Where did we all go?

[blueheaven]

I know I wasn't the most beloved person on AB, but I have been here since the start...before even. Every so often, I check back in to see how everyone is doing. I keep seeing all my former cel friends leaving the hobby disillusioned. I never left the hobby, there just weren't any cels around that I wanted to collect. I still love reading the boards and looking at your galleries. I have a new hobby that keeps me satisfied. However, it is sad to see all these cool people walking away. Personally, I blame the cel/sketch hoarders out there in Japan who have pretty much gobbled up all the best stuff for themselves and dried up the market. it reminds me of the diamond trade. Diamonds are not rare at all. However, those who own the diamonds only release a small number every year to keep the prices high. It's too bad. I had a great deal of fun in this hobby. Now, it has dried up to the point that I no longer check every week. What do you guys think? How much longer will you continue to collect?

[sensei]

I'm still here.

What's happened is that my budget is reduced by retirement, and that and the worsening of the exchange rate has meant that I now think several times before I hit that "submit bid" button. Is this something that I really really want?

And I've found myself widening my "trap line" as I find less to collect from my "old favorites." Where I used to focus on 4-5 series, now I've found myself investigating new series where good material is still available. Particularly, I've been looking more at the previous generations of anime, series done in the 70s and 80s, which often have intriguing histories or plot elements.

So the updates are sparser that they used to be, and they come farther apart. They aren't all CLAMP-focused ... and yet they do keep coming every two months or so, and I find I still enjoy collecting.

But I also spend as much time maintaining my collection: changing bags, reorganizing, looking for trouble spots, and, in the process simply enjoying looking at some of my possessions. As I've said before, if you enjoy getting anime art more than you enjoy having it, you probably need to reexamine your motivations for being in the hobby. Me, I love my stuff, and while I know I need to clean out some overstuffed drawers with a big yard sale, I'm not likely to switch over to something else soon.

[graymouser]

Great to hear from you. It has been a long time. I agree that it has pretty frustrating to not be able to find much of what I collect from. Cels have pretty much given way to sketches. Most of the time I just cannot bring myself to get excited enough about sketches to spend the the kind of money needed to get quality images. I have done some expansion into shows that I never collected from before, but like you said, there is not much out there anymore.

I still check here daily. I am a loner by nature and so have not been very social on the forum. This has probably spared me some of the clashes that have chased some of the members away. I plan on continuing to collect cels and check my regular haunts daily. I still have a wish list with about 45 cels that I would like to find someday.

I was never "in" enough to know whether you were beloved or not. Personally, I have always enjoyed your posts. In a way we were always opposites; both in opinion and style. I tended to say something once (maybe twice to clarify something) and let it go. You were always eager for debate. It was great to see how energetic and lively the threads became when you were around more. I guess the both of us are just too thick-skinned and opinionated to ever belong in the "beloved" group. We are also too honest to try to pretend otherwise just for popularity's sake.

[glorff]

The economic downturn has not been kind to me since I am in businesses related to the building trade. As a result I have been very stretched to survive as a business owner. I have not written a paycheck to myself in three years and that means cels have not been in the budget. Things are starting to pick back up, but after three years I am not sure if I will become active again, even after the debt has been cleared up. I still have all of my cels and will keep all or almost all of them, but the world has changed and me with it.

I still check back occasionally, but not daily like I once did. Seems like it has become pretty sparce around here.

[kizu]

Hi there. Well me too! Most of the people I talked to save 2 or 3 are gone. But then again, I am a hermit! Nah quite honestly my collecting activity is so focused now and no one’s that interested in what I collect or collect the same things so there isn’t much to talk about. Plus yeah competition can be stiff and it can get in the way of people getting to know each other – I think that’s just the reality of it. How many have I counted a good conversation going and then they ask to look at my gallery and never reply again? Or people who won’t even reply to a good compliment because I’ve been a competitor in the past. It got to a point that I took down my gallery for a few months just because of the weird reaction but I put it up again since it’s mostly for my enjoyment. I like seeing my stuffages easily wherever I’m at. One of the other things I think is that it’s just not been a good time to collect – the exchange rate is crappy, people are selling but they’re selling the fodder of their collection and waiting for prices to pick up again. I honestly don’t think I’ll see any goodies until the cel market is healthy again. It’s a good time however for beginning collectors who want to get their feet wet, but if you’ve been around the block a few times, you know that quality is always better than quantity or lower price.

Oh I still collect, in fact I bid more heavily now on the pieces I know are worth it. I'm still having fun - just having fun alone. I kind of like it that way.

[Gonzai]

Still here, however, have found out that through the years, basically people suck.
I have met a lot of people in this hobby, albiet most of them have moved on, that
are still close friends, and that is what has always made me love this hobby. Then
you have the assholes and cut-throat dealers that all they care about is money, and
not the people who are suppose to be their friends.

Enough said.

[dude_moose]

Hey there! Nice to see you around

I'm lurking around here again, but I haven't bought anything in ages. I bought very little through college, a tiny bit while I was in Japan, and nothing since I graduated. It took me 9 months to find a job after graduation, and I'm still trying to build up some savings and a new life in a new city. I'm not making much, but enough that I might get something if anything pops up that catches my eye within a certain price range. The exchange rate is terrible, so that doesn't help! I didn't think it could get much worse than when I was abroad (82jpy/1usd), but, surprise! It did

[cutiebunny]

I'm still around, and I find that I love this hobby just as much as I did when I first started collecting cels 9 years ago. My tastes have expanded and changed over the years, but I think that's a good thing. Besides, as high as some of these cels go for on Mandarake and with the frequency that nice stuff comes along, I'd only have a couple of items to update with on a yearly basis.

I'm stil slow to update, both because I find myself doing more overtime than I'd ideally like to, and because I have other things going on. I also don't buy as much as I used to, largely because the exchange rate is right here - . I see lots of things I like, but I remind myself that with the exchange rate and deputy fees, I'll end up paying almost double its end price.

It's odd to think that I've become one of the old "active" timers around here. I didn't realize that I'd been around for so long...

[Shampoo]

*big mondo glompninjutsus to Brian*

Heya hon!

I'm... sorta still here LOL! Well barely!
And I feel pretty lousy that I haven't sent you a pm in so long.

For me, between r/l and lack of quality cels, collecting has been
on the back burner. Every once and a while I'll purchase a
few things but its become a rare sight for me to do that. I don't
check here as often as I use to because most of the time there's
never really any discussion or conversations going on and most
of my fav peeps don't post or have moved on.

[Keropi]

There were a number of reasons for me to slow down and stop. Years ago, I switched to concentrating on sketches because I wanted to have artwork from a wider variety of shows, because I wanted artwork from newer anime and because I was concerned about my cels fading over time. Paper takes longer to deteriorate if it's taken care of properly. I really hate seeing my things go downhill over time (they don't even have to be collectibles). That was why I always collected black and white signed photos (color changes) and why I didn't collect old copper coins (too easy to corrode unless monitored).

1. The sketches coming out these days are not as "nice" as they used to be (2006-2007 and earlier). Most of what we see now are roughs. And many of them are very simple roughs.

2. The studio workers who drew their own sketches to sell on YJ certainly didn't add to my enthusiasm. It got to the point where I was always wondering if the semi-simple sketch I was looking at was an actual production sketch or something someone had drawn only to sell.

3. I'm likely going to move to Hawaii in a few years. After seeing how much damage the humidity there does to paper it only discouraged me further from getting more sketches. It would really bother me to watch sketches get screwed up and foxed over time (even it took 15-20 years)

4. I'm saving up money for other things. But this was the least of my concerns.

So...just a general loss of interest from me I guess. I had been collecting for fourteen years. That's a quite while to be doing the same thing. It's good to see a number of you guys still checking in here albeit less frequently than before.

[ReiTheJelly]

I'm still vaguely around. I'm a people-person, so the lack of conversations on this forum has caused me to drop my visitation down to infrequently. I've also got many other things on my mind (including other hobbies), so cel collecting isn't in the forefront any longer. It also doesn't help that good cels from the series I collect are becoming more rare, and thus, more expensive.

I love my current collection to bits, but I've got other priorities right now.

[animeobsessed]

I'm still here as well. As others have said, I don't collect as much due to the exchange rate, being more selective and narrowing my series. I seldom see anything I want and when I do it's goes too high. I also have other issues going on in my life and am tired of deputy fees, etc.

I still visit here quite often, but don't post as much. I've found that the members now are not as eager to comment on a thread as they were before and to get more than a couple posts on a thread about a single series or episodes is rare. The XXX (spring/summer/fall) season threads seems to do the best, but are still very general in the posts. It is very different from several years ago. Wow, it's been that long...time flies.

Btw, Gonzai, I'm still here for ya. We don't all suck!

[ReiTheJelly]

...and am tired of deputy fees...

I hear that! I'm being much more particular about what I buy, since fees are so high (especially on non-cel items with Rinkya).

[JWR]

I'm still around quite a bit though sometimes not as visible as I like.

With my hours change in work adding to the 42 mile drive each way by the time I gat home, cleaned up and have dinner most I know have gone to bed.

I have with this current economy been much more selective on my purchases, yet I still think I will by years end I will be close to my normal dollar amount.

[blueshinma]

I've actually been almost active, well not really. I did have an update I still kinda keep up with what is available, but the series I always collected from are few and far between. My deputy account has also gone away (I piggy backed on a good friends account) and I really don't buy enough to warrant the same type of service. I have been happy to get a few sketch sets, but cels were always my passion. It just doesn't have the same appeal to me. It seems that most of my cels are bought from friends or cels I sold and are getting back. I love that BTW