How Many Dolls?

A lot of my dolls have gone through at least 2 different incarnations before I've been completely happy with the doll representing the character, though I do seem to sell dolls in fairly predictable cycles every few years to freshen up the collection, so even once I have the perfect doll matched for a character, it doesn't mean the doll is going to be a permanent addition to my collection.

My old Leon was originally a Volks Olivia boy, was switched to a F-38, and then ended up as an Amelia boy. My current Maki girl was originally an Amakusa girl. The Amakusa was sold as soon as I saw the release pictures for Maki. My Kira boy was up until recently an Ushiwakamaru. Kira is closer to the original character designs even though I liked the Ushi a lot.

Interestingly enough, of the dolls I own currently, only 2 are reshellings. The rest were sculpts that matched perfectly the first try.

 

The twelve BJD I own matched the characters (Own creation or not) I wanted at the first sight/try so none has gone per each of them. And I never hesitate all the resin crew I got is here to stay as it is.

But I understand everyone enjoys the hobby in a different personal way and I think if you are not completely satisfied with what you got there must be a change until you do so. Every hobby is to enjoy it.

 

The ones that I got for specific characters did work for those characters -- I've not had issues in that department. There have been a few heads that I've gotten that I knew could work for more than one character, so I had to experiment a little before I made a final decision on who got the head. I did swap the nonpreexisting characters that were attached to some of my dolls for preexisting characters that could use the bodies, though, as I've been trying to condense things down to one storyline with just a few other dolls that fall outside of that. When I get a good fit with a doll sculpt and a character, they pretty much stay put even with all the new dolls that have come out. It's hard for me to picture them as a different sculpt. Granted, I won't say that I'd never reshell a character, since you never know what the future's going to bring.

 

For the most part I've been good for the majority of my characters, there have been a couple though..

Sybil, I went through an X2 sculpt and then a bobobie sprite before selling her and dropping the character.
Hotaru I went through two dolls as well, a DoD Kirill and my X2 Louis before deciding to drop this character as well.
I have a puki named Puck but I replaced him with Quinn my glati, not exactly the same character, but a similar situation as my child character.
Otherwise, I've used the name Percival for two different dolls and have sold or am trying to sell both of them.

The only one I've replaced that will be staying is Fuine, who was an X2 Cain and I'm reshelling him as an iplehouse Vito

 

It's odd, but now that I think of it, only my very first two days have stayed the characters I intended them to be when I bought them. Everyone else has either been reshelled or switched around. This is mostly as I realized MSD-size was just not to my liking and wanted to give a large part of my crew a new look with the more mature SD size unless the character absolutely called for a shorter stature. Such as the case with my 3rd doll, an Angell Studio Gus, who I still own but is no longer part of my central crew. His slim build and facial features that didn't mesh well with the rest of my dolls has brought me to reshell his character into that of a DiM Alpon who should be here in a couple of weeks.

Everyone else has moved up to bigger sizes. My previous MNF El is now a Little Monica Kliff, my old Latidoll Ryu and Rei heads are now an Elysium Jamie, as well as an Ariadoll 14 years body who shall be recieving a DiM Bellosse head by the end of the year. Even my Napidoll Aesh had a previous incarnation that was mini sized, a Too from DoD, although I did not personally own that doll. Thankfully my last two dolls, a Glorydoll Mitsuki and a MSDoll No.3 didn't actually have to be completely reshelled, but after alot of thought and consideration I did end up switching their characters between them instead.

I have to admit this is rather odd for me to realize as I'm the type that detests selling off my old dolls and had always strived to choose a sculpt that I would 100% wish to keep. But I'm very pleased with my collection now and aside from that floater boy (AS Gus) I feel I've finally chosen all the correct sculpts to represent their individal characters and will no longer feel the need to change them again.

 

My characters don't really work that way- each one is based on the doll itself, not the other way round. It'd be absolutely impossible for me to change the doll that represented Cass, or Peitan, or Maika, the doll is as much a part of the character as the name. This is really what makes buying dolls so difficult for me. I can't buy anything that doesn't jump out at me as a character, and I can't say how many times I've loved the aesthetic of the doll, but found no character in it. The only possible exception for this is one character called Seia, that I actually developed while browsing for dolls- but have never actually used with a doll before. I'd love to have a doll for Seia, but he's such a funny, specific character...

 

After 5 years and 30 dolls, I'd never changed a character's doll-shell until just last week or so!

I exchanged my Iplehouse realskin Tedros for a brown Tedros. Hassan has basically stayed the same man; he just got a different faceup, and the darker skin that he was meant to have. He's otherwise identical to the first one. So the transition was not really so traumatic as re-shellings go. I'm just very sensitive to it because I don't deal well with change (some of us are set in our ways), & this was my first re-shelling. I've never even sold a doll before. ^^ Some of my friends have bought their dolls new shells who look almost nothing like the original to me, and I can only imagine how difficult that adjustment must be after you've gotten used to the original.

 

I reshelled my first doll within a month or so. I was unhappy with the face sculpt and didn't feel she fit the body type or personality that I had in mind. Now that Souldoll just released Agnetha, I feel like it's time to do the same with the Souldoll Double girl I had for my character. Agnetha looks much more mature to me and her Zenith body will fit in better with my Super Gems After this experience (losing money on both dolls in their resale of course) I am determined to be *much* more careful with the dolls I buy and how closely they can resemble the character I want. I am much better educated on sculpts and body types now (before I never realized how much shorter a Souldoll Double is from a Super Gem...) and I feel like I can have a lot more knowledgeable confidence in the dolls I decide to purchase moving forward I chalk up the loss of money on those experiment sculpts to a learning experience, so I don't mind it too much.

 

Hmm well I am pretty new to the hobby, I have 4 dolls well kinda 5. All of which I love. So far I have no plans to change them at all, accept maybe Tacmota he is a resinsoul Mai, I love his sculpt but have just found out that they are soon coming out with a double jointed version...so I may switch his body eventually.
Just this past week I bought a Resinsoul Lan in blue resin this would count as #5. I did not have a character for her at all, I had seen her and thought you know I was planning on buying one in pink so this one can be her twin or something. She arrived several days later and her head sculpt is not what I expected, I have seen a lot of great photos of the mold, and I do think she has a pretty face, but her head is significantly smaller than the other RS mold heads and does not fit with my other character dolls. So now I am debating, find a new head or sell her completely...which now brings me to trying to find a different mold for my pink girl that I originally had in mind.

 

It kind of depends on how well I thought the doll worked in the first place. Early on, when there were fewer choices, I was willing to buy whatever looked close enough and modify it to my taste. Thus I had a modified Delf Dreaming Shiwoo, a modified Delf Miyu, a modified Volks Yukinojo...but all of those heads have been replaced by something that was sculpted much later when styles began to match my intent more closely.

So out of my current batch of twenty dolls, six of them have had at least one replacement:
Delf Dreaming Shiwoo to Volks Johanna boy (but I'm keeping the other head because he was my first)
Delf Miyu to Feeple Ashley and I'm eyeing another sculpt that is not yet available
K-Doll Kayan to Leeke Lyonne to Leeke Richard to Soom Bix
Dream of Doll Camine girl to Soom Onyx
Volks Yukinojo to Volks Genji
and the most random one, Supia Roda to Volks F-30 to Everpurple Iris because I was flailing around just buying dolls I liked

I do the same thing with bodies, some of them have had two or three versions.

I definitely miss my Camine and my Yukinojo, but the rest of them not so much.

 

A few of mine have gone through multiple "versions" while I tried to find a sculpt that worked...

Sjhan is currently a Type 2 Dreaming Shiwoo. His first try was a sleeping Harang, which didn't work at all.

My Type 1 Miyu was supposed to be Yeru, and the open-eyed Harang was intended to be Lir. She's now a modified Type 2 Miyu and he's a sleeping Yder. (The Type 1 Miyu ended up being Chidori, and the Harang is Hogasha.)

Ryuko started out as a KD Jeong, went through a period as a sleeping MNF Shiwoo girl and is currently a MNF DES. Her friend Kim was originally a MNF Elf Shushu boy. He's a MNF Karsh these days.

Elise, my Kum Ran, was originally a Nanuri '08 girl. (That Nanuri ended up making a much better Marion-)

 

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Never changed...

Most of that is because I don't have characters first, usually... There are a few who remind me of characters of mine, but I don't try to force dolls into characters. I like the doll first and foremost and make up a new character for them!

 

Only my girl actually manged to stick to the first sculpt I got her, every one else has gone through at least one shell. My tallest guy changed the most, because it was so hard finding a body that suited him, he went through at least 4 sculpts before I settled for an EID.

 

Hm, I've been lucky so far, and I didn't have to change dolls. I was hesitant about one of my most recent - Soom Chalco - mostly because of his head size, and whether he'd fit a 70cm body. So I was ready to change him if he didn't fit - but fortunately I found a sufficient body for him, and he's here to stay.

The only time I can say I 'changed' a sculpt is my SSDF 08man - I wanted him as a practice head, to be sold later. But he was my first floating head, and I'm the kind of girl who loves strays...so I tried to think of him as a female character I didn't plan to embody in doll anyway. Now, after two years of staying as a floating head, mostly without a faceup, wig or eyes I'm ready to crop the project. This head is just not meant to stay - though it made me put that female character into my future plans

 

I have 6 dolls (2 girls, 3 boys, 1 girl cooming soon)

When I see dolls in shops or gallerys I want to have more of them. I have 1/3 dolls only. I'd love to have a sweet pair of 1/4 dolls.

My main point to buy no further dolls is not the money. I love all of my dolls and I don't want that one of them will be forgotten.
next to tha I need nearly 2 hours to change dresses of all dolls ... much work with more dolls (maybe I think to much ...)

 

Hmmm... So far I haven't changed any of my sculpts, and I don't plan on doing so. I'm the kind of girl who thinks "if it's already mine, it's here to stay". Some of my dolls have been presents (which is why the obnoxious waiting list on my signature seems to be growing each day...), and I never return presents, or sell them.

Besides, I've always liked writing, and I'm capable of creating a story in a few minutes (it has several disadvantages, like my English teacher "just loving" my writing, and giving me a barely passing grade so I'd more creative in writing my exams. She ruined my last high-school year's grade, thus rendering me unable of studying my preferred career...). So when I choose my sculpts, I do it because I like them, not because they suit a character. DZ Asura is an exception of sorts. I chose him because he's gorgeous, but he also suited a character I had planned down to the clothes, so...

I can only work on BJD during the summer, so I try not to order anything until I'm near summer or full summer so I won't be tempted to forget about everything else But when I'm browsing the sites, I always find dolls I want. I'm afraid my children will be getting a house full of dolls (and empty of everything else, I need space, lol) when I die...

 

I have 32 dolls and I haven't sold one of them so far in the four years I've been in the hobby. The only doll that changed what I had originally intended was my OE Heliot head, who was meant to be the alternate head for my Romantic Heliot, but I was never sure about that idea. The second I took it out of the box I knew the OE head was a girl and it's own character was immediately created.

Instead I tend to change my mind about sculpts before I actually buy them. If there's one I'm uncertain about for a character, then I'll leave it to mull over until I'm certain I have the sculpt I want. I would say that probably only a quarter of the dolls I buy were characters before I chose the doll, I usually make a character to match the sculpt instead (which is terrible because you can justify purchases easier, and that's how you end up with 32 dolls @_@).

 

I don't think I'll be buying multiple dolls to get a character right or selling one that doesn't fit... Mainly because I"m not making any of mine into existing characters. Rather I'll get the doll and then make up a new character specifically for it. So I'm pretty much in the same boat as kawaii_mon (except I've only started so I only have one)

It makes sense to get a new one if the current doesn't work for you though.