How much modding is too much?

I think people should do what they wish with their dolls, expensive or less so, rare and LE or readily available, it doesn't matter to me. These dolls were meant to be customized, otherwise the wigs and eyes would be glued and the clothes sewn on.

 

I think it's only too much if it compromizes the structural integrety of the doll and it's joints.

 

How much modding is too much? I once received an F-08 head whose features had been all but sanded away. I can't help but wonder what the heck they thought they were up to.
Raven

 

Once you buy it, it's yours; do whatever you want with it.

 

As long as it doesn't end up falling apart in the end- Like Tro-Chan said.

Go nuts, that's what I say.

 

As many have said before me, there is no limit except structural integrity. These creatures are highly modifiable works of art. They exist primarily as resinous bases for your dreams. And dreams are, at the risk of sounding ridiculously cheesy, unlimited. Far beyond the limits of "rare" sculpts or what-have-you.

 

I do agree that if a person buys a doll they're entitled to do whatever they want with it. But I have to admit I feel it would be a little wrong to completely change a limited... I mean, to the point where it's completely unrecognizable - if you didn't like the face all that much anyway, why potentially deny someone who did want it if you're just going to make it into something else?

 

Obviously, it's your doll so you've got the right to do what you want with it.

However, I get the right to have my opinion on whether what you did looks good, bad, or downright hideous.

I'm not a huge fan of extreme mods. It takes talent to do a good one, and when that happens sometimes it's just stunning. I have many moments when I'm just amazed at how somebody turned a sculpt that I'd thought was ugly into something beautiful with a few tweaks.

But much more often, I'm afraid, I see sculpts that are simply destroyed by modification. Because often, someone who can not sculpt, period, is doing a modification - perhaps under the delusion that it's easier to mod than to sculpt from scratch. I would maintain that it's not easier, at least not when it comes to very major modifications; in fact in some ways it's harder. And god, when the modder has no artistic/sculpting ability, it shows! :P

 

I very much agree with this.
It is your right to change it however you want if you buy it, but I do sometimes feel that when extreem mods (and here I am talking about the big mods, and on very limiteds) are done to a LE it gives me a little pang.
Im not talking about eye openings or slight adjustments to noes or such, some of them look better slightly adjusted. Here I am talking about sanding down all the features that make the doll that specific type.
But this is just a personal issue I have. I do agree 100% that once its your property its yours to do with whatever you want. I wouldnt ever try to stop anyone, I would just silently wonder why they bought that specific doll then if they are gona change it that much.

 

I must admit, sometimes I cringe at heavily modded dolls that aren't to my tastes, but it is just that. My tastes. I would never tell an owner I didn't like their doll because it didn't suit my fancy. That is not my place and I find that rude.

Owners should be able to do whatever they want to their dolls, it's their creations. If we all kept our dolls the way the companies had them, well that would just be boring. Our dolls reflect our inner selves, we make them to be what we like. So if it is taking a certain mold and changing it so much that you can't tell who he or she was, that is your decision. Just my two cents.

 

I "personally" don't like most of the scar mods and grotesque mods out there, that I have seen. Just not my taste, but it's the owners desicion afterall.

 

I wouldn't stop someone from modding the fishsticks out of a doll... but I do feel it is a tad odd to buy a doll and then mod the entire thing unrecognizable/removing all its defining features (in the case of modding a rare doll unrecognizable... wouldn't it have been a less expensive venture to mod a less rare doll? I dunno... what's the most bang for the buck?). Though I guess some people find modding more fun than getting like a Minimee or something like that. I'm too cowardly for mods and I'd probably just shell out the money for a Minimee if I wanted something unusual. >_>

 

All a matter of taste. In my opinion I think people are very brave for modding their dolls, and if it helps them express their character better then I think go for it, whatever you want to do, as long as you are careful and you do not jepodise the structure of the doll.
I personally dont like certain mods, of course, each to their own, but I think theres a big difference when a mod is badly done and well done. A well done mod even if its not to my liking still gets a thumbs up from me.
Some people just go alittle sanding happy the first time they get a doll and ruin it, its sad, but it happens, theyll learn form it hopefully. I think you really need to know what youre doing before you get the sand paper out.
I personally like it when I see a doll so modded its beyond recognition! That to me, is a mod well done (if its well done!), its beautiful sometimes to see a doll in such a different way, and the combination of doll artist and 'mod' artist is lovely, as is when a good and original face up is done by someone on the boards here.

 

I don't mind mods, since they do look good and enhance the sculpt occasionally. But what puzzles me is when people do heavy work on a doll (such as gender mods and permanent facial hair) and then try to sell it. Especially if it's a poorly-done/ugly mod and they ask a lot of money for it. I'm all for modding a doll to your tastes but trying to sell it off is a waste of time, I think. By modifying the doll's features so much you make it "your" doll, and I for one wouldn't want a doll that is no longer "virgin".

 

The dolls are rendered to nothing but small shards of unrecognisable resin <----too much modding.

Anything before that is okay I guess^^;
Or maybe I just haven't seen anything that appalled me (other than gore, but that's just personal^^; )

 

I think "too much" and "unrecognizable" depends on the sculpt & what's been done to it. It also depends on how each viewer perceives that face to begin with. Some people think that big pillowy divot in Limho Mano's lower lip is what makes him to die for, and other people would love Mano if it weren't for that exact divot in his lower lip. So modifying a feature that you want to change, it's probably always seen by "sacrilege" as somebody else out there... and somebody else thinks that you've just made him perfect.

I once fell accidentally in love with a Soom Namu who'd been modded to have his eyes half-shut & his nose lightened up considerably... even though Namu's giant eyes & giant nose were two of my favorite features about him already. It makes a big difference how well the modification was done, of course, and whether it's Good-Unrecognizable or Bad-Unrecognizable. Other Namu mods make me just want to come rescue him.

When it comes to rarities & limiteds, yeah, ow! I wince. Just a gut-reaction. Even while I applaud a really good extreme-mod to a limited, I still wince reflexively inside. Can't be helped. ;;

Lots of people like non-virgin dolls. If it's an attractive & well-done modification, that might even make the doll sell faster than it would have originally.
And even for the plastic-surgery disasters out there, you can often find someone willing to pay you a hundred bucks "salvage" to take it as a practice-head. ^^

 

I would be disturbed by a mod if someone who didn't know what they were doing wrecked a very expensive or very limited head, but I haven't seen any occurrences of that, thankfully. It seems that most people are so concerned with getting the full amount of money for the doll that they know not to take a chance on messing it up.

If someone who does know what they're doing mods a head then I'm usually fine with that even if it's a limited head. The only time I've ever felt upset about it was when someone took one of my favorite heads - a discontinued FCS model - and sanded off what I considered to be its most distinctive feature, therefore making it look, to me, generic. I didn't say anything about it though because it's not my place to criticize what others do with their own dolls, plus I already own two of that particular discontinued sculpt and other people seemed to like the mod. It did make me go "Ow!" inside though, and hug my own dear boy all that much more. And it made me dislike the modder's work even more - I wasn't too surprised as I didn't like any of her work in the first place. It's good quality work, I just personally don't like it at all.

 

I don't think there's such a thing as to much modding. I think that most people have a goal when they start. I know I could never make a whole doll from scratch. Heck, I couldn't mod one. I figure some people might buy a doll as a base then change it to get to that end goal. I actually think its pretty neat myself. I don't mind a lot of modding. I would love to see what people come up with and think its incredibly creative.

 

I have mad respect for well-done mods. I can't remember where I saw it (might've been DoA) but there was a photoshoot with a modded Yukinojo and it was amazing! I couldn't recognize the sculpt at first, but the modding was sooooo good! I for one wouldn't have a doll modded let alone do one myself, but for those that know what they're doing, keep on keeping on!