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Is a backstory a turn-off or turn-on when buying a doll?

Jan 24, 2007

    1. I do enjoy reading back stories written by the companies but it doesn't influence whether or not i will buy the doll. I mean, as soon as the doll comes home to me, I am only going to change it to suit me and my needs. If I don't think the doll has the right potentials to become the character I want, I won't buy.

      Simple as.
       
    2. I'll respect them but when it comes to me, I'll kinda ignore it (especially if its first hand). If it's a twice loved, I'll actually adopt the doll and his/her past.
       
    3. It actually depends on the story. Sometimes, I'll be completely turned off and never think twice about the doll again. Other times it's actually a plus. Most of the time, I find it completely irrelevant.
       
    4. I don't think a company backstory particularly matters - I mean, the dolls come with names already, but we all rename them without a second thought, on the whole.

      The only thing that might affect my doll's character is if he comes as a fullset, and I buy that - because if I'm buying a doll with an expensive pirate outfit, for example, he's going to have to have *some* kind of reason why he's wearing it. Even if it's just 'because pirates are awesome and so am I', the pirate outfit's still having some kind of effect on his personality, if that makes sense!
       
    5. To me it doesn't matter 'cause I know I'm gonna change it anyway :\
       
    6. You know, that's a really good way of thinking about it.
       
    7. I think the back stories are fun to read. But my memory is so bad that I don't remember the story by the time they get home. So it make no difference..
       
    8. Normally I think "Oh, that's cute" and move past it, but recently I noticed what Luts had written for Howl: "Don't cry anymore. I am here to hug you, in our own little garden with snow flowers." And my heart just skipped a beat, it was so non-specific and sweet, it made me love the sculpt even more somehow. x3 So, sometimes it's a plus, but it's never a turn-off because more often than not, I ignore it entirely, haha.
       
    9. i actually enjoy reading the back stories because i like to know what it was that the artist was thinking about when they sculpted the doll. however it has no affect on whether or not i buy the doll.

      i bought a narin Dandelion late last year, and i actually was deeply touched by the back story Bimong created for this doll. it made me want her even more at that point because i felt that when i looked at her, it was obvious how much he loved what he had made. not to mention it helped that the story had been translated properly so i could fully appreciate it.
       
    10. I do read the little background stories (It's interesting seeing the ideas the company has for that particular mould) But that's all they are, little stories. They don't change my opinion of the doll at all.
       
    11. Like mostly everyone else here, I ignore the backstory, especially when I've already developed a character for the doll. But I do appreciate that the makers put time and effort into the overall presentation of the doll. It definitely feels more professional and leaves a better impression than a maker who names their dolls with random letters and numbers.

      In particular, I enjoy seeing SOOM's backstory for their monthlies. It's neat that they gave their dolls "themes". :D
       
    12. As much as I like reading backstories, for me they don't really matter. I do appreciate the effort of doll companies in coming up with backstories for their dolls though, because that ain't an easy job.
       
    13. Honestly, for the dollfies I buy, I don't look into their backstory because I already have so much in mind for them that it would be weird to always have that in the back of my mind.
       
    14. A doll having a backstory doesn't matter to me. I believe those are 2 separate things. The doll in the picture has that backstory, however my doll is a diff doll.. just with the same face. Plus, backstories are just fun to read.
       
    15. I like reading the company-created backstories for their dolls, but I don't use them as guidelines for the backgrounds and personalities I create. I may draw inspiration from it or include pieces in the my dolls' stories, but overall it does not make me want to buy it more or less. I do appreciate the companies that add backstories since it is a nice personal touch.
       
    16. I choose dolls for their sculpts to fit my OCs. I don't ever read the backstories because I'm not keeping their characters. I don't even know which of mine do or don't have company stories.
       
    17. I like to read the backstories on the company sites, but they do absolutely nothing to affect whether or not I want a sculpt.

      For me, dolls are like actors in a play or a movie. Where they may be the villain in one story, in another story they may well be the hero. I'm not going to hold it against a sculpt if I don't care for the story that the company crafted for them. If that sculpt is perfect for the role I have in mind for it, then it's coming home.
       
    18. I overwrite the sculpt name so I wouldn't be bothered. One time some friends and I found a store with their own series of short comics. It shows back story to some of their dolls and shenanigans in the office. It was hilarious and amazing to read. I actually want to try that with my dolls at some point. just for fun.
       
    19. They're interesting and it's clear sometimes that lots of thought was put into them (I'm especially a fan of Ringdoll's stories and the resultant cool photoshoots and outfits for the fullset dolls I never get anyway) but ultimately it's irrelevant to me, because like lots of people here, I usually have a character planned and just shopped around for a sculpt.

      My Ringdoll Norman Light 2.0's character is so far from their Evil Orphanage Administrator backstory that it's actually funny to me, but I still think it's an interesting thing and appreciate that they took the time to write up a bio for him. It's a sales tactic as well, of course, but I don't feel like it's too far from what hobbyists do with their dolls anyway, or from buying a secondhand doll and wiping it or disregarding whatever the original owner did with it.

      Sometimes a thing about the doll will become a character trait kind of retroactively. I'd like Ringdoll Illya for one of them, and I didn't realize that the stretched earlobes were part of the sculpt and not a one-off thing until I saw the blank head after they put it up for sale, so now that character has stretched lobes because I thought it was interesting and it fits him, and I would rather keep them intact than try to mod them off.

      EDIT: Hi, apparently I like Ringdoll a lot.
       
      #139 Lighthouse Asylum, Dec 27, 2015
      Last edited: Dec 27, 2015
      • x 1
    20. I honestly create their stories as I go.

      If I like a sculpt, I suddenly find myself imagining their life. Though they are not necessary in the story, I still find a way to make them necessary enough to purchase them.