Dolls inner personnae (mature ?)

I took what Milahel was saying to mean that in the process we call "creative" there is also something ineffable, some connection with that part of the mind or the world that is unseen and unmeasurable to us. We tend to see creativity as a purely intellectual process in our world of technology and empirical sciences. But our connections to the human spirit are undefined and undefinable. Who is to say that there is not some sort of other consciousness at work when we create? It may not be that the spirit is in the resin, but that there is a form of spirit or superconsciousness that we connect with when we reach that moment of "I didn't do that" or "This is beyond what I conceived."

 

I think it's simply our sub-conscious.

 

It really depends I think.
My DOC Too, Max is very much like a person to me. He seems to convey his own personality very strongly. When I bought him, I intended for his personality to be rather different from how it ended up. It's as if he's saying, "No, that's not who I am. THISSSS is who I am!" The same goes for my other two resin kids.
On the other hand, I used to have a DOT T. Lahoo hybrid and he just seemed so...."dead" (for lack of a better word) to me. He didn't give me any sort of feeling or express his "personality" at all. He felt so empty to me, I couldn't take it. I traded him for my DOC U after having him less than a week.

 

That is the way it is with all of mine. Each one conveys their own different personality. Helena (Sist) for example turned out to be COMPLETELY different than who I thought she was going to be. Sascha (Beryl) for another example had told me jack squat until just very recently when he got fed up about me calling him 'she' and fessed up to tell me who he is..

I do believe that the dolls do have inner personas and each shows them in different ways.

 

A good friend of mine bought a doll that she fell in love with online, an SD16, a beautiful boy, the type of doll that even people who do not collect dolls can't help but say 'awww!' to.
When the doll arrived at her house, she took him out of the box and he didn't 'speak to her', or so she said. At first, I was confused by this. A doll speak? With words? But then I realized what she meant: they did not connect, he did not show his personality to her.
She kept this doll for several days, trying desperately to bring out the personality behind his beautiful eyes, but she was unable to. After about a week, she sold him.
Her answer when asked why she sold him was this: 'He never spoke to me, he did not show me his soul.'
Yes, dolls have souls, they speak with their owners, though I believe some are quieter than others. Some people laugh at this, or are baffled as I first was, but dolls, especially ABJD dolls in my opinion, have personalities.
Milahel, you are not crazy, not at all.
I hope all of your dolls show their souls to you and speak to you.

 

This is how I see it:
Everything in this vast universe is made of one and the same thing. It does not matter if you look at a star, human, doll or a piece of paper. You look closely enough you see atoms and what are atoms made out of? Energy! Vibrating energy. Everything is energy!
A body is energy and what we call a soul is also energy. So for me it is only natural and logic to assume that my dolls have a personality or a soul that I had nothing to do with. I have not created their energy and I cannot go against their will. If I do, I will experience some really bad vibes between us.

Do they share the same consciousness as we do? I have no idea to what extent they understand us or experience this existence but I am certain they are far more than empty shells unto which we can release our subconscious!

 

I'm with Farallon on this one... and though I agree with Nihmo about energy theory, I don't necessarily believe accumulative energy 'memory' definitively creates conciousness. So While there may be 'outside forces', or at the very least, mysterious processes, moving through our subconscious minds to give birth to new people whom we house in dolls, I don't believe that the dolls create themselves.

They give us suggestions though, by their sculpt or their little resin habits, such as flopping, or kicking, or cleavage-diving. But I really do believe those are simply fascinating accidents, and have nothing to do with the 'soul' of the doll trying to express itself.

I could be persuaded to think of them as able to tell you who they are, if it werent for my favourite sculpt, Soom Sard. You go look at the database and tell me if the sculpt inspires a specific vision. *L* Everybody who bought one has a completely different take on him. And every one of them are fascinating.

I also prefer to let my subconcious have some credit sometimes. As an artist, I am intrigued by all the personalities that live quietly and unassumingly in my head, just waiting for their opportunity to pop out. I dont want to be in control of everything all the time, not even myself. So I encourage things to leak out... dolls just happen to be such a perfect medium for this process. Perhaps my love of BJD has more to do with my love of freeing up all this mysterious hidden stuff that happens behind my eyes while I'm not paying attention.

 

for me, i did not had a personality shaped out for my boy. so as i spent time with him, through little feelings he gave me i know more abt his personality and sometimes i just had a feeling whether he likes this certain thing or not, so i guess that's how i know abt my doll's personality=D

 

Milahel,
I don't think you sound crazy at all. I do think these dolls come to us with a bit of their own personality and that is only enhanced by the love and creativity that we lavish on them.

With my first doll, from the minute I took her out of her box I was struck by how serene and calm she seemed. It definitely was not something that came through to me from seeing pictures of her on the company's site. And now the longer I've had her, my impression of her personality has become stronger.

I really don't know where this comes from-if it's something in our subconscious or something more, as the thread about souls discusses.

But no, you are not crazy for feeling the way you do. Consider it one of the pluses of BJD ownership.

And trust me, your English is much, much better than my French!

 

Of course you are not crazy (in my opinion) xD
I definitely agree with many of the comments above. BJDs are so beautifully, realistically sculpted it is impossible to sit around one for long and not start to wonder...
Not to mention that every one who buys themselves a doll doesn't get the first, random one they come across but carefully choose a doll that "calls to them".
I am a semi-realism artist, and always think my drawings have a sort of life, story behind the 2D paper sheet. If that is possible, I'm sure it's even more possible for a doll to have a soul, at least in the owner's eyes.

 

There's something 'different' about the creative process that is difficult to put down in words-- whether it's merely working at a subconscious level (yeah, 'merely'-- all the coolest things happen in there...) or actually a spiritual experience is a matter of opinion. My opinion is this. Dolls are creative objects, and since they look so human, it's much easier for their 'personality' to shine through, individual visible traits and quirks that pair with something in the mind to produce the net result. Does there have to be something mystical? I think not-- it's just as wonderful an experience whether it's perfectly organic or spurred on by the dolly gods :3

My boy's personality is not so out there as others are-- and sometimes, I feel like I'm missing something-- but it doesn't just appear out of nowhere. Straight out of the box, there was nothing, and it took a certain amount of effort to get him where he is.

 

I totally agree with the prospect of the dolls somehow developing their own personality. It seems sometimes that as I look at their faves, they can convey varying emotions to me through those versatile smiles. I suppose most of it is the way we perceive them ourselves depending on our moods or obsessions at the time, but the dolls themselves bring it all on. I love it all.

 

Part of the reason that made me choose my incoming baby Jade was how utterly heartbroken and sad he looked... Part of me feels silly because logically speaking he's just a piece of resin, but his eyes looked out of those pictures and made me utterly melt. So, I'm pretty sure once he gets here, he'll be just as full of personality as I hope!

So in short, no, you're not silly at all~

 

It took a little while for me but i think once you've 'bonded' the doll has a character

 

The thing I love about BJDs is that, with SO many different sculpts, it DOES feel as if each had their own "personality." It's the same as with humans. For example, the shape of the bones around my eyes and my face shape seems to make people think I'm "mean." I'm not, honestly; but I've often heard kids at school comment on how "mean" and "unapproachable" I can look just sitting there (I guess that's why I have to go out of my way to BE friendly, but that's another story.)

I mean, that's why people often say they're trying to find the "perfect" sculpt for the character they've already thought up, right? Because, sometimes, facial features DO seem to suggest a personality. DOT's Shall and E-an won't give you the same first impression, will they? So the sculpt already is sort of giving the doll a bit of personality

I also think that's why BJDs often make for stronger bonds than other dolls do. With so much personality the sculpts and face ups can give them, one is easily fooled into thinking they just MIGHT be sentient and alive.

 

Dolls for me are physical recreations of characters I have created before, generally for stories I write. They get their personality from there, I could say.

But somehow... they are all facets of me.

 

i don't have my doll yet, so... but i have had the experience of others in having a written character or work seemingly take on a life of its own. personally, even though i believe it's the power of the subconscious, that makes it no less magical.

 

Word.
Something in our subconcious nature makes us impose human qualities on nonhuman objects or animals. We give personalities to our belongings and some people treat their dogs like children.

The surrealist artists and many psychologists have published a great mass of books and essays on this very subject; "the uncanny". I think it was back in the 1930s or 1940s that one of the surrealist art conventions had its theme based on exploring this theory and they did cool stuff with mannequins; Dali was in on it. :3
It's by no means a new or unusual thing. It goes all the way back to ancient Greece with that myth about the guy who made the sculpture of the lady and fell in love with it and stuff (Galatea?). There's lots of well-written references in many languages if you want to learn more about it.

Freud has some pretty interesting stuff to say about it, too.

*3* personally, my adoration for the surrealist artworks of Bellmer helped get me into this hobby. I think I need a replica of one of his dolls to just have sitting around my house in an unexpected place. X3
My dolls are my surrealist expression. I use them a lot in my academic art works.

 

One thing for sure... Regardless of where it comes from (and I believe it is a combination of everything posted here) each doll definitely has as complex a personality as you can imagine... Especially when you give them a chance!

My SD Harang, even with no eyes and no hair and no faceup, had his own personality. Looking at the stock photos of him with the big green, floofy wig, I never would have guessed. But when he came home... He was Taylor. Cynical melancholy... Way too smart for his own good.

And at the same time, he largely reflected one of my friends.

Hooray for us, we get to co-create little beings. REALLY CUTE little beings

 

Even though I do not have a BJD yet I do agree that dolls do have personalities.