Holy Grails in your collecting.

[demonpr]

In collecting there seems to always be certain items that are ever elusive or out of your price range. What in your collecting careers were, or still are, holy grails? What stayed out of your grasp for far to long and frustrated you to the point of madness and have you ever simply given up and admitted defeat?

For me I am still trying to get series 28 Deadpool for a sensible price. Also I still seek the orange shirted DCUC Aquaman. I've had to settle for the Gold shirted one, for now.

As for a successes I searched for months to get the DC Direct Sinestro in his Yellow corps uniform. Ebay had only ridiculously priced ones and all the comic shops I could utilise in Australia were dry (bar my local which had one but would only sell in a set of the whole series, they still have it 6 months later ). I finally fond one on an online store portion of and American comic store in Wichita Falls Texas. In the end though it was, almost ironically, the cheapest priced one I had seen, $8 less then my LCS had ever sold it for.

And also ridiculously trying to get a wave 28 Wolverine took me a few weeks till Groundhog7 gave me a hand. Luckily I have had very little frustrations when It's come to minimates and gotten lucky several times with some had to get ones. the first Ghostbusters box set and the Good,Bad and Ugly Box set were hard to get and I eventually had to pay a premium for them, but other wise I have basically always been able to get what I wanted.....bar Deadpool.

I haven't been collecting for very long and my collecting scope is fairly narrow compared to other peoples, so I'm interested to hear what others have been through to get what they needed.

[DaveOMac]

In collecting there seems to always be certain items that are ever elusive or out of your price range. What in your collecting careers were, or still are, holy grails? What stayed out of your grasp for far to long and frustrated you to the point of madness and have you ever simply given up and admitted defeat?

For me I am still trying to get series 28 Deadpool for a sensible price. Also I still seek the orange shirted DCUC Aquaman. I've had to settle for the Gold shirted one, for now.

As for a successes I searched for months to get the DC Direct Sinestro in his Yellow corps uniform. Ebay had only ridiculously priced ones and all the comic shops I could utilise in Australia were dry (bar my local which had one but would only sell in a set of the whole series, they still have it 6 months later ). I finally fond one on an online store portion of and American comic store in Wichita Falls Texas. In the end though it was, almost ironically, the cheapest priced one I had seen, $8 less then my LCS had ever sold it for.

And also ridiculously trying to get a wave 28 Wolverine took me a few weeks till Groundhog7 gave me a hand. Luckily I have had very little frustrations when It's come to minimates and gotten lucky several times with some had to get ones. the first Ghostbusters box set and the Good,Bad and Ugly Box set were hard to get and I eventually had to pay a premium for them, but other wise I have basically always been able to get what I wanted.....bar Deadpool.

I haven't been collecting for very long and my collecting scope is fairly narrow compared to other peoples, so I'm interested to hear what others have been through to get what they needed.

I've never had any problems with the mates as I've always just preordered the complete set with variant or ordered the box sets form Previews. Saying that though TRU has given me my only whole in my minimate collection. Warpath and X-Factor Angel. I refuse to pay 75-100 for those 2 and thus far will never complete my X-Factor team.

[Punisher]

I've had lots of grails of the years, and lucked out on getting them. Currently my grails are to complete my SOTA Street Fighter collection and my Mezco Comic Hellboy collection. Minimate-wise, it is the X-Factor Angel and Warpath set.

[karamazov80]

I've had various that I have ultimately acquired, but chief amongst them was probably my Captain America Premium Format statue. I used to think $500 was a ridiculous amount to pay for such a thing. . .I still do, but I had to have it. Now, I'm considering shelling out even more than that for a Hulk. Woe is me.

A couple former grails I have neglected over the last couple years since my collectible spending has reached ridiculous levels (i.e. to where I could actually afford to buy these things if I didn't buy something else) are a mint on card, 1985 peach back Flint from GI Joe, and all the MEGO Teen Titans (particularly Speedy).

[buttheadsmate]

And also ridiculously trying to get a wave 28 Wolverine took me a few weeks till Groundhog7 gave me a hand.

That's typical of him......just the hand !

I waited 40 years before completing a run of a now-defunct British comic with the issue that I was missing. It was one of the first things I found on that "new-fangled ebay".

There is a RC Medicom kubrick Batmobile that exists although I've never even seen a picture of it ...I'd love it.

[TM2 Dinobot]

EVERY BLACK CAT EVER!!!!!!!!

Or something like that.

No, as far as a grail goes, the 2006 Botcon set. All of it. for less than $300. That's my grail.

[karamazov80]

I waited 40 years before completing a run of a now-defunct British comic with the issue that I was missing. It was one of the first things I found on that "new-fangled ebay".

There is a RC Medicom kubrick Batmobile that exists although I've never even seen a picture of it ...I'd love it.

First things I got from eBay were some old Joes I had lost or never had to begin with, and some Muppet stuff. I've never heard of this Batmobile you speak of. . .but then, I thought the Batman Begins Kubricks were unreleased for awhile. There just aren't many available pictures of some of these things.

Edited August 11, 2010 by karamazov80

[Trekker 42]

I only currently have one gap in my Minimate collection that I would give half a crap about filling. That gap would be Cosmic Silver Surfer, the TRU version who is superior to the normal one in every way. Or even just his board. Simply because, well, he still is the Silver Board Carrier for me.

Other than that... well I only collect Minimates so that makes it quite easy. The only other thing I'd want toy wise would be a LEGO Hogwarts castle. The Order of the Phoenix one would have been the best, even looking at the upcoming one, but I kinda dropped the ball there and they are all at riddikulus (see what I did there?) prices now. I'll just get the new set when it hits town.

[Danny]

I don't really have any grails at the moment. In the past it would have been Gold or Silver Spidey but I'm no longer a Minimates completist so I'm saner and wiser now hehe

[pavehawk78]

Minimate-wise it would be X-Factor Angel and Warpath.

My two ultimate grails are Sideshow 1:1 Venom bust and Dr. Doom premium format figure.

[SErge]

I guess my aquaman I got em on the mattycollector forums back when they allowed selling toys and my NECA MIB Rapheal that I got for only 12 bucks at a anime convention couple years back, I should have bought two, since I really want to open that guy up.

For now they ony grail I seek is the right arm of gorilla grodd so I can finish em, yeah aquaman came loose...

Edited August 11, 2010 by SErge

[battlecat]

No minimate grails really, I was lucky to start collecting when everything I'd missed was still hanging around on eBay for non-insane prices. And a Silver Spidey (actually like him better than the Gold) would be cool, but I'm unlikely to ever break the $100 mark for a Minimate (at least that's what I tell myself). The Maximate Sentinel was a grail, until I grabbed the one that had been on display at my LCS forever during a big sale.

I've had several Palisades grails: the angry Hot Topic version of Gir, Rainbow Connection Kermit, the brown and gray Muppet chickens that came in a club subscription one year -- two of the three I found for good prices through long-term eBay searching, the other one I bought off Corndog for a price I justified to myself with years of 'no results' eBay searches. Wanted a comic Abe Sapien for ages, until a bunch popped up at an online store a while back.

Pre-online, I spent like 10 years trying to find my one missing issue of The Maxx

Most of my grails now are either designer vinyl (labbits, dunnys and Joe Ledbetter stuff), which is readily available on eBay but way out of my price range, and old artbooks (the kind that illustrators and animators get printed themselves for cons).

[Turtle]

I've had lots of grails of the years, and lucked out on getting them. Currently my grails are to complete my SOTA Street Fighter collection and my Mezco Comic Hellboy collection. Minimate-wise, it is the X-Factor Angel and Warpath set.

I just did a quick ebay glance at the Mezco Comic Hellboy line- yowzers. Good luck with that. I will say that it is probably one of the most amazing toy lines out there, but some were near impossible to find when they came out. I imagine Kriegaffe and Abe Sapien will be the toughest to track down, but they really are two of the best figures from the line. Mezco really needs to revisit the line. Rasputin, Baba Yaga, Trevor, Ben Daimio, Kate, Frog Monster, Gruagach... the list just goes on.

I have a couple of minor holes from ToyBiz's Lord of the Rings line, and I missed the NECA Balrog when it came out.

[battlecat]

This is where I got my Abe, and that was last summer, they must have a pile of them.

[groundhog7s]

I've had several Palisades grails:

True dat. I'm still looking for a Jim Henson and a Backstage playset (mainly just Rowlf) that I just couldn't buy when they were released because a shortage of funds. I have a white tux Rowlf, but not a regular one-that sucks.

Minimate wise, I'll throw out the obligatory G & S Spideys, but add the Maximate statues. I know they can be purchased relatively easily and have had a generous member offer them to me also, but it's hard to pull the tripper when I don't have anything on display. Once I do (maybe in 2019?) I'm sure they'll be top of my list. Everything else Minimatey I've gotten or been graciously given.

So, since my birthday's in a week, now you all know what to buy me.

[karamazov80]

I have a white tux Rowlf, but not a regular one-that sucks.

Yes. Yes, it does suck.

[groundhog7s]

Let me put it into perspective, that's my second white tux version, but I still have no regular one.

[karamazov80]

I'll give you a Riot Spidey for one of your White Tux's. I won't even make you pay shipping both ways.

[Shanester]

I have many grails. Some are regular releases like my SSC Premium Format Hulk or my single pack Shopko Hulk Minimate. Others are true rarities like my hand painted Hulk Minimate proto and several of my other Hulk related protos. I love owning a part of the "birth" of an action figure.

I hope to one day own the SSC Hulk VS Spidey dio or a Kubrick Tarkin.

[Turtle]

This is where I got my Abe, and that was last summer, they must have a pile of them.

I'm surprised by that. That's about what I paid when Abe came out. As a con exclusive, I just assumed he'd be going for more these days. That's what I get for assuming.

[battlecat]

I'm surprised by that. That's about what I paid when Abe came out. As a con exclusive, I just assumed he'd be going for more these days. That's what I get for assuming.

Now that you mention it I think he was more when I got him, it's gone down ten bucks maybe? Anyway, great figure!

[Twisted Two-Face]

Mine used to be that old DCUC Aquaman too, and i refuse to buy Gold unless i want Super Friends Manta. I'm VERY happy to hear that the MOTUC vs DC version will be the Wave 2 one.

My current Grail is the White Phoenix of the Crown Kotobukiya statue. I want all 3, but i know the other two will be easier than the SDCC version.

[hellpop]

I'm fairly lucky in that I don't have too many grails out there (other then, like, Showcase #4...). For a while it was the big Rocketeer 13" figure that Sideshow or somebody like that put out, but then a friend of mine up and offered to trade me his for my DCUC Lobo (both were going for around a hundred bucks at the time, but I still threw in a DCUC Batman Beyond figure). That was nice, although I'm still afraid to touch him. Right now, the only thing that qualifies is probably the one NECA TMNT figure I need, which is of course the one that was shortpacked for some bizarre reason. I really wish I'd just bought the box set of that. BTW, they look really nice with those Hellboy figures.

Minimates wise, there's really nothing that stands out, other then things I'd like for customs. I've been putting together the Challengers of the Unknown, using the chest & torso of the original Green Goblin, and the arms and legs of the Sentinel. Looks great, but I need four of them!

Edited August 18, 2010 by hellpop

[karamazov80]

If you are referring to the Medicom Real Action Hero Rocketeer, then your caution is justified. Look at those things funny and they break.

[hellpop]

If you are referring to the Medicom Real Action Hero Rocketeer, then your caution is justified. Look at those things funny and they break.

Yes, that's the one. He's the only 13" figure I have, so I have no experience in swapping hands and things like that. Only time I tried it the little peg promptly fell into his arm. Fortunately, my buddy was able to take care of it, but it spooked me. Now he just stands quietly on his shelf. :biggrin: