Touchy character traits..

Well, many have already stressed the "Research! Research!" tip. I guess I need to say something else then...

Sometimes, I get a feeling that a doll's "touchy trait" is a bulleted list picked out from The Grand List of Touchy Traits. Meaning, the character is created from the get-go with said traits. I rather like it when the character acquires said traits one at a time, by a backstory or a flashback photostory, or even as his own life goes on. That way the touchy trait feels more natural (or rather, more inevitable) to the character and not just some tacked on trait.

Another is the harmony between the medium and the message (or, in less flowery words, the touchy trait vis-a-vis the doll itself). I've come across some dolls who aim to portray a character so broken and miserable, but on a doll sculpt that just. wont. work. Sure something can be said for irony and oxymoron and incongruence, but such shock values can only stretch one's disbelief so far. A bad example would be a bondage/druggie/gangster-themed Kid Delf. (And suddenly, I kind of want to see someone pull that off )

TL;DR? Don't push it too much, let it grow instead. And if it doesn't click, it probably won't fly.

 

People can create whatever they fantasize about through their dolls. The only reason why it starts to matter is when they share it on a public forum and care about the responses they get, whether positive or negative.

To those that do care, tact is always the best policy.

 

Any character trait can be touchy because somewhere in the world there exists a person that is offended by it, especially in a microcosm populated with an overabundance of easily offended, sensitive people like DoA. If it's a subject matter that you know is likely to be controversial or offensive, it's considered polite to label and warn for it. If someone views and is still offended, that's on them. Not everything can be warned for, of course, nor do I think any story or film or photostory should have a page long list of possible offensive content. Consumers need to be more responsible for the things they consume and their behaviour as they react, and I think beyond a few broad categories like sexual content or graphic violence, if you see/read/whatever something you don't like on the internet that was not warned about, hit the back button and move on.

So long as you follow the rules of the board, it really shouldn't matter what traits your dolls have when you post them here. DoA has rules against certain sensitive subjects being displayed on the site, so if your photos or descriptions are not violating them, you're good to go. I have two dolls that hit quite a few offensive hot buttons, but looking at the pics of them I post on DoA, you would not know that because it's not something to be shared on DoA. There are other more appropriate venues for their story to be shared in its fullest form.

 

Obviously people's dolls can embody whatever traits or have whatever interests their owners says, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I would be disconcerted at the very least if someone's doll was say, a paedophile, rapist or something similarly distasteful, but I haven't seen many dolls like that around, thankfully. Other than that, I think there are plenty of mature topics which can be tackled appropriately if you put a bit of thought into it.

I have seen a lot of collectors who just pile on as many 'edgy' characteristics as possible (so you end up with suicidal self-harming drug-addicted rock star demon goths with cat ears and a BDSM fetish or something) and you get owners who glamorise things like self-harm, or call their dolls gay and then have them act like awful yaoi stereotypes. Most of these are little more than eye-roll-worthy, and sometimes terrible enough to be entertaining, so I see no reason to engage the owners unless they're behaving badly and causing drama.

 

I think if someone is going to portray "touchy" character traits, It needs to be handled gracefully or maturely.

THIS. YES. So many times yes.

It's important to remember that the traits you give characters are not imaginary. Real people have them. Real people you might be talking to right now on this forum.

As someone with mental handicaps, I get pretty pissy if people give their doll "Depression" just to make him more "edgy", for example. They clearly know very little about Clinical Depression and are just playing it for attention and to make their doll "cooler".

On the other hand, a doll with a problem accurately portrayed can be a great tool for raising awareness and educating people, or simply just a good story showing the dignity and genuine struggle of the human condition.

 

Which is great and amazing, if that is the story teller/doll owner's goal or intention. Some stories aren't supposed to be good or educational or well written and are just a slick glamorization of a lot of horrible things. They have just as much right to exist as anything else. Bad art has just as much right to be created and shared as good art, and what's good and bad is highly subjective and changes from person to person. Hell, the same person can produce both or find an interest in both. Check out James Joyce's letters to Nora and then go read Ulysses. Watch anything made by Tarantino.

It's all about appropriate venue and being polite about warnings on the internet. Do I roll my eyes sometimes at some of the backstories I've seen attached to dolls? Of course I have. Do I think those stories should be removed from internet or banned or go flip my shit at the owner? Nope. Their toys, they can do with them what they want.

DoA already bans a lot of questionable content. I don't even see why this is really an issue.

 

Yes. In my house, I have two characters who are reincarnated beings, who used to be the best of friends, but they grew apart, and the elder of them evolved morally while the younger one didn't. Now they are mortal enemies, and the younger has no scruples (or, realistically I would LIKE him to have no scruples). They have killed each other numerous times, the elder one in self-defense, with the younger actively seeking out the elder.

It didn't take very long before I realized I couldn't have the younger one be totally unscrupulous, with no mercy when the time came for him to hunt down, trap and kill the elder. If he was really unscrupulous, he would have no problem with kidnapping my younger characters as hostages or terrorizing the younger girls in my household. But I didn't want his character to be viewed with hatred or dread whenever he appeared. I didn't want him to attempt to cause harm to anyone who did not have the ability to defend themselves. So, I drew the line there, and have him single-minded enough to only try to pursue his enemy directly (although most of my other characters are perfectly able to defend themselves and have done so against the character in question before). It's not as realistic or true to his character, as I would prefer to have him be truly ruthless, but I don't want to cross the line of having helpless girls and children being terrorized. My story doesn't need to be that serious, and I don't want it to be.

He might have some deeply hidden redeeming qualities, and even some regrets, and I want people to see that. His character is tempered with humor, and I also try to convey the fact that he still has regrets about his past, though I do still think he is quite serious when it comes time to make another attempt on his enemy's life. He takes being reincarnated for granted now, while the elder is exactly the opposite.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

I agree with that entirely. I don't share all of the stories I do.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

As far as I'm concerned, people can tack on as many "edgy" "dark" or whatever character traits as they want, I don't care. The only one that actually offends me is when people make pedophile characters/situations and think it's "super cute." Beyond that though, have at it with your emo-goth-vampire-suididal-incestuous-prostitute-demon-crossdresser, etc...just don't expect me to want to read about it lol.

 

There ya go. Don't ask why people aren't commenting favorably on your story when you load it down with that! People still have to be able to relate to the characters, after all.

Linda S.
galatia9

 

The only character trait/backstory I've ever found genuinely offensive is the IpleHouse promotion of one of their dolls as a rape victim whose body is mutilated. I thought that was absolutely disgusting and couldn't believe they'd create a story like that around a doll they're trying to sell. It's one thing to give a character a tragic backstory and something entirely different to market an item using rape as a selling point. I found that to be extremely offensive.

 

I actually had no idea that was part of Iplehouse's story for that doll being that they don't explicitly say that or even exactly hint towards it, though I can SEE how that conclusion could be met. Perhaps it is, who knows. But, I can't even really be mad at them for it, despite my past. Because it happens and, sometimes, when you're creating a character, even if it's for a doll, a doll you're trying to sale, even, things aren't always pretty and about love stories. I can't begrudge them that, especially since, at the very least, they didn't treat it as a joke or anything like that. They tried to make a real character with a painful backstory and I respect that despite my backstory, others backstories, and everything else.

Characters, like us in general, are allowed to have whatever backstory they wish, even if it sounds ridiculous or overwrought. To be honest, I've read some backstories that made me raise an eyebrow and go, "okay, that is just too much", as if the person was trying to make their character the most tragic of anything tragic in the world. But, to be absolutely honest, people can BE absolutely tragic. And it sucks but if you convey it right, people can see what you mean despite any initial misgivings.

But, hey, even if you don't, that just means I won't comment/read into what you have to offer. People should be free to create the characters they want to create and I don't want to stop that creativity, even if it makes me raise an eyebrow or two or even offends me. Especially since, for the most part, it's just people exploring, finding out things, dealing with things. Especially since, when I was crawling outside my little box of awareness, years upon years ago, and discovering things, I made characters and wrote stories that probably made people want to slap me upside the brain. But I was trying to make everything I learned into sense and then into people and then into words. And doing so has led me to respecting the more darker areas of life and treating them how they are meant to be treated and creating what I hope are richer, more realistic characters and scenarios. Sometimes you have to do a lot, rather than go through a lot, to get to where you need to be.

 

As long as your language or photos don't break any of the forum rules, make your characters have whatever traits you want. Everything is valid and you have as much a right to tell your story, in the way you see fit, as anyone else. Don't tailor your creations to some imagined audience of censors (i.e. a pack of random strangers on the internet, whom you'll never meet, and who will never have one ounce of influence in your life) who thinks any of your traits are too overdone or immature or grotesque or stereotyped or outlandish. God gave them the Back button for a reason, so they can just go use it if they don't care for your story. Theirs is not the opinion you need to worry about; telling your story as you need to tell it is the important bit.

If you have language or photos that are only appropriate for 18+, then post your story on an 18+ forum, where you know the audience will be able to respond to adult subjects in a sane manner. ControversialDoll has a subforum for just about any fetish your doll's character can think up.

QFE. If bad art were against the law, Hollywood would be a ghost town. Make your art as good as you can make it, but make it true to you. If it sucks anyway, just remember Ed Wood's credo: your next one will be better.

And it's not, really, an issue, it's just that we have to have one of these threads every 9 months or so whether we need it or not.

 

I find full view sex scenes tacky for both sides, it's just that yoai, to me, is worse due to how I was raised. Most yoais I see are of lust, and perversion, so I steer clear of it. To see the same with the dolls gives me as much discomfort. Nothing against anyone, I just find the actions wrong.

 

For goodness sake learn to at least spell it right! Yaoi!

It makes sense that yaoi contains lust since they are about romance, sex and lust. Perversion? In what way? Is it the butt sex? See yaoi? You mean read right?
What is posted on this site is just homosexual characters shelled in dolls. The owner of said dolls might like yaoi but that is beside the point.

Wonder if you will actually answer to this post since you ignored my last one.

 

I should make it clear that I have friends who are homosexuals, and both of them agree that it is wrong to lay with a person of the same sex, but it's their choice if they do. It won't make me dislike them, but I certainly don't want to hear details about their sexual life, not only because it's inappropriate, but it's something that bothers me. One of their friends, who sat at my table literally admitted that she became gay because she was influenced and my other friend stated that it's wrong to openly state your orientation, and won't even tell his little brother he's gay as to keep him safe. I am a writer and have characters with huge flaws, so they're far from Mary Sue. I'm finding more and more straight people becoming gay, so that sends a red flag to me, typically teenagers. Like children, they have impressionable minds, and one's orientation should be kept private. These gay parades promote homosexuality because they make a big deal about it as well as these gay raves, which are literally IN your face at public places such as schools. Do we have any hetero parades? No. Again, I have NOTHING against the people, (as I've said many times), just the actions. We're all imperfect so I can't hate somebody for their imperfections. I look at the good in everyone and ignore those imperfections. When however flaws are displayed as good things? Then we have a problem. If I didn't care about people and their well being, I wouldn't be taking my time to write to them.

I didn't ignore your last comment, so you're confusing me. Perverse as in how something is displayed. Not the act itself, even though the...you know, does bother me, but I'm sure it bothers many others regardless of their orientations.

 

Personally I think it is really interesting to see the traits people give their dolls, Yes they can be sensative but recreated sensativly they can really work.
Most people that self harm cover their scars from my experiance so they really would not be that noticeable.

An amazing example of this is the ABJD Modified to have had a double mastectomy for Breast cancer awareness, Shocking but beautifully and skillfully done with amazing sensativity.

http://www.tomopop.com/enchanted-do...faces-breast-cancer-fears-head-on-17717.phtml

 

I feel kind of like I'm having deja vu when looking at this topic...


As a lot of people have said already...something will usually offend someone, no matter how "touchy" or "edgy" a character trait is. Even what constitutes something as "touchy" can vary from person to person. Pretty much, all I can say is, do what you want to do. Expect backlash no matter what you do--because people, essentially, suck, and will find something to complain about.

 

You have got to be kidding me!?
There is nothing wrong with being homosexual. You cannot become gay, you are born with your sexuality. Nothing can make you or influence you to become gay.
Flaws? Is being gay a flaw? Displaying homosexual love, that is showing affection between two people who is in love with each other, bothers you?
No, there are no hetero parades because you have not been killed, bullied, tortured or cast out, deemed unnatural and sinful simply because of whom you fall in love with.
There are plenty of demonstrations though where homophobes scream about how homosexuality should be considered a crime again or that "God" hates fags.

 

There is nothing wrong with being homosexual.

Yes, some religions state it is, some countries still persecute it.

But in the majority of places, and here on the forum, too, it is not against the law, not a sin, and not a sickness. It is just a variation of normal human behaviour, just like hetero-, bi- or pansexuality is.

Saying it is "wrong" is actually pretty much offensive. It is a bit like saying it is "wrong" to have blond hair or something.