Is there any trade off you'd make to get your Holy Grail?

I'm about to embark on a Holy Grail hunt, and I've debated parting with a doll if I succeed, just because I feel like I am spending so much for this single doll that a trade of some sort needs to be made even though value wise it is like never gonna match. It got me thinking though about if others go through this process.

 

So that's the question: Would you make any sort of trade-off to acquire your grail? Say sell a doll that you value less than them, or sell a part of another collection you have if you believed it help you obtain them?

 

Or is there really nothing you'd do especially to get them, or sort of "right" the purchase in your mind.

I mean, if I have the money saved up then that's really enough. If I'm trying to get more money I might sell some clothes that aren't getting any use but that's about it. I definitely wouldn't sell or trade any of my dolls. I'm way too attached...

I think it depends on the grail. Like, I wouldn't be opposed to selling pieces of my Blythe collection to pay for a grail (especially if I did the custom work on them and therefore could make a new one), but I'm pretty opposed to selling my DDs based on the principle.

 

If I had a marketable doll service, I feel like I'd be more open to trading or partial-trading just because I could use my skills to shave a few $$$ off the top. As it stands, though, I get easily attached to inanimate objects and I'm really attached to the dolls I have.

I think I tend to bond with my dolls much harder than you do, Gunter, so selling one wouldn't happen unless I weren't attached, regardless of whether there was a grail on the table.

 

For my own grail, Fate, I wound up passing on getting her weapons even though my original goal was fullset. I did get her outfit and wig though, and honestly from reviews I've seen her weapons were the weakest part of her set (physically--they were apparently quite fragile), so my plan is to eventually make her some. She's got a lot of weapon variants in the show/movies/manga that Volks didn't make, so I'll start with some of those.

 

Other than that, it took time. So. Much. Time. I've wanted Fate since she came out in the first half of 2009, and only got her in fall of 2016. Five years. Not kidding. For that long, I either had money but could only find scalper listings, or found a good deal when I had no money. It did finally happen, but that was the main trade off: the sheer amount of time it took for things to finally come together.

Ah, re-balancing after a major purchase, huh.

 

Although it's true that I might subsequently sell something after making a high-cost doll purchase, I don't think it would be out of financial guilt to balance out the grail purchase emotionally. For me it'd be more of wanting to re-downsize my total household to make sure the sum didn't take too much total space, after the grail purchase increased the absolute number of items in my household. What I sold in that case may or may not be doll-related.

 

I tend to evaluate each purchase on its own merits, such that if I were willing to pay the asking price for an item (doll or otherwise), then I felt it was worth the cost at the time and would not have anything to regret or balance from an emotional point of view. I would from a physical space point of view though!

 

Actually, I find space to be one reason why I'm growing fond of Volks' SD Cute line, even though there are barely any of them. SDC is smaller scale, around an MDD's height, but with teenage proportion bodies rather than childlike ones. It's the doll version of thinpaking DVDs - same style, less space!

Hmm, personally I'd rather go with a stained/non fullset HG at a lower price point than part with any of my girls. I rarely keep my girls in their FS stuff so not having it wouldn't bother me.

 

I have considered selling some of the dolls/other hobby stuff I don't use as often... But that's more because I'm running out of space rather than for monetary reasons.

I would That's what I have done to get my Yuki Morikawa. I sold other dolls and figures I wasn't that bonded to, and now I don't regret it in any way!

It all depends on my money situation at the time.

 

If I have no money available and my grail doll were to come up for sale, I'd sell off a bunch of stuff I'm not attached to in order to buy her. I've done this in the past but not for a doll. I've had 2 cars die on me ( both were crappy to begin with ) in the past but I didn't have the cash needed to replace them so I sold off Volks clothing and outfits in order to fund those. Yes, I funded TWO CARS by selling off doll clothes. Both cars were $2000 each. They were about 2 years apart when I had to buy them. I sold both for scrap, netting about $500 each. The rest of the money was gathered by selling doll clothing. It sucked to sell off so many hard to get and expensive things but I couldn't bring myself to sell ANY of my girls in order to get the cars.

 

Now if I had money available then none of this would be an issue. But MY grail girl rarely ever shows up and she's always super expensive when she does. I'm not going to pay over $1000 for her either..... I've yet to pay over $870 for ANY of my girls. I can wait and hunt and hope that she eventually shows up as just a head or just her nude self without the default outfit.

 

 

 

 

Billy

snip

Now I'm curious as to who is your grail girl.

As for myself personally, there's no way I would be able to get rid of my current girls, although I have very few and only one of them is a limited model, so theoretically the other two aren't worth very much money wise, and the one that is a limited was one of my Grails, so why trade her?

Now I'm curious as to who is your grail girl.

 

That would be Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2! She's absolutely gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

Billy

If i was asked this question in 2010 - 2011, I'd have said "Yes! Definitely!" and I had actually done this in those early years - having paid through the nose for Saber Lily and who I can't see myself ever parting with unless it was a dire emergency. But since I've been so low key in the hobby after my 2nd child, I'd now, say "No. Not really." I would most likely wait until I have the money or just forgo the doll altogether. That being said I did manage to get Mariko by trading off my Momo and that was in 2016...

I think I've been fortunate in getting the ones I want and making compromises at times to choose one or another. I have snow miku when I was after melty, I also have a custom 09 where I could have probably went after sakuya. Takane popped up for a really great price on ebay and she was sort of an impulse buy but she was on my radar for a while, and she came up at I think 900$ usd where all the other prices were closer to 120000k yen which turns out to be something of a 300-400$ difference when converted back to canadian money.

 

I could also put it out there that I'm probably not the typical collector either(you could argue I'm not even a collector), I want very specific looks to to build characters I've designed previously for projects that never really panned out, so any doll I get would be customized towards that end, so I have no real interest in keeping props or outfits that come with them. There also aren't any dolls out there of existing characters I would value higher than my own characters. So I can't say that there's any one I absolutely must have at the moment.

 

That's not to say there aren't any that I would prioritize getting if an opportunity came up or I don't have a list of wants at all. I probably would still chase after melty or sakuya or lily if money or opportunity permitted, but now that I have my 4, they sit pretty low on the list.

 

As for funding any of these purchases, it's quite possible that I will purge items that are not needed once I have everything sorted. There are items I've bought that are not needed once I tried them, so at some point I could sell stuff, but none of those items are worth much as they are not volks outfits/super collectible.

I would definitely sell my figures in order to get a holy grail. As of right now, I'm still exploring hobbies and anime figures is one of them and while I do have ones I love, I also have ones I grew bored of and have sold off. Selling figures in order to save up for a holy grail wouldn't bother me at all unless it was one of the three figures I'm extremely attached to.

 

The only holy grail DD I've had is Haruka Niimi, who I thought I'd never get after always seeing her fullset sell for over $1000. Two years ago, I came into some money and there were a few people selling her head and wig. I was able to get both for a good deal, and hope I can find her outfit in the future. And will hopefully get a body soon. XD

I don't think I could sell one that i grew attached too to make up for the cost. I would however try an make it up in different ways and sell other items i don't use but not the dolls themselves.

I'd trade a kidney. Does that count?

I'd trade a kidney. Does that count?

LOL. I think that should count.

Nope. I'd rather have all of my dolls than only my holy grail.

I actually have the money to buy her right now; however, I'm not willing to spend $2000.00 + on one doll. I have two heads in need of MDD bodies and I'm hoping to get a Len in the future, so I'd rather save my money for them.

 

Even if I were to sell off other items to raise the money needed, I could never justify spending $2000.00 on one doll. Sasara will forever be a holy grail.

 

 

Edit: It's been a couple of weeks since I made this post and...my Holy Grail will be coming home to me! And I didn't have to spend $2000.00 to get her! I still spent quite a bit, but a lot less than what I thought I would have to spend to get her.

I have to part with my beloved Asuna, which pains me deeply in order to aquire my grail Saber.

I guess when you don't have money that's the only way.

Well, I wouldn't trade off most of my dolls... there are some I've somewhat toyed with the idea of selling, but mostly just because I haven't really bonded with them, and I feel bad about keeping them if I'm not appreciating them.

 

There are other kinds of trade-offs I've considered, though. I really want Tohsaka Rin, but I can't decide if I should aim for the v2 fullset or not. I really love her outfit and accessories, but I prefer the face-up and eyes on v1, because they more closely resemble the canon version. And part of me has considered just making a custom Rin instead of using the Volks version, because I'd prefer her on a DDS body for scale reasons, and honestly, Rin's head doesn't really resemble Takeuchi's art style that closely. Her cheeks are a lot more rounded.

I have to part with my beloved Asuna, which pains me deeply in order to aquire my grail Saber.

I guess when you don't have money that's the only way.

 

ahhhh, don't get rid of your Asuna! You have a full year to save up for the Saber summon, u can do it!!

 

 

anyway, since this thread is still here - my literal trade off was selling off my other fandoms to get my Arturia. Her Grace was utterly worth it, no regrets!

I have to part with my beloved Asuna, which pains me deeply in order to aquire my grail Saber.

I guess when you don't have money that's the only way.

 

ahhhh, don't get rid of your Asuna! You have a full year to save up for the Saber summon, u can do it!!

 

 

anyway, since this thread is still here - my literal trade off was selling off my other fandoms to get my Arturia. Her Grace was utterly worth it, no regrets!

 

I wish I could T_T I am unemployed for two years now constantly looking for a job and I barely cover my life expenses. I promised myself I won't be selling any of my girls they are my treasure. Saber is the only reason I would ever give up any of them.

My grail is just Miki Hoshii's head! The character I want her for has a small chest, so I don't need the DDy body, lol.

 

I don't really know what I could part with to come up with the funds, though. My nendoroids, a few figures...my pokemon card collection? I have a shining charizard in good condition, but it would hurt a lot. I could see myself parting with my PS4 for her. I bought it for Destiny 2, but discovered first person shooters make me very motion sick, so it's just been sitting there. I'd even throw in Odin Sphere. I can't sell a doll, since I only have one!

 

There are heads I could customize for her, so in the end, it's not the worst thing that I can't have her. The cost for just her head would probably be way too high anyway.

I am not really original, but I think my grail doll is Sasara, because she is very hard to find one at resonnable price, and I like challenge !

 

But also I really love Takane and Rin Shibuya, but more easy to find it !

 

But in first I want a Sasara, only the head and the body, for incarn my OC Angel

I hope I can find her in the futur ~ Now I have a job, so it's more easy for me to buy one ~