The Curious Case of Perfection Groups

Hello to all the readers of my blog. Today I wanted to shed a bit of light on a topic that’s recently gained momentum and popularity in the scene world. That’s right, I’m talking about the infamous Perfection Groups! Chances are you’ve heard of them thanks to how popular they’ve become and how many scene kids have started joining these kinds of groups and tagging up with their groups in their names. 

To explain this phenomenon properly, we have to go back to the MySpace era. It turns out this trend was already being looked at back then, especially through Vampire Freaks. We don’t know for sure which Perfection Group was the very first, but from what I’ve read online and from poking around some old sites, I’d like to think that Perfection Dolls was the first true Perfection group. Goth (Jase Miller) had already created this group on VF in 2004. The idea behind Perfection Groups was to only accept the creme de la creme of the platform. They looked for people with attractive bodies, with a scene or emo style, (sometimes even gothic though I haven't seen this super often).

Getting accepted into one of these groups was seen as something to be proud of, since they only allowed in (what they considered to be) the elite. Loads of groups popped up, it became a HUGE trend. Some of the ones worth highlighting are PD, VIP, AP, AE, 13, APEX, and DF. Once you got in, you were expected to include the group’s initials in your name. 

"Barbie Brutal (VIP/PD)

ONLINE NOW!"

Members were also meant to stay active and promote the group through MySpace bulletins.

Even after the fall of MySpace, this phenomenon didn’t quite disappear as there were loads of groups on Facebook doing essentially the same thing with a different name. It’s yet another bit of proof that scene history always repeats itself, especially when new generations begin discovering bits and pieces of what was left behind by the previous generation. I like to think that the term “feature groups” became more common after MySpace died down, or at least that’s how I’ve seen it.

Fast forward to today, with Instagram and TikTok being the main platforms where this subculture moves. It must have been around January 2025 when the first Perfection Group of the decade (as far as I know) showed up, which was called Perfection Dolls Revolution. the word Revolution came from the ROM copies of Nintendo DS games, which sometimes included “Rev.” in the file name.

This group got a lot of criticism, though not for the same reasons later ones did. I won’t share the names of any group leaders or stir up any drama as my aim here is just to talk about how this phenomenon is making a comeback.

The first few days after the group was created were a bit chaotic, since lots of people who didn’t get along ended up in the same chat. It took a wee bit of juggling to make it all work. This was the first group, as far as I know, that had a more progressive vibe. The original PD was very skinny-oriented for instance. they even accepted people who didn’t really dress scene or anything close to it. Basically, anyone could join. It was more like a friend group than a traditional Perfection or Vanity group, or atleast that's how I see it. 

Other groups started popping up from there. One that was quite heavily criticised was Razor Dolls, mainly because of some purportedly problematic members and general rumours (which spread incredibly fast in the scene world). It’s worth mentioning that this group appeared at the same time as Perfection Dolls Revolution, so there was a bit of unhealthy competition between the two.

Razor Dolls wanted to keep things closer to the authentic MySpace era, while PDR leaned more into accepting everyone. Both groups gained loads of followers, though eventually PDR overtook RD before PDR's account got deleted. 

From those two, you could say the rest started branching out. Most of the new groups haven’t actually had much of a MySpace vibe. Instead, they tend to mix in bits of 2010 Tumblr, early Instagram and so on, like many "modern" Scene Kids do, rather than sticking to the old-school scene aesthetic from around 2005 to the VERY early 2010s. They’re more "swag” to put it in some way. 

If you look at the photos some of these groups post, you’ll notice they often try to make their pics look authentic, sometimes even creating fake MySpace profiles (obviously not real, since MySpace is a dead platform now) They might include fake profile numbers... and so on.

Some people have done a really good job and made their pics look just like the old ones! others, not so much. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today, and most people don't GAF about that either way.

It's worth pointing out that another Perfection Dolls group appeared after PDR, but it had a different approach. This one focused specifically on the old PD aesthetic that Jase Miller (Goth) gave the original group. They use real photos from the previous PD. This group in particular started the trend of including the group’s initials at the end of your username:

Take the group perfectiondollspd

^ That's their user. Soon enough, loads of other groups began doing the same. You can see this with groups like brutalperfectionbp, aestheticperfectionap, etc. which are also "revival" groups, instead of "original" concepts like Tokyo's Toybox, which has a decora/scene focus and hasn't really ever been done before as far as I know. 

Some groups even started as jokes or critiques of these kinds of communities, parodying them (though they usually get deleted very quickly)!

As an online observation, some newer groups seem to be going for a more “brutal” aesthetic, but most still stick with the polka-dot, pastel, cute style (which some people wrongly call “sweet scene”). 

As a note, something I find really interesting is the return of a group that’s rarely talked about by modern scene kids only those with deep knowledge of the subculture and who actually lived through MySpace even remember it: deadfashiontrain, stylised as ÐF. I could write a shorter entry on the original group sometime too!

MySpace “TRAINS” were used by scene kids to get a higher number of friends. Members of a train would post bulletins with links and banners to promote the group. At least originally, since Instagram doesn’t have bulletins for promoting groups. The trains focused less on your looks and more on your friend count, which often had to meet a minimum to join.

All of these groups have caused loads of controversy and division in the subculture. Some people in these groups wrongly mock others for not following the old-school style, while others make fun of those who DO stick to the older looks. There’s a lot of immaturity among scene kids, we see it all the time. But hey, they’ll have to figure it out themselves ^_^ 

At the end of the day, it takes all sorts to make this world, and I don’t expect teenagers to be emotionally mature or to have their brains fully developed enough to realise that these groups aren’t all that deep.

You like them? Great!

You don’t? Do your own thing!

What do you lot think? Have I forgotten to mention something? Don't fight in the comments! :*