Cel Saga

[Spanner]

E-bay currently has quite a few El-Hazard production cels available for bidding. Most of them are of TV Ifurita, but I saw a very nice Nanami one there, too, as well as a few others. I'm not a big collector of cels, but I bid on one, just so that I can say that I own a TV Ifurita cel.

Anyway, considering the ridiculous prices some cels reach, I thought these cels were priced fairly reasonably. Naturally, as this is E-bay, hotbed of forgeries and bootlegs, I can't guarantee that they're not fake, but if you're interested, have a look for yourself.

I only ask as a courtesy that no one else here battle me for the TV Ifurita cel in auction #3258408834. There's plenty of other TV Iffy cels available!

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

I've never bought a cel, even though I've had tons of opportunities being a regular eBay flyer.  Mostly because my sister warns of the insane care required to maintain the artifacts.

Tim, however, has been "collecting" the images of the cels for quite some time now.  He would sometimes do web searches looking specifically for cels.  He'd save every single cel any dealer had posted up anywhere.  And he really has a nice pool of images from ALL El-Hazard series including even the Saturn game.

The current count of his cel "collection" is 2,735.

[daguru]

I once found the PERFECT Shayla cel. It was being officially sold, so it was authentic. It was a close-up of her face and she was smiling. 'twas only $35 and someone beat me to it!

[Kathy Guinea]

I've never bought a cel, even though I've had tons of opportunities being a regular eBay flyer.  Mostly because my sister warns of the insane care required to maintain the artifacts.

Cells ARE a pain to maintain which is why I have stayed away from collecting them. On the few occasions that I HAVE thought about buying that $30 cell of a character I love, I quickly reminded myself that:

1) cels were never meant to last forever.

2) temperature and humidity affect cells, they cannot be kept in an unstable environment i.e. if your bedroom is in the attic of your house and you have no air conditioner -- DO NOT BUY CELLS

3) the safest place to keep an animation cell is in a cell book... in other words you put them in a special acid free book made specifically FOR cells, keep it in a cool dry place, and never expose them to air or light or else they may fade, peel or stick to something. In other words, you never get to look at them.

4) if you DO frame them to put them on display you must:
    A) have it professionally framed and matted
    B) Have it REFRAMED and REMATTED every year or so just to make sure the "acid free" matt does not eat away your cell
    C) Make sure you put spacers inside the frame... if you do not, the cell paint might stick and peel.
    D) Make sure you take it to someone who has EXPERIENCE framing cells. People have told me horror stories where they tried to get the thing professionally framed at a frame shop, by someone who never framed cells before, and they more or less cut their cell out >_<

After thinking about how much money I would waste on having the thing framed and reframed every year or so, I decided that it wasn't worth it (and I'm sure as hell NOT going to spend more than $30 on a picture I'm never going to SEE!)

But if you like high maintenence collectibles... cells are for you.

[Lord God Jinnai]

I only ask as a courtesy that no one else here battle me for the TV Ifurita cel in auction #3258408834. There's plenty of other TV Iffy cels available!

Sheesh, Spanner. You're just wasting your money. Especially for a tv Ifurita cell. If it were a cell of me, then I'd understand what all the trouble was about. I mean, heck, for 35 bucks I'll sell you Ifurita. She's an original, in quasi-mint condition I might add!

Ifurita: You shouldn't take me out of the box though, or else I won't be worth anything in ten years. ^_^

[Spanner]

But if you like high maintenence collectibles... cells are for you.

*Nods* I'm not particularly surprised to learn all that, but it doesn't matter one bit. Believe me, I have never had any intention of becoming a cel collector. But just one El-Hazard cel is not beyond my means, and hey, if it goes bad in a few years, no biggie. I've certainly wasted more money on stupider El-Hazard memorabilia over the years.

I have another cel that I got for free from The Right Stuf International, way back when they packaged crappy cels for free with every order. This one, though, was a rather nice picture, and so I framed it (unprofessionally, and unmatted). It's still doing fine today.

It's my theory that the cel is doing fine because I originally had didn't know exactly how difficult they were to care for. Now that I know, they'll probably shrivel up and die in short order. Thanks a lot.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

i.e. if your bedroom is in the attic of your house and you have no air conditioner

Ah, the great torch has been passed on to me.  

[Saucer]

Two words: Chroma Cels!