I don't think that the upcoming airing of Tenchi on US TV is
gonna affect cel prices that dramatically. See, the thing
to keep in mind is that there are a lot of people for whom
eBay's their only source for cels/collectibles; for whatever
reason, they don't seek out regular dealers. I see lots of
cels listed on eBay for shows I collect at prices I wouldn't
pay, but I also see lots of dealers with cels from shows I
collect with prices I'm happy to pay. I see lots of cels
from shows that are high-priced 'cause the shows are HUGE
in Japan but not many people care about in the US (To Heart
leaps to mind); I see lots from shows that go for big bucks
in the US but for surprisingly moderate amounts in Japan
(Slayers, Dragon Ball; even the Tenchi stuff to some degree).
It's all rather arbitrary, and on auction sites especially,
what might get piles of cash one day might sell at a loss
the next.
As has been mentioned before, there's a weird "oh, this is
on auction, so it must be valuable/rare/worth paying more
than I would in a store" vibe that comes with watching eBay,
and I gotta admit, I've fallen victim to it too ($135 Tsukuda
Hobby Rayearth model...but I wanted it!). And yeah, there
are some dealers who'll use the airing of a show or
abnormal eBay scale to price cels out of what usual range
should be. The solution? Don't buy their cels. It's just
like buying toys or other gear in a dealer's room--you
draw your own line for what you think is fair price, and if
someone buys something for what you think is an unfair price,
well, it's not your money.
One other thing: If the increasing popularity of certain
shows means once inexpensive cels get priced out of your
range, well, that's just the way collectibles markets run.
There's a lotta stuff I'd love to collect (Five Star Stories,
Sakura Wars) but, well, they're just too expensive, so I
pick more accessible shows. And if the increasing price of
cels from your collection's focus drives you to stop
collecting the show altogether, hey, turns out you made
a good investment. |
