doll musings
May. 25th, 2004 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rubahWhat makes a great base?
1) Poseableness (is there a word for this?)
2) Color quality
3) Unique design
4) Size
I have a theory that the first two are around on equal terms, but if the third is *really* strong, it can trump them both out, but only if.
Explanation.. Angy Chan's manga bases.. For a long time, they were like industry standard... While they had very little of no. 1 (you could move the arms legs and head, but nothing else. spine was stiff) at the time the quality was considered quite good (meaning they didn't use websafe colors) and they were different. The eyes are still immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with them. Not to mention, at the time, they could be considered 'medium' bases. But since then, bases have grown to gigantic proportions, spurred on in part by angy herself with her 'super manga' base:P
Example number two, the cora bases by ILCK. The old-style cora's were popular for just about all the same reasons, *except number 1* Like angy's manga bases, you could move the arms. But that was it. The feet and head were stationary for all time. However, the greatest boon was their color. While there was only one skin tone provided, it was *cool* The brown+flesh combination was a staple of old-school dolling (with its websafe colors) and these bases gave a small feel of that era. Also, like the manga bases, the eyes were a dead giveaway. Unfocused, and somewhat.. odd.. they added a touch of mystery to the person inside the doll.
However, since their revamping, the skin tones have been changed and multiplied, more shading has been added, they actually have *feet*, and the eyes are focused. However, these do not automatically mean that they are infinitely better. The added detail and changed skintones, while making them more realistic, take away from the cartoony and old-school feel of the base. And while the added toes are a *Great* boon, the focused eyes give the final dig that makes the new coras more like barbie than a 'doll'. However, for those who like the added realism, it's not a bad thing. But the two are completely different bases and give completely different feelings, despite the fact they're the same poses and stem from the same thing.
In a different vein, Xandorra's bases have been popular for a much different reason. Her older ones had no faces, so there were no tell-tale things like eyes to give them away, but for their time, the coloring was great, and the sheer number of poses was enough to give some a long-lasting buzz. Obviously then, hers lie mostly under the categories of, well, all of them but 'unique'. Because there were no distinguishing marks, many dollers forget whether the bases of their old dolls came from xandorra or josie, or a plethora of other people who made similar unexpressioned bases.
actually, seeing as I haven't touched this now for about at least a half hour, and I've lost my train of thought, I'll end it here and ask that someone else finish for me.. and CLOSE MOM"S FREAKING SMOKING ROOM DOOR! Ugh, I can smell it all the way at the other end of the house.
oh, and for the record, I'm not an old-school doller.. Just been doing it for two and a half years. So yeah.
1) Poseableness (is there a word for this?)
2) Color quality
3) Unique design
4) Size
I have a theory that the first two are around on equal terms, but if the third is *really* strong, it can trump them both out, but only if.
Explanation.. Angy Chan's manga bases.. For a long time, they were like industry standard... While they had very little of no. 1 (you could move the arms legs and head, but nothing else. spine was stiff) at the time the quality was considered quite good (meaning they didn't use websafe colors) and they were different. The eyes are still immediately recognizable to anyone familiar with them. Not to mention, at the time, they could be considered 'medium' bases. But since then, bases have grown to gigantic proportions, spurred on in part by angy herself with her 'super manga' base:P
Example number two, the cora bases by ILCK. The old-style cora's were popular for just about all the same reasons, *except number 1* Like angy's manga bases, you could move the arms. But that was it. The feet and head were stationary for all time. However, the greatest boon was their color. While there was only one skin tone provided, it was *cool* The brown+flesh combination was a staple of old-school dolling (with its websafe colors) and these bases gave a small feel of that era. Also, like the manga bases, the eyes were a dead giveaway. Unfocused, and somewhat.. odd.. they added a touch of mystery to the person inside the doll.
However, since their revamping, the skin tones have been changed and multiplied, more shading has been added, they actually have *feet*, and the eyes are focused. However, these do not automatically mean that they are infinitely better. The added detail and changed skintones, while making them more realistic, take away from the cartoony and old-school feel of the base. And while the added toes are a *Great* boon, the focused eyes give the final dig that makes the new coras more like barbie than a 'doll'. However, for those who like the added realism, it's not a bad thing. But the two are completely different bases and give completely different feelings, despite the fact they're the same poses and stem from the same thing.
In a different vein, Xandorra's bases have been popular for a much different reason. Her older ones had no faces, so there were no tell-tale things like eyes to give them away, but for their time, the coloring was great, and the sheer number of poses was enough to give some a long-lasting buzz. Obviously then, hers lie mostly under the categories of, well, all of them but 'unique'. Because there were no distinguishing marks, many dollers forget whether the bases of their old dolls came from xandorra or josie, or a plethora of other people who made similar unexpressioned bases.
actually, seeing as I haven't touched this now for about at least a half hour, and I've lost my train of thought, I'll end it here and ask that someone else finish for me.. and CLOSE MOM"S FREAKING SMOKING ROOM DOOR! Ugh, I can smell it all the way at the other end of the house.
oh, and for the record, I'm not an old-school doller.. Just been doing it for two and a half years. So yeah.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-05-25 09:33 pm (UTC)