Would you find it less personal if...

I think this issue has appeared in tons of threads throughout DoA 8V this one in particular comes to mind.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165191

 

I would find it less personal. I don't really like to draw fanart because they aren't my characters and I don't write fanfiction because they aren't mine. Because of this, though I think character dolls are really awesome I don't think I'd want one. If I'm going to put that much effort into customizing a doll, I'd rather have something that's significant to me.

 

If it is something that you are going to own, then more power to you.

If you are going to mass manufacture the doll, then I think you have crossed the line.

Another way to look at this might be to look at what you like about the character and see if you can make those things your own with your doll.

 

That's really a personal choice. Some folks are very drawn to a pre-existing character & to them, fashioning a doll after one would be their own personal expression of that character. For myself though, I don't base dolls off characters simply because each doll has or seems to develope it's own personality & role in my little universe.

 

I love some of the Cloud dolls I've seen around here and I think if someone is really attached to a certain character they could probably bond with that doll just as much as someone else who made the doll into its own character. Personally though I could never decide on a doll's character before it got home because they speak to me so strongly once they get here. They've actually invented an entire story on their own, and I don't even write.

 

I don't see how it's less personal, if that's what you want....! I know from experience that it's just as much work, possibly more to create a character from anime/whatever than it is to do a random original doll with random wig/eyes/clothing etc.

If it's what you want, that's the essence of what's personal, how can it be otherwise?

Raven

 

I don't see it as less personal at all, specially with how, well... With how much of a fanatic some people can become about movie/video game/band/etc characters. And if you think about it hard enough, I'm sure at least one quality about one of your dolls comes from one of your current or precious favorite characters from some media or another. Even if it's not an exact copy, I'm sure you've got something about your doll(s) that were inspired by another character or personality you'd seen somewhere from real life, it's not all that different, just the degree to which the copy comes from.

 

I'd find it less personal. I don't get attached to other peoples characters easily, and am VERY attached to my own. I also don't think i could "capture" someone elses character right, because I don't know all their ins and outs like I do my own, no matter HOW much I fangirl them. So, yeah, not for me.

 

No, not really. It all depends on how attached you are to the character- even if you weren't the one to create it.

 

Well I have a Reno MNM head and I wouldn't part with him for the world.... then again he is only a display head on a Likemey bust, and very rarely put him on a body so I definately see him differently to my other dolls

I don't really have OC's as such.... I usually get a doll because I like the sculpt, and work on characterisation when they get here

 

It would only be less personal if the person copied the character exactly. Some people use pre-existing characters as jumping-off points for their own imagination, so over time the character becomes more and more their own. I think at that point it becomes as personal as any other character really.

 

Depends - if it was meant to be that character and only that character, certainly. It wouldn't be yours.

On the other hand, I've seen character sculpts that would look fabulous as someone they weren't intended to be, and that's A-OK with me. :]

 

~hugs her Spider-Man extra tight~ I see it the opposite way. If I've bothered to make a member of my family after someone or a character they've played it's because that person/character means as much to me as any of my original characters. It reminds me of all the joy that person/character has brought to me.

OCs outnumber the based on others 3-1 but there's a certain joy when you meet someone who knows where it comes from, like Brian Henson, and show them you've made a doll of them.

A good question would be why someone chose a particular character or person. But if it did come down to having to chose just one doll it would be Xavier my original character.

 

Well, I like my dolls to be completely unique, but I also love to draw fan art. I guess maybe thoae are kind of related in a way? I mean designing your doll is similar to art in my mind.

 

Personally, I wouldn't find it less personal - but this is coming from a writer who originally started writing fanfiction first, so yeah... I have a soft spot for taking pre-existing characters and fleshing them out more, although these days I tend to concentrate more on characters that I create from scratch myself.

I have two dolls that are based on a pre-existing characters. I'd say they're about 50% based on them (if anyone is curious, one is based on Siegfried Schtauffen/Nightmare from the Soul Calibur games and the other is based on Arumat P. Thanatos of Star Ocean Last Hope fame). I 'borrowed' the characters' appearances, name and some of their background history... then kind of added to it

The rest of my dolls are original characters though. I can honestly say, all of my dolls feel equally as personal to me.

 

No, I can tell you from personal experience that it's not less personal. Fan dolls take effort to put together, and each person's fan doll will be a little different as folks don't always interperate characters 100% the same way. It's like creating fan art or fan fiction--there's a lot of work that goes into them. Plus they represent something that the owner loves, which seems pretty personal to me. Even though a different person created the original character, you'll still put your own stamp on the doll that will be very much your own.

There is no one way to play with dolls, there is no right way to do things--just something people need to keep in mind.

 

That's part of the fun of character dolls: making them "yours". Instead of reading/watching your favorite character go through life, you get to call the shots.

 

Good heavens no

Kenshin, Battousai, Sanosuke, Kaoru, and several Players to be Named Later wouldn't have been increasing in numbers over the years if it were less fun.
What Aernath said. They're the same but they're definitely different.

Now, delicate disaster raises the other and equally valid point of view, which is

It makes perfect sense and is completely understandable. For me, though, well yes I sound like a total nut saying it (although you all knew that already) but there IS nothing that would be more significant to me than Kenshin. Aside from the obvious things like my family -- at least I hope that's obvious...

I can't make for myself a character that would mean more to me than they do, and thus my character dolls. That doesn't mean I don't also admire VERY much dolls whose owners also created their characters .

 

Fan dolls... Ehh... I'm kind of on the fence about them in general.

One thing I'm sure of is that I'd never own one myself. Because characters are personal, and only their creator knows exactly how they'd act in certain situations or something. So that being said, a fan doll wouldn't be my "own" character, and I'd feel... almost rude? (there's a better word for it ) taking someone else's character and determine how they'd act, which for the most part, I wouldn't "truly" know to begin with :/

So I'm not sure if it'd make the doll less personal, maybe in a way, yeah, since you're using someone else's creation, but otherwise... really not sure