At what point is your doll not the same "person"?

[richila]

The "eyes" have it for me. Cordie was inspired by the perfect set of eyes. A doll isn't itself until I get the eyes right. Cordie is on her 4th body and I am planning a re-paint on a fresh head-but with those eyes, she will always be Cordie.

[magkelly]

Body changes don't really affect things all that much. I swap out Barbie heads all the time and for me the head is the doll, really. With 12" dolls there is a nice variety of skin tones between companies and the bodies can be swapped easier so anything goes really. Since most of my bigger dolls don't really swap out except by company and skin type anyway the only thing that happens with them is that they get more or less articulated. I've seen people swap a Gene onto a Madame Alex body but I don't really care for that as I've found that it's really hard to match well when you're jumping from one company to another.

I have swapped awkward or non-articulated bodies for better ones or damaged bodies for better ones but in general when you're talking about the bigger dolls they stay on the body they come with. From what I've seen with BJD the swap potential is so much wider that it's much more of an issue. In the end it's all about the head and about how much customizing I do. The more I customize the doll the less it becomes the manufacturer's doll and the more it becomes mine. Most of the dolls I have are on pretty standard bodies for their type so a body is just a body most of the time. I actually have very few that have weight lifter muscles or much bigger boobs so if I swap out a head it's really not that big of a deal.

The X-23 doll I just got that's the first heroic/athletic body I've ever had on a fashion type doll and although I like the looks of it in the pics I'm not too sure it's very practical in terms of wardrobe. I probably should swap her onto my extra Arwen body. She definitely won't be Laura Kinney when I am done with her. I like her looks mostly, but I already have some plans to alter them just a bit, to make a whole new character out of her. I am not an X-men fan and I don't like what I've read of her character at all so she's a blank canvas so far as I am concerned.

This is definitely a case of I really like the doll but I couldn't care less who she's SUPPOSED to be. I can't wait to get her out of that costume, do her hair, her brows, dress her in something better. She's a beautiful, badass doll but I just don't like her current persona at all.

[Lamia of the Dark]

Well, if there was something not right about the original body (or head, or complete doll) for the character, then rebodying them doesn't usually cause any major identity changes.

"Soul" replacement usually happens when a doll rejects their intended identity, not when I am replacing parts that didn't work out for them...

[SoapBubbles]

That's a very good question, and one that I'm surprised I haven't considered yet.

Hmm... Even after thinking about it, I'm actually not sure what makes my doll that specific doll that I adore and love. See, I don't really have set characters for my dolls yet and even if I do, I get the feeling I'll end up with this whole 'parallel world' like phenomenon where each doll has a bunch of different characters so I can keep buying them new items and enjoy them in different ways forever.

As most people have said already, I think the main 'self' of my dolls lie in the head and body-swapping doesn't take away the doll's identity for me. But I do have one exception: I have a doll I feel in love with for her faint smile and fox parts. I do have human parts for her and swap between the parts, but if I ended up getting a different body that couldn't articulate with the fox parts then I'd feel like she isn't quite the same doll anymore.

Conclusion: Probably what I fell in love with when I decided buy the doll determines a huge part of their identity.

[Calivano]

For me, the circumstances surrounding my purchase is what influences my dolls personality. My daughter has ADHD and needs to be taught a different way then other kids. She cant just sit down and do school work, or just sit and take tests. Often, we use unconventional means to teach her. For instance, more hands on work, inventing ways to make learning fun, etc.
This correlates with the two dolls we just got. I bought an Junior Iplehouse Doll Benny for my daughter so she can have a doll that fits her style and personality (she definitely isn't a barbie girl). I also bought an Elder Iplehouse Doll Luna which just came in (The old EID line was closed out, and they liquidated their inventory for new stock, so we got Luna pretty quick).
We decided that Benny was an orphan who was looking to be adopted. Her favorite instructor and mentor worked at the orphanage, and had unconventional teaching methods which often got her in trouble. She wasn't your standard teacher and taught things to kids that made learning fun. Since Luna got shipped first, we decided that she must've gotten fired for her unconventional practices, and Benny has to finish her schooling before she can be adopted. So we gave Luna a place to live so she could teach Benny when she comes and lives with us.
(Plus we have two dolliehs, one for her and one for me! XD )