Your Grail, but then it’s not?

Definitely happened to me! My tastes have changed since my first days in the hobby. Over time I had realized that I don't really like my first dolls and they don't even fit in my crew.

It's a bit worse in my case, I guess, as I ended up falling out of love with dolls that I already owned. These sculpts are not that popular and selling such dolls is quite a struggle

Now before making a decision, I wait some time to check if I still love the doll that charmed me at first. If you're coming back to something, it definitely has a certain significance for you. Of course it's not a foolproof method but it helps me quite a bit.

 

I definitely feel the money thing. Being a student, I don't have a regular income so buying a doll is often a dilemma for me.

But about the off-scale issue, I actually love that aspect about certain dolls! It motivates me to create my own clothing and get creative with it. Even if you're not much of a crafter, there are stores that offer sewing custom-sized outfits.
For example, Alice's Collections can contact brands they're working with to order custom sizes.

 

Yes! I also have discovered it's not always about a certain sculpt but that what we like grows and changes as well, with our characters. I have had the same doll or character over five years and have decided there isn't much more you can do to complete them. I also find joy in creating new characters so I shouldn't buy everything immediately that is pleasing to my eye right this second if I'm not willing to work on him or her. Also, before you do buy this doll, I would do more research to see if I am really in love with her, whether others own her often or not. Then again, I am buying a sculpt myself that I thought too many others owned and did the same with, so make that doll your own! if you do still like her even though she is popular, I would figure out something about her that makes her different than the others, maybe she has a favorite color or collects something and then I would do some photos with her or make a room that suits her well and that's how you bond, in my opinion. Best of luck to you!.

 

I had a similar experience about a year ago. There was an artist sculpt I pined over for months, saving up $500 for (and this was through babysitting, mind you). But when the time came, I couldn't bring myself to purchase it. A combination of a couple of horror stories about previous preorders for the doll, the price, and negative comments from family members about the cost gave me pause. Finally I decided that if I could find a doll I liked just as much as the one I had saved up for, I would buy that instead.

I ended up selecting a Loongsoul Autumn Yue, in the pink color they recently discontinued. It didn't feel like settling; I realized I was just as excited about this doll as I had formerly been about my grail. And now, when I look at photos of the doll I originally saved up for, I feel no connection or desire to have her.

I don't know if my decision to purchase another doll instead caused me to lose my love for the first sculpt, or if I was already losing my love for the first sculpt and that's what allowed me to select another doll. All I know is now, for some reason, the doll I desperately saved up for no longer appeals to me.

 

I once had the opportunity to buy a doll I then considered a grail, and had never even expected to ever have a chance to own. Sure he was just a head, but I was thrilled. Then he arrived and... Just didn't click with me. I felt nothing, and it was quite disappointing. Still I tried to tell myself it was just because he arrived at the same time as a body for a different doll and that she had stolen all the attention.

Early this year I became oddly aware that I just... Didn't want him anymore. I had never managed to develop a connection to him and I only ever felt guilty for not giving him attention and working on other dolls instead. I realized I didn't feel the need to have his character shelled anymore and that while I still really enjoy seeing photos of what others have done with the sculpt, he just wasn't for me. I sold him and haven't looked back since.

Now I have a different grail on layaway and another just waiting to be able to be shipped and I'm scared the same thing will happen, but fingers crossed it'll turn out fine! I love all my other dolls so much, hopefully it'll be the case for them too.

 

I often find that once i have the opportunity to buy a sculpt I thought I loved, that I don't love it THAT much. I think it's a combo of wanting what I can't have and simply changing my mind about sculpts a lot.

 

They have it here
I have never tried to order anything custom but it's certainly possible!

 

I had this happen to me. I haven't purchased my first doll, but i'm in the process of saving up for my first doll now that I have a job. When I first started looking at the hobby, I was about 10 so obviously my tastes will have changed since then. However, up until I was about 17 I was set on getting an AoD Hui Xiang as my first doll. I loved her smile, and while I still do, I just don't feel as in love with her as I once was. I'm 20 now and I still look at images of her sculpt but don't plan to get her as my first doll.

 

It happened to me after I bought the doll.

Soom Ender was my grail. I missed the order period and spent two years looking for one, but realized I absolutely hated the body....I'm just not at all interested in huge muscular guys. So I planned to make him a hybrid, did a ton of research, read that Soom brown skin and Dikadoll tan were a perfect match, so I ordered a 70cm Dikadoll body for him. It was a horrible match. The colors weren't even remotely close and the head hole was far too big for the neck. I blushed him to match and sueded the neck hole and it still wasn't good. Getting clothes for him was equally awful because I wanted specifically 18th Dynasty clothing, which all had to be handmade or commissioned. I did get some beautiful items made for him, and it cost me $200. My other artist backed out after waiting for over a year. In the end, so much went wrong that I gave up on the guy. Because of all the problems, I just lost interest. He also didn't fit in with the rest of the crew, so I finally just sold him and his stuff at a huge loss.

I still think Ender is a gorgeous sculpt and I admire other owners' photos of him, but he's jut not for me anymore.

 

I loved Soom's Faery Legend Labas in the company photos, and was thrilled when the company had one of their Free Choice Events for that size. But I looked for owner photos because I wanted to be absolutely sure he was the one I liked the most. I ended up ordering a different doll with a basic human body. I don't regret changing my mind at all.

 

When I got into the hobby, I had a few grails, ringdoll Frankenstein, ringdoll Eva and Soom cass’ body. I rehomed 2 of the three, and am about to rehome number three. For me it was disconnecting with their characters (though Eva never really had one...). Now the dolls I’m into are a little bit different. I’m really into Twigling and Lillycat, and fantasy colours. I think that’s what makes me happy in this hobby, and that that changing gave me a chance to make myself happier. All my Twigling full dolls have been bought from sales proceeds from other dolls. So was my Lillycat.

 

I can think of one case specifically where this happened to me when I first got back into the hobby around 2014-15. I remember being enamored by a few different elf eared boys back then, since that was one of my big focuses at the time (my elf-ear tastes remained the same, but my tastes in the features of the faces have since changed). Some of them were probably semi grails, a few of which I eventually did get, but the one I feel fits this topic best?

Boy&Girl has/had a fantasy line separate from their basic releases, many of whom were elves. There were a few that caught my eye from the collection, but I at one point really loved B&G Syllenseriin. His elaborate garb, delicate crown, long flowy white wig, and of course—the elf ears....I was so tempted to hit the buy buttons so many times back then.

But something always held me back. Focus on particular OCs I wanted to shell? Possibly. My tastes evolving towards more realistic sculpts? Strong possibility. It could also be that I preferred the taller sizes (65-70cm+, whereas he's only 62cm), or heard from different sources that his body was a horrible poser, and—since he was only available as a full doll—could've easily deterred me.

Over the years, I lost my desire to ever get him. I like looking at photos of him from time to time for nostalgia's sake, but I don't think I'll ever get him.

 

Akhmel dolls Aki. She was an absolutely beautiful creature doll, and I never thought I'd get one! She was a rarer artist cast, but lo and behold one popped up and I grabbed her immediately! Then I learned that Aki is a super tiny doll. Like tinier than 8mm eyes and strung with clear elastic tiny, and super skinny. Only one s hook in the head too, none in the wrists/ legs.

If she was any bigger I'd still have her to this day. I have a limit on how small a doll can be, and she was not in that range. I still think she's a beautiful doll, but not for me.

 

Omg I just had this happen!! I thought I desperately wanted Hathaway, she came out around when I got into the hobby, but recently I saw her and was like... Huh?? Why did I want her???

 

I totally understand that feeling, I had it not so long ago. And it was almost exactly the same, my grail was in a facebook group and I even contacted the owner to learn the details but backed off cause suddenly I wasn't sure anymore.
But, in my case, now that doll is sold and I regret an awful lot not having purchased it when I had that chance. I have realised it was a matter of me not being comfortable to spend that amount of money in that time and now would give anything to turn back time and convince my past self to buy T_T