Do you believe this hobby is dieing?

[backlotanimation]

Hiya Folks,

I have been collecting,buying and selling cels for a long time and I have found that it goes and comes in waves of about 8 to 10 years,What I mean is about half the folks that collect cels/drawings come and go about every 8-10 years as they get jobs and grow out of the collecting they once did,but not all, you will always have the life long collectors.
I've tracked the comings and goings of cels from one person to the next person and I must say that there will always be a new collector out there looking for some show they liked or heard of.
If you knew how much cel art is in storage all over the world you would never worry about there being more cels to collect in the future,Sure some shows will be harder to find until someone gets off the piles they put back for the future.
I see this hobby getting alot bigger as china opens up to the rest of the world and they get there act together and they start making money,You have what 5? billion or so chinese and there just they same as us and love to collect stuff and as they get more open to the rest of the world look out the prices will go up once more. Give it about 10 years or so and you will see what I mean.Mark it on your note books you heard it here first.
I have been making a living on the ups and downs of cels so I speak of what I know and I see it still growing abit slow but still growing,Think about it 30 years ago you could not give cels away I know because I was there and looked for them,sure disney had them but they had the parks to sell them in,I bought cels from disney for 2 bucks each from lots of shows,heck they had them in huge bins all mixed together for 2 bucks,think about that those 2 buck cels are going for 100+ each for junk cels in just 30 years so just think if you keep your cels in good condition some day they will pay for themselves with profit to spare as the world opens up to more free trade.
So I would say It's still growing.
Don't take my word for it check it out for yourself and don't limit your research to just a few shows but look at the whole ball of wax and you will also see what I mean for yourself.
Happy hunting and may you all find your dream wish list cel,heck email me I may have it or know where it is or one just like it! heehee


Roy (DBA) Backlotanimation

[star-phoenix]

Well, I was one of the people saying no. But, then I thought about it really hard, and had to change the answer to yes.

I personally have been getting out of Anime collecting a bit. But, that is because I got into collecting Vintage cels since they keep in value.

But, based on prices of cels that I originally paid for, I have been selling them for 1/10th the price I paid for some of them. I really cannot get back what I paid for them even 6 months ago. So, based on the dropping prices for the Anime I collect(ed), I woudl have to say it is dying out slowly.

[kizu]

No.. I don't think it's dying. I have met more silent buyers who are just starting than those who announce they are leaving.. but also I think perhaps those leaving are just a bit more vocal. Of course there are those who leave silently, some do come back again... Since no one has controlled sampling sizes, it's hard to tell definitely.

[klet]

Hmmmm . . . .

Cel collecting . . . never. Anime cel collecting, on the other hand, just might be.

What I think is really dying is the cel community--at least, the anime cel community. We just don't talk as much as we used to. Newbies don't introduce themselves. A couple of years ago, you'd get at least one introduction a week. Now . . . months with nothing. Plus, older members are leaving the community or just plain not talking as much. Who knows. Maybe it's a phase. Maybe we just need to forget that we've talked about such and such 50 times so that we can enjoy talking about it again.

[Moop]

Dying? I don't think so. Unlike some fad collectibles, cels are an art form. The rising cost of good pieces from classic anime may force the hobby to become more elitist over time, but there will always be people who are interested. And whether or not anime collecting loses a chunk of its base in the West is probably pretty insignificant; it is, after all, the history of Japanese animation. This discussion may be tantamount to a group of Japanese collectors discussing whether or not collecting Disney art is a dying hobby.

[moonrabitt]

I HOPE that they don't do the Shrek thing and turn 3d...that means no more sketches...

I don't think they would do that, is it cheaper to do sketches or go 3d???
Anywho...At first I said yes....but now I think "No" loads of people still outbid me...so maybe they are hiding somewhere?

[Kaona]

Klet, I definitely agree with your observations, and I admit I am one of those guilty newbies who fall into the category of quietly growing my collection without a formal introduction to the A-B community, and I apologize. After observing A-B for so long, I guess I decided to gradually blend in without stirring up the community cauldron. After all, this hobby can be a little intimidating! And I do find most of my technical questions can be answered via previous topics and posts.

It seems like collecting is going through a transitional phase rather than dying, as people adapt to collecting genga, douga and layouts in lieu of cels. I would love to collect from several of the older anime, but the cels I want are either too expensive to justify or very hard to find, and that being said I know they are still being loved...at least I hope they aren't ending up in people's attics and garages..

[klet]

Klet, I definitely agree with your observations, and I admit I am one of those guilty newbies who fall into the category of quietly growing my collection without a formal introduction to the A-B community, and I apologize. After observing A-B for so long, I guess I decided to gradually blend in without stirring up the community cauldron. After all, this hobby can be a little intimidating! And I do find most of my technical questions can be answered via previous topics and posts.

Yes, very true! There are quite a few very . . . opinionated collectors out there. I've seen different anime forums being ruder/more immature, but that doesn't justify it.

Another thing I've noticed as a kind of sign of the break down of community is the number of posts in the Website/Gallery thread. It used to be that you could get 2 pages of posts very easily when you announced an update. Now, most people have under 10, and those who have more either have an announcement thread that they update each time they update their gallery (which usually means less hits, imo) or got into a discussion about something else in the thread (not a bad thing, mind). Anyway . . . yeah. I try to post in there when I can, but lately I've been really busy with school and work, so I'm not around as often as I used to be.

[sugarcels]

Yeah, I usually only get one or two replies when I make a new gallery thread. I always figured it just meant my collection wasn't anything to get excited about

[lcatino]

Klet, I definitely agree with your observations, and I admit I am one of those guilty newbies who fall into the category of quietly growing my collection without a formal introduction to the A-B community, and I apologize. After observing A-B for so long, I guess I decided to gradually blend in without stirring up the community cauldron. After all, this hobby can be a little intimidating! And I do find most of my technical questions can be answered via previous topics and posts.

Kaona - I'm with you...Newbie who kind of jumped in without making a splash This hobby is definitely a little intimidating, but I have met so many nice people here and on RS, who have answered all of my "stupid newbie" questions, either from a forum post or on the RS weblog. Everyone is very supportive! It's a great community!

Sugar - I saw your new pokemon updates, and read your blog. They are great cels! I'm glad you found a wishlist cel! I love pokemon!

It may be just me, but I love looking at gallery updates, reading the weblogs, sending feedback...just trying to "blend in" with the community.

[Keropi]

What I think is really dying is the cel community--at least, the anime cel community. We just don't talk as much as we used to. Newbies don't introduce themselves. A couple of years ago, you'd get at least one introduction a week. Now . . . months with nothing. Plus, older members are leaving the community or just plain not talking as much. Who knows. Maybe it's a phase. Maybe we just need to forget that we've talked about such and such 50 times so that we can enjoy talking about it again.

**Thinks out loud**

It's hard coming up with new topics that haven't been asked before.

I'm left with these:

1. Topics we've discussed before and less people are going to answer it this time around since it has already been answered 1-5 times previously.

"What anime do you have the most pieces from?"

(Last discussed 2 years 10 months ago I think, but a dead topic)

2. Topics I don't want to ask because it sounds too egocentric. I'll let someone else bring up those topics.

3. Topics I don't want to bring up because it'll sound like I'm referring to a particular collector or group of collectors. Then the thread will go downhill because someone will get offended by something said it the topic.

"How long does it take you until you are SURE you want to bid on something?" (I've been thinking about my own thought process and not someone else)

"How do you feel about the people who put the "anime they've watched or are currently watching" in their signatures? (I'm thinking about the comment a moderator on another anime message board made about such signatures. I'm not bringing it up because of anyone here. I've done it myself actually.)

4. Topics I don't want to bring up because I don't want the topic to drift to a particular subject matter.

5. Topics I don't want to bring up because it'll only encourage the raising of artwork prices. It would be pretty stupid to bring up those topics.

6. Topics I don't want to bring up because I know the topic will drift into "I'm criticizing a group of collectors that do that".

So what good new topics are there? Hmm...I dunno.

Someone please visit another collectibles website and pull questions from there so we can post them here.

[birdie]

1. Topics we've discussed before and less people are going to answer it this time around since it has already been answered 1-5 times previously

Exactly.

[sensei]

True only if the membership of the community remains essentially the same as it is now. For all of us, there was a time when we had to ask potentially dumb questions like ...

Where do you get cel books?

What's the difference between a genga and a douga?

How do you get a stuck sketch off a cel without damaging it?

Is a cel/sketch from "that" series more valuable than one from "one of those" series even if it's not very pretty?

Is anyone else going to Otakon/Katsucon/etc.?

So, yes, if it's just us asking these questions to each other over and over, then there's not much point. But if lcatino and Kaona are the Keropis, Klets, and Senseis of the future, then I don't see the harm. If it's a thread I know I know all about, then I don't read it.

But I guess one of the things that comes with age is an ever-enlarging sense that there are so many more things about which I'm doomed to be ignorant until death than the modest number of things about which I'm confident that I know all there is to know.

[duotrouble]

No, I don't think this hobby is dying. I've been collecting for a long time now and have been able to watch waves of collecting. There will be a flood of newbies, then none, then another flood, rinse and repeat. Quality cels are everywhere. Man, if only I could win the lottery Collectors like me who have been around for a while are changing their tastes and fine tuning their collections. We realize we can't afford to collect everything especially when real life situtations make us grow up faster than we want to.

Newbies don't introduce themselves. A couple of years ago, you'd get at least one introduction a week. Now . . . months with nothing.

I wonder if we should have an introduction section here. Other boards I'm on have a thread called something like "newbies introduce yourself here". I agree that hardly anyone is introducing themselves now. They're just jumping into threads talking. Not that I have a problem with that but I just welcomed someone to beta who had apparently been here since like September. They just weren't posting on threads I was reading. (Yes, I don't read all the threads. )

Plus, older members are leaving the community or just plain not talking as much.

*glances at post count*

Am I not talking much?

[miz ducky]

I never introduced myself (I think).
I just signed up so that I could PM people to buy things from them. I had been reading the forums for a while and just couldn't let some of the "For Sale" items get away.

I think the closest thing to an into that I posted, was my first update thread.