I get what Genetic is saying. A lot of what people listed are not hard to find, it just might be expensive. I would say about 90 - 95% of all Transformers (retail and exclusives) I can find for sale somewhere without much digging. However with prototypes and certain lucky draw figures, they don't come up for sale very often and you might never see one for sale. So even if you were willing to spend the money, you might not have the opportunity to purchase it. Heck, I've been looking for the G1 purple weapons Skywarp prototypes for probably 25 years now and I yet to see one for sale. Certain items maybe a Holy Grail for you and your circumstances, but the reality of it is, if it's a mass release figure or something that doesn't crumble to dust, it's not really considered a Grail by the fandom as a whole. For example, Overlord, is not a hard figure to come across, although many people list it as a Grail in this thread. Hell, I have about 10 of them and I got them fairly cheap. You just need to be patient if you don't want to spend a lot of money on one.
When I was a kid Grail was going to finally get that crispy G1 Megatron I had been eyeing forever. It was $20 bucks (a lot of money for a toy and a kid's savings). The biggest deal was getting my Mother to go to the toy store carrying it. Like 2 weeks of begging for us to go clear across the city. It was worth it. After getting back into Transformers exclusively again many years ago, I remember finding E-hobby D-62-S Galvatron with the late Seizou Katou Megatron/Galvatron voice and extra sound effects. I consider it a Grail because there was a dry spell after they had sold out from retailers, but mainly because he is up there as my top favorite bot. The reissue and changes to D-62-S makes it almost a Masterpiece G1 figure. Sure it isn't walk out of the show poseable or even bot form accurate, but it isn't bad at all for a g1 figure. With all the bells and whistles and Masterpiece scale, who can pass up this reissued g1 masterpiece. Luckily E-hobby made enough for the masses as enough trickled down to the secondary market. Current Grail... can't say I have one... a lot have been reissued over the years... Overlord is / was on my list but he is such a brick bot and I have seen better customs. I know... customs aren't keeping it pure but you know what I mean. Now... who wants some G2 Stunticons?
Great read. I recently got my 'grail' figure earlier this year (battle gaia giftset). It has pretty much put the breaks on my g1 collecting now. There is always a new grail to replace it (marlboor wheeljack) but nothing could top getting that figure, considering how rarely it comes up
And as to my original post some of my former Grails were Human Alliance Roadbuster (which I found 2 at Ross some years back,got both for $15 apiece). And Target Exclusive Human Alliance Leadfoot (only found one of him and really lucked out with that),but with Leadfoot I really wanted a weaponized version of him but Hasbro had to make him stock,so I took him apart and customized him with lots of my kitbash pieces and now he is about 60% finished until I can find the right parts and also paints.But I will post him when I'm done,but he is barely recognizable. Oh and in case it ain't obvious I think the Human Alliance Line are some of the best TF's ever.Later all.
Nice read Maz. Grails: I have none. I've got pretty much everything I ever wanted from this hobby and there are no hyper-rare, one of a kind items that I have any interest in owning so.............I'm good.
This is a serious over reaction to Genetics post. All he said is the term 'grail' has been overused to the point of meaninglessness and he's right. Calling any CW item a 'grail' is an indication of term overuse. Thinking about it I do have a 'grail', that one remaining issue of the Marvel UK comic run I'm missing for me to get the complete run... hopefully I'll get it this Saturday though... fingers crossed...
Cross posting from a foreign land... Feeling guilty on the topic of grails... I did mean to contribute to Maz's article but a horrible number of late shifts this week scuppered that! In all honesty I think the term gets scattered around loosely by many. Personally though my one true grail is achieved. MP Hot Rod. Ever since I was a kid i dreamed of having a poseable version of my favourite character which looked just like the movie in both modes. Its a desire that kept the passion for transformers burning during the wilderness years as well as during my return to TF collecting. The quest for the perfect Hot Rod was long and involved many slightly disappointing purchases (actually fuck off and die Classics Rodimus. Sooo close and yet broken fundamentally). With MP Hot Rod everything else I collect is a bonus. Its probably the one piece (along with G1 Hot Rod) that id keep over anything else. However that was a strange choice to some, as the CONCEPT was the grail rather than an individual, existing piece. I suppose there have been many strong wants over the years, in all honesty most of the big 'missing' pieces i never had as a child (Soundwave, Megatron) were purchased so early in my adult collecting that they never really escalated to grail status. The nearest i suppose i have to a grail item these days is probably the unreleased Animated Thundercracker as its a glaring omission from my collection, but at the same time i have no interest in the level of investment that owning one would require. Its just plastic at the end of the day and there are limits. I suppose i do wonder if having a grail is required to justify continued collecting sometimes. Having that box ticked is immensely satisfying, but also leads to a lack of focus in what you want to achieve. I do have lots of smaller objectives though. Maybe too many!
Hey tikgnat,I get that the term Grail is overused,but does that mean people will stop using it just because other people don't like hearing it,no,it is just like the term CHUG or its many acronyms that people hate it but chances are it is here to stay. People just have their hangups and no amount of arguing against it is gonna change anything,its just best to let them think what they want whether it be grail or whatever,doesn't mean their right or wrong.Hope that clears that up.
Thanks for clearing up how to let folks have their own opinions. ;-) Unlike questionable acronyms like 'CHUG' which some cruel person in this fandom concocted to create years of bickering 'grail' is a defined term with set meanings. It's how one applies it to themselves and their goals that matters, and its clear that many seem to use it as an interchangeable term with something they simply desire, ignoring the notion that a grail should be an item that takes a considerable amount of investment (either personal or financial) to obtain. An readily available item that is within an individuals ability to purchase online with a simple click hardly qualifies as a grail achieved unless there has been an extreme desire for that specific item to exist for a substantial period of time.
My Grail is not any one single figure. I consider getting the full season 1 cast in 3 different scales as my Grail.
I loved this article even more than most of your stuff, Maz. Everyone has their own definition of "grail," and it tends to keep evolving based on factors like availability, price, and feasibility of purchasing. As a kid, my grails tended to be whatever TF I was staring at in the catalog and dreaming about, as I wasn't in control of my purchases (my parents were). Smokescreen, Brawl, Blot... all were sought after at some point. Then as an adult collector in the late '90s, my grail became Silverbolt, as I had owned the other four Aerialbots throughout childhood and was never able to complete Superion. Yes, it was a wide-release toy, but things like eBay and internet purchases were still new. Later as the availability of new and old TF product grew, along with my growing knowledge of things like European and Japanese exclusives, my grails changed accordingly. Eventually it became the Animated Stunticons (which I NEVER thought I would own due to price and demand). Currently, my one grail is a Battle Gaia, so I can complete my collection of Combaticon releases. However, the rarity and price make this a pipe dream.
Thanks so much dude, I appreciate it. And you make a terrific point there. When G1 Ramjet was my grail, I wasn't online, I wasn't aware of any collectors' shops or local meet-ups/shows, they were long out of circulation and my friends had long since sold/gifted or thrown away their toys. Then I discovered Digital Toys All the best Maz
Thanks for the article Maz, this was great. Truly fascinating to see the differing opinions and the reaction to those opinions. It goes to show you how different we all are as collectors.
Precisely. The idea of being able to get online and instantly buy just about anything you want was just so farfetched. Robozone and Digital Toys were my first online stores, along with the alt.toys.transformers.marketplace Usenet group (back when my online handles were Delserik and later Smokescreen). DT had a lot of great stuff for what would be dream prices nowadays. MOSC Action Masters for around $25-$30, mint in bag Omnibot Camshaft for $35, MOSC Argentinean Minibots for $30 (I bought my green Cliffjumper and yellow Windcharger from them).
Oh the memories! Robozone and their GiG Diaclones! Haha by the time I was buying from Mike at Digital Toys the prices were slightly more in line with market value. I remember my G1 Ramjet was $90 boxed, but then if you look at pre-reissue prices that wasn't so ridiculous. I still remember $200 plus for loose TM Hot Rods. @Matty, thanks man and thank you for your insightful contributions as always! All the best Maz
It's hard to think of anything as a grail after finding both Turbo and CyKill on their original Popy Machine Robo cards a few years back. As rarefied as Diaclone collecting is, it's got nothing on the absolute void that is Machine Robo.
English is a funny language, words take on legitimately different meanings depending on how they're used. My personal 'grail' is Masterpiece Bumblebee. When I was a child all I wanted was a Bumblebee with articulation who looked like he did in the cartoon, when MP-1 was released I realised that the Masterpiece line could bring me that. Only had to wait another ten years or so until Bumblebee finally came to be. Then, something like the Masterpiece series could really be considered a 'grail' line, as it's fulfilling the wishes of everyone who as a kid wanted their toys to look like the cartoon, and be able to move like they could in the cartoon. Great article as usual, Maz.
Wheeljack is my favorite character, I have a loose incomplete G1 toy. I figure my grail would go in three steps 1. Complete Wheeljack 2. Complete boxed Wheeljack 3. Complete boxed Diaclone Wheeljack I know I can easily get #1 and maybe #2 if I just spent the money, but I'm holding off for whatever reason at the moment.
