Re-shelling... Are they the same?

I've just reshelled a doll, and I found that it was only the body and the character name that I kept. I changed his head because I got tired of the resin mismatch with the previous one, and then discovered that whilst he had the same name, everything else about him was different from his first incarnation--which I didn't mind at all, as it meant more room for creativity.

Bonding with a new doll is a slow process for me. I like to take the time to get to know a doll, spending the weeks/months to find his/her quirks, likes and dislikes, personality, etc. I try to keep them for as long as possible before deciding whether they're working out with me and the rest of the dolly group or not.

 

I have thought about 'reshelling' my first doll into a mold I love and that suits her character more, but I haven't been able to do it, I am too attached to her as she is, I think I would regret it.

 

I just reshelled again. My character Kimi who has been nothing but trouble since my third doll is now on her fourth incarnation. I've averaged a Kimi a year! lol

This is the one that started as a DZ Shoyo, then became a MNF Ryeon, then after I gave up on MSDs being short adults next to my SDs (it just doesn't work) I moved her to a Zaoll Ramie....

The problem I keep having is that she's supposed to be short...like 5 feet tall, among my taller characters who all SDs (some of them already pretty small). The way I've always drawn her is a little more stylized than even the rest of my characters so even though I really really tried with Ramie, she just never screamed "kimi" to me.

Last weekend on a whim I bought a Dollmore Miso head. They shipped it out the next day making my wait a whopping 4 days from order to arrival, and I put it on the Zaoll body...I finally think she's perfect. The way she's proportioned now with a larger head makes her look like a really short adult, she's got the semi-stylized look I prefer with my dolls as opposed to the super-realism that Zaolls can achieve and she's so much more expressive and has larger eyes. Most important, she smiles! A real smile, not a soft, wistful thing. I was a little iffy about her proportions (that head really is giant!) but now that she's got a wig that fits (lol I had to buy her all new wigs XD) she looks fabulous!! I can't wait to photograph her with my boys X3

 

I'm one of those people that couldn't reshell a character. I think it's because I made characters for my dolls, I didn't buy dolls for my characters. That means that the characters are physically embedded in to the dolls for me, and if I sold the doll then no other doll would be the same character, it would need a new personality of it's own.

 

Reshelling, to me, is inconceivable. I'm very.. 'character'-attached, I think.

I ordered an Iple House Barahan last year, and while I waited for him to be made and shipped, I planned a character for him. He was going to be half-Korean, half-Japanese, and I was excited because his sculpt just looked so distinctly Asian. Then when I got him, not only did he not look Korean or Japanese at all, with his long lashes and wide eyes, but he turned out to have very dark skin. I was so upset, it just ruined the character for me.

Now Iple House offers Barahan (who was once a limited edition doll) as a basic. So I could sell my dark doll (I thought 'realskin' would be more like 'normal skin,' meaning light but not paper-white; evidently an oversight on my part) and rebuy him in the skintone I had originally wanted him. But, you know what? He's still Byung Joon to me. Buying a different doll would be just that - a different doll. He's out for a new faceup right now, one to give him a more Asian appearance, but whether he ever truly looks Korean or not, that's Byung Joon and he can't be replaced.

 

When I first got into dolls, I thought about getting a doll for a character of mine. I had a couple ideas for a mold, I was thinking DoD's E-an or Delf Miyu, for her and even though I had twice the amount sitting there, had been to a meet or two, and had everything all picked out, I couldn't seem to make myself do it. I had picked up a little OT dollfie along the way but ended up having such a difficult time at a small scale that it really turned me off of dolls for while, though I still liked to browse all the pictures all over.

When I did get a doll, almost two years later, I went for a Minifee Carl. But when she got here the face-up didn't really ring to me of that character I wanted to shell and all, so at some point, a different partially developed character, Aidara, ended up falling in. But Aidara couldn't really seem to decide exactly what she was, even after eye changes, wig changes, face-ups. I could decide on what her face-up should be, what eyes she wanted, what wig color she wanted, but it just seemed off. My second doll, who arrived almost a year and a half later was quite content in his mold, and the Aidara started to react based on the story he was in and develop further, and seemed to be discontent in her mini sized body, in part since she rather liked him and looked funny coming up to his hip. I kept thinking of reshelling her and kept kind of doubting it and trying to refit her in the one she was in. I ended up in on the FC Soom event five months ago not being able to pass up the Vesuvia body, which I had been bummed to miss out on the first time around, and a few weeks after I ordered (I loved the Galena head in general) I realized I could see her fitting in that body. So I wiped the old mini fee body, put the eyes aside (luckily, those eyes fit in either the minifee or super gem bodies) and ordered as close of a wig as I could to her old one. When she got here, I did try to give her different eyes, hoping to use the ones I thought were prettier, but she wouldn't have it. I painted her in the same spirit as I aimed for in the old face-ups, gave her the wig, lashes, and old eyes, and there Aidara was again. Much more comfortable at least. She's usually a noisy character but for the moment she seems to be just basking in the fact that she's finally in the right body for her.

My habit, particularly after that first one, is to buy dolls without any set plans for them, and see who falls in while I wait or after I get them. I've been quite surprised with who finds their way home eventually.

 

I'm just now starting to put money into dolls again.
I had a bunch of characters from an online role-play I was involved in when I was younger and I have yet to put them into doll form. I hope that maybe over the next year I can finally bring my characters to life. Because I have something else in mind for my 2 current dolls.

I guess it all depends on how you see your dolls. Some people consider them to be a shell for your character. They're attached to the character not the doll it's self. And that's kinda the neat part.
No matter what happens to the doll the character is still in your imagination. You can re-shell it at any time. Now if you're attached to the doll its self it may be a bit strange at first.

 

Max is absolutely the same, at least in terms of attachment. (I had changed his background as well.) He was an Obitsu Sheba, but I eventually found that because of how high-maintenance vinyl is I couldn't do as much with him as I wanted to. This led to me reshelling him as a Dollzone Joe, which I had actually picked when I got him as the mold I would use if I were to reshell him. At first it was a little weird (I figured out this was because I had the wrong wig on him and the eyelashes were irritating me...) but he eventually came out in full force and I found myself going "Heck yes, this was the correct decision." It's probably a long shot to everyone else (haha) but he actually sort of looks like a little bit older version of the first, which makes me a little nostalgic when looking at old pictures, but he's even better now. He's just a slight mod and new face-up away from being perfect.

 

In general, whether the character comes first or the BJD comes home first, once the character is in there, I don't change them. The doll becomes the physical embodiment of the character for me. I don't want to introduce a character in a body if I'm not 100% sure it will work.

I've reshelled only one character, and it was during my first year of owning BJDs. My second BJD was only a head, a k-doll kill_U 2nd. I loved the sculpt, and I decided I wanted him to be a reincarnated character I had come up with called Tournai. But the kill_U 2nd refused to be him! I realized that the reason I loved the k-doll sculpt was because he reminded me of my mother's kabuki dolls from when I was growing up, not because he was right for Tournai... so I purchased a SoulDoll Paris. It was JUST what I needed. Paris is PERFECT as Nai, and the k-doll head has gone on to become Shakkyo, my kabuki boy. He even has a second head now with a different kabuki-inspired faceup on it. So I never had to say goodbye to the original sculpt I loved.

I also tried to reshell a character unsuccessfully. I have a character named Demetrius, who was traumatized after his father's death and became a split personality. I purchased an ElfDoll Red to be him. The doll was absolutely beautiful, but I hated how his body posed! Glue sueding didn't seem to help, he could barely stand on his own. (And I had glue sueded many BJDs before!) I was about ready to give up on him, and even put up a sales feeler for him... but in the end, after doing some searching, I decided no other BJD could convey his dual character as well as Red. So I put KIPS in his knees and just deal with him. Aesthetically he's perfect for the character of shy Demetrius/arrogant Glorfindel, I just wish he posed better! But he's stuck here for good now. Lucky for him he's so beautiful.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I think it's your character to do whatever you want with. So if another doll fits that better then go for it!!!

 

I have a doll who I swapped her body several times, and eventually she ended up with a different head AND different body than the ones she originally had... but she was still the same person after all of that.

 

I've ended up reshelling dolls twice - once intentionally, another unintentionally. Satin started out as a WS Elf Chiwoo; when money was tight, I gave him to my younger teen as a 16th birthday gift as I couldn't afford to buy her anything (I'd been considering selling him anyway). It was only afterwards I realised how much I missed the character; I reshelled him as a LuWen vamp head on an Fdoll body, which suited the character far better.

The unintentional reshelling was completely by accident though. My first ever BJD was Ayame, an open-eye Obitsu, bought back in March 2005. I'd kept her for sentimntal rasons - purely because she was the first - but she didn't fit with the rest of my tribe anymore, and I finally sold her. About 6 months later, I bought a one-off Volks Syo girl that I named Amelie. I had problems finding the right look for her until I put her in a pink Dollmore skirt-suit and a ginger-red wig that had been Ayame's, and they suited her perfectly. She took her place with the others, and then I took a year's hiatus from the hobby. I came back to the dolls again very recently, and when looking at the dolls I suddenly realised that "Amelie" is really Ayame reshelled. So without consciously meaning to, I've reshelled her!

 

Mine was a complete change. The personality of the doll kept growing. She was my very first creation as well. She went from sweet lolita doll, to evil sprite. So my Luts Aru was sold about a year ago. It took awhile for me to find her reshell but when Dollzone came out with Anson I knew there couldn't be a better look for my Rose! And the two dolls couldn't be further alike than those two sculpts but somehow they were the same character.

 

Oh, that is very cool! It must have been interesting when you had the revelation. I can see how putting the previous character's wig and clothing on the new doll could make her have a similar "feel".

Your story made me remember, I guess I have reshelled another character. When I got my first BJD (Hiro, a Volks Link), he made me so happy that my friends joked he was my therapist. So I had Hiro pretend to be a therapist named Trevor, and he eventually became that character in some of my stories. But I never had Hiro and Trevor in the same stories. Last year I purchased a spare Volks Link head as a backup for Hiro, since Link was being discontinued, and now the new Link has become Trevor full-time. It's strange seeing them side by side!

Linda S.
galatia9

 

It's not the same. Once a char is created and shelled, it's forever. I could upgrade a body, but the head sculpt was what inspired the character in the first place. They are "embedded" in each other: without the doll, the character wouldn't have existed; without the character, the doll has no meaning or interest to me. In a same token, I can't shell my original characters in doll form: they've already had expression in my mind, and just can't take on physical forms (or refuse to!).

Vega is a very old OC of mine, that I tried to shell in a DoD Lahoo. But no matter how hard I tried, Vega refused to inhabit a doll shell. Over time I stopped seeing his char in Lahoo, and eventually sold Lahoo because the doll had no more purpose anymore. In a similar but opposite way, I fell in love with the Volks MSD F-06 sculpt and bought it, and then created Alérion's character. Over time, I gradually lost interest in Alérion, and the character essentially "died" in my mind. Now, the doll is just an empty shell. I adore the sculpt, but I can't bring myself to shell a new char in it - that WAS Alérion and always would be! (Even though I don't think about her char anymore!)

 

Please dont laugh at this, but im currently having problems reshelling a doll in the same mold.

After I got a blank secondhand PKF Pong from my husband, I kept regretting he doesnt have the FL face-up like the other PKF I own. Now I just got a new face-plate with the default face-up, but he's just not Eddy anymore (which was the name the previous owner pencilled on him!)

 

I create the character to fit the doll... not the other way around.
With my first doll the character was created first and then I tried to find the right doll. I really thought I had and I brought her home... but no matter how hard I tried it just wouldn't click.

So that poor doll gets routinely re-envisioned and I'm hoping that I'll eventually figure out who she is.

After that first doll I decided that trying to make a doll be a pre-conceived character just doesn't work for me. I need to touch and play with a doll to figure out who it is.

So for me a doll can be re-charactered but a character can't be re-shelled. (Also if I ever tried to get rid of a doll my fiancé, using the power of puppy-dog-eyes, would guilt me in to keeping it.)

 

I've done it a few times, now...

The original Jemina ("Jimmy" to her friends-) was a MNF Dark Elf Soo. That doll was adorable, but much too young for the version of Jimmy I really wanted to have in resin form. I sold the DES on, and decided she needed to be a full-sized doll instead of a mini. The second try turned out to be a CP/Delf Kum Ran, and that's the one I stayed with.

The first version of my deathknight, Chanter in the Memory of Mourning, was a "first generation" white resin CP/Delf Dreaming El... who was also adorable, but entirely too short, chubby-cheeked and smug-looking a sculpt for my tall, rather solemn Abyssal. I also ended up hating the greenish-yellow color CP white resin tends to turn, so off he went. The current (and much better in my opinion-) resin version of Chanter is a real skin Luts Senior Delf Winter 2010. He looks much more like Chanter ought to.

The third one I've reshelled was a real "problem child". It took me four tries to find the right doll for Elise. The first (a Fairyland Nanuri '07 girl) looked too old... Luckily she made the perfect Marion, and has kept that character to this day. The second try was the CP/Delf Kum Ran who took over from the MiniFee version of Jimmy... She failed as Elise because she looked much too "anime" next to Elise's Amakusa partner, Hideo. The third failure was a Volks Cristal, a sculpt I love but who turned out to have a competely wrong attitude/expression for the purpose once I had her here. She ended up becoming the resin version of my Shadowrun character, Niges... another fortunate, and perfect, fit. It took a fourth try, a leap of faith and a Volks Emma to finally get the right doll for Elise.

 

I'm extremely character attached and yet, I'm reshelling Aria right now. She was my first, but as my doll family started to grow, her look just didn't fit into the family, I grew unattached from her and plus, she looked nothing like her brother, my Iplehouse Mars, facially. She sadly went through 2 previous characterization before I gave up then started to sell her old body. I'm still disappointed and sad about it, but at least her character is growing. Trying to find the right Aria is more taxing than I originally thought. Your character can be reshelled, recreated, whatever; but it takes time to figure out who they are telling you they are. I know Aria is taking her blessed time!

 

It depends what you are actually doing and how it all started.
Either you gave a character to an existing face or gave a face to an existing character.

I think either can end up the same, but giving an existing character another face seems to be much easier since it all started in the mind first before becoming concrete. Ideas can be very flexible.
e.g.: Clara is a young Japanese girl with tan skin who has a button nose and small eyes. Then you started redesigning her to fit the character better. She is now yellow skin with a pointy nose and double eyelids.

Starting from an existing doll leaves little room for change unless you root through the character you have then created. In this start, you attach the character and your feelings towards a concrete object, a certain image and feel that is very specific.
e.g.: John wouldn't be John if he doesn't have big, sad, round eyes, puffy cheeks, and pouty lips. Here, the character is attached to a specific sculpt. He can't exactly be re-shelled with a narrow face that has thin lips.