How much modding is too much?

It's never too much!!! I don't plan to do any intensive modding myself, but I love seeing what other people can do... part of the hobby is customization, right? I don't particularly care if the sculpt is super limited, either (maybe because I don't want any LEs), though if the same effect could have been achieved with a regular, less expensive sculpt, I might question the person's sanity...

But yeah, if you want to open the eyes a bit more, or sand the nose off, I say go for it!

 

Modded BJDs can be phenomenal--when done properly. I've seen some pretty butchered up mods...anyway, onto the topic.

It's your doll, so do what you'd like with it. If you want a SA Saint with eyes that are open more, you shouldn't let anything stop you. Although I personally don't like it when dolls have been modded to the extreme of not even being able to recognize the original mold...still, it's your doll--you should do what you'd like with it. I do have to admit that some of the more bizarre mods obviously will make any doll look completely different. >< You can't help that kind of a situtation.

I'm personally not a huge fan of modded BJDs. I might have a SA Husky with slightly opened eyes...but nothing extreme. Nothing that'll make you look at it and go "OMG she did..."

 

I believe that, if it's yours, do whatever you want to the doll. It may sound careless, but like others have said, they are meant to be customized.

 

It is shame when dolls are modded until they are ruined- ie when modding goes wrong and dolls end up with no nose or uneven eyes or no lips. that is a waste of money and time and no doubt very sad for the owner too.

However, if they are done well, whatever the look, then they are interesting to see- I love seeing horror mods and deep scars- I would never do it to one of mine as it isn't my personal taste.

I think sometimes people need to learn when to stop and look at examples of what they are trying to do, and in some cases give up and send it off to an artist who can create the look for them.

But as hard as it is to admit, once it is bought and paid for, it is that person's property to do what they want, even if it is gut wrenchingly horrific becasue it has been so poorly done.

 

If it's their doll, then my opinion shouldn't matter in what they decide to do with it. I do think it's interesting to see mods, but when you can't recognize the doll at all anymore, or if it's a really rare doll in the first place, I think it's kinda silly. They might as well have made their own doll if they were going to mod it so much. =)

 

I am too much of a chicken to do any modding myself. But there are a couple of molds that I just don't like their nose. I have a weird thing about noses. I really liked Soom's (the name just excaped me), anyhow I hated the profile and squareness of his nose. So I didn't purchase him, although on their website they make him look gorgeous. Once I saw him in person I was glad I didn't buy him because the nose would make me crazy. Or Crazier

 

I'd never tell anyone that they modded their doll too much... now, I may think it, but unless they ask for my opinion, I'd keep my comments to myself. But if the doll looks like a face-painted warrior from Naruto or something, I'd think it was too much.

When I was little, I would give my My Little Ponies "make-overs" and color their faces with crayons. The mouths would be bright red, the eye lids would be thick and blue--- they kinda looked like My Little Streetwalkers instead of ponies. I imagine if I saw a doll modded like that, my eyebrows would raise up.

 

Really there's no limit. My friend once showed me a picture of a person who was modding their doll with clockwork pieces; face, body, everything! It was amazing but must have been hard work with long hours.

so technically it all depends on the artists descretion. if you think you can make that doll more to your liking, go for it! just maintain the structural integrity.

 

So I have been watching this thread for a while and trying to figure out where I stand on the issue... So for me personally it breaks down to:

1. Super rare dolls modded extensively is not something I generally care for. Eye mods, ear mods, light sanding here and there is fine in my book. I personally wouldn't go farther than that, but that's just me.

2. Extensive mods on non-limited dolls... knock yourself out. I love to see how far things can go while still looking beautiful in their own special way.

But in the end, it isn't up to anybody but yourself. How much is too much modding? It's only too much when nobody likes it, not even yourself. And honestly, I don't think that is possible to achieve, because someone somewhere will surely love the doll the way it is or love it even more for what they can make it into. Otherwise, why are there wonderful repair artists who take "too far modded" or "damaged" dolls and make them something people adore?

 

I have to agree with limbairedhiel. If there is a character that I am looking for and there is work that I have to do to make that happen, then so be it. That being said, I am not a heavy modder. My Faust (DOI Luke v2) has some slight mods ~ just enough to allow him to stand out a little from the rest

 

i don't think there is a limit. as long as the doll can still be held together with elastic i think it's all good.

minimee are expensive so you can get a much cheaper head and mod the heck out of it to get it to look like you want to where you can't tell what the heck it was, then hey you found a cheaper more hands on way to do it kudos.

 

I'd say that 'too much modding' is when you mod a sculpt un-recognizable, then re-sell it as the sculpt without informing buyers that it's been modded/HEAVILY modded. In that case, they are expecting one thing (either the original sculpt, or something CLOSE to it) and are getting something that looks nothing like what they thought they were getting. ESPECIALLY if you sell it without providing accurate pictures of what it looks like NOW.

 

I think any mod is OK as long as it looks good. However I'm not a fan of gender mods, bodywise. The hacking off of the boobs to make a guy doll. I guess if someone wanted a hermaphrodite, seeing as it's not something offered by doll companies, then I wouldn't mind.

As many people have stated if someone has paid for doll themselves they can do what they like, but to my mind it doesn't make it right for someone to treat a very expensive doll like a 99p Barbie knockoff. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake, but if you have managed to sand off the dolls entire face and enlarged the eyes to look like the pits of hell I will be making certain character judgments about you .

On the other hand, I like well done horror mods. I totally want to try it myself, but... the dolls are sooo pretty I haven't had the heart. Even the ugly ones! I wouldn't be judging someone with a well done horror mod, I just can't see myself doing it - even though I want to! I think maybe it's because I just haven't decided on the victim and the mod yet.

 

No one has any right to say that any amount of modding is too much. Once you've purchased a doll, you can do whatever the hell you want with it. Sand their entire nose off, if you please. I'm not saying anyone SHOULD - but they sure can if they want to, and no one has a right to tell them they can't.

 

If it's an LE being modded, I feel really against it.. even though they can do whatever they want with it.

It also really depends on the person modding. If it's someone that does really awesome and creative gore mods, im very impressed! But if it's a newbie trying out their first mod who doesnt have any skill or natural talent for it, it almost always ends badly.

 

I say if you have the artistic tallent and can do it right, hack, sand, carve, and sculpt the daylights out of it, limited or no. XD I've seen modded dolls look waaay better than the original. So much so that I had the reaction of "what is THAT doll?! I must have it!" only to find that it's a OOAK mod. D:

 

personally i don't understand why someone would buy a 'sleeping/dreaming' head only to open the eyes. why not buy a head with the open eyes??? (i mean fully open them not just shave a little bit off to see the eye better or whatever)

or buy a limited then mod that, that would make me cringe. buy something less expensive and mod that, leave the limiteds for people who want them 'as is'.

as for other mods, why not? i've seen some i don't like, and i've seen some done brilliantly.

its all opinion biased anyways

 

I think it all depends on how talented the person modding is. If it's someone with amazing skills I'll say ''it's never too much''- Sadly, I've seen quite a few dollies with mods so badly done that it makes me cringe- and in those cases I'd say the person modding has gone too far and probably should have stopped before the doll got messed up so badly :'(

I'm aware of the whole ''it's your doll, your money, your decision''-thingy but still... I find it so sad to see dolls with messed up mods that are utterly badly done.

 

Even though my first doll, a super cute souldoll Paris with a third eye, is modded, I'm not really a big fan most of the time. In fact, I'm not sure, other then my Paris, that I would ever get another modded doll. There's something off putting about the term for me nowadays. I remember looking for pictures of a sleeping woosoo, beautiful sculpt, and almost everyone had modded the eyes open. Now, they all still looked absolutely amazing, but boy did it surprise me how few were untouched.

 

To answer the question:
"how much does it take for a doll to be ruined for you aesthetically by modding, and what goes into that reaction?"

For me, the answer is when the result is too much or too little .

An example of too much would be HUGE boobs beyond even exaggerated proportion (think torpedos).
An example of too little would be no lips, no nose, no eyelids. You might as well have Jack skellington's cousin...

And a good example of both too little and too much would be enlarged eye sockets that make dolls look like nocturnal marsupials.

These instances make me surprised at the lack of artistic sensibility.