figure_shop
I ordered some Samurai Shodown gashapon, a Valkyrie Profile trading figure, and a Sailor Moon magnet from this seller. I've added this seller to my favorites because he has some really hard to find stuff at good prices, and he offers very nice discounts for combining shipping. He also upgraded my shipping to have a tracking number for free, and the shipment didn't take very long for an overseas seller. I can definitely see myself using this seller again.
Please keep in mind that just because I list a seller as a trusted eBay seller does not necessarily mean that seller has all legit products. It simply means that I ordered products from them that appeared to be legit and were.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
What Is Gashapon?
Perhaps this should have been the first or second post, but oh well. I created this blog to help people who are already collectors, but I've had a change of heart and decided to expand my advice to help newbies who may want to break into the field of collecting Japanese figures and toys based on anime, manga, and video games. This includes people who know absolutely nothing about it, and those are the people this post is for. Maybe this will allow me to expand my audience from one person to two (me being the one person).
So what the heck is a gashapon, anyway? Well, gashapon is an onomatopoeia for the sound a capsule machine makes when you buy a toy from it. "Gasha" is the sound of the the crank being turned and "pon" is the sound of the capsule dropping into the receptacle. Japanese capsule machines are very much like the coin-operated toy machines you see in grocery stores and other places in the U.S. where we all got those neat sticky hand whip things when we were little. Gashapon is also the name used to refer to the toys that come from these machines in Japan. Often times, these toys are figurines of popular characters from Japanese cartoons (anime), comics (manga), or video games. Other times they can be key chains, little noise makers called sound drops, or other little toys and gadgets. Gashapon are extremely popular in Japan because they're cheap, detailed and high quality, and small enough to display anywhere without taking up much space (until you have hundreds of them). The allure of collecting every figure in a series will keep you going back to the machine or trading with friends over and over, hoping to find the ones you're missing.
Often, the gashapon figures are also sold as blind box trading figures, meaning they're sold at stores, in little boxes, and you can't tell what figure is inside. It's basically the same concept as a gashapon, just without the machine. So the figures are still random and fun to collect and trade. Sometimes figures will be released only as blind box trading figures, because they're too big to fit in capsule machines. Blind box trading figure series often include secret figures that are extra rare, making the surprise that much more exciting.
Often, gashapon figures and blind box trading figures will be released as normal trading figures. These are the same figures, just not in blind boxes. You can see exactly what figure you're going to get before you buy it, and you'll typically pay a bit more money for it.
That's all for gashapon and trading figures right now. Next time, I'll cover plushies, PVC figures, and other collectibles.
So what the heck is a gashapon, anyway? Well, gashapon is an onomatopoeia for the sound a capsule machine makes when you buy a toy from it. "Gasha" is the sound of the the crank being turned and "pon" is the sound of the capsule dropping into the receptacle. Japanese capsule machines are very much like the coin-operated toy machines you see in grocery stores and other places in the U.S. where we all got those neat sticky hand whip things when we were little. Gashapon is also the name used to refer to the toys that come from these machines in Japan. Often times, these toys are figurines of popular characters from Japanese cartoons (anime), comics (manga), or video games. Other times they can be key chains, little noise makers called sound drops, or other little toys and gadgets. Gashapon are extremely popular in Japan because they're cheap, detailed and high quality, and small enough to display anywhere without taking up much space (until you have hundreds of them). The allure of collecting every figure in a series will keep you going back to the machine or trading with friends over and over, hoping to find the ones you're missing.
Often, the gashapon figures are also sold as blind box trading figures, meaning they're sold at stores, in little boxes, and you can't tell what figure is inside. It's basically the same concept as a gashapon, just without the machine. So the figures are still random and fun to collect and trade. Sometimes figures will be released only as blind box trading figures, because they're too big to fit in capsule machines. Blind box trading figure series often include secret figures that are extra rare, making the surprise that much more exciting.
Often, gashapon figures and blind box trading figures will be released as normal trading figures. These are the same figures, just not in blind boxes. You can see exactly what figure you're going to get before you buy it, and you'll typically pay a bit more money for it.
That's all for gashapon and trading figures right now. Next time, I'll cover plushies, PVC figures, and other collectibles.
Untrusted eBay Sellers: Part 1
sss_anime
I bought some Final Fantasy figures, some YuYu Hakusho figures, and some Full Metal Alchemist figures from this seller. They were all fakes, as I expected from looking at their pages. They were super cheap (the first tip off), so I bought them to take pictures of and use as material on this blog. Look forward to seeing them in the future.
Please keep in mind that just because I list a seller as an untrusted eBay seller does not necessarily mean that seller has all bootleg products. It simply means that I ordered products from them that may or may not have appeared legit and turned out not to be.
I bought some Final Fantasy figures, some YuYu Hakusho figures, and some Full Metal Alchemist figures from this seller. They were all fakes, as I expected from looking at their pages. They were super cheap (the first tip off), so I bought them to take pictures of and use as material on this blog. Look forward to seeing them in the future.
Please keep in mind that just because I list a seller as an untrusted eBay seller does not necessarily mean that seller has all bootleg products. It simply means that I ordered products from them that may or may not have appeared legit and turned out not to be.
Rules For Buying On eBay: Part 2
Rule #4 - Check the feedback.
Most sellers will have a high reputation percentage, like 99% or above, which looks good but can be deceiving. Usually the people who buy fakes don't know that the figures are fake, even after they receive them, so they don't post bad feedback. Even if the figures are fake, you really can't post bad feedback because of that, unless they actually lied to you on the item page. This is where the sellers get tricky, because listing an item as "Final Fantasy Dissidia Cloud Figure" does not mean that the item is official, simply that it's a figure of Cloud. Also, the pictures posted will generally be pictures of the actual bootlegs, so you can't say they cheated you there either. In the end, it's really your own fault for not doing your homework first. So while you can't rely on feedback to tell you whether a seller is a bootlegger or not, you can use the feedback to check other things. Ignore the high percentage, because it's probably loaded by fake or ignorant buyers, just scroll through the feedback and look at the negative or neutral ones. These will tell you the real story. If a few people complain that their products arrived broken, that should tip you off to be cautious. Official figures tend to be packaged in a way that completely prevents any chance of breaking from normal care. Fakes tend to break easily due to their cheap construction, and are generally not packaged to prevent this.
Rule #5 - Check the shipping.
Even if an item's price looks cheap, the sellers will often hide the item's true cost in the shipping fee. It is indeed expensive to ship items from Asian countries, and you can typically expect delivery to take about 3 weeks, but you should never be paying more than $10-20 on the shipping cost of one gashapon set. Most sellers will ship gashapon sets in bubble wrap-lined envelopes, and they don't cost that much to ship, even from China. If you buy something bigger or more delicate that requires a box, you may be paying up to $20 for shipping, but you should never pay more than that for a simple figure or toy. If the shipping is more than $20, you're getting ripped off, and if the seller refuses to combine shipping for the purchase of multiple items, you're getting ripped off even more.
Rule #6 - Get a tracking number.
Always make sure you get a tracking number for you shipment. You may have to specifically request it with a message to the seller, and they may charge you a little extra for it (never pay more than $4 for this), but it's worth it. I've ordered items that were said to arrive in a maximum of 21 days and have taken almost 2 months to arrive. If you have a tracking number, you can at least tell where your item is, instead of having to constantly message the seller to make sure they actually shipped it.
Rule #7 - Check the seller's location.
Is it China or Malaysia? Better do your homework before you order.
Most sellers will have a high reputation percentage, like 99% or above, which looks good but can be deceiving. Usually the people who buy fakes don't know that the figures are fake, even after they receive them, so they don't post bad feedback. Even if the figures are fake, you really can't post bad feedback because of that, unless they actually lied to you on the item page. This is where the sellers get tricky, because listing an item as "Final Fantasy Dissidia Cloud Figure" does not mean that the item is official, simply that it's a figure of Cloud. Also, the pictures posted will generally be pictures of the actual bootlegs, so you can't say they cheated you there either. In the end, it's really your own fault for not doing your homework first. So while you can't rely on feedback to tell you whether a seller is a bootlegger or not, you can use the feedback to check other things. Ignore the high percentage, because it's probably loaded by fake or ignorant buyers, just scroll through the feedback and look at the negative or neutral ones. These will tell you the real story. If a few people complain that their products arrived broken, that should tip you off to be cautious. Official figures tend to be packaged in a way that completely prevents any chance of breaking from normal care. Fakes tend to break easily due to their cheap construction, and are generally not packaged to prevent this.
Rule #5 - Check the shipping.
Even if an item's price looks cheap, the sellers will often hide the item's true cost in the shipping fee. It is indeed expensive to ship items from Asian countries, and you can typically expect delivery to take about 3 weeks, but you should never be paying more than $10-20 on the shipping cost of one gashapon set. Most sellers will ship gashapon sets in bubble wrap-lined envelopes, and they don't cost that much to ship, even from China. If you buy something bigger or more delicate that requires a box, you may be paying up to $20 for shipping, but you should never pay more than that for a simple figure or toy. If the shipping is more than $20, you're getting ripped off, and if the seller refuses to combine shipping for the purchase of multiple items, you're getting ripped off even more.
Rule #6 - Get a tracking number.
Always make sure you get a tracking number for you shipment. You may have to specifically request it with a message to the seller, and they may charge you a little extra for it (never pay more than $4 for this), but it's worth it. I've ordered items that were said to arrive in a maximum of 21 days and have taken almost 2 months to arrive. If you have a tracking number, you can at least tell where your item is, instead of having to constantly message the seller to make sure they actually shipped it.
Rule #7 - Check the seller's location.
Is it China or Malaysia? Better do your homework before you order.
Square-Enix Bootleg Comparison
These are real:
These are not:
Notice the differences in poses. Zidane is holding his weapons completely differently, as is Tidus. The fake squall has his right index finger pointed out, where the real one does not. Also, fake squall is missing the cloth on the right side of his pants.
Notice how ugly the faces are on the fakes, especially on Tidus.
Notice the colors are off on Zidane's weapons and in other places.
Buying Square-Enix Products
Square-Enix, creator and publisher of many beloved game series, such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest/Warrior, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, and many others, also creates and produces many different high-quality figures and various other products associated with their games, right in Japan. Square-Enix DOES NOT outsource the production of their products. They used to many years ago, but not anymore. Unfortunately, this means that SE figures tend to be more expensive than others, since it costs more to produce them right in Japan, and the prices of SE figures rarely drop, but this also means it's much easier to spot a SE bootleg.
People in China can't steal their molds, because they never get them in the first place; however this does not mean that SE products are bootleg proof. A franchise like Final Fantasy is so popular that Chinese and Malaysian bootleggers will go to the trouble of making their very own molds to create their bootlegs with. The bootleggers will try to make their products look very similar to the official ones, but they can never get it quite right. Due to this, it's much easier to spot a SE bootleg compared to those made with the original molds. Just find the pictures of the official products, on SE's own website (square-enix-shop.com), even, and compare them to the pictures on the eBay page. You'll notice glaring difference between the reals and fakes.
Really, there isn't much reason to buy SE products from eBay at all, unless they aren't being sold on SE's website anymore, since the prices aren't going to change much. If you do decide to buy a SE product on eBay, however, just make sure the seller is in Japan or America and always compare the photos. There is almost no reason for Chinese or Malaysian sellers to even be in possession of mass quantities of SE products, so if the seller is from one of those countries, you're likely looking at a bootleg.
People in China can't steal their molds, because they never get them in the first place; however this does not mean that SE products are bootleg proof. A franchise like Final Fantasy is so popular that Chinese and Malaysian bootleggers will go to the trouble of making their very own molds to create their bootlegs with. The bootleggers will try to make their products look very similar to the official ones, but they can never get it quite right. Due to this, it's much easier to spot a SE bootleg compared to those made with the original molds. Just find the pictures of the official products, on SE's own website (square-enix-shop.com), even, and compare them to the pictures on the eBay page. You'll notice glaring difference between the reals and fakes.
Really, there isn't much reason to buy SE products from eBay at all, unless they aren't being sold on SE's website anymore, since the prices aren't going to change much. If you do decide to buy a SE product on eBay, however, just make sure the seller is in Japan or America and always compare the photos. There is almost no reason for Chinese or Malaysian sellers to even be in possession of mass quantities of SE products, so if the seller is from one of those countries, you're likely looking at a bootleg.
How Are Bootlegs Made?
Most bootlegs come from China or Malaysia. China is a hotspot for bootlegging because, like many companies from all around the world, most of the manufacturers of gashapon and other figures outsource their production to factories in China. The molds and designs are made in Japan, and then they're sent to China, where the factories pump out the figures and ship them back to Japan for very low costs. The problem is that there are very few rules regulating the Chinese factories, and there are plenty of bad apples among the workers.
When the production line for a certain figure is complete, these bad apples steal the molds from the factories and use them to create their own bootleg figures that can look very similar to the real ones. Since they're using the same molds, the shapes of the figures tend to be identical, but the plastic that the bootleggers use is often much cheaper and lower quality. The molds also don't cover the coloring of the figures, just the shaping, so the bootleggers are left to do the painting by their own means, and often do a fairly shoddy job, getting colors wrong and coloring "outside the lines," so to speak. Also, when there is Japanese writing on the figures, the bootleggers often get the characters wrong.
Another problem for bootleggers is that they don't always manage to obtain the molds for the bases of the figures. Because of this, many bootlegs are sold without bases entirely, or with custom-made bases that may not fit the figure properly.
Yet another problem is that the bootleggers have a tough time recreating the boxes and papers that may come with a figure. For this reason, most bootlegs don't come with boxes at all, but some may come with custom-made boxes that again are much cheaper and lower quality than the originals. These boxes are often made of very thin cardboard and the pictures printed on the boxes are often straight copies of the originals that are blurry and sometimes crooked.
So does this mean you should never order any toys from China or Malaysia? Not necessarily. In fact, most figures you buy on eBay will be coming from China, regardless of whether they're legit. It is very rare to find sellers from Japan. Sometimes people will sell the legit figures straight from the real factories, and the figures may even be cheaper because of this. It's all about knowing how to spot the bootlegs before you buy them, so pay attention to my eBay buying tips in the past and future.
When the production line for a certain figure is complete, these bad apples steal the molds from the factories and use them to create their own bootleg figures that can look very similar to the real ones. Since they're using the same molds, the shapes of the figures tend to be identical, but the plastic that the bootleggers use is often much cheaper and lower quality. The molds also don't cover the coloring of the figures, just the shaping, so the bootleggers are left to do the painting by their own means, and often do a fairly shoddy job, getting colors wrong and coloring "outside the lines," so to speak. Also, when there is Japanese writing on the figures, the bootleggers often get the characters wrong.
Another problem for bootleggers is that they don't always manage to obtain the molds for the bases of the figures. Because of this, many bootlegs are sold without bases entirely, or with custom-made bases that may not fit the figure properly.
Yet another problem is that the bootleggers have a tough time recreating the boxes and papers that may come with a figure. For this reason, most bootlegs don't come with boxes at all, but some may come with custom-made boxes that again are much cheaper and lower quality than the originals. These boxes are often made of very thin cardboard and the pictures printed on the boxes are often straight copies of the originals that are blurry and sometimes crooked.
So does this mean you should never order any toys from China or Malaysia? Not necessarily. In fact, most figures you buy on eBay will be coming from China, regardless of whether they're legit. It is very rare to find sellers from Japan. Sometimes people will sell the legit figures straight from the real factories, and the figures may even be cheaper because of this. It's all about knowing how to spot the bootlegs before you buy them, so pay attention to my eBay buying tips in the past and future.
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