You're as much a cheapskate as Mikael!

Some people appreciate the value of a yen-- err, dollar! Why don't you try pulling the potato cart this time!

But then I'd lose my lovely view!

You can see the countryside from the front of the cart!

Not the 'countryside' I'm interested in! *gives Mika the one over*

*blushes*

That's a rather interesting shade of pink, Mika... and hey, where have you two been? You let an entire Raphael cel pass without a single comment!

We were, uh, busy...

Yeah, busy! *smirks*

Busy working on the site, right?

*eyes flicking back and forth nervously* Ye-ah, the site...

*mutters about working on the plumbing*

*popping out of no where with camera in tow* Hey you two, no fair locking me inside the potato cart!

*watches as the angels' halos glow even brighter and then shakes her head* Anyway, when I saw this cel on eBay going for much less then normal retail price, (if something such as cels could even have a retail price) I leapt upon the chance! (In other words, I bookmarked the auction. ) Days went past and then I woke up from a late-evening nap to find that the auction had only two minutes to go! Perfect timing, ne? So I ended up sniping with 35 seconds to go (15 seconds later then the second highest bidder-- I reclaim my crown as Sniper Queen!) and won it for $48.50. It's not the 200 yen cel from the same sequence that was on Bonbee's (if only I'd been quick enough to outrun the stampede for that cel! What is the equivalent of that, $.50?), but hey, still quite a deal!

In a cel from this sequence I was looking primarily for two things-- not including the all important price tag (Check!), that is. One, I wanted a cel where Mikael's hand was fisted. (Check!) I know some people would prefer to have an unblocked view of Raph , but I love the emotion expressed in this scene when Mikael clenches his hands. I also wanted Raphael to be holding the unwrapped halo instead of the package; but, eh, two out of three ain't bad, is it? Besides, out of all the many cels from this sequence I've seen, there has never been one where Raphael is holding the halo itself. (And I don't think the halo would be worth paying double the price, anyway.)

Cheapskate!

Hush, you!

This is the third cel from this scene I've ordered (and the second I've received-- three months later and I'm still waiting for the second one ) so you can tell that I really like this part. This comes from episode 23, A Breaking Heart, and MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!---

I wonder exactly whose heart is breaking in this episode? We have Noelle, who has just lost her family and is actually truly crying for once, and Raphael who looks the saddest he's ever been in the series-- I guess watching your beloved scatter his marbles to the wind and take an application for villain-of-the-series will do that to you, and then there's Mikael, where it might be more appropriate to say that he has a breaking mind then a breaking heart.

*mutters to self*

Anyway, in this scene Noelle has just thrown away her halo and Mikael has rushed outside after her. He's standing in the pouring rain and Mikael, who has never been a great one for expressing his emotions, is just shaking with his feelings of frustration, desperation, and disappointment. Raphael comes up behind him and begins speaking sweetly of how special Mikael is and how he respects him-- but that Mika cannot continue to run away from the truth. With those words Raphael pulls out the package he's been looking at lately (and we have my cel) and the wind blows away the wrapping, displaying Mikael's halo. And then the scene gets really iiiiinteresting. More on the scene with my Mikael smirk and Mikael glare pages.

*sighs* Have I mentioned how much I love this scene? What I would do for a cel of Mikael with his electric guitar or Raphael saying the words "And for that, you're willing to become a demon."

This cel is comprised of two layers B-15 and E-15, both of them key. I never knew that this sequence had so many layers to it! All the set-ups I've seen from this sequence only included Raphael and Mikael's arm, and not even that at times. I knew that the rain layers and Mikael's body were missing but... at least 5 layers! Wow! I wonder if anyone has all the layers to it? The Mikael body layer would be very nice to have, at the least, so that his arm won't be hovering disembodied in the air. Also the Mikael arm layer has black paint covering its regular paint, a technique I usually identify with backlit cels-- but the Raphael layer does not. Rather odd... is it possible to backlight only certain layers of a set-up?

Unfortunately the layers on my cel are very stuck together so I am unable to get a scan of the full Raphael layer. (Alas, his wing is quite lovely. Perhaps the best of all the Raphael's I have up to this point.) I'm working on separating the layers, but don't hold your breath waiting for the scan.

Raphael's skin tone came out very weirdly in my scan and all my fiddling in Photoshop just made it worse. For a better idea of the true colors of the cel here is the scan I got from the seller. Perhaps between the two of them you'll be able to figure out how the cel looks in real life. Click for close-up.