How to Spot a Fake Nendoroid

Ok, a big, big pet peeve of mine as both an anime figure collector and as an anime figure store owner has been the slew of cheap, fake and inferior Good Smile Company Nendoroid figures. As somebody who both collects and sells the real deal, just thought I'd give some examples of what to look out for. I will be using the most commonly bootlegged figure, Miku Hatsune, as my example.

Here, is the real one:

Here is a list of ways to almost be certain a figure is a fake.

• Very cheap price. Explore the web and places like eBay with caution. If you see a seller claiming to sell a Nendoroid at a Buy-Now price below $25USD, it's most likely a fake since no offical seller can sell one below that price without losing money.
• Different facial expressions from original. Miku Hatsune's smirk for example is different and less smily on a fake one than on the real one. Other Nendoroids will be the same.
• Cheaper look to the figure. This is a given. Good Smile Company is one of those anime figure companys that usually make sure their final product matches the original image. In this industry, it is tough to do so but if you see a decent difference, you'll know there's something up. Fakes have been known to fall apart easier, also.
• Seller is from China or Hong Kong. Please note that anime figures both fake and real are made in China and not all China sellers are selling fakes, but sadly many are.

Buying from a US seller?

1. Make sure the Good Smile Company figures come from AAAanime.com, Mile-stone.jp or Diamond Comics. These are the official wholesalers of anime figures in the US and where I get mine from as well. For Nendoroids, practically all come from AAAanime.com. Don't see a AAAAnime sticker on the back of your Nendoroid box?...it might be a fake.
2. Ask for a copy of the seller's Certificate of Authority. This is the identification all sellers need to proved they are verified by their state to sell products in a legit business or one that isn't an MLM (they have different forms of identification). I have a copy for my anime store and Swaorvski figures selling. The seller should not show their ID number and other personal info that is on the form but their company name and the state they are locaed in is on the form. With one, I have to report sales tax to my state and my sales figures to both state and federal taxes. Sellers of fakes of course wish to bypass this repsonsibility and will buy cheap bootlegs from fake factories in China without the need to show any other identification, other than $$.

Hope this bit of info helps in your shopping and I've also provided images of more-than-likely fake I spotted on eBay in the post. Please note, the name of the seller, if on the image, has been blocked out to prevent slandering and to not falsly accuse them since some sellers take images from others and might not be selling fakes but show fakes in their images...of course, thoe opposite maybe true too.

Labels: anime figures, bootleg figures, figures, How to, Nendoroid

posted by princetrunks @ 4:16 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Saber Lily Nendoroid

I had a bunch of items not yet listed in my store for pre-order, so I went and got the store up to date. I also got the clearance today to set up pre-orders for the very cute and lovely Saber Lily Nendoroid figure. Saber is the background to my dual PC set-up at home still so I'll probably snag one for myself to add to my collection ^^. With my listings mainly up to date, I'll be sure to post the newest figures first now. Every single day there are new and amazing anime figures that get on the pre-order list and if I'm to be up there with the other anime stores...I gotta keep up ^^;;

Check out some more pics below. I also added these pictures and the pictures for my other recent figures additions to the anime figures part of the anime gallery.

Labels: anime figures, figures, Good Smile Company, Nendoroid, saber lily

posted by princetrunks @ 12:37 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Anime Pic of the Day 6/24/09

Been one of those busy weeks. So while I get some more posts ready for all of you, here's an anime girl picture that you'd might like. I'm also in the process of setting up a test/beta version of this blog so you can get a glimpse of any upgrades to the blog. Been looking all over for coding that will put up relevant posts as well as automatically thumbnailed posts...but Blogger is not friendly to customizations outside of the .blogspot.com site setup -_-. I'm a programmer, so I'll work my way around their errors somehow.

On the production block:

• More member blog visibility and functions (don't be afraid to post your own posts there)
  
• beta blog
  
• Post thumbnails
• reply to comments
• comment rss feed subscription
  
• relevant posts
• more embedded video in the blog
• a better amv/video section
• amazon.com payment integration in the store and blog
  
• improvements to www.anime.fm

yeah...got a bunch to do -_-.

Labels: anime, anime girl, anime pic of the day, updates

posted by princetrunks @ 5:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post