Dollieh Sanctuary

I was just curious...
When I got my B&G Sky I didn't really have any idea as to who he would be... But when my mom said in her opinion he was definitely gay, my imagination ran with it... Although she said that my other two guys look gay as well, but I have characters for them already.

Can't say that's ever happened to me. Usually, I've got characters and such picked out before the doll ever gets here. However, sometimes it's the dolls themselves who influence their own personalities. For example, I'd gotten a Fairyland F60 Juri sculpt to stick on the muscular body. I'd been thinking the whole time his name would be Artemis and he'd be a warrior/hunter. Well, his head gets here, and I pop in a pair of blind eyes (just because they were the only ones that fit at the time), and instantly realized those were his eyes. I thought, okay, a BLIND hunter. Who never misses his mark even though he can't see a thing! That's cool.

Nope. The more I looked at him the more I realized he just wasn't an Artemis, and he definitely wasn't a hunter. Finally, I put a few spare wigs on him, one of which he also immediately claimed (exactly matched the shade of his eyebrows), and a spare fantasy outfit and realize he's not a hunter, he's a musician. His name is Muse and he has the ability to "see" threads of music and song, and weave them into amazing clothes said to bless the wearer with extraordinary talent, luck, and wealth (so of course I immediately had to buy him a doll-scale lute from the net). Thus, he's highly sought after by human and fae alike. Oh, and he's also the long-missing father of my little elf twins, who have been under the guardianship of another of my dolls since Muse's enemies would use them to force him to do their bidding. Have to say, never saw THAT one coming.

So, yeah. From hardened warrior to gentle (and well-toned) musical seamstress father. Sometimes doesn't matter what, if anything, you've got planned for the dolls. Who needs humans telling me what they should be when the dolls can influence their personalities all by themselves just fine.

Very little. The dialogue is between me and my dolls. I name them and so forth and then that's it. Occasionally there will of course be a bit of a disagreement on that score, like there has been with the one Delilah, who definitely has had a mind of her own when it came to me doing her face up/persona. We're still in the process she and I of figuring out who she is. She just won't quite settle into any face I give her and it's really been annoying. At this point her eyebrows are done, her freckles are great and we're both cool with that, but the lip and nail color she's not liking and I'm still not completely happy with her painted eye lashes. She's still a work in progress this doll though I badly want to be done with all the painting. I keep saying "I'm done." but I'm just not happy, she's not happy, so what can you do but keep trying, right?

But nobody gets to make that decision for me, who a doll is. That's between me and my doll. I think that's the ultimate reason I've never sent a doll out for a face up. I like other people's work, but I would not feel comfortable I don't think with seeing someone else's vision of my doll all the time. Not with a repaint. It's just too personal for me. Factory paint jobs that's one thing but when it comes to custom, even if the end result is not professional, I'd rather do it myself.

Very little. I'm somewhat of a control freak
In general I have an idea of who my dolls are and how they behave. Some of the characters(mostly OCs or fave media chars) show up the moment I laid eyes on their shop pics (Megu-Chun, Jack). Some of the characters showed up with other characters trying to steal the doll from the anchor character (Erisa, Zannah and Casey have Vega/Balrog lurking around during faceup time. Jack has the men of Metal gear solid, resident evil and kof offering clothing ideas.... I have a weird headspace)

Granted stuff like wigs and eyes are more influential. I was testing out some wigs on a blank Nano Gretel head meant to be Yuri. The moment I plonk on a light blue wig. Kula happened and refused to leave. and then I end up with two Nano Gretels.

Through doll meets they interact with other people's dolls. A sub personality might develop in that interaction but if it fits with the doll's default personality I don't mind it so much. Like how Megu-Chun is a bit of a little sister type because she's shorter than most of her friends, but I still see her as being able to fend for herself in spite of that

If through other people interaction with said doll (via comments or other doll interaction) is likely to change my doll's default personality or conflict with the doll's background and history, I reel said doll in and have said doll spend some quality time with my own dolls(or a bunch of plushies or action figures if such is the doll's original form pre-dollification).

If anything my doll is seen though my POV, that is the main essence of what makes my doll to be my doll. There are dolls I like because I like them as seen through my friends' POV of their dolls.

Outside of the twins, which my sister and I started with "Bowie", I knew who my dolls were before I bought them. This doesn't count for things like Monsters or PTEs but for the Obitsu, Volks, resins, and other customs. If it's an OC I always search for a doll to fit the vision. Sometimes I'll see a doll and suddenly know them.

When it comes to fan dolls, a doll of someone or someone else's character, that guides their personalities. I'll start with what I admire about that person/character and the public persona they have then go from there.

Not really at all. I get dolls for the characters, not characters for the dolls. No one aside from myself has any influence over my dolls' personalities.

Well, if it is a pre-loved doll, then the previous owner sometimes has influence over some aspect of the doll... For example, my Dollzone Fei was called "Tori" by his previous owner and became "Bird" when he made his way to my house. ("bird" in Japanese is "tori" )

But usually it is all me... because the "doll making its own personality/preferences known" thing is a product of my own mind even though it doesn't always feel like it... @__@

I think I work in kind of the opposite manner that a lot of doll owners do. I usually have a character that I want a doll of, so I spend a lot of time looking for the doll that fits that character instead of getting a doll and making a character around it. So the personality of the characters just carries over to the dolls.

It kinda seems like I'm doing things backwards from most people. I see the dolls and decide on the ones I want, but I usually have no plans. Then when I get then my imagination starts working on what I want... When I saw Resinsoul Feng I decided I wanted him, and he was going to be a badass Victorian-ish style goth. However when I got him and saw the doll in person every plan I had flew out the window... His blank self told me the blue eyes needed to go, he is a shy scientist and his style is the brown, tan and a splash of red and black here and there Steampunk.
The personality for my BBB Weylin has been influenced by a couple of my friends. Cy is the name of a new friend and I felt matches Weylin, so that's his new name and he has acquired a bit of my friend's narcissistic attitude as well. Another friend I have is a guy who liked to dress in skirts and things, which now my doll does, too...
Therefore I don't work well with a plan prior to getting a doll... Which made me curious as to all of you. Thank you for sharing! ^_^

I bounce ideas for little things off a few friends. Since in most cases I've made the character while waiting for the doll, I do get inspired by the feedback from my friends. So 95% of the character is what I've come up with and the remaining 5% was influenced by other sources.

I can be very resistant to suggestions of changing my characters if it doesn't suit them. The two ideas I've shot down multiple times are modifing Ethel to act like me since we unintentionally look alike and making Finn into a playboy-type character. Nope and nope.