Love imperfection - or not?

I really am a perfectionist, but sometimes scars fir the character.
My first doll that's on the way really isn't the type for scars and bruises, but the second one I'm planning might be so.
She would be a warrior and her scars would have a story, and if everything falls into place, ugly scar or not, then it's perfect for me.

 

Hm. Well, I don't like perfect. It bores me. Once one has had perfection, it lessens the existence of all other things. That's my opinion on it at least.

I also think that the portrayal of the darker side of life allows for us to feel more touched when the bits of light shine through.

What is more artistic in writing? A princess that has had everything in life perfect and marries the handsome prince? Or the step-daughter that was hated and loathed that is rescued by the only person willing to change her life to prove to her his love? <<; I think that sounds about right.

I think there is also a part of bravery imperfect depictions on dolls display. Usually, a powerful man, like one that is in power, is physically wounded. A cut, a scar. It is a tribal image of survival. A person who did not just lay down and die at the first sign of fear. They withstood it, and bettered themselves from it.

As a doll collector who also role-plays, it's simply because of a "give and take" system. You can't have someone who is undyingly awesome with the sexiest body on earth, could kill anyone they wanted, and also come out unharmed each time they get into a confrontation. If you do, there is a term for it. <<;

That's why all of my character and hopefully soon to be dolls have something about them that gives them character. Perfections, and flaws. The image of human, as these dolls try to represent, are imperfect creatures. Both physically, and mentally. If they are to be so real, why not give them temptation and flaws?

--
On a side note, I like fat boys. I find their bodies to be perfect. Thus why I have a modded imperfect and fat doll. <- Just thought I should add that in to the line of "imperfect."

 

One of my boys has scars, it's a character thing, not a doll thing. But anyway, i could have chosen 'perfection' but for me read perfection is getting a resin doll and making it as real as possible, as human as possible. For that they need flaws.

 

I have one doll I'm hoping to get eventually, who has a scar that starts from the far left side of his face, crosses the bridge of his nose, goes INTO his right eye and separates into two different branches, one across the right eyebrow and one across the right temple. So... yes. I do love imperfection, when it furthers the character.

 

I'm going to be a total pain in the ass here and say that perfection is such an abstract, relative thing that it would be impossible to define what a perfect doll would look like. Would a doll be perfect because it recreates reality or could a doll be perfect because of its symmetry or because it has some quality our brains are hard-wired to desire, etc.?

All right, so I'm pretty much done with that.

Well said, there.

I would say that scars and disfigurements are a very quick, visual way to communicate a character. The very act of you questioning "Who are they hurting for, and why?" means that the artist has communicated what they needed through the expression.

I'd also like to state that to me a doll is a thing, not a living being; I'm not at all superstitious, although I'm not ashamed to admit that I anthropomorphise. I don't ever feel guilty about "hurting" things that are not real and don't feel pain. I certainly can emphasize with the character, 'cos that's what characters do to us, but I would never feel guilt.

PS: My character is having scars, though I haven't decided to what degree. certainly they will be on his back and arms.

 

Neither of my boys have scars painted on or anything, but my F-27 is really old and has multiple owners, so he's gotten a fair share of scrapes on his body. I think they add a bit of character. And they help make him look different from his twin since his body is pristine.

One thing I love about the Syo mold too is that it's not perfectly symmetrical, it has that human characteristic, yet is still very doll-like with the proportions.

 

Let us not forget that no matter how much personality these dolls may seem to possess, they are just that; dolls. In the end they are expensive toys, not living beings, and so I think giving them scars or certain disfigurements is more justified because they are not alive (in the sense that living, breathing things are alive and can feel pain). Plus, as I'm sure many have mentioned, a lot of members create back stories for their dolls that involve conflict or violence and add the scars to show the result of the incident.

I think we do it because we can without facing adverse consequences; we'd never do it to a living being, but can still express ourselves and our creative sides through these dolls. My one boy has scars, but they are the direct result of his past. And I'll also admit that it's fun to experiment with paint and tacky glue to see what kinds of effects I can create

 

Real people bear emotional scars just as often, or more often, than they bear physical scars. Dolls can't explicitly tell us about what caused their emotional scars, like real people can, but dolls can bear physical ones, to hint at their stories.

It makes perfect sense to me that in doll customization, one might choose a physical scar to represent the difficult things the character has lived through in the past. I wouldn't call it an "imperfection" necessarily - not if it represents the character better.

I haven't made a doll with a quote-unquote "imperfection" or scar, yet, but I wouldn't rule it out.

 

I think that sometimes -especially when a complex character is involved- it's more natural to carry over the day-to-day aspects of life.

My Kiss, Del, has a bandaid on his cheek, always has/always will, I don't actually know what kind of birthmark he has under it, because it's not something I've ever thought too hard about, but it's character based. But having said I've put a physical marker out in the open like that, I also want to say that I put beauty spots//freckles, scratches and other kinds of indiscriminant, mostly uninteresting markings on him too; just because it makes sense for him to have 'people markings' like a normal person would. It would be strange for me to have a doll without a kind of naturalization to it. Having said that, I do change the scratches on my Kiss boy from time to time -because you don't always have scratches on your knee's or hands, they heal and fade after a while, then you get new ones.

For me, it's not like physical imperfections define the character in any major way, but I do think that sometimes they are a part of the process. There's no way I would put a great big scar on a dolls face and then not try to blend it with average everyday kind of scars.
I think scars and imperfections bring a kind of natural aspect to dolls when done modestly. And like people with scars, sometimes there is a good story, sometimes you don't know how the mark got there. I think they do usually bring another level of human esthetic to the doll world though, even if the dolls don't actually feel, they can adopt characterization.

 

I think that we scar/make our dolls look 'beat up' sometimes because maybe, its a hardship in their life? Ultamately, if it goes with the character, its more realistic, and isnt that why many of us are into the hobby? Weither it be for writing, drawing, sewing, or other things, we all want our dolls to be more real (or less in the case of vampires and such?).
My doll has scars up his left arm to show a time in his life that wasn't so bright. I would also like to give him a sleeve on that arm to show that everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes we also want to hide them.
My incomming doll i plan to scar, also. His is alittle less emotional. He had his wings ripped from his body at the research facility that he soon after, ran away from.
Though, I think the point is so that they're more real, like humans. We get hurt, or have scars. Even if I dont wish harm on others (usually) I think that giving them scars/bruises will make them less of the 'perfect' they come as. They become more yours.
Sorry if thats hard to follow

GH

 

i guess for my girl i never really decided that she would be covered in scars from past injuries. i guess it just happened. as i have grown up my characters have come with me, i think that a lot of my character's traumatic looks come from experiences that i have had, so i emulate them on my dolls if that make sense?

i am not done customizing my girl's body yet, but it's weird because her face is seemingly untouched, but the rest of her body is heavily scarred.... i think that i enjoy the juxtaposition of something seemingly perfect, with obvious imperfection. i agree with what a lot of other people have said, the human part of the doll is important to me. i am actually worried she might be to real looking when i am done but i guess we will see.

to me it's not really a question of hurting her, i don't plan on carving the scars in OoO;;; but i feel the same about the character. i don't really feel like i did it to her you know? i feel also that if someone does not add this side of their doll, to them their doll is not really who they want it to be. if you don't acknowledge that your character has issues, if they do, then they can feel incomplete. i was actually never going to do any body blushing on my doll, but i realized that without her scars, which really define who she is and what she has been through, she is incomplete and does not fulfill why i bought the doll in the first place.

XD I hope that made sense!!!!

 

I'll throw my 2 cents in here too... Because I seem to be the other side.

I understand the 'It gives it character/personality/story" comments. So much of this hobby is in doll customization, and so many people develop their dolls around characters; so I understand why people create imperfect dolls. I also really like seeing well done imperfection mods on dolls.

I just don't think i could ever do it. I'm totally on the other side..I spend all that time looking for a mold...when I get the doll, the first thing I don't want to do is scar it up and gouge its face. XD It seems like [for me, not for anyone else] like I'd be ruining my doll. :/ Then again my dolls aren't really based on characters; but even if I created a character with scars/imperfections of that sort....I still don't think I could buy a doll just to do that to it.

 

Personally- and this may be kind of stupid since I'm new here- I would like my doll to be perfect. To me, his perfection is exactly what gives him character and reflects back the real imperfections of real people. I don't need him to have scars- I respect that on other dolls, but on mine, the simple fact that he doesn't when everyone else does makes him contrary and the fact that his face and body are perfect while his mind may be the thing that's scarred (I haven't decided on his character yet) that would be a pretty cool reversal of normalcy ^^
To me dolls are instruments to express our ultimate creativity and uniquness- our secret aspirations perpetutation onto a human-like form that belongs exclusively to us and therefor reflects us in some way. That's why my doll will be perfect- he'll be an inverse reflection of my personal perfectionist personality and my own very real scars

 

Well as the saying goes, nothing and I mean nothing is perfect. Any doll you look at you can find at least one thing wrong whether the nose is to big, the body sculpt isnt as nice as it could be, the hands are to manly for a girl etc. But there is a difference between Buying a sculpt the way it is, and having a doll with not very well done makeup. I want all my dolls to have very nice clothes and faceups and that to me is what perfection is all about doing the best you can for your dollies ^^

 

ha, glad I'm far from alone, one of my chars has his skin just about covered with scars, surgery marks, cyborg stuff and hes blind. how lucky can you get ?

it will take awile before I start on those scars, but it really adds the character much much more tho the doll, the character the person wanted the doll to be :]

 

i just wanted to highlight what you said here because i think that it is a really good point. i feel like in my opinion, that most dolls really don't have scarring or any imperfections about them. and maybe it is just the dolls i have seen on DOA but when i go to meets i see very few people going to the lengths of adding this third dimension to their doll's character. not that i think there is anything wrong with someone having a doll that isn't broken on the outside, but i think that i really like being able to see this sort of thing.

when you think about it, unless you know the doll owner properly, it is hard to know what that character of the doll has been through. seeing the scarring or tattoos or anything that differentiates that person's doll with the one straight from the factory (there is nothing wrong with that kind of doll!) helps me decipher who that character is. it is hard to know if someone does not tell you. and i know that for me it is very personal to talk about my doll. i think it is a really creative way to convey a story.

but like i said i think there is nothing wrong with a doll that does not have these outward signs, i just find them harder to learn about.

 

I don't think I would scar-mod my dolls currently unless I wanted to cover-up damage because I am a wimp... I don't think I will try to do some of the more hardcore mods until I feel that I am in a financial position where I'm not going to cry my little eyes out too much if I cut too far or something. (I like cut in scars or raised scars, I think it looks more realistic since scars aren't perfectly flat on the skin IRL)

Though I do think scars and the like are interesting. It's just another visual element to me. Just something to look at. Sometimes I want a character with more detail to their face than pristine smooth skin. I have one character with scars on his face for absolutely no reason except that they are visually pleasing to me (I don't even remember why I gave them to him). Except his closest doll equivalent is tan Soo-Ri so he's not getting dollified any time soon...

 

My dolls will probably be mostly scar-free... They are ancient mythological beings and by that token are all sort of... well... perfect. *L* They have powers of restoration and regeneration that make scarring impossible... or they simply dont have actual bodies... just constructs or illusions of bodies, which they continually create and wear like suits.

I will have one fallen angel who pierces to excess and one crane maiden who is blind, though. I don't consider these scars as much as character development.

Azhrafael is a 'daemon' of decadence. His way of existence and also his method of seduction has to do with pushing past limits into a place where they do not exist any longer. His piercings are not going to be typical ring or barbells here and there however, they will essentially hold his clothing on. I want them to communicate a certain disturbing abandon.... like he is above pain and the illusion of conventional reality. That's what he'd say about himself, if he woke up one day and spoke.

Amane-hime was blinded in a battle with an herb witch who captured and bound her mate. They have been seperated for hundreds of years since this conflict. Her blindness isn't simply an injury though... it removes her innate and magical ability to sense her mate's presence. So she cannot find him magically, and therefore cannot procreate to achieve the next generation of Tsuru. They are the only two on earth, as per the myth. Her blindness also acts as a symbol of her ability to see into the future and 'into' other persons. Her loss of sight was effectively traded for her power. This is a common convention and I liked it. Also gives me an excuse to get gorgeous blind eyes. *L*

 

I read in one of my writers magazines that we are at our best when we do our worst to our characters. Why is that? To make them real. A very popular theme in writing that I see is easily shared in the characters created with BJDs; hurt/comfort. We can connect better with a character who is slightly, or sometimes even majorly, flawed in some way, either physically or mentally, because when they are hurt, we (or the reader) feel for them more, and want to comfort them. When it comes to the BJDs who are bought specifically to be characters, rather than pretty toys to be looked at and not touched, I can see why someone would mod it to add scars. Personally I won't be adding physical scars, merely out of fear of ruining the doll, but you can be sure that means he will have lots of mental scars. I have characters that I have written into different stories for several years and the more I've put them through the more I love them and want to write for them. I think its basically the same for the BJD char dolls.