"I knew EXACTLY what it was!"

[sensei]

While we're reminiscing about "firsts" and "lucky ricochet wins," here's one more that I was thinking about earlier today.

One day this cel appeared on YHJ:


http://sensei.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=366046

It was sold inside a cardboard frame identifying it as from the Unico pilot TV episode, produced in 1979 by Sanrio Studios, so that wasn't a mystery. But the guy in the upper left corner was a mystery -- he never appears in the pilot nor in any of the other Sanrio Unico productions.

But I'd gotten the first English translation of Osamu Tezuka's Unico manga a few months before, so at a glance I knew exactly what scene this scene was supposed to show. Unico gets into the fix he's in (having to lose his memory and shift to another time and place at the end of each episode) because of a feud between his original owner, the Greek mortal Psyche, and Lady Venus, who's jealous of her beauty. So she sends her son Eros to earth with orders to make her fall in love with the most disgusting male mortal he can imagine.

But instead (in the manga as in the original Greek myth) Eros bungles the job and falls head-over-heels in love with Psyche himself. That's an important scene in the manga, and Sanrio evidently storyboarded and animated this scene for the pilot, then cut it out as taking up too much time.

This cel of Eros survived because it was mated with a non-matching cel from another scene. (She looks like Psyche, but she's the evil duplicate created by Lady Venus to abduct Unico.) Still, it's a nice imagining of what this "accidentally falling in love" lost scene would have looked like.

Anyone else happen on something in an out-of-the-way place or auction that you somehow immediately recognized as something you knew?

[x]

This cel was listed on YahooJp as an unknown cel and I when I came across it I was pretty sure I knew where it was from.
http://popzap.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=382501

I quickly crosschecked (probably my VHS copies at the time) and confirmed that it was from Gundam 0083.
I was super excited as this was and probably still is my fave Gundam series.

I put in a bid and watched it closely until the end.
As luck would have it, no on else must have come across or recognised it as there were no counterbids at all.
So I ended up with a dream cel for a bargain price.

Another interesting thing is that this particular cel currently holds first place in number of views on my rubberslug site.

[sensei]

This cel was listed on YahooJp as an unknown cel and I when I came across it I was pretty sure I knew where it was from.
http://popzap.rubberslug.com/gallery/in ... mID=382501

Congratulations, x, that truly is a beauty, and more so if you know the situation. Love the elaborate way the bedclothes are painted to make the scene both realistic and emotionally complex.

[BuraddoRun]

Well, it's literally been years since I've posted. Sorry, as is the excuse with many of us that join online communities, "real life got in the way." My cel collecting has dwindled as far as adding things to the collection are concerned, but I still have it all. Reecntly I've been rebagging and reorganizing things. My Rubberslug gallery hasn't been updated in forever, and probably won't be anytime soon. And I haven't been to these forums in a while, but just stopped by since my mind was on cels while reorganizing.

Anyhow, hi everyone!

I signed in to contribute to this thread with this purchase I made from Cellulorama a few years ago: http://www.cellulorama.com/product_info ... 9ad193ea41

I found it while browsing their Unknown section and instantly recognized it as Peter from Flight of Dragons! I bought it for cheap (can't remember how much exactly but it was very inexpensive) at a time before Mandarake started having a bunch of cels from the film go up for auction. Even with the more widespread availability of cels from FoD now, they still go for good prices and are desirable. I don't plan on selling anytime soon of course, since this is one of my favorite animated shows of all time. Anyways, fun thread! I'd like to read more stories if anyone has them of golden finds like these.

[Krafty]

Excellent thread, Sensei. Finds like this are among the most rewarding in this hobby. I enjoyed reading about your Unico adventure and I doubt few others could have worked that out!

Anyone else happen on something in an out-of-the-way place or auction that you somehow immediately recognized as something you knew?

Since I have a lot of art from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and know the OVA well, I've happened across some really interesting pieces. I remember trying to place 1 or 2 Cuts and even though the scene number indicated where they'd be within the episode I couldn't see it. I realised they must have been omitted from the final edit! Can't post an image right now but take my word for it ^__^

Hi, BuraddoRun, great cel of Peter Dickinson. I'd love some setups from this one too- I rented the VHS tape so many times when I was young, my Dad got annoyed that I didn't broarden my horizons with other films!

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

HA! Well at least now I know where this went to!

http://blueblade.rubberslug.com/gallery ... mID=110352

A very long time ago, maybe in 2001 or before, this cel was on Mandarake's site for sale. N'Dul is my favorite villain from the Jo Jo's OVA, so I jumped to buy it. When the package arrived from Mandarake, they had sent completely the wrong cel. I wrote them and their reply was basically "oops, our bad, you can just keep that one". I was NOT happy with this customer non-service and had no interest in the cel they had sent. I told them I still wanted the one I had actually ordered. After making me jump hoops to return the incorrect cel (normal post wasn't good enough for them *sigh*), they admitted they couldn't FIND the cel I had ordered. It was gone and no one knew where it went.

They refunded my money, but I've always been amazingly disappointed to not have been able to get it.... and worried about what actually HAD happened to such a perfect cel of him. At least now I no longer need to worry what happened to it. I will commence being jealous. ^_^

[JWR]

I find this sometimes when attempting identify unknowns for others. Several years back a friend on RS had purchased some painted backgrounds he had no idea the shows they come from. One was a sky shot with several large square monoliths floating in the sky. As soon as I saw it I knew they background was from the show Yumeria and later we found the actual screen capture that showed it.

[sensei]

Yes, this sometimes happens when I look through "Unidentified" sections in sales and gallery offers. This beauty was purchased in Japan from an "Unidentified" pile and sold by a German collector as still "Unidentified." But again, I knew EXACTLY what it was (though not the exact episode or scene yet).