Legit or not?

[Mr_Chris]

I was looking at this sellers Bubblegum Crisis cels, which would be from BGC 2040, but they look off to me... too cartoony and the colors seem off. What are your opinions of these offerings -

http://www.ebay.com/sch/mogdonalds/m.ht ... 7675.l2562

[zerospace]

I recognize at least one of those cels (from previous sales by other collectors). Given the seller's feedback, I doubt they're fake, but more the seller has a really bad scanner or bad color calibration on their computer >_<. I recognize a name or two in there in the seller's feedback as known cel collectors, too, so I think that helps.

[Mr_Chris]

That could be it. Thanks.

[JWR]

It also seems they have the cels displayed with non matching backgrounds.

[Rekka Alexiel]

It's also curious why some sellers will start an auction before they post a photo of the object they're trying to sell. I always wondered what was the point of starting an auction--for cels especially--when an image is so vital to its sale. Maybe there was a timed discount on eBay at the time?

I agree the choice in backgrounds for many if those cels make them look like they took a walk through one of Rainbow Brite's color rainbows. Hardly the best aesthetics. ^^;

[graymouser]

It also seems they have the cels displayed with non matching backgrounds.

That seems to be a part of it. I think that sometimes the subtle differences between the color palates used for different shows can cause the colors to seem "off". Here is a link to one of my cels showing how an incorrect background can make a cel's true colors scan completely wrong.

http://itamejihada.net/cels/sog/sog3c.html

[JWR]

It also seems they have the cels displayed with non matching backgrounds.

That seems to be a part of it. I think that sometimes the subtle differences between the color palates used for different shows can cause the colors to seem "off". Here is a link to one of my cels showing how an incorrect background can make a cel's true colors scan completely wrong.

http://itamejihada.net/cels/sog/sog3c.html

I just went through that today when I framed the .Hack//Sign hanken I went thru about 10 different solid color backdrops to find what worked best to highlite the special effects airbrushed layer. I ended up using a flat black. The magazine cover used white but that did not bring out the colors very good to my eye.

[zerospace]

It's also curious why some sellers will start an auction before they post a photo of the object they're trying to sell. I always wondered what was the point of starting an auction--for cels especially--when an image is so vital to its sale. Maybe there was a timed discount on eBay at the time?

I always took the no-picture thing on eBay as they were making placeholders for listings to take advantage of a listing fee sale. At some point in the near future, this will likely not be possible to do, given that eBay is enacting new picture requirements (unless they upload a placeholder image of the appropriate size).

The one cel in that seller's bunch (BGC2040) that I recognize is paired, I believe, with the same background it was sold with before. Both cel and background have really bad color, at least on my monitor. They look both washed out and far too saturated (making the colors look like they come from a weird pastel/neon palette). At least, that's IMHO. I think you can scan almost any cel on almost any background IF you color correct in Photoshop or something else afterwards. I usually do this with the cel sitting next to me trying to make the colors on the screen match the colors in real life. Of course, it hardly matters, as monitor calibration has a lot to do with the colors other people see when browsing >_<, especially when the image file doesn't contain any embedded color profile information.