Of Value and Trends Part 2

last modified: Friday, February 26, 2010 (10:51:17 AM CST)

( continuation of Part 1. Scroll down to weblog entry beneath this one to read the first part )


...endlessly with no bites at a minimum as low as $100 or less. Some dealers will still put up primo shots with big price tags, but no one is paying them anymore. Cels of characters and scenes that at one point could have easily been auctioned and bid up as high as $2000 or more are sitting months at a time at around $600-$800. Here we go back to the monetary value thing again. I realize that $600-$800 is still a lot of money, but no much so when about 4 years ago, people were gobbling up cels at $1500 before the dealer could barely upload it to their site. And what's more, there would be at least 3-4 other people in line behind the first buyer, who simply did not see the update fast enough but was of the same mind to spend that kind of money.

I'm curious to see if we'll see any change in the trend of this cel series now that "Inu Yasha: The Final Act" is airing. Sure, it won't produce any new cels, and there will be some scenes that will definitely be covetable as sketch sets, but it may rekindle an interest in the series and therefore, an interest in collecting the cels once again. Who knows, we may see prices sky-rocket again.

I guess you could say I'm going through that with a current series. It hasn't run in 15 years, but I recently re-watched my tapes ( due to a lawsuit between the studio and a private party, it will more than likely never be released on DVD. It's also the same reason the show was inexplicably canceled ) and absolutely fell in love with the series all over again. And just a few months ago ( reference: Make it Stop! weblog entry ) a "blackhole collector" began liquidating their collection of it. Since I've become so re-enamored of the series, I've feverishly been bidding these cels to the sky in order to win them. There are a few repeat bidders, that tend to drop out at the $100 level, which always leaves me going head to head with the same bidder in a final bid for the cel, easily running them to an average of $300 a piece. Now, when cels FIRST showed up on the scene from this series, they were so incredibly rare, you couldn't get them for any less than $350, and most of them were snuck out of the studio by animators themselves once they heard how high demand was. So here we are at auction, and if it weren't for my feverish, re-newed love of the series, you would take me out of the bid war equation, and would probably see these currently selling for about $150-$200. So there I am, just one person, directly affecting the trend. But to throw an extra x and a y into the equation, I got one gorgeous cel with 3 characters on the matching hand-painted background for only $11, and bid warred on a single character with paint damage and no background for $205. Hmmmm.....

If you actually read this far, I am amazed and kudos kudos kudos!

Like I said, just rambling, but am always interested in other's thoughts!

Of Value and Trends Part 1

last modified: Friday, February 26, 2010 (10:48:12 AM CST)

Just some musings on cel collecting and cel value and junk, that be it. This junk is so long and rambly, I've got to cut it into two weblogs, coz it won't let me post it all in one entry.

Just got to thinking about the thread on the Kenji RK OVA cel that is over at AB. Now, some of us think it sold low, some think it sold too high, and others thought it sold just right. As always, it comes down to a matter of opinion and trend. About 7 years ago, RK OVA cels could be found in numerous quantities, for typically $400-$600. A little more recently, they rose in cost and diminished in quantity. Very few were available, and tended to run in the $1000-$1500 range, depending on character, scene, etc. So, based on trend, it seems that a cel of a "wanted" character with a second, rare character, from a very poignant scene, is selling low at $700. I'm basing that on trend and what I have seen in the risings and fallings of cels from this series.

Now, on a more personal note, there is still the matter of the dollar value of $700. The actual VALUE of $700 depends on the current financial situation of a collector, and their seriousness about what they collect. For someone who is really struggling in this terrible economy and one of the millions of unemployed, $700 is by no means a bargain. Someone who only passively collects from the series whenever they see a good deal would think that $700 is way too high a price tag. And anyone outside of cel collecting would find that amount of money for "plastic" ridiculous, but may have a different hobby where they would find $700 to be perfectly acceptable or even a good deal.

About 10 years ago, I would have found $700 for a cel outrageous. But then, I was a starving college student and was only beginning to dip my toes into cel collecting. Since that time, I have spent upwards of $1200 on just a SINGLE SKETCH. If you had told me back then that I would ever do something of the like, I would have told you you were nuts.

So personally, over time, our own ideas of value in this hobby change. Something we would have paid $500 for a few years ago, now, maybe we wouldn't even pay $100 for. Something we bought a few years ago at $100, we are able to sell now for $800.

On a different note, I'm currently curiously documenting the "Inu Yasha" trend. When the first season aired in Japan, cels were very rare. I remember walking into Mandarake's old Los Angeles location and looking thru their cel books. They, along with Anime-Taro, had about 4-5 cels each total, and were easily $300-$500 a piece, even for low quality shots. The show takes off, and more cels hit the market. Cels begin averaging from $75-$200, with "primo" cels running at about $300-$500. It becomes a very hot show to collect, and pretty soon, we are seeing price tags as high as $4000, with the average "primo" shot commading about $600-$800. Sesshoumaru and certain villains are going for no less than $1000. Price tags are big, but people are paying for them, and there was a long debate I remember over whether or not people who so 'recklessly' paid those kinds of prices were inadvertently setting the standards high for the price of "Inu Yasha" cels, making it harder for us "poor folks" to collect the series ( I'm rehashing a common opinion that was going around, I'm not saying it was mine ).

And then, the action tapered off. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I'm sure it was a myriad of things. The economy went bad, people lost jobs and homes, and cels couldn't be a priority or even a hobby anymore. The show went CG after the first 100 episodes, and with no possibility of new cels being made, many moved on. Others just simply became enamored of newer or different series and used their money to collect that series instead, or sold their "Inu Yasha"s to fund the collecting of their favorite new series. Now, beautiful cels with matching backgrounds of once very coveted characters will cycle Y!JP endless

Make it stop!

last modified: Thursday, February 18, 2010 (12:50:09 AM CST)

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of you here that can relate to this double-edged sword. Basically there is a series that I collect where the cels are extremely rare, and anytime any show up, they are always from the same sequence. Recently, a "black hole collector" started liquidating their collection of this series, and they have so many beautiful ones on the original, hand-painted backgrounds no less. Every week for two months now I have been spending a small fortune blowing all the competition out of the water at auction. And as soon as I do, another set of auctions are posted by the seller and each new auction is an even more rare, beautiful piece than the ones the week before. I'm thrilled to death that after 15 years, a steady flow of these cels are finally showing up. At the same time, I can't earn paychecks fast enough to keep up! I don't want to go broke, but I don't want a single one to slip by as this is such a rare oppurtunity and once this collector sells everything, it will probably be another 15 years til more show up. Like I said, a total double-edged sword.

I'm getting my taxes done tomorrow. If a refund is coming, I know EXACTLY what I'm putting it towards.

THIS is how you know you buy too many cels.....

last modified: Thursday, December 10, 2009 (1:47:33 AM CST)

Okay, here's the story. Weeks ago my eBay search mail sent me an email that a cel from a series I collect had been posted for auction. So I look at it and tell myself I need to remember to come back and bid on it later. A week later I remember, but by then, the auction had ended. Oops. I kick myself.

So tonight I start breaking down the stack of unopened cel packages that have been coming in the past couple of weeks to sort them and ready them for scanning. Lo, one of them contains that cel! I bid on it and won it at some point. I usually use the "pay all sellers at once" feature on eBay thru paypal, so that's why I didn't even notice it when I paid for it.

Well, tis the season to surprise yourself with cels you wanted and didn't even know you bought for yourself!!

Been a long hiatus.....

last modified: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 (1:31:39 AM CST)

For many personal reasons I don't care to bore you all with, I had to temporarily abandon my gallery and the cel collecting community. Without making a long, prideful, "I'm back!" type post, I just want to say that in the time I have been gone, I've accquired several Dream cels as well as other delightful accquisitions. In total, I have well over 200 items to update to this gallery. So you'll all have to forgive me for "spamming" the front page with updates over the next few months. It's not an attention bid to squeeze other galleries off the front page- I just simply have fallen way behind in updates, and 2 years is a long time for a cel addict to add to their collection. My fellow addicts here surely know what I mean ;)

Moron Moment

last modified: Friday, February 15, 2008 (4:57:02 AM CST)

So doing one of my massive auction sweeps of ebay, I come across an item I would very much like to have. It has been newly listed, as it has the little spiffy "new" icon next to it's title. Minimum bid of $10, with no reserve, and a "Buy-it-Now" of $85.

What a little gem! But surely not worth $85...I'll put in a decent bid and surely, there will be very little competition for this one-of-a-kind yet little-sought item.

Oh yes, my bid holds fast for all 7 days! Fantastic! But wait...it's now 12 hours to go and I am now involved in a bid battle and the price is climbing....$100........$150........$175......$200.......$250....

Up and up it goes.

Do you have any idea how mad I am at myself for being cheap and not hitting that stupid little "buy-it-now" option for what now seems to be a mere, insignificant $85?

We'll see how this one turns out....

Still Warm Fuzzy Feelings to be had in this hobby......

last modified: Monday, February 04, 2008 (5:49:58 AM CST)

Wow- it's been awhile since I've updated this thing O_ox Anyway, thought I would share a fuzzy moment, since lately, people have been tending to focus more on the negative aspects of this hobby ( I've been guilty of that, too ).

Anyway, so a maaaaajjjjooooooorrrr by00tiful wishlist item surfaced, and it was in the possesion of a dealer that...hell...from this point on, I'm gonna call a 'friend'. So anyway, it's a big-ticket item, something a lot of people wanted to get their paws on. The item is also more than $1000. I meekly tell the dealer that I would love to have it more than anything, but because of my recent struggle because I gave my savings to an ex-friend that gambled all my money away, there is no way I could possibly afford it.

That is okay, the dealer tells me. You can have it on a payment plan. I am overjoyed, and agree to it. The dealer sets up the first payment for A MONTH LATER. No down-payment, nothing. How generous, I think, for them to do that, when they could easily sell this item to anyone else and get all the money up front.

So I make my first payment the other week. This week, high-ticket item arrives in the mail. Here it is in all it's splendour, in my hands, and I STILL OWE OVER $600 ON IT.

This is the second dealer to show good faith in me and send me a high-ticket item before it's even paid for. This dealer does not have my credit card information; they can't charge it; they are completely at my mercy.

Well, of course I am going to pay them as planned! How could I let anyone with such kindness and faith down? There are some who would take advantage of dealer's like these; it's happened before, to Midori, who was the first dealer to ever mail me a high-ticket item before it was paid off. Now this second dealer is the second person to do so. It really warms my heart. As far as I am concerned, these people are not just dealers...but friends....

Anyway, this post is probably silly to most, but I just thought it was a warm fuzzy to remind us of the good things that come out of this hobby.

As for the item, I plan on saving it for the "special update" that is planned for sometime later this month.

Wolven and Cel Banter

last modified: Friday, August 31, 2007 (2:08:37 AM CST)

It has been so long since I have not only updated my cel-blog, but my cel gallery altogether. It's mostly due in part that I am currently undergoing a huge move across the state, mostly to escape the newly placed laws of this current county regarding my danna's and my wolf-hybrid. We've been supporting wolf rescue and education for years, and a nearby wolf and wolf-hybrid sanctuary was forced to close it's doors a few months ago because the county changed the laws on wolves and hybrids, and revoked their wild animal permit. The sanctuary had a limited amount of time to remove the animals, and any remaining would be siezed by the county and destroyed.

Wanting to help, we took in a 75% hybrid ( his mother was pure gray timberwolf, and his father a 50%wolf/50%german shepherd cross ). He is only a year old and headstrong and way too damn smart for his own good ( he's already figured out how to open the patio door, and how to open the refridgerator ). He takes up a lot of our time ( but we love him dearly ) as does our other rescue, a Giant Alaskan Malamute, only 13 months old and already 114 pounds. While I still have been purchasing cels, they have been piling up- some of them haven't even been removed from their mailers and they were shipped more than 4 months ago. When I keep looking at the pile, it gets so overwhelming because I wonder how I am ever going to get caught up on scanning and updating them all, and it's just so intimidating and saps all my motivation.

So I think I am going to start slowly updating the sections either one by one, or only a couple of items per section at a time, so I don't get burned out. As much as I love doing giant updates, I just don't have the time anymore, and the more I put it off, the larger the pile gets and the less I want to update my gallery ever again. I think I need to request a vacation from work just to get any of it done- LOL.

Anyway, hope all are doing well around here ^_^x I hope your cel wishes are all coming true!

Maiko out - ^_^x

The Wrong Idea...Plus, Update

last modified: Friday, February 09, 2007 (11:04:51 AM CST)

Firstly, I just wanted to straighten some things out about my last blog entry, as based on the nature of some of the responses I received, I think some of you took it the wrong way.

Firstly, something like the cost of cels would never honestly make me hate a series that I supposedly love. I love it first and foremost for what it is, whether I collected cels or not. I didn't imagine anyone would take what I said seriously- I would never stop enjoying a series simply because I couldn't afford the cels.

Second, I do expect to pay more for cels with original matching backgrounds, or for cels that are key cels, End cels, Eyecatch, etc. etc. I know because I have paid for them. There was a $400 price difference between my Human Inu Yasha A1 and the price of it's sequence mate that sold earlier- both sold by the same Dealer. Obviously, I paid the $400 mark-up over the other one because mine was the A1. And I am totally cool with that- I get it. But there are a lot of cels out there that are being sold for top-dollar prices and they only have copy backgrounds, and unmatching ones, at that. So matching backgrounds doesn't dictate cost 100% of the time. In some cases, you would have gotten it cheaper with NO background whatsoever, as opposed to what you ended up paying simply because there is some completely obvious unmatching background with it. ( And please keep in mind I am not targeting/attacking specific dealers. Even on Ebay you see collectors and sellers alike thinking they should get more for a cel just because they have paired it with a totally unmatching print background ).

Third, I was in no way blaming those who DO pay these high prices nor was I implying they were making the costs worse for the rest of us and that they are responsible for the reason why I can't afford half the cels out there in the current market. And I am in no way trying to put down those that do choose to pay those prices. If your Sesshoumaru cost X amount and you have the money to pay that amount and it's worth it to you, then more power to you. It doesn't matter what he costs in the end as long as it was worth it to you and it makes you happy. The right price and the wrong price depend on the individual. Just because it might be the wrong price to me doesn't mean I'm going to sneer at you because it was the right price to you, and now you feel like you have to defend *why* you paid what you did. You don't owe me that, and you don't have to answer to anyone as far as your collection goes.

And lastly- I do love my collection. Every piece is there for a reason. Every single one has a story behind it. Seeing what others are able to afford and seeing what I am not able to afford doesn't make me ashamed of what I have already accquired. It only makes me more grateful for what I am lucky to already have.

Anyway- that's it. Just wanted to clear up any confusion that there might have been. But thank you always for the feedback everyone- and thank you also for some of the personal emails I received as well. Thanks everyone for taking the time.

Anyway..now I am too tired to really say anything about my update, and now I've got to drive 8 hours across state. So I'll just say: I updated.

What the hell is going on with the Inu Yasha prices?

last modified: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 (6:05:44 AM CST)

I'm getting more and more disappointed by the current trends I am seeing in the prices of cels for "Inu Yasha". It's like the cel market has just blown out of control- the prices are ridiculous. I mean, RIDICULOUS. Medicore shots priced as much as $500?

And please, don't get me wrong, I love this Dealer to pieces and if not for them, my collection would be lacking strongly in some very high-quality, beautiful cels, but.......$600 for a cel of Kouga!!!???? Since when did Kouga start commanding the prices of Sesshoumaru? Oh wait, I'm sorry. Sesshoumaru now averages about $800-$3000. Even cels of Kagome's grandpa are showing up for no less than $200.

I'm starting to wish I hated Inu Yasha, because this outrageous price trend is really just sucking all the fun out of collecting from the series. "Inu Yasha" cels have always been on the pricey side, but now their price tag value is just being blown way out of proportion. I expect to pay top-dollar for quality cels of rare characters, memorable moments, and complete, original set-ups, but the next time I want some ol' basic Kagome cel, I don't want to have to drop $400 for it.

I mean, I am just really disappointed by this. And it's several of the Dealers with these high mark-ups. It is almost beginning to feel like they are trying to take advantage of us as both collectors and fans, and that really casts a shadow on a hobby I normally love and turn to for relaxation and for a distraction from the rigors of everyday life.

Vacation = Update !!

last modified: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 (4:15:02 AM CST)

So I am taking some time off- just a small 10 day vacation, which will start February 7th. But hey, 10 days outside of that smokey casino is like 10 years of freedom! Also, I plan to FINALLY do my update. As if the scanning hasn't taken up enough hours, just uploading everything and writing the descriptions and commentaries turns into a 12 hour affair, considering the amount of cels and paper I have let pile up; so I've been waiting to do the actual update for a time when I could sit down and do it undisturbed and unhurried- so my vacation will be the perfect time!

Besides, that will give a chance for a few more items to trickle in so that they can make it into the update, rather than be put off for another inmeasurable amount of time.

In other news, I am currently finishing up a deal with a Dealer for a genga set that is costing me a little over $1000. That will officially be the most I have ever spent on a set of sketches- especially since it totals only 13 sheets. I'm sure the value of the set is actually a little bit less, as I am quite certain that it is *not* the character that the Dealer thinks it to be, but I am hardly going to argue, as the Dealer was originally going to divide up the cut and sell it piece by piece to several collectors- the single layout sheet going for a total of $250!!! And the genga sheets ( of which there are 3 total ) for $165 a piece, and then the remaining sheets, which are the douga, for varied prices.

I sincerely hate seeing cuts/sets divided up and sold piece by piece. It just kills the value and rarity of the item. Sure, in a way I guess it's good, because several people who may have been wanting such a character/image/scene get a chance at owning a piece of it, but at the same time, it detracts from the idea that it is a very rare, unique sketch set.

So anyway, the Dealer agreed that if we could work out a deal, they would sell the entire cut to me for one price. I don't want to say yet what series it is from, or what the sketch set is of, just in case for some terrible reason, things don't work out. But I do know that collectors, particularly in Japan, have been knocking down the Dealer's door to buy just one sheet of the set. So the idea that I may have the chance to own the entire thing just fills me with total joy.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, and if all goes well, you may all be able to see it in the update that is scheduled for less than 2 weeks from now.

Happy collecting, everyone!!

Yasha Genga, Come Home

last modified: Saturday, October 21, 2006 (1:01:38 AM CST)

To make a long story short, I bid on and won a set of Inu Yasha genga using my SMJ account MORE THAN 5 MONTHS AGO. The seller was someone I had won many auctions from before using SMJ as a Deputy Service, and had never had a problem before. I waited and waited and waited for an invoice, but one never came. I started receiving invoices for other items, and all the invoices were in numerical order, so it wasn't possible my email server or maybe my spam blocker was accidently batting it away. I logged into the SMJ account, and it's status was listed as "seller paid". I contacted SMJ, who basicaly said they didn't know what was going on. I waited a couple of weeks but never heard back, so I sent another email. They asked whether or not I had any images of the genga set downloaded and saved, which I did, so I sent them back as an attachment for them to go by for reference. Weeks passed, and I still hadn't heard back. So I sent another email, and the reply was was that so far, they had not heard anything back from their staff in Japan.

Weeks turned into months, and now, it is late October, more than 5 months after the auction's original end. I was debating whether or not to send SMJ an email requesting that the 'bid deposit/bid amount' be returned to my general account for use, as this old auction for a genga set no one seems to know what has happened to, was tying up a little over $100 of my bid allowance towards other auctions. And then, a few days ago, I suddenly received an invoice for the item. I assumed that the genga set, wherever in time and space or this world or the next that it was floating through, had been found. I sent SMJ a reply to the invoice, asking if this indeed meant that the genga set had finally been located. The reply came back that apparently, a bunch of genga sets suddenly turned up.

Thrilled that it had finally been found, I logged into my SMJ to check the auction's listed status. It's status was listed as 'to the USA' or whatever the exact phrase is that they use when they are transporting auction items from their Japanese offices to their American one.

Anyway, I logged in today, and that status has now been changed to the simple but worrysome four letters: LOST.

I am so disappointed and concerned all over again. I have already sent an email back to SMJ as to whether or not this means that my genga set was not on hand afterall, but I have yet to get a reply.

I am not angry but disappointed, mostly. I have had 43 other completely smooth transactions with SMJ as far as bidding, winning, payment, and receiving goes ( altho one time, they DID forget to send 2 of my IY cels that I requested shipped and that they had claimed they had shipped out, and then they later found them in their cel books ). I am frustrated that no one seems to know what is going on because from what I have seen based on this missing genga set, communication between the staff seems to be not up to par. Nick nor any of the USA staff seems to know what's going on, or have any information from their Japanese staff. For all we know, the seller never even SENT the won genga set. Or it was lost or misplaced as soon as it was received at SMJ's Japanese office. 5 months this has been going on, and no one knows anything.

AGONY

last modified: Friday, September 08, 2006 (4:00:31 PM CST)

Well, my ISP went out for almost 3 days after I sent an order for 2 fabulous cels at a recent update. Because of my ISP for some stupid reason disallowing me to connect to any of my email servers, I was unable to send nor receive emails. After hounding my ISP for 2 days to get it fixed, it finally went back up about a few hours ago, and all my missed emails came flooding back in.

There were several emails from the Cel Dealer about my order- apparently, I was, joyously, the FIRST to order those 2 beautiful cels. But the last email they had sent stated that since they hadn't heard back from me in the 2 days since my order to confirm it, they had given the first and foremost cel to the next person in line, since they stated there were about 4 others waiting in line behind me to order it.

I honestly don't think I've ever cried over a cel loss before, but I did today. I was absolutely crushed. I harbor no ill nor anger towards the Dealer, since they run a business and they can't make others wait around for days to hear whether or not they were first to order, and they have a right to collect profit on a cel as soon as possible. However, that doesn't change my general frustration or do anything for the hurt.

I wrote back, explaining my situation, what had happened, and just how sorry I was that I had inconvenienced the Dealer in any way. I also told them to go ahead and offer the second cel on my order to the next person in line as well, since the first one ( the one I had wanted the most ) had already been given to the next person.

I know there are worse things that could happen in the world, but damn, if this didn't hurt. Plus, I am also stressed that this might potentionally mar a long-standing relationship I've had with said Dealer. I never, ever, EVER would send in an order for something, and then purposely ignore all follow-up emails for confirmation, especially for cels I wanted so badly. I only hope they believe that it was all a very unfortunate incident and trust that I would never back out of a deal or cancel an order or just plain ignore them altogether.

On very stuck dragons, rilezu, and prep

last modified: Thursday, August 03, 2006 (10:57:38 AM CST)

I've been very recently lucky to find another 2 cels from "The Flight of Dragons" for very decent prices over the past couple of months. I have to say that the best of the 2 is definitely the full body shot of Bryagh, which I was shocked to see in one of Midori's updates under the "Misc" section. For a cel well over 20 years old, the colors are absolutely gorgeous, with slight damage to Bryagh's forked tongue, where the paint was obviously lifted when the sketch was removed.

So okay- here is the kicker. At one point in this cel's existence and long line of owners and/or dealers, someone actually went to the trouble to pull the sketch away from the cel- damaging surface lines and some areas of the sketch as well as lifting paint, like I mentioned, from the cel. Now, the best part is that instead of putting it in a seperate bag, they just simply turned the sketch with it's backside to the cel ( typically the way you receive them from Dealers and shops- with both sketch and cel in the same bag- but with the sketch facing out ) and left it in the same bag. So now, the sketch is completely, and permanently adhered to the cel. It even adhered all askewed, so the cel was a little bit "waved" as with it's sketch appendage, it couldn't properly fit into it's bag. I of course, gave it a larger bag as soon as I received it to keep the cel from warping even more. However, there is absolutely no way this sketch is going to come away from this cel without further damage being done to both. Grrr. The same thing with the other FOD cel I found a couple months before this one ( another cel of the dragon Gorbash ) but in this case, the sketch's FRONT is adhered to the cel paint. These sketches are stuck GOOD. It's almost like they were cement glued together. There is absolutely no give even with the tiniest bit of a tug or lift to see if it's even possible.

Seeing as these cels are so rare and so hard to find, I'm not even going to try and remove the sketches. I already lost that battle with my other Gorbash/Sir Peter cel. Regardless, I am anxious to update them to my gallery. I want more, more, MORE. But I especially want any cel, ANYTHING of Arak, the wolf. He is a main character, so it's been a little disheartening that I still have yet to even *see* a cel of him, either for sale or even in another collector's gallery. Ultra-rare, I guess.

Also, got the email that my Rilezu cel was finally finished. I still haven't been sent the final invoice for it yet, but the cel cost me just under $500. I would really like to see it, but the image is always broken or inaccessible at Anime Museum, and it's order history has already been wiped from my Madoka account. So guess I won't see how it turned out until it arrives in the mail. Considering how much it cost and the fact that the order was made back in May and is only now finished, I want to be able to see it and see the quality before I decide to pre-order/commission any further ones.

And lastly, going through the gallery and updating/adding some descriptions and fixing some shoddy scans in preparation for the big update I hope to do next month ( or later this month, I'm timing it around my Human Inu Yasha cel, which I decided to make my "cut-off" for the update of things I've been hoarding all year long. Everything received afterwards will be updated sporadically later. ) when I've got a day off and can stand being in front of the computer for several hours adding everything and writing descriptions. I think the only thing that will be left out of this update is my "Hidamari no Ki/A Tree in the Sun" collection, simply because it is so vast and everywhere. I have entire cuts in both genga AND cel form, and several pieces where the backgrounds or foregrounds or even additional cel layers are floating around in other packages or paired with the wrong cels. So, it's going to be quite a project to go through it all and start sorting it out.

Feeling Better 100-Fold- and he doesn't want the money??

last modified: Friday, July 21, 2006 (12:29:57 PM CST)

As some of you know- I've been trying to get my hands on the companion cel to my naked Kagome cel; the one of ningen Yasha blushing as he sees her. After AX Midori updated one to her site- and several of you warm peoples out there even emailed me to let me know ( I appreciate everyone looking out for me and cheering me on, thanks ^_^x ). While it was slightly less in price than the one I couldn't quite get enough money together in time for over at Anime Cels World- I've been little by little trying to put enough money aside for a downpayment on a new car, since keeping mine running is a constant daily struggle- and I'm sick of paying thousands in repairs. So anyway, an $800 hit for a cel I just couldn't justify, especially since I plan on getting the car within the next month- so I only have so many paychecks until then left that I can glean more down payment money from on top of bills.

Anyway, I finally got over my fear of being a nuisance, and humbly just asked Midori if she would consider a payment plan for the cel ( I'd to lose it yet again XD ). She pretty much said, "Well, sure!" and gave me a very generous timeline to have it paid off by. In fact, I most likely will be able to pay it off earlier than the date she set with me. So my spirits are just completely uplifted. ( See- it pays to keep a consistent, prompt business history with Dealers ) So, sometime next month, He'll be coming home- and I can finally post my update of all the stuff I've been hoarding since the last time I updated.

And oh yeah- remember my struggle to find a suitable background for naked Kagome? The Yasha cel comes with a copy of the original background. LOL- so there you have it. 2 problems solved!

In other news- there is a seller on Y!JP that conducts overseas business, so I use my Y!JP ID to bid on his items so as to avoid deputy fees. I'm sure lots of you have done business with him before- he's where I get most of my original backgrounds from. Funnily, in the latest package of backgrounds I received from him, as I was leafing through them, an IPMO fell out! It was the one I had mailed as payment for these very backgrounds! He must have accidently packaged it up with my items and now he has accidently sent it right back to me- in essence, free backgrounds! But of course I wouldn't do that ^_~x I contacted him and said he accidently sent my IPMO back to me with my purchases, and that I would mail it back to him today.

On stupid bidding and Competition

last modified: Thursday, April 27, 2006 (11:08:10 AM CST)

Seriously- it's odd. I've lost the 12 past auctions on Y!JP on items I thought no one else would be after- or even notice.

Okay, so I have a bad habit- on cels that are not very popular to collect, especially from series that aren't licensed and people have hardly ever heard of- I don't enter in very high max bids and don't check back on the auctions. For instance, for a pretty much unknown, uncollected show, with a minimum bid of 500 Yen, I'll only enter 1000 yen. Normally, yes, in most cases, I wouldn't mind paying more for the cel, I just figure there is going to be either absolutely zip or low competition over it. Plus, I don't come back to "guard" the auction 5 minutes before it closes to see if I get sniper bid. In most cases, there has never been a problem. I think I need to re-think my strategy. LOL.

For instance, over the past few days, I have lost 8 out of 11 auctions for cels for "Hidamari no Ki". The show isn't licensed, it isn't even fansubbed- most people have never even heard of it. In fact, I suppose many people are wondering if I am even going to tell you what it means in English ( A Tree in the Sun, btw ). Cels usually have a min bid of 500 Yen ( I think the highest I ever saw was 3000 Yen, but it had several layers and the original background ) and usually close without any bidders ( if I don't bid on it, that is, in which case, I am usually THE ONLY bidder ). So for all the 500 min auctions, I just banged my fists on the keyboard and entered about 800-1000 max, and and on the 1000 min items, put in anywhere from 1200-2000 yen. Like I said, I would actually pay more for these cels- I just get stupid and round them up I guess, since I assume no one else is going to bid anyway.

So of course, I was shocked when I got only 3 winning emails from SMJ. Since my service has been kind of up and down, I thought maybe the other winning bid emails got lost or bounced by my server, so I checked the auctions individually- and lo, I had been outbid, by only 1 other person for each one.

I have to say I am extremely mad at myself. The ones I lost were primarily all the geisha cels- so I am certainly annoyed at myself that I thought I could get away with not taking the auctions more seriously. I just wanted more of my available bidding balance at SMJ to spread around on other items, so I entered in those tiny max bets for those auctions which I figured I was going to win anyway.

Of course, I didn't learn from that and last night, entered in a max below what I would have willingly paid on another auction. The auction ended this morning- I was the only bidder 2 hours prior to close, so I decided not to check back again. Now I see the closed auction- and I was outbid by only 1 person- they got it for a 500 increment above my silly little max.

D'oh! If I want to feel special, like I have a gallery nice enough to display alongside some of the huger, brassier, more beautiful and intimidating ones here, I better take my cel collecting and bidding more seriously XD

But I guess I shouldn't feel that way. Some times it's so hard not to feel embarassed by your own collection when you interact with people with cels that blow yours out of the water- with their long established, high limit credit cards and etc. And it's awful of me to feel that way- I should be collecting for MYSELF, not because I feel the need to compete with others.

I'm sure other collectors feel that way, from time to time, don't they/you? Sometimes you reach that point where during people's offer periods and etc, you don't even try to offer on a cel you have desperately wanted, because you are completely embarassed by what you are able to solidly offer when you know others are easily impressing the owner/recipient with their offers in the thousands.

I love cel collecting- and just about every person I have come across or have interacted with have been friendly and helpful 100 fold- I mean it ^_^x It's just some days,

Okay- I'm better now XD

last modified: Sunday, April 23, 2006 (8:18:15 AM CST)

Thanks to everyone who stopped to leave a note on my last entry!! You guys are all so caring and kind ^_^x It really made me feel better to see so many people cared enough to leave a reply ^_^x

Still upset over the loss- but I'm much better now- just snagged a gorgeous reproduction cel of Enki from Twelve Kingdoms/Juuni Kokuki. I never knew they made an edition of him- all I've ever seen are the ones of Youko, Rakashun, Youko and Keiki in Kirin form, and that's it. So I was really surprised ( and elated ) to stumble across this one!! What's funny is that I recently had a custom italian charm made from a screen cap of this exact scene.

He'll certainly tide me over until I fill the gap left behind by my missed wishlist cel.

Sneaky-peaky:

http://amongbutterflies.com/maiko/cels/jkenrepro.jpg

Love, the En Taiho Whore XD

Almost There...

last modified: Thursday, April 13, 2006 (2:11:12 AM CST)

Still trying to scrape together the last bit of money needed to accquire a certain wishlist cel ^_^x It's a cool $1000, but some collectors may scoff, seeing as I've seen some pay quite a few thousand for their wishlist cels. But hey- $1000 is a lot of money to me, especially when it's earned by doing card tricks for gambling addicts, and being verbally abused just for doing your job.

Of course, I probably could have saved up the money a lot faster...if I hadn't kept spending a couple hundred here and a few hundred there on other cels while trying to save for one particular cel at the same time ^_~x Plus, I'm currently in the running for 2 of those huge "Hameln" pan cels over at Mandarake auction. I am already planning on not having to spend that money- as I'm sure I'll eventually drop out of the running on both of those cels. I'm sure they are going to sky-rocket, especially that nude cel of Flute. Oh well, I should throw together what I've been bidding on both of those cels and use it to finally just buy that wishlist cel. Priorities are so hard to keep straight when it comes to cel collecting. ^_~x

So anyways, when and if I get my wishlist cel, I'm planning on a big update. Got all sorts of Yasha and Hameln and Wolf's Rain goodies tucked away, just waiting to be scanned and updated to the gallery. Also, am on a long, long search for the perfect background for 2 companion cels- normally I would make screen-caps from the actual scene, but for this scene, too much digital editing would be necessary to create a complete background. Oh well.

Have missed everyone!

And we shall see...

last modified: Monday, January 23, 2006 (11:36:08 AM CST)

As I posted at Beta, tenatively opened up parts of my gallery for offers; am hoping to sell a few things in order to raise money for my "help my danna out" campaign. Depending on what happens, I might just weed out a few items and throw them up on ebay instead. I have yet to receive my W-2s to do my taxes and find out if I am getting anything back; so the idea of selling a few cels had to come first. He needs money soon >_
I hate selling cels...I can't stand the whole re-selling part of it- it's ridiculous, but it's so hard to let go of these pieces of plastic. I'm doing the right thing....right? ^_^x

Oh no, now it's the guilt...

last modified: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 (11:52:53 AM CST)

I hate this feeling -_-x

My boyfriend and I always share the shared expenses; like rent and utility bills and etc. I've already paid him my half, and of course, have gone cel-crazy with left over money after paying the rest of my bills.

He never really talks to me about his problems, but last night he was all stressed out because he needs to come up with an extra $500 to pay his car registration, his car insurance, and make a payment on his car. He was so frustrated and I felt really bad, because I had just shelled out $400 for a piece of plastic >_
Now I feel kind of bad- like I'm splurging on things when he is struggling right now because of the hour cut-backs at his job and the rising costs of some of his expenses. I feel really rotten now, like instead of treating myself to nice things, I should be helping him out.

He's been so good, too. He doesn't collect cels, doesn't quite understand it, but NEVER makes me feel bad about spending my money on them. He never treats me like I am throwing my money away on these things, and he never says, "Gee, instead of buying that for yourself, we could have gotten more groceries, or fixed the motorcycle..." etc. etc.

I called work and managed to pick up an entire day of over-time at the casino, and I'm going to promise myself that I am going to limit my spending on cels or make a budget or something so that I can help him out a little, and treat himself to something nice for once. Help pay some of his extra bills so he can do something selfish for himself for once.

I don't think I'll feel better until I do.

Oh no...I bought more!

last modified: Monday, January 16, 2006 (7:45:50 AM CST)

When people put their galleries up for offer, I just can't leave it alone. But I say it's justified; they were so decently priced, I couldn't pass it up. So now some "Wolf's Rain" to add to the collection and to the gallery, soon ^_^x

Plus, last year, when I was playing the good little game of "absolutely NO CELS", I passed up a gorgeous pan cel of naked Kagome, joyously greeting Ningen Yasha. I can't remember how much it sold for on Y!JP, but I remember thinking, "Damn..why don't I have more money?" See, if you behave, sometimes you get rewarded later on. I just picked up a sequence mate at Midori's site. Just got the joyous confirmation. $400, but hell, I'm swinging it. Tax returns are coming and all. Yeah, that's me, still trying to justify everything I buy ^_^x

As for the "companion cel" of Inu Yasha looking at her, it recently sold at Anime Cel Box for a cool $900 O_ox That's hella expensive, but man, it would be so wonderful to have the two cels together. What a beautiful set they would be.

Well, I'm halfway there, aren't I?

Wagh- on Saturday I was at an Anime Convention running a Dealer's table all day, so I totally missed the mailman and my EMS packages. And today is a federal holiday, so I won't be getting those cels until Tuesday. Aargh, the agony of waiting!!!!

Oh no- the fever is back!!!

last modified: Thursday, January 12, 2006 (6:08:37 AM CST)

The cel fever snuck up on me this winter. Actually, it handed itself down maybe last week. A typical (?) cel collector will find cels from series they want, of good scenes and good characters. A cel collector on the fever, though, will buy every single one available, and then start going after series they don't even collect.

At least, those are the symptoms when I have the fever. I've already in the past week won several auctions and accquired so many new lovelies- but after the auctions, the thrill is gone. So I go off in search of cels to buy just for the excitement of ordering/bidding, and the feeling of victory when you receive confirmations that you are the winner/first person to order.

For instance- I went after X 99 cels. Seen the series, the movie years ago- gorgeous art. But had convinced myself to always look at and not touch. My brain totally went Jekyll and Hyde on itself.

"But they're so preeeeetttttyyyyyyyyyy...."

"But they're so expensive, you."

"But the prices are getting much more reaaaaassssonnnnableeeeee......"

"Yes...but still....a few hundred here and there...wouldn't you rather spend that on 'Inu Yasha' or 'Kenshin'?"

"Yes, but I want these....too........"

And now I'm gearing up for some bidding wars on Y!JP for some Inu Yasha cels. I can only hope that by then the fever will have run it's course and left my system, so that I can bid sensibly and responsibly.

See, most of these cels I can pass up. But on the fever- they all of a sudden ALL BECOME DREAM CELS. It's like an illusion- the fever confuses you. And after it passes, soon you're like, "I paid HOW MUCH for THAT!!!???"

Holy crap it's mine

last modified: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 (7:55:45 AM CST)

If anyone read my last entry, they will remember me rambling on about how out of all the auctions I am currently bidding on, there is currently only one I would really feel sorry over losing- and I was even thinking of increasing deputy deposits to ensure a good, high bidding limit.

So I got up half an hour ago for the auction's close to make sure I still held dominion over it...and lo. I sat, waited, reloaded, I even had my "place a bid" page already up in the other browser with all the information filled out, poised to hit "bid". I didn't have to. I won the cel, at it's minimum bid. Strike that, I won this cel for PENNIES. PENNIES!!!

At least, it's pennies to me. If you know *anything* about "The Violinist of Hameln" then you should know why this cel is truely and utterly a rare find. It's from the climax of the series, and completely gut-wrenching. A blood-stained fallen angel finally in the arms of her mother- the mother she grew up hating, thinking she had been abandoned. All she ever wanted was to be loved- and now, at the end of the war, before the world crashes down, she gets to know the truth, and be in the arms of her mother, finally.

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e51723002

I've lost "VOH" cels of less stirring scenes on Y!JP in the past, and in "VOH"'s heyday of cel collecting a good 5 years ago, it probably would have sold for hundreds of dollars, something I wouldn't have been able to afford. I was gearing up for it, just the same. So what a joy to secure this cel, for, to me, is mere pennies in exchange for it's radiance.

I don't expect people to understand how I feel about winning this particular cel, but all I know you can relate, because you have felt the same way about cels you have had the good luck to get so easily and without a pocketbook-draining fight.

Starting the day off in a very good mood, now ^_^x

With fingers in dozens of different pies ( ode to competition )

last modified: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 (10:32:16 AM CST)

Man, it's been a long time since I've had several auctions I'm bidding on simultaneously. It's one of those things where at least they are all spaced out from one another a good couple of days, so based on what I win and lose and for what cost, I can adjust my bidding limits on the other auctions accordingly.

It's funny, because there are some, altho while I am the highest bidder on them, I just *know* I'm going to lose. And I'm like....okay with that. It's like I don't want to fight too hard for them. Sure, I'd love to be the winning bidder and pay a decent price, but I'm not making myself get all worked up at the idea of blowing all the competition out of the water. It's funny how you can go thru periods of that in cel collecting. Some days, you can get outbid on something you really, really, really wanted and be able to carry on. Other days, you get so emotional and angry and hateful as you enter the bidding war and you're thinking, "I am NOT going to let you have this." That's the one part about this hobby that I find to be negative, just because I don't like feeling that way about other collectors. But sometimes, the competition is so fierce, and your collection feels so humbled by the collections of people who seem to have endless credit card limits, that when one of these people suddenly pop up in an auction you're bidding on, you're livid, like, "NO, you can't have THIS ONE. I WON'T let you. This is MINE. You have EVERYTHING ELSE."

Does anyone else ever feel this way? This fierce competition? By all means, most of the other people in bidding races are decent, friendly people who just so happen to want the same item you do. But does the competition sometimes get to you, as well? Don't you ever feel, "Geez, I DESERVE to win this one"? Do you ever feel, "Damn- you've got one of the biggest, shiniest collections; you've gotten just about everything you could ever dream of. Couldn't you back off and let me just have this one measely auction"?

So anyway, I'm glad that out of 6 current running auctions, I'm not currently having any of these feelings. Altho there have been auctions in the past where I have felt that way, and I am sure there will be other ones, too.

I have one auction, tho, ending in less than a day, that I would really like to win. It's one of those "hard to judge moments". It's from a lesser known show, and has had no bidders. But every once in awhile, I'll get surprised and cels from this series will cause a bidding war at the end, and actually go pretty high in price. So now I'm at the crossroads of...hmm..do I increase my bidding deposit $$ at SMJ or not. Will I need to? Should I just in case? And if I do, will I find myself winning the cel at a price I had promised myself not to go to just because, "Well, I already deposited more..might as well..."?

Agh- what a poser. And it's like, I have limited time to make that decision in. I'm the highest and only bidder on the auction curently, but that all could change.

Should I promise myself financial responsibility and set my limits and bid accordingly, or will I be absolutely crushed and disraught when I lose the cel at it's 500 Yen increment above my total SMJ bidding max?

A Linky for those who Cared...

last modified: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 (4:41:16 PM CST)

Since a couple of people expressed interest in the particular auction I was speaking of in the past couple of entries, here it is:

http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h29195941

If you are unable to view closed auctions on Y!JP because you don't have an ID, let me know if you would like me to upload an image of the cel to my webspace, and provide a link here.

Once again, thanks everyone, for your support. I'll be leaving on vacation shortly, so everyone keep an eye out for me while I'm gone! ^_^x

Ain't that a pisser

last modified: Monday, July 11, 2005 (4:37:37 AM CST)

4 hours to go on that auction...and I've actually been outbid by someone using Celga, at about $900. I can't believe it. I thought my bid of $800+ was pretty sturdy- in fact, that's more than what the person who outbid me and won it at the last auction got it for!!! WTF???

So I'm sitting here, debating whether to go in and up my bid. But what...to pay over a thousand dollars for a cel? Yeah, it's a Dream cel, and yeah, I'm crushed. But I've got to be realistic. A lot of these people can afford these cels by slapping them on a credit card and paying them off for as low as $10 a month. I can't. I don't have lines of credit. All my cels have been paid for with cold, hard cash that I've worked my butt off at a lousy, dangerous job to earn. And as much as I want the cel, I just can't justify paying $1000+ for it when my monthly rent alone is more than that.

*sigh* Urgh. I can't BELIEVE it. I can't believe it's actually gone that much higher than the time I last lost it at auction. And then I missed a Dealer's website update where it sold for about $450.

Oh well. I guess I'm just going to make a responsible decision and pass up the chance to outbid this person for an exhuberant amount. I've been relatively lucky with other missed-out-on cels in the past couple of months, maybe I'll be able to get a sequence mate for less somewhere down the road.

Thanks to everyone who has been so gung-ho alongside me. ^_^x I really appreciate your comments and rallying ^_^x

Eat cel karma, bitch!

last modified: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 (4:24:31 AM CST)

Mwaaa haaa haaaaa.

Okay. Sorry for that. I don't really want to gloat. Not at all. I am just deleriously happy.
Of course, I am refering to an auction I was manually bidding on for a pretty huge wishlist cel item, and of course, got sniper-outbid by some dolt and their SMJ account. Well, after that annoying loss ( yet again ) I managed to get a cel from that same sequence from a Dealer, for a little over $100 less than what the person outbid me had to pay. And oh yeah, that's not including the huge deputy service fees they are probably paying on it, as well. Mwaaa haaa haaa!

Okay, I promise I'm not really that nasty- or mean-hearted. It's just nice to have something work out, in a better manner, too, as well ^_^x Please no one take this post seriously- my sense of humor just runs along 'cynical'.

So, an update soon!! Very soon!!! Update with glorious Inu Yasha cel, as well as a gorgeous new Feral Yasha cel, and lots of original 'Eat-Man' series stuff, with a little bit of 'Utena', 'Hikaru no Go', 'Eat-Man 98' and 'Puppet Princess' thrown in for good measure ^_^x

Also, someone emailed be about my 'Mermaid Saga' collection, and I looked thru my gallery, and realized that I mixed up the names of twin sister's in all my IDing. D'oh!! I can't figure out how I managed to do that, considering the doctor and the twin sister run around bleeting 'Towa-san!' through both episodes in the story arc. So anyway, I fixed that embarassing mistake in my gallery. All for now, until a real cel update. Just waiting for packages to trickle in ^_^x

And I'm still not Finished!!! *weep*

last modified: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 (6:12:21 PM CST)

Well, I did what I could. After 11 hours straight of uploading and cataloguing new cels and sketches, I've called it quit just short of everything I had planned to put in the update. I'll have to tackle all the "unfinished"s at a later date. I'm just too burnt out now.

There are probably typos and misspellings and crazed rambling abounding in the gallery, because after about hour 5 my brain slowly began to die.

Sniper Bidding for Idiots

last modified: Sunday, May 29, 2005 (6:40:10 PM CST)

Found another 'Flight of Dragons' cel I plan on buying, but according to the Dealer, it's sketch is pre-butchered. So looks like that is at least one FOD sketch I won't have to feel guilty about.

I'll never forgive myself, LOL. ( thanks to ~backlotanimation~ for helpful tips for future Un-stick Wars ).

Okay, another thing about "sniper-bidding" and it's dangers. If you're a complete idiot, you can still mess something like this up. Since I dropped my nice-no-snipey self ever since I got sniper-outbid on several wishlist cels the other month, I dedcided to enact revenge upon all by doing it myself. ^_~x

There was a cel on Ebay that had been on my wishlist ever since I was a kid and knew what cel-collecting was, but allowances don't really support such a habit. Well, if FINALLY out of the blue turned up on ebay. I waited it out for days. Then came the last hour of the auction. I was watching a movie in the other room, periodically checking my watch. At one point I ran in to check, and it said I had 14 minutes left. So I went back to crappy movie. Well, I must have overshot, because when I came back in to make my damaging sniper-shot, there were only 5 SECONDS LEFT OF THE AUCTION.

So of course, that was not enough time to bid, and it sold for a mere $66. $$$$$66$$$$$$$ freaking bucks!! Aaaarrrrgh.

In other news, got my first 'Utena' cel. More than likely, the first of FEW. Cels from that series are so hard to get ( decent ones at least ) and at a decent price. I'll be lucky if years from now I can fill just one RS page with cels from this series.

Enki arrived. He's GORGEOUS. I'll post the genga in the update ( which is about a week from now ) and more than likely won't bother with the douga, since it's just one layer of his blank face and all the other pages are just of his eyes.

Duh-oh

last modified: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 (7:02:29 PM CST)

So I managed to come into more "Flight of Dragons" cels. I received the latest one, a cel of Gorbash/Sir Peter ( I've gotta go back and re-watch the video to ID the scene to conclude whether or not it is Gorbash or Sir Peter as Gorbash ). So anyway, up until this time, I had not yet met a "stuck" sketch that I couldn't win the "Battle of Unstick" with. I mean, this sucker was stuck GOOD. It was pratically grafted to the cel. Hell, it was practically ONE with the cel.

Keep in mind this cel is 20 years old. Keep in mind that drawing has more than likely been melted to the paint for the entire 20 years. ( I could write a whole seperate rant about collectors and dealers who neglect to seperate cels and sketches when they have a chance to do it pretty cleanly, but instead let them meld into one another over a period of years and then resell to irate people like myself ).

So anyway, I spend a laborious hour carefully using all the time-tested methods of peeling this cel away. So far, so good. The sketch itself gets a little thin, but it doesn't rip or anything. Slowly, carefully, blah blah blah. I have finally worked myself to the middle, and am going about it carefully when *rriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip*

Ugh, what a horrible sound. What a horrible sight. After that, I had nothing left to lose, so I just yanked the rest of the sketch away. And now there is a giant hole in the middle of it- right in the middle of the character's face.

My biggest regret? I didn't think to scan the sketch BEFORE I tried to remove it. It was stuck to the cel with the reverse side out, so that the blank side was the one stuck to the paint.

Why did I try to remove the sketch in the first place? I had a background I worked hard to make that I wanted to put behind the cel. But now I don't like how it looks with the background. What a waste.

I don't think I would be as upset about the sketch if it hadn't been from a film that Production art is so scarce and expensive.

I'm expecting the 'BIG UPDATE' to be done in about 2 weeks. I had to make a cut-off date, because I've gone and bought more cels :P So I've decided once my Enki genga set and my Deputy package arrives, I'll do the update. Everything I've bought since those items will be done in another, later, seperate update.

Here a price, there a price, everywhere a price-price

last modified: Friday, May 13, 2005 (3:13:01 PM CST)

I wish some people would be a little more routine in the "listed" price of some of the cels they are selling. For instance, someone will post that they are selling a cel for so-and-so price on Animanga forums, and that you can email them if you want to buy. But then they will have it also listed on RS shop for a different price, and then listed on ebay with a BIN of yet ANOTHER DIFFERENT price. People always tell you to "shop around" for the best price on a cel from a certain sequence, but nowadays it seems you have to shop around for the best price on just one particular cel.

And also, I think it's just a bad idea to list the same item on RS and ebay at the same time. Sure, you want to get it seen by as many people as possible to ensure it gets sold, but what if someone places it "on hold" on RS at the same time someone is either bidding on it or using the 'BIN' on ebay? Now you've got a problem. If something doesn't sell on RS shop, take it down and THEN list it on ebay. And visa versa. Doesn't sell on ebay, THEN take it to RS or elsewhere. But trying to sell a one-of-a-kind item in several different places ( at several different prices ) is just asking for trouble- and my opinion ^_~x You really don't want to listen to me bitch, do you?

Also, with my birthday coming up, my danna plans on getting me the usual- a couple of nice cels, like every year. What's funny is he usually asks for detailed roadmaps to the Dealers of the cels that I want, so he makes sure to get exactly what I want. What's funny is that this year, I have no idea what to list as the cels I specifically want for my birthday. I keep an up-to-date list of cels I want to buy for myself ( yes, yes I do. Complete with their web urls, Dealer name and email, price, which of them I should get first as they are more likely to sell faster, etc. etc. ) and reviewing it, these are all cels that I'm like, 'oh yeah, I need to pick that one up next month', etc. etc. But when it comes to saying, "Here, get me these ones this year", I can't decide. Unbelievable. My birthday I *always* get cels from him. On Valentine's Day it's always kimono and accessories. So I can't wimp out and tell him to go with kimono this B-Day. It's like, denying a tradition ^_^x OMG..I seriously don't know what cels to ask him for O_ox Even though I have a list of cels sitting right here that I want and plan on buying in the near future...but as gifts...I dunno..I don't want them?? Whoa. There's something very strange going on in my head.

Ha!! I did it, and I don't regret it... ( I think )

last modified: Saturday, April 16, 2005 (7:19:01 PM CST)

After huge Mandarake disappointment for SUPPOSED genga and douga from Inu Yasha Movie 3 "World Conquering Sword", I had vowed to get my hands on some come hell or high water to fill the void. About 4-5 days ago some original genga from the 3rd movie showed up, and it would allow international bidding ( Yay! No deputy fees! ) so I used my own Y!JP ID and put in my bid. 2 people hit up the auction twice, but still did not break my maximum, so I held dominion over this auction for almost the entire 5 day run.

I got off work early this morning to see that in the remaining hours, someone else had outbid me. On top of that, it was a Deputy ID. I put in a new maximum at least *TWICE* and still didn't bust their maximum. So I thought about it and was like...'I really don't want to go any higher than that....' and decided I would just go to bed and forget about it.

I should have gone to bed. But I kept thinking about it, so I tried one more time to break their maximum....and I did. Then I stayed up for the last 3 remaining hours of the auction to "guard" the auction ( and another one that I was bidding on that had about 2 1/2 remaining hours ).

And..umm...I won. First, elation, the sense of having conquered, the pride of fulfilling my personal promise of 'I _WILL_ collect from this movie'!!!!!! But then, the dread settled in. What if I was only victimizing myself to another "Mandarake" situation with this auction? The Y!JP seller only posted 4 images from the genga/douga/layout set. So what if I just paid $400+ for 4 really good images and the rest is a stack of crap. ( I kid you not, in the Mandarake IY Movie 3 auction, I actually got several pages of sketches of little headless chibi critters. Headless Teddy Grahams? ).

But maybe I'm just being paranoid and it's really not that bad. There's a couple of other really nice cels I was looking at that I could have gotten for the cost of this new sketch set, so I really hope it's worth it. And if not, I hope there is at least some decent images in the set that I could sell if I have to, to make some of my money back.

Ugh- I want the seller to contact me asap, so I can just pay it and get it in the mail, look through the sketches, and then come to the conclusion of whether or not it was money well-spent. In this hobby, there is nothing WORSE than regretting what you have paid for. Because then you can never truely enjoy it.

Miffed and Disappointed

last modified: Thursday, March 24, 2005 (2:25:57 PM CST)

I lose the cel but I'm thinking, 'Hey, at least I've still got some cool stuff coming in'. Wrong. WRONG.

I recently bid on and won an auction on Mandarake, that plainly stated "Layout, Genga, and Douga from Inu Yasha Movie 3" and said the same thing in the auction description. Plus, the example image they put up was a movie layout of Sesshoumaru with Inu Yasha and the little sword spirit or whatever in the background ( a scene I recognized ).

I had been wanting to collect some original art from the 3rd movie, and in the past had had several heavy losses on sets that showed up on Y!JP. So I manage to win this auction, and I'm waiting for it to show up..and waiting. Yay! I think. I'm kinda having my doubts, since I'm surprised I didn't have to pay too much for this set, but the auction clearly stated...

I received it today and was disappointed to find only 2....TWO!! rough layouts from the 3rd movie. The 40+ pages of genga and douga turned out to be rough sketches from the tv series. They weren't marked, but I could tell that they were from that episode where Sango becomes "posessed".

Regardless, I'm annoyed. I didn't participate in this auction because I wanted rough pencil sketches of Miroku beating up on women. I participated because I was under the impression everything in the auction was from the Third Inu Yasha movie. This is how Mandarake SHOULD have listed that auction, then:

"2 Layout from Inu Yasha Movie 3, 40+ genga/douga sketches from Series" or something along that effect, instead of something that makes it sound like everything is from the 3rd movie.

I was so annoyed that the first thing I did was look online for ANYTHING from the 3rd Yasha Movie. Layout, douga, genga, I don't CARE. I feel so unsatisfied that I'm ready to just throw money at anything from the 3rd movie. But no auctions, no websites..no nothing currently selling anything from it.

So my second way of dealing with the frustration was to come here and vent in my gallery weblog.

*vent vent* I'm sooooo disappointed and frustrated.

Thank you for your order. Unfortunately, this cel was reserved by another person..

last modified: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 (5:59:04 AM CST)

Well, the horrible, endless "not-knowing" is finally over; although I am disappointed to get that email that says that my email order failed to be the first one they received. But what can you do. I really wanted the cel more than any I've seen in recent months- but I know I am not the first person to experience that kind of disappointment, and this is, of course, not the first time I've felt this disappointment, as well.

So for now, I'm content to think about how much extra money I have now in case another cel I want desperately pops up. You've got to be positive with these things. ^_^x

Also, I'm not used to people replying to my weblog comments. Whoa! While I'm sure more popular galleries garner several comments per entry, it was very nice to see some people take the time to stop and comment on my last entry. Thank you to those who did! And thank you for your encouragement and well-wishes for the cel. Didn't get it, but thanks for the sentiment ^_~x

Now I'm up at ridiculous hours and bored. I think I'll force myself to sit down and make screen captures to update my wishlist.

That Tears it...

last modified: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 (5:04:16 AM CST)

Yes, I am in one of those funks.

Sometimes I think I would prefer it if more cel sites/Dealers had the "shopping cart" function. Sure, there's a great deal of cels that I probably wouldn't even know existed because they would be gone so fast: but it would also help ease the whole "omigod did they get my email? am I the first person to order? oh gods, why don't they write back!!!?????" tension.

Yeah, because now I am in *PAIN* waiting to hear back on a cel. I think I've checked my email at least 3 times every 3 minutes to see if the Dealer had written back. Yup, down to that whole waiting game. Usually I can be patient and wait for a response, but this is one of those cels where I want it so badly, and during the course of the wait to hear back on it, I go through all those different stages...

The "OMIGOD, I think I may be the first person to see this!" giddy stage once that email is first shot off.

Then comes the excitement and the email-stalking, waiting for that oh-so-certain "Thank you for your order. Total cost with EMS shipping is...." email.

You keep checking your email settings, to make sure it won't block the Dealer's email addy, or filter it to a 'spam' folder.

More hours past, and you begin to try and determine exactly what time of the day it is for your Dealer at the moment. You try to imagine his daily routine, and guesstimate when he sits down to email. So then you're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I should be hearing from him by """ o'clock my time...."

It's into the next day. The agony of not knowing is *killing* you. As much as you want that email saying that the cel is yours, you also wouldn't mind a "sorry, it's already sold" by this point so at least there is no more speculation, no more wondering, no more waiting for your answer.

Yeah, I'm dying here.