Tag: izuna hatsuse

Official vs Bootleg: Aquamarine Hatsuse Izuna

Today’s blog brings us Hatsuse Izuna by Aquamarine. And one not by Aquamarine.

I did not get the box with the bootleg, so there will be no box comparison. Though there were two problems with the bootleg figure prior to the final photoshoot – on arrival, her foot was snapped off, and then her tail became unglued prior to the test photoshoot. Not the best start!
Here are some photos of the damage, which I repaired before the photoshoot:

Base

For this figure, the base is a very plain one:

The official is an off-white, and the bootleg is stark white. Not a huge difference, unless you have them side-by-side.

Bottom of the bases:

On the official, we have the copyright information. And the bootleg has some sticky residue from the tape holding it into the remains of the blister packaging, plus some of my hair (might’ve had this lying around my room for awhile…).

The bases feel the same, so from visual inspection it’s only the colour and the copyright information that are noticeable differences. The official base weighs 40g and the bootleg weighs 36g, so there is some difference in the plastic used. On a personal level, I don’t like either base, and don’t use the official one with my official figure – she currently sits on a glass shelf, so the base only has the attribute of taking up space. However, the bootleg does show that the official base isn’t quite as plain as it could be.

Figure spin-around

Here are some photos showing the figures side-by-side in the same shot:

The most noticeable difference I’d say is the hair – the gradient is fairly different on the bootleg, leaving the hair having much more yellow than the official. The second thing that stands out to me is the tail – the gradient isn’t as nice on the bootleg as it is the official.

Close-ups

Let’s take a look at her face first:

The hair gradient is much smoother on the official and doesn’t dominate her hair. If we look to the left side of her hair, it looks liken they sprayed it after assembly instead of before, leaving large amounts of yellow undertones.
The seams at the top of her fringe have significant gaps on the bootleg, plus yellow paint seemingly seeping out. Her headband also doesn’t fare too well, with a less golden paint and purple paint overspray.
For her face, the printing is of a lower quality and the blush on her cheeks hasn’t been blended in, giving her a more “comic” look.

A closer look at her headband:

Here we can see that it’s not just the hair colour getting onto her band, but her band colour has seeped onto the top of her fringe with the bootleg. Original is definitely taking it here! If we look to the upper part of her hair, we can see where the purple paint wasn’t thick enough to cover the initial yellow coat and one bit of purple paint is straight-up missing on the front-facing part of her hair.
For the fringe, we can see where the bootleggers have stuck with a more basic red paint instead of blending to the nice subtle red of the original.

Back of her hair:

Here we can see how the bootleg’s hair was originally painted yellow and had the other colours layered on top. This deprives us of the nice, solid tone of purple the original has. Due to the quick sprays the bootleg has, we can see how the gradient and coverage suffers. It also hasn’t been handled well, leaving marks in the paint.

Ear close-up:

Buy one bootleg, get warehouse dirt free!
Most (if not all) of the dirt we see on the bootleg came with the figure. Not entirely sure if it’ll all wash off, but chances are some is embedded in the paint, so there will be some black dirt clearly visible against the pale colours of the inner ear.
We can see where the remoulding has gone kinda wrong here too – the points on her ears have been lost and the whole thing curls up far more than it should. They’ve also seemingly used the same cream colour as the base colour for the ear and the tuft, presumably to save time and cost. On the original, it is painted a bright white like a tuft should be. Lastly for the ear, the purple on the bootleg is marred with bits of yellow paint.

Chest:

For me, these parts are surprisingly close for a bootleg and official. The writing actually looks OK to me on the bootleg – the bit on the end may’ve been squeezed in a bit though. We can see where the label paint overshot – it should’ve followed the raised line on the right, but it is extended out, giving the label a weird rumpled look. They’ve also neglected to paint the lines on her swimsuit, but I’m not entirely sure this was a bad choice given the blobbiness of the original.
The shading on the swimsuit makes less sense on the bootleg, but isn’t distractingly bad. What is mildly distracting when looking up close is how there is a gap between her upper chest and the swimsuit on the right-hand side of this photo.
With her body wrap, we can see how the not-great seams on the original are now even worse on the bootleg, and don’t even attempt to join up really. By both not-joints there is missing paint, plus the scratched paint just below her chest.
It’s not overly visible in the photos, but the swimsuit on the bootleg doesn’t have as glossier finish as the original.
At the top of the photo, you can see the usual mess that bootleg figure hair usually is – the official comes to nice, neat points whilst the bootleg has very obvious seams and blobbiness.

Upper arm:

Here we can see how the “print” on the bootleg has been roughly painted on this part of the wrap and there’s no background shading. The rest of it isn’t so bad, but this part really suffered. Moving onto the red crisscross pattern, the original is a bit flawed, but the bootleg tops it, especially the part where two of the diamond parts don’t even touch.
In the crook of her elbow we can see the bootleg has less subtle shading, leaving her looking a little sunburned. She’s also developed a skin condition and has some surplus plastic poking off her hand.

Close-up of the wrap:

Again, these are surprisingly close in appearance. The printing on the bootleg didn’t suffer too much, and contains pretty much all the details of the original. If we pretend there was a lack of warehouse dirt, there are some small tells though. Near the top of the image, we can see where the paint has been scratched during production of the bootleg. With the print itself, we can see where it interferes with the gold banding and we have some whitish bits overlapping. Another subtle print issue is where the design goes onto the very edge of the wrap, where it does not on the original. Finally, the pink shading is not blended as well on the bootleg.

Leg:

The legs themselves aren’t that different, nor is there anything particularly wrong with the bootleg one. However, this all falls apart when we get to the sock and notice a distinct seam line on the bootleg. The paint is also rough here, giving a very cheap feel to her sock. On the official, we have a much more vibrant, pleasing red on the sandal strap compared to the bootleg. The shading on the base of the sandal has been simplified, so the dark shading isn’t concentrated to the inner-ish parts of the sandal base.

Foot:

Here we can really see the difference between Aquamarine’s super-gloss and the bootleg’s… whatever. The roughness of the paint is particularly bad here, and looks like she’s been using those sandals a fair bit! We also don’t have the nice gradient the original has.

Tail:

Here we can see the original tail transitions fairly smoothly between around four colours, and the bootleg jerkily transitions between three. We also have a shinier finish on the tail on the bootleg, but it’s not massively noticeable. The bootleg is also marred with marks, straight out of the factory. The lower picture shows just how different the colouration is and how scratched up the tail is on the bootleg.

Underside:

Let’s see what’s going on underneath… The bootleg has shiny knees, but not a shiny swimsuit. The original has highly-contrasting finishes whereas the bootleg is the same level of half-shininess throughout. We also see some gapping between her swimsuit and her legs, where the parts don’t quite fit together. The difference between the paint colours of the bottom of her wrap are pretty stark too. and then there’s the much-maligned tail seam… On the original it isn’t too hidden, but there’s definitely no ignoring it on the bootleg. On the original they’ve at least attempted to blend it in (though some people’s copies are far worse than mine), but the bootleg it is just… there.

Conclusion

This bootleg may fool some people, but has some pretty distinctive differences from the original. The hair and the ears are the big giveaways, with smaller flaws throughout. If the thing hasn’t fallen apart. The base is also a distinctive clue – if it is bright white, then you’re looking at the bootleg. If you can only get a good look at her body then the missing black lines and lack of shiny finish are the biggest differences.

Hatsuse Izuna – No Game No Life

This figure was also waiting for me at home, from my holiday in Japan. Pre-ordered this one some time ago, as the chance of delay is very real with the companies that produce/distribute via GSC. However, amazingly, this one was released on time! And thus got to hang out in the parcel box until I returned home… This figure is of a younger character in a swimsuit, so flagged this as NSFW, though she’s not showing anything. 

So let’s first check out the epic base she comes with:

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Yeah, uh, thanks Aquamarine. 

And here she is, freed from her plastic prison:

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The first thing that stands out are the colours – they’re very vibrant, and do the anime justice. I’m very happy her hair came out vibrant, which is essential for a NGNL figure. The swimsuit is also slightly shiny, and that works really well too imo. 

Close-up of her face:

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Her earls look really good, and her hairband has come out well. The hair paint blending stands up to close scrutiny too. Not a big fan of her expression, but it has been done well. I’d prefer it if she at least looked a little happy and not under duress. 

Swimsuit:

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The details are really nice, as well as the contrasting finish, though the finish doesn’t show so much in this photo. The red details are painted as they’re moulded, but they do sort of suddenly end… which I find a little odd, but not a dealbreaker for me. Do think it would look better if they appeared to carry on underneath her arms. 

Left:

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Here we can see her HUGE tail, which is very nicely painted, but does have a whacking great big seam mark down the middle of it. Would prefer it if that wasn’t there, but it doesn’t show from the front, thankfully. 

Leg close-up:

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Her shoes are nicely done, as with the wrinkles in her socks. The base of her shoes is also done with a shiny finish, which gives them a look of quality. 

Robe pattern:

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She has this detailed pattern on the top and the bottom of her robe. It looks really good, and helps this figure stand out from less expensive figures. The shading here is also lovely, and really helps to add depth. 

Close-up of the shiny swimsuit:

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Here you can see where the light is being reflected off it, and the wrinkles that have been sculpted and shaded. I think the belly button is a bit overdone though, but this style seems pretty common on Japanese figures. 

Right:

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Hair still looking vibrant :). And more of the robe pattern. The red detail on her sleeves looks better like this, as you can’t see the odd termination.

Back:

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The shading from her hair and tail are both really visible here, and look great. You can also see shading on the base of her shoe and on the back of her ears. I love the way it’s all so smoothly blended. 

Close-up of the tail tip:

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Yeah, this was the first seam mark I noticed. Really rather visible. Would’ve been nice if they could’ve done something about this to make it show up a bit less, but again, not visible from the front. 

Back of her head:

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Just love the sunset colours.

Detail of the dress from underneath:

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The edging is done really nicely in gold, plus this pattern printed throughout. Also the dress is shaded under here too, to emphasise the peaks and valleys in the fabric.

Seams in the robe:

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These are very visible if viewing the figure from beneath, as they’re pretty gappy. Kinda almost wants some filler in there… Again, it is a hidden seam, so you only really see it when you’re looking for it, but you do really see it if you look from the bottom imo. 

Overall, this is a really nicely produced figure, with many things that point to it being a premium product. However, Aquamarine figures are pretty pricey. And it really depends if you want a loli in a swimsuit… I don’t really see her in a pose-y way, so I like this figure, but I know her pose, outfit and supposed age is a bone of contention between collectors. But from a pure-figure perspective, she’s a really nice figure, and I think Aquamarine did a really good job with her.