100th post, who i am

hgeek23 · Post by **hgeek23** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:13 am

This will be my 100th post and since my favorite part of this community has been meeting new collectors and learning about who they are (in real life), i'm going to dedicate this post to letting you all know a bit of who i am and some overall impressions of this community.
I first have to start out by thanking this community for helping to make my Japan trip last month a success. I could not have done it without the help of forum members.
About my time on this forum: this is the only forum i have ever posted more than 30 times in. While here i have learned to frame art, preserve art, and to appreciate it as well. This is a great deal of fun and I can now understand why women love window shopping for clothes, since i usually peruse the for sale section just to check out cels that are worth seeing, even though i wouldnt buy them. And honestly, I never before have met a cel collector except while visiting anime comet in Japan so this is the place to go to meet other like-hobbied people!
Love this place--here's to the next 900 posts.

About me:
My name is AJ. I am from Boston and currently study Mech E at MIT.
How i got started with this whole hobby is quite a long story: My start in this hobby came from looking for cels for my younger bro for a bday present a couple of years ago (for his bar mitzvah). I started my quest in 2008/2009 believe it or not. I looked high and low for a drawing related to an anime series he’d like. I had no idea what cels were at the time—didn’t know anything about the animation process. Many letters to shonen jump and failed letters to akira toriyama later (sent a letter to a game company in california and said C/O akira toriyama with a pic of my bro's face and a request to sketch him in as a saiyan, lol--the letter was returned to sender--I never opened or threw it out, it remains on my desk at home as a reminder of that attempt). While in Israel on a year abroad I actually got kind of desperate and so I phoned Shonen Jump after being bounced back and forth on emails. I was told on the phone with a shonen jump person of the existence of things called cels.
it was now 2010 and A few google clicks later and I was introduced to rubberslug, wherein I sent feedback to dozens of collectors’ galleries asking what kinds of prices were expected for various pieces. I was a complete noob. One thing led to another and I came into contact with a collector who taught me an incredible amount (i'm withholding his name in case he values his privacy that way--all of you would know who he is if i mentioned him though). He also sent my brother a couple of things. We've remained in contact since. Its one of those things in life that is so nice, and i'm glad I got to meet him. He was the first collector I was introduced to.
Along the way I have been in contact with many other collectors, Sensei, zerospace, teggacat, and others and I love this community. I have not found other collectors in real life, but it has been fun to "meet" new people online. So if anyone is in the cambridge/boston area please feel free to ever send me a pm or email and we can meet up in real life!

zerospace · Post by **zerospace** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:47 am

Good to see you still hanging around, AJ!

It seems these days a lot of newbies come and leave just as quickly, so places like Beta are definitely better for having folks like you joining.

Now, you just need to get your brother to sign up...

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:52 am

Glad to see that you've decided to stick around with this incorrigible lot

If you can swing it, I recommend going to an anime convention next year. You're probably close enough to Anime Boston that you wouldn't need accomodations. Cons are a great way to meet other collectors, and get other collectors interested in the community. I've met a lot of nice people at cons, and I enjoy chatting with them while we wait the several hours necessary to get an autograph from the con's guest of honor.

Post by **sensei** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 11:00 am

Thanks for joining and keeping active. It's "new blood" that keeps this ole forum alive and worth visiting. Ditto CB's suggestion: My daughter is part of the active con scene in that part, and Connecticon is also worth a visit, she says. If you ever get far enough south to AnimeNext (New Brunswick, NJ) you'll see me. I usually give some kind of panel on anime art collecting, and, increasingly, something more intellectual as well, such as the father-daughter incest theme in CCS.

Collecting cels is just the beginning ...

hgeek23 · Post by **hgeek23** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:19 pm

Sensei, do you know a professor Ian Condry?

Post by **sensei** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:51 pm

hgeek23 wrote:Sensei, do you know a professor Ian Condry?

No, sorry, that doesn't ring a bell. I have met Charles Dunbar, who presents at a number of these cons on shinigami, yokai, mythology in Miyazaki, fanthropology, etc.

teggacat · Post by **teggacat** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 12:56 pm

thanks for sharing your thoughts AJ

glad you seem to have found an anime niche and enjoy trolling around here on AB,
also glad to see you keep active on posts here, thats what keeps this community
running!, and yes, we did meet on ebay as well, and had a fun HxH discussion
[i also tend to think of kurapica as a guy, okay, maybe more of a pretty boy......

]
anyhow, check in here often, you never know what'll turn up next as many
wonderful people/collectors post their comments/opinions/advice/tips

Post by **JWR** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 1:31 pm

I echo the happiness that you found this corner of the anime world and found it to your liking.

zerospace · Post by **zerospace** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 3:56 pm

cutiebunny wrote:Glad to see that you've decided to stick around with this incorrigible lot

If you can swing it, I recommend going to an anime convention next year. You're probably close enough to Anime Boston that you wouldn't need accomodations. Cons are a great way to meet other collectors, and get other collectors interested in the community. I've met a lot of nice people at cons, and I enjoy chatting with them while we wait the several hours necessary to get an autograph from the con's guest of honor.

I totally agree with CB -- definitely visit a convention if you're interested in meeting other collectors in person. I've met a bunch that way and it's always fun. I don't think I'd actually met Gonzai in person before AX this past year, and ended up going jogging with her and syan, so yep -- always a fun experience meeting the people you "know" online!

hgeek23 · Post by **hgeek23** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 4:01 pm

Will i see anyone at Anime Boston?

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 8:05 pm

I think a lot of us go to AX. That con usually happens on the 4th of July weekend. If that's something you're interested in, I'd recommend checking out their forums as the con date gets closer. A lot of people share rooms with each other to save on costs. I've done it a couple times before and ran my own room at several conventions. Sometimes you meet some great people, and other times, you're just happy the con only lasts 4 days.

I think there are a few people that go to Anime Boston on this board. But you may also find a lot of people at AB that don't know that places like Rubberslug exist, or, for whatever reason, don't want to post their collection on the internet. You'll meet a lot of these people if you decide to stand in line to get an autograph from the various guests of honor that attend these conventions.

My advice is to try Anime Boston first and see what you think about it. If you like it, you might want to try going to cons that gear themselves more towards your interest. Some conventions focus more on musical guests, others on artists or US industry personnel.

hgeek23 · Post by **hgeek23** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:34 pm

Hmm. I went for a day to AB last year for a day but could definitely see going to another convention. What's some good conventions to look for? What makes a convention good?

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 7:53 am

I think it depends on what you look for in a convention.

If music guests are your thing, larger conventions are probably going to be your safest bet. Anime Expo, SakuraCon, Otakon and Animazement all seem to have a good selection of Japanese (and sometimes K-pop) singers.

Artist guests, though, depend on what you value more - A wide selection of anime production guests or a small pool with a greater chance for more personalized service? I can't think of any conventions off the top of my head that are strictly dedicated to seiyuu. Most large cons usually get 1-2 Japanese seiyuu and a couple of US voice actors in order to appeal to those who like subbed anime, and those who prefer it dubbed. With a large convention, you can pick and choose between who you to see, and there's no shortage of activities. The downside, though, is that you may miss out on seeing or doing something that you really want. With small cons, the limited number of guests means that you have more one on one time, and the downside is that there may be long periods during the con where you have nothing going on.

There are also other things to consider, such as the location of the convention and what ammenities are nearby. For example, it's pretty cheap to attend AM2 since it happens in the Disneyland area, so there are lots of hotels around to cater to whatever price range you have. But in the case of AX, you're in Downtown LA, so if you want your own room in an AX block hotel or a hotel that isn't in the ghetto, expect to pay $150-$250 a night.

My experience has been this (based on West Coast cons). All are cons I'd recommend for a variety of reasons -

Large Con - Anime Expo, SakuraCon

Medium Con (solely based on how its handled) - FanimeCon

Small Con - AM2

But if you just want to meet a lot of collectors, go to Anime Expo. Stand in a couple of autograph lines and head to Slugfest and you'll meet several.

Since you're still in college, it would probably be more cost effective for you to check out cons on the East Coast instead of flying (or driving) out to the West Coast for any of these. You could always check out the Otakon & Animazement forums and read others' experiences to determine which con might work out best for you. I just looked up what it would cost for me to attend NY Comic Con since I have the weekend off, only to find out that it would cost 1.5K for me to just fly and stay at a hotel near the con

hgeek23 · Post by **hgeek23** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 2:03 am

1.5k?! I'd rather take a gorgeous cel than drop 1.5k on a convention.
Thanks for the help Cutie. Guess I'll have to stick with AB then.

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:40 am

I'd go to Priceline or something like that and just look up what the fees are for you to attend another con nearby, like Otakon or Animazement, and see if it's worth it to you. Areas like NYC and LA are popular areas to go, and that's probably why the prices were so high. But something closer to you might cost $500 for a couple days hotel & airfare. You could also share your room with others, and that will diminish your costs a bit. A lot of convention websites have forums where you can post that you're looking for roomies, rides, etc.

Anime-Beta TNG

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