Grails

Hello!

As promised, today's post is about grail dolls! I'm from a Christmas-celebrating family, so this month has been a lot of 'What do you want for Christmas?' While I have plenty of non-doll things to make up a good list, the question does have me thinking about the dolls I really want but who are, for various reasons, unattainable.

So What Is a Grail Doll?

A "grail doll," by purist definition, is a doll that's expensive and out of production, limited or otherwise hard to get and currently out of your reach. By a looser definition, it's a doll you really really want-- still usually with the element of currently being out of reach, but it might be because it's "just" out of your budget rather than being hard to get. Both definitions are fine, of course, and I've actually decided to split this up into sections based on which definition I'm working off of when I call the doll in question a grail.

So, without further ado, let's get into what my grail dolls are!

Loose Definition Grails

Those dainty legs! <3
(Source: Doll Chateau)

Doll Chateau Elizabeth is really the first one that comes to mind here! She's little and pretty, but as a college student I move back and forth a lot, and I'd be super nervous about something happening to one of her legs in transit. On top of that, she's a $500 YoSD ($480 if you want to split hairs about it). She's super pretty, and I have a potential character plan for her-- leaning pretty heavily towards a dark mori-styled fortune teller, I'd probably want to pick up some small spheres so she could have a crystal ball for photos and maybe print some tiny tarot cards or make itty bitty runes-- and I'd love to own her someday! It's just not likely to happen any time soon, especially when I have characters more integral to my story that need shelling first.

Snowborn!
(Source: DollChateau)

And what do you know, another Doll Chateau! He's also absolutely gorgeous-- I know a lot of people don't feel this way, but I absolutely love his smile and especially his nose. I'd love to see him with big round glasses, especially styled all cozy like he is in his stock images. When I envision what I'd do with one and talk doll plans with my friends in the hobby, I tend to use the word 'librarian' a lot-- I can't not picture him in a sweater. But, like Elizabeth, he's out of my price range for now, and, unlike her, he's massive. I have pretty limited space in terms of doll stuff, and in terms of conserving that space, I'd rather be able to Tetris in a bunch of dolls 30 centimeters smaller than him and smaller than try to figure out how to maneuver him into my doll drawer. I'd want him on their human body, which at least negates the centaur legs issues, but he's still not something I'll be able to buy for a good solid while

A Little In the Middle of the Definitions Grails:

(Source: Flower and Junior)

Flower and Junior's Mizi.W! She wasn't particularly expensive when she was available-- she was a $90 head-- but she's currently unavailable and unlikely to become available soon. I also haven't seen her on the secondhand market at all, but, of course, that doesn't necessarily mean she's super unavailable, just that nobody's selling on DoA currently. I'm also not as attached to any particular idea for her the way I am with other dolls I consider grails, so while I love the sculpt a lot, she's also not quite as graily, if that's a term, as the other dolls in this little list.

*Update: since I started this post, a last chance order for Mizi.W opened. This is atrocious timing for me, and since I have no real plan for what I would do with a Mizi.W, I'm going to be good and pass on this one.

(Source: Summerbird BJD)

Summerbird Viola is another one of these! She's so cute, and I love her unique-- at least for a doll-- body shape. I missed out on her during the first order period because I was in the land without internet-- at the job that wound up funding The Big DZ Order, actually-- and she sold out in two hours! The dolls from that first order have yet to be finished and ship home, but apparently when they do get finished and all of the first batch of Violas have gone home, a second preorder will be opening. Depending on a bunch of different things, that might not work out for me either, but she's been quite popular so far, so I doubt that will be the last we'll see of her.

"Holiest of Holies" Grail:

Yep, that sound is me ugly crying, thanks for asking!
(Source: Luts)

Ugh. Okay. I have such a love/hate relationship with this sculpt, and honestly the hate is mostly because of the love. I adore this sculpt, but it was a limited run in June of 2013, it's very unusual to see people only selling the head or even being willing to split the head from the body, and the full doll is usually pretty expensive, which would then leave me with a centaur body to sell. I'm interested specifically in the centaur version's head-- I love the elf ears because of course I do, and for me his expression looks just smug enough to be perfect, and the unicorn horn is ideal for Gil-- which further narrows my options. I seem to have scrounged up a suitable stand-in for the time being, and I found one on DoA I'd like to snap up once I've gotten myself sorted for next semester. Even with that, though, I'd loooooooove to have him be a Kid Delf Moonlight Song Bory someday. What a gorgeous sculpt!



Thanks for humoring this little post of me whining about the pretty dolls I want! I'm pretty sure most of my friends are sick of hearing me talk about, specifically, the KDF MS Bory and how much I want one and what I'd do with one if I had it and on and on and on.

Right now, the end of the year post plans involve talking about my Christmas plans, the end of the year tag if I can find it, and an announcement of something I've got planned for January! I might also be talking about my hybrid search adventure for Gil-- finding a body's been a mild nightmare to be totally honest-- which may turn into a little post on what to consider when planning a hybrid. I'm also now officially on winter break, which means I should have time to pre-plan some posts a little better!

Until next time!

~Theo