The character evolution of your doll?

When I first entered into this hobby, I was just getting dolls that I liked, until I needed to have a doll take on a character for a costume show I was doing. Looking over the dolls I had, only one doll had the feel as if she would fit into the 18th century. She was not the one I would pick now, but she did well in her petticoats and pockets for the show. Now I look at each doll carefully, to see if it will fit into character for a certain time period. Many of the dolls offered are not going to suite my needs, but I've found one doll company that does offer heads and bodies as separates. That way I can use one body and have many heads to change characters. Love the idea, 'cause I can save money too.

 

at first, I wanted Elodie's style to be dark and a bit depressive; I had her face-up planned, her clothes ready.
after a while, I changed my ideas for her, because I fell in love with the Marie Antoinette style. I wanted it for her, and imagined her character as being arrogant and self-centered, but as someone who's always pretending to be amiable. I was satisfied with that for a couple weeks.

But after a few more weeks, the clothes I had bought did not seem right for her. She had no face-up yet, but in the end, she could only be a very sweet girl, and lolita clothes seemed to be the best ones for her.

So that's three character changes until I got to her "real" personality.
I'm not sure why they happened, they just did. ^^

 

Several of my dolls' characters have turned out much differently than I'd planned... especially my E-an. When I ordered her, I'd planned on making her a Cyberpunk/Industrial chick... but then when she arrived, that character personality didn't click at all. She ended up as a more casual tomboy who wears button-up shirts. >_< In the end, it worked out beautifully and now I couldn't imagine her any other way.

 

Hmmm one of my boy's started as a conservative, traditional, follow the rules kind of boy, then he became a "prince" as in super high class and spoiled, and finally he settled on being a cold and mostly mean but really intelligent and really into earning money kind of character. The changes happened pretty fast so it was really a matter of my changing his character until it fit.

 

Haha yeah my boys didn't turn out how I thought they would. Cameron was originally supposed to have an elegant gentleman look and character to him but in the end he decided that he wanted to be more of a self-centred pop idol type, which really surprised me. Yeah... misjudged that one. And when Zan came I originally tried to make him into a businessman but... turns out he's an artist. I guess I'm really bad at predicting boys. XD My girls have been spot on so far though.

 

It was after my 3rd dollfie purchase that I realized I was forming a "family" of dolls, though not truly brother with sisters. Then, recently, I purchased a Volks' "Lilli" and I had a playmate for my Dimsum "Emily." And now, "Olivia Morgan," soon "Yukinojo" joins my "family" of bjd's. With the purchases of "Olivia" and "Yukinojo" I am now curious about the Volks' "Tokyo Boys Story." I am trying to collect information about that story arc and finding bits and pieces to try and tie together. The story arc begins to remind me of the old classic opera about the "Forgotten Boys" from Japan.

 

When i had my Luts Na-nu-ri head he was was supposed to be a nice happy young man...Pft yeah right....
His mood ended up compleatly pliping around...he turned into a jerky punk...It was pritty funny...

 

Zetto was originally going to be Zed, a Bowie-like British rock star. However, one look at the Gretel head let me know he was Asian, specifically Japanese/Korean. Then I started thinking along the lines of a real Visual Kei type of musician, pretty boy, wild clothes. However, when I got the first wig for him he ended up seeming a lot more grungy alt-rock type. That makes sense because I have been a part of the punk rock/alt rock scene in LA for longer than I'm willing to cop to. Finally when Biff did the faceup everything was set.

Yumiko, on the other hand, got her name from the person she formerly owned. Yukino Dollfie Dream with factory faceup. Somehow Yukino morphed into Yumiko. I started playing with the name...originally she was Yumiko Arisu Natsume after I got her, then she became Alicia Yumiko Natsume after I decided her family would be descended from the Nikkei (Japanese emigrants) who settled in Peru during the turn of the last century of the common era.

The rest of the character evolution has happened because the dolls I have are now my muses. I am writing a novel about them. They were joined by Namiko Yamamoto, Zetto's niece, the first doll I've bought new. She's a Mini Dollfie Dream and I got her a month and a couple of weeks ago. She's definitely fit every aspect of how I envisioned her, except the MDD does have some limitations that if I had based her on an Obitsu 50cm she wouldn't have. But I still love her. She's a snarky little skater chick with absolutely no fear.

 

I don't really plan any sort of personality for my dolls before I actually see them- however, when I first got Cass, I envisioned a cute, but outgoing boy, popular with girls, and while slightly effeminate looking facial features-wise, very masculine in character. However, what I got by the time I finished painting his face, was solemn, serious, quiet boy, obedient and shy, with some rather (unfortunately) feminine habits and the general air of being lost in his own world. I love Cass to death, and I'm kind of pleased that his character sort of affirmed itself in my mind without me having to do any work, but shopping for him is terribly trying! He doesn't like any wild or flashy clothes, and he hates anything really punky or drastic looking. I'm going to have to make his entire wardrobe by hand because he absolutely won't wear majority of anything available for SD boys. He has a rather particular taste...

 

This I can relate to, most my boys turned out a little different from planned like being more mischievous than mellow but they're not big changes.

Now my Asmodeus, he's another matter. His character was meant to be a very androgonus character but still very boyish in personality. He was meant to be 'Lust' so flamboyant, a little bit crude, very seductive but very male. That didn't happen at all. At the start I aimed to fit him to the mold but I was never happy with how he turned out. One day I stuck him in my friend' doll' dress and I immediate prefer him that way. He's now really girly that he might as well be a girl (even though his character could be both) he wears long flowy dresses and like flowers and is as sweet as sugar, he's more like a southern belle more than seductive lust. But I like him more this way, he's all sweet and innocent looking with some vice. My entire family treats him like a girl and he's known as the 'princess' of my group.

 

I'd say Luna is my current one that has changed her personality somewhat the most. I was going to make her this more sweet and almost princess like little girl, but while I was doing her faceup, her personality changed somewhat and she became this character that was more adventurous, outgoing and more of a tomboy, though still girlie looking. So I guess she's become more of a sweet-sour or sweet-spicy character lol

 

Of the three characters I have developed (Roger, Peter, and Johnny), Roger is my most complex. He started off as a middle-aged man, a level-headed war vet with a lot of life experience. He was to be the wise, worldy father figure type to Peter and Johnny (who are both teenagers), but it didn't go that way. For some reason I retooled Roger's character to make him a young man, a trifle older than Peter and Johnny. Out went the battle scars, and the level head. In came a stormy young man, still full of advice and with his own pent-up emotions and weaknesses hidden behind a facade of masculine bravado.

Johnny and Peter haven't gone through any major retoolings yet--Peter is a relatively new character and his personality is still in it's first stages of creation. And Johnny has been near-perfect from inception, undergoing only minor tweaks along the way.

 

This has happened to me!

I wanted a Dollshe Saint for the longest time, but I started late in the hobby. So when he was released again in 2009 I didn't think it twice and got one as soon as I could gather the money. Once he arrived, I had no idea what to do with him. I bought clothes for him beforehand but just because I didn't want him to be naked. His first shots were of a shy, lost boy.

He stayed like that for some time until I tried my new photography skills on him. When I took this picture, wearing borrowed clothes, I had an epiphany. I had to get a custom suit tailored just for him.

He then became the main subject of my horror/creepy pictures. He's now a very quiet serial killer with OCPD.

 

After my first two dolls, I kinda gave up on planning characters. Got my first doll at 17, was going through the 'true art is angst' phase, and I wanted him to be a very broken character. Well, he turned out rather skittish, which was great, but also rather strongly opinionated with a definite diva streak.

The second one was meant to be a girl. He informed me that, no, sorry, he wasn't. =_= And then insisted on only wearing female clothes and wigs. /no words.

Then there was the planned eerie cyber geisha nightmare who turned out to be a rather demure boy-next-door, and the planned cute and innocent little murder-victim next door who turned out to be a soldier. =_= The only dolls that stick to their characters are tinies and fan-dolls. =_=

 

I write stories, and my dolls are meant to represent the cast. There's been a lot of evolution within those stories, and my characters have changed a lot. None of them really turned out how they were "supposed" to be. It's more fun that way, and I've accepted it as just part of how I write. I wish I could let my dolls evolve separately from my stories. That'd be a lot of fun, too!

 

Two doll really changed her character and whole personality over the time of 1 1/2 years.
The others had a little change here and there. I slowly carve out their self, so to speak. ^^
It never included modding, though. They didn't change that much. Only thing that changed were style and body blushing.

 

Amir was supposed to have started off as a bit of a Sephiroth character, but he was having none of it. he went through a goth phase, then artist and now is a business man with expensive tastes and attiude, though still likes art.

Loki started as hardcore goth but decided to be punk instead. and I've realized his ego was just a cover up for his insecurity.

Maddy was supposed to be dark and sultry and kind of freaky...but has gone more for dorky and upbeat.

I'm sure I have other transformations, but these are this big ones.