This figure I purchased for my collection as I love the purple-blue colouring of her hair. When a bootleg popped up for this one, I just had to get it to see how it compared.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥1,663 (£12.61)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $7.56 (£5.79)

The official I proxied from Otamart via From Japan

I don’t keep the boxes for my prize figures, so don’t have a box to compare. Due to this, I also bought the bootleg boxless. So straight onto the box contents!

Base

Top:

The official base is octagonal whilst the bootleg has opted for a hexagonal base. So a noticeable shape change here. The official is also translucent whilst the bootleg is fully opaque. The bootleg’s base is also a shade of brown instead of grey.
Looking at the holes, the bootleg’s are positioned very differently. So how is this one going to stand…?

Bottom:

The official base has the usual copyright and manufacturing information, whilst the bootleg is entirely plain. Not even the usual injection moulding marks to see here.

The base makes it easy to tell if the figure is bootleg or not – different shape, colour and hole positioning.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Sega Hatsune Miku (SPM, Ghost)” →

This figure was voted for by CLOD_LILYY. An excellent choice.
This figure’s bootleg does crop up now and then, so does make a solid choice to have a look at.
I own the second release – so there will be some differences between the box due to this. They will be pointed out in the text below the images.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥9,000
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥11,037 (£72.59)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $20.65 (£15.83)

The official I bought from The Store I Shall No Longer Mention.

Box

Front:

The bootleg has two things missing – the Phat! logo and the authenticity sticker. The bootleg box looks like it got dragged around a warehouse floor a bit with the amount of dust scrapes on it, especially to the left. The red text is a deeper shade of red on the bootleg, so other than the logo it is a close copy.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Phat Ryuko (Kamui Senketsu ver)” →

This figure was a relatively popular pick, with three votes. The people who voted for her were NAYANMORI, ELISE_GRIMWALD and TAIGAPAWS. So I hope you’ll enjoy this article!

This Miku is one of the few in my collection – I was drawn to the relatively unique theming of this figure and the strong green/orange colours. So let’s see what the bootleggers have done to this figure and if it can come close to the original.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥3,800
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): AUD$60 (£34.58)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $15.14 (£11.60)

The official I bought from another collector.

Box

Front:

What’s this? A bootleg box that isn’t obliterated? Rare!
The front of the box is a copy of the original. The colours on the bootleg are a bit different, most notable difference is the background colour.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Alphamax Hatsune Miku – Lamp” →

This figure was voted for by DTINDCAREA. With Aquamarine going bankrupt there won’t be any re-releases of this figure, so the aftermarket is the only choice for obtaining this figure. So how does this bootleg stack up to the official, and what does it look like so we can avoid it?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥13,000
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥13,087 (£91.93)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $22.95 (£17.59)

The official I bought from Nippon Yasan (send out my last two orders, you cretins).

Box

My figure is the 2018 release – looking at the box pictures on MFC the bootleg box is actually emulating the older releases.
Looking through my photos, I think I have her backwards in the box – it’s a weird box, hard to tell what is supposed to be the front and what’s the back, and I’ve assumed the authenticity sticker should go on the front. I think this may actually be wrong, so I’ll refer to the sides by more descriptive names…

Front & back:

The artwork on the box is a direct copy – we have all the logos and text the official has. The Japanese text for “Sword Art Online” has a black outline on the bootleg, but this is in line with the older releases, and was changed for the 2018 box.
The bootleg box doesn’t have the authenticity sticker, but you won’t get this on units officially distributed outside of Japan – if you don’t have one of those, you may want to check the sides of a box for an importer’s sticker (e.g. Ultra Tokyo Connection, HEO).
The bootleg box does have a smaller border above the window – that’s not a feature of the older release. The box cardboard is also more of a yellowy-white and cheaper.
Looking at the colours, Sinon’s hair stands out as being incorrect on the bootleg an has come out a neony green instead of more of a blue colour. Looking closely at Sinon’s clothes on the bootleg box we can also see a bit of the murky ‘fuzz’ that happens with cheap printing.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Aquamarine Sinon” →

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.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: FREEing Jibril (Shampoo ver.)” →

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.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Kotobukiya Freddy Krueger (Bishoujo, 2nd Edition)” →

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.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Konami Chestburster (SF Movie Selection)” →

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.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Parfom Asuka Langely (Phat)” →

These figures I had very much forgotten there were bootlegs of – I remember briefly seeing them in my early days of eBay then promptly forgot about them. Recently I was casually browsing Taobao (a Chinese marketplace site where you can buy both official and non-official goods) and came across this pair – the dog alien and the chestburster. As I was doing a Taobao order anyway, I chucked these two in seeing as they were cheap.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥300
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): £15.40
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): CNY¥46 (£6.00)

The official I bought from eBay

Box

I don’t have the official boxes any more, but they’re fairly typical fare, with a picture of an alien warrior on the front, and photos of the figures you can get on the back.
The bootlegs have gone for quite a different presentation, which makes them look dissimilar at first, but we will soon see how close the figures are.

Front:

The bootleg box is a heat-sealed blister, giving us a good look at the figure – no blind box here! We can see the dog alien atop its circular base, with no assembly required – the original requires you to attach its legs.
The background is a fairly generic Alien design and no maker to be found.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Konami Dog Alien (SF Move Selection vol 1)” →

Time for the articulated clones of the Parfom figures! First one I’m going to cover is Ayanami Rei as she’s best girl. Obviously. Yes. No other choices.
If you’re interested in the non-articulated bootleg, the article about them can be found here.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥5,980
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥7,242 (£51.55)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $12.80 (£10.42)

The official I bought from Ninoma. Déjà vu yet?

Box

These figures are a lot more similar than the non-articulated ones, including the box.
Front:

Instead of the Parfom logo and tagline we have a NERV logo – a thematic replacement – whilst the Phat logo has just been straight-up removed.
Moving to the bottom-left, the “PARFOM” text has had its font changed and is now in sentence case. Looking at the model number, this is prefixed with a “F” on the bootleg. We have “Shin Seiki Evangelion” written out, instead of being stylised. And no authenticity sticker. In the bottom right, instead of a credit to the sculptor we have Rei’s name in English transliteration.
The official box has a premium texture and pattern to it whilst the bootleg is a flat blue.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Parfom Ayanami Rei (Phat)” →

Now to see how the boys compare! Good? Bad? Shiny?
If you haven’t read the article about Rei and Asuka, it can be found here.
This article will cover Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥2,090 each (£14.92)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $5.60 each (£3.95 each)

The officials I bought from Mandarake

Bags

Like the girls, the bootlegs were just in baggies:

I’m seeing at least one extra in there…

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Evangelion Q Poskets – The Boys (Bandai)” →

This one intrigued me as I wondered if it would survive the journey and it is a fairly detailed figure with plenty of parts to potentially replicate badly. On the survival front, I bought the official at a cheaper price from an MFC member as theirs broke in transit. I repaired it, and wrote a blog about the process. Would the bootleg survive its journey or would I have a second Angewomon to repair?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥13,500
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): €70 (£61.96)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $34.53 (£27.88)

The official I bought from another MFC member (see intro above).

Box

I ordered this bootleg with the box, but it did not come with one. So ended up asking for a partial refund, as I sure as heck didn’t want to pay for a box I didn’t get :/. So this section is barren.
The listing had a picture of a box that looked like the official box, only with all the logos in the corners removed. So if a bootleg box exists, that’s roughly what it would look like.

Liberating the bootleg from the shipping box and a layer of bubble wrap, this is what I received:

Yep, arrow taped to the base and the bootleg tossed in there. Miraculously managed to survive despite the mediocre packaging.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: MegaHouse Angewomon Holy Arrow Ver (Precious G.E.M)” →

The normal colour versions of the school uniform Q Poskets fairly quickly got bootlegs, so I decided to order a set to compare them to my official ones.
This article will look at the girls – Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley. Shinji and Kaworu will be covered in a later article.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥2,030 each (£14.50 each)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $5.60 each (£3.95 each)

The officials I bought from Mandarake (unopened).

Bag

These bootlegs didn’t have the option of a box, and arrived in sealed bags:

The officials come in very similar bags – only the bags are in a box!

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Evangelion Q Poskets – The Girls (Bandai)” →

For the Asuka Langley and Rei Ayanami Parform figures there were two different bootlegs – a double-set on one stand and fully-articulated clones. This article will be covering the double-set which represents a massive saving on the officials, but is it really worth it?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥5,980 each
Price I paid for the officials (inc shipping):

• Official Rei: ¥7,242 (£51.55)
• Official Asuka: ¥8,079 (£57.51)
• Total: ¥15,311 (£109.06)

Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $11.98 (£9.75)

For the officials, Rei I bought from Ninoma and Asuka from Nippon Yasan.

Box

As this double-set came with one box for the two figures, the pictures here will be a bit different than normal.

Front:

For the bootleg, we have various aspects of the Parform boxes copied over from the official boxes put onto a space-themed blue background design. Probably stolen from somewhere, but isn’t an image I’m familiar with. Feel free to comment if it is familiar to you!
In the top-left of the bootleg box we have Phat’s description of the Parform series in good ol’ “decorative English”. Top-right we have the Evangelion logo. Underneath the box window we have the character’s names (Souryuu Asuka Langley and Ayanami Rei respectively) and the sculptor credit… for the original figures. And, amusingly, copyright Khara. Not sure if the original sculptor would want credit for this bootleg, but we’ll get into that later.
From the window in the box, we can see that we just get the figures and Asuka’s doll unlike the original Parfoms where we have extra hands and faces.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: “Parfom” Asuka Langley & Rei Ayanami (Phat)” →

Last and potentially least, we’re now up to the last noodle stopper of this set – Yui from Sword Art Online. And one thing that didn’t pass my notice is that Kirito even gets the shaft when it comes to bootlegs – there isn’t a bootleg of his noodle stopper.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥2,114 (£15.01)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £3.33

The official I pre-ordered from AmiAmi.

Accessory

Yui comes with one pair of parts to attach – her wings:

The official ones have a blueish hue to them, and the bootleg’s are more of a plainer colour. Probably slightly less clarity on the bootleg ones, but nothing hugely significant.
The pegs on the bootleg ones has some excess plastic, affecting the fit.

Figure spin-around

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: FuRyu Yui Noodle Stopper” →

This is a bootleg I almost bought a few years ago when trying to find this figure for a reasonable price. In the end, I found it for a price I was willing to pay, and forgot about the bootleg.
So did I buy the right thing? How disappointed would I have been if I did buy the bootleg?

Is she Death by Embracing or Death by Embarrassment?

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥10,286
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥10,430 (£73.11)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $30.88 (£24.93)

The official I bought secondhand via Solaris Japan.

This blog is a long one – if you want to skip sections, the sections are as follows:

• Box
• Blister
• Base
• Kuroyukihime (3 parts)
• Black Lotus
• Black Lotus & Kuroyukihime (2 parts)
• Conclusion

Box

Front:

The official box we can see the figure, and the bootleg box, it seems not. We have an interesting collection of shapes and minifigs.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Max Factory “Death by Embracing”” →

Time for another noodle stopper – this time Sinon in her swimsuit. Hoping for a day at the beach instead of a day in your noodles. Let’s see if we’d let either of these anywhere near a pot of noodles.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥2,160 (£15.11)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £3.00

The official I pre-ordered from AmiAmi

Figure spin-around

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: FuRyu Sinon Noodle Stopper” →

On my hunt for bootlegs to compare, I found this figure had not just one but two different bootlegs so I had to get both to see what they’re like.

The first bootleg is your “standard” bootleg and is an attempted copy of the figure. The second is a “soft version” featuring a squidgy body. So let’s see if the soft version has anything extra to offer than the original or if its bootlegginess outweighs its extra feature.

For the bootlegs, the soft version was slightly more expensive than the hard one, but due to ordering the hard one boxed and the soft one unboxed the cost was about the same for both. Didn’t really need two bootleg boxes that were likely to be the same.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥15,800
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥15,220 (£112.52)
Price I paid for the bootlegs (inc shipping): £15.64/each

The official I preordered from Nippon Yasan. Before they went to being totally useless.

Box

Front:

The official has a flap, hiding the figure from public view whilst the bootleg does not want to hide its secrets. The bootleg box’s front is a copy of this front flap with the logos removed. And yes, both say “Hermaphroditus”, with a u. Due to being a copy, we can still see the bottom of the figure outline underneath the “illustrated by” text which looks odd underneath the box window.
The bootleg also has a weird green border on the edges of the box – not exactly an attractive addition, but I guess that prevents any print alignment issues being a problem.
The window of the bootleg’s box has been made to compliment the front design, and they’ve actually done a decent job on this to not make it look obviously bootleggy.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg vs Bootleg: Skytube Hermaphroditos (Melonbooks)” →

For this series I decided early on that I’d like to feature a Nendoroid. After some debating of what one to pick, I settled on Albedo, so here she is in all her “glory”. Let’s see how the bootleg can measure up to the original.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): ¥4,630
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥4,815 (£32.73)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): $14.46 (£11.89)

The official I pre-ordered the re-release.

Box

Front:

Interestingly, we have what looks like an extra to my box – the bootleg features the 10th anniversary logo whilst my official box does not. However this is due to mine being the re-release – the original release has it but the re-release does not.
Looking past the 10th anniversary logo the bootleg does not have the GSC logo, which both the official boxes will have, along with the Kadokawa sticker.
Other than that, the bootleg box is a copy but the colours and print quality has suffered. The picture of Albedo on the front looks murky on the bootleg.
If we look to the figure in the box, the official will come with the smiling face equipped by default but my bootleg came with the manic grin face equipped. One thing to note is I have put my official back in the box (as with most of these) so the protective plastic is missing.

Continue reading “Official vs Bootleg: Good Smile Company Albedo (Nendoroid)” →