inspirational grail doll stories?

my grail doll was a zaoll luv boy because he was perfect for the main character of my story. a zaoll luv boy is actually one of the first ball jointed dolls i laid eyes on and got me really into the hobby back many years ago. i've only seen a couple on sale and it seems like they were always gone so damn fast because many people wanted one. when i was younger, i was too scared to actually send a doll away for mods and i definitely didn't want to touch that myself because i was worried i'd ruin it haha (since zaolls are made to be girls and you can't buy new ones as a boy). so i never considered buying a new zaoll luv and taking care of it myself at first. i decided to make a want to buy thread here on DoA and after many long months i was about to simply order a new one on dollmore because i started to get impatient haha, but then a seller and said she was thinking about selling her zaoll luv boy. of course i jumped on that :P it was my first time buying a doll secondhand, but it all went swimmingly. i also got him for a really good price and he arrived to me in january. it was love at first sight! i named him finley:



when you get marketplace access, i definitely recommend making "want to buy" threads for dolls you want c: also joining facebook groups like "BJD adoption" (but always be careful who you buy from because some people suck and try to scam).

 

I got in the hobby around 2004-5 after seeing some volks 1/6 in cosplay on a site. So I browsed the Volks website, got into other asian 1/6 dolls and then stumbled on the Dream of Doll site. But I was still too young, without a credit card and south korea felt too far.
I looked up ebay and found lots of Serendipity dolls sold by Dollmore. I went back looking at Noel almost everyday waiting for the right moment. Until one day they disappeared and I heard that the company closed down.

I tried to forget, I got other dolls but I was still trying to form that character I imagined for her. One day I almost bought a replacement when I heard the news that Dollndoll bought the sculpts so I went to look at Noel... but it wasn't her.
That was when I realized I really wanted an original default Serendipity Noel and not just something similar.

So I put up a wtb here in the marketplace, and i guess i was lucky because i found one. She was kept inside, has only minor even yellowing, still with her default faceup, eyes, hair and clothes only her box was missing... it felt like a miracle.
She was probably made in 2005, as the company closed short after, so she's also the oldest doll in my collection but this just make her more meaningful for me.

 

I had two grails. One is Soom Ender, but I missed the order period, and I didn't like the big bulky Mega Gem body. I waited two years, looking for one. Finally around Christmas two years later, one popped up on the MP--just a head! My husband told me to buy it, that would be his holiday gift to me since he had no idea what else I wanted. Two months later for my birthday, he got me a DikaDoll body, which is much slimmer than Mega Gem. The colors don't match but I can blush!

The result: Pharaoh Ay

 

That doll is GORGEOUS. Did you make his jewelry/headdress yourself?

 

Back when I first got into the hobby, my grail was an Angel Region Ren. Not a very rare doll at the time, and not very expensive, but I was about 16 or 17, and quite poor. I saved religiously, at one point having enough money. Now, back then you couldn't just buy one off the internet, you had to get someone in Korea to do it for you, so I was going to contact an intermediary when... something came up. I had to spend the money, I believe on vet bills. Years later I was an adult with a job and ready to buy my first bjd. Angel Region had been bought out by Soom and had discontinued all of their sculpts. I wasn't very familiar with DOA, so the marketplace wasn't accessible to me yet, and I had no idea how I was going to go about getting one. I basically gave up and went to place an order for a different doll. But then I stopped, having a sudden idea, and checked ebay really quick. There was an AR Ren, going for really cheap, and the auction ended in 2 days. I won the auction and the rest is history. My first doll was my grail.

The story of how I got my Sweet Gale Cyril is less exciting. I mean, I was quite discouraged by the number of unanswered WTB threads here for the same sculpt, but somehow, I guess mine must've caught someone's attention, because within a week of posting it, I had an offer, and I took it. I'm well aware of how lucky this is, as there are still several unanswered WTB threads for this doll, and there don't seem to be very many of them out there.

 

Thank you!
No, I did not. One of my local friends in the hobby, Isabeau, made it.

 

I never thought I'd get a YoSD doll. Especially not a Fairyland Littlefee! "I'm not spending $300 on a doll that size!" I told myself. And I told myself that over and over again, despite looking at YoSDs from just about every company. And then there she was. Littlefee Dark Elf Soo. Those eyes stole my heart, yet my wallet reminded me that it was empty....until, miraculously, I was landed with $300 of tax rebates.

But wait! This story is not over yet!

It was Fairyland's 10th anniversary, and as it turns out I had a long and anxious wait ahead of me, especially after other folks here reported receiving damaged dolls. As the fifth month rolled by I wondered: Would I get her? Would I like her? I even began looking at other YoSDs, I was so unsure.

THEN SHE CAME. Yes, her resin was plasticky, and yes, she had the ugliest seamlines I'd ever seen. BUT SHE WAS MINE. I've never been so happy with a doll, before or since. Flaws and all, Joren is MINE I TELL YOU!!!

 

I just got my hands on a mint Fifth Motif GooHwa! He'd been sold out and discontinued by the time I could afford him, and so rare on the second hand market people were making almost 150% profit on him (and his predecessor Venitu)...
I thought it was a lost cause, but I messaged DollShe asking them if they were ever planning on casting Mr. Cho's dolls ever again. There was a huge demand, so I believed if enough people messaged DollShe showing their interest, they would eventually begin a new pre-order period for the Fifth Motifs.
To my surprise, they replied saying they had a GooHwa in stock and that if I specified which resin colour I wanted, they would sell him to me. I crossed my fingers for an Oriental Skin & my dream came true! It was a miracle to me.

The hard part was having to pay him on the spot. I couldn't afford him all at once, but DollShe allowed me split the cost over 2 payments, which was a life saver. After that he was promptly shipped, and arrived to me YESTERDAY believe it or not!

My 2016 Dolly Plans are all shambled by now, but I've secured my grail doll; it's the best feeling ever.

 

My grail doll virtually from month one in the hobby several years ago, was Dandelion by Bimong, after seeing an owner photo of her. At that point there were issues with non receipt on customer orders, so i left purchasing her, but hoped that one day i would be able to buy one on the secondary market.

In the meantime other dolls and pre-orders came along, and whilst i still had her on my wish list, i never saw one for sale. I also wanted one with a custom face-up which made the search harder.

Luckily i happened by chance to see one on the secondary market here, and decided to attempt to give her a non factory face-up myself, but wasn't sure that i could do it to my satisfaction. I found the perfect Kimono for her and managed to bring the image in my head into fruition. Hence to say that i am over the moon with her. The best things definitely come to those who wait!

 

My grail was more of an idea than a specific doll, because he didn't exist yet! I knew that with the right sculpt, a tan boy from Cerberus Project would be perfect for one of my favorite characters, but it took seven years after I joined the hobby for them to release more SD boys in tan. By the time they got around to it, I'd given up on him ever existing, and to this day I still look at him sometimes and just grin like a fool. He was absolutely worth the wait!

 

My grail doll has an incredible story! Well, at least I think so!

Shortly after I got into the hobby, I saw a Volks Williams at a meetup and absolutely fell in love with him. I sat near him for the whole meet just gazing into his perfect little face. But at the time I just couldn't rationalize buying one for myself- if I remember correctly, Williams heads were going for like $900-$1,000 at the time. I gave up on him even though I loved him so much.

Years later, I just couldn't take it anymore. I owned a bunch of dolls by then, and their combined value was much more than one Williams head, so I figured it wasn't that much of a stretch to own at least one very valuable doll. My timing wasn't very good because there was like some kinda Williams craze and now the value of a head was more like $1,400 or something. But still, I started saving up and checking the Marketplace and Y!J every day. Before I was done saving, a head came up on Y!J. It had no head plate, and it was yellowed, so the price was lower than a pristine one. I went berserk and signed up with a shopping service. If you don't know how those work, you basically have to make a deposit that is a percentage of the maximum bid you can make. In order to control myself, I only allowed myself a maximum bid of $1,000... which ended up being a mistake, you'll see.

On the day the auction was ending, I got up at like 6am so I could snipe it at the last second (another mistake). The price was still very good, but it turns out that Y!J auctions are automatically extended if someone bids within the last moments!!! Oh my god, I was so stressed. When the auction was extended and someone outbid me, I panicked and made my maximum bid. I was immediately outbid by only 200 YEN!! (Which is like, two dollars LOL.) I continued watching the auction, while no more bids were made, unable to bid anymore because I'd reached my self-imposed limit. Outbid by 200 yen! I was so heartbroken. My chance at a slightly more affordable Williams was gone.

But then, at the last second, someone made a new bid. This person had the same username as my bids, which means it was someone else using the same shopping service. Their bid was only a few hundred yen higher, but the person who had outbid me gave up so this new person ended up winning the auction! It was all very stressful so I went on livejournal to complain to my friends about how I had lost. It turns out that some of my friends were watching the auction too, since I showed them earlier the head I was going to try for and they wanted to see what happened. And one of them. ONE OF THOSE FRIENDS. WAS THE ONE WHO MADE THE LAST BID AND WON THE HEAD. AND OFFERED ME A LAYAWAY TO BUY IT FROM HER BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY. ;_;

If that isn't the most heartwarming story, I don't know what is! XD I'm so lucky to have such a great friend! T___T I love that she was watching the auction and rooting for me, but was there to back me up when I completely failed! XD

I still have him of course, and even if I leave this hobby someday, I think I'll keep him forever. Because not only is he beautiful, but he has this cute story behind him!


I suppose I have another grail, too, which was Soom Bix! When he came out I totally loved his face, but like... have you seen the original sales photos? He came with these horrible fantasy parts, and he needed a more macho body than the Super Gem one. I didn't have the money anyway, so I didn't order him and figured I could get him secondhand someday. But then someone made a poll here on DoA to see how many people had bought the different Soom MDs. The most popular ones like Sard, Beryl, Heliot, and Amber were in the 90s or over a hundred. Other less popular sculpts had lower numbers of buyers like in the 50s. How many people on DoA bought Bix? Six. Six people. Six people on DoA bought him!! I gave up all hope right then and there, haha! Like, I know DoA doesn't represent all doll owners, so there must be more people who bought him, but still... six!!! Luckily for me, I have a terrible habit of checking the Marketplace like 3 times a day to see what's new for sale, and one day, I checked it and there was a 3 minute old thread for a Bix head. I slammed that PM button and asked to buy. The seller said she'd never made a quicker sale! Since I had given up hope completely and put him out of my mind, I consider him my surprise grail. He wasn't my grail until he actually showed up and I learned that dollie miracles happen. XD

Dang, I sure do get chatty at 3am. But this thread is so cute and I had to share.

 

Oh I love grail stories! My grail-get was totally by chance, through one of my closest doll friends. So the backstory about my grail doll. Little Monica Secret Roselyn. I saw her when she came out, adored her, but was unable to get her at the time. You could only get this head with the purchase of Gloomy Roselyn, another limited. Gloomy Roselyn had a limited order period, and the Secret Roselyn had a quantity limitation (60 pieces worldwide) and you could only get her through buying Gloomy Roselyn. It's not like other events where hitting X dollar amount qualifies you for the head. This was around October last year I believe?
Fast forward to the start of 2016. I had forgotten about the Secret Roselyn head. She was pretty when I first saw her, but it wasn't until I saw her again this year I went "Crap. She's my grail. I need her and I missed her." I had purchased the basic Roselyn for my character Rain, and decided when my layaways were finished, later in the year I would put out my Want to Buy threads.

Skip closer to now and it's March. My two dolls are home, no more layaway payments. I'm discussing my grail with my friend. Mentioned Gloomy Roselyn and all those details and she says "There's a Gloomy Roselyn in stock at DDE" so alright. I'm interested. It's a very pretty head with a very pretty faceup, I have my basic Roselyn home so I know I adore the sculpt. I went over to entertain the thought of getting her, and there it was. Gloomy Roselyn, in stock, Faceup A, Mystery Head." I. FLIPPED. MY. SHIT. My friend didn't make the connection that "Mystery head" WAS MY GRAIL. Hey, I wouldn't either if I were her, Little Monica refers to it as a Secret head, and only Denver Doll used the word "mystery." I ended up calling DDE twice, once to see if they would accept a 6 month layaway, because that's all I could afford on such short notice. And a second call to confirm Mystery head was in fact my grail. I confirmed my order like 15 minutes after this conversation. I'm almost halfway through my layaway now so she's not home yet, but she's secure!!! She is mine!!