Earlier this week, Niigata Prefecture arrested Keiichi Itoh, 35, and Jun Fujita, 36 for apparently selling a customised Kamen Rider W figure (pictured) via Yahoo! Auctions last November.
The winning bid was around ¥270,000 ($3288).
The two were picked up for violating Japanese copyright law. The suspects told authorities that since the figure was one-off and custom-made, they thought it would be overlooked. This is what the figure looks like before it was revamped by the two men.
Kamen Rider is a Japanese pop culture institution, spawning movies, anime, video games and even girls in hotpants.
改造フィギュア販売 ２人逮捕 [YOMIURI ONLINE（読売新聞）via オレ的ゲーム情報]
So they bought a toy... Painted it.. Sold it..
and that's illegal? WTH?