Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Das Bootleg
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BonnKansan
 Posts: 116 |
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I like how Revolutionary Girl Utena made use of repeated footage as a stylistic choice, with the 'Entering the Duel Arena' working as a regular ritual. I've also seen ones that use it for humorous effect. Though it's hard to make clever use of repeated footage work if the show isn't already somewhat avant-garde or meta.
We're watching more winter shows than we expected to, including a few in genres that we usually wouldn't bother with, since they're surprisingly well done. Only one we've pretty much dropped is Roman, since it started getting angsty and stopped being the stupid anachronistic fun it was at the start. Very glad we stuck with From the New World, the seemingly disparate threads have finally come together for a powerful last act. Love today's Answerman title, by the way! |
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Keichitsu0305
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Blowing up water? Or do you mean, blowing on the liquid to cool it down for tasting? Or slurping? I notice that in alot but I never really consider it important but I have the habit of missing subtlety. One tiny nitpick I have with Chihayafuru is when it ends on a cliffhanger and I have to sit in the corner for a week, waiting for Friday to come (which is today  ).
Surprisingly, mine too. What changed my mind about the series were ep. 4 and 7-8 which showed the original three girls ("Queen" Kaoru was fun to watch) and Kyouske's childhood. Both were well-paced and I ended up sympathizing with Kyo. I didn't care for the show at first but I'm glad I gave it a second chance. I try really hard to avoid bootlegs especially with figures that came out years ago; not much of a collector but at times it can be tempting to buy a decent-looking, cheap fake than pay hundreds of dollars for the real deal. |
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roxybudgy
Posts: 129 Location: Western Australia |
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Re: figurines on eBay
General rule in life: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I foolishly bid on a Gurren Lagann Yoko nendoroid on eBay a few years back, and the starting bid was 1 euro (seller was apparently based in France). The seller had multiple listings for nendoroids like this. I won the auction as the only bidder and paid a total of 5 euros for the figurine plus shipping. When the nendoroid arrived, it did not come in a box, just the parts wrapped in bubble wrap and placed inside an envelope. Paint work and quality was terrible. Obviously a bootleg. Told the seller that I intend to leave negative feedback, they offered a refund which I did not take and left the negative feedback (not that it makes a difference). You'd think I'd avoid eBay like the plague for figurines after that? No way, eBay is probably the only way for me to get certain rare figurines. I bought Alter/Altair's Natsume's Book of Friends Natsume ($280), Volks' Spice and Wolf Holo ($350 AUD) and Alter's Gurren Lagann Bounty Hunter Yoko ($420) and those turned out to be the real thing, those sellers were based in Japan, except for the Natsume figurine, that came from a Hong Kong seller. I have also purchase other figurines, such as Akira from Aria, Utawarerumono prize figurines, Spice and Wolf prize figurines, all off eBay and as far as I know, they were not bootlegs and came with boxes. Those sellers were based in Hong Kong. Nowadays, I try to pre-order what I like, instead of scrambling to find it on eBay or elsewhere after the figurine is released. My collection: http://myfigurecollection.net/collection/roxybudgy |
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Cerceaux
 Posts: 180 Location: Earth |
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-makes the kitchen explode or -makes everyone who eats it faint/vomit/die |
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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Honestly it's not that hard to avoid figure bootlegs. Just stick to Japanese sellers like AmiAmi, HobbyLink Japan, Hobby Search, Otacute, Aikoudo, Big in Japan (the latter is a proxy service, good for prize figures that many other sites don't carry). If you prefer U.S.-based sites there's RACS, RightStuf, and recently Anime Island. I'm sure there are others but these are the sites I primarily use (esp. AmiAmi, HLJ & BiJ). Though yes, if the item you want is OOP then your choices are limited (maybe you'll luck out and find it for sale on in the MFC Sales section). Figure collecting is very much a matter of preordering what you want when you see it listed unless you're willing to take the chance that it may not be available later.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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EBAY does have legit figures (especially if you go with Japanese sellers) but I tend to use them as the last resort because they end up being more expensive than just importing directly from Japan. Some of the prices on EBAY are ridiculous.
And the cheap figures are 99% of the time bootlegs. You want sold out figures try Mandarake or even Yahoo Japan auctions. |
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Venus_Angel9
 Posts: 55 |
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I have used Ebay for very specific figures. For example, those Banpresto DX figurines that are almost impossible to get if you are not in Japan (one of these was from a seller in Japan, the other ones came from Hong Kong), or some of those chibi keychains (also from Japan directly). They were reasonably priced, meaning, not too cheap, a little bit on the expensive side, since this are hard to get, but not, you know, hundreds of dollars. Would not pay hundreds of dollars for such a small figure, no matter how great looking it is.
What I recommend doing is to look at the feedback of the seller. More often than not there will be at least one letting you know if this is a legit seller or not. I first go through the negative and neutral ones. If this seem O.K (i.e. bitching about the item not arriving right away or complaining about a broken part even after the seller offer a replacement... ), then I go trough as many of the positive ones as I can. I always take care to let people know if the item was legit when leaving feedback too. Also, take a good hard look at the picture. I never trust any auction were the picture is so small you can't even make out the small details in the figure or the box. Instant red flag for me. And more often than not it should specify the maker or the brand in the description, another red flag if it doesn't. Yeah, I know it takes a lot of time, but it will save you a lot of heartache later. So far, I have never received a bootleg. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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The Banpresto DXF figures can be preordered off BiginJapan or HLJ and if you happen to miss the preorder window (which can be pretty short for some of them) Mandarake tends to get them in.
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belvadeer
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I take it you're not talking about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgdsKfr2brg |
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GiriOni
 Posts: 218 |
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I once bought a bootleg by accident. AND it actually came with a bootleg that you could clip onto the character's leg. Opening it and finding that in it... I could just see the troll face in the package.
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poonk
Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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I get the feeling that a lot of people who buy figures on eBay may not realize they've gotten a bootleg-- they may not know it's even a issue, or they don't know any Japanese sites with which to cross-reference prices (to see if something really is "too good to be true")-- and so they leave positive feedback regardless. So the few items I've gotten off of eBay I mentioned in the feedback that it was authentic, licensed merchandise so that the next buyer can breathe a little easier. Also, lots of bootlegs listed on eBay will throw in words like "real," "authentic," or "genuine" (yes, it's genuine ... a genuine bootleg) without actually mentioning a manufacturer (so they're technically not misrepresenting the item). So I make a point to actually contact the eBay seller ahead of time asking that they confirm it's legit merchandise licensed by "XXX" (insert the manufacturer here-- gotta do some research after all, that's where MFC is so helpful). As long as you politely let the seller know you're aware of the existence of bootlegs and you're trying to avoid one, I've found that sellers who are on the up-and-up are happy to reassure a potential customer; and sellers who have fake stuff either don't answer, or tell you (generally without outright admitting it) that this is not the item you are looking for. (And hey, if they blatantly lie and you still end up with a bootleg, then you have a grounds for opening a eBay complaint with the seller, probably something they'd just as soon avoid.) The key is to get in writing that yes, it's actual merch licensed by (whoever). I managed to find a handful of sellers I trust and if I have to use eBay I buy from them if at all possible. Last edited by poonk on Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Graceful Nanami
Posts: 303 Location: United States |
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Am I the only one who loves older animation so much more than the post 200? stuff with CG and paint by numbers blah? I mean, in regards to "crappy animation" that is.
You want a kids anime with wonderful animation? Watch Akazukin Chacha. That was made in 1994 and it still looks nice. It all depends on how much money and care the studios have, guys. |
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rheiders
 Posts: 1137 Location: Colorful Colorado :) |
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Oh, it's definitely there in the anime as well. Taichi's always moping about it in the background and it seems like Chihaya may be spoiler[developing a crush on Arata], though she's nowhere near realizing it. Shipping the series is fun, but I don't think romance is the series' strength, so hopefully they don't focus on it too much. As for bootlegs, I have a ridiculously naïve story. When I was a very new anime fan, I bought a rather suspicious DVD box set with the first 26 episodes of Monster on them from my local library's little used bookstore. The box art was just screen caps from the series, and the description was written out in hilariously inept Engrish on the front, with the back being in Japanese. I assumed it was a Japanese set, because obviously those usually have 26 episodes on them and can be bought for nine dollars. When I tried out the first DVD, the subtitles were also very Engrish-y. A day later our DVD player crashed. Hmm... I threw the set away after that. I don't have any examples about figures because I don't collect those ^^; Maybe someday... |
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Venus_Angel9
Posts: 55 |
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Yeah but this were kind of "old" (just a few months but you know how it is with preorders sometimes  ). I actually search in Mandarake every time I want a slightly older figure, but I guess some of them are too popular and kind of fly off the shelves.
I would love to get the Natsume Yuujinchou ones, but have not found them anywhere outside Ebay for example (and the Madara one is waaaaaaaaaay out of my budget even there) Thanks for the advice anyway  I actually contemplated preordering one of those with Biginjapan last Christmas but since they need me to pay upfront and it was Christmas after all, all my money was tied up in gift giving. I'll probably use them in the future though.
Same here, there are some sellers I would buy from with my eyes closed and I cling to them like my life depends on it, so if I absolutely have to get something in Ebay, I immediately go to their stores. I've also read a lot of angry feedback from people who got "defective" or easily breakable items and ask for a replacement, when it really is just a bootleg. A legit figure may be somewhat fragile depending on the particular item, but I've never bought one that was badly painted (not to that extent at least), or that would break just because I placed it the wrong way ¿? |
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DrizzlingEnthalpy
 Posts: 255 |
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I haven't seen the third Digimon movie, but I did see Diabolomon Strikes Back since it's a sequel to Children's War Game. It looks like even though Hosoda was no longer involved they kept his style for the sake of consistency and continued working with animators he picked out. Last edited by DrizzlingEnthalpy on Sat Mar 16, 2013 6:55 am; edited 1 time in total |
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