Be Careful of Fake Nendoroid!

As a collector, I'm sure you want the real ones right?

Today I wanna blog about how to avoid purchasing a counterfeit, bootleg, or fake Nendoroid. The figurines industry is booming right now so no wonder there are so many counterfeits in the market. I myself ever bought fake Nendoroid Petit from a campus event, don't let this happen to you!

Since I'm also a newbie in collecting Nendoroid and other figurines, I'll write this based on what I already saw in some events and Internet reviews, pictures are taken from Good Smile Company website. Click the link if you wanna see that (in Japanese).

Now let's start it!

First, if you go to an event and want to buy Nendoroid, please consider these things:

1. The Box
Take a deep look in the box! How's the print color and look at the details. Counterfeit often has some missing details and the paint was done badly, the color of the box is often reddish and darker from the real one.

 The real Yuki Miku has an embossed snowflakes (right), while the counterfeit one (left) doesn't.

 The counterfeit (right) has a poor box color.

Missing sticker.

The real one on left: (c), the fake one: only c.

If you can, take a look at the "Nendoroid" inside the box, in the fake one the writings are upside down and poor printed, just like this:

On left, the real one.

2. The Nendoroid

Now take a look on the thing. The fake is painted glossy while the real one isn't. The fake ones often have wrong expression and bad finishing. It's easy to tell the differences, take a look:

 This Miku looks good enough for you?

The fake (right) has wrong expressions (the mouth is open), a glossy face, different eyes shape, and her skin looks like she got sunburn.

 On left, the real one. See the difference?

 Left: fake, right: real.

The fake's tie doesn't have gradation, her face is glossy, and she has different eyes shape from the real one.

The fake one has larger eyes and glossy face.

Left: real, right: fake. Rough finishing, glossy face, wrong color and messed hair.

3. The Price

Fake Nendoroid is often sold at a very low price, it's about $8-15 (about IDR 80.000~150.000 or 800~1500 yen). The normal price is 3000~3500 yen or about $30~35 or IDR 300.000~350.000, even some store sell Nendoroid at higher price because the shipping cost and rarity of the figure. If you find the one that is too cheap, it's probably a fake one. I ever bought fake Nendoroid because of this and I regretted that. Don't be tempted by cheap price, you'll regret it. Use your logic, there's no way in hell a seller would sell a figure below its retail price.

That's the differences from what I saw and searched. Here's some tips to buy a Nendoroid:

1. Make sure you know the details of the item you'll be buying. Pay attention to the box and the Nendoroid details.

2. Beware of low price.

3. If you're not sure, don't be shy to ask the seller. As a customer, you have the rights to know the details of his/her products.

4. Only purchase Nendoroid and other figurines from a trusted seller, especially when you buy it online. Read the buyer's comments and see the seller's history, how long he/she's been selling figures, how is the product, any detail is important. And be careful because some sellers could be lying to you by showing you the real one and then sending you a counterfeit.

5. If you already feel something weird when you see the figure, you better don't buy it.

Then how if you already bought one and you worry that it's a fake one? There's a quick way to tell whether a Nendoroid is a fake or not. Just look at the base stand and see what's written on it. The real Nendoroid stand has copyright and "MADE IN CHINA" but on the fake one, it's only "MADE IN CHINA"....

Left: fake, right: real. See?

That's all for today! If you have any suggestions or additional information, it will be very helping! Leave a comment if you do have some information and suggestion! ^^

I hope this post will help and I'm sorry for my poor English T_T