The Ying and Yang of a Bargain

Startyde · Post by **Startyde** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:25 pm

Just looking at recent threads here, there are more than a few instances where people are upset at the condition they have received a cel or two in as of late. I myself have recently been forced to question the merits of buying in bulk when my setups started coming in with misaligned and stapled layers o_0

http://startyde.rubberslug.com/gallery/ ... mID=108040

Still, it is an interesting question and I'm not sure if it has been asked, so I'll ask it:

Which would you prefer? Say, an awesome cel you know you have to have is available. You have a choice. You can pay $200 for it to be pristine and flawless in every respect. Or, you can pay $20 and potentially have a bent corner, misaligned layer, staples, stick sketch, any number of minor annoying things.

I'm curious if the factor of 10 price difference is enough to sway the average collector, or if one would always go to for the best of the best.

Vote in now, and you can be the next American Cel Idol! Unless your name is Mario...

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 7:46 pm

Since I rarely want to buy cels in cel sales even if they're 60-80 percent off, you know where I stand.

Either I like a cel or I don't. A $500 cel discounted to 25 cents will not change my opinion.

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:13 pm

I usually buy cels that I like, regardless of the condition. But if, say, someone had sequence mates for sale and one was severely damaged but cheaper...I would go for the more expensive, but pristine, cel.

kira · Post by **kira** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:33 pm

both. i would take the inexpensive one with the damage to it. then again i would also like the flawless one that is more expensive. just depends.

vampyreshoujo · Post by **vampyreshoujo** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:47 pm

In the ideal situation, I would buy the pristine one if I was able to afford it. However, if the pristine one was out of my price range, I'd go for the damaged one depending on the extent and severity of the damage.

Lynxa · Post by **Lynxa** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 10:02 pm

Yeah......It depends on a lot of factors. I don't mind a bent corner or so if the image is still okay! Even line fading and some scratches aren't that bad. *shrug* It depends on how bad I want it, how much money I have at the time, and how damaged the cheap one is! I would certainly think less about snapping up the cheap one though!

Hell, I'm about to shell out a mint for a cel that's slightly damaged!

In_Gabriel_We_Trust · Post by **In_Gabriel_We_Trust** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:33 am

I would have to go for the flawless one.
I'm one of those people who would look at the inexpensive flawed one and go : "yes... but it would have been so much better if..."
I don't know if I can qulifiy this as a positieve or negative character treat.

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:38 am

I'd have to say flawless. I'm a perfectist at heart.

In_Gabriel_We_Trust · Post by **In_Gabriel_We_Trust** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:40 am

duotrouble wrote:I'm a perfectist at heart.

Too funny and cute !

ryoendymion · Post by **ryoendymion** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 1:46 am

i'd rather pay for the perfect cel.. seeing damage on a cel always makes me upset so that would negate from the joy of having the cel

aernath · Post by **aernath** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 2:14 am

If I had the $200: MINE!

If I didn't... I'd probably save up until I had the $200...

Wendy · Post by **Wendy** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 5:20 am

I would definitely go for the flawless one.

If I had gone for the cheaper one I too would always look at it, thinking (regretting) that I should have gone for the one without the bends, staples etc.

Good cels are getting too scarce to pass up nowadays, especially from favourite characters and/or scenes.

In_Gabriel_We_Trust wrote:
duotrouble wrote:I'm a perfectist at heart.

Too funny and cute !

And yes, I agree...priceless!

yukineko · Post by **yukineko** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 8:10 am

As one of the folks who had a thread about a flawed cel: I'd go for the $20 one. I very rarely have $200 I can spare on a cel, and the fact is I probably would have bought the flawed Tylor hanken even if I had known about its damage because it's such a cute image (not to mention, being a hanken, it's not as if I could settle for a 'sequence mate'). I just was somewhat dismayed to find it wasn't in as good a condition as I'd thought-- it was still a steal of a price for a hanken.

Most of my collection consists of Master of Mosquiton cels, and whomever had to care for these things after production did a pretty crappy job. Many of the cels have paint splatters or are very much stuck to their sketch. I have more than one with stapled layers as well. Unlike the other shows I collect from, I'm basically a scene collector with Master of Mosquiton. If I can get an otherwise good cel from a scene I want for 10 times cheaper and just with minor damage, I'd probably go for it.

duotrouble · Post by **duotrouble** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 5:13 pm

Uende wrote:
In_Gabriel_We_Trust wrote:
duotrouble wrote:I'm a perfectist at heart.

Too funny and cute !

And yes, I agree...priceless!

I'm glad someone got the joke.

rallihir · Post by **rallihir** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 7:36 pm

This question reminds me of coin collecting. When starting out, I would want to get those "filler" coins to ensure that I had a complete collection. Later as the collection become mature, I would want to upgrade some of the coins as I found the resources and as the coin became available through dealers.

So... Most of the time, I would go for the best and flawless cel, but I would also get a lesser quality cel if I knew it was a difficult sequence from which to procure a cel. Hopefully as time went by, I would have the chance to upgrade the cel with a more desirable wishlist quality cel. Sometimes it is better to have one cel of lesser quality than not to have any at all.

Anime-Beta TNG

The Ying and Yang of a Bargain

Which do you value more?

The Ying and Yang of a Bargain