The Curious Case of the Teensy Hitsugaya Figure Box Remember when I said boxes are often scanned in and reproduced for bootleg merchandise?  We found this bizarre box for the G.E.M. Series figure of Hitsugaya in the trash at a con.  The strange thing about this box is that it’s so much smaller than the box for the official figure. Here’s a comparison of the two boxes (bootleg on the left, official on the right). The top of the bootleg box is missing the star-shaped die-cut.  It seems like it was recreated in photoshop to look similar to the real box because they couldn’t use the scan directly with the star-shape cut out of it (notice the position of the snowflakes): The official box is made of a corrugated cardboard, and the bootleg box is made of a thin, flimsy board.  Nothing is printed on the bottom of the official box while the top of the bootleg box is reproduced on the bottom: The sides are also missing die-cuts: The images are squished on the bootleg box: The official information is there, but it’s also squished because the bootleggers had scanned in the original box.  This also makes the print quality very poor because scanning in images and printing them back out degrades picture quality. Bootleg: Official: The official box should have the licensing company sticker affixed to the front.  A scan of the sticker is printed right onto the bootleg box. Here’s the official Hitsugaya figure next to the official box: Here’s the official figure next to the bootleg box: This figure clearly wouldn’t fit inside of this tiny box.  I didn’t see the bootleg figure inside of this box, but my best guess is that they must have cast the bootleg off of this figure and packed it in pieces. For reference, the real figure should look like this: And he comes with a photo: Back of the photo: At conventions be sure to check the print quality of a figure’s box along with the price, sticker, and company info.  If a dealer tries to sell you an open figure out of the packaging, always ask for the box.  If they don’t have the box, be cautious and use your best judgment in distinguishing official from bootleg by looking at the quality of the figure.
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The Curious Case of the Teensy Hitsugaya Figure Box

Remember when I said boxes are often scanned in and reproduced for bootleg merchandise?  We found this bizarre box for the G.E.M. Series figure of Hitsugaya in the trash at a con.  The strange thing about this box is that it’s so much smaller than the box for the official figure.

Here’s a comparison of the two boxes (bootleg on the left, official on the right).

The top of the bootleg box is missing the star-shaped die-cut.  It seems like it was recreated in photoshop to look similar to the real box because they couldn’t use the scan directly with the star-shape cut out of it (notice the position of the snowflakes):

The official box is made of a corrugated cardboard, and the bootleg box is made of a thin, flimsy board.  Nothing is printed on the bottom of the official box while the top of the bootleg box is reproduced on the bottom:

The sides are also missing die-cuts:

The images are squished on the bootleg box:

The official information is there, but it’s also squished because the bootleggers had scanned in the original box.  This also makes the print quality very poor because scanning in images and printing them back out degrades picture quality.

Bootleg:

Official:

The official box should have the licensing company sticker affixed to the front.  A scan of the sticker is printed right onto the bootleg box.

Here’s the official Hitsugaya figure next to the official box:

Here’s the official figure next to the bootleg box:

This figure clearly wouldn’t fit inside of this tiny box.  I didn’t see the bootleg figure inside of this box, but my best guess is that they must have cast the bootleg off of this figure and packed it in pieces.

For reference, the real figure should look like this:

And he comes with a photo:

Back of the photo:

At conventions be sure to check the print quality of a figure’s box along with the price, sticker, and company info.  If a dealer tries to sell you an open figure out of the packaging, always ask for the box.  If they don’t have the box, be cautious and use your best judgment in distinguishing official from bootleg by looking at the quality of the figure.

Bootleg Character Headphones I ran across these very suspicious headphones in a boutique store carrying Sanrio & San-x merchandise today.  This store had a lot of bootleg product mixed in with real product, and these headphones seemed very off.  I’ve never seen any product where Rilakkuma was a color other than brown (or cream for his friend Korilakkuma), and the build quality on these headphones was terrible.  Their faces did not look standardized—on official merchandise characters will look the same across any product. I found the real versions of these headphones here:  Hello Kitty & Rilakkuma.  The first thing to notice is the price, these headphones should be around $23 or more.  For specialty licensed character headphones coming from Japan, you should be looking for headphones around this price or higher.  The bootleg ones were $10—way too low.  The build quality on the real ones looks great, and the faces look on-model for the characters.  The pink Hello Kitty ones should have a pink cord, but the bootleg headphones have a white cord despite the Hello Kitty faces being pink.  Also, the extra ear-bud covers are missing in the top left-hand side of the package of the bootleg headphones. They also had these very obviously bootleg One Piece Headphones: The biggest give-away is that the information on this entire package is written in Chinese.  To differentiate Japanese from Chinese text, look for Hiragana and Katakana mixed in among the Kanji.  The Japanese written language was derived from Chinese, so they share a lot of characters.  However, Chinese will have no Hiragana/Katakana characters.  Product that should be intended for the Japanese market like this should have Japanese written on it.  The other thing to notice is that there is no mention of Toei, the licensing company for One Piece, anywhere on this package.  It should say Toei somewhere and maybe also have a Toei sticker on the package.  Also, the earbud parts themselves are clearly copies of Apple’s earbud designs. Here are a couple of examples of official character headphones: The bootleg One Piece headphones were also around $10.  The prices on these licensed headphones are what you should expect to pay for real anime headphones.  The quality is noticeably higher on these real headphones than the One Piece ones.  All of the text on these boxes is in Japanese, there is a licensing company sticker, and Japanese manufacturing companies are listed by name. (I wanted to point out, the box of Kyubey headphones says “Made in China” because most merchandise, real or fake, is manufactured in China.  The difference with these legitimate products is that Japanese merchandising companies purchased the license to make this product from the Japanese company holding the license for these characters.  They will then have the product manufactured in China.) Only looking for company names and stickers can be a flawed approach to identifying bootlegs because the real packaging of a product is often scanned in and reproduced by bootleggers.  Make sure to check for all of these clues along with looking at the print quality of the packaging and the price of the product.
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Bootleg Character Headphones

I ran across these very suspicious headphones in a boutique store carrying Sanrio & San-x merchandise today.  This store had a lot of bootleg product mixed in with real product, and these headphones seemed very off.  I’ve never seen any product where Rilakkuma was a color other than brown (or cream for his friend Korilakkuma), and the build quality on these headphones was terrible.  Their faces did not look standardized—on official merchandise characters will look the same across any product.

I found the real versions of these headphones here:  Hello Kitty & Rilakkuma.  The first thing to notice is the price, these headphones should be around $23 or more.  For specialty licensed character headphones coming from Japan, you should be looking for headphones around this price or higher.  The bootleg ones were $10—way too low.  The build quality on the real ones looks great, and the faces look on-model for the characters.  The pink Hello Kitty ones should have a pink cord, but the bootleg headphones have a white cord despite the Hello Kitty faces being pink.  Also, the extra ear-bud covers are missing in the top left-hand side of the package of the bootleg headphones.

They also had these very obviously bootleg One Piece Headphones:

The biggest give-away is that the information on this entire package is written in Chinese.  To differentiate Japanese from Chinese text, look for Hiragana and Katakana mixed in among the Kanji.  The Japanese written language was derived from Chinese, so they share a lot of characters.  However, Chinese will have no Hiragana/Katakana characters.  Product that should be intended for the Japanese market like this should have Japanese written on it.  The other thing to notice is that there is no mention of Toei, the licensing company for One Piece, anywhere on this package.  It should say Toei somewhere and maybe also have a Toei sticker on the package.  Also, the earbud parts themselves are clearly copies of Apple’s earbud designs.

Here are a couple of examples of official character headphones:

The bootleg One Piece headphones were also around $10.  The prices on these licensed headphones are what you should expect to pay for real anime headphones.  The quality is noticeably higher on these real headphones than the One Piece ones.  All of the text on these boxes is in Japanese, there is a licensing company sticker, and Japanese manufacturing companies are listed by name.

(I wanted to point out, the box of Kyubey headphones says “Made in China” because most merchandise, real or fake, is manufactured in China.  The difference with these legitimate products is that Japanese merchandising companies purchased the license to make this product from the Japanese company holding the license for these characters.  They will then have the product manufactured in China.)

Only looking for company names and stickers can be a flawed approach to identifying bootlegs because the real packaging of a product is often scanned in and reproduced by bootleggers.  Make sure to check for all of these clues along with looking at the print quality of the packaging and the price of the product.

Real vs Bootleg Angel Beats Tenshi PVC

A new bootleg comparison post from Good Smile Company.

Bootleg Hetalia One Coin Figures Good morning!  Just wanted to make a quick post on spotting the bootleg Hetalia one coin figures.  Luckily, these bootlegs are really easy to spot.  Things to look for: The real figures will be magnetic with a metal pole for support.  The fake figures have a stick that is not metal that inserts into the figure itself for support. The real figures have bases that are slightly wider than the width of the figure.  The fake figures have much wider bases. The paint and build quality of the real figures is extremely well done.  The craftsmanship of the fake figures is poor. If you’re buying these figures at a convention and they’re still in their boxes, it can be more difficult to spot the fake ones.  To find the real ones, look for a perforated pull-tab on top of the box (like this: click).  The box should tear right across the middle of the top flap.  The bootleg figures will have no pull-tab on top—to open the box you peel the entire top flap up. If you’re buying these figures online, be cautious.  Many bootleg retailers will use the official picture of the figures and send you the bootleg ones.  The best thing to do in this case is to check the price against other trusted online retailers.  If the figures seem suspiciously cheap, they are most likely bootleg. All images are © their original creators.
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Bootleg Hetalia One Coin Figures

Good morning!  Just wanted to make a quick post on spotting the bootleg Hetalia one coin figures.  Luckily, these bootlegs are really easy to spot.  Things to look for:

  • The real figures will be magnetic with a metal pole for support.  The fake figures have a stick that is not metal that inserts into the figure itself for support.
  • The real figures have bases that are slightly wider than the width of the figure.  The fake figures have much wider bases.
  • The paint and build quality of the real figures is extremely well done.  The craftsmanship of the fake figures is poor.

If you’re buying these figures at a convention and they’re still in their boxes, it can be more difficult to spot the fake ones.  To find the real ones, look for a perforated pull-tab on top of the box (like this: click).  The box should tear right across the middle of the top flap.  The bootleg figures will have no pull-tab on top—to open the box you peel the entire top flap up.

If you’re buying these figures online, be cautious.  Many bootleg retailers will use the official picture of the figures and send you the bootleg ones.  The best thing to do in this case is to check the price against other trusted online retailers.  If the figures seem suspiciously cheap, they are most likely bootleg.

All images are © their original creators.

Counterfeit Ginseng

An interesting look at how other industries deal with bootlegging.

Q:Hello! I saw your recent post about Mameshiba bootleg plushies. Having gotten some real Mameshiba merch in Japan, I'm a fan of these cute guys. However, I've been tempted to buy the Mameshiba plush being sold in the US at FYE stores. Are these bootlegs? Thanks so much for your help :)

just-a-hopeless-dreamer

It looks like the ones they’re selling are manufactured by Toynami.  Do they look like these and have the Toynami logo on the tag?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4mAFU_a8cE  If they do, then you’re safe because these were licensed and produced for the US market : )  Thank you for the question!^^

Real Mameshiba plush should always match their tags in theme. The one pictured above is real, and notice that the tag has a wedding theme like the plush.  If it’s a plain Mameshiba, it should have a plain tag.  If it’s a halloween mameshiba, it should have a halloween tag, etc.   Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture of it, but I recently saw a plain Mameshiba plush with a tag that had a Mameshiba wearing a winter hat on it—that one was definitely bootleg.  There is a series of Mameshiba plush wearing winter hats, but the plush was not a part of this set and shouldn’t have the tag from this set.  The face didn’t look as well constructed as the one pictured above either.
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Real Mameshiba plush should always match their tags in theme.

The one pictured above is real, and notice that the tag has a wedding theme like the plush.  If it’s a plain Mameshiba, it should have a plain tag.  If it’s a halloween mameshiba, it should have a halloween tag, etc.  

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a picture of it, but I recently saw a plain Mameshiba plush with a tag that had a Mameshiba wearing a winter hat on it—that one was definitely bootleg.  There is a series of Mameshiba plush wearing winter hats, but the plush was not a part of this set and shouldn’t have the tag from this set.  The face didn’t look as well constructed as the one pictured above either.

Wallscrolls: Domestic vs Japanese Import vs Bootleg

Wallscrolls are one of the most common things sold at anime conventions, but do you know where the wallscroll you’re buying came from?

There are basically three options:

Domestic Wallscrolls
Licensed by domestic companies like FUNimation, VIZ, Bandai (America), etc. and produced in Taiwan by Great Eastern Entertainment.  Great Eastern produces most of the anime merchandise that is available domestically (meaning that anime shops can purchase the products from wholesalers in the states, and it doesn’t need to be imported by the retailers themselves).  Domestic product will always be cheaper than equivalent imported Japanese product (due to the imported product’s extra shipping cost from Japan, the dollar being weak against the yen right now, the higher quality of some Japanese products, etc).

  • Wrapped in clear plastic
  • Will include the show’s logo, licensor logo(s), Great Eastern logo, and the show’s copyright on the label
  • Made of a fabric that is slightly coarse
  • Will have the show’s logo, licensor logo(s), Great Eastern logo, and the show’s copyright printed onto the fabric
  • Price can range from $15-$20 depending on where you’re buying it
  • The size will be 31” by 43”, but there have been some variations
  • Will always have hooks on the top bar for attaching to the wall (NEVER strings)

Logos and copyright will appear on the label

Logos and copyright will appear on the label.

Sometimes a holographic sticker will be included, like this official Evangelion sticker.

Logos and copyright will be printed on the fabric.

Hooks for attaching to the wall.

A domestically licensed wallscroll.

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Japanese Imported Wallscrolls
Licensed and manufactured by various Japanese companies like Square Enix, Shueisha, Chara-Ani, Broccoli, etc.  These wallscrolls were produced for the Japanese market and imported by anime retailers.  The quality on these wallscrolls is much higher than on domestic wallscrolls, and—along with the other factors of importation—can be extremely expensive in comparison.

  • Can come wrapped in plastic or in various sizes of tubes and boxes (depending on the manufacturer)
  • Will have the show logo, manufacturer’s website and/or logo, and show copyright on the label.
  • Oftentimes will include a licensor sticker on the packaging, but sometimes will not
  • Usually made of a smooth, almost silky fabric with a very high print quality
  • The show logo and copyright will be printed onto the wallscroll
  • Price can range from around $20-$60 or higher depending on several factors
  • Will usually come in sizes A3 or B2, but can come in other various sizes
  • Usually have strings on top bar for attaching to the wall

Logos and copyright on the label. Sometimes a licensor’s sticker will be included.

Sometimes there will not be a sticker included.

Show logo printed onto the fabric. Much higher print quality than domestic or bootleg wallscrolls.

Copyright printed onto the fabric.

Sting to attach to the wall.

Other imported wallscrolls can come in tubes…

…or boxes.

An imported Japanese wallscroll.

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Bootleg Wallscrolls
Unlicensed.  These wallscrolls will usually be devoid of logos, copyrights, URLs, or anything else indicating that it’s a licensed product.  The print quality will be very poor, and they’ll be sold for extremely cheap in comparison to other wallscrolls.

  • Wrapped in clear plastic
  • No logos on the label, only a number and an indication of the size
  • Made of a moderately coarse material
  • Usually no logos or copyrights printed onto the fabric (sometimes only the show logo will be printed onto it)
  • Price can range from around $10-$16
  • The size will be similar to the Great Eastern wallscrolls’ size, but can vary slightly
  • Can have hooks or strings for attaching to the wall

Neither logos nor copyright included on the label.


Number on the label.

String to attach to the wall.

Very low print quality.

A bootleg wallscroll.  No logos or copyright are printed on the fabric.

Another bootleg wallscroll.  Both of these examples have hooks for attaching to the wall.

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I hope this was helpful!  Follow Bootleg Camp on facebook and twitter for updates!

Another Bootleg Comparison Post Over at Good Smile

A detailed comparison between an official and bootleg Miku Nendoroid.

Fake Nendoroids are very common on the internet and can sometimes be spotted at anime conventions.  Nine times out of ten, the best way to check if a Nendoroid is bootleg or not is to check the price.  Check the Good Smile page for the original yen price.  This one was 3000円 (about $40 with the current yen-to-dollar conversion rate) if you were buying it in Japan when it was released.  The price will never be significantly lower than the price listed on the Good Smile site.  For example, there’s one selling on eBay right now for $18—this is definitely a bootleg.  Also notice the release date on the Good Smile site; this figure was last reprinted in October of 2010 and will now be much more rare.  Expect the price to be higher than the original yen price if you’re buying it now, if you’re buying it from a seller that imported it from Japan, and especially if it’s a highly sought after Nendoroid like this one.  If you see a Nendoroid like this selling at a convention for cheap, be sure to check for the other signs of a bootleg like grainy, off-color packaging and flaws in the figure itself (more on this in a later post).

Grab Bags and You

Literally a mixed bag, grab bags are a complicated issue in the world of dealers’ rooms.

I’ve seen perfectly fine grab bags be sold at anime cons, and I’ve seen some questionable ones walk out the door as well.  The problem is that when some dealers are asked to pull their bootleg merchandise or if they’re at a convention that they know will be more strict about bootlegs, they’ll hide their bootleg product in grab bags so that the staff will not see them selling it.  (Why bother?  Because you can make a lot of money this way—bootleg product is extremely cheap at the wholesale level.  You can charge regular prices for something you paid next to nothing for and customers don’t realize they’re paying ridiculous mark ups and getting ripped off.)  One way to avoid this is to ask a dealer if you can see inside of one grab bag to check the contents for bootlegs.  It should be perfectly acceptable to the dealer to show you the contents of one random bag (the staff should also be checking grab bags like this) for your peace of mind.  If you’d asked to see multiple bags, the dealer would think that you’re trying to find one with items that you like instead of trying to check for bootlegs.

If you’ve unknowingly bought a grab bag full of bootlegs, take it to the staff immediately and let them know where you got it. 

Several conventions are now banning the sale of grab bags altogether.

(A separate issue:  I’ve also seen dealers sell bags full of free, promotion-only items.  If you get a bag full of things that all say “NOT FOR SALE”, alert the staff because this is very shady.  A few items that are promo mixed with regular retail merchandise is fine—they’re usually thrown in as a bonus.)