Re-shelling Doll Sculpts

I think a lot of people do, I often see people mentioning that they are re-shelling a character.

I tend let the dolls decide their own character, so I've never had the issue, as the character grows to fit the sculpt, however if I was interested in putting my existing characters into doll form, I would be very picky, and likely would end up having to try more then once to get the right sculpt for them. : )

 

Yeah, I would find the same. I have lots of characters that I using in my stories, and part of the reson I've never made them into dolls is becuse I know I would want them to look exactly as I see them! I'm ultra picky though...xD I think it's a great idea to re-shell them if your not happy with how they are now! There are so many dolls out there, I'm sure you can find one that works!: )

 

Definitely yes! One of my characters had Soom Euclase head - and been reshelled into Fairyland Chloe head on the same body. I think it's quite serious change Also another character was reshelled from Sabik Mechaangel into Sabik supergem.

And finally: Nattmaran, who's Instagram I follow, changed her Varg from Soom Dia into Simply Divine Thomas:
Instagram photo by Nattmaran • Jun 17, 2016 at 3:29pm UTC

I think reshell is okay, character can change or you can realize that you want to change him - why not?

 

Oh, sure. I've done it more than once myself. Sometimes a character grows out of a shell. Or you just happen to find something that fits better that didn't exist when you bought the first doll.

 

It is, perhaps, a little sad. I've always been happy with the end result though. And the dolls I did sell ended up making new people happy. So I guess it all works out in the end.

 

As a buyer of second hand dolls, bringing them into my home is no less exciting than when I bought a a new doll from a retailer. I was so happy to find my dolls.

I hear about people reshelling their characters all the time. Not unusual at all. This hobby tends to be an evolutionary process hehe.

Although, I usually have the opposite problem. I want to shell several characters into one doll ! XD

I have one SD13 boy that has several roles. And my one SD13 girl always ends up being his partner, or accomplice, girlfriend, victim.... lol. In my mind, the roles suit his face; I can't use him for just any character, it has to suit his core self and face. His role changes when I change his eyes/wig/clothes. Some of his roles are like cosplay of characters from games. Uh but.. not mere cosplay, he becomes the character, or his rendition of it.

I wonder if there will be an identity crisis. lol no I'm kidding. xD
At the end of the day he is the same beautiful boy that I welcomed home.

 

Yup! Many times The very first time I was admittedly quite worried the character would no longer feel the same and I would regret my decision, but literally every single time I have felt happy for the change because the new sculpt suited that character so much better. A few changes I've made:

Angell Studio Gus > Doll in Mind Alpon > Doll in Mind Laia

Dream of Doll Ivan > Doll in Mind Larina (half-closed eye)

Doll Leaves Hedy > Doll in Mind Jullis

Doll Leaves Pepper > Doll in Mind Larina (open eye)

Hmmmm, it would seem many of my characters prefer Doll in Mind sculpts...

 

Basically I have a young and older version if some of my dolls planned with different sculpts. They still look similar tho

 

I've reshelled a lot of my dolls, mostly on the same characters >.<

Kimi started out as an MSD (Dollzone Shoyo) because she was supposed to be a short adult and my first doll was an SD. Shoyo wasn't working out and I moved her to a MNF Rheia. After a short time I realized that Minis will never work proportionately with SD sized dolls, and moved her to a Dollmore Zaoll Ramie. Ramie was gorgeous, but not expressive enough so I replaced her head with a Dollmore Miso. Miso was perfect, and I probably would have kept her, but Ringdoll released Mona and I knew I had to have her as an alternate head for Kimi (Mona is the crying head - Kimi is in a bad relationship and I loved the idea of the crying head for her).
Unfortunately (for the Miso lol) I grew to like the Ringdoll head more and this year moved her again to a Ringdoll Aya, with Mona as her alternate head. I also intend to get her the newer winking Alice and possibly a Gem of Doll head so she'll just have a bunch of expressions.

Uriel was a problem of my own making...He started out a WS Migidoll Miho on a B&G body. I loved him to death, but Migi released Cho and I thought Cho would be better. I regretted that almost immediately...I sold the Cho head and used a Luts event head for a while, and then finally got my hands on another Miho, only in NS. He went through a bunch of bodies and finally ended up on (IMO) the best - Fairyland F60. Not changing him again. Ever.

Isis started out a B&G Aurora(sp?) but she was too stylized to go with my dolls then, so I replaced her with a Dollmore Fine, which was great until they released Biwol, who had the perfect face. I hung on to Fine for a while, before giving in and buying Biwol.

Ryuji was a CP Dreaming El first, and while I still think that mold works in concept, I didn't like how he looked with the rest of my dolls and moved him to a Little Monica Kilff. Kliff just recently got replaced when I decided he was also too stylized for that group. I did a lot of searching for a head that would work, and managed to grab a Ringdoll Dracula with the open mouth which was an event head. I sort of hoped he would work out and I really like the result so he'll probably stick around.

Cassiel was a Volks Midori and when I started moving my minis to SDs she became a Peakswoods Goldie on a Zaoll body. During some more doll shuffling I changed her into my Volks DWC02 head (same body. I don't change the bodies unless I have no other option XD), which is a much better look for her.

Israfel. I usually forget about him, he's been a Hound for so long. But he started out a Saint. During my 14 month wait for him I grew to dislike the Saint mold and would have rather had Hound - who hadn't been available to purchase. Shortly after getting Saint, Hound was available to buy, so I got a new head and stuck it on the body.

Pilot/Remiel only became a doll because I had a Volks body and no head, so I just bought a head I liked - Alice in the Labyrinth Elijah. Still love that head, but he was way too realistic for the dolls he was supposed to be with, so I replaced his head with a Volks Chris, who might actually belong to the body I owned...XD

Gambit (X-Men/Marvel) only happened because I had a Volks Heath head laying around. I stuck him on a body and said it was good. I was happy with him until I saw Migidoll River, who IMO looked like a more realistic and updated version of Heath.


I've actually got more than this but most of them the character has moved on for good so there's no point in including them.

Re-shelling is one of those things that just happens. Mostly for me it has to do with how they look with the rest of the dolls, or if I suddenly dislike a mold, or need to change things up with that doll.

 

I do actually You can find my blog in my signature

 

YES! In fact, I just got Hailey's new shell this week! Of my 17 dolls, six of them have been reshelled and two have gotten new bodies. Here's how that all worked out:

1. Parker: IslandDoll Kevin---> Kevin head on Impldoll Child body--->5Star Doll Edmund on an Impldoll Model body (He needed to grow up to fit his story)
2. Jayden: ResinSoul Dong on a Bobobie body--->Jie Doll Michel (Problems with wait times, damage and doll not looking like photos killed my love for him)
3. Jack: Migidoll Mu with bad mods on FDoll body--->Migidoll Cho on DoT body (I wanted a more mature doll with good mods!)
4. Hailey: Mystic Kids Miri--->Loongsoul Michelle (Character needed to grow up some)
5. Luc: 5Star Doll Bright head on Only Doll body--->Luts Howl (Friendlier face and a full doll instead of poor hybrid)
6. Justin: IslandDoll Louis--->Little Rebel Andre on Luts Senior Delf body (Character grew up and new shell looks almost exactly as I pictured the character)


Also, Kier has gone from an FDoll body to Spiritdoll Elegance to have him grow up a little bit, and Dhani has gone from a Doll Love body to Iplehouse oYID to Luts Senior Delf for better posing and more muscle.

I don't currently have serious active plans to reshell any of my others, but I have thought about it in the future, or what sculpts I might pick if they did grow up. For example, I may decide one day to take Hazle from 1/4 scale Doll Chateau Queena to 1/3 scale Doll Chateau Snow Nymph. Also, Rose and Peach are just babies right now, but I might have them "grow up" one day. I also have an off topic AiDoll Sanbitalia that I may one day reshell in a resin doll.

So yes, reshelling is quite common! There are always new sculpts and companies coming out, and it's always likely that a new doll might be better for a character than the old one, even if you have never considered reshelling before at all.

 

My characters usually grow from the sculpt, so I still find my own reshelling super weird! I had a Model Delf Annette from Luts, an MSD, and changed her to Crobidoll Hami, an SD, to join all my other SDs. I found I was ignoring her doll form since I like the larger scale more, and felt sad about it! Her character is central to my story. Making her an SD was the best decision ever! She is now my absolute favorite doll