Second hand dollies- tracing their 'Geneology"

When I buy second hand dolls/heads, when it comes to their previous stories, personalities, etc. I actually prefer to know as little as possible. Likewise, I always ask for them to be sent to me blank ie without a face-up (for the body I bought the blushing was fine but that's different for me as I already has his head). The only information I'm really interested in is the actual physical condition of the doll.

This is because when I buy a doll, he is to become as true to one of my characters as humanly possible. When I buy a doll he becomes mine and thus he becomes that character. Knowing who he 'used' to be in a way sort of taints that connection and I feel I would always be reminded that the doll was a mix of personalities as opposed to the one I gave him. This was one reason I was so pleased in buying my Ivan, for while he did originally have a face-up, his seller was gracious and agreed to wipe it for me before sending him over-also, the furthest she mentioned about his previous "life" was simply, 'this little guy is just not working out for me'. It was perfect, since it felt like, of course he's not working for her and who she tried to make him into, that's because he's supposed to be with me as my Fyedka!

Perhaps that sounds a bit loopy, but the closest I can get my second-hand dolls to feel like they're fresh from the company, the better.

 

Makoto (my Elfdoll Mir) formerly <name unknown> but I'm still puzzled by the prior owner (someone on Ebay) describing him as "not getting along" with her girls. and that she couldn't bond with him. I was surprised (previously a non-doll person) just how much I LOOOOVED him the minute I laid eyes on him... and every time I take him to a meet up he's flirting away. All it takes is an MSD girl to smile at him and he goes from tough guy to pile O Mush.

Yuki/Hikari (Elfdoll Yumi with the two faceplates) she's adorable, I don't think prior owner even had her out of the box. Mysterious past but it's OK.
I'm getting to know her. Fulla personality.

Matsuri: Purchased from a Twitter pal (HI!) with a wiped face and just a shirt and mini skirt. apparently she'd been faced up as Harlequin. I originally intended to give her a more naturalistic face up...and then... thinking of that history found something not clownish but not naturalistic that seemed to suit her better. (a flickr friend is a photographer in Japan, photographing a dance team as they perform at festivals... so I patterned her makeup after the matsuri performers.)

Every now and then we send a photo of her having fun to her prior human. (Because we were friends already!)

 

I've halfheartedly traced my dolls since all but one are secondhand... One of them, a Soulkid Tiffee, is the oldest so he's been through quite a few owners! I didn't really go to the extent of finding his previous names and characters, just how many owners he'd been through. I believe he's been through five...and he's still in great shape! It's fun to know how old your dolls really are.

 

Interestingly enough one of my friends will be selling her dolls and I may adopt one of them.

What I may have difficulty with is making a totally new character when I knew who she was and not to mention who the original owner was. Maybe she might keep some of her old self, or might be a new person altogether.

I dunno if any of you had that problem before.

 

I usually just look at who owned them last... if the doll's been through more than one owner, I tend to just look at the most recent! However, sometimes I get a bug up my bum to go looking for the dolls I've rehomed... I'm always so happy to see them being loved elsewhere!

 

Omg I thought I was the only one who did this XD No, I go mad with it. Especially if the doll is old or limited or rare or whatever. I like to know where they came from.

 

Five of my dolls I bought from companies or a distributor so I know where they have been. But all my Volks dolls are second hand. I know my YoSD Nono and Hinaichigo were bought from the original owner that got them from Volks so I'm only second with them. Nono hadn't been opened except for inspection and that was pretty much the same story with Hinaichigo. Now my Sweet Dream Myu is one I was curious of at the very beginning only cause I can't remember what the owner said about her. I think I'm only Myu's second owner as well, but I'm not sure and I don't care anymore. Only reason why I was curious is cause my SwD Myu is from the original Volks release back in 2003 and I got her in April of 2009, that's six years and I sorta wondered what she did. Now I don't. Myu is now Shayla and I love her to death.

So typically I only get the dolls new cause I love default and I get the new resin smell. But second hand dolls unless it listed in the sales thread or the doll is very old I don't really care.

 

I've got some secondhand dolls, but I never really care about the 'past lives' of my dolls, when they're with me they get a new live anyway that doesn't have anything to do with whot he or she was before.
I do always search for some pictures but that's all..

 

New home, new life

 

Arkady - I had just read your Kai's profile when I entered my second hand El, Pyrope, to the database and decided to also introduce who he was before I bought him. Changed his name from Kira to Pyrope and changed his faceup, eyecolour and hair colour, but it was in a way good to know his background.

I have eight second hand dolls, and I have tried to find out their previous owners, which has been sometimes easier, sometimes more difficult. E.g. I bought my tan MNF El twins from our Finnish forum and know personally all of their previous three owners but luckily nothing of their previous personality.

 

I have honestly never thought to "trace their past"! So this is an interesting concept to me. XD A number of my dolls are second hand, but I didn't really think to look for them or where they had been previously in terms of their character attributes. When they come up, they get a new faceup and are onto a new personality. I have two dolls not like this though...one is my Narin Charisma that I bought with an S.Dink faceup and the other is my Soom Io who has a default Soom faceup.

 

I make every doll to my own character, but I still would like to know who they used to be or will be if I sell them (well, since I haven't sold any dolls yet, I don't exactly know how I would feel in that case). I'm just so curious as to what countries the dolls have visited and what they used to look like in their past, but this won't affect my character of course, it's just a matter of the doll as an object, materia. I might even straight out ask the seller if there has been any previous owners and where did the doll came from in the first place. And everything for none other reason but curiosity.

It may also affect my decition whether to buy a doll - if it has several previous owners but it still hasn't found a permanent home, I feel really bad for it and want to be the final home for the poor little vagabond. ^^;

 

This actually happened to me not that long ago! I won a little Souldoll Kimmy on ebay and, while I didn't recognise the seller's name, I DID recognise a floating head she was selling that just so happened to be sporting one of the VERY first commissioned face-ups I ever did from a few years back I went ahead and asked after I'd won the auction and it was indeed the same gal I'd done the commisison for! The two of us had exchanged several friendly messeges back then and it was so much fun to know my new little guy was coming from someone who was so sweet and who I knew from before.
I don't feel like he has a character attached because of it, (with the exception of one, all fo my dolls are given fresh face-ups as soon as they get here and new personalities pop up quickly) but it definately gives him a sense of history.

 

I have a second hand doll whom I adore very much He's my CP chiwoo, Dantès *hugs him tightly* He got a new life as soon as he was in my arms^^ I didn't really care who he was in the past but something really got my attention from the previous owner, she said she had had him for 3 o 4 years and that was 4 years ago!! so with me he's 4 yrs old but in reality he's 7-8 yrs old o.o he's really old and I would never change him for nothing even if he yellows or gets the green infection =D so far he's looking good with a tender pale skin.

 

For the most part, i'm not too interested, i found a picture i belive to be from when my mythdoll yue body was with its first owner (i'm her third) but thats about it.
The only thing that ever truly interested me was that when I planned a character for my dream doll a Yosd Kuuta, long before i ever bought him I had named the character Matthias "Mogi" Caulfield, because I LOVE catcher in the Rye. after getting my little kuuta off the marketplace i later came to find out that his previous owner had named him Holden, also after Holden Caulfield. I didnt change anything, but i found it amusing.

It would be interesting if secondhand dolls came with "Dollfax: dolly history" reports

 

With the exception of one Minimee head, all of mine were bought from friends or on the MP secondhand. In one case I liked what the first owner did with his faceup, and asked respectfully if they would let him keep it. Not everybody wants to allow their doll's current look to go off elsewhere; some folks prefer to wipe everything very clean before they send it to you. I have been okay with it either way when I see the history on a doll and when it looks new (but isn't). In one case I was continuing the mods and improvements begun by somebody else,and found it very satisfying to complete it.

 

Lestat is second hand. He kept his name and, far as I know about him, personality when he came to live with me. It wasn't entirely intentional, the lady I bought him from said they called him Lestat cause he was a vampire and just had that aristocratic air about him, and it just stuck cause it really does fit him, just like she said. He's my little vampire aristocrat. I am curious if he had owners before his last home, or if he was ever interacted with in his last home however I don't know if the lady is on DoA. She's on a Yahoo group, I believe, But I haven't checked it out so I'm not sure. She's also the sister of one of my mom's co-workers XD but I can't really ask my mom to dig up info for me.

 

I have a very distinctive body of a girl (Aoi Tuki Tukihime) who has belonged to a couple other people on the forum, and I will be very pleased to show them what I do with her and how she is still being loved in her latest incarnation.

I think if I sold a doll I'd be at least mildly interested to see what the next owner does with them. Having owned the dolly before they did kind of makes you a part of it in a little way, even though they've passed along to another "life".

 

Sometimes I'm curious about who owned my dolls before and how they looked, but then again, it doesn't really influence how I'll see them. I don't give my dolls super-extended story lines, just a sort of "presence" they embody in my home.