Do you upgrade your dolls?

Yes, for me, the most important aspect of bjds is the ability to constantly change them. So in my mind, an upgrade is any change I give them, like a better fitting (stylistically) wig or the "right" eye color. And I do this quite often. Of course, each of them has their main wig or pair of eyes, but sometimes I just mix them up for a photo shoot or a particular outfit. But mostly my personal upgrades are faceups. I paint my own dolls and every time I look at them and think "this faceup is old" or "I have better skills now and this old one looks worse than I remembered" or "this doesn't look good with new wig", I just repaint it to better match my current skill level or taste

 

I paint all my BJD after my first two, because that was the main reason for me to purchase these dolls in the beginning. So, I do repaint them quite often (or used to, about a decade ago for the older ones). I don't consider that an upgrade however, because I don't send them to a pro. I'm still the one doing the work. As a traditional artist all my life, I don't feel I've improved much, to call my repainting an upgrade. Just something I enjoy doing as a hobbyist.

I have never switched, replaced, or changed dolls as an "upgrade" to the character either. It never crossed my mind, and I honestly don't feel I would like doing that (I'm weirdly sentimental when it comes to my material possessions). I did switch hands on two dolls once, but that was more about me being a weirdo who loves pretty hands, rather than an upgrade. (:

 

Yes from time to time I have upgraded a character. On the small side changed eyes or wigs to better versions to suit character. On the big I've upgraded a head or two to better bodies, done boddy mods like sanding parts, and I have fully reshelled a small few dolls that just didn't work. It's rare for me to upgrade a character doll in in a extreme way, but it does happen once in a while. Little things can make a big diff sometimes, even a new shirt or whatever can breath new life into a doll sometimes.

 

Depends on the doll, but yes. Bren and Adam have both had 3 bodies, Cooper and Jarppi have had two. Pepper's on her second shell. I redo faceups occasionally as I improve or get a better feel for their characters. My characters age in real time, so sometimes they need a new look to show that.

 

I don't think I can upgrade a doll's major resin parts. I think it's because my doll characters are inspired by the sculpts, so the body/build contributes to the character personality and expression in fundamental ways. If the body changes, the character changes too. I can get option hands and feet for the doll (hybrided or same company), but once the character is established in my imagination, they're keeping their body. Likewise, there's no such thing as getting a better head sculpt to fit the character, because the character originated from that sculpt. Reshelling doesn't happen in my crew.

I have two single-jointed dolls and have tried to imagine them with newer bodies, but I can't follow through with the thought experiment. Re-bodying them doesn't feel like an "upgrade" to me: they ARE their current bodies, I feel like I'll be losing something of their characters if I change that. So I guess they'll stay single-jointed foerver. (Now, if their sculptor made new bodies with the right build and height, I might be open to change... :p)

I don't count hybriding failures to be "upgrades": I bought a second body for one of my dolls because the first hybrid attempt was a big failure. But I already knew the first body was unsuitable the moment I unboxed and tested it with the head, I stashed the head away again and bought the second body shortly after. Likewise, when I got his new body I was happy with everything except the hands, which were unsuitable for the character. Now this doll is a triple hybrid - has the right body and the right hands. I guess his hands were an "upgrade"... but now that this character has successfully established himself in my imagination, I don't want to change anything about him anymore.

Non-resin aspects... sure, I can and have changed those, in order to bring the doll closer to how I envision their character. I'll refresh a faceup if I've skilled up substantially - one of my dolls got painted 3 times in 1.5 years because I was in a phase of exponentially improving, so each faceup brought the doll closer to my imagination. I've bought new eyes because the old resin ones were starting to yellow. On the other hand, I'm trying to get fresher wigs for some dolls, but this is proving very hard and turning into a waste of money. (Literally: my success rate in changing wigs is exactly zero, for every doll.) I have a feeling I'll need to commission new wigs that look identical to the old wigs...

 

Yes, I upgrade everyone all the time forever.
I don't necessarily upgrade heads or bodies (sometimes) but I see the dolls as living projects never "finished' or totally stagnant as long as I live to give them life. Sometimes they may spend a very time comfortable with a certain appearance I'm happy with but when I get the urge they change again, bit by bit by bit. Faceups inevitably change after running their course, I love giving them new wigs and (clothes goes without saying) and eyes are very exciting to upgrade. I find this continuous process very satisfying. I am often daydreaming of the next little thing and it gives me a way to feel more hopeful about the future in general.

 

While most of my dolls are pretty much in a "stable" state, the favorites I call the Big Three have gone through major changes and upgrades through the years. I'm more attached to their characters than their shells. Hence, I reshell if I could find a better sculpt (and if I could afford it, of course). Just so this won't be too spammy, I've put the comparison images under a spoilers tag.

Spoiler: Then and now

ADHARA (warpaint ver-old)

Off Shoulder 05 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

ADHARA (warpaint ver-new)

Green Coronet 03 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

---

GUOREN (old)

Golden Shadow 01 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

GUOREN (new)

Sharp Bastard 00 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

---

OKUNI (old)

Okuni Unmasked 01 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

OKUNI (new)

Mirror Ghost 2 by Yela Gatchalian-David, on Flickr

 

No not really I prefer them in their original state of course I still change their clothes and can dress them differently

 

Mostly no, I try to pick heads and bodies I enjoy working with. However, it’s not entirely out of the picture bc I am a little tempted to give my iplehouse girl a body that can pose better. It's just in the back of my head though

 

Yes I do! As I paint all my dolls, I sometimes refresh their faceups, when I think my skills improve enough. It's neither everyday, nor every year. My Narcissus (that is around 10 years old) only got three faceups in all that years. I also sometime sell a doll and switch for an other that fits better in the character.

Here are some examples. This one (my Narcissus) is the same mold but with new faceup/eyes/hands.

Spoiler: Little changes

First faceup:


Third faceup, with new eyes and so on:

And this one I made some changes but kept the same spirit.

Spoiler: Some changes:

Sometimes it's such a change you could not even say it is the same character

Spoiler: Everything changed

 

I do like to keep them upgraded, and I've once changed the characters of two of them, but I've never changed their heads because those sculpts are the core of what they are and why I was attracted to them in the first place.
I send them to artists to refresh their face-up every 5 years or so, but it depends on the doll and if there's been some damage to it (one has a resin match blush done and now has the tiniest chip on her nose).
I dabble on making wigs, so I'll keep making new ones from time to time until I'm satisfied.
Besides that, for my vampire girl, I've been buying and selling bodies since 2013, trying to find one which height, posing abilities and detail level is both to my liking and accordingly to the character, and I think I finally found it on a MyouDoll Body that I'm loving since I first got it out of the box, so I think that quest for the right body is over, yay!

 

I het their faceups redone if/when they are damged or fade, I occasionally change to a different body but not often (usually if the original body didn't fit the character to begin with - pretty much once the chracter becomes apparent, it's a fixed thing unless something happens that forces a change (for example, one of my hybrid girls developed an issue where her head greened but her body yellowed. When I gve her a soak in denture/prosthetic cleaner, it undid the yellowing beautifully but left the body a nice fleshy pink, but the head the colour of dried putty. I tried to get a replacement for the head but it's discontinued and doesn't come up on the secondary market often, so I resorted to dye. Nothing approaching the original "normal" skintone worked, so I wnet with a tan colour for the head and a more dilute version fo the dye to bring the body to a closer colour match for it, then sent her for a new fceup, and came up with the backstory where she'd been ill and sent away to a sunny climate for a rest-cure - hence her new tanned apperarance)

Teddy

 

So cool to see the comparisons from @AntarelNefertili and @Follow-the-Wind

@Teddy clever thinking!

For myself, I haven't been in the hobby long enough to do any updating... but that is plan! I have a very clear image in my mind if what I want my doll(s) to look like, but I know I don't have the skills to realize that vision exactly. So I'll just do the best I can for now, knowing that I can always remake a garment or wig or buy better eyes later

 

My crew is very rarely upgraded, and usually only as a necessary reshelling if a more appropriate doll to match that character comes on the market (as an example, I once had a character who literally outgrew her tiny realpuki frame and was switched to a larger realfee instead.) I seldom re-do my faceups because they are well sealed and too integral to their characters to change (fortunately they’ve all held up beautifully over the years.) I came into this hobby initially from an artistic background so I had no “learning curve” on faceups that benefitted from re-doing. I once upgraded a normal-looking storytelling character to a shironuri faceup, but that was an overall creative decision to enhance her character even more.

Once the doll is in my possession and their look is set, I’m far happier expressing changes through clothing and wardrobes instead. I love to sew and design, so I’m always making something new for them. Most of my dolls have a set wig choice that never changes (although a small handful has a collection of different wigs as part of their initial character.) And as for eyes…once I find the perfect ones, they never change.

 

I usually don't update them. However, when a doll has been sitting there for a lot of time and my tastes have changed (like what has happened with my DoD Shall) I start to get the urge to give them some more interesting looks, some storytelling, etc.

 

I'll pick a new sculpt for a particular individual occasionally (Crow v1 was a Vampire Elf El, for instance, while the current Crow v2 version is a Volks F-29), and I'll go back and pick a better set of eyes or a new wig for one pretty routinely. Bodies usually stay the same, but there have been a few exceptions... SD13s that looked better as SD17s or SDGrs, heads that came on a bod of one gender that I wanted to switch to another and that kind of thing.

Fresh faceups are very rare once I get one that I like, though. A lot of a particular doll's "personality" is tied up in their expression and individual face for me, so a new faceup is risky. It often changes the doll's expression and general look enough to make them seem like they're "no longer them" to my eye. Unless I'm intentionally setting out to completely revamp an old sculpt into someone new from the ground up, I try to avoid changing the gang's faces.

 

Depending on the doll. I grew up from some characters, and those dolls are now shelling different characters that I am sure I will keep changing over the years. I have dolls that have characters specifically for those sculpts.
I think one of the most fun part of the hobby is to keep changing, upgrading and reselling our dolls and characters

 

I let mine age with time, so their wigs got gray bits or with their newest faceup they got wrinkles.

But yes, I also updated some of them by reshelling or switching to a full new doll vs a hybrid (but technically same head sculpt still). I started so long ago that options were pretty slim back then, so you bought what fitted the most. Over the years dolls were released that looked so much more than what I envisioned but also enjoyed, so the old doll(s) had to go in some cases.
I want my dolls to be their best possible version, both for the characters they represent but also the doll itself as a physical object. And in my opinion that's only possible with updates of some sort. My faceups got better, wigs and eyes got more detailed over the years and so on. If I had never updated my doll they'd still have amateurish faceups, regular fiber wigs with the same 3 available styles and wonky, cheap glass eyes

 

I recently got a used Lati Yellow and while her faceup still looked good, her eyelashes were all bent and ruined. So I gave her new eyelashes.

I haven't re-done a faceup on a doll yet, and I'm kind of scared of when I do, because the hardest thing in the world to me is trying to fix a bad factory faceup.

 

I have never redone a doll completely in the sense of reshelling or changing any major parts. But most of my dolls have had minor uppgrades over the years.
Two of my dolls got new hands. My Doll Leaves boy got a pair of jointed hands because it fits his character who tends to be fidgety and nervous and that's much better expressed with jointed hands than with his defaults. And an old JID girl got a pair of the new style JID hands, simply because I like them better and they fit in better with my other dolls hands.
Some of my dolls have gone through a few wigs and eyes before I found the right ones for them and clothes are constantly being added to their warderobes.
Faceups and blushing gets redone as needed. Sometimes because of wear, sometimes because I think I can do a better job now. Sometimes I'm even right.

 

Oh yes, all the time. I redo faceups, get or make new wigs, get or make new eyes, buy new hands/bodies and sometimes heads. I have one character who had gone through 3 very intentional thought out shells, only to end up in the fourth, which was an impulse buy from a friend. I have another who has had three possible heads and though I'm reasonably happy with him at present, if a body or head I liked better came along, I'd change it when I could afford it. It's not so much updating, because I have a few older dolls with older style faceups that I like to keep intact, but perfecting the ones who shell the most beloved of my characters.

 

Oh yeah, and I feel like the fact that I've only been in the hobby a little over a year plays a part in this-still figuring out what I want for who. Currently I have two that are awaiting new heads, one that needs to be dyed and have her faceup redone, and another who needs his faceup wiped and redone, because I feel like I can do better. Not to mention I seem to have a revolving door of eyes as I figure out which eyes work best with who.

 

I've just recently done this with my very first doll. While I did like his original faceup and the wardrobe that I had picked out, his character changed quite a bit over the years from his initial conception. An upgrade has been long overdue!
I got him back recently from an artist that gave him a new faceup, and I'm currently waiting on his new wardrobe

 

Updates for me mostly come in the form of refreshed face-up, and new hands. Currently, I think six or seven of my dolls have hands that are not their default ones. Hands are so important to the look of a doll for me, and some default ones are... Less than preferred. When possible I just change the shape by boiling them, but sometimes that's not enough.

I have tried to fully upgrade a doll with a new sculpt and body, but it didnt quite workout. The attachment to the original was too strong, or the vibe of the new one was off in another case. I'm attempting it again for another doll/character now, and I'm hoping it works as I can't really justify keeping that new doll otherwise

 

Guilty. As. Charged.
I started collecting playline (Barbie) dolls, and when the made-to-move bodies came out, everyone got rebodied.

Rebodying BJDs is so much more expensive, so I am doing it more slowly, but oh yes, I do love buying a pricey body for a budget head.

Spoiler: Photographic evidence of my crimes

Now if you're swappin' body
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Supiadoll Noa (left) on Fairyland Feeple65 body. Fairyland Feeple65 Medusa Angela (right) claimed the Impldoll Star Model 63-cm body. Netis is safe. For now...


Getting handsy
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Resinsoul Mei on Souldoll Soul Kids NL body, Unoa Lucis/Sist on Peakswoods FOB body


Unoa-Peak's Woods hybrid
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Another picture of Unoa on Peakswoods FOB


Doll Leaves-Dreaming Doll hybrid
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Doll Leaves Hedy on Dreaming Doll Little Elva Type-A body


Resinsoul/Bobobie Mei
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Mei on the same Dreaming Doll Type A body (before she got the Soul Kids body)


More pictures
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Dream Valley Z7 (center) stole Domuya Mauve's body, and she's not even a little bit sorry.


Taking over my office
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Bottom left, pastel pink silk dress from Dollmore: Resinsoul Dawn (centaur) head on Dollmore Judith body. Doll Leaves Hedy on Dreaming Doll Little Elva Type-A body.
Soul Doll (Vito, I suspect) Duke of Arhanian on Miracle Doll 68-cm female muscular body.
April Story Emma on Soul Doll Vito female body.
Doll Chateau Alberta on Resinsoul Dawn's body.


Some (terrible) pictures
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Impldoll Lydia stole Granado Jane's Embody body AND Mari's Soul Doll limited mermaid outfit.


Plays with dolls
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Dollmore Model F Ipsae took this Supiadoll Original 58 female body and accessorized it with Iplehouse YID lingerie.


MSD Comparisons
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Xagadoll Mizzle (far left) claimed a Little Monica Little Harmony body. Doll Chateau Alberta (far right) stole the Dream Valley B4-19 body right out from under Doll Chateau Bella's nose.


Random pics
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr
Minoruworld Jr. Leila claimed this Doll Family-H 1/5 girl body.

 

I’ve reshelled Aura 5(?) times. She’s been an f60 lacrima, an Asella dolls raspberry, an Amadiz Virginia, an elf doll Lydia, a Supia heeji, and now she’s going to be a DDD Charlotta. She’s just evolved as her character has, and I’ve never quite been able to pin her down as a particular sculpt so far. She’s definitely the most egregious example, but I’ve had a lot of reshelling lately. I’ve redone a handful of faceups as well lately—half because I want to have done most of the faceups in my horde, and partially because as I get better at faceups, I redo ones that I think I can do better on. Atropa will be on the redo list soon, because I want to make her more individual from my other Twigling Gamines.

 

Pretty much all of my dolls/characters have gone through many changes/upgrades. Only a few out of my current crew are done with changes/upgrades (for now at least lol) because I'm happy with what I landed on for them and am now focusing on the rest who need redoing/upgrading/completing.

 

The first change I ever made to a doll from the stock way was to change the company face up, it didn't quite fit what I was envisioning for her, and when I got her with a face-up I knew it would be temporary. Now I am going a step further and I will also be changing her body for one that more fits her character, the stock resinsoul wrong body is just not exactly right for my plan. Aside from that I do my own faceups and change eyes from how they come when I buy them. I will say years later that there is a very high possibility that I am going to redo her face in the future because it is just not up to my standards anymore. I think there are always some ways I can improve on the choices I made in the past with my dolls.

 

Skills improve, tastes change, new interests creep in. My dolls will never stop mutating. I've redone faceups, wiped and redesigned tattoos, altered wigs, tweaked eye fit over and over, changed wardrobes, added props, added/removed piercings, modded extensively, and bought and sold several trying to find the perfect fit for a character. I'm someone who (for better or worse) runs on the idea absolutely anything can be improved, and this hobby helps satisfy my compulsions (lol) in a tangibly documented manner.

It's fun to look back and see how far you've come. I'd post photos if I had them handy - maybe in the future.

 

I want to say that I do. But, the reality is I tend to find a look I like and leave them like that.

 

I do upgrade my dolls, when I am able that is. They usually have set clothing, so I don't change that often. But I do change out bodies if more suitable ones become available, and I've reshelled several dolls over the years, when the character evolved/changed and/or a better more fitting sculpt came out. My tastes have changed in some ways over the last 13 years, but in others it has stayed. I still got a good portion of my firsts at home, with upgraded bodies, wigs, faceups, eyes, etc.

I love pretty much all the heads of my dolls, because I feel the character is in the head sculpt, so it's relatively easy for me to upgrade and change bodies. But sometimes, heads need to be changed to, which is always nervewrecking as I am never sure the character will accept the new shell, you know? For inanimate objects, dolls sure have a lot of personality!

Faceups I redo periodically as my skill improves, which reminds me I have to repaint big Lily, I did her faceup last in 2021 and I dislike what I did, yet still haven't redone it. Maybe I'll pull her out of the display cabinet and wipe her this weekend, might as well. This year (2024) I've already repainted 7 of my dolls (9 if you count all 3 faceplates of one), and I got a few more to do!

 

I was wiping some older faceups on some of my dolls when I realized I just don’t like their old eyes they have in them and that the artist of the eyes could probably remake them way better if I re-commissioned them.

this got me thinking, how often do you guys ‘upgrade’ certain aspects of your dolls?

do you make a list of upgrades and get them done as you get money?
Do you just wait until you see what you need on the secondhand market?
Do you slowly fill a cart on a dealer’s website and purchase during an event?
Etc.

 

Usually minor things; updating the jewelry layout or eyes, horns, etc. adding jewelry or removing it, but usually not more than that.

 

It's interesting reading everyone's replies and what they upgrade/update their dolls with!

Having been in the hobby for 15 years, I've done my fair share of upgrading my dolls as well. The simplest upgrades are in the form of new eyes or new wigs -- many of my dolls changed from glass eyes to silicon then to resin eyes as the availability of more intricate designs became possible over the years. I also get them new eyes if their previous pairs have yellowed (which happens more often than I'll like...) Likewise for wigs, most of them upgraded from furwigs to fibre wigs as my tastes changed. I also redo their faceups over the years as my skill improved.

Some dolls had more extensive changes though:

Sion, my Migidoll Miho, got a new body a few years ago (changed from a Little Monica 63cm body to Volks SD17). At that time I was shifting from collecting 60/63cm to 65cm dolls and I also worked a job where buying a Volks body wasn't as much a financial stretch as it was when I first got him so I made that upgrade. Super glad for it because I've always liked the look of Volks and it feels like he's grown up as well with the upgrade.

I also had two heads that I liked so much that I moved them from OCs to OCs to find one that fits so I could keep them. These heads went through multiple faceups, eyes, wigs etc. A few years ago I made a video showing how my Volks Olivia head evolved over the time I had it if anyone's interested. ^-^

 

I'd love to upgrade their faces, body blushes, mods, etc., but I'm running into a lack of energy, time, and skills.

 

I love updating clothes and wigs, and keep the others until I have to replace them.

 

I like to try out different things, but I don't know about "upgrading." I have a few outfits that I have liked for years, and will continue to do so. One of my dolls has a fairly messed-up body, and every time I change her outfit, I think to myself how much nicer it would be if she just had like a normal SD body or something, but at the same time, it wouldn't be her body, so in the end, I never do anything about it.

 

Outfits, wigs, eyes I may start out with a temporary thing but I rarely swap bodies or do body mods. It can take me a while to get my dolls faced up and outfitted as I want them but once I do that's pretty well done.

Most of my BJDs are not like the fashion dolls for me unless they're the same slim MSD size and made to be fashion dolls. I only have a couple of those and I do change their outfits sometimes and do photo shoots.

With the BJDs mostly I find their look, dress them up and just display them. I might change one if it just didn't work for me after a while but that's very rare. I am very particular about what my dolls look like. I put a lot of work into them so when they are done they're usually done.

 

It depends, I won’t usually upgrade fullset dolls or dolls that are matching each other unless I upgrade both at the same time, but if I have pieced together my own doll I will often upgrade to things that are either of higher quality or suit them better, maybe even to a new style

 

I won't upgrade a doll that is already perfect to me, but if I have a doll that isn't quite right somehow, I will keep trying to fix it until it is right - like commissioning a different faceup. I can't put up with a faceup not being right for me and will eventually either change it or sell. But once it's right I will keep it forever!

I had never intentionally done a full reshelling of a doll before until recently! I upgraded my Delf Breakaway 08 to the 05 version. I had always wanted the 05 so when I saw one for sale I took the opportunity to do the swap. I'm so glad I did! It was well worth the effort and spending a bit more to get my dream Breakaway!

 

I recently wiped faceups off of a lot of my dolls and washed them from head to toe, then redid the faceups and body blushing. I felt that some of the older dolls needed it. They still play the same characters, and the changes are not major, but as I have gotten better with faceups and body blushing I think they all look much better. I also managed to get rid of some of the yellow that was beginning to show.

 

My Dollmore Trinity Elysia has also received multiple upgrades: blushed, jointed hands, blushed heel feet, shoes from Dollmore (and size 5/6 toddler shoes at local stores), and all the outfits...

More Elysia
by Maleficient MrsofallEvil, on Flickr

I think she has almost every wig Dollmore sells now.

 

I usually keep them as is. My first doll is probably the only one that I rotate their look every once in a while, but most of the others I keep default in their original outfits they came with. There are a few where I didn't quite like their original outfits or wigs, but nothing too drastic. I kind of consider certain dolls like art pieces that I keep original whereas others I let my creativity flow. Just depends on the doll I suppose and my mood. Haha.

 

Yup, one of the reasons why I stuck to vinyl is the ease of replacing and upgrading. Recently upgraded a few of mine to f3 bodies and looking into more flexible legs for more posing options. With that said, I do keep a few ancient ddi/ii bodies around for histories sake

 

Definitely . Not as extreme as changing the whole dorrie sculpt though: just additional resin parts like horns, jointed hands and also custom face-ups.