This has definitely been an entertaining thread.
This post, unfortunately, won't have any acrimony or
arguments ad hominem so you can skip it if you want to
enjoy the pretty fireworks.
My opinion on fan cels has changed a number of times. First
I thought they were a GOOD thing. They are a valid form
of appreciation for an animator's work. Imitation, moreover
is the sincerest form of flattery; and the fact that
someone does think enough about your cel to make a
copy of it does increase your cel's value. Perhaps fan cels
aren't "legal," but neither is posting pictures of
production cels or buying or selling cels stolen from
studios.
However, my thinking on fan cels began to change when I got
stung by a forgery. I thought about confusion fan
cels cause in the market and about the
potential for fraud. Not fraud by the artists themselves,
but by unscrupulous resellers.
But I've gone back to thinking fan cels are a GOOD thing.
I've realized that fan cels will never be the real problem.
The real problem involves professional animators and even
studios putting reproductions on the market. I'm thinking
of AIC and what they did with A!MG repros. I'm thinking of
the student cels they auctioned off at Anime Expo this year.
How many folks who attended that auction were aware that
many of those cels were non-production? Fans...well they
can produce fan-quality art...but the pros, they can
produce stuff that could very well pass as the real thing.
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