What makes your doll unique?

[VirgoVertigo]

after posting in the thread about Lammily dolls, i got to thinking about dolls and their uniqueness. BJD crafters somehow manage to make every face they produce a little different, weather it means higher cheekbones, slightly more wide set eyes, a smaller lower lip, or a bigger nose ... however, i and what i'm sure is a lot of other people think that the true uniqueness of the doll lies in the owner. that being said, what do you think makes your doll unique? their story? their name? their faceup? share out!

i guess i can go first ... i think Natalie is really unique because she's thirdhand and damaged all over, making her a real project. she's handled years upon years of play from different people, and now it's time to fix her up. her skin is yellowed, her faceup is smudged, her eyelashes have clumped and frayed, her limbs come off or don't stay in place, and her eye chips are falling out. she is a complete renovation project. all the love and work i put into her is unique to her, and her story is hers alone.

[MeltedCaramel]

Ooh I love being the first replier. *Rubs hands together* Hmnn, I assume since this isn't in a specific size thread that plastic can play too? Right now that's all I got!

Okay, right now most of my dolls are in "project" stage, but I think what makes them unique is the time I take imagining the finished project before I even search out a base for my 1/6 dolls. I often choose characters that would never be done by a big company like Medicom or Hot Toys, etc. I find them unique because they're strange or offbeat or different. They fit my personality!

[Trethowan]

Their personalities! :-p


EDIT:

PS. I officially declare Myrretah and Okamikodomo the winners of the unique department. And I really hope I spelled your handles correctly.

[MeltedCaramel]

I'll second that Trethowan! Can't forget Vetinari too! Everyone here has a wonderful imagination though, so I feel bad naming names! Can we say everyone wins!?

[VirgoVertigo]

Ooh I love being the first replier. *Rubs hands together* Hmnn, I assume since this isn't in a specific size thread that plastic can play too? Right now that's all I got!

Okay, right now most of my dolls are in "project" stage, but I think what makes them unique is the time I take imagining the finished project before I even search out a base for my 1/6 dolls. I often choose characters that would never be done by a big company like Medicom or Hot Toys, etc. I find them unique because they're strange or offbeat or different. They fit my personality!

aah, i love it! a whole slew of projects just ready to burst out from your imagination! i'd love to see all of them! and the way they fit with your personality is darling! of course, you don't want a project that goes against your personality anyway. it would feel all wrong! ^o^

[VirgoVertigo]

regarding others' creativity, i love everyone here! i think we all have the imagination and creativity enough to shine, but many of us simply don't have the time, money, resources, skills, etc. kind of like in art, how in your head you can always imagine the most beautiful piece of art that surely would get placed in museums, but when you put it on paper it goes kaput, or the paper rips, or you don't have enough resources to finish the thing. i think everyone here has a wonderful, unique, and creative mind, but not all of us have the means to show it!

... that being said, OkamiKodomo is sort of my role model in this hobby ... naming names is kind of mean, but since we were doing it ...

[DollLover]

What makes my doll mine would have to be their character. And the amount of love I put into my dolls when putting together who they'll be.

[Tealove]

Mine are unique and special because they are mine. Yay! I feel that way about everyone's dolls and special possessions. Something about it drew it to you, shared your creative world and now it's forever a part of you.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Oooh - interesting question!

For most of my dolls visually it's the combination of face-up, eyes, wig and clothes - 14 have faceups I've done, and two have face-ups I've altered (one of those because I forgot to order it without a faceup ), which leaves 6 with company faceups that I'm leaving for the moment as they still suit the character (and in the case of the Dollkot Peya because the face is just too small!) But none of the ones with factory face-ups have the default eyes, only one still has the wig she came with, and that's been cropped right down. The Pukisha has had the ears removed from the faceplate so she can wear the magnetic kitty ears without having four ears. And so on.

With the Makies, they were almost certainly literally unique before I even made the first mark of their faceups. It's possible that someone got the exact slider positions for every aspect of their faces, but very unlikely (at least one person has tried to make a copy cat Makie of someone else's, and failed). For those who aren't aware, Makies are made by MakieLabs, a very small London startup (except I guess they're well on the route to being established now!) - you use sliders to adjust the main aspects of their faces (ears, eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, jaw, mouth), pick eyes, wig and clothes, and then the doll gets 3D printed for you. As the colour options are dye based at present, if you go for anything other than white, the dye is likely to be a bit different from batch to batch too, adding to the uniqueness. So for example, between the yeti and I we have 3 in the strawberry milk colour, and none of them are exactly the same tone. Obviously, if you leave the base settings alone, then you can end up with an identical Makie to someone else, but where's the fun in that? Link to the Makie creator (it's changed since I last used it - you only used to have two base models - one male, one female - I think they're making it more kid friendly).

Story and character wise, I doubt any of mine are unique per se - there's only so many archetypes you can work with after all. But I'm hoping the combination of story/backstory and character combined make a unique-enough combination not to be too obviously derivative. Potentially the closest to unique is Belena, who isn't yet completed - she will be a bit of a mix of Resinsoul bits, and is a mostly Celtic with some Nordic influence sheep deity.

[OkamiKodomo]

OMG you guys are seriously awesome! Hahah I JUST saw this thread. I've been down for the count with a seasonal cold, but I've still had to go to work, because I'm still new, and in training. But no, really, you guys are the best. I love you all. Myrretah and I were sitting here with our friend (draconicmaiden on Den of Angels, but she's not on this site) and I saw this and seriously started clapping and bouncing in my chair.

On topic, for the dolls themselves, it's the aesthetic work I put into them that makes them different. Between mods, and face-ups, and wig alterations, and clothing, you really won't find any other dolls that look exactly the same. I get that there are no original ideas anymore, and I'm sure someone, somewhere, has a similar concept to one or another. But I doubt they would look the same.