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's an image I took from my stock of the back of the figure.

• 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 official 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 smiley 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 companies 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.

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 responsibility and will buy cheap bootlegs from fake factories in China without the need to show any other identification, other than $$.

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.

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

More good news for Gundam fans, it seems that the creator of the Gundam series, Yoshiyuki Tomino will be attending the 2009 New York Anime Fest to further commermorate the 30th anniversary of Gundam. I'll be attending NYAF 2009 as well and it'll be great to meet up with the man responsible for all Gunpla. chances are he'll be showing off video and other tidbits about the 1/1 RX-78 that we all so badly want to see. (Would love for one to be built here in NYC -_-) New York Anime Fest will be September 25-27 in the city (at the Javits center).

(ps: yes, I will eventually sell gunpla in my store...that day will come and I will let you all know)

Thanks to ANN for the info.

Alter's new gem of a figure has already become a big hit. I'm a fan of Saber thanks to my fandom of Cloche (Chroche) from Ar Tonelico 2..being that they share the same English voice actress and lets not forget just the sheer cool factor of the Fate series. With requests coming in for this figure the day I got the rights to pre-order her for my store, I just had to reserve some for my fellow Saber fans. The Good Smile company figure as well as this one by Alter are indeed very well made Saber figures. The production figure isn't out to review yet as the release date for them is around the October/November 2009 range, but Alter and GSC will most likely keep the quality the same in their final product as they usually tend to. Check out some of these images I got straight from my supplier. She's up there in price at around $100 for a 1/8th scale figure, but you know you gotta have one. Email me for pre-orders or you can check out her product page and do so there ^_^