Personally, I look at "tanned" dolls, like DZ tan, etc as more of an exotic tan, or out in the sun too long, tan. The Asian or other ethnic feel tends to only come with the appearance of the doll's other features (eyes, facial structure, etc). I've only come across two company's tans that made me think "black" (not that I really care about skin color o_O It's all about "if your nice to me and mine, I'll be nice to you and yours" - "yours" being family/friends). I wish there were more, just to celebrate ethnicity of all types - I think it's awesome to have "white" all the way into "tanned"... and then pink and green and blue and so on. Just keep in mind that there companies are majority Asia - and I've seen light skinned to rather dark tanned as a natural tone (my friend being a prime example), and I think it was the lighter the tone, the more beautiful? Or was that just India? o_O. Their inclined to do what they see every day, if not by instinct, so I wouldn't take it personally.
That and the "Asian Aesthetic" makes the money sing.
As for anything that might have been said on DoA in that topic that was racially offensive... come on. o_O It's DoA. It's kinda like someone amassed the 13 year olds of the world into one spot. I'd take them with a grain of salt, if their not talking about the technical difficulties of working with resin that is tan. Even if they're in their 20s, it doesn't mind their mindset is their age.
I'm personally not a fan of super pale/white skinned dolls, even with my sickly lil Apollo. Something about it is just... too pale - and I speak from a color palette point of view, not a skin point of view
I really like dolls with some color on them! <3 tans...
Randomly aside...
In the notion of unconsciously emulating what your used to/emulating yourself that I think someone else mentioned...
I'm a very pale and dark haired person (it's the Irish paleness and Italian dark hair o_O) - but I tend to create characters with tans (and then I try to doll-ify them OTL.... "try") or go after the dolls with color (like the "Black Luke" that I posted in the "what doll would you love to have" or something like that, thread). My characters pretty much all have red hair or blonds/very light colored hair (I have 4 red heads and two white haired dolls o_O) and all male. So I guess, ironically, I do the exact opposite of myself (also, ironically, my avatar has both those colors and light eyes, as well as a male face set o_O).
It makes me debate the monkey see, monkey do in the subconsciousness, but oh well.
Akihito [DZ Yuu], Red [ED Red], Sweetpea [DF Popo], Apollo [BBB Apollo], Reli [B&G Sharon], (phoenix) Efriete [B&G Afra], (human) Efriete [Migidoll Miho], Seth [Migidoll Ryu], Horus [Obitsu 50cm].
Do want: DR Xiao chi [as Xieu]; DOD Luke v2 [as Daven]; DIM Rain [as Rain]