Bleach and buying genga/douga sets

[dark-water-dragon]

So I have just received a lot of my Bleach items from my YJ auctions and I am not sure how I feel about them. Now I really do like them and I do know that you can only judge what you get by what you can see. Now with that said it can be hard to determine what you are really getting. Some of the pieces that I had gotten are sets of 50 to 80 plus gengas and dougas but might only have 1 to 4 gengas and/or dougas of the main the character leaving about 95% of the set as background or insagnificant items. For example I had gotten and Ichigo with his complete hollow mask. The set was 54 pieces but there were only 3 with Ichigo and his hollow mask. I also got in the same auction a set with Muramasa and when I went through that set I found I had also gotten most if not all of the other Zanpakuto spirits that are about a half inch to an inch tall. I believe it is from the first episode of the Zanpakuto arc. That was a really great find. With all that said and know what I have gotten I would still have gotten them. I think with the price I paid even with the exchange rates and fees it was worth it. I think that I would have paid more than three times the amount to get what I got. So I ask my fellow collectors this question. Have you ever gotten a set that had unexpected treasures or had disappointed you thinking you were going to get more than what you had seen?

[Keropi]

I always liked getting mixed sets with different scenes and different characters in them. If I got a good enough mix, I might only need one set from the series.

The sets I often liked the least were the sets that were from one scene and maybe only one character. Often the characters I wanted the most were the only characters missing from the set. In some cases someone removed those sketches and sold the rest.

The Sadamitsu sketches I got were completely missing Yayoi sketches, but the KimiNozo set I got had an extra Akane sketch in there which wasn't shown in the auction photo. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.

[sensei]

Yes, lots of times getting sketch sets is like picking from Forrest Gump's mother's box of chocolates: you don't really know what you're going to get until you bite. Generally I don't put much stock in a lot with a large number of dougas because I expect that they are going to be partials. Still, as an academic, I do what is necessary to store them for the long term, even if I don't scan them, as I figure they are historically significant. I'm generally more interested in the earlier stages, especially the roughs, as these are the ones that show the creation of the scene by the most important animators.

But, yes, I've had a variety of experiences. I used to collect from Chobits but found that the quality of sketches was really underwhelming compared to other series, and many sets would give me one or two complete images and inches and inches of partial dougas. Eventually I unloaded the whole lot. That was a Madhouse project, so it was disappointing that the production quality was not so hot. Actually, the brash new studio they farmed the parallel project Angelic Layer out to did a much better job with that, even though it was the lesser of the two CLAMP mangas. (That was BONES, which had just been founded by a bunch of veterans of Cowboy Bebop.)

On the other hand, I've never been disappointed with a Rozen Maiden set, no matter how incomplete or filled with partials. That was a crazy good series, and it shows in nearly every item of art.

Studio Pierrot is a studio with a reputation for high artistic quality, so I'd lay odds (not being a Bleach collector) that the layouts, roughs, and genga are well worth the having.

[cutiebunny]

When it comes to buying sketch and background/layout sets, I only bid on the images shown, especially when it comes to Mandarake. I've only bought a couple of sketch sets on Mandarake, but in every case, I've never been happy that I get a lot of partials and that the three scanned items featured in the auction are probably the best of the lot. I've been much happier with sketch and background/layout lots that I've purchased on YJ. I'm generally pleasantly surprised with what I receive, but maybe that's because I don't have high expectations.

This year, though, I've purchased many backgrounds with mostly copy layouts. The backgrounds come from an anime that spans a 1 year period, so there are a variety of seasonal scenery. One particular episode is dedicated to Christmas, and in that episode, there are four dynamite backgrounds, each of which were originally created by taking pictures from blogs and then reproducing them as a painting. One of the backgrounds was shown in one of the lots I won, so I knew I'd receive it. But another background was not shown, and I was very shocked to have ended up with it.

Actually, the brash new studio they farmed the parallel project Angelic Layer out to did a much better job with that, even though it was the lesser of the two CLAMP mangas.

I agree that the studios that do artwork for Madhouse typically produce high quality stuff. I've been impressed with artwork from DR Movie lately.

[Yupa]

I've had a few examples of both - some sets were surprisingly spectacular while others were unfortunately cut in many layers. I'm starting to bid more on sketch sets with less sheets, however I still hope for an awesome cut when bidding on sets with 100+ sheets.

[D123]

Well.. I’m getting my second lot of sketch sets bought off of YJ from Bleach in the mail soon so I’ll tell you how it goes! The last lot of bleach sets I got was exacting what I was expecting; nothing different from the pictures shown, there wasn’t many partials either.. I wonder if I get a surprise with this new set!


The only other time I got a big lot of sketches was some rough sketches off Mandarake (not Bleach) and unlike cutiebunny the sketches were greater than what was shown in the pictures it was definitely treasure


That being said I haven’t bought many sketches

[star-phoenix]

I honestly had more of the disappointing experiences than the good surprises. That is one of the big reasons I cut down on buying Anime sketches. I really like to know what I will be getting.

[D123]

Well.. I’m getting my second lot of sketch sets bought off of YJ from Bleach in the mail soon so I’ll tell you how it goes! The last lot of bleach sets I got was exacting what I was expecting; nothing different from the pictures shown, there wasn’t many partials either.. I wonder if I get a surprise with this new set!

Haha turned out to be mostly partials a shame since the one and only set I wanted from the lot only had 1 full sketch and the rest where partials I’m selling the other sets I didn’t want here viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28809 if anybody’s interested

I can't say I wouldn't do it again even though I went into the triple digits.. I really wanted that damn sketch

[dark-water-dragon]

Well.. I’m getting my second lot of sketch sets bought off of YJ from Bleach in the mail soon so I’ll tell you how it goes! The last lot of bleach sets I got was exacting what I was expecting; nothing different from the pictures shown, there wasn’t many partials either.. I wonder if I get a surprise with this new set!


The only other time I got a big lot of sketches was some rough sketches off Mandarake (not Bleach) and unlike cutiebunny the sketches were greater than what was shown in the pictures it was definitely treasure


That being said I haven’t bought many sketches

I have gotten most of my sets from YJ from the same seller you had gotten yours. When it comes to buy pieces I only go by what I see like most of you have said, and I only recommend people to do the same. When I buy these sets I determain if the set I am buy I would pay that much after all of the additional costs are included. Most of the time they are, and those few times I find some really nice items I was not expecting.