Have any artists even announced they will be doing signings? With all the lotteries for entrances for certain events and venues, an artist just turning up and doing signings with huge queues forming isn’t how it’s going to work in Japan. I think if no prior announcement then no signings anywhere. Just my hunch.
Almost all these announcements are “I don’t want to sign” but with a large asterisks: “under settings I have little control over”
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(コピペで招待メッセージが送られた件と、通訳を勧められた件はそれぞれ別です) (文面がコピペにしても、せめて送る相手の宛名を書いてほしい…)
Translated from Japanese by
(The case where the invitation message was sent by copy and paste and the case where the interpreter was recommended are separate.) (Even if the text is copy-pasted, at least write the recipient’s address…)
It makes me wonder how common it is for some event organizers to do this. I’m guessing the organizers were overseas since this tweet is in English compared to all of her other tweets.
You would kind of hope that there would be more personal communication compared to a copy and paste message as she has stated (i’m also just speculating since she said its card related, she might be annoyed by that based on her past feelings about it).
I dont think its that wild to assume something like this. Its all speculation until we see what actually happens at the event
Hitoshi Ariga
(event only 2-3/12/2023)
"Preparing for tomorrow’s Brevo 
We will repeat this over and over again, but we are unable to respond to any Pokemon-related matters, not just Pokemon Cards, so please understand."
13 posts were split to a new topic: Are artist autographs worth collecting?
Well this thread is rather depressing.
“illegal” is probably a translation or cultural thing. She’s probably just saying that the receivers of the signed cards agreed not to resell them and thus it’s prohibited in some sense.
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I wonder if pokemon artists have more of an ownership mentality over their work as artists of said art vs other more typical autos often just being a signed headshot or sports card which is also just a picture.
Obviously I can’t begin to understand what these artists feel like in their shoes but I’m going to try to imagine being a ‘famous’ artist at the level of a pokemon artist and do a thought experiment. I feel like I’d have a much different reaction to someone having me sign a headshot of me and selling that vs signing my own artwork like a pokemon card and profiting off of that. With the latter I’d have pride and ownership of my ‘work’ and perhaps just see it as someone viewing my art as nothing more than a tool for profit and having no appreciation for my art.
I do enjoy creating art such as drawings or paintings and I’m very protective of it. I don’t really post any of it online out of fear of it being stolen by someone else taking credit or even profiting off of it. In highschool, I was working on a drawing and someone saw it and asked if they could take a picture as it was of a character they loved. I found out a few weeks later that same person had posted it to their social media claiming they drew it which was quite upsetting.
I think we should all realize the connection and ownership these artists might have to their art, even if its scaled down and printed on a pokemon card, and view that as something much different from media typically used for signatures in America.
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Honestly from what I’ve seen most pokemon artists don’t see themselves like that. Until roughly a year ago the audience/fans did not exist in the same way they do today. In 2018, you could have gone to Dallas regionals and literally gotten a stack of 200 cards signed due to the lack of demand. The Arita signing at Worlds that year… I’d probably use the words quaint and naive to describe it compared to today.
But yeah it wasn’t until after covid when events started again did this segment of the hobby actually emerge. At this point many artists have zero comprehension of the actual demand today. At Charlotte, before the event started and after I proceeded 600+ people in the line she said “I hope people come” 
. That’s why it’s the same story with artists: they participate in a low-key signing event that gets overrun and they get overwhelmed. This thread highlights the reaction to that experience.
A few artists are less naive now. Arita, Saitou, Harada come to mind. It will level out over time but clearly this is an eye-opener for a lot of artists out there
It seems like artists are catching on that in the current environment of pokemon cards, there is now huge financial demand for their autographs unlike before which may be a turn off for them to sign cards. Before when there wasn’t a demand, the chance of the person getting signatures was far more likely out of passion or appreciation for the actual artist or their art.
I think the initial jump in demand a couple of years ago may have initially seemed like more appreciation for the artist/art but that has been getting soured by artists becoming aware of the monetary intentions many of these people have coming to events for signatures.
Regardless, as others have said in this thread, no one is entitled to any of these artist’s autographs and we need to realize that an artist cant differentiate between a passionate collector wanting an autograph for their collection vs someone that will have the card listed on their ebay before they get back to their hotel room. Honestly, for any artist refusing signatures, more power to them.
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I agree it’s not the best thread to find updates on, but I hope it serves informatively on the chance that someone may still go because it’s an artist they want to see regardless, that now they know what to bring and not bring for signing
Just to be clear, its only been a bit over a year. The weekend Saitou signed in Baltimore and Arita in Florida was the inflection point, Sept 16-18 2022
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Wow, that feels like forever ago. Time’s all screwy after covid
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What’s even crazier about this is the progression over that weekend in Baltimore. On Friday, our E4 group showed up to the venue a couple hours before the convention opened (around midday iirc) and we were just barely the second group in line. Most people didn’t show up until closer to opening time. Everyone in our group got through the initial signing on Friday.
Saturday, we showed up at 5am (venue opened at 7, convention at 9 or something like that) and there was a pretty big line, but still not too crazy. About 3/4 of our E4 group got through on Saturday.
By Sunday, people were camping overnight, buying spots, and if you weren’t there by some ungodly hour of the morning, you didn’t get anything.
While elements of both were present in each event, I think the Saitou signing mainly showed the huge amount of demand for autos, while the Arita signing in Florida showed all the scummy lengths people were willing to go to get them.
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Oh yeah it’s necessary info for the community to have. Just also happens to be a bummer. Such is life sometimes.
Sounds like Van Gogh promo FOMO… dejavu! 
Naoki Saitou
https://x.com/_naokisaito/status/1761549443076444488
[Notice about signatures]
Up until now, whenever I’ve been happy to give people and autograph when asked. I’ve responded to all requests as much as I can.
However, over the past year there have been many incidents where I have been ambushed at the end of an event and surrounded by 5 or 6 people, probably intentionally. It’s very annoying.
I am taking countermeasures by telling the event management and related parties, but in severe cases the behavior has escalated, such as being followed in a car for several minutes, and I feel like my safety is in danger.
And other unexpected behavior such as calling the event management staff under false pretenses to check on my schedule.
I’m very disappointed, but if this continues, I may have to decline event work.
I am very sorry to those who are not involved, but I will not be able to personally sign any autographs under any circumstances until the situation has calmed down for a while.
Thank you for your understanding 
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Sad and unfortunate that this is continuing to happen. Not sure what a solution would be other than call out and shame people who are doing things like this but Im not sure how effective that would even be.
There’s a group of people who are all coming a particular geographic area that perform these systematic operations. I don’t think any level of shame will stop the problem. Refusing to sign is probably the most effective option.
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Pokemon needs to let artists sell their autograph cards. It’s the norm in mtg. I know pokemon would be against it but it would eliminate so many issues.
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