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

[paladinari]

So here's kind of a silly (maybe philosophical?) debate topic, but I was wondering where people stand on this.

I think that most of us on this forum attribute some sort of specific "spirit" to our dolls, made up of the personality and voice vibe that we get from them. But I wonder in what part of the doll that spirit "lives"?

The reason I came up with this question is based on my new Hestia, who I have already expressed a desire to completely re-body even though I just got her. I think I also want to get her a new wig (the Hestia collection comes with their own wig, clothes, etc.). So, really, all that leaves is her head--maybe a whole quarter of the original doll?

I haven't really "heard" her yet, so I don't think any damage will be done by completely re-doing her. But I was wondering, for others, say, if you were to completely re-body your doll and such, do you consider your doll's spirit to be a part of their head alone, or do they become a completely different doll based on their other parts and their heart, which is then lost from the original body?

(Ok, even I read that as crazy. And I'm sure not everyone shares my "spirit" theory. And now some people might call me crazy, too! Maybe that's enough philosophy for one night...)

[yarwel]

I've had problems with rebodying, it seems that the head the body originally belonged to generally wants it back.

[OkamiKodomo]

For me, it's been... doll specific. Rune has had a body upgrade, but his personality has always been in his head, because it was the head that spawned the character. He was my RS Jun that came to me broken and got modded. For my DZ Annie, Xiu, her personality is also in the head sculpt, but also in her eyes and face-up. She has two toned eyes, and a scar over one, features she shares with her twin brother. However, Xiu was always intended to be a boy, and eventually, will get a body swap whenever I can get around to listing her female body for trade. For Hiroaki, his spirit is in the face-up. I originally shelled him in a modified Angel of Dreams head, but I really want to shell him in a DZ Mo. He has very specific scars that will be re-done on the new sculpt.

[Mirrin]

Well, I don't reshell dolls.. or change their looks short of a new 'hair cut' or something like that, but it does sometimes take me a while to get a doll together. If I find a head with a certain face-up I am fond of, I'll get it.. even if I don't have the body yet.. because I know it's right for the character I have in mind. Then I have to order the body.. wait for it to come in.. and all that. I don't feel good about putting heads on other dolls' bodies, but I will do it for the occasionally picture while I am acquiring the body.

[zirconmermaid]

I don't reshell dolls either, I just end up with more characters that way. I tend to get attached to the doll, stains, chips, breaks, yellowing, they are all memories of playing with the doll.

[Iwa_Hoshi]

In short - As long as I can still sense the character in my doll, it is still that character doll. The main self is usually in their head / faceup since that is who I see.

In my case I call it hosting my muse aka creative energy. The host itself tend to end up becoming my fave toy/doll


Long version. Here on it might get confusing

Some of my dolls use the same head sculpt. I have a case where I was testing wigs on a blank doll with a character in mind, but when a light blue wig went on. Kula the 2nd character happened and I ended up with two similar heads for two different characters

Of all my custom dolls 3/4 of them have moved on to a 2nd replacement head of the same as previous type because i can paint better now or they need new hair


I also have a few dolls who are suppose to be the same character at different age (oddly enough different moods too). There's a slight difference in their personality but its expected on account of the doll/action figure/toy part of them 'expressing' that personality that its unique to that headsculpt. Which is why I name my Chun Lis with a prefix (Obi, Medi, Megu, Etc). in their case, they are all my Chun Li but Obi is Obi, Medi is Chun Li but will never be considered as my Obi (Its kinda like clones in a way)

Interestingly in her case there are a few who I like a lot as they inspire me to sew/write/draw for them. Those are the ones that i consider to be representative of the character as they 'speak' to me. At current point Obi-Chun is training Megu-Chen to carry on tradition in this sense on the 1/3 side of things. Megu-Chun herself have 2 spare heads With the exception of Megu-Chun and Obi-Chun having spare heads because they're customs I'm not sure if I can replace their sisters if anything happen to them


Helen being one of my more interesting one, since she is originally a plushie and now has a 27cm Volbitsu full human form, 23cm Parabobitsu nekomimi form and Hujoo grey Freya tabby catperson form. I see all three dolls as Helen in her different shift phase. There are 5 other dolls who come from the same place she does, but she's the only one with multiple doll bodies at the moment because her telepathic-telekinetic and elaborate supernatural background making it easier for me to imagine so on the character and doll level

I have cases where by the character can't anchor itself to the doll and went back to being an action figure or into headspace

[ChelseaWhiteArt]

I build all of my dolls from scratch, so I think so long as the tweaks are keeping to a set of characteristics then it is still the personality that it was before. I have no idea, lets be frank here I like dolls but they half give me the creeps. I don't think my dolls could loose their personality if I changed them because when I do it is to improve and get them a step closer to my goal of achieving the character I had in my head when I started the doll. I think If I bought a doll and for three years it had a red wig, wore a schoolgirl uniform and answered to the name "Debbie" I would be inclined to see it as a very different character if I changed the wig, faceup, body type, and mode of dress to create a ninja, I would have to name her Death lotus or something. I think this phenomena varies with each doll owner/mom/dad. I don't think it can really be defined or made into a statistic. Well I shouldn't say that, everything can become a statistic.

[DollyKim]

As some dolls have had several bodies, usually as an upgrade to better joints and usually a "Barbie", I feel the spirit stays with the head. Most of my dolls will find their spirit and stick with it, especially if it's one of the customs where I looked for a doll to match my vision of the character. There's always room for the character to get more complex and suddenly realize a new thing that's part of them. I didn't know Dorobo Joe liked babies until I got my first tiny.

Some dolls will transition, there was a different Svetlana who was a temporary shell, Morena had a different name. Sometimes it takes me awhile to realize who they are. There have been doll spirits over the years who have left as well, some times the doll gets reused after having some time to rest.

[famedglory]

I didn't think I would be able to reshell dolls, but Astrid ended up transferring her character to a different head/body which while very similiar worked so much better. And Gloria also ended up needing a whole new head/body combo to work. I don't think a doll like Taavi or Dani would ever be able to do that, but I'm not saying never because it kind of just happens when it needs to. The personality works in the doll for as long as the doll still suits the personality and when that stops working, the personality leaves and needs to find a new home.

[Evelien]

Rebodying is not an issue for me, strangely enough. Changing eyes is though, sometimes a new faceup and even changing wigs. I usually get over it but it feels weird because things that shouldn't change on a person, change.