I'm trying to authenticate one of my figures.

[Ronny777]

Last March I got my hands on this figure:

I was told she is a painted 'prototype' of the "Hatsune Miku: Pierretta Modual" which I also bought afterwords:

Here they are together:

Now the big Question I have: Is she a 'prototype' or a bootleg of the original? It's really weird for me to tell because honestly they look so similar yet so different from one another.
Here are pictures from other angles


The most obvious differences between them are their posture, the paint job.
This is the base. Just in case it helps.
I honestly just what to know what I have. I don't want to keep calling her a prototype if that what she's not. Worst case I can use them as an example of what a real and a fake look like next to each other so I'm not too salty about it either way.

 

[hamano]

It's most definitely a bootleg, sorry to say.
The details match the chinese aliexpress/wish knockoffs


The base is also a big giveaway, chinese bootlegs often have milky 'semi-clear' bases like that.

Also I've never heard of any figure maker selling a prototype. Prototypes are made in very low quantity (as in 1 or 2, sometimes maybe a couple more) before production, for the purpose of getting the product approved by licensors and to be presented to the public. They usually remain in the ownership of the manufacturer as display pieces or are destroyed after the production has started.

 

[Ronny777]

Also I've never heard of any figure maker selling a prototype. Prototypes are made in very low quantity (as in 1 or 2, sometimes maybe a couple more) before production, for the purpose of getting the product approved by licensors and to be presented to the public. They usually remain in the ownership of the manufacturer as display pieces or are destroyed after the production has started.

Thank you! It seemed way too rare to be true! I should have looked at bootleg figures first. I definitely had an inkling that thats what it was. I paid 10 CAD$ so I'm not surprised.

 

[peaches2217]

For a bootleg, that’s really not bad quality though. I’m impressed! Either way, I’m happy you have the real one as well!

 

[Ronny777]

For a bootleg, that’s really not bad quality though. I’m impressed! Either way, I’m happy you have the real one as well!

Ya I bought the real one on amazon the moment I got out of the store. I was very confused with the quality.
But now I'm worried should I delete this post? I feel like I might get harassed for owning a fake figure.

 

[mobius017]

Anyone who actually reads it will understand anyway. FWIW, I've not seen anyone get harassed about a figure for any reason here. Good reason would be that not too many people have shared info about their figure collections. But honestly, someone would really have to go digging to find this post and then not read it before coming to give you grief. But if it makes you feel more comfortable, I say go ahead and delete it. No reason to invite grief if you don't have to.

 

[cafenurse]

As a figure collector who has accidently bought bootlegs in the past, it happens to the best of us, sometimes you put your trust in the wrong store lol. I got rid of the ones i accidently purchased since they were so ugly lol...
People in the figure community dont really get upset unless you knowingly purchase bootlegs; when it's a genuine accident they usually understand. I doubt youll get harassed since you didnt know it was a bootleg when you bought it.

 

[hamano]

Since you didn't know when you bought it no one can blame you. There's a lot of sellers, especially online, trying to sell fakes to unsuspecting buyers, and not everyone can spot it, especially new collectors.

I personally have about 80 figures but thankfully have never fallen for bootlegs as I was aware of the danger early on, but it's perfectly understandable that one may fall for them. I don't respect people who buy fakes knowingly as it's just wrong on so many levels, but I've never met any figure collectors, myself included, who would be upset at someone accidentally buying a knockoff. You didn't know what it was back then, so you haven't done anything wrong. Props for subsequently getting the real one by the way!

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I know a few figure collectors on Instagram who intentionally buy bootlegs of figures they really want, but can't get either because they're too rare, expensive or both. I know it's morally dubious because they aren't buying the legit product, but I'm not in any position to judge people based on whether they buy legit or bootleg. I disagree with harassing people for buying bootlegs, even if bootlegging is illegal.

I own a few bootleg figures myself because I bought them from iffy sellers at cons as a kid, not knowing any better. Sometimes, I think about replacing them with legit ones, but older legit figures tend to get more expensive over time, so I just forgot about the idea. Plus, I can't sell them either because then I'd feel like one of the dodgy sellers knowingly selling bootlegs.

 

[Scarlet Illusion]

That’s a pretty good looking bootleg, though! Made even a seasoned collector like me do a double take, haha. And I wouldn’t worry about getting harassed over it—I think it’s pretty common knowledge in the figure collecting community that sometimes you get tricked and end up with a bootleg.
A tip I’d like to share from my own experience as a collector is to check the “my figure collection” website—more often than not they’ll have a photo of what the bootleg looks like! (Another tip is to be wary of titles worded like the one in Hamano’s screenshot, and to also be wary of sellers who just reuse the product images instead of using photos!)
Good for you buying the legit one as well, though.

 

[sunnyp4rk]

be wary of sellers who just reuse the product images instead of using photos!)

I can say for a fact that I've ended up getting a bootleg Miku pop from ebay that way. I'm pretty sure the listing is gone too, so we couldn't report the seller (we should've been wary when we saw it was coming from china fbdnasfba) Someday I'll replace it with the REAL Miku pop

this is why I really don't like buying from third parties online (esp with figures)

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I can say for a fact that I've ended up getting a bootleg Miku pop from ebay that way. I'm pretty sure the listing is gone too, so we couldn't report the seller (we should've been wary when we saw it was coming from china fbdnasfba) Someday I'll replace it with the REAL Miku pop

I never buy any merch from China for that reason. Apologies to any legitimate Chinese sellers, but there are way too many scams and bootlegs on places like eBay, Wish, etc. for me to take the risk. (That's not to say you can't have issues with other foreign sellers, however. Hell, even in my home country of the UK, you can have established sellers flogging bootleg merch...)

 

[uncreepy]

Apparently ways to spot bootlegs are:

The boxes containing the figures might be different compared to each other:
Fakes tend to use square tape on the box, real ones usually use circle tape.
Bootlegs may have bad quality/poorly lit photos of the figure on the box.
Bootleg boxes may not use the official font for the series title/character names and there won't be a brand name for the figure company on the back.

The figure itself:
Paint looks good with no marks/damage/chipping for real figures. Bootlegs have messy paint, especially around small details, colors might be off, weird messy dark marks.
Bootlegs may have a strong chemical smell and have tape around the entire plastic clam shell.
Bootlegs are usually a lot cheaper than real figures.

You can also probably suspect if you're buying a real figure if the website is known for specializing in figures/preorders vs a site like ebay/Aliexpress/Wish.

(I just watch videos by figure collectors, I don't actually own any.)

 

[cafenurse]

Apparently ways to spot bootlegs are:

The boxes containing the figures might be different compared to each other:
Fakes tend to use square tape on the box, real ones usually use circle tape.
Bootlegs may have bad quality/poorly lit photos of the figure on the box.
Bootleg boxes may not use the official font for the series title/character names and there won't be a brand name for the figure company on the back.

The figure itself:
Paint looks good with no marks/damage/chipping for real figures. Bootlegs have messy paint, especially around small details, colors might be off, weird messy dark marks.
Bootlegs may have a strong chemical smell and have tape around the entire plastic clam shell.
Bootlegs are usually a lot cheaper than real figures.

To add, some bootlegs just feel different. I accidently bought a bootleg of a scale figure once and it felt very suspiciously light and hollow and that was the first sign for me before i even noticed the shoddy paint job.

 

[Ronny777]

Thank you everyone! I will keep the post up because of all the useful information that was given.

 

[Krin]

I feel like I might get harassed for owning a fake figure.

People in the figure community dont really get upset unless you knowingly purchase bootlegs; when it's a genuine accident they usually understand. I doubt youll get harassed since you didnt know it was a bootleg when you bought it.

Genuine question though... do people really harrass other people who buy bootlegs on purpose?? Thankfully I was careful and never ended up getting one (mostly because I agree the paint job usually sucks and would rather pay for the real thing than a gross off-brand) but those figures aren't cheap, and what if someone just can't afford the real thing? Not trying to justify buying bootlegs, I was just shocked to hear people get harrased for buying them because I haven't seen it I don't think, plus I don't really understand the reason behind wanting to harrass a bootleg owner.

 

[cafenurse]

Genuine question though... do people really harrass other people who buy bootlegs on purpose?? Thankfully I was careful and never ended up getting one (mostly because I agree the paint job usually sucks and would rather pay for the real thing than a gross off-brand) but those figures aren't cheap, and what if someone just can't afford the real thing? Not trying to justify buying bootlegs, I was just shocked to hear people get harrased for buying them because I haven't seen it I don't think, plus I don't really understand the reason behind wanting to harrass a bootleg owner.

Perhaps harass isnt the correct term but if someone purposely buys fakes youll see people shame them. Its overall harmful to the industry to support counterfeits.

 

[Ronny777]

Perhaps harass isnt the correct term but if someone purposely buys fakes youll see people shame them. Its overall harmful to the industry to support counterfeits.

The reason why I was worried was because of a video I saw I little while ago. It was an unboxing video of a BJD. She was given the doll from a company that made recasts but had no idea what she was really unboxing because she had never owned any before. The comment section nasty and filled with harassment. She made an apology video and explained why owning fakes are bad. So, I've been a little scared of the collection side of any community for that reason. I happy to know guys are not that way whatsoever and it makes me want to share pics of my stuff.

 

[hamano]

Btw, I have posted a small guide on bootlegs: Guide to avoiding bootleg figures

I wrote about 4/5 of it back in 2019 and just forgot about it. This thread inspired me to finish it.