WARNING: Counterfeit Cels

I took your advice Mace and I sent a message to GoG. Now just so I understand who I am talking to, GoG is the same seller that you keep bringing up right?

I did have 2 side questions, and I am afraid to ask since I have already started so much "trouble' and bad feelings with everyone. But here it goes.....

1) How many frames/cels does it take to make up one second of a cartoon show?

2) For argument sake, IF these were the right cels, wouldn't/couldn't the color fade over time?

Again, I am just looking for information and I have reached out "to the horse's mouth".

1) How many frames/cels per one second of a show. 24 frames in a second in film.

Depends, I would guess most of the Marvel/Sunbow shows were shot in twos (12 cels per 24 frames) with some of the better action sequences/high quality main titles are shot in a full 24 frames per second. Talking heads, that sort of stuff might even been shot in threes... especially later on for the Akom episodes.

Look at the dvd, go frame by frame, find the right frame. There's not that many cels per frame.

2) For argument sake, IF these were the right cels, wouldn't/couldn't the color fade over time?

I haven't seen paints fade. I have seen xerox lines fade/brown, but for me at least, that's not so much an indication of authenticity, but age. Xeroxed lines will fade given time (2-5 years), whether it's real or fake, line browning doesn't mean a cel isn't real, it's simply an indication of age. In terms of paint colors fading, I haven't seen that. I have seen paint be affected by the colors of the background, but that's really obvious.

The thing about spotting fakes is look for what's hardest to fake. The shading, self-lines, the close-up details, the things that are hard to pull off.

I am still waiting to hear back from GoG, but something of a question came to my mind. What do you mean these are fakes, counterfeit cels? Are you saying they were made in the 1980's? Are you meaning that they were not used in the cartoons that we all have grown to know and love? What is your definition of fake in terms to these cels?

I think when people say fake or counterfeit it means cels reproduced specifically to make a profit on the collectors market as an original production cel.

The best way to know how old these things are, where they come from would be if GoG named the source. If someone is selling fake GI Joe cels, then they shouldn't get away with it.

Sometimes fakes make their way into peoples' collections and their none the wiser. Could the cels have been sold as fan cels and the original buyer didn't realize (this happens on YJ, stuff's listed as fan cels, those who don't speak Japanese just see the picture and think production cel).

Then it just could have been a fake. When you're talking about the money American cel collectors are willing to pay for these... the potential for someone to fake a few cels to make some money is really there, especially since it seems these cels came from Japan where GI Joe is not very popular and most cel dealers there wouldn't have a clue what is or is not an authentic GI Joe cel. Doubt many have even seen one.