How Did Your Doll Get its Personality?

They tell me. Usually they tell me before I buy them when I see pictures. How they "tell" me is beyond me but they manage it somehow. Yup I'm THAT crazy doll lady.

Sounds like your girl didn't tell you anything for 4 or 5 years because of her quiet, reserved nature hehe

 

My first had a very gentle bookish personality that just shone through once I picked her sculpt, the other three popped up as characters to balance out her reservedness.

The first one went through a lot of changes in the first year or so as I made her clothes, upbeat hip hop dancer, adventurous explorer, all kind of things, but always came back to the original gentle bookish girl. When I finally got the other ones they kept their core personalities that formed around my first doll. Their personal quirks and such get refined as I play with them and dress them, but their core characteristics have been the same since I first laid eyes on the stock photo of my first doll.

 

Ooh, what a great question to ask! I've had my first doll for around two months now, and during that time she's only "told" me what she's like through small bits and pieces. When I saw her online, I had absolutely no idea what she would be like, or even what her name would be, until I had her in my hands after opening her box. She's very defensive, closed off from other people and very standoffish. Sassy, sarcastic, with a very dry sense of humor. Every day I spend with her I get to know her a little better--it was so weird, at first it almost felt like she resented me but once I handmade her first outfit (with her sitting next to me, watching me work for hours upon hours several days in a row cause I'm not so fast with handsewing) she seems to have opened up and trusted me a little more.

So I guess I could say that I've always just kept her character in the back of my mind, juggling around thoughts and ideas and soaking up new things from the world around me like a sponge to use them in different ways for her and her backstory later? xD It's a slow process, but an interesting one!

 

Most of the time I develop a character before I ever buy the doll - I choose the sculpt to suit the character. So the personality is more or less set before the doll ever arrives. But once in a while the doll suggests an aspect to the character's personality that I hadn't originally planned on.

 

Yup, this is how I brainstorm personalities, too. I tried the opposite on my first doll, and I wasn't able to click with her.

 

She got her personality from almost ten years of pre-doll character development and how I perceive her when I take pictures. Although that usually goes along with her predetermined character.

 

Rarely I'll have a certain character in mind and I'll have their personality decided before I get them but for the most part I decide their personality after spending time dressing and posing them. I would also say that 99.9% of their personality is decided based on how their face is sculpted. Little smirks can look shy or mischievous, big round eyes can look innocent and kind, etc. Not super creative but it works

 

I'd had a vague sort of character in mind when I ordered Vince, but then when he arrived and I opened him for the first time... I don't know, he just sort of developed on his own the more I played around with him. A lot of things stayed true to what I had initially envisioned, but I'd say at least half of who he is now is just a result of holding him, posing him, and dressing him up, and seeing the 'looks' he'd give me or the way his arm would fall into a slightly new position... little things that sort of helped make him his own.

 

I've had characters already together for almost all of my dolls before I ever find them; the names, personalities, relationships, and so forth are already in place, so I just find a sculpt that matches the look and carries the right personality for the existing character.

I do have one doll who didn't have a character when I first got her (rather, I was pouncing on an event item where no one was sure if it would be available later--turns out it was), so I brought together the parts at random to see what came out--random-gendered body from a split (I joined saying "I want a body, I don't care about gender, whatever someone else wants to split apart, give me that"), random wig from a furwig maker ("just do it in a couple of colors, whatever you feel like), random eyes from another doll that were the right size for her. And with those, I ended up with a spunky, mischievous redheaded fairy! (Though it took me a long time to get her the right wings and faceup/blushing.)

I do have three others who came without characters attached, but they haven't settled into anything yet. I keep hoping they will eventually.

 

They just happen in my head, same as with the stories I write. I have always said that stories kind of write themselves, I just have to put them to paper as they happen. It's the same with my dolls. Either from their pictures before I buy them, or from holding them and dressing them -- they just are​ that way, and that's how it is.

 

I have not yet been able to impose a personality on my dolls, although they may speak to me before I get them, they don't really "come out" until they are here.

 

my only boy is pretty much has an unpredictable personality... i can't seem to distinguish whether his personality is shy or just a 'snob'. he is aloof most of the times then sometimes he looks so sweet...

 

My dolls' personalities are usually created (as OCs) beforehand. Along the way I might tweak their original conception to suit the way they look/express themselves (and I gather these hints from their photoshoots and time spent with them), and they grow into their doll-bodies this way.

Having them in front of me for a period of time, I get these 'feelings' about what is suitable for them, and what might need to be changed. Though I'm reluctant to call it a case of them 'speaking' to me, I admit I can't quite explain it. It's a...natural process, I guess, that happens when dolls and their owners meet in a mutual relationship.

 

Their personalities become apparent as I get to know them, sometimes all at once when I first get them, sometimes gradually over a period of time.

A lot of my SD gang's personalities solidified and became more apparent when a particular girl joined the family and the way she interacted with one of the others became apparent.

The few whose personality doesn't reveal itself are generally the ones who move on.

Teddy

 

I also feel that the name/personality go hand in hand, clearly the name will denote the character. I made the mistake of picking names before the doll came, I mean I always named my children ahead of time, but for dolls it never worked, except for my latest one, I thought she would be Rhiannon, and that is what she is. I also thought she might be an ancient witch and I think that's her too, but she lives in the modern world. And her personality is like that too, but I also feel strangely familiar with her, like she's always been here. Clearly losing my mind...

 

I find out their personality when I handle them. I have tried in the past to just figure out some sort of backstory but then when it comes to me toying with the doll they basically tell me who they really are when a certain color palette resonates well... or and how easy or difficult they are when I pose or dress them.

 

I either figure it out through their facial expression. Some dolls look more cute or mature or even spunky.
So i try to incorperate that in their personality if i like a specific sculpt.
Or if the character comes first, i just try and find a sculpt i feel portrays their personality.
So yeah. Lol.

 

I think from their original sculpt and look after getting a face up.

 

It usually comes to me as I'm doing her first face-up. I do them myself, and it's quite the experience to get to know your doll. Sure, I've got talent and skill, but some of it's left up to chance. The flick of a bristle could change everything. How she poses tells me a lot about her too. Body language can say so much! And even if you buy the same doll twice (or 4 times in my case), they can still have different posing.