Emma, Sparrow, and the unnamed LTF are dolls first, not characters. Their personalities will only come out after I've played with them and photographed them interacting with each other. I am working on how they are related, not to tell a story, although one will probably occur, but just because they will be three dolls living in the same house, and I want to have them be connected in some way. And they have to be connected to Harley, since she lives here, too. But they actually have nothing to do with Harley's story. Emma is simply an auxiliary character and could easily be written away. She's way more important in the doll world than in the story world. Meanwhile, Harley's boyfriend, one day to be spouse, is critical in the story, but not in the doll world. The MNF Luka who was Crow hasn't sold yet, but when he does, I don't know how fast I'm really going to reshell him into another doll. In a way I'm half tempted to keep him and just acknowledge the fact that he doesn't look at all like the character he is supposed to be....except for the muscles.
The AG dolls aren't nearly this complicated: they are either sisters, cousins, or friends, end of story. Maybe it's just the difference for me between a doll who is a child and a doll who is an adult. The doll who is an adult has a more complex, deeper, and more personal history than a doll who is a child, to me.
Anyway, I'm curious about how it works for all of you? Are your dolls doll first? characters first? Something in between? props that are more about creating your visual art? Or something else?
That's an interesting distinction! I find if I have too rigid an idea of 'who' a doll will be, I get frustrated and can't make it work when the doll arrives!
ReplyDeleteSo I might pick a doll with a very vague idea in mind, but then I find they develop into a 'character' to me over time. For instance, I feel I know pretty much everything about Emily, but not much yet about Nora! LOL
Arghh! Just typed a few paragraphs then must have pressed something by mistake as it all disappeared, so now I have to rethink what I wrote!
ReplyDeleteGreat question and quite thought provoking and hopefully you will have some good discussions on this topic.
Most of mine have become characters after they have arrived. Henry became Henry pretty much as soon as I saw him and has really developed, yet I had no idea about him before I saw him. Most of my other dolls develop once they arrive and some still have characters to be discovered. Jacob is probably the only one who arrived with a character already, but of course could still do with it being developed.
Mine are basically dolls first. Most characters develop after they arrive, when I start to get a feel for who they are. Some dolls never tell me who they are, and those are the ones I typically list for resale.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do have a group of Iplehouse dolls that developed as a family, partly by intention, partly by accident. I bought JID Asa first, just as a doll that I found pretty. Later I added little BID Byuri. When he arrived I saw enough of a resemblance between them that he became Asa's little brother. Then came SID Barahan, whom I recognized as their father the minute I saw him online. After that came the hard part, because Barahan needed a wife and the kids needed a mother. I soon found her in SID Zera, who was portrayed online as Native American but who worked for me as Asian. I bought all of them in the same resin skin tone, and they exist as a unit in my doll world.
The rest of my groupings are nowhere as neat as that. Some "intendeds" don't work together at all, while others find each other upon arrival. It's all part of the fun of collecting.
I have never planned out a character and then bought a doll to go with it. When I buy a doll, it's usually because I like the doll and then I wait and see what happens. Sometimes it works out great and other times, it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't apply with Hitty & the Ginger Brook Hollow dolls. All of them already had stories and characters intact before I bought them. And I have left their characters as is. Most of my dolls came with their own names too, but I will change the name if I don't like it.
It's interesting how we are all doll collectors, but vary in how we collect and enjoy our collections. :o)