Would You Remove A Full Set Dolls Face-Up?

Earlier in my hobby journey I initially bought a fullset doll because I liked the outfit. I didn't care one way or another about the faceup but I ended up selling the head and body and rebuying a blank version of the sculpt and did my own faceup.

Later on, I saw a limited fullset volks doll that was only sold as a fullset and I passed on it because I wasn't a super fan of the face. Later I saw a custom faceup on that sculpt and of course I had to get him. So I specifically bought the limited fullset doll 2nd hand in order to do a custom faceup myself. It def took a bit of courage though, wiping the company faceup.

I've done this now about 3 times, buying limited volks dolls with company faceups and redoing the face, and have 2 more on order that I'll do that to as well and one more on my wishlist that I'd wipe and do a custom on as well.
I don't do this to all my dolls. Some are just perfect from the company, like my SDGr Elsa or angell studio dolls. But others just aren't quite right for me.

Most recently I was told I ruined the value of the head I did this to when I proudly posted my doll in another bjd group which felt uncalled for and offensive, but I def like my faceups more than the company ones for the dolls I've done this to.

 

I think if I intentionally bought a doll with the fullset then my answer is no. I think the face up can be a major part of what makes up a fullset and without out it I wouldn't bother getting it in the first place? TBH I have never gotten a fullset, I get mine face up only or blank. Out of the dolls I got the company face up on, my reasoning was different depending on the doll.

Some have a face up from the company because I love their style and think it suits the doll the best. These I wouldn't wipe.

Then there's the one I got with a face up because I wanted them to be picture ready, although I do like the face ups on them, I plan on wiping these and doing them myself when I feel ready. I also had too many blank dolls to work on and didn't want every doll in that WIP look. Sometimes I just want to play dress up and take pictures!

 

I can understand both sides of to wipe or not to wipe.
Most of my dolls are from Volks, who don't sell blank dolls except through FCS (which isn't available to people outside Japan or via their US online FCS).
I've learned the hard way that dolls will outright refuse character ideas I want to shell in them, so I have to be flexible and work with the doll and see what character ideas it gives me as I spend time posing, going through eyes and wigs, etc.

Some of my dolls' fullset faceups work fine for the characters they've developed and I have no intention of wiping them (Ayame, my Standard Nico, my Shizu).
Others have some minor detail that bothers me and have me on the fence about whether to try and modify the faceup to better suit what I want – my Ryoma's lip corners are painted in opposite rising/falling directions that distract me when I'm trying to photograph his face front on.
I've wiped perfectly good faceups that didn't suit what I wanted for the head – my F-38 had an FCS faceup that wasn't to my taste, so I wiped it. Even though I'm very much a beginner at faceups and still haven't painted a version of his head that I'm completely satisfied with yet, he feels more "himself" even with my amateur work than he did before I wiped him.

On the other hand, if I'm looking at secondhand dolls, a custom faceup can be a deterrant for me, as most faceups won't work with how I want to style the doll, and at a certain price point, I feel like I would be paying for an artist's work, which, while beautiful, would be inevitably wiped and wasted.

On the topic of Volks, don't feel bad for wiping a faceup thinking a doll with the original faceup might not exist any more – Tenshi no Sato has a whole floor dedicated to a museum of all their limited releases with fullset outfits and faceups!

 

I have 0 face up skills. So if I don't get a company face up, I commission it.

So it often depends on the sculpt. Some I liked the company face up and I ordered it. Others I didn't and I got the doll blank and later commissioned a face up.

I only ever had one company face up wiped because it was so yellowed that I thought having it removed would help. I slightly regret it but the doll doesn't have a body yet so I can't be sure how much I regret it until the doll is complete.