Collector Uncovers Nearly 200 Animation Cels From Classic Super Mario Bros. Cartoons

First things first, I need to figure out what on earth an animation cell is...

I don't know the whole story, but if he "just" bought the box, how can he claim that these animation cels have been found thanks to him? And he makes it sound like there were rumors about him having aquired something top secret since a long time. Finally, the secret is out!! Anyway, good for him? I wouldn't know what to do with it beside trying to sell it to other collectors...

@Kalmaro : Animation cels (not cells ) are basically individual elements (or layers) of an image, usually placed against a static background (in order to prevent the background or the cels from needing to be drawn repeatedly).

2D digital animation generally uses a very similar technique, where each element in an image would comprise a separate layer.

It was common practice back in the day for cels to be sold or otherwise given away to collectors.

"(...) they have been found thanks to me! I just still have to wait for them to arrive (...)" - modern Indiana Jones.
Other than that: cool, I guess?

"...they have been found thanks to me!"
This makes it sound like he's more interested in his own ego rather than the actual find. Uncharitable? Maybe. Sorry, but this kind of thing always rubs me up the wrong way massively, I'm not sure why.

Man did i love those mario cartoons.

@Silly_G I see, so it was just a way to have things layered so you wouldn't draw over stuff, kinda like what they do with photoshop and whatnot. Thanks for the info!

Awesome find!

Hopefully he can colour them in properly then, lost count of how many times Bowser changed colour during an episode, great cartoon though

I'm not sure if "classic" is the right word, but still a cool find!

The Indiana Jones of Ebay.

@carlos82 lmao i remember seeing Luigi wearing Mario's clothes multiple times! XD

(I mean cause they colored Luigi red by mistake a couple different times)

Thats funny; i watched the mario bros 3 cartoon yesterday on netflix and toad had the weirdest scream ever

This guy sounds like a total A-hole. It's no secret.

Now he's going to sell them, one sheet at a time.

@Kalmaro In a nutshell... The animators drew the action on paper with pencil, frame by frame. The drawings were then sent to be inked and painted on a separate celluloid (transparent plastic) sheet by tracing. Finally, the 'cels' were sent to the camera, where they were placed on top of a background painting and one picture was taken. Repeat the process thousands of times and you have a cartoon.

(Back in the day, Disney animated films had around 150,000 separate drawings/paintings)

@Emperor-Palpsy
It's a bit mind-blowing, actually... particularly when you look at something as detailed as Pinocchio. In actual fact... the scene underwater, where Pinocchio asks the fish where Monstro is, and they flee, producing an amazing rippling effect... I have always wondered how on Earth they did that.

These shows are my jam.

So by "discovered", he means he bought them from another collector?

@Ooyah Rippled glass, placed over the cels and moved left to right slowly between each photograph

@Kalmaro When I was younger I used to watch late night reruns of Walt Disney talking about how they made movies and it always fascinated me. They don't do this stuff anymore, but it's well worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHTlUGN1zw

@Emperor-Palpsy just thinking about how long that probably took... Sheesh

@DonSerrot thanks! I'll check it out

@Silly_G Awesome explanation. I would like to add that each sheet would be hand painted. A really tedious task. A lot 2D animation still does this but many are doing it on a computer to save paper and plastic sheets.

Well that’s great. Hope the package doesn’t get left out on a rainy day, the delivery guy doesn’t spill a Big Gulp all over it, or a small child doesn’t turn it into a coloring book.

Best of luck to this collector.

Now I want to see someone could find animation cels of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (1993 cartoon).

Man these are cool. I really wish cels were still used in animation. Modern digital standards are too sterile.

Yes, They live on

@AshFoxX I dunno man, there's some anime that looks pretty good and I don't think they use cels.

@DonSerrot Watched the video, man I can't believe they did all that back then. Makes me really miss their old movies.

Nothing wrong with 3D, but I'm glad people still like doing 2D work.

Huh. Super Show Bowser looks like King K. Rool.

@Kalmaro Walt Disney was always looking for the most efficient ways to push animation technology forward. After he died I think that fell to the wayside a bit, but he certainly set up a strong foundation for those who came after to work up from. A lot of the techniques he and his animators pioneered back in the day are still used today with digital animation.

@mazzel was thinking along the same lines. It sounds like he just wants to become a famous collector, likely trying to use this to launch (or highlight) a YouTube Chanel.

Being a friend of Max, he's not the stuck-up jerk people are making him out to be here. Also, this is a bigger find than you think, because most of DiC's cels were destroyed by Disney in response to Andy Heyward rejecting their proposition for him to buy the company back from them.

l remember seeing a few episodes of this show and it was ugly in a good way!
I always liked Luigi

@Brink
yes he sorta does look like him.

I’m pretty sure that the animation cels I’ve owned held their value just as well as early 90’s comic books...

I love all 3 Super Mario cartoons. They're so much fun! What a cool piece of videogame history to have. Although its not like the collector rescued them from an abandoned warehouse deep in the amazon jungle or something. Haha! Still congrats.

Oh my god I love animation cels. This dude is gonna be rich if he plays his cards right

Animation cels, real special FX, stop motion / claymation etc. It’s so much more charming than CGI. I understand why CGI is used these days, but I just love all the ingenious ideas that come about from technological limitations. Just like in video games. But I am an old grump. I love the 80’s / 90’s Mario cartoons, I’d enjoy these cels.

On a side note, this guy sounds a tad tool like.

@DonSerrot It's a shame that we basically have to look to anime now to see proper 2D work, and even in some anime they sneak in some 3D when they think we won't notice.

I have a king koopa cel framed I love collecting these!

Doesn't "classic" imply it was actually good at one point, rather than being disowned by Nintendo?

Pretty cool to see! I used to watch the VHS tapes of the SMB Super Show and SMB3 cartoons as a kid. I've always been interested in how animated cartoons/films were made, too.

@Euler It does but it is also used for things that are old and remembered fondly by most because dispite it not being the best production it surely was charming.

Definitely a cartoon that did justice to Mario loved it, and the sound effects were spot on as well.

People getting upset over a collector collecting stuff and selling it for a profit, geez can you people ever find anything worth being upset about?

yes dirty paper...I will exchange 10 boxes of new white paper for it...thanks to me you have something more useful

@GamerDad66 he will discover what the last seller did. People will buy the first few for a lot and the price drops so dramatically you can save yourself some time by selling a lot. Not like people will be into Luigi's arm. Or Toads feet running but not his body. 180 are probably worthless cells. The hand drawn stuff might be worth it. How do I know this? I've had to sell a lot of stuff from unpaid storage units.

Pretty cool stuff.