If you reshell a doll does it still feel like the original?

Ah, no... I feel like I develop the character for the doll. Or rather I start out with an idea for one character and it develops into another, or at least a different version of that character.

 

I've both reshelled characters and have totally overhauled a doll to have a completely new one

In the case of reshelling a character into a new doll, I honestly usually end up selling the old one and don't even think of it often, I usually buy with a specific character in mind so once the doll no longer works for them, usually I can't justify keeping it. My feelings are usually attached to the character more than the doll itself, if a different doll will work better than chances are I'll like it better than the old anyway

 

The only time i reshelled was into a sculpt that was closer to the character- he felt much more like himself when i did. I dont really see a reason to reshell if it feels like the character has settled comfortably into the doll, only if it feels like the character is being sort of held back by their current form. I agree that the dolls themselves can sort of pick up personalities and quirks over time, it's part of the reason i love them so much actually

 

I've reshelled many dolls, and most of the time, it does feel like the same character. Usually, I have characters first and dolls later, so it's inevitable that sometimes I end up finding a doll who fits my character better over time. I've also had some characters start as YoSD or smaller and "grow up" over the years, so I reshell to fit their age.

 

I recently dealt with a character overhaul on this level. The OC in question has gone through about four previous head sculpts so far, but for the fifth...I ended up just reshelling the whole bjd: body, head and all.

As for how I've felt about the process....it's kind of odd. I really liked the aesthetic and poseability of his original body, but with his new one, along with his new head, at the same time...it feels like he's finally evolved into the character I've always envisioned him to be—the way the was supposed to be. Honestly, I'm still adjusting to the change, but I feel more certain about his character now, as he finally feels...complete. I don't think I'll be planning to redo him in any major fashion again for a long time.

(Strange add-on: for the longest time, I'd dreamt of getting one of Granado's male sculpts for at least one of my OCs, and also getting one of Ringdoll's larger male bodies. Now, with this guy—I've fulfilled both dreams )

In general, when I reshell a bjd—it's because I no longer see their current shell as being the character they were shelled as. Sometimes I can repurpose the previous head for another OC, or keep it around for reasons. A lot of the time, however...I lose interest in the head (and, on the rare occasion—body) altogether, and the best thing for me to do is just sell it to somebody who could give them a new life.

 

I've done a total overhaul of my primary girl, and I didn't regret it one bit. I am more attached to the characters than the actual shells, I realized. As an Impldoll Azalea (inasmuch as I loved that sculpt), there was something that wasn't sitting well with me (especially when in tandem with my Granado Michael). The upgrade came in stages: just a head at first, then the body (when one of my favorite companies finally released a mobility version I saw worth buying).

Sure, the original shell felt nothing like the new one, but that's the point. As a Fantasia Doll Vivian (with an Iplehouse Scarlet as an alternate), she now radiates the sass that the older shell wasn't quite able to capture. Like what others have already done, I tried keeping the old shell around for a while to see if it could be reused for another character. Unfortunately, it just wasn't working, and it ended up being rehomed to someone who now adores that doll to pieces. One could call it a win-win scenario for myself and my friend.

 

I've had a couple characters that got a different doll shell throughout the years. Usually because my taste had changed or because back then there was no better doll for this character available but years down the road there finally was and I felt a change would make the character fit more my idea of them.
Usually when I did that, I kept the old shell around to see if the new one works. Sometimes I didn't. As soon as I felt though that the new shell works, I would let got of the old one definitely. Reusing them for a different OC I can't, since I explicitly buy dolls to be certain characters and re-using the same face would be weird. Only exception is if the old version is a younger form of the character, then I might keep the head around for pictures where they are supposed to be younger.
This is of course the case for reshelling it into an entirely different doll.

In case of shelling the character into the same doll again, maybe because the old one horribly yellowed or got damaged, I also think it wouldn't feel quite the same. I sometimes think about getting a new Arvid from Iplehouse, simply because the old body is a nightmare and to freshen up his skin tone, but I don't know. Feels odd.

 

Hmm. When I bought a second IH Felix to have him on the Model SID body, I asked for the same faceup as in the original release. Of course I didn't expect it to turn out exactly the same, but somehow the new one has a much happier feel to it than my earlier version, which... is a problem. (Unfortunately, the difference between the old french resin formula and the new RS is too obvious for me to just swap them.) So no, in this case it doesn't still feel like the same character.

 

Speaking for myself, I don't think so. I tried putting my first BJD's head on another body and couldn't even make that work! He's a Volks SD13 Link. I put him on a SD Graffiti body, and he instantly became this surly teenager I didn't know. I'm just not ready for him to grow up yet!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I don't think I could, because I bought the dolls first and developed the characters afterwards. I have given some of them new bodies that suit them better, though.

 

When I first got into BJDs, I wanted to create Sakuma Ryuichi from Gravitation, in resin. He was my favorite anime character at the time, and I thought it would be a great way to get into this hobby.

I ended up buying a tiny from a friend and made him into a 12 year old version of the character. That worked for a short while, but then I realized I was 1.) not into tinies, and 2.) wanted a mature version of him. I ended up re-homing miniRyuichi to someone that loves tinies, and the search was back on.

A friend suggested a Luts/ CP Delf Shiwoo and sent me a link, and that was all she wrote! I must have looked at the original Shiwoo page a million times before I bought a 60cm body that was going to be Ryuichi. Another friend loaned me a head, and he was Ryuichi for a while, but I really wanted a Shiwoo head for him. I ended up being gifted a brand-new Shiwoo head for Ryuichi, and that was it! A few faceups and many wigs later, and he's more or less perfect! I still need to get him his canon wig, but even with the temp wig he currently has, he's still Ryuichi!



Ryuichi's red leather outfit by Ryuichi Sakuma, on Flickr

Some of my other dolls I might be able to reshell should something happen to them, but I honestly don't think I can do that with Ryuichi.

Ryu

 

I don't think I'd ever re-buy a doll because it yellowed. Unless it was old French resin and was like, really yellow. And I wanted a new doll for that character anyway. First, won't the new one just end up the same color eventually? You'd just be stuck with the same problem again, later on down the road. A lot of the dolls I have that are WS and are not as white as they used to be were all LE's anyway, I literally can't replace them. And I mean, resin yellows. it just does, there's no avoiding it.

I have reshelled a character into a doll many times, usually the same handful I can't seem to get right (Kimi, Uriel and now Poison Ivy are my top three who have gone through 4-5 shells each). Uriel was the only one that I went through three heads before going back to the original (Migidoll Miho) which was still the best, then ultimately realizing I wanted him to work with my current group better and reshelling him again into a Granado Xavier. Xavier works really well for his character, and looks better with my current group....and I used his old head and original body to reshell the character of my second doll I sold off a few years ago and missed (his character, not his doll. The doll was 1/4 and didn't work with my other dolls). So that worked out great.

Other than Uriel's Miho, I tend to like the new ones better. There is generally a reason to reshell a character - you want a different scale, the old head was bought before all these new choices were available and you settled, the character has grown out of it's old shell, you need it to match a different aesthetic, something new comes out that better represents the character - it's not usually done for the heck of it. And not everyone does it. Some of my oldest dolls have been the same character for 11 and 12 years, and though I've updated their looks with new faceups and wigs even new bodies for three of them, they're the same characters they've always been, and aren't likely to ever change.

 

If yellowing is the only problem, there are threads in the Workshop area that show you how to dye a doll back to its original color. I'm not sure if there are any threads that help de-yellow or bleach a white-skinned doll any longer, but you could look.

Ryu