A thank you and 100k hits update

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zerospace
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A thank you and 100k hits update

Post by zerospace »

First, we'd like to thank everyone who helped make our recent offers period a great success. Yes, I realize we probably told more people "no" than "yes", but we did make some great sales to some really awesome folks ;). We hope those of you who did buy something from us are enjoying your new artwork. :D

During our offers period, our hit counter on our main gallery reached a rather shocking milestone: 100,000 hits! Our main site hit counter only counts actual item views, and it's only been ticking since sometime late in 2007. I think Inspector Gadget said it best: Yowsah! 8O :rollin

--------------------------------------------

In celebration of our 100k+ hit count, we'd like to share our latest update. It's one that we think at least a few folks around here might appreciate, so we hope no one minds us yapping about it :).

First, we have a handful of great new additions to our Gundam Wing section. Thanks to the very generous Mara, we were able to add this rather lovely cel of Heero & Relena to the collection. The cel itself was scanned on an unmatching original background that accompanied another cel (as an unmatching background, amusingly). After matching up the screenshot, we realized just how close the background we used is to the real one! :)

We also added some great new mech shots to the Gundam Wing section--4 of them to be exact. Two of them feature Wing Zero and Epyon engaged in battle: 1 and 2. There are also two more mech shots of Wing Zero alone. This one is a great shot of Zero charging with its beam sabre drawn, and appears to either be in excellent condition or has had its lines retouched a bit. Either way, it looks beautiful in person! Lastly, we added a great profile shot of Zero that has so much detail that it was hard to ignore on YJ. It also happens to be a key cel, so unlike some other in-between mech shots, there's little to no distortion in the image.

We also added about 8 related sketch sets to our Gundam 00 collection. These are actually from an as-yet-unreleased in the USA special OAV for Gundam 00. If I'm reading the top of these sketches properly, it is from the 2nd episode of this 3 part OAV. Our favorites from these sketch sets are Lockon & Klaus, Lockon Stratus, and Lockon.

For those who enjoy mechs, we snagged this 80s-era mech cel from Fang of the Sun Dougram. It came complete with original matching background and in fairly decent condition given its age.

And finally, we're up to the reason this update is so exciting! We've added some rather beautiful (and seriously rare) FLCL original settei/storyboard art!. The entire section consists of about 16 sheets of sketches that appear to match up well with frames from the FLCL storyboards. We are fortunate to be able to make this comparison because we happen to own storyboard copies for all 6 episodes of FLCL, including the ending animation (see the storyboard section for highlight scans of these, if you're curious). Please do click the thumbnails of the sketches in this section--I promise you, they are worth checking out, even if you didn't like or haven't seen FLCL. I cannot say enough how excited we are to own anything from FLCL, let alone have found and acquired original art like this!

*phew* That was quite a bit of stuff! Apologies if we bored anyone ;). If you're the more impatient type or you just want to check out the entire update at once, please feel free to visit everything we've added by clicking the following link: Isshoninaru's recent additions

Thank you for visiting! :D
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Post by sensei »

Those FLCL Settei sketches are seriously amazing.

:OMG Image :OMG

Congratulations: those really are sketchworks to treasure. Your comments are delightful, even for those of us who are only minimally fooly-coolies. (My daughter gave me v. 1 of the manga for Christmas a couple years ago and I went around with a WTF look on my face until 3 Kings Day.)

Congratulations on your well-deserved 100K milestone!
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Post by Sky Rat »

The FLCL settai is seriously awesome. Congratulations!
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Post by zerospace »

Thanks, sensei! :) I think it's been mentioned in other threads around here, but it's nice to hear that people do read the commentary (I know I do) on others' galleries.

Amusingly, I have not read the FLCL manga. We do have some of the Japanese edition manga signed by the artist, Hajime Ueda, but I've never actually read them. Perhaps my husband could do some translating for me one day ;). The first time I watched any of the FLCL anime, I hated it. But, then I found I watched it out of order, and once I watched the episodes in the proper order... I loved it. I don't think I could pin down what it is about the series that I liked so much (of course, anything with robots gets my attention ^^; ), but I love the parodies and both the lighthearted nature of the series combined with the more serious coming-of-age undertones throughout. :) The story is definitely a bit crazy and confusing at times, but there are some moments of sheer brilliance (anyone who has watched it might recall the references to South Park and the South Park style of animation used at one point)--that part had me rolling on the ground laughing. I just can't help myself sometimes! :D

I know to the purists out there, watching an anime dubbed in English is almost a sin. But I would recommend the english version of FLCL, since there are plays on words and concepts that will escape many non-Japanese viewers in the original Japanese release. *hugs her FLCL Ultimate Edition boxed set* FUNimation will be re-releasing it this year, if I read their last newsletter correctly.

Thanks for looking and for the compliment, Sky Rat! Having never chatted with you, I should mention that I'm a big fan of your Weiss Kreuz collection ;).
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Post by Sky Rat »

I prefer subbed vs dubbed on a case by case basis. FLCL is definitely one I regret having watched subbed. It moves at such a fast pace that I had a really hard time reading fast enough to keep up. I definitely think I missed a lot. That's really something I ought to try rewatching soon.

I gotta say I'm a fan of your Weiss collection too! I'm probably responsible for at least 50 of your recent hit count jump, heh. ^__^
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Post by duotrouble »

Congrats on all your new goodies! :yay

A crazy side note, you can tell it's been a while since I've checked all of your gallery. I didn't realize we are sequence mates on a Kamui cel. And sadly, I didn't even realize you collected Weiss Kreuz. X|

*must check your gallery more often*
Can you hear this fangirl squee?!
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Post by zerospace »

LOL, DT! Yes, it's been awhile! I think I got that Kamui cel a few years ago now (shortly after I moved to California) -- I remember loving your sequence mate soooo much :). And Weiss... that's been a more recent (last couple of years) development. Thanks to tex-chan, the hubby and I finally sat down and watched the whole series, and we both really liked it. We honestly don't collect heavily from it, but we like it just the same ;). I still save most of my $$$ for Heero :rollin. What can I say? A fan girl likes what a fan girl likes. *laughs*

Thanks for paying the gallery a visit! :D
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Post by duotrouble »

zerospace wrote:LOL, DT! Yes, it's been awhile! I think I got that Kamui cel a few years ago now (shortly after I moved to California) -- I remember loving your sequence mate soooo much :).
:kiss :friends:

2007 is the year I started really slowing down on collecting. To help me, I quit looking at people's galleries. I'm still not huge into collecting and probably never will be as bad as I once was but the BIG bucks are always saved for my man Duo. :dlook I usually would check your gallery for the Heero updates and move along. :wink: Now, I'm checking out everyone's galleries again. 8)
Can you hear this fangirl squee?!
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Post by ReiTheJelly »

Congratulations on 100k hits!!!! :yay :yay


I know I already told you, but I'll say it again: I love all of the new additions!
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zerospace
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Post by zerospace »

Ooops! Sorry for my lateness in replying here X|. I usually am not in the habit of neglecting my own threads! :hurt:

Duo -- I knew you kinda disappeared from collecting sometime around then, because I used to stalk your gallery a lot more before 2007! :D I still visit your GW cels and your FMA section from time to time, too ;). I'm really sorry to hear you're not as into collecting as you were, but I guess we all have to have priorities, huh? Still, I hope you don't quit collecting entirely.

Rei -- thank you, hon!! :friends:

Thanks again, everyone for checking out our update -- we have some more rare surprises coming from Japan eventually (Macross fans might want to keep an eye on our gallery updates in the coming weeks/month ;))
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Post by Nelia »

Hold on while I pick my jaw up off of the floor...

Those FLCL are outstanding! Not just the fact that you managed to get so many, but the fact that FLCL artwork is so ridiculously rare to begin with. I can't recall even seeing much, if any, production art from the show!

That cel of Relena and Heero is amazing, too! Congrats! :D
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Post by zerospace »

Thank you, Nelia! :)
Nelia wrote:Those FLCL are outstanding! Not just the fact that you managed to get so many, but the fact that FLCL artwork is so ridiculously rare to begin with. I can't recall even seeing much, if any, production art from the show!
That's exactly why it was SO exciting to find them ;) -- I'd never seen anything from FLCL except copy settei and storyboards before finding these. I honestly had figured that everything from FLCL had been either stashed away by the studio or destroyed (or, that the entire anime was produced without much paper). Of course, it is Gainax, so perhaps it'll just take 10 years before artwork from it because much easier to find. X|
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