Bootleg Hetalia figurine warning

[Kaoru]

Hi everyone,

I know it may be too late now, but I thought I'd give a warning about some bootleg Hetalia figurines.  I bought two in the dealer room and took them home and found out that they were bootlegs >_<

Easiest way to tell it's a bootleg: The figurine is propped up by a bent plastic rod that connects to their back.

Official ones are held up by a metal magnetic rod.  Also, the fake one's are standing on a circular platform that's really big -- like they have a lot of extra room.

To tell by just looking at the box

Real:
- Italy definitely has brown hair
- The green "Kotobukiya" banner on the top fo the box is near the front -- as in closer to the picture of Italy holding the flag
- To open the box, you have to tear off a strip in the middle before you can open it up

Fake:
- Italy's hair is ever so slightly orange
- Green Kotobukiya banner on the top is closer to the back (the side that has examples of which kinds of figurines you can get)

Or just do this: Hold the box in front of you so tht you see Italy with his flag and pizza.  Rotate the box so you're looking at the top (where you open it).  If all the writing is upside down -- that's the bootleg box

The box is completely copied-- which is kind of how I fell for the bootleg.  I only realized the box differences when I got home and looked at the official one I had but hadn't thrown away yet.

I probably can't get my money back, but if I can save someone else from making the same mistake at least I'll feel like my money wasn't completely wasted.  

I'm going to have to throw the bootleg away since who knows what it's been painted with (bootleg = no regulations on materials or child labor etc.) >_<

I'm sure most of the dealers are carrying official ones.  So, if you spot a bootleg one, perhaps you can just sidle over to the next booth and see if they have official ones.

[M]

I have brought this to the attention of this Dealer's staff.

For future reference, please bring stuff like this to the attention of the Dealer's staff as soon as you realize/find this out. They are friendly and will help you! :)

[Kaoru]

Hi MPLe, and thanks for the reply and telling the dealer staff.

Yeah, I just realized 30 minutes before I posted.  I had bought it on Friday but it was in the trunk of my car until today.  I took it out after running an errand and opened up the box and realized something was off.

I wish I had seen earlier so I could have warned other people sooner >_<

My expertise is actually finding bootleg plushes (I'm an admin at a plush collecting message board)  So yeah, I didn't see the the differences in the figure right off the bat.

Here's some pictures in case it would help:

This is a bootleg France figure



You can see:

- The round platform he's on is too big
- Italy's hair is slightly orange
- The box opens from the front (folds down to shut -- the real box needs a flap lifted first)
- No metal rod supporting the figure so it can stand up (there's that plastic one that fits into a hole in the back instead
- Another thing is that if you have an actual figure and its box, the colors of the fake box are lighter.


If you turn your figure around and you see this, it should be fine:



Or just look for the tear off strip at the top of the box.

I hope I'm being clear enough...not sure if my explanations are good or just weird (ahaha) but if you have any questions about how I described something, please let me know.  I'd be glad to elaborate.

I hope this helps and prevents people from buying the bootlegs -- either at fanimecon or in the future at other places >_<

[M]

Our staff are also experts in finding bootlegs, but your explanations definitely helped! ^_^

[Kaoru]

Oh good, I'm glad ^_^  At least the money I spent won't go completly to waste.

Yeah... this box was really well done -- it's almost impressive.  They copied everything -- right down to the little "warning" message in small text on the bottom.  So yeah, I really fell for this one >_<

Oh well, I'd better go throw out bootleg Romano then O_o


Also, I really like your avatar MPLe.  I like Homestar Runner, so I laughed and it cheered me up a bit XD

[frumpy]

Can you tell or decribe to me who this dealer is? PM me please.