Earlier this week I met up with fellow Sydney anime bloggers M12, Optic, and Koshiko for a event filled with fun and anguish. One of the things that you have to look out for as a figure collector is bootleg items. In the past I and a few friends have been a victim, and Optic has recently been a victim as well. So we decided to show people how exactly you should treat bootleg figures. Hit the jump to read on on what we did.
What you see above is the Nendoroid Haruhi set that was released at a previous Wonderfest where Optic had purchased at a local store. Most unfortunate that he found out they were bootlegs. So we decided to record a video covering what one of the options you can take when dealing with bootleg figures, and that’s simply destroying them. I brought along my camera and I filmed and slightly directed the video, Koshiko was taking photos, Optic and M12 went into RAGE mode.
Photo from The dis-JoinTedZone
You can check out the video over at Vjutsu (hopefully he’ll post a YouTube version soon). You can also check out Optic’s coverage of our little event. I took the role of explaining on how to identify bootleg figures and it’s rather amusing as I winged the entire thing. It’s also amusing to hear my own voice as I never thought I sounded so clear. As for the end result of the bootleg figures?
Of course even after we finished M12 was still feeling much RAGE so we cooled off by heading off to get a late lunch and to do other random things. As a side note I also found out that Wangan Midnight 3 DX had arrived at the arcades and managed to do a figure photo shoot.
Wow, you guys had LOTS of fun.
It was an awesome day and boy, did we smash them good. lol
Actually, I think M12 did most of the smashing. He was pissed. lol
Optic’s last blog post..Smashing Bootlegs
I am surprised you did not purge the evil with fire. I was expecting them to end up as melted smears on the ground.
icie’s last blog post..Dokusha-tachi he no Nengajou
A horrific thought struck me while reading this post
“What if the ‘bootleg’ turned out to be real?”
Nah, just kidding XD
Saw the vid over at Vjutsu, lol you guys sure had a good time taking out some rage XD
Persocom-san’s last blog post..Nendoroid Miku Hatsune
“What if the ‘bootleg’ turned out to be real?”
That would be a sad, sad thing.
Zeroblade’s last blog post..Auguri, Buon Anno!
SMASH ‘EM UP!
Panther’s last blog post..Winter 2008 Anime Watchlist
I didn’t do any smashing, just had some ideas and took photos, but still lots of fun~
No-one managed of take photos of lunch, too hungry~ lol
I also saw this at Optic. I say it’s pretty much refreshing!
sonic_ver2’s last blog post..My figures 2008
Ah….I wanted to take some rage out by destroying bootleg goods…
Too bad I live in Canada…
Rin’s last blog post..2008 Spending and My Picks of 2008…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Good riddance. Now if only I had the courage to do the same with my garage kit recasts.
Johnson Huang’s last blog post..Sad Snowman and the Carrot
I always wanted to smash my bootleg.. but they were gifts heh…
ron~’s last blog post..2008 Otaku Expenses Review
Still feels like such a waste to me, bootleg or not. XD -has quite a few random keychains-
And you do sound clear! Could be the accent helping. ^^
jenn’s last blog post..White Album 1 - More Petty Show Biz Sabotage
oh that’s a waste. should consider donating it to the less fortunate maybe? (’~')
gordon’s last blog post..Random Photo Shoot 2
The most outrageous thing could be paied price for real thing and later found to be bootleged.This is very common in China
The 3 figures don’t look bad at all in your first photo. o.o I can’t say how they looked in person, but I’ve seen many photos of very bad looking bootlegs. I would never be able to smash a figure. Especially one I spent my money on when it comes so hard to me that I can rarely buy figures. The girls look cute in the first photo, wish I could have had them.
KoE’s last blog post..US Figure Stores?
I saw the exact same set on sale during the recent local event here and there was a few of them too. My first thought was bootleg avoid at all cost, since the set it’s limited it’s impossible for the local shop here to get hold of so many.
That looks like fun btw, smashing the bootleg figures XD
valho’s last blog post..Vampire Knight Cosplay shoot
But but… now I feel sorry for the bootlegs ;_;
Tho still, it can get quite disheartening to recieve a bootleg when you thought you paid for a geniune item.
Curious as to why you didn’t opt for a hammer of some sort? lol
Aya Kyunik’s last blog post..It is a Mystery!
there are such things as bootleg figures? how dose that work?
Here’s another mission for you guys !
http://loli1983.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/bootleg-nendoroid-discovery/
^^
I can’t believe someone would do this. You paid for those things. And someone worked on them for very little money (look at China). And on top of that some less wealthy otakus might have been happy to get them even knowing they’re bottlegs. Why couldn’t you sell them to these guys instead?
Another thing: if you can’t control yourself over anime figures what’s gonna happen is a living person will insult or decieve you?
Do you know how many poorer otakus would’ve been happy with those poor things? Looks like you’re too rich to think about this. I’m a collector as well but I have friends who cannot afford figures and are happy to even receive bootlegs. You’re heartless.