Making changes to full sets?

Ok... I was wondering ... How many people have full sets that have been modified in some way? Is it a taboo to change them?

 

I was thinking about getting my Neris a bigger bust but I'm so wary about making huge changes like that... A wig is one thing... But a piece of the body I find quite... Scary.

 

I'm also terrified of breaking her as I'm not sure how to get her apart if I do change the piece.... I have looked over the guides repeatedly but I'm still scared.... And advice, hints, warnings you can think of for making this as easy as possible.

I would do (but i havent any fullset girls ^^) xD ... I change everything all the time xD ...

Dollfie Dreams are intentionally made so you can do that sort of thing. Changing(and changing back) bust parts is fairly simply and the most important tool for doing it is a hair dryer so that the bust part comes off more easily. Doing it without one can be very hard. The DDII body is also quite sturdy, with a little care there isn't much risk.

 

Not sure if this is the one you read but here is the Volks USA blog entry on changing bust parts:

http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2011/11/02/how-to-change-the-dd-or-mdd-bust-part/

 

Of course if you have any more specific questions, ask away.

I think changing the bust is easy as you could always just change it back. I went as far as redoing Sakura's faceup. I erased it and everything >^<

 

Its scary making changed to limited DDs but if you think the change it worth it than definitely go for it.

Wow thank you Leadcrow that was so much more helpful than the last one I was looking at! .... Time to go find her some bigger boobs ... and undies... and dresses.........

 

God she's spoiled already hahaha

Every one of my full sets is changed in some way.

 

Changed wigs: All

Changed eyes: Aya (ALNA), Akira (Mari), M (Beatrice)

Changed outfits: All (though it varies from Aya who wears hers frequently to Saber who seldom does)

Changed bodies: Saber is now on a DDS body

Other: Switched glasses on Akira after the original pieces of crap broke

 

Similarly on my non-DD sets:

Yuki (Feeple65 Chloe) and Phyla (B&G Milaya Windhunter) have different wigs. I've added shoes to Yuki's outfit and Phyla changes outfits a lot.

 

As you can see, the thing that pretty much always gets changed is that I change the wigs. Usually the first thing that I do when I get a new girl is to pull out the pile of wigs and see which fits her best.

I changed both my full set Neris and Airy busts, but in my case I didn't get them for their characters. I wanted them to be something unique. I didn't use a hair dryer, but it was really hard to get the busts on. I worry that I may have put a lot of strain on the internal frame, but so far they seem fine.

 

I say go for it. I think the best part of this hobby is that you can customize your girls.

Lots of people modify full sets, especially if they're not buying them for the character them were designed to be. I've changed the eyes and wig on a few, and the bust on a Yukino if you count her as full set.

 

Honestly unless you cut holes or change the paint you can change whatever and can put it back if you don't like it or want to sell it. Eyes, clothes, wigs, bust, even body type (MDD, DD, DDDy) are all swappable and not permanent. And really even if you modify the body for most DDs you can get replacement bodies or parts to restore to original condition again. (There are exceptions who's bodies are non-standard and not available separately.)

Sure! Granted, I do think there's kind of a gradient of modification severity. Low on the scale would be clothes and shoes; real people change clothes, so even though characters in anime and games don't change clothes often on screen it's not hard to imagine that they have a whole wardrobe the viewer never sees due to budget reasons. (And in the case where a character does have multiple outfits in canon, remember that Volks has sold officially sanctioned alternate outfits and wigs on occasion!) Wigs are also fairly low, but I'd rank them a bit higher on the severity scale solely because of how dramatically a wig change can affect a doll's look, as well as the fact that a wig change allows a doll to change hair cut and color far more drastically than any real human could

 

Next on the list would be semi-permanent changes, ones that aren't necessarily easy to do but which so long as you're careful enough not to break anything should be reversible. I'd put both eyes and bust changes in this category. DDs are modular, so swapping out the bust should be perfectly safe if potentially tedious, and same goes for the eyes. If you're worried about resale value with changes like these, I'd say just keep the originals on hand to change back. (This is more important with the eyes since on limited DDs they're often unique to that release. Busts are usually standard and thus easy to replace if you sell/damage the original.) I suppose a body swap could also go under this category, though that would be more due to the floating head/ headless body shuffle it would entail as DD heads come off far more readily than resin ones.

 

Last would be "point of no return" changes. This would be like changing the faceup or doing other mods like sanding, carving, additive sculpting, or dying. Once you do these, it'll be difficult if not impossible to get the doll back to factory default. Personally I'd be bolder doing things like this with a standard head, as they're easier to find if you decide you want the original version again.

 

I'd say with your case of a Neris bust swap, you're perfectly fine. Just remember to breathe and take your time when taking things apart or putting them back together, and she'll be in fine condition so if you decide you don't like the new bust size you can swap her back.

 

By the way, I have altered my Nanoha--she's had an eye swap, though I kept the defaults just in case. I also recently got her a new wig. Then Agatha, my custom girl, has gone through a new faceup, an eye change, and a wig trimming, though this is a somewhat different case as she's a standard head and I was just changing another individual's work. (I've also toyed with the idea of adding some Pearl-Ex "lip gloss" to Nanoha, though in this case I'm worried I may muddy up the very subtle smile she has in her default faceup.) Just so you know where I'm coming from.

I'm usually not the fan of series DDs are made after. Besides I like to play with styles and characters. So I imagine characters for my dolls and customize DDs to fit these characters to some extent.

 

All of my girls have their wigs changed. I have also changed eyes for some of them. And as I do not like DDY busts I've change bust part for my Alna as well.

I am really strict in keeping full sets together but I think I am in the minority

On 1/14/2012 at 9:36 PM, Leadcrow said:

Dollfie Dreams are intentionally made so you can do that sort of thing. Changing(and changing back) bust parts is fairly simply and the most important tool for doing it is a hair dryer so that the bust part comes off more easily. Doing it without one can be very hard. The DDII body is also quite sturdy, with a little care there isn't much risk.

 

Not sure if this is the one you read but here is the Volks USA blog entry on changing bust parts:

http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2011/11/02/how-to-change-the-dd-or-mdd-bust-part/

 

Of course if you have any more specific questions, ask away.

Hi! Link does not have information or is it because I am not from the US? Any other helpful illustrations for this? Thanks!

19 minutes ago, zankitsu said:

Hi! Link does not have information or is it because I am not from the US? Any other helpful illustrations for this? Thanks!

That link doesn't work for me in the US either, but I did see this part of the JP store's site. They have a translator for some languages built into the site in the top right corner. Some sections have illustrations. 

https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/support/

 

@rainglow Thank you so much for the link! I'll go explore! 😁

Busts are probably one of the easiest things to switch out.  If you're already removing their arms/head to dress them, it shouldn't be a problem.  It's also your doll, and I don't think it's taboo is the slightest.  However, I would save any original pieces you switch out in case you ever plan to resell a doll later.

 

I've probably considered something that was a lot more taboo--I considered adding wefts to my SmD Kanata's wig to replace Kizuna Ai's wig, due to the black headcap and hearing it wasn't a great wig.  I put it off/forgot about it, however, because until recently I couldn't find Kanata's wig.