Should limiteds or oneoffs be modified or split into pieces?

Well, I have noticed that face ups have been mentioned a few times. I love having original limited face ups. But, they don't last forever. I am really careful with my babies, but if the face up gets damaged or worn, I am gonna replace it and make it new. Now, the new face up will be a mimic of the original most likely, but still I will do it. All of my limiteds are limited molds and it is the mold, not the face up, that makes them special. edit: I will not be the one replacing the face ups, I will have a professional do it.

 

I had been wondering if there was a thread like this because I had been considering modding a limited Narae Cockleshell. She's beautiful, but the almost purplish color of her lips just drives me fruit. So, the decision, mod a limited or sell and buy one that doesn't have purple lips....
I know from ebay that limited sell, and that having her in her original condition and all the stuff and all the papers makes the price go higher.....I just don't know what to do.....
hmmm decisions! decisions!!

 

If you've bought the limited doll, you can decide what to do with it. I don't know if my K-ss head counts as a limited, but I intend to open his eyes a little more, because I don't like this dozing glare I get from him now. But I also didn't like the standard K's eyes. It has to be somewhere in between, so I mod. (or let someone mod)

If you have to be so careful not to change anything about your limited doll, I don't think you'll enjoy the hobby anymore. For most of us they merely portray the characters we have in mind. And if something about the mold doesn't suit that personality you have to change it. Limited or not.

 

personally, i think it's no one's business what someone does with their doll, limited or otherwise. If i lay down 800+ dollars for a doll, i most certainly do not want anyone telling me what i can or cannot do with a doll. If i want to, i'll throw the thing in the garbage. (not that i'd ever want to) The point is, it's MY money, and i'll do with it as i please. And i think that's a safe rule for everyone to abide by. If you want to modify a limited, then by all means, do so!

 

Well, for other types of collectors, the thrill lies in getting the whole set, with all the pieces & original everything. Such collectors are likely to keep the eyes, shoes, wig, etc., even if not being used for that doll. Whether or not they actually use the fullset all the time for that doll's character, the set is kept for posterity, and keeping it doesn't lessen the enjoyment of that doll (or the hobby) at all.

I have two pairs of rare Isao-default eyeballs that I never use, and which I could sell for $75 a pop if I wanted to-- if I could bear to part with them. But I can't. So they just hang out (with Tsukasa's sneakers & Shiro's funny-shaped boots) in the box. If [bite my tongue] I ever sell either of the Isaos, I would want to send them back out into the world in mostly the same shape they arrived, and ready for somebody else's character to pour into them.

Then, too, breaking up a fullset isn't quite the same as modification or repainting. If I wanted to modify/repaint either of the Isaos, I would've done it ages ago; its just their luck that I happen to love their faces just as Volks made 'em. I find that if I buy fullsets that I love top-to-bottom (faceup most importantly), the urge to bust it up is minimal.

I hear you! Taking regular care not to eff up a rare face, that can only go so far. They don't last forever. I'm dreading the day I have to have anybody wiped. ;;

(I'm going to take Volks's makeup-enhancement class at the next US Dolpa, and [hopefully!] learn how to repair pieces of the faceup as they wear off, without having to remove the rest of it. Chipped lips, rubbed-off lashes, under-chin bald patches, etc. That'd really help extend the life of the overall faceup.)

 

Definitely your choice to do with what you want with your doll.. but having a oneoff, I would hate to do anything with it. I don't even want to play with him too much!

 

If Ashby (my anais one-off) had an accident, i would send her back to volks to have them fix her faceup. I would NEVER wipe her face up off. If I EVER decided I didn't want her anymore, or didn't like that faceup, I'd sell her, because it truly would be a crime to wipe that one-off faceup, you know?

I think it's different for limiteds... but ONE-offs? nope. not me, man. I'd have to enter the witness protection program if I ever wiped Ashby's face off.

 

I think that's an excellent analogy. Sometimes it's a shame that something's original state was lost, sometimes it just disappears without anyone knowing or caring.
I don't find it distressing to see Limiteds broken up when there are undoubtedly several hundred copies, but it's harder to see smaller edition dolls changed and I really, really don't like seeing One-Offs dismantled. I had no qualms about modifying my Yukinojo's face because there are still so many default boys around. Since they encourage customization, I don't believe Volks has any issues with owners changing the limiteds - that's the only way to get the sculpt, after all.
I have more respect for One-Offs because they were specifically styled to match one artist's vision or with the intention that they'd be the perfect doll exactly as they are for some person out there. It seems rare that the doll and the "destined owner" are united, but I have read enough stories about buyers finding that one perfect doll after missing the chance to buy it several times to make me want to improve their odds. I would sooner buy an entirely new Choa that do anything to alter my Unique Choa. At the time, the only way to get a white Custom House doll was to buy a Unique, so I waited around for just the right one with a faceup I liked so that I wouldn't have to wipe it. I heard from CH that I bought her out from under another girl who was very interested but didn't have the funds yet, so I kind of keep her in mind.

 

People show total disrespect for artists when they dismember their works. I remember cringing as I saw Marketplace threads for beheaded Liebchens. Disgusting. This however is my maybe not so humble opinion. Of course if you buy it it's your business what you do to it, I know so don't beat that dead horse, but yeah, you can buy a Rembrant and then put your foot through it to. It depends if you see your dolls as artist's works, as some of them are, or if you have bought a basic in order to customise, or if you see them as no matter how special, just dorries, as some philistines would call them.

 

Personally, I don't think it's disrespectful towards artists when their dolls are dismembered, especially if it's a doll that was limited, but not one in the world only. Bearing in mind this hobby, if the artists actually had something against their dolls being taken apart and being made into hybrids, they probably wouldn't make the doll so that it would actually match other dolls from other companies in terms of resin colour and fit.

If there really is a sculptor of BJDs out there who wants their dolls to remain as they are forever because they're 'art', not customizable dolls, then they have the choice of creating one and one only and keep it forever or make it in such a way that they are impossible to take apart. Fact is, most sculptors view their sculpts as art but they make and cast more than one of that sculpt for a reason. They want to sell it. And once they've sold it, what you do to them is up to you.

 

I wanted to say something that Volks told me once.

My SDC Kaede had her face up damaged when my cat knocked her off my dresser. I was so upset. I contacted Volks international and Volks USA. Mind you I bought Kaede brand new from the Volks international website a few years back.

I asked Volks is there anyway they could fix my dear KAede's face up. You know what they said? They said that that service is not available to international customers, but Volks told me to buy some paints and try to give Kaede a new face up. They directed me to several of their products.

Now...I really don't think this company has a problem with customization and repainting. The mark was pretty small on her forehead, but instead of saying, just leave it, it is not that bad, they encouraged me, a total noob, to redo the whole thing on a limited doll.

My friend repainted a limited Lucas. She then took him to the Dolpa in LA. She showed him to one of VOlks doll artist and employees I believe and they loved him and his custom paint job. She won an award for the costume he was wearing too.

Since then I have not worried about what may happen if one of my little ones has an accident or the face up wears. I know the original makers of the doll encourage me to redo the face ups even on limited dolls.

 

I don't think I would want to modify a limited.Mostly because why not get a standarded mold and modify that? Hopefully you will never have to sell any of your dolls but just in the off chance you have to most people want limiteds in their original condition.

Of course that might be something on the limited that the artist likes and has a different vision of it but I myself would not modify a limited (If if I had the talent heh)

 

Your doll. Your choice.
Just because people will moan and bitch about the fact that you've done it to a limited shouldn't stop you. They're usually the type of people who find all worth in a doll to be their limited status.

 

You may not like LEs being altered, but that doesn't make it disrespectful to the artist. While LEs give collectors a chance to have something in a set and rare, the hobby as a whole is bent towards customization. If artists were that put off by the idea of their dolls being altered, they would either A. Keep them, or B. Sell fewer numbers at much much higher prices.

These dolls are part adult toy, part collectable, and part work of art all in one. And when it comes to bjd as work of art, that comes from both the original artists and the doll's owner. These aren't paintings made to never be touched and kept perfectly preserved. That doesn't mean collectors can't treat them like an expensive painting, but that shouldn't be expected when that's not what they were created for in the first place. In some cases for someone to have the perfect doll for them, it means taking a head from one (we'll assume it's an LE for the sake of discussion) and sticking it on another body or changing a faceup--but isn't that what the hobby is at least partly about? Finding that doll that is just what you want? And in some cases, the only way to get certain sculpts is in limited form. Buyers don't always have other options.

 

I'd say customizing a doll and making it a hybrid is 2 different things.

 

Many hybrids are made using parts made by the same company, so there's a level of acceptability there as well. Many BJD makers have designed their dolls so that heads can be used on either boy or girl bodies, even if they only sell a particular head as one gender. Volks certainly has no problem with juggling heads and bodies - the one-offs are frequently gender switches from the original LEs.

 

That's my opinion as well but according to Stella Maris, apparently even a hybrid desecrates a work of art.

Like I said earlier and like Taco said in an even better explanation, I'm really doubtful that a sculptor feels the same way. While people liken a doll to a painting, it's not the same thing in the end. A painting wasn't created so that you could modify it. But BJDs are made to be customizable.

I like to believe that for most sculptors who make BJDs, they create this limited editions with their special face-ups and clothes with the intention that someone will like it as it is and buy them. But I don't think that the sculptors themselves have the expectation that said LEs will remain the same forevermore. Some buyers will like it as it is, some will get bored of it, and some will want it for just one specific aspect and change the other parts.

 

I don't think you understand what I was trying to say, so I'll be more specific. What I meant was (and I realize now that I wasn't clear) dolls that are artists dolls like Fancyboots Liebchen, or companies one-offs like the ones offered at Volks Dolpas are the "artist's works" that I was referring to. And my opinion is that these should remain whole and entire.

 

What I was saying was in reply to "People show total disrespect for artists when they dismember their works." Even with your clarification, I have to disagree.

How many Fancyboots Liebchen was released and was it a match to dolls from other companies? Because unless the sculptor made the doll in a way that it can't be taken apart and made it so that it does not match any other dolls in any way and perhaps made one only, then I don't think the artist will find it disrespectful if the dolls are made into hybrids.

Even the one-offs from Volks aren't exactly one-offs are they? In terms of clothing and face-ups yes, but their sculpts will be released again after all. As someone else said earlier, even the artists from Volks aren't offended and will encourage you to make changes on the dolls if you prefer it that way.

 

LKJ with all due respect your view is facile. It is disrespectful to disassemble something that was meant to be as a whole period. It doesn't matter about the artist's personal viewpoint, it just is. Just like calling a woman a "ho" is disrespectful, even if she says, hey I don't really mind.