How possible is a Signed Komiya Card?

Hi E4

since it depends on the Creator, how likely is it to get a Card signed by Komiya?
Is he considered “existent” or never seen for Sign Events?
Have no Clue about Signed Cards, is Komiya possible?

3 Likes

@swolepoke might have a better response here.

Komiya signed for a few people through the mail 1+ years ago. Komiya wanted to give them as a gift for their collection, however one of the people wiped the personalizations off and sold them. Komiya is aware if this and, rightfully so, hurt. I dont think he would sign this way in the future.

This is my understanding of the situation from the outside. Hopefully it provides you a quick answer until someone with more info can respond

11 Likes

In Japan, Komiya has done one or two Pokémon sanctioned events for public signings. He hasn’t done another in several years.

I was able to contact him on Twitter a few years ago and ask if I could send him a few cards to have signed. He generously accepted and did that for me, under the pretense that they had to be all personalized and that I wouldn’t sell any of them.

I know a few others following me tried to reach out, but I heard he suffered from a brain aneurysm and went very inactive on Twitter.

Recently a person by the name of Rob Diven was able to get some cards signed by him using the same method as me, but over Instagram. That user unfortunately handed them off to another person who wiped the personalizations and sold a majority of the copies.

Komiya has become aware of what this person did and is extremely upset by it and feels he’s the one to blame. I’m not sure if this has totally turned him off from wanting to sign anymore, but he’s definitely become very guarded now and doesn’t respond to most messages, even more so now.

32 Likes

Thanks for the indepth answers!
ok that sounds like a chance. getting it personalized would be even better^^. if i would get one on my favourite card this would be taken to the grave XD
Is there someone who knows a way to contact?
Iam not in the finanical position to travel to Japan yet but ofc every kind of transfer/package cost is ofc on my End.
I am more than willing to dig to Sources to get in Contact, which Social media Accounts of Komiya are known? Even when its inactive its a slight chance.

Did you read my post?? Lol

I don’t think direct messaging the man is the way to go about it any more. I doubt he even responds to people anymore who inquire about signatures.

11 Likes

image

I wonder if we were to put together a big request with a bunch of e4 people and he can sign them all and send them back to one person. We could crowdfund money to send to him directly or a gift. It would probably be more legit and organized than just one rando person asking.

22 Likes

He could probably be persuaded, but as seen so many times, it just takes one bad apple to ruin it for everyone. Even though its not easy, having someone get a card signed at a japanese event is probably the best method.

7 Likes

nothing to loose, great idea!

Bookmarking thread for continuing discussion on this idea :eyes:

I saw his signatures going for insane prices. Pretty scummy to wipe the personalizations off to make some money. I’m a huge fan of his work and was always wanted a signature of the Voltorb from the Vending series.

4 Likes

Something I thought of after asked in the patreon q&a, if anyone here who lives in japan and attends a signing can make a thread and offer a signature slot! :blush:

5 Likes

I saw Twitter mentioned here and I’ve seen Qwachansey mention using twitter for interacting with the jpn pokemon community. Is twitter really popular in japan?

The “nothing to lose” attitude is part of the problem though, because there is in fact quite a lot to lose.

I’ve mentioned this in some other signing threads, but the situation with signed cards is very tenuous right now, and as Scott mentioned it only takes one bad apple to discourage an artist (but more importantly, Pokemon) from doing signed cards. And we’ve had more than our fair share of bad situations recently.

It’s a fine line to walk, because I’m sure you and many others have the best of intentions and don’t want to be malicious in any way. But when artists are pestered or are messaged on their obscure/personal social media accounts asking for signatures, this can jeopardize everything. The cultural differences between the West and Japan are very significant here too.

11 Likes

How unfortunate. So many unscrupulous cretins.

I am frankly shocked that Arita chose to come back to North America after getting harassed near his hotel in the U.S. :upside_down_face: We (as a collective) are treading a very fine line.

3 Likes

He easily made between 20-50k in my estimation from Toronto. That might even be low. Plus another 10k on the art he did in the panel. It doesn’t justify harassment but surely there’s a good reason he may have been interested in going. Plus Toronto is not Florida :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

4 Likes

True. Money is a good motivator when you consider what “typical” Japanese salaries are like when compared to the West.

1 Like

maybe i see it to simple. if we try we could have a great expierence and the artist as well.
if we do nothing, noone can possible get harmed.

i prefer the risk for a high potential good expierence for everyone over a “better dont risk” mentality because it could be negative.

I believe espacially in this board are close to only people that care for the Hobby and the Artists.
Dont let a few black sheeps ruin the expierence for everyone, or they have won already.

A normal person reading swole’s post: “leave the man alone he’s dealt with enough bullshit”
The Pokemon community reading it: “THERE’S STILL MONEY ON THE TABLE BAY-BEE JUST KEEP TRYIN”

10 Likes