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Astro Toy with Rob Bricken: "Portrait of Pirates" "Luffy"


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Crystal



Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 283
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:32 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I would have thought if this had happened to me, I wouldn't have even bothered to write about it.

It is somewhat funny though.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:43 pm Reply with quote
Go, Krauser! Kill the evil bootleg!!!

Seriously, the research tips are a good thing - I've gotten my fair share of crap off ebay that I had thought was the real thing. Oddly enough, most of those sellers were in New York or Texas.
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Mistypearl



Joined: 03 Oct 2008
Posts: 517
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Crystal wrote:
Wow, I would have thought if this had happened to me, I wouldn't have even bothered to write about it.

It is somewhat funny though.


Forget about writing about it, I probably wouldn't even be able to make a coherent sentence :/

Good column though, and for the record, I didn't see the bootleg coming? D:
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Crystal wrote:
Wow, I would have thought if this had happened to me, I wouldn't have even bothered to write about it.

It is somewhat funny though.


Maybe that's why you don't have a toy column. Smile
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poisondusk



Joined: 08 Aug 2006
Posts: 60
Location: Brighton, UK
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:38 pm Reply with quote
I've been lucky and managed to avoid getting any bootlegs so far. I do buy figures from eBay, and usually from Hong Kong sellers, but I try to do as much research as possible beforehand, and I tend to buy things like Figmas which are less likely to be bootlegged than PVCs.

Every time I see someone writing about a bootleg, it makes me feel paranoid, though. It's so easy to get duped, for both experienced and beginner collectors.
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sena_h_dei



Joined: 18 Feb 2008
Posts: 32
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:39 pm Reply with quote
This is the exact reason I try and avoid eBay for figures. It seems like you just can't trust anyone anymore. Maybe I'm just becoming bitter too. Wink

The real thing looked pretty awesome though, and I'm sure if you got what you were supposed to get, this column would have a completely different tone to it.

The POP I want desperately is the Smoker one, which unfortunately averages between $200-400 on eBay, and after this column even if I could afford that, I'd still be reluctant to buy it. Crying or Very sad Damn you Smoker!

On the bright side (if you can call it that Rolling Eyes) you might have saved a lot of people from making similar purchases. Unfortunately it still sucks pretty bad for you. Mad
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Milarkie



Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:14 pm Reply with quote
Im at a bit of a loss here.

My POP Luffy has some of the signs of being a bootleg, but not all. Lets go down the list:

Can be disassembled: Check
Fist not in Hand: Check
Vest Covering (delightfully sexy) Abs: No Check
Paint Outside Lines: No Check
Blue on Eyes: Check

Based on this... yeah it's a bootleg. And I was supposedly buying it from one of the reputable sites for imports. [That site being HobbyLink Japan] Im still new to figures and such this puts a damper on me buying any for a while. Now I have to worry about my Sanji and Nami v2 being bootlegs also.

Oh look... Nami comes apart at the waist and you can take her skirt off too. I guess she's a bootleg as well.

Needless to say, I am thoroughly pissed.
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m_traydor



Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:58 pm Reply with quote
Milarkie wrote:
Im at a bit of a loss here.

My POP Luffy has some of the signs of being a bootleg, but not all. Lets go down the list:

Can be disassembled: Check
Fist not in Hand: Check
Vest Covering (delightfully sexy) Abs: No Check
Paint Outside Lines: No Check
Blue on Eyes: Check

Based on this... yeah it's a bootleg. And I was supposedly buying it from one of the reputable sites for imports. [That site being HobbyLink Japan] Im still new to figures and such this puts a damper on me buying any for a while. Now I have to worry about my Sanji and Nami v2 being bootlegs also.

Oh look... Nami comes apart at the waist and you can take her skirt off too. I guess she's a bootleg as well.

Needless to say, I am thoroughly pissed.


You don't have to worry about your figures being bootleg especially if you ordered them from hlj. The real Luffy's arms come off so you can take his vest off and the real Nami comes apart so her skirt can come off. They just don't advertise these features for some reason.

edit: I don't have my Luffy on hand but my other figures such as Sogeking, kid Sanji, and kid Luffy all have blue in their eyes and I know they are all legit mainly because they all came with gold stickers. So that's another reason not to worry.
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Rolando_jose



Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 240
Location: Ahhhh it's vacation time again!
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Man tell me about a bad streak of toys, its been what, three or four columns?
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:57 pm Reply with quote
This is kinda why I like buying figs in person at cons, you can examine them closely (or as best as you can) in person before you buy. Like my friend just dropped over $100 on a Hime from Princess Resurrection from Good Smile Company, and when you look up close at these things, you can see the amazing level of detail on the real-deal figs, it's probably pretty easy to spot fakes if you scrutinize. I think more fakes and shit-builds inhabit the smaller toys and gashapons, obviously since they're easier to churn out and the level of detail on the face won't be that high even in officials.
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RadicaLElly



Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Coral Springs, FL
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:14 pm Reply with quote
sena_h_dei wrote:
This is the exact reason I try and avoid eBay for figures. It seems like you just can't trust anyone anymore.


THIS

walw6pK4Alo wrote:
This is kinda why I like buying figs in person at cons, you can examine them closely (or as best as you can) in person before you buy.


Whoa, now. It's definitely a plus to be able to see the figure you'll get before you buy, but from my experience buying stuff at cons you're more likely to get d*cked over on the price. If you're willing to spend that extra $20+ to make sure you absolutely positively for sure have the right product, that's your choice, but there are online stores that will charge fairly and be more than helpful if there were something wrong with your order.
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kawaiibunny3



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 534
Location: Houston, Texas
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:21 pm Reply with quote
the same thing happened to me recently. only with a keroro gunso figurine.

I thought I was buying some one's unwanted Keroro because the item location was in Canada and i had really REALLY wanted it and the price was about the normal price I payed for my Tamama and Dororo, so the thought of it being a bootleg never crossed my mind.

then after I got it. i had this unsettling feeling...like the color and material used was different. then took it to my friends house to compare it (she has the official one) and. yep. it was infact a bootleg.


then i went back and gave the seller a bad review and noticed that even though the items location said "canada" the seller's profile said he/she lived in Hong Kong D:

so kids, bootleggers can even hit you from all over the world.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:25 pm Reply with quote
RadicaLElly wrote:
Whoa, now. It's definitely a plus to be able to see the figure you'll get before you buy, but from my experience buying stuff at cons you're more likely to get d*cked over on the price. If you're willing to spend that extra $20+ to make sure you absolutely positively for sure have the right product, that's your choice, but there are online stores that will charge fairly and be more than helpful if there were something wrong with your order.


Yeah I totally get what you mean, but I'm the type of person who'd prefer to just impulse buy when I can see it in front of me. I'm sure it's a thing with other people as well. So for me, buying figs and such is a more special occasion I reserve for conventions. And when you buy online, there's also still the cost of shipping and possibility of shipping damage (even if it is rather small.) The higher price is because they already had to ship it to the con, and because you have the convenience of having it right there, sometimes with a flat no-tax price. All depends on your personality/buying habits I suppose.
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KuroiTsubasa4



Joined: 01 Mar 2009
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:26 pm Reply with quote
Milarkie wrote:
Im at a bit of a loss here.

My POP Luffy has some of the signs of being a bootleg, but not all. Lets go down the list:

Can be disassembled: Check
Fist not in Hand: Check
Vest Covering (delightfully sexy) Abs: No Check
Paint Outside Lines: No Check
Blue on Eyes: Check

Based on this... yeah it's a bootleg. And I was supposedly buying it from one of the reputable sites for imports. [That site being HobbyLink Japan] Im still new to figures and such this puts a damper on me buying any for a while. Now I have to worry about my Sanji and Nami v2 being bootlegs also.

Oh look... Nami comes apart at the waist and you can take her skirt off too. I guess she's a bootleg as well.

Needless to say, I am thoroughly pissed.


Like m_traydor said, I wouldn't worry about your figures if they came from HLJ, they are legit and Luffy's arms do come off in case you want to remove his vest for some reason. Franky's do the same and a lot of the POP line has removable heads so that you can put on their accessories. As for the fist not being in the hand, it may not actually touch the other palm, but it should be quite a bit closer to doing so than the bootleg featured in the article. Overall, as long as you have that gold sticker, you should be fine.
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GordanHam



Joined: 01 Mar 2009
Posts: 151
PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:42 pm Reply with quote
That totally sucks. I got some bootleg One Piece "Styling" Figures before.
I was just wondering. How did you get you start on ANN?
It's really cool that people get to write these articles on all things otaku from games to figures and from anime to manga.
Are you going to get the P.O.P. Brook ? Mine arrived like a month ago and I'm just bearly going to put up Review later today.

I was wonder just how do you get into writing columns for ANN.
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