That feeling when you realize what doll is your grail

My grail was a Dollshe Hound. I got my first doll in 2006 and in the same year saw Hound. I've wanted one ever since but he was hard for me to get because of money and what not. Then they stopped making him. But just last year, Dollshe re-released him! And on sale, too. So I scooped him up as fast as I could.

 

For a while every doll I wanted was out of my means. It was hard to keep to myself because I didn't want to complain about not being able to afford a doll when I know people who can't afford much more important things, but it'd gnaw at me. Then I decided to be frugal and look at dolls I could afford. None of those sculpts made me as happy as my grail (KDF Bory) did, but I tried to resign myself to saving for a cheaper doll. Didn't work. Then one day I got lucky and found a Bory second-hand with the most perfect faceup! I had to have him and luckily I managed to get him as an early birthday gift. He's definitely still my grail, even now that I'm looking at other sculpts and determining which ones I really want. Some of them are limited or they're too expensive. It always gnaws when I know I'll never be able to get a sculpt (Damn you, Granado Saturn) or it's just too expensive for me (Curse you, Loong Soul Thunder Bull Kui) but I've been doing research to see what dolls would make good dupes of those "grails" and I'm happy to find a lot of dolls in my means that also have the features I want (sculpt or size or resin colour etc). I'm also trying to be realistic. Some dolls I love to look at (DC Elizabeth) but I couldn't see myself owning one or being happy with one. So, it's complicated to want things but know I can't and shouldn't get them and somehow be happy with the things I do have. Being a responsible collector is a lot of emotional work.

 

Mine was an relatively unpopular Soom limited sculpt, so I can definitely relate. It actually took me about 5 years to find a Soom Marl that I was able to catch before it got sold to someone else and I still had to wait maybe half a year before a pair of her hooves showed up on the marketplace! I almost missed them, too, but my dad stepped in and offered to get them for me. It can be hard, but you can make Want to Buy threads and bump them and, like me, just obsessively check the Marketplace until you find it.

I basically just dealt with my longing with the firm belief that I WOULD find this doll if it was the last thing I ever did. Other dolls to focus on do kind of help, too. If you're looking to find a cheaper sculpt, there's always ResinSoul which has a variety of adorable BJDs for prices that don't quite break the bank. If you find her second hand on the MP, trying discussing layaway options with the seller.

 

My holy grail of dolls is a senior delf quintus. As soon as he was released I wanted him, however didn't have th emoney to do so back when he was released.
Now here I am, searching for years for one to pop up second hand. ;0; I wish I would have just ordered him when I did... but.. I will not give up hope!

 

@HiroKenzan Does the company offer a layaway plan? If I were you, I would definitely look into that!

 

I think I knew Volks F-16/Lucas was my grail, even before I knew what a grail was! When I first started looking at BJD sculpts around 2004, I fell in love with him. I even figured up what he'd cost with the eyes, wig and clothes I wanted for him, then after seeing the total, I ripped it up and put him out of my mind for awhile. In 2007, I started looking again and found other companies besides Volks, and in 2008, I got my first doll, an AoD. I did truly love him and have no regrets that he was my first doll, but I still loved the Volks boy. However, I just could not figure out how to order one, being in the US and Volks USA didn't offer him. He was always $800+ on the rare occasion there was one on the MP. Finally, in early 2015, I got him! He does feel different from my other dolls, special in a different way. Funnily enough, that sculpt is pretty easy to find secondhand now at decent prices. It doesn't make him any less special to me.

 

I bought a Beyours body secondhand, so they are not impossible to find, just deeply unpopular. And though they are limited, I heard it takes a while for them to run out. Good luck!

 

My grail was a Soom Amber Pure Spirit fullset when I first joined the hobby, and I know the feeling of being equally excited/obsessed and crushed at the same time at the thought of finding/funding a sold-out limited! But I managed to find her here on the MP and still have her here with me. IoS Sebastian Michaelis would have been an insta-grail for me as well, but I managed to save up for him and purchase him upon release. He's one of those characters I'd always wanted BJD form, and the IoS version is perfect imo

 

My grail is a Loong Soul Vampire Annabel. I fell absolutely head over heels in love with her when I first saw her, as she reminds me of a Victoria Frances painting. She's still in stock, but is limited, and I'm worried that by the time I can get her, she'll be gone. I have other doll plans that need to come first (I have a floating head that really needs a body, it's driving me nuts), and she's quite expensive for me, as I do want to get her full set for the full effect.

 

Hmm... A grail doll was (and pretty much still is) a weird concept for me, I guess because I haven't really found one yet. Or, well, I kind of have, maybe, but I'm not sure. Like...my grail isn't necessarily my favorite sculpt ever (that would be DZ Carter, one of which I already have), but he is the only doll that carried over from my wishlist when I first started the hobby around 2008, and he's a Dream of Doll Ducan.

I do kind of wish I had gotten one before DoD disappeared, but it was simply impossible for me back then, and then I took a several year hiatus and they were gone when I came back. DoDs pop up on the MP fairly frequently, but my problem so far with Ducans (both normal and tan versions) is that I really don't want the fullsets, but they're all that I'm finding! I can't afford and have no desire to pay $700+ for a fullset that I will absolutely never use, so... I'm honestly not even sure if I want the DoD body, because I'm really picky about both aesthetics and posing and would love to hybrid him onto the perfect body.

So really, it's only Ducan's face that is my grail. (And that's kind of why I question the grail-ness; I wouldn't snap him up at the first opportunity. It'd have to be the perfect sale.) Everything else is secondary and I'm really picky. I really hope to have a Ducan one day, if that pickiness doesn't get the best of me!

 

my original grail was a volks limited edition Saber Alter. I believe she was rather popular, and not that hard to obtain these days (it helped that they did a sort of re-release not too long ago either). issue i had was basically scalpers. when i finally saved enough (i think) to get one, people were pricing them at around 2500 each - way above the original selling price. Now, I get how things are valued, but that just put it even further out of my reach.

I soon lost interest in her, if at least because she kept being out of my reach. so I get your fears.

which doll is your grail?

 

My grail is the Dollshe Grant Philippe and I'm trying hard to find a secondhand one. Ugh, why isn't unlimited money a thing? XD Patience is a virtue I suppose. I'm new to the hobby so I suppose it's a good thing that I have to wait, as I only just ordered and paid for my Fairyland Sircca.

 

Ah, thank you! you're so sweet! haha I am not really hankering after her anymore. just sort of fell out of it. In fact, I am sort of in a weird phase. I really want anime like dolls, like the smart doll Chitose. but I am starting to get drawn into Rosenlied's Holiday Child or Luts Delf kind of dolls (between realistic and old school doll like faces). So I actually have no real grail at the moment. and I am totally fine with it

400 is quite cheap for an SD, that is true! And, if you can work on a layaway, that should cut the expenses down further I have also seen her on dolk (seems like beyours own website is down) and Sunny bjd (i think they are retailers?), which means you have 2 ways of getting her. hopefully, that means more stock. unless it's a special edition of her?

 

Getting your hands on your grail is certainly not impossible. I recently got mine, an Impldoll Miguel the Demon Hunter. He was originally released in 2010 and there are only 100 of him. When I saw him I fell in love and wanted him like burning in grey resin (further reducing my chances of finding him later in grey). But I didn't have the funds for him then so had to regretfully pass on him. I did, however, have a character all made up for him and even wrote a novella for him.

Fast forward to 2017 and I stumbled over someone selling their Miguel in the MP. He was in grey resin but had been spraypainted black and his human forearm replaced with a mecha arm from RingDoll. I hemmed and hawed for several days before I hit the buy button. I did so knowing that it would be a large undertaking to remove all the black paint, there was a possibility of staining under the paint despite MSC being applied first, I might not be able to remove all the paint, especially from all his nooks and crannies and he no longer had a human arm.

I let go of his original character, in part because his partner (my other grail) would be an extremely difficult to find doll (which, ironically went up for sale 2 weeks later in the MP *head desk*. I didn't buy the doll though). He's a new character now and I'm extremely happy with him. I think I like him better as this new character as well and if I'd gotten him when he was first released, he never would've become who he is now, which would be a shame.

 

Everything eventually comes up for sale somewhere on the secondary market.

*EVERYTHING*

So, don't lose hope. You just have to be patient.
(Okay, yeah. A little luck doesn't hurt, either... but mostly it's a matter of patience-)