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What comes first - the backstory or the doll?

Aug 11, 2013

    1. I think it depends for me. I have a few already made characters I hope to make in doll form while at the same time I plan to buy dolls to make in to characters as well.
       
    2. It took almost a year for me to realize my doll's resemblance to Yoseob, so I think it's safe to say I fell in love with the sculpt before I got a storyline.
       
    3. When I got my first doll I immediately started planning a backstory on who I thought he was and how I felt he should be. However when my boy arrived he basically sneered at ally hard work and wrote his own story XD and from that spawned this huge elaborate storyline that I've been in love with ever since! So the back stories of my dolls come first and then I go searching for a mold these days.
       
    4. It's a bit of both really for me, because before my boy came i had an outline of a backstory for him which even then was tweaked and adjusted after i got him before his backstory completely unfolded. For example I knew before i got him he was going to have welsh roots because of my own family relations; But it wasn't until I had received him that not only was he welsh he had grew up alternating living in Wales and the London-area before moving out down to where I myself live; Leicester. But the more in depth stuff didn't come till after I had received him such as going ons in his past and so on.

      If i'm completely honest his backstory is still growing to this day and I've had him well over a year
       
    5. It depends on the doll. My first came before her backstory did but the Iplehouse doll I bought after her, the backstory was made up almost a year before I bought her. My second puki was the same as my first but my latest doll had a backstory before the buy. I guess you could say with me it's been a 50/50 experience.
       
    6. I'm waiting on my first doll, and while I've tried to give some thought to it, it comes down to the fact that I don't think I can decide until she arrives. I want her to help me pick out her name, and she gets to tell me her story.
       
    7. For me, backstory comes first as most of my dolls are based on roleplay characters that have existed for years. There are some exceptions though I find it harder to bond with them.
       
    8. All the dolls I currently have plans to buy come with back stories, because I'm an author and the dolls I want to get are all based on characters I've already written about.

      But then of course, my very first doll had to be an exception to this rule... but he was also an unplanned-for surprise! It was kind of neat, how he slowly gave me his name and told me who he was, but then I realized he would fit perfectly in the next novel I'm planning to write this fall. It also gives me an excuse to buy him a female counterpart, who does already have a back story.
       
    9. only 2 of my doll have backstory before they came home since I based them on OCs, and the majority of my dolls came in before their backstory, as I like to figure out my dolls' characters and such while I have them :)
       
    10. I always come up with an intense back story while I'm waiting for the doll to come.. but once it arrives it goes out the door. I either competently forget or the doll doesn't fit the look I imagined and it doesn't look like what I thought it would look like.
      Right now I have one on the way with a complete back story, personality, style, etc. Hopefully I'll stick to it this time!
       
    11. It depends! Some of my dolls don't even have back stories, they were just so beautiful I had to get them even though I didn't have any story at all for them. But a lot of my dolls had stories waiting for them when they arrived, and some immediately got a story when I got them home. There's no right or wrong way for a doll's character to develop. Even if it never does and the doll is just a pretty face, that's a great way to enjoy it! Dolls without characters can be very fluid & change their mode of dress/ face up/ and mood quite easily whereas my dolls with very strong characters look weird in the 'wrong' outfit and all.
       
    12. For me, with my first doll, it was a slight mixture of both. I was in the process of developing the back-story and personality while buying the doll, however, I didn't go very far in depth. It was not until I actually had the doll that I began adding more traits and information to the character. What little personality I did have developed for the doll before receiving him stuck, but underwent a lot of changes.

      However my 2nd doll the back-story and personality were all per-established and I bought my doll based off set appearance and created him based off all the character traits I had already set. This did make it easier to know what I wanted to do with my doll and where I was taking his style.

      Now, my 3rd doll, was the opposite. I completely designed the back-story and personality after I had the doll for an extended period of time. I was quite indecisive about what I wanted, and even now, the doll does not quite have a set character design, solid back-story, or specific personality traits and I have had him for at least 2 years.

      So I have done both and a mixture of both. After going both ways I have found I personality prefer having a per-established character back-story and personality to the doll, it made it more personal when I began customizing the doll.
       
    13. Definitely backstory for me. My character is the main reason I've finally decided to buy my first doll. I've wanted to for a long time now - he is no longer content to live his life through words and pictures alone! I'm just waiting to find the perfect doll to bring him to life! :)
       
    14. Both! I have dolls that have full-blown histories, dolls with vestiges of backstories, and dolls that are simply here because they are a joy to behold. I started out trying to make all my dolls fit into one shared narrative and it ended up not working for me, partially because my aesthetic taste is all over the board. Now I just do whatever seems appropriate to each doll and I'm much happier this way.
       
    15. Backstory is part of the bonding process I find, so it usually comes first. (Since my dolls are intended to be based around characters I've already made anyway.) :)
       
    16. My dolls are characters from my stories, so basically it's "backstory first" thing.
      I try to find mold which looks much like I think my characters to look, so they have background before they are even ordered.

      I have two dolls who don't even have name. I just wanted them 'cause they looked nice, but I have to admit that I'm little uneasy with them, since they are just sitting there and I don't "know" anything about them.

      So I say: Backstory first. Suits me. : D
       
    17. For me it depends? If I see the doll first and love it, then I'll find someway to get that character into my story or have a background that is connected to my other dolls. So far it's been the doll and then back story, but there is one that resembles or would be a good doll for one of my OCs. So far it has been the doll first then the doll is given a back story. Eventually I think my dolls would start to become OC's for me and probably write out their stories!
       
    18. For me, personally, the doll comes first. Once I hold the doll, touch the doll, and experience the doll, a back-story normally comes to me!
       
    19. My earlier dolls came first, backstory after. Once they were more developed, other characters sprang out that are becoming dolls! x)