How Do You Feel About "Character" Dolls?

I think recreating fandom characters is a truly awesome idea and I thoroughly admire those who do it! For me however, I find it easier to simply give them my own unique twist...more of an OC inspired by a fandom. For instance, I’m a huge pokemon fan and simply had to have my nintendo gaming character as one of my first BJDs. I went on to do my own original Beyblader (from the cartoon series), my original D&D character from decades ago, my Heroes of Might and Magic inspired OC, etc. I prefer to use various fandoms to inspire me to come up with my own characters. In fact, I currently have a big layaway right now for the perfect shell for an original character inspired by the Manga series, Chobits.

 

I love the idea of character dolls! I'd really like to make one myself (Sadako from Ring)

 

I love them and definitely want to own one. Just waiting for the right one to come up.

 

I have a few! I also have my OCs that are very developed characters. I’d say the ones that are fan dolls get ‘played with’ less, as they’re more like cool figures to me than actual characters.

 

im very 50/50 with them, some doll companies do amazing with their dolls like ring doll with there yumee 100 boys which had me jaw dropped but then theres things like the vmf50 super sonico where it was ok, not the best but still worth getting for somone like me who collects sonico merch and then theres some that just translate the character horribly like the new dolkus gilgamesh , i love gilgamesh ii collect almost all his figures and when i heard the doll was out i wanted to jump but then i saw it and it really just didnt hit home at all it looks off and almost cheap looking for something thats more then 1000 dollars . the 100 yume boys the amnesia brother looked spectacular but then you have some that they look good but something isnt quit right like the super sonicos and touken ranbu boys it feels like there sculpts just arent right or theyre missing some sort of detail in the clothes or makup and then theres the really bad ones like gilgamesh which dont hit the point at all and you wonder why they bothered

having one custom made in my opinion usually turns out 1000 times better then a lot of the ones brands offer cus people who make a custom love the character they pay attention to those small details they know exactly how things are and dont look over things for reproduction value, like once again gilgamesh has a lot of gold pieces and some jewelry but its like they simplified it to make production easier which in turn makes it look cheaper. ive seen a lot of custom sonicos that look amazing compared to the original

the thing is it all comes down to how obsessed you are with collecting that character and how drawn to brand names you are

 

I actually came back to this forum after a while (I’m a lurker) because I’m researching for creating my own JoJo character dolls.. with as many expensive designer collars they do, Im surprised they haven’t done an official one yet.. the closest thing is their Royal Action Heroes series, which are cool but not quite as elegant and beautiful as Im going for.

 

Not really for me tbh... I appreciate them and think they're really cool, but I wouldn't want to own one outside of possibly the Dolfie Dream Rin and Len, but they're nowhere near priority. I did fall a little in love with Volks Rapunzel, but really I don't think she looks all that much like the character. If I'm going to get a doll, I want to shell my OCs. Character goods already exist for a lot of the characters I really like, so I can fill my room with them, OCs however don't have merchandise I can get from the store, which makes the customisation of BJDs that much more appealing in that regard.

 

I have a few dolls that are classified as character dolls. Decim from Death Parade, he comes out as a cosplay of one of my OCs. I have Benimaru from That time I got reincarnated as a Slime, and Hozuki from Hozuki no Reitetsu. They don't come out often but I do love having them. I have made all their costumes and wigs so they look pretty nice.
After making them and realizing that they wouldn't be out too much, so I settled for getting the small character figures to look at and let the others out to play only occasionally as they have to share bodies with my OCs.

 

How do you feel about dolls either pre-made or customized by their owners to be existing anime/tv/book/etc characters?
I ADORE them. I never got into the BJD hobby for the purpose of shelling OCs, so characters both original and pre-existing are exciting for me to see in resin form! Even if it’s technically from the same source material or company, I think that unless it’s a company doll kept utterly untouched, there are never two dolls of one character that are 100% the same, due to the owners’ personal tastes and interpretations! A couple people in this thread have said they’ve shelled The Joker, for example, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a doll owner whose Joker is exactly like someone else’s.

Would you ever buy/customize one?
Buy? No. But customize? Yes yes five hundred times YES. The customization aspect of this hobby is what drew me, and it’s what I’d love to work on even for a character doll.

Which character do you love enough to pay for a fancy resin version of?
Again, I wouldn’t buy a premade doll of a character. But I would dole out the cash for heads, bodies, etc. that I think will suit the look of the character I want to shell! I feel like for me, there’s something about the process of carefully and meticulously searching for the right sculpt from which to draw out the character that would make the final result a deeply personal creation, even if the character itself is not my original idea.

If you already own one (or a few) which characters are they?
I don’t have any yet. Right now I daydream a lot about shelling Evelynn from the game League of Legends! I just love her design and her sickly-sweet-sadistic succubus personality to bits...! So far I’ve decided I might want her to have high heels...so maybe a DC Evangeline body for the feet....? But the face is the main selling point, and so far only a Minifee Juri ‘11 head nails the expression but that’s MSD..... Hmmmmm...

 

As someone who really excited about the new Candyman movie coming out in September and a horror fanatic, I am having a 70cm Candyman bjd made with an exact likeness of Tony Todd(actor who played Candyman/Daniel Robitaille in first 3 Candyman films) He will wear the long coat and outfit he wears in the films. He will have his bloody hook and have some bees on him.

I saw the original movie in the theatres in Nov 1992 when I was 18 and loved it! Saw the 2nd in Feb 1995 in theatres and also loved it. 3rd was never released in theatres and just found out about it. Heard the story wasn't great but Tony Todd was great as always. Will watch it at some point. Will post pics of the doll when it is completed!

 

I love them. I have several - one is a MNF version of Rose Tyler who I bought from someone here on DOA. I also have Pukifee versions of the current Doctor, Bill Potts, and Aziraphale and Crowley from "Good Omens."

 

I am slowly working on my own Leon (Resident Evil) and Dante (Devil May Cry). I stress 'my own' as they're not going to be exact. I'm not skilled with sewing to make exact replicas of costumes, and I don't have a 3D printer for Dante's Rebellion. I could find someone who can print one for me. Dante isn't really complete without Rebellion. But, to me, they will be Leon and Dante. I don't care if others don't see the characters in them. They're for me. It's a project for me to take my time on, to be creative with my dolls. Yes, I'm only working on their clothes, not making the closest wigs to their looks or painting them to look as close to the characters as possible, but I'm still creating. And, if someone can see the characters, the inspiration I took from them, in the dolls when I share them on my Instagram or Facebook [without me pointing it out in the caption], then I will be ecstatic. It will mean my hard work has paid off.

It's a passion project from years ago, when I first joined the hobby, to have Dante in doll-form. But it'd be too stressful finding the perfect sculpt. So, I found one that resembles Dante from Devil May Cry 5. I went with a sculpt that resembles Leon from the Resident Evil 2 remake.

And, again, they're my dolls. They are for me. At the end of the day, if I'm happy with them, I'll be content. If someone else sees the resemblance, I'll be ecstatic.

 

My girlfriend and I share a special interest in the series Death Note. So much so that once we finish the current dolls we have planned, we'll have five dolls that are Death Note characters!

My girlfriend's dolls:
-Soom Morga head (looking for a nice body)
This doll is inspired by Rem from the Death Note Japanese musical. Her faceup is entirely in blue and white, I think it's really cool!
-Souldoll Onulharu head + DFA body (planned)
This doll is going to be styled to look like L from the TV Drama adaptation.

My dolls:
-DIM Larina (open eyes and half-closed eyes) on a Loongsoul 42.5 cm girl body
This doll is going to be my interpretation of a human!Rem. This is going to be a huge project! I've purchased the heads and the body, but I'll also be dyeing her, giving her vitiligo, commissioning an insanely expensive wig, and commissioning eyes. I'm very excited for her to come home so I can get to work!
-Simply Meant to Be Dohwee full doll
This will be a doll mostly based on personal headcanons. He's kind of a combination of Near from the TV Drama and Near from the 2020 manga oneshot.
-Pygmalion Eita head/Dollshe 18M Mystic body
This doll is meant to go with my girlfriend's Onulharu hybrid. He's going to be Light from the TV Drama!

sorry about the long post-- it's hard to explain everything when it's not in list format

I love the idea of creating a character doll. I think it's really cool to see other interpretations of the same doll and see how other people think of a character. However, buying fullset company-made character dolls doesn't seem to interest me at all. I would rather make them myself or use that money for actual merch from the series.

 

It's not for me personally, but what I mean by that is that I would likely never make one or go out of my way to buy them (but still might as I do love figures of my favorite series). However I do love seeing other people's! I think it's really interesting to see someone else's interpretation of a character along with all of the artistry that comes with both making some of the pieces of the costume and curating pieces found from shops. The same character is never the same when reinterpreted by someone else and I love that.

 

I really love character dolls. I started with bjds because there were literally no merch to Killing Stalking and I really loved having a figure or something from the character Yoon Bum.
And now I got my own Bum and Zel from Interspecies Reviewers and I'm waiting for Narancia from JoJo and Inosuke from Demon Slayer.

 

How do you feel about dolls either pre-made or customized by their owners to be existing anime/tv/book/etc characters? I like them, and many of my dolls are based on favorite book/comic book/cartoon/anime/etc characters.

Would you ever buy/customize one? A premade one?
Yes I would. in fact I have bought dolls to customize into character dolls, and I have thought about buying premade. Sadly at the times I didn't have the money so missed out on getting any of the premade Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler dolls that have been out.

Which character do you love enough to pay for a fancy resin version of?
Like premade? I don't really know but with making my own, I've a short list. At the top of it is I want to make an Eddie Brock/Venom doll someday. Also from Marvel I could enjoy having a teen Loki, from DC I'd like a Kon-El/Superboy. I'd also like to own a Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler someday, oh and Cybersix from the cartoon Cybersix. (I already made own her panther.)

If you already own one (or a few) which characters are they?
From DC comics: Impulse/Bart Allen and his clone Inertia/Thaddues Thawne , Klarion the Witch Boy.
I have and older version of Ozma from the Oz books a long with an older version of her counterpart Tippetarius from the 2nd Oz book.
Puck/Robin Goodfellow from A Midsummer Night's Dream. (The play though want to make a version from Gargoyles too, see I have a list)
Alucard from Castlevainia Synphany of the Night
I have a Grown up verson of Peter Pan, and a doll named for Snow White (of the fairy tales not any more modern versions of them.)
I made my own Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler, as could not get the premade ones.
Data 7 from Cybersix
From Marvel comics I have two version of one character, J2/Zane Yama (son of the Juggernaut, feel free to google him) his normal form and his hero form.
Oh and I just started making a doll into Presto the Magician from the D&D cartoon.
Edited to add one I forgot, I have an older version of Zed Kur, a very background character from all of one episode of from the first She-Ra cartoon.

Also I named a doll after El-ahrairah fromWatership Down, but as the doll is not really made to fully that character I feel she doesn't at all count here.

 

I don't think I'd be so keen on a character doll if it was based off an actor, if that makes sense. Either they look odd because they don't look quite right, or they look realistic and...that makes me feel weird too.

Characters from cartoons or video games, I think are a fun idea.

 

I have dolls based on people or ones that are inspired by certain characters from TV series or movies that I like.
I am still dreaming of my very own David Bowie doll someday.

 

My first doll I worked up a back story and I had a entire book written about her and her back story etc. now with each new doll I am just too scatter brained to work anything up. So I just let there stories flow as I come up with them

 

Even though I think that character doll seems killing almost all of your own style, but as an anime lover, I sometimes buy a character doll, an example is Volks SD17B Andre (In spite of not being a fan of Rose of Versailles, I think he's cute).
However, if it has a chance, I prefer to buy a new doll through Volks FCS, which is customized for my own. Owning a customized doll like that, I can keep my doll become a real character of my own story which keep all of my own determined style...