Second hand dollies- tracing their 'Geneology"

Of the second hand dolls I've owned, one came from someone who rarely posted on DoA and didn't speak English very well, another one I looked at maybe ONE of the photo ops done with her, and the last I feel like I know intimately well because her previous owner had some difficulty with her and documented it in the size-specific doll forum thread for that mold. I don't actually have the last one yet, but she'll be like an old friend once she shows up!

I've got half a mind to follow the three dolls I got rid of on here, but I don't want to end up a creepy stalker. :P

My freakiest 'second hand doll story' though? I bought my first doll from the DoA marketplace. I'd only met two other doll owners at that point. So I took her along to Anime Central with me. Guess who the VERY FIRST DOLL PEOPLE I met in the registration line were? Her former owners! I think that freak encounter is the only reason I remember who sold her to me, I certainly don't remember who my other second hand doll's original owners were.

 

Isn't this also just the reverse of if you follow what has happened to dolls you've sold off? Which I have one doll that I've sold off that I keep looking to see if it shows up here, just to see what the person did with it.

I've had no real interest in the history of any second hand dolls I've gotten.

HOWEVER, I did find out the history of one of my dolls, when I got him, so don't need to know any more about him. (I know he's the doll that was used for the company's promo pictures of the doll/mold even). I always wonder where the other doll that was in those promo pictures has gone to. But maybe I wonder that simply because I have the wrong certificate for my doll, and it's assumed the other doll has the wrong certificate as well.

 

i often wonder what happens to the dolls i sold, but beyond that i don't give it much thought. I do keep track of my machina if i can. I like to see where they go and what people do with them. If I see one on the marketplace I'll try and put links out and help them find a new home. It doesn't bother me if people sell them, not every doll is for every person. :3


I did sell my limho to a good friend. then a few months later i regretted it and missed him. When i mentioned it, said friend offered to sell him back! this made me really happy and i've had him for about four years now.

 

I own two dolls and they both are second hand (well, my first one is said to be third or fourth hand, the owner himself didn't knew it exactly..) but I love them because of this fact. Personally, I think a brand-new doll has kind of less character..

I bought both from DoA members and researched their past before I decided to buy them but unforntuately there wasn't a lot of history. But I wouldn't keep their name or their old character because it wouldn't be exactly the character the owner before gave them and a mixture of old and new isn't good at all.

But I let both of them a tiny part of their history. Lucien wears a bracelet he hab with him years ago and Keichiro took his old nickname "Kobold" and his green eyes ^^

 

All of my dolls are second hand. Yep, all four of them. My two Pipos dolls were more of the 'I bought them, but didn't really bond' story when I found their threads and purchased them, but both of my large dolls have stories before them.

Nigel was very VERY different from his original owner. He had an asian name, black hair, red eyes and a more 'goth' face up. I got to know his previous owner very well (we still chat online from time to time!) and he was completly reborn with me.

Frigg has a longer history then any of my other dolls, but it is half shrouded in mystery. She is third hand, and while the previous owner was able to show me some pictures, she admitted she was un-able to really pin a personality to her. Her first owner is lost to the bygones but apparently it was a 'did not bond' situation. She is in the process of being 'reborn' right now.

I admit, the first time I got Nigel I was worried I wouldn't bond because I knew his character and 'type' that the previous owner had put to him... but I found that after going through the process of customizing them again it didn't matter.

It IS interesting to look back at their previous 'selves' pictures though, just to see the journey of how they got to where they are.

 

I'm glad Nekros' owner was one who never posted any photos of her dolls, though I'm sure she has many. He was a shelf baby and very 'new-like' when he arrived with me. I won't change that lovely defaut faceup, but in the pictures his previous owner sent me, he had sandy brown short hair and wore button down shirts, lol. Now he has long black hair (and actually looks Japanese like I wanted him to be), wears rocker clothes with chains and leather and is soon to get a tattoo and peircings. He has changed and now has a very big personality, I think it may have been hard for me to bond with who I think the doll should be if he was very defined before. I was lucky this time, I think. I can't help researching histories on dolls I'm thinking of buying though.

 

I wouldn't want to find out about his/her past. he would be MY doll, and he would get a new personality by me. the past still remains the past, it would change nothing if I knew about it.

 

I thin this might be more interesting if your doll had more owners. I mean, one or two might not be very exciting. And, either way, you'll probably do some reincarnation anyways, but you won't imagine them the same as previous owners.

 

I love finding out a dolls history and seeing what looks it has had over the time they have been owned by other people, I find it interesting. I dont have any second hand dolls at the moment though. I like to see when I sell a doll what they go on to be as well.

 

I would be interested in finding out about the dolls past, but not keeping it a part of their persona. The doll would start a fresh life with me.

 

I'd go look for fun, but nope, new dollie's mine. Not that any of my dolls will have specific backstories, but I wouldn't spend energy trying to keep up that doll's original personality because of its previous owner.

Really, if the owner's selling the fella, the connection wasn't strong enough. Thus why I pay no mind to "previous lives."

 

I have purchased a couple of dolls secondhand from the MP. As a general rule, I ask the previous owner if the doll has any stories they would like to share. I also tend to explain that they are coming to a new home to live a new life with new adventures, similar to moving to a new country perhaps. They then become part of our family. Our latest, a RS Mei, was adopted from a wonderful member outside the US who was obviously affectionate with her departing gal, and genuinely concerned with her well being. This means quite a bit to me. Svetlana kept her name and her heritage, and assumed her place in our family. She is now exploring new adventures and making new friends. I guess I am more hopeless than most, even to the point of avoiding referring to the exchange of money as a purchase. I would much rather consider it an adoption, and any monies transferred to be the cost of traveling! (Sappy I know....)

For me, a doll does not have to forget their past to enjoy a new future!

 

Welll....... I guess I would vote "Other".

I am the third owner of my pre-loved doll Josephine, but she was sold twice on the same forum.
The first time she was being sold I really already wanted to buy her, but I did not have the money so I lost out on the first time.
The second time she was being sold I bought her immidiately.

Whilst waiting to get her home I went looking on that forum for more pictures, not so much the background story, so I could show people the doll I had bought. but in looking for pictures I actually did find her background story and.......... fell in love with it!

I actually met the original owner/creator of Josephine on a convention before she made it home, and asked her if she would mind me adopting the doll along with her old background, she said she did not mind and was just happy to know the doll was still/again being loved

(in the end I only changed the dolls name, the rest of the fullset she came with has stayed the same)

 

Not sure if I'd want to research the forums to find a second-hand dolly's history. I think that once they come home to me, they pretty much start a clean slate - but if I was really curious as the whereabouts of their background, I'd probably ask.

 

No I would not look for pictures etc. of a doll after I bought it. All I care about in a second hand doll is how well the owner cared for it and any quirks the doll's body has. My CH LJ Mars is second hand and I got all the pictures and relevant info before I agreed to buy him. It's not a sentient thing and all I see in it is the personality I created.

 

I own one second hand doll, and it wasn't until after buying her that I remembered having seen pictures of her somewhere on the forum before. She's modded, so she doesn't look like other dolls of the same sculpt. I've looked a few times to see if I could find the old post, but it seems to be gone the way of many old posts on the net. There's a natural curiosity to see what kind of looks she had before coming to me, but it doesn't have anything to do with the character she is now. It's like browsing the "Doll Evolution" thread for me. Just fun to see the differences.

I've certainly kept her faceup and mods, because they're beautiful work from an artist. I love her face. Her fashions, eyes, character, etc. are entirely new though.

 

I think it would be interesting to know who they were before... but everyone changes, even if its ever so slightly, after going thru a major event.. be it rebirth, adoption, or just plain moving. Sometimes we get a blank slate with some vague memories, other times we go on as we always have, with maybe a new quirk or 2...

My Wilson (who I am still paying on) tells me a little more about himself each time we meet. He will let me know who he was, who he is, and who he wants to be in his own time.

 

Both my boys are secoundhand or at least partially so. I sort of like the feeling so far, though if/when I get a couple more dolls, maybe I will try buying direct from a company.

The first doll thing I bought was the body for my DZ chen, Mycroft. Unusual decision, it seems- but I felt like I needed to buy it. It was the exact body that I had seen a box opening of that made me love the sculpt. I believe the original doll's name was "Hue" and there were not that many pictures of him that I found. I saw the body being sold, although it was sans head, being part of a split. I ordered the head later via DDE fresh from dollzone. Oddly, I do know who the head went to, and they are active here AND their icon is usually that particular doll, and it feels so odd to know what my guy's original head has become.
The body in question is damaged slightly under the neck and on the chest, but I don't mind anymore, especially the damage on his chest. I think of the damage as part of him.

I'm the second owner of my next doll, and again, there aren't many pictures of him before I owned him. I do know his name was Adam.

I definitely do not take into consideration what the dolls were before they came to me. When I get them, their personalities click in place. It feels right, especially because their original owners decided to let them go, didn't bond, didn't need them ect.

 

I usually do the check up before I get the doll. To see pictures of the doll I'm about to buy.

 

My darling boy was an adoptee. I know, as I have seen the pix... of him in a "DRESS". Poor thing. Never again will he endure such indignation. I'm sure he was more than happy to wear whatever his former owner saw fit to clothe him in, but ... nope... not in my house. I just never found out if he was an adoptee from the lady I adopted him from or not.

- ShadowHawke -