Modification Ethics

I understand and think aesthetic modification on dolls is reasonable, so long as if they end up being sold they aren't being sold for an un modded price.

What irks me is seeing limited releases that had a small event period; just trying to find an unmodded Shiwoo head for my Grimmoire was an insistent difficult task. And even now I'll see events I couldn't afford during their time slot, I'll see them totally unrecognizable I want to scream bloody murder at the defacing or the doll.

As for mechanical modifications, I'm all for it, have a doll I love and adore easier and more flexible to pose, while still bearing resemblance to the doll I love, win win.

 

If the mods are beautiful and skillfully done, I personally think they would increase the price of a doll unless the doll was a super rare limited or something.

 

And even then: I've seen super rare limiteds being modded fantastically and going for outrageous prices. As long as something is done really well, you won't have to worry about the value plummeting, be it face-ups, mods or something else.

 

I have to agree with you. I hate modding on limited dolls. It's one thing to do it to a unlimited sculpt, but I do see them as art. I think it's a little more than disrespectful to buy a doll just to ruin the original artist's dream, especially with all the modern materials and tools that let people make their own custom resin pieces.

 

Man, I guess I have "ruined" 3 of my dolls by giving them elf ears and 1 of them by completely resculpting the face. The one in my avatar I gave elf ears, carved scars, AND I plan to cut his left forearm in half to be amputated so that's like triply ruined! Ooh and if I pierce his ears is he quadruple-y ruined?

 

If done well that's fair, I mean by example I've seen a RealFee I adored and had the money gathered to afford. But someone had snipped the ears off and left the choppy mess. Refusing quite rudely to lower the price from full, when the doll was damaged beyond repair.

 

That's just delusional on that seller's part, they're never going to sell a doll like that unless they mark it way down . For a low enough price I would buy anything that still had a form though since I love a challenge and believe almost anything can be restored or resculpted

On the flip side there are people out there who think that ANY mod no matter how well done should lower the price. A sleeping doll has their eyes flawlessly opened? A clunky joint is improved upon so it looks better and poses better? Custom faun legs that look even better than Soom's are painstakingly crafted for a doll that didn't originally have them? All of this constitutes damage for some people and they will insist that the price be lowered. I believe this is a collector mentality vs an artist/art enthusiast mentality though to me it only really makes sense if the modded doll is a super rare limited.

IMO there are definitely categories:
-dolls that the owner will never sell (and therefore who cares how the mods turn out?)
-dolls that are modded beautifully where the mods improve the look of the doll or change the look without taking away from the beauty and quality of the doll (ex: eye opening, reshaping the nose, adding fantasy parts, etc...) these would sell for the same or higher price than unmodded IMO
-dolls that are modded poorly and inexpertly and general consensus sees the mods as making the doll look worse and as damage that needs to be repaired. These dolls would sell for less than an unmodded doll IMO because they would need a lot of restoration work.

 

Oh if the price was lowered and the ears weren't tossed out I'd have had the RealFee in a heart beat, would it have been a perfect fix, no, but that could be hidden for photos if need be.

Clunky joint mods are amazing, if done well I'd be happy to pay extra it's less hassle on my back.

Custom legs sounds amazing no complaints there. And I'll admit there's a few Puki and Little Fee's I want that I'd like to get the ears sanded down to human from elf.

I do like the categories you have set out there, they make sense, I guess just when I think of mods I always think the worst instead of improvements. It could just be a cynical view, or just the struggle I had finding an unmodded limited.

 

I'm all for it! These dolls are usually sold blank, as a blank canvas - so go for it! Even for limited dolls, I say go for it - you spent the money so it's yours. In my other hobby, the dolls are sold as kits - even as limited edition kits. And some people create absolute amazing mods for them...and others not so much. I think it's a little pretentious to get upset that suddenly there's one less limited out there, it does suck that you have one less shot at your dream kit/head/doll/set but it's not the end of the world!

 

Probably both combined with the rarity of dolls with skillful mods being sold and high amount of unskilled mods vs skilled mods in general.

 

Hrmm, much as poorly carried out mods can make me sad, I'm basically of the opinion that it's your doll and your money. My other expensive hobby can at times be all about altering limited edition worth-more-unopened fullsets (high end action figures) so odds are I've seen/done worse!

Having said that, my first serious bjd modification project is my android guy, who's purposefully on a cheapo Doll Fantasy body just in case it all goes horribly wrong. Though frankly I've never understood how people do so much with only xzacto knives! (I'm using a scribe to carve out the guidelines myself, imo much easier to control)

 

I can't see any problem with it, even on a limited doll, you bought it so it's yours to do as you please. I don't think it make BJDs less of an art piece either, art is never complete before being interpreted and modding is part of interpretation.

 

I personally LOVE modifications on BJD's, I don't see it as 'unethical' or 'rude' or anything else to customize your doll the way you want. I think the only 'bad' way a doll could be modded is if it was to glorify some unmoral practice (rape, slavery, child abuse, etc).

Almost all of my dolls are modded to some extent, mostly sanding/carving to improve mobility or smooth sharp edges, and a couple have heavier mods like spray painting or eye opening. It's not that I didn't like the company's doll, I just wanted it to look more the way I'd prefer, or I wanted it to be able to pose in a certain way it couldn't originally.

However two of my dolls definitely fall under the 'heavily modded' category, one being a LE, the first was bought intentionally to be modded to look like a pre-existing character and the doll's sculpt was a good base to start from. The second was modded due to the company lacking a sleeping head for that particular sculpt and also partly because the seller wasn't willing to split the doll so I ended-up with an extra head I didn't want in the first place, but now I'll have doll I love and want and will utilize fully.

I can understand some people's feelings towards certain mods on certain sculpts, but ultimately it's the owner of said doll that gets to choose what is done with it, there's no need to have such an entitled attitude to think that the owner of the doll owes you anything (like having a doll their unhappy with simply to make you happy).