Why do people dislike character dolls or dolls without backstories?

ohhh wow!!!!

I really hope I never came off as "I'm superior because all my dolls are characters from my novel" I would never want anyone to feel that their doll is inferior to mine!!! ;_;

I don't dislike "character" dolls or "dolls without history" at all!

For me, it's important that my dolls are the characters I created from my novels. But that's me, and I understand other people just wanting a doll because they love it. I think everyone in this hobby has different reasons for owning a doll, and I think they're purely wonderful.

But to agree with someone on the first pages post, I guess I can see the "well, if you want an anime character, just get an action figure!" sorta thing...but I disagree with that.

I, personally, would LOVE a little Sesshomaru from InuYasha BJD. Or a baby Arwen from LOTR. Maybe even a child doll of Obi-Wan Kenobi :3 But as of right now, that's not where my money is interested in going.

But I think everyone's BJD's are lovely. Everyone puts so much love and care into their dolls, and just because they're not "character dolls" and they dont have lengthy historys doesnt make them any more or less special. Just enjoy your doll -- Please don't let other people tell you what to do with your resin treasure, as they are yours to enjoy.

 

I don't dislike character dolls, but I would never have them myself, and it confuses me when someone only has character dolls, but I don't dislike them.

I do have at least a basic background for all of my dolls, and most of my planned dolls, I do like to think they all have a story at least, even if it's never really written. Personality I think is the biggest draw for me in a doll, for some reason a set personality draws me into that doll more.

What is really offputting to me is when a doll has no name, no style, nothing at all. I would never do it, and while everyone practices this hobby their own way this is something that's really hard to fathom for me!

 

Well, some people JUST COLLECT DOLLS. They don't make up fantasy worlds and imaginary friends and biographies to go with their toys.

If it's hard to stretch one's brain around the notion that everyone is different, try this exercise: Imagine just a little piece of somebody else's viewpoint every day, and keep repeating this exercise daily until it eventually all fits. Your mind is like a turtleneck sweater; what looks like a tiny narrow little opening, is actually capable of stretching far enough to admit even the fattest concept. Your hair may get mussed up a little in the process, but once it's on, you'll say "oh yeah, actually it fits just fine!"

 

Sorry, Jenny, but this line right here smacks of hypocrisy. You can't just backhandedly insult people into accepting your point of view.

Yes, everyone is different, but that doesn't mean you can belittle people like you did in that post there. It might just be that it's far too early in the morning for me to even be awake, but your post reads like "Some people collect dolls and play with their toys and others have neuroses and habits that they should have given up in childhood."

Not cool.

 

Just bolding it for specification, but I don't think she meant it that way at all. At least that's not how I read it. I believe she was just emphasizing the fact that some people just collect dolls to collect dolls, while others give their dolls back story, personalities, and the whole nine yards. Considering Jenny herself seems to give her dolls some kind of character and backstory, I don't see why she'd insult people for doing the same thing.

To me you don't have to understand something or like it to accept the fact that other people like to do it. You can accept the fact that someone doesn't want to give their dolls names and characters without wanting to do that oneself.

 

These people I have yet to encounter. Everyone I've spoke to about dolls have a backstory, or personality set up for their dolls....it's only natural. I mean as soon as I look at a doll I think of a story for them. Sometimes it gets changed quite a bit *mumbles about James not being what she wanted him to be* but...they still somehow fit into my little "world" I created for them.

I'd love to meet someone though who doesn't have a backstory, character, or name for their doll...and just has them for display or collection purposes because it'd be interesting to see their take.

But so far everyone in the doll community I have encountered has been extremely friendly and nice.

 

I do have a couple of "no personality" dolls..I just think they are cute. One is a tiny, a Customhouse Basic Ai Gabby (I think) I thought it was a "Gabriel" so that is what I call the tiny, though he has no personality or story atm. I have a Juri 07A that also, while he has a name, just exists to wear the dressy clothes that the character dolls refuse to wear. I like looking at him and occasionally putting new clothes on him, and that's pretty restful to me. The character dolls I do have are pretty intense as far as backstory, so it's nice to have a lump o' resin that is just a good-looking doll. I may or may not drag him into a storyline as an extra for photos, but he'll be more of a prop than a character.

 

Hahaha. Continuing to be guilty of ALL of the above, I have a number of dolls who are just .. here. For no better reason than that I love looking at them. And who wants to be first in line to tell me that's a bad thing? I'll break out... the BADA$$ LOBSTAH!


And on the other hand, you know, there is a fair amount of truth to the notion of expanding one's mind just a bit at a time. It took me a VERY long time to learn how to do it but I can assure you that it leads to a happier existence. At least for me; your mileage may vary, etc. etc.


* bada$$ lobstah circa roughly 2005, from another lifetime almost, and offered up as evidence of why I did not enter the "we need new smilies" contest this August.

 

I am strange with a lot of things like this, where I am sort of strict with myself but carefree for everyone else. I've given myself a strict rule saying that I must only have character dolls from my series of books and I must NOT create a character in my books just because I want a particular doll.
So basically, I'm VERY character first, doll second with my collection, but this is mainly to limit my spending...Otherwise my mind does not stop creating characters, and doll sculpts and names can be VERY inspiring..

I have no problem with what other people do with their dolls, no matter what it is really. I DO have a problem with other people getting a stink in their pants over what other people do with their dolls. Everybody has the right to express their artistic needs through their dolls in anyway they want, even if that means the doll is a beautiful, albeit nameless, hunk of resin sitting on a shelf

 

It's... it's... so beautiful... the turn of phrase...
(I'm killing myself giggling. This is awesome)

 

Why thank you. I just want to pass my words on, and hopefully inspire people with my eloquence.

 

Wow, you read so much into my post that doesn't exist! I was actually telling the TRUTH. Some people just do not do the imaginary-friends thing for their toys. There was no irony involved there. If you have a problem with that, I'm afraid you're filling in the snark yourself.

Which is, in turn, powerfully uncool. I'd advise against that overzealous-wishful-reading thing in future.

Thank you, that was my point about the turtleneck. I'm glad at least 1 person gets it. ^^ Most of my dolls do have backstories, but a few don't, because they don't need one. I know lots of people who do Just Collect Dolls, and I know lots of people who give their toys characters & backstories too, and I can countenance the style/viewpoint of anybody in-between.

(PS. Your username is clearly a misnomer! ~^)

 

Well, for me, all the dolls I have right now are currently OCs for my writing, so they have backstories and everything.

I finished Kiyoshi's character as I was waiting for him, and he had changed A LOT over the years, as has his backstory. With having him as a doll and writing about him, he's morphed from what he was originally going to be. I had Aelic's character completely finished before I bought him; I got the sculpt I did because it looked like him. *shrug*

So some of the time I look for dolls that are good for my characters, and other times I'll see a dolly I want that doesn't have a character. Of course, once I have that doll it will have a character/backstory eventually... I'm OCD about OCs and just can't have someone sitting around without writing about him/her at some point. And when I write, it generally turns into a backstory eventually. :3

Personally, character dolls do kind of annoy me, because the character was someone else's idea, and it kind of feels like stealing to me. I know it isn't, but if someone had never seen that anime before, they would think, "Wow, what a cool design that person thought up," when they actually didn't think it up. I don't have anything against the dolls themselves; people can do whatever they want, and if I think a doll looks cool then I doesn't matter what it's based on, or if it's based on anything; it'll still look cool no matter where it's from.

As for dolls without backstories, the same principal applies; it really doesn't matter to me, because it's not my doll. If I'm just looking at pictures of an awesome doll, I'm not gonna know if it has a backstory or not, and I'm not gonna care. Once again, no matter what is going on about the doll, it doesn't change what it looks like. If a doll has a cool backstory but I don't like the way it looks, I'm not gonna say, "I really like that doll," I'm gonna say, "I really like that character." There's a big difference.

Anyway, I've had my two cents. Bottom line, the same as has been said many times in this thread- "Whatever floats your boat." :3

 

Mayhaps I'm too picky or haven't found the right sculpts but I don't really have any of my dolls based off of anything I have written. It seems almost impossible for me to find a doll that captures what is exactly in my mind. I've found I named my dolls really for this websites purposes because I haven't really come up with any backstories for them. And right now I just kind of base personalities off the sculpts ( As one of my dolls looks standoffish so that's her personality)

I agree with Kiyoshisenshi that when I see a photo I'm not going to know if there is a backstory unless stated nor do I really care. The only way this would be exempt is if it is a type of photo story where I absolutely need to know the backstory to get what's going etc etc. I actually feel kind of out of the loop because I don't put so much emphasis on these things like others do ( Feel out of place I should clarify)

While I myself have a hard time giving inanimate objects a story I can see why some people would and I give them props for getting past a barrier I am having a hard time with.

 

I've got some nameless dolls in my bunch. They're nice dolls, and I put as much effort into making them pretty as I do my "imaginary friend"* dolls, but they don't have backstories or anything like that. They don't suit any of my characters, they were simply pretty dolls I liked and could afford at the time, so I bought them. I guess they're sort of my art desk mascots; their sole purpose is to cute up the joint.

*too good not to re-use, apologies to Jenny Nemesis.

 

Know what though? Even dolls who are designed after a character of the owner's own creation with a big fancy backstory are still "character" dolls, just because they're not big and famous doesn't make them any less a character. And "character" dolls still have the backstories of whatever character they're supposed to be, even if the owner didn't write it, and the owner can still get creative with sculpts. I've seen a cast of Dr. Who characters made entirely of fox anthros, tell me THAT isn't creative! So imo, that whole arguement is moot.

As for dolls that have nothing more than a name, if that? I totally understand that. Some people just aren't like that, and they have their own reasons as to why or why not the doll doesn't have a story and it is totally not my place to question that. Is it neat that your doll was some half demon cursed by his dead girlfriend's socks causing him to turn into a blue elf? Sure. If he's just some blue elf that you bought 'cause you liked him, that's totally cool too. Also just because someone doesn't have a story now, doesn't mean that down the road the doll might inspire them to write something. I know I sometimes get too caught up with how nice the doll looks to even begin to consider what personality or style it might have or even a name, let alone a whole story behind it.

All of my dolls are rather simple. They have names, general personalities, and styles they like. Only one has anything resembling a backstory, and it's barely even that. And so far I've never found anyone who is a snob like that or even anyone bothering to question if the dolls had a story in the first place. I guess the people here in my area just don't care, as long as they have fun dollies to look at, and I think that's all that matters.

 

Why the sudden mean attitude? She didn't say she thought people who collected JUST dolls were stupid or "doing it wrong" or whatever, just that the notion of having simply a doll with no background attached is difficult for her to understand the appeal of, not that she thinks no one should collect like this. I'm the same way. I DON'T see the appeal of a doll that is simply a doll, I once had one of these dolls and he felt like a complete waste of space until I finally sold him. He just honestly don't see what's so inviting about this kind of doll. *shrug* it doesn't mean I think those who collect this way need to stop and do it my way, this obviously works for them and it's great, doesn't mean I have to understand why.

 

I think of a bit of it has to do with how your interest drew to start collecting these dolls. For me, I saw bjd used to make one's original characters on dA. The thought appealed to me and I bought my first. I had believed at the time, that this was the case for most collectors as I had never been exposed to bjd collectors other than the ones who I watched on dA.

Then I started to go to local meets and met people and their dolls which didn't have any character tied to them at all! At first I was confused. I thought. "You put so much money into a doll and you don't bother giving it a personality? Heck, you mean to say you don't even have a name for your doll??" To say I was surprised is a complete understatement. LOL Aside from the fact that the constant changing hair and eyes in these dolls made it hard to recognize them at each meet, I found them hard to connect to since there wasn't anything constant about them that I could try to remember. XD; I wanted to be able to call them by name and show the owners that I appreciated their dolls. Haha I was a little flustered, but I came to see the underlying fact about the dolls which we love to buy and buy things for.

They're our dolls and we can do what we like with them, should they be our own original characters, fan characters, or characterless. We each came to the hobby because we wanted to make something we could admire, and no one has the right to tell us that our dolls are any less significant than theirs.

 

The reasons that pop into my head go something like this:

1) THEY made dolls with original (and sometimes elaborate) characters and backstories, and they don't understand why someone else would do otherwise. Now there are plenty of people out there who stop at that, but there are also plenty of immature people for whom lack of understanding becomes fear, dislike, or outright disdain.

2) Some people believe they are special little snowflakes and that their way is the right way of doing things, and anything or anyone that challenges their special snowflakey uniqueness in any way, for example by Doing Things Differently, is clearly inferior in these peoples' minds.

Don't let them get to you. It's not worth spending time thinking about. If you want to have character dolls or backstory-free dolls that is your choice and your choice alone. Nobody else can tell you how to enjoy this hobby.

 

I agree with this. My first exposure to the dolls was to see people on DA creating characters out of them, and I thought, what a great way to expand upon what I was already doing creatively, which was writing a series of books. I can't describe how inspiring it is for me to have my characters physically represented in the form of these beautiful dolls. Looking at my dolls really compels me to continue writing the books, to expand on their stories and the world they come from.
But that's just me! What a great hobby this is when everybody can take it in any direction they want! What a plethora of creativity! There's nothing wrong with variation, and as 'doll-collectors' and 'artistic-types' a lot of us may already consider ourselves as a minority in the great scheme of things (I mean come on, we're special!) so we shouldn't be rejecting or making other doll-hobbyists feel left out. We are one big minority! (I feel like I'm standing on the DoA podium and preaching lol)