Are settei/settings worth collecting??

[AerynAerie]

I'm curious to know if people consider settei worth collecting?? In the long run anything is only worth what the buyer will pay, but I'm asking more in a general sense.
Obviously the original sketch is worth a lot to a collector, but what about the studio made copies? Is it a similar market like reproduction cels by studios?
A full set of settei copy would go to 1 of 40* animators correct? So is it assumed that if you own the set you now have a limited settei of 1 of 40??

Just curious to hear your thoughts!!


(*Of course the number would change by how many animators on a show)

[cutiebunny]

Unfortunately, settei copies are not a limited set. Most of the settei seen for sale are copies of copies. A lot of people will buy settei on Mandarake, make copies, and then resell the copied set on YJ (including the colored sheets). People then buy them on YJ to copy for resale, give to friends, etc. Unless there's some original, studio made writing on the settei, I refer to them as "nth copied settei". I have a few of these from Sailor Moon, and I've made copies of them to give to others.

For me, unless it's an original sheet or has original handwriting on it, there's no monetary value. I may enjoy seeing how an item was sketched or a close-up of a particular scene, but I don't find myself drawn to copy settei. But, in some cases, these copied settei are the only thing that exist from the show, so you either buy the copies or own nothing from the anime.

[ginga123]

Shes right. Theres is no one setti set made equal. I have a few, but I know theyre only worth what I paid for them. However, they are fun to have and in some cases thats all I've seen for sale for some anime series

[Promethium]

I agree with cutie & ginga - I'm sure they're fun to have, but I doubt it has any collector value since they're just photocopies. Personally, I'd rather just buy an art book from that anime series that contains all that info/images.

Unlike settei photocopies, I think original settei cels (aka model cels) have collector value as they're one of a kind and super rare.

If I find an original settei cel (like the one I have below ↓) from a series I collect, I'd go after it like no tomorrow.
http://promethium.rubberslug.com/galler ... emID=50080

[Yupa]

I started out collecting settei, because for recent series it's most likely the only art that'll show up. It certainly feels like buying artbooks, however a bit more rare.

[jcaliff]

I recently got a settei set for the Otohime Connection OVA. I've only ever seen a single cel for sale for it (which I don't own) so I figure this is probably as close as I'm going to get to owning artwork for it. It's fun, but I wouldn't have paid much more than the minimum bid for them, since like everyone has said, they're probably copies of copies.

What I do like getting are the collected settei bound in books. I have a couple for Nintama Rantaro and one for Princess Tutu. Looks nice on a shelf and not all wrinkled and ratty on the edges.

[Thanatos]

As many persons, I don't buy settei, because, like rilezu, they are no more than copies (and sometimes, as it was said, even less than that). I prefer to search harder and to pay more for genga and douga, which are genuine animation art.
About the real settei, well, I haven't seen much, and they were pretty costly. But at least, you can say they are authentic .

[animeobsessed]

I agree with what others have said even though I have settei from several series. I never bought them to resell or because I thought they had value. I bought them because that was all I could get from a series, I like the color pages, etc.

But that isn't the only reason for this post. I wanted to say photocopied settei and rilezu are not a good comparison. You can have numerous copies of a settei as cutiebunny pointed out, which is not the case with a rilezu (they are not fan cels). A rilezu is a one of a kind post production cel created from the studio that was not used in production of the series b/c everything is CG. I admit I have quit buying rilezu cels like most people because they tend to cost quite a bit and don't hold their value. That doesn't compare them to a photocopy. Most of them are gorgeous artwork. It's also an section of the industry that is dying out due to lack of demand.

*gets off soapbox before the rotten tomatoes fly*

[kizu]

I actually don't think settei/settings (the mass produced copied ones) have much "collectible" value. To me they have no collectible worth and are only worth the paper they are photocopied on. When I buy one I don't expect to recuperate anything in the future at all. I figure what I paid for them - typically very cheaply - I already recuperate by seeing the information or drawing on them. I buy them mostly for knowledge/reference purposes. I collect mostly via a subject and it's fun and interesting to see how one's series art style compare to the next, or how one character is re-imagined in another series, or how character designs vary per studio etc. etc.

[star-phoenix]

"original" Photocopies of original model sheets from Disney productions have sold for $100 to as high as $1500." But, that is because there were limited copies and were destroyed after. Original mdoel sheets are a completely different story though.

I personally do not collect, nor keep, setteis.

[GuyvarIII]

I have some photocopy settei sets. The last one I won on auction was from “Steel Devil: Battle of the Great Demon Beasts” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuSdlvqDNk).

Even though they are copies, I think they’re pretty cool, and I had to outbid other bidders.
Here are some samples from the set:















My usual problem with photocopy settei sets is the condition is often unbelievably bad. Most sets I see are dog-eared with coffee stains, torn and crinkled edges, held together with giant rusting staples, and reeking of cigarette smoke.

[Thanatos]

This is the second time in a short period that I see so high prices for settei from Highschool DxD. 250€ for copies, with writings, from a recent show... but still copies. The only thing that came in my mind at the moment was "God saves" .
Any thoughts ?

[animejewell]

Original Settei are very worth collecting. The beauty of the work is amazing. I have a couple sets and if I saw some more from series that I like I would by them instantly. Original settei and original storyboards, especially the ones finely drawn, are very collectable and can be very expensive as they are drawn by the key animators or character designer.
I have a couple photocopy sets too and like everybody else has said, they are fun to have but only worth the cost of the paper they are copied on.

Animejewell

[sensei]

I have seen websites where people who own settei (photocopies) are in turn selling physical and digital copies for modest but still significant sums. So if you have a first-generation copy, then the second-generation copies you make are in turn saleable, so an enterprising person can quickly make back even a high winning bid.

Also, artists who want to draw original and accurately proportioned drawings of the characters, to produce doujinshi (fan manga) for example, would want to have the settei of the series they are paying tribute to as reference. And I could imagine a number of other artistic purposes for having these drawings. Some of the reference sketches that GuyvarIII scanned could be scanned, then digitally refined and colorized through a Photoshop program to produce some very marketable art. (Yes, copyright might be an issue, but if the images are sold through fan networks discreetly, the licence holders might be none the wiser.)

Sadly, there's not as much that one can do with original cels. A copy of a cel is a forgery, because the nature of the beast is that (like the mythical phoenix) only one can exist at any given moment. But the nature of settei is that they are copies, and so they can propagate and increase and multiply at the owner's discretion. So I can see why some people find them more collectable than original art. Rather than phoenixes, they can be geese that lay golden eggs.

Still not planning to collect them, nevertheless. (Yeah, yeah, self-defeating snobbery, and yet ... and yet ...)

[Mackettric]

I've been surprised when settei or model sheet copies have sold for really high amounts on YJ or Mandarake actions and the seller doesn't have another copy to sell or the owner doesn't turn around and sell a bunch copies. I've been hesitant to bid hundreds of dollars on settei sets from shows like GoLion because you know this stuff isn't one of a kind, it's not hard to run off a bunch of copies ... but often the winner disappears and the artwork is never seen again.

I do think this type of artwork is worth collecting and sharing with other fans. There is a wonderful book of Transformers model sheets Transformers: The Ark - A Complete Compendium Of Transformers Animation Models and the author, Jim Sorenson has a book of the GI Joe models coming out this fall. Anime fans have had these types of books released by the producers of the shows but for this type of stuff, the author has to track down the models from collectors. I think they're definitely worth collecting just for the fandom.

Originals are still better than copies, but for 80s American shows animated in Japan at least, very little of the original artwork was ever kept. I was really lucky to get some amazing original GI Joe layout drawings http://www.joeheadquarters.com/cels/drawings.html but most of the originals are long gone, so original file copies can go for pretty steep prices especially if sold by someone on the production.