I've been collecting Heero cels for about a year 
now. At this point my collection stands at five. 
This certainly doesn't represent every Heero cel 
I've run across in that time period, merely the 
ones I've felt inclined to buy.

Now, I'll be frank, none of them are quite 'dream 
cels'. However, backgrounds and cockpit layers 
seem to be a particular rarity with Gundam cels 
of any of the pilots. But, they all have matching 
sketches, and all of them fit the specifications 
I look for as far as expression, body posture, 
uniqueness as far as scene, outfit, etc, and just 
plain appeal. 

My most expensive cel of those five was $125. The 
least expensive (that I'm actually very fond of, 
btw) was snapped up for $35 about three minutes 
into a Taro update. His eyes are closed, but he's 
oriented very nicely, takes up a majority of the 
cel, and he's smiling. I don't think I could ask 
for more. 

I guess my main reason for responding to this is 
that I don't really care for the perpetuation of 
the idea that Gundam cels, and Heero cels in 
particular, are a miraculous holy grail of a 
sort. It's not true. 'A-quality' cels (background 
cels, multi-layer cels, portrait cels, etc) are 
going to be expensive. That's true of any show, 
you're always going to pay a proportionately 
higher price for highly desirable shots. For the 
right cel, I wouldn't find $350 to be 
unreasonable at all. However, some very nice cels 
can be had for much less than that. 

Cels are only worth what someone is willing to 
pay for them. If you love a cel enough to drop a 
lot of money on it, that's an awesome and 
wonderful thing. I wouldn't begrudge you that for 
the world. On the other hand, I wouldn't have 
touched the Heero cel on eBay for the $85 opening 
bid. He's got a bad case of bed-head and I'm not 
terribly fond of the Relena-land school 
uniforms. ::shrug, grin:: But that's just me. I 
am glad he's going to go to a home where he will 
be loved and appreciated, though. What more could 
a piece of painted acetate want?  


--Jennifer