How To Spot Fake Japanese Figures

11 responses to “How To Spot Fake Japanese Figures”

1. 

   caspertheangrypirate

   September 6, 2017 at 9:44 pm

   After being to Japan once and spending way too much time in Akihabara it’s already pretty clear why this would be a problem. The market for figures is phenomenal.

   I’m interested to see what they’d say about some of the figures we get hocked at our cons. I bought a buu figure at this years perth nova and when I was setting it up it was clear it was either a factory second or fake. The glues were brittle and it wasn’t even lined up on the base, so now its shamefully blutacked to my cabinet.

2. 

   thearbiter117

   September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm

   Im not going to deny that fake figmas and nendos look worse, but they certainly picked some bad fakes there (there are definitely sellers who have better fakes than others for a couple dollars more usually).
   I have the fake sinon figure from SAO (blue haired girl with green clothing towards the end) and mine does not look anywhere near that bad, it still doesn’t look as good as the real one in those photos but it looks significantly better than the fake they have.
   But it also cost about a 5th of the price. So i got all 4 SAO figures i wanted for $15 less than it would have costed me for 1 real version.
   Admittedly i have a slight issue with one of them, where the front part of the hair where you insert the different faces comes off at the slightest bump which is quite annoying but all the other 3 are actually very good quality, in fact i think 1 of them is actually factory seconds not even fake due to almost everything about it seeming nearly perfect. Plus i was getting them as action figures as much as display pieces, didn’t want to get $80 figures to play with

   I get why most people don’t want fakes, but i figured i’d give my experiences and say that they can definitely be worth it depending on what you want from the figure

   1. 

      zambayoshi

      September 7, 2017 at 11:52 am

      Can understand if you are using them for action figures. I’ve had a couple of fakes passed off as genuine and did my nut when I discovered them. Luckily was able to get PayPal protection on both.

      1. 

         thearbiter117

         September 7, 2017 at 3:13 pm

         Oh yeah, id be pissed too if i bought one thinking it was real and it was fake. But i also think that as long as you know its a fake they are definitely still an option if you just want something cheaper to play around with. They are also good for if you like making custom figures, as you dont want to spend $80 on a real on then accidentally fuck up

         1. 

            zambayoshi

            September 7, 2017 at 3:44 pm

            Yeah, it was pretty funny when I reported to the vendor that the first figure was fake. I thought they might have been unaware, since it was marketed as the real thing. The vendor basically said “Of course it’s fake. These are made for people who don’t have the opportunity to buy the real ones.” I just shook my head.

            IP issues aside, I’m fine with people selling fakes, as long as they are clearly labelled as such 🙂

            1. 

               thearbiter117

               September 7, 2017 at 8:51 pm

               That sucks, at least you got the refund though. Most of the time they just put “china version” somewhere in the ad and never explicitly say ‘fake’, to be sneaky without actually lying.

               Did you end up finding a real one?

            2. 

               zambayoshi

               September 8, 2017 at 9:42 am

               I did. Cost me a little bit more but not a lot. One of the reasons I didn’t spot the fake in the listing was that the price was only about $20 less than the most expensive place selling it. I thought it might be just competitive or trying to get rid of stock, but now I almost never by the cheapest option unless it is only cheaper by $10 or less.

               The other reason I didn’t twig was that the seller was high volume and highly rated. Oh well, thank goodness for Ebay and PayPal. Certainly lets you buy from online vendors with some confidence.

3. 

   hardtobeagod

   September 7, 2017 at 9:28 am

   Red circle are the legitimate ones? Jesus Japan, Anything would be better than a red circle .

   1. 

      arnna

      September 7, 2017 at 11:01 am

      This is normal for Japan as far as my experience playing games tell me

      1. 

         sir-doctor-b

         September 7, 2017 at 6:01 pm

         Precisely, thus the colour for PlayStation’s face buttons. Also why Circle is confirm in most Japanese games and X cancel

         1. 

            hardtobeagod

            September 7, 2017 at 10:01 pm

            Ah okay