The state of the Anime Cel collecting community.

I believe we are long overdue to have a discussion about the state of the Cel Collecting Community as a whole and the way forward.

As a new member of this community and countless other Anime Cel collecting forums it is apparent that participation is dropping to an all-time low, and that many devoted collectors have moved on, passed away, or, for lack of a better term, “disappeared.”

With that being said, we need to come together and discuss the probable causes for the decline in participation amongst the online Cel collecting community, what may be done to raise interest in the hobby itself, and possible alternatives to our currently diminishing situation.

I’d love to hear from both long-time participants in this forum and newcomers alike. I believe, or at least hope, there is a chance to revitalize this hobby online; however, without fully understanding the current state of affairs it is hard to gauge these kinds of things.

If you look over on Anime-Beta, they are running the annual cel contest (Thanks, JD!) right now. This annual event, and others like it, are interactive and they draw collectors out.

You can't talk a hobby back to life, but interactive hobby-specific activities like the cel awards or the open house can really jump start participation.

It would be helpful if RS were more 'alive' as a site since it is so integral for many active collectors.

I was excited to see the Anime-Beta annual cel contest was going on, but then I saw this post: "So far... I have received 4 entrants submissions to the cel contest!
2 newbies, and 2 oldies but goodies!"

I plan on submitting something myself, so maybe it's too early for many would be participants to submit.

Any how, I agree that we can't talk a hobby back to life, but it would most definitely help if their was reoccurring and new dialogue here and on other sites.

Hi Maxidious!

LOL you should have been around in 2014 it was like

...*crickets*... (I felt like I was shouting out into the void)

So I get why you are worried, a lot of the chatter has moved to Anime-Beta and there are at least 2-3 good posts a day, wishing Happy Birthdays, ooo look what I got, and Technical Cel questions.

What really is heartening to me are the amount of new collectors showing up and participating. i.e. under9000, MajinTangerine, and even yourself.

Also another GREAT thing are the older collectors who were around when I first started have been poking their heads out as well, Wendy, Gonzai, AnimeChaos. Updating their galleries and participating!

So while it seems dead to you, this is the busiest it has been around here in two years. 2013-2014 was VERY disheartening to me because it was SCARILY quiet, so I took it upon myself to revive the contests and events, and I can't take all the credit for it working. I'm sure a lot has to do with the release of SM Crystal and DBZ Super. I can only I hope that the events that I took on and the self proclaimed title of community cheerleader has helped! So chin up, and the best you can do to help is join the conversation! This is a great way to start!

JD

PS Angelic-Lair: Thanks! ^_^ *poke* Where is my Hentai entry?? ^_~

oh thanks for the name drop ;)

As a new collector all I can go by is my short experience and knowledge from the veterans of these sites. The fact that cel collecting is a relativly niche hobby based around an art format that is largely removed from new content thats being created means its going to be near impossible to return to its glory years...

Maintaining a website is a serious amount of work let alone being able to update it and keep it fresh, for example it would be great if RS had a mobile app, which would enable push notifications, which in turn would enable users to interact faster and keep up the chat but of course thats again time and money...maybe RS needs to get sponsorship, include adds and banners? I wouldn't mind adverts if it enabled new features in the long run

For now i'm happy to keep watching forum topics and looking at new uploads but even after 3 months I can see how people may just decide to lurk and eventually start to drop off being active, plus its an expensive hobby and It also seems like a lot of people actively WANT to leave due to regrets over spending so much or getting to obsessed early on,

anywhoo! yeah :)