Planning your doll family? Did you have a plan? How did it work out?

I try not to plan at all, planning leads to restraints! I just find whatever fits my budget (the dolls fit into my budget, not the other way around!) and if I enjoy it I'll go for it.

 

I just go with the flow. :] I might have in mind a vague sort of personality I'd like to add into my doll family.. and I stay on the look out for the one sculpt that makes me say "That's perfect!" xD So, I feel there is really no need for me to actively develop a character, because it seems that the dolls already have their own personalities/characters as we go along. ^^

 

I both, buy dolls to fit characters, and buy dolls and come up with characters later. I find it's actually quite a closely related process in that, I will hvae a character and then change it to fit a doll or make up a character based on a doll OR buy a doll without knowing what to do with it at all XD! But in the end they all fit in together in the same "story".

 

well, my doll family was more or less my falling in love with certain dolls, and creating personalities or quirks before even purchasing them. if i began to dislike or become disinterested in that "personality" or "quirk" and it didn't fit in my little family, i found myself moving on without purchasing that doll. size doesn't particularly matter to me, as long as the doll itself clicks with me, and i can bond with it.

 

I don't have a set story or anything for my dolls. I get them if I like them and if they will fit in with my others. For example I have 2 'types of doll' I guess you could say. My humans, so Zelda and my soon to be 2 SD Boys (Leekeworld Michael and Luke) and my fantasy creatures, so my SOOM Dune and soon to be elf boy and hopefully hoofed girl. I also do plan a lot more... *facepalm!*

 

How do YOU plan your doll family?
Simple - I don't. Each new doll gets to develop its own look, character and story when it arrives. And while I do try to relate the newbie in some way to the older ones it's not strictly necessary.

Has that tactic changed?
When I first started this hobby I wanted to find dolls to represent my original characters but as time went by I found that character dolls just aren't my cup of tea. So my approach changed and now I'm only buying based on what I find aesthetically appealing. And I've set myself the limit of max. 2 dolls a year - and luckily I'm quite picky anyway, so I'm not like going and buying anything I find pretty right away. Only If a doll manages to stay on my trial wishlist for more than 6 months it's worthy of my real wishlist.

And do you feel there is a "best" way to do it?
I don't think there's a "best" way - it really depends on what a person is looking for in this hobby. To each their own.

 

Before i got into the hobby i have been working on characters i want to use for story's and ive made quite a few so far, but my first doll was on a 'buy now, personality later' basis, just because i loved the doll so much. And now im in the hobby im always looking around for dolls sculpts i like that will fit a character which i have created.

 

I made plans to have only four figures, it is my quota, all SD, I'm looking for a tan-colored girl and a boy with Asian features as well. (will take a while). I'm in love with many templates, the more I am happy to enjoy the photos. I'll leave the money to improve the characters (clothes, wigs, eyes ...)

At home: Erick (Don-Ring Doll) Lee Hwang (Luke # 1 DOD)
Waiting: Eris head (Ordoll & Nyxdoll)
www.flickr.com/photos/lukca/

 

I had a plan, just a boy and a girl in each size range, mini and super. This plan lasted all of my first window shopping phase. Even over the internet I have dolls whisper their stories to me and the next thing I know there's another name on the list. I've even purchased a tiny and I didn't want to get into those. Ah well just more for me to love, nothing wrong with that.

 

I have dolls planned based on characters. I'm not so structured that I am only getting character-based dolls as my first two dolls were not character based. Since I can't draw, I really like being able to have models for my characters in doll form.

 

Very interesting reading all the different approaches to buying these dolls One thing stands out - so many started wanting one & getting more! I first saw BJDs 3 years ago at Dragon Con - loved them but could not even think about getting one then. However, times change & about 4 months ago I started looking into getting some. My idea at the time was for a couple dolls to fit anime characters. That started mutiplying - I wanted more & more characters represented & it just got out of hand until I stopped, took a breath & thought about the realistic way to do this. I make costumes - have for years. I write. I have roots in the theatrical/performance community (married an actor, don't ever do that, end of drama). I have (very minimal) training/experience in photography. Oh, & I discovered photo stories online.
So, I decided to create a cosplay group using dolls, & although I still have a ton of dolls on my wishlist (& definitely have created characters for them) it is all more manageable now. I've an IH Dexter on the way & a couple more I'm ordering within a month - & I have a plan for getting more.
I choose the sculpts by thinking of the different characters I want to cosplay & then look for dolls that can do several - I've been going about it like a casting director or like some of my friends who ARE in cosplay groups LOL (one is right now looking for a Sephiroth ~ha~). I can make up stories for anything real quick, & if I love the doll/objet d'art it will come alive for me.

 

So far I only have a couple of dolls planned and I wouldn't dare go past that. If I started planning a doll for every single character that I eventually wanted to get... I would probably make myself very depressed, because it will be years before I'll have saved up enough to get them all.

Maybe if I got a stable income, I would change this, but I doubt it.

 

When I was deciding on which would be my first doll I simply looked at the doll's appearance. But when I got him and he became a character, I instantly thought that I wanted dolls to represent my original characters from different roleplays. My roleplaying partner also is a BJD enthusiast, so the dolls I am planning to buy is a bit influenced from which original characters she already has, so her dolls can get their partners and vice versa...

But I'm not stuck to this plan as I do fall in love with dolls that doesn't fit to any characters and I buy these too. For me my doll family isn't very much planned at all in other words. I get the dolls and characters I feel like getting, and if I end up with a huge BJD family, then... Then that's just flippin' awesome!!

 

How do YOU plan your doll family?
I didn't plan on planning out a doll family. hahaha I was going to get just the one. Yeah I know, we all say that right? So up until a few weeks ago my plan was to have lots and lots of dollies for this story that somehow, without my planning, emerged in my mind for my Feeple Chloe. Now I had to go back to my usual technique of making lists... Feeple Chloe - costuming, ResinSoul Dog - Boston Terrier fan collection, and LittleFee Ante - my fun doll for impromptu photos and taking to work and carrying around

Has that tactic changed?
Yep. Like I said before I think I was going more and more with lots of dollies for the story... sort doing some impulse buys. Now I'm much more focused... dollies are listed out and what their purpose is.

Do you feel there is a "best" way to do it?
Nope. Just go with what feels best for you. I'm a very organized person and I tend to do better with lists. Hence why I ended up impulse buy phase and went to being focused. Not that there is anything wrong with having lots of dolls or impulse buying or any of that. It just doesn't end well for me when I do it that way.

 

At first I had no intention of planning a doll family. But ever since I got Bodhi all that changed. He's a character from my Vallejo vampire family. I feel like getting more dolls to build a part of that family. At least I want his cousin and his younger brother, maybe his sister. :P

 

I started out in this hobby not having any kind of plan. I would buy whichever doll I happened to like and hope for the best. After being a part of the hobby for a while and developing a feel for what I do and don't like and what I would like to do in the future with my dolls I realized I do need a plan.

Right now I have two different "story lines" I collect for. I decided to have 2 because the first story line feels like something akin to a lifelong journey for me; I'll probably be striving to complete it for years and years to come because the characters mean so much to me (and yeah, they're Batman characters:P). I'm very picky about who gets to join that gang, lol, so I decided to come up with a different story line for all the other dolls that don't quite fit in with them and who I don't have to be as picky with.

Luckily my tastes in doll aesthetic is consistent; so no one really looks that out of place with each other. So when I find a doll that I simply must have I can always find a spot for them in either story line. I'm pretty content with the dolls I've planned for, but every once in a while I will find someone new and decide so and so needs a girlfriend, or hey, he would make a good [insert villain/hero name]. It's a plan, but a pretty flexible plan, and it works for me.

 

Well at the moment I only have 1 BJD I have owned 5 but only my first doll I've ended up keeping. So, Most of the time i've just bought the doll cause I thought it was nice, Sometimes its a mixture of both, Like right now i'm trying to buy a girlfriend for my BJD and it has to be taller than 65cm and one that I like, its very hard. I don't really match characters to dolls normally, most of the time its the other way round

 

I would think of a little bit of a personality first then pick a doll I would want and plan the rest as it goes on. Even if a doll looks nice, if it doesnt fit anything I have in mind then it would be just better off looking at it from pictures from others. Right now Im still figuring out which doll would be best...

 

My dolls all have their personalities worked out. Now all I've got to do is get them all together.

 

I don't usually plan but it just happens when I see a doll that would fit in with my other dolls. I then create its personalities later after