Supposedly they aren’t attending that signing event anymore due to “poke community forces enlightening them that their signings will be treated as assets”.
Has this ever happend before that a party has cancelled from signing events due to an opposing (small) party in the community?
Signings are few and far between to even be able to answer that. Best to await official statement from the organizers especially since a lot is involved to make these kind of events happen.
If this is true, I wouldn’t necessarily blame them. Some artists don’t care, but others don’t want their signature to be treated as a dollar bill which I think is completely fair.
Edit: Nevermind, I misunderstood the situation and spoke too soon.
In my understanding, the issue here is less that the artists are doing signings for money (which has been done many times over), but that individuals who have competing business interests with Ludkins or have an obvious personal animus towards Charlie are taking it upon themselves to message the artists with misinformation. As many artists are sensitive about others profiting off of their signatures due to a small percentage of the hobby being very active flippers, all these people had to do was tell the artists (who do not speak English) that Ludkins was going to sell their signatures as flippable assets.
It’s typical Virbank bullshit and another reminder why we can’t have anything nice in this hobby.
The whole situation is unfortunate as the collectors in the end are the ones with nothing to show. I feel bad for Charlie because he put so much effort in getting these events put together only to be destroyed by a toxic group of people who insist sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. I think a big lesson to take away from this all is not to announce anything about an event until things are set in stone. I know this hurts promotional time but in the end its better to have an event take place than it be ruined by some.
Also, can artist stop engaging in direct PM’s? I know it’s nice to connect with fans but some of the PM’s I seen them get makes me wonder if they should just have everything screened by an assistant who speaks english and only forward them relevant messages.
@fourthstartcg, @pikazardcollector, those are humbling reminders to me that the loudest voices are often from the smallest groups. I fell into the belief that the population of people who flip these kinds of signatures was more predominantly larger than it actually is - my mistake.
All you seem to hear about is the prices of signature cards, cards being sold on ebay, and then event deals where people send up “hundreds” of cards to be signed so they can make a profit. I fell into that misinformation wheel and it only took a second thought to rethink it. Then there are some businesses who make a profit off signature cards and do it for major signings which Japan has learned to distrust.
There needs to be more sensitivity with this kind of manner that I think this smaller, yet louder, population hasn’t quite met yet. I would like to see more discussions on how we, as a community, can carry ourselves to open up more.
I understood the reason for Arita’s forced personalisation was to attract collectors and scare off flippers. Why was there a more expensive option for non-personalised signatures confirmed in the first place then? If Saitou and Fukuda knew about that condition, I can’t imagine them not understanding that non-personalised cards sell way better and should be more exclusive. There had to be more shade or lies thrown aorund in those PM’s (towards the Ludkins service) than just that information - they could’ve just refused the option, right? 
Even more so because Ludkins can then actually enable that collector who can’t attend but wants their favorite common set card to be signed, which the artists should endorse.
Uff.
How do you respect an artist, organizer and hobby but not want to support them financially?
Profit is literally why we are all here. Its why you are reading this on a computer, made by a company, incentivized by profit. The only reason Pokemon exists is because its profitable. Even sites like E4 that aren’t profitable, I can only invest time because I generate profit elsewhere.
The idea that the people who spend $10,000+ to host these artists shouldn’t make money is absolutely delusional. Ultimately the only reason this is cancelled is because of jealous competitors. What discernible problem is there? Can someone actually answer that question?
I feel sick to my stomach after getting up to speed on this whole situation. I can’t imagine getting shit on so hard and so consistently for just trying to grow this hobby like Charlie has.
Is there any more info to this story? Not sure what to think correctly atm before I can make a view. Would love if anyone could be nicely willing to meteor shower me my ignorance off. When I last checked the title included Ayaba.
Honestly, i feel like there was some kind of sabotage behind whats happening, and that sucks… 
There are a couple other artists who refuse to do a “signing” for the same reason. The easiest answer for them is to do individual signings and limit a few per person. It solves the problem of the childish jealousy that seems to be occurring.
I haven’t been to the events in years, but last time I did signatures were relatively easy to acquire and with less fanfare. However in the last few years signed cards have really taken off in value…
What’s even more sickening is that people like this are only going to become more and more prevalent as time goes on.
How DARE anyone profit in a capitalistic country!
This is all a case of encroaching liberalism and tpci greed. ITS ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS (as it should be) for all but the end user. The Pokémon Company wants the bucks. Ludkins wants the bucks. The venues want the bucks. Scott and I want the bucks. The artists want the bucks. The majority of the people who wait in those long lines want the bucks. AND WHY THE HELL NOT??? That’s what makes free markets bloom. That’s what keeps things fair and thriving across the board.
This all said, I think autos by themselves are stupid. Never made sense to me. Autos with a story now, are different. My restaurant napkin signed by Mohamed Ali or my Himeno signed TMB tourney badge mean a lot to me because they tell a story.
But everybody along the signature chain should be able to do what they want cause that’s what freedom is all about.
Are there limits? Sure, but I think the people here are smart enough to figure that out without my preaching any further.
Well, that’s a bummer. For every person selling a card with a signature, there’s a person buying it because they love the artist and aren’t able to travel to make it to these events.
I own several signed cards, none of which I’ve gotten in person, and it’d sure as hell take a lot for me to part with them.
Just watched Scott’s video. It’s easy to see why I support/promote him at every turn. Scott asked for and got my signature on cards when he visited. After seeing that video, now I want HIS autograph. So impromptu yet amazingly well stated.
One question he asked is tough to answer. “Why does this happen in Pokémon and not Magic, sports, YG, etc?”
Looks like my arita bulbasaur is gonna be lonely for a little while longer. 
To be fair, these hobbies probably have their fair share of negativity aswell, the only difference might be that the average MTG or sports collector is older than the average pokemon collector.
I wonder if the Japanese influence has anything to do with it?