Forming a doll's personality...

Even though I'm very new to the hobby, I'm finding that as I bond to them, mine are letting me know what their personalities are. Sure, a lot of it is driven by my own personal preferences and design ideas I have in mind, but sometimes my ideas just don't seem to work on some of them.

I'm rather curious to see if their personalities change as I change their faces and clothes, or if they'll stay somewhat static.

 

Hello! As you maybe can see, I wonder how important is a backstory for your doll to you? Does it matter? Or don't you really care for it? How much time do you take on creating you dolls backstory and so on :3

I would really like to hear all you answears c:

 

Do you give each doll in your collection a personality, or character?

Yes~ they have to have some form of personality and character - after all, these two aspects show through their facial expression, the way they appear in photos, and what they wear.

How do you go about forming your doll's personality?

I have some sort of outline built up before I get the doll, then let everything else color itself in whenever it's here and had photos taken of it, clothes bought/made for it, played with, etc.

What do you do when your doll has a totally different personality than you expected they would?

this actually hasn't happened, so I don't know? XD

 

Do you give each doll in your collection a personality, or character?

Actually, no. I love my dolls, and on a really good day, I can even remember their names. But, I don't have characters for them and I don't actually play with them. I just love to look at them. Sometimes my niece will bring one of my dolls out to me and I'll just sit her next to me while I'm on the computer and the doll just makes me smile. That's all.

 

For me, a doll without a personality is just a piece of resin. What makes a doll stand out and become special is it's personality. It changes how you dress the doll, how you do it's face-up, how you view the doll. For example, my unofficial first doll in this hobby was an obitsu and I was completely unable to bond with it. There was nothing that spoke to me about the doll, nothing that made it different from hundreds of other obitsu. I tried so hard to bond with it but in the end it was just a piece of vinyl I could pose. Completely different from my second. My second doll, a Resin BJD sent off a completely different vibe to me; from the moment he got out of the box, I knew his personality. That whole factor changed my view on the doll and I didn't even have to try to bond with him. Before I even knew it, he was following me around the house and had become a part of normal conversation. That resin BJD is what made me love this hobby because of the personality he gave off. It turned him from a piece of resin, into an almost human character.

 

I voted "some", because I sometimes do this with OT dolls too.

When I first got my mini boy, I had fun trying various looks on him, but nothing seemed to look right or sit well. Then one night I literally dreamed of a character with his name, and that's who he's been ever since.

 

For me, it varies from doll to doll.

My doll couple is based on prior-existing role play characters I've worked with for years. So they have pretty in-depth histories and personalities. But when I look at them as dolls, I mostly see their love, and don't think about all their history. That's probably because they've been written into dozens of different stories and behave differently in each. They're still them, and there are certain things they would or would never do, regardless of the situation, but in each story different traits are brought out. Sometimes they can be very bold, arrogant, and sexual; at other times they can be rather demure, controlled, and innocent in their love.

A couple of them were 'blank' until they were home. Then, for example, I realized how sad Frankenstein's expression was, and decided he would be a melancholy guy, very innocent in the ways of the world (having been 'created' only recently, and not born into the world with the chance to grow up, learn, and experience everything himself). And Jerome, as a used doll, definitely needed to be in plain sight before I knew anything about him. I think the way I had to force-pose him due to his floppiness made me think of him standing tall and proud, with a sort of self-righteous vengeance in his stance.

I did have a doll change after getting her. Based on her head, I'd been picturing her as sort of sweet and innocent and hard-working, and straight. When I got the doll's body and put her together, I decided the 'pretty' wig I had for her didn't look very good. I'd gotten a wig of the same color for another doll but it didn't fit him. I tried it on her instead. It's very edgy, with a razor cut and sharp bangs. She looked stunning in it. And it completely changed her personality! XD So I decided she'd be a bit of a wild girl, a sex kitten, and more likely to be a lesbian.

 

I read your first post, and I found it very interesting because I also have a ws DZ Mo. I had a personality I wanted him to fit as well, and like you, it just didn't work once I got him home. However, for me it was a different reason. It seemed like another personality was just jumping out to me. I was wanting a very elegant character with a refined look, and he was going to have black hair. But when I got him home, neither his white wig he came with nor the black wig I had made him quite fit his personality. I requested a few swatches of fur from a site I'd heard of from this site and I made a wig from one of them. I was rather shocked that I had even picked it, a long magenta and black piece. However, I used it and threw it together into a wig and put it on him. And instantly his personality just was jumping out at me, a young boy who wants to be tough but he can't hide that he prefers cute and sweet things. And now I know I need to get him some eyes that fit the personality he's shown!

 

I don't ... always contribute much to the personality making process. My dolls pretty much write themselves. I have a few that are turning out to be NOTHING like how I originally intended for them to be like. It's almost as if they have a mind of their own!

Plus, there's always the chance that some of the dolls personality traits could change when they actually arrive.

 

I typically form the idea for a doll's backstory and personality before I ever order them, so all of mine have them. The most I've had to deal with with a doll not fitting into the "mold" I had in mind for them was when a couple of my doll's just didn't mesh with the clothing styles I had planned for them, but it didn't affect their personalities.

 

I said I wouldn't, but when she came it was just so much fun. I gave her a little back story and I suppose she wouldn't do some things and prefer to do others and whatnot. I'm getting a new doll but until he comes, I can't decide on him at all, despite how much I want his name and relationship to my doll sorted. It's strange, but he'll have to tell me everything.

I think my doll is alive. I was setting her up in some pose that I'd never tried before, so it was a little difficult - and she just looked so annoyed at me for experimenting this new pose. There are also moments when she looks as if she knows what's going on, like she's alive. That sort of injects some new personality into her. I must sound weird but her expressions really do change depending on what angle she's at.

Also, which I think is really quite cool, but she's quite limited in how she can move. She's a lady, and she really acts like one. She can't lounge about or hunch or relax - she can only sit like a proper lady.

I said I wasn't going to do all this stuff, but I can't help it. It's what makes the hobby as fun as it is, in my opinion

 

Do you give each doll in your collection a personality, or character?
Yeah, both.

How do you go about forming your doll's personality?I'll generally build one up when I'm putting together their 'look'. Then I'll keep watch of things around me and try to get ideas from that. I like them to have different interests from me at times, so I need to find out about things I don't have a clue about.

What do you do when your doll has a totally different personality than you expected they would?
They all have preplanned personalities. Only one arrived without one, a flaoting head, but as soon as I looked at her in person I knew her right away.

 

I only have one on-topic doll at the moment, but I do have several off topic ones as well and quite a few incoming.

For me the personality thing seemed odd. But I do work on what I think the dolls 'style' will be and think about names.

I think once they have a style and a name personalities tend to get tacked on to that, it's natural for all of us to attribute human characteristics liks personalities to anything we are attached to. So even those of us (like me) who don't necessarily have characters waiting to be shelled, have dolls with personalities.

Maybe if you tried this method with your boy, it would help? Figure out a style that will work for him and then maybe your boy will start to 'talk to you' about who he is?

 

For me it's all about the back story, personality comes out as far as who they are, where they come from, up bringing and so on. Fact is if I can make a history/back story the personality kind of flows out. Some times the history fades or even changes, but the person I have created is still there.

 

I just go along with whatever personality the doll speaks to me. Either a doll screams out a personality or it doesn't, and I prefer the former.
I like being inspired, coming up with a background, personalities, everything, off of how the sculpt looks. It's like having a writing prompt and it's one of my favorite part about this hobby.

 

Most of my dolls fit nicely into their intended characters once they were "done," (if there is such a thing) but the doll I bought without a character in mind baffled me at first. It was like neither of us knew what to make of eachother. As I "got to know him better" he started to "open up to me." At first he was really shy, meek, and eager to please, but as he's settled in he's gotten a little cheekier, which, while I'm glad he's feeling more at-home with me, I'm not sure is a good thing. I think he's figured out that I'm wrapped around his little resin finger.

 

Most of my dolls end up fitting into a specific world/universe... well a Multiverse really and so fit characters from that plot/scenario. There are a couple of exceptions though!

 

Do you give each doll in your collection a personality, or character?
Yes, for the most part. I have a rare few who are "shelf-sitters" that are just there to look pretty and do not interact with me or the other dolls in any way.

How do you go about forming your doll's personality?
Either they are based on a pre-existing character (from a book/movie/anime/video game, or one of my original characters), or their personality will come out when their faceup/wig/clothing is being done/chosen.

What do you do when your doll has a totally different personality than you expected they would?
Don't fight them on it. They know who they are better than I do. I had two different dolls reject the same character and finally realized that character would never be a doll in my house.

 

Do you give each doll in your collection a personality, or character?

Yes. I pretty much only collect dolls to shell my OC's...

How do you go about forming your doll's personality?

I have a character in my head that I flesh out completely over months or years, and sometimes I see dolls and I'm like "YES! That sculpt is totally *insert name here*. So I guess I gives dolls to my personalities and not the other way around?

What do you do when your doll has a totally different personality than you expected they would?

I only have one doll so far, but I've had his character for such a long time (I conceptualized him about three years ago) and he is actually a character in a novel that I am (attempting) to write.

Because I've 'known' him for so long, I feel as if he is a real person, so when I bought Cain to shell him I had his character so concrete in my mind that he just kind of adopted it (although that sounds weird because to me Cain was always a doll, because I'd always wanted to shell him). Even the strange fashion sense seems to suit him XD

Sorry if none of that makes much sense, I'm not sure how to explain what I'm trying to say ^^;

 

I usually understand a doll's personality once I've had time to study the sculpt in person. I tried deciding personality first, and it was a confusing nightmare when it didn't work out. I ended up having to wait 7 years for him to finally be "understood." Sometimes it takes awhile.

One of my dolls is obviously a cheerful fellow based on his smile, so I had no problems with him. Since his smile looks gentle, I assume his personality would have also been understanding. Another doll looks very pensive, so I imagine he's quiet, closed off, and serious.... in part bwcause he was so quiet that it took me ages to figure him out (4 years). The third doll (my first) was supposed to fit a character I made up just for him. He didn't. He now looks open and sultry at the same time, so I imagine him to be an introverted extrovert and quietly rebellious (but not passive aggressive). If I had to sum them up, it would be:
Wu: Pop. El: Gothic. 08man: bookish prep. Those adjectives do a decent job of getting their personalities across, I think.