|
|||||||||
|
Weblog
The current status of anime last modified: Saturday, September 12, 2015 (8:12:17 PM) Due to personal reasons (mostly the death of my mom) I stayed away from cel collecting and my gallery for some years. A few weeks ago I got curious and wondered if Rubberslug was still around, and it was! I found my password and was able to get into my account.
So... since cel collecting is like an obsession I started checking out my gallery, and this made me take a look at other galleries, but apparently lots of people haven't updated their galleries since 2007. Is people still collecting? One thing lead to the other and after a few clicks I noticed the websites and stores I used to visit in the past are no longer available, havent been updated, etc. What happened to the hobby during the years I was away? Anyway... Ive been watching Dragonball Super. And even though I knew and despised all the cgi in the anime, I just can't help feeling like throwing up each time I watch a new episode of dbs. Toei do you hate Dragonball, Toriyama and Vegeta THAT much? episode 5 almost made me want to slit my wrists while watching a marathon of Keeping up with the Kardashians. I dont get it, names like Dragonball, Sailor Moon, One Piece are like talking about a gold mine and yet Toei decides to fuck it up by reducing costs and hiring people - outside Japan - that have the drawing skills of a 2 years old kid? Are you kidding me? why why why WHYYYY! *screams dramatically while pulling her hair with her hands* And not only that, the animation looks so plane, the colors look so horrible, no details... Im really bad at drawing and Im pretty sure I could do a better job. I hate you Toei! there, I said it. so is anybody still around?
Just added a new cel tonight, but it sure has changed for the worse. The updates to cel dealers pages are next to nothing, eBay is full of flippers who buy a $55. Sailor Moon and then try to get $300 for it so they sit there for years without bids. Mandrake is about the only place interesting but heavy competition. I''ve been going to Tokyo/Osaka since 1989 for cels and the last couple years the hobby has dried up. (same goes for resin garage kits) Very dishearteneing. The modern computer anime is to blame too and the show''s production value is lousy. It must be all the really good cels are being hoarded in a castle in Denmark or something? Yet I still keep at it and look constantly, the fun is in the hunt and not the kill. To show you how things changed ~ this was the 1st year ever the Rubberslug meet up at Anime Expo L.A. was cancelled :(
Welcome back! It''s not so dire as it seems... It was really dead a few months back, but we''ve gotten busier over on Beta. And I''ve been seeing some new blood come in as well as some old faces come back recently! The market is really weird, some of the prices are insane for no reason and some prices are great for no reason. I''ve picked up more Goku in the last two year than in my entire history of collecting DBZ so it can''t be too bad ^_^
Anime has certainly changed a lot. The new CG stuff usually makes the older cel-based shows look better than they did originally by being so bad in comparison. My biggest beef with modern animation is the LACK of actual movement in animation. Instead of animating things, they just shake or move the camera around to simulate motion. I know this technique was also used in cel animes, but now it''s being used constantly, even with series in which the characters are still drawn by hand, and it looks cheap and sloppy to me. As for the hobby, it''s gotten a bit worse for collectors, I think. As other have mentioned, the market has changed over the the past 10-15 years. These days, a lot of people just want to make a buck. They''ll start "collecting" cels, post them here on RS, then a few months go by, or a year at most, and now they are suddenly making "for sale" topics and charging outrageous prices for their "collection." :P I''m glad that RS is still here, because I love being able to see the cool galleries and keep in touch with collectors who actually enjoy this hobby and plan on sticking with it.
I agree with Shemp. CGI animation is what made me lose interest in anime in the mid-2000''s. Digital colors can''t match up to the organic brightness of paint on plastic, and the colors have a flat, monochromatic look. But my biggest issue with newer anime is in the character design. Everyone is wispy and stick thin. They lack tangibility, solidity, power. Much of the art is still nice, and I appreciate the artistry at work, but stylistically it just doesn''t agree with me. I wasn''t around when the market was in full swing, but it''s sad to read about the hobby''s decline. All we can do is keep up the enthusiasm, and hopefully things will improve. |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
