Why do doll companies make backstorys?

Personally, I think they're kinda neat even though I don't use them. Plus the backstories might give people inspiration for their own.

 

I think it helps in selling dolls to people who just buys dolls because they like the look of it or the character, so if they like the story/character then they would associate it to the doll and might buy it.
Like how people buys things because it's of their favourite character/fandom.

 

Yeah, sometimes I wonder how useful those really detailed character descriptions are, too. Most people do ignore them. But many also read them to find out what the company is thinking and what is behind the design. And it could interest some buyers in taking a closer look at a doll. I guess it can't hurt. Those who what can ignore the stories and some might like to have them.

It might help the designers and sculptors as inspiration to have those backstories, too. That way they can have a whole series of different dolls they can come up with... ?

 

For marketing purposes? So people who really like the character the company created will more likely buy it as a set? Or to give inspiration to people who need one? I find I do relate to a doll more if it came with a backstory even if I'll never use it.

 

I make up my own backstories. The ones dolls are given by their companies are often atrocious. lol Like Soom's cute tiny little fairies enslaving human children...? WTF? Or Iple House's rape victim? Ick. That one in particular disgusted me.

 

I'm only basing this hypothesis on Iplehouse, I think it's more like a Behind-the-scenes feature. It's to show us customers a concept art of their product. Or it's just one way of arranging clothes on a mannequin in a department store

Oh yeah. idrisfynn's post makes sense! Tho, I wonder if there are examples if bjd owners retaining names, heh.

 

Why not? Doll designers like to have fun too. :P Whether or not you actually use their character or not doesn't really matter does it? It's been very common with fashion dolls over the years so I'm not surprised that BJD makers like doing back stories too. Giving a doll a name and a character is probably fun for them and it probably makes the whole designing experience more personal to them and their job a bit nicer as a result I would imagine. Otherwise they're just making blank canvases all the time and I'm sure that would be pretty boring.

 

Even though I use my own stories and characters for my dolls, I do enjoy the backstories that companies give. I like the texts that Dollmore adds to its product pages, and my favourites are Granado's. Granado really goes full-out, but then they present themselves as a modelling agency and their dolls are models that you 'book' when you place your order . Granado's latest doll, Nico, supposedly replaced Santa Claus this year, and with his second release he's turned into a detective who is trying to locate Santa (who is up to no good somewhere). The tale is totally crazy and utterly silly - I don't think anyone would say, "Hm, yes, I'd like to have this doll and he can be a detective trying to figure out where Santa Claus is". But it does give you an idea of what sort of a company Granado is. They never just plop a doll onto a sales page. They care about details, they have a sense of humour, they are a nice company to deal with.

I think that is the primary purpose of these stories - it's an extra means of forging a link with the audience. If you feel like letting them, the story can also help you along a bit and give hints of what type of character you might turn the doll into, though of course you are perfectly free to do something entirely different.

...I confess that I was influenced in the case of my Granado doll, though normally I know perfectly well what I want without a story. Granado's Sidonia is, in the story on the website, "the girl next door" and "born into a farming family". This suited my character Florie so very well that the doll just clicked for me. So, yes, sometimes the backstories work like that too...

 

For me I like to come up with a character with a backstory to help flesh out an idea of how a character would look.

It just helps bring along the creative process in some way~

 

I think it both a combination of the makers having fun with their own creation, showing the doll as they see it in their minds, and a bit of marketing.

If they can get a customer on board with their original story, then they will be more likely to sell more of their dolls to them. After all, if you get one doll from them, you may want to also get that doll's significant other, or sibling, or arch nemesis...

 

I've dabbled in sculpting my own dolls, and see myself doing a lot more of it in the future. The doll ideas always start out as characters first - for example "this man is a gentle soul who ended up being a soldier because he lives in a messed-up world". Gives me ideas of what he should look like, what the facial expression would be, that kind of thing. I guess if I were to ever sell them (lol, a long time from now if that ever happens), I guess I could scrub the stories and just go LOOK, PRETTY DOLL, but why not have a bit of fun? Especially when it's all laid out in my head already.

I kind of like seeing the other back-stories, even if I never end up using any element of them (my little Soom Demon is uh... a god).

 

I just figure, like other said, it's a carry over from other types of dolls and toys that always have a backstory.

What..? Oh, goodness. I guess it's good that I never pay those things any attention. That's really messed up!

 

I think it might be partly a marketing thing, partly a demonstration of the inspiration behind the sculpt. I find the company backstories interesting because it shows what they were thinking when sculpting and designing fullsets, but personally, I buy dolls to make my own stories with them.

ETA: Just a note on the SOOM fairies enslaving human children: that's what the fae do. It's why the actual, proper fairy stories (before Disney got their hands on them) are so damn dark. The Fae are the monsters under the bed, not cutesy pixies that hang around granting wishes and crushing on kids who don't grow up. The Fae are child stealers (lots of them, but notably Blind Michael/Herne/The Horned God/Any of his other names, was very good at this) and bewitchers (Sirens, Kelpies, lots of the water fae, Will-o'-wisp, etc.) and Enchanters etc. Even the so-called 'nice' Fae were still prone to trickery and deception. Titania was just as likely to curse you as she was to help you. To me, the Soom fae stories ring closer to the original role of Fae in society than they do to the modern, cutesy 'fairy' and that's how I like it.

 

Because it is fun! Doll creators are creative, and imaginative, just like people who buy dolls.
If I made up a doll I would definitely want everyone to know my inspiration/backstory for them

 

I like when a doll has a little bit of a back story to them.. but it can draw you in & make you lose your mind a little when you try to buy the doll in question & are left with nothing but an empty basket because someone checked out faster or simply that Lady Luck was on their side.

 

I think the backstories are charming and fun. They also give you an idea what was running through the artist's head when he/she created the sculpt.

 

It gives that doll a particular story behind it, just like when you come to love a book or movie characters you can fall in love with the doll and the story