Doll personalities and Character Development Curiosity!

I'm still paying off my first doll and she already has a name but that is all. There is no personality there yet and I honestly don't know if one will develop. I think it will be interesting to see what comes when she gets here and if she will get a personality or just stay with a name.

The only doll on my to buy list that has a full character bio and such would be when I put my role play/story character in to doll form (which will probably end up being a minifee). But that is only because I've had her since I was sixteen and I'm now twenty three, so she's pretty rock solid XD

 

I basically just give my dolls a simple idea of a backstory. Like one of them is a monster-hunting college student. Another one is a ghost that haunts a locket. I haven't given them like, family trees or a whole list of likes and dislikes, just a concept that I can use to decide their style, what sort of photos to take, stuff like that.

I am a writer, and I do have much, much more developed characters. But I have a personal rule about never "shelling" any of them into dolls, because there are WAY too many, and I could never choose.

 

Yes. Mine tend to develop these details the longer I have them - not through any deliberate thought on my part but throught how they "interact" with other dolls etc.

My first BJD has been with me nearly 11 years and I only have basics about his character and backstory that have largely come about through adding his cousins/siblings to the family and encountering other dolls at meets.

Teddy

 

Admittedly, I haven't been able to purchase my first doll yet (but it'll hopefully be soon! ) but the reason I'm getting into the hobby is to physically have the characters that I draw / write about. They're quite developed, and I'm way too obsessed with them, so to me character is super important. I probably would never buy a doll if I didn't have at least a general idea of their story, personality, name, etc.

 

I like this side of the hobby but I don't feel the need to join in. My dolls do have names, likes/dislikes and a personality but it's all very rough and unwritten.

Sometimes I see in my mind how they would interact with each other and tell myself I should try photo stories, maybe one day.

But remember it's not something you HAVE to do to stay in the hobby, everyone has their own way. It's still ok even if you can't think of a story

 

A name really does just come to me. I'll look at the dolls and think of their personality and a name normally just comes from their looks alone. Then I'll slowly develop their personality. Such as I'll see a dish and think, oh this character would love this food or hate it. Or I'll see clothes for them and think that they would look great in it. Probably comes from thinking about dolls all the time.

 

Same here! Looking at the doll's face a lot really helps.

 

I barely got names for mine. They kinda have personalities, but nothing super detailed. I just play with them and write down anything that seems to be sticking. I have no clue if I'll actually have stories or if I'll just end up with general personalities.

 

I definitely have to have a character or story first before I get a doll. I don't think I'm the sort of person who could get a doll just because I like the sculpt, and then come up with a character/story afterwards. Either I'd get a doll because I think it's a good representation of a character I already have, or because the doll already has a story that compels me.

 

My first doll didn't have a character when I got him. I just thought the sculpt was beautiful. It wasn't until after he arrived that I began writing and, admittedly, I scrapped the first backstory I'd had for him because it just didn't feel right. All of my other dolls have backstories and are part of the same overarching story. Each one now has a good deal of information about them that I keep adding to as inspiration strikes. Writing side stories about them with a friend really helped me to flesh out their characters.

 

So, for me personally, the crossover between my dolls and my drawings and writing has always been a tricky thing. There have been times where I would get so focused on the doll's backstory and characterization that I actually stressed myself out. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and while there is no such thing as a perfect character, I always aim for a character that is well-developed.

I'm not sure about other people but for me, all of my OCs stemmed from drawings I've done. I have a general sense of the character, but nothing to specific. The more detailed characterization usually comes after that drawing has manifested into a doll.

What I found is that eventually I ended up getting frustrated. Sometimes I feel weird because there seem to be a lot people who have had their OCs for a long time and their dolls were picked to embody that character. I felt pressure to do the same thing, but I realized that that's just not how I work.

 

My dolls have had names/characters from before I got my first, but I rather wait for them to tell stories than try and come up with stuff.
And concerning playing with the dolls, I do it the same way as when I was little. I always found it kinda awkward the way others played, acting out scenes and moving them around talking in silly voices, but sometimes I did it anyway with friends, to, you know, have friends... My favourite toys was always close to me and I felt bad if not caring for them etc. When I put toys away to the attic, I was always concerned with tucking them in and putting them gently, just not throwing them in a box/bag.
So, with my dolls, I have the same feelings (but a bit more distance - the same sincerity though). I redress them, see that their hair is looking good, and I set them up on their shelf - if not in a scene, so at least with some dignity.
I have some times heard my fiance spontaneously apologizing, without thinking, to dolls he accidentally touches or has to move from one spot to another. He is used to careful handling, and he has always had a certain empathy for inanimate things with faces (as well as every living thing and our plants), so I know that he accepts and respects my hobby.

 

I was just wondering how all the different people do it. I'm still trying to figure out my first doll's story/personality.
I know some people have a character already in mind and some might not. Plus, there is nothing I love more than hearing other's creativity.

 

I had a character in mind, and had begun writing for her whilst waiting for my doll to come. And then that character vanished after about a week of having the doll here. But normally I already have a character in mind for a doll and then search around for that doll. My characters come from role plays I've done over the years or stories I've written. And sometimes you just see a doll and it just clicks in your head and you know instantly who they are and what they are like. And I've found with my doll, sometimes they don't need a character, story or even name to be happy, sometimes they are just happy being left alone and allowed to look pretty.

 

All my dolls are characters out of one or another of my books (I'm Mercedes Lackey). So it's not so much a question of coming up with a personality, it's a question of how badly do I want one of those characters shelled,

 

Well, it really depends. I got my first doll with a very vague image in mind. He went throught several versions, until he told me who he really is. Then I just searched for heads which could fit the characters I wanted to shell. They had to fit my aesthetic requirements.

My final doll is different though. I browsed a bit through my favourite company website, and then I saw this perfect, mature male head. At first I tried to tell myself "Ah, you really don't need another giant. You even don't have a character for him." That did not help either. In my head (am I crazy?) he told me every detail about his character. So, I had no other option but to get him.

But he will really be my final character, I am almost sure...

 

With Vince, it was definitely something that developed organically once I had him in my hands-- I had a lot of ideas about who he was when I was planning for him, when I ordered him, while I waited on him... but then once I had him, I just felt like a bunch of the things I had planned were off. It wasn't a case of having to scrap everything-- the same wig I'd already bought him, and the little toys I'd gathered together as props, that all still worked just fine, or could be made to work. But I really just needed to handle him to know who he really was.

The floating head and the next two dolls were based fully on characters who already existed and who I'd written a fair bit about, and they didn't change much (except that Billy got much, much cuter, physically, I guess. Well, and Moz being mostly resigned to his disembodied form, but that's par for the course for him as a character). And then the one I'm waiting on, well... I have a strong concept for her world and who she is in it, but I'm sure that a lot of her quirks will get refined as I have her in a little resin physical form. Since it's a character I've drawn rather than a character I've already written about, she's a lot more open to be changed.

 

I don't role-play or write stories, I just get a doll which for some reason pulls at me. Usually I think of a name while I'm waiting for delivery, and a clothing style - it passes the time! But their character evolves once I have them, and sometimes they change their name too! Some dolls, like my Dollzone Una, just never settle - I could never think of a style for her or figure out who she was - so I sold her. Some dolls, like Erica in my avatar (B&G Sandra) insist on staying a certain way, even though I try and style them differently - after about 18 months of being in a brown wig and brown eyes with blue clothes, modern clothes, and clown clothes, Erica is now back in her pink wig, new blue eyes, same old pink outfit - she just loves it, so I can't argue with her any more

 

My dolls all have names and personalities, but only some of them have full backstories. Most of them are original characters made to fit the doll. There are four who were meant to be pre-existing fan characters. Li has the name and basic story of his origin character, Yin has the name and basic personality, Conri is pretty loosely based on the character, and Yumiko even blank and wigless insisted that was NOT who she was the minute I had her out of the box. She was "the new girl" until I got her a wig.

I write fantasy/fiction, but none of my dolls are based on my characters. It just doesn't seem like it would work. My dolls are avatars of new characters that I'm writing stories about. I'm still figuring out the details of who some of them are, but like learning about them as I writ stories about them and make them clothes. Whatever makes you happy with your dolls is good! It doesn't have to be the same as for anyone else.

 

When I started out, all of my dolls had to have established characters beforehand for me to justifying buying them (to myself, that is!) It took one doll who didn't want to be the character I'd chosen for her - who, in fact, stayed characterless for almost two months before finally revealing herself - to make me realize that it was okay not to have a character in mind first. Most of them were created around the doll, but one, my avatar doll, is my namesake character, the Lady Madrigal Baker, my Time Lady from my Doctor Who fanfiction days. I haven't written anything in awhile now, but she's making me want to start again. It turns out she had a LOT more to her story than I figured on twenty years ago.