Hey Guys
I am considering going to regionals in Stuttgart.
But I am wondering about one thing.
Have there been artists signings in the past? And did they always happen or was it more of a rare occasion?
And maybe. Which artists have been signing cards?
I am basing this of memory, but I think there were no artists at any of the EU regionals, atleast last year, maybe someone can correct me.
Arita had made a separate book tour in the EU region, multiple countries, and you were allowed to get limited personal items which could have been signed. But it had a very steep entry price ( compared to Pokemon signing events) and was only autograph and no sketch. I am not aware of any artists which came last year on personal tours.
Not sure if EU lacks interest or someone who can take up the organizing responsibilities, but different countries might make it so much complicated for a single organizer to do a good job ( language, rules etc), as compared to USA. I can only hope this changes for some EU collectors and fans who would also want to get an signing done. But no official announcements have been made so far for this season.
Cheers!
Artists at regionals is a very rare/new thing to happen. It is not easy to make happen. You need someone who can contact the artist to ask them to attend, probably a translator, permission from both TPCi and TPC, a system and staff to handle the autograph line. Basically, the only reason it happens at all is because @Alec has put in the effort to make it happen at specific regionals in the US. Last season, it only happened at regionals run by https://www.overloadevents.org/ Overload Events because Alec knows the organizer.
In other words, no, there has not been an artist event at a regionals in the EU and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future
Arita was all over EU last year at special events as he has a lot less limitations on signings than other artists… But I don’t think he was at any regionals.
He usually does exclusive events where he is the only pokemon artist there as he can make mad $ (and all power to him).
He’s started charging more premium prices for having your auto in Japanese or a generic personalisation.
Keep an eye on some of the events he attended last year, specifically in France as he may re attend (but I’m just speculating).