Love imperfection - or not?

Interesting topic. I think it adds extra character to a doll and sets them apart in a certain way. We want our dolls to look real (Or some of us) so making them a little more human sometimes means making them physically vunerable. They can't really scar as they don't have skin.
I learned at a very young age to think scars were pretty cool as I was and still am a huge action man collector and he as always had a scar on his right cheek. (until recently)
How did he get it? There's always a story behind a scar. I think it's very character building.

 

You may not wish for those sort of things to happen to people in life, but that doesn't stop people from getting hurt. Most things you do to these dolls could also happen to people.

Real people are burned, stabbed, attacked, born with bad eyes, loose eyes, scarred, scratched and bruised all the time in life. It's human nature to be injured or scarred or have defects, we can't escape that. When we are injured, we don't always heal.

I think people are just trying to push that into their dolls. If their dolls character does have scars or something, then adding that to the doll for makes them more 'complete'. Even though these dolls can look very realistic, they are also very 'perfect'. If someone wants to truly show their doll as a human, then they probably don't want the doll to be perfect.

 

I choose the physical imperfections that I do in my current doll, and future dolls, because it's part of their character. If their characters were all perfect, they'd be rather...well...boring. No one is perfect. We all have our imperfections. And so, when I create characters, for art, for role play, for stories, they each have their own flaws, their own imperfections, their own 'scars', and their own stories for how they got there. My current doll, for instance, has scars on his shoulders and arms from a severe attack on him that happened when he was 15. I've not modded the scars on yet, but when I do, I'll have him mostly dressed in shirts or something that mostly cover them as he doesn't like others to see, and so ask about them. Another future doll, Kayou, is mute. Not something that shows physically, of course, but she was born that way. It makes them more believable, more real, and more interesting.

 

I have a scar on my face, you cannot notice it unless I point it out (I tried to shave when I was 4 -.-)
But this is very interesting especially people who super bond and believe their dolls are children. I don't really think there's anything wrong with me doing it personally since this thing doesn't go beyond a toy for me.

I don't really care for perfection or imperfection in my doll. I just like my dolls the way they are.

 

One of my dolls has a lot of tattooes - SOme of them good, some of them terrible. The terrible ones were meant to be terrible, to make him look more like someone who's collected a lifetime's worth of skin art, and made some bad choices in his day.

I suppose, in my case, I do it to make my characters look truer to the archetypes which they're supposed to portray.

 

When I get Larten he will have a scar on his face and scars on his fingertips. These are for his character. The fingertip scars are from when he became a vampire, (Yes, he is Larten Crepsley from Cirque Du Freak) and the one on his face is from when he tried to kiss a lady who didn't want to be kissed

Alice will have the same fingertip scars, but for different reasons (To show she is accepted by the vampires). And then she will have one on her face (Small ones that look like scratches, different than Larten's) to protect her from the vampaneze (again, from the book. Hard to explain)

So why they will have scars: Larten's are from his character, so I can't change them.

Alice's scars are to protect her though. So I guess she experienced pain to save her from death

 

It can make them more human. Many dolls have complex backstories, and having a scar very well may be just a part of their character. I have a doll with a scar on his cheek. The running joke is that every time someone asks where he got it, he gives a completely different answer "my ex-girlfriend's cat scratched me," "I got in a fight," "I fell down the stairs," "it was from a motorcycle accident etc etc. So his scar is just part of who he is and his story (though he keeps changing it).

I also find visually interesting to be more appealing than conventionally beautiful, so imperfections can really add to the look of the doll (for me)--same reason I appreciate quirky sculpts, and I really like big noses

 

I think one of the best ways to explain it came from a song. "My scars remind me that the past is real" (Scars by Papa Roach). It adds to a character's back story. None of my dolls have scars but I can understand why some people go for them. I myself have several scars (mostly due to my own klutzy-ness ^ ^; ) but each one is like a memory and i wouldn't get rid of them for any reason.

i was recently in an accident during the summer while volunteering at an animal shelter which resulted in my having to get stitches in my FACE. I now have a permanent scar at the start of my eyebrow but I think it's something to be proud of. Even after that incident, I went right back to volunteering, even taking care of the dog that gave me the scar. I think of it as proof of resiliance. Those feeling could easily translate to something a person would want to convey in one of their characters.

 

I'm not into scarred dolls just for the sake of imperfection, but if a scar fits who the doll is supposed to be, then why not?

I do like realistic, "imperfect" features on dolls because perfection to me looks "doll-like" after a while, and bores me to death.

 

Agreeing with everyone else! It helps make the doll truly "yours" and individual, it's a stage of customisation and often is there for the character's back-story/history/personality. ^^

I'm not into thinking scars are really coooooooool or whatever (I have bazillions and I'm going to have to live with that the rest of my life), but I see no reason not to put it on a doll. To me it's similar to choosing an eye-colour or a dress style

 

Can you describe it as an imperfection? I only thought about this when one of my guys got back from having his face heavily scarred, I remember saying he was finally perfect, if we are purposely putting "Imperfections" on the doll to make them the way we want is it really an imperfection? I don't differentiate between giving a doll a scar to fit its character and giving a doll eyes to match its character.

 

I'm pretty big on the hobby for its customization aspect.

As a result, I'm modding/converting my SOOM Lupin into an Inquisitor from Warhammer 40K. Most Inquisitors are, at the middle points of their careers, held together by sutures and surgical glue, therefore Adrian's covered in scars and bionics.

My reasons for doing so are manifold. It fits the canon, I like the contrast of perfection on one side of his face and ruin (with a glowy cybereye) on the other, and I guess character. He used to be vain, and now he isn't, and he's a bit ashamed of it.

But mostly because I like taking a pristine doll out of the box, and seeing if I can make him different and mine, if I can turn this inanimate chunk of resin into something that approximates a character. The way I see it, this is like miniatures conversion, just on a 1/3 scale as opposed to a 28mm scale.

- Mel

 

To me every doll is a character.
and like in any work of fiction there are different people, more perfect, less perfect... for me the character comes first, then the doll, so if I get a doll, they emulate the character. if they had a scar, so does the doll. if they have horns or piercings, that happens too.

This also ventures into the realm of "what is perfect?" To me... it's perfect when the doll perfectly matches the character. When it meets what I saw in my mind before even starting out. Like people, I see dolls and characters as individuals, and rate them with different criteria... so each and every part of my collection is perfect.. or will be when they have the right eyes/hair/clothes/mods/whatever.

 

I haven't got any scarred/burnt characters etc, but I think that a large number (if not most) of us BJD people have extensive, well planned out characters, with lengthy backgrounds, which mean they have scars and such. Maybe they're what distinguishes them, or just to set them apart or just add character.

If I had a character that was meant to have a rough past, I would probably most likely give him some reminders, if not 'marks' of that. Maybe just to show others a little bit about his character. I guess it makes it more 'real' than just writing underneath in a caption. "When he was 5, he was severely burnt." etc. (:
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I'd also like to add only one of my dolls has a scar. I have three perfect girls so I figured my boy has to be a bit more rough and ready I don't know how he got them, maybe he will tell me when he's here but I know he's very active and like adventure.

 

I'm with the side of scars only adds to the doll. For instance, if I decided to take an older character of mine and make him into a doll, he'd be completely covered with scars and tattoos, as he is an archaic winged-humanoid who used to be a ArchGeneral/Warlord. They're part of who he is.

Some people like how the scars look and get them on their dolls for that reason, but to my knowledge, most of everyone whose doll/s have a scar/several scars have perfectly valid explanations and back stories. I've pretty much resaid what others have said >_>;;; but yea. It's not that they wish it upon someone else, it's just part of who they are.

 

i know this may sound odd, but i think some people find injured/disfigured people attractive. i know i do. and i think people feel affection and pity for 'imperfect' dolls. also, scars and injuries are seen as manly and cool, for example, people who give their vampire character scars from where they've had a struggle with a vampire slayer or whatever.

 

While I don't have scarred dolls myself, I love and am fascinated by dolls with scar mods, and even more 'grotesque' mods - when they are skillfully done. There is skill behind making realistic oozing wounds, I love the effect of them, and also how it can be integrated with the doll seamlessly, the doll remains beautiful even with these imposed 'flaws'. I can understand how some people don't like these sorts of mods at all - I have a friend who enjoys BJD photography, and horror movies, so I assumed she'd appreciate gore mods as much as I do, and when I showed her some pictures of them she didn't like them at all. It's all down to personal taste as to what is aesthetically pleasing, and also for character building.
While I can understand the mother with resin children mindset where they want no percieved harm to befall their dolls, I myself am inclined to a mindset where the doll owner is god and if they want realistic characters that have had physical wounds and struggles, so be it and let them revel in it, and I'll enjoy all the pictures