Themes within crew, or just a big collection?

I don't have a theme with my dolls, I just collect to recreate specific characters from different sources. But in a few months I'll own two dolls of the same character since he's my favorite of all time

 

Hmm...in the meantime, it has become a bit complicated. It all started with Marvel's Avengers, Tony Stark and Loki. I had both in my house already (well, at that time Loki was just a rolling head). Then the first Avengers film landed, and someone here on the forum showed her Iple Lee portraying Tony. So I decided that I liked the idea that much that my Lee from now on was also Tony Stark/Iron Man.

However, I did a bit of a variation on the theme. I now have my "Favourite Avengers". However, they are not really Marvel any more. I am happily doing crossovers with figures from Star Trek, Star Wars, Tomb Raider (maybe, that may change), and my own character. And the characters are a bit different from their movie counterparts.

And then I decided that the crew could do a little bit of living history. So now I also have some kind of side story going on playing with a medieval/knightly theme. Mixed with a bit of Lord of the Rings, as I absolutely want some Elves and dragon/other fantasy creatures.

As of course the knight needed a steed, in the future there may also be things like a Zorro theme. All of this portrayed by the same characters. And maybe something Roman including Roman cavalry (something I really would love to do, even if involves a LOT of chainmail knitting).

Now my husband would like to have every outfit I create out on display. But that is simply impossible, as I do not want to have 20+ 70 cm Impldoll Idol guys in my house (yes, I do love them, but I would be so overwhelmed). So I will just see who can portray my ideas best. E.g., I think Hawkeye would make a really good Roman soldier. He has the right haircut for this...

 

I do prefer my dolls to belong together somehow personally. But I do understand the appeal of owning dolls just because you like them individually too.

 

I have multiple small storylines going, and they don't cross. I also have dolls who will always be "lonely onlies," just hanging out all by themselves.

 

50 dolls spread through 3 worlds. Within the worlds, they don't interact at all since the worlds are completely different. But I have done some "real world" just for the luz photostories.

The Dream Time: set in the future in a galaxy far from Earth, filled with created species of mine. They do know of Earth but it is an Earth that knows of alien species and we have achieved deep space travel. Interaction between Earth and the species of The Dream Time is very limited mostly due to distances involved.

Big Mystic Smoke: set in modern day southern Ontario but a world where Otherworldly creatures exist. The Otherworldly creatures don't announce themselves as they fear being hunted/caged/dissected by humans.

Divine Worship: set in the very distant past when Gods, Demons, Elves, Fairies, Jinn, Stone Giants, etc. roamed the world along with humans, creatures of myth and some that I've created. All the species are aware of each other and generally live peaceably with each other.

 

All of mine and the ones I plan to own are all from the same story. While the first novel only deals with three of them, a few more are introduced in the second novel, and a few more will be introduced in the novels after that. Their stories do eventually intertwine. I am NOT looking forward to figuring out which point of views I should focus on later on.

But yes, anyways, all the dolls are characters who are a part of this series for now. I'm open to getting a doll just because it's pretty in the future, but it's not in my immediate plans.

 

I have two universes within my crew, one cyberpunk and one steampunk. In each universe my dolls are linked in their background. Some are families like my Oni characters (husband and wife, sister and son), others are friends or ennemies, boss and employee. I like to linked them.

 

There are several different "casts" of associated characters among the dolls in my crew, along with a number of Independents, who are either the only member of their particular group or who just aren't character avatars to begin with.

Some of the casts are primarily family groups (the Turtle House gang, for instance-) or collections of friends and colleagues (Tallis' "Brat Pack" and the Montanari brothers' circle of modern magi are both examples of that-) created specifically for the dolls, while others are resin versions of characters from the same tabletop RPGs (Kaia and Lincoln, for example, are player characters from a particular Cthulu By Gaslight game. The Duchess and the Regent and their friends are from a Castle Falkenstein campaign.) or MMO. (I have several of my old City of Heroes characters in resin form, including Grey Kestrel and Red Cardinal, the pair in my avatar picture-)

Though I'm not much of a writer, there are also a few fiction characters in the gang, grouped by the story they came from. (Oracle and Mender, the two Machine City androids, the New Amsterdam Huntsmen and Arjuna and the other Arrows of Heaven characters are all in that category.)

I think breaking the crew up like that makes the collection easier to relate to. It also provides some guidelines for picking sculpts. I have a hard and fast rule that any dolls that are grouped into a particular cast together MUST look like they belong together. Their scales, sculptural styles and over-all look have to be harmonious.

I don't demand that dolls match across casts... but within them? Absolutely.

 

I started out just for collection purposes but now it has evolved to must of them interacting with each other through a timeline. XD Almost all but one come from the same world but the same time period. And some of them are generations apart. XD

 

Only a couple of my dolls could really be considered from the same story/theme (two DnD OCs) but everyone else is just kinda their own thing.

 

My dolls all follow a theme in so far as they are older style dolls with large heads and eyes, and all painted to be varying degrees of retro. They are all stand alone dolls though currently, but that may be about to change as I am about to have two of the same sculpt in residence, with plans for them to be sisters. Hopefully it will work out!

 

A theme would be really cool, but I don't have one. I just have a collection of dolls that I like and are their own thing. Maybe I'll try to connect them all one day though, hmm.

 

Most of my dolls are mature tinies or smaller dolls. Most of them are all part of one world, with overlapping story lines. Its based on modern America, but with elves, fairies, and people with magic abilities. The two Real Pukis are sometimes part of the main group, and sometimes off doing their own thing. There may eventually be a separate group of bigger dolls in a post apocalyptic steampunk world.

 

About the only theme carrying around my dolls is some flavor of fantasy, but as for a cohesive story or characters, they each have their own thing going on! If they can be photographed or displayed together reasonably well, I've considered having them party in the same 'universe' (ie my DC Hugh and MNF twins), but for the most part my dolls just don't match well in proportions. Aren, my older Volks, is especially challenging to find proportionate matches for. He's got as big a pumpkin head as any and a very stylized face, so I'd kill to find him a buddy who won't look odd next to him.

 

I have my group split into three separate themes, soon to be four.

 

I've got a theme pretty much for each member of my crew.

First off, I've got my Legend of Korra inspired crew, which will eventually total four. A majority of my SDs are OCs of mine for an original story inspired by a AU fanfic I'm working on for Legend of Korra. They all exist in this semi fantasy/steampunk type of world, and are my muses and models for that developing storyline.

I've then got three MSDs (one's currently on layaway) that are a part of three entirely different stories/backgrounds. One (whom I still have yet to work on) will be an anthro catgirl version of my cat, Pacifica. The other girl (that is still being made) is going to be the titular character of another story I have in development that I'd put on the back burner for several years. The boy I have is the only one without a set background or storyline, and is a beach and sun lover who is inspired a bit by Maui from Moana in his personality.

With exceptions, I don't get dolls just because. I often have a hard time bonding with ones that don't have an already established character to them, so keeping with themes is the main way I collect bjds (and dolls in general).

 

My dolls all pair up. So if there’s a theme, it’s within each pairing— fire and ice, life and death, so on and so forth.

 

I have a large collection and it's a pretty big jumble. Within the mosh pit of dolls I do have ones that belong in the same narrative. Sometimes I group them together and sometimes I don't; I like the juxtaposition of styles and sizes.

 

My dolls don't really have a "crew" so to say, they are more like weird family members that only a few of us acknowledge. They don't have a story, they just kind of exist.

 

I have plans for 2 separate stories and i would consider them 2 different crews. The first story is a modern one with a supernatural element. My second one is going to be alien themed, but I don't have concrete plans to buy any of those dolls anytime soon...