DreamX Studio – Rei Ayanami

DreamX are producing a line of these Evangelion undressing figures. As I’m not collecting Asuka or Mari I’ve skipped on those, and just gone for the Rei. There are some more coming, but not decided if I will order them or not.

She does come with both a long-haired and short-haired head but I have only taken photos of the long-haired one.

So here she is:

The tape player is just a “bonus” accessory – it doesn’t have a place on the figure, but you can put it on the base for a more messy dressing scene. Or you could get a table prop to put it on.

The figure itself I’m really pleased with – the shine on the plugsuit is good and the blue hue of Rei’s hair is mesmerising. The paint is a liitle off in places, but that won’t really show on display. She was smaller than I expected, but that’s more because Rei herself is petite. She does have translucent hair, so that will put some people off but I’m not bothered by it. The glasses took a little bit of adjusting to get in her hands, but they sit well and she’s not at risk of dropping them. She has a nice skin tone too. Face could maybe do with a little more shading, but not a dealbreaker imo. Overall, I’d recommend this figure to a Rei fan. It’s an unlicensed figure though, so may not be easily obtainable.

LingZe Studio – Kaworu Nagisa

Here we have a spicy statue of Kaworu – I got the deluxe edition which comes with the naked lower half and 🍆. He also comes with his trousered lower half, so you can enjoy this half-dressed Kaworu if you don’t want to see what’s under the fold.

Here he is with the clothed arm and legs:

You can use the unclothed arm in this configuration too, which I prefer:

The paint detail on Kaworu is fantastic imo, but the EVA Mark.06 colours leave a fair bit to be desired – the finish is nice, but the colour choices are a poor match. The blue is far too light of a blue and the silver parts are more white than silver. The lower head spike also doesn’t quite match the rest of the blue parts, but not distractingly so. Definitely noticeable when assembling, but not attention-grabbing on display. However, if you are familiar with EVA Mark.06 the lightness of the blue is distracting. If you’re not bothered by this colour mismatch, then this is a great statue for Kaworu fans…. if you can get hold of one… I declined to buy when he went up for preorder, but did manage to snag one slightly over MSRP on Taobao after seeing photos of him on Twitter and kicking myself for skipping the preorder. A day or two later, the seller sold out of the 6 units they had.

And now for the spicy bits!

The nails are really nicely done and lifelike. Plenty of detail on the penis too, but doesn’t quiiite look like it belongs – probably needs a bit more of a skintone match near the base to make it match up with the body. All the penises have this in common. I swear his upper body fits in better than I have it shown here. I do like the “bonus” red details on his hips. The silver band might be distracting for some, but I kinda like it.

And now for a 🍆 brigade – he comes with a lot of options to choose from, so here they are:

Plenty to choose from! But I’ve gone with the one used in the intial photos. Maybe some day I’ll switch it up a bit. Am glad I was able to get this statue, as Kaworu isn’t exactly blessed in the figure department. I did want it when his POs went up, but I had so much on order at the time I couldn’t really justify adding to cart. But since then my orders got thinned out so I was able to pick him up on release.

Gentleman 18 Studio – Sukuna and Megumi

This one spicy? Yes. Very. Much spice under the fold. Warning: 🍆 ahead.

Gentleman 18 Studio did a really good sculpting and painting job on this one. It was a bit of a pain to assemble, don’t have everything in perfect orientation here, but some fiddling would likely get everything sitting just right.

I ordered the normal edition – this didn’t come with the medical bed and extra heads, but it did come with a drip and stethescope, but didn’t really feel like setting them up. Unfortunately did a bit of damage to the strap in Sukuna’s hand, but can’t see it so oh well.

Hope you enjoyed your lewd journey around this statue 🙂

Top cast-off for Kanno by Otherwhere

Instructions of how to cast off Konno – instructions under the fold as NSFW.

1. If they haven’t fallen off already, remove right arm and head

2. Twist around left arm and remove (it is on a round joint to allow you to do this)

3. Remove her tie – it pops off from the centre of the knot.

4. Unpeg top where tie was attached

5. Heat up top for a few seconds with a hairdryer.

6. Gently pull off top

7. Remove bra

8. Reattach head and arms, and display!

Wonfes 2022-2023 Shanghai – My personal picks

In this article, I’ll detail the statutes and figures that caught my eye. Not seen much activity on Wonfes Shanghai on MFC, so thought I’d add something of my own.

The first thing I’ll cover is a figure I’ve already got preordered – Dragon Princess by ULoop Studio:
https://i.ibb.co/h7rLzhC/20231002-123220.jpg

Promo:
https://i.ibb.co/nPhR582/7cf7d9f7ab604791b257ff9efe2002f0.jpg
Was on the fence of whether I was going to preorder her as I thought she might be pricey. When she came out as 899cny, into the cart she went. I love the carefree expression and the mechanical parts – am a sucker for mechanical parts, horns and tails – so this figure delivers for me. Doubting she’ll be cast-off – would be nice but I think she’s fine as she is even if that’s not an option.

Whilst we’re on ULoop, this figure was shown:
https://i.ibb.co/HGtLLQ2/uloop.jpg
Cormorant is a family of coastal-inhabiting birds, which is something I learned when looking this one up. So yeah, she’s part person, part bird. She doesn’t have any specific “yes” points for me, but for some reason she appeals to me. Will see what the finished prototype is like and her price – if both are good I may stick this one into my basket. A pretty unique figure.

Now onto Evangelion stuff – let’s start with one I may preorder – the CCP x Yoshi EVAs:
https://i.ibb.co/R6hzhF2/20231002-114732.jpg
These figures weren’t revealed at WF Shanghai, so some people may already have these on their radar, but it was my first time properly noticing them. Unless the price is utterly bonkers, I’ll likely order the EVA-01 and the EVA-MP. Not sure I’ll buy the EVA-02 – I don’t have infinite space, and not so into EVA-02. Beast mode and I probably would XD.

Now onto some EVA stuff I’d love to order but will be stupid-pricey so I won’t bother.

First this one by Jimei Palace and Weta:
https://i.ibb.co/RTmt2G2/20231002-144340.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/54WKTv5/20231002-144353.jpg
I love the diorama and the very mechanical look of EVA-01, but this one is priced at a premium as expected – 6888cny. Looking at the MFC page, seems like it went up for preorder some time ago, so good luck finding one too. Still, will be a great piece for the people who have the space and the dough. If I had it, I’d probably display it with the default arm, but the one with the spikes is eye-catching so I’d probably use that one for a time.

Onto these EVA-01 and EVA-02 pairs by Kaiyodo:
https://i.ibb.co/KrQ9vPB/20231002-154754.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/68cVBCp/20231002-154730.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3WzWTsV/20231002-154734.jpg
In the background you can see the price is a spicy, spicy 49,999元… That’s over 1 million JPY! Or just under 7000USD for each pair! Looks like they have done previous versions of these, but as of writing these ones aren’t added to the database.
I really love the EVA-01 with the white accents, but this one ain’t going to be fitting in my wallet. Sadge.

This figure I added to my WF2023Shanghai folder but probably won’t order:
https://i.ibb.co/pRYXd3L/20231002-160327.jpg
She’s Princess Wakasetai by Charm. I love the colours and pose, but I don’t think she’s a stand-out enough figure to displace anything from my collection.

Then there is this dude by Ribose:
https://i.ibb.co/KG7ctcP/ribose.jpg
Ensemble Stars!! isn’t a series I’m familiar with, but I’m a sucker for wings and tail, plus a dude. Being Ribose his pricetag is likely to be on the lower end, so I might squeeze him in somewhere despite being a franchise I’m not familiar with.

Onto the last thing that I may actually order:
https://i.ibb.co/JdWScST/O1-CN01-Il8-Kq51-L1-Vbmbvn-Y4-62061239.jpg
Yep, a figure by ODD had to squeeze in here :P. The shipping on this one will no doubt be baaad, but who else is gonna produce a shark lady in a tank? This one was announced awhile ago, but still waiting for them to open preorders for her. She’s gigantically tall, so finding space for her will no doubt be interesting. I have an idea of a space if it doesn’t get filled by anything else in the meantime!

Gamma Studio showed this insecty lady:
https://i.ibb.co/BLsVYDj/gamma-studio.jpg
Looking at their other stuff, the preorder prices weren’t toooo high so she may be affordable for me. Though I’m on the fence of how much I like her – will just have to see how the coloured prototype goes. I like their other insecty/augmenty stuff they’ve shown but not enough to plop down a preorder.

Aaaand back to the things I love the look of but unlikely to be able to afford.

These two are a series called “Life and Death” and are by PIJI studio:
https://i.ibb.co/xSq7XhS/PIJI-Life-and-Death.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/8zL9xs0/PIJI-Life-and-Death-2.jpg
They look amazing, but no doubt they’ll be highly priced. Thinking 8,000cny or north of that (1,000USD+, 166k+ jpy). If I was to get one, it’d be the black insectoid one. PIJI announced these a long time ago but they’re not yet in production. Ah, if only I had infinite space and budget.

And onto the pricey fellow that maybe I’ll try and work into the budget if possible:
https://i.ibb.co/NSzcD6x/MYOUHEstudio.jpg
This statue is by MYOUHE Studio. The title of it is “幻·灭”, but not sure how it should be translated due to not knowing Chinese. DeepL offered up “phantasmagoria”, which I think fits it well.
And, oh boy, is this one going to be a space hog:
https://i.ibb.co/MNvhdJ6/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zxtgj1j327w199kjl.jpg
An amazing and interesting piece. Here’s some more photos:
https://i.ibb.co/DksQ6W9/005-YFXZVgy1hik701kc1yj32801hcqv5.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/wzBYm0F/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zwxjfpj31hc2801ky.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3TWy6ZN/005-YFXZVgy1hik6zvoiioj32801hcb29.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/V9ZJX9X/005-YFXZVgy1hik702qzw8j31hc280x6p.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/hRM5drf/005-YFXZVgy1hik703wefgj31hc280qv5.jpg

Promos:
https://i.ibb.co/Yb721Hz/006y-UEz-Vgy1hieu5nqj09j31y72xge81.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Pgby6VG/006y-UEz-Vgy1hieu5n596qj33bh2bchdt.jpg

Overall from Wonfes Shanghai 2022-2023 there isn’t a huge amount added to the “must preorder” column for me. A lot of impressive and pricey stuff was shown, though generally you’ll see more of that through Chinese social media vs the “more boring” PVC stuff. Though from the PVC photos I did see, most stuff was already on my radar or not of interest to me. I do like the Chinese Wonfeses, as they tend to have more unusal stuff that isn’t garage kits versus the Japanese one.

Did you follow any of Wonfes Shanghai this year? Did anything catch your eye?

NL Studio – Thanos – Jack-o pose

The meme, the legend… presenting Thanos in the Jack-o pose! This figure took the internet by storm in 2022 when NL Studio announced they were going to produce him. If you’ve not heard of this figure, oh boy, you’re in for a treat! Warning: eggplant ahead!

This figure was offered in 1/6 and 1/4 scales, both with a standard and a deluxe edition – the deluxe coming with two bodies, one “clothed” and one naked. I went for the 1/6 deluxe edition – with Thanos being a large chap in general I felt the 1/6 would be sufficiently large and wanting the two bodies, the 1/6 deluxe was pricey enough at CN¥1880 (US$265).

Shipping woes

Deposit went fine, replenishment (final payment) went fine, studio didn’t take long to dispatch. Then came the fun with international shipping. He was just under the limit for volumetric shipping so ended up paying for the shipping service so I wouldn’t have to pay an eye-watering amount for volumetric shipping – his shipping via SAL was CN¥560 (US$80), volumetric was clocking in at least double that. So I stumped up the cash, and waited. Then Chinese customs refused it. Arrggghhh. Then came an agonising 2.5 months wait for it to be returned to the agent’s warehouse and get stocked back in, not knowing for sure if it was going to happen.
Thankfully it returned and my shipping was refunded, whew. In the intervening time, EMS prices came down significantly so it cost “only” CN¥585 to reship via EMS. And another CN¥20 for the shipping service…
And if the shipping wasn’t cursed enough, EMS took 14 days, when other parcels were taking 7. But he arrived and that’s the main thing!

Base

Let’s first see what number I got by flipping the base:
https://i.ibb.co/xHnmqd0/base-bottom.jpg
I think the universe is telling me he is indeed cursed. I hope the mail delay wasn’t him trying to Thanos Snap the other parcels he was shipped with.

Top view of the base:
https://i.ibb.co/zF33rmG/base-top.jpg
The base is decently weighty which is pretty common for resin bases. As Thanos is known for his destruction they went with a destroyed piece of concrete with bits of twisted metal reminiscent of parts of a building. The metal parts look good, but the concrete/asphalt looks a bit bland in person and could’ve done with a bit more variance in shading. As it is, from certain angles it does look plasticky. It’s nice they have included some earthy bits though I think they could have done adding in some darker earth tones.

Closeups:
https://i.ibb.co/m0PZDwq/base-closeup-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Njq52yf/base-damage-closeup.jpg
The sculpting is really nice, but the paintwork could do with a little work. Overall, it’s decent in my opinion.

Edges:
https://i.ibb.co/bdDYf89/base-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/h7kVrnK/base-back.jpg
The layered effect is really cool, but the dirt bits aren’t really selling themselves properly as dirt – the bits that have more definition between the dirt and surface paint do look better than the ones that seem to be blended.

Overall, the base is not cursed. Unless we’re counting the 66 on the bottom of it. The paintwork isn’t top-notch, but mostly does the job. I could see someone with painting talent adding in a bit more shading and definition, but I don’t think it’s a necessary thing. The figure does cover up a good chunk of the base when on display, so the greyness of it isn’t overly obnoxious.

Figure parts

Starting off with the sword:
https://i.ibb.co/LJW9G2y/glaive-up.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GkWHdVJ/glaive-down.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/378kQ6W/glaive-side.jpg
The detailing on the sword is nice – everything is painted neatly. And it’s apparently a sword rather than a glaive but being double-ended it was a bit hard for me to tell XD.
Mine curves downwards at the ends – I don’t believe this is intentional, but will have to monitor to see if it bends over time. May have to unbend it or put it away if it becomes a problem over time.

Head and limbs:
https://i.ibb.co/9yqwKGs/parts-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kxvNRqZ/parts-botttom.jpg
As he has two bodies his legs, arms and head are all separate parts which connect using the power of magnets. His armour (barring the infinity gauntlet) has had battle scars and weathering applied which is nice attention to detail. We even have some dirt on the soles of his boots. No complaints with the parts here.

Let’s take a closer look at the head:
https://i.ibb.co/Kj8MFtS/head-front.jpg
In my opinion the head has been done really well – he has a creasy face and they’ve managed to replicate that well. We also have some realistic-looking eyes and they’ve given his lips a different colour and sculpted his teeth.

Other views of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/Zgwjksk/face-34.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pPMJsgh/head-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Vg8h3yC/head-back.jpg
His helmet has been really nicely done – the small details are painted well and all the battlescars in the sculpt.

The infinity gauntlet divides into two:
https://i.ibb.co/S7Mf5Hq/gauntlet-batteries.jpg

And we have a switch and two batteries:
https://i.ibb.co/FqmvgVn/gauntlet-batts-closeup.jpg
I had to have the original batteries removed for shipping reasons, and one detail that was lacking attention was the direction of the battery compartment – the plastic part is actually the wrong way around. One prodding it with a bench supply later confirmed this fact. It’s a very minor detail and doesn’t affect anything – just gotta put the batteries in the opposite direction than labelled. The terminals are around the standard way.
Getting the batteries in there can prove a little interesting as the gauntlet magnet can “steal” them, so have to watch out for that!

Gauntlet turned on under photography lighting:
https://i.ibb.co/0nfwZMv/gauntlet-on.jpg

Gauntlet under room lighting:
https://i.ibb.co/N13jYkh/gauntlet-on-no-lighting.jpg
So under very bright lighting you only see the large stone light up – but under normal conditions the second photo is more accurate.
It’s a neat feature, I don’t think it’s the best it can be but is neat for people who like lighting effects.

Bodies

OK, here’s where the cursedness will begin – time to show off the bodies!
First up is the body that sports a rather fetching metal thong.

Here it is from the front in its chickenlike glory:
https://i.ibb.co/v3ZprVZ/thong-body-front.jpg
Yeah, these bodies look rather funny without the head and limbs attached. The skin texture has been well done, with multiple colours of paint. We’ve also got his speckled skin texture replicated along with the lines that run across his body.

From above:
https://i.ibb.co/VNZk7My/thong-body-top.jpg
The thong consists metal straps that fit with Thanos’ style and I like the work that’s gone into imagining how a metal thong would work. It also slightly presses into his skin – much prefer this than some of the “bikini bites” some Japanese figures get where the clothes dig very deeply into the skin. We’ve also got a little bit of asscrack on show :). And plenty of muscles to admire.

Getting close to the thong:
https://i.ibb.co/GMtKTKt/thong-body-thong-closeup.jpg
A little bit of “skin webbing” going on here, but not enough to be noticeable. And two very pert buttocks. Thanos definitely didn’t skip bum day. Is that a thing? It should be a thing :P.

From the back:
https://i.ibb.co/qyP483K/thong-body-back.jpg
Lighting went a bit bad on this photo so has ended up coming out a bit different. But this is what we get to see from behind.

Let’s flip him over:
https://i.ibb.co/34cC5hL/thong-body-chest.jpg
The body sculpt and painting is really nice – plenty of shading and detail to his body. And painted male nips! C’mon Japanese manufacturers… give us more like this. Well, you don’t have to make them purple.

Closeup of his pouch:
https://i.ibb.co/SmNkGT7/thong-body-pouch.jpg
Shiny enough to reflect my lighting! If you don’t want the full Thanos experience, this leaves at least something to the imagination. Reasonably spacious, but I think he’d be in trouble if he got an erection in this thing – trouble with metal is it doesn’t really flex.
If you didn’t want to think about erect Thanos, you came to the wrong blog – don’t worry, you won’t have to use your imagination for too much longer.

Arm muscles:
https://i.ibb.co/znTh8fV/thong-body-arm-muscle.jpg
These look a little odd in the way they don’t quite meet, but this bit isn’t very visible once assembled.

And now for the naked body – if you want to leave Thanos’ nether regions to your imagination, this is where you’ll want to get off of this ride.
Now for some untrussed chicken:
https://i.ibb.co/CVmWRSg/naked-body-front.jpg
From the front both the bodies are similar – only the lack of a thong.

View from above:
https://i.ibb.co/xMDjn0b/naked-body-top.jpg
Above is also similar, only we’re now treated to a full view of asscrack.

Let’s lower our angle:
https://i.ibb.co/zVfbHY3/naked-body-butthole.jpg
Aaand here is where we get a full view of his balls and butthole. The butthole does look a little crater-y – not the best sculpting here. They have gone full ham on the ballsack giving it shading and texture.

If we go lower, we can start to see the penis:
https://i.ibb.co/Bj8b9fx/naked-body-back.jpg

Let’s flip him over:
https://i.ibb.co/YbsX9pY/naked-body-bottom.jpg
So this is what the posing pouch was hiding! I think from this we can ascertain he’s a grow-er rather than a show-er. For the rest of the body it’s the same as the clothed one.

Looking down at the offending article:
https://i.ibb.co/FJyGjSY/naked-body-chest-closuep.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7tTcQDY/naked-body-penis-tip.jpg
There is a dimple representing the hole. I think the hole could have done with a little bit of dark shading to make it more hole-like. We can also see he has an oval penis rather than round.

From certain angles this makes it look kind of weirdly flat:
https://i.ibb.co/JHGCGxQ/naked-body-flat-penis.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pr3C34p/naked-body-penis-closeup.jpg
Whilst penises can be oval I feel like this one is a bit too oval which makes it look deflated from certain angles. I’d associate Thanos being girthy in every direction. We have plentiful vein sculpting and shading though.

Full twig and berries:
https://i.ibb.co/G0FwqNQ/naked-body-penis-bottom.jpg
Looks good from this angle, and is plentiful in the size department without going crazy.

Naked body from the sides:
https://i.ibb.co/rcBh9Xd/naked-body-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/8BvRpk2/naked-body-right.jpg
With him unassembled, we have a glimpse of the twig from the sides. He’s got a vey bendy back but the pose kind of necessitates that.

OK, that’s the bodies checked out on their own – time to put on some limbs!

“Clothed” body

Clothed might be an exaggeration for the body sporting the thong. But it’s the easiest way of distinguishing it.
Spin-around:
https://i.ibb.co/NWYkw1S/thong-thanos-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BT0ZWpR/thong-thanos-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Z1vx4vw/thong-thanos-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vVvL9ZZ/thong-thanos-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tMxwNvR/thong-thanos-top.jpg
If you just want a Jack-O Thanos without the full nakedness, this one delivers. The pieces all fit together well, and he looks good with his head just above his arms at a slight angle.

Time to swap some pieces:
https://i.ibb.co/yfsPb6Z/bodyswap.jpg

Naked body

And now we have the version not suitable for guests:
https://i.ibb.co/KX0zzGJ/naked-thanos-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XstjPjR/naked-thanos-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/F4tkYbP/thanos-naked-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Dw8h1wh/naked-thanos-right.jpg
With the limbs attached to the body it gives a greater viewing angle of his penis. Still requires selective angles to see it, and you don’t see it from the front. So whilst he’s exposed, it’s not immediately obvious. With my naked body, his left leg doesn’t attach snugly to his body though I could likely remedy this with some white tack. It doesn’t affect his display but when you put him down his leg does shift a bit – a minorly annoying defect which doesn’t exist on the other body.

Some more shots for some closeups of the goods:
https://i.ibb.co/2kXrLWq/naked-thanos-penis-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sP5tsbX/naked-thanos-penis-closeup-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WxQ6kvH/naked-thanos-ballsack.jpg
Yep, definitely there and pointy. He might have an eye out with that thing :).

Display mode

And now for the final spin-around on his base:
https://i.ibb.co/80Y7QJG/assembled-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tKsMfGL/assembled-gauntlet-on.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0qj3RB5/assembled-34-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fC4S1mV/assembled-balls.jpg
He doesn’t have pegs to attach to the base – you simply rest him on there. So he needs to be displayed somewhere where he won’t get knocked, but he has a decent amount of weight so he won’t shift too easily. The sword slots into a hole on the base, but was a bit difficult to get into the right spot.

Overall, he’s a surprisingly good-looking figure – though that should be partially expected as he is pricier than other 1/6 resins I have. The figure isn’t flawless – if I could improve one thing it would be the paint detail on the base to make it a bit more lifelike. I’d say most of the issues I have are minor and he looks fine on display. And he can sit around, surprising anyone who dares go for a side view :D.

Official vs Bootleg: Eve Lovecall ver. – Pink Charm

Welcome to what will probably be the final Official vs Bootleg. However, this blog should deliver – not only do we have two bootlegs to compare with, well… you’ll see!

I will be comparing her both cast-off and clothed – if you’re not interested in seeing her unclothed, I can offer one (1) free click of the back button.

The two bootlegs are a hard and soft version – so let’s see how similar they are to each other and the original. Will she fare better than Hermaphroditos did?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥18,000
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥22,030 (£144.42)
Price I paid for the hard bootleg (inc shipping): ¥CN165 (£19.05)
Price I paid for the soft bootleg (inc shipping): ¥CN175 (£20.20)

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/7KqZnbZ/box-front.jpg
Looking at the outsides of the boxes, the hard version is very similar to the official – even including the copyright at the bottom. Only the shininess on this part gives it away really. The soft bootleg we’ve got a Japanese line added and a botched font choice for the main title. There isn’t any copyright in the corner (the sheet isn’t covering anything up here).
Looking into the boxes, the hard bootleg has a dark pink backdrop, the soft has nothing and the official is a very pale pink. The blisters are also different on all three.
And you’ve probably spotted the arm that’s escaped on the hard bootleg, plus possibly the escaping wings for the soft bootleg.
If the more astute of you have noticed the hole on my official box… that was done by a small Diablo figure (from the game by Blizzard) falling down off a shelf and managing to pierce one of his spikes into the box ><.

Left:
https://i.ibb.co/6YHHr2C/box-left.jpg
The hard version is a faithful copy though it’s slightly offset from where it should be. The soft ver we just have a low res photo of the official expanded to fill the space. In person you can clearly make out the jpg artefacts.

Right:
https://i.ibb.co/DM7vfmJ/box-right.jpg
Again, the hard copy is the same as the official box, only with poorer print quality. Soft bootleg has the same as the left side jaggies and all.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/XZwJDTx/box-back.jpg
Again, mediocre dupe for the hard bootleg.
But the soft bootleg delivers – we have an extra line about how the bra is removable and about the bonus postcard! I scanned the barcode here, it did scan but it was a bunch of meaningless numbers, nothing like a normal barcode. Interestingly under the barcode it says “cod-2022220301” – was this weird box designed on the 1st March 2022? Or maybe some other permutation of the given numbers?

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/mH0BJ7z/box-bottom.jpg
Just varying shades of pink. Not much to see here.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/Qd4LWWx/box-top.jpg
Interestingly, neither bootleg nail the top design. The hard bootleg they’ve decided to edit one of the side photos and place it on the top of the box the cover up the lack of window. However, if you look between her hair and back you can see chunks of the background they didn’t remove.
The soft bootleg goes for a more similar design, but instead of the Pink Charm logo we have “Eve LOVECALL” in that dodgy font.

Blister front:
https://i.ibb.co/rdtjQyv/blister-front.jpg
My official one is repacked, so may contain some inconsistencies from the original packing. But the bootlegs as they were on arrival – bits everywhere and all. For the soft bootleg they have provided more sections in the blister for the accessories whilst for the hard they’ve worked with what they have and put the panties on the figure seeing as there’s nowhere to store that. The chest strap is doing its best at hanging around the place, nowhere in particular.

Blister back:
https://i.ibb.co/nCkBXcy/blister-back.jpg
Yeah, these bootleg blisters aren’t doing too well! Both of these bootlegs travelled in the same shipping box, but we have more woes with that hard bootleg…

A mixed bag as far as the boxes go – the bootlegs are easy to pick out as bootleg if you know what you’re looking for. Someone may be fooled by the hard bootleg’s box but the soft bootleg one looks noticeably bad so a regular collector would be able to smell bootleg.
With both of these, a gander into the box will quickly reveal them to be bootlegs – ignoring the crapness of the contents, they’re also packaged differently – the official has most of the accessories in a separate tray but neither of these bootlegs do. Or the censoring paper.

Accessories

Panties, strap and armbands:
https://i.ibb.co/kSthsJk/accessories.jpg
Forgot to get the armbands out for the official, but honestly there isn’t too much to see with them – you get two sets – one with slits for the chest straps and ones without if you want her bare-chested.
The hard bootleg comes with the two straps like the official, and the armbands. No loose hard panties – they’re already on the figure!
The soft bootleg however… we don’t get any armbands and instead get a whole band to wrap around her.
So quite a different selection here, when it comes to the loose accessories.

Wings:
https://i.ibb.co/ZMsFjFS/wings-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/zRNL2Fp/wings-back.jpg
Got the order wrong when taking these photos, so the soft bootleg’s wings are in the middle.
Neither set of bootleg wings manage to emulate the same glossy sheen as the official pair.
The soft pair are easily the poorest of the three – very transparent and not much of a blend. The hard ones fare a little better but not exactly attractive. Both bootleg pairs have dark bands by the pegs which the official doesn’t have.

Overall, the bootleg accessories aren’t inspiring confidence, especially that soft bootleg “rubber band” for the chest cover.

But wait… didn’t the soft bootleg say something about a postcard? Yes, yes it did:
https://i.ibb.co/4NkWzZg/postcards-front.jpg
The colours are somewhat off on the bootleg, but not the worst. They have removed the copyright though.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/wStJ1LH/postcard-back.jpg
It said postcard, but there wasn’t any attempt to provide postcard markings back here. Well, I guess most people are going to only use it as an art card anyway.

Which it feels more like:
https://i.ibb.co/9vNgmDs/postcard-edge.jpg
The first thing that became noticeable upon picking it up is how robust it felt compared to what your average postcard feels like. It’s 6g, so you could still use it as a postcard if you wished (international stamps are usually for up to 20g). For me, the plain back is preferable as the addresses I have sent to don’t follow Japanese format so the postcode boxes are an annoying waste of space. UK postcards just have lines which is much more convenient use of space.

Base

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/CtDzT0y/base-top-unexpanded.jpg
The official is definitely the superior fur – fluffier than the hard bootleg, less bits falling off than the soft bootleg and does a better job of covering the base than both.
The fur on the hard bootleg isn’t even attached:
https://i.ibb.co/n7bMp3f/base-top.jpg
Yeah, nothin’ stopping that one from floppin’ around.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/zr03qdt/base-bottom.jpg
Yeah, quite a variation on the bottoms. The official has some gridding to add rigidity to the base which the bootlegs lack. The hard bootleg is the most similar with one metal peg. With the soft bootleg we have an extra support hole which is actually used.

Profile:
https://i.ibb.co/Dr3TwQD/base-side.jpg
Surprising amount of variation for what’s basically a white disc with fur on top. The official definitely has a more premium feel to the bootlegs.

OK, that’s enough looking at the various parts, let’s get these disasters out of their boxes!

Spin-around

As they were:
https://i.ibb.co/BZ0t9kD/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/mCcFP4C/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FhCQp91/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yy9Hh3q/spin-left.jpg
First things first: yeah, both of the hard bootleg’s twintails were snapped off in transit so they won’t be present for this review. Reallly couldn’t be bothered to glue them on at the time XD. But looking at this atrocity, I’d regard it as a waste of perfectly good superglue.
Uff… well, where to start? Let’s start with the hard bootleg’s right leg – not sure what happened there, but she seems to be severely sunburned or something. But just on the top of one leg. On the back we have a dimple on her lower back from poor casting (I thought the one on the shoulder was also unintentional, but I’ll realise what this is later). And her legs don’t fit together properly with her body. And a lean.
Moving over to the soft bootleg – ouch her poor back! She’s severely leaning backwards as well as having very bent arms. A weird banana-y look.

Let’s get them all dressed up with all their accessories:
https://i.ibb.co/XY0RFr7/spin-full-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wC9stwL/spin-full-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/9bSPFfv/spin-full-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fxsXrsc/spin-full-left.jpg
In terms of assembly, putting the wings on the bootlegs was surprisingly easy – usually it’s an absolute nightmare putting wings on bootlegs, but these ones weren’t hassly at all. The official is probably the most hassly out of the three XD. Putting the band on the soft bootleg was a bit of a pain and the chest straps on the hard one can randomly fall off. As well as the hard bootleg’s right arm – yeah, there was a reason that thing was floating around the box. Stare at it too hard and it falls off :/.
And yeah, we again have a couple of drunken bootlegs who can’t stand up straight… sigh.

Figure close-ups

As per tradition, let’s start with the face:
https://i.ibb.co/Xp13YSF/face.jpg
Yeah, neither of these bootlegs are nailing it. The official has a soft, gentle look that the bootlegs cannot replicate. The hair has a nice, gentle sheen to it, and her hair pieces are sharply cast with a smooth colour transition. Moving to the hard bootleg, we have a bit of a shocked mouth, no gradient in the hair and some very sad hair accessories that don’t even match. And onto the soft bootleg – one very shiny face, neon eyes, and I think this one is blank between the ears. The hair does have some shading to it but isn’t as nice looking as the official. The hair accessories are better on this one vs the hard, but not as good as the official.
The bootleg collars are also terrible-looking – in this category the soft bootleg’s is the ugliest in my opinion.

Top of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/HhBK507/head.jpg
Hard bootleg photo is blurry but you’re not missing anything here. There is some shading up here on the hard one whilst the soft is lacking. However the hard one lacks pigtails…. which are still on the floor ¬¬. The official doesn’t have the most blended additional hair strand, but the soft bootleg shows how bad it can get when there’s little to no care taken.
Both bootlegs appear to be missing the stray hair strand that goes over her shoulder on the official – though the soft one does have one, it’s just not visible at this angle.

Straps:
https://i.ibb.co/bbWcr5w/front-strap.jpg
The original one looks nice, but the bootleg ones manage to look somewhat gross with their off textures. Neither of the bootleg ones match nicely with the arm straps. We can also see how the bootleg arm pieces don’t fit well either.

Back view of the straps:
https://i.ibb.co/4g2FnnQ/back-strap.jpg
The official clips in nicely, the hard bootleg doesn’t and the soft bootleg is still a rubber band. On the ends of the official band we have silver clasps painted to transition the band from clear to white. There is no painting on the bootlegs despite having this feature moulded into their respective bands.
The shoulder gouge is still there, taunting me.

Panties:
https://i.ibb.co/WtfzwvP/panties.jpg
The textures of these match their bra strap counterparts. The bow painting goes from bad to wtf on the bootlegs – little to no attempt was made on soft one.

Back of the panties:
https://i.ibb.co/pQBt4Tr/panties-back.jpg
Similar story back here from best to worst left to right. The hard bootleg’s aren’t massively far off, but the soft bootleg’s are noticeably smaller and whiter.
Can also admire the poor leg joints on the bootlegs here.

Now to strip off her little amount of clothing:
https://i.ibb.co/6YQVWFJ/body.jpg
Her nipples are a lot more distinct on the bootlegs. The official’s body has subtle amounts of shading, the hard bootleg has none and the soft bootleg has fairly distinct shading. Both bootlegs have noticeably shiny skin. The official and hard bootleg have distinct belly buttons and the soft one just has a dark spot which makes it look a little odd.
(Yeah, the hard one still has its panties on in this shot – I had some issues removing them at first and wasn’t sure if you actually could).

Bodies from the side:
https://i.ibb.co/NxNLfDT/body-side.jpg
The original has a decent amount of arch to her back, and the hard bootleg is pretty similar, though we do have a distinct seam running down the side of the body. The soft bootleg is leaning in to her full soft designation and is really leaning back.
Looking at the hands, both bootlegs have excess plastic in her fist but the soft one they haven’t attempted to even give it a hole.

Closeup of the bow detail on the leg:
https://i.ibb.co/nRyx9Nh/leg-band-side.jpg
Some mediocre paintwork on display on both the bootlegs here. The ties aren’t too bad considering the rest though. The soft bootleg definitely seems to have a silver paint overspray issue on the leg band. Here you can definitely see how the pieces were all cast “on the wonk” on the bootlegs – everything is just a little off.

Crotch:
https://i.ibb.co/ZxvzvhG/crotch.jpg
The official is a bit more distinct in this region than the bootlegs, but not a lot in it. It’s not a figure for people who like detail. The chain between her legs has a tendency to pop out with the bootlegs – potentially somewhat fixable if you took the time with a hairdryer to bend them.
The hard bootleg on mine has a horribly-painted leg piece – looks so strange, surprised they went with this even if it is a bootleg.

Chains:
https://i.ibb.co/CKT24Lk/chains.jpg
The chains on the official can be a little fiddly, but once they’re in they should stay in. The bootlegs… well, good luck in getting them to marry up with the holes. And then not having the limbs falling off! Surprisingly the chains are painted OK on the bootlegs.

Crotch close-up:
https://i.ibb.co/NY21RvM/vag.jpg
None of them have much detail down below – if you like your figures with sculpted labia minora, this is not one for you – just a majora visible here. The official has dark pink paint to represent the inside of the genitals but neither of the bootlegs have bothered.
Here you can see how I failed with the leg chain on the official – it does go in, but easy to miss pushing it in the hole as you assemble the legs.

Legs:
https://i.ibb.co/Zx1pWmz/legs.jpg
The tights are supposed to be slightly skin-colour-shaded to give a sheer effect. I’m always a bit iffy about this design choice though it isn’t too bad on the official for this figure. The bootlegs didn’t seem to get the memo and are somewhat of a mess especially the hard bootleg.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/wsLmFF1/back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/p1XFy0r/wing-holes.jpg
With the wings taken out we can see how badly the bootleg holes were cast – the hard bootleg’s holes aren’t too bad, but we can see some spare plastic “dripping” from the soft bootleg. Who is busy leaning back into next week.
The gapping is so horrible back here on the bootlegs. They really don’t like keeping their limbs on. Here we can see where the “stray” hair strand got to on the soft bootleg – it’s there but hovering up in the air instead of resting on the shoulder. Looking at this I realised what the “gouge” in the hard bootleg is for – this is actually a slot for the hair strand to glue into, and indeed on the hair that’s missing from the hard bootleg there is a corresponding peg on the stray hair strand. It doesn’t look like that it was ever glued on the hard bootleg which is another reason the hair made a break for it.
The lower down dimple over the butt – no reason for that one – there is nothing attached in this location.

Shoes:
https://i.ibb.co/HDmXN8P/feet.jpg
Amazingly, none of these look bad. We can see how all three figures have slightly differing stances though.

Sides of the shoes:
https://i.ibb.co/jvNcX5T/shoes-side.jpg
The painting is a little weaker on the bootlegs, but impressively none of them are an absolute mess. The soles of the boots on the bootlegs aren’t quite as flush as the original, but not something you’d notice unless you’re inspecting the figure.
There’s also varying amounts of gloss between the three but again, not massively noticeable.

Bottom of the feet:
https://i.ibb.co/6gTrnDZ/feet-bottom.jpg
Each of them attaches to their respective stands differently, so have different peg arrangements. The official is the most aesthetically pleasing with its singular hole for the metal peg. The soft bootleg is greedy with its attachment points with both a hole and a peg.

Conclusion

Whilst the boxes could easily be confused with each other, a glance at the contents would reveal their bootleg nature – neither bootleg is good enough to be passed off as the real thing with anyone with at least a passing familiarity with the original.
In terms of quality, these bootlegs are awful – both have issues with parts falling off and do not look great. The squidgy feature of the soft bootleg is a waste as it is so gross feeling. Maybe it could be cleaned up to be less gross, but official figures with this feature are much nicer to touch. So with the downgrade in looks as well as feel I don’t think the soft one represents a good purchase for anyone. If there are hard versions without the raging infection in the right leg, I can see someone displaying this however her limbs are prone to falling off and there’s a good chance she’ll be broken on arrival. The hair is also distinctly two-tone which will put some people off too.
Only use for these in my opinion is replacement wings if someone has the official and they’re broken/lost. The bootleg wings aren’t as nice as the originals, but would do to produce a complete figure. Otherwise the bootlegs are truly a waste of perfectly good plastic. So these indeed lived up to the Hermaphroditos bootleg legacy!

ODD Mastermind – 10cm edition

Marketed as just an ordinary brain, we have the Mastermind from ODD. This figure comes in two sizes – this small 10cm edition and a 30cm edition that’s not released yet. In imperial units, that makes it 4″ tall.

The box:
https://i.ibb.co/kQdXWt9/odd-box.jpg
In ODD style, it’s pretty plain with some warning information on the back.

Inside the box was just the black EPE foam protecting the figure – no story card with this one. So we’ll just have to make up our own story of how this brain came to be – it it reminiscent of yours…? Let’s take a look to see!

The figure:
https://i.ibb.co/WK124GV/jar-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YDbrzQn/brain-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FnTLM9W/brain-34.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Fn2Dqsd/upwards-angle.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/DfzvK8Z/closeup.jpg
For the size, I’m impressed with the details and the paintwork. You can make out the brain’s components quite well and the wires are nicely patterned to give them that chunky industrial wire vibe. All the parts are nicely shaded to give them definition.

And it also has a light-up function:
https://i.ibb.co/FKtDwZV/light-on.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/c81PW97/light-dark.jpg
It’s not the most impressive feature, but it’s a nice addition. Probably not going to use it much, if at all. I hope they go mains powered for the larger version as they tend to provide better LEDs with their mains powered figures, but we’ll see.

Overall happy with this smol brain and looking forward to the big one being released. But not looking forward to the shipping cost for that one! This smol brain currently displayed in one of my cabinets, but may sneak around the house to surprise unsuspecting guests.

So who’s smarter… you or the ODD Mastermind? [According to MFC, 70% are dumber and 30% are smarter]

Official vs Bootleg: Shiro Sniper Ver. – Pop Up Parade

This figure was my first Pop Up Parade so is the first release. Pop Up Parade is known for being a budget line, so how does a knockoff of a budget figure compare?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥3,545
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥3,900 (£29.28)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $20.07 (£14.14)

The official I pre-ordered from Big in Japan.

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/j4w0dT6/box-front.jpg
Can you tell the difference? No? It’s hard isn’t it…
As is common with figures that come in clear boxes, the bootleggers have made their own card design with dubiously-sourced art. I’m not an art aficionado so I don’t know what was sourced from where. Interestingly, we have a photo of the bootleg crudely slapped on the bottom right of the box – interesting they didn’t go for promo art of the official product. The cutout is also of an interesting shape which is a surprising amount of effort for a bootleg box.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/59qqqJ4/box-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/qrYqqf5/box-left.jpg
The official has some geometric shapes and the Pop Up Parade logo – the original Pop Up Parade boxes really were very generic.
The bootleg has photos of the bootleg figure – at least we’re not being sold a misrepresentation of the contents! We also have the NGNL logo and the figure title repeated. Honestly, this isn’t a bad-looking box all things considered.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/CQVNbmh/box-back.jpg
For the official box we have all the legally required stuff and not much excitement. Gotta keep those costs down. The bootleg though… is a colourful clusterfuck of elements. It’s not a well put-together scene, but I still love it for its crazy composition.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/346Hf0D/box-top.jpg
Nothing for the official, a repeat of the image on the front of the box of the figure.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/hFf2n2J/box-bottom.jpg
Not much to see here on either box. But we do actually have a JAN on the official – no barcodes on the bootleg.

Inner:
https://i.ibb.co/VBFxMyZ/box-inners.jpg
Generic triangles for the official, a chequered grid with a gradient for the bootleg. Looking at this, I think it would be nice if Goodsmile did simple character-related motifs for characters that have them for the Pop Up Parade line. Doing a similar grid effect for the official card wouldn’t have been too complex.

Back of the bootleg box:
https://i.ibb.co/6YBDnck/bootleg-box-back.jpg
Again, I love this bit of design for the bootleg box. Would look better if it was just the official figure without the stand taking centre stage, but this bit works without being too chaotic like the back.

In terms of telling these apart, that’s easy. A lot of bootleg Pop Up Parades come in cardboard boxes, so that’s an easy tell. Though some aspects of the bootleg box I think it would be nice to carry over to the official just so it isn’t so generic and boring.

Blister

https://i.ibb.co/LvnBw7k/blister-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/1KyyQKG/blister-back.jpg
The blisters are very similar, though the bootleg one is an inferior plastic and not as sturdy.
We can see the bootleg figure doesn’t occupy as much of the blister as it should.

Base

Packaged:
https://i.ibb.co/19ZDN9d/base-bagged.jpg
Mine isn’t as neatly packed as it was new, but the official comes with a baggie for the base and the bootleg did not.

Out of the bag:
https://i.ibb.co/pL0jk09/base-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VQV8JZr/base-bottom.jpg
The bootleg base is very clear compared to the official. The holes also also placed differently and it lacks the copyright. Instead we get extra injection mould marks.

Accessory

She has the one accessory – a gun of some sort. Probably a bubble shooter? Kind of looks like a hairdryer too, but those don’t tend to have triggers. Or maybe she does have some heart-shaped bullets!

OK, let’s have a look at this thing:
https://i.ibb.co/LYPQWh0/gun-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Sx5MXff/gun-left.jpg
From the sides the bootleg doesn’t look bad – the paint’s a little messier but not massively noticeable when not up close. The colours are also a bit different but not noticeably wrong.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/LkV4JZ5/gun-back.jpg
On my bootleg copy there is a fairly noticeable ding. It won’t show on display, but shows that these things can have random defects.

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/k2MCghh/gun-end.jpg
The biggest difference is noticeable here – the official is painted black inside whilst the bootleg is cream inside and out. The plastic cast is also a bit wonky on the bootleg, but far from the worst I’ve seen doing this series.

Overall, the bootleg gun isn’t too bad – it has some defects but nothing major. If I replaced the gun on the official with this bootleg one, I’m sure casual observers wouldn’t notice.

Out of the box

https://i.ibb.co/7rQz3qY/unboxed-side-by-side.jpg
Here they are, out of the blisters. We can see distinct differences in their poses – the difference between the base holes becomes much more apparent once she’s on the stand. Though we do have some bending/misassembly in the bootleg that changes some parts of her pose further.

Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/wKq3zGN/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/r5xhNfW/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pL7RdDr/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PM1jQVR/spin-left.jpg
Definitely seeing some grossness with the bootleg – shiny skin and lumpy hair. The hair looks deflated on the bootleg, as well as the colours being duller and less attractive. Her left arm is also posed differently.

Aiming at you:
https://i.ibb.co/hYRFN0j/aiming-at-you.jpg
The bootleg hair is trying its best… And lots of shiny on display on the bootleg body and clothing from this angle.

Figure close-ups

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/LY6zQn7/face.jpg
The bootleg hair doesn’t disappoint in sadness – the stray hairs are all melty and lumpy. We’ve also got scratches in the paint. However, moving onto her face, it’s not actually that bad – the print is definitely not up to par with the original, but the alignment issues aren’t as severe as other bootlegs I’ve covered. From a distance you wouldn’t be able to see that some of the lines are slightly off.
One thing you do notice, however, is the neon mouth paint – that does stand out along with the shiny skin plastic.

Neck joint:
https://i.ibb.co/4VXWXfF/neck-joint.jpg
The bootleg is a bit gappier than the official but not too bad.

Side of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/3Ypr7pg/head-side.jpg
Seams galore on the bootleg! The purple shading is also less subtle in spots especially by her ear. Both arms have a noticeable join at the shoulder.

Top of the hair:
https://i.ibb.co/Pz1h9qn/hair-top.jpg
What should be the topmost strand on the bootleg curls underneath the other hair strands and the parts are not as well put together as the official.

Back of the hair:
https://i.ibb.co/ZH3NXC5/hair-back.jpg
Mmm, the back of the bootleg looks gross – dirty and shiny on the blue part. The poor construction of the bootleg is fairly apparent back here too. The hair fades are more abrupt on the bootleg, plus they occur at different heights.

Side of the hair:
https://i.ibb.co/zPT74g3/hair-side.jpg
Here we can see where the bootleg’s hair is much flatter and lacks the volume of the official. All the hair strands seem to be present, just in a much more squished configuration. The green also extends further up the hair tips.

Closer look at those hair tips:
https://i.ibb.co/hMRhd2X/hair-green-tips.jpg
Yep, definitely not a match for the official. The green paint is pretty messy on the bootleg with the longer strand seemingly getting some overspray from the lower hair strand. Also the pink paint is nowhere to be seen in this area on the bootleg.

Holding the gun:
https://i.ibb.co/W0spq1D/gun-in-hand-outer.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7gPkFW7/gun-in-hand.jpg
The bootleg holds the gun at a slightly different angle. But the most noticeable thing is the very melted finger – not going to be doing much trigger pulling with that! Just awful – makes her had looks like it is made out of wax. However, she does hold the gun well so if you can get past the mutant wax hand it’s still functional.

Left hand:
https://i.ibb.co/vcxtgbH/hand-top.jpg
The bootleg’s fingers are less spread out and and blobbier. The skin tone and finish is also different. Due to the thinner cuff, the hand has been glued in at a different angle.

Shirt:
https://i.ibb.co/m0S0N9V/shirt.jpg
The bootleg is a very shiny plasticky affair – not very realistic-looking. The details have also been muddied by poor casting, leaving it looking a lot flatter. On the original you can see the detail of each button/popper whilst the bootleg’s are barely visible.

Bottom of the shirt:
https://i.ibb.co/BCL5j25/top-of-leg.jpg
The lack of definition is evident down here too along with a messier hem. Moving to the stocking, the bootleg’s is less glossy than the official, sports a visible seamline and paint slop onto the leg. Peeking out of the bootleg shirt we have some pallid, shiny leg.

Side of the shirt/leg:
https://i.ibb.co/qdPnqbY/shirt-edge.jpg
The edge of the official’s shirt has a nice crisp, clean edge. The bootleg is less so, but not the worst crime against plastic. The bootleg has the same level of shiny on its leg and stocking – not the best look.

Stockings in their entirety:
https://i.ibb.co/cXzd5hr/legs-side.jpg
In terms of pose the bootleg and official are very similar. Main noticeable difference is that finish. We also have a scratch on the bootleg.

Left leg:
https://i.ibb.co/YQT9V9v/left-leg.jpg
Unfortunately due to my inability to focus the camera properly, the official shot is blurry but all the interesting action is on the bootleg anyway. With the bootleg, the toes are slightly less well-defined and there is a seam running down the front of the leg. And that scratch also shows from this angle.

Foot support:
https://i.ibb.co/chLbTTQ/foot.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Kb2JPMF/foot-pegs.jpg
The supports are pretty similar, though the bootleg’s is less transparent. Looking about the lug and peg that goes into the support the official is the same colour as the stocking but the bootleg’s is unpainted.

Whilst taking the bootleg off the base this happened:
https://i.ibb.co/mtv5gqc/bootleg-foot-separate.jpg
Not the neatest paint job. It did go back into the base support and stay, so not a critical issue but wasn’t glued as it should be.

Pantsu:

The bootleg has lighter and messier stripes that don’t quite got to the edge in all cases.

Conclusion

With the box, there is no mixing these up – clear boxes for Pop Up Parades. For the figures themselves, there’s some key tells like the deflated hair, shiny skin, semigloss stockings, bent finger and the clear base. Looking down the end of the gun, we can also see that the bootleg one is unpainted.
In terms of the quality of the bootleg, it’s definitely not the worst. It mostly lacks in the hair department but the shiny skin and shirt also look fairly bad. Though there’s also a chance the bootleg’s leg may bend over time – haven’t tested for that. I can see a less particular collector being happy with this bootleg despite its flaws as it doesn’t contain any hilariously bad issues like some other bootlegs.

Treasure Chest Monster Octopus Girl – Snail Shell

This figure was an instant preorder for me – I like monster characters, especially of the aquatic variety. I did have some small reservations as I didn’t think Tomato Girl came out as well as it could’ve done. I don’t actually own Tomato Girl, but haven’t been that impressed by the photos I’ve seen. However, for an octopus girl I was prepared to risk it.

I preordered this before orders in Japan were available so didn’t get to get the AmiAmi scroll. Would’ve been a nice bonus to have.

So let’s see what we got!

Box

https://i.ibb.co/0nTsyLb/box-corner.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/rfrfwKT/box-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TY1YCrg/box-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6vFTHZh/box-back.jpg
The box colours work well with the black and the muted blue. The tentacle designs are a nice inclusion to decorate the box instead of leaving it plain.
The box unfolds to reveal a lid, and underneath there is supposed to be the two pairs of ribbons tied in the middle. However on mine these were already untied as the proxy had done an inspection so wasn’t sure how they were supposed to go – there are photos from other users in the MFC gallery for her, if you wish to see the inside of the box. The figure and her accessories are in a cut EPE foam block, so everything is held securely. Which, based on the rough time that the figure I had her shipped with (ODD Lille – see previous blog), is a good thing!
Overall the box is good-looking and functional. Two very good traits for a figure box!

Sadtiems

When I first inspected the figure, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I was talking to someone on Discord who mentioned they sent theirs back for a break. What break? I inspected the figure more closely and:
https://i.ibb.co/XVDG606/break.jpg
Damnit. Some glue on the end of a sharpened BBQ stick later and I had it repaired. I left the figure for 24 hours to check if the glue was going to hold and luckily it did. Looks like there’s a QC issue where this bundle of tentacle wasn’t given enough glue and the slime pulls on it a bit, resulting in it separating like this. Fortunately it wasn’t as bad to repair as it may look – pull it down slightly, apply glue with stick, then hold in place for 1-2 mins. I held it longer than I normally would due to the weight and the slime potentially not helping! If you need to do this repair yourself, I’d recommend a long pointy object for glue application and to do a test fit before starting glue application – you have to push it in a certain way to go back into the right place, and the damaged paint should be fully hidden if it’s back in its original position.

Figure overview

The figure mostly comes as one piece, so didn’t do an accessories section – there is a small amount of assembly with putting on the treasure chest lid, sword, dagger and necklaces.
The figure comes with various paper bits, which are folded up like a sealed treasure map. I forgot to take a photo, so here is one by Toprharley:
https://static.myfigurecollection.net/upload/pictures/2023/01/25/3434823.jpeg
Annoyingly, the loyalty card is slightly bigger than credit card size but did just fit in my card holder.

So let’s look at her set up:
https://i.ibb.co/N27Bp9T/front.jpg
Wow, certainly a lot to look at here – no shortage of tentacles and she has been hoarding some treasure. I love the shiny finish on the tentacles and the colours came out well. We also have plenty of slime.

A couple of other angles:
https://i.ibb.co/0fxdgmD/above.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/KsyvQmy/threequarter.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0qvFmrX/sideish.jpg
Colours so pretty… prior to getting her, I was worried she was going to be a bit too washed out but was glad to find out that was not the case, and I love her purple-blue hues.

Left:
https://i.ibb.co/S7W5tWf/left.jpg
The slime looks good, plus there is a good amount of ‘animation’ in the tentacles.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/ZzQ09my/back.jpg
She also has tentacles back here, guarding the back of the chest.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/Hhdbk7Q/top.jpg
From this angle you can get a feel for her size. She’s not a small lass! From here we can see she’s about as wide as she is long. But as a 1/3 scale, she wasn’t going to be small XD.

Figure close-ups

Now we’ve seen the figure in its entirety, let’s look at the smaller details.
Top of her head:
https://i.ibb.co/rMMzPPP/head-top.jpg
The shading nicely converges towards the middle of her tentacle ‘hair’. The spikes are also nicely shaded, but only one of them seems to have green speckles, which makes it look a little odd.

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/dKvrMGr/face.jpg
She has a cute face nested in the tentacles. There is some purple shading on her face.

Body:
https://i.ibb.co/HYdprKC/bod.jpg
Her body sculpt is good, but the shading is lacking in my opinion – she has painted nipples which is nice, but the body doesn’t have much distinction otherwise. I feel this is partly stylistic but I think would’ve benefitted from a bit more subtle shading around her chest/belly button.

Legs:
https://i.ibb.co/8N7gNS2/legs.jpg
She has very lean legs – not much in the way of muscle or fat here.

Feet:
https://i.ibb.co/ypTTqFS/feet.jpg
If you like your figures barefoot this is a part of the figure that may appeal. I like the way she’s spreading her toes on one foot to give her more character.

Weapons:
https://i.ibb.co/4pk7s3N/weaps.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZzSNYMP/sword.jpg
She’s not left unarmed to protect her treasure – she has a sword and a dagger to keep her jewels safe. Getting the sword into place was a little bit difficult – needed to use the light on my phone to find the hole it slots into. Once you know which way to direct it, it slots into the hole easily. If it won’t go, try rotating the sword. Both weapons look nice and are sturdy once assembled.

Chest lid:
https://i.ibb.co/rbp5LGc/chest-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f4BGtxH/lid.jpg
The connector is pretty small for this part but feels decently sturdy once in place. The sculpting and shading has been nicely done on this part, though the metal banding could possibly do with more shading to sell the damage more. The wood finish is pretty shiny which is a bit of an odd choice to me.

Nestled gems:
https://i.ibb.co/8NThwvW/red-gem.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/H26NqTx/yellow-gem.jpg
She has a couple of these translucent balls – not quite sure what they are. I like the way she’s holding one instead of them just lying about the place. As for what they do and what they’re worth… who knows?

Necklaces:
https://i.ibb.co/Vprp175/necklaces.jpg
She comes with two necklaces to hang off of the chest ‘teeth’. They’re a little awkward to get into the right place, but do look nice when added.
With the chest having these green spiky teeth, I do wonder if it could protect itself if it wanted. Or maybe it’s some kind of trap set by the octopus girl herself? Maybe this is some kind of interesting couple? Monster and the Mimic? Whichever way, the shading is nicely done on these protrusions.

Gooey slime:
https://i.ibb.co/GvsrT9P/upper-sline.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kHCkyB9/lower-slime.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MCk2Xb4/more-slime.jpg
Liquidy parts on figures often look bad, but I’m glad to report the slime looks slimy. It is rubbery to the touch. I’m really happy with the way the stretchy slime parts came out.

Suckers:
https://i.ibb.co/qC9XCLp/tentacle-bottoms-body.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hHV94dV/tentacle-bottoms.jpg
Also really happy with the way the suckers came out – they’re actually sucker-shaped unlike Idol Cthulhu’s. The bottoms of the tentacles nicely transition to paler colours. If she grabs on, she isn’t going to be easy to shake loose!

Back tentacle:
https://i.ibb.co/xYFbcn3/shiny-tentacle.jpg
Just admiring the shiny finish and the speckles :). The purple sheen really adds to the figure.

Gem decorations

She comes with some gems to decorate the base with:
https://i.ibb.co/4Sgrgbv/gems-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wyS5nM5/gems-above.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VQXD40T/gempile.jpg
A fun way of making a boring base not boring! However they will likely go all over the place when setting them up – the bits vary in size a lot so you may find the smaller and larger bits pinging off in various directions as you pour out the gems. Initially they do start plastic-wrapped, but the ones in the hessian sack the bag burst at the bottom, so pulling them out just ended up with a plastic bag in my hand XD.
These photos is with roughly half of the hessian sack contents, with none of the extra golden ovals (whatever they are? Not sure).
If you buy this figure, I would suggest putting it where you intend to display then pour the gems out carefully a bit at a time to cover the base. Putting them back in the bag after the photo session was a mildly time-consuming process.
I’d say they’re worth the effort though – it does a good job of decorating the base.

Conclusion

She’s a big beast, and here she is displayed in my cabinet:
https://i.ibb.co/2ky5LVb/shelf.jpg
Whew, just fits on the shelf! At ~8kg I wouldn’t recommend trying to display her in a detolf lest it breaks the shelf. This cabinet is a shop display cabinet so is designed to be able to take a good amount of weight.
I haven’t put all the gems on the base – there are a lot of them! So I’ve left the extras in the bag and displayed it next to her. To get the gems on the base, I cupped my hand and poured some into the larger spaces available on her base. From there, I spread them out before pouring more. Some went flying, but not too many.

Overall, I’m really pleased with this figure and glad I got her. Some may find her rather small for a 1/3 but I was expecting it to be like that. The paint is mostly great, though I’d like to see a tad more shading on her body. The manufacturing flaw with too little glue on the tentacle is not great – I’m not the only person that had them separate – but easily fixable. And if you squidge out any glue… hey, more slime! There are some parts that should’ve probably been sculpted to touch like the tentacle going through the chest teeth, but they don’t stand out enough to bother me.
I think most people will be pleased with this figure so long as it survives the journey, though it does have its imperfections. Whichever way, it’s nice to have a monster girl that isn’t some kind of cat.

Wind Messenger Lille – ODD

This figure is an original character, and is made by the company ODD. They’re a Chinese manufacturer with 3 released figures, and more on the way. All of them, well, odd. You have been warned :P. There will be uncensored genitalia photos.

Each of their figures comes with a backstory – this character is member of a winged race, and was captured as her eggs are delicious and nutritious. The backstory doesn’t go into how nutritious, just that they are.

The mythical creatures are captured then cloned and placed in machines to take advantage of them. In Lille’s case she’s been put in gachapon machine and kept in heat so she continuously lays eggs. An interesting concept for a figure, for sure.

If you’re interested in the full story, I paid for a translation which can be found in the spoiler below

In our future world, the development of technology is booming.

ODD is a technological company. They can create a virtual, imaginary world. In this world, they catch some of fantasy creatures, “transform” them before selling them for the nobles for visual enjoyment.

The legendary white-winged wind messenger, who would control wind elements, was a teenager girl from the Wing Race. Wing Race was a special existence in the alien world and they all had three pairs of wings on their back and their head. Therefore, they were misunderstood as angels by human beings for a period of time. The relatively special girl in the race was nominated as a white-winged wind messenger. The race was known as being romantic, peace-loving and they had been living a really quiet life with no fights.

Very few people knew that there was only 0.0001% chance of becoming “special girls” after the teenage girls of the race became adults. The white-winged wind messenger was the only existence like that since thousands of years ago. Every month, she would ovulate once, just like what the females of other races would do before their periods.

There was a high nutritional value in the unfertilized eggs of the white-winged wind messenger and they were usually shared by her kins. However, whenever she was lack of money, she would also secretly sell some of her eggs for human nobles, and these nobles were usually very generous in buying her eggs.

The target of ODD was the famous pharmacist of the mainland – Lille.

Lille was a pharmacist travelling across the mainland, her wish was to publish a book after collecting different kinds of herbs. She rescued and healed many people in every place she visited. And since she was so proficient in medicine and beautiful, many people in the fantasy world admired her.

However, she had encountered some troubles lately because of her fame. She had the habit of trying new medicines herself, and she entered a super long heat period after trying a new kind of medicine. There were some abnormalities in her body during her heat period, as she’d produce several eggs in a day which really disrupted her daily routine. On the mainland, too many people knew about her and there were people who wanted to be cured every day. In order not to reveal what she had been going through, she had to hide as best as she could. Once, she even laid several eggs when she was buying food outside and she even had an orgasm under everyone’s eyes. Her liquid and her eggs flew out from her underwear.

Sensing her underwear falling, Lille tried her best to control herself and slowly moved to a narrow alley. Every time she made a step forward, she could feel an egg flowing out in her vagina, and every time she could feel her sensitive spot being touched. At this moment, her vagina was both swollen and itchy, and such an overwhelming sensation forced her liquid to flow out like a spring, forming a trace on the brick-red ground.

“Doctor Lille, hello.” Someone was calling her. Lille raised her head and saw the mysterious girl of a squad that she once cured. “Oh…good morning!” Lille tried hard to utter a smile. “Doctor Lille, are you feeling unwell?” Since Lille’s face was so red, the girl probably misunderstood something. At this moment, Lille could feel another egg flowing out. She tightened her body and really wanted to end everything.

“Ah…um…yes, I think I have a fever.” Lille answered. An egg was already 1/3 away from her womb. With her tight body, Lille could feel waves of pleasure down there…

The mysterious girl smiled and caught Lille instantly with her specially made container. The biological code of the legendary white-winged wind messenger was stolen, and ODD quickly coned the “sample” of this girl of the Wing Race. A girl, whose character and memory was exactly the same as Lille’s was then created.

Report of tuning:

The eggs of Lille have great nutritional values and their taste is the freshest and the most delicious.

For this purpose, the tuner specially made a machine and put Lille inside. There is an aphrodisiac inside the machine which can make Lille stay in her heat period constantly and keep laying eggs.

Box

So how is one of these delights presented? They have gone the Native route, so the boxes have hints to the content but no pictures.
Front, with a postcard for scale:
https://i.ibb.co/Y8mCyYr/box-front-scale.jpg
This box is chonk.

Side with the info:
https://i.ibb.co/SXsZ3tZ/box-left.jpg
We have some basic information about the figure, including its scale of 1/5, followed by some safety instructions. And 0-18 sad onions… that’s a lot of onions. The top hat head is ODD’s logo. To hint at the figure, we have the gacha dial and an egg sat on a cushion – both elements we’ll see in the figure.

Other side:
https://i.ibb.co/Tv7x9qG/box-right.jpg
Crunch. Unfortunately my parcel had a bit of a rough journey on the train and there’s some severe ripping of the card here :(. The foam did its job however, and the figure didn’t get damaged.

Base

https://i.ibb.co/nw3RJkq/chair-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Cbhg6CK/chair-no-lil.jpg
The base is very heavy and is most of the weight of the figure. Most of the base comes as one piece – only need to add the chair sides and “lamp”. Oh, and the eggs. The chair is nicely detailed and the pink backdrop works nicely with the figure.

Chair side:
https://i.ibb.co/S3Y4kZV/chair-side.jpg
Here you can see some black marks at the top from where Lille was previously resting on this part – the black restraint part will end up leaving some marks here. I like the fact there are some small details here so that the chair sides aren’t bland.

Chair head:
https://i.ibb.co/HYFJ8bk/chair-head.jpg
This is likely where the aphrodisiac comes from, to keep Lille laying eggs. It does the job of looking like some kind of sprayer. If you don’t like this part it is detachable but will leave a hole in the chair where it slots in.

Eggs:
https://i.ibb.co/w4rFsFc/vendy-eggs.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VJCsYh6/eggs.jpg
The eggs are pearlescent which makes them look special. Here we see the aperture that the eggs would leave the gacha machine by. The only gripe I have here is that there is no mechanism for the eggs to roll towards the dispenser… maybe there’s some kind of vacuum that kicks in to pull the eggs down? Maybe something to push them along? Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t make omelettes!

Dispensing hole:
https://i.ibb.co/pRN5PVK/vended-egg.jpg
At least the eggs have a gentle landing! You can place one of the eggs here, to make it look like the vending machine has been used. Here we can see they’ve added the detail of the aperture of where the eggs are dispensed from.

Machine front:
https://i.ibb.co/j44HrvT/vending-base.jpg
At the top there are charts showing her broodiness, temperature and heartbeat. The twist mechanism is fake and doesn’t twist. The coin return does push in – we’ll see what that does later. I like the fact there’s some gold detailing and mould details so it doesn’t look flat and boring.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/xJCcGj3/back-no-lil.jpg
We even have some mechanism details back here, which is a nice addition even if you won’t see them often.

Easter egg:
https://i.ibb.co/f9rtLR1/oddblock.png
The block that shows the price for a vend is a separate part which has a QR code on the back. I transcribed this so I could scan it – it wouldn’t on its own for me, and I wasn’t willing to put ink on the part to stamp it (and then invert the colours so it’d scannable).
20-30 minutes later of time wasted, and it turns out it is ODD’s QQ group number (which is roughly what I was expecting – I knew it would be a waste of time going into it lol). QQ is a Chinese chat app that has discussion groups. Resin manufacturers often use them to communicate about upcoming releases. Unfortunately foreign people can no longer sign up for QQ (I tried… multiple times). However, they are increasingly active on their Twitter, so you can go there for ODD news.

Figure

Laying an egg, on my floor:
https://i.ibb.co/dWPC3zd/loose-laying-egg-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/xYZsy8c/loose-laying-egg.jpg
The skin shading is very nice on this figure in my opinion – I like the way they’ve used the dark pinks to accentuate her skin. Her chest is large without being excessive.
The figure comes with a smaller egg with some green putty which you can place in her vaginal opening so she’s laying an egg. In the second photo, you can just see the green putty.

Without the egg:
https://i.ibb.co/r73bzFv/loose-on-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2MfDzmT/genitals.jpg
If you don’t want the egg, her genitals have been fully sculpted and painted. Looks a bit strange with her vaginal opening spread out like this with nothing to hold it in this position though. But I’m sure some people will prefer this view.

Side of the face:
https://i.ibb.co/FX1mBm1/loose-face-side.jpg
The hair has a nice blend to it and we have two nicely painted small wings – all her wings have some shine to them, which makes them stand out. The sculpting is also detailed, giving them a feathery look.

Top of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/fGm27Yj/loose-head.jpg
Hair looks nice at the back too. Here we can see the magnets that attach the cuffs to the chair – these attach tightly during assembly, so no worry of her shifting around. The wings are attached nice and flush to her body.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/X8M2wSR/loose-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VSRsrQV/loose-top-donw.jpg
Her skin looks really nice on her back too – they’ve put in the work even though you probably won’t see this much. Her tail also fits nicely into her backside – this is a separate part.

Close-up of the tail:
https://i.ibb.co/vhTJHdz/loose-arse.jpg
The tail has decent sculpt detail and the same shiny finish as the wings, as well as the same pink accents. Here we can also see how the feathers have double layers in spots which is a cool addition. Her feet are also sculpted in detail.

Wings:
https://i.ibb.co/nbGvMGT/loose-wing-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XV7148Y/loose-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pyV1FL3/loose-pray.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2tkYnJ3/loose-ground-side.jpg
The wings are definitely a stand-out feature of this figure – I love the detail in the sculpt and the shiny finish. The way they hang down gives them a lifelike feel too. Also love the fact they gave her more than one set, to give more interest to the figure.

Fully set up

https://i.ibb.co/svQz0C4/lid-front.jpg
Assembly wasn’t too hard – getting her in position took a little bit of trial and error – it’s best to align her cuffs first on the chair magnets before placing the leg restraints. The clear canopy was the hardest thing and takes a bit of jostling to get in the right place. Even then, I had it a bit wrong so it wasn’t quite sitting straight. With the large clear frontage you can see the figure clearly – no hiding what’s going on in the vending machine.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/ygWnxMh/lid-top.jpg
You can get a good look at her up here too. The canopy parts join here – the back part slots into the front into the grey part.

Taking off the canopy:
https://i.ibb.co/CnFgK9k/front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sQYs4Vf/lil-above.jpg
Certainly a lot to look at! This figure works well as a full display piece – the details on both Lille herself and the gacha machine work well together.

If you prefer her not laying:
https://i.ibb.co/hRdMw4P/no-egg-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/b38zy56/no-egg-top.jpg
I think this still works, if you prefer less egg in the way of the “view”.

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/MCPw2HR/face.jpg
I think the expression works really well for showing she’s laying but not really wanting to. The sculpted mouth works well too. We only have one open eye, but we do have a detailed iris within it. The black paint on her band does look a little bumpy up this close, but looks fine when viewing her.

Body:
https://i.ibb.co/TrFNgYc/face-closeup.jpg
I like the way her body is affected by gravity, making her look more realistic.

Tail:
https://i.ibb.co/4ZyLwG8/tail-closeup.jpg
The sculpt partially follows the machine, which helps it fit in. Looks good on this side too.

Special feature

If we look at the bottom of the machine at the back, you may notice one of the holes is not quite like the other:
https://i.ibb.co/xS4TF6N/holes.jpg
In that left hole, we can plug in a USB cable that’s provided with the figure so she can light up. If we press the coin return the gacha machine lights up:
https://i.ibb.co/TmfZX4D/light-on-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nBPWPMf/light-on-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZMYDppm/light-on-top.jpg
The light works well and fits the theme of the figure. It’s bright enough to gently light up a small room and highlights the figure nicely.

With the cover off:
https://i.ibb.co/HxbxZwk/light-on-lid-off-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gPRqSyJ/light-on-lid-off-top.jpg
Shiny!

Conclusion

This figure is very well done in my opinion – it’s definitely not going to be a figure to everyone’s taste, but if this is up your alley and you have the coin, it’s a figure I could recommend. Bear in mind it comes in a *massive* box and weighs 12kg largely due to the solid base – it’s how ODD seem to roll. All three of my figures from them have very heavy containers.
As of time of writing, there are some stores on Taobao selling her for her second preorder period price – 2380rmb ($345 US). For international shipping she cost me 1000rmb ($145 US) via rail to the UK. If you’re willing to go ocean-based surface, you could go with a proxy that offers it and it would likely be cheaper if you wanted to risk it.
I am pleased with this figure, and bought her a table-stool (Oddvar from Ikea) to display her on, after realising I had nowhere to really put her due to the size. So now she’s proudly displayed on her own pedestal :D.

Marin Kitagawa – JM Studio

This figure is an unlicensed resin. I bought this figure as I fell in love with the succubus design – as of time of writing, I haven’t read/watched My Dress Up Darling.

The box

Front:

On the front of the box, we get to see both versions of the figure, and I get a banner on mine saying the first 100 preorders get a womb tattoo. Ooh! And some quality censoring on the nipples 😆

Box sides:

The left side is the contiunation of the image on the back of the box. On the right we have a list of information you usually get at the time of preorder, and a QR code that is the link to their QQ group.

Back of the box:

We have a nicely posed photo of the figure 🙂

Top of the box:

Not much to see up here.

Foam (with the pieces taken out):

We have a decently compact layout, and everything was well-protected so everything came intact. Each hole held one part, so no poking around for missing parts.

The extras

As I preordered early, the figure came with this transfer you can apply to the figure. Haven’t decided yet if I will apply it.

The clothed body:

Assembling was a bit involoved when it came to the head, neck ruff and wings, so didn’t want to reassemble on this body. Not a bad looking body, but the top does look weird whilst the body is unassembled like this. There is a lot of part reuse between the bodies – feet, tail, arms, wings, ruff and head. So not hugely convenient if you want to switch between bodies.

The rest of the review is NSFW, so click the button below to see more.

Assembled body

With assembly, getting the right order took some work. It’s best to put on the ruff, the head then do the wings. There’s enough space between the hair strands to slip both the wings in. Getting the ruff aligned took some work, but I got there in the end. The tail was a bit of a fiddle to go in, but the feet, arms and ponytails were easy. Getting the cushion orientated correctly took a bit of time – eventually I worked out the corner “nibble” goes against her right arm. Once assembled she needs the cushion to not roll over.

The body is nicely shaded as well as the hair, and also enjoying the shiny tail. The black parts of the clothing don’t have shading, and the shading on the ruff is very subtle. I’m not bothered about the lack of shading on the black parts, but I think the ruff could do with some detail to differentiate the buttons and the bow. You can’t really leave the ruff off – it hides the join between her head and neck, but you could fashion some choker for her to wear pretty easily, if you wanted her more naked.

Face:

She has a cute smile and the eyes are done well. Also loving her little horns. The hair shading is pretty stark – I like it, but it is a bit mismatching with the rest of the figure.

Moving down to her chest, the nipples are nice and not overdone, and I like the nice round shapes.

Left:

She looks nice from this angle, can work as a viewing angle if you’re not bothered about her facing you. The cushion is a nice texture and nicely sculpted.

Right:

From this angle, we can see the light doing the heavy lifting on the shading for the black part of her dress. I like the way she’s sitting twisted around, and the sneaky tail poking over her leg.

Close-up on that tail:

Was a bit of finagling to get the tail at the right angle. Assuming this is the correct one :). I like the way it is wrapping around her body as well as the glossy finish.

Back:

Here we can find her wings and 🍑. She has very shapely buttocks. Some people may find her wings a bit bland, but I think for this scale they’re fine and fit the figure well. Once you work out the assembly order, the wings go in pretty easily, which is nice as they often can be difficult on figures. They seem to fit firmly, and I didn’t have any issues with them escaping whilst photographing a figure so they shouldn’t fall out when on your shelf.

And finally a shot of her on display:

Looking very cute on her fluffy base :). Overall, the stand-out parts of this figure is the body and the head. None of the details are bad, and what’s there is neatly painted. Resin collectors may not be happy with her size – she’s a 1/6 with a pose that is compact – but fits well into a PVC collection that isn’t all FREEing bunnies. The figure to the right of the photo above is a 1/4 scale, so she will look dwarfed by them. Being a small figure, her packed weight was 1.6kg, so she was cheap to ship.

Overall I’m happy with my purchase and to have another cute succubus in my collection 🙂

Sanis – ClayM

This figure is by ClayM, and distributed by Lechery in Japan.

The box, as imported from China:
https://i.ibb.co/vYZY9NF/box-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/99mqJfD/box-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Xkt22HK/box-other-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VLdN2zL/box-back.jpg
Interestingly for the Chinese release they have stickered over the Lechery logos and address on the back of the box. Looking at Hobby Search, under the big logo labels there is a Lechery logo and a ClayM logo without the text.

Here are the parts in the polystyrene:
https://i.ibb.co/zhqFq7Q/boxtrays.jpg
Nicely protected, but would’ve been nice to have instructions. Most of the assembly is obvious, however I did break the cast off chest cover by doing it wrong. If you want to avoid this, I’ll cover that later.

With her chest part on:
https://i.ibb.co/vksyfgZ/clothed-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/3Tf2yys/clothed-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/JrGRHct/top-closeup.jpg
The cast-off part is a bit wiggly but does seem to stay put if positioned and left alone. It can wiggle and reveal her nipples though.

Cast-off chest part:
https://i.ibb.co/hYGzPyW/top-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0D4vb6m/top-front.jpg
If you look at the right of the image just above, you may be able to see the hairline mark where I broke it.

To avoid breaking it, remove her right arm first:
https://i.ibb.co/55dMM3W/armless.jpg
Very important! Even if it appears you can wiggle it out, learn from me. No you can not.

Putting the arm back on and noticing an odd hidden seam:
https://i.ibb.co/hsLNnSG/seamline.jpg

Cast off:
https://i.ibb.co/RBBbs32/uncovered-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CskRmLF/uncovered-front-offset.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YRVVTYy/right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TBnfcj1/left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ggwpxJh/back.jpg

Having a look at her bassy base:
https://i.ibb.co/KxFyjCp/butt-base-solo.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZN0p0PR/butt-base-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Cw7pFf7/base-base.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TtZ18mZ/butt-angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/3BLMXfF/but-base-with-feet.jpg
A demon butt, with themes from her own design.

With the base tail attached:
https://i.ibb.co/MM9fBy0/tail-seat-base.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZKMfZD0/tail-seat-top.jpg
The base provides a nice, stable perch for her to sit on. It’s more leaflike than her own tail, and has its own vagina… If she overbalances when moving her, it’s more likely for the tail to pop from the base than her fall off this leaf. Or at least that’s what I found.

Head:
https://i.ibb.co/fGVNzbp/face.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f15CDV5/face-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jGfBfxp/hair-back.jpg
Her face has a very resiny look to it, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I do love her hair and horns though.

Part of me wishes she had a shorthair head too as she has this lovely design on her back you can’t see for her hair:
https://i.ibb.co/WVbWqvr/back-no-head.jpg

Chest:
https://i.ibb.co/Ksp6qZf/bewbs.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dPjGZTG/veins.jpg
She’s certainly blessed in the chest department. She has some subtle veins painted across her chest too.

Other detail shots:
https://i.ibb.co/j570HFn/neck-detail.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jbSQBxD/wrists.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HxMmwcn/rigth-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/V92zmzs/left-leg-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2tS6HZQ/wings-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fCJL3Td/tail-end.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CvP7mP5/cake.jpg

Sleeping Cthulhu – Blue ver. – WeArtDoing

Decided to do some showcase blogs of some figures I’ve got recently, that aren’t necessarily featured on MFC. As I won’t be providing much in the way of analysis, I’m filing these under the “loot” category, rather than review.

This figure is of a sleeping female Cthulhu in a can. The figure is by WeArtDoing. I now have two of the three variants – this one I bought in stock from a random store on Taobao. She was 1188rmb with 15rmb freight collect. International shipping ended up being 270rmb – may’ve been cheaper if I had them remove the batteries, but I was juggling a couple of other parcels at the time, so just shipped as-is.

The figure comes with an edition card and three mediocre-quality postcards. I got #19/299 – which is ironically a lower edition number than the one I preordered.

https://i.ibb.co/9s65KdC/postcards-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f0rRcYs/postcards-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NFd3qXF/card-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5BFxbHG/card-back.jpg

Photos of the figure:
https://i.ibb.co/FHs4XMq/angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZfdyLfP/can-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6gLcbJr/body-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PcK9KVk/right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fkZ3xJ0/left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/crVdTcL/hair-back.jpg
I do love the strange theming and the blue colorations. The body is a bit plain for its shininess – in some lights it does look a bit like bootleg plastic, so it would’ve been nice to see some extra shading to offset that.

Tentacle close-ups:
https://i.ibb.co/GcvDw1Z/tentacle-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gyqqYsJ/back-tentacle-closeup.jpg
I love the texture moulded into the tentacles and the colour transition.

But wait… there’s a feature:
https://i.ibb.co/x7GXJjB/can-bottom.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VxFjQkH/can-button.jpg
There’s a hidden switch that turns on an LED in the can. The can bottom is held on by magnets, so it’s easy to take off and put back on again.

Here’s some photos with the LEDs on:
https://i.ibb.co/mz461zh/light-angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FW5XdKZ/light-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BtMz6mJ/light-top.jpg
The light is quite pretty and does add to the figure.

Overall, I’m happy with my purchase. It’s a fairly unique figure, and I do love me some Cthulhu-themed things. Out of the blue and pink variants, I think I prefer the pink one, but both are pretty.
I have her displayed with the pink variant, with another one of WeArtDoing’s figures:
https://i.ibb.co/2q4Pmgk/shelf.jpg
This shelf is a work in progress, so it’s fairly empty right now. If you like to see a similar blog for either of the other two figures in the above photo, let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Official vs Bootleg: Nendoroid Rimuru (#1067)

Time for everyone’s favourite slime – Rimuru! He’s survived many things, so let’s see if he survived the bootlegging process!

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥4,444
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥4,732 (£34.34)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £9.90

The official I bought from Nippon Yasan (so much money, so little retailer…)

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/PCvDnVv/box-front.jpg
There are instantly noticeable differences right out of the gate – no logos at the top, no authenticity sticker and they’ve even removed the “Rimuru” in Japanese as well as the copyright! Looking closer, we can see the white parts on the bootleg box are slightly yellowy and the print quality is poor and grainy.
The “Rimuru” on the bootleg’s plastic may appear to be in the wrong place, but the plastic sheet had fallen off in transit.
Looking into the box the yellow background shines through a lot more clearly on the bootleg.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/QvGB192/box-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/qY5tpqG/box-left.jpg
The poor print quality persists here, and the “Nendoroid” text from the bottom has been removed.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/Yhktxfr/box-back.jpg
They have been a lot less ruthless with the removing on the back surprisingly – even going so far as leaving a Good Smile Company logo in the bottom right. They’ve just removed the block that refers to GSC support – good – as you won’t be getting it for this bootleg!

Top and bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/9tFtJ6w/box-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/mNhvMJk/box-bottom.jpg
Both of these ends have had their logos removed. Rimuru gets to keep his Japanese name on the bottom of the box. They have also kept the correct barcode.

A peek into the boxes:
https://i.ibb.co/wccmyZ5/box-inside.jpg
Now we get to see why the bootleg background was so dayglo – the inner of the box is a very bright yellow all the way around.
The official box has a slightly less bright liner:
https://i.ibb.co/CzHYsfD/box-official-liner.jpg

Blister:
https://i.ibb.co/92BrrdJ/blister-front.jpg
Not too dissimilar, though the mask is upside down in my bootleg copy, and one of Rimuru’s hands plus the yakitori is making a break for it. And bootleg slime Rimuru is too embarrassed to show his face.

In conclusion, if you have the box to look at it’s going to be very apparent if it is a bootleg copy – the bootleg box feels suspiciously blank and is noticeably poor quality.

Accessories

Well, he’s got a few of these to get through! Let’s start with the packaging:
https://i.ibb.co/MsrNdbb/baggies.jpg
OK, my official one isn’t packed as it was – the little pockets at the top contained the arms in the grip seal baggie I’ve used to contain the bits whilst in my drawer storage. However the bootleg has chosen to go for a single bag for everything, just letting it rattle around.

Well, with all these bits plus the ones in the front of the blister I think I’m going to need some instructions:
https://i.ibb.co/WV2rVky/instructions-front.jpg
Bootleg actually comes with a copy – slightly lighter but otherwise unedited.
OK, I can’t do Japanese, let’s try the other side:
https://i.ibb.co/52vdCXh/instructions-back.jpg
Aha! With the official instructions I’m in luck… bootleg not so much. We just have a repeat of the Japanese instructions. Not so useful.

OK, let’s get onto the various bits we have!

Extra faces:
https://i.ibb.co/cvQ1s00/faces-top.jpg
The colour differences are immediately apparent, especially the skin colour. The bootleg is much more pinkish in shade. The bootleg colours on the prints are largely darker than their official counterparts, plus there is some misalignment with the print layers. We can especially see this with the dark grey at the top of the eyes. The thin lines have been bulked up on the bootleg giving the whole thing a less delicate appearance.
We also have the “bootleg red” thing going on where the red lining of the lips and the embarrassment lines look more like wounds than what they’re supposed to.

Back of the faces:
https://i.ibb.co/16xgbnp/faces-back.jpg
Oof, a bit of a moulding disaster in the bootleg faces. Lots of excess plastic and looking a bit deformed in places.

Bottom of the faces:
https://i.ibb.co/yqpn1BG/faces-bottom.jpg
As is common with bootleg nendos (for some reason), the bootlegs have changed the neck joint. Not entirely sure why they do this, but we have a peg hole on the bottom of the face parts instead of a slot.

Head deconstructed:
https://i.ibb.co/Zz2H8WV/head-deconstructed-top-2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hsqB1Nm/head-deconstructed-bottom-2.jpg
Apparently I mixed up the faces when taking these photos. Not sure how I managed that!
With the hair sculpts, we can see that the bootleg is an inferior match of the official. Interestingly, for the official we have a bit of overspray whilst the bootleg is fully painted. The full paint does look more aesthetically pleasing, but I expect the official doesn’t do this to ensure a consistent fit.

Mask:
https://i.ibb.co/6FFVbfk/mask-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Y8KYVcq/mask-bottom.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BTQYcMQ/mask-side.jpg
From the front, the bootleg doesn’t look too dissimilar – a little messy with the red paint, but the black lines aren’t significantly off. If the masks weren’t side by side, the bootleg would look decent.
On the back we have a misshapen peg and some mould marks on the bootleg. The bootleg mask also doesn’t have the same sheen as the official.

Arms & spare joint:
https://i.ibb.co/7t9qsZF/accessories-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vVjMdJw/accessories-bottom.jpg
The dark blue paint on the bootleg arms feels kind of… crusty. A lot of the detail has been lost on the cuffs and the paint isn’t as precise.
With the joint, we can see the bootleg lacks the Goodsmile smile – this is why the joint is a good place to check for bootlegginess – it’s usually missing or poorly replicated on bootlegs.

Takoyaki hand:
https://i.ibb.co/gM61V2q/takoyaki-hand-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ncgV4tT/takoyaki-hand-bottom.jpg
The bootleg takoyaki hand isn’t too bad barring the incorrect skin colour – the takoyaki itself retains most of the texture but does have a bit of excess plastic that you can see when up close. Also a bit more paint spillage.

Wings:
https://i.ibb.co/znPLqsB/wings-outside.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FY7w1tD/wings-inside.jpg
The paint is somewhat flawed on my official copy, but the bootleg has shaky linework making it not good either. The linework on the back of the wings on the bootleg is especially bad, making it the inferior copy.
Also the pegs for the bootleg wings… Note how awful those look. Yep, those awful pegs will haunt me later.

Sword:
https://i.ibb.co/DpKC5F3/sword-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hYxgj66/sword-bottom.jpg
The bootleg sword is fractionally smaller and has a more rounded tip. We also see some difference between the diamonds on the hilt. Not too bad for a bootleg.

Sheathed sword:
https://i.ibb.co/7v6Wh66/sword-sheath-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wLmmZpx/sword-sheath-bottom.jpg
The bootleg sheathed sword has a serious bend to it just above the hilt. The gold paint is also a bit more brassy. Again, we have the bootleg peg painted whist the official isn’t.

Fire:
https://i.ibb.co/xz7pvxb/fire-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/djLPsNc/fire-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/R0L6rRz/fire-bottom.jpg
This is another piece where if they weren’t side by side it would be much harder to pick out the bootleg. The bootleg fire is a bit blobbier in places, and doesn’t have as nice a colour transition. Looking from the bottom, we can see there’s less colouring to the bootleg one. The bootleg fire doesn’t curve as much, but doesn’t seem to have any issues standing up.

Rimuru as a slime:
https://i.ibb.co/Lk8TBZ2/slime-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/94RBGw9/slime-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vL9mmM4/slime-top.jpg
The bootleg slime is noticeably darker and has a lot of flaws on the surface of the plastic. Under less bright lighting this would be less noticeable but as soon as the light catches it the lines show up.
And his face is wonky on the bootleg…
It’s not the worst-looking thing, but does look pretty bad next to the official.

Whew, that was a lot of pieces! Overall, the accessories are a mixed bag – some of the bootleg ones aren’t too bad, others like the wings are noticeably inferior. And we’ll get onto those wings later…

Base

https://i.ibb.co/51XfSLg/base-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/10wBTbr/base-side.jpg
The bootleg base is clear instead of translucent – common downgrade with bootleg bases. We also lack the copyright text of the official.

Stand arm:
https://i.ibb.co/ZVbKmNF/stand.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/bbCcPFP/stand-disassembled.jpg
Again, the arm is cast in a clearer plastic on the bootleg. We also have some extra plastic on the bootleg where it escaped the mould and wasn’t cleaned off after.
The bootleg stand arm also doesn’t disassemble into two pieces like the official, so you can’t repurpose it for a Nendoroid with a different peg. Or replace the peg part if it breaks.

Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/BtxP3jg/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dgLk3PB/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/18mXpRn/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hskLLhX/spin-left.jpg
Hm, looking like a derpier version of the original. The scarf stands out as particularly globby, along with the poor paintwork on the hair. Looking at the sides, we can see where the parts fit poorly on the bootleg.

Accessory test

From the way I did this photoshoot many moons ago, for the close-ups portion I seem to have decided just to do accessory tests. So this will focus on trying out the accessories. We’ve seen most of the detail in the accessories section, so there wouldn’t be much to cover.

Fresh outta the box:
https://i.ibb.co/wgtCJcD/rimuru-debox.jpg
Hm, the bootleg’s head appears to be making a break for it, and the wings are looking somewhat sad.

Let’s get them onto the stands:
https://i.ibb.co/ySgSR5T/standy-uppy-fail.jpg
Fdunk. Yeah, the bootleg stand isn’t very good, and Rimuru will fall off it easily. So if you see bootleg Rimuru lying slightly backwards in some shots, this is why.

Back holes:
https://i.ibb.co/9Hh6Nw2/back-holes.jpg
Looking very similar to the official here as far as the holes go. So that’s good.
The scarf looks kind of terrible to me on the bootleg – bent all over the place, poor seams, bend out of shape and looking a dirty shade.
Looking at his coat, the lines and edges aren’t as clean as the official either. The plastic is also warped at the bottom of the coat, making it look cheap.

Let’s try these back holes out:
https://i.ibb.co/0cMmg9R/back.jpg
Well, the sword is in, but on the bootleg I had to use the stand creatively to get it to work… Notice how one of the bootleg wings is missing- they didn’t stay in very well, and at this point I wasn’t even sure if I’d get two wings to stay in on the bootleg… but after a fair amount of persistence, I did.

Let’s try out a bootleg faceplace swap:
https://i.ibb.co/cLgNdff/laughing-boot.jpg
Well, that works at least, even if it does look somewhat scary. Dark red lines really don’t work.

Rimuru holding Rimuru:
https://i.ibb.co/44DCTZZ/no-hold-slime.jpg
…or on further attempts, Rimuru not holding Rimuru. The fit of the right arm and the left hand are so loose that it just drops off when you attempt to pose him with the slime.
The official fits nicely – no issues there, but the bootleg is a waste of time without actually doing something to make the joints fit the holes better. The left hand is particularly loose, so this isn’t the only photo with a missing left hand.

OK, let’s try the mask:
https://i.ibb.co/Jt8bNL6/front.jpg
Ahhh… aha, ha. The bootleggers have glued the hair strand in that’s supposed to come out for the mask to slot in. So that’s a waste of an accessory for the bootleg. Best you can do here is balance on his head or something.
Also we can see the bootleg wings doing whatever the frick they feel like. Ugh, they were so annoying.

OK, the yakitori, that works right?
https://i.ibb.co/0tt2XcR/yaki-bootleg.jpg
Thankfully yes! Something that works on this stupid piece of junk!

Time for some head replacement:
https://i.ibb.co/QDnZpqs/headless.jpg
As is fairly common for some reason, the bootleg heads have been modified to be a simple ball joint and hole instead of following GSC’s “chin” style of head connector. I guess it reduces the moulds needed to make it, but seems strange to me they bother to change this. For this reason, the bootleg’s faceplates aren’t compatible with the official.

Let’s do a face swap anyway, with just the head:
https://i.ibb.co/T4YvPBb/head-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fxsdbHS/hair-bootleg.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WywqZMN/head-gap-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/g9YMNGc/head-hole.jpg
It kind of works, not that there’s much point to doing so. You’re left with significant gappage on the bootleg hair and an empty hole on the bottom, so nothing would attach. A fun, if ultimately pointless experiment.

Conclusion

As far as avoiding this bootleg, it should be relatively easy to do so. If there’s a box, the bootleg’s is distinctly incorrect so easy to see at a glance. Without the box, the poor hair paint stands out. The extra-clear base is also a giveaway. Other than that, looking at the wing and sword connectors can give distinct clues, as well as the head connection.
In terms of a bootleg, I’d regard it as awful – don’t bother with even for cheap. The bits don’t fit together well, the paint is somewhat terrible and he looks kinda cheap.
Some of the small pieces you could potentially get away with as replacements for the original, but the faceplaces and wings would be useless.
Overall, I’m glad he’s resigned to the Box of Bootleg.

Official vs Bootleg: Wave Beach Queens Kuroyukihime

For this figure, when I got the bootleg I only owned the standard edition. I took photos with the standard edition then a month or two later I ended up buying the deluxe edition. The standard edition I have is sun-damaged to some extent, which you’ll see on some photos. I ended up retaking a good chunk of the comparison photos with the deluxe figure, but there will be a mix.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): Standard: ¥3,800, Deluxe: ¥4,600
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): £32.00
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $16.94 (£14.05)

The official standard edition I bought from eBay, and the special edition from Suruga-ya. Both ended up around the same cost.

Box

Here we have the bootleg as it arrived:
https://i.ibb.co/gDgVsRQ/bootleg-outer-packaging.jpg
Yup, padding and everything! That was a surprise. Usually bootleg sellers don’t particularly care what condition the box turns up in, but this one was well-protected for the tumultuous journey from China.

OK, now to discard the extra wrappings on the bootleg and get the deluxe edition box out:
https://i.ibb.co/tQy8kzP/redo-box-front.jpg
A surprising amount of difference is instantly noticeable – no backdrop on the bootleg and the parts are packed in different positions. The face is in the official box but in a separate blister that’s not visible yet (we’ll see it later). For the official Haruyuki ball it is also in a separate blister for the official, whilst the bootleg has these parts integrated into the one blister. This difference can be explained via the official having two variants and the bootleg only one, so makes sense just to make one blister.
And yes, the Haruyuki ball was backwards in the bootleg box when I received it.
Looking at the top-left of the boxes, the bootleg doesn’t have the Wave logo or the Sunrise authenticity sticker.
They did bootleg the special edition sticker, but the print isn’t as dark.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/YLMKYQN/redo-box-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Ch3pVLS/redo-box-left.jpg
No particularly notable differences here. The bootleg has worse print quality, but otherwise thse match up.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/SsPdnGJ/redo-box-back.jpg
Some more logo removal here at the bottom – Wave, copyrights, the head joint advertisement and the Beach Queens logo. The bootleg has the neck joint so there wasn’t any need to remove that, but guess they felt a bit overenthusiastic when removing the logo-age.
Again, poor print quality so Kuroyukihime looks a bit sunburnt and grainy on the bootleg box.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/ZGPbpjT/redo-box-top.jpg
The Beach Queens logo has been removed, and the Accel World logo is bluer.

Bottom:
Standard edition:
https://i.ibb.co/fkJBW3t/box-bottom.jpg

Deluxe edition:
https://i.ibb.co/hCvPT29/redo-box-bottom.jpg
The bootleg has removed the Wave logo – no surprises there. However, more surprisingly to me, they have replaced the barcode with a made-up one (63/635 aren’t valid GS1 country codes. China is 690-699, which is why many of these fake barcodes start with a 6).
With the officials, looks like Wave produced the same outer boxes for both editions, but put a barcode sticker on the deluxe to give it its own barcode.
Looking to the top edge, we see the official box has overprint to ensure that the image on the front goes to the bottom of the fold whilst the bootleg doesn’t.

Flap:
https://i.ibb.co/9sfxmBR/box-flap.jpg
Yep, the bootleggers removed this mention of Wave too

Insides:
https://i.ibb.co/g7kjD8D/box-inside.jpg
The window glue looks pretty nasty on the bootleg. We also lack the purple liner the official boxes have.

Telling these boxes apart is pretty easy – the lack of Wave and Beach Queens logos is a dead giveaway for the bootleg. The lack of backdrop and different positioning for the accessories are also clear differences if familiar with what it should look like.

Blister:
Standard:
https://i.ibb.co/zSNVmVX/blister-front.jpg

Deluxe:
https://i.ibb.co/CbwrDGV/redo-blister-front.jpg
In the deluxe version, we can see where the face is taped to the corner of the blister in its own blister.
In both photos, we can see the official figures come with two base pieces and the bootleg only came with the one.

Accessories

Haruyuki front:
https://i.ibb.co/6Ny04Gp/redo-pig-front.jpg
The bootleg ball is darker in colour, and the print quality isn’t as good. They’ve also coloured the insides of his ears, which is an interesting choice.
The casting of the ears on the bootleg is poor, and his left ear is bent forward, making it look an odd shape in this photo.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/4VTk4zT/redo-pig-bottom.jpg
Both have a bumhole: check. Looking at the bootleg trotters, the inner paint is escaping the outline.

Side:
https://i.ibb.co/fn3XQBs/redo-pig-left.jpg
Both have pretty ugly seams. The halves of the bootleg don’t match in colour.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/3rPJCxC/redo-pig-back.jpg
They both have a squiggly tail, but again, the bootleg’s has some poor casting leaving the final product lumpy.
Looking at the light reflections the bootleg is a rougher finish compared to the official.
From this angle we can see the ears are all pointy-shaped, but the bootleg’s are dirty, not as pointy and have excess plastic still attached.

Is this ball a replacement for the official? Sort of. It’s not the worst thing ever, but giving it a close look, the flaws do show.

Bonus face:
https://i.ibb.co/YDw2ZWq/redo-acc-face-front.jpg
The “embarrassed” lines on the bootleg are much more distinct versus the official. And we have the good ol’ sweaty bootleg finish. The skin colours are noticeably different between the two when side-by-side.
Looking at the ears, the bootleg’s lack paint detail and are dirty, probably with paint.

Top of the face:
https://i.ibb.co/nfMmnLc/redo-acc-face-back.jpg
From this angle, the difference in skin colour is very apparent. The bootleg hasn’t been cast as well, so the straight edges look a bit munched-up.

Base

The Beach Queens are relatively boring in this regard and all come with a hexagon of sand. Still, a better base than other hexagonal bases that I could mention.

Unpacking the bases:
https://i.ibb.co/CwnQmyY/base-all.jpg
The official ones come separately bagged whilst the bootleg was just shoved into the blister.
The white strip with the official bases is a double-sided sticky strip to attach the bases together, if you so wish to.

With the bootleg they seem to have done a switcharoo with the bagging:
https://i.ibb.co/BBv8Jhs/bootleg-bagged.jpg
Yeah, the figure was bagged, but not the base.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/0qr3J2R/base-top.jpg
They are noticeably a different shade when side by side. In person, the difference between the bases is more apparent as the top layer of the base is thinner and a bit bald in spots which shows up from certain angles.

Photo showing some of the balder spots:
https://i.ibb.co/Ry2Dkh3/base-bootleg-thinness.jpg
It doesn’t look too bad on its own, but next to the official, the defects do show up.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/8NmYFZV/base-bottom.jpg
Interestingly, they’ve kept the copyrights on the base piece. We’ve also got some extra artefacts from the moulding process.

The base isn’t the greatest indicator of a bootleg, though if you have a clear photo of the bottom you can count the number of injection points – official has two and bootleg has 6.
Overall the bootleg is at a big disadvantage – half the base is missing! So if an unboxed version of her only comes with one base piece, I’d be suspicious.

Let’s see what having only half the base looks like:
https://i.ibb.co/99MnZNC/spin-front-bases.jpg
Yeah, she doesn’t look right only sitting on one base piece…

Figure Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/0Z7Jh93/redo-spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XJLk2jd/redo-spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YfMq2vd/redo-spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sqTgf2C/redo-spin-left.jpg
Looking at the figure’s skin tone, we can see the bootleg is a much more reddish tone, whilst the official has a more yellowy base. The hair is noticeably worse and the bikini top is looking a little odd.

Figure close-ups

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/df72YXn/redo-face-smiling.jpg
Mmm, starting off strong… The bootleg hair, so blobby. The stray hairs are like chunky noodles or something, and no fine points on the lower hair either.
Looking at the face itself, the print on the bootleg is actually mostly decent, but the mouth is done in that overly orangey-red that bootlegs like to use. The face sculpt itself has lost some definition, which makes the mouth and nose look odd. Under her chin we can see some excess plastic.

Top of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/1dH5P4L/redo-hair-top.jpg
Oof, the bootleg seams are rough up here. The bootleg fringe won’t peg fully into the back of the hair, leaving an unsightly gap. We can also see the hair parts don’t stick out correctly either.

Side of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/WD849v2/redo-hair-right.jpg
Wow, these hair pieces were NOT put together well on the bootleg. This shows why the hairpiece won’t assemble correctly on the bootleg – the added hair strands stick out, preventing it from pushing back.

Chest and stomach:
https://i.ibb.co/mD8c57H/redo-abdomen.jpg
The whole terribleness of the bootleg bikini top is on full display here – the original has a nice frilly edge whilst the bootleg has… grey slop. Even from further away, it’s noticeably awful and was one of the first things I noticed when unboxing it. As well as the poor grey paint, the jewel detail isn’t painted on the bootleg either.
Moving to the stomach, the bootleg has some shading but not as distinctive as the official. The casting seems to be fine around the torso area.

Decapitated:
https://i.ibb.co/jz71LwF/bikini-top.jpg
Urgh, I think the bootleg’s bikini is fusing with it… Not a good look. We also have a lot of paint transfer from the hair on he shoulders and arms.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/ct2S3Sf/back-detail.jpg
An attempt was made to paint the strings on the bikini top. It’s not even connected to the main string, which makes it look like some strange symbol on her back.
We do actually have some frill on the bootleg bikini bottoms, which is a surprise seeing as how the top turned out so badly.

Bikini bottoms:
https://i.ibb.co/mtCrVPp/panties.jpg
Up close, the painting on the official is a bit messy, but the bootleg takes the cake. Looks like they entirely forgot about the trim on this side, and just quickly slopped the dark purple paint across here.
We can see the bootleg bikini ties also lie flatter against her legs vs the official.

Closer look at the tie:
https://i.ibb.co/QYVFQQ4/redo-swimsuit-tie.jpg
Yep, bootleg is looking noodlier. We’ve also got a large chunk of plastic? Paint? It’s also been mounted at a more gravity-defying angle. The knot has also nearly been lost.

Hands:
https://i.ibb.co/tBrfsdM/left-hand.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/8YpQHJf/redo-hand.jpg
Shudder… the bootleg is looking decidedly mutant. Both bootleg hands the fingers have partially fused together, and the nail polish has been painted poorly. The right hand (lower photo) is especially ugly to look at for me. Yuck.

Legs:
https://i.ibb.co/hcbyt6L/redo-feet.jpg
Fortunately the feet aren’t as bad as the hands, but we still have some toe fusion going on, making the bootleg’s toes smaller. Again, the nail polish is poorly applied here on the bootleg.

Feet from the other side:
https://i.ibb.co/9yQPZ6H/feet.jpg
Ngl, the bootleg’s left foot is freaking me out a bit. No points for the bootleg feet.

Underneath:
https://i.ibb.co/xzjNfdc/bottom.jpg
Not really anything extra here to observe, but we can see how the fingers are closed together on the bootleg. We can also see the way the light shines off of the bootleg skin.

Time for some face swapping. Let’s start by taking off the hair:
https://i.ibb.co/Sxq8nDh/redo-head-nohair.jpg
Not too much difference here, apart from the poor fitting of the bootleg parts.

Hair:
https://i.ibb.co/VBSHn54/redo-hairpiece-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Z8mm1Kg/redo-hairpiece-back.jpg
The back of the official plugs manages to be a bit rougher than the bootleg’s.
Interestingly on the bootleg, we can see the injection hole for the official, but they made a different injection hole to use instead on the middle plug part.

Bootleg and official with bootleg angry face:
https://i.ibb.co/GQGFYhg/bootleg-face-equipped.jpg
The bootleg face works with both figures, however due to the skin colour difference, it’s noticeably not a match on the official.

Conclusion

So there we have it, a comparison using three Kuroyukihimes:
https://i.ibb.co/VqsHttz/redo-trio.jpg

Comparing the thee from the front:
https://i.ibb.co/9VGYc5X/redo-trio-front.jpg
The leftmost is my normal edition, and comparing it to the DX one in the middle, I’m fairly sure the normal edition one I have has had sun damage. She has removable hair like the DX, so you could use the spare parts to “upgrade” her to the DX… but should you? My vote is no – the face won’t look right if that’s what you want. The ball is passable if you want that, but you’d have to be displaying it at a bit of a distance so the weirdnesses with it doesn’t show.
In terms of telling them apart, the bikini and the hair are massive clues. If in shot, the mutated hands are also a sign of the bootleg.

Would I recommend this bootleg as a bootleg? No. The bikini paint and hair are horrible. Even at a distance, she’s gonna look a little weird, and she’s probably going to be doing some weird hand-hovering due to the misshapen hands. If you want to use the sand base, you’re also shorted here – you don’t get two pieces (or at least I didn’t) – so if all the bootlegs are like this you’d have to buy two, which pretty much negates any saving from buying bootleg. When the officials come up for sale, they’re not that expensive. As of time of writing, they aren’t super-available but I found both for around the ¥3-4k mark. So can’t really justify getting the bootleg – I’d say getting the standard edition is better than getting the bootleg.

In conclusion, the bootleg is reasonably easy to tell apart – from both the box, the figure and the parts. And I wouldn’t recommend wasting your money on it.

Official vs Bootlegs: Union Creative Koakuma-chan

For this one, we have two bootlegs to compare! We have one that is intended as a copy, and another that’s a variant.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥11,000
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥12,480 (£98.06)
Price I paid for the bootleg copy (inc shipping): £16.00
Price I paid for the bootleg variant (inc shipping): £12.08

The official I preordered from Big in Japan.

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/1nWR0tt/box-front.jpg
Wow, three very different boxes here! The official goes for a compact box, and the variant also goes for the compact design but with a different window configuration. And the copy… wat. A massive box, with the figure really oddly angled within it. This box came flattened, so wasn’t sure which orientation the blister was designed to fit in it, but neither orientations looked good.
With the variant, we see the text “Summer Dome Sister”… but what the heck is this? Some people are probably shouting the answer at the screen right now, but I had to research it. Turns out it is Kasugano Sora from Yosuga no Sora. I don’t play VNs, so wasn’t a series I was familiar with (nor have I seen/read the related anime/manga). I have seen a couple of her figures floating around before… and that’s the extent of my familiarity. So yeah, they’ve taken Rurudo’s character and modified the head so it has a resemblance to Kasugano Sora, which we’ll see when she’s out the box.
If we look at the top right of the variant box, we also see a white version alongside the red – this white version does exist but I opted for the red version to add some variation to this comparison.
Going back to the copy bootleg – the front of the box borrows the artwork of the official box, albeit blurry and stretched. Thankfully they didn’t try to stretch it up to the full height of the box.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/0KM2FKD/box-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X8Cq2Yk/box-left.jpg
For the copy box, they’ve duplicated the sides of the official box, then attempted to extend the artwork to fill the rest of the space. Mostly works, but you can definitely see where the edits are.
For the variant box, they have created their own art, inspired by the right-hand side of the official box. We have the border, inset closeups and an overview of the figure. On the right side of the box we have the white variant, and the red on the left.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/nwzbKdW/box-back.jpg
Lots of differences here! The copied figure uses the artwork from the official box, but has a generic-y stretched-out warning box replacing the information panel.
The variant box has two variant figures pictured, plus the “Summer dome sister” title. No comparison to be made here.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/gz0XKJz/box-top.jpg
The copy box does its best to duplicate the official box, but the designer of this box neglected to notice where the flaps would go so those now obscure most of the top window. Guess they didn’t test the design prior going to print! Or didn’t care enough to fix it…
Variant box wants us to know what’s in the box. No window to be seen here to actually see what’s in the box.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/4MFPJQW/box-bottom.jpg
Plain, plain, and warning text!
The variant box has its warning text down here, and a “Made in China”. Well, at least that part of the box is accurate. At least there’s some Sad Onions – Ashens would be proud.

Backing paper:
https://i.ibb.co/Wg1PbWC/backing-card.jpg
Only the official has this – adds a bit of class to the box, especially versus the plain white of the other two.

As far as the boxes go, well, wow, there’s no confusing which one is which! I do like the comedically large one for the copy – not sure what went on there. The variant box is decent enough – it does have an over-reliance on the same photos, and slighty janky editing, but overall wouldn’t look overly odd in a shop.

Blisters

When editing these blister photos I came to the conclusion that I likely had the blister backwards in the copy’s box. However you’ll see how neither way around showcases the figure well.
Front (maybe):
https://i.ibb.co/D1fKyQB/blister-front.jpg
For the official, she’s mostly facing outwards so we can get a good look at her face. The variant is slightly turned away so her face isn’t as visible, however we do have an extra – a white cloth piece which we’ll look at later.
And the copy… sigh. Looking at some random part of the blister.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/jTFw8r7/blister-back.jpg
…or is this the front for the copy? As we can see, the copy bootleg isn’t looking this way either.
Not too much to say for the other ones – yep, here’s some hair.

Base

Only one base to look at here, for Kasugano Sora. Apparently she’s too special to sit directly on the hard surface.
https://i.ibb.co/ChgffcC/cloth-mat-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/CnpkG5G/cloth-mat-bottom.jpg
It’s very thin with a very shorthaired fur on top. It is mostly oval-shaped, but the cut hasn’t been done precisely so it is a bit unevenly shaped. Which is possibly the cause of the wonky stitching around some parts of the edge.
Functional, but not fancy. Not the worst fur base I’ve reviewed, but nothing to write home about.

Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/nbL3mP0/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0hXsTn9/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/9Vh8NBX/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/smg2gvx/spin-left.jpg
Well, the red one certainly stands out here, with her contrasting colour and “base”. The copy bootleg looks like a prize version of the official when next to it. The shiny skin and less detail on the bows stand out to me.

No accessories to look at, so straight onto looking at the figures!

Figure close-ups

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/xLBL1kT/face.jpg
Comparing the official to its knockoff – let’s start with the bows. The bootleg bows miss the line detail, lumpy in the cast and the holes are missing from her left bow. Moving to the hair, the shading is much more clumped on the bootleg, and the hair doesn’t curl in quite the same places. The bootleg finish is also rough and shiny. The eye decals on the bootleg, the orange seems to have been printed in an off-white colour instead. Looking at the dress, the bow on the bootleg appears to be melting into the dress and we also miss the blue collar detail. Some shading has been added to the bootleg’s dress, but it doesn’t look particularly good. The face and shoulders look sweaty and have a more yellowy skin tone.
Moving to the Sora bootleg, the hair has been retooled significantly at the front so her hair doesn’t go beyond chin height and has a thicker fringe. We also have an ahoge added. No white bows in her hair – instead we have some larger red bows. For her face, we have completely new eye decals, and a smaller mouth. Moving down to the dress, again, the collar detail is lost and it looks like she’s slopped something down her front rather than shading. Blergh. Her skin is less shiny than the knockoff, but still has some shine to it. The skin tone I’d say is better than the knockoff.

Closer look at that ahoge:
https://i.ibb.co/wg7t0pb/ahoge-summer.jpg
Yeah, minimal sculpting and casting effort expended here. Looks like she’s got a tube of clay coming out of her hair or something.

Hair bows:
https://i.ibb.co/qj3G44r/hair-bows.jpg
Bit of a sad showing here, in my opinion. The official bows, the cast is a bit blobby in places, and the stripes are only so-so painted – which isn’t a surprise from Union Creative.
Moving to the knockoff though, and we’re really in terrible territory. Bits of flashing, and entirely lacking paint detail.
Moving to the Sora bootleg, we can see where the bow has transferred onto the ahoge a bit. I like the look of these bows in shape, and they don’t have excess plastic, but there is a lack of shading and there’s a carved, unpainted detail at the bottom that makes it look like there’s some paint detail missing. We do have a little bit of seamline showing through, but it isn’t as noticeable as most bootleg seams.

Back of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/0r4tpz7/head-back.jpg
Nothing subtle about the “shading” back here on the knockoff. The strands on this one also look very spaghetti. The official has some quite subtle shading – would be nice to have something in between these two. Maybe an additional dark tone to go near the parting.
Moving to the Sora bootleg, the fact they were sculpting hair combed to pigtails seems to have gone by the wayside, and they’ve enthusiastically added various lines, which makes her head reminiscent of a walnut to me, especially with the lack of shading. The pigtails themselves have a lot of excess material.

Side of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/YcFtLdm/head-side.jpg
The hair shading is far better on the official on this side than either of the others. At least UC nailed that. The hair seamlines on the bootlegs both look poor. For the official and knockoff her ear sticks out of her hair, whilst none shows with Sora. The lower pigtails on Sora also looks a little odd in my opinion – like she was being a bit lazy when combing her hair.

Dress:
https://i.ibb.co/WfJRVXp/dress-front.jpg
Wow, getting a lot of shine off of the knockoff! All three have buttons, but they’ve very hard to see on the knockoff copy. The knockoff’s dress has a very plasticky look, The Sora one looks better in this regard, but the shading is awful in my opinion – looks like the dress has been burned or dirtied. No points for the bootlegs here.

Side of the dress:
https://i.ibb.co/ZThYX4h/dress-side.jpg
Mmm, the finish really isn’t looking good on that knockoff version. Is her dress actually some kind of icing..? The casting detail isn’t as sharp on the knockoff, and we have a noticeable seam running down the dress.
The Sora bootleg seems to keep slightly better casting, but the frills around the edge of the dress are definitely a victim of poor casting. Whilst she doesn’t have the dress seam, she has a very noticeable one down her arm instead.
Looking at their hands, the official has a subtle nail polish, the knockoff has none and Sora has quite a shiny colour.

Closer look at where dress meets arm:
https://i.ibb.co/vkZkpt7/shoulder-left.jpg
The official’s dress looks like it is resting on her body, as a dress should. I think the knockoff’s is trying to melt into her. Sora’s looks like it is risen up a bit lower down, but not really in a noticeably bad way. Some of the edges are more visible, giving it a look of Play-Doh modelled around her neck.

Bottom of the dress:
https://i.ibb.co/84ffDC3/skirt.jpg
Here we can see where the official hugs her leg on the left of the photo, but the other bootlegs don’t achieve this. The bootlegs manage to look OK from this angle (apologies for the poor focus on Sora).

Hair strands:
https://i.ibb.co/y61V2gR/hair-strands.jpg
As we go from left to right, the hair strands bend more towards the floor. Almost looks like an animation of her hair settling down XD. The cast also gets less and less distinct.

Hand:
https://i.ibb.co/9HfdgKY/hand.jpg
Subtle, none and shiny – same as the other hand we looked at. The colouring on the Sora bootleg is a bit inconsistent, and the thumb nail polish has been done really badly. We can see where both of the bootleg casts lost detail here, which makes the hands look deformed.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/tPjYD8D/back.jpg
The Sora bootleg has managed to hide the removal of the wings so it isn’t noticeable on her back, and has retained the shoulder blade shapes.
The knockoff has the wings replicated, but the join isn’t quite as good and the wing angles are different.

Looking closer at the wing attachments:
https://i.ibb.co/rHrgJpB/back-wings.jpg
The official’s meet up neatly with the body and the knockoff ones have some roughness around them preventing the join looking as neat.

Wing close-ups:
https://i.ibb.co/99dgxZ6/wing-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2Nckx0Y/wing-right.jpg
The knockoff copy suffers from significant paint bleed from the black to the purple, and the pointy parts of the wings are less pointy. There is some lost curvature too – on the left wing’s tip and the right wing’s lower right point.

Knickers!
https://i.ibb.co/dp9Rq6r/butt.jpg
Only the official has the copyright on her dress. The bootlegs did copy the cast of the panties, but didn’t shade them. From this angle, it’s the Sora bootleg giving the most reflection. Both bootlegs also have visible seaming along the legs – Sora more so than the knockoff. The deformities of the bootleg hands is also on full display here.

Legs:
https://i.ibb.co/jw1Ywcr/legs.jpg
The official’s legs are nicely shaded, with the same delicate nail polish on her toes. The knockoff’s legs are as shiny as the rest of her, and we have a lump of plastic coming off one of her toes and a visible seamline on her other foot. And no nail polish. For the Sora bootleg, the nail polish is messily painted and her legs are slightly shiny – not as bad as the knockoff.

Feet:
https://i.ibb.co/XZ1wp9V/feet.jpg
Mmm, yep, only decent nail job is the official. All three have some shading on the feet/legs – the official is the neatest shading job.

Conclusion

Mixing up either of these bootleg figures with the official is not going to happen. Any cursory investigation would reveal neither are the “real deal”. The boxes are extremely different – one matches the design, but not the “form factor”, the other matches the “form factor” but not the design. For the figures themselves, the knockoff very much looks like a prize figure version of the official, and the Sora one… is a different character. Though if you’ve seen it floating around, now you know what figure it is mostly based on.
The fur base was a nice addition to the Sora bootleg. I don’t tend to use a base with sitting figures, but I know some people don’t like having baseless figures, so it would’ve been nice for UC to have included something like this for people who want it.

Official vs Bootleg: BINDing Fetish Boy Mao

This figure was an instant PO for me – there isn’t many lewd males out there, so this was a rare opportunity in the male figure department. Even if he is dressed up somewhat feminine. So yeah, this blog is very much NSFW. Lewdness and toys will be on full show.

This bootleg was a bit of a trial to get – had a cancelled order or two, and the one seller I did finally get it from, it took around a month for the seller to dispatch it. Was beginning to believe it didn’t really exist, but I eventually had it in my hands… box and all.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥25,000
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥32,500 (£235.99)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £35.19

The official I bought from Nippon Yasan. Rest in pieces.

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/tJ41VCm/box-front.jpg
First thing that’s notable is the lack of shiny silver print on the bootleg box. And we also have “Legend Creation” emblazoned on the bootleg.
The majority of the box’s design has been recreated on the bootleg, but the artist credits and BINDing logo have been removed. The print quality isn’t as good, so the colours have suffered as a result.
The card of the box is the same ridged type though looking to the box edges we can see the two boxes open differently.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/YNmM56Z/box-side-2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/MZNZMkL/box-side-1.jpg
Again, a lack of shiny silver and not-fantastic colour reproduction. “Legend Creation” really want you to know that they made this bootleg, and have added their logo to both sides. We’ll see if they should be proud of this creation later.

Top/end flap:
https://i.ibb.co/58WfbXB/box-top.jpg
Yeah, Legend Creation wants you to really know that they bootlegged this… They’ve even added some fake product code here. “Product code” is written in Japanese, but that’s not fooling me. This bootleg hasn’t seen Japan.

Bottom/back:
https://i.ibb.co/mGXK1hF/box-bottom.jpg
Here we can see the bootleg box is a more “standard” box configuration, with the the interlocking flaps. No print here on the bootleg.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/G7b3Sry/box-back.jpg
Markedly different here! The official box is pretty standard for an official figure. The bootleg is a lot plainer, and yes, another Legend Creation prominently displayed.
The text on the bootleg box is Japanese, and likely stolen from some source or another.
Interestingly, we have a valid GS1 Chinese barcode. I searched Google and a Chinese barcode database for it but there was no hits, so it was probably randomly generated in the valid range. Or it could belong to some random Chinese product that hasn’t been indexed.

Official box opened:
https://i.ibb.co/L0bFQJH/box-official-open.jpg
This is how the official box opens up – one of those ones where two of the sides are one giant flap. The bootleg box is boring, and just opens from the top.

So these boxes are easy to tell apart – official mentions BINDing and the other mentions Legend Creation, the sign of unquality. The Chinese barcode on an allegedly Japanese product is also a tell that all isn’t as it seems. The way the box opens is also an obvious tell – opening the official is a ‘grand’ experience with the big flap, whilst the bootleg is an open-and-pull affair.

Blister

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/zZv0ZM3/blister-top.jpg
My official is repacked incorrectly here – he’s supposed to have a penis attached, with the bag around it. See moonstarfc’s photo here. So it should be more or less like the bootleg configuration, only with a bag on his penis.

First thing that is notable is a couple of the accessories are making a break for it on the bootleg – the blister isn’t as tight to keep stuff where it should be. The cushion also lacks a baggie to keep it clean.
The blisters are also notably different colours – the official has a much bluer tint to it.

And it’s not just the accessories making a break for it:
https://i.ibb.co/mcpR246/bootleg-falling-apart.jpg
The arms were also rattling around the box. Looking good already.

Side:
https://i.ibb.co/s9Xpbj4/blister-side.jpg
The bootleg’s upper blister part is a lot shorter – it is only as deep as the figure whilst the official’s halves both extend to the bottom of the box. This makes the official blister a fair bit sturdier.

And on the topic of sturdiness:
https://i.ibb.co/phqppDP/blister-air-bag-bootleg.jpg
The bootleg blister had a large air bubble in the back, to stop it from being crushed in transit. Not sure if this was a manufacturer or store-added addition, but it did protect the blister from collapsing in transit.

Accessories

Got a few of these to get through…
Top:
https://i.ibb.co/cg3XYPg/straps-back.jpg
The official top is shiny and has a good peg for fastening the straps shut. The bootleg… looks like a piece of liquorice, with a tiny nub of a “peg”. The moulding on the bootleg bow is also very poor – came out smaller than the original and messy. Looks more like food than fetishwear in my opinion.

The “shocker”:
https://i.ibb.co/FmxFYm6/toy.jpg
Not sure what the proper name of this toy is, so calling it the shocker, seeing as that’s what it gives you 😛
The moulds seem to have come out the same for the official and bootleg of this toy, but the bootleg is a much cloudier plastic.

Tail butt plug:
https://i.ibb.co/fNhKYRX/butt-plug-tail-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/wsTNG57/butt-plug-tail-bottom.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/qjv1rhN/butt-plug-tail-side.jpg
Not too much difference here – the bootleg is slightly less detailed and has the cloudier blue plastic. Bow is a slightly different shade of pink. The strap for the bow on the bootleg is painted a bit thicker.

Codpiece:
https://i.ibb.co/fvthyG1/codpiece-top.jpg
If you don’t want any penis, you have the option of only balls. Again, the bootleg looks more licoricey than the official. And we have some foreshadowing here of an issue that’ll come up later.
https://i.ibb.co/pzhDpR1/codpiece-bottom.jpg
Not the best photo, but we can see the paint is messier on the bootleg.
Closeup of the bootleg one:
https://i.ibb.co/Tt3V38s/codpiece-bootleg-paintsplat.jpg
Yeah, some paint was thrown in the vague direction of this piece.

We’ve had some potatoes, now for some meat!
Penis with condom:
https://i.ibb.co/bQNKvS9/condom-side.jpg
Oof, the quality is definitely lacking on the bootleg here. The mould shape has been lost, massive seam, dirt and no shiny finish. The black isn’t transfer from other parts – these photos were taken as I was unboxing the bootleg figure.
A couple of extra angles comparing the condomed penis:
https://i.ibb.co/8x1nKfS/condom-pegs.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/zshjP3z/condom.jpg
We can see some mould details made it to the bootleg, but not many of them. If the peg wasn’t painted, the bootleg would look like a suspiciously-shaped frozen treat. Without the penis head shape showing properly, the bootleg looks more like a dildo rather than a penis to me.

Bare penis:
https://i.ibb.co/Wg6kh6Q/penis-side.jpg
And now for two more dubious ice lollies! The bootleg one is much more tan than the official, and also shows the mediocre moulding that the other bootleg parts have.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/k4tws9r/penis-bottom.jpg
Looks like the bootleg is actually using tanning lotion. Not too much difference here aside from the colouring.

Tip:
https://i.ibb.co/gRGj7gn/penis-tip.jpg
The tips on both of them look odd to me to be honest. However, the bootleg’s paintjob is sloppier than what was apparently intended.

Phew. That was a lotta accessories.

Base
This figure comes with a cushion to act as a base.
Top:
https://i.ibb.co/sm8W40y/cushion-top.jpg
The cushions look very similar – the bootleg is a bit more folded up from transport, and a creamier colour.
Back:
https://i.ibb.co/N2ntMCF/cushion-back.jpg
Bit more junk in the bootleg’s trunk. The supporting card in the official gives the cushion a more rigid shape.
Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/02t0DRb/cushion-bottom.jpg
Looks like they were stitched together similarly. Not much differences to report here – support in the bootleg is a bit off-centre.

Overall, these cushions are very similar and it’d be hard to tell the differences between them unless they’re side-by-side.

Figure spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/k1wtmRC/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/3ynfmWN/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X4sTFBZ/spin-left.jpg
No back shot, unless you want to see the reverse of the cushion again.
At a glance, you may be fooled, but looking close we see the bootleg looks a little sweaty and I think may have a downstairs infection there. The straps are also noticeably less glossy and don’t fit as well.
Looking from the sides, we can see how the arms don’t fit too well on the bootleg.

Close-ups

First of all, we’ll look at the arms separately – these are removable to allow adding/removing of the strappy vest, so not really accessories.
Top of the right arm:
https://i.ibb.co/yq5NqfN/arm-left-top.jpg
Not looking too bad from this angle – the bootleg’s thumb paint is a bit blobby, but not overly noticeable. The arm cuff on the bootleg is noticeably more translucent, which loses any pretence of it being fabric.

Hand:
https://i.ibb.co/FmThG6f/arm-left-hand.jpg
The nail polish on the bootleg is not very good on this hand, leaving parts of the nail unpainted. And a bunch of black marks.

Side of the arm:
https://i.ibb.co/Wp4b7jr/arm-left-side.jpg
Lots of scuffs on the bootleg, plus a noticeable seam.

Left hand:
https://i.ibb.co/h1gxDh3/arm-hand-left.jpg
Hmm. The fingertips look stubbier than the official’s due to the less pointy nails. The shading is nicer on the official – there’s much more red shading near the bottoms of the fingers. The nail polish isn’t as bad here as it is on the right hand.

Underside of the arm:
https://i.ibb.co/fqYgVk0/arm-right-bottom.jpg
And oof, the number of marks on this arm. Came like this in the box.

And the reason why the arms on the bootleg keep falling off:
https://i.ibb.co/mcMTMpC/arm-connector-hole.jpg
The official has a hole which a metal connector goes onto. The hole is entirely missing on the bootleg.

Arm connector:
https://i.ibb.co/5s2R12t/arm-left-joint.jpg
Blergh. The joint on the bootleg is malformed, and lacks the metal pin to add more stability to the join.
We’ve also got a very noticeable seam on the bootleg’s side.

Let’s look at their faces:
https://i.ibb.co/HrB5Nds/face.jpg
The bootleg’s hair is noticeably more “chonky” mould-wise. The bootleg’s face is more tan than the original, and the line around the edge of the mouth is thicker and messier, making the mouth look odd.

Side of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/tmr3jpv/head-side.jpg
Here we can see the bootleg bow points in a slightly different direction, and the black parts are shinier. With the bootleg’s hair, it has been cast in mostly one piece – this suggest the hair may have been re-cast from an original part, which would potentially explain why all the parts are fatter than they should be. We do have a seamline towards the bottom, instead of the separated strands that the original has.
And that horrible arm joint again…

Bootleg hair closeup:
https://i.ibb.co/Ht7bn8w/head-bootleg-paint-blob.jpg
Mmm, nice. We have this paint mistake. Also we can see the very blobby hair tips here.

Official feature only:
https://i.ibb.co/K9fcr47/head-removable-official.jpg
On the official, you can take the head off to assist with assembly/removal. The bootleg’s is glued on.

Necklace:
https://i.ibb.co/WDt0Qb7/necklace.jpg
The heart detail has lost a fair amount of definition on the bootleg. It looks more like a misshapen coin or moon than a heart in my opinion. The bar detail that the pendant is attached to has survived though.

Chest straps:
https://i.ibb.co/K6f4d3P/chest-straps.jpg
The official straps frame his nipples nicely, the bootleg straps… not so much. The bootleg straps are slightly lumpier-looking as well as being more matte.

Body with straps:
https://i.ibb.co/CbSFS8w/stomach.jpg
The skin shading is a bit less distinct on the bootleg, but still looks nice.
What doesn’t look so nice is the paint transfer and the poorly-fitting straps. The bootleg chest straps are loose and not long enough over the shoulders, stopping it from fitting properly.
The right “posing pouch” strap isn’t long enough on the bootleg to reach the hole, and warming the strap won’t let it reach – it would have to be extruded further to reach.

Back with the straps:
https://i.ibb.co/TB8yBZs/back.jpg
The vest doesn’t close on the bootleg properly – no surprises there. Also looseness on the lower strap due it not fastening at all. The upper bootleg bow is noticeably misshapen, however the lower bow is OK. The straps themselves on the bootleg are noticeably thicker.

And if we take the straps off of the bootleg:
https://i.ibb.co/qp2tdCP/back-bootleg-marks.jpg
That’s a lotta paint transfer. Blergh.

Close-up of the strangely-placed arsehole:
https://i.ibb.co/rQZN58M/bumhole.jpg
Despite its location, I assume from the shape this is some kind of sphincter. Maybe he has two? I dunno. Last I checked, sphincters are usually found in the arse crack, not just below the balls.
The bootleg’s sphincter is less deep, making it look more like a dimple at this distance. Also it has been painted with a fair amount of orangey paint, making it look sore/infected. Ouchie. The official goes with a much cleaner look.

Front with no straps/accessories:
https://i.ibb.co/pbPFhc9/chest-no-straps.jpg
The bootleg is looking more tan than its official counterpart but still a realistic-looking skin colour, which is more than can be said of some bootlegs. We don’t have the slight suggestion of ribs on the bootleg, which might be a pro for some.
If it wasn’t for the paint transfer, the body of the bootleg actually looks decent.

Crotch attachment hole:
https://i.ibb.co/N6sVDKV/crotch-hole.jpg
Looking similar on both. Bit of transfer on the bootleg from the posing pouch peg.

Let’s try a penis attachment:
https://i.ibb.co/DVsQSmk/penis-equipped.jpg
The straps actually fit on the bootleg for this one, but the part at the bottom isn’t long enough to make it look like he’s pulling back the strap. Not posed it properly on the official, but it can be stretched so he’s holding it. It’s a bit of a fussy part to pose.
With the penis itself, the official matches the skin tone of the body, but the bootleg is looking possibly a bit too dark. However, the parts do fit together, which is something.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/L0Hs6WS/penis-equipped-back.jpg
The straps don’t sit quite right for the bootleg, owing to the bottom strap being a bit short. At least this strap actually fits on though! The bootleg straps are looking less refined than the official, however.
Looking at his bum, we can see some inconsistent finish on the bootleg, where his skin is a bit shiny.

Top of right leg:
https://i.ibb.co/vJMmtmC/net-leg-top.jpg
From this angle, the legs don’t look too dissimilar – the netting is a decent match and we have his inner knee shaded. Official does have some shading on his ankle.
The frill and shoe is duller on the bootleg, but not particularly noticeable without them being side-by-side.
If we look just above his stocking, the parts don’t quite fit together well on the bootleg.

Closer look at the stocking seam:
https://i.ibb.co/wBfXGrz/stocking-seam.jpg
It’s a bit messy on the bootleg, but does the job. The netting is a bit less dainty, but not particularly noticeable a difference.

Close-up of the fril:
https://i.ibb.co/WvB6TGX/leg-frill.jpg
The bootleg’s is noticeably more opaque, and we can see how the black band isn’t as well cast and produces a noticeable seam due to it.

Top of the foot:
https://i.ibb.co/MGpMxvT/foot.jpg
Urgh, that heart bit… fragile on both the bootleg and the official. Official has a bit more of a spike to help it stick in, but I seem to recall I had to repair both the bootleg and official here XD. The silver charm is duller on the bootleg, as well as being blobbier.

Side of the shoe:
https://i.ibb.co/N284tNM/foot-side.jpg
Here we can see how the finish on the shoes differ – bootleg is much less shiny. The bootleg’s sole is a more contrasting shade of black, but looks fine in my opinion. What’s less fine is the anklet…

Back view:
https://i.ibb.co/ZN3Ymvk/anklet.jpg
Yeah, it doesn’t even join up on the bootleg. Not a good look, and not quite sure what happened there. Official attaches nicely to the back of the shoe.

Conclusion

Overall, this is far from the worst bootleg I’ve looked at – the main body of the figure is mostly fine though the chance of paint transfers is high – with the poorly-fitting arms and inferior paints being used on the black parts causing them to transfer easily. Despite the main body of the figure being passable, the strappy accessories leave much to be desired – none of them fit properly, and prone to transferring black paint to the figure.
The worst part of this bootleg is the arms – they constantly fall off, and you can’t glue them on, unless you’re happy to never change up his straps.
As far as telling this figure apart from the official, the box is a big clue. Without the box, poorly-fitting accessories may give it away, or the unrefined hair. Close-ups of the charms will also give away the poor casting.
If you’re negotiating with a seller who’ll take a photo for you, the arm joints will give it away – if there’s no metal peg, no sale.

Official vs Bootleg: Stronger Rin Tohsaka (Type-Moon Racing)

This figure was voted for DTINDCAREA, so I hope you enjoy this blog. I’ve enjoyed your comments :).
This figure is part of a popular trio of racing figures, with a special base that unite all three.
Let’s see if this bootleg is part of a trio of abominations.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥12,071
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥14,887 (£106.51)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $21.19 (£16.24)

The official I bought from MyKombini (who obtained it from Amazon!)

Box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/TwFZ4FV/box-front.jpg
The bootleg box is a copy of the official on the front, only lacking the Type-Moon authenticity sticker. Mmm, shiny. Oh, and also lacking in print quality – the figure photo is a bit grainy and the colours washed out.
Looking at the print next to the diagonal line cuts, some are a bit off on the bootleg, but thanks to the pattern it isn’t particularly noticeable without them next to each other.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/0q7xSg3/box-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/njjD08V/box-left.jpg
The print quality isn’t good on the sides of the bootleg box either, but all the design elements have made it. The window cuts are a close match.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/HBxXzSL/box-back.jpg
Yep, more poor-quality copy.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/KVgDjrK/box-top.jpg
Ditto. This really isn’t the most exciting bootleg box!

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/pWf5KvY/box-bottom.jpg
Aha, some differences! The information box has been completely reworked and just replaced with warning information and a random model number (C146 – theories of this choice in the comments!).
They’ve tried to fill up the extraneous space with similar elements to the rest of the box, but the spacing is all over the place with the red chevrons. If you look to the bottom-right you can see where they didn’t complete the grey diagonal line where the old information box ended.
A half-arsed effort, but enough to fool someone not looking for a bootleg.
My official also has a second shiny down here, and an Amazon stock control label. So I guess mine was actually preordered via Amazon XD.

Box liner:
https://i.ibb.co/x83r6GH/box-inner.jpg
The bootleg’s is a deeper red, and doesn’t have a premium finish. Mine’s also creased up from being folded in transport.

For this box, I’d recommend a photo of the information box – this will tell you if it is the bootleg box. The rest is very similar to the real thing, albeit lacking in authenticity stickers. So definitely be wary if there is no shiny.

Base

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/3YYVQRQ/base-top.jpg
The official is a much more yellowy gold than the bootleg, and has more shine to it. The paintwork on the bootleg is noticeably shoddier – the lines don’t line up properly at the top and at the bottom they’ve got bits of blobbed paint. Looking to the horse and Saber, the black doesn’t fill out the raised area.

Closeup of the horse’s legs:
https://i.ibb.co/prDBJ3w/base-bootleg-feet.jpg
Yeah, the paintwork and mould have flaws here. The black has some lumps in it, and we’ve got a ridge around one of the horse’s legs.

Closeup of the tail:
https://i.ibb.co/s5tDzn7/base-bootleg-tail.jpg
Bubbles and lines everywhere – very untidy.

Peg:
https://i.ibb.co/k97wSpp/base-peg.jpg
The bootleg peg is more short and squat than the official’s. Lacks the nice rounding too.

Bottom of the base:
https://i.ibb.co/2gggHjw/base-bottom.jpg
Not too much to see here. There is a copyright just visible at the top of the official’s base which isn’t present on the bootleg. The official base is more of a blue-white in colour. The peg attachment is slightly different.

Telling the bootleg and official bases apart is reasonably easy – a different colour, and poor paintwork give this one away.

Accessories

In terms of accessories, this figure comes with two flags and an alternate arm.
Let’s take a look at the standing flag first:
https://i.ibb.co/D8rr9M0/flag-front.jpg
Wow, that’s some difference in colouring – the official flag is a yellow gold whilst the bootleg is more of a white gold. Looking at the paint across the middle, the bootleg pattern feels like a rough approximation of the official one – in colour as well as shapes. We seem to have a cream paint here, instead of white.

Flip it around:
https://i.ibb.co/6Jj25bX/flag-back.jpg
For shading, the official is more subtle than the bootleg. The pattern on the flag looks very messy on the bootleg – inconsistent edging and the cream part is sloppily painted.

Folded side of the flag:
https://i.ibb.co/vhBvx4d/flag-right.jpg
The black paint on the body of the flag is barely visible on the bootleg – not sure where it wandered off to. Looking at the edges of the flag, the bootleg flag is rough and has a bunch of excess plastic. The cream paint is also highlighting the issues at the bottom.

Hilt:
https://i.ibb.co/k262rVS/flag-hilt-side.jpg
An attempt was made to place the black dot on the bootleg… Instead of a dot, we have a black squiggle randomly placed on the hilt.
Looking at the edges of the hilt, we can see the bootleg isn’t cast as well, the paint isn’t as smooth and lacks shading. The gold and silver paint are at least in the right places, but the black paint on the handle is lacking at both the top and bottom.

Bottom of the flag:
https://i.ibb.co/0jC3RxX/flag-bottom.jpg
Bootleg one is looking all chipped and nasty. And I haven’t even displayed the figure yet!

Front of the silver flag:
https://i.ibb.co/MgMf3fK/flag-silver-top.jpg
The official flag has shading along the top and the bottom that the bootleg lacks. The colours are notably different – a lot less contrast between the silvers and the black parts are darker under the hexagons for the bootleg.
Looking at the hilt, the black paint is sloppy on the bootleg, plus the dot hasn’t been filled in.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/sqyCWLH/flag-silver-back.jpg
The lack of shading and messy black paint continues around here, plus we have splotches of black and red paint. And a tiny yellow dot at the bottom-middle, if you can spot it.
The upper hilt paint looks dull and lifeless on the bootleg – no glossy paint here.

Flag-holding arm:
https://i.ibb.co/t29KLDT/arm-flag-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/5Wmyfkm/arm-flag-bottom.jpg
The first thing that’s apparent is the lack of shiny gloss on the bootleg. The bootleg’s sleeve has most of the shading of the official, but less distinct. The black paint is sloppier, but not as bad as other areas. What definitely is sloppier is the nail polish – another bootleg that’s dipped her fingers in the polish bottle. It is also not as nicer shade as the official’s polish in my opinion.
Looking at the skin, the official has more shading, but it looks kind of odd next to the bootleg. A bit too orange tan. Bootleg has plasticky shininess though.

Resting arm:
https://i.ibb.co/9g4p5Yf/arm-leaning-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/dJQ6dSz/arm-leaning-bottom.jpg
This arm has the same issues as the previous, but we’ve also got some sloppy glue near the pegs. Looking at the pegs themselves, the casting isn’t as good on the bootleg.

Blister

Let’s see what she looked like in the blister before I got her out.
https://i.ibb.co/7C5HSny/blister-front.jpg
The blister for the bootleg was taped up in transit to keep it as small as possible for shipping. So now it’s a distorted mess. The blister plastic is noticeably lower quality for the bootleg.
The blister layout is the same, but there isn’t any protective plastic sheets/bags for the accessories.

Spin-around

This figure has multiple display options, so let’s just start with a spin of Rin on her own:
https://i.ibb.co/HKJCrjk/spin-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/pjSZ80N/spin-left.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/b6mNyjQ/spin-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/CQ6WFvW/spin-right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/FHkqZVt/spin-underneath.jpg
In terms of sculpt, they’re pretty similar. The bootleg has a couple of notable differences in this regard – the head is leaning forward more and her feet are pointed downwards more.
There are some notable differences in the paint though – a lack of gloss on the bootleg and she has very purple hot pants. The bootleg looks more tan – her skin is darker on average, despite the official’s orange tan.

With the flags:
https://i.ibb.co/8gM23qV/front-with-silver-flag.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/b3DQ55c/back-with-silver-flag.jpg
The bootleg doesn’t sit with the silver flag as well, with it poking off the base if you attempt to pose it the same as the official figure.

https://i.ibb.co/mtcfJ8n/view-flag-front.jpg
Yeah… the bootleg just doesn’t hold this flag properly at all. Her arm is at the wrong angle so it can’t grasp the top of the flag’s hilt. Also the arm that should be resting on the base very obviously doesn’t.

With both flags:
https://i.ibb.co/qDfNykR/view-both-flags-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/zVKxt0f/view-both-flags-right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/znHhV55/view-both-flags-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/m00vTBP/view-both-flags-left.jpg
Yeah… best I can say for the bootleg is she looks like she’s drunk and falling over. All her limbs seem to have bending/attachment issues, causing her pose to be massively off.

Close-ups

“Action feature” the bootleg doesn’t have:
https://i.ibb.co/93rGMTt/headless-official.jpg
The head detaches on the official, allowing easier replacement of the arm if desired. The bootleg’s head is glued on. You can also use this to admire the lovely paint job on the official’s jacket:
https://i.ibb.co/WWhW15J/back-official.jpg

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/Pxk9dHv/face.jpg
Taking a close-up you can definitely notice the different angles of the head. The bootleg’s hair isn’t as nicely shaded, leaving dark shading where there should be lighter areas.
Looking at the hair, the bootleg’s hair ties are a light purple instead of dark, there seems to be a bit of stray glue and the long strands have a noticeable seam running down them.

Closer look at the face:
https://i.ibb.co/6XBd0Ck/face-angled.jpg
The bootleg’s eyes aren’t as nice of a design – the pupil lacks the proper shading, and the white shine looks like she’s put Tippex in her eye.
The bootleg’s lips are a bright pink colour, which looks a bit odd. Her ear is also shiny, showing off the cheaply done paint job. Not even entirely sure if the bootleg’s ear is actually painted…

Back of the hair:
https://i.ibb.co/kJ6tWwq/hair-back.jpg
The bootleg is definitely looking inferior back here – shiny finish, seaming and a less well blended additional strand. The finish looks particularly uneven across her scalp – can seem some mottling. The paint colours don’t gel together, cheapening the look too.

Closer look at the blending:
https://i.ibb.co/N3TTHM6/hair-blend.jpg
Mmm, yeah…

Hair tie:
https://i.ibb.co/Z17cGcM/hair-joins-side.jpg
The bootleg’s hair looks like it’s been jammed in here rather than arranged. We can also see the “bootleg purple” colouring on the tie itself, plus the lack of finish. The official’s is shiny and has also seemingly attracted some dust – sorry about that.

Hair tie on her left:
https://i.ibb.co/NxWFVjD/hair-tie.jpg
The bootleg isn’t as bad on this side, but it’s still not great.

Chest:
https://i.ibb.co/tw6Y921/chest-jacket.jpg
The bootleg’s top appears to be shinier than the jacket, whilst the official maintains the same shininess throughout.
Looking at the jacket, the lacking paintwork makes the bootleg’s jacket look somewhat deformed around the collar as there’s a lack of distinction between the parts. Towards the bottom there’s also a bunch of black paint splatter. Guess the bootleg’s been working in the pit! The silver emblem isn’t as shiny as its official counterpart, but manages to look OK.
Moving to the top, the bootleg’s paint is messy – the purple paint doesn’t follow the lines and the silver dot details under her boobs aren’t placed correctly.

Right arm join:
https://i.ibb.co/Sw9tJyW/arm-join-hair.jpg
The official can be somewhat of a pain to assemble, but the bootleg is worse – as you can see, couldn’t quite get the arm in, which isn’t helped by the fact I can’t take her head off to apply pressure to her shoulder.
Also got some black paint splatter on this side of the bootleg.

Left arm:
https://i.ibb.co/gSC68nW/arm-left.jpg
Here the darkness and dullness of the bootleg’s clothes is on full show. And a lack of subtleness in the edging of the jacket arm. We’re missing one strand out the back on the bootleg (unless it has wandered off elsewhere…)

Left hand:
https://i.ibb.co/3sd0tRJ/hand-left-nails.jpg
The bracelet is duller on the bootleg, and a slightly different shape. Here, it isn’t sitting right, showing off the join between the hand and the arm.
The bootleg’s fingers look anaemic, and the polish is not improved in close-up.

Different angle:
https://i.ibb.co/5nc0qsS/hand-left.jpg
Here the cheapness of the bootleg bracelet really shows up. We can also see a seam on the side of the bootleg’s hand, and how it doesn’t rest correctly against the base.
There’s also some free dirt on the bootleg’s arm.

Flag-holding:
https://i.ibb.co/02sL5Qf/holding-flag.jpg
Is the bootleg trying to sensually stroke the flag or hold it…?
Again, we have more dirt on the bootleg’s arm and poorly painted nails.

Just to show it’s the figure that’s the issue:
https://i.ibb.co/hBfRYpK/official-holding-bootleg-flag.jpg
The official figure can hold the bootleg flag just fine.

Shorts/stomach:
https://i.ibb.co/jrK2b3b/stomach.jpg
A valiant attempt was made with the bootleg’s belt, but it missed the mark. We have the pink shading replicated, but the fine silver details didn’t get painted particularly accurately. The belt loops the bootleggers decided to not match with the shorts and painted them black instead. Not sure why they didn’t stick with the purple tbh.
The bootleg’s belly button is less indented that the official, but looks OK.

Upper view:
https://i.ibb.co/1ZL34GZ/lap.jpg
Here we can see the belt loops didn’t even get painted all the way up to the top on the bootleg. There’s also a strange notch out of the belt here.

Side of the shorts:
https://i.ibb.co/NF9DztR/shorts-side.jpg
Bootleg shorts are definitely less shiny than their official counterpart. We’ve got a visible seam that runs down the side of the bootleg shorts.

Arse:
https://i.ibb.co/G56jmBN/back-and-butt.jpg
Yeah, definitely liking the official more here – the shading makes the shorts look odd on the bootleg. The back also has shading details on the official. The bootleg shorts also have an uneven texture plus a paintbrush hair embedded in the paint. Ooh, and some free dirt on the belt.
Looking at the bottom of the top, we can see the bootleg’s join is a bit iffy, and there’s some gapping as a result.
The bottom edge of the jacket manages to look better on the bootleg with the rounding off of the mould. So bootleg manages to have half a point?

Legs from the front:
https://i.ibb.co/xsY3shk/legs.jpg
The bootleg paint actually manages to be reasonable here – the silver zip paint manages to stay in lane. The red paint doesn’t quite get to the toe cap on one side, but isn’t too far off.
The shiny finish is missing, which is a major negative though.
The bootleg has also closed her legs a bit more, so her right foot isn’t sticking out as much.

Close-up on the toe paint:
https://i.ibb.co/Kqf3q4F/feet.jpg
Silver didn’t quite get to the end of one of the zips on the bootleg. Red paint is a bit sloppier on both sides.

Side of the boots:
https://i.ibb.co/d46zWcc/boots-side.jpg
The bootleg has managed to replicate the shading fairly close to the official. But yeah… no shine, and the boots are noticeably darker.

Tops of the boots:
https://i.ibb.co/XJVpSHm/boot-tops.jpg
The bootleggers have actually painted the zip in here – that’s a surprise. The shading is a bit off, but it’s so indistinct it isn’t causing as much issues as the hair.

Conclusion

As far as telling the official from the bootleg, the box makes it difficult to easily pick out the bootleg, though the official boxes should all have the Type Moon shiny. The side of the box with the safety information can act as a dead giveaway, so that’d be the side to check first.
Once out of the box though… it’s instant disappointment. Poor colour choices, lack of shiny outfit and painting mistakes. The dull colours on the base and accessories also give away the bootleg.
As far as the quality of this bootleg vs other bootlegs, it’s not bad. It’s displayable without it looking hideous, though if the buyer wanted the shiny outfit, they’d be disappointed. Some creativeness and possibly heat would be needed to get her to sit properly and look OK on the base. Straight out of the box, she doesn’t sit right and doesn’t hold her accessories properly.

Pick Me Up Miku instructions

Original (requires Weibo account, Chinese): https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404786134344401123

This is a translated version of the operating instructions for Pick Me Up Miku. The wording has been machine-translated then rewritten by me to (hopefully!) make sense.

  • Unscrew the screw at the bottom of the base, open the battery cover and insert 3 x AAA batteries and close the battery cover
  • Open the battery cover at the bottom of the remote control, insert 1 x CR2025 battery and slide it in.
Position of the test button – this becomes relevant later, if you need to do diagnostics if your base does not function correctly
  • Press the ‘switch’ button on the upper part of the remote control to turn on the base light
  • The arrow functions are as follows:
    • Up: Increase the brightness
    • Down: Decrease the brightness
    • Left: Next lighting effect
    • Right: Previous lighting effect
Remote buttons

If there is a problem with the remote control or lighting effect, please refer to the following steps to check operation and diagnose issues.

This should be a flashy GIF. But the filesize was too big. So enjoy this still image.

NOTE: The following instructions are only for self-testing/fixing Pick Me Up Miku when the base lighting is not working properly, and is not suitable for daily operation. If it functions normally, please do not use this part of the guide, so as to not cause issues.

If the lighting does not work after these diagnostic steps, please consult our after-sales. [Author’s note: Not sure if this is available to international customers, but they do have an email of support^at^apex-toy.com. If you bought from an international retailer, I would advise contacting the retailer in the first instance]

Test base lighting

  1. Open the battery cover, install 3 x AAA batteries and close the cover. Preferably, use three of the same AAA batteries with the same amount of usage. Ensure the batteries have sufficient charge.
  2. After confirming the batteries, press and hold the button next to the battery cover for about 3 seconds to light up the base. Press and hold again for 3 seconds to turn off.
  3. When the base is lit, quickly press and release the button next to the battery cover to switch the lighting effect.

If the above works, the base lighting has been confirmed to be functional. If not, it is likely a fault with the circuitry.

Test remote control pairing

  1. With the signal-transmitting port [that’s the LED-y bit] pointing upwards, the button at the top is the “switch” button, and the four lower buttons are up, down, left and right.
  2. Install the battery for the remote control, and press a button. The signal transmitter port should emit a red light.
  3. Install the base batteries, and test the remote buttons, as per the instructions.
  4. As the remotes are paired at the factory, please ensure you’re using the correct remote for the correct base. If the light is emitting from the remote, but not controlling the base, please proceed to pairing the remote.
  5. Pairing the remote: Ensure the batteries are installed in the base, then press & hold the the switch under the base for 3 seconds so it turns on. Aim the remote at the base, then press & hold the up & down button simultaneously until the indicator light at the top of the remote begins to flash. Remove one of the batteries from the base, ensuring the light turns off, then re-insert the battery. Once the battery is re-inserted, the base light will flash several times and the remote indicator light will turn off to signify the successful pairing.
  6. If pairing wasn’t successful, you can remove the batteries from the remote control and base and try again. If it continues to not work after multiple attempts, please contact aftersales.