What qualifies a pony or accessory to be considered a holy grail?

[jrr74]

Is a holy grail an object that evades you time and time again?  Or is it the one item you want more than anything?  Can you consider it a holy grail if it take less than a week to acquire?  The curious mind of a novice collector wants to know 

[scarletjul]

I think it really depends on the collector. 

I consider a grail to be a pint you really, really want...  But it doesn't have to be expensive.  Now, most of *my* grains have been expensive but that's because I have expensive tastes.  .

On the other hand, one of my early grails was a SS Wind Whistler and she's not too hard to find.

[ponyqueen]

I think it's the item that evades you. I was/am missing a lot of commonish ponies/accessories that I easily could have bought on eBay for less than $20, but I was determined to find them in the wild. The hunt continues!

[Sweet_Stuff]

I think it really depends on the collector. 

I consider a grail to be a pint you really, really want...  But it doesn't have to be expensive.  Now, most of *my* grains have been expensive but that's because I have expensive tastes.  .

On the other hand, one of my early grails was a SS Wind Whistler and she's not too hard to find.

Same here.. I say it's something that you really really want no matter the value. I got a grail early on, SS Magic Star to replace the childhood pony I lost. 

[ValeofSpring]

Agree with all--I think a grail is something personal rather than something that is considered rare, HTF, or sought after by collectors generally. My grails for years and years were Bubbles and Seashell--could never find them as a child. Gave away all of my ponies save one in high school. In college at an attic sale I found a basket of ponies and picked through it for nostalgia's sake . . . at the bottom of the basket was Seashell. For twenty-five cents. This was probably the biggest high I ever experienced in MLP collecting! Finding one of my grails started me collecting again (that was 17 years ago!).

As for a grail being something you acquire quickly . . . I'd say you have to pine for it to qualify as a grail

[BlushingBlue]

Back In The Day, your "grail" was the pony that you greatly desired but always eluded you, whether by timing, finances, or plain bad luck. You might not even have much hope at all of ever owning it, but it was something you could say "I can't rest until I get [X]; then my collection will feel right." Like the Arthurian Sangreal or the Philosopher's Stone, the quest for your grail became like the essence of your personal pony journey and not just the destination. (And then you could ascend to "Pony Nirvana" I guess!)

Anyway, that's just how it got started umpteen years ago. These days, the word is pretty diluted, and a grail is just something you especially want at any given time. It's a bit silly to still use the same terminology, since a month of searching on eBay isn't exactly a grand crusade, but "goal" doesn't have the same panache as "grail". Even if you only have modest goals, if it means a lot to you to have Masquerade or Moondancer, that can be your grail nbd.

[Leave a Whisper]

One that is a little bit special, elusive, may or may not be expensive.

I put them into tiers.

Example Dazzleglow was a childhood pony of mine, I almost never ever saw her for sale, until this summer and she was a whopping forty bucks. My boyfriend was happy to help pay for half because he knew how special he was and how I likely wouldn't have bought her, because even though forty is my upper spending limit, I'd feel very unhappy even considering buying her. She is a Holy and obtainable grail.

Paradise is a common pony, her prices are all over the place, loved her ever since i was a kid but never had her. I found her for under ten bucks this week and am now eagerly awaiting her arrival. She's a Minor Grail.

SS Twilight is always past my upper spending limit, gets snatched up quickly and doesn't show up often. I've given up on ever owning her. I call her a Never-Grail.

[ghouldilocks]

Agree with all--I think a grail is something personal rather than something that is considered rare, HTF, or sought after by collectors generally. My grails for years and years were Bubbles and Seashell--could never find them as a child. Gave away all of my ponies save one in high school. In college at an attic sale I found a basket of ponies and picked through it for nostalgia's sake . . . at the bottom of the basket was Seashell. For twenty-five cents. This was probably the biggest high I ever experienced in MLP collecting! Finding one of my grails started me collecting again (that was 17 years ago!).

As for a grail being something you acquire quickly . . . I'd say you have to pine for it to qualify as a grail

I agree with all of this, and I really love this story of finding Seashell!

[Wind~Whistler]

My definition of a grail is a pony you really want. Take for example, G3 Party cake. I never saw her and I wanted her complete with accesories. I waited for the right time and found her with her hat for 1 buck. Usually start by minor grails till you want to go for a larger grail. For example, Party Cake, Lily Lightly, and my biggest grail, a decent condition white. Moondancer!

[ladybastilla]

I think the most important aspect of a grail is how much its going to mean to you once you get it. I think there can be long term or short term grails based on practicality, but I don't believe that makes one more valuable or important than another. I also think that circumstances surrounding why we want a pony or how we get that pony can play a factor in how special it ends up being.

Since March my grail has been Princess Serena. And I actually *had* her. But I had confused two ponies during my first swap, time was running out to get a different pony to replace the mismatch, and the pony I ordered to do that did not meet my standards to send to someone. (Funky haircut for a partner who requested no trims.) I was still very new to g1 MLP, I had a lot to learn, and in part because of this pony I *did* learn a lot.

When I sent her--which to be clear I did without regret; it was the right thing to do--I decided that the next time I got Princess Serena it would be when someone sent her to me. I hate buying stuff twice and with that much weirdness surrounding everything I just had a gut feeling that was a better idea. I figured that since she is a relatively common pony there'd be nothing stopping someone from sending her. And since I make no secret of how much I like her (fav pony!) no one would need to guess too hard about it.

Well, today I got her in a Halloween swap box from Ledbyrd. Makes total sense since we've been friends for a few months and she knew I don't have Serena. My mother, who knows very little about mlp, even know who the pony was when I opened her.

Here she is:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Like the vast majority of my favorite ponies she has a story attached to her. Part of the reason I collect is that each of my ponies has a memory attached to it and when I pick that pony up and look at it I'm able to remember something fun and exciting that has happened.

[Taffeta]

I think of a grail in the old school sense of the word. I don't think a grail pony is something that changes as you move through your want list. Those are wants, targets, but they are only grail ponies if the hunt has been long/price a problem/there is some major emotional reason to want it. I think all three of those elements can make a grail but the most important are the first and last. So a pony to which you have some kind of emotional connection and therefore interest in and which you have struggled to track down. I don't think personally that you can have a 'current' grail month by month. But that is just my view and doesn't make a concrete definition.

For example my grail ponies are and were baby sugarcake and Brazilian Paradise. Both are elusive oonies which I have searched for for years. Sugarcake finishes my mail order ponies yet has eluded me since the 1990s. She is therefore now a grail pony to me. However my real grail, overall, was Paradise because of wanting to fulfil a childhood dream to own Paradise close to the form Hasbro UK advertised and never produced. I have had loads of ss Paradise over the years, but a legitimately unflocked one was a seemingly unobtainabke target. This was a want stemming back to the mid 1980s. There were many ponies that I badly wanted but couldnt get then, what made Paradise different was her elusiveness.

Thus she was my grail, and remains my most expensive pony, as her value to me is not monetary, but emotional.

[Prince_Sunbeam]

I really like how this thread has gotten me to view my want list in a bit of a different way!
Ive never really used the word grail because it can be kind of a widely defined term, and my wants change pretty rapidly. Ive since realized I do have what I consider a true grail- which for me is a pony I really really want, it happens to be international/harder to find, and a little more valuable than I typically spend on a pony. I've actually never seen one go for sale, but I know its not super rare, I just dont track it. (NSS Wind Whistler) I know when I do find one and buy it, it will be a pony I cherish, and likely one I would keep even if I sold off most of my collection. I dont even have a specific reason to love it so much, she just sort of "speaks to me" in a way.
There's a handful of ponies on my list that are worth far more than this one, except I doubt I'll ever actually buy them. I have never spent over $20 on a pony, and I dont know if I really would- other than for my grail (which I dont think should even cost me more than $30- i hope?)

[Lorelei Redfern]

i think   like most others  "grail" is termed for a item you really  want  but might be out of reach    at the moment but is a gol  your workign towards for eample i've had a few grails.  most of them not so cheap   a few were easy to find lol

 cha cha the llama. (  i got him a couple fairs ago and now is my travel buddy) i adore this llama . so very much
Brazil sprinkles ( now have 2!)
a  mountion boy. (now have 2!)  i  am hoping to eventually ge the others.  my next   grail  boy is  goignto be fireball.     
a big grail for me was Pink  mail order sprinkles i JSUt  got her the other day.
next grail for me is proably going to be a Argie sprinkles. and possibly another MB.

so i think as  we collect there are certian ponys or grails that we set our eyes on and hten once we get them..   another one  might  po pup and we go oh now i'd like to get this one. weahter its to complete a set. or  just a pony we  like. but it all depends onthe collector and there personal tastes.

[Saber-Toothed Crow]

To me a grail is a pony you really want, but for some reason or other (bad luck, expensive, hard to find) it manages to elude you. It is something you work towards owning, and probably has a special meaning to you. My grail is Ice Crystal, who I hope to own someday when I can afford to drop more money on ponies. I adore boy ponies, and he was the first uncommon pony that caught my eye - way back before I even new about country exclusive ponies. And while I do wish to own all the Mountain Boys one day, I call Icy my grail because he is the one that started it all, and is my favourite of the set.

[SkyCakes]

I agree is personal I have a few grails. My super one is Rapunzel. I love to own her someday. I never got her because shes just way too expensive. I have another Lightening or Tornado. I don't have any Mountain Boys. I always wanted to but they are so popular and hard to get. :/ I once found one but it wasn't the right time for me to get him.