One more of the No Game No Life 1/12 set has been bootlegged… Let’s see how this one compares to the last disaster.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥4,500
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥4,000 (£29.97)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $13.69 (£10.73)

The official I bought in the GSC Stay At Home sale

Box

Front:

No real similarity with the boxes from the front! The bootleg box has a random model number at the top (how do they decide these things?) and Jibril’s name at the bottom. As well as a massive window showing the figure in the box.
The only copied element here is the top half of the figure photo, which has been moved to the bottom-left of the bootleg box.

Left:

Much more similarity here! Due to the bootleg box dimensions, the bootleggers have expanded the image so it will cover the side of the box meaning it has now become blurry and cropped. This has also had the advantage that the “S-Style” logo at the bottom is now no longer present.
At the top we have the three bullets, but they’ve copied the ones from the front of the box instead of the side. As the bootleg has a different model number chucked on it, they’ve dropped the model number box on this side too.
Lastly, the bottom pink line has been dropped, though they did include the one at the top.

Right:

For the official we have the back of the figure and the bootleg we have the front again. Can’t let that minor edit go to waste! Despite the incorrect photo, this side makes more of an effort to look like the original and includes the extra text at the bottom and the pink stripe.

Back:

The back of the box is practically a photocopy compared to the front. We have the same images, albeit expanded to fill the space, and several sections of the text copied across, notably missing out on anything that mentions FREEing or Goodsmile support.
There is also the addition of a barcode… that relates to a Cardfight!! Vanguard G A2 clear poster. Erm, another interesting pick!

Bottom:

Here’s where the official’s barcode hides out, whilst the bootleg box is nothin’ but white (ignoring the overprint).
This side highlights just how much bigger the bootleg box is versus the original – interesting to see such an increase in box size for such a small figure.

Top:

Interestingly, the bootleg has added a window up the top here – not sure why. Suppose it does help fill the space without it looking suspiciously blank, though it doesn’t leave much of a view of the figure. We’ve got the addition of Jibril’s name up here, but for some reason they’ve done it overlapping the lower line. For the Jibril figure photo they’ve chopped off the top of the halo instead of fully cutting it out of the original artwork.

Inner:

As the official box has no windows the box is a plain brown with no liner. The bootleg has gone for a shade of salmon pink to add a background colour when viewing the figure through the box’s window.
Interestingly we seem to have the upper window of the bootleg box stuck on with some tape – this wasn’t my addition. Guess that stops it from falling off!

Blister:

As with the box designs, these are not very similar. The bootleg has a traditional-style clear blister in lovely bootleg plastic, the official has a black back and a clear front, as with the rest of the figures in the S-Style line.
For the actual figure, the official’s is disassembled in the box whilst the bootleg is allegedly assembled. The official figure we can’t see too much of thanks to the large amount of plastic wrapping to keep the bits from scraping against each other, the bootleg has no such qualms and is very visible in its blister.

Base

Top:

Unlike Shiro’s bootleg, this one comes with a replica of the official base. The bootleg base has quite patchy colouring to it and doesn’t have the central support post.

Bottom:

The bootleg base says “MADE IN CHINA”. The official also says it’s made in China, but also has a copyright line with both bits of text in a smaller font than the bootleg’s proclamation.
The bootleg’s cog teeth are much more triangular than the official’s, possibly indicating they made their own mould for the base, or at least modified a stolen one.

Stacked:

The teeth do line up between the two bases, so they must have at least a reference for what the real base was like.

Accessories

This figure doesn’t precisely have accessories, so this section will cover the halo and the separate parts. For the bootleg it came “assembled”, but the head wasn’t pushed on properly, so that fell off during unboxing. Then the halo fell off, so within about 10 seconds it became about as disassembled as the original.

Top of the halo:

The print on the bootleg is a bit thin and ropey in places, but the pattern survived intact. The colours are fairly close to the original, but not an exact match.
Looking at the bootleg’s peg we can see some white stress marks in the plastic just above it.

Bottom of the halo:

The official actually has two layers of print, making the black areas of the print white underneath. Bootleg doesn’t have this, so we have the mirrored image from the top.

Instructions:

Official has these… just in case you couldn’t work out the assembly of the figure. She’s really straightforward to assemble, so these aren’t that necessary.
Bootleg doesn’t even need to show how she should assemble, as she comes preassembled.

Parts of the figures laid out:

Yep, same number of things here, that look roughly the same. Main difference to be noted here is the neck peg arrangement – we’ll have a closer look at this later in the blog.

Figure spin-around

The bootleg actually manages to be fairly similar to the original. The most noticeable difference for me is the hair – the front is darker on the bootleg plus it has less gradients at the back.

Figure close-ups

Head peg/hole:

The official figure has a clear peg whilst the bootleg has a hole. So this means you can’t get the bootleg Jibril to have more Jibril head for your S-Style figures, even if you can excuse its flaws (one feature of the S-Style line is the heads are somewhat interchangeable, apart from the early releases). Being a hole you could add a peg if you wanted to, though, so not entire loss if you don’t mind a bit of DIY.

Body hole/peg:

The official has a hole to accommodate its peg, whilst the bootleg has a roughly-hewn peg to accommodate its head.
Looking at her hands, it looks like the bootleg dipped her index finger in the nail polish. We’ve also got some stray pink paint from the shampoo bottle on her fingers. The bootleg’s hands also have a fair amount of excess plastic.
Looking to the shampoo bottle, the bootleg’s is more of a hot pink and the white print is not thick enough to hide the grey underneath. We’ve also got a seam running through the middle of it, extending all the way up through the attached tube.

Putting the bootleg’s head on her body:

The bootleg’s head doesn’t fit nicely on the peg – I needed to warm the head to get it to go most of the way onto the peg. This is why the head rolled off of the bootleg when I unboxed it – there was a vague attempt made to get the head onto the peg but the poor fit likely didn’t make it worth the packer’s time to sort it.

Face:

The official’s hair starts with a pale pinky-purple and transitions down to a darker shade at the tips. The bootleg forgoes the shading and is a very deep purple throughout, and has rough edges.
The eye prints on the bootleg have large dots for shading, instead of being a smoother transition.
The bootleg’s mouth has been painted much more roughly, with a paler shade than the official, making her mouth lack depth.
The bootleg’s head is also at a different angle, making her look on forward instead of what she’s doing, akin to the official.

Top of her head:

There is some variation in the bootleg’s purple hair paint, but not much to speak of. Both of them have distinctive seaming for the various hair parts, though some smoothing has been attempted for the official.

Halo hole:

The halo holes are similar and don’t have paint down the bottom of them, though not quite at the same angle which can be seen by the bootleg’s halo not sitting towards the front.
The hair halves of the bootleg have been painted in fairly different colours here, making her hair look like two completely different parts.

Back of the hair:

The right-hand seam looks nicer on the official, but the left on looks better on the bootleg to me…
The official’s hair colour I think is more aesthetically pleasing, and you can see the yellow transition in this photo. The bootleg doesn’t have the yellow transition, so purple is all we get here.
The stray bits of hair on the bootleg are also a lot more curled, whilst the official’s does a larger, more pleasing curve.

Left side of the hair:

The bootleg’s hair hangs more towards the back and is less spread out, so we get to see her arm tattoo from this angle.
We can also see the failed paint transition on the bootleg – the yellow is entirely missing and the green shading is very spotty.
Looking at the hair tip that joins the hair mass towards the bottom, the official’s is pointier than the bootleg’s.

Right side of the hair:

Again, the bootleg is more bunched on this side and has the poor shading. Looking at the hair tips of the bootleg, we can more clearly see the purple underside of the hair. The official also has purple undersides, but this is less visible on the official.
We also get another good look at the foreshortened curly hair strand on the bootleg here too.

Hair tips:

Here we can see the sloppiness of the curls on the bootleg, plus that 2-colour hair again.

Arm tattoo:

The bootleg’s was easier to take a photo of here, as the shampoo bottle’s “wire” goes under the hair here.
Looking at the tattoo itself, the bootleg’s is a lighter shade and isn’t printed as well, leaving it a bit thin in places.
Looking at the shampoo wire just underneath her arm, the bootleg’s seems to cut uncomfortably into her arm and part of it doesn’t join correctly, leaving it dangling out weirdly at this angle instead of encircling her arm.

Shampoo wires:

The official’s goes up over her shoulder, under her armpit, around her arm and then down.
The bootlegs.. hmm…. goes by her neck, terminates by her arm (where you can see it poking out) and then she has a pink snake from her armpit and down.

Leg tattoo:

Again, the bootleg’s tattoo is paler and not printed as thickly. It’s also been printed at the incorrect angle, heading directly down her leg instead of towards the back of her knee.

Underneath:

Here we can see how the bootleg’s hair is much flatter to the body than the official’s. We can also see a shine on the bootleg’s knee, thanks to the shiny finish.
Looking at the wing tips, the bootleg’s wings are flatter to the body and a bit higgledy-piggledy.

Closeup of the shampoo wire:

Here we can see the official went for some shading, even though you’re unlikely to really see this bit. The construction is a bit iffy on both here, but the official’s inner wire end is a bit better hidden than its bootleg counterpart. The bootleg’s wire going upwards has quite a noticeable seam on it from this angle.

Stomach:

Both the stomachs came out fine on both, in my opinon. The wire has more shading on the official, giving it more of a ‘pop’ of colour.
The wing tips of the official are aligned with the legs, the bootleg – not so much. The bootleg’s wings are off-centre, revealing more of her left leg.

Front of the wings:

The bootleg’s have less in the way of shading, making them paler than their official counterparts. They’re also shiner, which shows up from certain angles. The casting isn’t great on the bootleg wings, leaving them with more rounded feather ends.
With the left wing not over the left leg, it makes the feathers look oddly bent instead of resting on her leg, as they’re supposed to.

Side of a wing:

This angle captures the aforementioned shininess well – a bunch of glare at the top of the bootleg’s wing. Doesn’t do much to hide the joint here – the official’s is obvious if directly looking at it, but I think isn’t that noticeable unless you’re looking for it. The bootleg has more separation, making it more obviously there.
We’ve also got a moulding defect on the side of the bootleg wing, towards the purple part of her hair.
The shiny finish and lack of shading on the bootleg don’t make her wing look very real, and more like the plastic it is made out of.

Back:

The wires on the bootleg are very messy here – the one coming down doesn’t link properly behind the one that should be looping over it, and the parts aren’t the right shape making her look like she’s splitting apart just above her butt. Not to mention the seams here too…
The wings do manage to attach fine here, but the wings show the flaws present from the other sides.

I did take some shots of her without her head. I’ve decided they’re not worth annotating, but if you want a closer look at her body without her hair in the way, check out the spoiler below.

Show

Conclusion

Boxed, these are easy to tell apart – the boxes are very different. Out of the box, the hair is the biggest clue, followed by the badly done shampoo wires. We also have flaws in the smaller details, like the nail polish mess.
As far as bootlegs go, it’s fairly decent, but the hair is a big deal-breaker for me. The mispositioned wings also ruin the look somewhat, once you notice they’re not quite in the right positions.

This figure was voted for by NAYANMORI, and I commend them on an excellent choice.
I own the 2nd Edition, and wasn’t sure what the bootleg would purport to be – upon receiving it, the box was a copy of the 2nd Edition one so I get to compare “like” with “like”.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥7,800
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): £53.99
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $20.65 (£15.83)

The official I bought from eBay.

Box

Front:

Yep, two very similar boxes, both claiming to be the 2nd Edition. The bootleg’s box print is a bit paler and the Kotobukiya logo has been removed from the top right. Still crediting the arrangement to Shunya on the bootleg, but not sure how much he’d approve.

Right:

Another copied side with the Kotobukiya logo removed.

Left:

No Kotobukiya logo here either on the bootleg. The colour difference on this side is more obvious due to the fact the bright red of the blood didn’t come out right on the bootleg print. We do still have the box slash “holes”, though the bootleg cutouts are more smoothed around the edges.

Back:

There is no Kotobukiya logo on the back of the official box, so the bootleg is a straight-up copy on this side. With the figure photos, we can see the bootleg’s print is a bit muddy. In the bottom-left, the green didn’t come out right at all, and is more a forest green.

Bottom:

Here we can see a lot of information has been left off of the bootleg version. The barcodes have been copied over, but we have a credit to Marvel. Uh, this isn’t a Marvel character, bootleggers! We’ve also got a credit to a sculptor (Abe Junnosuke) who does superhero characters, suggesting this area of the box was copied from another Kotobukiya figure.
We’ve also got an age-rating of 15 on the bootleg instead of 18 like the official.
Looking at the box structure itself, the official’s has a singular flap whilst the bootleg is the “4-flap” arrangement.

Top:

Moving onto our last missing logo that should be in the top-left. The writing at the bottom has more of a gap underneath it on the bootleg.

Box lip:

The official box is black all the way to the edges but the bootleg’s they’ve cheaped out on the print and left the flaps white.

Inner liner:

The official’s liner has a shinier finish, as which can be seen with the reflection of the photography lights.
The print quality is really poor on the bootleg – for some bizarre reason the fog effect has a very dotty “pattern” to it on the bootleg, which makes it look rather ugly. The thinner bits of fog that should be towards the top of the liner are pretty much entirely absent on the bootleg too.

Overall, the bootleg box is pretty similar to the official’s. The lack of Kotobukiya logos gives it away, and the bottom of the box is entirely different in construction and design, making it an easy side to compare.

Blister

Front:

Bootleg blister is the usual crinkly, weak mess that is typical of bootleg blisters. The bootleg also lacks the hole that reveals the face and has a lot less plastic sheeting to protect the figure – just one sheet protecting her front. The blister has also been modified slightly to accommodate the base.

Back:

Here we can see the bootleg’s blister is clearer than the official. Whilst this does allow us to see the figure more, it’s probably more a testament to the thinness of the plastic used.

Base

The selling point for the 2nd Edition was the revised base. Let’s see what revised base goodness the bootleg gives us…

Top:

Oh, hm. Not looking good from this angle. The bootleg base is entirely plastic instead of metal, which means the bootleggers have added pegs to the base to hold the figure. The official’s base is made of metal, and the figure has magnets to hold the figure to the base.
The bootleg’s base is also a bit scratched up, fresh outta the box.

Bottom:

The official’s base has some fabric so it doesn’t scratch your shelving, plus some copyright information.
The bootleg’s has… plastic. Lotsa plastic. And no writing.

Bases from the side:

The bootleg base is MUCH thicker than the official’s, and I believe thicker than the first version. The thick, flat sides of the bootleg doesn’t really help to ‘sell’ it as a pool of blood. Last I checked, blood doesn’t stack like that.

Shape comparison:

The blood shapes don’t line up at all, suggesting the bootleg is an entire recreation of the base (unless the v1 is more different than I think it is).

The bases are quite dissimilar – the bootleg base only partially resembles the official base. It’s better than just substituting in a plain disc, but it managed to emphasise the v1 base’s flaw of being too fat. The pegs are also a large giveaway that the bootleg isn’t the official figure. Overall, the bootleg’s is a downgrade from even the first edition base.

Figure spin-around

Getting the figure out of the box we had a bit of a mishap:

The bootleg’s arm wasn’t glued to the body anymore, but it did just peg back into place. Not the most secure attachments without any glue, but did stay in place for this review. Was being careful not to knock the arm off, though.

From the front, we have a noticeable difference in head and hand pose, plus the leg scratches are very much not in the same place. The base also gives the bootleg a little extra height.
The poses are more similar from other angles, but there’s a few seams marring the view, along with differences in colouring & paint.

Figure close-ups

Face:

Looking at her eyes, the bootleg’s seem darker and a bit more sunken-in. The official has the eyelid lip painted in a paler pink, which likely helps the eyes look lighter.
Moving to the lips, the official’s are a pinker colour and we have her teeth and inner mouth painted. There’s also some darker lines on the lips to add shape and definition. Looking to the bootleg, her teeth and mouth have been painted with the same colour as her lips making it look like a closed-lip expression instead. Looking closely at the bootleg it is possible to see the sculpt of the teeth is there, just painted over.

Hand:

The bootleg’s glove claws are a definite downgrade – nowhere near as long as the original’s and the parts aren’t embedded into the gloves properly. The paint is also a less shiny silver. The arm and wrist have been posed incorrectly, so the bootleg’s hand pose doesn’t add to her alluring expression.

Back of the glove:

The bootleg’s glove leather is a noticeably lighter shade. Looking at the black part of the glove, some of the sculpt detail has been lost and the less shiny paints make the bootleg look a lot flatter in design. The bootleg blades are also hilariously chonky compared to the official’s, which also ruins the look. Bootleg definitely loses out here.

Top of the hat:

The bootleg’s hat seems to have much more of a purple undertone to it, and we have some dust preapplied to the figure. Supposed to be my own laziness that means my figures are dusty!
Looking at where the hat has become ragged, some of the sculpt’s definition has been lost on the bootleg, making the hat look just misshapen rather than worn.

Side of the hat:

Yeah, it didn’t quite survive the bootlegging process with a less distinctive shape and colouring. Looking at the hair join, this fared even worse – the bootleg has a noticeable gap just above her ear where the hair should meet. The hair is also dangling down a bit, so we can see the tops of it.

Back of the hair:

Here we can see the hair colours vary quite wildly. The official’s has some greenish tone added to it, to give it more definition whilst the bootleg’s is an unpainted solid yellow. Looking at the ends, we can definitely see some misshapen and blunt bits on the bootleg.
Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of the official’s hair colour, it does have more definition to it than the translucent bootleg hair.

Closeup on the bootleg’s right hair:

The bootleg has a few spatters of red paint on her hair. They don’t look particularly good and I’m pretty sure they’re unintentional.

Left shoulder:

The blood on the bootleg’s shoulder is a bit more orangey and the slashes curve slightly differently over her arm.
Moving to her top, the top edge of it is thick and lumpy – not looking good! The seam running across the top of her arm is a lot more visible, making it look like her top is splitting apart.
The paint is a lot sloppier on the bootleg and not as nice colours as the official’s.
Looking to her bra strap, the bootleg’s doesn’t tuck into the top and the pink paint is very sloppily applied.
The creasing at the top of the top has pretty much gone on the bootleg, as well as the rips near the bra strap.

Closer look at that arm seam:

Oof, the halves of the top on the bootleg really don’t join correctly. This angle really doesn’t look good.
The longer ragged bits on the end of her sleeve are also a lot shorter on the bootleg.

Ungloved hand:

The nails are painted neater on the official – no surprises there. The nails also longer on the official, as the bootleg’s have lost the overhanging part. The shading is nicer on the official’s skin, in my opinion.
The bootleg also has more errant red paint here.
The bootleg’s pinky finger suffered the most – looks like it got bent after being moulded, making it look mutant.
And we’re also seeing that weird semi-shiny paint on the bootleg’s sleeve.

Back of the right arm:

The right arm has much of the issues of the left – the seam is possibly even worse here. The casting is rough on the bootleg’s tattered sleeve. We’ve also got the arm’s join showing a fair amount on the bootleg as this piece is no longer glued. Or was never glued in the first place!
The sleeve paint looks pretty scratched up here too on the upper part of her arm.

Assets:

Here we can see the very different hand poses – the official’s blades are much more visible in this shot.
Looking to the hair, the bootleg’s hair ends are definitely looking rough with excess plastic.
Moving to the chest, the bootleg boobs look like they’ve been squished flat to some extent and has some excess glue on her left breast.
The bootleg’s bra hasn’t been cast well – the scalloped edge has pretty much been lost. Along with the poor edge, the pink paint has been squiggled on and the black paint has ended up a bit lumpy.
Moving to the top, the “window” on the bootleg makes the top look more like plastic – the edges aren’t very thin and are painted solidly, which does nothing to hide the poor cast.

Top:

The overly dark colours on the bootleg’s top is very apparent here. The paint colours are also flat on the bootleg – the official has some shading on the wrinkles to emphasise them.
Looing at the stripes, both have some flaws where the paint isn’t quite following the lines, but the bootleg does have a scratch next to her right boob.
Looking at the torn part at the bottom, the bootleg has lost a bunch of the detail of the ragged shapes.

Stomach:

The official has some of a muffin top, but the bootleg is definitely goin’ muffin top. The bootleg’s shorts don’t join up well with the body, leaving a fairly visible gap. Bootleg Freddy looks like she bites her fingernails, with the shortness and the shape.
Looking to the stomach itself, the bootleg’s belly button is less deep than the official’s. The skin is a slightly different shade but definitely not as noticeable as other bootlegs I’ve looked at.
From this angle, we can see the shininess of the bootleg’s top paint as well… hm, maybe the bootleg’s top is wet? Almost works for that, lol.

Shorts:

Those are some short shorts…
In terms of detail, this is one of my favourite parts of the figure. In line with the rest of the figure, the moulding has lost a bunch of detail from the official – the double stitching on the pocket is now single, the indent for the stitching isn’t very even making her shorts look pockmarked.
The jeans button interestingly looks more like your average jeans button on the bootleg, but that’s as far as the complements go. The paint detail from the distressed jean fabric isn’t present and the shredded jean at the bottom is just lumpy. Most of the creasing made it to the bootleg, but there are some little bits missing here and there.
The metal studs on the pockets are misplaced on the bootleg.

Side of the shorts:

Say hello to the inside of the bootleg… Yeah, we get a good look at the gap in the bootleg from this angle. Some more stray red paint here too, just above the shorts.
This side also shows a lack of detail on the bootleg… and the pocket rivet that is now in the middle of her arse. Not sure what happened there!
The bootleg’s trim really is just a muddy mess on this side.

Bum:

Yep, the detailing defects extend around to this side too. The “Freddy vs Jason” ‘logo’ on the bootleg has become strangely curved, not sure what that’s about. There’s also a fair bit of overspray onto the jeans ‘badge’, making the finish not very good.
The official’s body sits nicely in her shorts, giving you a glimpse of the goods, the bootleg looks partly odd and podgy.

Crotch:

The attachment of the bootleg’s right leg is not good – it hasn’t been set in right, leaving it looking mutated. We’ve also got excess glue and a lot of dirt in the leg seam. Looking at the shorts edge there’s a thick part exposed, not making the shorts look very material-like.

Cuts on the right leg:

The bootleg’s cuts are a darker colour, which I kind of wish the actual cut was that colour on the official, with the dripping blood being paler. However, the bootleg’s blood is currently defying gravity as the print was put onto the wrong side of her leg – instead of being on top of the leg, it’s more on the inside of her thigh.
The linework is a bit thicker on the bootleg, but I don’t think it really detracts from its appearance – if it was on the correct part of her leg it would be a decent replication.
Again, we have a bit of a fit issue with the bootleg – there is some of a gap between the leg and the stocking.

Right leg:

More lost definition here, in the form of the creases in the stocking – most of it survived intact, but looking close you can see missing bits. We’ve also got a seam that runs down the front of the stocking and the boot.
The colour of the stocking isn’t too far off, but the bootleg’s is shinier. The boot colour is a lot more off – the boots on the bootleg look like they’re actually purple instead of black with some shading.

Top of boot closeup:

Yep, those bootleg boots are looking less classy and less shiny. Stud on the inside of the boot looks fine, but the one on the outside is a smudgy mess.
The bootleg boot seam line is pretty bad.

Side of the boot:

The silver ring and straps are decent on both. We’ve got a bit of a purple scrape on the top of the bootleg boot though.

Side of the left leg:

At the top of the bootleg’s leg we have a good glob of excess glue and some black smudge marks.
The top of the stocking is a shinier black on the bootleg, plus we have some unevenness in the paint.
The stocking itself has smaller holes and doesn’t hug her leg as well, leaving a gap in her stocking behind the knee and some excess going into her boot.
The stocking seam is also much more visible on the bootleg from this angle.

Back of the left leg:

Yeah, that bootleg is looking like a baggy, old stocking. Not particularly impressive, especially with the large overlap used to stitch it together.

Bottom of the feet:

With their different attachment methods, they’re not compatible with each other’s bases. For the official, we have a pair of magnets that securely attach her to her metal base. For the bootelg we have two pegholes that work fine with the respective pegs. We’ve also got a visible mould mark here too, and the very purple underlayer of the bootleg boots. Looking at the soles, the bootleg’s shoes aren’t as pointy as the official’s.
I guess purple paint is cheaper than dark blue… not the first bootleg I’ve had where the boots have been like this.

Conclusion

Telling the boxes isn’t too hard, seeing as the Kotobukiya logo has been removed from all sides. The bottom is also quite different, plus the inner flaps show where the printing doesn’t go to the edges of the box’s cardboard.
Telling the figures apart, the clawed glove is the biggest clue – the knives look nothing like they should. Next up is the mouth – no teeth on the bootleg! The scratches on the legs is also going to be a big clue, if they’re all misprinted like mine. However, if you have them on the base, the base is a massive tell with the bootleg’s having flat sides.
In terms of quality, the bootleg does the job from afar, but looking at the details it really falls down. We’ve got a mispainted mouth and a top that just looks plain odd. From the sides you’ve got bad seamlines on her top, from the front we’ve got a bad join at the waist. I don’t think the purple boots fit in well either. The bootleg’s base definitely isn’t second edition – that’s definitely new and unimproved.
Next to the official, she looks like a massive step down in quality to me. As a standalone piece, she’s not awful, but not great either. The paint on her chest is definitely messed up, as well as some of the top sculpt, and we do have antigravity blood on her leg. If someone swapped out my official for the bootleg, I’d definitely notice.

Time for the second of the Alien trading figure bootlegs! Chestbursters aren’t exactly complicated in shape, so this review will be a short one.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥300
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): £11.00
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): CNY¥46 (£6.00)

The official I bought from eBay

Box

The bootleg in its blister:

This one has been packaged in the same way as the Dog Alien bootleg, with the figure on top of the oval base. Feels like the contents are at a slightly jaunty angle, but quite a nice presentation method.
For the rest of the packaging it is the same as the dog alien, so you can read more about it in the Dog Alien article.

Base

Top:

As with the Dog Alien, we have the rectangular base for the official and the oval one with a different floor pattern for the bootleg. This time, neither base have pegs as the chestburster will stand on its own.
At the top of my official base you may notice some remnants of glue – this was from the previous owner who glued the chestburster to the base as apparently it didn’t stand up well enough for them. Not long after owning it, I did pull the chestburster off of the base, and personally haven’t had issues with it falling over.

Bottom:

On the bottom of the official we have an ALIEN logo and a copyright sticker. Bootleg one we have some mould marks and a scratch.

Figure spin-around

The colours and bases vary noticeably, as well as the curvature of the tail. The bootleg’s tail doesn’t curve as high and touches its body.

Figure close-ups

“Face”:

A face only a mother could love… For me, the bootleg manages to look even uglier with the crooked head, the paint job on the teeth and extra darker areas near its “eyes”.
The official we can see one seamline on its chin but for the bootleg, the seam clearly runs all the way up to the top of its head. For some reason, the bootleg’s chin seam is further to its right and the parts also don’t align correctly.
The bootleg’s forehead is much flatter in terms of colouring and has a shiny finish.

Side of the head:

The mould has mostly survived intact for the bootleg, but the dark wash is more like it has been dunked rather than washed. We’ve also not got the different shades of brown making its details look flatter.
The dome paint edges are rather sloppy on the bootleg and looks rather odd to me.

Top of the head:

Here the paint and finish differences are the most obvious in my opinion. At the bottom of the official’s head we can see some of the darker paint used to add texture.
With the bootleg, the paint is uneven and thin – we can see some of the underlayer poking through, especially to the left side of its head. And we have a seam running the length of its head.

Underside of the head:

Here the bootleg’s overly enthusiastic black wash manages to hide much of the detail. Some of the cast isn’t as distinct, but I think the black wash is doing a fair bit to hide the detail too.
The bootleg’s body colour is really off of what colour I imagine a chestburster to be as well.

Underside:

The official has a “(C) FOX” stamped on it, showing this to be the officially licensed product.
The bootleg has no such notions, and some of the detailed linework has been lost.
The bootleg’s seam in its upper body is much more noticeable than its official counterpart, not helped by this area being smoothed for some reason.

Tail:

The bootleg’s black wash isn’t quite as overenthusiastic on its tail, so isn’t as off-looking on this end.
The tail’s pose however is not very good, and lacks the mildly threatening pose of the official. With them side-by-side, the bootleg’s kind of looks sad.

Segment:

The official is actually three pieces to help it fit into the oblong blind box. Here’s the end part separated – it also separates at the “U”-shaped area visible in the underside shot. The bootleg has been moulded as one piece, which does have the advantage of no visible join.
If you look closely at the underside of the bootleg, you can see where this joint should be as there is a slightly wider black band where the parts have been moulded together.

Conclusion

Telling these apart with the boxes is easy – the official is blind-boxed, the bootleg isn’t. Very clear-boxed in fact.
Without the box, the base is a dead giveaway. Without the base or the box, the fact the bootleg doesn’t disassemble nor have “FOX” stamped onto it gives the game away if the paint job doesn’t.
As far as the bootleg’s quality goes it’s OK. The paintwork and visible seams does let it down, but at least this one is displayable, unlike the dog alien.

Previously I covered Rei Ayanami… now it is Asuka’s turn. Will Asuka’s bootleg be as good as Rei’s? Let’s find out!

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥5,980
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥8,079 (£57.51)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $12.80 (£10.42)

The official I bought from Nippon Yasan.

Box

Front:

Same as Rei’s box, we have the NERV logo in the top left, and the rearranged text at the bottom including the product number prefixed with an “F”.
However, Asuka’s name has been butchered – she’s now apparently called Shikinami Asuka Rangur… Iiinteresting.
The bootleg box is also noticeably lighter coloured than the official.

Sides:

As with Rei’s box, the right hand image has been shrunken down however it is much more noticeable on this box as not all of Asuka is included on the official box.

Back:

As with Rei’s box we have the rearranged warning text blocks to avoid copyright and a lack of different card finish underneath the product images.
Again, the bootleg is filled with junky text whilst the official is about Parform line and the figure itself. I believe the text on the bootleg is actually about Ayanami Rei rather than Asuka…

Top:

No logos on the bootleg box, and the most boring font choice known to man. The Parfom text font isn’t exciting, but it’s more exciting than whatever the bootleggers chose.

Bottom:

Again, the bootleg has a problematic lack of barcode. And Asuka is still “Rangur” down here.

Box flap:

Yup, this bootleg box also lacks the text and logos on the various flaps.

Box inner:

The backdrop colour is a couple of shades darker on the bootleg inner. We have the same edits as Rei’s inner, with the boring text and the removed logos, however Asuka’s name doesn’t fit quite as well on the right flap due to its length.

Blister:

Same as Rei, we’re missing instructions in the blister and the accessories are taped in rather than using cling plastic. Our bootleg seemingly has a “broken ankle” in the box – ow.

Base

Apparently I didn’t take a photo of Asuka’s base assembled, so here it is in pieces:

It’s the same as Rei’s though, with the lack of Parfom logo and more yellowy plastic.

This time I managed to remember to take photos of the base connectors. Each base comes with two, but here’s one of each for comparison:

Slightly less clarity in the bootleg’s connector, but essentially just the same.

Accessories

Asuka comes with two faceplaces and four sets of hands like Rei. Asuka also has her doll.
Let’s start with the faces:

Just like Rei’s, the difference in finish is the first thing that’s noticeable. Looking at the irises, the official’s are a nicer print. With the mouth, the smiling face looks fine on both however the teeth have been painted poorly on the bootleg’s yelling face, making her expression slightly odd.
Looking to the bottom of both the bootleg’s faces we see a little bit of excess plastic.

Back of the faces:

The bootleg faces have a large mould mark in the middle, with what looks like a “1” and a “2” inside of it.
Looking at the bottom face, it doesn’t look like the parts of the mould were aligned quite right, leaving the peg hole in the wrong place.

Top of the hands:

The bootleg hands are noticeably a different shade of red, and have a certain level of sloppiness. The top bootleg hand seems to have not had its finishing layer sprayed onto it and the second had a bunch of dirt. The hexagon on the third hand down doesn’t look like it was placed in the right spot.

Bottom of the hands:

The black paint on the bootlegs is a bit sloppy in places if you look closely, but nothing too noticeable for the most part. The second hand down is probably the weakest – we have some excess plastic and some of the black paint is too thin, allowing the red paint to show through.

Doll:

Not a terrible effort from the bootleg, but does have its flaws. The eye prints aren’t properly aligned, leaving the white part of her eye escaping the outside. We’ve also got some yellow on its right eye – not sure why. The bootleg doll also looks like its dress has been made out of plugsuit material instead of fabric and the “Asuka” text doesn’t quite follow the line of the dress.
Lastly, the bootleg doll is quite dirty – I don’t think Asuka would stand for that!

Back of the doll:

Both are painted neatly back here, but the bootleg is missing the stitching on the hat, and we’re still feeling like it’s made out of plugsuit.

Bottom of the doll:

Not too much to see here. Both have the hole.

If you want to see all three of the dolls together (official, this bootleg and the static Parfom one), expand the spoiler below.

Show dolls

Figure spin-around

At a glance, the bootleg and official are looking pretty similar. However, when we look closer, the bootleg’s got a bit of a giraffe neck going on and the hair doesn’t have as many tones to it.
The bootleg’s plugsuit is couple of shades darker than the official and not quite as shiny.
Those ankle joints on the bootleg also stick out like a sore thumb with being a lot lighter red than the rest of the figure.

Figure close-ups

Face:

For the bootleg, we have shiny-face giraffe neck. Looking closer at the face, the bootleg’s has some strange white lines going across the bottom of her eyes and the print quality is poorer, leaving more visible dots in her eyes for the shading. Moving to her lips, the paint line is darker, making her mouth less subtle.
Moving to her hair, the bootleg’s fringe has a lot less shading and has a shinier appearance. The hair tips aren’t as dulled as other bootlegs I’ve looked at and are actually fairly comparable to the official’s. We do have some seams on the long edges of some strands though (most visible on her left side, near the bottom of the longer part of her hair).

Top of the head:

The official’s hair parts match in shading, and look part of a cohesive whole. Not so much for the bootleg – we have a lighter part on the back of the fringe that doesn’t blend in with the darker part behind it. The fit between the fringe and her head isn’t very good either, and we have a bit of a gap.
Looking at the top of the bootleg’s head we have a visible seamline and a scratch in the paint.
With the interface headset, the parts don’t sit as neatly on the bootleg’s head and generally look a bit cheapy.

Chest:

Well, the upper chest of the bootleg doesn’t look so good… The red doesn’t match with the rest of the suit properly, and we have sloppy dark blue paint. The “02” is off-centre and printed in with thinner lettering than the original. Not sure what’s up with the texture on this part, but it’s very weird. The orange paint on her chest is a lighter shade than the original.
Looking at her shoulders, the “screwheads” are quite sloppy on the bootleg – the left one especially.

Backpack:

The differences in the backpack themselves aren’t as great – a different finish, and a lighter orange. We also have some bonus dirt back here too, just next to the ‘2’.

Hips:

The linework isn’t as good on the bootleg – the line on her left hip doesn’t terminate where it should at all. The lines have been done thinner and darker than the original.
The line on her right actually goes slightly more in the right place than the official’s does.
Looking at the how the photography lights reflect off of both the figures, we can see the official has a much smoother and shinier finish.
This photo was originally to compare her hand joints – looking at the pegs, the bootleg’s wrist joints are lighter and have bits of excess plastic coming off of them.

Bootleg arm joint:

This joint is a bit proud, sticking out slightly leaving a more visible gap from certain angles.

Back of the legs:

The bootleg’s joints stand out from this angle – they really don’t match the rest of the figure as well as not being installed correctly, so that the peg parts of the joint are still visible.
We’ve also got some missing detail on the bootleg – the shape on the back of her leg is supposed to be filled in.

Outside of the leg:

Yeah, the bootleg’s leg fell off whilst doing this review, and the official’s comes off fairly easily too.
The black stripes at the top have more even painting on the official. With the foot, the black paint is very sloppy on the bootleg.
The linework over her knee is off on the bootleg, and the poorly done joint doesn’t allow the lines to meet where they should.

Inside of the leg:

The bootleg has seam lines visible on both parts and a moulding defect in the middle of the back of her thigh. The bootleg knee joint possibly looks even more silly from this angle.

Hole for the left leg:

We have a fully-painted hole for the bootleg, and some bonus black paint… getting our money’s worth of paint… or something like that.
The official has some “1”s to assist with assembly. These have mostly been lost from the bootleg – we can see a bit of the “1” next to the black paint, none on the ring bit, but there is a chance it was installed upside down.

Peg that the leg was attached to:

As well as the hole, the peg is painted on the bootleg. Her hip also looks a little less thicc.

Accessory test
First comes the face, so let’s start taking her apart.
Fringe:

Yeah, not improving when separated – and this photo captures the stray yellow and black paint on her fringe better.
For the back, the bootleg has a very visible mould mark in the middle, plus they’ve added some grooves to try and improve fit… I guess. From the back, the sloppiness of the bootleg cast is more apparent, with a fair amount of excess plastic between the hair strands.

Behind the face:

Urgh, the bootleg really looks diseased like this! The moulding is much neater and sharper on the official. The holes where the fringe goes in look especially sloppy on the bootleg.
The face peg and its surround are close in colour on the official, but markedly different on the bootleg.
And here we can see why the bootleg has a giraffe neck – the joint isn’t recessed into the neck like it should be, and the casting looks awful.

A closer look at the bootleg’s neck joint:

Oof, looks like a minor miracle this didn’t break in the review. Pretty sure that the neck joint will break without much effort if I try.

Now to get down to some face swapping:

The bootleg faces work on the official, and vice versa. So you can use the bootleg for replacement faces, if you don’t mind the shininess/willing to sort it out and the not-as-good print. I did try the others and didn’t have any issues to report.

Hand swap:

This photo is of the bootleg hands on the real figure – both sets of hands are interchangeable with either figure. So also a viable option if you need some hands in a pinch.

Articulation test

Well, the articulation of the bootleg started off like this:

At first, this leg was OK, but once it popped off, it was prone to falling off for the rest of the photoshoot.

Leg flex:

You do get some more flexibility out of the bootleg, but not in any way that truly looks good – the knees pretty much always look off due to the incorrectly installed joints and the hips can show some of a gap. The bootleg’s left foot also has a habit of bending as the joint is too loose. However, if you can get her so her legs don’t fall off, she will hold a pose.

Arms outstretched:

No overly loose joints here.

Hug:

The official’s right arm can come in a bit closer than the bootleg’s, and the opposite is true for the left one. All down to the shoulder joint and the clearance between her arms and body.
So overall, both can do this pose OK.

Exorcist:

More like the “half exorcist” as this is the upper body joint that’s been rotated rather than the head, but both can do this without having clearance issues.

Conclusion

Telling the boxes apart is easy – same as Rei’s we’re missing key logos and text. Accessory-wise, the bootleg base misses out on the logo, the bootleg faces have a shiny finish and the hands aren’t as nicely painted.
Moving onto the figure itself, the joints are the easiest indicator – the bright red joints of the bootleg stand out. Looking closely at the body and the hair, we can see defects in the bootleg’s paintwork.
As a figure, the bootleg isn’t bad as far as bootlegs go – it’s a mostly functional figure, if you can get the leg to not drop off. Posing is made more difficult with the improperly installed joints, and cause the bootleg to look more unnatural. However, the accessories do all function properly. If you like to play with your articulated figures however, I can see the neck and wrist joints breaking – they didn’t look or feel particularly sturdy.
For me, the silly neck and the lack of proper shininess on the plugsuit would be dealbreakers for me. I could definitely see someone mistaking this one for the original though, at least until they see those stupidly bright red joints.