Have your dolls ever gone completely against your intended plans?

My dolls don't usually have a character behind them but I have thought of themes for them that I wanted to try. I'm not sure if I'm just limited by my own talents with the sewing machine and face up skills but my dolls never come out how I imagine them. I still like them though.

Maybe when I get better at face ups and stop buying dolls long enough to purchase clothes they'll look more like how I imagined them.

 

My girl sticks to her character almost completely. I had originally intended for her to be the younger version of the character, but at the last minute decided to make her the older version. Although that was mostly because I didn't want her wardrobe to consist of mostly turtlenecks... Long story.
She kind of deviates in that she wears a little more pink than I had planned and her eyes are a lighter brown. These are still within acceptable differences for her character.

 

Oh yes, out of seven dolls, there are two that did this me, both from Dollzone.

The first, my Dollzone Fox, bought secondhand, was going to be a project doll. I bought her with the intention of painting her myself and maybe doing some mods. And then she arrived and she was gorgeous. She was completely perfect as she was, and didn't even get a new wardrobe. I was a little annoyed, but I got over it.

The second, my Eudora, was supposed to be the new project doll. But, he came blank and with a pair of generic blue glass eyes, and guess what? He was perfect as-is too!

This is actually pretty common in the hobby, especially if you aren't shelling a pre-existing character. They like to annoy us like this, haha.

 

Yes. My little fee likes to change her look regularly. She just went from a long blond Alice in wonderland look, to an amber eyed red head.... For months she was a raven haired black Irish beauty. She is her own person of mystery....

 

Oh boy... have they ever. I bought my minifee M-line Ante as a fullset because my friend wanted her outfit and was full-on intending to make her into Lavinia, my young-looking vampire lady. She arrives, and although just as beautiful as I'd have ever wanted nothing seems to fit just right eye or wig wise until I realize that "she" is in fact a "he" and go through a hellish session of sanding the full bust... by hand! Then fast forward a few months later and I sell the head for funds... only because it would sell fast... only to regret it horribly and decide... not to get another head, nope, but a sleeping eye to mod to OE! Hngh... needless to say I can't wait to have my boy back.

And then there's Kyoya, good lord that boy. That one is my Dollzone Freddy-1. He was originally going to be Orpheus, personification of death, decay and new life, and you can bet he was so nice and fitting for his character.... Until I got the ridiculous urge to put him in a bright blue wig and colorful clothes... and he just took off on his own. Orpheus has moved in another sculpt since as well, but that was quite the switching affair. ..

 

I've been trying to find a girl BJD to be a sister for my Souldoll Lune for years. I've gone through NINE different BJDs! I resold six of them, and kept three. Two became different characters for me, and I hope the third will finally work. Of the two who changed characters, one of them would have been happy enough to be Kaoru's sister, but she decided instead she would MUCH rather be Marjorie, a hypnotherapist character I'd never intended to embody in a BJD!

My other unexpected character was purchased as a body donor, and I was going to try to sell his head if I could. I thought he had a sculpt only his mother could love! Instead, on impulse, I had a faceup done on him, and not long afterwards I thought of an indepth backstory for him. Now he's so intriguing and interesting to me I can't sell him!

Surprisingly I have a picture of the two of them together!


Left, Marjorie, my Angell Studio Kana, and right, Ithamar, my Dollzone Wing Elf.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

This is definitely one of the most interesting questions I've seen around the forum.

One of my dolls I originally planned for was to have a 'punk' styled closet for days when he was out of the office, but he seemed to have taken to a semi-formal style (i.e. jackets and shirts) more easily, so it was a good thing I didn't think of deciding his wardrobe for him ahead of his approval! Another one I have is still hovering undecided between a wardrobe with feminine influences or a more obviously girlish aesthetic than the former (i.e. daringly donning stockings and the like) - which amuses me because such an incident of indecision is so typical of his personality.

I like these little changes. When they express themselves, it makes me feel like they are more naturally adjusted to their character, and they're not just characters I've simply created.

 

Way back in the day, I got my first doll thinking she would be a shell for whatever D&D character I happened to be playing a the time and I could just get new eyes and wigs and use one doll for that purpose forever. Lol was I ever wrong. Once she became Darastrix, she never has been anyone else.

I also thought I was going to get some hand made wolf bits for my SO Hati and give her the default Hati outfit I already had, then the Free Choice Hati came along and COMPLETELY stole the character I had in mind for my SO Hati. Now my SO Hati is my only human doll and wears cute dresses and has long wavy hair. Such a change from the tomboyish wolf she was going to be!

 

Oh absolutely! Most recent example is Lakin. He was intended to be sort of a Michael Clifford/Gerard Way mix and ended up looking much more like Kurt Cobain. Not as planned, but I love him!

 

I think that this happens nearly everytime I buy a doll! I always have a plan based off of the company's pictures of the sculpt and when I get it home my plans are blown out of the water. However, for the most part this has led to really good things because it allows me to customize the doll all over again!

 

Not sure if this is exactly on topic, but it definitely fits under ''plans gone wrong'''

I'm going through interesting 'identity struggles' with my girls. I bought an DZ Fenyo to be a sister to my tiny BB Ani. Now that I see them together, they don't quite look right together. I really like both dolls separately, but I'm not convinced they look like they're from the same universe. Now it feels like I'm back to square one with one more doll and no sisters XD. I'm considering selling BB Ani but I'm not completely sure... I'm just a little bummed that she looks so bloated beside the Fenyo sculpt.

Of course, now that I have a double-jointed doll, my single jointed BB is feeling pretty clunky, another reason to consider reshelling her or modding her joints.

I'm going to give myself time to think, do more sewing for each and then take some pictures to get a better 'feel' for them as a pair.

 

My girls always do this to me.

I plan them to be short-haired, casual styled, etc. but they have their own opinion on their looks.
I like this anyway. It means they have their own characters and it always fun to choose new style for them.

 

Yes, I ended up buying a doll and no pay my rent because I wanted the doll so much, so now I'm behind on rent =___=

 

None of my dolls are really based on existing characters but I always get ideas of what I want them to look like when they get here. It never really works out XD

My F60 Lishe I'd wanted to be a golden blonde girly girl. She's asserting herself as a red head with a more punk style. The only thing she's kept is the green eyes.

The Minifee Nanuri 13 head that I didn't like the looks of blank and swore I'd sell, I painted on a whim and she's now the favourite of my minis and I'd sell all the rest before I'd sell her XD

I've learned to not expect to plan too much for them ahead of time and let them evolve organically. We're all much happier this way

 

Both of my dolls were bought to shell existing characters but I feel very lucky. Both of them were absolutely perfect. I feel like it was probably because I looked up so many owner pictures of the sculpts before deciding and compiling photos of every aspect of how I wanted their face ups done.

 

I'm waiting for my Iplehouse Ashanti to arrive and I have seen her look so different from other collectors photos that I cannot decide on what her character will be until I actually have her. I am planning to take a bit of time to decide on what she should look like.

 

All - the - time…..

After my first doll who really didn't want to express his visual key side, I just just sort of "loosely" plan for incoming dolls and then see what happens when they show up.

I have one guy who is sort of on the might be sold chopping block because he's still "finding himself." I love the character I have for him - he's a part of my core group but something isn't right. I changed his eyes, hair and gave him a new look. But I think he is wanting to be something else I haven't explored yet.

The girl I have is putting up with me at the moment but I really think she wants to be a tomboy character. When I put her in the boy clothes I have and one of their short wigs - it's perfect. I want a girly, girl doll but she isn't it.

Another boy I have wants nothing to do with being a dark sort of mysterious boy dressed in all white or black but instead wants to channel his agrarian self and wear overalls.

Most of these costume changes have been easy enough to accommodate because most of them can swap clothes/wigs/eyes.

 

If I remember right, my Minimee Ryuutarou's character was supposed to be very loosely based on Ryuutarou. Different name etc., but drawing some inspiration from him especially about his looks.

It turned out I had difficult time giving this doll a clear character and personality. He didn't look like Ryuutarou as much as I had thought he would. I gave him some kind of name, but I wasn't completely happy with it.

I then, kind of accidentally, developed a new character for my "story"/fantasy world I like to daydream about (I'm weird like that ). I later based the doll on this new character and this seems to be working well. He now naturally fit in with some of my other dolls who are also loosely based on that world. I now knew very well his personality, style etc. Just recently I figured out the right name for him - Karuna.

So his character doesn't have anything to do with Ryuutarou anymore, but he's an important part of my doll family and he fits in. (This process seriously took me years.)


Oh, and my Angelsdoll Jin, Esuna, has swapped genders from female to male and changed his name. His character is still a bit of a mystery to me.

 

I've had this happen a few times, but usually to things like hair and eye color. The most significant 180 I ever experienced was having my School C boy change genders on me...despite having him for about 4 years, suddenly the head looked like a girl to me. I would even say the character "vacated" the doll. It's hard to explain, but I couldn't unsee the head as a girl and my character was no longer attached to that head...basically I had to make up a new character on the spot and get some dresses. I love the current version of my School C just as much as the boy version, but it was certainly weird!