Animation Legends Cels

I ordered some Cosmic Christmas Animation Cel mystery packs to see how they were. Read on for my review…

So first let me say that it makes me sad that people buy up production folders and sell them off cel by cel. I think they should be preserved as a whole somehow, and saved for their historical value that way, but I get that I’m the only one thinking that. I mean, once you’ve sent your production folders to the far corners of North America anyway, I guess there’s not much point trying to keep them all together, but the purist and the historian in me sees breaking up the folders as bad. But that ship has sailed. And me not buying these cels wouldn’t put the toothpaste in the tube. So here we are, with an order from Animation Legends for two mystery packs of Cosmic Christmas cels.

The concept of Animation Legends is they sell you a pack of five cels, which is made up of varying quality of cels. One guaranteed high quality cel, and the rest listed as ‘okay quality’.

So the easiest way to judge what you get is seeing what you get, and here are my ten:

I was not disappointed. In fact, I’ve ordered more. I am anything but impartial about A Cosmic Christmas, so I’m honestly not sure which of these are the ‘okay quality’ ones, I’m happy with them all. Sure, I suppose casual fans might not want the background characters as much, but I was thrilled to get minor characters in close up and with detail. I was expecting a couple of good ones and some goose butt closeups or a few back of the head shots. Nothing of the sort, I was very pleased (and a little relieved) to see full-frame, good-condition cels without questionable areas.

This is not any kind of paid endorsement (though if they want to send me free cels, I wouldn’t say no, but only because I’ve already rendered my verdict), and I’ve never used Animaton Legends before, but I was very pleased. I know not everyone would be as thrilled with these cels, but that’s why I scanned and shared all ten, so you can see what you think. This is what I got for my two mystery packs and I’m quite over-the-moon with them. But now you know a sampling of what you get if you were considering ordering a mystery pack yourself.

Here is the Cosmic Christmas mystery packs page: (No longer available)
https://animationlegends.com/products/cosmic-christmas

Five cels per pack, one high quality cel or sketch, and the rest selected randomly, listed as okay quality. At the time of this article, it’s $25 USD per pack (listed as 50% off $50), and shipping to Canada was $20 USD. Shipping seemed to be the same for one pack, two pack or four packs. So buying more is a better value, if you were thinking of multiple packs.

The cels were in a mailing envelope with suitable protection and a cardstock insert keeping everything fold and crease-free. There were two certificates of authenticity with my two packs, but for 10 cels, I’m not sure how that works. I’m no expert on cels or authentication, so I’ll be filing these away anyway. If you’re looking at these as an investment, go somewhere else for advice. I bought them because think they’re great to have and share, not because I think they’ll be of value. Not that they won’t, just don’t listen to my advice on that sort of thing. I have no idea.

For what it’s worth, the cels came as 10 cels in one pack, two certificates of authenticity, invoice, in a plastic bags. So they’re not sending two bags of five, so perhaps there’s more than just grabbing random packs, which could potentially duplicate. You’ll notice I didn’t get any duplicates within my set, which is good (Similar I mean, since they’re unique, it wouldn’t be duplicates, but I didn’t get the same character from the same scene with minor differences). If it was two bags of pre-picked cels, I would think it more likely to get a couple of similar cels, but all of mine are noticeably different from each other. I wonder if my second order will have more similar pieces, but I’ve ordered four more, some similar ones will be inevitable, I figure.

My package did get stuck in British Columbia for 12 days when making its way here, but that has nothing to do with Animation Legends: Christmas, flooding and Canada Post will get credit on that one. It was still relatively quick despite that delay. I didn’t get charged any duty or cross-border fees when it did arrive though. Hoping I’m as lucky for the next set. I also chose a different carrier this time, hoping maybe it won’t get held up this time. Hoping that doesn’t change anything with the duty or fees!

The one thing I will let you know is that by signing up on the site I was offered 10% off on my first order. This notice came to me after I ordered, so I missed out. If you were considering ordering, you may want to sign up first and see if you get the offer. Ten percent is ten percent. I did get the 10% offer on my second order for having signed up, so no harm no foul. I was pleased at full price, but if you can save you some cash, happy to do it.

So that’s it, I guess that’s an endorsement. I mean, if this is your thing, and it’s definitely my thing, so I’m happy. And you are on a Cosmic Christmas fan website, so it may well be your thing too. But this is what I got, and what I got made me happy. Hopefully you will be too.

If you have any questions or anything, I’d be happy to answer them. Reach out if I haven’t covered it all.

And I’ll be sure to share when my next batch of cels shows up, see if they’re as amazing as the first set!

Update: 2022/01/03 – They’re already sold out.