Uncanny Valley

...Yeah, but you do. I think it's still rude of people to say something about a doll that clearly indicates *your* aesthetic preference. That's like saying "It's fine if I insult your outfit because your clothes don't have feelings". If people insult your doll, I'd ask them how they'd feel if you said that about their shoes.

 

I think it's a no-win situation when you're a celebrity who gets made into an action figure: it's either made for collectors and WAY too detailed and accurate like Ed there, or it's horribly crude and inaccurate, and never in a flattering way. And if you're the unluckiest of unlucky, Robert Tonner makes your likeness and you look like a deformed mannequin version of yourself.

 

Please don't misunderstand me--I never said that saying insulting things about anything someone else owns--doll or otherwise--isn't meaner than cold cat dirt. Some people do have bizarrely negative reactions, though, and when it's wildly inappropriate I try to give the benefit of the doubt and blame the uncanny valley effect. (It doesn't always work.)

 

Emby: Yeah, giving people the benefit of the doubt is good. I'm just saying... like, it doesn't really matter if your dolls have feelings or not, you know? Hurtful is hurtful. If you do feel like you want to excuse someone's behaviour, "my dolls don't have feelings" is IMHO not the right reason to do it (because it's not your dolls' feelings at stake after all).

 

I haven't seen a doll YET that gives me the Uncanny Valley effect. Why is that? They just don't creep me out. Maybe I'm too logical that way...
But, I think maybe those weird reborn-type monkey dolls border on that for me. I've only seen them in photographs...and register to me as ugly ~and I always question WHY?? Why would ANYONE want one? .... but not really uncanny v to me.

BUT ~ and let me know if I'm not alone here ~ Monkeys. Monkeys, marmosets, especially the little lion tamarin give me that UV effect, especially in real life with the way they move and dart their eyes around...and look at you almost HUMANlike! Very freaky to me.
That's the closest I've come to the UV.

 

This is a topic I'm quite glad to have found. It's one that I have to deal with quite often in life. I am a pediophobe. The idea of a barbie or G.I.joe terrifies me. As a child, when I received a barbie for christmas, the doll spent the next many years in a small locked box at the bottom of my toy chest. I was literally that frightened of the odd, constantly smiling tiny woman.

Now, I can't quite pinpoint it, but around the time of my first anime convention, I heard the term Dollfie in regards to a panel. I didn't attend ( mostly because I first attributed the idea of Dollfie to something dealing with dolphins. >.< yeah, looking back I can't figure out how I came to that conclusion) and I didn't see one in person at that time. However, six months later at my second convention I happened to come across one. An SD male, DZ Floy, to be exact. Now, he was very pale with white hair, and had been purposely designed to look a bit off in a mental-patient sort of way, but for some reason, this doll did not trigger my phobia.

That was the moment that I became inquisitive. How did I not find myself terrified of this doll? I think I may have broken it down.

You see, things on the opposite side of the uncanny valley which seem unhuman-like enough can gain empathy from people. This is one reason why the Na'vi from Avatar are particularly easy for most audiences to empathize with. They aren't human, but they have just those few human-like characteristics that make us able to feel a connection with them.

I'd argue that this may be why most BJDs do not trigger my phobia. However, in my time of research before purchasing my own doll, I have discovered that being ball jointed and made of resin does not excuse all dolls from triggering my fears. Certain molds, particularly the more child-like molds, and those with exposed teeth or open mouths in particular, tend to make me very uncomfortable.

Needless to say, those sorts I would never buy for myself, ever. In fact, I'd probably try to avoid being near one or being in a situation where I'd have to watch one for any period of time. It's just one of my personal preferences to be away from something that seems too realistic, and therefore too "cold" for me. They don't seem dead or corpse-like, just cold and un-feeling. Even some corpses ( particularly those prepared for funerals) still hold a slight warmth in my eyes. It seems to be just dolls that unnerve me and trigger the reaction in me.

Recently, I had to do a great deal of research because I've been contemplating purchasing a Yo-SD. Because of their child-like proportions, my boyfriend was worried that I may order a doll that would trigger my phobia. For that reason, database photos have been extremely helpful, and yes, I've found quite a few Yo-SDs that unnerved me a little bit.

The valley differs from person to person, and I think that a great deal of it depends on what we deal with often, as well as what sort of people we had access to as a small child. My mother didn't collect dolls, and I was never around children who had them either. Therefore, my first reaction to seeing a doll for the first time was one of fear. I just kept trying to figure out what Barbie was always smiling about, and the idea of having a constant grin seemed very cold and un-emotional, and therefore, creepily human to me.

 

I haven't seen any BJDs that really fall into the uncanny valley as much as some of the horrid animatronic dolls they've had on various movies.

I couldn't find a video of that doll from The Sixth Day (I've heard it freaks one girl out so much that she has to hide when it's on screen) but I found this one of Johnny Cab from Total Recall (it's apparently supposed to look like it's voice actor Robert Picardo, I don't see that myself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjRXyWFLkEY (sorry, the uploader has disabled embedding)

 

You mean, like this doll? I dunno, it seems cute to me, pretty life-like (a lot less creepy than those horrid reborn human dolls)

http://www.bradfordltd.co.nz/images/product_images/original_images/03-01156-001_BIG_revised.jpg

 

Yes. Even though I own BJDs, there are still pictures I see on Flickr that seem way too real and disturb the hell out of me - not only do the dolls look unsettling, but the thought of the kind of person who would go to all that trouble to make it all look so real sort of disturbs me. (Sorry - not trying to offend anyone.)

 

I agree with you, Emerald27. I've always loved dolls; they've never brought me in to the Uncanny Valley, say, the way the colour white does, but I must admit, I have seen my fair share of dolls that either look too human, or are in situations I perceive to be way too human-like for dolls, but while this might disconcerting to a certain extent, it definitely does not bring me in to Uncanny Valley, because I like the idea of dolls in locations or scenarios where they seem human, but not to the extent of where the situations the dolls are in are now completely indiscernible from situations a human might find themselves in, because to me, dolls are so much more... Surreal than humans, so they look more out-of-place in these scenarios--at least to me.

 

I've yet to have that sort of experience with my dolls. I think size may have something to do with it though?
I mean they are tiny so i don't get that from them. But I do have that experience with those life-like newborn dolls some people make. Those creep me out, big time. Also, I used to have a full size mannequin in my room who took almost everyone who saw it to the Valley. So from my experience it seems that even if it looks pretty human, the further away from accurate size it is the less uncanny it feels.

 

You mean this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le0-CQ29bVE

I think it's meant to be creeptastic, actually.

 

As the photographer for a company called Realdolls (life sized "lovedolls"), I have the Uncanny Valley quite often. I have 10 life sized dolls, and I have this feeling towards all of them.

As for feeling this way about BJD's... I suppose I might feel this way were it not for the life sized dolls. But since I have the Realdolls I discount the BJD's by comparison. Independent of the Realdolls, I'll never know!



Stacy Leigh

 

This is a very interesting subject, but i have never experienced such a thing. To me they are just dolls, granted these dolls represent my original characters in the end they are just inanimate objects.
They are also too small and stylized to be really 'human' for me.

 

I ended up looking at that "manimals" sight last night and it totally put me into Uncanny Valley. Not quite at first, but after a few minutes. I think it was how much life they had in the faces, but how twisted they were from actual humans... Figured out it puts my mind in hyper drive where anything that seems off, puts me in a tizzy. Thankfully my Andrew didn't do that to me though.

I personally think I figured out why dolfies don't put me into the uncanny valley; I like little people. Not children, realy, but small adults. I saw this woman at the buss stop a few years back that I swear had that disease where you don't age. She was so small, both in height and build with a very youthful face. I had trouble getting around whether she was a child or an adult at first, but between the way she carried herself (I would say overly, meticulously, adult), and obviously took care of herself (overly well manicured hair, manicured nails and a ladies business suit) there was no way she was a child. I was so mesmerized I seriously wanted to pick her up and run with her... perhaps keep her in my closet. I know it sounds strange, but I would never do it; I just really, really wanted to. With me being so drawn to pretty little people, I don't see how I could have a problem with dolls...

 

Green originally had mentioned the Uncanny Valley in reference to robots as well, this is showing up more and more as technology and innovations allow the use of characters (i.e. video games) and other representations of more reliastic human like forms (i.e. some dolls) to bring this concept to light.

LoL-funny- thing last year I showed my friends a fairly small pic of the Volks Hikaru Genji sculpt w/ realistic lighting slight shading-(probably done in Photoshop). Some people's response was "that guy is Hot." (ha I told them that he may be "hard to find now" only confusing them further.) :p
My friends that knew about him exclaimed, "gorgeous doll".

 

Some dolls send me to the Uncanny Valley, but its almost a compliment, because its all the most realistic, detailed dolls. The dolls I choose tend to be childlike, stylized. Other things put me off, though, like poor eye placement. A crooked, glassy gaze can make the cutest doll look disturbing...

 

http://www.dollmore.com/shopimages/dollmore/0820460000202.jpg
http://www.dollmore.com/shopimages/dollmore/082046000019.jpg
http://www.dollmore.com/shopimages/dollmore/0820460000192.jpg

When I first saw those images of Dollmore's Dahlia it sort of made my head tilt. I could see myself babying that sort of doll because it is more realistic than the others. But then I have to stop and think, huh.. it's just a doll. Is that what you're talking about?

 

I've always loved dolls, barbies, baby-dolls, rag-dolls, i loved them all. So BJDs never creeped me out but i can see how people could be scared. Personally I get scared of ventriloquist dolls. I'm not entirely sure why, it could be the lines on their faces, the way their eyes snap back and forth or maybe because I read Goosebumps one too many times when I was a kid...

 

BJD's do not freak me out. Dolls in general do not freak me out. I never really liked dolls very much until I got into BJD's though, to me they are a bit different. I cannot recall ever having an uncanny valley response to anything. I find some dolls ugly, but I'm not freaked out by them, they are just ugly. I think I sometimes misuse the term "creepy" when I really mean, totally unappealing in every way. The closest I get to uncanny valley is probably with some of the "reborn" baby dolls. To me many of them look like dead babies. Especially the way the faces are painted with the blotchy pink in the cheeks and forehead. They never look like sleeping infants, they either look like dolls (which is fine, doesn't appeal to me but isn't bad either) or they look like a baby who has died. That is a personal trigger of mine, it just makes me feel sad inside.