How Important to You Is It That Your Doll be Absolutely Unique?

It is difficult to have a doll be entirely unique unless you made everything it wore.. and possibly made the doll itself. As we all buy parts from the same companies...

I think creating an identifiable appearance , so that they arn't mistaken for another owner's doll is what I strive for when I style my own dolls. I like it when others can recognize a doll from an image as one of mine. 8)

 

Not at all important. Even if I bought the most limited of Limited Edition dolls, there would still be at least one that was at it's base the same. The only way my dolls are unique are in the personalities I give them but I'm sure even that aspect isn't entirely unique.

 

It doesn't matter to me at all. Every single other person on this board could have the exact same look for the exact same doll and it wouldn't change what I did with mine. I get dolls that I love and dress them and do their faces in a way that I think suits them. Some sculpts are extremely well suited to certain looks, so I'm not going to be at all bothered if someone else has a Chrom playing an Asian character or a Kara Klum who looks moody.

 

I think this is the heart of the matter. People don't usually value uniqueness merely for that "special snowflake" appeal. Rather, it is the assurance that when lined up with others of the same sculpt, people can reliably tell which doll is yours. The loss of identity is the thing that horrifies us, the possibility that, for all our efforts, our doll gets lost in the crowd. So we take extra measures: choosing less popular sculpts, choosing less generic wig-eye combinations, doing the face-up ourselves, sewing clothes, and so on. The more confident we are in maintaining the identity, the less fussy we become about the "generic-ness" of our choices.

 

I honestly don't care about making my dolls unique, especially since it's such a mission impossible if you aren't a talented sewer or modder. I like looks that a lot of people like and so I'll dress or paint my dolls that way. For instance, I want a light brown Arvid with dark hair and a dark suit. I could count the number of Arvids like that on DoA but I don't care, that's how I want my Arvid so I'll dress him that way. What a lot of people do is use their dolls to imbody a type of character they like, the dark assassin, the smooth gangster etc. so there's bound to be similar dolls out there.
For me, it's more about character. A lot people dress the same in real life but it's their personality and who they are that differentiates them from each other.

 

I don't really understand people's complaints with a sculpt being overly popular or with having the same sculpt as others/others having the same sculpt as they do. Unless someone buys a truly one of a kind, only one sculpt ever made doll, there will be aspects of their doll that are not unique. That said, even something as common as an El can be styled to look fairly unique and individual.

If I liked a doll sculpt that someone I knew had, I would probably still buy it- it would be styled differently anyway, I am sure. The only way someone I know buying a sculpt I have would bother me is if they thought my doll was so great (hah!), they purposefully got the exact same sculpt and styled it as closely to mine as possible... and perhaps gave it the same or a similar name. I would probably find this annoying, but in the end, it would probably become funny to me.

 

I do believe it's somewhat important to have your own unique doll because it's also what makes us human, we all are different and have different tastes. I mean, I don't care if the person has the same mold as my doll(s), as long as it's not a downright copy of them.

For example, FL Minifee Karsh is pretty popular, in my opinion, but all the ones I've seen are different and unique in their own way (compared to mine) and that makes me happy to see a sculpt be so versatile, as a boy or a girl.

I think a big part of this hobby is how you can express your originality and creativity through these dolls!

 

This is very important for me! But I think, every BJD can be unique, if you love it.

 

I'm not really all that worried about it, I mean, I bought the factory face up and the wig he was pictured with for my Alekzander. If someone else were to have him, the clothes I bought and everything, then I wouldn't really be all that bothered. My Zander is my Zander, his personality is of my own creation and while theirs may look like mine, I know it's not. The way you see your doll is what makes it different, not it's outward appearance.

 

I can modify the doll and make it unique

 

Uniqueness is only way down the line after a slew of other things, for myself.
First come "speaks to me" and "loveability" and "How do I adore you, let me count the ways" and what not.

That said, IMO every doll is still unique after getting their owner's personal loving touch. I do not see an issue.

 

Each doll is unique no matter if it the same Limited edition or a basic you've done up yourself. We give each of our dolls a personality based sub-consciously of our own weather it be a mini us, a part of us, or a foil. So even if two dolls that have the same sculpt, outfit, ect. are placed next to each other, we see a difference. Much like pet owners can tell the difference between their pet and a look-alike. Therefore, there really is no need to worry about the "uniqueness" of your doll. it's really all about perception.

 

I definitely don't want to "create" a doll's "self/personality" that is an alike to another doll that someone has or I have seen. I am inspired by other people's dolls, but I don't like to copy. I just try to be more unique with my dolls. I don't want to own something that isn't originally "mine" in the first place. So creativity and unique-ness in my dolls are a must!!

And I have coveted the MiniFee Chloe sculpt (even though I've seen several people with one) because of her lips and hands. I really really want her, but I don't want others that have the same sculpt to think I am copying, cause I am not. When I get her, she will be UNIQUE!! I will make sure of it! haha

 

That's not even a factor for me when I'm buying a doll... I just pick the one I like... I would consider buying the same sculpt twice (for two different dolls who are not twins or even related to each other in any way) if I liked it that much...

 

I think if doll owners worried so much about whether their dolls are as completely unique as they possibly could be... there wouldn't be enough time to actually enjoy the hobby. I mean, if you're not actively looking to make a doll look exactly the same as another, odds are, it's not gonna look the same. But it's unlikely that you are going to end up with something no one has ever seen ever... You make your dolls look the way *you* want them to, so that *you* are happy and enjoying the hobby.

 

What is unique ? The way people perceive your doll or the way your are perceiving your doll ?
I think that is bjd ownerswhom make their dolls truly unique...

 

I once read a blog entry of a doll customiser who had just bought a doll and was raving on and on about how she had made her doll absolutely and truly unique so that nobody had the same doll or had done anything like her. It sounded like the main goal of all the mods was to have a doll that was absolutely, truly unique and that nobody else has something like it.
This made me think "but do you like the doll?"
All the changes done to the doll were justified with "nobody else has (done) this" and not with "I like dolls with X so I gave it X" or "I just love doing Y, so I did Y with this doll." To be honest, it was customised with stunning craftmanship, but I was missing the love poured into it that was seeing in the customiser's other work. It could be my perception, though.

 

You know, a few years ago, I would have said that I didn't care. My dolls were mine and they were special to me. But then I saw another F16 with a similar face-up to mine (and I'd done custom FCS make-up) and was bothered. And it honestly factored into my decision to get him a new face-up- his original one was chipping and just "not him" anymore, but it still mattered. I'll even admit that I was irritated when luts came out with their own "Azure" mold.

I think that has more to do with how attached I am to my particular character, though, rather than wanting my dolls to be unique. Because really, they are. No one else has my exact combination of dolls, stories and personalities. It didn't bother me for long, and I wouldn't hold a grudge unless it was done deliberately, but I still do have moments where I wish my Azure was the only doll named Azure out there.

I think that's just human nature, and especially creative nature.

 

What's most important to me is that my doll fits the character he is based off of. I don't care if someone's doll is similar to mine or anything. If my doll is dressed the way his character is and I make sure he fulfills my original character in appearance and everything...that's what is most important to me

 

That really doesn't matter to me.
Well, my girl is a new sculpt and I have only seen one other on the internet so far, so I might not be one to talk, but I really don't care if another person have the same sculpt, because the dolls are nothing alike anyway.

I have decided that my next doll will be a PW WU Goldie. She is incredibly popular and I have a friend who owns the regular Goldie.
Recently someone sold a WU Goldie in normal skin in my country, and I was a little disappointed because I wanted the white skin. But my friend bought her after some hesitation.
It doesn't matter to me that we will have 3 Goldie between the two of us, 2 WU and 1 regular, because they are all so different from the clothes to the eyes and hair.
And that is what I think is so fun about this hobby. Not two dolls are really alike.