I think if someone marks a character as "Story" and doesnt have info on the profile, I just assume they're doing written work in private :] like rp or smthn :]

Oh choco! This reminded me of a recent situation that happened to me 💔

A designer asked for one of their characters back, which i dont have issues with since it was a freebie, ive even traded back characters just asking for the similar value like if i got them for two drawings I will trade them back for two drawings as well.

But the thing was, the creator specifically said that they wanted it since it had an empty profile and i havent done anything with it.

For me it felt really rude and made me almost say no just because of it, but I decided to ignore it in the end because I felt if they had the need to ask for it they really missed it. 

So i gifted it back, but it really left me with a bad feeling from that artist.

Also from me, i dont mind what people do with my designs/customs, once they leave my hands they are free to do as they wish :3.

it makes me a little disappointed but if it's in a dreamie folder i feel like i'd be a little more settled.

what makes me the most upset is when i can't find the character anymore - when they've been deleted or privated and i can't keep track of them anymore (it might be silly but i like to "visit" my designs and see how they're doing, see new art, etc. and if they just vanish it rattles me because i don't know what happened)

Much like a lot of people, I also don't really find myself caring all that much if the character profile's empty for a long time JKDSHFSD sometimes I do check in my designed tab how my designs are doing, and while it makes me happy to see if they're well-loved, like you said it's hard to gauge "well-lovedness" based on what's public, so I can't really judge myself ! even if they ARE just sitting dust there I also wouldn't mind since it's no longer my business anyhow ... and also since I do that a lot with the characters I have here now KJSHF

While it makes me so amazingly stoked to see a design of mine with so much love poured into it (I have a friend who regularly tells me about the character development they're doing with my design..!!), personally speaking: it's not really a bother for me! Like, for all I know, they're enjoying the character privately. Maybe this is a design they craft bedtime stories thinking about. Maybe used to pair with a friends. Maybe their art / actual profile is tabbed or separated to be auth-only and I'm not authorized and literally just can't see it. Maybe seeing the design just brings them serotonin... IDK! If I make a design, I am prepared for the possibility that it could leave my hands and never be thought about again, simply because it doesn't belong to me. (And if I become attached I just keep the design jsdhkfs) So while it makes me incredibly ecstatic to see full fledged profiles, stories or images, etc... Seeing the opposite doesn't really bug me!

But also, as someone who thinks a LOOOOT about my characters, some of which never really hits the public space-- whether its because its just "playing dolls with friends" talk, or narratives that I never write out and lose to time (which I gotta stop doing dang it), or whatever-- who would I be to judge? Some of my own self-designed, very important characters have like nothing at all.

It feels like it's in a similar vein to judgement about characters 'not being used.' I sorta get it to a degree, but how do you determine that, anyway? Like, what is and isn't "enough"? This topic specifically worries me because I'm sure a lot of my profiles could easily come off as unused or hoarding especially when it comes to characters that are more-so designated background characters, or those I used tons a long time ago but not anymore. Because for me, TH is largely character storage too, not a competition for me to give every single character completely equal and undivided attention! And I know I am / we are nowhere near alone in that sort of usage gaha

If someone sold or traded it, with the conditions of the other person owning the character, I feel like it's no longer the designer's business? Besides, there are so many ways to love characters, or be attentive to them. Maybe they're working on writing a story for them that they have higher (or different, whatever) aspirations for than throwing on TH Literatures. Maybe they think of the character a lot of the time. Maybe they still love the character, but are working on updating another set of characters right now (hell, I haven't updated some of the character profiles for characters in a few of my books in years, but I still love them. I'm just focusing on other casts right now more prominently). I don't think "uploading art to Toyhouse" is the be-all-end-all of how to love a character, and I don't think a design buyer should be expected to do performative actions to prove to the designer or outside onlookers that a character is loved enough. It seems very superficial of an evaluation to make, were someone to suggest a design or character wasn't loved because it wasn't updated on this one specific website in a specific way. 

From what I've seen, TH has a lot of designer overreach when it comes to terms of sales, like "if you don't upload so and so images every so often the character reverts to me. If you don't use them openly and publicly, they have to revert to me. If you want to redesign them, they revert to me." Are you buying a character or renting a blasted room? It amazes me that people pay money for characters that aren't even fully theirs in the terms of what they can do with them, or how much they have to upload to specifically Toyhouse in order to be considered a worthy buyer. It seems very subscription-model, when to me, it seems like if a person buys a character, they should truly own them. If the two parties don't want that, they should consider licensing a character for a project rather than selling them for art or money. 

I don't buy or sell characters, though, and only license to and from Kvroii for projects, so I don't really have the Toyhouse etiquette personal experience, and I don't think I really want to find out firsthand. This is the only place I've seen (outside of sus closed species conditions that, let's be honest, generally spin off from Toyhouse users anyway) where people take this very specific way of interacting with a purchase (in this case the purchase would be a character and the interaction would be filling an art quota) so dysfunctionally.  

Personally I'd be completely okay with it!! 

While I don't do the whole buying/trading designs thing (specifically because of how accepted sellers retaining control over sold/traded designs are in the community), me and JennaBlackmore have licensed designs to each other for creative work, so I know what it's like to have someone else's OC on my account!! Whether or not they have full profiles varies (Miss Flame has a full profile and I've drawn her a handful of times, but Emma Angel doesn't have a profile yet and Jenna has drawn her more times than I have, outside the drawings I did of her in the manga she was licensed for use in.) It's not that I prefer one more than the other, rather that Miss Flame is easier to draw, and Emma plays such a pivotal role in the manga that typing her profile would take a long time, so it's happening in a hidden WIP tab slowly. If someone didn't know Emma Angel was in a manga, they might think she wasn't well cared for on my account, despite being in a published work.

Likewise, I designed Feris von Ospren, and she still has the same profile text she had when I made the profile to transfer, and I'm okay with that! I love the book Feris is in, and if I wanted someone to know all about her so badly I'd lend them a copy of Jenna's book Rainbow!!

In cases where someone owns a character someone else designed, with the understanding that ownership transferred instead of being licensed for a particular project, it's their character to do whatever they want with. I've never been a fan of terms of service or expectations that extend beyond paying for the character and crediting the designer. If someone purchases a character, whether with money or another character, with the understanding that ownership transfers to them, I think they should do whatever they want forever. If there are seller expectations or restrictions of use imposed on the buyer, in that case, the character's new owner doesn't have the full ownership rights they think they have, and it's a scam (assuming shady terms of service are even enforceable anyway -- if the character is listed as a Sale/Trade rather than Renting or Licensing, imo that overrides any weird ultimatums). Because of this, I think that if someone's mad or upset about how their design that is now owned by someone else is used, they need to separate that from their business of OC designing, because they don't have that control anymore. They're allowed to feel however they want, but it shouldn't reach or impact the buyer in any way. 

Overall, I wouldn't be upset about it, and I don't think it would be professional to hold those feelings in any manner that might reach the buyer. On a personal level, people can feel what they want. But I do believe that transactions and feelings shouldn't mix when it impacts another individual who is buying/trading for a character, rather than the performative responsibilities that would ease the seller's feelings. No one can tell just how much an OC is loved just from a look at a profile on a character repository. And really, it's out of the seller's hands. If they wanted any control at all over the sold/traded OC, they should have looked into licensing agreements instead 

I think I look at this from a less toyhouse-centric perspective and more of a 'character-designer-as-a-role-in-a-production-team' focused standpoint, so I think that also factors in why I think of this topic the way I do  ^-^'  

It makes me sad that I don't have time to use all my characters, but I know a ton of people use em in private :)) I feel like as long as the owner is happy it's no one elses buisness!

But it's always great to see fully coded characters! or ones with a few added images! There are plenty of people who don't have time to draw/code tho :3 as long as everyone's having fun and being kind I think it's completely fair game!

I feel ok about it because a LOT of my character profiles are sitting empty [sitting down to write it all is consuming, let alone when I overthink how should I format it and for ~350 characters], but I swear I am gripping them with all I have and they tumble around in my head JDSIJDISD

I use so many of my characters for rp and world building but forget to work on profiles a lot of the time. So I’m genuinely fine seeing any designs I’ve made and sold (which isn’t a lot) just chilling on someone’s TH. They could be like me and just make stories with friends in the background

I’d feel hypocritical voting anything other than content or indifferent lmao, I know I have hundreds of characters that mean the world to me but have nothing down except maybe pronouns!!