Don't They ALL Look The SAME? (Face Wise)

The facial features that appear beautiful to the human eye all follow the same basic ratios of the "golden ratio" that creates a perfect harmony of proportions. Therefore, when the goal of a sculpt is beauty, it must follow those proportions. Eyes that are too far apart or too small, a big bulbous nose, uneven lips, etc deviate from the standard of beauty. That being said, we also as subjective beings find attractiveness in the many imperfections that render a face unique and individual. It appears more "human" when the proportions are slightly distorted. How far they can deviate from the perfect ratio before they become perceived as "ugly" is part culturally learned and part individual taste.
In cultures where being thin is associated with being poor and malnourished, heavier rounder figures were considered more attractive because they indicated being more affluent or successful and therefore able to eat well and get fatter: voluptuous, Rubenesque figures which our modern emaciated supermodels do not resemble.
In BJD sculpts there are many figures that appear quite similar as they all try to portray the ideal beauty but there are also a large number that purposefully deviate from that standard to show greater idiosyncrasy. The more anime or video game inspired sculpts are an obvious example of a different standard of beauty inspired by popular culture. The eyes are too large and the heads are out of proportion to the bodies, but nonetheless they succeed in appealing to the eye. The pouty scrunched up little faces of some sculpts appeal to the "mothering" instincts of all mammals (men have these instincts too).
I find that by and large the non-Asian dolls, especially those from Russia have a more rugged ideal of male handsomeness compared to the somewhat girly Asian male head sculpts, for instance. I suspect this is based on cultural ideals of masculinity and the target consumer populations for these products.

 

Having collected non-bjd dolls (Pullips) before owning my first bjd, I don't really see how one can think that bjd faces/sculpts are the same.
I think that I've browsed through a lot of bjd sites, and, having said that, I think that it's obvious that there are a lot of unique sculpts out there. Some might look the same, but, seeing there unpainted sculpts, you can see that there are variations to them.
Personally, I think that more or less, there might be similar sculpts out there, but there aren't any that really look that alike. That's only for me, though.

 

It may be that companies who followed in the footsteps of Volks just wanted to repeat that successful dolly-face recipe. I heard that the first boy doll didn't come along for about 10 years! We can probably trace that big-eyed, small-mouthed formula back to the traditional Japanese dolls, imported 19th century European dolls, bunka dolls, anime, etc.

Our human brains are programmed to recognize those facial proportions as infantile, cute, and start gushing hormones that awaken protective feelings (and reach for our wallets.)

But, yeah, I'm glad we have more realistic options now.

 

Honestly, this is why I am moving out of the hobby bit by bit. I haven't seen a single sculpt, except for the new Popovy dolls and the Merrydoll Fang doll, that has made me tempted to buy it in a couple of years. I'm thinking about selling all my own dolls and just putting the energy into trying to make my own. I seriously do not see much difference in most new sculpts nowadays, and I've been in this hobby for years. It has gotten to the point where I really can't show other people what a good-looking ABJD looks like, in my opinion, since they look so "childish" and "anime-ish" for the most part. Sorry, but I much prefer the ones that are very anime, like SQ Labs or Dollfie Dreams, or very realistic.

Really, it's only the faceups, clothes, mods, and styling that I have noticed that have been increasing in quality. So the hobbyists are making fairly "bland" packages much more exciting. This is great if you are the creative type, but if you want a doll that already looks awesome before the faceup/mod/styling, you're, well, bleeped. And if you are a "bad" artist, you'll never be able to get what you want out of the sculpt (at least not without a year or two of intense effort), or you have to fight to wait in a line for a "good" artist, and hope you manage to get in. And the "good" artists cost a lot of money, too. I put "good" and "bad" in quotes since this is always subjective, of course. And worst, the vast majority of my favorite dolls come from people who refuse commissions, so you are once again bleep out of luck when it comes to a really beautiful, unique doll.

Seriously, I have stopped checking the news since every new doll looks like some sculpt I've seen a million times before. It's always some subtle variation on the same theme. I seriously do not even look at tinies, or certain companies since it is always the same sorta style. Even the new "creature" BJDs, while they look different from each other, they all follow a very similar aesthetic. It's not that there are only so many ways to do it, since there are several big name companies with very distinctive styles. It's that no one wants to "branch" out and possibly create a sculpt that isn't popular. I notice that Souldoll comes out with a few unique sculpts like this. Very different, but not popular.

I think it is mainly the hobbyists to blame. Since it seems, as you noted, that people just try to mod or faceup the same sculpt everyone else has rather than going for something really different. Though, different isn't always better, and in the end it may be that these popular sculpts are just the ones that are the most generally pleasing. And so that is the sculpts that keep being made over and over and over and over again. Because it is what sells, which you can't really blame doll companies for.

Though, once again, this is why I may end up simply making my own. I just don't find the same things as appealing as the majority of ABJD hobbyists do. Unfortunately, I no longer find the vast majority of BJDs to be my cup of tea anymore. I like my anime, and I like my realism. But I don't like the combination of the two features. It really doesn't work for me.

Edit: I just wanted to add that yes, I do know almost every company. I'm sure there are a few smaller-scale companies I have missed, but for the most part, I have seen almost every sculpt that has shown up in the news forum since 2006. And yes, I can certainly tell the subtle differences even between very similar sculpts in the same company. The subtleties of a sculpt is what has lead me to not buying so many dolls! To me, I think people are putting too much emphasis on "same" rather than acknowledging similarity. Though, I just remembered this might also be due to the forums' limitations on certain aesthetics. So perhaps that is why there seems to be certain "themes" within the hobby.

 

Oh, goodness, no. If you need variety, trying comparing Volks, DollChateau and Iplehouse XD Maybe you've just been perusing the same style?

 

@Lycansea: I don't know if you've already have, but maybe you could check out the smaller European based artist dolls. When I was attending LDoll this year it really surprised me how many different kinds of dolls there were. They are very different from Asian BJD's and even among themselves there are clearly distinct styles.

From Irealdolls to Lillycat. MisterMinou to Anasthasia Workshop. There are many different dolls to see, I think .

EDIT: I didn't mean this in a 'your wrong!' way. It's just that I think it's kind of sad you're unable to find what you're looking for here and I'm trying to help you out.

 

Geez! I recently commented on the same thing. It does seem as if some doll types are using the same face repeatedly.

I see it a lot in tinies. Hence why I was never really a fan...Until I came across a face that was extremely different from the seemingly status quo. Uniqueness is a major factor in my purchase decisions.

 

Beautiful-BlackRoses: I haven't read all through the comments on this thread so forgive me if I am repeating what others have already said. The companies you have mentioned as all looking the same are very much on the well trodden path, including DollZone. Maybe take a few detours to some less obvious companies and then you will see that actually, there is plenty of variety out there: Nabarro (?), Another Secret, Nefer Kane, Lilycat/Cerisedolls, Dust of Dolls, Ringdoll, Cream Soda - I have just noticed Freak Style above me and add them to the list too - those are just off the top of my head (some are very much not my taste)... but no one could argue they all look the same.

You have opted to look at a group of companies that either share the same sculptor (Luts, CP, Fairyland), a company like Volks who release the same sculpt with modifications under different names, and more generally they mostly share a kind of Anime based aesthetic. That anime look conforms to the well established idea that the more generic the shape of a face the greater the number of people who will identify with it. The more unusual the facial features the fewer people will see beauty in that face. As these dolls are meant to be customised by the owner it is also a lot easier for any budding face-up artist to personalise a more generic sculpt. As skill levels rise it will be easier to get the best out of an unconventional sculpt. You often see new BJD enthusiasts making for the very companies you mentioned and later they begin to experiment with less well known companies. Tastes may change but that in no way means that Volks, Luts, Dollzone, et al, are any less wonderful. You will see many incredible, original, breathtaking owner photos created using their sculpts.

The same very basic shape can be used by a skilled artist to create an endless array of characters. Take a look at Kid Robot, for instance, and his simple range of vinyl figures that are transformed into unique and amazing works of art. Off topic, maybe, but proof that generic face sculpts are no barrier to the imagination if you put your heart into it.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one thinking this.

Angell-Studio has a lot of dolls that seem similar to me. I go on their page a lot, about once a week, to see if they released any new dolls, clothes, etc and to just look at their dolls [I'm wavering between two dolls I want from them and cant decide]. But most of the time, they are similar. Whether it be in the nose area or in the eyes, there isn't a lot of distinct characteristics between some of the sculpts. Obviously there are the ones with the heavier brow for the angry looking dolls and there are some with more Chinese looking aesthetics, but usually the ones I find the most pleasing, all look a lot alike to my current doll. :u I'm not a sculptor in any way, and even though I've been in the hobby for 2 or 3 years now I still consider myself a noob, but Idk. It seems they keep to a current style [not saying they recycle completely, I know each doll is unique to a previous].

AS will always be my favorite company, so I have no ill-will over their look-a-like dolls, but from a business point of view, if a certain style or sculpt sells well, they'll keep to that similar aesthetic [while still trying to find something new]. Whether it be the more anime-looking or "bishie" style to the more manly proportions [common with Soom and Iplehouse]. It's all about popularity, really. And I'm okay with all the bishie dollies out there.

 

Some months late, but some posters misinterpreted a bit and got really defensive but I believe that's the exact reason the OP was so specific in highlighting and repeating a lot of points. I only read the first few pages of comments, but I wanted to point that out. There are numerous threads where OPs were looking for the answer to something specific, but because they weren't specific enough, they ended up getting bashed for something random for pages (I would assume this OP has had similar experiences).

That aside, I definitely have had that feeling before. As other posters have said, there is probably a particular aesthetic that is popular and therefore used for marketing purposes, but I never really thought about it before. Saying of course they are similar because they are faces or saying the OP is the only one when there are scores of others who feel the same way seems a bit rude, no? There are considerably less dolls out and about than humans, and humans don't look alike just because they're human. I've seen sculpts before and thought they were from one company and they turned out to be from another. That aside, I haven't seen any sculpts that I thought were spitting images of each other and there are so many more unique companies popping up, but there's also nothing new under the sun.

 

Sorry, I didn't see this sooner, but thank you. I think I will start looking more at the European artists as I notice that the aesthetics are getting closer to what I want. I'm just so frustrated with seeing such large eyes and rounded faces all the time. So many dolls I end up passing over because the eyes are massive, or the cheeks are just a bit too much.

 

As an artist, I find that often my faces look very similar. I think that is typical with many artists, we tend to do variations on a theme a lot. However I don't really agree with the OP, I see so much variation.
Today I had my Volks MSD 06 (mini Anais) at a meetup, with someone else's doll of the same sculpt but in a different resin color. They looked totally different to me. Like cousins, not like twins.

 

Have a look at Peak's Woods dolls, they're pretty different

 

No, I agree with you.

 

I was able to assemble a pretty unique looking collection of dolls fairly easily so given my own experience I'd have to say this only partly true. I do think there are a lot of dolls out there that look alike, but there are enough singular faces out there that there's still plenty of variety to be had. Almost none of my dolls look like each other and I didn't have to work that hard to make that happen.

 

Funny enough, actual human beauty has been scientifically proven to be about ratios, symmetry and not deviating from the norm too much. So I can see how companies gravitate towards that. They aren't going to make dolls with twisted noses, one eye lower than the other weak chins and see those dolls sell. So at one level, all dolls are going to look more alike than not unless you deliberately buy one that you know has unattractive features in a its so quirky it's cute sort of way. Yet, I can still identify where many sculpts have come from so I don't see them as being all that alike either. I think it just depends on what appeals to you. If you like it, the little details stand out more and make it seem more unique. It's how we live anyway. The people that we love seem more beautiful and stand out to us in a crowd of strangers.

 

I personally don't think their the same at all. Every doll looks different to me, and thats what I love about them. I guess I can understand where you're coming from. But I don't see it myself.

 

I can see - and would expect there to be - a similarity between different sculpts by the same company/designer, but there seems to be a fair amount of variety between different companies. Realistically, though, there are only so many ways to make a face look like a face. Sometimes it's the smallest details that make the difference.

I never get tired of looking at all of the beautiful dolls, though. And I do think they're all beautiful in some way. Even if they're not my particular aesthetic, there's always something to appreciate.

 

Maybe it's partly because I'm new to the hobby, and so coming to it with fresh eyes...

...but nope, they do not look similar to me. At all. There is an ocean of different faces and expressions and it's frankly a little overwhelming. The only time I ever think 'gosh that doll looks like another one' is if I'm browsing a particular company. But as others have said, that's branding. Of course one Doll Love doll will look a bit like another Doll Love doll. That's so that people who like the Doll Love aesthetic will return to their company to buy more!

In the Pullip hobby there are a few older collector who seem to have moments of 'oh god all the new ones look identical there's no creativity anymore'. Maybe it just happens if you've been in the hobby a long time, things just start to seem stale?