The Deciding Factor--What are you picky about?

The doll as a whole. If the body doesn't feel right to me, the appreciation I might have gotten from the doll's face lowers.

It's mostly the face that does it, though. The shape of the eyes and the lips in conjunction with the nose... The symmetry/asymmetry of the face and the potential the sculpt has... Almost all dolls are very pretty, but in my opinion not too many leaves a lasting impression or a feeling of 'aha!'.

 

Everything. LOL
I tend not to like sculpts with a really shallow crease between the lips. I want my dolls to look as though they could speak had they a mind to. Distinctive noses are a serious plus, and full lips are essential. I won't buy a doll if I don't love the blank sculpt, the faceup is decoration, not the thing itself to me. Bodies have to suit the personality that will inhabit the doll as well as the general build of the character. I'm really picky about leg and hand sculpting; both have to be properly detailed and natural looking. One 'off' element in a doll kills my interest. I love Supia Rosy, but I can't stand her skinny X shaped legs, and that's not a doll I really want to try to hybrid so she's a no-go for now anyway. It's easy to see why I tend towards dolls that can be hybrided. Zaoll girls and my KDF Bory are the only dolls I view as perfect as-is.

 

I'm in the process of saving for my first doll and I'm having a hard time deciding which mold I want. I'd like him to have a sort of youthful, yet pensive/serious look. Not mean, but a little sad. The eyes would have to be open, but not too big. The more realistic, the better. Staight nose (like Iplehouse Soori's) is a big plus. That's not necessary though, as long as it looks like a human nose, not anime-ish. Crobidoll Yeon-ho fits my criteria pretty well, but.. I don't know. I'm just not sure about him. I also love Migidoll Ryu and I know someone who is selling him in my country (no customs, so that's a HUGE plus). BUT.. he has a smile on his face. If I could find someone to mod his mouth a bit then I'd buy him right away. Although then I'd have to find a body for him elsewhere. Hmh.

The body is important too. The character I have in mind should have a pretty boyish body, not too much muscle. The most important thing though is the posing. I want him to be able to do various realistic poses and stand as well as sit nicely. Torso joint is a must and I'd prefer double joints. I really fell in love with the Dollstown 15boy body but I don't like the DT heads at all. I might consider getting the body if I order a minimee head in the future. But for this boy... I really don't know. Depends on what head I'm getting. For migidoll, I guess the souldouble body would be nice.. except that the double joints look really weird. Hmm. This is so hard.

 

Whether or not I can find clothes to fit the doll. Hopefully this will no longer be a concern after I take sewing classes later this year

 

I look first of all at the overall face. Then it's the eyes that attract me, whether they be cute or serious. Then the shape of the mouth and lips. I've seen one doll who had the prettiest face, but I didn't like the way her mouth was turned down. Just an example.

 

lips for me too...when i look at a doll its the lips are the first thing ill pick off, then maybe the nose and the position of the eyes on the face. Just like I love Narae and i want a tan one someday, but looking as userpics she needs a good face up to make her lips work for me.

 

For me it's proportions. I don't like the eyes too big, or the mouth too small. The sculpt also has to have character and not look to generic. A good expression can make or break it for me.

 

Size is everything!
I hate it when the nose is too big, or the eyes are oddly-shaped, or if the mouth doesn't go with the other features, and things like that. The scuplt has to have expression.

 

Aside from the obviousness that the doll must resemble one of my characters first, I will admit the first thing my own attention is always drawn to is the eyes. It's way important to me that the eyes just grab me and NOT be too big. A doll can be the most gorgeous thing in the world but if the eyes are just too big and can't be modified smaller and still look natural, then it just won't work. Of course for me, too big eyes usually mean anything more open than 'sleepy' eyes, so that limits me quite a bit.

But I will admit, even though I look at eyes first, lips are probably equally as important to me. I've had to turn many a beautiful potential doll away since the lips just weren't full enough to my liking. I like full, plump lips on both top and bottom, and unfortunately alot of dolls (especially some of the few Volks that I would otherwise love) just have too thin of upper lips.

So first I check off those two as being top important. Second two important is nose and cheek shape. The nose cannot be too small or pointed since I like them mostly proportionate to the face, and the cheeks cannot be overly round and non-defined.

Now that I look at these 'rules' for myself, I think that explains why alot of female sculpts don't appeal to me as more often than not their eyes are bigger and their faces 'softer'. Poor ladies, I'm determined to find one someday.

 

What is the deciding factor for you? What makes or breaks a doll's sculpt that you would buy? Is it the eye shape, the nose, lips, cheeks, ears, etc? What are you picky about when it comes to the sculpt?

With me,its the eyes. It truly is. If the doll Im wanting has to be a "Dreaming" or "Half Open" Eyed sculpt and the lips are marvelous but the eyes arent perfect. Bump it down. I dont want it, time to move on. Im not to picky about the ears, or the cheeks or even the nose! :} Im much more choosy when it comes to the eye shape and lips. And I absolutely hate thin lips. Hate it, hate it, hate it. And its a shame, I ran into a few perfect eye shapes, but the lips ruined it for me. D:
Those are mainly the things Im picky about. ♥

 

Maybe most of you guys choose yr dolls by their facial appearance & construction, but as for me, the very 1st thing that MUST reach my demand and satisfaction is the proportion of the body.

I dislike dolls with big heads[sorry no offend here]Big headed dolls will result a deformed doll.[Is this the way to say?lol] My mom & friends always says that my AA shiwu is big headed. And this gave me a big influence in choosing my dolls in future. I mean... yea, i know is just only a doll, maybe i'm sensitive? But i demand my doll in a way that it will look realistic. At least, being "normal".

After the 1st condition is obtained, then secondly i'll go further into the facial part details. Mostly, almost similar to everyone, i'll choose the facial appearance that suit my characs. Like if i want a cool looking doll, then his/her face must be total cool looking. I love cool + melancholic[not toooo solemn] faces. 100% into the characteristic of the charac. And i like small & dreamy eyes, eye size between 12-14mm.

I'm not so demanding about girl dolls. But i'll still be picky on them. I love vintage looking dolls. How should i say? Tender & elegant look. And i especially love half-open mouthed dolls. Example like Supia Roda. So from my points above, you can tell why is she in my wishlist now ^^

For MSD & 24cm dolls, I prefer chubby looking dolls. I love my Volks MSD Rock, he has the chubbiest body of all!!! And i mostly pick special facial appearance that rarely appear on dolls, example like phoenix eyes [chinese eyes]. That's why i choose DD-anne Pei Yi. She has a strong oriental look on her face

My conclusion is, everyone has their own taste of look. ^^

 

I'm picky with the eyes and lips. After getting my AE Mei Jia I started being picky with the body too, Specially the legs.

Atm i'm in love with the fairyland bodies, but I love iplehouses molds.. I love how the active line attaches the hands and feet to the body, i think its pretty smart and save me a lot of time and trouble..

 

I'm very picky about the eye shape as well as their placement. For their bodies, I am picky about how posable they are. The other thing I'm picky about is their size.

 

Well ususally it's the eyes that draw me into the sculpt but if the lips aren't right of if the face is too narrow and pointy, no matter how much I LOVE everything else, then I could probably never own him or her. Thats why I can't own DES, but I still love them. ^^

 

I'm rather picky, especially about the face. The mold must of course be agreeable, and I prefer dolls which are younger looking. The doll should be at a reasonable price. I also prefer double joints but it's not necessary.
I don't really like the tiny, pointy noses like those of the smaller Peak's Woods dolls, so I need a normal looking nose, though still sort of small. And I don't like oversized anime eyes.

 

I think the first thing I pay attention to is the nose. I just love big and shapy noses! I would never buy a doll which has a not-so-special nose. Unidolls Jace has a pe fect nose. I've actually considered buying him once, but his eyes are kind of close to each other..

As you can see, now we're heading up to eyes. The big-eyed-look really creeps me out, although in the beginning I liked big-eyed dolls more. Nowadays it's the small eyes that make me melt.

Then the body. I like SD sized dolls. Girls should be feminine but really thin (no large boobs!) and boys also thin and not so shapy.

I could just go on and on with these, it's extremely hard for me to find a doll i really like.

 

i look for faults that i can love a doll for. i'm very interested in collecting broken/damaged dolls (i have a complex, i guess) that, while others might not be able to appreciate them anymore, i'd like to

 

All the features need to harmonize together to create a whole. However, that being said, I guess you could say I'm picky about how the cheeks interact with the mouth. It's not necessarily the mouth versus cheeks, but how they work together.

 

The lips are definitely a deciding factor for me. If they look sad, I'm not getting that sculpt, unless I'm designing a very sullen character for them xD I like lips that are pretty much neutral, maybe a little bit more on the cheerful side. The eye shape and size is also very important, too.

 

Expression is the number one thing I take into consideration.

The doll body is second. Posability means alot to me.