Since 1995, there have been a "chain" of 
collections that eventually led me to cels.  It 
began innocently enough: Classic video games.  
Those little black cartridges whose games hardly 
ever lived up to the arcade version. ^_^; I used 
to scour thrift stores and flea markets for the 
little things until the supply seemed to dry up 
in the area. This was a really fun and cheap 
hobby to pursue.  I still have most of my 
cartridges and dig them out on occasion.

Flea market and thrift store scouring led me to 
find my next thrill:  Star Wars.  I began 
collecting Star Wars figures and toys right 
before Kenner began producing the Power of the 
Force line. Certainly not as cheap as classic 
video games, but just as fun if not more! Stopped 
collecting around the time that the Phantom 
Menace came out.  The hype just killed it for 
me.  I still have a nice collection in storage 
though, and I'll probably never sell my vintage 
dolls and figures--I love 'em too much!

From Star Wars, there was a natural progression 
to action figures, particularly females who 
kicked butt (And more often than not, were 
scantily clad while doing so. ^_^;).  Spawn, 
Marvel & DC heros and villians. Whatever sparked 
my fancy. I was an avid reader of Tomart's Action 
Digest. One day in 1997, I saw an article about 
the international toy scene.  One picture showed 
these finished models of two girls from some 
Japanese show that I couldn't pronouce: Eee-VAN-
jel-LION, or something. *laughs* I HAD TO HAVE 
THEM.

Once I scored them, I didn't stop there, of 
course. I learned that the Japanese have a knack 
for producing some of the coolest toys around. 
Soon I was collecting dolls and toys from 
Sailormoon, Rayearth, Sakura Wars,Cutie Honey, 
Utena--mainly shoujo stuff. Naturally, I became 
curious about the series that inspired such great 
merchandise. Then came the video tapes, DVDs, 
CDs, artbooks, manga, and doujinshi. Eventually, 
I even learned how to pronounce Evangelion 
correctly. ^_~ Although I've sold off most of my 
anime dolls, I still have the Rei and Asuka 
models that inspired my passion for anime.

(continued in next post...)