What did I just buy?

[dark-water-dragon]

So I just won three auctions on YJ two of them Bleach gengas and the other Naruto gengas. Now one of the Bleach gengas I know what I have gotten for the most part but the other two sets I have little to no idea. The Bleach set is 110 gengas and the Naruto 75. They were not that expensive even with the exchange rates , and I do like the pieces that I could see. Have you ever bought anything not knowing exactly what you were getting?

[Keropi]

Yeah, I've bid on a few things that I really didn't know what I would be getting. Due to vague seller's descriptions, I bid on Neo Angelique Abyss and Nogizaka that were all copies. The Kanon 2002 set turned out to be nearly all copies, but at least that one came with painted backgrounds and a couple of genuine sketches. Those School Days super deformed copy things were copies too, but I was 95 percent sure those were copies. I mainly just wanted to know what those things were by acquiring them.

Those are the guesses I can recall offhand.

I've never felt the need to bid on descriptions without anything showing in the auction (no picture at all I mean). Some people bid without there ever having had a picture for the auction.

[sensei]

Have you ever bought anything not knowing exactly what you were getting?

Yes, frankly, and sometimes these can be really interesting to unwrap. I've gotten copies, and sometimes batches of autograph sketches can be real disappointments if they are mostly partials: eyes, mouth layers, elbows, the animator sharpening a pencil by rubbing it sideways on a sheet, etc., etc. Some dealers have a bad habit of "seeding" a few good items in a big pile of trash they want us collectors to carry out for them.

And yes I've seen more copies than usual on the market, especially for newer shows. I've heard tell that much of the animation is going digital, so the only paper sketches are either print-offs from digital sketches or "production material" worked up by the character designer and then distributed in photocopy form. So now even copies may have their collecting value, as there may no longer be an "original," or if there is, it's unlikely to go on the market.

But the nice moments make up for it. Probably the best example was a pile of stuff from "A Tree of Palme" photographed in a big mish-mosh on a dealer's rug. The shipping would be a killer, I knew, but I thought I saw a cel from my wishlist moment in the mess. When the box arrived, it was indeed a sloppy midden of sketches and cels, all loosely stuffed inside an oversized Japanese shopping bag. And, yes, there was a cel from the wishlist moment.

In fact, 92 of them (and all the dougas too). Along with a whole bunch of other stuff, I'd bought the entire cut.

[star-phoenix]

I learned to be very weary of things I do not see when I buy something, just because I have had really horrible experience before (like what sensei mentioned), and this happened mainly with Naruto and Bleach sketches (Naruto more so than Bleach). I just learned to bid only what I see and not how many pages they say. I still think it is very dishonest for sellers to say you get 25 sketches total (showing images only of the full sketches) when in reality, you get only 1-2 actual sketches as shown in the images, and the rest being "partial" or junk/copy sketches. This tactic is a very very common tactic many sellers use, which REALLY turned me off a lot to sketch collecting.

[Joost]

Same thing happened to me, bought some Naruto sketches, a bundle of more then 100p ,... payed a bunch on shipment but like 90% was just crap and a lot of FX sketches... So I guess you could get lucky but I think with Naruto its important that you like the sketches that you see before you buy the lot because the change of getting nothing in the lot is rather big.

[cutiebunny]

I'm always weary of sketch auctions, and like SP, I only bid on the items that I see.

But yes, occassionally, I'll bid on something that, even with google translate, I'm not quite what I'm getting. I generally do this with cheap stuff since it won't be too much of a loss.

About two years ago I was in the market to buy a small set of Hina Matsuri furniture. I had bought some Lunar New Year trinkets in Japan and had wanted to pair them with some HM furniture to frame. I had been looking on YJ for several months, but most of the auctions ended higher than I wanted to pay. One day, an auction with really bad cellphone pictures of a small looking set appeared on YJ with a starting price of 1000 yen. The description was pretty poor and mentioned something about it being leftover stock in a now defunct shop.

A few days after winning the auction, my deputy service notified me that they would need to send the set seperately...and that it would cost several times the end price in order to do so. I thought this was really odd, but I figured that it was really packaged well. That it was - and the small set was really a big set designed for the regular sized Hina Matsuri dolls. I was a bit bummed that the set couldn't be used for the trinkets, but, the set is really beautiful.

[Keropi]

Yeah, sometimes you just have to take a somewhat cynical attitude when you're bidding on stuff.

1. It might copies or most of them might be copies
2. The set might not include anything else I want
3. It may not be an actual production cel/sketch
4. I may never win my wishlist item

Okay...you can leave off the #4. Just don't get too deflated if you lose or boast too much about it if you win. Pretend you've already been there many times.

[dark-water-dragon]

For me the items that I know I am getting would have been reason enough for me to buy them, and the rest would just be sifting through the unknown in hopes to find something amazing is the exciting part about this. However the likelihood is small and the amount I will more than likely have to pay for shipping is going to be a heavy price. Something it is a hard thing to weight with the exchange rate the way it is and knowing I could get a whole lot of mouth layers, copies, or non production pieces.

[kizu]

I really don't like buying sketches... Thankfully I've only been burned twice in the past about the whole not knowing what I'm buying. But at least it was a lesson to be more careful about buying things I can't see most of. The only time I'm willing to risk it is if I like the topic very much... But otherwise these unknown sketch set seem to disappointment me when it may get expensive. Some people like to buy them though to part them out and re-sell so I guess in that sense some get their money back and then some.

[dark-water-dragon]

So I have just received all the sketches that I bought. The shipping was outrageous, and I was worried that I would get a lot of crap pieces. Well I did get a good hand full of mouth, legs, and other random pieces that have little to do with the characters. I did get a lot of very nice pieces. The Ukitake sketch set I received I could not have asked for anything better. The random Shūhei Hisagi pieces I received did have a lot of hair sketches but there is a great full sequences that has 35 plus great shots of him. After spending about $175 on the 300 plus sketches I could not ask for much more. I think I would gamble on this again. Getting over 9 different cuts and the qualities of the pieces are great.

[glorff]

I bought a Shadow Skill sketch collection once upon a time and liked the three sketches that I had seen in the auction description.

When I opened the package I was suprised to discover that I had the entire closing sequence from the movie that had not even been mentioned. Guess they never saw the movie

[JWR]

I guess I might be in the minority for I don't mind that getting all the additional pages even if they are "mouth flaps" and such so long as there are not "cherry picked" and missing the best shots.

When I get a complete sketch set like that I normally am getting the entire cut of the that sequence. So even if I only find a few that are worthy of display (for me thats mainly the Rough Pencil, Genga & correction layers) I still can say that I have that entire sequence and all that went into what finally appeared on screen. Another plus I have seen quite a few members here have been able to recreate the animation in GIF form and have enjoyed them in AB awards.

[dark-water-dragon]

I guess I might be in the minority for I don't mind that getting all the additional pages even if they are "mouth flaps" and such so long as there are not "cherry picked" and missing the best shots.

Now don't get me wrong. I love the fact that I have every piece associated with the sequence. That is the type of collector I am. I will not get ride of any part of the sequence because it is whole, and that is what I like. It would be a difference however if the all I got were hands, mouths
or swords with only one of the twenty pieces of the character to be viewed. The best example I got in this set is my Ulquiorra. I have four or five really nice shot of him in the sequence the rest of the 20 plus pages are his mouth movements and the the gateway that opens when the espada move between worlds. I know it will take me a while but I will plan on putting these pieces up in the near future.

[JWR]

Now don't get me wrong. I love the fact that I have every piece associated with the sequence. That is the type of collector I am. I will not get ride of any part of the sequence because it is whole, and that is what I like. It would be a difference however if the all I got were hands, mouths
or swords with only one of the twenty pieces of the character to be viewed. The best example I got in this set is my Ulquiorra. I have four or five really nice shot of him in the sequence the rest of the 20 plus pages are his mouth movements and the the gateway that opens when the espada move between worlds. I know it will take me a while but I will plan on putting these pieces up in the near future.

No Worries I'm just going off on a tangent rather than starting another thread.

I do remember rereading some the "pet peeves" thread when Sensei was working on his essay. There were a lot of discussion about some sellers who split up sketch sets and that most were down on it. I just wonder what this hobby would be like if cels had only been sold in complete sequences like sketch sets are today and not broken up.

I would expect that there would be a lot less collectors than there are now since a lot would be priced out of the market.

[dark-water-dragon]

Personally I love the fact of having the sets. I remember buying some Naruto sketches and there was one really nice piece and the rest were of the hands and back. Later I saw more of the sequence for sale over the next month on ebay. I was really disappointed. I would have rather bought them all to have the sequence stay together. One thing I have seen some people do is sell there dougas and keep their gengas or vice versa. I also love seeing the sequences put together. It is sad sometimes when these pieces become separated. I do understand the other side of the coin that collectors would have a lower likelihood of owning those pieces especially of key sequences. I also agree with the cost of cels if they were sold as sequences.