Hi,

I've been collecting Gundam Wing cels of Heero 
since 1996. Let me tell you, as I still have 
price tags stuck to most of my cel bags, I have 
NEVER been able to find Gundam Wing cels (of the 
same quality on eBay right now) of Heero for 
$50.00*. In fact, 2 years ago I paid over $50.00 
just for a cel of Catherine! The cheapest cel (my 
first Heero cel) I bought from Nichibei Anime 
(and they have reasonable prices!) for $75.00 in 
1996, my second from Anime Link in 1997 for 
$100.00. And those  were B-quality cels. Most of 
my A-quality Heero cels were bought about a year 
ago at the "Mandarake Renaissance" (before people 
found out about it and cel prices shot through 
the roof) and those ranged from $100 - $200. I 
was also lucky enough to get a few cels in Japan 
itself in 1998 and 1999, but those also ranged 
from 10000 yen - 15000 yen (and those years the 
yen rate was at 106 to the US Dollar). This is 
because GW is very popular in Japan too. Taro had 
a brief period where they uploaded GW every other 
day, but the really good Heero cels also 
commanded 10000 yen prices, I know because I 
bought a couple.

If you go searching for Gundam Wing cels now in 
2001, you find prices are very high at the only 
dealers who have them. For example, Animegame, 
average Heero cel price for him just in 
the "normal" outfit, not a rare outfit, is 
$380.00. Anime Link posted one the other day, it 
sold almost instantly at something like $300.00. 
I've been forced to up my bids on average from 
20000 - 50000 yen for A-quality Heero on Yahoo 
Japan because of two very determined Japanese 
collectors in addition to "some collector" (or 
collectors) bidding through Sato, Celga, or some 
other proxy bidder.

So, if you were able to find cels of that quality 
for $50.00, I would love to know where and when 
(and do they still have any?). If so, you were 
very lucky to get Heero cels at such reasonable 
prices.

As for me, as much as I hate dumping the money 
out like that, if it's an outfit from my Heero 
wishlist and it's a A-quality cel, I will 
probably find $350.00 to be about average in this 
day and age. It's sad, but true, and somehow 
unless Gundam Wing suddenly dies in popularity 
(somehow I doubt this...) then cels are either 
going to remain at these prices or else go up. 
Especially as there is a supply & demand issue; 
most of the GW collectors sit on their cels. I 
can't blame them either, I'm not planning on 
selling any of my Heero cels any time soon.

Sorry I just had to put in my "2 cents" as I've 
been putting in my "2 hundreds" for several years 
now.

-m

* all prices unless indicated in US Dollars.