Which Came First, Character or Doll?

For me it's the character and then the doll. It is a lot easier to know what I need or want for a doll when I know the character. There are a few times that I will be more open to getting the doll and then making up the character. But that is on a rare occasion.

 

Mine were both character first, but I'm having an issue where the character's not quite meshing with one of the dolls, so now I'm vaguely trying to come up with a new character that better fits the doll. It's definitely not something I was expecting to have to deal with ^^

 

First the doll, then they let me know what type of person they are. Sometimes, tho,
I feel the need to add a family member -- I have couples who would be cute as parents.
Some dolls have arrived who really, really needed a significant other.

 

Character! I do a lot of RPs with my sister, so the most exciting thing about starting to get dolls is being able to shell all my favorite characters. My mind was absolutely blown when I found out this is what people do with BJDs.

 

Most of my dolls came dolls first because I'm not really a character person, and I customize dolls according to their sculpt.

 

I think for me it’s doll first but that doll has to have character for me to want them. A lot of dolls come across as blank slates to me. They have a fairly neutral expression so you can project what you please on them. I prefer the sculpt to have a little personality going already that I can pick up on and work with. I suspect this also comes down to personal taste because a doll that has a sculpt with personality to me might come off as a “blank slate” to someone else and vice versa. I for one am grateful for this little quirk of mine or I’d be bringing home more dolls than I already am haha

 

In the beginning, I would think the character should come first. "I want to make a doll of XXX character, so I should find a sculpt that fits." If I could only have one doll, I would want a pale female doll with black hair and blue eyes. I had no issues with making that a reality. She is my ideal doll and I am still more than thrilled to have her in my collection.
I tend to plan everything while I wait for the doll to arrive, but sometimes all of that planning gets thrown out the window when the doll arrives and I realize it's not as good as I would like it to be. My first doll, SWITCH Taeheo, has gone through a number of image changes until I eventually found something that clicked.
I scrapped all of the planning for my SWITCH Waseon after my first face-up for him didn't turn out well. His head also ended up being slightly too big for all of the wigs I had gotten for him, so I started to question what I even wanted his appearance to be. It was rather disappointing at the time. I took a few months off from the hobby shortly after. After returning to my dolls with a fresh mind, I decided that the look I had intended for him was more suitable for another doll on my wish list. He is now a completely different work in progress (who also needs a new body to better suit his athletic character ). I am back in the planning phase while I get new supplies, but I would prefer doing it all over so I can be more satisfied with the aesthetics of my doll.
As of late, it is the doll sculpt that serves as the base! "I like this sculpt. What can I do with it?" Ultimately, it has become a mix of both and it differs on a case by case basis.

 

For my first doll, it was the doll then the character. I kind of regret doing it in that process a bit, because I’m not too sure my doll fits the character I have in mind. However, on my second doll it was the character then the doll. I think that order suits my creative process better.

 

My characters come first, but whenever a new doll arrives I always end up shelling a different character into it. It’s weird. x)

 

Mine's kind of both, I found a sculpt I thought would fit a certain character, but when I got the doll home I guess she never quite fit the character I'd planned her to. So, she's now a completely different character!
Basically, I had plans but my girl had something else in mind

 

It's always the doll that comes first then they suggest a character & name. I've always been that way with dolls; I'll see them then after a little bit, a character & story line will come to mind. Each of my different size dolls have a universe of their own. My 1:3 dolls all live in a magical place called The Lodge & are non-human characters even though they are fairly realistic molds. My Yo sized dolls are wood sprites & my 1:4 slim minis are magic using humans. Even when I collected antique dolls I would end up with a story line. Just the way my crazy mind works.

 

Its a mix for me, usually i have a character in mind, get a doll i like and try to make the character but sometimes it doesn't work and i end up creating a completely different character which is kinda cool. it's nice to let the inspiration take me somewhere else.

 

Interesting question. I think for me, the doll comes first and then the character. All the dolls I've bought was because I liked the look of it and while looking at the doll, I figured out what kind of character they would have. Not all my dolls have fully flushed out characters but mostly have all the details figured out

 

My dolls are models to me that I strive to make as beautiful as possible, I don't really try to give them a character, other that what you'd immediately get form their appearance.

 

For me—characters. I'd been building up character designs and personailities over the course of a couple years before I stepped foot into the hobby, and a few of my OCs were pretty developed before I shelled them. I think the only exceptions to this would be Azabien (who was a concept I'd had in mind, but the bjd helped me decided who they were going to be), Pacifica (DearMine Angela, who will become a catgirl version of my cat eventually, and why I say she came before the character: I fell in love with Dearmine from a a local meetup, and got her due to that and Pacifica the catgirl came afterwards) and my Lumedoll Atik, Keone—who was a wonderful surprise addition I developed a loose character around when I received him.

 

For my first doll, she didn't have a character set until a couple months after she arrived. I ended up applying one of my already-existing OCs to her since the sculpt fit the character but that wasn't planned at all. Generally, I buy dolls when their sculpts pique my interest and then I either apply OC profiles to them if they are a good fit or I just have them as a gorgeous display.

 

It’s always the doll for me. I try to think of the character before the doll arrives but when the doll gets here things always change lol I guess for me I just have to see them first before I decide who they are.

 

95% of the time the character comes first. Like @GCDear said, I rp with my characters and when I was shown the light of BJDs by my rp partner....wow. It's awe inspiring looking around at my study and seeing all of my OCs in solid form. I can nit-pick all I want because I've known how they looked for well over a decade.

The only time I bought a doll because I love the sculpt, I still have her and I had an idea of what I wanted to do to her...which has also been done, nothing has been done. She's not grown any character wise and I still refer to her by her sculpt name. Occasionally, she'll get posed and then get left for a month like a decoration. Whereas the dolls I have of my OCs get posed, dressed, and pictures taken constantly.

 

Well... I am in the spot that the character came first than the doll. I'm saving up in general for a period of time before I really order a doll, but the character I have is name Saorise- and the artwork done of her is my avatar right now. ^_^
Saorise is a role-play character of mine.

I'm pretty sure my case would be characters before dolls. I have yet to encounter doll came first before character, but I can see the potential for it.