactly who they were meant to be, but Cato, yeah he had to be a pain, a serious one. lol

 

Very much. I bought a doll for my boy Oliver, realized halfway through the layaway he just wasn't going to work after staring at his face a bit more. He's just way too young and baby-faced and the company changed the body on me, which makes him look even more childish. Cute, but definitely not a fourteen year old. Ended up buying a different doll for Oliver, which left, what was I going to do for this other doll?
Turns out, he's an Emile.

 

This has happened several times. Kier is a recycled head, Jayden is finally right after two failed characters! Lakin was originally a friend's doll that didn't work out, then went to my sister and didn't work out and nowhe's been mine and the perfect Lakin for two years. Slightly different since he did change hands, but still stayed within the group.

 

I think that happens to most of us who play the "character game" sooner or later, OP. I know it's happened to me. Been there. Done that. Bought the doll the tee-shirt, so to speak.

If I really like the doll, I'll keep it around in spite of the mis-match and just come up with a new idea that suits it better. 'Back to the drawing board for the original character...

 

Aidan. Aidan - Volks Garnet - was supposed to be a red-haired green-eyed Irish supermodel. Then she started channeling my favorite character from one of my favorite TV shows (Francine Desmond from "Scarecrow and Mrs. King", to those of you who still remember that show) and now she's blue-eyed, fair-haired (80s perm style) and owns more shoes than all my other dolls combined - and don't get me started on her clothes!!! :P

 

I'm currently experiencing this with my Akagi Doll Yusri. He was intended to be a partner for my Mystic Kids Lillian, but I'm not sure that the two of them are going to work out. They just don't seem to be connecting the way that I had hoped, and instead seem more like siblings than lovers.

However, even if I decide to break the two of them up, I still intend to keep the doll, because he's just such a great doll. I love him... I just don't know if I love him with Jolene.

 

I feel like it is just a part of the learning experience and it's totally normal.

The dolls I have bonded best with are the ones where I bought them because I liked their look, not because I had any hopes/expectations over what their personality would be like. I just let them be who they wanted to be and was able to appreciate them for who they are, instead of being disappointed that it didn't work out like I wanted. Every time I have tried to make a doll into a character I wanted it to represent, particularly if it was from a TV show or movie or something, it has utterly failed. >_<

Oh, and overtime, I've also figured out that in general I do not bond well with anything other than SD and YoSD size, boy dolls, or anthro dolls. So, I've learned to, no matter hooooooow much I am tempted by their cuteness or prettiness, not by dolls of those type.*

*except for this past weekend when I lost my mind and bought a RealPuki but here's hoping it works out!

 

This is so true for me, too -- except for one OC I keep trying and failing to put in resin form, I never buy a doll with a character already in mind. The only problem this creates is that there's no upper limit to the number of dolls I can acquire!

I ordered a Fantasia-Doll Isaac during the event period, hoping he'll be right for my troublesome OC, but I've learned not to count that particular chicken before, during, OR after it's hatched. Most likely Isaac will look up at me from the box and be someone completely different.

 

Pretty much exactly this. I fall in love with the sculpt, and then let things go from there. I did experience a successful "shelling" though - but years after I got the doll for the sculpt. Having him so long, I guess he and the character kinda melded over time.

 

@Cynthia in FlintHills, haha, I had never considered that having no characters in mind also means there is no limit to the number of dolls one might acquire. So true! XD I will be interested in hearing about who Isaac ends up being once he arrives.

@Ashercroix, that is pretty cool that you had one sculpt that melded over time with the character you had envisioned! I guess my Athene could be that--she is the only doll I've ever had who was exactly as I had hoped she was. I don't know if it's because I had to work so hard for over a year to afford her (she was my first BJD) and sold most of another collection for much of her fund, so there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in her acquirement... or if I was just lucky that first time. XD

 

My dolls develop their characters as I get to know them - I learned early on to to try and flesh out a character for a doll before it arrived as it might just refuse to fit.

Teddy

 

This happens to me all the time. I've got one girl on her 11th shell (we've begun making Doctor Who jokes about which actor she's up to). Some grow organically - like I had one character who grew up from child form to teenager to adult - and some just don't turn out in person the way I thought they would judging from pictures of the sculpt. I either repurpose the dolls that don't work as other characters that fit better or move them on.