Sogna Digital Museum Forum
Sogna/VIPER Series => Collections & Acquisitions => Topic started by: JG on September 26, 2021, 11:10:12 am
-
While Sogna's greatest days are ow two decades past, any assumption that VIPER fandom is dead is misplaced. A few months back I mentioned a new auction record for VIPER artwork, a GTS cel that went for something around $560 USD. This morning, it was topped not once, not twice, but three times.
First, by this VIPER-V10 frame, which went for 66,000 yen, or the equivalent of $596.48.
(https://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0209/users/defc03489860a7466727afa5a92d1b3cf7e43682/i-img600x450-1632137699e5vyb4735505.jpg)
Then global thermonuclear war broke out between multiple parties over this VIPER-RSR frame, which reached 203,000 yen, or $1,834.61.
(https://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0209/users/defc03489860a7466727afa5a92d1b3cf7e43682/i-img600x518-1632136828kd6gte367850.jpg)
And about the same time, two bidders drove up the price for the GTS cover artwork up to a new record of 259,000 yen, or $2,340.71. Yowzas!
(https://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0209/users/defc03489860a7466727afa5a92d1b3cf7e43682/i-img450x600-1632136560fly0gu845887.jpg)
I bid on some of the seller's other art but not successful on any of them. These three had already eclipsed what I would have paid for them. Frankly I don't like the window rectangle on the Asuka or Cala, or Cala's closed eyes for that matter, and of the eight or nine pieces available I personally ranked them near the bottom. Instead I went after the Carrera bukkake (V6 scene), Miki with towel on bed (near very end of CTR), and Raika angry face frames but each exceeded my personal value for them so I came away with nothing. I was also interested in that GTS cover art being both colored and unique, but it was already 36,000 yen when I was set to start placing bids this morning, and a bid on that would have preventing bidding on anything else. (And it would have proved fruitless anyhow.)
-
I'm continually amazed by the nostalgia people have for this franchise.
I'll repeat my expressed disappointment in the ip holder doing absolutely nothing with it other than making the games available for sale digitally.
-
Not any new record today, but same seller is really making a killing of late. Guy had eight more pieces finishing today, and raked in about $3,300 on them (plus upwards of a thousand more on 15-20 non-VIPER pieces) I'm sure Yahoo takes a healthy cut of the profit, but it must be nice.
This is seven of them, a few minutes before most closed out. Three of them continued to rise and one had just finished (a VIPER-RSR piece where the Squid Devil monster rapes one of the stolen girls, which sold for a more reasonable 5750 yen, as it featured no core characters.)
(http://www.sognadigitalmuseum.com/forum/attachments/cel_auctions_20211031.png)
I really, really wanted the Miki and Asuka peace signs. That's a cool piece. I went as high as 38,000 on it, which I think is the highest I've ever bid on anything, but that's not even halfway to where it ended. I wanted the Rise trio as well but it was already 102,000 when I woke this morning so I realized I wasn't getting it. I narrowly lost the GTS trio which I was less fond of but had a more reasonable price. (I had 18,500 and was sniped.) I was also interested in the Karin blowjob scene and was hopeful on it because it was still just 1,200 when I checked last night but had run to 30,000-something by morning. I might pay that much for unique art, but for one frame in a series that's more than I want to pay, even for one of my favorite scenes (because, as you all know, I'm a Karin-chan fan.) The Miki sex and Lilia sex were already higher than wanted to pay and I had little interest in the Nami or the RSR pieces.
Moral of the story is that there are some really deep-pocketed VIPER fans out there, willing to spend big on original art. Why a company wouldn't want to try to acquire the rights to make new games or an OVA is odd, as it seems they easily could recoup production by costs selling the cels at prices like this.
-
damn.. i gotta get back on those auctions, i would've paid way more for the miki sex one
-
The Miki and Lillia Scene id want for sure. I'm sure somehow id run into one of these at a convention someday. I usually hit up alot of genga and cel tables alot.
-
Those prices are absolutely nuts :o
I like the Miki and Asuka peace sign one.
-
damn.. i gotta get back on those auctions, i would've paid way more for the miki sex one
But that's my point. She has so much sex in the game that there's probably hundreds of frames. If the seller has them all he can throw out a new one every month for 10 years and maybe get $200+ for it each time. Being one of many, if you miss it one month, a similar frame may come around again someday.
The one-of-a-kind art is where I'd rather spend my money personally. That's more what I aim for.
My grief is that art like this used to be in the $30-50 range. I got several pieces over the last few years. For some reason in the past few months or so the prices have absolutely skyrocketed into the $70+ range, with alot of it being multi-hundred.
-
It seems to me like certain retro collector markets started getting up there about six years ago, and then in the last two years prices on a lot of stuff has gone absolutely berserk. Even things that weren't really touched before are finally feeling it. I wouldn't be surprised if some seller are savvy enough to realize now might be a good time to part with a few items.
These games are 20+ years old by now, so I really doubt the rights holder can just make an anime or something and expect art from it to command these kinds of prices (nevermind whether they have the talent and budget aboard to make something decent). It's good business for whoever has these old things, but I don't know about a company - definitely don't know with something new.
That said, I'd think maybe taking a page from original Sogna and doing some merchandising would be a relatively low risk option. Like reproductions of the old games or trinkets or something. But I get the feeling the current rights holders are probably just kind of sitting on it and not really thinking about it at all.
-
Dude made another $7700 dollars today (875100 yen) just off the VIPER art, and probably a few hundred more off Ranma and other stuff. I'm serious; the guy doesn't have to work - he can live comfortably just selling the artwork.
Odd bidding behavior though. A single blank and white drawing of the Asuka and Miki bukkake scene from the Lanjerie series was top price today (149500 yen), outdoing the unique art of the CTR promotional piece (115000) or the fully colored vinyl bag art (129000) which I thought would be far and away the most desirable. Boy I'd have liked either one of those and several others I placed bids on but again came up empty. The stuff I'd really want is way too expensive now, and the stuff I'd like to have but aren't overboard on always goes a little more than I'd be willing to pay. (And then there's a lot of stuff for which I think people are crazy to pay those kinds of prices.)
-
Those prices are absolutely bonkers. Really is a testament to how beloved the Viper franchise still is.
-
Yeah, some Viper cels popped up in my poking around and they're like $700 ~ $1000 as starting bids right now!
-
None that large this month, but every one of the dozen or so he posted went for more than $100 with the F40 Fan Book cover art (https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u1033624312) pulling down over $400. I wanted one of my favorite pieces of unique GTS Girls art (https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r1033634434) very much (I love the facial expressions on it), but I tapped out when the bidding got to about 28000 yen (around $250) and it finished 40000.
On the other hand he sold a lot of painted vinyl figurines this month rather than just the usual cels, including an Akira which sold for 75000 yen (https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/x1033930067) (about $650.) Thats the highest I recall seeing a figurine sell, painted or bare.
-
The folly of some of these bidders going overboard one on frame from a scene with multiple frames. In the first post, I remarked how a Cala sex scene frame went for 203,000 yen. Another from that same scene went for a somewhat more modest 68,000 yen ($588) today. This is why I generally refrain from bidding on such art and advise others to do the same - stick to the unique stuff.
I'd have very much liked the V16 or GTS Drama CD artwork though. But they sold for 157,000 and 67,000 yen ($1,358 and $580), respectively. As a consequence, I chased a funny CTR teleca piece, but it too got a little higher than I was willing to go at 15,500 yen.
-
Depending how you look at it, we have a new top price, folks. An Akira sex scene non-colored cel from Gokuraku VIPER Lanjerie Red (https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u1114638304) went for a whopping 300,099 yen this morning, topping the previous record holder by about 16%.
However, because the yen is down, at today's exchange rate that price equates to $2,007.82 USD, which is about 16% the other way off the record. (Though still a stunning price to pay for a single piece of an animation sequence.)
-
That price :o
Just goes to show how much love there still is for the series.
-
I was literally just in a bidding war for a few more production art pieces that showed up, needless to say I lost all of them. But yeah, every single listing was by one user, and it probably was the same guy, who is either a crazy collector in need of money, or a former worker for Sogna himself.
-
final tally for his auctions that just ended is at 472,841 yen, a little over $3100 in todays exchange rate, I honestly must have bid a total of $2500 myself on the pieces lol. Honestly it makes me wish we could pool together and crush these auctions and bring em to the home team! Either that, or maybe motivate me to just make my own cel-like art work of our favorite viper girls.
-
It's a former Sogna employee, most likely an artist who helped draw the in-between frame animations. They've sold enough to convince me that they are former Sogna/Silence employee, not a generic collector, and they sell some non-Sogna art too which leads me to believe they're a support artist-for-hire.
I also can't ever seem to win any to their auctions. I really don't want to be paying $400+ for the art, with some of them running upwards of a grand. I have them bookmarked because its two or three times a month they'll have these auctions - and much of it is unique promotional art.
-
You were right btw! I value the promotion art pieces more, the production pieces did end up going the highest, because like you mentioned, they’re not animation pieces that don’t have dozens or even hundreds of frames during in-game scenes.
I was drooling for both the Akira and Asuka promotional pieces! But it seems when a certain person (or bot) was hellbent enough that I was auto outbid until I gave up when they both got to around $800.
I can understand why sex scene frames are valuable though ;) , I couldn’t even successfully snipe the Raika rape scene frame
-
I had hopes for the Raika scene staying low but it didn't make it. The M1 promotional art was surprisingly affordable until the last half hour so. Its the only one I ended up bidding on but it spiraled out of control too quickly.
-
New set put up. Just under 2 days left remaining for these.
they're pretty low overall, but I'm expecting some of them, especially the Viper Sampler Vol. 1 cover art and an H scene frame from F-40 (for some reason) to skyrocket during the last half hour. But I'm going to see If I can snipe one or two. If anyone from here also plans to try and claim some let me know so we can avoid a bidding war with eachother lol.
-
shame i couldn't bid on this round, i put in like 5000 yen on the miki drawing, but i was traveling during the ending times
-
Seller made just about $3900. :o
They were all relatively low, with one frame selling for just over $100. The auctions were extended by almost 2 hours because of sniping wars for a few frames. The Viper Sampler Vol. 1 promo art shot close to $1000 in a span of like 2 minutes. I was auto outbid immediately as well for the CTR and RSR frames after I put in a max bid of $150.
Time to wait and see what line work he has for next month :rolleyes
-
I put about $200 toward the CTR and M1 art but lost them.
On the other hand, no one else seemed to notice a couple of other real gems pass though during the same hour: a pair of posters (or double-sided?) for original Guyna-rock and Reserve. I got them at base price, 1000 yen each (or about $9 for the pair) because no one else noticed how utterly rare these must be after about 33 years. (I'd never seen a set of either in the nearly 20 years I've been buying up Sogna/VIPER goodies.)
-
Those posters are great JG, I'm jealous. I honestly would probably value those even more; literally because of the fact they are very rare but official Sogna merch. :o
And honestly, as much as I'd love to win and own one of these "original" pieces at auction that are constantly going up once a month, it just makes me ponder the authenticity of them even more. We know it comes from the same seller who we can confidently assume is a freelance work-for-hire artist, possibly the real deal and has been doing it for decades, at least to the point he knows how valuable Sogna stuff are. :P
I get it, there can be hundreds of slides per game, and he probably has done work for all of them, but so many promotional and cover art production pieces are being put up every month as well; there can't be many of those compared to animation slides. For all we know, this guy could be replicating the pieces and passing them off as original production pieces when he puts them up for auction. If he doesn't have any leftover stock of animation sheets, one can still buy cel sheets (more expensive now, but still available) and the animation paper that goes with them too, including the ACME style hole punched ones. So it can be a little sketch (pun intended) when bidding on these. But a lot of the pieces he puts up do have wear and tear marks over the years and really do look like the real deal, I probably just have sore loser auction syndrome ;D Oh well, I can't help it and will probably keep putting in bid attempts anyway ;D :rolleyes
-
Talk about timing, but I checked right after my last post, and true enough, a new batch is on auction with about 4 days left! This is a pretty good batch if you ask me! One of them is an actual painted animation cel for Viper BTR!
-
I think i'm going to try and focus on getting this piece. ;)
-
So I did win an art auction lately, but not one from that seller whose bids tend to reach 40,000 yen or more.
I got this one for a more "bargain" price of 27,280 yen ($183.87) - which I think is fair given that it's unique art and not one frame of a sequence. Plus its one of the few The Devil Came arts I really like because of the facial expressions.
This was the only Sogna piece they offered at the time (along with a dozen or so other animation draqings, most of which were animes I didn't recognize) and they haven't posted more so I think it was a one-time seller.
-
So I did win an art auction lately, but not one from that seller whose bids tend to reach 40,000 yen or more.
I got this one for a more "bargain" price of 27,280 yen ($183.87) - which I think is fair given that it's unique art and not one frame of a sequence. Plus its one of the few The Devil Came arts I really like because of the facial expressions.
This was the only Sogna piece they offered at the time (along with a dozen or so other animation draqings, most of which were animes I didn't recognize) and they haven't posted more so I think it was a one-time seller.
I'd say that is more than worth it given the other options we have. Great pick-up as usual
-
just wow, the V16 Rise girls cat piece I kept my eye on was extended for 2 hours and went to a final tally of just above $1430, way above the range i expected. Absolutely insane :o
Another easy $3000 in total for this set. CTR pieces seem to consistently be a favorite to bid on.
-
Yeah, and a couple of them weren't even good pictures in my opinion. Neither the Lilia photo nor the Miki ending wearing bath towel seemed particularly worth the money they got. The Miki heart shirt looked to be better quality then either of those two but went for less (but still north of $200.) The others were all in the several hundred dollar range.
I was in on the colored Ruri cel up to 35,000 yen but tapped out at that point and let the other bidder have it for slightly above that amount (35,800 final price.) I thought it was good art, colored, and a lesser known character drawn by one of the lesser known artists in the series, so I rightly suspected it would be the best deal. But I didn't like it enough to keep bidding upwards on it.
I kind of expected the Rise cat girl art to be highly desirable, and sure enough it was. I'd have loved that art, but expected it to be well beyond what I wanted to pay for it (and was.)
Frankly, I was more surprised that one of the rare RSR telecas was also on Yahoo Auctions ending this morning and topped out at a staggering 101,000 yen (https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k1133595523), blowing way past the previous 40,600 record I'd seen on the Series 3 art book cover teleca. The previous two times I'd seen this RSR teleca were a more modest (and reasonable) 5,000 and 8,000 yen. I really don't see how anyone can pay $650-ish for a single teleca, given how small they are and non-uniqueness. Clearly anything very rare in VIPER world is just skyrocketing in premium pricing, if even telecas are now topping 100K.
-
right, a lot of CTR pieces which are very basic and non unique seem to still go for prices well beyond I can/would pay. CTR must have been very popular in Japan. Once I saw those going for the prices they were getting, I knew it was going to be another folly to try and bid on anything. :cry
speaking of.. Yowza! :o :o :o that is one expensive teleca! That one snuck by me. It's literally an in-game frame with teleca info slapped over it!! The seller only had to post a single low quality front picture for people to go bonkers over it; didn't even put up a picture of the back of it. :D
All of this just solidifies our conclusion all along with Sogna material.
If it's very rare at all it will always go for a very high amount, and if it happens to be a promotional art piece, be prepared to pay a premium on top of that, and if it's an H-scene period (In-game frame or not) be prepared to pay an absolutely insane premium. ;D
-
Games, art books, and most figurines have pretty much stayed in the same price range for the last 10 years or so. Its really only the original art and telephone cards that seem to be accelerating upwards.
And with the Japanese yen dropping like a ten ton weight over the last couple of years compared to dollar (see attachment), we westerners really should be seeing better prices now than we did, but we aren't. People just gone crazy I guess.
-
Games, art books, and most figurines have pretty much stayed in the same price range for the last 10 years or so. Its really only the original art and telephone cards that seem to be accelerating upwards.
And with the Japanese yen dropping like a ten ton weight over the last couple of years compared to dollar (see attachment), we westerners really should be seeing better prices now than we did, but we aren't. People just gone crazy I guess.
I wish that were so, but my cost of living has gone up dramatically the past few years, practically offsetting any better pricing we aren’t seeing, so its actually been worse for me personally :cry :undecided
-
Well, I mean it doesn't help within your own market. But US dollars and British Pounds (and to a bit lesser extent, Euro as well) should have greater buying power in Japan. Five years ago if I wanted to buy something priced 5000 yen, I'd expect to pay about $45 USD. Now I can buy it for about $32. So all this art that used to start about 20,000 yen used to be about $180 and should now be about $130. Instead its approaching twice that for even the cheapest art (I'd say 35,000 is the new floor)