Have you ever made someone else's dream come true?

[sensei]

The continued life of the thread on "no turning back" made me think of another theme that the Washington Post explored recently. Adapted to this forum, it would go like this: We all talk about "wishlist cels" and "dream cels," and sometimes tell about how some item that we never, ever expected to own came into our hands in some unexpected way. But how about the opposite. Have you ever taken part in an event in which you gained little, maybe just a fistful of dollars, but you learned later that what you'd done had fulfilled someone else's dream of a lifetime?

I thought of this when I saw sugarcels' post on her best acquisition of the year: it was a Tonde Buurin henshin cel that was very close to another one I had, and that I agreed to sell to her earlier this year. And then I remembered how in 2006, Vapalla and I were collaborating on bidding on YHJ auctions, using my SMJ account. She came across another Tonde Buurin lot that had a henshin cel, plus an eyecatch. We agreed to go halves, if she got the eyecatch and I got the henshin. The auction was contested, but we had courage and determination, and prevailed for within our reserve.

Vapalla told me later that when I passed on to her the result of the auction, she screamed so loud in triumph that her husband and child were sure something had happened to her.

Vapalla's eyecatch: http://cat.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_i ... mID=186819
My henshin: http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=186568

Maybe it was foolish to give up the eyecatch, as they are much rarer than henshin cels ... but after all I would not have known about the auction if Vapalla had not spotted it in one of her regular trawls, as it used an unusual spelling of the series title. And cel karma handled the rest, as five years later I was able to go for and win my own TB eyecatch cel.

[cutiebunny]

Yes, I've helped other collectors obtain wishlist items. Sometimes it's just bidding on the item and holding onto it until the collector can pay me back, but I've given a few cels away in the past.

A couple of these items are stuff that a few people on this board will be receiving for Christmas this year, so I'd hate to spoil the surprise. But on one occasion, one of my fellow coworkers was a big fan of Death Note. I mentioned to him that I was going to a convention that featured a guest that worked on the anime, and was able to get a sketch of Light on a mini shikishi for him. When I handed it to him, he mentioned that it was the nicest thing that anyone's done for him.

I've had other collectors do nice things like this for me as well. Earlier this year, I received a signed comic by Naoko Takeuchi from a fellow RS member.

I've always viewed it as something that I should do. I'm happy with my collection and I want to share that enjoyment with others.

[JWR]

In my case I can state that I have at one time was able to supply a wish list cel to another rubberslug and beta member. It happened to be at a time when I read one of the forum entries by this person and just happened to check out their wish list section. It so happened that I found that I actually owned a cel from the sequence that was their wish list item. So while I still did like the particular cel it seemed that this particular scene held a much more important place for this person. So I ended up contacting this person to see if they would be interested in that particular cel which they were.

After agreeing to a price and setting up the terms for payment as well as shipping I sent off the cell to them. Even though as it turns out it ended up taking me to a few years before I found another cel from that sequence giving it up was actually a worthwhile investment because by a fulfilling this persons wish list item for them I gained a lifelong friend.

[iceman57]

Last Xmas, a woman that sudenly lost her mother from a disease.
Germany was the land of "Captain Future" anime series popularity partly due to its lookalike StarTrek OST. This woman was sad and gift idea was to use nostalgia as a curation.
Bringing her back to her childhood doesn't bring back her mother but bringed back old family memories such as TV set, games, family lunch in front of this particular anime.
An extremely pleasant moment of my life to fight to get this gift and to see it heal the wounds...

[kizu]

Yes more often in the past when I had a much more varied collection. I had some "X" and "MKR" and I also let go of a few "RK" cels. Typically I look at the person's gallery (see their collection/description) and sometimes you can tell by the way they approach you (especially the initial approach). Also the offer for their dream cel is typically at market price or even a little higher. It's easier to pass a cel onto someone who will appreciate it more. Of course there's always the other type of buyer though who says it's their dream cel and try to low ball at the same time. When it's like that - then I tend to pass since it seems more like a bargaining strategy. I like the one's who talk the talk and walk the walk so to speak.

[Melle]

Yup! A few times I have! I helped a few cel collectors find their dream cels, and I even traded a few to some folks for Other cels in the past. I love helping others out when I can! Hehe, and I especially get a big kick when they get it by surprise and have an OMG OMG OMG!!!!! Moment.

Nothing makes me happier then to make someone else smile!